Author Archives: Dandavats

Prabhupada’s Palace Launches Campaign to Support Restoration
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Hare KrishnaBy Madhava Smullen

Devotees at ISKCON New Vrindaban, West Virginia are in the midst of major renovations on Srila Prabhupada’s Palace. And they’re launching a campaign to help them continue restoring the renowned Smriti Samadhi, or memorial shrine to ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya, to its full glory. The effort is a labor of love, just as it was when devotees first started building the Palace in 1973, intending it as a residence for their guru, who expressed a strong desire to retire there and translate his books. “Regarding New Vrindaban I was very happy when I was there,” he wrote to them in 1974. “I am expecting very soon to go there and live in my proposed palace at least for some time.” When Prabhupada passed away in 1977, the Palace – which opened to the public in 1979 – became a monument to his astounding achievements and gifts he gave to the world; a place where he resides in spirit through his instructions; and a major attraction for pilgrims and tourists.

The Divine Appearance of Srimati Radharani
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Hare KrishnaBy Radharani Devi Dasi

Lord Brahma told Vrishabhanu that this girl was the origin of the goddess Lakshmi and that he should take great care of Her. Lord Brahma then placed the baby girl in the arms of Vrishabhanu who became overjoyed, and after taking permission from Lord Brahma, returned to his home. Seeing the beautiful baby girl shining like millions of autumnal moons, mother Kirtida was overcome with joy and immediately arranged for all kinds of religious rites to be performed and donated thousands of cows to the brahmanas. At that time baby Radhika was placed in a gem-studded cradle and gently rocked back and forth by all the little girls of the village. Day by day Her luster increased just like the digits of the moon. Within a short while it was observed that the baby girl made no noise and had not yet opened Her eyes. Vrishabhanu and his wife feared that their baby girl was perhaps blind from birth and also dumb. At that time, Srila Narada Muni visited the home of Vrishabhanu and informed him that regardless of the girl’s apparent blindness, they should continue with the birth celebrations. Vrishabhanu therefore made elaborate arrangements for a lavish birth celebration and sent out invitations to all the residents of Ravala and Gokula and especially to his dear friend Nanda Maharaja and his family.

Thirty years of Hare Krishna Island on the Erne
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Hare KrishnaBy Roisin Henderson

NESTLED among the many islands of the Erne is the pretty, wooded isle of Inish Rath, home to possibly Fermanagh’s smallest religious community. For the past 30 years, members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known to most simply as the Hare Krishnas, have called the island home. Since 1986, this group has been ever changing, attracting members from all over Ireland and far beyond. While there are currently only 12 full time residents at the settlement – which is made up of gardens, children’s play areas, grazing ground for cattle, allotments for growing food, a school, open fields, woodland walks, and, its the centre, a large Victorian house that hosts stunning altars to Lord Krishna – that number often grows up to 20, and often includes families and children.

World Holy Name Week 2016 Celebrations in Singapore
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Hare KrishnaBy Sandeep S Thakkar

The world holy name week (WHNW-16) was celebrated globally from 28th Jul – 14th Aug 2016. Devotees in Singapore at the Gauranga Centre, played their part of spreading the glories of holy name by doing harinaam sankirtan. Indeed, the holy name week had a rousing start as devotees were led by a senior kirtaniya to an ecstatic round of kirtan. In Singapore owing to a hectic work schedule, devotees decided to dedicate their evenings after work to engage in the service of the holy name sankirtan for over ten days. In what is the 50th year of incorporation of our society it was just apt that the devotees were able to account for over 50+ hours of harinaam sankirtan during the 2016 WHNW celebrations. This included 3 days of intense 12 hour harinaam sankirtans apart from the daily two and half hours of kirtan that was done on weekday evenings.

ISKCON 50 VIP Dinner in Durban, South Africa
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Hare KrishnaBy Anuradha Devi Dasi

The evening of Friday, 2nd September saw Durban come out to celebrate ISKCON 50 in grand style through a VIP gala dinner. The event was organised as a special joint effort between the two Durban temples, Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple of Understanding in Chatsworth and New Jagannath Puri Temple in Phoenix. The guest list comprised of close to five hundred of Durban’s elite – professionals, businessmen, academics, government members, media and artists– all especially invited to the evening to join His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami in reliving and celebrating the journey of Srila Prabhupada and his ISKCON over the last five decades. The programme began with a musical rendition of Srila Prabhupada’s poem, “Markine Bhagavat Dharma”, which he wrote aboard the Jaladuta on arrival in Boston Harbour. The bhajan was sung by ISKCON Durban youth, and the English translation, together with poignant images of Srila Prabhupada was projected on two large screens on either side of the stage. His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami then moved the crowd with the story of ISKCON, touching on Prabhupada’ s early days, his authentic roots, his challenges, his deep faith and his incredible successes. Maharaja’s presentation was followed by a screening of the “Joy of Devotion”.

Revealing the Heart of ISKCON
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Hare KrishnaBy Ravindra Svarupa dasa

I regard this article as a supplement to my book, Srila Prabhupada: Founder-Acarya of ISKCON. It expands upon discussions relating the importance of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, especially in light of the philosophical and spiritual significance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s parent temple, Sri Caitanya Matha, in Mayapur. As I write, the resplendent Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, its central dome now towering 350 feet above the alluvial soil of Sridhama Mayapur, continues to reveal its form, within and without. This temple, when complete, will realize a key component of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, vital to the fulfillment of the mission of its Founder-Acarya: to construct Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement as the efficacious vessel for delivering humanity worldwide from the rising floods of the spiritual, mental, and physical calamities of our times. By this undertaking, Srila Prabhupada continued his revival of the interrupted mission of his Guru Maharaja, and he has left us with all directions and facilities to complete it. Through us, Srila Prabhupada continues his work. The temple taking shape at Mayapur is central to that task.

Bhakti love: A different kind of happiness
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Hare KrishnaBy Urmila Devi Dasi

The happiness of bhakti is very hard to understand. Generally in the world we take “happiness” as being satisfaction for our body, mind, or both: pleasure of the senses, pleasing thoughts, pleasing emotions, pleasing relationships. Those who are intelligent enough to understand that we are different from body and mind seek a very different kind of happiness: liberation. In the happiness of liberation, peace and freedom are key. There is a sense of balance, detachment, and expansive bliss beyond anything the body and mind have to offer. But the great teachers of bhakti–divine loving service–tell us not to seek either of those two types of happiness. They say that desires for those types of happinesses are like witches or ghosts who make us forget the real essence of life.

Holy Pilgrimage to Port Said
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Hare KrishnaBy Padmapani Das

We started from Port Said today at about 1 p.m. The Port Said city is nice. It has long narrow neat and clean roads with lofty buildings. The city is not at all congested. While passing the rear point of Suez towards Mediterranean sea, the city is clearly seen. But it is a small city with some industrial factories. Although in the desert in the city all varieties of vegetables available. There is also a Marine drive like Bombay Chowpatty beach. I could see a good park in the city. (Port Said is known as “Egypt’s Forgotten Treasure”) It’s interesting to note that Srila Prabhupada wrote the following in his diary: “The Port Said city is nice. It has long narrow neat and clean roads with lofty buildings. The city is not at all congested. While passing the rear point of Suez towards Mediterranean sea, the city is clearly seen. But it is a small city with some industrial factories. Although in the desert in the city all varieties of vegetables available. There is also a Marine drive like Bombay Chowpatty beach. I could see a good park in the city.” Here is some historical information to confirm the words of Krishna’s pure devotee: “Port Said was where Western ideas of urban space met the East. Port Said was planned to become a city, laid out on a checkerboard pattern with wide, straight streets intersecting at right angles. Port Said’s streets were lit by gaslight in 1876, and by 1891, only nine years after New York, Port Said had electricity. Its rigid geometry was in marked contrast to traditional Middle Eastern cities, with narrow and winding medieval alleys. Egypt’s Viceroy Ismail was impressed, and sought to emulate the European model by reconstructing parts of Cairo in belle époque style.” Egypt was the first country in which Srila Prabhupada set foot outside of India. He stopped in Port Said on September 2, 1965 and visited the town with the captain of the Jaladuta steamship. Prabhupada said he liked it. As I was based in Cairo from 1978 to 1983, I was blessed with the opportunity to visit Port Said in 1979 as a pilgrimage to this historic city. Walking around the docks where the big freighters stopped to gather supplies en route to their worldly destinations provided me with a rare chance to solemnly meditate on Srila Prabhupada’s divine mission. Who could imagine the great spiritual significance of such a journey by one lone passenger on an Indian steamship bound for New York? It was the beginning of the worldwide Hare Krishna revolution. While in Port Said I did some research to find out the exact place where Srila Prabhupada and Captain Pandiya would have disembarked in 1965. I took a photo of that place (see below). I’ve also included some relevant information regarding the spiritual significance of Port Said in Srila Prabhupada’s lila. Needless to say, visiting that important city was a milestone in my life and a trip I’ll never forget. “To cross the Atlantic Ocean took ten days. This great sea is usually full of storms and fog and is very disturbing. But by the mercy of Krishna, there was no disturbance. The captain of the ship, the main officer, told me, ‘This kind of quiet Atlantic I have never seen in my life.’ I told them that this is only by Krishna’s mercy, nothing else. After the troublesome storm in the Arabian Sea, I knew that if I had had to face a storm like that again, I would die.

‘The Walking Monk’ in Surrey with tales from cross-Canada trails
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Hare KrishnaBy Tom Zillich

“I went through a lot of pain, physical,” Swami admitted. “The biggest challenge of all is walking on an angle – it’s like walking on a beach. But nevertheless, everything else compensated for that (pain), including meeting fantastic people, meeting characters, being confronted by black bears, grizzlies, whatnot, and finally I became an addict, I like it, gotta do it again.” His first coast-to-coast walk was documented in “The Longest Road,” a 2003 National Film Board of Canada movie about the Trans-Canada Highway.

All India Padayatra Celebrates World Holy Name Week
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Hare KrishnaBy Acarya Dasa

Sankirtana is the heart of padayatra. Wherever we walk, whenever we enter a village or conduct house programs we chant the holy names with every soul in attendance dancing along with us. It’s not a surprise to us since we are traveling with sankirtana eka pitaro, the father of sankirtana Himself, Lord Caitanya. Lokanath Swami said, “Celebrating the ‘World Holy Name’ festival is like celebrating the victory of the holy names all over the world param vijayate sri- krishna sankirtanam [1]. The world is on fire, let us chant more and extinguish the fire of this material existence. So, propagate the holy names.” We took these words to heart and held different programs during these two weeks of ‘World Holy Name’ celebrations.

ISKCON Govardhan Eco Village receives the 2016 Green Apple Award for Built Environment and Architectural Heritage
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Hare KrishnaBy Gauranga Das

ISKCON Govardhan Eco Village a 100 acre sustainable farming community and retreat center, based near Mumbai, India received the 2016 Green Apple Awards for Built Environment & Architectural Heritage Award for it’s Green Building initiatives from the Green Organization, UK, at a special ceremony on Monday August 8, 2016 at The Crystal, London Docklands – regarded as the most sustainable events venue in the UK. Radha Mohan Prabhu from the Bhaktivedanta Manor, on behalf of ISKCON GEV, received this award from the hands of Dr. Paula Owen, Chief Fun Officer of Eco Action Games. During that same ceremony GEV was also honored as the International Green World Ambassadors. This recognition comes as a result of the environmental success of their GEV SYMBIOTIC DEVELOPMENT MODEL Project which won a Green Apple Environment Award, presented at Westminster Palace in November last year. As a result of that success, they are having their winning paper published in The Green Book, the world’s only annual work of reference on environmental best practice that is distributed to environment professionals, universities and libraries around the world by The Green Organisation.

15 Year Old Anish Bikmal Donates $1000 to TOVP
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Hare KrishnaBy Sunanda das

Anish Bikmal is a 15 year old ISKCON Vaisnava who attends South Forsythe High School near Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. as a 10th grade student. He plans to pursue studies in Neuroscience and Psychology. His father and mother, Subal Sakha das and Amrta Gaurangi devi dasi, are from Hyderabad, India and moved to America in 1999, work in the IT field, and are initiated disciples of His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami. In 2014 Anish and his older brother, Anirudh, co-founded an educational website called Motivate and Inspire Inc. ‘To motivate & inspire students by giving quality academic help while raising funds to serve those in need’. Through this site they have already donated hundreds of dollars to various ISKCON projects such as Foof For Life, Govardhan Eco Village and Bhaktivedanta Hospice. Recently, Anish won 1st Place in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) National competition receiving an award of $1,000. While visiting Mayapur with his family Anish decided that the best use of that prize money was to donate it to the TOVP. His service attitude is an inspiration and example for all ISKCON devotees and especially the younger generation. Certainly Srila Prabhupada and Mahaprabhu are pleased and will give Anish and his family all blessings and mercy.

Radha’s Hairstyle
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Hare KrishnaBy Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu

Embedded with various flowers here and there, tied together using jewelled strings; decorated with lines of deeply fragrant jasmines; having a spherical arrangement of jewels hanging at the back from [three] lines of excellent jewels — 0 Radhe! When will I see the excellent dhammilla hairstyle created by the hands of Sri Hari himself? Rasa-kulya Commentary: The term dhammilla means, “Hair tied together in a topknot.” This term indicates that Radha’s hair had been intricately tied in various ways. Previously [in the preceding verse], a hairstyle named kabara was described. The dhammilla style of tying hair is different from the kabara. Connoisseurs expert in conjugal mellows know the details of this hairstyle.

JANMASTAMI, 2016 at Gaya, Bihar, India
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Hare KrishnaBy Jagadish Shyam Das

It was first time Janmastami was celebrated at Gaya Gandhi Maidan. More than 10,000 people attended the festival, from 5 PM to night 2 AM. Prasadam was distributed profusely to all the attendants. Hg Rambhadra Prabhu, (Director, IYF- Bihar & Jharkhand) delivered a lecture. He highlighted Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead quoting from scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. A drama entitled ‘Advent of Lord Krishna’ was performed. It was followed by aarti, abhishek etc. 136 ekadasi bhoga was offered to Lord though it was planned to offer 108. District Magistrate Gaya- Mr. Kumar Ravi, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Operation Gaya- Manoj Yadav were the guests of honor. There was a significant support provided by Mr Ramchandra Yadav, Director of Sri Krishna Janmastami Mahotsav Committee, in organisation of the festival.

65.000 guests gathered to celebrate 25th Sri Krishna Janmasthami at ISKCON Salem
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Hare KrishnaBy Krishna das

65 000 guests gathered to celebrate 25th Sri Krishna janmasthami at ISKCON Salem. Celebration started early morning 4.30 am and went ‘till 2 am in the morning next day. Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai alankara was “Kalpa-Vrksa”, surrounded by 108 delicious offerings made by devotees. The darshan queue was way out on the main road. HG Hari-pada Prabhu and HG Phalini Mataji were the chief guests. They lead most ecstatic kirtans, and Prabhuji gave inspiring lectures much appreciated by locals. Program consisted of eight lectures, eight hours bhajans, two dramas (at noon and at evening performed by Srila Prabhupada Theatres from Chennai) and maha-abhishek. The 50 years of ISKCON’s glories and achievements were showed at the 24x 12 feet LED screen continuously throughout the event. 5 lakhs worth of Srila Prabhupada’s books were distributed and of course free prasadam throughout the day: Chole subji, Vegetable rice, Dal, Naan, Puri, Aloo Bonda, Kesari and Boondi were distributed to 65 thousand visitors. Srila Prabhupadas Vyasa puja was also celebrated in great manner and thousands participated in hearing Srila Prabhupada’s glories. After the abhishek followed pushpanjali and arati. The celebration ended with feast prasadam coming right from Sri Ranganatha Swami temple.

Huge celebration for Janmashtami 2016 at Bhaktivedanta Manor (video)
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Hare KrishnaBy Filmwork Studios

Bhaktivedanta Manor’s spectacular Janmashtami festival attracts over 70,000 pilgrims to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna on earth 5000 years ago. The festival demonstrates the spiritual variety of India’s ancient Vedic culture in all its glory. On arrival, visitors walk through the newly completed ‘New Gokul’ complex, Europe’s largest cow protection project, as they make their way to the colourful festival site. At the site, the main marquee stages cultural dances and musical extravaganzas. Over 50,000 pilgrims also eagerly queue in anticipation to greet Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda, the temple Deities, in the Manor’s exquisitely decorated shrine. Even the queue itself is a spiritual experience, as it makes its way along a flowered walk-way around the Manor’s lake, with pilgrims admiring the illuminated displays of Krishna’s pastimes. Throughout the day, kitchen staff is working solidly, preparing no less than 50,000 plates of prasadam (sacred vegetarian food) that is distributed freely to all pilgrims. A dedicated children’s area features a mini ‘main marquee’ where children perform carefully prepared shows and dances. An array of stalls and exhibits display spiritual art and literature, while there are also themed marquees providing lifestyle tips, such as a cruelty-free diet and a reduced environmental footprint.

50th Celebrations at the Sydney Opera House Attract Devotees from Around the World
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Hare KrishnaBy Arya Devi Dasi

The weekend’s events started on Friday night with Bhakti Film Fest and a patron’s dinner. The highlight of the weekend was a theatrical, musical, and multimedia performance at the iconic Sydney Opera House with 800 people attending two performances. In attendance were Rachael Kohn from ABC Radio’s Spirit of Things program, the New South Wales Indian Consul General, as well as representatives from Multicultural New South Wales, the Hindu Council of Australia, and the Catholic Church. Numerous dignitaries sent their best wishes, including: the Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore; New South Wales Premier, Mike Baird; Australia’s Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten; and India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Jehovah Witnesses quote Srila Prabhupada
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Hare KrishnaBy Kesava Krsna Dasa

There is one publication issued by the Watch Tower called, “Mankind’s Search For God.” In this book, they probe all the major world religions and thought systems with a view to guide the readers to the “True God”.

Any laypersons reading this book could easily think this is an impartial and balanced analysis, but make no mistake, it is pleasantly biased in favour of the ‘Biblical’ observation that the world is 6,000 years old, and all religions, including Hinduism, spread out from the cesspool of Babylonian times.

As we would suspect, the references to Srila Prabhupada are found in the chapter entitled, “Hinduism – a search for liberation”. While it is pleasing to acknowledge he is cited as a major authority on ‘Hinduism”, sadly his, and Lord Chaitanya’s message get enmeshed in the tangled web of whatever Hinduism is supposed to be. They are mashed together with the tantrics, impersonalists, and demigod worshippers, sharing equal status with them.

Thousands Gather for 50th Annual Festival of Chariots in San Francisco
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Hare KrishnaBy Sunita Sohrabji

Several thousand Indian Americans, along with other devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, gathered together here Aug. 14 to celebrate the 50th annual Ratha Yatra. “I have come every year since 1994,” Mohini Raj, bearing several garlands of marigolds which she offered to Sri Jagannatha, told India-West. The elderly woman brought her young grandchildren along this year, to clap, sing and dance at the joyous festival. “This reminds me of the festivals I would go to in India,” she said. Four colorful carriages – bearing replicas of Srila Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness; Lord Jagannatha; Nityananda Prabhu and his devotee Nitai Guaranga; and Sri Baladeva and Sri Subhadra Devi – were pulled by devotees, who wound their way down a mile-long path in the park. The red-and-gold chariots and sparkling outfits of the revelers cast a spell of sunshine onto the fog-driven morning. The Ratha Yatra is a centuries-old festival, originating in Puri, Odisha. Devotees of Sri Jagannath – the Lord of the Universe – traditionally pull him in his current form as Krishna, back to Vrindavan.

Achintya Youth Festival 2016, ISKCON Manipur
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Hare KrishnaBy Sadhubhusan Das

Including Manipur ISKCON in the worldwide celebration of 50 Golden years of ISKCON, the Youth Forum of ISKCON Manipur organized ‘The Achintya Youth Festival 2016’, from 21st to 24th August 2016 at the temple premises and was completed successfully. A festivity replete with cultural programs, musical performances, debate, quizzies, interesting competitions, interaction with distinguished professors, social workers and celebrities, martial arts presentationa, kirtans, prizes and to complete it all…extraordinary mahaprasad for all….altogether made the event memorable. As a prelude to the festival a photography competition was held during the ratha yatra festival with a theme ‘ratha yatra in Manipur’, jointly organized with the Manipur Photography Club. An open essay competition on the topic ‘Spirituality is the Ultimate Solution to All Material Problems’, and a painting competition on the theme ‘Krishna Lila’, for classes 6th to 12th was also organized on 14th August 2016 with an attendance of more than two hundred students. The first prize for the essay competition went to Kavita Kancahan Ningthoujam of DM College of Arts and for painting competition, Telen Khaidem of DAV Public School bagged the first prize. A state level open debating competition was also held on 21st August 2016 on the subject ‘Communal Harmony is Possible Only through Interfaith Dialogue’, which was presided over by Dr. I. Ibohalbi Singh, MLA leader of opposition; A. Mubi Singh, President, Editors’ Guild and His Holiness Bhaktivyasa Tirtha Swami, ISKCON Guru and Sannyasi. The first prize for the debate was awarded to Mr. Misban Hanif of Modern College. It was very interesting that students from all different faiths came and took part in the events which in itself served the purpose of the festival…’going forward together as one community, promote open mindedness and creative thinking, and generate an awareness to be successful in life both materially as well as spiritually.’ The famous Gaura Lila of Manipur was also enacted in the evening to the pleasure of all.