Author Archives: Dandavats

By Romapada Swami

In some instances, scriptures are deliberately filled with apparent double-talk. A typical example is the language of the Upanishads: e.g., “The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.” (Isopanishad Mantra 5) Such contradictory statements are provided to indicate His inconceivable, transcendental nature. He walks, but His walking is nothing like the walking within this mundane realm. So, thanks to these paradoxes, we are induced to reconsider and reform the deep-rooted material conceptions in our mind when contemplating the Supreme Absolute Truth. It is not necessarily that all such contradictions are purposefully presented by the scriptures in order to get us to contemplate. It is just the nature of Absolute Truth, which appears to us to be contradictory when we try to capture it within the limited vocabulary of language or within the limited framework of our material mind and intelligence. But by patient and repeated aural reception of the whole message, and by receiving clarification from a realized soul, such contradictions become resolved.

By Parvati devi dasi

The results speak for themselves-ever-increasing. They need more volunteers to cover the time after 7 pm. So many people; so few preachers to meet them. Some individual devotees make their own hours and take groups on tours of the Samadhi, the diorama, Prabhupada’s House and the temple, or just pick a spot and preach to people coming in, like DEVANANDA PANDIT DAS, who continually takes out tours around Vrndavan/Braj, and Char Dham, among other places. That man has a variety of other preaching projects including Vedic special cooking classes using clay pots and cow dung as fuel. One of our Free Temple Tours ladies, VRNDAVANI DASI, meets people in the evenings coming for Samadhi darshan and gets them all to chant Hare Krishna-and they are so happy someone took the trouble to welcome them personally, beaming with smiles. Free brochures in Hindi and English are handed out to all.

By Keshav Murari Das

A Program was organized at Smt.Santosh Ahlawat’s (MP) Home which was attended by two more Member of Parliament Mrs Riti Pathak and Smt Anju bala and many others. The program which consisted of Kirtan, 30 minute talk followed by Ques Ans for another 30 min was very well received by the participants. The VIPs there received Srila Prabhupada books, Prasad and asked various questions on the philosophy. There were enthusiastic to host similar programs in future as well. It gave us good opportunity to interact with some leaders and share some elements of Krsna Consciousness with them.

Jaya Govinda Dasa: Bhakta Dustin, a Hare Krishna devotee, was given the honour of singing the National Anthem to open the first holiday caucus dinner of the recently elected Canadian liberal government.

By Madhava Smullen

A group of preschool children, along with their devotee parents and grandparents, bustled excitedly into Gopal’s Garden Homeschool Co-Op for their graduation party on November 5th. The event had ISKCON New Vrindaban president Jaya Krsna Das calling the Co-Op “community building at its best.” Gopal’s Garden was established in New Vrindaban, West Virginia – Srila Prabhupada’s first farm community — in 2007 by Ruci Dasi. It runs to eighth grade, and teaches thirteen students in total. Its preschool, which cares for eight children aged three to five, was an individual effort launched this April by New Vrindaban residents and parents Sundari Dasi and Mercy. “We decided to do it as soon as my son Sanjaya and Sundari’s daughter Bhumi were the right age, so that they could be together, and play and learn with other children in the community,” says Mercy, who was born and raised in New Vrindaban and wants to pursue a career in teaching.

By Urmila Devi Dasi Celibacy trains adolescents for self-restraint, whether they stay single or get married. It develops their inner strength, self-control, and good character. It also fosters good health and a fine memory. Without celibacy we can ne…

By Dayal Mora das

Someway before the village came into view the banana throwing pastimes would begin in earnest as Para and Arjuna launched an untold number of yellow torpedoes into the sea of village children scrambling and diving, fighting and seemingly having the time of their lives in a frenzy of banana catching mayhem. Somehow the children would usually have advanced warning that we were coming and run out of the village to meet us on the road literally sprinting like anything to be amongst the first to get those bananas and books. The same scene would be repeated in every village and we never tired from seeing the explosion of enthusiasm that these blessed children displayed at the prospect of receiving Thakurji’s mercy in the form of these bananas. It was incredible to see day after day how just like an army of untiring monkeys these children competed with great tenacity, and at the risk of life and limb (seemingly) they each pocketed one, two, three or more bananas.

By Mahatma Das

The Soul is Made of Faith. In this article I use the word belief as “a feeling of certainty about what something means.” I discuss how this feeling of certainty affects the way you look at things, and the way you look at things affects your actions. Therefore, in this sense things are less the way they are and more the way we are. Belief is fundamental to consciousness. In Chapter 17 verse 3 of the Gita, Krsna says the atma is made of faith. If someone doesn’t believe that the atma is made of faith, it just means they have faith (they believe) that the atma is not made of faith. Since that is also a belief, it proves that the atma is made of faith. What Do You Believe? If you ever find it difficult to keep your vows and promises or commit to something new, it’s possible you have beliefs that are preventing you from being more committed. If you believe something is difficult to do or if you believe something is possible to achieve, you are usually right, not necessarily because that’s true, but because of the way you think about it (or the way you think about yourself).

By Adiguru dasa In Krishna Consciousness we hear many viewpoints about spreading the movement of Lord Caitanya. In reality there is not one fixed way to attract a conditioned living entity. A conditioned living entity who has achieved a rare benedictio…

By Krishna-kripa das

Audrey, a new resident of Krishna House, whose spiritual search culminated in Krishna consciousness, knew many alternative people from Orlando, where she grew up. Some of them were organizers of the Zen Awakening Festival, and thus she was able to secure a place for us to perform for two hours on one of the stages at the festival. We took a van full of devotees. We found the stage was not set up with microphones and amplifiers, so we put out our blankets and chanted in front of it. We decided to do a harinama throughout the site so many people would hear the holy name and some might be attracted to chant with us

By Yamuna Devi Right then and there, I decided that I wanted to feel what they were feeling. It was the real thing—everything I had heard and read about chanting while growing up as a devotee, yet which evaded me as if it were a myth—here it was as cle…

By Kesava Krsna Dasa

Sometimes devotees think that by working hard for Krishna, on the order of the spiritual master, even if there is some neglect of personal sadhana, hearing and chanting, success in spiritual life is assured come what may. Is this empty optimism? Or does the order of the spiritual master supersede all other considerations? It is tempting to assure oneself that being engaged in all nine angas of Bhakti to lesser or greater degrees trying to please the guru, the assiduous, intense performance of service can counter and make up the deficit of personal neglect. ‘I am being engaged so much, in fact, I have little time to complete my rounds. But Krishna is merciful. He understands my situation.’ The ‘work now, samadhi later’ ethic can be misunderstood. If working hard now in genuine practical service, furthering the cause of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is pleasing to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga, then surely the merciful Lord will overlook these shortfalls ‘ or will He? There were times when the merciful Srila Prabhupada was aware of these problems with some of his GBC men. After all, by continuous engagement in devotional service, we are assured thus: ‘Therefore, one has to work in Krishna consciousness to satisfy Krishna or Vishnu; and while performing such activities one is in a liberated stage.’ (BG 5.1 purport)

By Satyaraja Dasa Honesty and truthfulness, then, are two essential elements of humility. They manifest as one’s ability to honestly assess oneself, to recognize and admit one’s own faults and defects as a conditioned jiva, and to admit the truth of on…

By Keshav

On Friday, December 4, 2015, members of the ISKCON Toronto Temple Council were invited to attend an official “Meet-and-Greet” with the Toronto Police. Aimed at bringing together members of the Toronto Police with leaders from the South and West Asian communities, the event was held at the beautiful headquarters of the Toronto Police, located at 40 College Street, right in the heart of downtown Toronto. The event saw close to 100 attendees from all different communities and organizations. The highlight was the attendance of Police Chief Mark Saunders. He addressed the crowd with a nice speech about how the Toronto Police deeply value the contributions of community leaders. There were also speeches and presentations from other groups and community leaders. The host then invited any attendees to come forward and introduce themselves and their organization. We had a chance to introduce our temple, what we do and the ways that we serve the community at large!

By Nanda Priya Nivedita Devi Dasi

Like the rest of the city, ISKCON Chennai is also waking out of the shock and reaching out to the people with nourishment, medical aid and personal needs. ISKCON Chennai volunteers are tirelessly trying to help all the affected places. Over 6000 plates of Prasadam are being distributed everyday. Besides distributing in public shelter houses, the volunteers are moving even into streets still knee deep in water and giving the Prasad door to door. A total of 30,000 plates of Prasadam have been distributed. We want to expand that to more areas in Chennai adding items like water, bed sheets, mosquito repellents, new clothes, tooth paste, brush etc.

By Dharma-setu das Shortly after getting married my wife and I visited my grandmother. She was 82 years old at the time and had been married for over 50 fifty years, my grandfather had passed away around 10 years previously. One evening our conversatio…

By Vaisesika Das

All wondrous phenomena showing power, beauty, grandeur or sublimity, either in the material world or in spiritual, are but partial manifestations of Krsna’s divine energies and opulence. He is the supreme cause of all causes & the essence of everything living or non living. Anything extraordinarily opulent, beautiful and glorious should be considered as a fragmental manifestation of Krsna’s splendor. All things are existing due to Krsna’s entering into them as supersoul. Krsna is supreme object of worship. The Bhagavad Gita has long been a source of inspiration and guidance for the world. In this class we will explore how to adopt the spiritual habits from this great book and how they will transform your life and bring you wisdom, happiness, and fearlessness.

By Keshavananda Dasa If we are Krishna Conscious, any type of occupation will suit me and we shall always be satisfied. Therefore, I recommend you to read books more and more and try to understand the subject matter from different angles of vision and …

By Dhananjaya Das “We have to thank George because this would never have happened if he hadn’t agreed to donate this property.” George was an honored guest, but he wasn’t expected to say anything. But before he spoke, Olivia stood up and said, “I am d…

By Radhanath Swami In this age of Kali, there are two deadly enemies that are always about to devour all the sanctity of our spiritual lives: egoism and lethargy. Krsna tells us in Bhagavad Gita that we must give up egoism and lethargy. Wherever the f…

By Ambarisa Das

While the pink stone was arriving to Mayapur, Sadbhuja Prabhu was returning from Bolivia. He had to travel to pick the best quality blue marble from our Bolivian vendors. Bolivian blue marble is a very prestigious marble, only an expert can select a good batch. This splendid blue marble will be used for the altars of Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Panchatattva and Guru Parampara. This is our last purchase of the Blue Marble from Bolivia. The art team has also been very busy. Led by Bhaskara Prabhu, they created a 7 feet (2.1 M) tall murti of King Indra in Ganga mud and straw. This murti will appear in the left wing of the temple, over-looking the Nrshimha Dev altar.

Shyamasundara Dasa: This exchange between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and a reporter took place in Philadelphia during July of 1975.

Sita Rama das: Sati and satim are Sanskrit words translated as, chaste. The most significant meaning of the word chaste, is that one’s body, mind, and words are dedicated exclusively to Krishna.

By Padmapani das

For those of us old enough to remember, these recent events may conjure up memories of the Great Northeast Blackout in 1965. As a resident of Canada, I remember it well. Although quite young at the time, I distinctly recall the sense of fear and vulnerability that arose in my heart. I realized for the first time that our civilization wasn’t as strong and secure as we had been led to believe. “At 5:27 p.m., November 9, 1965, the entire Northeast area of the United States and large parts of Canada went dark. From Buffalo to the eastern border of New Hampshire and from New York City to Ontario, a massive power outage struck without warning. Trains were stuck between subway stops. People were trapped in elevators. Failed traffic signals stopped traffic dead. And, at the height of the Cold War, many thought Armageddon had arrived. One pilot flying over a darkened New York City stated, ‘I thought, another Pearl Harbor!’

By Kesava Krsna dasa Have we ever embellished a telling of a lie with an assortment of trivial details to disguise the actual truth? Have we ever pretended to be someone we never were, by exuding a persona larger than ourselves? Are there any angels am…

By Urmila Devi Dasi The individuality of the self is a central teaching in Vaisnava philosophy, but what is our practical understanding of this term? Individuality is present in all living beings on both a material and a spiritual level. This article t…

By Iskcon Chennai

Flooded With a population of 4.6 million affected due to floods caused by heavy rainfall, the city of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu has been declared a National disaster zone by the Indian Government. With no power, food or water supply, life in Chennai has become close to impossible. ISKCON Chennai has suffered immensely. Devotees have been shifted out of the temple with three devotees left in the temple campus to serve the presiding Radha Krishna deities. Temple vehicles, the Sankirtan shop, Govinda’s have incurred huge loses. Prayer is the need of the hour for the devotees and other people living at Chennai. ISKCON Chennai is engaged in supplying daily meals to more 1500 flood displaced families sheltered in government schools. We want to expand that to more areas in Chennai and items like water, bedsheets etc ISKCON Chennai TEMPLE has suffered heavy damages in the current flood situation. Estimated losses to the temple are in the range of 25 million to 30 million rupees. We request devotees to come forward & help for the same.

By Ekanatha Dasa

The Bhaktivedanta Archives is pleased to offer two new releases: the VedaBase™ 2015.1 update and the original unedited audio of Śrīla Prabhupada for the year 1972. While we at the Bhaktivedanta Archives make every endeavor to release an accurate rendering of Srila Prabhupada’s legacy, we also know that when dealing with numerous poorly recorded, unlabeled and miss-labeled audio recordings there are in fact major challenges. Based on the above we apologize for any inaccuracies that may have resulted through our endeavors under these unique circumstances. We sincerely encourage anyone to submit verifiable corrections. We thank you for your support and understanding in this matter. Bhaktivedanta Archives Staff

By Nirmala Krishna Das

Bhaktivedanta Gurukula & International School has been ranked 13th all over India in the “Boys Residential School” category and rated No.1 in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the same category by the Education world, India school rankings 2015. For the past seven years Education World has been publishing the annual Education World India School Rankings with C fore — the well-known Delhi-based market research and opinion polls agency. It rates and ranks over 800 of India’s most high-profile schools on 14 parameters — academic reputation, faculty competence, leadership quality, sports education, Safety & Hygiene, Co-Curricular Education etc. The awards ceremony was held on September 26th 2015 at Vivanta Taj, New Delhi We wish the staff of BGIS and students for this great success and continue in our service to provide value education to prepare fine citizens of the world, men of character & competence, who can lead and inspire others.

By Vrajendranandan Das

Dr Hamid Ansari, the Honorable Vice President of India paid floral tributes to Dr Rajendra Prasad the First President of India on the occasion of his 131st Birth Anniversary at the Parliament Annexe New Delhi on 3rd December 2015. This function organized by the Rajendra Chintan Samiti and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). We were also a part of the function. This was a really great opportunity for us (ISKCON) to meet and build relationships with the many important personalities present on the occasion. Dr Yoganand Shashtri Minister in the former Delhi Government, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal Chief Whip BJP and Member of Parliament, Shri Ramakant Goswami Minister in the former Delhi Government and many other VVIP guests from different walks of life graced the function. Shri R K Sharma and Vijay Shankar Chaturvedi Vice president Rajendra Chintan Samiti warmly welcomed the Honorable Vice President of India and all the other guests.

By the TOVP

After a lot of work and research, the production of the GRC has finally started in our temporary workshop. As the new workshop is almost ready, we will be able to make the total of 1.2 ton of jersey here in house. Here we can also see immense wood mold. This is the mold to create the Kalash bracket. 15 feet (4.5M) tall, brackets like this will support the Kalash and Chakra that are standing at the very top of the main dome. Also: Message from Radha Jivana, International Fundraising Director

By Sri Nandanandana dasa When describing the length of the yugas or ages, and which yuga we are in and how far along we are in it, there is sometimes confusion about how to calculate them. Some people think we are already in the next Satya-yuga, known…

By radhanathswami.com

Radhanath Swami shared the message that it is imperative in business to earn with integrity and spend with compassion. He said that as a child raised in United States he saw so much wealth and luxury. “But all these technologies, power and road systems, seemed so shallow to so many people in my generation. Because greed can never satisfy the heart.” He further explained that poverty in society is simply an extension of the inner poverty of the human heart. “When there is a poverty of compassion, poverty in society manifest, and when there is wealth within the hearts our leaders, there is prosperity emotionally, physically and spiritually,” he said. Radhanath Swami cited the example of Yankees baseball Manager Joe Torre. Under his leadership, the Yankees were the most successful team ever winning many titles. But none of this fame and honor were particularly meaningful to him. Due to his difficult childhood and the abuses from his alcoholic father, he would go out and hit the ball hard to take his stress out. But after he retired he started working with ghetto schools to help children from abusive homes. Radhanath Swami quoted Mr. Torre as saying, “When I see those children who went through what I went through – lost confused and alone, and then I see them smile and I see that they feel loved, that is meaningful. Not the money, not the awards.”

By Hari Narayana das

Bandung is a small island in Indonesia. The annual ‘Light Festival’ commemorates the anniversary of Bandung city. This year the festival fell on the 8^th of November. The festival includes a parade throughout the island with a variety of acts and performances. Many departments under Bandung’s Government participated. Taking advantage of this golden opportunity, devotees organized a grand Ratha Yatra festival and joined the parade. They were granted permission from the Government. Srila Prabhupada was always pushing forward this festival. “I am so much satisfied with your successful performance of Ratha-yatra festival and I am awaiting to see similar festivals in all our other center.” (Letter to Gurudasa, 16th July 1968) The theme of the festival this year was ‘Animalia’. All participants were requested to decorate their cars with a variety of animals. It seemed that the Lord was helping out, as the Ratha was already bedecked with two elegant white horses.

By Phalini Devi Dasi

Because the Petersburg Facility does not allow prasadam distribution, the inmates bought candies and after offering them to Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai, happily distributed them to all. Many of the men had requested to have their pictures taken with us. Unfortunately, the photographer arrived late, so many participants had already left before the camera was able to capture them. After much picture-taking with those who were still present, we said our good-byes, feeling very grateful to Lord Caitanya and the Guru-parampara for engaging us in prison preaching.

Rsiraja Das: The issue of interest is whether a soul “falls down” into matter. There is often confusion around this topic, which, in my view, rests upon a misunderstanding about the nature of knowledge about our past.

Samita Sarkar: If I ever doubted whether or not a vegetarian diet was sufficient, all of my doubts flew out of the window last month when I went on a pilgrimage to Vrindavan, India.

By Bhakti Niskama Shanta

The archaeological record is very limited and its analysis has been contentious. Hence, molecular biologists have shifted their attention to molecular dating techniques. Recently on April 2013, the prestigious Cell Press Journal Current Biology published an article (Fu et al. 2013) entitled “A Revised Timescale for Human Evolution Based on Ancient Mitochondrial Genomes”. This paper has twenty authors and they are researchers from the world’s top institutes like Max Planck Institute, Harvard, etc. Respected authors of this paper have emphatically accepted that the fossil record is inadequate and unreliable. These statements clearly substantiate that now biologists are agreeing that fossil records do not provide any significant evidence at all for conventional evolution theory. Despite the well-recorded fact of the continual grand propaganda of Darwinism based on fossil evidence for more than 150 years, in recent times biologists are surprisingly coming up with such statements, based on their confidence that evolution can be explained purely by the genealogical/genomic record provided by modern molecular biology.

By Govinda prema das

The students are very inspired by the teaching of the Vedic culture, the graduation ceremony was attended by HH Bhakti Narasimha Swami , HG Umapati prabhu, HG Manasi Ganga mataji and other senior devotees. We also established a training centre which enables the students to come and live in a contemporary ashram, where they pay a minimum rent.Every morning and evening the students attend a sanga class and a japa meditation workshop. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada in 6months 30 students have become vegetarians, chant, dress up in vaishnava attire and do service in the temple. May the vaishnava community bestow their mercy upon us so that we may remain fixed in the service of Srila Prabhupada.