Dear devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada & Srila Acharyadeva.
I hope this email finds everyone deeply inspired after a joyful Kartik celebration. In addition to announcing our new campaign for expanding and improving Acharyadeva’s online media, I wanted to take the opportunity to give a general update in regards to Acharyadeva’s whereabouts and activities.
In the spirit of the annual December sankirtan marathon, we are organizing a fundraising campaign for Acharyadeva’s online media ministry. As you know, hdgoswami.com has been down for maintenance since late October. Our delay in rebuilding the site has been a combination of lack of resources and time. At the request of Acharyadeva, we have secured a contract with a professional website designer to ensure the highest quality and security for the new site. In addition to rebuilding a new and improved hdgoswami.com, we would like to develop two additional websites. More details to follow.
While the rebuilding of hdgoswami.com has been delayed, other online projects have steadily moved forward. Recognizing the importance and utmost value of the existing Q&A blog, several devotees stepped forward with the desire to translate the blog into their respective languages. Our gratitude goes out to Pralambaha das, who developed and now maintains the Polish Q&A blog, and Bhaktin Mariana, who developed and now maintains the Portuguese Q&A blog. It is our hope that other devotees will step forward so that by the end of 2013, we will have Acharyadeva’s Q&A blog translated into some ten languages! Links to each blog can be found here:
English- http://askacharyadeva.wordpress.com/
Polish- http://askacharyadevaportugues.wordpress.com/
Portuguese- http://askacharyadevaportugues.wordpress.com/
Considering Acharyadeva’s limited ability to travel, meet and correspond with people directly due to time and health constraints, it is crucial for us to assist Acharyadeva in reaching out to Western audiences in the most effective and efficient means available. Thus, we are asking you to make a contribution of any size to assist us in achieving these goals and maximizing his online presence and accessibility. Please visit our online fundraising campaign where you can make an online donation and learn more about the project here.
In regards to Acharyadeva’s activities, following his 40th Sannyasa Anniversary Celebration this past May, Acharyadeva returned to Camarillo, CA where he received several notable godbrothers over the summer, including HH Dhanvantari Swami, HH Rtadhvaja Swami, HG Bhurijana Prabhu, and HG Brahmatirtha Prabhu. During this time, Acharyadeva began translating the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-bhagavatam in an effort to provide a very literal and academic translation that would appeal to intellectual audiences. In September, Acharyadeva completed the Bhagavad-gita translation, which will be published and made available later this spring along with an audio recording of Acharyadeva reciting all 700 verses!
In mid-October, Acharyadeva moved out of his ashram in Camarillo and began a preaching/writing tour while driving across the southern region of the United States. Lectures from several of his stops, including Tuscon, San Antonio, and Houston (with more to be added soon), can be accessed here.
Having recently observed Acharyadeva’s Vyasa Puja this past November, devotees around the world, including Poland, Argentina, and North Carolina, gathered to celebrate this most auspicious occasion. Pictures from these events will be featured on the new website.
I also want to recognize the devotees who spent so much effort compiling this year’s Vyasa Puja offerings. A special thank goes out to this year’s Vyasa Puja team: Govinda Sundara, Mariana Bessa, Shanti Day, and Emily Dietzel! You can download this year’s VP book here.
It is with great sadness, however, that I now report to you the state of Acharyadeva’s health. Unfortunately, during this tour, Acharyadeva has experienced extreme fatigue and exhaustion. Krishna has made it absolutely apparent to Acharyadeva that now is the time to focus exclusively on his writing projects. Despite two scheduled speaking engagements at the Sivananda Bahamas ashram in February and Radhadesh College this March, Acharyadeva has cancelled both due to the severity of his exhaustion. He will no longer be giving any classes (online or publicly), receiving visitors, or answering e-mails (unless there is an emergency situation). That being said, it is very important for us now to gather all that Acharyadeva has gifted us in the form of lectures, essays, conversations, letters, etc., and effectively package it in order to distribute this spiritual knowledge to society at large. Therefore, the expansion of Acharyadeva’s online media ministry is taking on more importance than ever before.
I want to conclude by recognizing several devotees who have been steady team members in our online ministry efforts. First of all, I would like to recognize Brajendra-nandana das who has been editing and posting Acharyadeva’s lectures onto our lecture database for over five years now. Because of his efforts, the world has access to Acharyadeva’s lectures. Thank you so much, Brajendra-nandana! Additional appreciation goes out to Jenya devi dasi, who has taken up the service of compiling Acharyadeva’s Religions of India classes into a two volume compendium. Jenya has organized a staff of dedicated transcribers, who have volunteered to transcribe over 80 lectures in order to complete this project. Thank you Jenya and thank you to the amazing team of transcribers, including Chase Connolly, Jaya Sita dd, Jordanna Rock-Garden, Leese Jameson, Varesha dd, Arka das, Mahattama dd, Ramana Reti dd, Nimisha Desai, Michael Olabode , Anuj Sharma, Lali dd, and Emily Penney. Last but not least, a special thank you to Jaya Sita dd who has taken up the service of documenting Acharyadeva’s life through video. On the campaign site, you can watch part one of her HDG 40th Sannyasa Anniversary tribute video. We are most fortunate to have such dedicated and talented godbrothers and godsisters with us!
Again, we are asking you to assist us in expanding Acharyadeva’s online media ministry. Contributions of any size will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your generosity & Hare Krishna!
Your servant,
Ali Krishna dd
