On Sunday, June 28th, we arrived at ISKCON Houston at the home of Advaitachandra and Kalasuddha prabhus. They are leaders in the U.S. of the Bhakti Vrksha programs, helping devotees all across the country to organize their efforts in this regard. Their home was like Vaikuntha; every inch of wall-space was covered by either a photo of some Deities or guru, or a picture of the Lord in one of his incarnations. Their Pancha Tattva Deities were cast from the leftover metal used for the original Pancha Tattva Deities in Mayapur. The TOVP presentation was the same evening and we rested a bit before heading over to the temple.
The Houston temple is a magnificent temple recently built and inaugurated, although the Deities, Sri Sri Radha Nila Madhava, some of the largest Radha Krishna Deities in the world, have been there for many years. Two sets of Gaur Nitai Deities are present, along with a large Govardhan sila.
We arrived at the temple and it quickly filled with 300+ devotees and congregation members. After the abhisheka of the Padukas and Sitari, the TOVP Team, which again included Ambarisa and Svaha prabhus, spoke in earnest about the TOVP project, inspiring everyone to make large pledges to help. The devotees met the call to help with almost $1 million in pledges that evening! Prasadam was then served to all the Vaisnavas.
All Glories to Lord Nityananda Rama. All glories to the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.