HERE'S A Krsna conscious project you might like to support or get involved in.
PROJECT
BBT (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust) Center for Sanskrit Studies
HEADQUARTERS
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.A.
PROJECT COORDINATORS
Gopiparanadhana Dasa, Aja Dasa
GOAL
To train Sanskrit editors and translators for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
To produce books for the BBT and engage trainees in the work.
To offer ISKCON devotees a Vaisnava alternative to mundane university education.
To give BBT workers opportunities to teach Krsna consciousness and provide training in Krsna consciousness to people academically inclined.
DETAILS
Under the sponsorship of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, the Center for Sanskrit Studies opened its educational asrama in downtown Chapel Hill, near the University of North Carolina. The center functions both as a college ministry and as an ISKCON temple with Deities of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. Devotees have also opened a restaurant nearby.
The center now houses four full-time students. Gopiparanadhana Dasa, the school's director, teaches daily classes in Sanskrit grammar and Nyaya logic and gives individual tutoring. He's also a member of a team of devotees working on a translation and commentary of Srila Jiva Gosvami's major work, Sat-sandarbha, which the Center will be producing.
Aja Dasa manages the Center and its programs for spreading Krsna consciousness. He's also a Sanskrit student and an editor.
Ekanatha Dasa, a student from North Europe, is compiling a survey of the Puranas. Another student, Kamala-mukha Krsna Dasa, from Bangladesh, is researching the similarities and differences between Baladeva Vidyabhusana's Govinda-bhasya and the Vedanta commentaries of other Vaisnava schools.
PLANS
As some of the full-time students become more proficient and form the core of a teaching staff, the Center can make itself more available to interested devotees and the public. BBT editors, gurukula teachers, and others will be able to come for short training periods and for special seminars. A home-study computer course in Sanskrit is also being prepared.
OBSTACLES
Although the Center welcomes qualified new students for three years or more of full-time training, at this point it can accommodate more full-time students only if sponsors come forward to support them or if the students can cover their own costs of tuition, room, and board.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Contribute a computer or useful books (write for details).
Inform the Center if you know of any candidates for training, especially if you can help sponsor a student.
Consider moving to the Chapel Hill area to take part in the rapidly growing programs for spreading Krsna consciousness there.
For more information, write:
The Center for Sanskrit Studies
109 N. Roberson St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Phone: (919) 932-9219