Gita’s Glories

A newsletter for and by Young Vaisnavas of ISKCON

The Deliverance of Aghasura

Dhruva Adawal, Age 12, Gaithersburg, MD
Once upon a time, Krishna was in the form of a kid
Kamsa sent many demons to kill Him, oh yes, he did.
You see, Krishna was destined to kill Kamsa, and Kamsa knew that,
So he sent demons to engage Krishna in deadly combat.
One of these demons was a snake, he had no fear,
But he was killed, now watch and hear.
Krishna was walking with his friends, very peacefully,
Some were playing flutes in harmony.
They were playing tag and many other games,
Like monkey in the middle, until a boy exclaims!
Hey look at that cave, with its mouth so wide
Let’s go and see, it would be fun inside.
Actually it was a demon, in the form of a snake,
Aghasura was his name, and he was doing it for Kamsa’s sake
They knew that their friend, Krishna was near,
So the cowherd boys went inside, without any fear.
The snake closed his mouth, and breathed fire,
The need for Krishna’s help was dire!
Was Krishna dead?, now the demigods were full of scare
They all thought, what’s happening inside there
Suddenly Krishna started getting larger, and increasing his size,
Aghasura was being suffocated and had red bulging eyes
Aghasura finally died and the cowherd boys were free
Krishna said to the snake’s soul, you may come back to me
So every body please protect your soul
At the count of three say “Haribol”
1....... 2…… 3……. HARIBOL

Thank You Lord!

Yash Shahi, Age 4, Potomac, MD
Yash wants to thank the Lord
for everything He has provided us :

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes,

Ears and Eyes And Mouth and Nose.
Everything is Krishna’s creation,
Krishna’s Creation, Krishna’s Creation,
Everything is Krishna’s creation.
I thank Him a lot For all his mercy.
I wish you HARE KRISHNA
I wish you HARE KRISHNA
I wish you HARE KRISHNA
And HAPPY NEW YEAR.
HARIBOL

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 Mercy and Compassion
Nimai Agarwal, Age 8, Gaithersburg, MD
Painting by Nimai

A devotee of the Lord is by nature a very

merciful and compassionate soul. We
have so many examples of this. Haridasa
Thakura, the teacher of the holy name,
was approached by a lusty prostitute on
the order of Ramachandra Khan, a very
envious land owner. Her motives were to
make Haridasa fall down. Haridasa
Thakura was aware of this and was ready
to go at once. However, out of
compassion he stayed there to change
her heart and he initiated her into the
chanting of the Holy Names of Krishna.

Vasudeva Datta, a very merciful

personality, one day said to Lord
Chaitanya (the Supreme Personality of
Godhead), “please grant me this
benediction. Let me suffer for all the
misdeeds of every body and let them go
back home, back to Krishna.”

Prabhupada, the founder of the Krishna

Consciousness movement, came to
Bowery, a very hellish and materialistic
place. He became homeless. A drug
addict even threatened to murder him
but he was determined to preach
Krishna consciousness, no matter what.
Seeing his compassion and
determination, Krishna made him victorious. One day Prabhupada saw two little children starving,
looking all around for something to eat. When Prabhupada saw this, tears started to flow from his
eyes. He told his disciples “give them prasadam. No body for a few miles around the temple should
go hungry.” This was the compassion of Srila Prabhupada. I have only written about some
personalities who embody compassion but there are many more.

Mercy and compassion are very important qualities. Real compassion is liberating the fallen souls.
Material enjoyment produces nothing but misery. Just like a jail produces misery even if decorated
beautifully. The ignorant souls try to enjoy separate from god in this jail and foolishly think they are
enjoying, but inside they are frustrated. If a person is going to jump off a cliff, we don’t say, let me
feed you before you jump. That is not real compassion. Real compassion is, when we warn them that
they are on the edge of the cliff and we prevent them from falling off and dying. In the same way
mundane piety is not enough. It does not prevent a person from falling off the cliff of material
existence. But doing harinam (chanting the glories of Krishna) and preaching the message of the
Bhagavad Gita takes the person to the spiritual world which is eternal and a place of happiness. Now
that the devotee is in the abode of Shyamsundara he has no chances of falling off the cliff into the
pool of material life.
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 Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur
Om Shahi, Age 9, Potomac, MD
His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami
Thakura appeared in this world on February 6, 1874 in
Jagannatha Puri, India. He was given the name Bimal
Prasad Dutta. His father was a Vaishnava scholar, Sri
Kedarnath Dutta, who later was known as Bhaktivinod
Thakura.

When Bimal Prasad was 7 years old he memorized all 700

verses of the Bhagvad-Gita. At the age of 25 he became a
scholar of Sanskrit, Mathematics and Astronomy. Due to
his immense learning he earned a title Siddhanta
Saraswati. In 1905 he got initiated from Gaura Kishore
dasa babaji maharaj. In 1918 he accepted the title Srila
Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati goswami maharaj. He made
lot of changes in the tradition of Krishna consciousness to
suite the social circumstances of the present age. He was
liberal enough to let sannyasis wear western clothes &
travel via modern means of transport instead of on foot.
He worked very hard to organize the Gaudiya Math. In
1933 Srila Prabhupada became his disciple and faithfully
joined him in preaching. On January 1, 1937 Srila Bhakti
Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur left this planet after a highly
influential preaching of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. I pray to Krishna to keep me engaged in his service
by following the path of all the acharayas in the disciplic succession. HARE KRISHNA.

Advent of Bhagavad Gita

Bhagavad-gita was spoken by Lord Krishna to Arjuna on the

battlefield of Kurukshetra, right before the great battle of
Mahabharata. To commemorate this day, we celebrate Gita
Jayanti every year during December.

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 Happy New Year !

Sketch by Nimai

Publication &
QUIZ Word Jumble Layout by: Nimai
1. Which famous book was spoken in the Agarwal &
1. HGUASRAA
month of December? Lokadhyaksa dasa.
2. NAOIPSOCSM
3. YRECM
Washington, DC.
2. How many verses are there in the
Bhagavat Gita? 4. ACNOAL SADA
5. AAGHAVBD TIAG All young (3-13)
3. What is the greatest way to show 6. IAGT TYNAAJI
compassion? talents are invited
7. ANRUAJ to send their
4. Where did Aghasura go after getting 8. AIVJ SOAWMGI artwork, articles etc
killed by Krishna? 9. ADHSAIR RAUHKT to Nimai at
10. AEVDVUSA ADTAT [email protected]
5. Who were the worshippable Deities of
Srila Jiva Goswami?
6. How was Aghasura related to Putana? Hare Krsna Hare KrsnA Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
7. Who was the spiritual master of Locana
Dasa Thakura? (genius point) HARIDASA THAKUR (10) VASUDEVA DATTA
JAYANTI (7) ARJUNA (8) JIVA GOSWAMI (9)
8. What is the famous book written by LOCANA DASA (5) BHAGAVAD GITA (6) GITA
Locana Dasa Thakura? (1) AGHASURA (2) COMPASSION (3) MERCY (4)
Word Jumble Answers
9. What was the first instruction Bhakti Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakur
Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura gave to Caitanya’s message to the English speaking people (10)
Srila Prabhupada? Narhari Sarkar (8) Caitanya Mangala (9) Preach Lord
Damodara (6) He was Putana’s younger brother (7)
10. What was Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Bhagavad Gita (4) Achieved Liberation (5) Sri Radha
Thakur’s father’s name? (1) Bhagavad Gita (2) 700 (3) By preaching the message of
Quiz Answers

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