Bijal Raja Age: 20 Currently: Studying Financial Maths at Brunel University
Lord Rama’s Monkey Army Being the youth group of a temple, all we do is engage ourselves in ‘religious’ activities such as singing devotional songs, discussing deep Vedic philosophy and praying intensively. Right? Wrong! Although we do do those things, there’s a lot more to it than that. Let’s take the recent festival of Dusshera as an example. IPS played a pivotal role in the organisation of Dusshera at the Manor, which was celebrated on Sunday 21st October, contributing mainly through the building of Ravana and the performance of a drama. This year the effigy of Ravana was a total of 30ft high. It necessitated skills including design and planning, DIY, papier-mache as well as artistic talents to paint him. The drama, which was developed from scratch, summarised the story of Ramaya-
na. The development of this play included activities such as script writing, sound production, costume design as well as of course acting. Members of IPS helped out in many other areas of the festival as well, including chopping vegetables in the kitchen, controlling the queuing system in the temple room, managing the car park and serving prashadam (sanctified food), to name just a few. So, as you can see, it’s not just ‘religious’ activities we do – we all make use of our skills and develop new ones we never thought we’ll be good at, and, by doing so, engage in devotional service. If this sounds like the sort of thing you would like to get involved in, contact us on
[email protected] and get involved in Lord Rama’s monkey army!
What made you start attending IPS events? I was introduced to IPS around six months ago. A member of IPS approached me while I was in the laundry room of the Manor and told us a pastime about Haridas Thakur to illustrate the point that anyone can become a devotee.
What did you find appealing about KC? I consider myself fortunate to have been brought to the Manor from a young age by my mum. Out of all the great things about KC, I really like the philosophy, especially considering it is just as relevant now as it’s always been.
What services are you currently involved in? I am part of the Harrow Jammin’ team. I help out with promotion in the run up to the Jammin’ as well as helping out wherever needed on the night. I am one of the organisers for the girls Winter trip (watch this space for more info!)
Interesting fact about yourself
initiations
I used to play Netball, Basketball and Rounders, for which I won the Sports Woman of the Year Award at my secondary school. I have been awarded the Community Sports Leadership Award for coaching primary school children in various sports, including organising tournaments, while at sixth form college.
We would like to congratulate the many members of IPS that made formal affirmations of their commitment to ISKCON this summer, in an important and natural step known as ‘initiation’ or ‘diksha’ in Sanskrit. Initiation formally marks the acceptance of a spiritual master by an aspiring disciple through which they are awarded a new spiritual name. We saw our members make vows to His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami and His Holiness Radhanath Swami and we very much look forward to seeing more IPS members taking this all important step in the future.
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jammin Forthcoming Jammins:
02/11 - Harrow - Science of Self Realisation 03/11 - Crawley - KC & Islam 16/11 - Harrow - Does religion cause war? 17/11 - Crawley - Vegetarianism in other religions 30/11 - Harrow - Meet your Meat For more details see wwww.psena.com Subject to change