1. Akshaya Tritiya and Chandan Yatra
  (21st April, 2015 )
 
In this festival the deities are completely covered with sandalwood paste in order to provide them relief from the scorching summer. This festival continues for 21 days. Devotees seek to partake of the overflowing mercy of the Lord by serving to make the sandalwood paste used for the purpose.
Akshaya Tritiya is celebrated with chandan darshan of the deities. Devotees chant more with the prayer to multiply their spiritual enthusiasm.
2. Tulasi Jaladana
  (Begins 15th April, 2015)
 
For a month (beginning from 15th April), a pot is hung above Tulasi, to have drops of water fall onto her. Done with the intention to serve Tulasi Maharani by providing relief in scorching heat with water, a vital asset in the summer season, this offers several transcendental boons.
3. Sita Navami
  (27th April, 2015))
 
The appearance of Sita Devi, the eternal consort of Lord Rama is celebrated with abhishek and feast, accompanied with ecstatic kirtan. This is the only day of the year when one can receive the benign darshan of Sita Devi’s lotus feet.
Q. Do people go to temples out of fear?
   
A. Could be, but then people who are afraid go to watch PK too. Many people who watch movies seek relief from worry, stress, and tension – all fear by other names. If an activity is to be stopped just because it is done out of fear, then watching PK should also be stopped. Uncertainties naturally worry us. Different people deal with this fear in different ways: for example, by drinking, watching movies or going to temples.

Rather than parodying an activity based on its motive, we need to evaluate it based on its utility, that is, based on whether it serves its purpose.

Does watching movies help people deal with their fears? Not really, except that it helps them forget their fears for a few hours.

Does going to temples help people deal with their fears? At the very least, it offers people what a movie offers – relief from fear. The serene, spiritually vibrant atmosphere of the temple brings peace to people’s minds and hearts, thus helping them forget their worries.
   
 
   
  But for the devout going to temples offers so much more. People pray for solutions to their problems and sometimes they do get solutions – not necessarily through a miraculous intervention, but through the arrival in their mind of positive ideas, insights and inspirations. Even if their specific problem is not solved, still the very act of going to the temple and praying often makes them feel reassured. When we share our heart’s anxieties with a loved one, even if that person doesn’t offer any solutions, still the very act of sharing makes us feel lighter, unburdened, strengthened. Similar is the enlivening effect of going to a temple and praying to God. Such enlivenment empowers them to perform better, thereby contributing towards solving the problem.

A famous cricketer believed that placing a red handkerchief in his pocket helped him perform better; a batsman believed that kissing his bat each time before facing the bowler improved his batting. If we don’t lampoon such superstitious idiosyncrasies, then why do we consider it fair game to lampoon something – going to temples – that has offered relief and strength to millions for millennia?
   
Q. Is it cowardice to go to God out of fear?
   
  It is no more cowardice than is a small child’s going to parents out of fear. But just as the child is meant to outgrow the fear, so too are religious people meant to grow up spiritually and outgrow the fear motive for going to God.

There are four broad levels at which people approach God: fear, desire, duty and love.
   
1. Fear: People who are afraid of life’s problems go to God out of fear. Such fear is a good beginning in one’s relationship with God, just as children need to have some healthy fear of their parents. That fear checks their unruliness and fosters discipline in them, thereby preparing them for a bright future career. Similarly fear of God helps instil basic morality in people.
   
2. Desire: When people want things that are difficult for them to get by their own efforts alone, they go to God out of desire accepting him to be a potent desire-fulfiller.
   
3. Duty: Some people understand that God has already given me so much– life, body, health, food, clothing, shelter. So they feel dutybound to go periodically to his temple for thanking him. Here the relationship is based on gratitude. So the relationship is steadier.
   
4. Love: This is the purest level of approaching God, where people understand that God is their supreme object of love and they find the supreme fulfilment in loving and serving him. At this level, we see all living beings as members of the same one family of God. Thus love for God blossoms into love for all living beings.

The purpose of religion is to help people rise from the level of fear to the level of love. To that end, temples should have educational forums where people can learn about this progression and raise themselves accordingly. PK goes about caricaturing temple-goers as fearful ninnies and thereby discourages many people from getting the relief and strength available through temples.
   
Q. Are there two gods: the god who created man and the god whom man created?
   
  Yes, it is true that man has concocted notions of God. But if we were to count such concoctions, then there would be not two gods but thousands of gods, because thousands of people have come up with their own myriad notions of god.

PK says that we don’t know anything about the God who made man. Then how do we know that this God is different from the god whom man created? If we don’t know anything about the real currency note, how can we say that the currency note in front of us is false?

More incoherently, PK says that he has faith in the God who made man. But if he doesn’t know anything about this God, then on what basis does he believe in him? Might his faith be blind? Or might the differentiation between the two Gods be a subtle and sinister tool to make people stop doing all practical acts of worshiping God, while giving them a pseudo-assurance that they haven’t become atheists because they worship some unknowable true God?

To authentically know what God is and to differentiate between him and man’s concoctions about God, we need to not stop doing rituals but start studying scriptures, the authoritative books about God. Such study will protect us not only from the pitfall of blind faith that PK depicts but also the pitfall that PK pushes us into – blind faithlessness.
   
 
     
We are all searching for pleasure and we have a general propensity to love someone. That is our nature. In the present situation, in the material world we are very enthusiastic in exploiting and manipulating the material ingredients supplied by the Lord and making arrangements for living comfortably. Though such achievements may satisfy our whims temporarily, we also experience that what appears auspicious and happy one moment turns into tragedy the next. Down through the ages, highly evolved souls have taught that we can experience unending happiness and can be fully satisfied only when we unite in bhakti with the Supreme Lord. Such is the value of Bhakti. Carefulness is a basic trait all of us have; we know when to be careful. Carelessness about endeavouring for unending happiness only shows that we don’t value bhakti.
 
 

Vedic sage Narada, has given us eighty-four jewel like aphorisms on bhakti known as Narada Bhakti Sutra that reveal the secrets of love of God- what it is, and what is in not, what its effects are, what helps or hinders our progress along the path and much more. Such aphorisms have a direct meaning but their brevity allows devious commentators to distort the meaning through misinterpretation.
ISKCON founder Acharya His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada recognized as the most distinguished teacher of Indian culture and philosophy of modern age and one of his senior disciple & author of many books on bhakti, His Holiness Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami have given expert commentary in line with the teachings of disciplic succession and with pure realizations.
 
 
 
For a sincere seeker of real unending happiness Narada Bhakti Sutra is essential.

This book is available in the book store of Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi Temple (ISKCON), East of Kailash, New Delhi-110065.
 
   

Today’s corporate world is busy with measures of maximizing profit and facing hostile competition but failing to add spiritual values, it encounters numerous problems. Stress, improper time management, inability to address conflict and so on brings complications that ultimately result in unhappiness, sickness, and even death. By unlocking the hidden potential which every individual has everything can be put into use in a positive and healthy way. Yes, this can be done by introducing spiritual technology in education, management and work culture

ISKCON has instituted V-Serve with a vision to provide guidance to integrate ancient spiritual wisdom and modern material knowledge in ways that allow everyone to fulfill the purpose of human life.

V-serve is a group of serious practitioners of best practices in management, corporate professionalism, entrepreneurship and spirituality. It offers a wide array of courses in the areas of stress management, anger management, conflict resolution, art of delegation, embracing change, mind awareness etc.,to suit the training needs of the corporate sector.

Through different training modules they try to equip the trainees with the capabilities to unlock the hidden potential within to bring about a total transformation- a spiritual paradigm, thus changing the quality of personal – professional – family and social life.

V-serve embeds ethics and spiritual values into the workplace with Life Style Management Techniques which brings a Transformation in Consciousness. And that means increased productivity, profitability, employee retention, interpersonal relationships, team bonding, customer loyalty, role clarity, employee engagement and thus brand reputation.

A brief about the Training Modules
RECONNECT
V-Serve conducts a refresher course where a snapshot of the modules is delivered to each specific batch.

 

It includes a recap, an action plan for HR and sharing of “new learnings”. The Vedic paradigm is of continuous learning.

Personal Management
Stress: Pschological definition, Social and economic costs, Symptoms, Causes- the CAUSE model, Lifestyle Management for Work life Balance, Overcoming Stress- the CURE NOW model, Stress Management : the Spiritual Paradigm, Meditation, Plugging into Higher Planes.

Anger: Behavioral definition, Cause of Anger- from the scriptures, Styles of Anger Management, Handling anger towards colleagues, Handling Angry colleagues, Solutions- Physical, Mental, Spiritual, Anger Management- the Vedic Vision, Anger Management- The Ideal Vedic Model.

Relationship Management
Conflict Resolution: Definition and Types of Conflict, Levels of conflict, Personality Styles- Assertive, Aggressive and Passive, Personality Styles in the light of Modes of Material Nature from Bhagavad Gita, Sanitizing sentences, Reflective Listening, NICE Model of Communication, True Ego vs False Ego, Glorifying Colleagues.

The Art of Delegation: Why and Why not? IDEALS Model of Delegation, Delegation- of what and to whom? Supporting and monitoring others, Delegating to the qualified person, Working with the reluctant delegate, Delegation based on strength

INNER-SELF MANAGEMENT
Embracing Change: Concepts of change, Stages of inevitable change, Learning to embrace change, The Cranky Quiz- how resistant are you to change? Spiritual attitude to change, Gita and the psychology of change & giving benefit of the doubt.

Map: Mental Awareness Program: What is the Mind? Human vs Wild Mind, States of Mind- as per the science of Yoga, Mind vs Intelligence, Are we the Mind? How the Mind degrades us, The Art of Mind Control, Meditation for Mind Control, Mantra for Peace of Mind, Developing Maturity by developing a Mature Mind.

More Servings
Team Work, Effective Communication, Wellness, Morality, Ethical Leadership, Work Life Balance.

These will be 3 hour sessions and will also involve extensive personal interaction with the Trainer. The training methodology includes Videos, Group discussions, case studies, role plays, assignments and action planning for follow ups and will be for a batch size of 20.

Benefits of Training with
V-Serve
Flexibilty

  • Training tailored to meet the needs with flexible scheduling options.
  • Training delivered at the location of the organization.

Affordability

  • TCustomized Training modules Competitively priced to suit the budget of the company.

Experience

  • Experienced training consultants will work with the organization to determine a training program that is just right for the company.
  • The training team is experienced in business and industry issues and approach the training program holistically.

Impact

  • Positive impact on the business by creating a positive impact on the employees
  • Equip employees to work under pressure with greater calmness and clarity of mind

V-Serve is located at Hare Krishna Hill, Sant Nagar Main Road, East of Kailash, New Delhi -110065, India.

For more details write to
info@v-serve.biz.
 
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