Contents

VISION STATEMENT ............................................................................................................ 3

MISSION STATEMENT ......................................................................................................... 3

MASTHEAD .............................................................................................................................. 3

Message from the General Editor............................................................................................. 4

Message from the Acting Editor............................................................................................... 4

ARTICLES................................................................................................................................... 4

NIOS MEETS NANTES........................................................................................................ 5

Bhagavatam for Teens: Bridging the Gap for the Second Generation........... 9

The Deep Gaze....................................................................................................................11

PROJECT REPORTS...............................................................................................................10

Bhaktivedanta College, Belgium ..............................................................................12

Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta, Italy...........................................................................14

Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies, USA..............................................16

ISKCON Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture...................................18

VedaBase.io.........................................................................................................................20

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS...............................................................................................21

Selected Bibliography....................................................................................................22

CALENDAR.............................................................................................................................23

NEXT ISSUE.............................................................................................................................23

2
 VISION STATEMENT
To provide Krishna conscious education of high quality to everyone through temples, educational institutions
and various global initiatives.

MISSION STATEMENT
To develop comprehensive educational systems globally, that foster higher spiritual values, fulfil the needs of
ISKCON members and the larger society bringing about excellence in all areas of human life. We aim to fulfil
this mission by

1. Empowering and supporting educational initiatives and collaborations among educators, educational
institutions and professionals
2. Establishing and monitoring high standards of Vaisnava education
3. Supervising the development and execution of educational plans and ensuring they are delivered to
high standards and
4. Understanding and fulfilling the educational needs of the Krsna conscious families
5. Making every temple as an educational centre and a centre of excellence.

MASTHEAD
Viplavah is a Journal of the Ministry of Education of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness,
Founder Acharya His Divine Grace Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Minister of Education: H. G. Sesa Das
Executive Director: Tapana-misra Das
Core Committee: Hanumatpresaka Swami, Sesa Das, Atul-krsna Das, Rama-giri-dhari Das, Tapan-misra
Das, Champaka-lata Devi Dasi, Indira-sakhi Devi Dasi,
Acting Editor: H. H. Hanumatpresaka Swami
Editorial Board:
• H. G. Indira-sakhi Devi Dasi
• H. G. Rama-giridhari Das
The first issue of the Journal was published Janmastami 2017 with plans to publish four issues each year. It is
driven out of North American and the Western Hemisphere but is aimed at serving the educational needs of
ISKCON globally. We hope it inspires many regional and topical journals, such as Jayam which is now being
published in Spanish.
Ministry Web Site: iskconeducation.org
For Correspondences: Secretary, viplavah.iskcon@gmail.com

3
 Message from the General Editor
T his is an interesting issue. It has been stim-
ulating working with “Professor Gupta” as
Editor for this issue and receiving his commit-
ment to edit next year’s academic issue. We only
hope that more people who hold positions in
ISKCON as their religion and university posts
Message from the Acting Editor
W elcome to the second annual issue of Vi-
plavah focused on higher education! In
this issue, you will find a variety of interesting
4
as their profession and even passion can prog-
ress on both lines in a kind of DNA spiral dance.
The potential of the Vedic, Sanskrit, heritage
for stimulating and feeding higher education is
awesome.
Just as one technical note we were hoping for in-
put from the Ministry’s Executive Secretary, Ta-
pan Misra Das, for this issue, but we received a
note from him that he is in Malaysia with a sud-
denly collapsed lung. We feel certain that he is
an example of a person working to educate him-
self so that these inevitable calamities of life can
always be mined as clouds with a silver lining.
Hanumatpresaka Swami (Prof. Huber H. Robin-
son) – ISKCON Ministry of Education, Ricardo
Palma University (Lima, Peru)
articles written by devotee-scholars who have
dedicated much of their life’s work to higher
education. They are a diverse group—among
them, you will find professors, farmers, school-
teachers, artists, sannyasis, and administrators.
This is both encouraging and fitting, because
education is something that permeates, or
should permeate, every profession, institution,
and age group of a society. How does a farm-
er pass on his or her wisdom about climate and
crops to the next generation? How does an artist
ensure that the ability to create and appreciate
art is perpetuated in society? And how does a
religious institution preserve and distribute its
values to a broader public? All of this happens
through education. Indeed, education cannot
be restricted to a single department or a single
profession. It should be part of the very fabric of
a healthy society.
In this issue, you will find a wide spectrum of
educational approaches. The essays are grouped
into three categories: Articles, Project Reports,
and Book Announcements. The first group in-
cludes an article by H.H. Hanumatpresaka Swa-
mi on Carl Jung and Gaudiya Vaisnavism, an-
other article by Gopika Kanta Dasi on helping
adolescents make the Bhagavatam relevant to
their own lives, and a third article by Gandharva
Dasa on the relationship between art, spiritual-
ity, and education. The second group includes
reports from several different institutions of
higher education connected to ISKCON around
the world: Bhaktivedanta College in Belgium,
Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta in Italy, Bhaktive-
danta Institute for Higher Studies in the United
States, Vedabase.io on the web, and the ISKCON
Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture in
Ecuador. The third group of essays includes an
announcement of an exciting new book on cow
care written by Krsna Ksetra Swami and pub-
lished by the highly respected academic pub-
lisher, Palgrave Macmillan. We have also pro-
vided a list of other recent scholarly books that
might be of interest to our readers, including the
first-ever academic study of Kavi Karnapura, as
well as a book on the social impact of Caitanya
Mahaprabhu’s movement, written by the noted
scholar Joseph T. O’Connell.
I am deeply grateful to H.H. Hanumatpresaka
Swami (Prof. Huber H. Robinson) for his sig-
nificant guidance and encouragement during
the editorial process, including commissioning
articles. We wish to thank all the contributors
to this issue for producing such interesting and
useful articles, despite their busy writing and
travel schedules. Finally, we wish to thank you,
our learned readers, and apologize for the short-
comings in this issue, which are entirely my own
responsibility. Nevertheless, we hope that you
will find this issue thought-provoking and use-
ful in your own work as an educator.
Radhika Ramana Dasa (Professor Ravi M. Gupta
- Utah State University)

ARTICLES

NIOS MEETS NANTES

Hanumatpresaka Swami*

T he door opened and out came a very conge-

nial scholar. We had some trepidation be-
cause before we’ve met some powerful Jungian
scholars but some have been chain smokers and
others angry and arrogant. . .
Ooof!
Quite a relief. Then Professor Nantes took us
across the Baroque lobby into his office, which
was lined with books and beautiful artifacts to
the ceiling. The fresh morning air of Buenos Ai-
res came in through the window, cars hummed
by as they went to work. There were ourselves,
Hp Swami and three young students.
“Have you heard of E. T. Hall?”
“Have you read Jung in India?”

* ISKCON Ministry of Education, Secretary General of the North American Institute of Oriental and Classical Studies
NIOS, Traveling professor of the Ricardo Palma University (Lima, Peru).

5
We have been trying to meet Dr. Bernardo
Nantes, the founder of Fundacion Vocacion
Humano, Dean of Universidad del Salvador,
translator of C. G. Jung’s Redbook for three
years ( and Shonu Shyamdasani of the Univer-
sity of London, co-founder of the Philemon
Foundation, for at least seven years).
-0-
In Dialectical Spiritualism, Srila A. C. Bhaktive-
danta Swami, Prabhupada, offers commentaries,
on summaries, of the ideas of many, many West-
ern philosophers. These summaries were pre-
sented by two of his educated students. The very
last philosopher presented was Dr. C. G. Jung:
Prof. Howard Wheeler: That ends our ses-
sion on Jung.
Srila Prabhupada: So far, he seems the
most sensible!
If we take our NIOS work as building bridges
between the classical worlds of the Orient and
Occident, then Prabhupada’s comment along
with Jung’s that follows is simply compelling.
“... if you go to other races, to India or Chi-
na, for example, you discover that these
people are conscious of things for which
the psychoanalyst in our countries has to
dig for months.”
“We Europeans are not the only people
on the earth. We are just a peninsula of
Asia, and on that continent there are old
civilizations where people have trained
their minds in introspective psychology
for thousands of years, whereas we began
with our psychology not even yesterday
but only this morning. These people have
an insight that is simply fabulous...”
Jung, C. G.; Analytical Psychology, Its
Theory & Practice; Vintage Books, 1970,
pages 48 & 74
Please join this work. If you are like us you had
some little contact with Carl Jung during your
undergraduate university studies. It is enough
to pique interest but seemingly superficially
presented. If you continue to be like us then you
read the above quote in Dialectical Spiritualism
6
and you are motivated but don’t know how to
approach Prof. Jung and his followers in more
depth. Of course books are the basis, so here is
a suggested reading list. It’s interesting that ev-
eryone who I know who has read the books has
also found them challenging for their person-
al spiritual development and mental hygiene.
They can all be found at Amazon:
• The Tavistock Lectures,
• Memories, Dreams and Reflections
(Auto-Biography),
• The Kundalini Lectures.
• Carl Jung and the Making of Modern
Psychology – The Dream of a Science
(Take it slowly. It is a look at the de-
velopment of all of Western thought on
psychology during Jung’s lifetime),
• Introduction to the Redbook by Prof.
Shonu Shamdasani (Buy the text only
version of the Redbook)
• . . .and now we are reading Jung in India.
Besides the books there are the people: Beverley
Zabrieskii, Paticia Llosa, Maximilian Peralta.
We have been able to meet so many, and then
we attended a three day symposium on Art and
the Creative Intelligence at U.C. Santa Barbara
and were swimming in an ocean of youth, old
age, various nations, intense scholarship, social
awareness and compassion, artistic creativity,
money.
Maybe you are not like us. Maybe you are com-
ing from the other side of The Bridge. Our pre-
ferred lecture title has been: Science, Psyche and
Spirituality, the Encounter of Prof. C. G. Jung
with the Mysticism of Ancient India. As soon as
you start talking about the mysticism, philoso-
phy, religion, Yoga of ancient India you are div-
ing into an ocean of traditions, practices, living
examples.
If you want good food, go to Italy; romance,
France; machines, Germany; but if you want
Philosophy, India.
Sanskrit
George L. Harte, University of California
A Rapid Sanskrit Method
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1989
From the Preface of this book:
“It [sanskrita]is, like Chinese, Arabic,
Greek and Latin, one of the few languages
which has been a carrier of a culture over a
long period of time.
Thus, the variety of writings in it, and the
quantity of those writings are staggering.
An incomplete list of subjects treated in
Sanskrit, usually with great prolixity, is as
follows:
• The four Vedas
• The Brahmanas and Aranyakas
• The Upanisads
• Grammar
• Epic, puranic, literature - Including 18
major puranas, 18 minor puranas, and
hundred of sthalapuranas.
• Works on Medicine
• Logic
• Astronomy & Astrology
• Mathematics
• Lawbooks
• Architecture
• Music…
On most of these subjects, there is an im-
mense literature still extant. Indeed, a rough
estimate of the works which will be listed
in The New Catalogus Catalogorum yields
a total of about 160,000 works… many so
difficult that it would take years of study to
properly understand them.…Sanskrit does
have its share of great writers: Kalidasa ranks
with the greatest poets, Panini is without
question the greatest pre-modern grammar-
ian, the Mahabharata ranks with the Iliad
and the Odyssey, and the Bhagavata-purana
is among the finest works of devotion every
written, being equaled in my opinion only
by other works in Indian languages.”
Of course, the Britannica article is a good place
to start if you have no experience with India phi-
losophy and mysticism (which I doubt): https://
www.britannica.com/topic/Indian-philosophy.
Then if you have a little preliminary faith and
can accept our advice we would recommend
our own tradition of Bengali or Chaitanya Vais-
7
navism. It is centered around the above men-
tioned Bhagavata-purana and is based in tra-
dition upon Srila Rupa Goswami’s 16th century
Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu of which Professor Da-
vid Haberman, Indiana University, has pro-
duced an excellent translation. The Introduc-
tion to his translation is worth a million dollars,
tracing the entire tradition from Bharata Muni,
before Christ, on up to even modern times. At
Amazon.com it clocks in at around $101 but
maybe you can find it in your research library of
even try to contact us. It is 752-pages so if you
want a simpler path we would suggest:
• Light of the Bhagavata.
• The Nectar of Instruction,
• The Teachings of Lord Caitanya.
These are all online at www.vedabase.com and
can be purchased in hard-copy at www.Krishna.
com .
Are you interested in crossing the Bridge to buy
and sell? Are you interested in waking up.
An Englishman saw three people doing
the same thing. He asked the first one:
“What are doing?”
The fellow answered, “Can’t you see, you
damn fool! I’m laying bricks. Leave me
alone”.
“Sorry, please forgive me.”
Then he asked the second man, who was
doing the same thing:
“What are you doing?”
The man paused and replied, “I’m making
money, take care of my family”.
English man thanked him and asked the
third Johnny, “I say old chap, what are you
doing?”, and the man looked up and said,
“Oh, it’s very interesting. Today we are
putting up the wall that goes behind the al-
tar, and after a couple of days when it is set,
the marble masons will come and hang the
marble. My children are very small now,
but when they are bigger I will bring them
here and show them how I helped to build
this great Cathedral!”
The whole system of education is geared to sense grati-
fication, and if a learned man thinks it over, he sees that
the children of this age are being intentionally sent to the
slaughterhouses of so-called education. Learned men, the-
refore, must be cautious of this age, and if they at all want
to cross over the dangerous ocean of Kali, they must follow
the footsteps of the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya and accept Śrī
Sūta Gosvāmī or his bona fide representative as the captain
of the ship. The ship is the message of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the
shape of Bhagavad-gītā or the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
(S.B. 1.1.22)

8
 BHAGAVATAM FOR TEENS: BRIDGING THE
GAP FOR THE SECOND GENERATION
By Gopika Kanta Dasi* (Gopika Sharma)

“ I asked my dad why Srimad Bhagavatam

was the ultimate authority of existence,” she
relayed. “What did he say?” I asked curiously.
“Nothing” she snapped back, “He had no an-
swer . . . like we have to follow it. That’s all.” With
a slight roll of her eyes, she quickly changed the
conversation.
Although this was a seemingly insignificant con-
versation between child and parent, it impacted
me. This second generation youth was fluent in
the philosophy, customs, and rituals of Krish-
na Consciousness. Yet, although she was born
into the movement, it seemed that she had not
bought into it for herself. Could you blame her?
As a trained critical thinker, she sought person-
al evidence as to why she should deeply believe
in Krishna Conscious convictions we often take
for granted. Her quest seemed blocked.
As a second generation educator of adolescents
myself, this incident fueled an internal desire
to change this phenomenon. Adolescence is a
monumental period of growth in human devel-
opment. During this time, our youth develop
the ability to think critically, choose their values
and crystallize their personal identities. As edu-
cators, we can either ignore their unique devel-
opmental period or we can leverage it by creat-
ing a space to analyze sastra in complex ways.
Knowing this, I embarked on a journey of dis-
covery: How can we do our part as educators to
help our youth experience Krishna Conscious-
ness in a way that allows them to become con-
vinced of its power? I personally believe that sas-
tric education for adolescents should prioritize
personal application and complex real-world
analysis. If adolescents are able to see sastra as
nuanced, it feels more authentic, because the
real world is complex.
How can Srimad Bhagavatam become real for
our second generation students? One way is by
making the pastime come alive for ourselves.
For example, when teaching the story of Daksha,
I considered where envy had shown up in my
own life. I reflected on a time where I felt envy
for another devotee in my life and how difficult
it was to manage that emotion. I also introspect-
ed on how I overcame that envy by admitting
my feelings honestly to this devotee. Sharing my
own struggle with my students helped to create
a safe space for them to reflect on where envy
had shown up in their lives. We cannot expect
adolescents to internalize Krishna Conscious-
ness in an authentic way if we cannot model its
personal and genuine application ourselves.
Along with reflection on the intersection be-
tween Srimad Bhagavatam and our own lives

* Gopika-kanta dasi is a second generation devotee passionate about spiritual education for youth, particularly adoles-
cents. After graduating with a double degree in biology and psychology, Gopika pursued a career in education. She
taught in a high needs school for two years after which she graduated from Columbia University with a Masters in
Curriculum and Teaching. She currently teaches AP Psychology in a public high school. Gopika helps to facilitate the
Sunday School and youth programs in New Jersey. She, along with her husband Aksh, strive to make Bhakti education
relevant and engaging for youth.

9

as educators, another powerful practice is ex-
periential learning. For example, when teaching
the story of Pariksit Maharaja, I deceptively told
students that the temple management canceled
their monthly cooking classes. They immedi-
ately expressed anger and sadness. Only after
students experienced a personal loss, although
simply a ploy, were they ready to discuss the
complexity of how we could practically follow
in the footsteps of Pariksit Maharaja when we
experience loss in life. The real time experience
led to a genuine discussion which made learn-
ing both authentic and memorable.
Students can also grapple with complexity and
authenticity through role playing. For example,
when teaching the lesson of detachment and
distractions in the story of Bharat Maharaja,
we asked students to create a skit that showed
alternate strategies that Bharat Maharaja could
utilize to protect his spiritual practice. Students
came up with a variety of alternate scenarios.
They suggested that Bharat Maharaja limit how
much he cared for the deer or else nurse the
deer back to health and let it go. After analyzing
Bharat Maharaja’s situation, the youth more eas-
ily analyzed how they could apply detachment
in their own lives.
10
Finally, challenging students to articulate per-
sonal stories that embody sastric lessons provide
a realness to bhakti that is often missed. When
studying the story of Bharat Maharaja, students
shared how his attachment to the deer related to
their own personal attachments to body image
and popularity. When discussing the story of
Jaya and Vijaya, students relayed a time in life
where they too made assumptions about other
devotees based on their external appearance, just
like Jaya and Vijaya made assumptions about the
four Kumaras. When learning about the story of
Mohini Murti, students connected Vishnu’s sav-
ing the demigods to a time in their own life when
they attempted to do a service project, encoun-
tering numerous obstacles along the way, but
persevered to success. Channeling our students’
critical thinking and reflection abilities create
high levels of engagement with, and faith in, sas-
tra. Our students live in a world of gray. There-
fore, if sastra is presented as black and white and
a series of straightforward aphorisms, it feels less
real than when we help students personally un-
pack the depth and complexity that sastra offers.
We believe in the words of Srimad Bhagavatam
and desperately want our youth to do the same.
But we often get so caught up in our daily prac-
tices that we forget to thoughtfully articulate the
philosophy in a way that makes sense for our
second generation youth. Our youth know the
verses, the beliefs, pastimes and practices pre-
sented in Srimad Bhagavatam. However, they
do not often understand why we do what we
do or believe what we believe. This merely fuels
their apathy and disinterest.
Adolescence provides the perfect ingredients
for faith and appreciation of Krishna Con-
sciousness. Our youth are bright thinkers, crit-
ically engaged, self-reflective, and seeking real
reasons as to why they should choose Krishna
Consciousness. Srimad Bhagavatam brims with
personal relevance and philosophical depth, and
it contains all that our youth seek. All that’s left
for us to do, as educators, is to bridge the gap.
 THE DEEP GAZE
Gandharva Dasa*

M y relationship with art is old and intimate.

I grew up in a home where music, theater,
and sculpture, plastic arts, occupied my parents’
time and interest. They found in these expres-
sions the subjective sense they longed for in
their lives. After time, that interest became mine
too. I started teaching at universities and high-
er education institutes, thanks to a combination
of chance and need. Now 25 years have passed
since I started my teaching career, and the mo-
tivations that initially led me to this profession
have become not only my main activity but also
the intellectual and humanistic purpose of my
life. My interest in teaching the arts arises from
the understanding that behind the world of ar-
tistic objects, there is a person, an executor, with
intelligence and sensitivity. Being part of the
creative process of my students has contributed
to my own understanding of the world. With the
intention of producing unique objects, the artist
independently observes reality, sandwiched be-
tween his subjective perception, his knowledge
and experiences, and the influence of the cultur-
al environment, in the form of time, place, and
circumstance.
Photography explores the relationship between
images and ideas, serving as an instrument of
individual and collective identity. Photography
investigates the reality that underlies the world
that it records. Since photography became ac-
cepted as a tool for image creation (and not
only a means of capturing visible reality), a wide
spectrum of photographers seem to be no lon-
ger interested in the apprehension of reality, but
in what it represents. Beyond the iconic surface
that reveals the photographic image, in which
things seem to be what they appear, the photog-
rapher looks for the symbol in the object and
the archetype in the portrait.
Teaching young people to recreate the world
from its apparent nature, and then turning
those findings into photographic projects, has
been the foundation of my work. The liberal
arts are an effective way to confront reality and
the complex natures that underlie it. Students
are taught to think and observe critically, ques-
tioning the stable position of certain concepts
through observation, theoretical knowledge,
previous experience and subjective intuition.
In this regard, John Berger, the famous British
art critic, says: “We never look at just one thing;
we are always looking at the relation between
things and ourselves. Our vision is continually
active, continually moving, continually hold-
ing things in a circle around itself, constituting
what is present to us as we are.”1 Therefore, it is
about knowing reality, not by decomposition,
but by interrelation. An image is appearance
subtracted from the time and space in which it
first arose. Functional perception, limited to the

* Gandharva dasa is a disciple of HH Hanumatpresaka Swami. He is a visual artist, professor and researcher of visual
communication at San Ignacio de Loyola Institute, Centro de la Imagen Institute of Photography and the School of
Architecture at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) in Peru since 1996. He is currently preparing
two art exhibitions, one of them about the landscape as collective construction and social symbol, and the other about
the relationship between art, memory and archive. He also serves as the representative of the Ministry of Education of
ISKCON in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

1 John Berger, Ways of seeing. 1st Edition. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books 1972 p. 10

11
recording of the visible, does not connect with
this significant appearance, keeping us confined
in the world of the known and the supposed. On
the other hand, aesthetic perception takes criti-
cal distance from the simply operative, allowing
us to observe the facts and objects of the world
as if we saw them for the first time, letting us to
decide independently. In that sense, education
in the field of photography and the arts empow-
ers the student to develop this perception, sup-
ported by the plasticity of criteria that this per-
spective allows. These questions can lead to the
formulation of new questions that lead them, in
turn, to a certain philosophical threshold. After
all, how we act is determined, in large part, by
the type of questions we ask ourselves.
Spiritual education has as its basic and initial
premise the distinction of the sacred from the
profane and the identification of the individual
with his transcendental nature. From that cer-
PROJECT REPORTS
Bhaktivedanta College, Belgium
A t the beginning of the 21st century, a
long-cherished vision for teaching Vaish-
nava theology on the level of higher education
found its fulfilment amidst the sloping hills of
the Belgian Ardennes. In 2002, a team of long-
term Bhakti-yoga practitioners and scholars
founded Bhaktivedanta College and launched
a non-accredited certificate in Vaishnava Stud-
* Ana Knez (Anupama dasi) is the Principal of the Bhaktivedanta College. She is also the Programme Leader and a
member of the Board of Trustees. She holds an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Zagreb, a B.A in Phi-
losophy and Religious Studies from University of Zagreb and a B.A. in Theology from University of Wales Trinity Saint
David. Ana oversees curriculum development and teaches a number of courses.
12
tainty, the legitimate identity of the individual
is constructed. That first step is fundamental
for the progressive elevation of consciousness.
Without the proper reformulation of our par-
adigms, personal realization is not possible. In
that sense, both attitudes (spiritual and artistic)
are similar in the act of contemplating, under-
stood as the resonance between both worlds, ex-
ternal and internal. In the Bhagavad-gita, Krish-
na instructs Arjuna by asking him to observe the
facts beyond external forms, above conventions,
and in the search for higher truths. Consequent-
ly, Arjuna acts with a different perception of the
world, resulting in equally different actions. The
considerations of art as one of the highest hu-
man activities does not depend exclusively on
the search for aesthetic ideals, translatable into
precious objects. The arts are related to spiritual-
ity in the common interest of seeing beyond the
obvious and, above all, in the need to transform
it, or reveal its true nature and its hidden value.
by Anupama Dasi* (Ana Knez)
ies. As early as 2003, a UK university accredit-
ed the three-year academic course, a Bachelor
of Theology degree in ‘Vaishnava Studies’ – the
first ever in the English-speaking world.
Aiming to make education even more accessible,
Bhaktivedanta College launched online courses
in 2012. Our virtual classrooms are filled with

students who, despite their busy schedules,
make time for systematic education. Our online
campus offers a variety of courses, from the in-
troductory modules like Bhakti Yoga for Begin-
ners to advanced courses like Bhakti Sastri and
Bhaktivaibhava.
Currently, our campus education is focused on
Bhakti Sastri Plus, Kirtan, and the Yoga Teach-
er training course. The Bhakti Sastri Plus course
takes a personal approach to learning, encourag-
ing students to not only memorize and under-
stand the content of Srila Prabhupada’s books
(knowledge) but to assimilate the philosophy
(values) and practically apply it (skills). While
remaining true to ISKCON’s heritage, the course
explores application and dissemination of sas-
tric knowledge in the context of contemporary
society. The Plus component provides a broad-
er Vaishnava context for the Bhakti Sastri books
(e.g. a series of lectures on the Upanishads, Ma-
habharata, Rupa Goswami, etc. delivered by dev-
otee scholars from the Oxford Centre for Hin-
du Studies), courses for personal development
and fostering one’s sadhana (such as Psychology
for Transcendence and Madhurya Kadambini),
as well as lectures on interfaith and some ISK-
CON hot button issues. The Plus component
aims to support and nourish the development of
a sara-grahi (essence seeker) attitude.
Amidst the variety of yoga and kirtan styles
available on the market, our Yoga Teacher Train-
ing courses provides a substantially different ap-
proach, which is highly appreciated by our stu-
dents. To foster and promote the understanding
that yoga is much more than purely postural
exercise, our Yoga Alliance certified Teacher
13
Training Course is fortified with a 6-week on-
line Yoga philosophy course.
Both the kirtan and yoga courses attract students
from various religious/spiritual backgrounds,
and their presence further enhances the class
dynamics and overall course experiences. The
Kirtan Course prepares students for a genuine
kirtan experience, giving them the opportuni-
ty to enrich themselves in their chanting and to
share their experience with others.
Keeping in mind Srila Prabhupada’s dictum that
“we must know the present need of human soci-
ety,” the College is continuing to develop educa-
tion that provides an alternative to what is being
offered by mainstream institutions. By com-
bining the latest management knowledge with
ancient wisdom, our Alfred Ford School of
Management (https://aford.be) aims to devel-
op globally minded ethical leaders. The Alfred
Ford School MBA degree is focused on meet-
ing the challenges of the contemporary business
environment (e.g. globalization, the increasing
pace of change, and growing competition). The
program is tailored to meet the needs of aspiring
executives and emphasizes the responsibility of
leaders to not only care about the maximization
of corporate value but to safeguard standards of
moral and ethical conduct.
Currently, Bhaktivedanta College is working
on developing an MA degree in Yoga Studies.
This degree will combine theoretical studies
in the classic and modern worldview of yoga
with a residential course modified to meet the
needs of contemporary practitioners. Despite
the vastness of the Yoga market, our project is
ground-breaking because of its uniqueness in
presenting the Yoga philosophy from the Vaish-
nava perspective.
In line with our name, our heritage, and mis-
sion, Bhaktivedanta College aims to increase the
number of educational programs that nurture
students’ devotional, academic and vocational
potential for the welfare of all – those who study
with us and those who will be in contact with our
graduates.
 CENTRO STUDI BHAKTIVEDANTA, ITALY
By Balaradhya dasi* and Anantadeva dasa

C entro Studi Bhaktivedanta (CSB) is recog-

nized in Italy as a Non-Profit Cultural As-
sociation for Social Promotion. It is also recog-
nized and affiliated with Unieda (Italian Adult
Education Union) as a “Popular University of
Indo-Vedic Studies.” CSB was founded by Mat-
sya Avatara dasa (ACBSP) in 1995. Our Cam-
pus is based in Ponsacco (Pisa, Tuscany), from
where we offer core programs by online edu-
cation in “Traditional Sciences of India”. These
go throughout Italy and abroad. We also offer
onsite courses in counseling, Yoga teacher train-
ing, Vegetarian and Ayurvedic cooking. Such
programs are a distinctive example of higher
education based on ancient Indian culture, a
bridge between Indo-Vedic teachings and mod-
ern studies in sociology, psychology, anthropol-
ogy and philosophy.
We are committed to academic research, study,
and conservation of Indo-Vedic ancient scrip-
tures, including the literary, philosophical and
spiritual sources of this culture. The activities
of Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta are many-fold:
publication of translations and commentaries,
onsite and online courses (in English, Italian,
and Spanish), seminars, and lectures. Over the
past 25 years, we have recorded more than 8,000
hours of audio and video production, published
75 books, conducted more than 3.000 training

* Barbara Frigerio serves as Coordinator of International Relations and Activities at Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta. She
has completed a 3-year course in counseling, as well as a 4-Year Training Program as a Business Interpreter and Trans-
lator. She has 25-years of experience as Export Manager and she is certified as a Bhakti Yoga Teacher in compliance
with UNI 11661 Norm. She continues to deepen her knowledge of Yoga Psychology at CSB.

14
events, and participated in international confer-
ences, exhibitions, and public events. The aim is
to build a bridge of communication, a dialogue,
between East and West.
Marco Ferrini (Matsya Avatara dasa), the found-
er and president of CSB, has focused his service
to A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on
teaching primarily through cultural networks,
with the desire to bring bhakti into major Ital-
ian institutions (universities, hospitals, trade
associations). CSB has developed a language of
bhakti that allows it to reach an interested au-
dience that is otherwise not prepared to under-
take a confessional approach. Through higher
education, we focus on spreading universal wis-
dom and values, to help people to gain a deeper
knowledge of themselves, improve themselves,
and find solutions to existential, interpersonal,
and professional problems.
For the last twenty years, Centro Studi Bhaktive-
danta has organized four intensive, week-long
residential seminars per year, each attended by
approximately 150 participants. We explore Sri-
la Prabhupada’s most important works and oth-
er sastras, such as Upanisads and Mahabhara-
ta. During these full-immersion events, people
15
get to experience and appreciate first-hand the
main benefits of sadhana-bhakti by taking part
in mangala-arati, guru-puja, japa, bhajan and
kirtan, Deity worship, eating prasada (sanctified
food), and so on.
The Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta organizes flex-
ible courses to make them accessible to all, re-
gardless of age and cultural background. Topics
include harmonizing relationships, managing
emotions, processing the idea of death, and
awakening one’s talents. The courses strive to
build strong relationships between students and
teachers, with the latter attempting to live what
they teach.
Andrea Boni has served as Dean  of Stud-
ies at Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta since 2010.
He coordinates  the courses in  Tradition-
al Indovedic Sciences as well as the School of
Counseling. He graduated in Electronic Engi-
neering and pursued a PhD in Electronic Engi-
neering and Computer Science at the  Depart-
ment of Biophysical and Electronic Engineering,
University of Genoa, Italy. In 2005, he received
a PhD In Indovedic Psychology from Centro
Studi Bhaktivedanta. 
 BHAKTIVEDANTA INSTITUTE
FOR HIGHER STUDIES, USA
Dr. Jonathan Banks* (Pracarananda Dasa)

principles, and, by exposing the limitations of

empiricism, inoculate the masses against mate-
rialism and Godlessness. These goals were insti-
tutionalized with the founding of the Bhaktive-
danta Institute in 1976, which subsequently has
grown into a global confederation of scientists,
philosophers, and associated researchers. With
the aim of creating fruitful sanga among this
now widespread community, The Bhaktivedan-
ta Institute for Higher Studies in Gainesville,
Florida, USA recently hosted a 3-Day confer-
ence at the historic Thomas Center in down-
town Gainesville.
The conference brought together over 100 Vais-
nava scholars, theologians and scientists from
over 20 countries, as well as several prominent
secular scholars in the field of consciousness
studies. On the opening night of the confer-
ence, the keynote address, given by Stuart Ham-

T hroughout his life, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swa-
mi Prabhupada expressed an abiding desire
to engage with the scientific community. He
sought both to establish the veracity of Krishna
Consciousness on the basis of modern scientific
eroff (M.D.; University of Arizona), had an
over-capacity attendance of nearly 400 people.
The next day was filled with a variety of talks
geared towards the general public. Topics in-
cluded mathematical models of the gunas, Deep

* Dr. Jonathan Banks (Pracaranada dasa) is a geo-scientist, educator, aspiring bhakta, and fledgling Okinawan martial
artist.  After spending most of his 20s distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, Jonathan returned to college where he
received a B.A. and an M.S.T (Master’s of Science Teaching) from the Department of Geological Sciences at the Uni-
versity of Florida.  During this time, he was also the President of the university’s Bhakti Yoga Club and a member of
the Krishna House of Gainesville’s Board of Directors.  Subsequently, he went on to receive a Doctorate in Natural
Sciences (Dr. rer nat) from the Freie Universität Berlin in Berlin, Germany. His doctoral research involved field work,
laboratory experiments and numerical modelling of the thermodynamics, hydrogeology, and geochemistry of fluid/
rock interactions in geothermal systems.  Jonathan is currently employed as the Director of Geothermal Energy Re-
search at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. In 2019, he accepted the service of Director of Operations
for the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies in Gainesville, FL.  

16
Time in modern geology and the Puranas, the
correlation between material science and Ve-
dic concepts of sound vibrations, the origins
of transcendental experience, and more. Talks
that were especially well received by the attend-
ees (based on feedback forms) included Radhi-
ka Raman Prabhu’s (Dr. Ravi Gupta, Utah State
University) presentation on Jiva Goswami’s
engagement with scientific thought and Hr-
dayananda Goswami’s (Dr. Howard Resnick)
discussion on the physic and metaphysics of
empiricism.
The third day of the conference was focused
more on the internal Vaisnava community. A
series of workshops were held throughout the
day. Topics of the workshops included ecol-
ogy, science education in ISKCON, Puranic
Cosmology, and the ‘Atma Paradigm’ of life
and consciousness. At the end of the day, a
forum was held, hosted by Drutakarma and
Ramesvara Prabhus, on the design and con-
struction of the Temple of the Vedic Plane-
17
tarium’s (ToVP) museum exhibits. In this
session, it became clear the that ToVP and the
Bhaktivedanta Institute should collaborate to
ensure that museum exhibits accurately pres-
ent modern scientific thought, while remain-
ing faithful to Gaudiya Vaisnava-siddhanta
(conclusions).
An informal gathering was held at Brahma
Tirtha Prabhu’s house the day after the confer-
ence. Over 70 people attended. Future activities
of the Bhaktivedanta Institute were discussed,
and many of the attendees agreed to assist the
institute’s mission with their own work and re-
search. A major outcome of this meeting was
the strategic plan to host a series of smaller,
topical workshops throughout the coming 12 –
18 months. Topics of these workshops include
evolution, cosmology, consciousness and ecol-
ogy. Through August, 2019, we have facilitated
(with help from the ToVP) two conferences on
evolution. We are currently planning a cosmol-
ogy conference for Fall 2019.
 ISKCON MINISTRY FOR COW
PROTECTION AND AGRICULTURE
Report on Farm Conference in Ecuador 
By Paramatma Dasa*

O n June 17 – 19, 2019, ISKCON’s Minis-

try for Cow Protection and Agriculture
(IMCPA), in collaboration with the Latin Re-
gional Governing Body, held a three-day Ag-
ricultural Conference at ISKCON’s New May-
apur rural farm in Ayampe, Ecuador.  dency for nature to rehabilitate land, taking it
Presenters at the conference were Kalakantha Pra-
bhu (Minister of IMCPA), Thiago Barbosa (Syn-
thropic Organic Farming Specialist) from Aus-
tralia, and Paramatma das (who cultivates and
subsists solely on his four-acre farm in Guyana).
Presentations and workshops held over the
three days covered the following areas:
* Syntropic Farming, theory and practices—
How growing vegetables organically using
syntropic methods is healthy and fun, and
maintains the fertility of the land, preventing
it from degenerating, as happens with mod-
ern commercial agriculture.
* Importance of biomass in organic farming.
* Agriculture and living in the mode of good-
ness.
* How in a small yard one can grow all their
vegetables.
* The One Meter/Day initiative.
* How a well-managed farm can sustain a family.
Syntropic farming represents a major paradigm
shift from conventional farming, even typi-
cal  organic farming. It is the method of agricul-
ture whose strength comes from aligning with
the power of natural succession, that is, the ten-
from barren to fertile  and densely vegetated.  
With this perspective in mind, the farm is seen
as a unified, intelligent, living system. In the nat-
ural setting there are always complex interac-
tions occurring between the plants and animals,
including microbes. Every living being serves an
important purpose in the process.
The devotee farmer is certainly convinced about
these cooperative relationships in the natural
setting (Bhagavad-Gita 9:10 - Material nature is
one of God’s energies, working under His direc-
tion). In this way, the farm develops into a strong,
healthy, living system, and all forms of vegetation,
even those which do not produce any usable crops,
contribute positively to the   farm. In Syntropic
farming both the target vegetation and biomass
are important, as they complement each other.
Syntropic farming relies on intelligent, biodi-
verse and dense planting schemes. If biomass is
allowed to degenerate naturally, with air, water,
sunshine, etc., they will gradually add all the

* Paramatma Dasa was introduced to Krsna Consciousness in 1976, and he assisted in pioneering ISKCON in Guyana,
serving in many capacities. He currently functions as head of the Ministry of Education, Communication, Agriculture,
and Cow Protection in Guyana. He is also Zonal Supervisor for Suriname and a member of the Latin Regional Govern-
ing Body, serving as Secretary on Executive Committee. He cultivates a 4-acre family farm, upon which he depends as
a source of livelihood and sustenance.

18
necessary nutrients and trace minerals that our 2. Maximize photosynthesis.
crops require for healthy growth. This method 3. Encourage natural succession—growing
has the potential to gradually rehabilitate de- plants at different stages.
graded “dead” land or make existing farmland 4. Promote stratification, i.e., layers in the system,
more fertile. which helps keep water and cycle nutrients.
5. Manage the entire system properly.
Part of the conference focused on the “one
square meter a day initiative,” whereby everyone The Benefits of Syntropic Farming were re-
engaged in preparing a plot of land 1.5 x 20 me- viewed:
ters, applying all the aforementioned theories—
1. Crop yields are large.
using mulch and bio degradable materials in the
2. Income is steady, increasing over the years as
soil, and then planting varieties of crops like ba-
trees start to mature. 
nanas, corn, fruit trees, etc. 
3. Land space is optimized by the technique of
One square meter daily is manageable, takes an inter-cropping. 
average of one hour to manage, and then at the 4. Costs are minimized. 
end of the week we have seven square meters. In 5. Soil quality improves.
this way, in time, the farm expands and we get 6. Farm is less reliant on frequent rainfall be-
all our required vegetables, fruits, and more. cause of improved water retention. 
7. Pleasant work environment.
Five principles of successful syntrophic farm- 8. Less weeding.
ing were discussed: 9. Improved plant health. 
1. Keep the ground covered (with mulch or bio- A demonstration showed how it is practical for
mass), because bare soil drains energy. Trees one family to cultivate the land and be sustained
and weeds keep nutrients in the soil. from the farm produce alone.

19
 VEDABASE.IO
D ear Viplavah reader, allow me to in-
troduce you to a research tool you
may find useful. Vedabase.io website is a
free online multilingual library of publi-
cations of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
There you can read some of the finest Indian
classics in nineteen languages. In the English
language there are also more than 3,500 audio
recordings with transcripts and over 6,500 let-
ters of correspondence by His Divine Grace
Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The whole library contains an excellent search
engine which allows you to use various features
like facets, wildcards, Boolean operators, prox-
imity search, and more.
During the last 30 days we have had:
- 84,700 unique users
- 285,000 visits
- 1,455,000 page views (45% more than Sep-
tember last year)
There are 41% more people using the site in
comparison to same period of the last year.
20
Prahlada-nrsmha Das (Petr Vacha)
For the whole existence of the project we have
served over 65 million page views and people
have spent over 100 years of reading there.
Right now we are working on a multiplatform
(iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux) offline
reader where everybody will be able to build
their own libraries and distribute/exchange
them with the world.
There are various ways how you can help the
project:
• Use the website (it is free and accessible from
everywhere at https://vedabase.io).
• Report if you face any bugs or issues with the
site.
• Give suggestions of what features you would
like to see.
• Help with importing of the texts, timecoding
lectures, etc.
• Financially support development.
• Volunteer skilled and unskilled labor.
 Book Announcements
Forthcoming Book

COW CARE IN HINDU ANIMAL ETHICS

Krishna Kshetra Swami (Dr. Kenneth R. Valpey).

Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics aims to bring

A book on cow care, or “cow protection,” is
soon to be published by the academic pub-
lisher, Palgrave Macmillan, in its Animal Ethics
book series -- https://www.palgrave.com/gp/se-
ries/14421. This has been my primary research
and writing project for the last two-plus years.
The book is now in the production process, and it
will be soon be available free for download on the
publisher’s website. Furthermore, printed copies
will be available for purchase at subsidized rates.
discussion of the challenges and opportunities
of cow care to an educated readership—both en-
gaged academics and a wider public. At present,
the idea of caring for cows for life, rather than
killing them for meat and leather (a fate met
sooner or later by practically all dairy cows as
well as all bovines bred for meat), is almost en-
tirely unknown in the West. In India, where the
practice of cow care is widely known and prac-
ticed, there are complex historical and political
conditions that have largely eclipsed the tradi-
tion of cow care, raising the question of how this
trend might be reversed.
The book’s first chapter examines India’s rich lit-
erary tradition of celebrating what I call “bovini-
ty” (bovine divinity) through hymns, narratives,
poetry and injunctive texts, such as Dharmaśās-
tra. In Chapter 2 I examine the development of
controversy and conflict in India, from the late
nineteenth century to the present day, over the
increasing killing of cows by non-Hindus, par-
alleled by a controversy among scholars over
the practice—or lack of practice—of ritual an-
imal sacrifice in ancient times and the rise of
ahimsa as an ideology sparing animals in gen-
eral from such practices. In the third chapter
I focus on present cow care practices in India,

Krishna Kshetra Swami (Dr. Kenneth R. Valpey), a disciple of Srila Prabhupada since 1972, completed his PhD in 2004 at
the University of Oxford with a dissertation on Vaishnava-arcana practice and theology, available as Attending Krishna’s
Image: Caitanya Vaishnava Murti-seva as Devotional Truth, from Bhaktivedanta Library Service, Radhadesh: https://bls-
ervices.com/product/attending-krsnas-image/. Since 2007 he is a research fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies,
and since 2015 he is also a research fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.

21
especially in goshalas (cow sanctuaries), several
of which I visited in north India and conducted
interviews with caretakers, managers, and activ-
ists. Then, with Chapter 4, I shift into a more
analytical mode, to consider more broadly how
Indic ethical thought--as articulated in terms of
dharma, yoga, and bhakti--may be brought to
bear on contemporary Western animal ethics
discourse (especially animal welfare and animal
rights theories). My main focus here is to show
how Bhakti, as a cultivation of care for all crea-
tures, can complement the currently developing
branch of Western ethical thought called the
“ethics of care”. I also address the issue raised by
vegans regarding use or non-use of cows’ milk
by humans.
In the fifth and final chapter, returning to the
focus on cows, I ask the question how a posi-
tive future for cows might look. Here I offer
brief portraits of two ISKCON projects, framing
them as “anticipatory communities,” namely,
Sridham Mayapur in India, and New Vraja Dha-
ma in Hungary. I also include a subsection titled
“Cow Care in Three Modes” which concludes
with a series of six “affirmations” that serve to
sketch cow care in sattva-guna.
As an academic publisher, Palgrave Macmil-
lan, normally prints a relatively small number
of copies for any given title, aiming mainly for
the university library market that is willing to
pay the rather high prices for such books. For-
tunately, this publisher also has an Open Access
option, by which a book can be made available
in electronic format for free, legal download for
one and all. Thanks to the generosity of many
devotees, I have been able to raise the neces-
sary funds to make the book available for free
download, along with the regular printed ver-
sion. Interested persons can check the Palgrave
Macmillan website for availability later this year.

Selected Bibliography
Recent books on Caitanya Vaisnava Themes Released by Academic Publishers
• Frazier, Jessica. 2009. Reality, Religion, and Passion: Indian and Western Approach-
es in Hans-Georg Gadamer and Rupa Gosvami. Lexington Books.
• Gupta, Ravi M., ed. 2014. Caitanya Vaisnava Philosophy: Tradition, Reason, and
Devotion. Ashgate.
• Haberman, David L. 2006. River of Love in an Age of Pollution: The Yamuna River
of Northern India. University of California Press.
• Lutjeharms, Rembert. 2018. A Vaisnava Poet in Early Modern Bengal: Kavikarna-
pura’s Splendour of Speech. Oxford University Press.
• O’Connell, Joseph T. 2018. Caitanya Vaisnavism in Bengal: Social Impact and His-
torical Implications. Routledge Press.
• Rosen, Steven J. 2019. Sri Chaitanya’s Life and Teachings: The Golden Avatara of
Divine Love. Lexington Books.

22
 CALENDAR
OF EVENTS

October 15th – 30th - Education and the Sacred, Lima, Peru, North American Institute for
Oriental and Classical Studies and San Marcos University. www.NiosNimbus.org .
Jan 17-20th 2020 - Bhaktivedanta Medical Association 6th Annual Conference, ISKCON
Houston, Texas. Please visit https://www.facebook.com/ISKCONBMA/ for updates.
Feb 7-11th 2020 – MOE Annual Meeting Mayapura, Tentative Date pending much planning.

NEXT ISSUE

In our next issue (December 2019), we will discuss Education and Sankirtan. Srila Prabhu-
pada established this movement as an educational institution, where we teach how to lead a
Krishna Conscious way of life, not just limiting Krishna Consciousness to a portion of our
daily routine.
Caitanya Caritamrta, Adi 9.42:
etāvaj janma-sāphalyaṁ
dehinām iha dehiṣu
prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā
śreya-ācaraṇaṁ sadā
‘It is the duty of every living being to perform welfare activities for the benefit of others
with his life, wealth, intelligence and words.’
In the purport Srila Prabhupada writes “There are two kinds of general activities — śreyas, or
activities which are ultimately beneficial and auspicious, and preyas, or those which are im-
mediately beneficial and auspicious … In this verse it is said that one should be interested in
śreyas. To achieve the ultimate goal of śreyas, or good fortune, one should engage everything,
including his life, wealth and words, not only for himself but for others also. However, unless
one is interested in śreyas in his own life, he cannot preach of śreyas for the benefit of others”.
There are various educational initiatives within ISKCON - Sunday schools, Sastric education,
Tertiary education, etc. – that are established to take us towards “śreyas”. These initiatives are
also Sankirtan. As Srila Prabhupada calls book distribution the brhad mrdanga, our family
business, so education is our family duty.
In our next issue we will look at a few education projects from around the world and discuss
how these are spreading our Sankirtan movement and training enthusiastic Sankirtan devo-
tees. Stay tuned.

23
24