Planet ISKCON

In Full Swing (7 min video)
Our summer festival tour on the Baltic Sea coast in Poland is in full swing. Three hundred devotees...

By Abhishek Joshi

The process took 3-4 months including script writing and reviewing, soundtrack making, casting, promoting, rehearsing, organising, and many of the team members had sleepless nights just so that they could deliver an offering of real value as a tribute. Something Spiritual began at the end of 2015 with a goal of bringing together people who have amazing talents and engaging them in the service of something bigger than themselves - in the service of Krishna. So far, they have put on 4 small plays, launched a music album, and have reached a milestone with this production. There were many senior members and devotees of ISKCON and Bhaktivedanta Manor who were present to give their blessings at the show. HG Jananivas Prabhu said that "the play just got better and better." HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami said "I have seen many dramas before, and I have also seen many dramas about Srila Prabhupada. But this was probably the best drama I have seen on Prabhupada so far." Continue reading "“Something Spiritual” – Srila Prabhupada Production
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Iskcon Los Angeles - New Dvaraka - Initiation ceremony 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The chanting of the holy nam...

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Caitanya Bhagavata on the occasion of Gundica Marjana and the disappearance of Sri Gadadhara Pandita and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

“After taking darshan of Lord Jagannatha with great bliss, Lord Nityananda went to see Gadadhara Pandit at Tota Gopintha temple. Gadadhara and Nityananda loved each other very much. There, seeing the three-fold bending form of Gopinath, Lord Nityananda cried incessant tears of joy. Hearing of Nitai’s arrival Gadadhara Pandit stopped reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam and immediately ran to greet the Lord.” (Sri Caitanya Bhagavata Antya 6)

“This is another feature of Gadadhara Pandit—he is very learned and he loved to recite Srimad-Bhagavatam. Lord Caitanya would hear him recite Srimad-Bhagavatam and heard the pastimes of Dhruva Maharaja and Prahlada Maharaja hundreds of times.” — Giriraj Swami

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Kirtan lead by Sarvatma dasa
Je Anilo Prema Dvana lead by Sarvama dasa
Talk by Giriraj Swami
Nrsimha Prayers lead by Giriraj Swami

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45th Sri Jagannath Rathyatra,ISKCON Kolkata (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Simply by chanting the holy name of Lord Kr...

Rath Yatra festival begins in Puri.
Bhubaneswar: The annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and his siblings began on Wednesday amidst a congregation of lakhs of devotees in Puri.
Lakhs of people have converged to have a glimpse of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra on the Bada Danda (Grand Road). They will travel to Gundicha temple on three giant wooden chariots to be pulled by the devotees.
A multi-layered security system has been put in place to keep a strict vigil on the movement of people and traffic management as the district administration expects around 10 lakh devotees during the nine-day annual chariot festival, said Director General of Police K. B. Singh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday wished the nation on the occasion of the Rath Yatra.
“On the occasion of Rath Yatra, my warmest greetings to you all. May Lord Jagannath continue to shower his blessings on everyone,” Modi tweeted.
“May the blessings of Lord Jagannath lead to development of villages, well-being of poor and farmers and take India to new heights of progress,” he added.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also greeted the people of Odisha on the occasion of the Rath Yatra.
“Heartfelt greetings on this joyous and most auspicious occasion of #RathaJatra. Jai Jagannath!,” Patnaik tweeted.
The Rath Yatra is an annual celebration, marking the journey of the deities from the 12th century Jagannath Temple in the chariots to the temple of Devi Gundicha, their aunt.
The celebration ends nine days later with Bahuda Yatra or return journey to their temple, which will take place on July 14.
The rituals relating to the festival started early on Wednesday morning. The Pahandi of the deities began around 10 a.m. and was completed by 2 p.m.
After the deities are placed on their respective chariots, Puri King Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb will perform Chhera Panhara on the chariots.
After the departure of Gajapati, the chariot pulling would begin, said Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief Suresh Mohapatra.
Live coverage: http://odishatv.in/otv-live-tv/

Door to door book distribution in New Papatoetoe, New Zealand, brought me to the home of an elderly Indian fellow who was all too enthusiastic to see me. After presenting the books he quickly ran into another room and came back with 51 dollars cash and explained that this money was in the pocket of his brother’s pants when he passed away some time ago. He was waiting for an opportunity to give it Krishna, so he eagerly gave it to me in exchange for some books. His friend, who was present during the conversation, was so moved by the exchange that she donated another 20 dollars, allowing them to take two Srimad Bhagavatams, two Bhagavad Gitas, two Isopanisads, one Searching for Vedic India, etc… even after I had left their home, she came back down the street with more money to buy some small books for her friends.

Ratha-yatra Cart Construction (Album with photos)
Here are over a hundred photos of Jagannatha-Baladeva-Subhadra’s cart construction in Puri which takes over a month every year. Everything is handmade, an amazing tradition.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/ah0H1o

By ISKCON 50 Global Office

ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary Committee has released an important resource for the year long celebrations of temples around the world: colourful and informative exhibition panels that showcase ISKCON’s achievements in the last 50 years and can be printed and displayed by temples locally. The ISKCON 50 Expo consists of 16 panels which measure 2.5 feet by 4 feet, and can be downloaded in print quality from the ISKCON 50 website. The panels describe the legacy of the Hare Krishna movement, Srila Prabhupada’s journey to America, the expansion and explosion of the Hare Krishna movement worldwide, and the multifarious achievements of ISKCON in areas such as book distribution, temples, prasadam distribution, festivals, farm communities, academia and community work. Continue reading "ISKCON 50 Expo: exhibition panels released for your local 50th anniversary celebrations
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Prabhupada – Departing for the West Production Stills (Album with photos)
A true story that began 50 years ago, when a great scholar set out across the ocean on a mission, carrying nothing but a timeless message, which was to be the greatest change for humanity. He inspired an entire generation and against all odds, formed an unstoppable revolution.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/VTML3y

Music and video by Janaki Mohan Das.

Highlights from Something Spiritual's first show, Prabhupada – Departing for the West at Harrow Arts Centre, London.

The post Daily Darshan: July 6th, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

By Dwaipayan De

The lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are a shelter where one will get the soothing moonlight not only of one,but of millions of moons. If the world wants to have real peace, it should take shelter of Lord Nityananda.Unless one takes shelter under the shade of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, Lord Nityananda,is none other than Lord Balaram, who advents in this age of Kali, as the most merciful incarnation (Dayara avadhi) to assist His elder brother Sri Krishna in His pastimes. Sri Krishna, however sacrifices His original blackish hue, and accepts the devotional mood and golden complexion of Sri Radha, to perform and relish the most amazing and beautiful pastimes as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Gouranga). Continue reading "Doyal (Merciful) Nitai
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By Jaya Govinda dasa

July 1st marked the 149th anniversary of the founding of the world's second largest country; Canada. Towns and villages across the nation celebrated its birthday with fireworks, parades and a host of other joyful events. The city of Vancouver's celebration was extra special as our ISKCON Hare Krishna temple was invited to participate in this year's Canada Day parade. An estimated 300,000 people lining the route, and millions more on main stream news coverage were benefited with the vibration of the holy names, seeing ecstatic devotees dancing and being made aware that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of ISKCON and the Hare Krishna movement. Our participation was an offering to Srila Prabhupada on this special occasion. Wearing red & white saris, dhotis and kurtas, colours of the Canadian flag, the crowds smiled and waved at the enthusiastic dancing devotees who followed our main float. Continue reading "ISKCON Vancouver Participates in July 1st Canada Day Parade
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The Legend of Jagannath documentary on National Geographic channel (43 min video)
About an hour-long documentary titled “The Legend Of Jagannath” aired on National Geographic channel on July 4. It took a behind-the-scenes look at the Indian religious festival of Rath Yatra.
Actor Rajeev Khandelwal is host of the documentary, which showcased the colour and ceremonies associated with Rath Yatra, a festival in Odisha which involves moving deities Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshana on wooden chariots.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/oYjkC9

Puri Rath Yatra rare old video clips of 1932, 1937, 1961 recorded by the British. (3 brief videos)
Watch them here: http://goo.gl/7p8iGF

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The post ​Bhagavatam study 53 1.10.28-36 Krishna’s departure and travel are celebrations of love appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Central to the concept of avatar is the idea of crossing over from one realm to another. In its original Sanskrit philosophical context, avatar refers to the Absolute Truth descending from the spiritual world to the material world. The divine’s existence beyond this world is called transcendence, whereas his existence in this world is called immanence. The question of how the transcendent can become immanent has intrigued many thinkers throughout history. To get a sense of the question’s profundity, let’s look at the digital, Christian, monistic and bhakti conceptions of avatar.

Digital avatar

The Sanskrit word avatar has become mainstream in English due to both a Hollywood blockbuster and computer role-playing games. In contemporary usage, avatar refers to an icon representing a person in digital arenas such as video games and Internet forums. In such usage, the crossing over implicit in avatar is from the physical world to the digital world. Our digital avatar is a step-down from the reality of who we are. Even if our video game avatar is expert at doing many things, still it has no consciousness. Its apparent consciousness results from the projection of our consciousness into it through the game’s interfacing mechanism. So, when we refer to something unconscious as our avatar, we conceive ourselves in reduced terms. Such a reduction is revealing, for it points to two distinct thought-trains:

1. A mechanistic conception of the self which makes us think that we can be represented by a digital profile that is as unconscious as the electrons that comprise the digital world.
2. A longing for crossing over to some reality other than our present mundane reality with all its inanity.

Though the word avatar traditionally refers to the Absolute Truth’s descent to this world, the word’s contemporary usage refers to the self, not the Absolute. Still, the problems of crossing over associated with the notion of avatar surface when applied to the self too.

 

Christian incarnation

Avatar is frequently translated in English as incarnation. This English word is intricately associated with Abrahamic conceptions about how the divine manifests in this world. In Christianity, the word “incarnation” refers usually to Jesus, who is conceived of as God descended in flesh as a human being. Jesus was born in a Jewish tradition that was heavily messianic, driven by the longing for a future messiah who would deliver people from their various problems. Based on Jesus’s teachings and miracles, his followers thought of him as the messiah. This notion was falsified for some by his crucifixion, but it was reinforced for others by his claimed resurrection. For nearly four centuries thereafter, the identity of Jesus was a matter of vigorous, even acrimonious, debate in the Christian community. Eventually, the Nicene Creed elevated Jesus from messiah to Incarnation. The Creed resolved that the divinity of Christ had manifested in the humanity of Jesus, who was therefore both fully human and fully divine. But the ascription of full divinity to him was problematic, given the relatively recent and undeniable historical memory of Jesus’ life as a human. The Bible itself compounded the problem through statements such as “My Father is greater than I.” (John 14:2) While some quotes support the oneness of the Father and the Son, the Bible also indicates implies that his “oneness” with God is not exclusive to him – it can be achieved by others too: “As You and I are one, let them also be one in Us.” (John 17:21)

This blurring of the human-divine boundaries in conceiving the identity of Jesus reflects a larger blurring of the material-spiritual boundaries in Christian philosophy. The Bible refers to the soul, but doesn’t clearly describe it or categorically differentiate it from the body – it is frequently used as a metaphorical reference to our non-material essence. With such ontological ambiguity about the soul, the notion emerged that all faithful believers would receive bodily resurrection, as had Jesus. Here again we see how conceptions of the divine are intertwined with conceptions of the self.

 

Monistic avatar

Monists hold that reality comprises ultimately only one substance. Technically, materialists who hold that matter is all that exists are also monists – they are materialist monists. But conventionally, monist refers to spiritualists who hold that one spiritual substance is all that exists. For such monists, the material world with all its variety is ultimately an illusion. They also hold that our self-conception as individual beings is also an illusion. They believe that liberation means merging into the non-differentiated oneness of the Absolute.

For monists, matter is just an illusion; spirit is all that exists, and it is a non-differentiated oneness. So, in the monistic worldview, there exists no material world to cross over to and no supreme spiritual being to cross over.

Monists try to resolve such problems in their philosophy by granting provisional reality to matter – matter is seen as real as long as people are in material consciousness or, in other words, in illusion. They hold that avatar too is such a provisional reality – the impersonal absolute temporarily becomes personal during the period of descent. Avatar is thus treated as a helpful illusion that can aid us in resisting the harmful illusions of material existence: the many sense objects that allure us towards worldly pleasures. When we focus our consciousness on the avatar, we can become detached from sense objects and situated in the relatively elevated mode of goodness. Still, no matter how helpful, avatar is deemed ultimately an illusion – an illusion that needs to be transcended for attaining liberation. Thus, monism treats avatar not as a spiritual truth, but as a convenient fiction useful for spiritual growth.

 

Bhakti avatar

Whereas Christianity holds that the incarnation is somehow both material and spiritual, and monism holds that the avatar is material, bhakti explains that the avatar remains spiritual even while being in the material world.

To grasp how this is possible, we need to first understand how bhakti envisions the relationship between matter and spirit. The Bhagavad-gita in its second chapter outlines a radical matter-spirit duality. Spirit is said to have none of the attributes of matter – the soul is neither born nor dies (02.20) and is immutable, being beyond fragmentation, incineration, dissolution and desiccation (02.24-25). Yet the Gita balances this radical duality with an organic unity in its seventh chapter, where it declares that both matter and spirit are energies of the same one Absolute Truth (07.04-05). That spirit is the energy of the Absolute implies that the Absolute is situated not just on the spiritual side of the material-spiritual divide, but is situated at the summit of spiritual reality. The Gita (10.12) reveals this Absolute Truth to be Krishna, declaring that he is not just brahma (spirit) but param brahma (supreme spirit). Srimad-Bhagavatam (8.3.4), another prominent bhakti text, reiterates this position of the Absolute by declaring him as parat parah, which the pre-eminent modern bhakti teacher, Srila Prabhupada glosses as “he is transcendental to transcendental, or above all transcendence.” With this metaphysical background, we are better prepared to understand how the avatar remains spiritual even in the material world.

To illustrate, Srila Prabhupada would sometimes give the example of electricity: it is one energy that can manifest through a room heater as heat and through an air conditioner as cold. Consider a device that can, by the flip of a switch, heat and, by another flip, cool. The controller of that device can, at will, get the same electrical energy to heat or cool. If all of existence is like a device, Krishna is like its controller. By operating the switch of his omnipotence, he can prevent the material energy from acting materially on him even when he manifests in the material world.

Though the Bhagavad-gita doesn’t use the specific word avatar, it talks about the descent of the divine in its fourth chapter (04.06-10). The Gita begins this discussion (04.06) by asserting that Krishna remains the imperishable Lord of all living beings even when he enters into his material nature. This declaration implies that he doesn’t come under the control of material nature, which sentences all embodied beings through time’s inexorable flow to bodily deterioration and destruction.

The eternal transcendence of avatar underscores a subtle difference between avatar and its common English translation incarnation. Etymologically, “incarnation” means “to come in flesh”; the root “carna” is seen in words such as carnivorous animals (flesh-eating animals) and carnal desires (desires to enjoy the flesh). Krishna, however, doesn’t descend in a form of flesh; he remains transcendental.

Nonetheless, bhakti teachers frequently introduce contemporary audiences to the concept of avatara with the English rendition “incarnation”. In so doing, they avoid burdening us with a double unfamiliarity: both an unfamiliar term and an unfamiliar concept. Terms are verbal handles for mental concepts. By first giving us a familiar handle to grasp an unfamiliar concept and then explaining the concept’s unfamiliar dimensions, they help us move towards comprehension, one step at a time.

When Krishna descends and performs his pastimes in this world, he transforms this world from a stage for the display of illusion to a stage for the display of the highest spiritual reality: the loving pastimes between him and his devotees. The Gita (04.09) states that those who become attracted to Krishna’s appearance and activities, understanding his transcendental position, don’t take rebirth – they attain his eternal abode.

 

Trailer and trail

The pastimes that the avatar performs serve an extraordinary double role: as a trailer and a trail.

Trailer: Love is our deepest aspiration; we all desire to love and be loved. However, due to the temporary nature of things in this world, our longing for love is frustrated – inevitably and repeatedly.

Krishna’s pastimes are enactments of the love that is never frustrated – pure spiritual love between the all-attractive Supreme and his devotees that goes on eternally in the spiritual world. When Krishna descends to this world, he performs some of those pastimes here, giving us tantalizing glimpses of an arena where our longing for love can be eternally and perfectly fulfilled. Thus, his pastimes serve as trailers meant to attract us to his abode.

Trail: Those with superficial understanding of Krishna’s pastimes think of them as stories meant for entertainment. But those who understand these pastimes in truth know that they are not meant to entertain; they are meant to be entered into – they occur in that eternal spiritual reality to which we as souls, parts of Krishna, belong.

To enter that reality, we need to redirect our heart from the world to Krishna. For this redirection, his pastimes provide charming and purifying subject matter that we can contemplate, churn, recollect and relish. The more we thus think about Krishna, the more our heart becomes attracted to him and the more we progress on the path towards him. By providing us substance for turning our heart to him, Krishna’s pastimes comprise the trail that leads to him.

Overall, avatar demonstrates the centrality of love in spiritual growth. It is Krishna’s love for us that inspires the transcendent to become immanent, and it is our love for him that enables us to cross over from matter to spirit, to realize our trans-material identity and become situated in spiritual reality.

 

The post Avatar – Digital, Christian, monistic and bhakti conceptions appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

July 6. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Empowered by His Glance.
According to the Vedic sastras, a pure devotee can impart Krishna consciousness to others through his words, his good wishes, and by his glance. “Simply by seeing such empowered individuals, people from different villages would become like them by the mercy of their glance.” (Cc. Madhya 7.104)
In the confidential exchanges between Radha and Krishna, much is accomplished by the lover’s glances. The gopis are thrilled to receive the direct or side-long glance of Sri Krishna, and Lord Krishna is especially anxious to receive the glance of Srimati Radharani. One time while Krishna was searching for Radharani in the groves of Vrindavana, He spoke in this way to a female deer: “O doe, the walking young vine that is the beautiful girl Radha must have passed through this forest because, O friend, I see you have accepted Me as your guru and taken initiation from Her in the art of playful, sweet restless glances.” (Lalita-Madhava, Act 9.62)
In the loving exchanges between the spiritual master and disciple, Srila Prabhupada’s glances were certainly treasured by his devotees.
I doubt that we fully understand how much those glances went into us and how they stayed with us. The Krishna conscious siddhanta asserts that words are able to convey the Absolute Truth, yet we also think that there are certain things which cannot be conveyed fully in words: for example, what it feels like to receive Prabhupada’s glance.
Sometimes the glances were loving, and sometimes they reprimanded. If King Mucukunda could reduce a person to fiery ashes just by his gaze, Krishna’s pure devotee could “knock over” a misbehaving disciple.
Srila Prabhupada’s looks clued us in on his emotions. His eyes sparkled with humor. Tears came to his eyes while talking about the cruelty of cow slaughter. Sometimes, though, his glance excluded us. In a memoir by a Zen student about her guru, she said that when you looked into his eyes you saw “total zero for 10,000 miles.” Prabhupada never conveyed blank to us, but his gaze did convince us that he was experiencing something we could not. Prabhupada would glance at a painting or Indian print in his room and say, “Here is Krishna.” Yet when we looked at that picture of Lord Krishna, so many relative thoughts and impressions registered in our hearts and minds. We knew that Prabhupada saw Him differently. We saw the difference when we looked into his eyes.
In Raghunatha dasa Gosvami’s Sri Stavavali, one of the poems ends with the refrain, “When will Saci’s son again walk on the pathway of my eyes?” We pray to know when we may be able to see Prabhupada – and when he will again bestow his glance upon us.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=10

Empowered by His Glance

PRAYING FOR BETTER RELATIONSHIPS AND HEALING OUR HEART: Yesterday we celebrated the disappearance of Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Gadadhara Pandita and honored our relationship with them, and as we contemplated our independence (July 4th) from the material modes of nature, we contemplated the subject of relationships in general, since life is about relationships. There is nothing like relationships to severely test our ideals and demonstrate the spiritual work we have to do with ourselves.

We hunger for those who love and understand us, who nurture us, bringing out our best qualities, but also allow us to be ourselves, imperfections and all. However, if we are to have good relationships with others, we are required to have a good relationship with ourselves. For those of us who are theists, self-acceptance is greatly helped by our acceptance and positive relationship with our Source, or God, to me, Krishna. Self-acceptance and positive self-esteem are intertwined with our loving relationship with God, who we are part of.

Relationships open a door to reveal who are and what we are made of, being compared in the past to a threshing floor for separating the wheat from the chaff. Love and acceptance have been compared to the wheat, whereas our self-centered fears and criticism are like the chaff. By our endeavor aided by prayer we can crack the protective husk of our fears and release the delicious, nourishing essence. We could also think of relationships to be like a laboratory which can produce both useful and harmful chemicals.

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Photos from Snana Yatra 2016 at ISKCON-London (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: All glories to the chanting of Hare Krishn...

ISKCON50 offering: ISKCON Studio, Kolkata (Album with photos)
Cutting the ribbon today to inaugurate the new studio in ISKCON Kolkata. On the auspicious occasion of the 50th Anniversary of ISKCON, Netrotsava and Gundica Marjanam, where Lord Jagannatha is revealing Himself for the first time after two weeks, in the association of H.G. Pankajangri Prabhu, H.G. Acaryaratna Prabhu and assembled devotees of ISKCON Kolkata, today, after three years of construction and renovation, we inaugurated the ISKCON studio, which we hope and pray will be like a highly effective printing press to create multimedia, audio, video, animation, etc to offer the message of Krishna consciousness to the society at large. As Pankajangri Prabhu explained, “The studio will help us fulfill the mission of Lord Caitanya to spread the chanting of Hare Krishna to every town, village, and even everyone’s pocket (their cell phones). Prabhu gave the benediction, "May the studio never be silent.” My deepest gratitude to all the devotees who have generously given donations over the past three years to fund ISKCON Studio, Kolkata. May Lord Krishna bless you with eternal service to His lotus feet.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/T4mWIk

By Anandini Padayachee

For centuries man has been growing deluded by wealth and the material, but the disintegration and degeneration of society caused by this materiality is reaching a turning point. The plague of natural disasters, the growing numbers of civil wars, the increase in refugees, the global recession, inabilities of governments to provide basic amenities to the poor and security to nations are signs of the effects of how through the propagation and promulgation of greed and aspiration for material greatness, society greatly suffers. But what goes down must come up at some point. Life is such, the changing of the seasons, the rise and fall of the tide, the rising and setting of the sun, the escalation and contraction of the heart are but mere examples of nature’s course. Continue reading "Affirmation, repetition, contagion
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I have heard this phrase that whatever happens is for our good. Honestly, at least in the past could not find meaning to this phrase till I came in contact with Bhagavad Gita.

According to Bhagavad Gita (8.16), nothing in this material creation is actually good. We have a choice to accept what Krishna says or we can accept our own idea of good. But from Krishna’s perspective, this place is a place of misery and it is temporary. Even if we accept this place as good it is still temporary. Regardless, both misery and good is temporary according to Bhagavad Gita.

Having said that, if we re-define good as spiritual good and not material good, then everything is indeed happening for the good. By spiritual good, I mean good for the atma or soul and not deha or body. The body will deteriorate and die no matter what but the atma is eternal and hence real goodness can only mean spiritual good or good for the soul.

In our vision of one life time, it is difficult to evaluate how “all” souls are benefiting. But from Krishna’s position of past, present and future, “all” infinite souls in this material creation will eventually go back to Krishna. Krishna repeatedly sends His messengers or comes Himself to redeem these lost souls. So in that long standing sense of past, present and future, everything is slowly but surely churning towards Krishna and because Krishna is all good, everything indeed is good.

As they say “the mills of God grind slowly but surely”. We simply have to practice patience and tolerance in the face of dualities of life and meditate on our soul and Supersoul Krishna and as we make our journey towards Krishna, everything is good.

It is this journey towards Krishna which is all good, everything else is washed away by the waves of time anyways!

Hare Krishna

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Read about Kadamba Kanana Swami’s stay in Radhadesh here. Please find recordings of the lectures below.

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KKS_Radhadesh_05June2016_CC_Madhya_25.57

KKS_Radhadesh_12June2016_CC_Madhya_25.58

KKS_Radhadesh_19June2016_CC_Madhya_25.66

KKS_Radhadesh_26June2016_CC_Madhya_25.73

ISKCON Punjabi Bagh - Festival Of Purification (Album with photos)
Gundicha Temple Cleaning Festival 5th July, 2016
Srila Prabhupada: We are not afraid of maya because Krishna is there. Krishna says, “My devotee will never be vanquished by maya.” Maya cannot do anything if we become strong. And what is that strength? Chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare loudly. (Lecture on Bhagavad-gita, 3.6.10, Los Angeles 1968).
Find them here: https://goo.gl/c3aW9a

By various media

Lawmakers are eager to place new restrictions on Russia's religious sphere, amending the legal definition of “missionary activity” as defined under the Constitution's article on the freedom of conscience and religion. Yarovaya's legislation defines as “missionary activity” any kind of religious practice that takes place outside special establishments, cemeteries, houses of worship, or religious schools. This applies to acts of worship, ceremonies, the distribution of literature, and preaching. “The dissemination of beliefs and religious convictions” through the mass media and the Internet is also considered to be “missionary activity.” Continue reading "New law in Russia threatens the Sankirtan movement in that country
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GOOGLE DOODLE for ISKCON50
Jaya Srila Prabhupada!
*Jaya ISKCON*
If you wish that our ISKCON should celebrate the 50th Anniversary worldwide and simultaneously include in this celebration every human being on earth (at least those who use internet), then here is a *‘ONCE IN A LIFETIME’* chance:
Google has a service called GOOGLE DOODLE (http://www.google.com/doodles), which helps people in celebrating their important days. So if you wish that they should create a GOOGLE DOODLE for us on 13th July 2016, the appearance day of ISKCON, please write a short and a simple email to them in your own words, with a request to do so. Here is the email address: *proposals@google.com*
Please take out some time from your important schedule and send this email. If you are in doubt about what to write, just say: *“Please create a Doodle for ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary Celebration on 13th July 2016.”* That’s it.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Your servant,
Daamodara Dhananjaya Das

The post Yesterday’s adventure appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Washington, United States: The 4th of July parade was amazing. (Album with photos)
Security was tight but I was able to sneak...

Written by Nimai

After a month in India, Kadamba Kanana Swami returned to Europe. He spent two nights in Amsterdam and then travelled to Radhadesh where he also stayed for a month and dedicated most of his time to writing. He was still recovering from the Ayurvedic treatment he had recently undergone in Coimbatore. Nevertheless, he decided to give a class every Sunday. Every week, Maharaj read from the Caitanya Caritamrta, each time continuing where he stopped the previous week.

In the first class (05 June), Maharaj started reading about Sankaracharya and how he defeated many Buddhists in India during Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s time. In another class, Maharaj especially made the point that “the eyes are never satisfied”, meaning that our material desires can never truly bring us happiness and we will always want more. Maharaj said that the soul goes unconscious when the mind steals the soul’s features of thinking, feeling and willing. However, once we take to Krsna Consciousness, these features will be controlled again by the soul. Impersonalism was a strong theme throughout Maharaj’s lectures. Maharaj pointed out that impersonalism does not exist only in India but is in fact very present in Europe as well for example.

Apart from giving classes and writing, Maharaj kept his daily walk going. Every day we went up the hill, most of the time carrying our umbrellas. One day, while going up the steepest part of the hill, Maharaj commented, “This is like in our spiritual life, you fix yourself and then you just just keep going!”

On another day while walking, Maharaj told me a story that he had just thought about: how Satadanva killed Satyabhama’s father in order to steal the Syamantaka jewel which was famous for producing a mountain of gold every day! During another walk, Maharaj told me the story of Hridaya Caitanya.

HG Kurma Prabhu was in Radhadesh for about one week. He shared some of his memories of Prabhupada in the lectures he gave. He described the first Ratha Yatra in Melbourne where they had a very big Caitanya Mahaprabhu murti in front of the chariots. He also described how they had to stay at the site overnight so nobody would burn the chariots!

During our stay in Radhadesh, a senior devotee named Janaki Mataji passed away. Before her departure, Maharaj visited her at the hospital and did some kirtan for her.

Ananda Vrindavan Dasi who cooked for Maharaj while we were in Radhdesh organized a Bhakti Tirtha Swami memorial program to celebrate his disappearance day on 27 June. Special guests like HH Sacinandana Swami and HG Mahatma Prabhu and of course Kadamba Kanana Swami attended. A video of Bhakti Tirtha Swami was shown, where he was dancing and we listened to his famous “dying before dying” lecture. Devotees who knew Bhakti Tirtha Swami personally spoke a few words. They glorified him not only for his dancing skills but also for his amazing preaching in Africa, his ability to involve everyone in dancing and the personal relationships and deep love he had for devotees. Some of Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s favourite dishes, calzone and cake, were served afterwards.

Along with Sacinandana Swami, lots of devotees arrived in Radhadesh. Many of them came for the kirtan course which was about to begin.

During our last week in Radhadesh, many disciples came to see Kadamba Kanana Swami. From Radhadesh, we travelled to the Summer Camp in Czech (01-04 July) and after that, we will travel via Berlin to Italy and spend a week there.

Visit Flickr to see all the photos.

By Mandira mani dasi

You might remember hearing about the Christchurch earthquakes in the news. What you might not know is that there were more earthquakes after the first big one—no fewer than 10,000 of them. There were sometimes seven or eight earthquakes a day. Everybody living in Christchurch was scared all the time because each earthquake had the potential to bring major destruction. Eventually one of them did: our temple survived the first earthquake, but the biggest of those 10,000 aftershocks brought it down. Five years later, the rebuild has finally begun. We have been very lucky to get an insurance payout--lucky because the insurance company went bankrupt after the earthquake. Continue reading "Help Rebuild the Hare Krsna Centre in Christchurch after Earthquake
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Prabhupada – Departing for the West (Highlights) (5 min video)
From ISKCON Pandava Sena UK.
Highlights from Something Spiritual’s first show, Prabhupada – Departing for the West at Harrow Arts Centre, London.
A true story that began 50 years ago, when a great scholar set out across the ocean on a mission, carrying nothing but a timeless message, which was to be the greatest change for humanity. He inspired an entire generation and against all odds, formed an unstoppable revolution.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/bAmgJt

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