New Mayapur Works to Build a Sustainable Vedic Village
→ ISKCON News

Gopaswami Prabhu and devotees engaged in eco-house construction  New Mayapur in Central France is working to implement Srila Prabhupada’s vision for rural farm communities where devotees can live in harmony with nature, while addressing the climate crisis. The aim is to build a Vedic village as outlined by Srila Prabhupada, where earth and her natural […]

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Sri Abhirama Thakur Disappearance
→ Ramai Swami

Shri Abhirama Gopal Thakura  was also known as Shri Rama Das. He was a great devotee of Lord Nityananda.  On the order of Shri Nityananda Prabhu, he became a great acharya and preacher of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.He was a very influential personality, and atheists and blasphemers were very much afraid of him.

Empowered by Shri Nityananda Prabhu, he was always in ecstasy and was kind to all fallen souls. It is siad that if he offered obeisances to any stone other than a shalagram-shila, it would immediately burst into pieces. According to Gaura-Ganodesha-Dipika  (12) in Krishna-lila he was Shridama, one of the 12 prominent boy cowherd friends of Shri Krishna. He was Nityananda’s dearmost devotee. Abhiram Gopal’s wife’s name was Shri Malini devi.

Abhirama Gopala Thakura lived in Khanakula Krishnanagara. The story of how the Gopinath deity of Khanakula Krishnanagara was established is as follows. One day, the deity of Gopinatha appeared to Abhiram Gopal in a dream, and informed him that he wanted to manifest himself in Khanakula Krishnanagara. It is said that he was buried in the earth, and that in the dream he ordered Abhirama Gopal to excavate him and inaugurate his worship.

Abhirama Gopal went to the place where the Lord had indicated he would be found, and began excavation. There, after digging for some time, he found the mind-enchanting deity of Shri Gopinatha.  The place where this discovery was made is now called Rama kunda, and there is a small lake there. 

One day Shri Abhirama Gopala was overwhelmed with the ecstasy of sakhya rasa, and had a desire to play the flute of a cowherd boy.  Intoxicated by the bliss of Krishna-prema, he began searching the four directions for a suitable flute. As he searched through the forest for a suitable instrument all at once he saw before him a big log. The log was so huge that sixteen men could not move it. 

Shri Abhirama Thakura had a bullwhip that was imbued with divine power. Its name was “Jayamangal.”  Whoever was struck with this whip became filled with Krishna prema.  One day Shrinivasa Acharya went to take darshan of Abhiram Gopala.  At that time, Abhiram Gopal touched him three times with Jayamangal.

The Thakur’s good wife, Malini, cried out, “My Lord! Do not touch him again. Calm yourself. Shrinivas is only a boy. If you touch him again he will lose consciousness.” As a result of coming in contact with the whip of Abhirama Thakura, Shrinivasa Acharya became filled with Shri Krishna prema.

When Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ordered Nityananda Prabhu to preach in Bengal, he sent Abhirama Gopal and Gadadhara Das along with him. Simply upon seeing Abhiram Gopal, atheists and blasphemers would flee in terror.

He was a remarkable scholar, well-versed in all the scriptures. He married his wife, Malini, upon the order of Shri Nityananda Prabhu.  His disappearance day is on the seventh day of the dark moon in the month of Chaitra, and on that day a great festival attended by thousands of devotees is held every year in Khanakula-Krishnanagara. 

The worship of the lotus feet of the Lord
→ Dandavats

In this age human beings only live for sixty or eighty years, and even this small life-span is gradually decreasing. Therefore it is even more imperative for human beings to take to the worship of the lotus feet of the Lord by constantly chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, as recommended by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. (Srimad-Bhagavatam,
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Abhirama Thakura
→ Dandavats

Sri Abhirama Thakura was known as Abhirama Gopala and also as Rama dasa Bhirama dasa. “Who was previously known as Sridama, a gopa during Krsna-lila, is now renowned as Abhirama or Rama dasa. He was the favorite of Nityananda Prabhu. One day, Krsna, Balarama and their cowherd friends were playing a game of hide and
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TOVP Give To Nrsimha 36 Day 3X Matching Fundraiser
- TOVP.org

Message from the Chairman

Dear Devotees and Friends of the TOVP,
Hare Krishna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

About a week ago we launched the Give To Nrsimha 36 Day 3X Matching Fundraiser , from April 30 (Rama Navami) until May 4 (Nrsimha Caturdasi), to raise $5 million for the completion of Lord Nrsimhadeva’s Wing in the TOVP. The Wing, including the beautiful marble/granite altar is scheduled to open this October during a three-day celebration. Lord Nrsimhadeva will be relocated into His new home during the three-month-long TOVP Grand Opening festival from December, 2024 until Gaura Purnima, 2025.

I have personally pledged to triple match every dollar donated during this matching fundraiser (that’s $3 for every $1) to show my continued commitment to the project. I hope you can also make another sacrifice and donate something large or small. There are many unique sponsorship options with wonderful gifts to show our gratitude to you and express our thanks.

Please visit the TOVP website link below and make your offering for this historic occasion during which we will open the largest Nrsimhadeva temple in the world.

Give To Nrsimha 36 Day 3X Matching Fundraiser

Your servant,
Ambarisa das

 

 

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Varuthini Ekadasi and the TOVP, 2023
- TOVP.org

Varuthini Ekadasi falls in the dark fortnight (Krishna paksha) of the month of Vaisakha. On the day of Varuthini Ekadasi, devotees worship and offer prayers to Lord Vamana the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. In the literal sense, Varuthini means ‘protected’ and thus the devotees get protected from various negativities and evils by observing Varuthini Ekadashi.

This Ekadasi is the last prior to the auspicious Akshaya Tritiya, a holy day when many important events have taken place in Vedic history. It also falls on the eighteenth day of the TOVP Give To Nrsimha 36 Day 3X Matching Fundraiser to raise funds to complete and open Mayapur Nrsimhadeva’s Wing in the TOVP this October. Ambarisa prabhu is triple matching every dollar donated during the 36-day fundraiser. Please visit the Give To Nrsimha Page and help open the largest Nrsimhadeva temple in the world.

  NOTE: Varuthini Ekadasi is observed on April 26 worldwide. Please refer to your local calendar through www.gopal.home.sk/gcal.

  View, download and share the TOVP 2023 Calendar​.

 

The Glories of Varuthini Ekadasi

From the Bhavishya Purana

Sri Yudhisthira Maharaj said, “Oh Vasudeva, I offer my most humble obeisances unto You. Please now describe to me the Ekadasi of the dark fortnight (krishna paksha) of the month of Vaisakha (April-May), including its specific merits and influence.”

Lord Sri Krishna replied, “Oh King, in this world and the next, the most auspicious and magnanimous Ekadasi is Varuthini Ekadasi, which occurs during the dark fortnight of the month of Vaisakha. Whosoever observes a complete fast on this sacred day has his sins completely removed, obtains continuous happiness, and achieves all good fortune.

Fasting on Varuthini Ekadasi makes even an unfortunate woman fortunate.

Upon anyone who observes it, this Ekadasi bestows material enjoyment in this life and liberation after the death of this present body. It destroys the sins of all and saves people from the miseries of repeated rebirth.

“By observing this Ekadasi properly, King Mandhata was liberated. Many other kings also benefited from observing it, kings such as Maharaja Dhundhumara, in the Ikshvaku dynasty, who became free from leprosy resulting from the curse that Lord Shiva had imposed upon him as a punishment.

“Whatever merit one obtains by performing austerities and penances for ten thousand years is achieved by a person who observes Varuthini Ekadasi.
The merit one achieves by donating a great amount of gold during a solar eclipse at Kurukshetra is gained by one who observes this one Ekadasi with love and devotion, and certainly attains his goals in this life and the next.

“In short, this Ekadasi is pure and very enlivening and the destroyer of all sins.

Better than giving horses in charity is giving elephants, and better than giving elephants is giving land. But better still than giving land is the giving of sesame seeds, and better than that is giving of gold. Still better than giving gold is giving food grains for all the forefathers, demigods (devas), and human beings become satisfied by eating grains. Thus, there is no better gift of charity than this in the past, present or future.

“Yet learned scholars have declared that giving away a young maiden in marriage to a worthy person is equal to giving away food grains in charity. Moreover, Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has said that giving cows in charity is equal to giving food grains. Still better than all these charities is teaching spiritual knowledge to the ignorant. Yet all the merits one can attain by performing all these acts of charity are attained by one who fasts on the Varuthini Ekadasi.

“One who lives off the wealth of his daughters suffers a hellish condition until the inundation of the entire universe, Oh Bharata. Therefore one should be especially careful not to use the wealth of his daughter.

Oh best of kings, any householder who takes his daughter’s wealth out of greed, who tries to sell his daughter, or who takes money from the man to whom he has given his daughter in marriage, such a householder becomes a lowly cat in his next life.

“Therefore it is said that whoever, as a sacred act of charity, gives away in marriage a maiden decorated with various ornaments, and who also gives a dowry with her, obtains merit that cannot be described even by Chitragupta, the chief secretary of Yamaraja in the heavenly planets. That very same merit, however, can be easily achieved by one who fasts on the Varuthini Ekadasi.

“The following things should be given up on the Dashami, (the tenth phase of the Moon), the day before the Ekadasi:
Eating on bell-metal plates, eating any kind of urad-dahl, eating red-lentils, eating chick-peas, eating kondo (a grain that is primarily eaten by poor people and that resembles poppy seeds or agarpanthas seeds), eating spinach, eating honey, eating in another person’s house/home, eating more than once, and participating in sex of any kind.

“On the Ekadasi itself one should give up the following:

Gambling, sports, sleeping during the daytime, betal nuts and its leaf, brushing one’s teeth, spreading rumors, faultfinding, talking to the spiritually fallen, anger, and lying.

“On the Dwadasi the day after Ekadasi (the twelfth phase of the Moon), one should give up the following:

Eating on bell-metal plates, eating urad-dahl, red-lentils, or honey, lying, strenuous exercise or labor, eating more than once, any sexual activity, shaving the body, face or head, smearing oils on one’s body, and eating in another’s home.”

Lord Sri Krishna continued, “Whoever observes the Varuthini Ekadasi in this way becomes free from all sinful reactions and returns to the eternal, spiritual abode.

One who worships Lord Janardana (Krishna) on this Ekadasi by staying awake throughout the entire night, also becomes free from all his previous sins and attains to the spiritual abode.

“Therefore, Oh king, he who is frightened of his accumulated sins and their attendant reactions, and thus of death itself, must observe Varuthini Ekadasi by fasting very strictly.

Finally, Oh noble Yudhisthira, he who hears or reads this glorification of the sacred Varuthini Ekadasi obtains the merit earned by donating one thousand cows in charity, and at last he returns home, to the Supreme abode of Lord Vishnu in the Vaikunthas.

Thus ends the narration of the glories of Varuthini Ekadasi from the Bhavishya Purana.

This article has been used courtesy of ISKCON Desire Tree

 

 

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