Monthly Archives: May 2016

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 02 October 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.2-7) Through celibacy alone, can we get love of God? You can be celibate for a hundred lifetimes, do you think that will give you love of God? No, it is devotional service that will give us love of God! If you are married to […]

ISKCON-Delhi: Festival of Inspiration – 28 May, 2016 (Album with photos)
Several thousands attended ISKCON’s Festival of Inspiration to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of Lord Sri Chaitanya.
India’s Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Dr Mahesh Sharma inaugaurated the event and spoke on how Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement is about devotion and compassion. He thanked ISKCON for taking India’s culture around the world.
The festival saw several stunning presentations by national and international artists. These included Odisi Dance on Dasavatar, Shadow Play, Drama on Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
A kirtan team of members from Urugauy, Venuzeual, Uganda, Russia, Spain, India, Mauritius enthralled the audience with their meditative and uplifting kirtans.
ISKCON Sannyasis and members spoke on the legacy of Sri Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/h5Z96j

Yena tena prakarena Krishna nivashiyet, somehow or other become Krishna conscious. This principle in many ways was the guiding principle for Srila Prabhupada’s Hare Krishna movement. This principle was given some 500 years ago by Srila Rupa Goswami – t…

Prabhupada Festival 2016 — New Dvaraka, Los Angeles (playlist of 10 brief clips)
Srila Prabhupada: Lord Krishna stresses the importance of remembering Him. One‘s memory of Krishna is revived by chanting the maha-mantra, Hare Krishna. By this practice of chanting and hearing the sound vibration of the Supreme Lord, one’s ear, tongue and mind are engaged. This mystic meditation is very easy to practice, and it helps one attain the Supreme Lord. (Bhagavad-Gita 8.8 Purport)
Watch them here: https://huzzaz.com/collection/prabhupada-festival-2016-new-dvar

Living Your Calling in an Age of Confusion.
On the evening of Friday, May 6th, New York’s Bhakti Center partnered with Upbuild to hold a dinner event featuring a talk by Radhanath Swami on the topic “Living Your Calling in an Age of Confusion”.
Upbuild is an educational social enterprise created by Rasanath Das and Hari Prasad, who both used to live and serve at The Bhakti Center as monks. Upon graduation from the monastic order they went on to launch Upbuild which aims at maximizing the human potential by creating environments that inspire genuine purpose and authentic connection. Among the dinner’s 100 guests were many leaders in business, journalism and other creative fields.
Below are excerpts from Radhanath Swami’s talk on how true wealth and happiness are found through finding and sharing the divine love that lies within the soul.
Living Your Calling in an Age of Confusion.
Radhanath Swami: The times like we are facing these days are periods in human history that could potentially bring a rise in enlightenment, or just the opposite. Times of difficult, individually and collectively, are crossroads where we have to really question our lives.
What gives a thing value to a person’s heart is not the monetary price of it, or how it may stimulate the eyes or the mind. What gives value to anything is the exchange of love.
What is valuable? Things can give some degree of pleasure to the senses and the mind but things can never give fulfillment to the heart. Only love can do that. The nature of the heart is to love and be loved. The heart is starving for love. If it is not nourished, no matter what we get, we can never be satisfied and we can never be an instrument to give true satisfaction.
When we realize that love within us, and make it our life’s service to be an instrument of that love, which is expressed through compassion for the body, mind and souls of others, then our life is truly meaningful and fulfilling. With that integrity we can work harder than anyone, if that is required, but it is not motivated by greed, envy or arrogance – it’s motivated by love. By really caring and wanting to make a difference.
The greatest thing that we can pass down through our legacy is compassion, love and care based on moral values – principles of spiritual integrity. There is a saying, that if you lose your wealth you lose nothing, if you lose health you lose something, and if you lose your character you lose everything. Of course we need wealth and we see that when the economy is struggling it can really bring out the worst in people. But where there is compassion, where we see humanity and life itself as a family, then we will make our policies with the mindset that we are caretakers of each other, whether we are in investment bankers, farmers or even swami’s.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/WWhNI9

Door to door book distribution.
Bhakta Akshay: Since the start of this year, in the mood of Haridasa Thakura and Nityananda Prabhu, I’ve been doing a lot of what I think is an under-rated form of book distribution: door to door. I was inspired by a devotee friend, who used to be a Jehovah’s Witness.
She said that they are really systematic. They keep notes and even revisit favorable people they’ve met. I adopted this systematic approach in distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, and I now make notes on the favorable people I meet. I revisit them and bring them gifts, prasada, and beads.
It’s been less than half a year, and I’m really pleased with the results.
While the quantity of books going out may be less than through other forms of book distribution, door to door may be more powerful, because you can cultivate the really favorable people you meet in the comfort of their homes.
Already, by Krishna’s mercy, I meet regularly (roughly once a week) with a really nice lady and discuss the Bhagavad Gita in her own home. I simply revisited her and brought her gifts like prasadam and beads. Before I knew it, she invited me into her home and wanted to discuss the Bhagavad Gita with me on a regular basis.And this isn’t the only case like this. I’ve met dozens of people who receive me favorably when I revisit them.
By Krishna’s mercy many of them are willing to let me in to talk about Krishna conscious philosophy. You can really feel the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura, the original door-to-door book distributors. It’s also great for those of us who aren’t full-time sankirtana devotees. Right now I’m a student, and I mainly go out when people are getting back from work and on weekends. I really wish door-to-door book distribution would catch on. I’ve seen too many devotional creepers wither away, because no one watered them. Door-to- door book distribution solves this problem by letting us cultivate the people we meet.
Your servant, Bhakta Akshay

ISKCON Pakistan: Presentation on Sindhi Bhagavad Gita printing in Damodhardesh-May 2016 (3 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: I don’t say, “Follow me.” I say “Follow Krishna.” Krishna says, “Surrender unto Me.” I say “Surrender unto Krishna.” Is there any difference? My position is simply repeating because Krishna says, “Anyone who preaches this confidential subject matter, he is dear to Me.” Allahabad, January 18, 1971
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/H1Lefy

https://flic.kr/s/aHskANNsui
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By Gopamatrka devi dasi She went to a Sunday feast, spent the night, and never left. In 1972 she was initiated by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and received the spiritual name Ragatmika-devi dasi. For many years, Ragatmika dedic…

The post Daily Darshan: May 31st, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

By Urmila Devi Dasi

Many people will argue that without birth control, families will have a dozen or more children. Yet in societies where birth control isn’t practiced, the average number of children per family is six. Six children per family may seem too many for the earth, but the entire present world population could fit in France or in the state of Texas, with 1,500 square feet per person. We could feed ten times the present population on an American-style diet, and thirty times the population on a Japanese-style diet. (Colin Clark, Oxford University) All the world’s scriptures urge us to have many children, and describe children as a blessing. The only burden on the earth mentioned in the Vedic scriptures is that of a large population of sinful people who live lives of crime and deceit. The Lord, Sri Krishna, is unlimitedly wealthy and can easily provide adequately for all His obedient children. Harmful Side Effects Not only does birth control not solve the problems for which it claims to be the solution, but it has harmful side effects as well.

Pre-Marital Questions.
Uttama devi dasi: This list of questions, in two sections is intended for couples to think about and discuss with each other as a means to reach understanding about each other’s expectations and desires. It will take some time to read and answer all these questions, so please undertake this when you are relaxed and have time.
Remember that this is just to help you become aware of many aspects of marriage and you may find that more questions will come up that are unique for you. Feel free to get in touch with any of the GVT members for premarital education. All the best!
Section I-Marriage, Family and Friends, Relationships, Children
MARRIAGE
What is your concept of marriage?
Have you been married before? What are you expectations of marriage?
Why have you chosen me as a potential spouse?
What is your understanding of a Krsna Conscious marriage?
What is the role of the husband?
What is the role of the wife?
After marriage, do you think that you are one to express romantic feelings verbally?
After marriage, do you think that you want to express affection in public?
When there is a dispute in your marriage, religious or otherwise, how should the conflict get resolved?
When do you think it is appropriate to initiate mediation in marriage?
If there are members of my family that are not devotees, that are of different race or culture, what type of relationship do you want to have with them?
If you have a Guru, what should be his/her role in the marriage?
What is your approach to sexual relationship and intimacy in the marriage?
FAMILY& FRIENDS
What is your relationship with your family?
What do you expect your relationship with the family of your spouse to be?
What do you expect your spouses relationship with your family to be?
Is there anyone in your family living with you now?
Are you planning to have anyone in your family live with you in the future?
If, for any reason, my relationship with your family turns sour, what should be done?
Who are your friends? (Identify at least three.)
How did you get to know them?
Why are they your friends?
What do you like most about them?
What will your relationship with them after marriage be?
Do you have friends of the opposite sex?
What is the level of your relationship with them now?
What will be the level of your relationship with them after marriage?
What type of relationship do you want your spouse to have with your friends?
What is your opinion of speaking other languages in home that I do not understand? (with friends or family)
RELATIONSHIPS
How do you express your admiration for someone that you know now?
How do you express your feelings to someone who has done a favor for you?
Do you like to write your feelings?
If you wrong someone, how do you apologize?
If someone has wronged you, how do you want (s)he to apologize to you?
How much time passes before you can forgive someone?
Do you use foul language at home? In public? With family?
Do your friends use foul language?
Does your family use foul language?
How do you express anger?
How do you expect your spouse to express anger?
What do you do when you are angry?
Define mental, verbal, emotional and physical abuse.
What would you do if you felt that you had been abused?
Who would you call for assistance if you were being abused?
CHILDREN
Do you want to have children? If not, how come?
To the best of your understanding, are you able to have children?
Do you want to have children in the first two years of marriage? If not, when?
Do you believe in abortion?
Do you have children now?
What is your relationship with your children now?
What is your relationship with their other parent?
What relationship do you expect your spouse to have with your children and their parent?
What is the best method(s) of raising children?
What is the best method(s) of disciplining children?
How were you raised?
How were you disciplined?
Do you believe in spanking children?
Under what circumstances?
Do you believe in public school for your children?
Do you believe in Krsna conscious school for your children?
Do you believe in home schooling for your children?
What type of relationship should your children have with non-devotee classmates/friends?
Would you send your children to visit their extended family if they lived in another state or country?
What type of relationship do you want your children to have with all their grandparents?
For the Section II (Regarding Goals, Religion, Entertainment & Leisure, Health, Finances) click here: http://goo.gl/G73sl3

By Sesa Dasa Sri Caitanya inaugurated the sankirtana movement of the congregational chanting of the holy names of God. While living here in Nadia, He would travel from village to village, chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Ra…

Two Highlights From The Waikato (Waikato is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand).
Damodara Krsna Dasa: Recently, I went on a six-day stint in the Waikato.
I was in Hamilton East–in a small car park–and stopped an athletic lady. She happened to be Joelle King, the best women squash player for New Zealand.
After an injury, her ranking dropped from No. 4 in the world to 17th. Six months after her recovery, she is now up to 11th in the world. But she explained that she isn’t satisfied. Her sports psychologist suggested meditation to her, and there I was, holding the books that give the most authentic knowledge and the fullest inner satisfaction.
She happily gave $20 (US) and left with SSR, the Gita and Enough magazine.
Another day, I ventured over to Te Awamutu, and just before my day of sankirtana was finished I stopped a young man parking a scooter. He was originally from Arizona USA. I showed him the SSR & BGH and put them both in his hands.
I said, “A good donation for these is $30.” He looked at me and replied, “So if I give you $50, I can take these?”
We walked to the ATM. He withdrew $60, for which I gave him $10 change.
He mentioned he liked “fact books” so I gave him another book.
“All our books are fact books,” I said. “That’s for you.” And he happily gave the other $10.
Srila Prabhupada, ki jaya!
Your servant,
Damodara Krsna Dasa

Here are a few questions about Bhagavad Gita, with my replies. The first questions I have are about chapter 10 – verse 7-8… Why by comprehending krishnagod’s mystical nature, will we develop a devotional feeling towards him? We may develop devotion to him after understanding his unique nature and position. It is not certain. Just like by…

May 31. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Psychedelic Congregation.
Prabhupada stepped out of his white shoes, sat down on a thin mat, faced his congregation, and indicated they could all be seated. He distributed several pairs of brass hand cymbals and briefly demonstrated the rhythm: one … two … three. He began playing – a startling, ringing sound. He began singing: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Now it was the audience’s turn. “Chant,” he told them. Some already knew, gradually the others caught on, and after a few rounds, all were chanting together.
Most of these young men and the few young women present had at one time or another embarked on the psychedelic voyage in search of a new world of expanded consciousness. Boldly and recklessly, they had entered the turbulent, forbidden waters of LSD, peyote, and magic mushrooms. Heedless of warnings, they had risked everything and done it. Yet there was merit in their valor, their eagerness to find the extra dimensions of the self, to get beyond ordinary existence – even if they didn’t know what the beyond was or whether they would ever return to the comfort of the ordinary. Nonetheless, whatever truth they had found, they remained unfulfilled, and whatever worlds they had reached, these young psychedelic voyagers had always returned to the Lower East Side. Now they were sampling the Hare Krishna mantra.
In their psychedelic ambitions to see the face of God, fantasies and visions of Hindu teachings, and the presumption that “IT” was all impersonal light, Prabhupada had encountered a similar group on the Bowery, and he knew this group wasn’t experiencing the mantra in the proper disciplined reverence and knowledge. But he let them chant in their own way. In time their submission to the spiritual sound, their purification, and their enlightenment and ecstasy in chanting and hearing Hare Krishna would come.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=8

Psychedelic Congregation

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 19 January 2014, Durban, South Africa, Lecture)  We can become free from personal motivation. It comes from sacrifice in devotional service; it cannot come from anything else. We just put our own ideas aside and do something, and over time we take responsibility for Prabhupada’s movement. We just volunteer and we become […]

Due to an outstanding response from our previous mridanga course, the Toronto Hare Krishna temple is proud to announce another training course which will happen on July 9th and 10th.This course will teach karatalas (hand cymbals) to beginner students o…

By Keshav Murari Das

Yes we are talking about Sunder hall of Hotel City Park Pitampura, where about 150 businessmen with family, who are contributing for ISKCON Rohini project gathered on Sunday, 29 May. Subject was to present progress report of ISKCON Rohini construction. In the this program HG Varah P ( CO-President Punjabi Bagh) perform kirtan. Then the Deep was ignited by HH Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaj. Rukmini Krishna P (Co-President Punjabi Bagh) briefed the audience about the contribution of ISKCON around the world followed by the presentation by HG Keshav Murari P (Temple president Rohini) on progress report of Rohini Project. The beginning of Program was done by Chanting of Manglacharan by Mayapur Gurukul Boys. Project Chairman HG Ved Vyas P welcomed all the guests & Maharaj. HG Ved Vyas P mentioned that in future the temple will have Gift shop, Museum, Guest house, Large Temple hall with 3 altars SRi SRi Panchtatwa, Sri Sri Radha Madhav & Sri Sri Sita Ram Laxman Hanuman. HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj in his speech spoke about that how temples are serving & saving the humanity. He thanked them for contributing in Project. Later he presented every well wisher a beautiful gift of Krishna Art Book. Donors & visitors showed their interest & commitments for finalizing this project in next two years positively.

One of our young, talented artists in our community, Amandeep, has been contributing his artistic abilities for the temple!  Below is a beautiful sketch that he has made, depicting a very special story that was recently highlighted at a recent fes…

Sadhu Sanga Retreat 2016 (8 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: The Sadhu Sanga Retreat 2016, in the beautiful mountains of North Car…

By Kirtan Rasa Das

A few months after I started working with ISKCON Prison Ministry, I received a letter from an inmate which helped drive home to me the nature of this service and just how important it is. “I only know what I read in your letters and Prabhupada’s books,” was part of his response to me, regarding my reply to a question he had posed. His words brought me a sudden, clearer understanding and. I’ve often since reminded myself of them. Although I had some idea of the nature of this service when I began, this particular letter made me acutely aware of how isolated and cutoff these men and women can be and how critical is our role as one of their few, if not only, avenues of inquiry and discourse. As a devotee, I’ve naturally come to understand association as a fundamental element of the bhakti-yoga process. I also have practical, personal experience of what it can be like to lack this association.

The sound of “Svaha”s, and the crackling of Sri Agni, holy fire was carried by the breeze throughout Kalachandji Park.  The weather was just perfect as TKG Academy students, guided by His Grace Narottam Prabhu […]

New Devotee Marriage Service in UK.
A new marriage matching service for devotees has recently been launched in the UK as a combined effort between the former ISKCON Marriage Team UK and Sacred Ashram Team, who have joined together to become the Krishna Marriage Team and have amalgamated their databases together to provide a co­ordinated national service.
Current members of the new team are Visvambhara das and Jagannathesvari devi dasi, Gaura Kishore das and Saumya­radhika devi dasi, Sundarananda das and Kirti­radhika devi dasi, and Brijesh and Priya Vadhvania. Jagannathesvari described the team as follows: “We have now amalgamated a quality team of deeply committed and enthusiastic devotees, and I feel very grateful to be working with them.”
As part of the service, a new website has been launched to facilitate registration, but team members will continue to provide a private and confidential service, and devotees’ profiles will not be displayed in the public domain. Everyone who registers will get to choose either their own personal matchmaker, who will suggest possible matches for them, or a team of administrators who will share multiple profiles that they can choose from.
ISKCON UK GBC, Praghosa das, had this to say about the new website: “Knowing all the wonderful devotees involved with running krishnamarriage.com, I am very confident that this facility will be a fantastic resource for one and all finding the right marriage partner, and I wish all who use this resource the very best in finding their lifelong soulmate.”
The service is available for anyone who is chanting the Hare Krishna mantra on a daily basis and following religious principles, and who can provide 2 character references from senior ISKCON devotees, such as mentors or service authorities. As well as matchmaking services, the team will be developing training courses for marriage, and they also offer pre­ and post­marital counselling on request.
Bhaktivedanta Manor Temple President, Sruti­dharma das, had the following to say: “It’s very inspiring that our new team will help devotees in making this very important decision, in educating them after they are married, and counselling them whenever challenges arise.
This is a great offering for the 50th anniversary celebration to Srila Prabhupada.” Krishna Marriage Team members are currently based in Watford and London. Plans for expansion include inviting qualified couples from other ISKCON centres around the UK to join the team and represent devotees from their own communities. Bhaktivedanta Manor Managing Director, Gauri das, expressed his opinion as follows: “Marriage is the biggest decision and responsibility of our lives, and one in regard to which ISKCON has to provide more help. Therefore it is truly inspiring to see that the Krishna Marriage Team has come together and now launch this tremendous marriage networking facility.”
For further information about the service and team, as well as access to helpful resources for devotees changing ashram, please visit www.krishnamarriage.com

Star Wars or Ramayana? (3 min video)
Let Yogesvara prabhu walk you through some facts about it! This is an excerpt from his pre…

By Times of India

MUMBAI: Gita Champions League (GCL), a popular national contest on Bhagwad Gita , has for the first time becomes global in 2016 by opening the competition to school children from all over the world. GCL, an educational initiative of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), will now be open to children from schools all over the world to test their knowledge and understanding of Gita, an ISKCON press release said on Sunday. In 2016, GCL contests are taking place in Australia, Mauritius, Kenya, South Africa and United States of America apart from Indian cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Nashik, Belgaum, Ujjain. This year, around 8000 students from around 134 schools have participated in the contest in Mumbai. Taking inspiration from the competition in Mumbai, GCL contest is also happening in many other cities in India, the release added. Recently, the GCL contest was held in Mauritius and Malaysia. It is slated to start in South Africa and USA also in 2016. The spiritual leader of ISKCON, Radhanath Swami said, “GCL helps the school children to absorb the teachings of Bhagwad Gita. We have attempted to enrich the lives of children in a right manner so that it becomes a helping hand for them to learn self-discipline and imbibe within them a strong value system.”

By Acarya Dasa

We have realized that the people of Chennai do not respond when we address them in Hindi. So we have now begun to ask aTamil devotee to do all the announcements. This Tamil devotee actually taught Sahadev Dasa a few words in Tamil which he uses when he distributes books. This proves that a difference in language does not bar one from preaching the message of the Lord. We have seen how inspired people are by hearing a foreigner speak about the message of God. They may not listen to us but they are attracted to him. Whenever we ask Sahadev Dasa about how he does it, he responds by saying, “I just meditate on the lotus feet of Gaura Nitai and say, Oh merciful Lord please bless these souls. It works and people take a Bhagavad-gita.”

New Ekacakra Festival in Slovakia. Sri Sri Nitai Gaura Candra installation and Harinam (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Krishna said “You chant! You Remember Me; at the same time, fight.” He did not say, “Simply fight” or “Simply chant.” Because in the material world that is not possible. Therefore we must chant and at the side time we have to work to continue this movement. The movement requires a lot of energy. (Lecture on Bhagavat-Gita, 16.4 Hawaii)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/xn9XbX

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Food For Life Mayapur: Bhaktivedanta Anna-Dan Complex to serve Gauranga prasadam. A daily free meal programme. (2 min video)
The Anna Dan Food for Life complex in Mayapur serves thousands of meals every week. Everything is done to the highest standards, from filtered water, to stainless everything, and very high standard of cleanliness.
To fulfil the desire of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada that “No one should go hungry” his followers, well-wishers, supporters have started a non-profit, non-sectarian, non-religious charitable project to connect with humanity by a humble endeavour to distribute sumptuous-vegetarian-sanctified food (prasadam) wherever need for the needy. Our food is available for everyone without discrimination of caste and creed, as a symbol of mutual and global brotherhood. The food is free for everyone.
Prasadam Menue: Rice, Dal (Lentils), side item, Main seasonal sabji, Chutney or Dhai or Matha or Papad, Sweet
When: Daily 1.00pm
Where: “Bhaktivedanbta Anna-Dan Complex” at Mayapur.
How: Daily within 6am-6.30am we distribute coupon to individuals (first come first serve). No advance booking.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/4OkyEd

The post Daily Darshan: May 30th, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Ratha Yatra 2016 (21.05.2016) s.Dnepr, Ukraine (35 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: In the material world, if one engages in chanti…

Jala Krida Festival (Album with photos)
Sarila Vihara aka Jala Krida was celebrated in the serene Yamuna river at Govardhan Ec…

At Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia, as Andrew Günsberg narrates, life guard Nicola Atherton rescues a Hare Krishna devotee. Then a blissful Hare Krishna chanting party ascends the life guard tower. ( 6 min video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/zXHN7b