Author Archives: Dandavats

Srimad Bhagavatam class from Mayapur, 11 February 2018
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhakti Vinoda Swami

As leaders we get to do so many different things but we should be knowing that we are under the radar of Maya and Kali. “You are the leader who is going to take people out of the world and send them to Godhead, you are working for Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s organisation! You are a dangerous guy for me. I am going to attack you!” And definitely iskcon leaders who are proponents of pure bhakti are going to be attacked more and more in their leadership positions.

Srimad Bhagavatam class from Mayapur, 8 February 2018
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Hare KrishnaBy Radha Krishna Das

Who remembers the motto of the Strategic Planning team? “More devotees, happier devotees.” Why is it we are focusing on more devotees and happier devotees? Because Krishna will be pleased. If they are not happier there won’t be more. More devotees means external growth. Happier devotees means internal growth. Which one is more important? It’s just so interesting we are focussing really a lot on spreading Krsna consciousness. And that’s a really good goal and we should focus on that, but at the same time we should really focus on developing ourselves. Growth starts with you first.

GBC College 2018 Graduation Ceremony – ILS, Mayapur
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Hare KrishnaBy Vrsabhanu das

In the “sublime and auspicious land of Gaurasundara on the charming bank of the Bhagirathi, Gaudadesh[Sridham Mayapur], which is eternally shining and full of bliss” (extracted from Navadvipastakam Verse 1, Srila Rupa Goswami), on the auspicious Appearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, the GBC College for Leadership Development held the 2018 Graduation ceremony at the ILS (ISKCON Leadership Sanga). Twenty-three leaders from various locations in Africa, Bangladesh, China, India, Italy, Russia and Singapore, received their GBC College Graduation certificates and gifts in the presence of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, Srila Prabhupada, and over 600 ILS devotees including many ISKCON Gurus, GBCs and sannyasis.

News from the Manor: A small school with a big heart, Doctor in the House, Gitas for london Crematorium
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Hare KrishnaBy Radha Mohan das

The Manor School children participated in an inaugural ceremony to mark a new chapter in their school’s history. The primary school has been situated at Bhaktivedanta Manor for the past 35 years. Due to various challenges associated with the building of the new Haveli on the site and the required demolition of two of the classrooms, the school has been relocated into a new temporary premises not far away. The renovation of the existing buildings took over eight months to complete, and involved top architects, structural engineers, two major building contractors and a big investment from the temple. Kaushik Patel was hands on at every step and the Patrons Working Committee oversaw the entire development.

Outreach activities in Malaysia
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Hare KrishnaBy Simheswara Dasa

ISKCON is a preaching movement. Srila Prabhupada wanted the respiritualization of the entire human society. In the preface for Canto 1 of the Srimad Bhagavatam Srila Prabhupada wrote “Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of oblivion. It has made rapid progress in the fields of material comforts, education and economic development throughout the entire world. But there is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important issues. There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society.” It is indeed a big order. But it can certainly be done in small and big installments by the combined preaching efforts of all preachers.

Where Do You Go When You Die? The Increasing Signs That Human Consciousness Remains After Death
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Hare KrishnaBy Newsweek Europe

“I don’t mean that people have their eyes open or that their brain’s working after they die,” Parnia said. “That petrifies people. I’m saying we have a consciousness that makes up who we are—our selves, thoughts, feelings, emotions—and that entity, it seems, does not become annihilated just because we’ve crossed the threshold of death; it appears to keep functioning and not dissipate. How long it lingers, we can’t say.” Clinically, we understand death to mean the state that takes hold after our hearts stop beating. Blood circulation comes to a halt, we don’t breathe, our brains shut down—and that’s what divides the states we occupy from one moment (alive) to the next (dead). Philosophically, though, our definition of death hinges on something else: the point past which we’re no longer able to return. Those two were more or less the same until about 50 years ago, when we saw the advent of CPR. Today, someone’s heart can stop and they can be dead, and then they can come back.

History and Rationale of the “No Objection” Procedure
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Hare KrishnaBy Praghosa das

The aim of this paper is to present how the “No Objection” procedure, the mechanism the GBC has established to encourage devotees to serve as diksa-gurus in ISKCON, is not contrary to Gaudiya Vaisnava siddhanta. We will examine how the system came to be and why it remains in place as the best option available for now for the GBC to ensure as best it can, that ISKCON has qualified diksa-gurus available to its aspiring bhaktas. It will also look at how the procedure best helps the GBC manage a multi-guru system within one organization. That dynamic of a governing board managing an institution, which includes within it multiple gurus, is, of course, a relatively new concept in Gaudiya Vaisnava history. However, regardless of the structure, Srila Prabhupada certainly expected those serving as diksa-gurus to be qualified. The question then arises: should ISKCON’s ultimate managing authority, the GBC body, be responsible along with the prospective disciples to ensure that those serving as diksa-gurus meet set qualifications? However we manage the procedure that allows diksa-gurus to initiate in ISKCON, ISKCON’s performance in this area puts Srila Prabhupada’s glorious reputation very much at stake.

ISKCON Bangladesh arranged ‘Narottama Purnima’ festival for the first time in Kheturi Dham
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Hare KrishnaBy Rasika Kanai Das

On the occasion of ‘Narottama Purnima’, the birth anniversary of Prema Bhakti Mahajan Srila Narottama Das Thakur Mahasaya with fully auspicious festivity in Kheturi Dham, Godagari, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabu left behind Krishna Prema through Padmavati, the river Padma flowing by the side of Prematali, the most auspicious holy place for the vaishnavas. At the age of twelve Narottama dasa Thakura had a vision of Lord Nityananda in a dream. He told Narottama to take bath in the Padma River whereupon he would receive love of Godhead. Following the instructions of Lord Nityananda, Narottama bathed in the Padma regardless, and the Goddess of the river appeared and on the order of Lord Chaitanya, gave him pure love of Godhead. The color of His body changed into Gaura (Yellowish) from blackish.

A Happy New Year: Sustained Growth and Renewal at ISKCON New Goloka
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Hare KrishnaBy Lila-sakti Devi dasi

2017 was a year full of forward movement and positive changes at ISKCON New Goloka. Established in 1985, our aging temple infrastructure is currently being upgraded and updated to comply with required local building codes. Orange County, North Carolina is particularly stringent with their commercial code requirements, so the renovation process has been long, tedious, and costly. By Krishna’s mercy, however, we are in the home stretch of completing the first part of a multi-phase infrastructure improvement initiative at ISKCON New Goloka, home of Their Lordships Sri-Sri Radha-Golokananda. When complete, Their servants will prepare bhoga offerings in a brand new commercial kitchen, and Their paraphernalia will be stored and maintained in a spacious and well-appointed pujari room. All glories to the devotees who have continuously undergone great austerities to wonderfully serve the deities despite so many challenges.

International Seminar on Vedanta and Science, Kendari, Indonesia
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Hare KrishnaBy Hari Narayana Das

Sulawesi is one of the main islands of Indonesia and Kendari is the capital city of South East Sulawesi. We took a flight from Bali to Makassar for a transit of about two hours then another flight to Pomala airport at Kolaka, Sulawesi where devotees were eagerly waiting to receive us. That evening we had the opportunity to interact with few guests who were leaders of Hindu community there. They were happy to discuss Bhagavad-gita with us and also took some books. Next day, 26 Feb 2018, we started for Ladongi, driving almost three hours via the mountains, where we have the Gaura Nitai centre and which is also conducting Jagannatha ratha yatra every year. Although the number of devotees are less, they are nonetheless very enthusiastic… taking into consideration the fact that the small centre is situated in a forested area and before, due to misjudgement, the local people there used to throw stones at the temple… but after the first ratha yatra in the year 2014 which was fully supported by the Mayor of the locality and the Hindu Parisada there, the locals started to visit the temple and also bring flowers and fruits for the deities.

International Conference: Vaishnavism: Theory And Practice
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Hare KrishnaBy Rasika Raman Das

A two-day international conference on Vaishnavism: Theory and Practice was held on 18th and 19th December, 2017 at Jadavpur University, organized in collaboration with Stockholm University (Sweden). In this session devotees from various academic fields represented proper a understanding of Vaishnavism and the impact of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. Pro Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University, Prof. PK Ghosh, spoke on the importance of interdisciplinary studies, religious embeddedness in society. He acknowledged the contribution of Prof. Ruby Sain in the formation of Centre for the Study of Religion and Society at Jadavpur University.

Hundred people start regular chanting after week-long discourse in Surat
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Hare KrishnaBy Romapada Das

Over 100 new people committed to chanting at least one round of the Hare Krishna mahamantra everyday at a week-long Bhagavata Saptah discourse from 9th January to 15th January in Surat. Almost 1500 devotees thronged to hear the discourse based on the story of Prahalada Maharaja in the Srimad Bhagavatam, delivered by Chandra Govinda Das, an eminent exponent of Srimad Bhagavatam, who is a disciple of His Holiness Radha Govinda Swami. “The lectures started with melodious kirtan and bhajans every day,” said Ramanatha Das, one of the organizers of the discourse. “People listened to the story of Prahlada Maharaja and the glories of Lord Narsainghadev with rapt attention. We also served a sumptuous vegetarian prasadam dinner every day after the discourse.”

2nd day of the GBC meetings
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhakti Chaitanya Swami

The GBC meetings continued today with an amazing two hour presentation on book distribution from Vaisheshika prabhu, one of the main leaders of the resurgence of the distribution of Srila Prabhupada’s books around the world. All the GBC members were deeply affected by his sincerity and heart felt commitment to this most essential program of His Divine Grace. The enthusiasm generated in the room was quite overwhelming, and many of the members, who previously had done a lot of book distribution, spoke of their experiences and desires to see it come to the same levels it was at in the time of Srila Prabhupada’s physical presence.

Srimad Bhagavatam class in Mayapur by Devakinandan Das, 04 February 2018
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Hare KrishnaBy Devakinandan Das

King Pṛthu is herein compared to the earthly planet as far as his tolerance is concerned. Although the earth is always trampled upon by men and animals, it still gives food to them by producing grains, fruits and vegetables. As an ideal king, Mahārāja Pṛthu is compared to the earthly planet, for even though some citizens might violate the rules and regulations of the state, he would still be tolerant and maintain them with fruits and grains. In other words, it is the duty of the king to look after the comforts of the citizens, even at the cost of his own personal convenience. This is not the case, however, in Kali-yuga, for in Kali-yuga the kings and heads of state enjoy life at the cost of taxes exacted from the citizens. Such unfair taxation makes the people dishonest, and the people try to hide their income in so many ways. Eventually the state will not be able to collect taxes and consequently will not be able to meet its huge military and administrative expenses. Everything will collapse, and there will be chaos and disturbance all over the state.

Changing our outlook
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Hare KrishnaBy Giriraj das

“Therefore sometimes, when people say in India, ‘Swamiji, you have done wonderful.’ And yes, I do not know. I’m not a magician. But, so far I am confident that I did not adulterate the words of Krishna. That’s all. That’s my credit. I did not like to take the position of Krishna. I remained a servant of Krishna, and I spoke what Krishna said. That’s all. This is my secret. So everyone can do that. There is nothing magic. The magic will act as soon as you become a pure devotee of Krishna. The magic will be done by Krishna, not by me or you. He will do it. ” (Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Los Angeles, May 19, 1972)