Planet ISKCON

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.17.

“A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity. But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened.” (SB 2.3.17 purport)

“God or Krishna is perfect and complete. And, when we are established in our relationship with him we feel completeness. Without our eternal relationship with Krishna we feel incomplete so we try to overcome the feeling of incompleteness with so many things—’If I get this record I will feel complete. If I get this job I will feel complete. if I get this spouse I will feel complete. If I have a child I will feel complete’—whatever it is. But, we never feel complete  with those things because we are only complete in relationship with the supreme complete whole, Krishna.”

Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.17, Potomac

Harinama in Hungary (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: In this age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting in order to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the name of Krishna. Although his complexion is not blackish, He is Krishna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and His confidential companions. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 11.5.32)
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For anyone interested in spiritual progress, gambling is more than just a harmless amusement. How does gambling erode truthfulness? I think back to one of my first psychotherapy clients. Joe, in his late thirties, had recently married for the first time and desperately wanted the marriage to work. But every time he got his paycheck, he'd secretly go to the Atlantic City casinos. Using an elaborate web of lies, he'd explain his absence to his wife. If he lost all his money, often the case, he'd have to lie about the money as well. He'd make up stories: Aunt Berla is dying and needs the money for a respirator; Uncle Martin borrowed the money for his rent. On and on it would go, until his wife no longer could or would believe him and was ready to leave the marriage. Finally, Joe confessed to the blatant truth: He was a compulsive gambler, an addict swallowed up by an insatiable desire to turn his quarters into dollars with a flick of his wrist. His eyes filled with desperate tears. He begged his wife to stay and promised to get help for his addiction. Continue reading "You Bet Your Life
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Krsna is wonderful, amazing inconceivably so but we have not touched on the most mysterious and inconceivable of all His qualities: His ability to express love. He is powerful, He is wise, He is strong and famous, but His inclination to love all living beings, and His expression of that love in a variety of ways, is His most attractive feature. And even more attractive than that is His special love for His devotees. Therefore, a devotee, while recognizing Krsna's mastership over his or her life, does not ever forget this greatest glory of Krsna's love. I recently heard Srila Prabhupada on tape speaking about suffering. A devotee asked Prabhupada how we should understand that even though we are devotees, we still have to suffer. Prabhupada took a strong position. He said it was not our right to question that we have to suffer. And we should never think that we would love Krsna more if we didn't suffer. Nor does Krsna have to explain to us why we are suffering. A devotee sees Krsna unquestionably as master. In the mood of a devotee, Lord Caitanya prays, "Whether You make me broken-hearted or You handle me roughly in Your embrace, You are always my worshipful Lord, birth after birth." A devotee never doubts Krsna's loving intention toward him. Continue reading "Wonderful Krsna
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We generally think that we're in control of our actions and that we're making our own decisions, but the supreme authority, Krsna, declares that this is not the case. He says that we are acting as puppets victims of the forces of nature. In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krsna says, "All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment." (Bg. 3.5) Not just you and I, but "no being existing, anywhere in the material world, is free from the three modes of material nature." Bg. 18.40 Continue reading "Who’s Pulling the Strings
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Harinama in Vladivostok, Russia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: A girl is married to a husband. She’s hankering after a child. If she thinks, “Now I am married, I must have immediately a child.” Is it possible? Just have patience. Become a faithful wife, serve your husband and let your love grow up, and because you are husband and wife, it is sure you’ll have children. But don’t be impatient. Similarly, when you are in Krishna Consciousness, your perfection is guaranteed. But have patience, determination. “I must execute. I should not be impatient.” That impatience is due to loss of determination. And how that loss determination is there? Due to excessive sex life. Los Angeles, February 17, 1969
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  The THREE together? Now that’s a combination worth knowing about! Special Talk on Sunday 12th June 2016 from 5pm. Join us for an exciting evening with Devamrita Swami. $5 includes enlightening talk, kirtan and dinner. As a world traveller & international author, Devamrita swami is the kind of person to hear from if you really want to gain […]

The post SEX,LOVE AND YOGA June 12th, 15th and 22nd appeared first on The Loft Yoga Lounge Auckland.

A superb performance of chanting the maha-mantra with the accompaniment of a whole orchestra with classical instruments.
Observe the undivided attention the artists and the chanters exhibit during the kirtana under the leading of BB Govinda Swami. (14 min video). To some devotees this video brought tears in their eyes.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/ue7hsP

Harinama in Ukraine (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: We are trapped souls in a state of forgetfulness of Krishna, and Krishna is giving you the chance now to re-establish your relationship with Him by this chanting process. So take full advantage of it and be happy. Letter to Prahladananda, February 14, 1969
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Sri - Sri Radha Kunjavihari Chandan Yatra Mahotsava 2016 (Album with photos) Bali, Indonesia.
Srila Prabhupada: All glories to the chanting of Hare Krishna mantra or Krishna sankirtana movement. All glories. All victory. How it is victory, all victory? If you chant this Hare Krishna mantra, then the dirty things which have accumulated in your heart due to material contamination will be cleared off. (Purport to Siksastakam).
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Harinama in a park of Moscow, Russia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: How can we think mundane thoughts and at the same time chant? Two things are happening, and one will conquer. As maya is working to drag you from Krishna consciousness, you can challenge maya by chanting Hare Krishna. (Lecture on Bhagavad-gita, 3.6.10, Los Angeles 1968)
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One cat and the Teachings of Queen Kunti.
Karuna Darini Dasi: I got my first book from a book table near the Los Angeles Ratha-yatra site. I took the Teachings of Queen Kunti home with me and read it. I liked the beautiful, classic prayers, but did not want a personal God in my life again, having renounced Christianity.
Some friends, recently turned devotees, were regularly bringing me prasada. They were patient with and kind to me, but I had a lot of excuses not to join them. One major excuse was my pregnant pet cat. One night I came home from work to find that my cat had given birth to two premature kittens — a miscarriage. The fetuses were lying on top of my stack of poetry books and quasi-spiritual art magazines. The TQK was exactly next to that mess – though untouched, as effulgent as ever. I was shocked and frightened. Then I thought, What is it with this Krishna literature? It was protected from this mess and it looks so beautiful! It seemed to say, “You can’t enjoy this pet cat! The cat is always suffering, and you are always suffering!”
I read TQK, I started to wonder what other shocks were in store for me in this lifetime. When I joined the bhaktin asrama, I was very glad to meet so many devotees.
When people ask me how I became a devotee I like to say that there is no group of people I have met throughout my life who is as amazing and intelligent as the Hare Krishna devotees.
Your servant,
Karuna Darini Dasi

https://flic.kr/s/aHskBUybzv

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A visit to the famous Radha Krishna Temple in London (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Just hours after my flight from New York had landed in London I was off to 10 Soho Street for a program at ISKCON’s famous downtown temple. The darshan of Radha London Isvara was breathtaking, the association of the British devotees sweet as it comes and the prasadam as great as ever. Good to be back in England!
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Satsvarupa dasa Brahmacari, January 1966

June 8. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Satsvarupa dasa Brahmacari, January 1966.
Diary notes from morning lecture, Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 21.35.
Krishna is “home-ly” – He is proprietor of every place, but He has His own place. We falsely claim a piece of land as ours. Actually, nothing is ours. There is a saying, “I beg vegetables to eat, and sleep in the marketplace, so where is my home?” We claim land is ours, so there can be no peace. Goloka is His abode in the spiritual sky. Planets are round but Goloka is lotus-like. As sunlight for the universe comes from the sun, so all light comes from Goloka. All the universes come from Krishna in Goloka; this one universe we live in is insignificant. Within the earth, U.S.A. is a small part, and in U.S.A., New York City is still more insignificant, “and in that NYC, this 26 Second Avenue is insignificant, and we are sitting here. So just see how insignificant we are. And we are claiming we are God.”
We laughed when Swamiji said that, we are here at 26 Second Avenue. As he was saying it, we sensed it, getting more and more insignificant. He laughed, too. We are in one tiny corner of everything. It is wonderful that he did that – and we can know it all comes from Krishna. We get in touch with original Krishna by chanting.
I used to doodle these bass players all the time. Now that I’m in Krishna consciousness, I should give it up. Better to have them play in kirtan like the man who played bass when we had kirtan at Dr. Mishra’s asrama. Otherwise, I want to let these things go from my past. I only want to do things approved by my spiritual master.
That publisher from Chicago came to New York City. He published a segment of my novel on Svevo. He was surprised to find me a disciple of the Swami. He came and sat on the floor with me in my apartment. He wasn’t particularly impressed by my “religion.” He noticed that the thumbnail on my left hand is filled with grooves and asked me if it had been injured. “I’m not sure what it’s from,” I said, “maybe nail-biting.” It was as if he wanted to say something actual, true and meaningful, personal, and perceptive, so he chose to comment on my pitiful-looking thumbnail. But I am not this body. Talking about my thumbnail didn’t bring us much of an intimate exchange.
Anyway, I said to him, maybe I can write a sequel to the novel telling how Svevo joined the Hare Krishna movement. He said okay. Rayarama came and met him. Then the publisher left. I don’t think I even have his address. He’ll probably go see Murray and Steve and see what they’re writing. His coming here was like a visit from my past self. But I’m fixed in Krishna consciousness now. I probably won’t find time to write that sequel. I’m definitely not very interested in reliving the scenes with Eliot and Anna and all the stuff that Svevo went through. But a sequel might be good for preaching purposes.
I asked Swamiji last night about whether I should write the sequel. He said, “Yes, you can do it.” I felt foolish telling him somebody wanted to publish something that I had written. I didn’t want Swamiji to misunderstand. He understood perfectly well. He said, “But they should pay you. Just because you are religious does not mean you should get less money or no money. You should get more.” That’s all he said. So let’s see what happens about that.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=9

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 June 2013, Vrindavana, India, Srila Prabhupada Pastimes Lecture)

Question: What is the purpose of group chanting?

Obviously when we do things together, it gives us support in different ways – it gives support in a positive way and also in another way like when your mind thinks, ‘Oh, I am so ill today, I am not well, I need some rest! Oh, rest!!’

When you are alone, who will tell you not to do it but when you are with the vaisnavas, then it looks so bad. Therefore, it also keeps check and balance. In this way, the association of devotees gives us support and protection from our lower nature. In front of the vaisnavas, we will behave better than when we are alone. So, chant with the vaisnavas!

TOVP: Temple Room Floor and Outdoor Fence Concepts (Album with photos)
Janesvari Devi Dasi: Here are some concepts for the main temple room floor design and outdoor fences, designed by our Russian architect Rangavati Dasi.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/GDh5mA

I am feeling very enlivened this morning because as I was studying the seven main chakras, some realizations came to me regarding my life, and current health challenge. These realizations, which are fine tuning, or refinements, of ideas I have been thinking, speaking, and writing about for a long time, unlocked an inner door that touched my heart with more and more practical understanding about my life (the “aha” factor). I think these ideas could be helpful for you as well—at least I share it with you with that hope. Conceptions that we may believe in a general sense are always abstract until they are applied and demonstrated in our own lives.

Whatever we struggle with in regards to our relationships, family, occupation, state of mind, attitude, or spiritual practice, are feedback that these challenges are life lessons shouting at us: "Pay attention here! You are required to be understood them and correct these imbalances or difficulties in your life." We live in a purposeful universe, and thus every situation and every person in our lives or whom we may encounter are there for a very good reason. There are no accidents, and those events, people, or states of mind that we struggle with or want to avoid, sometimes thinking they are the enemy, hold the key to our personal happiness and fulfillment.

My visiting friend, Mr. Cancer, is located in the 5th chakra, and between my 5th and 6th chakra. The 5th chakra, located in the throat area revolves around our will power to decide, or have the courage, to follow our guidance about our life purpose or highest potential. When we are off track with our life purpose, or the life intentions for action we made before coming into this life, we tend to negatively react to situations or people prompting us to wake up or remind us of this purpose with fear or with what is convenient, rather than by the courage and determination to do what we are meant to do.

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By Raga Devi dasi

As a progressive aspiring Vaishnavi, I have plenty of appreciation for so many of the things and people I’ve experienced in this lifetime. From doing more than two decades of daily japa and a whole lot of hearing Krishna’s messages in the company of devotees, I’m also quite convinced that neither our births or activities are accidental. They are in many ways and most cases more of a continued af-fair, or at least, far from accidental. My experience of Muhammad Ali accentuates this point for me.

I first learned of Ali in my 7th grade class when I chose to do a book report on him for my first black history assignment. As a whopping 12 year old, Ali was actually the very first name change I had ever heard of. He went from Cassius Clay to his new Muslim name, and as a name-change virgin, I found the whole thing very intriguing. Maybe fifteen years later, I met the devotees, took diksha initiation from HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami and soon discovered that during his preaching efforts, he actually met and befriended Ali in Los Angeles during the 70s. Being the ingenious risk-taker and strategist he was, BT Swami (at the time Ghanashyam) was so daring and caring a Vaishnava that he actually found out where Ali lived, boldly drove up to his lavish estate and then got lined up to become one of his limo drivers. This was all done as an undercover agent of course, but soon after I heard about this feat, I realized that this was a perfect display of Krishna’s Bg As It Is, verse 12:16.

“My devotee who is not dependent on the ordinary course of activities, who is pure, expert, without cares, free from all pains, and not striving for some result, is very dear to Me.”

Now admittedly, Bhaktitirtha Swami may have been striving for a merciful result (for Ali), but he was certainly pure and expert and was not taking an ordinary course of activity, especially for a leading renounced prabhu to take. But Bhaktitirtha Swami has always been a master at using unusual opportunities to build bridges that conditioned souls can cross over into bhakti. Like his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktitirtha Swami liked making others fortunate and was able to. Disciples and observers of BT Swami were always taking note of this fact and often taken aback by his incredible successes. In fact, I can only imagine the conversations Ali and BT Swami had as a driver and the driven, but being so reminiscent of Krishna and Arjuna’s pastime, I’m sure this dialogue came up and I’m sure that the humble service BT Swami briefly rendered for Ali did result in them bonding, and soon in Guru being invited into Ali’s mansion to discuss philosophy and then the two of them being photographed together for publicity purposes. A beautiful picture of BT Swami and Muhammad Ali appears in Steven Rosen’s biography of BT Swami, Black Lotus: The Spiritual Journey of An Urban Mystic.

It wasn’t until adulthood that I also found out how courageous and heroic Ali had been in his refusal to fight in the Vietnam war. He actually made quite a public display of it, went to court about it several times and served a 3-1/2 year jail sentence for it also. For a short period, he also returned the solid gold heavy boxing belt he’d won through a championship to the boxing commission, but this was later returned to him when he was finally accepted by the U.S. Army as a conscientious objector. Regarding Vietnam, Muhammad Ali is known to have said that he didn’t want to go and fight and kill people in Vietnam because “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong!” Award winning writer Joyce Carol Oates wrote a detailed article about him June 6^ths New York Times. Here she points out that Ali retired in 1981 after 61 fights and 56 wins. After his jail term, he returned to the ring and at 32 beat 25 year old George Frazier. She also attributes a lot of Ali’s charisma & smarts to his spiritual insight.

It turns out Ali was a Sufi, or a follower of Mystic Islam. Such Sufis, as it’s also done in regular Islam, do a lot of praying and chanting. In fact another famous person many of us will remember who also converted to Islam is the successful musician Cat Stevens. Stevens’ music has even been greatly influenced by his conversion, and in some spheres, his music is as popular as Ram Dass.’

Indeed all of these kinds of things must have come up in conversation between Ali and BT, and indeed Ali was able to develop a great deal of appreciation for both bhakti and his new friend, Ghanashyam prabhu. Although Ali never took Harinam initiation, he did read a lot of Bhagavad gita and the Sri Isopanisad. But more than anything he became close friends with a senior Vaishnava and was able to reveal his mind in confidence to BT Swami, which led to more interesting conversation.

Much of what Ali revealed to Bhaktitirtha Swami were his woes and complaints about how some bad choices of his led to a lot of pain and frustration. There was even a brief period that Ali complained to BT about all the burdens of fame. Ali point blank told him that his own boyhood desires of wanting great wealth, fame and popularity were still sometimes haunting and sabotaging him. The many wives and properties he wanted in youth seemed to be the most complicating of his desires. For sure, Ali can tell us all more than anyone how co-wives don’t always get along or make life very easy. But polygamy is perfectly legitimate in Islam, especially for people as wealthy as Ali. Some other of Ali’s confidential complaints were that some family members of his were getting greedy and demanding of him, wanting much more of a share in his wealth than he felt was appropriate.

Ali is also well known for his close relationship with sports announcer Howard Cossell, and these two often participated in many star-studded televised celebrations of Muhammad Ali’s birthdays which are now broadcasted on YouTube. Since Ali has as many fans as he garnered from boxing, the participants in these shows were huge celebs like Billy Crystal, (who does an incredible Ali impersonation), but also dozens of other singing groups, like the Pointer Sisters, and many, many more! Ali was clearly a very fun loving and intelligent person, who in spite of his boxing performances, had squelched a big part of his false ego. He will definitely be missed by me and many other devotees.

7th June, 2016. Gurgaon

Krishna’s lotus feet

Last few weeks one term that I have been constantly reading is Krishna’s and Guru’s lotus feet. Somehow the terms lotus feet was jumping out from every lecture and every reading I was doing. Taking that as a sign for me I have compiled this post for the pleasure of the devotees of the lotus feet of Supreme Lord. My own attachment for Krishna’s lotus feet went up a few notches higher simply by searching on this topic!

Krishna’s lotus feet should be our first priority!

When a devotee wants to see the transcendental form of the Lord, he begins his meditation on the Lord’s body by first looking at the feet of the Lord.

(SB 4.24.52p)

One should begin to see the Lord from His lotus feet, gradually rising to the thighs, waist, chest and face. One should not try to look at the face of the Lord without being accustomed to seeing the lotus feet of the Lord.

(SB 1.8.22p)

By his constitutional position, Lord Siva is always great and auspicious, but since he has accepted on his head the Ganges water, which emanated from the lotus feet of the Lord, he has become even more auspicious and important. The stress is on the lotus feet of the Lord. A relationship with the lotus feet of the Lord can even enhance the importance of Lord Siva, what to speak of other, ordinary living entities.

(SB 3.28.22p)

It is stated herein by the Kumäras that the lotus feet of Lord Krishna are the ultimate reservoir of all pleasure.

(SB 4.22.39p)

Their unsurpassed beauty

The beauty of the lotus feet of the Lord is compared to the petals of a lotus flower which grows in the autumn season. By nature’s law, in autumn the dirty or muddy waters of rivers and lakes become very clean. At that time the lotus flowers growing in the lakes appear very bright and beautiful. The lotus flower itself is compared to the lotus feet of the Lord, and the petals are compared to the nails of the feet of the Lord.

(SB 4.24.52p)

Why are they called Lotus feet?

The spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, the eternal abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa, is shaped like the whorl of a lotus flower. Even when the Lord descends to any one of the mundane planets, He does so by manifesting His own abode as it is. Thus His feet remain always on the same big whorl of the lotus flower. His feet are also as beautiful as the lotus flower. Therefore it is said that Lord Kṛṣṇa has lotus feet.

(SB 1.16.6p)

Pure devotees are attached to Krishna’s lotus feet.

The pure devotees are always hankering after the lotus feet of the Lord. The lotus has a kind of honey which is transcendentally relished by the devotees. They are like the bees who are always after the honey. Srila Rupa Gosvami, the great devotee acharaya of the Gaudia-Vaishnava-sampradaya, has sung a song about this lotus honey, comparing himself to the bee: “O my Lord Krishna, I beg to offer my prayers unto You. My mind is like the bee, and it is after some honey. Kindly, therefore, give my bee-mind a place at Your lotus feet, which are the resources for all transcendental honey. I know that even big demigods like Brahmä do not see the rays of the nails of Your lotus feet, even though they are engaged in deep meditation for years together. Still, O infallible one, my ambition is such, for You are very merciful to your surrendered devotees. O Mädhava, I know also that I have no genuine devotion for the service of Your lotus feet, but because Your Lordship is inconceivably powerful, You can do what is impossible to be done. Your lotus feet can deride even the nectar of the heavenly kingdom, and therefore I am very much attracted by them. O supreme eternal, please, therefore, let my mind be fixed at Your lotus feet so that eternally I may be able to relish the taste of Your transcendental service.” The devotees are satisfied with being placed at the lotus feet of the Lord and have no ambition to see His all-beautiful face or aspire for the protection of the strong arms of the Lord. They are humble by nature, and the Lord is always leaning towards such humble devotees.

(SB 1.11.26p)

No need to visit any holy place!

Lord Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is described here as Tirthapäda. Tirtha means “sanctified place,” and päda means “the lotus feet of the Lord.” People go to a sanctified place to free themselves from all sinful reactions. In other words, those who are devoted to the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, automatically become sanctified. The Lord’s lotus feet are called tirtha-päda because under their protection there are hundreds and thousands of saintly persons who sanctify the sacred places of pilgrimage. Srila Narottama dasa Thaukura, a great acharay of the Gaudiya Vaishnava-sampradaya, advises us not to travel to different places of pilgrimage. Undoubtedly it is troublesome to go from one place to another, but one who is intelligent can take shelter of the lotus feet of Govinda and thereby be automatically sanctified as the result of his pilgrimage. Anyone who is fixed in the service of the lotus feet of Govinda is called tirtha-päda; he does not need to travel on various pilgrimages, for he can enjoy all the benefits of such travel simply by engaging in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord.

(SB 4.6.25p)

They are the source of everything

The lotus feet of the Lord are known as mahat-padam; this means that the total source of material existence rests on the lotus feet of the Lord. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (10.8), ahaà sarvasya prabhavaù: everything is emanating from Him. This cosmic manifestation, which is compared to an ocean of nescience, is also resting on the lotus feet of the Lord. As such, this great ocean of nescience is minimized by a person who is a pure devotee. One who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord need not cross over the ocean, for he has already crossed it by virtue of his position at the Lord’s lotus feet.

(SB 4.23.39p)

And easy to attain

By hearing and chanting of the glories of the Lord or the Lord’s devotee, one can become firmly fixed in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord.

(SB 4.23.39p)

Krishna’s lotus feet can liberate everyone but..

Lord Krishna is the fountainhead of the principle of vishnu-tattva, and therefore shelter of His lotus feet can deliver one from all sins, including an offense committed by a king unto a brahmana. Maharaja Parikshit, therefore, decided to meditate upon the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna, who is Mukunda, or the giver of liberations of all description. The banks of the Ganges or the Yamuna give one a chance to remember the Lord continuously. Maharaja Parikshit freed himself from all sorts of material association and meditated upon the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, and that is the way of liberation. To be free from all material association means to cease completely from committing any further sins. To meditate upon the lotus feet of the Lord means to become free from the effects of all previous sins. The conditions of the material world are so made that one has to commit sins willingly or unwillingly, and the best example is Maharaja Parikshit himself, who was a recognized sinless, pious king. But he also became a victim of an offense, even though he was ever unwilling to commit such a mistake. He was cursed also, but because he was a great devotee of the Lord, even such reverses of life became favorable. The principle is that one should not willingly commit any sin in his life and should constantly remember the lotus feet of the Lord without deviation. Only in such a mood will the Lord help the devotee make regular progress toward the path of liberation and thus attain the lotus feet of the Lord.

(SB 1.19.7p)

Ecstasy simply by meditation on Krishna’s lotus feet

There is such transcendental bliss in simply meditating on the lotus feet of the Lord that one can forget everything but the Lord’s transcendental form.

(SB 4.4.27p)

The soles of the Lord’s lotus feet are marked with çaìkha-cakra-gadä-padma—conchshell, disc, club and lotus—and also by a flag and a thunderbolt. When Krishna walks on this earth or in the heavenly planets, these marks are visible wherever He goes. Vrindavan-dhama is a transcendental place because of Krishna’s walking on this land frequently. The inhabitants of Vrindavan were fortunate to see these marks here and there. When Akrüra went to Vrindavan to take Krishna and Balarama away to the festival arranged by Kansa, upon seeing the marks of the Lord’s lotus feet on the ground of Vrindavan , he fell down and began to groan. These marks are visible to devotees who receive the causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The demigods were jubilant not only because the appearance of the Supreme Lord would do away with the burdensome demons, but also because they would be able to see upon the ground the transcendental marks from the soles of the Lord’s lotus feet. The gopis always thought of the Lord’s lotus feet when He was walking in the pasturing grounds, and, as described in the previous verse, simply by thinking of the Lord’s lotus feet, the gopis were fully absorbed in transcendence. Like the gopis, one who is always absorbed in thought of the Lord is beyond the material platform and will not remain in this material world. It is our duty, therefore, always to hear, chant and think about the Lord’s lotus feet, as actually done by Vaishvanas who have decided to live in Vrindavan always and think of the Lord’s lotus feet twenty-four hours a day.

(SB 10.2.39p)

Even Krishna wants to taste His own toes!

As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, You have taken birth from my abdomen. O my Lord, how is that possible for the supreme one, who has in His belly all the cosmic manifestation? The answer is that it is possible, for at the end of the millennium You lie down on a leaf of a banyan tree, and just like a small baby, You lick the toe of Your lotus foot.

At the time of dissolution the Lord sometimes appears as a small baby lying on a leaf of a banyan tree, floating on the devastating water. Therefore Devahūti suggests, “Your lying down within the abdomen of a common woman like me is not so astonishing. You can lie down on the leaf of a banyan tree and float on the water of devastation as a small baby. Therefore it is not very wonderful that You can lie down in the abdomen of my body. You teach us that those who are very fond of children within this material world and who therefore enter into marriage to enjoy family life with children can also have the Supreme Personality of Godhead as their child, and the most wonderful thing is that the Lord Himself licks His toe.”

Since all the great sages and devotees apply all energy and all activities in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, there must be some transcendental pleasure in the toes of His lotus feet. The Lord licks His toe to taste the nectar for which the devotees always aspire. Sometimes the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself wonders how much transcendental pleasure is within Himself, and in order to taste His own potency, He sometimes takes the position of tasting Himself. Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He appears as a devotee to taste the sweetness of the transcendental mellow in Himself which is tasted by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the greatest of all devotees.

(SB 3.33.4+p)

Summer Children’s Day Greeting in the Iskcon Temple of Budapest, Hungary (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Krishna is everywhere. Simply you have to catch Him. And He’s also ready for being caught. Yes, if somebody wants to catch Him. Suppose you are a devotee. If you want to catch Him, He comes forward ten times than your desire. He’s so kind. Therefore, we have to simply receive Him. London, August 21, 1973.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/uzYNnG

Religious Studies Project: ISKCON in Britain. (23 min podcast)
This year the ISKCON Movement (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) celebrates its 50th anniversary. Fittingly, for this podcast Professor Kim Knott, BA (Leeds), MA (Leeds), PhD (Leeds), provides an overview of the Hare Krishna movement in Britain from its inception in 1966 to the present day.
Recognisable by their distinctive appearances and chants, ISKCON practitioners grew in number in the UK due to a number of reasons, ranging from young people’s fascination with Indian spirituality in the 1960s, to its celebrity endorsements from George Harrison and the Beatles.
Knott considers the most notable events in ISKCON’s fifty year history in Britain, and discusses how the movement has adapted to British lifestyle, and what the future may hold for ISKCON education.
Watch it below or here: https://goo.gl/RDBAeY

The post Daily Darshan: June 7th, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

The post Srimad Bhagavatam predicts Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual revolution appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

A super serious future kirtaniya is practicing (2 min video)
Vaikuntha children under practice to spread Krishna consciousness in the whole world! :-)
Srila Prabhupada: Punya-sravana-kirtana refers to the process of devotional service. Even is one does not understand the meaning of the Lord’s name, pastimes or attributes, one is purified simply by hearing or chanting of them. Such purification is called sattva-bhavana. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.12 Purport).
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/3pJAJm

The rath (chariot) was bedecked with flowers, paper lanterns and garlands of fruit.

And of course, images of Lord Krishna.

A four-wheel wooden chariot, nearly two storeys in height, it made its way slowly through the streets of Brisbane CBD on a Saturday morning in early May.

Built to resemble a temple, with a colourful red and yellow pillar made of cloth topped by a golden coloured dome, it carried the idols of Lord Krishna and Sri Prabhupada, founder of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness.

It was hand-pulled by over three hundred ISKCON devotees, who used thick strong ropes with much fanfare. The catchy tunes of Hare Rama and Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare filled the air.

With police escort and roads in the Brisbane CBD cordoned off, this was the grand celebratory occasion of ‘The Festival of Chariots’.

“The Festival of Chariots originated in Puri, Orissa over 2000 years ago and is now celebrated in every major city across the world,” Niti Sheth, one of the festival coordinators, told Indian Link.

It was marked originally at the Jagannanth Temple in Puri (from where the term ‘juggernaut’ comes) when the deities, to this day, are put in a massive chariot and taken for an annual tour of the city.

“This is one of the few times that we come out to the streets to really share the love. It’s all about giving. Our tagline for this year is ‘Joy of devotion”.

Where did the chariot come from?

“It has travelled all the way from ISKCON’s farming community in Murwillumbah from northern NSW,” Niti revealed. “We bring it up once a year for the festival. It also travels further south to Melbourne.”

For Radha Dasi, the pulling of the chariot holds a special significance. “We are remembering the Lord of the Universe today,” she said. “We are pulling this Chariot, so that Lord Jaganath (Krishna) can come and live in our hearts and can remain in our hearts forever.”

Winding through the streets of the CBD for over an hour, onlookers were in awe, trying to get a selfie or two. The Chariot was finally brought to King George Square, where a number of festivities were lined up for the day.

There was free food from the ‘Food for Life’ tent, interactive games for children, stalls selling sweets and treats, henna and a card reading stall that imparted Vedic wisdom.

A free-for-all event, the henna stall seemed to be quite popular with the Australians. Neha Attal, henna artist, told Indian Link, “Henna comes from the leaves of a plant, Lawsonia Enermis. The scientific reason behind applying it is, it reduces body heat. It is catching up real quick in Australia and people thoroughly enjoy applying henna on their palms or a tattoo.”

Indian Link also popped into the card reading tent to get an insight into a bit of Vedic wisdom. The card read by Ranganath Das said, ‘Know that all beautiful, glorious and mighty creations, spring from, but is a spark of, my splendour.’ It forms the basis of one of the songs Lord Krishna sang to Arjuna on the bloody battlefields of Kurukshetra, a religious war that was fought to safeguard the principles of religion.

Crowds thronged King George Square to revel in the festivities. Smiles, greetings, and enjoying oneself were the order of the day!

Source: http://www.indianlink.com.au/juggernaut/

Ratha-yatra Festival, Rijeka, Croatia 2016 (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/SrSDrP

US returns over 200 artifacts worth more than $100 million to India
The New Indian Express - June 7, 2016
The US today returned over 200 cultural artifacts estimated at $100 million to India at a ceremony, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at Washington DC.
“For some, these artifacts may be measured in monetary terms but for us this is beyond that. It’s a part of our culture and heritage,” the Prime Minister said at the ceremony held at the Blair House.
Items returned included religious statues, bronzes and terra cotta pieces, some dating back 2,000 years, looted from some of India’s most treasured religious sites.
Among the pieces returned is a statue of Saint Manikkavichavakar, a Hindu mystic and poet from the Chola period (circa 850 AD to 1250 AD) stolen from the Sivan Temple in Chennai, which is valued at $1.5 million.
Also included in the collection is a bronze sculpture of the Hindu god Ganesh estimated to be 1,000-year-old.
The artifacts that speak to India’s astounding history and beautiful culture are beginning their journey home, US Attorney General Loretta E Lynch said.
“It is my hope – and the hope of the American people– that this repatriation will serve as a sign of our great respect for India’s culture; our deep admiration for its people; and our sincere appreciation for the ties between our nations,” she said.
“Protecting the cultural heritage of our global community is important work and we are committed to identifying and returning these priceless items to their countries of origin and rightful owners,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said in a statement.
“It’s the responsibility of law enforcement worldwide to ensure criminal smuggling organizations do not profit from the theft of these culturally and historically valuable items,” he said.
The majority of the pieces repatriated in the ceremony were seized during Operation Hidden Idol, an investigation that began in 2007 after Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) special agents received a tip about a shipment of seven crates destined for the US manifested as “marble garden table sets”.
Examination of the shipment in question revealed numerous antiquities. This shipment was imported by Subhash Kapoor, owner of Art of the Past Gallery, who awaits trial in India.
HSI’s Operation Hidden Idol focused on the activities of former New York-based art dealer Kapoor, currently in custody in India awaiting trial for allegedly looting tens of millions of dollars worth of rare antiquities from several nations, a media release said.
Artifacts were also found in the Honolulu Museum and Peabody Essex, who promptly partnered with HSI to surrender illicit cultural property stemming from Kapoor.
HSI special agents have executed a series of search warrants targeting Kapoor’s New York City gallery, along with warehouses and storage facilities linked to the dealer.
Additionally, five individuals have been arrested in the US for their role in the scheme, a media release said.
More: http://goo.gl/cFcCdp

By Sthita-dhi-muni dasa

Recently a devotee lent me a paperback book distributed by one of our prabhus at this past year’s Mayapura festival. Titled Srila Prabhupada’s Challenge, it is concerned with Prabhupada’s views on science. Unfortunately, this book features several misquotations. While undoubtedly a sincere effort, these shortcomings were likely unwittingly incorporated. The devotee promoting this book appears to have been distributing on his own with a book bag along one of the main thoroughfares of the Mayapura campus.

There are specific concerns. Whereas the front cover boldly declares—“Srila Prabhupada’s Challenge”—the reverse cover features a provocative misstatement that is again highlighted on page three. (The Kindle edition does not have a reverse cover.)

The featured misquotation states:

“The wrong conception of life is based on Darwin’s theory and so we have to challenge it—protest and defeat it. This will be our work.”

Yet Srila Prabhupada never said this in the cited May 3, 1973 conversation. As such, would it be fair to wonder why promote a crafted misquotation as a central Prabhupada argument? Or to put it another way, if the argument is in fact central, why didn’t Srila Prabhupada speak this way in the first place?

That being said, if someone wishes to promote a slogan like this, perhaps it would be better to find an actual quotation that states the issue in this manner. Or short of that, print the original as spoken by Prabhupada and then offer commentary explaining the preference for an alternate expression. Ignoring scholarly protocol, risks fostering both intellectual muddiness, and devotional miscommunication. At any rate, this statement, published as it is, is not historically accurate. In any such situation, why risk misquoting Srila Prabhupada?

What follows is an account of the actual conversation readily available in easily accessible archival recordings and transcripts. Included is a Vanisource.org link that offers complete digital access to both the Bhaktivedanta Archives conversation transcript and the digital file for the original audio recording, for this specific exchange.

http://vanisource.org/wiki/730503_-_Morning_Walk_-_Los_Angeles

In the original, Prabhupada focused on the utility of the “life comes from life” argument. That is what he is promoting as his central point of attack against the “wrong conception”—that life is reducible to matter. Prabhupada expands on this point more than a half dozen times throughout the discussion. Meanwhile, the word “Darwin” occurs but once. In its original context, it appears to be used as an example of material reductionism, and not as an essential cause suggested by the misquotation.

This first excerpt is from the start of the conversation held on May 3, 1973 in Los Angeles. The discussion begins with Prabhupada articulating a very specific challenge:

Prabhupada: … the whole world is running on a false theory that life is born out of matter. But that is not a fact. So how to defeat this theory? That is our business. We have to defeat this rascal theory. We have to challenge all these rascals and defeat them. How it is possible?

Svarupa Damodara: By logic.

Prabhupada: By logic, by science. …

Not long after this introduction, follows the exchange from which the misquotation is drawn. As mentioned, this is the only time Prabhupada refers to Darwinism in the entire conversation (albeit also unflattering), and the context appears to consider it one of the “so many” arguments “based on this foolish theory, wrong conception of life.” In addition, Prabhupada again repeats his blunt declaration: “In all respects we have to prove that life does not come from matter.”

This section begins at the 06:10 mark of the digital recording.

Prabhupada: … Life is existing. Life has no change. The change is outward, material things. In all respects we have to prove that life does not come from matter. Matter generates from life, stays for some time, and it is finished. Again begins another chapter.

Svarupa Damodara: The original source is life.

Prabhupada: Life, yes. They are searching after the original source. That is life, Krsna, sarva-karana-karanam (Bs. 5.1), cause of all causes. So this is not theory; this is fact. Now we have to prove it. Then the whole program of these rascals’ theory will be changed, and people will be happy. Because they are standing on a wrong theory, all their calculations are wrong, and people are suffering. The rascal Darwin’s theory, so many, based on this foolish theory, wrong conception of life. So we have to challenge, protest, defeat. This will be our work. …

In another quotation from this same section, Prabhupada discusses that although “life comes from life” will prove effective for defeating material reductionism, in another sense it is not an essential contention since the Vaisnava tradition considers life eternal.

Prabhupada: This is a fact, that…, that life comes from life. In another sense, life does not come; life is existing. It is not exactly the word, that life generates. No. Life is existing. The matter is generating. Matter is generating, and it stays for some time, again it is vanished. Just like this body. This body is born at a certain date, and it will be finished at a certain date. This is matter.

Prabhupada references his use of the “life comes from life” argument to Brahma-samhita 5.1. This verse proclaims that “Krishna who is known as Govinda . . . is the prime cause of all causes.” As Prabhupada explains it, Krishna is life, and life comes from life. Prabhupada boldly asserts that this “is not theory; it is fact.”

Interestingly, Prabhupada also mentions, “Now we have to prove it.” Even though professional science falls short in facilitating the conclusive proof of anything, due to its reliance on material methodology, still, logic and reason remains of central importance when considering evidence from the natural world. Ultimately, for Gaudiya Vaishnavas, the proof of the pudding is in the bhakti.

Maha-ashraya Prabhu, ACBSP, left his body while living in Manaus, Brazil. Last May 30th, close to midnight. He was born in Chicago and was 61. He surely went to Krsnaloka to take part in Krsna’s pastimes.
Srila Prabhupada: “For one who wants liberation from the fruitive reactions of material activities, the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, or glorification of the name, fame and pastimes of the Lord, is recommended as the most perfect process of atonement because such chanting eradicates the dirt from one’s heart completely.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.12).

By Ananda Maya Dasi

Sacred chanting on the Emerald Isle will mark 30 years of blissful service.

The title read, “Now Irish Eyes are Smiling”, an article in the Back to Godhead magazine by Mathuresa Dasa covered the installation ceremony of Sri Sri Radha Govinda, the presiding deities at ISKCON Northern Ireland’s Govindadvipa temple. The year was 1986, Ireland was still in the midst of a guerrilla warfare conflict, and it was a cover feature and multiple page spread in the publication that was the mainstay of ISKCON media coverage in the pre-internet and social media era. The installation of the most beautiful Deity form of Radha and Krishna came just under two years after the Hare Krishna island, locally known as Inis Rath (island fort), was purchased by the devotees.

The temple building, an old manor house, once witnessed top business families, associates of Lords and Ladies and even the famous Winston Churchill, all of whom used the scenic area of Upper Lough Erne in the border Lakelands of Ireland for hunting. Now it was claimed as a religious settlement and home for Krishna and His devotees, continuing the other tradition of the region, monastic settlements and religious prayer albeit previously in the Christian tradition.

In weeks of rain, mass activity and imported help, a crew of devotees excitedly worked to prepare for the big event the installation of Their Lordships presided over by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. Late night construction, sewing and cooking all climaxed in a splendidly sunny day when Sri Sri Radha Govinda were greeted by hundreds of people eager to see this ancient Vedic ritual for calling God into His murti form. Multiple fire sacrifices were held simultaneously, dignitaries spoke, the local community came for the first ‘open day’ on the island. Entertainment continued in a major festival atmosphere, which was covered by the television, national and local media. A helicopter repeatedly brought people high overhead to witness the spectacle. The first arati/worship ceremony took place and everyone thronged to see the beautiful forms that have now graced Govindadvipa for 30 years!

Fast forward to 2016 and ISKCON worldwide are celebrating 50 years of serving founder acarya’s vision for an international and worldwide society that preached love of God, Krishna, on a mass scale. Ireland is also celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the installation of the most beautiful forms of The Lord, Sri Sri Radha Govinda.  Like many other centres, changes in management, fluctuations in resident numbers and financial demands have been issues, but still the worship goes on. Some of the same personnel are present and Their Lordships look as beautiful as ever. Others that were involved all those years ago will also attend the celebrations witnessing how the legacy that they were involved with at the start still continues.                  

A weekend of kirtana (congregational sacred chanting) is planned to mark the 30^th Anniversary, commencing on 22^nd July (Friday evening) and finishing on 24^th July (Sunday evening) with a focus on kirtana being the fundamental way to preach love of God in this age and accessible to all.  IT is expected that this will build into the annual Govindadvipa kirtana festival reflecting the revived interested and mood in the movement. While facilities are limited and simple, camping is available and the devotees welcome people to join in this celebration. It is hoped that those who have had the great mercy of visiting and seeing Sri Sri Radha Govinda will share memories and support the occasion and these can be done via a Facebook page by following the link where readers will also be kept up to date on scheduling and sponsorship/birthday gift opportunities. Simultaneously a crowd funding appeal has been launched to repair the temple on Go Fund Me.

With memories come videos and photographs, reflecting the pre-digital age, and invitations to share these between devotees from the global community are open. These can be uploaded up-loaded to the Facebook link or emailed directly for inclusion to rg302016@gmail.com.  Devotees old and new are welcome to participate and devotees worldwide can get involved by logging onto the Facebook page where birthday gift ideas and necessities are listed, sponsorship opportunities and updates to the schedule.

Useful Links:

Facbook: Sri Sri Radha Govinda 30^th Anniversary 2016

Web: https://radhagovinda.wordpress.com/

Facebook: Krishna Daily Darshana

Web: www. krishnaisland.com

Temple fund campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/5swd4r2k 

June 7. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Satsvarupa dasa Brahmacari Diary, 1966.
The notes I keep on Swamiji’s lectures are an exercise to help me remember and understand Krishna consciousness. Unless you hear from a pure devotee, you cannot know Krishna. There are some books circulating in the storefront on Hinduism. Still, the all-important thing is to hear from Swamiji. I don’t know anything else. I am safe as his student. I can’t go wrong that way.
I want to read his Srimad-Bhagwatam and type for him – that is an excellent way to learn philosophy. You can’t learn philosophy unless Krishna reveals it in the heart. He will do that when you serve His realized pure devotee.
Notes from lecture of BG 6.40-43
He (the fallen yogi) takes birth in a brahmin’s family. Brahmins are very pure, very clean. Or the fallen yogi takes birth in a rich family.
Swamiji told of his own life. His father was very pious and worshiped Krishna. When Swamiji was 5 or 6 years old, he asked his father for Radha-Krishna deities. His father purchased Them, and Swamiji as a child offered his food to Them in imitation of the offerings his father made. They also visited a temple of Krishna. Swamiji as a child watched for hours. These are the gains of being born in a family like that.
Narada says even if you come to Krishna consciousness because you are crazy, all right, still it is good.
The third kind of family the fallen yogi is born into is a family of yogis. This is the best kind. The brahmin may think he has nothing to learn. The rich man’s son may become a drunkard. When you are born in one of these families, you start to remember what you learned of Krishna in the previous life.
Swamiji said: “I MAY TELL YOU THAT THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN THIS SOCIETY, KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, VERY SERIOUSLY, THEY ARE NOT ORDINARY PERSONS. THEY MUST HAVE HAD SUCH CULTURE IN THEIR PREVIOUS LIVES. NOW THEY ARE AGAIN TRYING TO REVIVE IT.” The asset is there.
That was very interesting that Swamiji said we must have been yogis in past lives and that is why we are taking to Krishna consciousness now. I don’t remember anything from my past life, especially about Krishna, but he said so according to the Bhagwad-gita.
I want to go on carefully listening to his lectures. Umapati keeps exact notes for publishing in BTG. Mine are more for myself. This is the only writing I am doing now.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=9

Satsvarupa dasa Brahmacari Diary, 1966

She was the sister of Bali, the Daitya “demon” who had conquered all the gods.

When Vāmana and approached Bali, she fell in love with him, “What a wonderful boy, I wish I was his mother!”

But when she saw how he manipulated Bali and stole everything from their family, her feelings turned to hatred, “I wish I could kill that boy!”

When Viṣṇu-Vāmana later appeared as Krishna, she became Pūtana, who tried to kill baby Krishna by playing the role of his mother – poisoning her breast milk.

When Krishna sucked out her prāṇa through her breasts, she died but did not attain the same type of liberation most enemies of Krishna attain. Most enemies relinquish their ego entirely and become homogenous within consciousness itself, brahman. But Pūtana instead developed a bhakti-ego and attained thereby a personal form in Krishna-līlā, as one of his wet-nurses. 

Because her initial, primary feeling was one of affection for him, Krishna held on to this and disregarded her secondary, later feeling of anger over his arguable treatment of Bali. This shows that Krishna is not flawed by pride, anger, or unforgiveness. 

One of the verses in Bhāgavatam about this is one of the three verses Vyāsa sent his students into the forest reciting, which succeeded in bringing Śukadeva Goswāmī back to learn the whole Bhāgavatam from Vyāsa.

Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.22.

“Only attention engaged in the service of the Lord, especially in dressing and decorating the temple, accompanied by musical kirtan and spiritual instructions from scriptures, can save the common man from the hellish cinema attractions and rubbish sex-songs broadcast everywhere by radios. If one is unable to maintain a temple at home, he should go to another’s temple where all the above performances are regularly executed. Visiting the temple of a devotee and looking at the profusely decorated forms of the Lord well dressed in a well-decorated, sanctified temple naturally infuse the mundane mind with spiritual inspiration.” (SB 2.3.22 purport)

Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.22, Bethesda