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BHAKTIVEDANTA RESEARCH CENTRE

A project of ISKCON Mayapur 110A Motilal Nehru Road, Kolkata 700 029, WB India PH: 91 33 4065 2475/ 5216

Newsletter
ISSUE #6, January - July 2012
Welcome to the BRC newsletter. Another exciting report on developments at the BRC for the first half of 2012. Since our last communiqu we have acquired some very important equipment.

New Scanner
Our chief goal this year was to obtain a professional, high resolution scanner. With nearly 15,000 books in our catalogue this was a top priority. We are extremely happy to report that on July 24 2012 after six months of fund raising, we took delivery of a Bookeye 4 scanner (see photo above) by a German company ImageAcess.

Thanks to the enthusiastic support we received since we launched our scanner appeal in January we were able to purchase a better scanner than the Atiz Bookmini mentioned in our last newsletter. Costing almost 15 lakhs (approx. $27,000.00) the Bookeye 4 is a state-of-the-art machine capable of scanning 600 pages per hour. It has a scanning area of 16 X 26 (full newspaper size), a flat/V-shaped cradle, Self Service Scanning to USB, touch screen controls, Integrated 19 inch Preview Screen, and 600 DPI software with OCR for very high resolution searchable images. Readers interested in seeing the technical details can do so here: http://mobile.imageaccess.de/index.php?lang=en&page=ScannersBE4-SGS-V2

Along with the Bookeye 4 we also purchased a dedicated computer plus upgraded our on-line uninterruptable power backup system. The Bookeye can be used as a self-contained kiosk for quickly scanning documents, or with the additional computer it becomes part of our main server system with 5 terabytes of storage. After receiving 2 days training our staff have now begun serious scanning, beginning with the multiple bound copies of Nadia Prakash, the daily newspaper of the Gaudiya Matha from the late 1920s.

Images will be uploaded to our website www.brcindia.com as they become available. We would like to give special thanks to the following donors for enabling this major step forward:
BBT/GBC science fund committee: $12,000.00 Pratapana & Jayasri prabhus: HH Hridayananda Goswami Vishakha dasi Dallas Kanti dasi (Key West) $10,000.00 $1,500.00 $1,000.00 $500.00 Sanjay Goel - Dallas Brahmatirtha dasa HH Kavicandra Swami Bh. Sergey & Bh. Vilayat - Novosibirsk $600.00 $500.00 $500.00 $500.00

New server
Another major upgrade was the installation of a new server to work in tandem with our existing one. Thanks to Sriman Vinaya Mukunda prabhu from Dubai who donated a new motherboard and two 2 tbs. hard drives we now have sufficient storage capacity for the tens of thousands of images we shall be uploading in the coming months.

Rare books and documents


We continue to be amazed at the contents of the collection of Sri Sundarananda Vidyavinoda. A recent search revealed the entire third year of publication, 1904, of Jyotir Vid, an astronomical periodical edited by both K. Dutt and Sri Bimala Prasada Siddhanta Sarasvati.

Jyotir Vid will provide important insights into how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was viewing the universe though the Surya Siddhanta and other texts, and help the researchers at the Mayapur TOVP in their efforts to present the Puranic cosmology.

Preservation
In our last newsletter we reported that we would soon begin paper lamination of the most delicate publications in an effort to arrest their deterioration and to enable us to handle them without causing any damage. In March 2012 we initiated this program, beginning with Nadia Prakash.

A special acid-free tissue is applied both sides of the document, with a thicker half-inch gutter that can be used for binding. The tissue is pasted down with water soluble glue so that the process can be reversed easily if need be. Paper lamination extends the life of the document by at least 50 years. Because the lamination tissue is opaque the text becomes somewhat obscured. However, despite this, our new Bookeye scanner produces clear, easily readable images at 600 dpi. Our goal this year is to laminate at least 30 bound volumes of Nadia Prakash as well as multiple volumes of the other periodicals - Sajjana-toshani, Harmonist, Gaudiya and Bhagavat

Mission for Manuscripts


In the early part of 2012 our Manuscripts team visited about one dozen temples and libraries in Odisa (Orisa) gaining many new contacts and much information on possible manuscript sources. These will be followed up later this year. We are also planning a first excursion to Bangladesh around November. We are convinced that many treasures have been hidden away by the Hindu population during the tumultuous events of the last 65 years, and we are especially aware of the fact that many of our most literary acaryas came from that part of Bengal. Stay tuned!

BRC Website
Our librarians, Acyuta prabhu, Bharati Roy and Ashish, have made great progress in creating a comprehensive catalogue of titles in Excel format. The entire Sundarananda Vidyavinoda collection of over 2,200 works is now fully catalogued and will be available to view on-line soon at www.brcindia.com The next step is to transfer these entries to library standard Koha format. Along with the catalogue listings, the scanned contents of the selected works will also be available for viewing on site.

New Acquisitions
We were delighted and honoured to receive the personal archives of Sriman Sadaputa prabhu at the beginning of this year. Sadaputa prabhu aka Dr. Richard L Thompson, was a founding member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute in 1976 (seen here seated second from left with Srila Prabhupada and the other members during a visit to WDC in July 1976):

It was thanks to Sadaputa prabhus genius that we are now confident to present the S.B. 5th Canto cosmology in the Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium. His ground-breaking book Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy was brilliant fulfilment of Prabhupadas order to his Ph.d. disciples to present the Vedic view of the universe to the scientists and scholars of the world:
Letter to: Svarupa Damodara -- Auckland 27 April, 1976 Now our Ph.D's must collaborate and study the 5th Canto to make a model for building the Vedic Planetarium. My final decision is that the universe is just like a tree, with root upwards. The planets have their fixed orbits, but still they are turning with the turning of the great tree. There are pathways leading from one planet to another made of gold, copper, etc., and these are like the branches. Distances are also described in the 5th Canto just how far one planet is from another. It is not that we shall accept the theory that the sun is fixed up and the others are all going around the sun. That is not correct. So now you all Ph.D.'s must carefully study the details of the 5th Canto and make a working model of the universe. If we can explain the passing seasons, eclipses, phases of the moon, passing of day and night, etc. then it will be very powerful propaganda.

His untimely departure in 2008 was a great blow to ISKCON but fortunately by the grace of his widow Smt. Devamrta dd, and the diligence of Sriman Stithadhi Muni dasa and Sriman Krsna Krpa dasa we received all his research materials and writings at the beginning of January 2012.

In the coming months these will be catalogued and added to the shelves of the main library.

Book Production
Our Academic Director, Sriman Pranava prabhu, has been in Kolkata from June studying advanced Bengali. Along with his wife Smt. Kamala Priya dd. They have been working diligently on translating and editing the personal diary of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada. This is now scheduled to be printed and released in 2013. Other works by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura are under production and will be published through the BRC.

New Members
We are always very happy to recognize the generous devotees by whose contributions we are able to keep the BRC going on a daily basis.

From Australia we particularly want to acknowledge our newest Patron Members, Sriman Pratapana dasa and Srimati Jayasri dasi, whose donation of $10,000.00 enabled us to purchase the Bookeye 4:

Adopt a Month (AaM) - In March we began a new membership program.

BRC operating expenses are approx. $2,500.00 per month, or Rps. 1,35,000.00. An AaM member agrees to fund one month of their choice per year. HH Bhakti Charu Swami is our first AaM member and in fact is now in his second year of contributing. Special thanks are due to Sriman Sakhi Rai dasa from Brisbane for his steady and enthusiastic support and sound advice. Apart from making the travel arrangements for my tour of the Australian temples in May he is also one of our main financial contributors.

Sakhi Rai prabhu conceived of the AaM program as well as donating along with his brother-inlaw Ketan prabhu $4,200.00. He has also signed up the Brisbane yatra for an AaM membership for February each year. Thank you Sakhi Rai prabhu! In Melbourne a strong supporter who prefers not to be named also signed up for AaM membership contributing RS. 1,25,000.00. This makes three Aam members so far. If any individual or yatra would like to become an Aam member please contact myself, Hari-sauri dasa.

Tour
In April-June I visited Siberia, Australia and Malaysia and accordingly we would like to recognize the following Members and contributors: A special mention goes to Bhaktin Amanda Nassif from Sydney for her contribution of $1,450.00 We also welcome the following yearly members ($500.00): Mahotsa dasa; Citthari and Camari prabhus ($700.00); Atmarama dasa; Varanayaka dasa/Sydney temple; Ajita dasa; Bhaktin Donna Kohari & Vrndavan; Rajkumar Buyya; Hema Krsna dasa; and renewing for the second year Vasudeva dasa (Mayapur); Harinamacharan and family (Brisbane). Other contributors from Australia:
Sri Radha Ballabha- $300.00; Dhanashekar - $100.00; Caitanya - $50.00; Radhakrishnan Viswanathan - $100.00; Padmanabha dasa - $250.00; Misc. Govinda Valley devotees - $300.00; Bhaktagana dasi $50.00; Radha Madhava dasa - $50.00; Kurma dasa - $100.00; Misc. Perth devotees - $246.00; Bhaktin Linda - $200.00; ; Ramanuja dasa Rs.10,000.00

Malaysia - Vasudevamrta dasa - $300.00; Russian Siberia - Krasnoyarsk yatra - $600.00; Tomsk yatra - $600.00; Barnaul yatra - $200.00
If any reader would like to help support our efforts at developing this important facility and ensuring the preservation of our literature please contact

Hari.sauri.acbsp@pamho.net or harisauri@gmail.com

Thats it for now. There are many other exciting developments taking place but not enough space to put it all in. More in our next newsletter. On behalf of BRC Hari-sauri dasa Director

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