Author Archives: Dandavats.com

December 9. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Anyone who studies Prabhupada’s books becomes educated in the most important subject. Whenever a follower of Prabhupada hears a discussion of God-consciousness, he spots contradictions or a “poor fund of knowledge” wherever it occurs. Even a young brahmacari can note the flaws in the presentations of learned theologians or clergymen. Theologians are puzzled as to “why bad things happen to good people.” Some of them theorize that God may be all good, but He is not all powerful. Some say that God cannot have a form, or that God exists only in human relationships – but one who knows Srila Prabhupada’s teachings can see this is a poor fund of knowledge. One of the benefits of a good education in any field is that one easily handles opposition from prejudiced or ignorant persons. Sometimes Prabhupada would be challenged, “What is your faith?” Prabhupada usually replied, “It is not faith, it is fact.” He also said, “You may believe or not believe, that is a different thing.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=3

Baker Extraordinaire: Amber Borsotti!
Mandakini devi dasi: Sydney-born Amber Borsotti was two years old when she was first introduced to the Hare Krishna Vedic lifestyle. Three years later she was enrolled in New Govardhana gurukula where she remained for the next six years before relocating to New Nandagram, Victoria.
Amber returned to Murwillumbah when she was 15, settling into householder life by the time she was 16. A busy and dedicated mum, she has five children ranging in ages from four to 17.
With the family growing up, Amber and her husband, Leonardo, considered some working options. They finally agreed to venture into the bread-making business. Amber had entertained four passions in life: architecture, psychology, fabrics and food. Having produced quality bread on the farm in earlier years, friends and family members had often urged her to “go into food”.
Months of hard work followed as the couple researched equipment and painstakingly developed their own special recipes. The result is an impressive home bakery and an outstanding product called ‘Levadura’, which consists of organic, artisan sourdough (a much healthier and tastier alternative to commercial bread).
When a retail opportunity opened up at Uki Farmers Market at the end of September, Amber and Leonardo took the initiative, and on their first outing ended up selling their entire stock.
Production has since increased from 50 to 90 items twice a week, and still there is a demand for more.
The bread is naturally leavened, requiring Amber and Leo to “rise” at 1.00 am on Wednesday and Saturday mornings to prepare their batch.
Variety being the spice of life, alongside the basic loaves there is much to choose from. For example, savoury loaves like Olive, Rosemary and Pecorino; Dark Euro-style Rye with Caraway and Fennel; and Vegan Fruitful Loaf and Sweet Spiced Rye and Fig, to name a few. Melt-in-themouth croissants and chocolate scrolls, as sampled by the author, must be tasted to be believed.

Academic Excellence.
Syama Sakhi devi dasi: The Bhaktivedanta Swami Secondary School at New Govardhana, Iskcon Australia, is intent on creating an environment of academic excellence, Krishna conscious goals and understanding, and meaningful character development. To these ends, this year the gurukula has invited various guest speakers to the school and taken students to different events outside of school. This allows students to broaden their understanding of this world and their role in it.
One such event students attended was the GRIP leadership conference for secondary schools. GRIP is an independent organisation that exists to train and develop leaders with a special focus on school students and the educational sector. Hence, our school captains, Anjali, Gaur, Bimala, Balaram, Lakshman, Suniti and Kalindi received the opportunity to attend the GRIP leadership conference that took place on the 26 October at the Tweed Civic Centre.
The aim of the one-day conference was to inspire secondary school students to take up effective leadership roles in their schools. Through topics like, ‘How to improve your public speaking skills’ to ‘How to make your events more dynamic’, the conference offered our students a chance to broaden their leadership skills. It also enabled them to meet many other teenage students from across Australia.
The whole event was excellent. The students experienced their first professional conference and made valuable contributions throughout.
We are hopeful that through such training offered by the gurukula, the students will be able to develop excellent leadership skills valuable to their life inside and outside of school.

Vijaya Dasa (Book Distribution Minister @ Iskcon) Prabhupada December Marathon (10 min video)
There is no doubt about it, to distribute books is our most important activity. The temple is a place not for eating and sleeping, but as a base from which we send out our soldiers to fight with maya. Fight with maya means to drop thousand and millions of books into the lap of the conditioned souls. Just like during war time the Bombs are raining from the sky like anything. (Letter to: Ramesvara — Bhaktivedanta Manor 3 August, 1973)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/j631AF

TOVP construction activities increase as new space becomes functional (Album with photos)
Sadbhuja Das: We have been working on…

December 8. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Harvey Cohen came to room 501 to visit the Swami who had impressed him at Ananda Ashram.
Harvey: The room he occupied was a tiny office in the back of the Yoga Society in uptown Manhattan. I began to go there regularly, and we sat facing each other on the floor in this little office with his typewriter and a new tape recorder on top of two suitcases. And there was a box of books he had brought from India and a color reproduction of dancing figures which he looked at often. I told Swami Bhaktivedanta that I was an artist, and he asked me to please paint the picture of the dancers, which he explained was of Lord Caitanya and His disciples. The painting was called “Sankirtana.” Whenever I came to visit him, Swami would always be happy to see me. I told him about myself, and we chanted Hare Krishna together in his room many nights that winter. I would get the train uptown from my apartment to go see him.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=3

New Govardhana Sunday School (Australia). Kisori devi dasi Recently I interviewed Indranila devi dasi about the Sunday School she runs at New Govardhana.
Kisori (K): What’s your inspiration for running the Sunday School?
Indranila (IN): I thought the children were a bit unsupervised and not positively engaged on Sundays. I also feel very inspired by Aruddha devi dasi’s book, which advises how to teach our children Krishna consciousness.
K: Please explain how it all works.
IN: We have three different age groups – under four years old; four to six year olds; and six to 10 year olds. The first two groups run for an hour each, while under four year olds have activities that include kirtana, Krishna conscious nursery rhymes, cognitive development such as matching, sorting, numeracy and literacy with Krishna conscious props, stories, drawing, playdough and coloring-in. The four to six year olds have kirtana, story time with questions, role play pastimes and craft to enhance the learning and comprehension. Finally, the six to 10 year olds learn songs, and read then discuss for 90 minutes. The teacher plays ‘devil’s advocate’ during these discussions. After that there is either games or craft to further solidify understanding in a practical way. K: What is attendance like?
IN: Attendance ranges from eight to 15 children. I ask for $1 fee per child per session to cover costs.
K: What is the feedback that you have received so far?
IN: Parents appreciate the Sunday School, but are often too busy or exhausted to bring children every Sunday.
K: What have you got planned for the future?
IN: The general plan is to inspire children to participate with the Vaisnava community and feel connected. The core focus is to plant the bhakti seed and help them flourish by giving quality guidance and education so we can have children who are strong and confident in themselves as devotees and compassionate enough to want to share Krishna consciousness with the rest of the world. I would appreciate more parents coming forward to help. Then we could include programs for older children and teenagers.

From Car Parks and Temple rooms… to the streets…! (Album with photos)
Sutapa das, London book distribution report: This weekend the “Car Park and temple room team sanga” went out on door-to-door for the first time. With the help of HH Dayananda Swami they split up into about 10 teams and blitzed the local area with transcendental wisdom! In an hour they distributed 115 books!
Thanks to all – it was a great evening, great stories, great vibe… Sitting here I’m thinking of how over 100 people are now more closely connected to the mercy of Mahaprabhu!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/j9ph8c

Initiation of new disciples by Kadamba Kanana Swami (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Illicit sex is strictly prohibited. O…

Iskcon starts prasadam distribution in Chennai (Album with photos)
Today ISKCON Chennai with the help of ISKCON Rajamundry dist…

Vedic Planetarium construction update (Album with photos)
Beautiful photos indicating the great progress achieved so far.
…

Hare Krishna program in Tel Aviv 04/12/2015 (Album with photos)
Transcendental mellows 🙂 Chanting, dancing, and awarding with diplomas the devotees who graduated “ISKCON disciple” course.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/wVDzLx

Mukunda Goswami, now recuperating from his recent health problems, receives a surprise visit of Niranjana and Devamrita Swamis (Albu…

Nityam Bhagavata-sevaya#26 Govardhana Lila – Part 2.
Dear Devotees, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga! By the blessings of Vaishanavas and Sadhus, NBS magazine is completing its one year. We are grateful to our readers, our well wishers and most importantly our team. In this second issue of Govardhana Lila, the pastimes that took place underneath the Govardhana Hill is covered. Additionally, a fresh translation of Sri Govardhanashraya-Dasaka – Ten appeals for Shelter at Govardhana Hill, of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami has arrived. We pray this issue brings some pleasure to the devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. NBS # 26 Features: 1) Indra’s Fury Towards The Residents Of Gokula Srila Sukadeva Goswami 2) Why Did Krishna Use Govardhana To Protect Vrajvasis? Sripad Vallabhacharya 3) Krishna Lifting Govardhana Hill His Divine Grace A .C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 4) The Pastimes Underneath Govardhana Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura 5) Sri Govardhanashraya-Dasaka Ten Appeals for Shelter at Govardhana Hill Srila Raghunatha Das Goswami This issue can be viewed through these links: ISSUU: http://issuu.com/nbsmag/docs/nbs_26 Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/doc/292420557/NBS-26

December 7. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
The weather grew cold, but there was no snow in December. On Columbus Avenue shops were selling Christmas trees, and the continental restaurants were bright with holiday lighting. On Seventy-second the Retailers’ Association erected tall red poles topped with green tinsel Christmas trees. The tops of the trees on both sides of the street sprouted tinsel garlands that spanned the street and joined in red tinsel stars surrounded by colored lights. Although Srila Prabhupada did no Christmas shopping, he visited many bookstores – Orientalia, Sam Weiser’s, Doubleday, the Paragon, and others – trying to sell his Srimad-Bhagavatams. Mrs. Ferber, the wife of the Paragon Book Gallery proprietor, considered Prabhupada “a pleasant and extremely polite small gentleman.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=3

Harinama in Hollywood, Venice Beach and more (Album with photos)
A wonderful week in L.A. Eight Harinama’s in six days, did service with Ratna Bhusana prabhu and crew cooking the Thanksgiving Feast. Enlivening morning programs, Darshan of Srila Prabhupada in his rooms, Harinama’s at Venice Beach, Hollywood Blvd, Macarthur Park (Little Mexico) and 4th Street Mall- Santa Monica. Big thanks to Mukunda Dhatta prabhu for engaging the Harinama Ruci World SKP Party along with Mahavishnu Swami. Svavasa and Naikatma prabhus rate a 10 as Temple managers.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/pMnXVf

My Relationship with My Salary (3 min video)
Ananga Sakhi Dasi is a Research Technician at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, USA. Here she shares about her relationship with her salary she and how she chooses to engage it in Lord Krishna’s service. She is a practitioner of the Gaudiya Vaishnava Tradition in Bhakti.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/trBa7R

How the Bhaktivedanta Manor in the UK was found and bought.
Dhananjaya: By the end of 1972 nothing had happened. Prabhupada wrote to me: Better to take the upper hand and begin very energetically attempting to get some place. Expending energy for Krishna, that is appreciated and not the actual result of our energy. But if there is lack of energy being devoted for some purpose, then everything will be delayed and possibly stopped. Better to seize the iron while the fire is hot, that my guru maharaj used to tell me.”

KK Bindu # 364, A first-time translation of a rare song, “The Real Meaning of Sevaka”, and more … The latest issue of Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu e-magazine was just released. This issue includes: * THE GOPIS’ LUST FOR KRISHNA – Reflections from His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. * FIRM FAITH IN GURU – Instructions from from His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada: “A sincere disciple has the same devotion for his gurudeva that he has for the Supreme Lord. And he worships and serves him the same way. Those who do not serve their gurudeva this way fall from their position as a disciple.” * THE BRANCH AND THE MOON – An insightful analogy explained by Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja, * THE REAL MEANING OF SEVAKA – A first time translation done for this issue OF Bindu from a little known book called “Manah Siksa”, by the poet Premananda Das.
It can be downloaded here: https://archive.org/details/bindu364

UK devotees distributed more than 20.000 Srila Prabhupada’s books, in just a few days, coming closer to the 100.000 goal set for this December marathon.
Sutapa das: As of Friday we have distributed 15,000 books! Yesterday, Saturday 5th Dec, we took it beyond the 20,000 mark. There are 100-150 devotees that went out – Sacred Street Party, Manor Harinam team, Bhakti Vriksa groups across London, Door to Door teams, Traveling sankirtan parties across the UK, and other book distributors.
Sankirtana Yajna ki Jaya!

Padayatra Odisha 2015 (Album with photos)
Gunacuda Dasi: Padayatra Odisha was started in 1992 by Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami and has continued every year during Kartik. Here are some photos from this year’s Padayatra in Nayagarh district. There were around 40 from Iskcon Bhubaneswar, local Nama Hattas, England, Ghana and New Zealand.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/mn55HL

Ter Kadamba (8 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: After visiting Yavat, where Radharani lived for some time, we walked to Ter Kadamba, a sacred place where Rupa Goswami did bhajan 500 years ago. Mother Sitala spoke on the pastimes of Rupa Goswami and Bada Haridas prabhu led us in singing the glories of the Six Goswami’s. It was our final parikrama of Kartika, and one of the best as well.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/tTBggh

Waterfront Festival Mauritius.
Here again we are glad to announce the coming of the 8th Annual Hare Krishna Waterfront Festival to be held on the 11th to 13th December 2015.
In context of the celebrations of the 40th Anniversary of ISKCON in Mauritius this year’s festivities are more promising with Snan Yatra, Deep Utsav and an open Air Youth Concert along with a Maha Aarti of New Manasi Ganga. Lots of Senior and Special Guests will also be present.

December 6. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: When I hear people make mistakes while speaking about God, I try not to be puffed up. Just because we have received the best God conscious education from Srila Prabhupada, does not mean we should look down on others. Students at Harvard University or Oxford University may be better educated, but they spoil their treasure if they look down upon common people. Similarly, we do not want to be a snob in God consciousness, but appreciate what Srila Prabhupada has taught us.
I feel humbled sometimes when I see someone else’s faith in God. I also meet people who have more love for God than I do, even though they may not have received such a thorough education. I will never stop being grateful to Prabhupada, however, for giving me this education. In that sense, I am proud.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=3

The Sydney Opera House Event.
Damodara Pandit dasa: The Sydney Opera Event is an A-List ISKCON 50th Anniversary global event. We anticipate that many VIPs (government officials, actors, musicians, and so on) will attend. It will also be streamed globally and a commemorative DVD and CD will be produced.
The purpose of this event is to expand the global appreciation of Srila Prabhupada and his ISKCON movement through a wonderful performance art event. We are looking at inviting ISKCON’S top performance artists to participate.
The evening will be a cultural gala evening, but all acts will fit into a narrative of the Hare Krishna Movement’s roots, inception, growth, achievements and future.
The event has the working title ‘Transcendental Journey: Krishna 50 years on’. The first draft of the storyboard has been completed by Deva Gaura Hari dasa and Damodara Pandit dasa. The story presents Srila Prabhupada’s departure from India and then backtracks to the movement’s source, including the Lord’s pastimes in Navadvipa, Jagannatha Puri and Vrindavana. Then the night will explore the Hare Krishna Movement, expanding in the west with scenes including 26 Second Avenue, Hippy Hill, women of bhakti and the second generation.
We believe it will be a fabulous night out. Get ready. Get excited!

Radha Kunda Seva: Alley to Three Goswami Samadhi (Album with photos)
Every day, hundreds, if not, thousands of people go through this alley because it is part of the Goswamis’ parikrama path. Although it is a public, highly traversed area, it is also regularly dirtied with all kinds of trash and filth, and people even do bathroom business here. The idea is that we can restore the walls enough to paint decorative murals of the pastimes of Krishna, both beautifying the alley, and re-enforcing the fact that it is not a place to litter and make dirty. At its current level of sponsorship, it is being cleaned once a day.
Find them here: http://goo.gl/gTQKxV

Harinama in Mexico (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: When the transcendental vibration of Hare Krishna is sounded, even the…

Bhakti Tree preaching (Album with photos)
Ramai Swami: Along with catering for the Veggie Club at the university, there are pr…

Yet another Ratha Yatra Festival on Queen St, Auckland, New Zealand (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: One has to continue c…

December 5. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Srila Prabhupada on Immortality: Srila Prabhupada spoke of immortality. He said people do not know how to become immortal, and this is the greatest blindness in Western civilization. They think they can attain lasting goals within the temporary material world, but that is impossible. Prabhupada said it was the mission of Lord Caitanya and Lord Krishna to teach immortality. If we can know why Krishna comes into the world, as taught by Lord Caitanya, we will become immortal (janmakarma ca me divyam). Immortality is inconceivable to us. It is not a topic that we have already mastered. It is the basis of everything. Although we may grasp it academically, what do we know of eternality? Who is thoroughly convinced that he is spirit soul? How nourishing it was, therefore, to hear this from Srila Prabhupada.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=3

Kurma Dasa: An Absolute Beauty!
Janelle from Nambour asked about a good Christmas fruit cake. Here is an absolute beauty, published in my very first cookbook ‘Great Vegetarian Dishes’. It was originally given to me by Hari Bhakti Dasi who got it from her mother. Try it – you won’t be disappointed.
This traditional fruitcake is ideal for weddings, birthdays, or any special occasion requiring a luscious, rich cake. It can be kept for several weeks after baking.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/7F7jfd

Beautiful Mayapur! Beautiful Kalna, West Bengal (8 min video) (Ambika Kalna or simply Kalna is a town, a municipality and headquarters of Kalna subdivision in Bardhaman District in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is situated on the western bank of the Bhāgirathi.)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/kA8xvO

Life Beyond Borders – Radhanath Swami (1hr Keynote speech – video)
Martin Pollard, a postgraduate journalism student, said “The moment he stepped onto the stage, his energy was infectious. He changes the room just by his presence and I was inspired how conscientiously he answered my questions.” Martin added “I get quite nervous seeing men of the cloth and I’m definitely in the non-religious camp, but the principles he spoke of, I could relate to. He was just a really compassionate, wise man to be honest!”
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/q857HD

A new biography of ISKCON Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada, entitled “Swami in a Strange Land: How Krishna Came to the West” is set to be released on May 3rd 2016, during ISKCON’s 50th anniversary year.
While there is already an exhaustive biography of Prabhupada in the form of Satsvarupa Das Goswami’s multi-volume Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita, as well as many individual memoirs, author Yogesvara Das (Joshua M. Greene) felt the need for a single volume bio that would be accessible and marketed to a broad general audience.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/qeftpW

Temple of Vedic Planetarium update. (Album with photos)
Sadbhuja Das: In this recent time we have been concentrating on the in…

ISKCON Auckland New Zealand : Today’s Rathayatra, Thursday 3rd Dec. (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Chanting the holy name is the chief means of attaining love of Godhead. This chanting or devotional service does not depend on any paraphernalia, nor on ones having taken birth in a good family. By humility and meekness one attracts the attention of Krishna. That is the verdict of all the Vedas. (Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 4.71 purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/hsdlpf

December 4. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Prabhupada Idioms: The dictionary defines an idiom as “a style or form of expression that is characteristic of an individual.” One has to know how Prabhupada used idioms by listening to his lectures, or by being present for his talks. Each of these phrases can open up a whole world of Prabhupada realization.
“Where is the difficulty?”
Prabhupada said this after explaining how easy and accessible Krishna consciousness is. Anyone can offer Krishna a fruit, a flower, or some water. Even a child can take part in the chanting – “Where is the difficulty?” Just as we were born from our father, so our father had a father, and his father had a father; if you go back ultimately, you will find there is an original father who is the source of everyone. In this way we can understand that Krishna is the seed-giving father – where is the difficulty to understand this?
By this expression, Prabhupada encouraged us to come forward and not make excuses. If we take to Krsna consciousness, we will not find it difficult. Prabhupada used the phase as a challenge to those who believe that spiritual life is too problematic. Prabhupada untangled the problems with logic and sastra, and then interjected this challenge.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=3

A note to all: Please visit Mt Everest immediately before the mountain expires! 🙂

A visit to Vrindavana (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Goodbye Vrindavan! This morning I went on Govardhan parikrama with BB Govinda Maharaja and a few devotees. I wanted to say goodbye to one of my favorite places in Vrindavan before I leave this weekend. I purposefully left my camera behind, but couldn’t resist to take a few photos with my iPhone in the amazing light that graced Giriraja in the early morning. With a few slight adjustments the iPhone photos turned out almost like watercolor paintings!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Gxopp4

Prayers for Chennai!
Jayapataka Swami is praying for people at Chennai who are suffering due to the flood. Maharaj expressed h…