Author Archives: Dandavats

Children in Krishna Consciousness
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Hare KrishnaBy Ambika devi dasi

Bhaktivedanta Gurukula has welcomed students at the beginning of the new school year. Gurukulas are very important in our society because while the students are being trained in academic knowledge, they are also being guided to remember the cause of all causes, Lord Krishna. This early guidance will remain with them throughout their lives and will assist them to see the Lord’s presence in everything. In the sixth chapter of Bhagavadgita, Krishna explains how a spiritual seeker who does not attain perfection returns to this world, taking birth in a pious, prosperous or transcendentalist family. That soul then revives the divine consciousness of his previous life and makes further progress in order to achieve complete success.

Honoring the Pure Devotee
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Hare KrishnaBy Padmapani das

As the latest headlines and news reports from around the world become more disturbing for us all, it’s quite natural to wonder just where the joy of life has gone for so many people. The pressing threats of world war, terrorist attacks and a host of other menacing perils hang ominously above our heads as we go about our daily activities, hoping against hope that somehow everything will work out all right. Yet deep in our hearts we know that something might happen at a moment’s notice which can potentially destroy everything. Our precious lives — and the lives of our loved ones — hang in the balance. In reality, most of us don’t have much of a safety net except for a vague sense of faith that life will go on. If truth be told, we live on a wing and a prayer.

Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir – SB Class, 4 March 2016: HH Badrinarayana Swami
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Hare KrishnaBy Badrinarayana Swami

Suppose that I open Badrinarayan Swami’s Convenience Store, Best and Cheapest. You come on in and buy something. Suppose that you give me a hundred dollars to buy a ten dollar item. I say thank you very much, jaya, and close the cash register. You will say hey, where is my change? I’ll say no, no, it’s there. They are just dark dollars. It’s laughable, but that is the cornerstone of astrophysics, dark matter. One devotee told me a joke: dark matter, anti-matter, it doesn’t matter. They are completely in a fog.

Transforming Your Workplace into the Spiritual World
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Hare KrishnaBy Mahatma das

Let’s start with the good news: we can be Krsna conscious anywhere. And here’s the bad news: there really isn’t an ideal environment for being Krsna consciousness. I hear you saying, “How can you say that?” What about the temple, what about Vrndavana and Mayapura, what about a Rathayatra Festival?” Yes, those would seem to be ideal environments for developing Krsna consciousness. But let me ask you a question: Does everyone who goes to Vrndavana, or a temple, or to a Rathayatra become Krsna conscious? Most people do, but one can even fall into maya in the Lord’s personal presence. The panacea of the age is the maha-mantra. It is the yuga dharma, it is the best way to be Krsna conscious. Does everyone who chants Hare Krsna become Krsna conscious? The impersonalists don’t. They chant to become one with Krsna. And I would be embarrassed to tell you how many rounds I have chanted in my life and not even thought of Krsna while His name was continually coming from my lips.

The prize distribution ceremony of Mayapur Sankirtana
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhakti Caru Swami

Today we are going to celebrate the prize distribution ceremony of Mayapur Sankirtana. This year Mayapur is holding the first place in the world (Devotees: Haribol!) in Srila Prabhupada’s book distribution campaign. And we are very sorry to defeat HH Gopala Krishna Maharaja. (laughter) Yeah no one can defeat Gopala Krishna Maharaja. He won the Marathon. But thats the credit of Mayapur. Mayapur distributes books throughout the year and that is the real book distribution program. Isn’t it Vijay Prabhu? Yeah, The sankirtana minister, book distribution minister Vijay Prabhu is agreeing with me. Anyway in Krishna consciousness its always win-win. Even when we lose, its win. In Krishna consciousness there is no loss. And the thing is we are very happy to announce that the Mayapur devotees……how many devotees go out in book distribution? 100 devotees, we have 10 buses, sankirtana buses and each bus takes 10 devotees. So 100 devotees are continuously distributing books throughout the year all over India.

Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir – SB Class, 7 March 2016: HH Lokanath Swami
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Hare KrishnaBy Lokanath Swami

So there are the astra’s mentioned, there are several astra’s. Prasadam is also astra. And hence comes the ISKCON bullet, ISKCON bullets are gulab jamuns. And you are finished! So Prabhupada just fed prasada and so many demons, American demons, demoniac nature was killed. There were hippies, there were demons, they chanted Hare krishna, ate gulab jamuns and they were happy. The hippies became happies. So Prabhupada was senapati bhakta, talking of senapati, sena means army, he is chief in commander and then he made New York his destination. Go to New York. New York the capital of the age of Kali. And upon arrival there he started showering bombs of the holy name and the time bomb his books were also weapons. They would explode but not destroy but construct beautiful heart or consciousness.

Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir – SB Class, February 23 2016: HH Bhanu Swami
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhanu Swami

Why does the Lord prefer sattva guna? Why does He praise the gunas when they are all actually bad, when all gunas are material? It’s because the Lord is very clever. Built into prakriti itself, within sattva guna, there is an escape hole by which you can get out of the material world. It’s material but it also has something very interesting in it. The nature of sattva guna is vidya, knowledge, jnana. The jnana does not mean material knowledge because you can get that in raja or tamas guna a little bit. In sattva guna the jnana takes the form of beginning to understand that we are not the material body. This is the natural result of sattva guna. We become detached from material enjoyment and begin to understand that we are not the material body but that we are atma. We begin to accept scriptures.

Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir – SB Class, February 29 2016: HH Bhakti Caru Swami
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhakti Caru Swami

I’ll end the class with a pastime that HH Gour Govinda Maharaj narrated about why Krishna came as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. One day in Vrindavan, Radharani was waiting for Krishna. The sakhis arranged the kunja. They met in flower groves. They decorated the place very beautifully for Krishna to come. Radharani was waiting for Krishna, but Krishna had not come. It was quite late but still, Krishna did not come. One messenger was sent to find out what actually happened, why Krishna was not coming. So she went and found out that Krishna was with Candravali. Candravali, although she is Radharani’s sister, is Radharani’s competitor. Incidentally, in Vraja lila, it is Radharani and Candravali. In Dvarka lila, Candravali becomes Rukmini and Radharani becomes Satyabhama. So they are always with Krishna.

Festival inauguration for Gaura Purnima Festival 2016
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Hare KrishnaBy Iskcon Mayapur

As a special offering to Srila Prabhupada to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of ISKCON, 50 National flags were put up in the park and 50 lamps were offered. Then as the flags reached the top of their poles, thousands of colorful flower petals came down from the sky showering all the devotees present, with sweet Bliss. Beautiful sannyasis broke coconuts as an auspicious way to officially begin the festival in front of hundreds of cheering devotees. Loud kirtan could be heard from far away and devotees could be seen dancing all around the flags. This was the official start but here in Sri Mayapur dham, it is always festival, there is so much happening at the same time, anyone can constantly be plunge deep into the spiritual world. Everywhere we look something spiritual is happening, and on top of being already in the Spiritual world, for the last week now, we have been blessed with Sravan utsava . This most amazing festival with all day long special classes one after the other. HG Madhavananda das, HH Bhakti Purusottam Maharaj, HH Nrsimha Maharaj, HH Bhakti Vinod Maharaj, HH Bhakti Rasamrita Maharaj, HH Lokanath Maharaj and HH Bhakti Charu Maharaj all gave amazing divine discourses.

Who benefits from our service to iskcon?
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Hare KrishnaBy Kesava Krsna Dasa

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur writes: “Many of us maintain a similar concept that we renounce our family life, we sacrifice a lot in the service of our spiritual master, some of us collect donations and do a lot of multifarious direct and indirect service for the satisfaction of our spiritual master, but what do we gain? Here we forget that we do such sums very well and it is only for our own well-being that he is getting the sums done by us. The spiritual master is engaging us in different services for our own satisfaction and welfare in the path of devotion. Those who are averse to their own benefit, only consider such services to be meant for the welfare of the spiritual master, for the temple complex, for the vaisnavas, for the Lord, and thus foolishly take little interest in them”.(Upakhyane Upadesa)

Srila Prabhupada on voting and vaishnavism
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Hare KrishnaBy Madhavananda Das

There is a lot of discussion right now, especially in America, about the latest presidential election. In a recent issue of Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu we put together a collection of statements from Srila Prabhupada regarding his mood towards voting in secular circles. As always, Srila Prabhupada’s attitude is purely Krishna conscious. I also found it very detached — he was asked several times if he wanted his followers to vote or not, — he repeatedly replied that the choice was up to them. For brevity, I’m only posting some of the most relevant quotes below.

The TOVP Master Plan
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Hare KrishnaBy Janesvari Devi Dasi

The design for the overall TOVP Master Plan has been created by one of our Russian architects, Rangavati dasi, who has been with the TOVP since 2013. We are trying to create the most aesthetic and colorful gardens in India for the pleasure of the Lord. By clicking on an icon number, you will get a glimpse of how magnificent the surrounding TOVP gardens will look. There are currently 2 sections available: Vegetation and Outdoor furniture.

The Light of the Soul
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Hare KrishnaBy Indradyumna Swami

“One can attain the path of liberation from material bondage only by rendering service to highly advanced spiritual personalities. These personalities are impersonalists and devotees. Whether one wants to merge into the Lord’s existence or wants to associate with the Personality of Godhead, one should render service to the mahatmas. For those who are not interested in such activities, who associate with people fond of women and sex, the path to hell is wide open. The mahatmas are equipoised. They do not see any difference between one living entity and another. They are very peaceful and are fully engaged in devotional service. They are devoid of anger, and they work for the benefit of everyone. They do not behave in any abominable way. Such people are known as mahatmas.”

Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk
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Hare KrishnaBy Krishna-kripa Das

Hare Krishna devotees from Alachua and Gainesville chanted in the annual Martin Luther King Day March this year as they have for several years. As usual we were the only group with music, and because we had a nice loud sound system, it was easy for people to hear us. Despite our dominating presence, many people were favorable, and no one complained about us. [Lord Caitanya said:] “In every town and village of the world, in every place, My name will be propagated.” (Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya-kandha 4.126)

Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir – SB Class, 03 March 2016: HH Devamrita Swami
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Hare KrishnaBy Devamrita Swami

Amidst all this mayhem and we shouldn’t take this mayhem as something outlandish that well at least human beings today aren’t this bad! Just consider, there is one particular nation in this world, I wont mention its name, although I happen to have taken birth there (laughs), it has proposed that for the upliftment of peace and the stability of the world, over the course of the next thirty years, 1 trillion dollars should be spent upgrading the nuclear arsenal, 1 trillion dollars! All for the sake of peace! Srila Prabhupada explains in Bhagavad Gita that this is demoniac. He declares straightforwardly these weapons are not for peace. We have to think twice about that because perhaps we have been brainwashed, the nuclear weapons are there to maintain world peace. Therefore the governments have to spend on this. Srila Prabhupada assures us they are not meant for peace! They are actually the result of envy against living entities. I live you die! and there is some strange perverse envious satisfaction in having the ability to annihilate other creatures. Envy has a different meaning in the sastra besides just one on one enviousness which is bad enough – You are rising up! I cant tolerate that! Your rise, whether its material or spiritual, we’ve got to do something to cut you down!

Day 8 of ILS: Unity in Diversity
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Hare KrishnaBy Romapada Das

Rasamandala Das, Director of ISKCON Educational Services, made a presentation on devotee care at the plenary session. Earlier, he had delivered several seminars on devotee care, many of which had proved highly popular with the international audience. He felt that the ILS offered a chance to air new ideas, become innovative and deal with things as they were happening.  “We need to be able to relate shastra to real life experiences of devotees,” he said. “In a sense it is about getting real.” Several devotees walked up to Rasamandala after his sessions on devotee care and told him they felt grateful someone was actually talking about such an important topic. “This is very relevant to ourselves,” he concluded. “And we do need to talk about it more. The vision for our devotee care initiative is to ensure that every devotee is spiritually happy, materially well-situated, and positively identifies ISKCON as a caring society.”

Reminder about Temple Closure
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Hare KrishnaBy Jai Nitai das

The day after Gaura Purnima, Thursday 24th March, ISKCON-London’s Radha-Krishna Temple, Govinda’s Restaurant and Radha’s Boutique will be closed to the public for at least three weeks while we undergo major refurbishment to all public areas. Our hope is that we will be re-opened in time for Ramanavami Festival on the 15th April latest. Please note that although closed in general to the public, some programmes such as courses, harinamas, and mentorship meetings may still take place. Please check with representatives in those areas for confirmation.

ISKCON Leadership Sanga (ILS) Attendees Pledge $250,000 to TOVP
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Hare KrishnaBy Praghosa Das

The ILS seminars in Sridhama Mayapur during ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary celebrations and the Gaur Purnima Festival are underway and a dynamic partnership with the TOVP Fundraising Team is helping to facilitate this year’s seminars. These seminars are organized every two years under the direction of Gopal Bhatta prabhu to educate, train and inspire ISKCON devotees in different areas of management, outreach, devotee care and much more. They are attended by hundreds of GBC’s, sannyasis, Temple Presidents, Congregational Development leaders, Bhakti Vrksha leaders and general devotees from all over the world. This year also brought some additional inspiration and excitement to the gathering when the attendees themselves forged together to combinedly pledge $250,000 to the TOVP which included a $100,000 donation from Gopal Bhatta himself. The TOVP Team is very appreciative of this generous action which will undoubtedly be a springboard for further contributions during the Gaur Purnima Festival.