Author Archives: Dandavats

Subtle sex; the scourge of the advancing sadhaka
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Hare KrishnaBy Kesava Krsna Dasa

Some spiritual practitioners think that now they have achieved some reasonable control of the physical sex urge, they are well nigh up there in the wispy clouds of victorious abstinence, deserving of respect and honour. Wrong! Congratulations on becoming a decent human being. Welcome to the world of subtle selfishness. Srila Prabhupada states: ‘Illicit sex is the most prominent sin due to lusty desire.’ This is because it is sometimes called ‘ adi-rasa ‘ the primeval, original pleasure, which sadly for us, is a twisted iron-like perversion enjoyed separately from Krishna. With a little enlightenment some people can see the problems arising from lust, but; ‘The conditioned soul sometimes personally appreciate the futility of sense enjoyment in the material world, and he sometimes considers material enjoyment to be full of miseries. However, due to his strong bodily conception, his memory is destroyed, and again and again he runs after material enjoyment, just as an animal runs after a mirage in the desert.’

The Company We Keep
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Hare KrishnaBy Urmila Devi Dasi

Anyone who has worked with children knows they are vulnerable to their environment. Yet children also carry from their previous lives a complex burden of good and bad karma and a particular tendency of character. In fact, the mentality of the parents during conception attracts a particular soul—with particular inclinations—to become their child. Because of this, enlightened parents prepare themselves so that they can be in spiritual consciousness during conception. Thus their child will be receptive to the training they will give him. Srila Prabhupada says, “You can mold the children in any way. They are like soft dough.” So the mold is essential when considering the shape of the final piece of sculpture. But the quality of the material one puts into the mold is also important.

A Philosophy of Social Development for ISKCON: Perspectives from Bhagavad-gita
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Hare KrishnaBy Ithamar Theodor

It is sometimes said that Srila Prabhupada built a house in which the whole world can live. Inspired by this idea, I would like to suggest a three-storey house model as a reflection of the nature of ISKCON. The idea is grounded in the Bhagavad-gita and is designed to offer a supporting framework for the sankirtana movement, as well as to further the ongoing discussions of implementing varnasrama within ISKCON. The house described here has three storeys, each having fundamental distinctions that can best be demonstrated by the differences in ontology and ethics characterising each level. The idea presented here favours an individual-centred, as opposed to an organisation-centred, paradigm. Before addressing the issue, let us acknowledge the two-dimensional realm in which ISKCON exists.

Creating a Spiritual Revolution in India
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Hare KrishnaBy Sri Nandanandana das

This is a step by step process for affecting the villages of India to become a part of the spiritual revolution that could be developed across the country. Why worry about the villages? The 2001 census showed that India’s population has gone past the 1 billion mark. Nearly three-quarters of its population, 72.2 percent, live in its more than 500,000 villages, which are primarily dependent on agriculture. Its urban population of 285 million, 27.8 percent, is almost the equivalent of the total population of the United States. But we can see that a good majority of the Indian population lives in the villages. The villagers are also very simple people, pious, and also the most vulnerable to the conversion tactics that are brought in by outside religions. This is also why Christian missionaries are increasingly preaching and working to build churches in the villages. And this is also why we should focus more on fulfilling the spiritual needs of villagers.

Call to ‘50ise’ regular festivals in ISKCON temples
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Hare KrishnaBy ISKCON 50 Global Office

The Global Office for the 50th Anniversary of ISKCON has called upon all ISKCON temples around the world to ’50-ise’ their regular festivals in 2016 by following a few simple steps. “We need to take every opportunity to spread awareness about our 50th anniversary to the general public,” said Anuttama Das, GBC Minister for Communications, and a member of the International Executive Committee for the 50th Anniversary. “Our regular festivals such as Gaura Purnima, Rama Navami, Janmashtami, Ratha Yatra and Diwali offer us a big opportunity to put the 50th anniversary right out there in the public domain. Every temple should follow these steps to ‘50-ise’ their festivals, so that the world becomes aware of ISKCON’s achievements in the last 50 years.” “There are six simple steps that every temple can follow to ‘50-ise’ their festivals,” explained Romapada Das, International Coordinator for the 50th Anniversary. “And we have created several resources for you to make your job simpler. Please follow these guidelines so that we can engage the maximum number of people around the world in the 50th Anniversary.”

Third Service Appreciation Ceremony Warms Hearts
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Hare KrishnaBy Madhava Smullen

The Service Appreciation Ceremony – a semi-annual custom introduced in 2014 that honors those who have contributed years of service to the New Vrindaban village – was held for the third time at ISKCON New Vrindaban’s Community Hall on Sunday December 6th, 2016. Previous ceremonies honored the late Madhava Gosh and his wife Vidya, Kripamaya and his wife Krsna Bhava, Malati Devi, Navin-Shyam, Jamuna, and Kacey Orr for diverse services from GBC to board member to cow and garden care. This time, around fifty people gathered to honor ECO-Vrindaban veteran farmhand Ray Kuderski, cook and mother Dharmakala Dasi, performer and author Sankirtan Das, and his wife Ruci, a longtime teacher at New Vrindaban.

Positive emotions, spirituality and the practice of psychiatry
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Hare KrishnaBy Vaillant George

This paper proposes that eight positive emotions: awe, love (attachment), trust (faith), compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, joy and hope constitute what we mean by spirituality. These emotions have been grossly ignored by psychiatry. The two sciences that I shall employ to demonstrate this definition of spirituality will be ethology and neuroscience. They are both very new. I will argue that spirituality is not about ideas, sacred texts and theology; rather, spirituality is all about emotion and social connection. Specific religions, for all their limitations, are often the portal through which positive emotions are brought into conscious attention. Neither Freud nor psychiatric textbooks ever mention emotions like joy and gratitude. Hymns and psalms give these emotions pride of place. Our whole concept of psychotherapy might change if clinicians set about enhancing positive emotions rather than focusing only on negative emotions.

Air A Meditation
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Hare KrishnaBy Urmila Devi Dasi

One of the most obvious qualities of the air is its subtlety. Although air is all around us, pushing on our body with a pressure of fifteen pounds per square inch (one kilogram per square centimeter), we are practically oblivious of it. We usually breathe unconsciously too, so subtle is the air moving in and out of our lungs. We see air only through its effects, such as when it moves branches and straw or carries smoke and water vapor. Krsna too is almost imperceptible to a materially conditioned soul, visible only by His effects. We see His handiwork in a flower’s beauty or the predictability of the planets’ movements, but we do not see Him. The natural laws on which we base our math and science imply a lawmaker. But much of the nature of that lawmaker stays unknown. Subtle air can move things that to our senses are far more substantial than air. Violent air in tornados and other storms can throw buildings afar and push wood splinters into metal. Similarly, with only the indiscernible movement of His will, Krsna can move, shape, change, and scatter everything we can perceive.

Hema Malini to release Krsna app on ISKCON’s 50th anniversary
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Hare KrishnaBy Sonup Sahadevan

Hema Malini will release Krsna mobile app on the occasion of International Society for Krishna Consciousness’ (ISKCON’s) Golden Jubilee celebrations in the first week of February. This mobile app Krsna will give darshans from all over the world and will also include music, chants and chapters of Bhagvad Gita. Veteran actress Hema Malini and her love for Lord Krishna is quite well-known. The legendary actress has paid her ode to the Krishna through many of her classical dance performances. Taking her love a step forward, the actress-danseuse will release Krsna mobile app on the occasion of International Society for Krishna Consciousness’ (ISKCON’s) Golden Jubilee celebrations in the first week of February.

ToVP Report From Russia
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Hare KrishnaBy your servants from Russian & CIS ToVP team

We are grateful to you for engaging us in fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s personal desire – construction of the magnificent Temple of the Golden Age! Please accept our efforts as an offering. For 2015, we collected and transferred to a bank account in Mayapur over USD 160,000. This money was collected by many different ways. Particularly, we invited donors to pay for square feet and bricks. They paid for 300 square feet, 37 Nrisimhadeva bricks, 54 Mahaprabhu bricks, 12 Radha-Madhava bricks and one silver coin. We hold talks about the New Temple at many big festivals, did promotions on the Internet, as well as presentations in different cities. We are asking for your blessings to be able to collect at least double the amount we did this year, in 2016 for Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure.

Iskcon turns 50, three-day spiritual fest from Feb 5
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Hare KrishnaBy Indira Rodericks

MUMBAI: Empowering the young with a new level of spirituality will be one of the foremost missions of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), as it gears up to celebrate its fifty years. Iskcon, also known as the Hare Krishna movement, has expanded widely since it was founded by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupda in New York City in 1966. Although Mumbai is home to three temples, Juhu, Girgaum and Mira Road and the under-construction temple at Kharghar, a mammoth rath yatra is being planned so that all devotees can culminate at one place. Also, preparations are rife as a three-day spiritual and cultural festival is scheduled to be held on February 5, 6 and 7.

An Experience of Mayapur Dhama
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Hare KrishnaBy N. Swaminathan, Ph.D.

When I entered the spacious temple and looked to the right, I was stunned on seeing the huge and extremely beautiful deities of Radha-Madhava, with four sakhis on each side gazing at the perfect beauty of Lord Madhava and Srimati Radharani and very eager to serve Them. The temple was full of devotees offering ghee lamps, an act that symbolizes how our heart burns in separation from Krishna. My family and I also got ghee lamps and offered them to Radha-Madhava and the eight sakhis. We then went to the adjoining hall, also spacious. When I saw the huge golden Panca Tattva deities, I couldn’t imagine ever having to leave Mayapur. The devotees’ graceful dancing and the beautiful kirtana enchanted me. And before I could recover, I was in front of the deity of Nrisimha. Dressed in silver, He looked like silver fire. He was so ferocious, and yet so assuring. I don’t remember how many times I offered obeisances to Him, or maybe I didn’t at all.

When guru worship gets sentimental
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Hare KrishnaBy Kesava Krsna Dasa

The spiritual master is the central object of vision for every disciple. Quite often, the imposition of external conditions can deflect the natural bias from something, which is essentially internal, or hidden from unqualified worshipers. ‘The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person.’ (Mahabharata, Vana Parva 313-117) If a disciple fails to discern the difference between external and internal worship of the guru, it can mean a divergence from understanding the inner or outer words of the spiritual master. This also applies to understanding Srila Prabhupada’s universal siksa instructions pervading his writings. ‘Please wake up and try to understand the boon that you now have in this human form of life. The path of spiritual realization is very difficult; it is like a razors edge. That is the opinion of learned transcendental scholars.’ (Katha Upanishad 1.3.14) The disparity can be as stark as that between arcana ‘ which means worship; and bhajana ‘ which also means worship, for want of a better word, and point towards normal or higher worship. The process of worship does not guarantee receiving the Lord’s grace. Lord Krishna says ca cejyaya ‘ ‘nor by worship’ can He be understood. (BG 11.53)

Official 50th anniversary posters released
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Hare KrishnaBy ISKCON 50 Global Office

All temples requested to display new posters prominently to publicise the 50th “We have one general poster about the 50th, and seven other posters – one for each of the seven purposes of ISKCON,” said Anuttama Das, GBC Minister for Communications who is part of the International Executive Committee for the 50th Anniversary. “One of the aims of the 50th Anniversary is to educate the general public about ISKCON. The posters depicting the seven purposes will attempt to do that with attractive imagery and relevant information.” The posters were designed by Paramsiddhi Devi Dasi from ISKCON Ahmedabad with storyboards and visualisation provided by the ISKCON 50 Global Office.

What Do We Mean by Varnashrama?
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Hare KrishnaBy Hare Krishna Devi Dasi

To see the true value of the Vedic social system, we need to understand it in its original form. Thinkers throughout history—from Plato to Locke to modern political theorists—have always discussed the ideal form of social organization. Vedic literature also addresses this question and presents as the ideal the social system known as varnashrama, which divides society into four varnas, or occupational groups, and four ashramas, or stages of life. The four varnas are brahmanas (priests and teachers), kshatriyas (rulers and warriors), vaishyas (farmers and merchants), and shudras (laborers and artisans). The four ashramas are brahmacharya (student), grihastha (householder), vanaprastha (retired), and sannyasa (renounced). When His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada carried the wisdom of Vedic literature to the West, he was hoping for nothing short of a spiritual revolution. He knew that without Krishna consciousness, people cannot be happy. An important part of his strategy to spread Krishna consciousness around the world was the revival of varnashrama. For many years, his followers have pondered his instructions about varnashrama, but so far have made little progress in fulfilling his vision for it.

NASN December 2015 – North American Sankirtan Newsletter
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Hare KrishnaBy Mayapur Sasi dasa

For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following North American results of book distribution for the month of December. North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors. Monthly Top 100 Individuals, Monthly Top 5, Cumulative Countries, Cumulative Temples, Cumulative Top 100 Individuals, Cumulative Top 5

Release of Sri Chaitanya Charitamritam in Telugu Language – A Golden Jubilee Offering to Srila Prabhupada!
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Hare KrishnaBy Vaishnavanghri Sevaka Das

By the unlimited mercy of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Guru Parampara ISKCON devotees of Telugu speaking land could offer Sri Chaitanya Charitamritam in Telugu (South Indian language) in the beginning of Golden Jubilee celebrations of ISKCON to the Founder Acharya His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Four hundred years old Sri Chaitanya Charitamritam got manifested in English about 40 years back for the pleasure reading of people around the world by the divine mercy of Srila Prabhupada. The Telugu version of the same scripture appeared on Sankranti day (15th January 2016) the day of Lord Chaitanya accepting renounced order of life. Release of Telugu version in Tirupati, where Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu moved around for preaching purpose, is another significance of this event. Though the release function was planned for morning session, somehow the program got shifted to evening.

ISKCON Prison Ministry: Entering the New Year 2016!
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhakti-lata Dasi

A month ago, I was in the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner—in the Prabhupada House where we stayed at the time—when there was a knock on the door. My husband answered the door and I heard, “Is Bhakti-lata there?” A polite young man entered and he told me, “I know someone you know” “Who?” “Yogi.” I thought for a second. “Richard C.?” “Yes!” Yogi is the prison name of bhakta Richard (whom we now call Krishna Kirtan). The young man had been in prison with him for a short while. Now that he was free, he wanted to meet me in person. We talked for a while. It was a very sweet encounter. Each and every time I feel a little overwhelmed by my IPM service, Krsna arranges something like this to re-kindle my enthusiasm and let me know He wants me to keep going.

Sannyasa Newsletter
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Hare KrishnaBy Prahladananda Swami

We are pleased to introduce you to the Sannyasa Newsletter. This is a reformed and revised version of the journal published a few years ago. The aim of this newsletter is to increase the communication between the Sannyasa Ministry and the current ISKCON sannyasis, and to strengthen the relationships amongst the sannyasis. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed His followers to serve all living entities by trying to awaken Krishna consciousness in the hearts of whomsoever they meet. Certainly, the mission of all ISKCON sannyasis is to, intelligently and enthusiastically, serve this instruction through following the teachings and example of Srila Prabhupada.

An Interview with Krishna Dharma: Science And Religion
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Hare KrishnaBy Krishna Dharma Das

As the Greek oracle proclaimed, ‘know thyself’, and this is the first instruction in the Gita. It tells us we are parts of the Supreme Spirit and therefore we have the same nature—not only of eternality, but also pure knowledge and bliss. There is evidence for this as well in that we can see how we are always aspiring to attain those three states. Take the first, eternality. We constantly strive to secure our ongoing existence, seeking good health, longevity and whatever security we can in what is, let’s face it, a rather insecure world. Knowledge is also constantly sought in so many ways, we want to know what is happening (such as all those desperately important FB updates), we want the news and don’t like to be in the dark. And of course everything we do is aimed at somehow increasing our happiness or decreasing our discomfort and suffering.

Ratha Yatra in the land of sandalwood, Malaysia
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Hare KrishnaBy Mathura Lilesvari Devi Dasi

Hundreds of devotees dancing down on one of the busiest streets in Kuala Lumpur was probably one of the best ways to kick start ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary in Malaysia, a country which Prabhupada referred to when speaking of Candan wood. Then known as Malaya, Malaysia had the good fortune of having Srila Prabhupada’s feet touch its soil in 1971. It was on the 2nd of January and the devotees were all prepared to bring in the year with the great Jagannath parade, Ratha Yatra 2016. Guest of honour, YB Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam, Minister of Health Malaysia, spoke very highly of ISKCON and was proud to be part of the festival. Other chief guests were Regional Secretary – HG Simheswara dasa, HH Bhakti Vrajendranandana Swami – President of ISKCON Malaysia, HH Janananda Goswami, HG Prabhavishnu Prabhu and YB Senator Dato’ Dr. Loga Bala Mohan (HG Loka Bandhu Gauranga dasa JPS) – Deputy Minister of Federal Territories. Under the expert guidance of Temple President – HG Kripa Sindhu Krishna das and Festivals Organizing Chairman – HG Siddhi Sadhana Das, the congregation worked together in putting the festival for the pleasure of Their Lordships.

Take it Outside
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Hare KrishnaBy Jennifer Scheper Hughes

By participating in other religious and cultural realities, we break from the mundane and open up the possibility of enchantment. It is the unknown of the festival that beckons to outsiders—the potential for the experience of the ephemeral, the surreal, the transcendent. Tens of thousands of young adults, mostly in their teens and twenties, clamor toward the stage at the spring Festival of Colors in Los Angeles. From a panoply of backgrounds and cultures and beliefs (or no belief at all), they gather to celebrate Holi, to reenact the colorful play of Radha and Krishna, the supreme Hindu expressions of divinity and the enchanters of the world. Radha and Krishna’s love play is relived and remembered in the crowd’s joyful “playing of colors.”

TOVP e-Newsletter: January – March 2016
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Hare KrishnaBy the TOVP team

The main dome stainless steel superstructure is now completed! This was a major undertaking and is a milestone in the progress of the TOVP. Visually we can now admire its perfect roundness and how every segment and ring fits like a glove. Such a task and structure has never been accomplished anywhere else in the world; it is unique to the TOVP. We would especially like to thank Mr. Chaudhuri, our senior engineer, for making every single section of the dome perfect. The next challenging phase will be the mounting of the Kalash and, finally, the Chakra, which must be accomplished with as much precision and perfection as the dome. May we all pray together for the successful completion of this endeavor.