Author Archives: Dandavats.com

Just after the 12 years of exile of the Pandavas was completed, they were considering where to spend the remaining 1 year incognito. While still in the forest, a brahmana came to them and reported that the sticks which he used for igniting his sacrific…

Amazing Weekend of Learning! Alachua’s Turban Making Workshop Report (Album with photos)
I experienced so much transcendental pleasure participating in the Krishna Institute’s recent Turban-Making & Face-Painting Workshop. During this workshop, devotees with no experience, alongside devotees with years of experience, underwent major increases in these devotional skills and in their knowledge of the underlying art theory principles that enable pujaris to consistently dress and decorate the deities very beautifully.

*When you want to marry*
by Mahatma Das
One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In other words, choosing the right partner can save you from pounds of cure having to go into your marriage. Always be aware that maya may choose someone for yo…

Please listen!
I am 61 now and feeling peaceful and happy. I am writing because I am hoping my story will help others become peaceful and happy.
If you knew my life….you’d know that it’s a miracle that I’m still a live and not an alcoholic or in a mental hospital somewhere.
I was an unwanted child. My mother hated my father, understandably so. She divorced him while she was pregnant with me. She was desperate to have me aborted. She tried twice to abort me, and twice Krishna foiled her.
I was sent away to boarding school in a foreign country (England) at the age of 4. Often times I’d be alone in the school during Easter or Christmas holidays when all the other children had gone home to their families.
The school authorities took my school ties and dressing gown belt off me, because I used to try and strangle myself with them.
When I was 11, my older brother tried to commit suicide by slitting his wrists. My mother decided to give us the choice of staying in boarding school or going to live with her and her new husband. I chose to go home.
I had dreamt of being reunited with my mother from the age of 4 to 11. But going home had its own pains. She would daily tell me of the two occasions when she tried to abort me. She never ended the story by saying, ‘I’m so glad I didn’t manage it, because I love you.’ In fact, she never told me she loved me until I was 45…by which time those words no longer meant anything to me.
I was in most ways a disappointment to my mother. She was elegant, charming, socially very adept, beautiful, a good homemaker, an excellent cook…..I was the opposite…. an embarrassment to her….and in so many ways she let me know it.
I often contemplated suicide…the only thing that held me back was the fear of the pain involved. Thankfully, I couldn’t think of pain-free ways of finishing myself off.
As I became a young adult I was daunted by the idea of getting through life…but I’d act full of bravado so as not to seem a looser to other people.
When I was 25, the suicidal thoughts were becoming very strong. I thought about what lay ahead of me: a job I hated, marrying someone I didn’t love, having children I never wanted, growing old, diseased and dead. I thought why go through all the suffering in between. Let me just get to the end: death. For some unknown reason, as I was thinking like this, a prayer escaped my lips: “Oh God! What is the point of my life? Why am I here?” Then I took the prayer back: “I don’t even believe in God! I don’t know why I’m praying to you! I take it back!”
Too late! He had heard me. That evening after work, I found a Back to Godhead magazine. As I read it I felt there were fireworks going off in my head. So many of my questions were being answered…even questions I hadn’t yet asked but should have.
On my first day off from work, I rushed to the temple in Soho Sq. Three weeks later I had joined the bhaktin program.
Forward wind by ten years and I was married with three small children. My sadhana had become extremely weak, almost non-existent. The old pains, plus new ones I had picked up over the years in the movement came back to haunt me….along with even stronger suicidal tendencies. Only now I knew that suicide was not an answer. Now I knew I would become stuck in a ghost body for a long long time….I knew suicide was jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. No! It was not an answer.
But I faced bigger problems than just depression and suicidal tendencies. My husband and I had boldly pursued the life of preachers by opening a center in Manchester. At the time of life most people are developing a career and buying a house…we put our energy into opening and running a preaching center. But having three children really took its toll on both of our sadhana, and we both felt spiritually inadequate to face the challenges of being full-on preachers. But we were trapped.
We had no home, no career, and £20,000 of debt we accrued in paying the mortgage on the temple, and other Iskcon taxes. Plus we had 3 young children. God had we messed up!
Daily I used to curl up in a ball on the floor, in total anxiety. I used to visualize my life like a rocket ship making a rapid nose dive towards a resounding crash! I couldn’t see any way to avert the crash.
It was out of a sense of helplessness….of not having any other answers….that I just took complete shelter of discussing Gita and Bhagavatam, and doing my best to chant my 16 rounds…Although my faith was weak…I just hoped Krishna existed and He would honor His promise to protect me if I took shelter of Him.
20 years later and I am astounded at the miracles the Lord worked in my life. We now live in a beautiful house, my husband has a dream job, we are working on a project that we love, and my kids are all grown up and are well adjusted, and suicidal thoughts are history…..all things I could barely have hoped for 20 years ago.
Was I a very capable person who figured it all out? Not at all! I am one of the least materially capable people I know! I think maybe that’s why Krishna chose to work His miracle in my life! He knew there was no way I could conceivably take credit for the happy ending! I would have to admit that it was His constant merciful intervention that changed what could have ended up as a tragic ending into a happy tale.
Now my heart goes out to young people who face similar challenges to the ones I faced. Too many of our young people succumb to suicide or some sort of addiction. I get it! I was in that place when suicide or addiction seemed the only way to end the pain!
BUT PLEASE LISTEN…..SUICIDE AND ADDICTION DO NOT END THE PAIN…THEY INCREASE AND PROLONG IT MANY FOLD.
THE ANSWER IS: BEGIN HEARING SRILA PRABHUPADA. LISTEN TO HIS LECTURES, READ HIS BOOKS, CHANT THE HOLY NAMES, AND BEG AND PRAY TO KRISHNA FOR HELP!
Because I’ve been there I feel a very deep empathy for people who feel daunted by what lies ahead. If I can be of any service to you, if you just need to feel heard, understood, encouraged and there’s no one else to give you those things, I will do my best. But I know that is not the real solution since I am a fallible soldier there is a good chance I will disappoint you. Krishna, however, is infallible. If you are in need of a friend, of shelter, I urge you, please open your heart to Him, call to Him, and hear Him as He speaks to you through Srila Prabhupada or through your own guru, and through the Gita.
I am 100% confident that since the Lord heard and helped me….He will hear and help you.
Om tat sat

ISKCON Namahtta Aruppukottai celebrated 3rd annual Rath yatra (Album with photos)
ISKCON Namahtta Aruppukottai celebrated 3rd annual Rath yatra on 9th July 2017 on auspicious Occasion of ISKCON 50th Ratha yatra.
“ISKCON’s first ever Ratha-yatra was held in Los Angeles, San Francisco on 9th July 1967”
By Blessing of HH Jayapataka swamy & HH Bhanu swami and with the presences of HH Sukhadeva swami – Nellor, HH Bakthi Asharya vaisnava swami – Vrindavan, HG Sumitra Krishna das Prabhu TP Iskcon chennai , HG Srinivas shyam das Prabhu TP Iskcon Hosur , HG Vikram govind das Prabhu TP Iskcon NagerCovil, HG Jaigopinath das Prabhu TP iskcon prembur and as Chief Gust “ Asia’s largest spinning industries- Ramalings mills chairman Thiru TR. Dhanakaran and devotees from various part of tamil nadu took part in the festival .

Rath start at Aiyaram kaan Mariyaman kovil Puliyampati Aruppukottai and Rath moved slowly towards main bazaar big streets and to residents area then on the south, west & east car street.

Once Jagannatha reaches program avenue He is given another wonderful reception, and is welcomed He, along with His brother Baladeva and sister Subhadra are carefully taken down from Their chariots, and are escorted to the wonderfully decorated stage for worship.

Thousands of people gather in the program avenue, cultural program Brathanatiyam , Drama “Bilva mangal thakura “ proformed by Srila Prabhupad theaters Arathi to Lordship and every one relish Jaganatha feast prasadham more than 2500 plates of prasadam distributed.

ISKCON Namahatta Aruppukottai
Find them here: https://goo.gl/pGWvAL

Summer Cooking Retreat With Satya in the Manor! (Album with photos)
What we learnt: The following preparations with some special cooking tips! – Bread – Green Beans and Pumpkin Curry – Rice – Paneer Kofta – Roti (Flat Bread) – Vanilla and Mango Ice-cream! Who’s the cook: Satya has been cooking a wide range of cuisines for over 30 years and has on numerous occasions also cooked for George Harrison of the Beatles. She was also in charge of the manor kitchen for over 8 years cooking amazing meals every day for over 200 people. And hey, she’s even cooked for the Queen!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/FZk7Jx

Sharing the Bliss (10 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: On our festival tour along the Baltic Sea coast in Poland each summer we try to give people a…Read More…

A ‘Tornado’ named-“MIP” (Album with photos)
A few Days Back- A ‘Tornado’ named-“MIP (Mayapur International Preaching)”-Just Flooded and Blew the Hearts away of Bangladeshi️ People. Thousands of People were the Victims (Many of them were Lost, Most of Them are Still Floating into the Water and Rest of them don’t want to Come out from the Water!!!). But the Good News is that-“All Victims Were Liberated” (param-vijayate-sri-krsna-sankirtanam)…Here are the Glimpses: https://goo.gl/8nyeXe

Ratha Yatra 2017 in the city of Novi Sad a city in northern Serbia on the banks of the Danube River (Album with photos)
“For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.” (Bhagavad-gita, 6.30)
Ratha Yatra, 05 July 2017 in the city of Novi Sad.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/cgS4iR

MotelGita: A comment from one of the guests who found the BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS – in SUPER 8 – CA
Isa (in the photo) says she read a few pages of Bhagavad Gita for the first time more than 35 years ago, but came across the BHAGAVAD Gita As it is – in SUPER 8 Motel & was stunned by this profound edition

A young boy with a spiritual appetite!
Shastrakrit Das: Recently, to my surprise, I received a text from this south India gentleman Suresh saying that his 12-year-old son Shreyas is on a school break for the summer and has read the ( Krishna Dharma’s) Mahabharata three times cover to cover (which they bought from me a couple of months ago).Sreyas kept asking Suresh for more books about Krishna.
I suggested that Suresh buy his intelligent and pious son the entire Bhagavatam set, which includes Ram lila and lilas of all other incarnations.
A few minutes later, Suresh texted, saying that his son is eager to read Bhagavatam’s right away.
We met an hour later in a parking lot of a mall where I usually distribute, and they immediately put the set in the trunk of their car. The boy was so happy.
My Gurudeva, Devamrita Swami, often says that we should pray that people are fortunate to run into book distributors again and again and that they become more and more fortunate by receiving more and more and more of Srila Prabhupada’s books.

Bringing Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Pastimes to Life in Our Hearts
“A full twelve hours of pure unalloyed Krsna Consciousness.” – (Shatadhanya Prabhu)
“How can I ever have a favourite part? The kirtans are fantastic, there is so much senior association, all the devotees want to serve, the management is par excellent, the prasad is delicious, and the Dham is so beautiful! Still, hearing from the disciples of Srila Prabhupada is my favourite part.” – (Nimai Sundar Prabhu)
“The parikram brings the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya to life in our hearts.” – (Laxmimoni Mataji)

“Recommend it!? It’s a must! If you haven’t been on the Mayapur Chandra’s Parikrama, 50% of your life is wasted.” – (Pankajanghri Prabhu)

Dear Devotees, welcome to the Mayapur Chandra’s Parikrama. These were some of the realizations from our attending Vaisnavas and their experience, observations, interactions and discussions have joyously revealed that, though the praise was lavish it was far from exaggerated.

Sunrise to sunset there is one goal on this Parikrama – to hear and chant about Krsna, in His Dham, with His dear most devotees. Members of ISKCON from all over the world and all ages flock in annual attendance to this Prema-filled Parikrama. It is just the perfect package!

There are so many devotees, but not too many; the mood stays intimate. The management is perfect, but flexible; any devotee so inspired always has an opportunity for some service. And best of all, no matter how much your mind tries to wander; there is Krsna Consciousness at every step. No one can escape into the shadows of Maya and the result is brilliant, darkness dispersed, everyone happily accepts their fate and absorbs themselves in the names, abodes, and pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In six short days, you will get the experience of a lifetime. And though admittedly exhausting, it is equally ecstatic.

Ladies and gentleman, this is not some unreachable utopia, nor a lavish lie. This is Navadwip Dham. It is the spiritual world. Respected Vaishnavas, this is Mayapur Chandra’s Kartik Parikrama.

For those devotees who couldn’t attend this year’s Parikrama, can grab the opportunity for next year’s Parikrama. The dates are 18th, 19th, 21st, 22nd, 24th and 25th October 2017 with a two day break on the 20th and 23rd for Govardhana Puja and Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja respectively.

Special participants for Kartik Navadvip Mandal Parikrama 2017 are H.H Jayapathaka Swami, H.H Kavichandra Swami, H.H Bhakti Purushottam Swami, H.H Bhakti Brihad Bhagavat Swami, H.G Pankajangrhi Prabhu, H.G Jananivas Prabhu and many more Srila Prabhupada’s disciple and senior devotees.

By Adidev Das

New Music Album (1 min video)
Chanting of Maha-mantra by Niranjana Swami and friends to support Iskcon Youth Ministry.
Watch it here: https://goo…Read More…

Book Distribution weekend of July 6-9. 2017 (Album with photos)
Mohanasini Devi Dasi: Although this couple didn’t take a book or get into the album, they sent me a friend request. Scot, “Nice meeting you today in New Orleans. Hare Krishna.” And his wife, Beth, “ We are the couple who has “read the book”! I am an Interfaith Minister in Jackson, MS. Always enjoy connecting with other light sharers. Blessings!“
Book totals for this weekend: 15 Perfection of Yoga, 23 Chant and Be Happy, 65 Higher Taste Cookbooks, 3 Science of Self Realization, 153 Bhagavad Gitas, and 9 Srimad Bhagavatams Total: 268 books
Find them here: https://goo.gl/oto9Qa

Radhanath Swami speaks at Facebook Headquarters.
On Thursday, June 15, 2017 Radhanath Swami spoke at Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park, Silicon Valley, in California. Sixty employees attended a talk on the subject “Keys to Inner Fulfillment – Wisdom from Ancient Yoga Texts”.
He began the talk by saying how Facebook is offering the technology to connect billions of people around the world yet still there are so many disconnections. Real satisfaction comes when we connect to our inner roots. He spoke of his visit to Muir Woods where he learned that the strength of the mighty Redwood trees was passed on by how they all connect together on the root level.

Speaking of who we are and the nature of real life, he said that when we connect to our true self, we realize that we all have the potential to love. “When we water the root, it naturally extends to the branches, etc. Similarly connecting to our inner self, naturally extends to all beings. Everything comes from an origin. We all have forgotten that. In giving we receive and in giving we nourish our hearts. Great people in history have lived by this principle.”

He shared the idea that the real key to inner fulfillment is to connect to our real self and that this can be done through three essential principles of sadhana (regular spiritual practice), satsang (good association) and sadachar (good behavior). He explained the practical aspects of these principles. “However small we are, we can make a big difference – through our own way of living, we can be the change we want to see in the world. All the good changes in the world have come from sincere people who wanted to make the change.”
Read more: https://goo.gl/NgndXv

The Boys’ Summer Trip 2017 (Album with photos)
Manorama Dasa: For the next five weeks I have the good fortune to serve the Boys’ Summer Trip, 30 boys ages 12-17 traveling across North America to visit temples, Ratha-yatra festivals, national parks… on a spiritual adventure summer camp on wheels. At the moment we are in Montreal for Ratha-yatra, and the boys are rehearsing a drama with Bhaktimarga Swami.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/RmZo5w

Presentation on The Solar System and the Vedic Scriptures (17 min video)
Radha Mohan Das: This presentation shows fascinating similarities betwee…Read More…

ISV Harinaam in Mountain view – July 8th 2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: One can be free from all sinful reactions after reaching a p…Read More…

Upcoming Veda course in the UK.
There is an upcoming men’s residential course coming up called the Veda course.
The next Veda course will start at the beginning of October 2017 and finish in December 2017.
I’ve attached a poster for the course. Please put this information (along with the poster) through to all your channels of communication. Thank you.
Niskincana dasa

Vaisesika dasa: How to trick one to say the name of Krishna?
Just tell them to repeat the word “sneakers”! 🙂 Try it!
Lecture by HG Vaisesika Dasa Prabhu Recorded on July 9th 2017 at ISKCON Silicon Valley (video)
Narada said, “I will give you a mantra that will make you the richest man in the world, if only you will repeat it constantly, day in and day out.” Narada told Valmiki to repeat the word mara over and over again, and Valmiki agreed. Holy men like Narada could not lie, and Valmiki knew that mara was an evil word, which agreed all too well with his greedy personality. Valmiki sat beneath a tree and began to chant, “Mara mara mara mara…” However, Valmiki did not realize that he had been tricked – as the syllables of “Mara mara mara” began to run together, Valmiki instead found himself chanting “Rama, rama, rama”!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/dsP5Zf

Visit of Indian parliamentarians to the Moscow Iskcon Temple, today, July 10th, 2017 (Album with photos)
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on her…Read More…

Kirtan in the Park – San Diego, USA (Album with photos)
Bliss on the Prado of historic Balboa Park – Every Saturday from 12-4pm.
Find them here:…Read More…

Harinama in a Baltic Beach city (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Chanting the holy names on the street with mridangas and kartalas is the o…Read More…

TOVP: New beautiful panoramic video (3 min video)
Ambarisa Das: This is an update to the wonderful video created by the TOVP360 project.
Watch i…Read More…

GBC College (2 min video)
Tamohara das: “I think this is one of the most important projects we’ve done in recent years”
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/Z4GvXi

Ecstatic July 1st Harinam at Jacksonville Beach, Florida, United States (Album with photos)
Every month many Harinams are held at various football games, parades, events and beaches. Jacksonville Beach is one such location. Devotees blissfully sing and dance with the sincere drunks and distribute books in the scorching summer sun – often coming back ten shades darker.
Afterwards, everyone takes prasadam at Mother Vishnupriya and Godruma’s home. Sankirtan yajna ki jaya!
(photos by Narottama)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/fmwwpr

Rathayatra in Barcellona, Spain, 2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: O my Lord! Persons who chant the holy names of your Lordship are far,…Read More…

Japa Seminar by His Holiness Candramauli Swami (video)
9 keys for success! Revolutionary technique: chant one maha mantra properly – From Bhurijana Prabhu’s book “Japa”.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/wjHQQg

Lord Krishna and the austerities of speech.
Vaisesika Dasa: Keeping things simple: To advance in yoga – any kind of yoga – one must first control the tongue. As a rudder is the most critical mechanism for steering a ship, the tongue is one’s most vital organ for defining one’s course in life.
The great Acarya (world teacher) of bhakti yoga, Rupa Goswami, in his essential teachings on bhakti yoga called The Nectar of Instruction, starts with this: “One must first control one’s urge to speak.” If one can control the tongue, he suggests, all the other senses will follow.
Don Miguel Ruiz, the author of The Four Agreements, compares one’s words to seeds that implant themselves in one’s mind and heart.
When one speaks with a motive to injure or to undermine others, or when one speaks whimsically – gossiping, for instance – one’s seed-like words take root and grow into poisonous trees with deadly fruits.

To counteract these anomalies, in the Gita, Lord Krishna suggests the following austerities of speech.

Speak words that are:
1. Truthful
2. Pleasing
3. Beneficial
4. Not agitating to others
&
5. Regularly recite the Vedic literature

Think before you speak. If the words you are about to say don’t fit into one of the categories listed above, don’t let them out.

According to the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu, Krishna reveals Himself to one who practices such control of the tongue.

“No one can understand Krishna as He is by the blunt material senses. But He reveals Himself to the devotees, being pleased with them for their transcendental loving service unto Him, which begins with the tongue.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.234)

Little vaishnavas from China chant Hare Krishna with unexpected emotion, crying for the Lord (1 min video)
Lord Chaitanya’s verse: “My Lord Govinda, because of separation from You, I consider even a moment a great millennium. Tears flow from My eyes like torrents of rain, and I see the entire world as void.”
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/DxfY2u

Devotees bring a Jaladuta boat with the murtis in a Saturday Night Harinam at London (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Authorities who are learned scholars and sages have carefully ascertained that one should atone for the heaviest sins by undergoing a heavy process of atonement and one should atone for lighter sins by undergoing lighter atonement. Chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, however, vanquishes all the effects of sinful activities, regardless of whether heavy or light.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.16)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/hU4RL2

Sankirtan Weekend Warriors – Wimbledon – a district of southwest London, England – 8.07.2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.” If one practices chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, he is naturally expected to chant Hare Krishna when he meets with some accident. Even without such practice, however, if one somehow or other chants the holy name of the Lord (Hare Krishna) when he meets with an accident and dies, he will be saved from hellish life after death. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.15 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/m5pndy

Munich Ratha Yatra 2017 (Album with photos)
Munich Ratha Yatra 2017 organized by Iskcon München Tempel.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/bnurHS

Great success for the Baltic Sea festivals (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: The heart of our festival program on the Baltic Sea coast in Po…Read More…

Srimad Bhagavatam class by His Holiness Radhanath Swami Jan 2017 on Flower Festival 2017 given at ISKCON Chowpatty, Mumbai (video)
Watch it here:…Read More…

For Vancouver’s mantra music lovers!
EnChant : Mantra Meditation.
This is a casual gathering of open-minded souls for call and response chanting, also known as Kirtan. The practice of Kirtan, or Mantra Meditation, is a type of yoga in itself and has many of the mind-calming benefits of a yoga class or sitting meditation. For some, the practice has a powerful heart-opening effect and it is best understood through direct experience. The instruments used in the Kirtan are traditional – the Harmonium, Mrdanga(drum), and Kartals(hand cymbals). Included within the program is discussion on the meaning of the Mantras that we are chanting, as well as excerpts from the ancient sanskrit text, the Bhagavad-Gita. We learn about the soul, consciousness, karma, reincarnation, meditation, and bhakti yoga – the yoga of devotion. This is a good forum where questions and answers are shared as well as open discussion about the application of personal spiritual practice. Everyone is encouraged to participate to the level they feel comfortable. Delicious vegetarian snacks will be served at the end. This is a non-profit event and all donations will be used for further events. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Amazing books are also available by donation. Bring a little extra cash in case something catches your eye!
Read more: https://goo.gl/CVNdF6

Radhanath Swami tells a true story.
I want to tell the story of a lady Kuntidevi, also a disciple of my guru Srila Prabhupada. She was never a big leader; she was never a person that people honored and respected as being a person of high position. She was a simple mother and a very, very dedicated devotee of Lord Krishna. Those who knew her well honored her, but there weren’t so many people who knew her well. When she got cancer of the breast, that cancer spread viciously, and entered into her spine and into her organs and just crippled her. It was such a ferocious case of cancer that the doctors said, “There is absolutely nothing that anyone can do. You have six months to live, maximum.” She was practically paralyzed from the waist down. She was in a wheelchair. According to the medical analysis, she was racked with pain. Yet, she was always smiling, always encouraging and making everyone happy. It was so phenomenal. How blissful she was! How positive she was! The local television station heard about it. They met her and they had never seen anything like this in their life. I saw that television show too. It was a half hour program and it was incredible. The hostess was just praising her. Kuntidevi was talking to people and giving lectures about the beauty of life, the beauty of bhakti, and the good fortune of anyone who has Krishna. The hostess asked her, “How could you be so happy when you are in such a condition?” She replied, “Because I know I am the soul, I am eternal, this body is just a temporary situation and this situation is bringing my soul closer to God. Therefore I am rejoicing and I am happy.” According to the doctor’s diagnosis, her physical symptoms and everything else was utterly hopeless and miserable except one thing—her consciousness. I happened to have the fortune of being at her bedside when she left the world. She was surrounded by loving devotees chanting the holy names and she just lovingly gave her heart and her life to Krishna in a totally positive, grateful and happy state. Now, you cannot get that consciousness even from the best psychologist or psychiatric. They can do good to a certain extent, but a really true and deep positive attitude in life comes by knowledge and realization of the eternal blissful nature of the soul, the all attractive, all merciful, beautiful nature of God, our relationship with God and the beautiful and wonderful opportunities to serve God that we have at every moment.

Registration for Kartik Navadwip Mandala Parikrama 2017.
It is our great pleasure to announce ISKCON MAYAPUR’s 5th annual six-day Kartik Navadwip Mandal Parikrama during the most auspicious month of Kartik
(organized by the Mayapur Chandra’s). The Parikrama begins on October 18th and will end on October 25th, 2017.
There will be two days break, for Goverdhan puja (20th October) & Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance (23rd October) so that devotees can participate in the festivals.
For this year also, the parikrama will not stay overnight; we will leave each day from the ISKCON Mayapur campus at 5 AM and return no later than 5 PM. In order to give more time to chanting and hearing pastimes in the holy places, we have reduced some of the walking, and devotees will be transported faster to the various places via boat and vehicles.
Kartik is the most auspicious month to perform spiritual activities, and the weather is extremely pleasant and favorable, so please do not miss this opportunity to associate with the devotees, to hear and chant the glories of Lord Chaitanya, to bathe in the Ganges, and honor prasadam together in the various holy places.
For more information: https://goo.gl/pWUG2g

The Archbishop of Lebanon gets Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Pavitra Devi Dasi: I was on SKP at the L.A. airport back in 1980. I was at American Airlines terminal distributing books as travelers boarded and unboarded planes. I suddenly saw a procession coming off the plane and heading towards the escalators. It was a pope with a tall white type headpiece, all kinds of long robes on with beautiful large rosaries hanging on him. I knew right away he was very special because he was surrounded by many many followers and body guards. There was in front of him a man carrying a pillow upon his head with what I believe was either the Virgin Mary or a stature of Jesus. I didn’t think ahead. I barged threw everyone to reach this priest. I made it. I took a very humble and reverential pose and asked who he may be. He said he was the archbishop of Lebanon. He was really nice. I handed him a book and asked him to please give it a read. He agreed and asked if I would need to be paid. I said well, you may give if you like. To my surprise, he pulled up all his heavy floor length robes and huge rosaries hanging from his waist to reach some money under it all and gave me $5.00 which wasn’t bad back in 1980. He thanked me and I thanked him and off the procession went.

Radha Kunda Seva – June 2017 Photos and Updates (Album with photos)
Lord Jagannatha’s Rathayatra cart passed through Radha Kunda this month and we took the opportunity to offer Him halava, fruit and garlands. The heat was oppressive and difficult as it usually is this time of year, but the parikrama path was as crowded as ever on Purnima day (June 10th) and pilgrims were grateful for some chenna prasada. The garden at Sakhi Kunda is lush and beautiful and clear, sweet water is still flowing at the kunda despite many challenges with people over-using and breaking the pump. We are feeding the Radha Kunda widows and cleaning daily thanks to your continued support. Please browse our latest photos and join our efforts by visiting www.radharani.com. Your servants, Campakalata Devi dasi, Padma Gopi Devi dasi, Sri Arjuna dasa, Urmila Devi Dasi, and Mayapurcandra dasa.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/H3b2dJ