Hare Krishna. You may be wondering what's happening to the building progress. No updates for a while. Yes!. With the 2009 year end, we have been a bit busy running around, our contractor's construction manager resigned, Chinese New Year came around and we have just come back from Navadvipa Mandal Parikram. So excuse us for missing out reports.

Construction work has lagged behind by a month. Fitting of the prefabricated parts of the ornamental lotus leaves which will decorate all sides of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor levels of the building which first seemed easy is now a little bit of a time consuming job for our contractors. Nevertheless work has started on this section and so have concreting of Vimanas (domes). And if you have not signed up for the Heaven-on-Earth sponsorship scheme, please consider helping us with some funds to fulfill the desire of Srila Prabhupada that a Sri Sri Radha Krishna temple be built in Malaysia. And our target is to inaugurate the temple in early 2012. Please sign up now - click on http://iskcon.com.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=596&Itemid=63

Appended below are pictures taken on 25 February 2010 by our Vice Chairman of the project HG Kalesa dasa.

South East panoramic view of the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Centre & work-in-progress Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple of Devotion & Understanding.

25Feb-Main Vimanas (domes) base is concreted. Vimanas are concreted in heights of about 1.8 metre at a time.Formwork for 1st 1.8M height is ready and concreting will be on 3 March 10.Total Height of Main Vimana from ground level will be 75 feet.
North view of building under construction		East view

Hare Krishna. Appended below is Sri Gauranga Prema Tirtha February 2010 preaching report.

We are pleased to announce that the Sri Gauranga Prema Tirtha Nama Hatta is now a Nama Hatta directly under the KL-KLang Valley Regional council and so a member of the ISKCON Malaysia National. The Sri Gauranga Prema Tirtha Nama Hatta was directly nurtured by by Sri Jagannatha Mandir, ISKCON Kuala Lumpur for the past ten years.

Appended below is a preaching report from Sri Gauranga Prema Tirtha for February 2010.

Total of 142 Small Books Distributed, 1 Hard Bound Bhagavad Gita and 1 Ramayana

The Gauranga Prema Tirtha Nama Hatta also invites all to join the Sri Gaura Purnima in commemoration celebration on March 13

Venue: 22A, Jalan LintangDagang 6, Taman Sentosa, 41200 Klang, Selangor. (Contact: Sarva Tirtha Krishna dasa)

Time: 6PM - 9.30PM

Bhakti-Raghava Swami.

This year ISKCON proudly celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of its Nama-hatta project, which sees to the spiritual development of congregational devotees.

References to the goal and spirit of Nama-hatta can be traced back to the time of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the fifteenth century saint revered by Vaishnavas as God, or Krishna, Himself. The Lord’s famous order to His pioneering associates Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Haridas Thakura is recorded in the ancient book Chaitanya Bhagavata:

“O hear Me, hear Me Nityananda! Hear Me Haridasa! Simply disseminate My order everywhere. Go from house to house and beg [the residents as follows]: ‘Speak about Krishna, worship Krishna and teach [others] about Krishna.’ ”

Just a few hundred years after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the great Vaishnava saint Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura continued his mission. “I am singing news of the greatest happiness!” he said in his book Vaisnava-siddhanta- mala, referring to his Nama-hatta work. “At the place known as Surabhi Kunja in Sri Navadvipa, the Marketplace of the Holy Name has now been opened and Lord Nityananda Himself is the Proprietor."

Today, Sri Chaitanya’s mission to inundate the world with Krishna’s name has been re-introduced—by His mercy and by the mercy of his devotee, ISKCON’s founder Srila Prabhupada—in the form of ISKCON Mayapur’s Nama-hatta program, run by devotees there under the guidance and inspiration of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami.

Sundara Krishna prabhu, a 1 Man Band chanting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra at the 1 Malaysia Chinese New Year Celebrations at Penang Island.

7 February 2010, Sunday

Leaders of various religious groups and societies attended the Bumi Puja, Ground Breaking Ceremony for a Multipurpose Hall to be built on a land purchased by ISKCON and on a land donated to ISKCON by the Sarawak State government. ISKCON Priest, HG Mani Bhusan Dasa conducted Vastu Puja and Homa for the ceremony.

WELCOME

Date: 16 January 2010

Time: 9AM - 12Noon

Venue: Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple of Devotion & Understanding, temple floor.

ISKCON Malaysia of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is happy to announce that it has successfully completed the piling of 2,900 Reinforced Concrete Piles for the new Sri-Sri Radha-Krishna Temple of Devotion & Understanding Building Complex in Penang. All the piling was sponsored by the Rama RC Pile Sponsorship Scheme enunciated at the site on the 27^th April 2009. A total of RM 446,000-00 was raised which has covered the full cost of the piling works that amounted to RM 417,000-00. The overall project, including Civil and Structural, Ornamental, Mechanical & Electrical, Interior Decoration and Landscaping will cost in the region of RM 6 million.

April 27 - Grd Breaking & Rama RC Pile Launch. 4May-1st Batch RC Piling on progress
30Jun- Pile Cap formwork	27Jul-Ground Floor concreting completed

As of 22 December 2009, progress payments amounted to RM 1,117,050-00 for structural works which are now at the roof level. This was being funded by donations from our building fund partners.

4Aug-Concreting of Columns	4Nov- Devotees performing kirtan on 1st floor	20Dec - Formwork for roof

To keep the project on schedule and to encourage more required participation, on the 16^th January 2010 we will launch a Heaven on Earth comprehensive gifting scheme!! We are thus confident that with both our building fund partnership and the Heaven on Earth schemes the entire project will be successfully completed as scheduled in 2012.

Heaven on Earth flyer and promotion materials.

To download Sponsorship Card Page 1 & 2, please click on following links:

https://acrobat.com/#d=Py9hWpbKljGM-W7UWXFG3A

https://acrobat.com/#d=uwt86Gs6IrTJkkd48tILrg

16 January 2010.

Hare Krishna. 

In the morning there was worship of mother cow followed with cooking 31 Pots of ponggal. The 1 pot which was of much bigger size that the 30 identical pots was given to the BCC Youth Boys and myself. Like us, many cooks were caught off guard since cooking off clay pots using firewood was not as easy. Especially so when those who arranged and set the fireplaces and wood(undried wood) were youth boys who had hardly any experience using traditional methods of cooking. Though a lot of smoke was created the whole event actually took off very well encouraging lots of cooperation from cooks, youth boys to help fan fires and while youth girls were assisting cooks. It was fun time with lots of crying due to the terrible smoke. The skills of our robust National photographer HG Mulakaranam prabhu were tested. At times Mulakaranam could not go anywhere near the smokefilled air where the ponggal cooking was being done. Ponggal pots were all offered to Sri Sri Nitai Gauranga and Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva & Subadra Devi and Sri Sri Radha Krishna. Everyone is looking forward to next year's ponggal and the BCC Youth boys are not going to take it lightly. This year ISKCON Sitiawan finished first on the Ponggolo Ponggal!!!!

Hare Krsna.

The ISKCON Waterfall Road, Penang Island centre distributed more than 30,000 plates of Krishna Prasadam at the Thaipusam festival this year.