Author Archives: Dandavats

ISKCON-London’s Food for Life Initiative Honored by the Queen of England
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Hare KrishnaBy ISKCON-London Communications

Acyuta Charan dasa will be proudly accepting his BEM award later this year at a grand event presented by a representative of the Queen of England. He shares, “I wasn’t expecting it at all, a few colleagues put me forward for it. This award should really go to all the wonderful volunteers who make Food for Life possible. They sacrifice their precious time to come and distribute to the needy. Each week is a delightful experience. It has been a privilege to be a part of this service for over 10 years.”

Sriman Kedarnath Dutta’s (Bhaktivinoda Thakur) Govt. Service records from 1866 – 1896
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhaktivedanta Research Centre

Sriman Kedarnath Dutta, later known as Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur (1834-1914), belonged to the kayastha community of Bengali intellectual gentry that lived during the Bengal Renaissance and attempted to revive key strands of Hindu tradition and practice. In his youth he spent much time researching and comparing various religious and philosophical systems, both Indian and Western, with a view of finding among them a comprehensive, authentic and intellectually satisfying path. He tackled the task of reconciling Western reason and tradition by exploring religion in its phenomenal and transcendent aspects, thus accommodating both modern critical analysis and the core tenets of Vaishnavism in his writings. KedarnathDutta’s spiritual quest led him at the age of 29 to become a dedicated follower of Caitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1533). He applied himself to a deep study and committed practice of the teachings of the Chaitanya school, soon emerging as a reputed leader within the Caitanya Vaishnava movement of Bengal.

Three sections from “I’ll Build You a Temple: A Good Fight and a Promise Fulfilled”
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Hare KrishnaBy Giriraj Swami

Yesterday, Makara-sankranti, January 14, 2018, was the fortieth anniversary of the Juhu temple. On this occasion, I share with you three sections from my forthcoming book, *I’ll Build You a Temple: A Good Fight and a Promise Fulfilled*, about Srila Prabhupada and Juhu-—“Opening the Juhu Temple,” “After the Opening,” and “Concluding Reflections”—-and a link to me reading those sections in video I have also attached a scan of the Newsweek magazine article about the opening, mentioned in my account. May Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari bless us all.

Enough Salt- Now A Dash Of Pepper With Krishna’s Bhagavad-gita
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Hare KrishnaBy Yasodadulal Dasa

What could I draw public attention to with my little insignificant padayatra which paralleled his Salt March? At the age of 62 (Gandhi was 61) I began the 22 day journey (the same amount of days Gandhi walked) on November 22nd, concluding on the full moon of 4 December 2017. Although I began as one man and my influence over others was that I would also finish alone, still it was important for me to have a message that would take my yatra just that one step further above the worldly limitations of nationalism. My idea was to launch it on to the pure transcendental platform. I began with the simple words, “Enough Salt!”, but it soon became apparent that such a hidden message was too subtle for the general public to pick up on. As the walk progressed and the ISKCON book marathon started coming on, my mantra changed to “Enough Salt! Now take Bhagavad -gita!” It fitted well because Gandhi was a strong advocate of the Bhagavad-gita.

Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama – Reviving Mahaprabhu’s Pastimes
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Hare KrishnaBy MCO

In 1972, Srila Prabhupada and some of his disciples went on parikrama around Sri Navadvipa Dham, and since that time ISKCON Mayapur has been performing Navadvipa parikrama. The ISKCON Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama has been steadily increasing in size – from seventy devotees to ten thousand devotees and beyond – and is continuing to grow, not only in size but in activities, destinations and transcendental bliss. In 1996, the year of Srila Prabhupada’s centennial, the ISKCON Mayapur Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama was divided for the first time into two groups – Gauranga and Nityananda – which comprised of the English and Russian speaking devotees, and the Bengali and Hindi speaking devotees respectively. To facilitate the growing numbers of participants, the parikrama is now divided into six groups, allowing for smoother coordination and facilitation.

Teamwork Makes UK Marathon a Resounding Success
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Hare KrishnaBy Madhava Smullen

The result was that for this year’s Prabhupada marathon, about 55 street teams and 220 individual devotees went out on book distribution throughout the UK and Ireland, distributing a total of 138,330 books. Temple devotees went out for 8 to 10 hours a day of their own accord, while many of the book distributors were working professionals with families, giving up their evenings and weekends to dole out transcendental knowledge.

Srila Prabhupada Lila Reading Guide
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By Shrutadev Das

After I had read many of the books about Srila Prabhupada for a second or third time I found myself thinking, “Didn’t it say something about that pastime in another book?” And I would pull out a different book and read about the same event or time period from a different perspective. Or whereas in the Lilamrta it might say that Srila Prabhupada traveled to Australia and then back to Bombay but not give any details, in another book it would give the details of his trip. It was very enlivening, so I started to compile an outline of my readings. Gradually it developed into the Srila Prabhupada Lila Reading Guide.

Founder-Acarya Foremost on ISKCON Temple Websites
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By the GBC

ISKCON center officials shall be responsible to ensure that any and all web sites published by the center prominently feature a picture of Srila Prabhupada on the introductory page. This picture should be larger than any other individual’s photo (such as the GBC, center President, or guru). Srila Prabhupada should be addressed by his formal name and title: “His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness,” or “ISKCON Founder-Acarya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada”, or an equivalent translation.

Togo Padayatra
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhakti Carudesna Swami

On Saturday, 23rd of December 2017, Iskcon Lomé, Togo, West Africa organized its second Padayatra. Around 45 devotees from different countries of West Africa met in Lomé, the capital of Togo. We had devotees like Bhakti Carudesna Swami from Côte d ‘ Ivoire, Yuga Prabhu, the west African Council chairman from Ghana, Vrajendra Dhulal and Tribhuvanath Prabhus from Nigeria, Candrasekar Prabhu and Bhakta Séverin from the Republic of Benin and many others from Togo like Atmattva Prabhu, Akincana Prabhu, Mother Abla Amouzou etc. Vrajendra Dhulal Prabhu from Nigeria a disciple of Lokanath Swami Maharaja, was on his way to Nigeria but decided to stay for the program. He said: “Padayatra is my Guru Maharaj’ s program, I can’ t afford missing it. I must stay to attend to it.”

Call for homages for Srila Prabhupada’s 2018 Vyasa Puja Book
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Hare KrishnaBy Dravida dasa

*Absolutely no offerings will be accepted after April 15, 2018.* Offerings must be in English. Please restrict the length to a maximum of 3,000 words. Please omit all diacritics on words that can be found in the VedaBase. It’s easier for us to put them in. If you quote a verse from outside the VedaBase or compose original Sanskrit, please include diacritics. Do not “recycle” an offering — no offerings from previous years will be accepted. The Vyasa-puja book is meant for glorifying Srila Prabhupada, not venting grievances. The BBT reserves the right to reject an offering it deems inappropriate or to ask for a rewrite. When writing an offering on behalf of a temple or other unit, please try to write in such a way that the other devotees in your unit can also identify with the offering.

Our Secret Weapon
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Hare KrishnaBy MCO

To this day, the ISKCON Mayapur Food for Life strives and, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, succeeds in fulfilling this instruction. Over the last eight years, the ISKCON Mayapur Food for Life program, under the Sri Mayapur Food Relief Trust, has distributed over three million, nine hundred and twenty-five thousand, seven hundred plates of prasadam (3,925,700 plates). By the end of this year, the number of plates will have reached four million.

Nayati Hospital Medical Camp at Krishna Balaram Temple
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Hare KrishnaBy Aradhika Radha Devi Dasi

One year ago Nayati Hospital opened it doors to Brijasi of Vraj. So Community Service Centre went to connect the temple with Nayati. Today the heads of different departments of ISKCON Vrindavan sevites got an opportunity for qualified medical check-ups. There were 5 kinds of doctors: orthopedist, gynecologist, general physician, child specialist and pain relief therapist. The Nayati Hospital also provided the devotees with special silver id cards which give 10% discount for any hospital procedures, except medicine. The executive director of the hospital, P. Sagar Tuteja and the operations manager, Vivek Dave came to share their experience and get to know more about ISKCON Vrindavan. They are willing to take care of any devotee of our community and provide their best service. After the medical program delicious prasada was served to all the 18 doctors of the Nayati Hospital and our own volunteer doctors that serve in our Devotee Care Clinic. Anyone who would like to get more information about the medical facilities can contact the director of “Devotee’s Care”, Prem Prakash Das. The office of “Devotee’s Care” is situated nearby Balarama hall. Later, another medical camp will be organized for devotee who did not attend. It will be announced soon.

His Grace Hari Sauri Prabhu’s resignation from active duty at Bhaktivedanta Research Centre BRC
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Hare KrishnaBy Pushti Devi Dasi

Hari Sauri das: As you know the BRC has for the last nine years emerged as one of the most important projectsin ISKCON, and indeed in the Vaisnava community as a whole, by collecting and preserving important historical documents of our Gaudiya Vaisnava lineage. I have had the privilege of serving as the managing co-director along with our academic co-director Pranava Prabhu. Most of you will know that in recent years my health has gradually been seriously affected by Parkinson’s disease which is ongoing. It has now progressed to the point where I feel I can no longer function effectively enough to fulfil the requirements of the service.