Planet ISKCON

The Historical Prabhupada

15 miles

The celebration of Rathayatra in ISKCON is popular all over the world. In Indonesia there are more than 20 Jagannatha Rathayatras in areas of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Sulawesi and Kalimantan.

I was able to attend 3 Rathayatra festivals when I was in Bali last. Two of them were in the area of our local temples and the third in Denpasar where we had three chariots and thousands of devotees attend.

He’s a Trip Monk!
From the News Tribune an article appeared, authored by Ben Hohenstatt in the city of La Salle, Illinois.
He’s a Trip Monk
If you saw a man with a shaved head in orange robes in the Illinois Valley Thursday that wasn’t an oddly dressed flagger.
A walking journey from New York to San Francisco took Bhaktimarga Swami “The Walking Monk”, a Hare Krishna monk originally from Canada, through Ottawa, Peru and La Salle Friday.
“I’ve been to Chicago, but I’ve never been here,” he said. “We’ve met a lot of nice people…There’s a lot of sweet people…People in the Midwest carry some good values”
In the past, he has crossed Canada four times and walked across Guyana, Ireland, Israel, the Fiji islands and Trinidad and featured in documentaries.
Swami said this walk was to promote physical and spiritual health as well as to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada incorporating the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
“The walk is to encourage people to have a workout and a work-in,” the 63-year-old monk said.
Around 11 a.m. Thursday, he stopped to eat mangoes and cherries in Pulaski Park in La Salle. Swami said his day’s walk began in Ottawa around 5 a.m.
Despite covering dozens of miles a day in weather that is “almost never perfect”, encountering bears and schlepping through the Appalachians and downtown Gary, Ind., Swami said sometimes it can be tough to pause his journey.
“It gets to the point sometimes where it’s hard to stop,” he said.
Swami said he would follow U.S. 6 toward Peru before continuing west toward Davenport, Iowa, and he will be excited to continue westward and cross the Mississippi River.
“I might swim it,” he said. “We’ll see if I can swim it.”
He said he thinks he will be able to make it to the middle of Nebraska before other commitments will cause him to put his walk on hold before being resumed next year.
“Next year, I’m hoping to finish walking to San Francisco
Swami said during his cross-country trek he expects to wear out about four pairs of shoes and several robes, which become faded from sunlight.
While marathon walking, he said he encounters people, wildlife and all manner of weather and tries to engage with his surroundings.
However, the rhythm and repetition of walking also makes it easy to get lost in thought.
“It’s an everyday experience,” he said. “You are very much present, but you’re also someplace else; it’s a great time to dream. Your feet are on the ground, and you’re head definitely isn’t in the clouds.”
Thanks Ben!
May the Source be with you!

#1 book distributor in North America hits a record!
Jaya Chaitanya Das distributes over 9,000 pieces of literature last month (June 2016) with a 72% increase! Here are the final scores and figures:
book points: 6399.00* +72%
maha-big:1258*
big:1976*
medium: 1440*
small: 4664*
magazines: 210
All glories to Srila Prabhupada’s mission to distribute these books to the masses and awaken Spiritual consciousness throughout the world! All glories to the Sankirtan army!

In the build-up to the London Ratha Yatra festival which takes place this Sunday, 17 July 2016, Kadamba Kanana Swami will give a special morning class at Bhaktivedanta Manor focusing on the significance of the occasion. 

Watch live via Mayapur TV or Manor Media starting at 07:30 am (GMT +1).

Devaki dd: Deepen your relationship with the holy name - in japa as well as in kirtan!

Their Lordships too wear designer clothing!
VRINDAVAN: If you thought designer dresses and clothes are for mortals only, you are mistaken, as there are designers who toil throughout the year to make our revered deities look their very best.
In the holy city of Vrindavan, at the Chandrodaya Temple, a group of six people, led by 35-year-old Sangini Indulekha, a management graduate who did a course in fashion designing only to pursue her passion to “serve the lord”, design clothes for the murtis of Kirshna and Radha. These clothes and dresses are sent to temples under the Hare Krishna movement, which are part of Iskcon, across the world and sometimes a single dress can cost as much Rs one lakh.
Attires of the deities have also undergone a sea change over the years - from usage of simple colours and attractive beads to stylish cuts with applique work (needlework technique in which patterns are created by the attaching smaller pieces of fabric to a larger piece of contrasting colour or texture) with Zardosi Aari embroidery. The clothes are now designed to make Their “Lordships” stand out and look more appealing to the devotees at first sight.
Talking to us, Sangini said many decades ago, the styles were very simple and in “braj shaili” (style) where only simple silk with some pearls, thread work and flowery embroidery were used. She said later the Mughal concept took over where the use of velvet fabric, with thread work depicting domes and monuments became common.
In the 70s, the styles took a slight western turn, and the traditional braj shaili was experimented with the use of Kora and dapka embroidery. Sangini said the present day trend is to use of large varieties of bright coloured fabrics - pure silk, satin, tissue and shimmer- with applique work and stylish cuts.
Sangini said presently two styles of embroidery, Zardosi and Aari, are in vogue and various styles of stitches, including chall zamki, zigzag, fashavuda and pipalgray, are used to make the clothes attractive.
She said while the deities have a set of 50 dresses, which are changed every day, five special occasion dresses are designed every year for festivals. She said a normal dress for a three and a half feet deity idol takes about three weeks and special occasion ones, which have heavy work, can take over a month to design and stitch.
She said these dresses cost anything between Rs 45,000-75,000 and are sold to other temples, after including costs of material, design and labour.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/En3an8

Krishna Institute: What does it really mean to advance in Krishna consciousness?

Indonesia Adds Local Flavor to ISKCON 50 Festivities.
During its ISKCON 50 festivities this month, Indonesia added some rich l...

By Mayapur Sasi dasa

For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following North American results of book distribution for the month of June 2016. 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 Continue reading "NASN June 2016 – North American Sankirtan Newsletter
→ Dandavats"

Preaching program in New Mayapur, Ukraine (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Just work in such a way that God may see you.” This is the Krishna consciousness movement. Everyone is busy to see God. Of course, it is not so easy to see God. But a devotee is not busy to see God, but he wants God to see him. Bombay, May 12, 197
Find them here: https://goo.gl/U05RkR

The post Learning from Bengali construction workers? appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

By Chaitanya Charan das

Forgiveness involves our cultivating virtue independent of the other person, whereas trust is our reciprocation conditional to that person’s cultivating virtue. By carefully understanding the difference between the two, we can transform unfortunate episodes in our relationships into spiritual growth opportunities at least for ourselves – and possibly even for the other person. We needn’t make our forgiveness conditional to the other person’s seeking it, but we should certainly make our trust conditional to that person’s earning it by sustained improved behavior. Conveying our forgiveness helps that person avoid the pitfall of self-justification, and holding back our trust avoids the pitfall of that person remaining oblivious to the past wrongdoing. Forgiving a person certainly doesn’t mean that we let the other person continue the hurting behavior; that would be masochism and there’s nothing laudable or spiritual about masochism. At the same time, it needs to be stressed that there’s nothing intrinsically laudable or spiritual about cultivating and actualizing revenge fantasies. So, we need to find that balanced course of action which allows both us and the other person to grow spiritually. Continue reading "Is forgiveness practical?
→ Dandavats"

The dream of a book distributor realized!
Recently while distributing in the Wicker Park district of Chicago I had some very nice interactions. The first encounter exhibited timing. I parked my jeep that had some for sale signs on it and seeing some police officers there I asked them some questions about a city ordinance that forbids sale signs on cars. After discussing with them I walked back to the vehicle and there was a man there looking at the for sale sign. Then after telling him about the car I proceeded to heap the Bhagavad-gitas into my arms and the bag of Perfection of Yoga around my shoulder.

Woodstock Full On (7 min video)
As attendance at Woodstock Poland swells to over 700,000 people devotees go into action with Ra...

By Madhuha Das

In a Talk at the Radha-Govinda Mandir in Calcutta on March 24, 1976 Srila Prabhupada said: And that is the inspiration of my devotional life. Then I asked my father that “Give me Radha-Govinda Deity; I shall worship.” So my father was also Vaisnava. He gave me small Radha-Govinda Deity. I was worshiping in my house. Whatever I was eating, I was offering, and I was following the ceremonies of this Radha-Govinda with my small Deity. That Deity is still existing. I have given to my sister. So then I introduced Ratha-yatra. Continue reading "Nine Down, Twelve More Festivals To Go…
→ Dandavats"

Answer Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post ​Bhagavatam study 63 1.13.1-8 Periods of distress can forge the deepest bonds appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Gita verse-by-verse podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post Gita 10.21 – Celestial glory manifests transcendental glory appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Three Persons Who Drifted Away

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 13 January 2014, Mayapur, India, Lecture: Kirtan Academy 2)

Naturally, every devotee desires to see Krsna and the desire to see Krsna is not a fruitive one. You might say, “Well, the top most level of pure devotion was to be free from all selfish desire so isn’t it selfish when we are desiring to see Krsna. Isn’t it about our desire instead of the higher principle of satisfying Krsna’s desire?”

Yes, but still every devotee in his heart-of-hearts desires to be with Krsna, desires to see Krsna because that is how we are designed, we are made like that. We are pleasure seeking – this we cannot stop. The constitutional position of the living being is described in the Vedanta Sutra (1.1.12) as ānandamayo ‘bhyāsāt, or being pleasure seeking.

So, this element of being pleasure seeking is something that cannot be taken away out of our nature therefore any process that denies us that is an artificial process and cannot be maintained. Therefore, we see that impersonalism and Buddhism are two processes that are based on negation, processes that are based on denial of desire, denial of pleasure. In these two processes, one has to basically write-off the whole material world whereas in Bhagavatam, we find that the beauty in this world can be taken as the smile of Krsna.

A smile can be taken as “welcome”. So the beauty in this world is the welcoming smile of Krsna. This is nice so then we don’t have to develop this mood where we write-off the material world altogether; that if we see anything beautiful in this world that can’t appreciate it. We can appreciate it and see that Krsna is behind it all. If we see some beautiful birds, not that we desire to become like that, but we can see that there is beauty in this world because it is reflecting the even greater beauty of the spiritual world. And that all the aesthetics of this world are inviting us to the higher world of beauty and aesthetics…

 As a part of Incorporation Day celebrations, the Bhaktivedanta Manor hosted esteemed members of various religious organisations for a discussion about devotion (bhakti) in Vaishnavism and Christianity.  On July 14^th, individuals from BAPS Swaminarayan, the Interfaith Network UK, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and various churches from around the region, gathered at Srila Prabhupada theatre to hear guest speakers Rev Kumar Rajagopalan, from the London Baptist Association and Saunaka Rsi Das from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

Major newspapers and TV channels across four continents covered the 50^th anniversary of ISKCON’s incorporation on 13^th July with positive stories that reached out to millions of people around the world. The BBC UK, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Chicago Tribune, the Times of India and India’s government-owned DD National TV gave extensive coverage to the history of ISKCON, the achievements of Srila Prabhupada and local events happening in their area.

The Origin of Secrets and their Reflection in the World

I am finding the subject of secrets very rich, deep and important. The existence of secrets is all-pervading, and it all begins in the spiritual world, where its true purpose is to facilitate the loving pastimes of Krishna and his devotees. For example, Krishna’s relationship with Radha and the gopis, while suspected by a few, is a secret kept from Krishna’s parents, which intensifies their love and the passion of their meeting. The fear of separation and being found out intensifies the emotions and value of being with one another. Everything in that world is according to Krishna’s desire, even those who appear to create so-called impediments to Krishna’s secret love rendezvous with his greatest lovers.

The distorted reflection of these secrets is found in the tabloids or in rumors and secrets of movie stars and other famous people. Every person has some secret they don’t want others to know, as do families, communities, nations, religious groups or institutions, and ruling powers in any organization or government. Keeping secrets is the business of the false ego which thinks of friends and enemies and endeavors to protect our false sense of material identity from harm or criticism. We also criticize others to protect our secrets and divert attention from ourselves.

In this world there are ordinary, special, and the greatest secrets of all, as hinted about in the Bhagavad Gita, and then expanded upon in the Shrimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Charitamrita. While the most secret and confidential knowledge of Krishna’s Godhood and the means to obtain him need to be the basis of our lives, there are other secrets, the ignorance of, or lack of application of, create many problems in our ordinary lives and in spiritual practices. We might know these secrets in theory and yet not apply them in our own lives. One of the most important secrets is widely known, though often difficult to apply, and revolves around our relationship with ourselves.

read more

ISKCON Auckland NZ: 50 years on! (Album with photos)
Kalasamvara Das: Main Street of Auckland New Zealand was closed down tonight for a maha Harinam and Rathayatra. celebrating the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON movement .With over 200 hundred devotees!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/sh7CSK

By Zayani Bhatt

As a part of Incorporation Day celebrations, the Manor hosted esteemed members of various religious organisations for a discussion about devotion (bhakti) in Vaishnavism and Christianity. On Thursday 14th July, individuals from BAPS Swaminarayan, the Interfaith Network UK, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and various churches from around the region, gathered at Srila Prabhupada theatre to hear guest speakers Rev Kumar Rajagopalan, from the London Baptist Association and Saunaka Rsi Das from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. The event was co-chaired by the Bishop of Bedford, Richard Atkinson and Nitin Palan of Hindu Matters in Britain. Reverend Kumar spoke in depth about his journey into Christianity from a devoid Hindu background. He elaborated on the life experiences that led to his identification with the church and Jesus Christ. Reverent Kumar also shared the lessons he had learned from the Bible and the manner in which his devotion to God had progressed from a simple “transactional” relationship, in which he prayed for certain material benedictions and God delivered them, to a desire to abandon himself to God and be “consumed” by God. Continue reading "Bhakti in the Christian and Vaishnava Traditions: A 50 Anniversary Event at Bhaktivedanta Manor, UK
→ Dandavats"

By Romapada Das

Major newspapers and TV channels across four continents covered the 50th anniversary of ISKCON’s incorporation on 13th July with positive stories that reached out to millions of people around the world. The BBC UK, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Chicago Tribune, the Times of India and India’s government-owned DD National TV gave extensive coverage to the history of ISKCON, the achievements of Srila Prabhupada and local events happening in their area. BBC London broadcast a two-minute clip about the 50th anniversary on a prime-time news slot. Titled ‘Hare Krishna celebrates 50 years in London’, the news story covered devotees handing out 5000 cupcakes, showed harinama processions on Oxford Street, and featured interviews with devotees who live professional lives while practicing bhakti-yoga at home. It concluded with positive comments from several passers-by. Continue reading "Mainstream media across four continents cover Incorporation Day stories in a big way
→ Dandavats"

ISKCON-Delhi: Celebrating ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The tapasya of chanting and glorifying the name, fame and attributes of the Lord is a very easy purifying process by which everyone can be happy. Therefore everyone who desires the ultimate cleansing of his heart must adopt this process. Other processes, such as karma, jnana and yoga, cannot cleanse the heart absolutely. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.12 Purport).
Find them here: https://goo.gl/LORLIC

By Madhavananda Das

Many devotees ask how we are to understand the Ulta, or Bahuda - return Ratha-yatra in Jagannath Puri? If (as Gaudiya Vaishnavas state) we consider the Gundica-yatra, or Ratha-yatra to respresent the ecstatic emotions of the residents of Vrindavan taking Krishna home from Kuruksetra. How do we then understand the return Ratha-yatra? Is it a festival celebrating taking Krishna away from Vrindavan? There are two sides, two answers, that can be offered to this question. To understand them, one first needs to consider something about the nature of Sri Jagannath Puri Dham. Continue reading "Understanding The Return Ratha-yatra
→ Dandavats"

By Mukunda-anghri das

The ISKCON/TAIWAN yatra celebrated the 50years of the establishment of ISKCON by holding a grand retreat at the resort in Daxi which is about 50km from the capital Taipei. Devotees from all over Taiwan and visiting devotees from HongKong,China and Philippines attended this 2 nights 3 days celebration.The hall was decorated nicely with a Murti of Srila Prabhupada and posters all over the hall highlighting the achievement of ISKCON worldwide in last 50years. The celebration was organized under the leadership of HH Giridhari Swami and HG Krishna Baldeva Prabhu. Continue reading "Iskcon Taiwan Celebrates 50 Years Of Iskcon
→ Dandavats"

The post Daily Darshan: July 15th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Bhaktivedanta Players: New rendition of Mahabharata, 2016 (64 min video)
The Bhaktivedanta Players perform a very brief version...

The post My daily Mayapura schedule appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The post Return Ratha Yatra 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Brajsunder das: This issue covers the captivating story of King Vena and the birth of Maharaja Prithu.

Happiness, an Inside Job at EY London (video)
Mankind’s pursuit for happiness is never ending. Although we live in a finite world, our desires are infinite. What is our understanding of happiness?
An evening of exploring happiness from a Vedic perspective with His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami, a renounced monk and travelling teacher for over 40 years, renowned all over the world for his depth of spiritual knowledge and practice.
This was an interactive seminar with an opportunity to ask questions and consider how we can better understand our role in creating our own happiness in our personal and professional lives.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/N45UXQ

My Greek “odyssey”
An introduction: “Because the Mayavadis are great offenders and atheistic philosophers, the holy name of Krsna does not come from their mouths. I have come here to sell My emotional ecstatic sentiments in this city of Kasi, but I cannot find any customers. If they are not sold, I must take them back home. I have brought a heavy load to sell in this city. To take it back again is a very difficult job; therefore if I get but a fraction of the price, I shall sell it here in this city of Kasi.”
CC Madhya Lila Chapter 17 Texts 143-145