Bijal Raja

Age: 20
Currently: Studying Financial
Maths at Brunel University

Lord Rama’s Monkey Army What made you start attending

Being the youth group of a temple, all we
do is engage ourselves in ‘religious’ activi-
ties such as singing devotional songs, dis-
cussing deep Vedic philosophy and pray-
ing intensively. Right? Wrong! Although we
do do those things, there’s a lot more to it
than that. Let’s take the recent festival of
Dusshera as an example.
IPS played a pivotal role in the organisa-
tion of Dusshera at the Manor, which
was celebrated on Sunday 21st October,
contributing mainly through the building of
Ravana and the performance of a drama.
This year the effigy of Ravana was a total
of 30ft high. It necessitated skills including
design and planning, DIY, papier-mache
as well as artistic talents to paint him.
The drama, which was developed from
scratch, summarised the story of Ramaya-
na. The development of this play included
activities such as script writing, sound
production, costume design as well as of
course acting.
Members of IPS helped out in many other
areas of the festival as well, including
chopping vegetables in the kitchen, con-
trolling the queuing system in the temple
room, managing the car park and serving
prashadam (sanctified food), to name just
a few.
So, as you can see, it’s not just ‘religious’
activities we do – we all make use of our
skills and develop new ones we never
thought we’ll be good at, and, by doing
so, engage in devotional service. If this
sounds like the sort of thing you would like
to get involved in, contact us on
j_psena@hotmail.com and get involved in
Lord Rama’s monkey army!
IPS events?
I was introduced to IPS around six months ago. A
member of IPS approached me while I was in the
laundry room of the Manor and told us a pastime
about Haridas Thakur to illustrate the point that
anyone can become a devotee.
What did you find appealing
about KC?
I consider myself fortunate to have been brought
to the Manor from a young age by my mum.
Out of all the great things about KC, I really like
the philosophy, especially considering it is just as
relevant now as it’s always been.
What services are you currently
involved in?
I am part of the Harrow Jammin’ team. I help
out with promotion in the run up to the Jammin’
as well as helping out wherever needed on the
night. I am one of the organisers for the girls
Winter trip (watch this space for more info!)

Interesting fact about yourself

I used to play Netball, Basketball and Round-
ers, for which I won the Sports Woman of the
Year Award at my secondary school. I have
been awarded the Community Sports Leader-
ship Award for coaching primary school children
in various sports, including organising tourna-
ments, while at sixth form college.

jammin
We would like to congratulate
jammin jammin
the many members of IPS that
jammin
jammin
initiations

made formal affirmations of their

jammin
jammin
commitment to ISKCON this
summer, in an important and
natural step known as ‘initiation’
or ‘diksha’ in Sanskrit. Initiation
formally marks the acceptance
of a spiritual master by an aspir- Forthcoming Jammins:
ing disciple through which they 02/11 - Harrow - Science of Self
are awarded a new spiritual Realisation
name. We saw our members 03/11 - Crawley - KC & Islam
make vows to His Holiness 16/11 - Harrow - Does religion cause war?
Bhakti Charu Swami and His 17/11 - Crawley - Vegetarianism in other
Holiness Radhanath Swami and religions
we very much look forward to 30/11 - Harrow - Meet your Meat
seeing more IPS members tak-
For more details see wwww.psena.com
ing this all important step in the
future. Subject to change