Author Archives: Dandavats

By Vishakha Devi Dasi An appreciation of the extraordinarily devoted life of Srila Prabhupada’s beloved disciple Yamuna Devi Dasi (1942–2011). Joan: Little did I know what kind of wedding it would be. All I knew was that they had received the names Mu…

By 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.

By bhakticharuswami.com

In the class Maharaja focused on the concept of devotion where he also discussed the philosophy of scriptures depicting the transmigration of the souls from one body to another and the cycle of birth and death. Maharaja said that the best way of understanding the Lord is by directing ourselves on the track that is illuminated by “Bhagavad Gita As It Is”. He said that “the best way to understand the taste of pudding is by tasting it”. Similarly, the best way to understand devotion is by practicing it. He also said that Krishna and Arjuna had the conversation to cultivate the instruction of devotion within his devotees. Maharaja said that the best way to understand any person is asking him directly, similarly to know the Lord, you need to read His book of instructions “Bhagavad Gita As It Is”. Maharaja gave the conclusion in Hindi Tro accommodate the Hindi speaking audience.

By Romapada Das

At the pre-launch of ISKCON Connection on the 7th day of the ILS, Praharana Devi Dasi explained that the new initiative will help connect every devotee to our worldwide community. ISKCON Connection, which will be formally launched on Gaura Purnima day this year, is a 50th anniversary initiative. “Any ISKCON devotee can register on the website, and will be able to connect to other ISKCON devotees, become familiar with GBC activities, be nurtured in spiritual life, and access a secure database of ISKCON members,” said Praharana Devi Dasi in her introductory talk.

By Prasanta Devi Dasi

What is the real life of a human being? It is to simply endeavour, to forget about all the past that we may have gone through, and simply look at the future. The future is Krishna’s lotus feet, the future is to distribute all over the world this process of hearing and chanting, to flood every street, every corner. This is what Srila Prabhupada gave us as the purpose of this movement. To instruct each and every person about the process of devotional service and to make it, to make a society that where the interactions are such that this hearing and chanting can go on uninterruptedly, both as groups and as individuals. We want to hear and chant uninterruptedly. There is no other solution for the miseries of the world. All fears, meaning that within our own society there shouldn’t be any fear, they should not be afraid. We should be afraid only of breaking our vows, we should be afraid of not following the instructions of the spiritual master. Otherwise there is no other fear.

By Radhanath Swami

In 1965 he boarded Jaladutta alone, with nothing, with no one, for that purpose. He was willing to sacrifice everything. He was willing to physically die to please his guru. And when he approached Boston Harbor, in his prayers to Krishna, just like the prayers of Haridas, Vasudeva Datta, and Prahlad, he was humbling himself completely. He said I am totally dependent upon You, my Lord Krishna. My only shelter, my only hope, is the mercy of my Guru Maharaj and this is his instruction. If You give me the power for these people to understand Your words, then they can be happy. Please let me be your puppet.
Those simple prayers are really the foundation of ISKCON.

Brijlata Dasi: Bhaktivedanta Manor, Iskcon Goshalla is currently seeking a Full time farm assistant.

By Romapada Das

After screening a short film about Mayapur on the sixth day of ILS, Brjavilasa Das spoke to the ILS delegates on behalf of the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), stressing the importance of Mayapur in the eyes of Srila Prabhupada. He mentioned that Prabhupada had wanted to establish Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the yugavatara for this age from the precincts of this temple. “In 1969, Srila Prabhupada gave his first ever instruction on Mayapur to Gopal Krishna Goswami,” announced Brjavilasa Das. “He told him that if he went to India, he should go to Mayapur and build a temple there.” He explained that Bhaktivinoda Thakura had seen a vision of the temple from his residence in Svarupaganj, across the river Jalangi. He had also envisioned Americans, Russians and Europeans dancing and singing here with karatalas and mridangas.

By Dwaipayan De A devotee of the Supreme Lord is magnanimous and an inspiration to one and all. A devotee of the Lord is all-purifying and it is by great fortune that one comes to associate with him. Infact even a moment’s association with a Pure devo…

By Madhava Smullen

From Govinda’s Restaurant, Vasudeva Das said that visitor numbers had notably increased throughout the year. This was probably due in no small part to the expanded menu, with world cuisine like sushi, tacos, and lasagna, as well as doughnuts, cakes, and vegan items. New décor was also added, including a book table; and increased kitchen space and a new altar made the atmosphere more pleasant for staff. Vasudeva also presented for Madri Dasi from the Devotee Kitchen, who had to return home to Northern Ireland to be take care of an urgent family matter. Madri introduced a much-needed more healthy, balanced diet for the devotees, a consistent cooking schedule, and the use of ghee rather than oil. The Devotee Kitchen was also brightened up with a newly painted hallway and new doors.

By Jananivasa Das

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was living at the Sri Caitanya Math, just past the Yogapitha, the birth place of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, then past that Srivasa angam, then the next temple that is Caitanya Math. And he took a very severe vow to chant 1 billion names, I think. It means like you chant 3 lakhs of rounds everyday for nine years. He had to complete that vow and he did! And he was living like an avadhuta here. He would perform the Caturmasya ceremony very strictly – put some khichari on the ground and he would go down one time, put your hands behind your back and lick! lick! lick! and when you come up you don’t come down again, thats it for the day! He had grown long hair, kind of like an avadhuta. We see him very strict in his photographs like this but at that time he was like an avadhuta.

By Romapada Das

“The criteria of the devotees’ success is not that he thinks ‘I am authorised, therefore I am qualified’. One should think, ‘I am authorised, but I need to be aware of my lack of qualifications, and will always become dependent on the Lord’. Success is always guaranteed to those who are conscious of their subordinate position,” said Niranjana Swami to the delegates, many of whom had lined up 30 minutes before the lecture to hear the two speakers. “Srila Prabhupada always gave credit to his higher authorities, his spiritual master and Lord Chaitanya, and never took credit for himself.”

By Romapada Das

On the fourth day of the ILS, delegates at the plenary session heard a presentation by Anuttama Das, GBC Minister for Communications on the topic, ‘Srila Prabhupada, the greatest communicator’. He explained that we normally associate Prabhupada with his books, letters, conversations and speeches, but we should also remember that Prabhupada was a skilful communicator. “Prabhupada tried to create a favourable environment for preaching Krishna consciousness by meeting influential leaders of the day such as Allen Ginsberg, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, George Harrison, and others. He met several religious leaders, VIPs, government leaders, and businessmen,” said Anuttama Das. “Prabhupada made it clear that he did not want to convert everyone or make them into devotees. Instead he wanted influential people to become ‘sympathisers’ so that a favourable environment could be created for spreading Krishna consciousness.”

By Iskcon Kanyakumari

On 50th Anniversary of ISKCON, we wish to organise 50 Gita Yajna in our preaching area Kanyakumari. In this program our aim to distribute 5000 Bhagavad Gitas, take oath from them in yajna to read one page atleast daily, distribute prasadam to 10000 people and reach out Harinama to minimum 20000 people through this program. We started this program with 2015 Gita Jayanthi and so far conducted 11 yajna program. Distributed 1143 Bhagavad Gitas and nearly 1720 people have taken Oath to read it every day minimum one page. Nearly 3220 plates of prasadam has already been distributed. Nearly 4650 people got chance to hear Harinama kirtanam. Wish to complete this 50 Gita Yagam with the blessings of all vaishnavas.

By Vaisesika Das

In fact the whole material world if you think about it is a huge chance for Krishna to induce the living entities to go back home, back to Godhead. It’s the srishti lila, during which in the exhalation of Maha Visnu there is unlimited opportunities for living entities to come in contact with the various incarnations of the Lord, the various representatives of the Lord, the Ganges, different sastras, and its mentioned also in the Srimad Bhagavatam that the process of destruction takes place when Anantadeva becomes a little annoyed, actually angry it says. Annoyed is a more modern word. (laughs) He becomes angry that the living entities who have being offered so much opportunity to take to Krishna consciousness and Prabhupada says in the purport – to close down their business in this material world. Everyone’s got a little business going on, they have a little chip in the game here and Krishna comes along and gives a better deal, much better deal and says you kn ow, ‘Just close your business. I’ll take care of you, go back to Godhead.’ But people keep playing in here, keep playing their little business game and they don’t close it down, they don’t listen. So Prabhupada says, Anantadeva becomes angry. And from the forehead of Sankrsana comes out the eleven Rudras. They come shooting out of His eyebrows and they begin their dance of destruction, they burn down this universe because people aren’t using it properly.

By Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami

The point of discussion is about the equalness of the Lord, because we have our own particular idea of what equalness should look like. Sometimes the Lord’s actual nature of equalness is hard to appreciate. It seems that so many people get benefit and so many people get difficulties. Nice people are getting difficulties, not so nice people are getting benefits. What is the position, how do you judge equalness? This is the actual crux of the whole spiritual and material consciousness. What do you use as the factor of judgement?

By Giriraj Swami Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, is my grand spiritual master, but I feel that I never really knew him so well until I read his biography Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava by my godbrother Bhakti…

Jagannath Swami dasa: We are looking for brahmacaris and householders who are book distributors and who would like to become part of our team here at the Berkeley Temple.

By Vrindavanlila Dasi

The Consul and a team of Russian Government representatives visited Mayapur yesterday. They walked around ISKCON campus, visited International School, TOVP, had Diety’s darshan at the temple, prasadam of course. Most photos in this album were made by Nara Hari prabhu, who have hosted this party in his home and took the group around for the site seeing.

By Syama Chandr Das

Mahaprabhu is manifesting His causeless mercy on the devotees in Pakistan who endeavor to glorify Srila Prabhupada on the occasion of Golden Jubilee Celebration of ISKCON. A Gita Conference was arranged on Friday, 26th of March 2016, at Rangi Ram Darbar, PirJu Ghoth, Khairpur District, Sindh. The event was blessed with the presence of around 2000 people who participated enthusiastically in the discussions. The conference was graced by the presence of special guest, HG Sarvabhauma Prabhu (Dr. Shishpal Sharma) who visited the Land of Saints, Sindh, after almost a Decade to spread the message of Bhagavad Gita for peace and prosperity. In his lecture during the conference, he stressed on following teachings of Srila Prabhupada pointing out the fact that it’s a greatest blessing that our Acraya has left to help us awaken the Love for God in this modern age of Kali. HG Sarvabhauma Prabhu is famous in Sindh for delievering Bhagavad Gita Lectures and has inspired many People in the 80’s and 90’s by teachings of Lord Sri Krsna. Again with same enthusiasm, ISKCON Pakistan is pledging to arrange many programs in near future in different cities of Pakistan to enlighten people with the teachings of ‘Bhagavad Gita’ and spread the message of Mahaprabhu.

By Brendan O’Connor

Gradually they are coming out the woodwork. And suddenly it seems that half the people I know are secretly meditating. They range from casual transcendental meditators to practically full-blown Buddhists or Hare Krishnas. And the strange thing is that these are not hippies or crusties or drop-outs or people living alternative lifestyles on an ashram-inspired commune near Sligo. Just regular blokes, a few of them quite senior in what they do. There are thrusting business types and entrepreneurs and generally pretty serious people. These are not people who go for reiki or acupuncture or any of the other usual trappings of the “I’m not religious but I am a very spiritual person” lifestyle. They are fairly practical people. And meditation is just one of their tools, a technology for modern living.

By Tattva Darsi

Bhakta Jay Khush, Radha Krsna Dasa, and Bhrigupati Das distribute books to top medical doctors and professionals at the International Stroke Conference 2016 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Sponsored by Dr. Vinaya Gaura Chandra Das and his wife Padmaksi Sri Devi Dasi, to promote alternatives to stroke patients for recovery. His Holiness Jayapataka Maharaja is the inspiration behind this project, and we’ve dedicated a website for further learning. – www.spiritualstroke.com Srila Prabhupada wanted us to preach to the intelligent class of men the science of Krishna Consciousness. All glories to this wonderful service!

By Vijaya Dasa

January was a good month for Tirupati — the No. 1 temple in the world, with 17,746 book points. Lord Balaji must be very pleased with the sankirtana devotees in Tirupati, because His glories are being distributed in such a big way. Surat also did huge. This is a “small” temple, so there are about eight devotees in the temple, but Surat was the No. 3 temple in the world, with 10,728 book points. I’m in Mayapur at the ILS (ISKCON Leadership Sanga). Twelve hundred devotees have come to hear about how to improve their various services. Recently, Vaisesika Prabhu gave a seminar on book distribution and said many wonderful things. What caught everyone’s attention was his saying, “If you have a Bhagavad-gita and a Srimad Bhagavatam, then you are the wealthiest person in the world.” There was a lot of applause after that. Similarly, Lord Caitanya said, “If one does not have love for Krsna, then one is considered to be poverty stricken.” We want to give this great wealth to others. This is the highest welfare activity in the world.

By Romapada Das

The third day of the ILS started with a presentation on ISKCON’s 50th anniversary by Anuttama Das, GBC Minister for Communications and Pancharatna Das, Executive Member of the International Fiftieth Anniversary Committee. They spoke about the importance of the 50th as an opportunity for glorifying Prabhupada, educating the public, celebrating achievements, appreciating devotees and accelerating our mission. “Not many of us may be here to see the 100th anniversary of ISKCON,” said Anuttama Das. “This is our big chance to make a global impact, and accelerate our missionary work.”

By Caitanya Carana Dasa The Moment we turn away from Krishna our misery begins. The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty, by David G. Myers, is one among several books that use telling facts and revealing statistics to examine the rea…

By Nimai Pandit dasa

Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami appeared in this world on the 2nd of September 1929 in the village of Jagannatha-puri, in the Indian state of Orissa (Odisha). Both the paternal and maternal sides of his family had been very strict Vaisnavas for many, many centuries. His father, Isvara Manik, was from a long line of Gaudiya Vaisnavas and his mother, Pata Devi, was from the famous village of Orissa Gadai Giri. The Giri family from Gadai Giri are the most famous Vaisnava kirtaniyas in Orissa. In fact they have a special invitation from the King of Puri to sing in the Puri temple for Lord Jagannatha whenever they can and this invitation dates back to the 17th century. Where ever they go to do kirtana, people do arati to them, they are kirtana -gurus. That invitation still holds to this day and is written in the history book of the temple of Lord Jagannatha – the Madala-panji.

By HariKirtan Das

There are around six lakhs or more villages in India stretching north, east, west and south. Though certain features like muddy roads, thorny bushes, open drains, narrow roads, etc. are common features in all villages but distinctly the culture, topography, food, lifestyle, occupations, etc. still vary distinctly from place to place all over India. After preaching in the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh since the last few months, preaching in Khargone District villages of Madhya Pradesh was a very novel experience. The preaching was organized by Shamik Rsi prabhu, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada who held many devotional responsible positions. in the USA Yatra and who is also a renowned doctor practicing his profession from the last 45 years. Khargon happens to be his native place.

By Romapada Das

On the second day of the ISKCON Leadership Sanga, Praghosa Das, the GBC Chairman presented several quotes of how Srila Prabhupada’s appearance was predicted in many scriptures and spiritual masters. Titled, ‘The greatest story ever told’, his presentation pointed out the five steps Srila Prabhupada had taken to make his institution more effective: 1. Founding ISKCON 2. Accepting the honorific title ‘Prabhupada’ 3. Establishing his role as the ‘Founder Acharya’ 4. Creating the GBC 5. Setting up Mayapur as ISKCON’s world headquarters Praghosa Das appealed to the delegates to become a part of the ISKCON 50-50 project which is an initiative to ask every ISKCON devotee to distribute 50 books in the year 2016.

By Mark D. Vickers My father, perhaps despairing of my dreams of the East and of becoming an artist, urged me to try for officer selection for the British Army, enticing me with stories of travel, adventure, and a decent salary to boot. To my surprise …

Nitai Charan Das: In its 17th year running, it gives us great pleasure to invite you to our annual Birmingham 24 Hour Kirtan festival.

By Romapada Das

The grand annual Mayapur festival began today with the inaugural session of the ISKCON Leadership Sangha (ILS 2016) with 1,200 delegates attending 87 seminars spread over 12 venues at ISKCON Mayapur.  ILS 2016 features a spectacular 50th Anniversary Expo highlighting the achievements of ISKCON, and stalls from various international projects such as Vanipedia, ISKCON Congregation services, TOVP, Varnashrama Museum of the Sacred Art, Govardhan Eco Village and several others. Speaking at the plenary session on the inaugural day, GBC Chairman, Praghosh Das said, “This year, ILS has been hosted in partnership with our 50th Anniversary Committee and the TOVP. The 50th anniversary is a very important milestone in the history of ISKCON.

By Srila Jiva Gosvami Krishna steals the minds of everyone, yet Radha steals even His mind by Her divine expertise. Thus She is known as Haraa. When the residents of Gokula were crying due to fear of the forest fire, Krishna immediately swallowed it an…

By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada What is your philosophy? It is written by man. What is the value of your philosophy? It is speculation. We don’t say that the Vedas are written by man. They come from a transcendental source. The…

By Krishna Ksetra Swami

Vision, inspiration and facility. Could it be that sometimes misunderstanding comes because you and I have different partial perceptions of the vision and we take our particular vision or understanding of the vision as the whole vision and we may want to say, this is the whole vision, your’s is not the vision. That may be one possibility of misunderstanding. Different inspirations, someone is inspired by, you know, lets keep it simple, especially by prasadam, someone else especially by kirtana. So someone says we have to do prasadam distribution, some says we have to do kirtana everywhere. This can be a kind of cause for misunderstanding. There may also be differences in understanding about facility. How much do we appreciate what facility is being given to us. So in terms of quantity but also other aspects of facility. We may not see where facility is, when its there. Or we may not understand the best way to use facility that is given.

Science Exhibition at Sri Mayapur International School (Album with photos) . Srila Prabhupada: The spiritual science becomes revealed to the devotee from within the heart according to the degree of his surrender to Krsna. Letter to Ekayani, July 25, 1970.

By Ravindra Svarupa Dasa

Rolex or Bolex? In the Philadelphia airport, I had occasion at one time to observe a pair of free-lance peripatetic sellers of watches working the crowds. They drew you aside and offered you a rare deal: a gleaming Rolex watch for a few hundred dollars, a tenth of the retail price. It was imperative to sell them quickly. Naturally you wondered how they were able to sell such expensive timepieces so cheaply, but by their haste, furtiveness, and weighty silences you were led to surmise that the chronographs were stolen goods. Of course, when you got home all delighted with your watch, closer inspection revealed not a Rolex but a “Bolex,” and it soon fell apart. Spiritual life has its Bolex dealers: Reporter: What frankly worries me is that since the arrival in Britain some time ago of an Indian yogi, who was the first guru that most people had ever heard of, a lot of gurus have suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Sometimes I get the feeling that not all of them are as genuine as they ought to be. Would it be right to warn people who are thinking of taking up spiritual life that they should make sure that they have a genuine guru to teach them?

Your servants at TKG Academy: We are pleased to announce that TKG Academy is now enrolling new students for the school year 2016-2017.

By Karuna Dharini Devi Dasi

So far scientists have mastered a few crops, but will they revolutionize the food industry with an engineered fish? In December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its intention to sanction the first transgenic living organism. GE opponents quickly dubbed it “the Frankenfish.” It was invented by Aqua Bounty at their farm in Prince Edward Island, Canada. With headquarters in Maynard, Massachusetts, Aqua Bounty has been conducting fishy experiments since the early 90s. To produce the Frankenfish, the genetic material of cold water Atlantic Ocean pout (looks like an eel) is inserted into an artificially compressed salmon egg. The pout puts on fat faster than a salmon, hence the combination makes a fattier fish. However, the material from the pout doesn’t exactly combine with the salmon’s DNA. It is rejected, causing inflammation. A growth factor (GF-1) is then added to accelerate reproduction of the inflammation. The fish grows twice as big and three times as fast as it would have without the engineering.

By Caitanya Carana Dasa

There’s a particle more important than the Higgs boson, and we should be investigating it. Does ‘the God particle’ disprove the existence of God?” a young man asked me after a recent talk, referring to the discovery of the Higgs boson. “The so-called God particle,” I answered, “has zero charge, zero spin, and a near-zero lifespan; it exists for less than a trillionth of a second. Does that sound like God to you?” “No, not really,” replied the questioner, taken aback. “Exactly,” I said. “Its discovery has little bearing on the existence of God; it is just one step forward in the Standard Model, which is just one theory that deals with quantum physics, which is just one branch of physics, which is just one branch of science, which is just one area of human knowledge that deals with material nature, which is just one slice of reality.” I had anticipated questions on this topic and so was prepared. “Let me quote theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, who writes in the Wall Street Journal, in an article entitled The ‘God Particle’ and the Origins of the Universe:

Gunacuda Dasi: That opportunity awaits you now. As the community in Mayapur expands at an unprecedented rate, so too does the needs of Sri Mayapur International School.