BRC Establishes Open Source Integrated Library System (Koha)

BRC staff is in the process of implementing some new technological guidance we've acquired with the great help of Koha expert, Indranil Das Gupta. After many trials and errors, we have finally worked out the optimal system for processing the digitization workflow for our rare book and manuscript project. We are using Koha ILS as both a catalog as well as their digital repository.

Koha is generally considered to be the first open source library automation system, and originated in 1999. ILS stands for open source integrated library systems. BRC is exploring cutting edge ways to implement Koha, innovating and testing new applications of this system.

An Overview of BRC's Process of Adding Files to the Digital Catalog

We wanted to provide a more detailed update about the processes involved from scanning texts to uploading to our digital catalog for those among you who are interested in tech-related details:

This illustration describes the steps in the process that are involved from generating the initial image from a scan or photo until we upload the file for reading and accessing from our digital database.


- compiled by BRC's Tech consultant, Indranil Das Gupta

Thanking Our Recent Donors, Late 2016

We humbly thank those who have so generously donated to BRC most recently: *

• Ambarish Das, USA, $25,000.00 
• Gopal Bhatta Das, USA, $2,500.00
• Hridayananda das Goswami, $500.00
• Cittahari das, Australia, $2,000.00 (AUD)
• Yogesvara das, USA, $500.00 (AUD)
• Janananda Goswami, $2,750.00 (AUD)
• Urmila Devi Dasi, USA, $1000.00
• Vasudev and Bhagavati, Fiji, $1100.00
• Navin Krsna das, USA, $1,000.00
• Balaramdesh Yatra, $2,500.00
• Srivallabha das, Damodardesh, $1,000.00
• Bhakti Charu Swami, $10,000.00 INR per month
• BBT International, $2500.00
• Madhusevita Das, Scotland, £6000.00

We strive to stay up to date on your latest contact information. If you have not heard from us for a while, we may not have your latest contact information. It is important for us to remember you and help you stay up to date and connected to our latest service activities. Please email Mahalakshmi Dasi, BRC Membership Coordinator. 



* Although we strive to keep good records and communications, occasionally we inadvertently leave someone off this list. Please notify us if we left you off and kindly accept our apology. 

The M.K. Goswami Family Continues Their Generosity

BRC continues to be extremely grateful to Sri M.K. Goswami and his wife, Srimati Priti Rekha Goswami of Bangalore for their donations of rare Vaisnava texts. In February of this year, they entrusted over 40 rare manuscripts to BRC. Their generosity continued this past May when they donated a rare and sought-afterl set of Srimad Bhagavatam, called the “Murshidabad Edition,” a publication that was sponsored by the then King of Tripura.

As previously mentioned, the Goswami family has the distinction of belonging to the 17th generation of Sri Advaitacharya's direct lineage. May their selflessness inspire other families to share their endangered sacred texts with BRC so that we can help make them available to future generations.

BRC Honored by Visit from His Grace Ravanari Prabhu

Born in Palestine, Ravanari prabhu joined ISKCON in 1973 in Germany. As a young devotee, he heard that it was Srila Prabhupad’s desire to have Bhagavad Gita translated into Arabic, so he began that service immediately. A couple of years later, he met Srila Prabhupada personally in Vrindavan during the opening of the Krishna Balaram Temple in 1975.
“I couldn’t believe Prabhupada wanted to meet me,” he said. “The effulgence coming from him made me speechless. I had no way to converse with him. I was completely awestruck.” “Why are you sitting so far away?” Prabhupada asked him when he entered his room for darshan. “Come closer. Sit next to me.” When Ravanari prabhu saw that Srila Prabhupada had a copy of his translation in his hands, he was overwhelmed. “Read me the translations,” Prabhupada asked. “But Prabhupada, it is in Arabic,” he responded. According to Ravanari Prabhu, Srila Prabhupad then began to recite the entire Arabic alphabet and started to read some of his translation work. Ravanari prabhu spent the entire morning in Prabhupada’s quarters reading out loud his translations while he listened attentively. At the conclusion of the reading, Prabhupada announced, “Print it. Learn how to transliterate the Sanskrit verses as well. Print it as soon as possible”. After this time, he ran a preaching center in Beirut, “in the middle of a military zone” where he was tortured and imprisoned along with Tribhuvanath Prabhu (Ireland,) Omkar Prabhu (Mexico,) and Padmapani Prabhu (Canada.) They were not fed for weeks and almost starved to death in a small cell. “The soldiers beat me only because they considered me a local and suspected me to be the leader of a spy mission,” he explained. “They kicked my head with their boots on and be at their guns into my skull. There was blood coming out of my eyes”. Later, while translating Prabhupada’s books in Cairo, his only son, Shyamasundar, contracted meningitis and left this world at the age of 3. “Somehow I had previously been inspired to bring him to Mayapur at a very young age. He went on parikram with me, took prasadam, and got a lot of blessings.” After this, he moved to Canada and spent his time translating every book of Srila Prabhupada into Arabic. “I took seasonal jobs. I’d work for a few months at a time and then live off that money. I sat and translated for months and then I’d get work again for another few months,” he explained. Ravanari Prabhu currently maintains a website where all of his Arabic translations of Srila Prabhpada’s books and lectures may be accessed: www.ravanari.com. He now spends most of his time in Mayapur.

HG Ravanari Prabhu at BRC holding a copy of Arabic Bhagavad-Gita that he translated