Author Archives: Dandavats

New issue of ISKCON Ministry of Education’s quarterly journal, Viplavah
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Hare KrishnaBy Mitra Devi Dasi

Please find enclosed the third issue of ISKCON Ministry of Education’s quarterly journal, Viplavah. We hope this edition will be useful and interesting to you in many ways. We look forward to being in touch with you. Please let us know if you would like to participate in educational projects facilitated by the ministry or would like to collaborate with the ministry for educational initiatives in your area.

Confessions of a Prasadam Addict: The Sunday Feast
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Hare KrishnaBy Taru Das

Srila Prabhupada has stated that, “The first sense you will realize Krishna with is your tongue”. The meaning is clear. All of our advancement in spiritual life comes from chanting Hare Krishna. Therefore, by this process of chanting Krishna’s names, one will eventually learn to see Krishna everywhere. But for the prasadam addict, the statement has another meaning. He thinks, “The more I eat, the closer I come to God”. Or again, there is the statement that one should try to see Krishna in everything. The prasadam addict takes this to mean that wherever I am, I should seek out some prasadam. The super addict will even construe the injunction to be always engaged in Krishna’s service to mean that he should be taking prasadam twenty-four hours a day. Finally, when he hears that advanced devotees become mad after Krishna, he understands that anything he can do to get his hands on prasadam is authorized and righteous.

Srimad Bhagavatam Class in Mayapur: The essence of all Vedic hymns
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhakti Caitanya Swami

I have been chanting 45+ years. And some of you for longer, I know. And do not mind me saying it but at least from what I have observed, I have not seen any one displaying such symptoms like Lord Caitanya did. Please forgive me if that is inappropriate but I think it is not. Because I think we commit offenses, I think we are sometimes not attentive enough, And that’s why these things are not happening like they did with Lord Caitanya. I mean with Him it happened on a massive scale. With us, sometimes, oftentimes the chanting is nice, sometimes it’s very nice. But some experience like that is beyond most of us generally. So why… Why? Well, that is unfortunately because we are continuing to not chant purely, to chant offensively.

What’s Wrong with Using a Crutch?
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Hare KrishnaBy Navina Shyama Dasa

Sometimes the car becomes blocked. But some fellow pushes it. We have got this experience. What is that called? Chocked up? Then you get down and push the car and – brut-brut-brut-brut-brut – it goes. Similarly the bhakti-rasa [feeling of devotion] is there in everyone’s heart. Nitya-siddha krishna-bhakti. Because we are part and parcel of Krishna. . . . So the fact is that we have got devotion for Krishna. That is a fact. But some way or other we are separated and we have forgotten. So as soon as, by this regulative principle, by the order of the spiritual master, by the injunction of the shastras, we begin devotional service

The Leader of the Devotees of Lord Caitanya
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Hare KrishnaBy Iskcon Mayapur

Śrīla Prabhupāda describes in his purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.11.1: “Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has also given us a nice weapon for this age, as stated in the Bhāgavatam: sāṅgopāṅgāstra—in this age, the nārāyaṇāstra, or weapon to drive away māyā, is the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra in pursuance of the associates of Lord Caitanya, such as Advaita Prabhu, Nityānanda, Gadādhara and Śrīvāsa.” This weapon of the holy name was utilized perfectly by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. He took complete shelter of the holy names of the Lord. It is described by Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura that Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and his brothers were constantly absorbed in singing the names of Lord Kṛṣṇa. It was in the home of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu performed His most intimate saṅkīrtana pastimes. Those nocturnal kīrtanas are compared to the rāsa-līlās of Lord Kṛṣṇa, for they are the topmost and most ecstatic of the Lord’s pastimes.

NYC’s Harinama Ashrama Reaches New People With Old School Formula
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Hare KrishnaBy Madhava Smullen

We in ISKCON may feel that times have changed; that we must use very different methods to deliver our message to people. But in New York City’s Harinama Ashrama, a group of devotees is using the most “old school” approach – simple Harinama and book distribution for hours every day – to impressive effect. And nowhere was this more evident than during the Prabhupada marathon this past Christmas. Rama Raya Das, formerly of the 24-Hour Kirtan Mandali in Vrindavana, India, started Harinama Ashrama on the instruction of his late friend and guide, Aindra Das. Aindra had said, “If you just sit on the streets of New York and do sankirtana, you’ll see where your realization will be.”

Lord Jagannatha’s 1978 Calcutta Pastimes
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Hare KrishnaBy Mayesvara das

I had watched the destruction done in less than two minutes with astonishment and disbelief and I simply had no idea what to do next. I felt like a complete failure and was so traumatized with what had just occurred, I started telling all those who were asking me what to do: “Tell everyone to go home. There isn’t going to be a parade!” I began to work my way through the crowd and eventually got back into the temple and headed straight back to the roof, which was the only place where I knew I could get some privacy and cry. I had let everyone down. Lord Jagannatha wasn’t going anywhere, and it seemed quite obvious that I was worse than a useless disciple to Srila Prabhupada because I really messed things up this time. I also felt like I had personally let down Jayananda prabhu, as well as Jayapataka Maharaja, all the currently assembled devotees as well as all three million native residents to the city of Calcutta. I mechanically put my hand in my bead bag hoping for relieve and then laid back down on the roof of the temple to try and get the world to stop spinning, but I already knew it would be an impossible task.

The Prasadam Addict: The infamous “barn crew” and the Laddu Sadhu
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Hare KrishnaBy Taru dasa

The Laddu Sadhu. Who is there who can sufficiently describe the wondrous attributes of this illustrious sweet ball? This must surely be Madhumangala, who is mentioned in many Vaisnava books and songs as a great lover of laddus. Being a brahmana boy, he used to promise to give Krishna benedictions in exchange for laddus. So if a laddu is so potent as to be able to distract the attention of one of Krishna’s most intimate friends, who can calculate its effect upon an ordinary conditioned soul in the material world? Also: Sweet Rice Glories. Srila Prabhupada tasted the sweet rice here in 1974 and said, “I haven’t had anything like I his in sixty years”