Monthly Archives: March 2014

Great news this month from the Radhakunda cleaning team! (Album 45 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

Great news this month! We received permission to start cleaning and renovating Sakhi Kunda! Seven months we waited, but no more. Cleaning has begun there with gusto.
Thanks to your generous donations we have also started to care for Guru dasi.
Meanwhile, daily cleaning and gardening is continuing all around Radha Kunda and Shyama Kunda and at nearby Mukharai Kunda. Read more ›

Mahabharata & Our Generational Challenge – 1 of 2
→ NY Times & Bhagavad Gita Sanga/ Sankirtana Das

In 2012-13, as I was bringing my book – Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest – to completion, I kept asking myself: what about the Mahabharata would be most relevant to today’s readers.  The book has endured for thousands of years. It’s revered by millions of Hindus all over the world. But what does it have to say to anyone else?  Is Mahabharata just for Hindus or does it have a place in world literature, or in the very fabric of our diverse cultures?

The German poet Goethe coined the phrase “world literature” in 1827, and he used it in the context of books transcending national themes.  To put it more emphatically, it means literature that speaks to all peoples. Mahabharata is the first of books. The Dharma teachings, the responsibilities of leadership, and warnings of the impending Kali-yuga (our age of darkness) are described as the five thousand year old epic unfolds.  It’s not only the first of books, but it’s also the first that can be said to be in the class of world literature. Mahabharata belongs to all of us.

Why? The book itself tells us that what is not found within its pages is found nowhere else. That’s a bold claim to make. Plato commented on two books we consider classical literature – Iliad and The Odyssey. At the time of Plato, those classics were already seven hundred years old. He regarded the books as beautiful poetry and great stories. But he lamented: Where was the philosophy and the moral standards to help guide people to live better lives?  

Plato would have liked the Mahabharata. It’s not only good poetry and a great story, but Mahabharata is also the embodiment of dharma.  The book exists just to help us understand what is dharma or, in other words, what is  our collective moral compass.  When we understand the Dharma we can live a life of wellness. That means we live in a balance of both the spiritual and the material. In this way, both the individual and society as a whole prospers.

For reviews  and more info on my book Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest visit: www.Mahabharata-Project.com

The effulgent Deities and glorious devotees of Iskcon Nairobi (Album 104 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

October 5, 1971 – Sria Prabhupadas letter to Jayapataka: “Here in Nairobi our program is going on very nicely. There are TV engagements and a very large meeting is scheduled at the University of Nairobi for tomorrow. Many respectful Hindus are inviting us and I am staying in everyone’s house for four to five days. Most probably our center here in Nairobi will be a strong one, as strong as any of our other centers.” Read more ›

ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 2-23-2014
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 2-23-2014.  Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes a simple, sustainable lifestyle centered on the care and protection of cows, local food production and the loving service of Lord Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban. Participating Members of the ECOV Board of Directors:  Anuttama (partial attendance), Bhima, Chaitanya […]

New Vrindaban Daily darsan @ March 3, 2014.
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

If you desire to attain the supremely sweet, blissful, exalted and opulent mellows of pure love of God, then, not touching the paths of bhakti mixed with piety, speculation and dry renunciation, break the hard shackles of material lie and accept the life of a sannyasi in Vrndavana. [Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama […]

New Vrindaban Celebrates Gaura Purnima Sun. Mar. 16, 2014
→ New Vrindaban

Everyone is invited to come and celebrate the auspicious, sacred Appearance Day of Lord Caitanya, Who personally inaugurated the chanting of the maha mantra for the liberation of all souls   

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare!!
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare!!

GAURA PURNIMA  will be honored on Sunday March 16, 2014 at Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra’s temple.

The Schedule is:

5:00 AM                 MANGAL  ARATI
5:30 AM                 NRSIMHA PRAYERS                                       
5:45 AM                 TULASI PRAYERS
6:00 AM                 JAPA
7:30 AM                 GURU PUJA
8:00 AM                 GREETING THE DEITIES IN THEIR NEW  GAURA PURNIMA OUTFIT
8:20 AM                 SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM CLASS
11:00 AM              GOVARDHAN PARIKRAMA ( weather permitting)

1:00 PM                ARATI
1:30 PM                CLASS
2:15 PM                Lunch  Prasadam (for those  who are not fasting)
5:00 PM                ABHISHEKA ON THE ALTAR
6:00 PM                LECTURE BY HIS HOLINESS VARSANA SWAMI
7:00 PM                ARATI
7:40 PM                 MAHA KIRTAN     
8:00 PM                 PRASADAM FEAST

Your preparations for the Lord are welcome.  Please bring them by 5:45 PM.

If any second initiated devotees are interested in helping cook in the deity kitchen on Gaura Purnima day, please contact Abhinanda das either on facebook or email:

FB: Abhinanda Das               E-MAIL: abhinanda_bcs@yahoo.co.in

There is much Gaura Purnima service available, such as in the devotee kitchen (all morning), prasadam transfer (12:30 PM), or cleaning the prasadam hall after the festival.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu ki jaya!

NEW MEDITATION CLASSES
→ The Loft Yoga Lounge Auckland

Monday mantra meditation & mantra chanting (also known as KIRTAN). Each session will include powerful mantra chanting together as a group, using styles with beads and also chanting to kirtan music. These forms of yoga are extremely powerful yet so joyful and easy to do. Don’t feel like you need some prior experience, just come along and enjoy the […]

The post NEW MEDITATION CLASSES appeared first on The Loft Yoga Lounge Auckland.

Turn on the light
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 25 December 2013, Mayapur, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.9.3) The brahma-jyotir is known to be the effulgence of Krsna but if we read a little more about the brahma-jyotir then we read that it is filled with cit-kaṇaḥ. The cit-kaṇaḥ are the endless infinitesimal souls that are in there. So the whole brahma-jyotir […]

Lord Siva’s Compassion Makes Him the Greatest Vaisnava, March 2, New Dvaraka, Los Angeles
Giriraj Swami

————————————————————————- Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.24.30 during the Sunday program. “Because Lord Siva is a great devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he loves all the devotees of the Supreme Lord. Lord Siva told the Pracetas that because they were devotees of the Lord, he loved them very much. Lord Siva […]

Don’t concoct purpose in purposeless material existence
→ The Spiritual Scientist

…one should first of all understand that this material existence is anartham. Anartham means purposeless life. There is no purpose. Real purpose should be how to get out of the spell of material nature. That is real purpose. They do not know. They are taking very seriously some temporary purpose of life, which will be […]

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The tenth anniversary of Sri Panchatattva’s installation in Mayapur Maha-Abhiseka huge ceremony! (Album 138 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

Who are the Pancha-tattva? The Pancha-tattva are a five-fold manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, featured as five tattvas (truths), namely, isha-tattva (the Supreme Lord), His expansion tattva, His incarnation tattva, His energy tattva and His devotee tattva. These five tattvas incarnate with Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and thus the Lord executes His sankirtana movement with great pleasure. In Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.5.32) there is the following statement regarding Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:-“In the Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of the sankirtana-yajna.” Lord Chaitanya is always accompanied by His plenary expansion Sri Nityananda Prabhu, His incarnation Sri Advaita Prabhu, His internal potency Sri Gadädhara Prabhu and His marginal potency Sriväsa Prabhu. He is in the midst of them as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should know that Lord Chaitanya is always accompanied by these other tattvas. Therefore our obeisances to Lord Chaitanya are complete when we say:-

sri-krishna-chaitanya, prabhu-nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara, srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda. Read more ›

New Vrindaban Celebrates Gaura Purnima 2014
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

Gaura Purnima is coming up in less than two weeks and everyone is invited! Here is the schedule, below, for the celebrations on Sunday March 16, 2014: 5:00 AM                 MANGAL  ARATI 5:30 AM                 NRSIMHA PRAYERS 5:45 AM                 TULASI PRAYERS 6:00 AM                 JAPA 7:30 AM                 […]