Planet ISKCON

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Skype conference (English/Russian).

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The post If the soul immovable, how do the Yamadutas drag the soul? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post ​Does Krishna sometimes violate the other three legs of dharma but never violate mercy? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post ​Does Krishna intervene in the system of karma or lets it act even on devotees? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Srila Prabhupada: They simply think, “Where to get money?” They are third-class men, but at the present moment those who acquire money somehow or other are considered first-class men. It doesn’t matter what their qualification is. If they have acquired some money some way or other, then they are considered first-class men. This is a symptom of Kali-yuga, the current age of quarrel and hypocrisy. In Kali-yuga there is no honor for qualification. There is honor for money only.

​Bhakti Vaibhava class to brahmacharis at Govardhan Ecovillage, Wada Mumbai

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​Bhagavatam class on 2.23-17-19 at Govardhan Eco-village, Wada, Mumbai

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“His Divine Grace” by Danavir Goswami.
Patita Pavana Das: We love to read the biographies of the Founder-Acharya scribed by the devotees of the Krishna Consciousness Movement. Such writings are proof that there is an ever-present divine energy we know as the disciplic succession, an eternal current that has flowed down to us like the waterfalls along the rivulets of nectar on Chandra-loka. Shrila Prabhupada said, “Whenever someone comes into one of our temples, it means that Lord Krishna has brought that person by the hand.” And this truth is all the more visible when the pure devotee’s servants—having been brought by the hand of the Supreme Lord to become fixed at the lotus feet of the pure devotee—glorify the incredible deeds of their spiritual master. And the incoming tides of the ocean of written glorifications about His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada by his servants and by the servants of his servants—ISKCON’s surdurlabha mahatmas—are ever increasing.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/Y0YQUW

ISKCON Los Angeles just uploaded the video of HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja presenting his new book “Ocean of Mercy” on the evening of 27th July 2016. This book his Maharaj’s first book and is exclusively for glorifying Srila Prabhupada. Special feature: His Grace Kalachandji Prabhu, the editor of Maharaja’s book and brother of HH […]

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50 hours of Kirtan for the 50 years ISKCON in Bali (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Let there be all victory for the chant...

More Devotees, Happy Devotees: The Seven Stages of ISKCON Membership.
How many stages are there in bringing a person from vague awareness of ISKCON to active membership? You can describe it in any number of stages, and the diagram above has six, but I counted seven. Here they are, with two things that happen at every stage:

Devotees are set to hold a prestigious conference in celebration of Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON’s 50th anniversary at the Italian Parliament in Rome on October 5th. “Last year, this was just a dream of mine, but I was confident that Krishna would help me find a way to do something relevant for this historical anniversary,” says Villa Vrindavana President Parabhakti Das. “Sure enough, my dear friend Narada Muni Prabhu, a famous musician who is well acquainted with many influential people, came along and offered his help and that opened the doors to the Parliament.” At first, Parabhakti and Narada Muni thought that they would have to go with a more universal topic for their event to make it easily digestible for such a public institution. But when they spoke about the idea with Ugo Papi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and friend of devotees, he encouraged them: “Why don’t you go directly to your real goal – to celebrate ISKCON’s 50th anniversary and Srila Prabhupada?” When they ran with this idea, rather than the obstacles they thought they might have faced, they found nothing but support from various leaders. Continue reading "Italian Parliament to Host ISKCON 50 Conference
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Gita verse-by-verse podcast

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Calgary, Canada, Rathayatra 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Simply by chanting the holy name of Lord Krishna, one c...

Video Playlist by Various Srila Prabhupada Disciples and Senior Devotees expressing their offerings of love to Srila Prabhupada.

“I have been immersed for many lives in this ocean of birth and death. Oh Lord Gauracandra! Oh golden moon-like master! If You bestow upon me continuous service to Your brilliant lotus feet,  I shall chant and describe to others the glories of Sri Hari forever.” [Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, Susloka-Satakam, text 99] Continue reading "I Could Do This Forever
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The Sri Sri Radha Radhanath temple in Durban, South Africa embarked on a rather sweet campaign to celebrate ISKCON 50. On Thursday, 28 July over 150 devotees distributed 5000 cup cakes all around Durban. The campaign began two weeks prior to the main distribution date, when temple president Vibhu Caitanya dasa, who personally steered and organised all aspects of the campaign, invited devotees and well-wishers to place orders for cupcakes to distribute at their places of employment, schools, universities and other institutions. In true birthday style of celebrating with friends and relatives, this was the temple’s way of giving back and reaching out to the community of Durban. As hosts to the celebration, the temple took care of purchasing the ingredients and the logistics of baking the 5000 treats. On site, the Govinda’s restaurant bakery came to a stand-still as all restaurant production came to a halt. Devotees took over the bakery to prepare, which were then cooled and packed by a separate group of over twenty devotees. The vanilla cup-cakes, decorated with sprinkles were then individually placed in a clear packet, wrapped with colourful ribbons with card attached highlighting the 50th anniversary of ISKCON. Continue reading "Durban Indulges In A Taste Of Devotion In Celbration Of ISKCON50
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A person is attracted to the notion of bhakti after hearing about it, examines the concepts involved, tests it by meeting others who have adopted it and then experiments with the daily practises. After finding some satisfaction the person then moves toward ‘advocacy’ of bhakti.

This year the festival runs from 13^th to 18^th August 2016. Daily about 5,000 devotees and pilgrims come to swing Their Lordships from around Mayapur, Navadvipa and other localities. 

“Last year, this was just a dream of mine, but I was confident that Krishna would help me find a way to do something relevant for this historical anniversary,” says Villa Vrindavana President Parabhakti Das. “Sure enough, my dear friend Narada Muni Prabhu, a famous musician who is well acquainted with many influential people, came along and offered his help and that opened the doors to the Parliament.”

“The week-long festival started on the actual day that Srila Prabhupada signed the incorporation deed in New York, which was on July 11th,” explained Sura Das, President of ISKCON Kharghar. “The festival saw devotees embarking on a voyage of memories that helped us remember the 50 glorious years of ISKCON. Everyone felt real pride in sharing the joy of devotion, that was Srila Prabhupada’s special gift to all of us.”

Watch this small offering of gratitude to our dear Srila Prabhupada by ISKCON Desire Tree on the occasion of 50th Anniversary. Celebrating the Joy Of Devotion.

The diagram above is of a generic ‘Sales Funnel’ or ‘Marketing Funnel’ used in the world of business for many years to show how a customer flows through stages from initial awareness of a product to being an enthusiastic advocate of the product. Every business wants enthusiastic advocates, and that’s why its important to keep a potential customer moving from one stage to the next, maintaining and developing their interest and commitment all the while. You’ll see from the ‘funnel’ shape that the number of people exposed to the advertising is far greater than the eventual number of ‘advocates,’ and in between there’s several stages at which its easy to lose the customer.

This general flow from vague awareness to advocacy is also true of missions such as ISKCON, too. Its also true that it takes a lot of awareness creation – thousands of man-hours of it – to bring just one person to the point of ‘Consideration,’ and then a lot of personal interaction to bring them to the point of ‘Adoption.’ And, like any other business, we can lose people along the way.

How many stages are there in bringing a person from vague awareness of ISKCON to active membership? You can describe it in any number of stages, and the diagram above has six, but I counted seven. Here they are, with two things that happen at every stage:

1. Seeds  – A. Vague awareness of ISKCON by indirect exposure through friends, family or media                                  B. Developing an interest in spirituality.
2. Contact – A. Further awareness of ISKCON by direct exposure through street chanting parties, book distribution and/or festivals. B. Interacting with ISKCON members through meetings, chatting online or reading a book.
3. Considering – A. Exploring personal interests. B. Enquiring and Comparing.
4. Transforming – A. Opening up to change. B. Awakening of faith.
5. Adopting – A. Beginning the practises of bhakti. B. Making lifestyle changes.
6. Commitment – A. Accepting the parampara. B. Embracing the ISKCON family.
7. Advocacy – A. Compassionate sharing. B. Missionary spirit.

The stages are similar to those a consumer would go through in adopting a physical product. First there is hearing about the product through advertising and verbal testimony; examining the product and comparing it with other similar products, considering whether or not to become a customer; trying out the product, and finally becoming a happy customer and telling others about the product.

It may be argued that faith cannot be compared to a physical consumer item such as a can of beans, because it is ‘an unflinching trust in something sublime.’ It is typically arrived at after a long series of intellectual considerations, internal adjustments and spiritual practise, yet the comparisons with observable consumer patterns are not inaccurate.

A person is attracted to the notion of bhakti after hearing about it, examines the concepts involved, tests it by meeting others who have adopted it and then experiments with the daily practises. After finding some satisfaction the person then moves toward ‘advocacy’ of bhakti – the compassionate sharing of it with others.

As a spiritual movement dedicated to increasing its membership, ISKCON’s purpose can be helped greatly by its leading members ensuring that all the natural stages in the flow are complete, and that aspiring bhakti-yogis can easily make a transition from one stage to another. Each stage requires a different kind of engagement with the new member, ranging from the initial conversations and personal example, through teaching of the basic concepts and practises, through to pastoral care and encouraging guidance.

ISKCON’s book distribution is legendary and immense in proportion to the size of its membership. Probably no other organisation can claim more voluntary teams interacting with the public on a daily basis. As a sales force it is unmatched in the business world. The movement’s membership involvement is also funnel-shaped because of the large amount of advertising and initial public contact conducted by the organisation. Thousands buy books, and hundreds of thousands hear the street chanting, and then progressively smaller percentages go on to become involved practitioners and advocates. This is a normal pattern for an organisation, particularly one with a very active marketing division.

To take a person through seven stages you have to make sure they have all the experiences that will gently take them from one stage to the next. Each stage requires its own knowledge and expertise, and it is therefore required that we divide up the responsibilities involved in each stage and make sure that someone is carrying them out. To fully capitalise on all the efforts expended by book-sellers, street chanters and festival-makers, and to ensure that as many as possible process through all the stages – not becoming lost along the way – ISKCON could examine carefully the other levels of its outreach, especially the stages where more direct, personal teaching and guidance are required. ISKCON wants to attract new members as well as retain the existing ones. A fresh look at how we help people in the important stages of consideration and transformation would be helpful. It would also benefit our movement as a whole to examine why members leave us, at what stage, and whether any changes are required in order to better care for our existing members.

Four years after acquisition, ISKCON Leicester will finally reveal major renovation to the City Centre building, allowing it to be finally used as a temple, this Saturday 30^th July 2016. A perfect offering to Srila Prabhupada on the 50^th anniversary of ISKCON, the renovations include a first floor temple room, kitchen, classrooms, and offices. On the second floor, a team of brahmacaris, led by Sutapa Das, will join Bhakti Prabhava Swami to take residency on the upper floors of the temple.

The land of believers: In India, just 33,000 people are atheists.
India is a land of believers.
Only 33,000 people declared themselves atheists in the 2011 census that puts India’s population at 1.2 billion.
Nearly half of the atheists are women. And seven out of every 10 atheists live in rural India, the data released earlier this week shows.
This is the first time in recent years that census data in public domain puts a number on atheists, people who do not believe in the existence of God. The 2001 report – the census is done every 10 years – said “only a handful few claim to be atheist”.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/r4BwpK

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 July 2016, Swiss Summer Camp, Switzerland, Srimad Bhagavatam Lecture)

A sadhu (holy man) is a missionary. Preaching is the fruit of his labour. However, one must first gain some depth before he can really preach. What does this mean? It means that first he must have faith! Preaching is highly dependent on this. Sraddha (faith) comes from sraddh, that which has been heard from a bona fide source, and dha, to fix in the heart. So a sadhu fixes the Absolute Truth in his heart and then makes the endeavour to preach.

So how is it that the mind goes into sense objects and that sense objects go into the mind? It is because of upadis, various designations e.g. birth, passport, education, parents, schools, etc. We think that we are the doer of things which are actually carried out by the three modes of material nature but a sadhu withdraws from these things, from these upadis.

When one is free from all these upadis then one can fix their mind on the Supreme Lord. By hearing of Krsna, by making sacrifice for Krsna, by going to places where Krsna is worshipped, in these ways a sadhu finds his wealth. And when Krsna consciousness awakens, the sadhu will find compassion

But how to be compassionate… is it by kind words? No, just kindness is not real compassion. Real compassion is only possible when we have something better then we can feel compassionate for the conditioned souls.

In the material world, things usually get easier when we have been doing it longer, for example cooking gets easier the more you practice it. But in spiritual life, for a sadhu it becomes more difficult as he has to do more and more than ever to attract Krsna as Krsna wants more and more from us.

*Notes taken by Nimai during the lecture

Final call for boarding – My recent sankirtan experience.
I had to travel to Coimbatore India from Secunderabad to meet my parents over the weekend. I had to travel by plane due to last minute decision, but still I packed a hand baggage with my cloths and another carry-on with books.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskAKQtJt

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Question Humanity.
Reflecting on the senseless killings going on around the world, one wonders at the state of humanity.
Animals kill other animals for hunger. Humans kill other humans, but not to eat. Their hunger is for revenge, or power and control. They will also kill out of pure anger or envy – energies that have taken over their lives, heads and hearts. They will kill to prove a point – my way of life is better than your way of life, my religion is better than your religion, my color is better than your color.
That puts us less than animals.
As living creatures we humans and animals are very similar. We both eat, sleep, mate, and defend – these are the main four activities of living and surviving life. But the human body has something more – an intelligence to step back and question why. Why are we here? What is the point of all this eating, sleeping, mating, and defending? Who started this? Who made us and what are we made for?
Animals also have intelligence but not of this kind. This is the special gift of the human body. If we don’t use it, if we don’t ask, explore, question life, question death, question suffering, we live just as the animals do. More sophisticated ways of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, perhaps – but just the same as animals.
Each one of us has a choice to make in life – the choice to live consciously or unconsciously, the challenge to live as a human and not as an animal. Each one of us has the responsibility to be the best we can be as humans and make our time in this body count.
When the body is alive, either human or animal, that is a symptom of the presence of the soul. We are the life in the body. We don’t have a soul – we are the soul. Our body changes – from youth to mid-life and on to old age. We travel with that changing body and death simply means we leave one body and go to another. Like moving from one house to another, the soul lives in many bodies – both human and animal.
Who is that soul? Who am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Can I influence the journey and destination?
These are questions only humans can ask. Don’t forget to do so. For your own sake and the sake of humanity.

The Mega Photography Contest & The Divine Pen Article Writing Contest.
On the auspicious day of 50th Anniversary of ISKCON, VANI (Voice and News of ISKCON Punjabi Bagh) Team is launching two contests:
1) Mega Photography Contest
2) The Divine Pen Article Writing Contest
Dates: 1st-20th Aug, 2016
Theme: Joy Of Devotion
Prizes: DSLR Camera, Kindle Book Reader, Smart Watches, Power Banks, Pen Drives, Ear Phones and many more.
For more details visit: http://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/article-writing/
and: http://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/photography/

Bhakti Caitanya Swami: I’m in ISKCON Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. It is very cold. In the temple room this morning it was about 7 degrees. Very cold. If you’re wondering what 7 degrees looks like, or how devotees deal with 7 degrees in the temple room, see in this photo Mother Ramaniya wrapped up during japa time.

Conversation.

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An Offering of Gratitude to Srila Prabhupada by ISKCON Desire Tree Team (5 min video)
Please watch this small offering of grati...

Four years after acquisition, ISKCON Leicester will finally reveal major renovation to the City Centre building, allowing it to be finally used as a temple, this Saturday 30th July 2016. A perfect offering to Srila Prabhupada on the 50th anniversary of ISKCON, the renovations include a first floor temple room, kitchen, classrooms, and offices. On the second floor, a team of brahmacaris, led by HG Sutapa Das, will join HH Bhakti Prabhava Swami to take residency on the upper floors of the temple. Together, they will work on outreach, supporting the congregation, and serving the City of Leicester with a variety of educational programs. The deity of Srila Prabhupada will be carried into the new temple this Saturday, almost six years after the previous temple was destroyed in a gas blast. Continue reading "ISKCON Leicester to reveal working temple for 50th anniversary
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The Walking Monk takes his path through Ames.
Austin Harrington: Bhaktimarga Swami, who is often referred to as the Walking Monk, made his way through Ames on Wednesday while continuing his mission to walk from New York City to San Francisco.
This is the first time Swami has walked border to border in America, but this is not a new mission. In the past, he has walked across his home nation of Canada, Ireland, Israel, Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad and Guyana.
These treks are not simply a spiritual journey for the orange-robed Hare Krishna monk but more of a way to spread his message of health and self consciousness.
“I’m saying let’s slow down. Let’s get more in touch with ourselves by walking,” Swami said. “Really, it’s to check the imbalanced lives we live. We are very much in the consumer world, capitalism, and we just don’t take enough time for introspection. So when you walk, you have time to just process things.”
Swami said that being in Ames on Wednesday was also a celebration of a momentous occasion for followers of the Hare Krishna movement because it marked the 50th anniversary, to the day, of the movement being started.
“It’s a movement that has its challenges but it exploded, went all over the world, but here we are 50 years later,” Swami said.
Born John Peter Vis in 1952 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, Swami said he found the Hare Krishna movement to be similar in many ways to Catholicism, which was the religion he was raised in as a child. Since making the transition into being a monk, Swami said he started making his pilgrimages to help spread his beliefs but to also meet people and learn more about himself.
“It’s walking, meditating, connecting with people, getting more in touch with yourself, your soul and just trying to be more contemplative about things,” Swami said. “When you walk at the human pace that we’re supposed to, there’s an appreciation and sensitivity that develops.”
While traveling from place to place, Swami said that the vast majority of his encounters have been positive and people are usually very receptive of his message. However, there have been some troubling encounters as well, including some close calls with grizzly and black bears.
“I have been mistaken many times for being an escapee from a prison wearing an orange jumpsuit,” Swami said.
He added that someone also called the police on him when he was walking near a mental institution close to Iowa City because they were worried that he was an escaped patient.
According to Swami, he averages about 20 miles per day and at that pace he believes he could complete his entire trip in about five months. However, due to a prior commitment, he will stop for the summer once he reaches Nebraska and then pick up where he left off next summer to continue on to San Francisco.
Swami said that during his trip in America, he has seen a different kind of culture that he hasn’t come across in the other areas he has traveled. He said that he has seen most affluent of neighborhoods and the poorest of ghettos. According to him, America has several issues that has caused him to be concerned for the world.
“America’s a place of a lot of extremes,” Swami said. “Obesity is a big problem. It’s embarrassing to be human sometimes. People could do better.”
One thing that walking across a country has taught Swami, is that no one is above the pains associated with growing older or putting strain on your body. He said it is also part of his mission to accept those pains for “austerity purposes.”
“It means to voluntarily take up a little bit of inconvenience so to build character, to toughen up a little bit, to be a tough boy,” Swami said.
Source: http://goo.gl/nDR8fG