Tuesday, February 9, 2010

BVHA Meeting Minutes, Feb. 7, 2010

Attendees:
Jagannath Poddar
Malti
Kesava Das Swami
Swami BP Madhusudan
Shubhananda Das
Sevak Sharan
Arup Govinda Das
Nirguna Devi Dasi
Manjari Devi Dasi
Karan Rajeev
Madhusudan
Pt. Udayan Sharma
Madhumangal Shukla

B.A. Paramadvaiti opened the meeting with a call to re-estabish commitment for BVHA, asking all to vow to sustain the unity required and not let it fall – be sensitive, apologize – always keep big picture in mind – put aside ego.

B.A. Paramadvaiti Visited Rang ji Mandir mahant – he was almost crying saying that for 150 yrs he been using Yamuna water for pujas and finally had to stop because it was so dirty.

He also got support from Brahma Kund Goswami and the acharya for Gopeshwar Mandir
Madhusudan Maharaj spoke to Ramesh Baba – 11th Ramesh Baba will demonstrate at DM’s office in Mathura and wants Vrindavan to join him.

Ramesh Baba will host a sadhu samelan in his tent on the 17th. BVHA should prepare a presentation.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad will be represented at the Sadhu Sammelan - investigators came to see situation in Vrindavan.

What subjects discussed on 17th?
-heritage status
-bridge
-cleanup/pollution

Gill supported Ashok Singhal (VHP) meeting. Ashok Singhal said he can get all spiritual leaders to Lucknow to protest & friends w/ Mayawati

It was noted that Mayawati might get angry at VHP involvement in the issue
The suggestion was made to present Mayawati with an alternative plan and send her a letter saying that we (BVHA) are not against her, we want to help.

If anyone would present this to her, it would be Madhusudan & Sevak Sharan.

Manjari Devi Dasi: thought lawyer, Gill should be consulted – could be counter-productive to approach Mayawati directly. Jagannath Poddar also thought this was not a good idea.

Sevak Sharan said tell Mayawati we are not trying to change her plan, but rather expand it out. Reportedly, an aid close to Mayawati has relatives in Vrindavan.

Madhusudan will use Vrindavan.com to feature the activities of all organizations working for Vrindavan.

GOAL: get 2-3 bullet point news items posted here each day on Vrindavan.com
Noted that the MVDA – is bulldozing land, destroying illegal encroachments per court order – but bvha will still not accept their plan

Jagannath Poddar – Chakravedi – lawyer- let the court appoint? 98 Chakravedi case.

Jagannath Poddar and a representative from Mathura only people appointed by the central govt. MOEF – fund for national lake & river conservation.

Madhusudan Maharaj was appointed the official representative of Govardhan.

Paramadvaiti visited Chidadananda – collected quotes against bridge.

Madhumangal – should be supplied w/ camera.

Jagannath Poddar - we need to get signatures from saints, mahants of Braj.

Need to centralize points for media- to report outside – counteract negative points from local media. Need to keep tabs on what is being said in favor of bridge in the local papers so we can refute these points.

Need to physically approach people for 17th meeting.

Jagannath Poddar – will create mission statement and get petition translated.

Paramadvaiti – went to visit Mathura office to determine MVDA involvement and found no involvement at all. The PWD was in charge, but they had no proper plans either – the govt has been neglecting the town for a long time.

Paramadvaiti Read his letter for the government – it was well-liked, but members agreed a few points should be changed, shortened – could be used for good small mission statement that leaders would support and unify the people of Braj – Jagannath Poddar will work on editing this.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is reportedly against the bridge and said he would clean Yamuna from Delhi.

Sevak Sharan will represent alliance at Kumbha Mela.

Shubhananda brought many signatures for heritage and against the bridge. Madhusudan –asked are these petitions real, legal or informal? They are informal.

Manjari thinks both options should exist – formal and informal

The petition finished, in digital edition by 10th

Should we approach Pushpa Sharma?
Madhusudan – has connection with her from a film
Sevak Sharan says – why not?
Jagannath Poddar- it would be a waste of time, but may help heritage status
Paramadvaiti –says we should approach everyone
Prabhat Kumar Sharma of Mathura – helped organize kumbha mela and is being helpful
Bhaktapur has status, why not Vrindavan?
Jagannath Poddar approached Pushpa Sharma before but she was not interested at thattime’
Madhusudan thinks it is good to approach her again.

Next meeting at Madhumangal’s home February 14, 2010 2-4 PM
Manjari – said everyone should pledge to get 20 names of people to contact by this week. A list was made detailing who would contact whom.

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