 In July 2005, only two years after arriving in Auckland, Dina-bandhu dasa completed the eighth painting on the ceiling panels of the Auckland Radha Giridhari temple depicting scenes of Krishna's pastimes. The paintings are very beautiful and colourful and they are unique to the Auckland temple. Seven of the paintings are copies and one, portraying Krishna playing the flute, is an original.
Dina-bandhu, a disciple of Niranjana Swami, and his wife Karuna Manjari devi dasi, initiated by Indradyumna Swami, were originally from the Ukraine. They spent one year in Sweden, completing the illustrations of the book ?Brhat Bhagavatamrta? before coming to New Zealand. In the Ukraine Dina-bandhu was trained since childhood in art, firstly at children?s school, and then at college, where he learnt to paint and to be an art school teacher. His next step was to graduate from Art University in monumental and decorative design. Two more very large murals measuring four metres by three metres have been commissioned and the first has been started with a completion date this August in time for the Janmastami celebrations. The second mural will begin directly after that. The present project costing $5,000.00 was paid for by Nimai and Associates and the other by Neela Kassanjee Desai and family. Art materials to the value of $1,000 will be used for each painting. The murals will be on either side of the altar; the first is of the Panca Tattva, and the second will depict Krishna in the Rasa Dance. On a missionary visa until July 2007, Dina-bandhu das and his wife will be applying for permanent residence in the near future. They are very happy to have their new baby daughter, Lila, born on July 11, 2005, and see her as a gift from the New Zealand devotees. They appreciate the loving and helpful attitude of the local devotees, and are hoping that when the temple project is completed, they will be able to develop their own art business. |
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