Ananda Marga Canada News - March 2007
Hello and Namaskar Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters,
After a few months of silence we would like to share with you some
of our canadian news.
After our successful Fall Retreat at Kimberkote Farm in 2006 we had been busy with many
activities and wonderful things happened over the last few months.
Dada Vimalanandaji was working hard in October and November, giving lectures
almost every day. Dada Parinirvanandaji was also busy with yoga classes, several time each week
and assisting dada Vimalananda in each of the lectures and seminars. Also dada Pari was involved with very
intense pracar work within Indian community and maintained fantastic work as our Regional Secretary,
inspiring margiis in Great Metro Toronto area.
All margiis of Toronto Bhukti had been assisting dada Vimalananda and dada Parinirvananda in all their
efforts. It was a great example of collective work, involving so many brothers and sisters.
At the beginning of the new year our Great Paramapurusa, our Baba, the Lord, graced us with two born margii
babies ( one after another ).
Sister Shyamali gave birth to our new brother, Bodhisattva. Congratulation to mom and daddy,
Hitendra and little sister Amiya.
After few hours, sister Nandinii gave birth to our new sister, La'liina . Congratulation to mom and new daddy, Liilamaya.
Almost the same time sister Jayantii and her daughter Krsna moved back to Toronto from Edmonton.
We have also new emigrants, margii family from Taiwan in Toronto and margii family from New Zeland in Vancouver.
After recent, dada Vimalananda's return from India, he immediately started his pracar work, seminars and lecturers.
He is assisted in all his endeavors by dada Phaniishananda, who organized all lecturers in Ottawa and Montreal.
Next week didi Cirasmita will visit Canada for her pracar program with our local sisters and possible public seminars.
Below are some of our main events in February, March and April.
February 2007
Feb.24th.: 5:15p -8:00p 4:00p -6:00p Dada Vimalananda's Class at Parkview Hills Yoga Centre "Celebrating Humanity"
Feb.26th.: 5:15p -8:00p Pracar Lectures from Feb. 26 till March 04 2007 in Quebec/Montreal/Ottawa. C/O Dada Phaniishananda ji.
Feb.27th.: 5:15p -8:00p Pracar Lectures from Feb. 26 till March 04 2007 in Quebec/Montreal/Ottawa. C/O Dada Phaniishananda ji.
Feb.27th.: 8:30p -10:00p Dada Vimalananda's Meditation Workshop Part-1 @ IKRA Centre, Montreal
March 2007
March 1st.: 8:30p -10:00p Dada V"s Meditation Workshop Part-2 @ IKRA Centre ,Montreal
March 3rd.: 4:00p -6:00p Dada Vimalananda's Meditation Workshop part-1 @ Candy House, Ottawa
March 4th.: 4:00p -6:00p Dada Vimalananda's Meditation Workshop Part-2@ Candy house, Ottawa
March 6th.: 6:00p -8:00p Hands-On Meditation Workshop 2 @ ACAS, 33 Isabella, Toronto
March 8th.: 5:30p -7:30p Dada Vimalananda 'Meditation Workshop II' @ Golden Harvest, Toronto
March 10th.: 2:30p -4:30p Dada Vimalananda "Yoga Bio-psychology" @ Golden Harvest
March 12.: 6:00p -8:00p York University Meditation Workshop
March 13th. : -Didi Cirasmita is in Toronto
March 13th.: 5:30p -8:00p Dada's Meditation Class at Grey Highlands Public Library (Close to Priceville)
March 14th.: Didi Cirasmita is in Toronto
March 15th.: Didi Cirasmita is in Toronto
March 15th.:5:30p -7:30p Dada Vimalananda "Microvitum" @ Golden Harvest
March 16th.: Didi Cirasmita is in Toronto
March 17th.: 7-9pm Dada Lecture at Ayurveda Centre
March 17th.: Didi Cirasmita is in Toronto
March 18th.: Didi Cirasmita is in Toronto
March 19th.: 6-8pmYork University Meditation Seminar Part 2
March 20th.: Didi Cirasmita is in Toronto
April 2007
April 13th.: 5:45p Spring Retreat and Seminar@ Ananda Kanak, Quebec, Ottawa Region
April 14th.: Spring Retreat and Seminar@ Ananda Kanak, Quebec, Ottawa Region
April 15th.: 2:30pm Spring Retreat and Seminat@ Ananda Kanak, Quebec, Ottawa Region
April 27th.: Toronto Yoga Show @ Convention Centre, 10am-8pm, Booth # 104
April 28th.: 10:00a -8:00p Toronto Yoga Show, Toronto Convention Centre, Booth # 104
April 29th.: 10:00a -6:00p Toronto Yoga Show, @ Toronto Convention Centre, Booth # 104
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Service in Haiti,
Our dear, Canadian Sister Jayati is working hard in Haiti.
This is her recent letter / request to all of us:
Namaskar everyone,
I'm going to be working as the administrator for the education project and Dharma as the Director. One of the objectives of the project is to open a library in our village, along with a community/learning centre. I wrote to one of the Haitian margiis a couple of weeks ago hoping that they could arrange to find a large quantity of french children's books for us. I didn't get a reply so yesterday I posted an ad on Craigslist Montreal hoping that someone would know something about this. Today I received the following response:
"Every year in late April, Les amis de la bibliothèque de Montréal have a huge sale of books retirés from their collections; children's books are 50 cents. These are good books, not garbage--we go each year and buy an outrageous number for our kid... You could a) raise some money and then go buy very inexpensive books, and b) ask Les amis what they do with unsold books, and whether they would be willing to donate any left over after their sale. The sale takes place every day for about a week, at an arena near St Michel and Bellechasse in Rosemont. For children, there are picture books, books for older kids, reference books.... they have books in English and French but the majority, of course, are in French. Adult books are $1 each; similarily, incl fiction, art books, cookbooks, reference works, history, etc etc...
Right now, the Fraser-Hickson Library in NDG is closing and giving away many books. I tend to assume they have mainly English but that may be a stereotype. You can try to call or e-mail the head librarian, Frances Ackerman, to ask...check their web site. Or just go knock on door during day time."
I would really like to make contact with the Montreal Margiis. Do any of you have a contact e-mail?
Miss you guys lots,
BNK,
Jayatii
"We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from it."
Osler, William
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Ananda Marga website updates:
Please submit all canadian news and photos to our website which is in the process of
substantial updates.
Please contact sister Radhika, our Toronto Unit Secretary or sister Jyostna, our Web Master.
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Thank you for your service:
We would like to welcome our new, incoming Ananda Marga Canada Financial Secretary,
Brother Shiva from Vancouver.
Also we would like to thank very much our long time, outgoing Financial Secretary, brother Pranava
from Vancouver, for his fantastic work and sacrifice for Ananda Marga growth in Canada.
We wish both brothers all the best in their organizational, spiritual and existential life.
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Help Didis in India,
Request from siter Gaori from Vancouver,
/Namaskar Trilokesh
below
is the text of an email from sis Malati who is doing her best to support
didis working in rural India under deplorable conditions. I thought you may
be willing to send this out to your email list as some one else might be
willing to send a few dollars to her for her support work. I have been sending
small donation for about a year now. If you don't think this is appropriate
to send out, then that's fine too. Yours in Him, Gaorii
/
Conditions in Delhi Sector Sept 2006 Jan 2007
Namaskar Everyone!
Warm
greetings to you all from the most deprived schools of rural India. As you
will see below, many of the schools problems are getting solved, thanks to
the help of all of you.
During this period we were able to build or
repair 4 toilets, one of the most basic needs of any school. And we managed
to sponsor 17 of the poorest schools for Rs. 500 per month as well as arrange
temporary food support for another 14 struggling didis. A small donation
of only US $12 per month has made such a big difference to the lives of the
school principals of those desperately struggling schools. Many didis, who
were looking completely malnourished before, now have a healthy sheen to
their faces as a result of being able to improve their living standard. A
special thank you to those who so generously offered regular support to them
and their schools.
In spite of all your deeply appreciated efforts,
there are, however, still several schools in need of regular support while
they try to become fully self-sufficient. It only needs $12 a month to make
a very big difference, so if there is anyone else out there who would like
to sponsor a school, please remember, even a small amount can make a huge
difference to the life of a village school principal and the children under
her care.
Volunteers
During this period several volunteers, both
Margi and non-Margi, have helped individual schools either by making personal
financial donations, by fundraising for them, or by contributing their skills
to the school. The help these schools have received has been invaluable,
and we thank those volunteers most warmly for their kind support to our work.
We also heartily invite anyone who is interested to join our volunteering
programme to get in touch with me for more information.
Fundraising Video
In
spite of all our help, a large number of our schools and orphanages are still
in need of a lot of support before they can become fully self-sufficient.
For this we need Your Help. One volunteer is right now putting together a
fundraising video to help us fundraise for some of our projects. If you would
like a copy of the video (on PAL system) in order to help us fundraise, please
give me your address and I will send it to you as soon as it is ready. Or
if you would like to help us sell greetings cards or sponsor a child’s education,
we would also be delighted to hear from you.
Here in India even a
little help can go a long way. Even US $12 a month can change a life; it
can give a child an education s/he wouldn’t otherwise have had. With even
a small donation, you can make a Big Difference, if you wish to!
Financial Statement
Opening Balance: minus Rs.974
Income
Brother C 20,542
Sister G 1,303
Sister M Sept Dec 16,800
Sister S Sept Dec 13,440
Brother A 6,080
Dada S 2,726
Sister J 2,490
Sister V 1,660
Brother A 4,310
Brother T 5,830
Brother A 4,310
Sister G 2,155
Sister M 40,000
Brother A 4,300
Brother C 48,900
Sister L 4,200
-----------------------------------------------
Total income 177,439
- 974
----------------------------------------------
Total on hand 175,465
Expenditures
B didi blackboards & benches 2,600
B didi fix toilet 10,000
B didi cowshed 20,000
B didi eye problem 3,000
Orphan G eye problem 500
B didi medical 500
B didis winter sweaters 2,300
B didi medical 1,500
B didi fix toilet 10,000
B didi fix toilet 10,000
B didi cupboards 2,000
H didi food & medical support 10,000
H didi fix toilet 10,000
H didi steps to roof 5,830
H didi roof 45,000
31 didis (B & H) food support 42,500
--------------------------------------------------------
Total expenditures 175,630
Balance: minus Rs.165
How Your Donations Were Spent
With
the funds you donated we were able to repair 3 toilets, one of them in a
school housing 4 orphans and another in a school with 6. We also started
work on the construction of a fourth. It will need a further Rs. 10,000 to
finish it. Toilets are a very important need in our schools and even though
most of our schools now have at least one functioning toilet in their school
or orphanage, few have toilets for the pupils, who are obliged to relieve
themselves at the end of the garden or in the fields beyond the school. On
top of this, I personally know of four schools which, to date, have no toilet
whatsoever. Hopefully, in the near future, with your help, we will be able
to at least arrange one toilet per school.
One DSL who has been suffering
from TB for several years and who needs another two years treatment, received
support for her ongoing medical care and food. We have been supporting this
didi for several years now, and it is clear that without our help she would
have died, as if I ever delay in sending the funds for her treatment, she
starts writing desperate letters and getting Margis to bombard me with phone
calls. From this we can understand that, although she does get occasional
donations from others, she is unable to get the regular support she needs
from any other source.
As winter approached, we realized that several
didis did not have warm clothes or even sufficient bedding, so we purchased
10 jackets from the wholesale market and collected blankets for them.
One
didi posted in a very poor field, lacked even blackboards in her village
school. Her benches were in need of repair and she had no cupboards to store
her school materials. We helped her to purchase them, as it was unimaginable
that her school could run properly without them. Didi was deeply grateful.
Another
didi is struggling tremendously to maintain her school in a rented building
of which the monthly rent exceeds her income. Already she has bought land
and started the construction of a school building. Now her building is almost
complete. It only needs a roof and then didi can move in. It needs Rs. 100,000
to finish. We have already given Didi Rs. 30,000 and this time we managed
to arrange a further
Rs. 45,000. It only needs another Rs. 25,000 to finish it.…Hopefully next time…..
We
also supported the small medical needs of a few didis. Sometimes they suffer
a lot for a few rupees and, because their health problems are not serious,
they may not always be able to arrange the help they need. One didi in particular
has a spinal problem that requires her to take medicine for the rest of her
life. Without it, she is in severe pain. For this she needs Rs. 1,200 per
month. Till now she hasn’t been able to arrange the help she needs, though
just now we did manage to give her Rs. 1,500…pathetically insufficient for
her ongoing treatment. Is there any kindhearted person out there who could
sponsor her in a regular way? It is only US $27 per month. But it would make
such a difference…
Never Ending Medical Crisis
Another very serious
problem that we have not yet been able to solve is the ongoing medical crises
that occur with painful regularity. This time, a didi suddenly became paralysed
as the gap between two of her vertebrae enlarged and she had to be immediately
operated on. A loan of Rs. 29,000 was taken. No one knows how this loan will
be paid back. A second didi had to have a metal rod removed from her leg
which she broke two years ago. Cost: Rs. 15,000. I did not ask if the money
was paid or if that was also another loan. A third didi has 24 kidney stones,
some of them 5mm in size. She also needs urgent treatment, but where will
the funds come from. A fourth didi has skin growing over both her eyes. Without
treatment, slowly she will grow blind. Cost of treatment: Rs. 15,000. How
can we help them all? The question constantly revolves in my mind. Yet they
gave their lives to serve Baba. It is our duty to take care of them. Yet
such expenses are an ongoing drain on our organizational resources. Many
didis in India have still not been able to arrange their identity cards,
so for them medical insurance is not an option. Maybe the solution would
be to organize our own private medical fund which individuals pay into every
month. Would anyone like to help?
If you would like to make a donation
or sponsor a school in need, kindly contact Malati at the below email address.
Your support will be more deeply appreciated than words can express.
Your sister in Him,
Malati
info@poor.org.in
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Regular yoga classes at University of Toronto:
Namaskar All!
I hope that everyone is well and managing to keep warm during this current
cold spell. Our classes are continuing and will be in the same room as
before.
OISE Building
8th Floor
Room 8200
6-8 PM
Every Monday
The OISE Building is on Bloor St. W. just east of St. George St.
If you need any further information please feel free to call me at
416-588-8359
See you soon,
Ravi
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Master Unit - Ananda Kanak
dada Phaniishananda's appeal:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Namaskar, Hope you all are well by HIS grace and i am same too.
As you know that we have only one center in whole Canada and that is the Master Unit ,is called Ananda Kanak
it's literally meaning is the Land of Golden Bliss. Baba named it Himself and blessed it. Also He said so many
wonderful things about Canada and the area around MU. The huge drinking water sources which will supply the water to
whole over the world in near future.
We have been getting so many environmentally threats as global worming, water crisis etc. Baba has given us all the
means to be prepared in advance to face the any situations occurs. MU is the place where we do some thing concrete
to help our self and help others too. This time i have plan to clear up at least three acres of land, plant fruit trees and
build a green house. Your help, suggestions and comments are appreciated. Those who have been supporting on monthly
basis please send your contribution , starting by the Jan. o7. And those who willing to help MU in any means please come forward
this ours property.
Thank you,
Brotherly Yours,
Phaniishananda
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Dharma Cakra:
Weekly Dharma Cakra in Toronto is held
at Brother Lilamaya and Sister Nandinii or
Broter Ravi and sister Alisa houses:
Every Sunday - 12 pm ( new hours )
Please contact for details and location at :
647-430-3410 or 416-588-8359
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Dharma Cakra in Priceville, Ontario - Every Sunday at 5:30 pm
tel. 519-924-3968
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Spring Seminar and Retreat.
Program will be held in our Ananda Kanak Master Unit in a beautiful, rural Quebec,
only 45 minutes North-East of Ottawa, 15 minutes North of Hwy 148.
Time:
April 13th - 14th 16th-, 2007
Cost:
Only, CAN $ 100,- ( including food and accommodations for 3 days ) -young children -free
students - 50% or less.
Location:
Ananda Marga Canada at S.A.J.O
69, Montee St. Andre
St. St. Sixte
Quebec, Canada
J0X 3B0
Contact:
Dada at , tel. 819-983-7389
e-mail: phaniishananda@hotmail.com
Also for more info please contact our local Units
in Priceville, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, or Vancouver:
Priceville- tel. 519-924-3968
Toronto- tel. 416-907-8157
Toronto- tel. 416-859-8930
Toronto- tel. 416-588-8359
Ottawa- tel. 613-789-6625
Montreal- tel. 450-448-9133
Vancouver- tel. 604-662-7131
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Contact:
Trilokesh, BP Toronto
AM Canada News - Editor, tel 519-924-3968
http://www.geocities.com/anandamargacanada/index.htm
www.anandamarga.org
www.anandamarga.net
