Prabhupada often compared it to being cured of amnesia. In the conventional treatment of the disease, one is given a daily regimen of gradual exposure to his or her former life. Hopefully, through a sustained effort, the patient gradually remembers and becomes cured. This is called anamnesis -- the reversal of amnesia. Similarly, through a daily regimen, known as sadhana, one becomes relieved of their spiritual forgetfulness and gradually remembers their life in the spiritual world with Krishna. The amazing thing, though, is that Krishna often helps us get there in spite of ourselves. As Prabhupada says, "If you take one step toward Krishna, he'll take a thousand toward you." I've seen that in my own life, and while I'm hardly cured of my spiritual amnesia, I do see hopeful signs for the future, and I remember the numerous ways in which Krishna helped me. Continue reading "Spiritual Amnesia
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LORD KRSNA HAS TWO ENERGIES, material and spiritual, but they can be used interchangeably if one knows how. Just as the same electricity can be used to heat or cool a building, so Krsna's energies can be used for different purposes according to the living entity's desire. That doesn't mean that the living entity can control Krsna's energies, only that he can use them. When a conditioned soul wishes to exploit the material nature, he contacts the material energy. When he no longer wishes to dominate or enjoy the material energy and instead uses it in Krsna's service, he contacts the spiritual energy. The living entity is called the "marginal potency" of God-he can go either way. The Bhagavad-gita (9.13) states: "Being marginal potency, as soon as the living entity is freed from the control of material nature he is put under the guidance of the spiritual nature." There are only two choices. Continue reading "Two Energies Choices
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The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth is fully independent, svarat and the living entities being parts and parcels of the Lord, have minute independence/free will. Minute free will is an inherent quality of the soul and it can never be taken away from a living entity at any time (in the material or spiritual world). We choose (due to our minute free will), and there are outcomes for our choices but these outcomes cannot be independently determined or created. All endeavors, following a free will choice which we make, are fully dependent in their outcome upon the Will or Sanction of the Supreme. Karmana daiva netrena - under sanction of Superior authority [SB 3.31.1]. We have our desires and our free will, but they are supervised by the Supreme, according to natural laws. Thus, our freedom to 'create our destiny' is VERY restricted! We really have not so much control, ultimately. Within our restricted freedom, we can choose if we are going to act according to God's laws or not. That is within our control. But ultimately Krishna is the supreme controller, the actual and ultimate doer. Continue reading "Free-will and Bhagavad-gita
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Yoga for the New Millennium (4 min video)
Radha Padma devi dasi and her brother Nama prabhu from Brisbane, Australia will tell...

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Conversation in Istanbul.

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A monk’s advice: look inward and connect with the spiritual!
Swami says life is so busy for people these days, they’ve forgotten the ways of their ancestors. He says people need to connect with the spiritual side.
Swami says the walk with nature along the Illinois and Michigan Canal has been wonderful, even though it has been very hot at times this week. Thunderstorms gave him a different challenge Wednesday. It’s harder work to walk on a soggy trail, so he got a few blisters. But he used a pair of dry socks to wipe off some space on a bench at Allen Park for himself and this news writer to tell of the experience.
Swami is walking 20 miles per day. So it may take him until next year to get to San Francisco. Since his message is about patience, that won’t bother him. And he’s walked across Canada, the country he was born in, four times. So he knows what to expect mentally and physically.
In other walks, Swami has crossed Ireland, Guyana, Israel, and Trinidad. His nickname, The Walking Monk, is on his business cards. Besides his marathon walks, Swami teaches a form of yoga and directs plays that tell stories from ancient India.
Listen to more of Bhaktimarga Swami’s message here: http://goo.gl/uVkbaH

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 April 2016, Radhadesh, Belgium, Vyasa Puja Address)

I thank all the vaisnavas for their prayers. So many prayers. I will tell you the truth, my astrology is not good for long life but then there were so many prayers of so many vaisnavas. I think these prayers are stronger. I have a good chance so let us go forward and whatever Krsna has in store for us, we shall accept.

When we are in the presence of the spiritual master then there are two aspects – what we offer to the spiritual master, the other aspect is what we receive from the spiritual master. We are very much on the receiving end now but after the disappearance of the spiritual master, then the crux of our relationship is what we offer to the spiritual master because it is there that we are again strongly reconnecting and we feel that connection coming to life.

So whatever Krsna has in store for us… if one day you have to carry on after I would have left this world, then please carry on in this mission of spreading Krsna Consciousness and assist me within this movement. Create space for individuals to be human beings and express their human nature and yet keep loyal to spiritual principles. Assist me whether I am here or not. Just do it and if you do it, I will be here always. Anyway, for now we hope I will make it till 108 and then I give up. That is enough!

I am sorry I can´t be with you tomorrow at Kingsday but it is a wonderful opportunity to give out a lot of mercy. Whenever I am in the harinama on Kingsday, yes, I am having some fun but I am not just thinking about my fun. I am thinking about how all those drunken, intoxicated people who are trying to have a party and how they are not having a party, and that somehow or other we have a party and they see it and they jump into the kirtan! When we come to that tunnel in Vondelpark then we cook it up in that tunnel and they come running into the kirtan.

Anyhow, I wanted to come to Radhadesh and meet you all especially after those alarming messages of the past months, I wanted to have this little bonding. That is the reason why I came, so thank you for being a part of it. So let us go forward and do something really nice for Srila Prabhupada. If I can help you in any way, please let me know. I will try and do what I can.

Transcribed by Tattvavati dd

From a subway to the Temple on Wheels!
I was on my way to an evening talk by Radhanatha Swami, and when I got off the subway, I saw a young man and offered him Srila Prabhupada’s books. He found them interesting and gave a donation for them.
Then I asked whether he would like to go to the evening program and learn something about the ancient Vedic wisdom of India from a very interesting and wise devotee of Krsna.
He said that he was a little busy, but that he may be able to make it. So I gave him the address.
During the lecture, to my surprise, he showed up and took a seat. Later I noticed he was really absorbing what Maharaja was saying. After the talk he spoke with Radhanath Swami for a long talk. He ended up traveling with Radhanath Swami on his whole tour of Italy. Now he’s living in the temple in south Italy called Sankirtan Dhama.
your servant,
Vraja Sundara Dasa
Vijaya Prabhu’s comment: Vraja Sundara Prabhu is the leading book distributor in Italy. He and seven other men travel all over south Italy. They are very serious devotees. A few days ago I was with them, giving a class, and it happened to be Bhima Ekadasi, so I asked whether anyone was fasting. All of them raised their hands, and they followed the vow of no prasad and no water all day, till the next morning. Even on regular ekadasis they take this vow. Also, no one goes on the internet. They’re just absorbed in reading Prabhupada’s books and distributing them. Prabhupada wrote, to one devotee, “Our only motto should be, "read and distribute books.” These devotees are seriously following this instruction of Srila Prabhupada. You can see these devotees in the photo.
The devotees there recently purchased a temple/house and 80 acres of land, two hours north of Rome. There they grow olives, wheat, vegetables and some fruits, it’s a beautiful piece of property. Bhakti Shakti Prabhu is the organizer behind this project. They also have a moving temple in a huge diesel trailer which they take to nearby cities, plus another diesel trailer they use for a stage when they have festivals.

“You win a few, you lose a few!”
The world is oversexed basically; they make too much of it. There is a place for sexual activity but they make too much of it. Whatever place it has in your life do not give it too much energy.
Even after so much sexual activities still something is missing, still we are not beaming with happiness, still not effulgent, still not ecstatic… So let us not make too much of it.
People are looking for romance and then relationships break… new ones start… all these things are going on. Okay, if you need that then it is okay but within the boundaries, do not go over the line because then you are damaging your spiritual progress back to the spiritual world. So keep it within the boundaries of what Krsna has blessed, what the acharyas have authorized and then make the best of it.
The pushings of the senses are the same, the same modes of material nature create the same script. A little variety is there, the personalities, the actors are different but the play is the same old script. This is what it is. So do not make too much of it. It is alright but again it is not enough to fulfil us; only Krsna will fulfil us. Let us bring that into our relationships, into our community, at home and wherever we meet. Let us just bring in the culture of the spiritual world because that will really help us to shift the weight to the other side, to the spiritual side to become jivan muktas, liberated souls even in this body already. This is the idea!
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Iskcon: International Society for …Kofta consciousness :-)
This is the super positive feedback from a person after having a meal in the Govinda’s restaurant of the devotees in Australia.
Aniruddha: The positive reputation of ISKCON in Australia is built in good part on the good will created by the prasadam distribution of our restaurants and the vegetarian or bhakti yoga clubs in our universities. It is an essential element of connecting with the man on the street, especially in countries with small populations where you can’t sell a book to an individual every day of the week. They will however, be hungry every day, and happy to pay for a good, healthy, scrumptious meal of delicious Krsna prasadam. Sometimes eating more than one meal a day!
We should take advantage of this global opportunity!

Gargamuni prabhu speaking to Srila Prabhupada about his books distributed to scholars: Some of them are shocked. We went to the National Library in Calcutta. That’s the largest library. They saw your books and they said, “Oh, he is doing this work?” They were so impressed. They had never seen Sanskrit or Bengali printed in foreign countries the way you have done in your books. They said, “This is fantastic” There’s no one else who is doing this in India, no one. Very impressed. And these men themselves are Sanskrit scholars. He immediately started to read. He said, “Oh, very nice.” He said, “It is just right.” So he was very enthusiastic. There are two boys. They spend the whole day just going to libraries.
Prabhupāda: That has been written by Professor Dayal, Dimock, that “Sanskrit scholars should get good opportunity, and nobody, I think, will deny Swamiji’s scholarship.” He has said that.
Gargamuni: Any name we have in India, any good name we have, is due to you.
Prabhupāda: (laughing) It is due to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). So you can give me massage. Thank you very much. Now you have got very, very great responsible work. I will die. You will live. Kīrtir yasya sa jīvati. . But I will not die.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, you could never die. (laughter)
Gargamuni: We can’t accept that.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Gargamuni: We refuse to accept that. (end)
[Room Conversation – September 21, 1973, Bombay]

An inspirational video by Jay (Ghanashyam) Shetty.

A motivational video by Jay (Ghanashyam) Shetty.

A video by Ananta Vridnavan.

June 25. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Plans for Incorporation.
“We shall call our society ISKCON.” Prabhupada had laughed playfully when he first coined the acronym.
He had initiated the legal work of incorporation that spring, while still living on the Bowery. But even before its legal beginning, he had been talking about his “International Society for Krishna Consciousness,” and so it had appeared in letters to India and in The Village Voice. A friend had suggested a title that would sound more familiar to Westerners, “International Society for God Consciousness,” but Prabhupada had insisted: “Krishna Consciousness.” “God” was a vague term, whereas “Krishna” was exact and scientific; “God consciousness” was spiritually weaker, less personal. And if Westerners didn’t know that Krishna was God, then the International Society for Krishna Consciousness would tell them, by spreading His glories “in every town and village.”
“Krishna consciousness” was Prabhupada’s own rendering of a phrase from Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Padyavali, written in the sixteenth century. Krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita: “to be absorbed in the mellow taste of executing devotional service to Krishna.”
But to register ISKCON legally as a non-profit, tax-exempt religion required money and a lawyer. Carl Yeargens had already gained some experience in forming religious, political, and social welfare groups, and when he had met Prabhupada on the Bowery he had agreed to help. He had contacted his lawyer, Stephen Goldsmith.
Stephen Goldsmith, a young Jewish lawyer with a wife and two children and an office on Park Avenue, was interested in spiritual movements. When Carl told him about Prabhupada’s plans, he was immediately fascinated by the idea of setting up a religious corporation for an Indian swami. He visited Prabhupada at 26 Second Avenue, and they discussed incorporation, tax exemption, Prabhupada’s immigration status, and Krishna consciousness. Mr. Goldsmith visited Prabhupada several times. Once he brought his children, who liked the “soup” the Swami cooked. He began attending the evening lectures, where he was often the only nonhippie member of the congregation. One evening, having completed all the legal groundwork and being ready to complete the procedures for incorporation, Mr. Goldsmith came to Prabhupada’s lecture and kirtana to get signatures from the trustees for the new society.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=9

Plans for Incorporation

“Sometimes we would discuss something together and at times he was clearly right but other times I would feel that I saw something that he didn’t see and he would realize that I had. But, I did have faith in him because it happened again and again that in the morning he would chant and reflect on whatever the issue was. If it really was a point where he should have come around, he did come around. So, even though he was such a powerful and forceful person he was controlled—even invisibly—by Krishna and Srila Prabhupada.

—Giriraj Swami

____________________________
Devotees  Appreciations
Giriraj Swami’s Appreciation

THE SEARCH FOR POWER AND DISCOVERING ITS REAL SOURCE: In addition to the ultimate life lesson that we are incompatible with matter and need to be in a spiritual environment to realize our true fulfillment and source of power, we also have to deal with our relative life issues. They need to be sorted out so we won’t be distracted and drained by them. From my perspective and experience, this work is favorable for bhakti, and is part of being a balanced human being with the ability to give our whole heart to bhakti. I realize that many of my recent blogs have a similar theme, the reason being that these topics are so important to understand. I see the great need for this inner work to be accomplished for all, and I am also engaged in it. I consider helping those involved in bhakti or interested in spiritual life part of my life's mission. I pray that you seriously think about what I write about here. So please bear with the repetition as I bring up new points each time.

Otherwise, our failure to uncover and work through our life lessons and unhealthy conditioning keeps us spiritually stuck. We see too many examples of this, I think because there has not been enough emphasis on exactly how to do this work, which is really “anartha-nivritti,” since unhealthy, reactionary, unexamined habits, cause us to not hear our inner guidance or deal properly with others with the tendency for aparadha and offensive chanting.

Many of our karmic issues are highlighted by our family of origin. It’s worthwhile to reflect on this, especially when we become aware of dysfunctional and troubling patterns in our life that bring us distress in relationships, complicate making our particular contribution, and feeling satisfied with the direction of our lives. The excuse that sometimes comes up in therapy that “this is just the way I am,” is a very poor justification for bad judgment and unkind or aggressive behavior.

While we all have particular personality types, certain learned survival behavior is not helpful for our progressive life, being kind, loving, and compassion persons, and realizing our full potential. Sometimes a major crisis or illness is required to help us examine our lives and how we are required to change.

We will ideally feel that the stakes in remaining the same are too high, and we must rise up or remain miserable. This is currently happening to me, and also happened many years ago, when at thirty I was compelled to understand my conditioned nature and my life work—I had no idea what a long road this would be!

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The first Kulimela, held in New Vrindaban, West Virginia in 2006, was an effort by ISKCON’s second generation to move away from party-style gurukuli reunions and explore their identity and what they could accomplish both materially and spiritually. The 10^th anniversary of that Mela, which also took place in New Vrindaban from June 15^th to 19^th this year, took those themes further and showed new levels of maturity and stability amongst the Kuli community, while still being full of joy and celebration.

Despite this fast changing world where promiscuity encouraged by the hedonist approach to life is overtaking almost everywhere, India still preserves its age old veneration towards celibacy. The vast majority of girls and boys still remain celebate till their marriage and even post-marriage lead a regulated life. Of course in cities, this ‘conservative’ species are on the brink of extinction, and even when preserved, generally make the person a butt of ridicule and curiosity. However, fortunately in villages it is still a norm. What is it which still allows the virtue of celibacy still thrive in India? It would be interesting to know this as this would help us build a similar structure elsewhere. A country’s spiritual culture can be felt in its social structure. A broad system is supported by number of social systems that in turn help realizing the primary objective. The primary Indian philosophy rests on the principles of karma, punar janma (rebirth) and departure for param dhama when one is successfully able to break the cycle of birth-death-rebirth. Continue reading "The Structural Gambit for Celibacy and Chastity
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New Releases from the Bhaktivedanta Archives.
June 24th, 2016
Vakreśvara Paṇḍita Appearance Day
The Bhaktivedanta Archives is pleased to offer two new releases: The VedaBase™ 2016 update and the original unedited audio of Śrīla Prabhupāda for the year 1971.
The 2016 VedaBase™ update includes:
1) Updated audio transcripts for the year 1971
2) Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā 2011–2015 (5 books)
3) Life’s Final Exam by Giriraj Swami
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