Author Archives: Dandavats

Grand Jagannatha Ratha-yatra festival in Bali Indonesia
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Hare KrishnaBy Hari Narayana Das

Diversity was the mercy of the Lord. When the diversity of people brings about good performance; progress & prosperity. When our country has social harmony, stability & security. No riots, no civil wars, no burning of each other’s places, no fear because of your age, gender, dress, skin colour. Then the peace of the country can be established. This message was brought by the committee of Jagannatha Ratha Yatra Bali, July 14-15, 2018.  The diversity of the religion was presented in front of Lord Jagannatha. This is annual Ratha Yatra in Bali. This year the committees presented different things at the festival. Youth from interfaith presented their performance in front of Lord Jaganath.

A Treasure Trove of Vaishnava Literature
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Hare KrishnaBy Iskcon Mayapur

In South Kolkata, a treasure trove of Vaishnava literature can be found in ISKCON Mayapur’s Bhaktivedanta Research Centre. This library is a gem hidden in a quiet Kolkata neighborhood, in which can be found copies of almost every book written by the previous acharyas going back to Srila Rupa Gosvami, and many rare and out of print books, such as Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s compilation of commentaries on the Padma Purana and his commentaries on the Bhagavad-gita. The library also contains scans of many original, handwritten manuscripts, as well as many of the original manuscripts themselves, such as the only known copy of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s personal diary, dating from 1904 -1906.

ISKCON’s Padayatra Worldwide: Last Memorable Days In Karnataka, India
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Hare KrishnaBy Acarya Dasa

The padayatri near me mumbled, “He is a Muslim. Let’s leave, he will fight with us.” Then, very softly, I explained to the man the objective of our padayatra, which quieted him a little. Then I asked him, “Can we have prasad here after our team reaches?” He said, “Ok, sit under the tree; but you have to pay for water”. I agreed with this condition. After a while all the padayatris arrived on the spot where we were waiting. We parked our cart and trolleys in the shade. As we were all set to start honoring our prasadam, this man came again. I assumed that he was going to create some nuisance, but the Lord showered His causeless mercy upon him. As he took darsana of Their Lordships, his heart melted. He just kept looking at them while I was waiting for his reaction. The Lord took away the envy in his heart and filled it with love. With folded palms he came to us and requested, “Please sit inside my house while honoring your food.” Generally ladies in the Muslim community don’t come out of house but he called all of them outside for darsana, and they took photos of Their Lordships and the oxen. We offered them carnamrita, which they readily accepted, and I also explained to them the importance of honoring this carnamrita. The man took prasadam with us and also bought some of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Then, as we were about to depart, he came to me and said, “I am sorry for the offence I committed. Please forgive me. I was very rude to you. I am very fortunate that in this month of Eid (a big Muslim festival) and roza (fasting in Islam) the Lord has come to my house and His cart is standing right outside my house. I am very obliged to all of you.”

Iskcon Mayapur: Festival of the Chariots in the Land of Lord Caitanya
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Hare Krishna Iskcon Mayapur: The Ratha-yatra festival observed by Lord Caitanya is the emotional process of taking Krishna back to Vrindavana. Sramati Radharaṇi refused to go with Krishna to Dvaraka to enjoy His company in the atmosphere of royal opulence, for She wanted to enjoy His company in the original Vrindavana atmosphere. Lord Krishna, being profoundly attached to the gopis, never goes away from Vrindavana, and the gopis and other residents of Vrindavana remain fully satisfied in Krishna consciousness.

Vaisnava Krpa – A Gift of Love by Srila Prabhupada’s Family
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Hare KrishnaBy Radha Sundari devi dasi

We have all heard the story of the house that Srila Prabhupada built in which the whole world can live. And how in his great mercy he lovingly created, in the body of ISKCON, a spiritual family to take up residence in that house. A family imbued with the qualities of love and trust, to stand at the door and welcome inside the rest of the world. Although we have repeated these words many times over the past 38 years, it is only in the last few days, after Hari-sauri Prabhu launched an appeal to help our family, that we have been privileged to really experience first-hand what it means to be embraced by the love of that family. We feel as if we’ve been sitting in the centre of a magic circle surrounded by hundreds of devotees and well-wishers from all over the world, flooding us with blessings, prayers, gifts from the heart, pledges of laxmi and messages of hope, wisdom, comfort and succour.

Seminar on “Power of Habits”
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhaktin Debasmita

London College of Vedic Studies was very honored to have HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami deliver a powerful and relevant seminar entitled ‘Power of Habits’, on Sunday 8th July 2018. The College serves as the educational wing of ISKCON-London, offering a wide range of educational, spiritual and practical courses, seminars and workshops aimed at nurturing character, personal fulfilment and spiritual progression.

Sri Mayapur International School Celebrates the Panihati Chida Dahi Utsava
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Hare KrishnaBy ISKCON Mayapur

To this day, the Panihati Chida Dahi festival is celebrated in Panihati Dhama and all around the world. Panihati Dhama is located near Kolkata, and annually the festival is celebrated there in the same style as it was in Raghunatha Dasa’s time. Every year, a busload of devotees from the Mayapur temple goes and assists in the Panihati festivities. ISKCON Panihati organizes this festival for the mass distribution of prasadam and pilgrims in the thousands from surrounding states come to participate in the celebrations.

From Krishna’s Castle to Trafalgar Square – A Food Love Story
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Hare KrishnaBy Louise Guthrie

Holborn is a strange place to build a castle. Not only that, but I can’t seem to find it. Surely Krishna’s Castle must be here somewhere, because, not only does this fantastic Food Fort commendably provide 1,500 free meals a day to those in need, but it (most importantly) has an official London postcode and address. However, as we all know, London street-numbers are not necessarily any more visible to the naked eye than hidden castles, and those door-numerals that are apparent don’t necessarily follow in sequential order.

The Unknown History of Big Book Distribution
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Hare KrishnaBy Mahatma Das

(The following is an excerpt from an unfinished book about my life in Krsna consciousness. It details the history of how big book distribution began in Iskcon, a history which has not been chronicled in any Iskcon publications. The scene takes place in Vancouver, Canada, November of 1971.) At this time in Iskcon (1971) big book distribution had not yet begun. We only distributed Back to Godhead magazines (BTG’s) on the street. We usually got donation of 25cents per magazine. If we were lucky, we might occasionally get a really big donation of 50 cents. We thought it was difficult to get that much money from most people so we didn’t usually ask for it.

Coordinated, Connected and Committed- Retreat to Re- treat
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Hare KrishnaBy Radhapadma Devi Dasi

It was truly a re- treat from the busy schedule of hustle bustle, traffic and time constraints to fresh air, dense forest, tall green mountains and vast expanse of water around, so much to experience it in essence. The valuable subject matter of our life is the true connection with the Absolute Truth. As Srila Prabhupada quotes, “Because human life is a combination of matter and spirit soul, the whole process of Vedic knowledge is directed at liberating the spirit soul from the contamination of matter.”