Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Initiations at Iskcon of San Diego, CA, United States (Album with photos)
Photos taken at this evening’s Initiation ceremony. His Holiness Bhakti Sundar Goswami awarded diksha initiation to the devotees formerly known as Bhaktin Renee and Bhaktin Carolina,. These expert photos were shot by Sri Sri Radha Giridhari’s personal photographer, His Grace Purusa prabhu.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/aY1s3Z
Embryonic Journey (34 min audio)
Puspavan das: How does a spiritual movement begin? We will take a look at the Founder-Acarya a…Read More…
Harinama in Tel Aviv, Israel 30.07.2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Fate can be changed by Krishna consciousness. Krishna says, “I shall give you protection from all the resultant action of your sinful life.” That is fate changed. When you surrender to Krishna, He takes charge of squaring up all your sinful activities and their reaction. Surrender to Krishna; then your fate is changed. Delhi, November 28, 1975.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/J8u1fi
Sri Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra Pushpabhishekam (Album with photos) New Vrindavan ISKCON temple – Palace of Gold
Srila Prabhupada: When we keep our association with Krishna every activity is proper and liberating, but if we should dissociate ourselves from the Lord’s Mercy then like a hand which is severed from the body we become ugly and useless. Letter to Hrisikesa, November 26, 1968.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/5uXSw6
Preaching program in Osaka, Japan (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: To the sincere devotee, this ocean of maya is easily crossed by the cool breeze of Krishna’s Grace. This is our business, to submit to Krishna’s desire to have us back with Him in the eternal sky of Krishna Loka. Letter to Syamasundara, November 24, 1968.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/tdPvJN
Lord Nrisimhadeva’s mercy even on non-devotees
The mercy of Lord Nrisimhadeva at Mayapur is famous and I have an interesting story in brief.
I know a couple Ashok Ghosh and his wife Shila Ghosh from Kolkata, who married twelve years ago. Four y…
Kurmakshetra.
Radhanath Swami: According the the Mahatmya of this place, it is described that Vedavyas was telling one great muni that this place of Kurmakshetra is very, very sacred and he told the story of this temple. There is a mountain called Shwetacala Parvat. And near that mountain lived a king. His name was Shweta Chakravarti, and his wife’s name was Vishnupriya. Vishnupriya was very chaste, very pure in heart, and had great devotion to Lord Krishna. On an Ekadasi day she was performing pooja in her temple room. At that time her husband had very great lusty desires. He went to her room to enjoy his lusty desires with his wife. So being a chaste woman she greeted him with great hospitality, had him sit on a golden throne. Then, she went back into her pooja room to continue her devotional service. She started to pray very helplessly to Vishnu, that today is Ekadashi, I have made vow that I will not engage in any type of sinful activity. I will completely immerse my mind only in devotional service. But my husband is approaching me with lusty desires. Please save me, please protect my vows to you on this holy Ekadashi day. This is a great lesson for any of you ladies whoever get put in this situation. The Lord always protects His devotees. As she prayed to Lord Vishnu, Kurmadeva who protects the stability and the foundation of devotee’s vows, He ordered Gangadevi that this king wants to violate the chastity of the vows of my devotee, go stop him. So Gangadevi appeared in the temple and then with a terrible, terrible violent current, she came flowing out of the temple room, and right after King Shweta Chakravarti. When he saw the river Ganges just flooding forward, rushing towards him, he became very frightened and ran away. He was running and running and running but everywhere he went, the Ganges was chasing after. He was running, running, but it was chasing after and finally he climbed to the top of the Shweta mountain. And there he asked his minister what’s happening? Why? His chief minister told him, that your wife is a very great devotee of Lord Vishnu, and you had lusty desires for her on Ekadashi. She prayed to Vishnu to save her, and Kurmadev, just to protect His devotee send the river Ganges, just to stop you. When the king heard this he felt so guilty, terrible, he was thinking that I am such a sinful person. He began to repent, but worse then that, he was thinking that I made an offense to my wife, and what kind of great devotee is she, that Lord Kurmadeva personally arranged to protect her? He decided, he had to perform great, great tapasya to purify himself from this offense. So he was repenting so much. He was just getting down on himself so bad, and finally he fell unconscious. Then Narada Muni appeared. Narada Muni said, “How can I serve you?” He said, “Please grant me a benediction, grant me the benediction that I can have darshan of the great deity of Kurmadeva.” So Narada Muni taught him a Kurma Mantra and sat on the shores of the ocean of the sea, and explained him the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness very nicely.
Read more: http://goo.gl/avxcaV
Never Alone!
ISKCON of DC: There is a beautiful story of Srila Prabhupada in 1966 sitting by himself on a bench in New York on a snowy, cold January morning. Another gentleman came and sat beside him and they began to talk. Perhaps feeling a bit sorry for Prabhupada, he asked him if he knew anyone in New York. Prabhupada held up his chanting beads and said, “I am never alone.”
Most of us will experience being alone at some point in our life. For some it’s an extended sense of loneliness. For others it’s now and then. Sometimes, ironically, it’s in times of success, or joyful gatherings, that we may feel most alone. At other times, loneliness strikes when we are ill, grieving, or failing in some way.
In truth we are always alone in the small space of our body and mind. No one can feel what we feel, or think what we think; efforts to be heard or understood often end in frustration. At times our greatest sense of loneliness and disconnect is when we wake up in the middle of the night and our mind is churning it’s endless river of thoughts. The world is asleep and we are wide awake and worried about something.
When we come to these moments of lucid and acute feelings of loneliness our beads can save us from spiraling into despair. Many things happen when we chant the Hare Krishna mantra, and this is one of them. We are reminded that Krishna is our friend and is always there. Not only are we not alone, but we can feel a sense of connection, a sense of comfort. Suddenly life seems bearable, manageable, and eventually, understandable.
This has been my experience many times. Chanting sets me on solid ground – even, and especially, in the middle of the night when my mind is busy convincing me otherwise. The nice thing about the mantra is you don’t have to think about what to say to God, what to ask for, what to pray – just chant. The mantra says it all. It is an eloquent request for shelter, for service, and for a chance to love and be loved.
In the dark hours of our life, find the mantra and allow it to find you. Hold it and be held. It is then we will experience what Prabhupada spoke of on that park bench – never feeling alone. That’s the big gift of this small exchange on a cold winters day in New York in 1966.
Dublin Rathayatra 2016 (Album with photos)
Kurma das: Here’re some happy snaps from yesterday’s ecstatic 50th Anniversary Rathayatra parade around ‘Dublin Fair City’
Lord Mayor of Dublin Councillor Rebecca Moynihan speaks at the onset of the parade — at Merrion Square.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Odmcj7
Lionel in the Holy Name Monastery (4 min video)
Shri Harinam Mandir Traveling Temple – group of brahmacharis/monks in Tallinn, …Read More…
Festival Ratha Yatra in Prague, Czech Republic (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: People should be given the chance to hear…Read More…
Jagannath Ratha Yatra Kathmandu Nepal 28th July 2016 (Album with 856 photos)
33rd Annual Jagannath Ratha Yatra was celebrated in Kathmandu Nepal on 28th July 2016 on the auspicious day of “The Incorporation of ISKCON in New York”
It had been 50 years of Foundation of ISKCON.
The Festival was celebrated with the divine presence of His Holiness Mahavishnu Swami Maharaj, HG Patri Prabhu and all the devotees.
Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal came as a chief Guest.
About 10,000 devotees and other local people took part in this Festivla of Chariots from all over the Nepal.
Dear Lordship Jagannath along with Brother Baladeva and Sister Subhadra were pulled in three Chariots for the 1st in Nepal.
Jaya Jagannath Swami.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/UKeLBS
Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk.
Krishna-kripa Das: There were some so happy with the experience of chanting and dancing they would give a “thumbs up” gesture, say “I love you guys,” or would even embrace the devotees. People have always appreciated and expressed their appreciation, but this year it seemed like two or three times more usual.
Sometimes whole families would dance together in our tent.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/ech33H
50th Anniversary Celebration at ISKCON Colombia.
Colombia is joining the ISKCON 50 celebrations, which are taking place all around the world. Srila Prabhupada came to the United States in 1966 with the mission of delivering the most valuable possession to the Western culture. Srila Prabhupada eventually came to inspire a whole generation. A generation full of youth, full of vigor, full of hope, full of new ideas; these persons became the ISKCON that Srila Prabhupada envisioned.
50 years later, sitting under the same tree, Srila Prabhupada’s followers from around the world gathered in New York to celebrate with chanting, dancing and eating prasadam.
In the same spirit, the Colombian devotees want to join in on this spiritual vibration and association of those who share the spiritual inspiration from his divine grace.
This celebration will be from the 6th to 12th of September in the city of Cali, Colombia.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/iGIOq6
Scholar by day, Yogi by night: The Yoga of Harry Potter & Your Last Day as a Muggle.
As Harry had to defeat Voldemort, every yoga practitioner must overcome the tyranny of maya—the root of the dark arts and the veil of selfish desire that corrupts and contorts a clear vision of reality. And like it was for Harry, only an all-embracing, selfless love can free a yogi from the darkness of maya and uplift them into an enlightened vision of reality.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/x6IkFQ
Nanda-kiśora: What happens to a person if we just give him out on the street one Simply Wonderful or some prasādam, one piece of prasādam?
Prabhupāda: Oh, that is wonderful, simply wonderful. [laughter] [chuckles] He has not tast…
Nityam Bhagavata-sevaya #42 The Divine Qualities of Maharaja Prithu
This issue covers the divine qualities of Maharaja Prithu, …Read More…
ISKCON Auckland NZ: World holy name week (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Our relationship with Krishna, the Supreme Pers…Read More…
The Show Must Go On (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: There’s the famous saying, “Rain or shine, the show must go on.” Well, we ‘went on’ and prayed that Lord Caitanya would bless our efforts, despite the torrential downpour at yesterday’s festival!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/eqkR0a
Padayatra walking festival in the Czech Republic (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The chanting of the holy name of Krishna…Read More…
New issue of Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu e-magazine.
KK Bindu #380 includes: A new translation from Sanatan Goswami on how initiated men and women are not sudras.
This edition includes: * CULTURAL BIRTH – His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada speaks about two types of birth. * THE ELIGIBILITY OF VAISHNAVAS – A fresh translation of Srila Sanatan Goswami?s Commentary on Hari-bhakti-vilasa. He speaks about how initiated Vaishnava men and women are not to be considered sudras. * HOW SHAMELESS I AM – Another fresh translation from Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati’s Vrindavan-mahimamrtam (5.70). It can be downloaded here: https://archive.org/details/bindu380
Srila Prabhupada: They simply think, “Where to get money?” They are third-class men, but at the present moment those who acquire money somehow or other are considered first-class men. It doesn’t matter what their qualification is. I…
“His Divine Grace” by Danavir Goswami.
Patita Pavana Das: We love to read the biographies of the Founder-Acharya scribed by the devotees of the Krishna Consciousness Movement. Such writings are proof that there is an ever-present divine energy we know as the disciplic succession, an eternal current that has flowed down to us like the waterfalls along the rivulets of nectar on Chandra-loka. Shrila Prabhupada said, “Whenever someone comes into one of our temples, it means that Lord Krishna has brought that person by the hand.” And this truth is all the more visible when the pure devotee’s servants—having been brought by the hand of the Supreme Lord to become fixed at the lotus feet of the pure devotee—glorify the incredible deeds of their spiritual master. And the incoming tides of the ocean of written glorifications about His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada by his servants and by the servants of his servants—ISKCON’s surdurlabha mahatmas—are ever increasing.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/Y0YQUW
50 hours of Kirtan for the 50 years ISKCON in Bali (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Let there be all victory for the chant…Read More…
More Devotees, Happy Devotees: The Seven Stages of ISKCON Membership.
How many stages are there in bringing a person from vague awareness of ISKCON to active membership? You can describe it in any number of stages, and the diagram above has six, but …
Calgary, Canada, Rathayatra 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Simply by chanting the holy name of Lord Krishna, one c…Read More…
Video Playlist by Various Srila Prabhupada Disciples and Senior Devotees expressing their offerings of love to Srila Prabhupada.Read More…
The land of believers: In India, just 33,000 people are atheists.
India is a land of believers.
Only 33,000 people declared themselves atheists in the 2011 census that puts India’s population at 1.2 billion.
Nearly half of the atheists are women. And seven out of every 10 atheists live in rural India, the data released earlier this week shows.
This is the first time in recent years that census data in public domain puts a number on atheists, people who do not believe in the existence of God. The 2001 report – the census is done every 10 years – said “only a handful few claim to be atheist”.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/r4BwpK
Final call for boarding – My recent sankirtan experience.
I had to travel to Coimbatore India from Secunderabad to meet my parents over the weekend. I had to travel by plane due to last minute decision, but still I packed a hand baggage with my cloths and another carry-on with books.
Question Humanity.
Reflecting on the senseless killings going on around the world, one wonders at the state of humanity.
Animals kill other animals for hunger. Humans kill other humans, but not to eat. Their hunger is for revenge, or power and control. They will also kill out of pure anger or envy – energies that have taken over their lives, heads and hearts. They will kill to prove a point – my way of life is better than your way of life, my religion is better than your religion, my color is better than your color.
That puts us less than animals.
As living creatures we humans and animals are very similar. We both eat, sleep, mate, and defend – these are the main four activities of living and surviving life. But the human body has something more – an intelligence to step back and question why. Why are we here? What is the point of all this eating, sleeping, mating, and defending? Who started this? Who made us and what are we made for?
Animals also have intelligence but not of this kind. This is the special gift of the human body. If we don’t use it, if we don’t ask, explore, question life, question death, question suffering, we live just as the animals do. More sophisticated ways of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, perhaps – but just the same as animals.
Each one of us has a choice to make in life – the choice to live consciously or unconsciously, the challenge to live as a human and not as an animal. Each one of us has the responsibility to be the best we can be as humans and make our time in this body count.
When the body is alive, either human or animal, that is a symptom of the presence of the soul. We are the life in the body. We don’t have a soul – we are the soul. Our body changes – from youth to mid-life and on to old age. We travel with that changing body and death simply means we leave one body and go to another. Like moving from one house to another, the soul lives in many bodies – both human and animal.
Who is that soul? Who am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Can I influence the journey and destination?
These are questions only humans can ask. Don’t forget to do so. For your own sake and the sake of humanity.
The Mega Photography Contest & The Divine Pen Article Writing Contest.
On the auspicious day of 50th Anniversary of ISKCON, VANI (Voice and News of ISKCON Punjabi Bagh) Team is launching two contests:
1) Mega Photography Contest
2) The Divine Pen Article Writing Contest
Dates: 1st-20th Aug, 2016
Theme: Joy Of Devotion
Prizes: DSLR Camera, Kindle Book Reader, Smart Watches, Power Banks, Pen Drives, Ear Phones and many more.
For more details visit: http://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/article-writing/
and: http://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/photography/
Bhakti Caitanya Swami: I’m in ISKCON Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. It is very cold. In the temple room this morning it was about 7 degrees. Very cold. If you’re wondering what 7 degrees looks like, or how devotees deal with 7 degrees in the temple room, see in this photo Mother Ramaniya wrapped up during japa time.
An Offering of Gratitude to Srila Prabhupada by ISKCON Desire Tree Team (5 min video)
Please watch this small offering of grati…Read More…
The Walking Monk takes his path through Ames.
Austin Harrington: Bhaktimarga Swami, who is often referred to as the Walking Monk, made his way through Ames on Wednesday while continuing his mission to walk from New York City to San Francisco.
This is the first time Swami has walked border to border in America, but this is not a new mission. In the past, he has walked across his home nation of Canada, Ireland, Israel, Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad and Guyana.
These treks are not simply a spiritual journey for the orange-robed Hare Krishna monk but more of a way to spread his message of health and self consciousness.
“I’m saying let’s slow down. Let’s get more in touch with ourselves by walking,” Swami said. “Really, it’s to check the imbalanced lives we live. We are very much in the consumer world, capitalism, and we just don’t take enough time for introspection. So when you walk, you have time to just process things.”
Swami said that being in Ames on Wednesday was also a celebration of a momentous occasion for followers of the Hare Krishna movement because it marked the 50th anniversary, to the day, of the movement being started.
“It’s a movement that has its challenges but it exploded, went all over the world, but here we are 50 years later,” Swami said.
Born John Peter Vis in 1952 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, Swami said he found the Hare Krishna movement to be similar in many ways to Catholicism, which was the religion he was raised in as a child. Since making the transition into being a monk, Swami said he started making his pilgrimages to help spread his beliefs but to also meet people and learn more about himself.
“It’s walking, meditating, connecting with people, getting more in touch with yourself, your soul and just trying to be more contemplative about things,” Swami said. “When you walk at the human pace that we’re supposed to, there’s an appreciation and sensitivity that develops.”
While traveling from place to place, Swami said that the vast majority of his encounters have been positive and people are usually very receptive of his message. However, there have been some troubling encounters as well, including some close calls with grizzly and black bears.
“I have been mistaken many times for being an escapee from a prison wearing an orange jumpsuit,” Swami said.
He added that someone also called the police on him when he was walking near a mental institution close to Iowa City because they were worried that he was an escaped patient.
According to Swami, he averages about 20 miles per day and at that pace he believes he could complete his entire trip in about five months. However, due to a prior commitment, he will stop for the summer once he reaches Nebraska and then pick up where he left off next summer to continue on to San Francisco.
Swami said that during his trip in America, he has seen a different kind of culture that he hasn’t come across in the other areas he has traveled. He said that he has seen most affluent of neighborhoods and the poorest of ghettos. According to him, America has several issues that has caused him to be concerned for the world.
“America’s a place of a lot of extremes,” Swami said. “Obesity is a big problem. It’s embarrassing to be human sometimes. People could do better.”
One thing that walking across a country has taught Swami, is that no one is above the pains associated with growing older or putting strain on your body. He said it is also part of his mission to accept those pains for “austerity purposes.”
“It means to voluntarily take up a little bit of inconvenience so to build character, to toughen up a little bit, to be a tough boy,” Swami said.
Source: http://goo.gl/nDR8fG
Jacksonville Beach Festival of Chariots, Saturday August 13.
Festival of Chariots is a free, fun, conscious living, Bhakti Yoga Festival celebrating the ancient spiritual traditions of India and the modern, multi-cultural wellness and yoga movement. Bhakti yoga is the yoga of love. If you’ve ever dreamed of visiting exotic cultures, you can get a taste of the East without leaving Florida! The event includes entertainment, live music, singing, dancing, healthy living booths, gift bazaar, an interactive Wellness Tent with all day classes, workshops and presentations and a free vegetarian feast.
The festival has been welcomed by The City of Jacksonville Beach since 2002 and celebrates its 15th year this August. In 2009, Mayor Sharp made a proclamation and an official Festival of Chariots Day on May 29, presenting festival organizers with a key to the city.
Two stages host an array of dynamic activities, entertainment and powerful life changing education. We welcome healing arts leaders and guest speakers including Amrit Yoga Institute, who will offer a Yoga Nidra class and Freddie Zeringue, author and publisher of Natural Awakenings Magazine, Northeast Florida, who will present a Green Business Entrepreneurs & the Art of Flow workshop with Q & A. There will be a Healthy Kids Zone with bungee jumping, skateboarding, face painting, yoga, meditation and other fun interactive opportunities.
Festival of Chariots is the oldest known parade in the world. The parade’s unique feature is a huge 25 ft tall, brightly colored chariot ornately decorated with swans, lotus flowers, flags and auspicious symbols. The chariot has 100 ft long ropes that are pulled by anyone who wants to join in, propelling the chariot along the beach. Riding on the Chariot is the Lord of the Universe, encouraging everyone to come together and celebrate life, peace and well being while uplifting our consciousness. Accompanying the parade is live, spiritually inspired kirtan music and dancing, backed by exotic drums & hand cymbals. It’s an ecstatic, exciting event, a vision from another world!
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/sSEfge
The Final Cut (7 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Krsna’s Village of Peace at the Woodstock festival in Poland was everything a devotee of the Lord would want it to be: huge kirtans, massive prasadam distribution, Ratha Yatra, numerous tents depicting Vedic culture and more. But the main ingredient was the enthusiasm of the tens of thousands of guests who participated in those activities. Seeing their happy faces was more than any devotee could ask for. All glories to Sri Krsna samkirtan!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/9ZiqRu
3 Meditations.
Ananda Vrindavana Devi Dasi: Before I pick up my beads to do my chanting meditation, I have 3 points of focus – I’m not this body, God is a person, and I have a relationship with Him.
I’m not this body is one of my favorite meditations. I like to sit quietly and hold my body still. I am the observer. I am conscious of my hands, my breath, my thoughts. I remember – yesterday, years ago, minutes ago. I think ahead – tomorrow, old age, the next hour. When I remember I am not this body I feel relief, more complete, and a real sense of freedom.
My second meditation, another favorite, is that God is a person. Although I heard this from a very young age in Catholicism, it wasn’t until I studied the path of Bhakti yoga that it made more sense to me. Krishna, the Sanskrit name for God, makes the idea of a personal God very attractive. The source of all life has to be credibly incredible. When I meditate on the premise that God is a person, I sense His presence, I sense protection, grounding, connection and belonging.
My third meditation is another, another favorite. Here my meditation is that I have a relationship with Krishna. When I hold still, slow down, or rise early I reflect on this. What does this relationship look like? Is it one of fear or love or both? How do I present myself? What do I ask for, or not? What does Krishna ask of me? What does the best, most complete form of this relationship look like?
When I pick up my beads and begin to chant the mantra, I am facing into that relationship. My 3 meditations have brought me here. Now I connect. Throughout the chanting I find myself returning to them in different ways. I chant with a longing to return to the spiritual world, a desire to engage in service, and a wish to develop affection and love for Krishna.
I also ask not to blow it – that I don’t lean too much on spiritual rules that my emotions are tied, or fall too much on the human side that I don’t touch transcendence. I pray for balance – that my humanity can nurture my spirit and that my spirit reminds me to be a better person, and a better human.
France: You Are Invited To The 5 Day Padayatra In The Area Around New Mayapur.
At the occasion of ISKCON’s 5Oth anniversary, the residents of New Mayapur are organizing 5 short padayatra walks for peace in the center of France. Each day the group of walkers will drive near 4 large cities (Loches, Amboise, Châteauroux and Valençay) within a maximum of 50 kms radius from the temple and the nearby village of Luçay-le-Mâle. The devotees will then do harinama through the city for up to 3 hours and will then drive back to New Mayapur. Janananda Goswami is planning to join the group every day.
On the last day, after harinama in Luçay, Jaladuta Dasa will take his two oxen to carry the deities of Gaura Nitai for the last 2 kms all the way to the New Mayapur castle. Unfortunately, due to some health regulations, he’s not allowed to take them far from their goshala. After a speech by Janananda Goswami and the friendly mayor of Luçay, Mr. Taillandier, there will be a slide show of Srila Prabhupada and Padayatras worldwide and a delicious prasadam.
For more details about the program and your participation, please click here: http://goo.gl/APsEij
Bhaktivedanta Research Centre: These photos show handwritten pages from the original Svalikhita Jivani, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura’s autobiography. It is among the most treasured texts in the Birnagar Collection, entrusted to BRC by the caretakers of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura’s birthplace. It gives a detailed account that spanned most of his life from his birth in 1838 until retirement in 1894. BRC Publications Department has translated it into English. It is currently being edited and prepared for publication.
Find them in better resolution here: https://goo.gl/N1pFaE
Lord Caitanya is the master of good timing!
I was distributing books in devotional garb during the recent ecstatic Ratha-yatra inAuckland, part of ISKCON’s 50th-anniversary celebration. As the procession moved along Queen Street, the city’s busiest shopping thoroughfare, I stopped Peter.
Tall, young, and confident, Peter told me he was studying English and history in Sydney and was visiting Auckland for only one day. I introduced myself as a monk and handed him the Bhagavad-gita.
“Ahhhh, Bhagavad-gita … this is amazing!” Peter immediately exclaimed. He explained that although he is “a staunch atheist with absolutely no interest whatsoever in becoming a Hare Krishna,” he had regularly seen devotees in Sydney and was curious to know more about the lifestyle.
Having arrived just an hour before we’d met, he had checked in at a central backpackers hostel and gone to the lounge to relax. Bored by what was on TV, he had glanced at the bookshelf and immediately noticed a copy of the Bhagavad-gita.
(What is interesting here is that about nine months ago Bhakta Mukesh and I had distributed Prabhupada’s books to all the city-center hostels, trying to display the books in prominent places on the bookshelves.)
Peter took the book down off the shelf and appreciated its quality; he felt it was a book he would definitely like to read one day. Still, given that he was only in Auckland for the night, he replaced the book on the shelf and headed out into town.
As he left the hostel, he ran straight into Lord Jagannath’s chariot festival, took darshan of the Lord and His devotees, and heard the chanting of the Holy Names.
Minutes later we met!
So, Peter was more than happy to take the Bhagavad-gita to read on his flight back to Sydney, and I was left to marvel at the extraordinary mercy of Lord Jagannath!
I love the way Lord Caitanya makes such perfect, expertly synchronized arrangements to help conditioned souls receive His mercy.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Your servant,
Caitanya Vihara Dasa