December 17, 2016

Dear Friends,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Recently you have seen promotional activity regarding our movie about Sri Vrindavan Dham, Reconnection.
It’s a story about a person who transcends trials in his life … through the transformative experience of visiting Vrindavan.

Let me give you a little background … because the story of Reconnection actually did not start in Vrindavan.

First I’ll say a bit about the film’s makers.
Shyam Gopal and Vijay Radhika, were born and raised in Omsk, Siberia.
They have always been “sort of different” people; they were born during the Soviet Union and were well acquainted with the art and culture of that era.
But they grew up being absorbed in the music, poetry, and literature of the 1960’s counter-cultural revolution in America.

They would spend their winters drying vegetables and fruits, packaging it, and when summer arrived they would carry massive backpacks into the wilderness of the Altai Mountains to live a few months under the stars.

During their last stop in the material stream Shyam Gopal was a film editor for a Russian television station and Vijay Radhika was a journalist.
Their “sort of different” consciousness, and interest in alternative lifestyles, brought them in contact with Ayurveda and that eventually led them to Krishna consciousness.

They joined ISKCON in Siberia.
Yet, when they heard that we were organizing an alternative farm in Kazakhstan they headed to Asia to offer their assistance.
When I understood their backgrounds I placed them in charge of our yatra’s public relations department. They immediately started building networks of friends with journalists, television reporters, and many trendsetters in Kazakhstan.

Then, my dear friends, 10 years ago a nightmare took place in Kazakhstan.
Members of the most influential family in Kazakhstan decided to steal our farm.
They ordered the local government to begin a campaign drive us out.
Their goal was to steal our 120 acres of land, destroy the private homes of devotees, and move us out from the region.

On November 20, 2006 the local government struck our community with bulldozers, destroyed many homes, and our land was confiscated.

Then, our real struggle began.
I, Shyam Gopal, Vijay Radhika and Rati Manjari started an international human rights campaign.
We saw it as not just for us Hare Krishna’s, but also for all of the religious minorities in Kazakhstan that were also experiencing problems.

The campaign took us to Brussels, had us speaking in the offices of the European Parliament, addressing parliamentary committees in London, participating in congressional hearings in Washington, DC, and engaging with diplomats from throughout the world at gatherings in Warsaw, Vienna, Rome and Prague.

Shyam and Vijay were on first name basis with all human rights experts in the world, straight up to the National Security Council in Washington and the office of the vice-president of the USA.
We diligently continued our struggle for three years.
In 2009 there was a major human rights meeting on the topic of Kazakhstan. From all reliable sources we heard that our campaign would bear fruit.
But, at the last moment, a major country that had a Republican president from Texas, reneged on commitments it had made regarding supporting the campaign to stop the human rights abuses in Kazakhstan.
I assume they wanted to insure the flow of Kazakh oil for the gas tanks of that nation’s Fords, Chevvies, and big Ram pick-up trucks.

Shoot folks, I always thought that stuff about “oil before humans” was just the stuff of James Bond movies … until we experienced it … and had three years of blood, sweat and tears stuffed in the garbage by one country’s flip flop vote.

When that happened we all shifted gears on our Kazakh strategy and started serving in different ways.
Shyam, Vijay, and Rati moved to Vrindavan.

At my request Shyam and Vijay took up the task of making a movie that could help people understand the special transcendental magic that is to be found in Vrindavan.

We wanted to create a film for the non-devotee audience, a non-sectarian presentation that would make them ponder:
“Why is this Vrindavan so special … why don’t I go there to feel it’s unique flavor of spirituality?”

In over 6 years of non-stop service Shyam and Vijay artistically filmed Vrindavan, learned film editing, color grading, sound editing, and all other production techniques;
they created a studio from scratch, in a house so decrepit that I said the film was made by “Funky House Studios.”

But, oh lovers of Vrindavan, this is where the story gets interesting;
Freezing winters .. No electricity / Burning summers .. No electricity
Running powerful computers that were hotter than mating elephants;
And then the power would disappear and you run on batteries with no AC or fan.
Life became like 6 months in a dry Finnish Sauna, or a number of months in a steamy Russian Sauna if there was a monsoon, or, life in a very cold, noisy, and dusty refrigerator.

But, Shyam Gopal and Vijaya Radhika persevered, and produced this beautiful film that has won 14 awards in different international film festivals.

Friends, we want to share “Reconnection” with the world. We want people throughout the world to become mystified with idea of visiting this wonderful abode.
And, we want the devotee audience to swim in the wonderful ocean of emotions they experience … by seeing the Vrindavan we all love.
But also, we also need to recover the +/- $85,000 we invested over the years in the production of the film.

So, my dear friends, my appeal to you all is this:
Please assist us to Reconnect souls all over the world to the glories and mysteries of Vrindavan by helping us cover the $85,000 spent in producing the film.
If we can do this, we can release Reconnection to the world.

Dear Friends, I know everyone struggles to earn, and is very careful on where they should spend.
But, during this holiday season, I would like to ask you to perform a service, of sharing a bit of whatever you have, to assist us to release this film.

Our site is conveniently arranged so you can donate online.
There are different tiers of sponsorship for which you can subscribe with different viewing facility.

And remember, the judges of 14 film festivals have been moved by the film’s beauty and message, and given awards for Reconnection.
If they have been moved by the beauty and mystery of Vraja …
What will Reconnection do for you??

So friends, please don’t wait.
Go to this site:
https://five.pictures/reconnection/
And see how you can donate and assist us in Reconnecting the world to Vrindavan.

Thank you all for assisting us.
We hope you swim in the sweet nectar ocean of the wonderful spiritual emotions of Vrindavan, when you view Reconnection.

Hare Krishna. Affectionate regards … And Happy Holidays!!

Your servant,
BB Govinda Swami