Author Archives: Admin108

Sadbhuja Das: The festival of Jagaddhatri Puja is very famous and has been celebrated for the last 300 years in Bengal. It is another kind of Durga Puja festival.
Every year the festival organizers choose a different famous architectural monument from … Read more ›

Hare Krishna! The many lessons for Vaishnavas to learn from Lord Vamanadeva
Kripamoya Das: Vamanadeva teaches Bali that enlightened human beings are meant to be satisfied with what comes to them. Those who are not satisfied with what they actually need… Read more ›

Hare Krishna! Video – A Glimpse at Beautiful Gita Nagari
Set in the scenic Tuscarora Valley, framed by mountain ridges, boundaried by the Tuscarora Creek on the east side, inhabited by melodious birds and other creatures, home to 9 joyful volunteers, 19 peaceful cows/oxen, and a carefree flock of about 40 peacocks, Gita Nagari Organic Farm of 350 acres of rolling green hay fields, pastures and diverse woods engages in compassionate farming, above all its other activities. We are a small community set in cozy rural Port Royal, PA with a singular aim of integrating our existence based on the principles of love, care and respect for all living beings. Spirituality, Sustainability and Community Care form the basis of our activities.
Watch it here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20053

Read more ›

Radhastami 2015 Festival (Album with 62 photos)
Radhastami at New Govardhana, San Diego, USA.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Gjd32q Read more ›

Hare Krishna! The Appearance of Lord Vamanadeva
Radhanath Swami : Bali Maharaj performed a hundred Aswamedha yajnas when he was ruling very powerfully. So little Vamanadev, just by himself, walked with his bare feet and came upon the arena of the sacrifice on the banks of Narmada River. When Bali Maharaj saw him, this little dwarf – he was so effulgent, so beautiful, he radiated such purity and compassion – Bali Maharaj’s heart filled with joy. He stood up, and all the brahmins who were performing the yajna with him, they all stood up to offer honor and welcome to Lord Vamanadev. Bali Maharaj bowed to him and with deep affection he gave him a very, very honorable seat.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20045

Read more ›

Hare Krishna! Srila Prabhupada on Lord Vamanadeva
So when Vamanadeva appeared, Bali Maharaja was attracted by His beauty as a Dwarf Brahmin, and as he was charitably disposed, he wanted to give Him some charity. But Sukaracharya, being elevated in myst… Read more ›

Vipralambha Bhava: Love in Separation (52 min video)
Vipralambha Bhava, a drama performed on Sri Krishna Janmastami 2015 in New Raman Reti Dham ISKCON Alachua. Please watch in HD: https://goo.gl/JHvT69 Read more ›

New ISKCON Indore Temple, MP (4 min video)
Under the guidance of His Holiness Radhanath Swami, ISKCON Indore is home to a loving community of practicing Hare Krishna devotees and over 200 resident monks.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/0wpM7k Read more ›

Harinama Sankirtana in Israel (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The Lord’s holy name is called sravana-mangala. This means that one receives everything auspicious simply by hearing the holy name. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 2.7.15 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/UMN2xD

Read more ›

Vancouver Harinama Passes 200 Consecutive Days
A small yet growing crew of dedicated devotees have been doing Harinama Sankirtana in downtown Vancouver, Canada, for over 200 days in a row now, chanting the Holy Names of God for two hours every week day after work and for three hours on weekends.
“The method works,” says the program’s organizer Ishvari Jahnava Dasi, who has not missed a single day. “It develops taste for the Holy Name really, really fast. It’s like a pressure cooker.”
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/Xb1WI0

Read more ›

Meet bhakta Heidelberg!
A professional pre-owned German Drum Scanner was recently acquired, due to a generous donation from the BBTI, is now part of the photo scanner arsenal of the Bhaktivedanta Archives photo division. Read more ›

Vaishnava wedding near Pisa, Italy (Album with photos)
Sriman Keshava Das (the son of Matsyavara Prabhu ACBSP) and Srimati Bhadra Devi Dasi.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/E2pVAu Read more ›

Vaishnava initiation in a traditional Mongolian “yurta” (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Two days ago we did a public program in a hall in Ulaanbaatar and then an initiation in a traditional “yurta” in a forest outside the city. Krsna consciousness is slowly taking root in Mongolia.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/wdYC5j

Read more ›

Kartik starts on the 27th October!
Parasuram dasa: Kartik is a special time for spiritual advancement, service performed during Kartik gives 100 times more reward and in Vraj again is another 100 times more reward. And as we know the distribution of Books, Prasad (spiritual food) and the Holy Name are the backbone of the Yuga Dharma. We are printing 50,000 small books and we can distribute them in your name, one book costs 5 pence, that means for £100 you can have 2,000 books distributed in your name.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20038

Read more ›

Ratha-yatra in Agra (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/lXc2os Read more ›

The latest issue of Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu e-magazine (#359) was just released. Topics include, Srila Prabhupada on our accomplishments, plus a new translation from Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakura.
* OUR MISSION – Excerpts from letters and conversations with His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
* FIFTEEN ESSENTIAL TRUTHS – A fresh translation done for this issue of Bindu from Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakura’s Bhagavatamrita-kanika.
It can be downloaded here: https://archive.org/details/bindu359

Read more ›

Irish Children Chanting Sanskrit Mantra for Modi’s welcome – 23 Sep 2015 (5 min video)
“I congratulate their teachers. It’s a matter of happiness that we can do it in Ireland.
“Overwhelmed by the community programme in Dublin.
Recital of Shlokas in Sanskrit by children was very touching.
Simply mesmerising! Great to see these children recite in Sanskrit,” Modi tweeted.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/cxKUNn

Read more ›

Hare Krishna! Praise for the Highest Mercy
Gour Govinda Swami: Conditioned souls, being victims of illusion and the repetition of the cycle of birth and death, are prone to commit errors. The material world created by the Lord is our testing place. Here at every step we are continually being tested by maya. To pass this test one has to hear the devotional message spoken by mahajanas like Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Bhaktivinoda’s teachings should be preached more and more. If the leaders of present-day society sincerely desire the welfare of humanity, they should deeply cultivate and introspectively reflect upon these teachings. Please practice these teachings in your life and teach them to the world. This will surely bring auspiciousness and the unlimited blessings of Thakura Bhaktivinoda.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20028

Read more ›

ISKCON Auckland, New Zealand: 50th-anniversary cake (Album with photos)
Cooked by Radhikatma and his team.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Bsxuue Read more ›

Hare Krishna! Donor Spotlight: Jaysri Radhe (Dr. Jayshri Chasmawala)
Nrtya Kisori Dasi: Even after my dear friend and neighbor, Jaysri Radhe, mentioned her plans to give a donation to TKG Academy on Janmastami, I wasn’t prepared for what was coming. When she handed me the envelope, a big surprise was in store: $2900. And that is not all! She also informed me of her joining our school’s monthly donor program. Her generosity deeply touched my heart and I wanted to share her story. Jaysri with fatherJaysri Chasmawala’s family is from India. She was born in Boston, and growing up she remembers her father as a devout practitioner of the Ramanuja Sampradaya who provided her first spiritual inspiration. (Later in life, two weeks before leaving his body, he accepted initiation from H.H. Giriraj Swami).
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20023

Read more ›

Hare Krishna! “Touching the Feet of the Gods”
Indradyumna Swami: Inside the tent, a young teenage girl carrying a plate of prasadam came up to me. “I’ve always wanted to thank you for how you changed my life,” she said. “Five years ago I came with my parents to your festival. I put on a sari in the fashion tent, and when I came out you were standing there. You said I looked like an angel. I was just a child then, but I was touched by your words, and I decided I should actually become like an angel. I started going to church more, and every night I prayed to God. “Then last year I found a Bhagavad-gita in our house. My parents had bought it at your festival. I started reading it and found many instructions about how I could become the angel you saw in me. I even became a vegetarian and I started learning English so that if I ever met you again I could thank you and learn more about your way of life.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20020

Read more ›

HH Jayapataka Swami completed his 45 years of accepting sannyasa. In fact, he’s the longest standing sannyasi in Iskcon. On the auspicious day of Radhastami in the age of 21 ISKCON Founder-acharya His Divine Grace Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada blessed him with the life of renunciation.

Read more ›

Hare Krishna! Offer it Up!
Ananda Vrindavana Devi Dasi: I learned how to offer at a young age. When I didn’t want to carry the freshly ironed clothes upstairs my mother would cheerfully say, “Offer it up!”. There was no choice about having to do it but she was suggesting where I put my mind in the process. She was teaching me to offer this small activity to God. Those three words stayed with me, and when I was later introduced to Krishna consciousness, the same concept from my childhood appeared to me in Krishna’s teachings. What does it mean to offer? With the clothing, it meant that I did something I didn’t want to do for someone else. I turned this unwelcome activity into a gesture of goodwill. I took the time that I’d rather be doing something else, and gave it away or offered it up.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20017

Read more ›

Kirtan party in the temple of Copenhagen (Album with photos)
Saturday 19 September.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/zGNrJq Read more ›

Hare Krishna devotees back to Croome Court for a day (Album with photos)
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness bought Croome Court in 1979 when famous devotee, George Harrison, reputedly released funds for the purchase to use the Grade I … Read more ›

Hare Krishna! Srila Jiva Gosvami’s Disappearance
Gour Govinda Swami: “A Vaisnava does not take birth under the jurisdiction of karmic law. His birth and disappearance are transcendental. The wise have declared that the servants of Visnu are eternally engaged in the liberated service of the Lord and hence are free from the laws of material nature.” (Padma Purana, quoted in the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, 10.113) Srila Jiva Gosvami was the youngest but most prolific writer among the Gosvamis. He wrote an astounding half million Sanskrit verses (about 25 books). When Srila Jiva Gosvami left this world many said that no one like him would ever appear on the planet again.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20013

Read more ›

Hare Krishna! Toronto’s Hare Krishna Temple: Radhastami Celebrations Captivate Devotees’ Hearts!
On Monday, September, 21st the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple celebrated Radhastami which is the appearance day of Srimati Radharani. Radharani is the female counterpart of Lord Krishna, and She is the embodiment of feminity in nature. In a countless number of temples around the globe, devotees gathered to celebrate this auspicious day and wish Radharani a very happy birthday. The Toronto Hare Krishna temple also took part in the celebrations with guests from all over the world, including the US.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20007

Read more ›

Srila Prabhupada: “Yes, she cooks for me, and all I do is criticize her. But she would slit her throat for me, and I would do the same for her.”
Malati: When we first arrived in Mayapur, it was the days of the huts with the thatched roofs, the water pump, and the mud everywhere. Srila Prabhupada was staying in the brick hut. My husband, Shyamasundar, was his secretary, and I was his cook. I had always wanted to be his cook, and Krishna had rewarded me. But in Mayapur I was faced with not only service of guru, but service of husband, service of daughter, and trying to maintain my sanity in the situation. Materially it was impossible. There was no facility. I was living in a tent. I had two buckets of water to cook with and the servant would come every day and grab one of the buckets before the meal ended to heat water for Prabhupada’s bath. Each day I had to confront the treasurer, whose duty it was to not give money, and I would usually have a royal argument with him concerning funds for Srila Prabhupada’s bhoga. Then, while going to buy the bhoga, I would have an argument concerning money with the riksha-wala, with the boatman, with the vegetable walas, because they all expected ten times the proper amount from a white person. I had to fight with everybody I dealt with. To double my anxiety, which was already at peak level, Prabhupada’s servant would come and take away the stove just before lunch. On top of that, every day I was thinking, “How can I please Srila Prabhupada?” I really wanted to cook perfectly for him. I would think about it all day. Even when I wasn’t cooking, I would be planning for the next day, “How can I do it perfectly?” And it seemed as if every single day he told me something that I was doing imperfectly. One day there was too much salt. The next day there was too little. I started thinking, “What am I doing? I can’t do it right. Everything I do is wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t be cooking. Yeah, someone else should be cooking. I will tell Prabhupada to get someone else, or I will get someone else who can do it better.” I started feeling relieved. All I had to do was tell Prabhupada, and that was it. The next day I went into his room full of this idea. His God-brothers were coming for lunch that day. Another source of my anxiety was that Prabhupada’s God-brothers were criticizing Prabhupada for many things, and one of them was that Prabhupada had a female cook. I was the cook, and therefore I felt badly about that too. Since his God-brothers were coming for lunch I thought, “He certainly won’t have me cook today. I will tell him tomorrow.” But he called me into the room and started telling me what he wanted for lunch. So, I went to make the lunch, and I brought it in. He was sitting at the end of the room like a royal king, and on each side of him were old, stately Vaishnavas with dandas. It was an impressive sight. I felt completely intimidated, but I had to go in. I entirely covered my head and hands with my sari, and I got down on the floor on my hands and knees. I curled in with the plate, put it down, offered obeisances, and started slithering back out. Then I heard Srila Prabhupada say, “Yes, she cooks for me, and all I do is criticize her. But she would slit her throat for me, and I would do the same for her.” When he said that, I completely disintegrated. By the time I got to the other door, my sari was wet with tears. I realized how mundane my consciousness had been and how my anxiety had been based upon a misunderstanding of the relationship between the guru and the disciple. Every day I had been thinking, “How can I do it perfectly? What would he want?” and he was telling me. He wasn’t criticizing me. I was just taking it in a mundane way. But because I wanted to know how it could be more pleasing to him, he told me. I was in illusion as to the position of a disciple and what the relationship of servitude meant. It is not, “You pat me on my back.” That was my misconception. When I heard Srila Prabhupada say that, I realized that it was absolutely true. There was no doubt about it. My mood was that I would have done anything for him. But it had never occurred to me how Prabhupada would also do anything for us. Then I realized that he was already doing everything for us. My insignificance at that point was immense, along with my gratitude and love for him. The potential for love was certainly revealed to me.

Read more ›

Radhastami Abhishek in Sri Dham Mayapur, West Bengal (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/vqUIni Read more ›

Beautiful Radhastami celebration in New Raman Reti, Alachua (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/FRXk3j Read more ›

Program in an orphanage (6 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Much of the Mongolian population lives below the poverty line and many families struggle just to get by. It is common, especially in the capital Ulaanbaatar, to see children who have been abandon… Read more ›

Hare Krishna! Vaisnava culture of respect and honour
ISKCON is more or less unique in vaisnava history, being an institution that is dedicated to spreading Krsna consciousness. During vedic times you would have what devotees often term as the tradition… Read more ›

Radhastami celebration in ISKCON New Govardhana – Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari with Mukunda Swami (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/1D7UuS Read more ›

Hare Krishna! The “Traveling Parson”
Rupa Raghunatha’s original ancestors were Christian missionaries in the 1790s. Thomas Hassall was called the ‘traveling parson’, because he used to preach from Sydney to Canberra and Newcastle riding his horse town to town. Rupa Raghunatha says, “Now I feel like I have the same missionary spirit not on four legs, but on four wheels! Often Rupa Raghunatha will set up a table with books and prasadam on the street, or walk around to each shop and show them books personally. He often feels inspired to do Hari Nama, especially in remote towns, as they may not have another chance to hear the holy names.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19995

Read more ›

Henry Ford’s life – a spiritual perspective by his great-grandson (Ambarisha Prabhu) (3 min video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/SHbjD1

Read more ›

ISKCON Auckland New Zealand: Over 100 sets of SP Lilamrta sets sold for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada for His 50th anniversary! Read more ›

A traditional Maori greeting and “Haka”, performed by local devotees in Iskcon Auckland, Temple of New Zealand during the reception of dignitaries on the occasion of celebrating Srila
Prabhupada’s 50th anniversary of his arrival in America. (3 min video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/7CJnuE

Read more ›

ISKCON Malaysia – Srila Prabhupada’s Gallery Opening (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/DwX0Ca

Read more ›

Hare Krishna! The building blocks? The Transcendental Sound Vibration!
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Harinama Sankirtan Mission. Right now, this moment in Harinam Sankirtana, the Maha Mantra rises. The kirtan leader was born a devotee – blessed by the commitment of his parents and the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. The volume is high, the beats are many per minute. The devotees are all swimming with the current. The commuters are now running – it is rush hour in New York. Everyone is running. These busy people may not notice the devotees – it appears this way – but the inner ear, the Soul’s accomplice, has captured this Transcendental Sound. These Eternal moments are quick!
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19993

Read more ›

Hare Krishna! Our dear Grandfather Srila Prabhupada
Acyuta Gopi: He came to a place where he knew no one and was unsure if anyone would be able to help him carry out his mission. He fought sea sickness, life threatening heart attacks and braved the roughest conditions because he had such firm faith and conviction in the orders of his guru and the message of Lord Caitanya. Because of his journey and his sacrifice, I am here today. Because of his amazingly selfless personality I am able to say I’ve dedicated 30 years to this movement. Because of all of his hardships I was able to go to South Africa where I knew no one and gain an entire family in one day because we are connected worldwide by his vision. I can travel anywhere in the world confident that I will be cared for because of Srila Prabhupada’s work. And when he journaled, it wasn’t full of complaints about the hardships he had to endure. Somehow he was thankful to be performing the work that would make his spiritual master proud.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19988

Read more ›