Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Please see this unique animation of the timeline of the travels of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Amazing where Srila Prabhupada went, in just a few years, in an advanced age and what he has accomplished!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/Z9yNqZ
The Hare Krishna world in Europe was quite different from the one I was used to. The ‘80s hadn’t devastated it as fully as in America. I guess that’s because their main post-Prabhupāda guru actually managed to “keep the dream alive” and continue acting as their unquestionable divinely-anointed leader. Harikeśa Swāmī, a.k.a. Śrīla Viṣṇupāda, made rock albums himself. They were completely awful in every way, and the fact that his disciples could listen to them made me really believe in brainwashing. Yet, despite being a wannabe rocker himself, he declared 108 an affront to Śrīla Prabhupāda. If we were real devotees, he said, we would be selling Prabhupāda’s books on the streets, not rocking out on stage.
His followers looked down on us. We knew it right away because it was one of the first things they told us. “Śrīla Viṣṇupāda says you are not bonafide.”
Oh, thank you. Nice to meet you, too.
Some of the ISKCON’s most prolific booksellers were here amongst his disciples. When we walked into the temple room they welcomed us with their backs.
Of course, our lack of bonafidity didn’t stop them from coming to our shows to sell books and so on. Somewhere in Germany, we pulled into a club and they were already there, somberly eyeing the peculiarities of our decidedly un-bondafide selves. They hadn’t brought anything to eat, but, as usual, the person in charge of the show had cooked us a vegetarian meal.
The devotees sat along the wall, glaring as we sat at the table.
It was exceedingly awkward, so I made a plate and carried it over to offer it to them.
“We eat only prasādam.” their spokesman said, renouncing my offer with a German accent that was almost cartoonish.
“This is prasādam.” I replied, already a bit insulted.
“No. It is cooked by the karmīs,” he declared. “Krishna does not accept it. And we do not eat karmī grains.”
I handed him an apple from a basket of fruit on the table.
He refused it, “It has been washed by the karmīs.”
Devotees all over the world are guilty of fanaticism, but this was just beyond imagination. I sat down and ate as much karmī grain as I could, in as boisterously joyful a mood I could possibly muster. We then informed they were welcome to stay for the show, but they were not welcome to sell books or do kīrtan. We would do the preaching.
They left.
Hey, if you are going to be “unbonafide,” you might as well do it without the hassle of having people breathing down your neck.
– Excerpt from an early draft of
Train Wrecks and Transcendence: A Collision of Hardcore and Hare Krishna
Available May 2016
By Vraja Kishor [VrajaKishor.com]
The 2nd Vaisnava Film Awards Festival (20 min video)
The 2nd Vaisnava Film Awards Festival in Mayapur took place on 18, 19, and 20th March 2016.
Seventeen golden Nityananda Awards were granted to special achievement and lifetime achievement recipients in an exciting 90 minutes ceremony, on the stage of Mayapur Festival’s main entertainments pandal.
Ground-breaking new videos were shown, each before it’s respective producer/director was honored by this rare event’s formal recognition.
No doubt this 2nd Award’s Festival is setting a trend that is likely to perdure and grow in popularity in ISKCON. So is the wish of organiser Nrsimhananda Das of Iskcon Television, who was assisted this year by Vasudeva Das, of BhakTV and VANDE (Vaisnava Arts For A New Devotional Era).
The Awards Night was filmed by Subuddhi Ray Das, and edited with the original HD clips by Vasudeva Das.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/kC8aCM
April 13. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Carl Yeargens.
New people began coming to see Prabhupada on the Bowery. Carl Yeargens, a thirty-three year-old, black, bearded man from the Bronx had attended Cornell University and was now independently studying Indian religion and Zen Buddhism. He had experimented with drugs as “psychedelic tools” and he had an interest in the music and poetry of India. He was influential among his friends and tried to interest them in meditation. He had even been dabbling in Sanskrit.
Carl: I had just finished reading a book called The Wonder That Was India. I had gotten the definition of a sannyasi and a brahmacari and so forth. There was a vivid description in that particular book of how you could see a sannyasi coming down the road with his saffron robe. It must have made more than a superficial impression on me, because it came to me on this one chilly evening. I was going to visit Michael Grant – probably going to smoke some marijuana and sit around, maybe play some music – and I was coming down Hester Street. If you make a left on the Bowery, you can go up to Mike’s place on Grand Street. But it’s a funny thing that I chose to go that way, because the shorter way would have been to go down Grand Street. But if I had gone that way, I probably would have missed Swamiji.
So I decided to go down Hester and make a left. All of a sudden I saw in this dingy alcove, a brilliant saffron robe. As I passed, I saw it was Swamiji knocking on the door, trying to gain entrance. There were two bums hunched up against the door. It was like a two-part door – one of them was sealed and the other was locked. The two bums were lying on either side of Swamiji. One of these men had actually expired – which often happened and you had to call the police or health department to get them.
I don’t think I saw the men lying in the doorway until I walked up to Swamiji and asked him, “Are you a sannyasi?” And he answered, “Yes.” We started this conversation about how he was starting a temple, and he mentioned Lord Caitanya and the whole thing. He just came out with this flow of strange things to me, right there in the street. But I knew what he was talking about somehow. I had the familiarity of having just read this book and delved into Indian religion. So I knew that this was a momentous occasion for me and I wanted to help him. We banged on the door and eventually we got into the loft. He invited me to come to a kirtana, and I came back later that night for my first kirtana. From that point on, it was a fairly regular thing – three times a week. At one point Swamiji asked me to stay with him, and I stayed for about two weeks.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=7
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Carl Yeargens
About Lord Ramacandra(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 28 March 2015, Lenasia, South Africa, Rama Naumi Lecture)
When I first went to India, Lord Ramachandra was the first deity I ever saw because the first temple I went to was of Lord Ramachandra and that was my temple! It was a small round temple and later on, they renovated and made it into a big marble temple. Oh, I miss my small round temple; it was so nice; the deities were really close but now they are high up and far away.
Then, when I went to Benares, I picked up the “Sri Rama Jaya Rama” mantra from a temple. It was playing twenty-four hours a day at the temple and after a while, it gets into your head. When I was back in Europe, that mantra was still playing in my head, “Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama; Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama!”
Then when I mother was in her final days, I did not know what to do! What do you do!? She was dying of cancer. I was alone with her in the room and thought, “What do I do! I have to do something sacred. Let me sing that holy temple song – Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama!”And I sang it for her as she left this world.
So I got the mercy of Lord Ramachandra although I was covered by ignorance, and somehow or other, I was able to bless my mother with his holy name! So I am grateful and indebted to Lord Ramachandra. How can I ever forget the name of Lord Ramachandra? I was chanting the name of Lord Rama every day for four years before I started chanting Hare Krsna, “Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama; Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama!”
On this day, my attraction to Lord Ramachandra has been reawakened. But the end of the Ramayana is too much, just too much (Lord Ramachandra banishing Sita devi)! No, I will be a Krsna bhakta! I will worship Lord Krsna. Yes, kecit kevalaya bhaktya vasudeva-parayanah (SB 6.1.15), Vasudeva Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead who says that my devotee will never perish, na me bhaktah pranasyati (BG 9.31). Ultimately, the full mercy of the Lord is manifested in Krsna. It goes beyond dharma; it goes to the platform of love. When love transcends dharma, that is what we see in Krsna. Therefore we are serving Krsna as our isthadev, our worshipable deity!
5050 Book Campaign News! Message from Vaisesika Prabhu (2 min video)
“Hare Krishna! For the 50th anniversary year of ISKCON, the 50th book distribution marathon is upon us. This is a great idea, that everyone can distribute at least 50 books. All members of ISKCON, all friends of ISKCON, are welcome to take 50 books, and go out and distribute them to their friends, people they meet everywhere, their colleagues at work. And why stop at 50 books? Why not do more? Why not invite other people to come in? In this way we can distribute millions of books this year for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. I endorse this program wholeheartedly and ask everyone to please get involved as much as possible. Thank you. Hare Krishna!”
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/rUafyr
HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj came to USA on 30th March 2016. During this preaching tour Maharaj visited: New Jersey : 30th March 2016 Seattle : 31st March – 5th April 2016 Orlando : 6th April – 9th April 2016 New Jersey : 10th April 2016 After that Maharaj went to Dubai on 11th April 2016 […]
The post From USA to Africa : Preaching continues appeared first on Bhakti Charu Swami.
Thank you, George! (4 min video) Mangalananda Prabhu’s tribute to George Harrison. Cleverly included many of George’s most recognized guitar riffs.
Padmapani das: Srila Prabhupada once remarked that George Harrison was “more” than his disciple. During his final earthly pastimes in Vrindavan, 1977, Prabhupada took off his gold ring and requested that it be given to George. Due to his sincere and influential devotional service, George Harrison had pleased Lord Krishna’s pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada.
“The relationship between Srila Prabhupada and George Harrison was very close, and Srila Prabhupada regarded George as his son. When Bhaktivedanta Manor was donated, Srila Prabhupada said of George, ‘Because he has given shelter to Krishna by providing this temple, Krishna will surely provide shelter for him.’ Just before Srila Prabhupada left this world in 1977, he removed the ring on his right hand and said to the disciples around him, 'This is for George, give it to him.’” (The Bhaktivedanta Manor website)
Srila Prabhupada appreciated George Harrison’s humility and how he sincerely tried his best to utilize his God-given talents to spread the Hare Krishna mantra all over the world. He was bold and resolute in his devotion. Our godbrother, Tribhuvanatha Prabhu, used to visit him quite regularly and often said that George was very grateful and humble in his dealings. He especially liked prasadam, and never made a fuss about being an important rock star or drew attention to himself. In fact, when he attended public events at the temple, he remained quiet and unassuming. At other times, he was often seen chanting Hare Krishna sincerely on his japa beads.
Many devotees joined the Hare Krishna movement at least in part because of George Harrison. He legitimized Hare Krishna and Indian culture in the West because of his exalted status as a member of the Beatles. He broke new ground by introducing the sitar into rock music, studying under Ravi Shankar and bringing an ancient wisdom from India into mainstream pop lyrics: “Life flows on within you and without you,” etc. He had long talks with Srila Prabhupada and they both got along well together. George offered many services to Prabhupada over the years, and Srila Prabhupada was noticably pleased.
George Harrison was a devotee of Lord Krishna who Srila Prabhupada once referred to as his “uninitiated disciple.” George Harrison was very fortunate to receive some direct service to Prabhupada’s mission at such an exciting time in its development. He’ll go down in history for his loving devotional songs like My Sweet Lord, which contain the chanting of Hare Krishna. George Harrison also produced the beautiful Radha-Krishna Temple Album in London, which many devotees cherished at home before joining the temples. He was a devotee at heart – an individual who had the courage of his conviction along with an order from Srila Prabhupada to spread the Hare Krishna mantra worldwide. A true success story and a life well lived. Thank you, George. You’re dearly loved and appreciated by so many people all over the world.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/U2Q7l7
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Harinama in Biisk 10/04/16 Barnaul, Russia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: This Krishna consciousness movement insists that everyone take to this path by adopting the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. The preachers of Krishna consciousness go from door to door to inform people how they can be relieved from the miserable conditions of material life. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 5.14.39 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/lLYnui
Bhaktivedanta Research Centre’s latest newsletter.
Highlights include:
* Rare manuscripts donated to our library collection from Sri Advaitacharya’s dynasty
* BRC’s Acquisition of Laser Engraver
* BRC Manuscript Mission Team visits Sr Vrindavan Dham
* Tech Team Updates
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/hVOE9z
The post Daily Darshan: April 12th, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
By Karandhara Dasa From this, we can understand that consciousness merely reflects the experience of whatever it is directed towards, just as the space capsule reflects information from wherever it is directed. If you walk into a store, you can purchase whatever you like some ice cream, some fruit, or some milk. You make the choice. And according to whatever you select, you will have a certain taste experience. Similarly, in our lives and with our consciousness, we can be aware and have experience of whatever we choose. And the highest choice, that experience or taste which is the most perfect, the absolute and supreme, is Krsna, or God, and it is not abstract or impersonal. It is not some obscure conception. Krsna is never impersonal. He is a person, transcendental and complete. The Vedas, and especially the Srimad-Bhagavatam (science of God), give us all this personal information about Krsna. Krsna's qualities, form and attributes are described extensively in a simple and pure manner. Anyone can understand, and the result of exposing ourselves to this experience will be the perfection of our lives, God consciousness. Continue reading "The Perfection of Consciousness
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By Vishakha Devi Dasi Srila Prabhupada writes, "Whatever is taken from the earth—either from the mines, from the surface of the globe, or from the atmosphere—should always be considered the property of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and should be used for Yajna, Lord Vishnu. As soon as the process of yajna [sacrifice] is stopped, the earth will withhold all productions—vegetables, trees, plants, fruits, flowers, other agricultural products, and minerals. Continue reading "Mother Earth: Holder and Giver of Wealth
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By Vishakha Devi Dasi How we value, acquire, use, and relate to money reflects our inner state of being. Krishna determines how much money each of us receives. It may appear accidental that one person is born into wealth and another into poverty, or that one person goes from rags to riches and another doesn't, but Krishna's law of karma destines these things. Srila Prabhupada says, "Everyone is thinking, 'If I become greedy, I shall get more.' That is not possible. You cannot get a farthing more than what you are destined." (Lecture, October 3, 1973) And he writes, "It is not possible that simply by endeavors to accumulate more money a person will be able to do so, otherwise almost everyone would be on the same level of wealth. In reality everyone is earning and acquiring according to his predestined karma." Continue reading "Money, Krishna, and Us
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The Three Month Padayatra Ready To Take Off In Russia!
Narada Dasa: In one month we’re going to start a 3 month Padayatra in Russia. Even though we now have a serious economical crisis in the country, we are ready to do whatever is takes to make this Russian Padayatra a very good offering for Lokanatha Maharaja and Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure.
We now have more than 27 padayatris from all over Russia, and one great kirtaniya, Mukti Datta Prabhu, will also join us. We’re planning to travel around 50 cities and villages doing harinama sankirtana, and to also have a bullock cart for some time, but for all that we do need some laksmi. In order to take care of all these padayatris, to organize transportation, pay for petrol, and so on, we need a total $ 5177. It’s an average of less than $ 60 a day, which is not much at all considering the number of devotees and the duration of the padayatra.
During the padayatra we are planning to raise donations by book distribution, and thus hope to cover around $ 2000. So far I raised $ 200 in Russia, which means we still need to raise $ 2977, more than half of the total amount needed.
We are humbly appealing to all of you to please make a generous donation for this project meant to glorify ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada.
In a recent interview about Padayatra Russia, Lokanath Swami quoted a Newsweek cover stating that Hare Krishna is the fastest growing religion in the former Soviet Union, with around 100 000 devotees. He commented that we have to let the Russian people know that the Hare Krishna devotees are very good people, friendly people working very hard for everyone’s welfare.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/qSaOEC
Fast Friends (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Yesterday we visited the famous Llama Temple in downtown Beijing. While there we met with several of the resident Buddhist monks and discussed philosophy and the similarities of our lifestyles. Later, the senior monk saw me praying to Lord Buddha at the main alter and inquired why I was doing so. I explained that we accept Lord Buddha as one of the 10 incarnations of Lord Krishna and that I was praying to Lord Buddha to develop compassion. The monk appreciated that very much and we became fast friends. In the afternoon we visited a memorial to Confucius.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/GU074D
April 12. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: David Allen.
Prabhupada wrote to his friends in India, describing his relationship with his new roommate in the Bowery loft, David Allen.
He was attending the class at 72nd Street along with others, and when I experienced this theft case in my room, he invited me to his residence. So I am with him and training him. He has good prospect because he has already given up all bad habits. In this country, illicit connection with women, smoking, drinking and eating of meats are common affairs. But by my request he has given up 90% of his old habits, and he is chanting Maha-mantra regularly. So I am giving him the chance and I think he is improving. Tomorrow I have arranged for some prasadam distribution, and he has gone to purchase some things from the market.
When David first came to the Bowery, he appeared like a clean-cut college student. He was twenty-one, six feet tall, blue-eyed, handsome and intelligent looking. Most of his new friends in New York were older and considered him a kid. David’s family lived in East Lansing, Michigan, and his mother was paying $100.00 monthly to sublease the loft. Although he did not have much experience, he had read that a new realm of mind expansion was available through psychedelic drugs, and he was heading fast into the hazardous world of LSD. His meeting with the Swami came at a time of radical change and profoundly affected his life.
David: It was a really good relationship I had with the Swami, but I was overwhelmed by the tremendous energy of being that close to him. It spurred my consciousness very fast. Even my dreams at night would be so vivid of Krishna consciousness. I was often sleeping when the Swami was up, because he was up late in the night working on his translations. That is possibly where a lot of the consciousness in dreams just flowed in, because a lot of that deep relationship. It also had to do with studying Sanskrit. There was a lot of immediate impact with the language. The language seemed to have a strong mystical quality, the way he translated it word-for-word.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=7
David Allen