BRC Newsletter #7 August 2012 - March 2013

7/28/2019 BRC Newsletter #7 August 2012 - March 2013

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BHAKTIVEDANTA RESEARCH CENTRE

A project of ISKCON Mayapur

110A Motilal Nehru Road, Kolkata 700 029, WB India

PH: 91 33 4065 2475/ 5216

NewsletterIISSSSUUEE ##77,, AAuugguusstt 22001122 -- MMaarrcchh 22001133

Welcome to the latest exciting report on developments at the BRC.

Scanning and Preservation

In our last newsletter we reported the acquisition of the

Bookeye 4, a professional, high resolution scanner. Since

its arrival in August we have been busy scanning beginningwith the more delicate works, in particular the 31 bound

volumes ofSrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatis daily

newspaper Nadia Prakash.

We are happy to report that the scanning ofNadia

Prakash is now completed a huge task which resulted in

almost 40,000 (forty thousand) images!

Nityashirvadaka

Siddhanta Sarasvati


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Rare documents

We were graced for several days in December 2012 by the presence of Sriman Pradyumna prabhu,

Srila Prabhupadas Sanskrit editor since 1968.

Pradyumna prabhu traveled with Srila Prabhupada more

than any other disciple and is probably the foremost

scholar on Gaudiya Vaisnava literature in the world

today.

He spent considerable time in the library, offering much

useful advice and information.

However his most exciting contribution was his discovery of a rather

battered-looking folder containing some hand written letters and drafts of

articles from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura as well as some letters

written by some leading disciples such as Sripad Bhakti Pradipa Tirtha

Maharaja, Bhakti Hrdaya Bon Maharaja, Sripada Bhaktisaranga Goswami,

and others.

All 31 volumes have now been

de-acidified laminated with acid-free sheets re-assembled in volumes ready for

re-binding

fully indexed (see opp. photo)


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Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati signed his letters [above] Nityashirvadaka Siddhanta Sarasvati i.e.

Your ever-wellwisher [nitya eternal; ashirvad blessings or well-wishes; daka I am].


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Another document of great interest in the folder is a two-page outline in English entitled The Origin

and Development of Vaishnavism The Vedic Vishnu and Krishna; and Probable dates of the several

Periods of Indian History

These letters are from

Bhaktipradip Tirtha and

Bhakti Hrday Ban, both of

whom along with

Sambidananda dasa were

sent to London in the

1930s to preach.


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Mission for Manuscripts

Our Manuscripts team made their second visit to Odisha in January 2013 gaining many new contacts

and much information on possible manuscript sources. They were given access to the libraries in

Ravenshaw University and the State Museum and made tentative agreements to work with them in

the future.

In the small village ofNayagarh, Udaypur, we discovered the Dasarathi Pattanayak Library and

Museum. This library has an enormous collection of more than 17000 mss, 40, 000 old books and a

massive number of old journals. The owner was happy to give us access and we are planning how to

catalogue the collection in order to identify which ones are important to scan for the BRC.

Most importantly, our first excursion to Bangladesh commenced

in mid-February 2013. We have a number of contacts in DhakaUniversity where there is a large collection of Vaisnava

manuscripts and books. Apart from this our team travelled north-

east to Sylhet, the birth district of Lord Caitanyas father Sri

Jagannatha Misra as well as other important tirthas in Chittagong

and Khulna.

At Iswara Patasala, Coomilla we discovered a wonderful collection

of 60,000 books and 9,000 mss. None of it is catalogued and the

collection is in danger of simply rotting away. The 87 years old

custodian more than welcomed our offer to come there for anextended stay and catalogue the whole collection and show them

how to preserve their works. BRC has made an offer to the managing committee and we are

awaiting their positive response.


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BRC Website

New Acquisitions

We were excited to discover some previously unknown correspondence of our beloved Founder-

acarya Srila Prabhupada in March while attending the Gaura Purnima festival. Together with Sriman

Jananivasa prabhu we conducted a search of Srila Prabhupadas quarters and found about 20

postcards sent to Srila Prabhupada in 1949-1950.

Along with these were two each original prints of SB Canto 1 part 1 and Part 2; an original Back To

Godheadfrom 1957 and two editions of Hindi language Bhagavat Dharma from 1957; and the first

ISKCON-era Indian edition ofBack To Godheadin Hindi from 1970 which lists Los Angeles as

ISKCONs world headquarters and Gorakhpur as the only Indian center.

We are very grateful to Sriman

Sachisuta prabhu from NewZealand, the owner of internet

provider www.go2.co.nz who

agreed to host our website

brcindia.com free of cost. This has

saved us a massive headache and

provides far better facility for our

clients than we could ourselves.


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A special mention is due to Sriman Nrsimhananda dasa of ITV and Topanga Canyon Pyramid House

fame for donating his entire and extensive collection ofBack to Godheadmagazines. He made the

decision after seeing a power-point presentation of the BRC in Udipi in December.

New Members

We want to thankfully acknowledge Sriman Madhusevita dasa from

the UK who became our latest Patron member with a very generous

gift of 16,000.00, part of his inheritance from his late father. May

Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada bless both of them

unlimitedly for their kind support.

Adopt a Month (AaM) - In March last year we began a new membership program.

BRC operating expenses are approx. $2,500.00 per month, or Rps. 1,35,000.00. An AaM

member agrees to fund one month of their choice per year. We are happy to report that our

Aam membership is picking up steam and we have at present achieved half our target number

with six committed members:

Bhakti Caru Swami and Brisbane yatra signed up first and were joined by Sriman MasheshAdvani, who is also a Patron Member, Bhaktivedanta Manor, the Mayapur Vrndavan Trust

(MVT), and also a strong supporter in Melbourne who prefers not to be named.

If we reach our goal of 12-15 Aam members it will guarantee the o n-going operations of the

BRC. Any individual or yatra would like to become an Aam member please contact myself, Hari-

sauri dasa.

If any reader would like to help support our efforts at developing this important facility and ensuring

the preservation of our literature please contact

[email protected]@gmail.com
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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There will be a special report shortly on some very significant developments at Birnagar, the

birthplace of Srila Thakura Bhaktivinoda and some of his original manuscripts! Stay tuned!

On behalf of BRC, Hari-sauri dasa

Director

BRC Newsletter #7 August 2012 - March 2013

Documents

Transcript of BRC Newsletter #7 August 2012 - March 2013