Author Archives: Dandavats

Ratha Yatra celebrated on the streets of St. Louis County
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Hare KrishnaBy Jack Suntrup

“To gain connection with God, we go to a place of worship,” said Yamuna Jivana Das, an event organizer. “One of the things this festival represents is that deities, instead of staying in temple, are taken out in public for the purpose of everyone and anyone being able to see them.” The holiday got its start in Orissa, India, according to the Krishna Balaram Temple of St. Louis. Organizers said Rath Yatra — or “Chariot Festival” — is now celebrated in cities all over the world. Lal Gopal Das, an organizer, said festivals in India can draw millions of people. “What we have is a little peanut compared to that,” he said of the celebration in West County. That didn’t mean participants in the local event were any less faithful. Even as devotees pulled the chariot down the road — uphill in certain areas — there was little sign of displeasure.

ISKCON 50 releases three more ‘Inspiration Series’ videos
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Hare KrishnaBy ISKCON 50 Global Office

The new clips feature talks by Gopal Krishna Goswami, Bhaktivijnana Swami and Dina Sharana Devi Dasi, who discuss the importance of the 50th anniversary and encourage the worldwide community of devotees to participate enthusiastically in the celebrations around the globe. “Our first release on 13th had clips featuring Radhanatha Swami and Anuttama Dasa,” said Romapada Das, International Coordinator for ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, who produced the series. “We have released five clips so far, and hope to continue to release at least twelve more clips over the next four weeks. We urge ISKCON leaders around the world to show these clips during regular Bhagavatam classes or any other festival to inspire devotees to become more active in their ISKCON 50 celebrations.” The Inspiration Series is a joint venture between ISKCON 50 Productions and ISKCON Desire Tree.

Italian Parliament to Host ISKCON 50 Conference
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Hare KrishnaBy Madhava Smullen

Devotees are set to hold a prestigious conference in celebration of Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON’s 50th anniversary at the Italian Parliament in Rome on October 5th. “Last year, this was just a dream of mine, but I was confident that Krishna would help me find a way to do something relevant for this historical anniversary,” says Villa Vrindavana President Parabhakti Das. “Sure enough, my dear friend Narada Muni Prabhu, a famous musician who is well acquainted with many influential people, came along and offered his help and that opened the doors to the Parliament.” At first, Parabhakti and Narada Muni thought that they would have to go with a more universal topic for their event to make it easily digestible for such a public institution. But when they spoke about the idea with Ugo Papi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and friend of devotees, he encouraged them: “Why don’t you go directly to your real goal – to celebrate ISKCON’s 50th anniversary and Srila Prabhupada?” When they ran with this idea, rather than the obstacles they thought they might have faced, they found nothing but support from various leaders.

Durban Indulges In A Taste Of Devotion In Celbration Of ISKCON50
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Hare KrishnaBy Krsangi Radhe dasi

The Sri Sri Radha Radhanath temple in Durban, South Africa embarked on a rather sweet campaign to celebrate ISKCON 50. On Thursday, 28 July over 150 devotees distributed 5000 cup cakes all around Durban. The campaign began two weeks prior to the main distribution date, when temple president Vibhu Caitanya dasa, who personally steered and organised all aspects of the campaign, invited devotees and well-wishers to place orders for cupcakes to distribute at their places of employment, schools, universities and other institutions. In true birthday style of celebrating with friends and relatives, this was the temple’s way of giving back and reaching out to the community of Durban. As hosts to the celebration, the temple took care of purchasing the ingredients and the logistics of baking the 5000 treats. On site, the Govinda’s restaurant bakery came to a stand-still as all restaurant production came to a halt. Devotees took over the bakery to prepare, which were then cooled and packed by a separate group of over twenty devotees. The vanilla cup-cakes, decorated with sprinkles were then individually placed in a clear packet, wrapped with colourful ribbons with card attached highlighting the 50th anniversary of ISKCON.

ISKCON 50th & Rath Yatra celebration 2016 @ Aruppukottai
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Hare KrishnaBy Venudhari Kanhaiya das

ISKCON Namahatta Aruppukottai Celebrated ISKCON 50th Year Anniversary & and 2nd Annual Rath Yatra at Aruppukottai on 23rd July 2016. HH Bhakti Ashraya Vaishnava Swami Maharaj inaugurated new Rath for Lordship, HG Sumitra Krishna das Prabhu Temple president Iskcon Chennai, HG Rukmeiya das Prabhu ,HG vanamali Gopal das Prabhu , HG Jai gopinath das Prabhu, HG SriGridhari Prabhu & Iskcon leaders from various part of tamilnadu took part and Sri Ramalinga mills chairmen Dr.T.R.Denekaran participated and enjoyed the Kerthan & Pastime of Jaganath Lela, over 4000 plates of prasadam distributed at end of the festival.

The Legend of Vishnujana Maharaja
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Hare KrishnaBy Patita Pavana das

The soulful sankirtan of Shri Vishnujana Maharaja illuminated the streets of San Francisco and Los Angeles , and then across the States, from the earliest days of Krishna consciousness. Today his uplifting bhajans and melodious kirtans still echo in the halls of ISKCON centers around the world. There was never a more faithful servant of Shrila Prabhupada, and the fortunate Vaishnavas who served under his loving care always keep his memories in their hearts. Shrila Prabhupada, who by his mystic potency sometimes appeared more as a member of ISKCON than the exalted founder-acharya, also expressed a desire to spend a week traveling with the bus party led by Vishnujana Swami. Many fell under the irresistible spell of Vishnujana Maharaja and became Prabhupada’s devotees. HH Indradyumna Swami met him on a college campus in Michigan . He accepted his invitation to the love feast, and when he first showed up at the Detroit temple, he asked for Vishnujana Swami saying, “I want to be like him.”

Villa Vrindavan: Krishna’s Home in Tuscany
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Hare KrishnaBy Tattvavit Dasa

Villa Vrindavan, in Italy, almost looks too old to have a future, but the humble devotees there are confident it will. ISKCON’s oldest building probably, the villa is four centuries old. Naturally, not everything works. A sunken semicircular fountain does not spout. The front roof nobly displays a stopped clock; the bell over it no longer chimes times. When devotees moved in with Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, putting their faith in the Lord’s names and graces they named the hundred-and-twenty-acre estate after India’s transcendent village where Krishna enacted a humanlike childhood. How and why is the project now moving ahead?

ISKCON Incorporation Week by ISKCON Chandigarh
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Hare KrishnaBy Akrura Nandan das

ISKCON Chandigarh celebrated ISKCON Incorporation Week from 11th July to 17th July 2016. From 11th to 17th July we had regular glorification of Srila Prabhupada during Bhagavatam class. In addition to that during Sunday festival program on 17th July evening many senior devotees glorified Srila Prabhupada and a drama named “Swamiji at Sea” was staged.

Call Each Other Gopi?
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Hare KrishnaBy Khonika Gope-Kumar

Though since childhood, I was used to being called “gopi” by my classmates and coworkers as my surname had been “Gope”, however, that never made me uncomfortable. I knew those karmi people did not have any clue what they were referring to. But my devotee girlfriends surely know what they are talking about. Or do they? To my surprise, I found out that it has become quite common among young ladies in ISKCON to call each other gopi, even call each other Srimati Radharani! I was in a dilemma. Is it offensive or trivial to call another devotee girl gopi? At first, I thought, may be it is not as bad as I am thinking. Since “without the help of the gopis, one cannot enter into these pastimes. Only one who worships the Lord in the ecstasy of the gopis, following in their footsteps, can engage in the service of S’ri S’ri Radha-Krishnain the bushes of Vrindavana. Only then can one understand the conjugal love between Radha and Krishna. There is no other procedure for understanding.” CC Madhya 8.204-205

Conscious co-operator
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Hare KrishnaBy Giriraj Das

Here is the text from ‘Krishna’ Book, chapter 4, where, having being warned by Durga Devi that the child who will kill Kamsa has already taken birth, Kamsa is now repenting and is also trying to justify all his past sinful actions, putting them behind the bars, killing their children, etc., as will of providence. In these lines lie some very enlightening lessons for an aspiring devotee like my own self. “My dear sister Devaki-, you are so gentle and kind. Please excuse me—don’t be aggrieved by the death of your children, which I have caused. Actually this was not done by me, because all these are predestined activities. One has to act according to the predestined plan, even unwillingly. People misunderstand that with the end of the body the self dies, or they think that one can kill another living entity. All these misconceptions oblige one to accept the conditions of material existence. In other words, as long as one is not firmly convinced of the eternality of the soul, one is subjected to the tribulation of being killer and killed. My dear sister Devaki- and brother-in-law Vasudeva, kindly excuse the atrocities I have committed against you. I am very poor-hearted, and you are so great-hearted, so take compassion upon me and excuse me.”

You Can Do It!
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By Mahatma das

Forgiving yourself is obviously an issue for you. Look at it this way: Krishna wants you to come back to Him, and if you don’t forgive yourself, you’re making that trip back to Him a more difficult – and thus slower – journey. Krishna is waiting for you to come back, so don’t make Him wait longer than necessary. Krishna forgives you, and if He forgives you, certainly you can forgive yourself. (If it’s good enough for Him, it’s good enough for you.) In addition, if you are thinking, “I am so low and so bad, I don’t deserve Krishna’s mercy,” when the mercy comes you won’t take it because, after all, you don’t deserve it. But mercy wouldn’t be mercy if you fully deserved it. You may not deserve it, but you need it. And Mahaprabhu shows His mercy to those who need it most. Let Him know how much you need it. It’s also possible that a lack of self-forgiveness stems from a kind of self-sabotaging, a self-hatred mechanism within. To me this equates to the idea of being envious of one’s self as taught in the Bhagavad-gita and Isopansisad. Why would we do anything to hurt ourselves unless we lack self-respect and self-love? If you love yourself, forgive yourself. Prabhupada said the highest service is to save yourself, but why would you try for that if you have little respect or love for yourself?

Leadership Crisis
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By Bhakti Raghava Swami

A few years ago, while pursuing my postgraduate studies at USM in Penang, I happen to glance over the front page of the local newspaper to read the following headlines in large capital letters: WANTED: LEADERS. Srila Prabhupada: “Ordinarily, the spiritual master, husband, father, mother or superior relative accepts worship from an inferior relative, but here Rshabhadeva forbids this. First the father, spiritual master or husband must be able to release the dependent from repeated birth and death. If he cannot do this, he plunges himself into the ocean of reproachment for his unlawful activities. Everyone should be very responsible and take charge of his dependents just as a spiritual master takes charge of his disciple or a father takes charge of his son. All these responsibilities cannot be discharged honestly unless one can save the dependent from repeated birth and death.”

ISKCON-London celebrates 50th Anniversary of ISKCON’s Incorporation with pomp and grandeur
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Hare KrishnaBy ISKCON-London Communications

“It was a truly glorious day. You could really see that Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara – the Lords of London – and the first installed Deities in ISKCON, personally installed by Srila Prabhupada himself – wanted to spread the glories of Their dear devotee, Srila Prabhupada, to the wider London community. Not only did we have excellent attendance from the community and a full day programme at the Temple to celebrate ISKCON’s 50th, but we had the BBC interviewing devotees and filming footage at various points throughout the day. We also worked with Bhaktivedanta Manor to hold a Gratitude Day where we distributed 5000 cupcakes to the public in key locations around London to raise awareness of the Hare Krishna movement and to thank Londoners for accepting us as part of the community.

Krsna’s Village of Peace highly successful this year!
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Hare KrishnaBy Ananta das

Krsna’s Village of Peace has been an integral part of the Polish Woodstock Festival since it’s inception 22 years ago. This year was no exception as 550 devotees came together from around the world to create a veritable spiritual dhama in the midst of the 800,000 young people who attended the 3 day event on the Polish border, just 2 hours drive from Berlin. Utilizing kitchen facilities in 3 nearby schools, as well as two giant pots onsite, devotees distributed 100,320 full plates of delicious prasadam. They also distributed over 1,000 of Srila Prabhupada books and entertained people with a 5 hour stage show each afternoon in the main tent in Krsna’s Village Of Peace. One of the more popular scenes in the village was the Mantra Yoga Tent where prominent ISKCON kirtnaeers like Bada Haridas, Madhava dasa, Sacinandana Swami, Indradyumna Swami, Mahatma dasa, Sri Prahlad and Acyuta Gopi dasi held kirtan 12 hours a day. The tent was packed with guests day and night. Devotees also held Ratha Yatra, with a massive chariot, through the throngs of people on 4 separate occasions. All in all, it was truly a great yajna.