Author Archives: Dandavats.com

A tremendous loss for Srila Prabhupada’s movement. Bir…
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A tremendous loss for Srila Prabhupada’s movement.
Bir Krishna Goswami: We are greatly saddened to hear of the sudden departure of Gargamuni Prabhu.
Gargamuni is the initiated disciple of His Holiness Sridhara Maharaj, as dear disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Sridhara Maharaj was instrumental in assisting Srila Prabhupada in establishing the Bombay temple at Juhu and other projects in India.
I have known Gargamuni for many years, first in my capacity as GBC of his home country Slovenia, and then as a dear friend and siksa disciple. Gargamuni was in line to take sannyasa from me in the near future.
Knowing of Gargamuni’s strict adherence to the Krishna conscious process, his exemplary Vaisnava qualities, and his high level of knowledge of the Vaisnava scriptures I requested him to come to Fiji to assist in establishing high standards of Vaisnava behavior and education.
While in Fiji he inspired many devotees, and won the heart of all the Vaisnavas. Everyone who met him loved him and felt inspired by him.
He was very very close to me, and I was depending on his assistance in carrying out Srila Prabhupada’s society in Fiji and elsewhere.
It is a tremendous loss for myself, and Srila Prabhupada’s movement.
Krishna has decided to take him elsewhere to render service in Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement.
His departure from the planet was exemplary and something that we should all aspire for. Surrounded by loving devotees chanting the Holy Name, he left this world to rejoin his spiritual master and Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to His grace Gargamuni Prabhu!
Yours in Srila Prabhupada’s service,
Bir Krishna Goswami

Please help Yamaraja Prabhu (BTG). Back To Godhead has just…
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Please help Yamaraja Prabhu (BTG).
Back To Godhead has just launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for medical care for Yamaraja Prabhu, who has been designing and laying out BTG since the seventies. I’m writing to ask all of you to help us spread the word about the campaign. This is the link for it: https://www.gofundme.com/yamaraja-prabhus-cancer-treatment
You can read about his situation there. In summary, he has been fighting multiple myeloma, a type of cancer, for about ten years using modern medicine, undergoing one experimental treatment after another. These treatments have kept the cancer in check, but they have not – and cannot – get to the root of the problem, which is in the stem cells, so the cancer will inevitably show up somewhere. Some devotees see his situation as hopeless and have advised him to just give up and chant Hare Krishna. But he’s not ready for that, so we BTG workers here in Alachua have decided to do whatever we can to support him in his desire to get alternative treatment in Mexico, something he has been investigating for quite some time. He realizes that there is no guarantee that it will work, but it just might, and modern medicine is running out of tricks. After his many years of service to Prabhupada’s dear magazine, we feel it is appropriate to give him the moral support he needs at this time. Yamaraj prabhu wants to continue his service as long as he can, so we’re asking the ISKCON community to support him. Thank you. Hare Krishna. Your servant, Nagaraja Dasa

Hare Krishna Sheffield (Album of photos) Hare Krishna: It was a…
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Hare Krishna Sheffield (Album of photos)
Hare Krishna: It was a pretty good January @ Hare Krishna Sheffield! We had Mahamantra das over sharing his wit and wisdom, we started a small food distribution program distributing food to Sheffield`s homeless, and also had a few good days out in the city distributing some amazing books to the good people of Sheffield..all in all, a pretty good month.
let us see what 2018 brings…
Find them here: https://goo.gl/2MJYfz

“The game point – The mode of goodness and…
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“The game point – The mode of goodness and economy.”
During the Iskcon Leadership Sanga of this year, which will take place in a few weeks in Mayapur, the GBC Ministry of Cow Protection and Agriculture will also be presenting “The game point – The mode of goodness and economy.”
The environment which surrounds us has a lot of influence on the way we think. This presentation is about a community in Siberia which has cows and children and is building its way towards sustainability. They are developing a viable business model for ahimsa milk, honey and vegetables, based on a cooperative community sadhana. They have ingeniously weaved part of the farm duties in their morning spiritual practices.
This sets the ground for harmony between spiritual life and economy. Their example is very relevant because it is full of elements both of the mode of goodness and economic development. Their practice is fully sheltered by the vision of their GBC, the local preacher and the GBC Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture.
Presenters will be Kalakantha Prabhu and Vrajaraja Prabhu, who is coming from Russia especially for these presentations.
More photos: https://goo.gl/ArSGGF

First Monthly Sankirtan Festival Alachua (MSF) Sri Vrindavana…
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First Monthly Sankirtan Festival Alachua (MSF)
Sri Vrindavana devi dasi: Our first Monthly Sankirtan Festival for 2018 was held on Saturday, January 20, 2018. We started the morning by reading chapter 5 of Bhagavad Gita together -Sanskrit and English translations. Then Sri Vrndavana devi dasi presented a review of Vaisesika Prabhu’s time-tested “How to distribute a Gita on its own merit” followed by a role-playing session. Ragatmika devi dasi, veteran book distributor, then led us in reciting Srila Prabhupada’s Jaladuta prayer, “Markine bhagavat dharma”. She also spoke for a few minutes encouraging us in our upcoming sankirtan yajna.
On behalf of TIA (Team ISKCON Alachua), I’m happy to share these numbers with you. -35 devotees went out in five teams door to door, store to store and to Depot Park. About 400 cookies were distributed, along with, 42 Bhagavad Gita hard 43 Bhagavad Gita soft and 128 small books. We all got back to the Temple to a nice lunch specially prepared for the MSF. We shared sankirtan stories and realizations during prasadam.
We want to thank Vaisesika Prabhu for giving us the tools to make sankirtan fun, organized, and inclusive. We are all feeling very optimistic. Srila Prabhupada ki Jai. Our next MSF will be on Saturday, February 24, 2018. Please mark your calendars.

“What principles can we learn from the Amish…
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“What principles can we learn from the Amish Community?”
ISKCON GBC Ministry of Agriculture and Cow Protection: It is striking to see a spiritual culture present in the USA thriving despite all predictions of impossibility. The original 5,000 grew into 400,000 Amish depending primarily on the land. They mainly run their own education system and have two thousand schools catering for their own young, staffed by members from their own communities. They hold onto their young people – up to 93% of the young adults decide to stay within the community.
People come to see it, leaving a yearly revenue of 2 billion dollars for their guided tours, to appreciate a social system that works.
The ISKCON Ministry of Cow Protection and Agriculture will be presenting on the ILS on “What principles can we learn from the Amish Community?” . Presenters will be Kalakantha das and Samba das.

The GBC Organizational Development Committee at work today…
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The GBC Organizational Development Committee at work today (Album of photos)
Bhakti Chaitanya Swami: We arrived in Sri Mayapur Dhama a couple of days ago, and now I’m participating in the GBC Organizational Development Committee meeting. The main GBC meetings start on the 3rd.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/YMNfp2

Mahatma Das: January 29, 2018 – “The Most Valuable…
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Mahatma Das: January 29, 2018 – “The Most Valuable Assets” (5 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: Every one of us is searching after some mellow, some pleasure from everything. Krishna is the reservoir of all pleasures, rasa-vigraha, fully personified. Wherever there is Krishna, there is rasa, a transcendental mellow, enjoyment, relishable. Surat, December 17, 1970.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/FL3uLm

Ambarisa Das: Srila Prabhupada was a true visionary. He always…
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Ambarisa Das: Srila Prabhupada was a true visionary. He always had very big ideas for the spreading of Krishna consciousness and the ideal Vedic culture.
One of Srila Prabhupada’s many gifts to his followers, and the entire world, was his detailed vision for the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
Srila Prabhupada had a clear vision for the temple, and he expressed it on many occasions. He wanted a unique Vedic Planetarium to present the Vedic perspective of life, including a gigantic display of the material and spiritual worlds, which could be viewed by pilgrims on different levels as they traveled through the Planetarium.
Now here in India we are constructing a very large Vedic Planetarium…within the planetarium we will construct a huge, detailed model of the universe as described in the text of the fifth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Within the planetarium the model will be studied by onlookers from different levels by use of escalators. Detailed information will be given on open verandahs at the different levels by means of dioramas, charts, films etc.
Srila Prabhupada
As in everything he did, Srila Prabhupada was acting in fulfillment of the desires of the previous Acharyas, or spiritual preceptors. A grand temple for Mayapur was predicted by none other than Lord Nityananda, the most intimate associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, some five hundred years ago.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, the father of the modern day Krishna Consciousness movement, narrates a description of the future development of Mayapur given by Sri Nityananda Prabhu to Srila Jiva Goswami:
Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Srila Jiva Goswami
Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Srila Jiva Goswami
When our Lord Caitanya disappears, by His desire, the Ganges will swell. The Ganges water will almost cover Mayapur for a hundred years, and then the water will again recede. For some time only the place will remain, devoid of houses. Then again, by the Lord’s desire, this place will again be manifest, and the devotees will build temples of the Lord. One exceedingly wonderful temple (adbhuta-mandira) will appear from which Gauranga’s eternal service will be preached everywhere.
In July of 1976 Srila Prabhupada expressed his preference for the outer design of the temple. While visiting Washington, he instructed Yadubara Prabhu and Vishakha Mataji to take photos of the Capitol building. When they inquired why, he replied:
“I wanted both of you to take various detailed photographs of that Capitol.”
“The Capitol Building.” Yadubara nodded. “For what purpose, Srila Prabhupada?”
“We shall have a planetarium in Mayapur,” Prabhupada told him. “To show spiritual world, material world, and so on succession of the planetary systems, everything. A building like that. We are acquiring three hundred and fifty acres of land for constructing a small township to attract people from all the world to see the planetarium. … You take all details, inside, outside. That will be nice.”

Love, Learn, Pray, Give, Accept, Release, Let Go, &…
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Love, Learn, Pray, Give, Accept, Release, Let Go, & Celebrate!
Karnamrita Das: I often think about how to express the most important aspects of life that can most benefit us all. The following is one perspective and attempt to do this. We begin by sensing that love is our nature and that which we most hanker for. When we discover that our capacity to love in this world, and the capacity for others to accept the amount of love we are capable of giving, is limited and ultimately unsatisfying, we can begin our quest to realize our spiritual nature as beings of eternity, wisdom, and love.
We discover that the fulfillment we seek is only possible when our spiritual nature is gradually awakened since this nature is who we truly are. There are many stages of this divine awakening which will be promoted by those who seek the goal their path offers. According to the bhakti Vedic scriptures, the highest stage is when our loving propensity and full consciousness is reposed on the Supreme Original Person, God, or Krishna.

When we love Krishna, then we always know what to do. This is true learning and practical wisdom. Krishna teaches in chapter 15 of his Bhagavad Gita, that when we know Krishna as the Supreme Original Person, without doubting, then we know everything that is necessary.

In our endeavor to learn to love Krishna (bhakti), we learn that prayer—through chanting the holy name, reciting prayers in the scripture and by great devotees, and our personal prayers—is our connection to God and leads us to serve and remember him. We also learn that by serving, loving, and giving to others in the spirit of service to Krishna, we grow spiritually and help others as well (para-upakara). We can’t separate Krishna from his devotees, and that spiritual essence is in everyone.

If we are only interested in serving and acknowledging God, without being kind and serving his devotees—which includes all living beings—we are considered still beginners on the path of bhakti. We will be fulfilled to the extent that we can unselfishly give, on all levels, but especially when we give what the soul is truly hankering for beyond the desires of the flesh, to find our everlasting love and activity. Krishna says in his Gita’s 18th chapter that those who teach his Word from the Gita are the dearest to him, because then, we are an extension of his compassion and mercy to help others spiritually awaken.

As we live through life’s many challenges, we are required to accept many conditions and situations we may not like. Part of our spiritual maturity is to accept ourselves as we are now with faith in the person we can become, as well to accept the life we have created, and our apparent fortune or misfortune.

When we have faith that whatever comes to us, whether joy or calamity, is ultimately meant for our highest good to help us take shelter of God, then our acceptance is natural—as it’s a by-product of our faith that Krishna’s protection and maintenance sustain us. Krishna promises in the Gita’s 9th chapter that his devotees never perish, but are led to everlasting spiritual life.

Our spiritual “job” is to excavate the connection of everything to Krishna. We must go beyond our body, our circumstances, or worldly tribulations, and find our true rest in our soul’s relationship to Krishna and the love he has for us. Our love for him expressed through service and in his glorification becomes our life connection to our Source, now, and forever.

Giving to, and loving, the Center benefits everyone and everything. In this mood we can release and let go of whatever is unfavorable—attitudes, perceptions, and conditions—to this devotional giving. We celebrate this in gratitude thru song and dance, the overflow which we share with others.

The Ultimate Sacrifice of Love. In the Sri Caitanya Caritamrta,…
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The Ultimate Sacrifice of Love.
In the Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, it is described how Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu along with His associates in the Panca-tattva broke open the sealed storehouse of love of Godhead, and became so intoxicated by it, that they simply couldn’t keep it to themselves, and decided to freely distribute it. Sri Nitai opened the marketplace of the holy name, allowing anyone and everyone to purchase the holy names for the price of faith.
Sri Nityananda Prabhu is understood be the most merciful – even more than Patita-pavana Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself! Sri Nitai risked His life trying to save the most wretched of people, and saved the offender Kazi from the wrath of Sriman Mahaprabhu, such was His mercy and compassion.
In his song “Madhur E Harinama”, Bhaktivinoda Thakura states: “Sri Nitai is more merciful than Sriman Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Sri Gaurasundara (Lord Caitanya) is wonderfully merciful. Sri Nitai is more merciful than Sri Gaurasundara. Sri Nitai is so merciful. He saw that the jivas have been suffering here, drowning in this ocean of materialistic existence from time immemorial. His heart bleeds, so Sri Nitai felt love, affection and compassion for them. He became sympathetic for the suffering souls, so He brought the Holy Name from Sri Vrajabhumi for those Kali-yuga people.”
Lord Nityananda is the embodiment of service in separation – the ultimate sacrifice of love. He only met Mahaprabhu after 32 long years in separation. He stayed by Lord Gauranga’s side until He was instructed by Mahaprabhu in Puri to go back to Bengal to get married so that he could preach to the householders. This broke Nitai’s heart. Lord Gauranga was His very life; how could He possibly live without Him? However, Nityananda took that instruction to heart and went back to Navadvipa, got married and preached.
No one can even begin to imagine the burning pain of separation the Nityananda Prabhu felt, but it was His sacrifice of love. His sacrifice of not having the Lord’s physical association was for the benefit of all the struggling conditioned souls, and ultimately for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord. He followed the Lord’s instructions without complaint, all the while enduring the burning pangs of separation.
The acaryas say that no one can get the mercy of Lord Gauranga without the mercy of Lord Nityananda. Sri Nitai is Adi-guru (original Guru), and only by the mercy of the Guru can one make progress on their spiritual path. With determination and faith in Guru, who is the representative of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, we must push on with our sadhana and service. Every endeavour for the pleasure of the Lord is a sacrifice that one has to make in order to execute his or her duty.

heno nitai bine bhai, radha-krsna pāite nāi
dṛḍha kori’ dharo nitāir pāy
“Unless one takes shelter under the shade of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, it will be very difficult for him to approach Radha-Krsna.”
Srila Locana Das Thakura, in Caitanya Magala, writes a beautiful song which describes the magnanimity of Sri Nityananda Prabhu.

“The noble Lord Nityananda is never angry, for He is the personification of supreme transcendental bliss. Devoid of any concept of false ego, Nitai wanders about the town.

“Going from door to door in the residences of the most fallen and wretched souls, He freely distributes the gift of the Hari-nama mahamantra.

“He exclaims to whomever he sees while holding straw between his teeth, ‘Please purchase me by worshipping Gaurahari!’

“Saying thus, Nityananda Prabhu rolls about on the ground, appearing like a golden mountain tumbling in the dust.

“Locana Dasa Thakura says, ‘Whoever has not experienced the awakening of affection for such an avatara as this, that sinful person simply comes and goes uselessly in the cycle of repeated birth and death.’ ”

The Sound Incarnation. Srila Prabhupada: Although there is no…
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The Sound Incarnation.
Srila Prabhupada: Although there is no Deity, still this Hare Krishna Mantra is considered to be the sound vibration incarnation of Krishna. Actually, we should give more stress in worshiping the incarnation of sound vibration but whenever there is possibility of installing Deities and strictly following the regulations of worship, we shall do this, but the essential part of our activities is to worship the sound incarnation.
– Letter to Visnujana – Bombay 4 April 1971

Australia Day Rathayatra (Album of photos) Ramai Swami:…
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Australia Day Rathayatra (Album of photos)
Ramai Swami: Australia Day is a national holiday and many parades are held in cities and towns across the country.
I was invited to participate in the multicultural procession by the Adelaide co TP, Adi Purusa Krsna das. The devotees brought our smaller size Jagannatha Ratha Cart from the Gold Coast to be one of the “floats” in the parade.
We chanted and danced in ecstasy before Lord Jagannatha down King William Street and the crowds showed their appreciation by waving and clapping.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/G54z4A

BBT ANNOUNCEMENT — 28 January 2018 — Bhagavad-Gita As It Is in…
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BBT ANNOUNCEMENT — 28 January 2018
— Bhagavad-Gita As It Is in ARABIC!
Congratulations to Satyanarayana Prabhu and his BBT FEME team for producing this most important book! Srila Prabhupada is definitely pleased. May the Arabic-speaking world take full advantage of this timeless knowledge! Hare Krishna!

Lord Varaha and Nityananda’s Appearance day, Mayapur. (Album of…
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Lord Varaha and Nityananda’s Appearance day, Mayapur. (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Although a Vaishnava is the most exalted person, he is prideless and gives all respect to everyone, knowing everyone to be the resting place of Krishna. If one chants the holy name of Lord Krishna in this manner, he will certainly awaken his dormant love for Krishna’s lotus feet. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 20.25.26)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/QQkifG

Chowpatty Flower Festival (Album of photos) Indradyumna Swami:…
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Chowpatty Flower Festival (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Every year ISKCON’s Chowpatty temple in Mumbai, India holds a flower festival where over one ton of flower petals are lovingly poured over the presiding deities of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath. The pujaris then gather the flower petals in baskets which are then poured over the devotees from ramparts above the temple room. Then the fun begins as 1,000 devotees throw handfuls of flowers at each other for over 2 hours.The whole event is accompanied by a rousing kirtan. One can only conclude that Krsna consciousness is simply joyful!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/VkFiYz

Sharing Krishna consciousness in Delhi (Album with photos) On…
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Sharing Krishna consciousness in Delhi (Album with photos)
On 28th Dec 2017, Gaur Gopal Das was invited to speak at the Times of India Speaking Tree Retreats at Surajkund Delhi.
He spoke on ‘Secrets to Transform Your New Year.’ He shared wisdom to help the audience experience change and achieve their goals in the year ahead.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/vKCD2E