Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Dear Devotees, Please accept my best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I wish all of you a very happy Gaura Purnima. For us today is the actual new year. Therefore, we must make a resolution for the new year. I have seen many of you are chanting your rounds very diligently and trying to […]
The post Gaura Purnima message by HH Bhakti Charu Swami appeared first on Bhakti Charu Swami.
Gaura Purnima celebrations in Vrindavan (5 min video)
Govinda Swami: Radhe Shyam’s Boat Festival This Afternoon At Krishna Balaram Mandir!
Srila Prabhupada: Haridasa Thakura was born in a Mohammedan family. From the very beginning of his life he was never trained in the karma-kanda system, but because he was always chanting the holy name of the Lord, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted him as namacarya, the authority in chanting the holy name. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 5.9.4 Purport)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/mc1TDu
Tanauan Batangas Harinam Sankirtan (Album with photos)
Giridhari Swami: We just came back from a beautiful harinama led by Maha Vishnu Goswami Maharaja and five members of the Harinama Ruci sankirtana group. I have been on thousands of harinams over the last 40+ years, but this one was amongst the best. Beyond the 40 local devotees, 10 devotees, visiting from China took part in their first harinama. Even more amazing is that, this was their first exposure to the serious practice of Krishna consciousness. They danced and chanted blissfully for over two hours! Lord Chaitanya’s process is truly intoxicating to anyone who deeply drinks the ambrosia of harinama. Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/jPSA4H
March 24. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: A Source of New Life.
Moving out of the yoga studio into the small office downstairs gave Prabhupada what he was looking for – his own place – but not even euphemistically could that place be called a temple. His name was on the door; anyone seeking him there could find him. Who would come there? By its opulence and beauty, a temple was supposed to attract people. But Room 307 was just the opposite: it was bare poverty. Even a person interested in spiritual topics would find it uncomfortable to sit on the rugless floor of the room shaped like a narrow railroad car.
One of Dr. Mishra’s students had donated a reel-to-reel tape recorder and Prabhupada recorded some of his solitary bhajanas, which he sang to his own accompaniment on hand cymbals. He also recorded a long, philosophical essay, Introduction to Gitopanisad. “Even if no one attends,” Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati had told him, “you can go on chanting to the four walls.” But since he was now free to speak his message in the new situation God had provided, he decided to lecture three evenings a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) to whoever would come.
His first audiences consisted mainly of people who had heard about him, or met him, at Dr. Mishra’s yoga studio. And despite the poverty of his room, the meetings became a source of new life to him.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=6
A Source of New Life
Bhakti must be within the philosophical and moral framework established by the Vedas and exemplified by the sādhus.
The 4th item of sādhana, “sādhu-vartmānuvartana” seems to sometimes be controversial when explained to people with a certain background. It is an extremely important principle, evidenced by the fact that Śrī Rūpa puts it immediately after the very first principles related to guru.
It establishes that bhakti (practiced by implementing the instructions of the guru) must be within the philosophical and moral framework established by the Vedas and exemplified by the sādhus.
Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī makes this very clear by quoting Brahma Yamala:
śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi pañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā
aikāntikī harer bhaktir utpātayaiva kalpate
“So called ‘exclusive Hari-bhakti’ is nothing but an ill-omen of calamity
if it disregards Vedic strictures
given in śruti, smṛti, purāṇas and other texts like the pañcarātra.”
And then he explains:
bhaktir aikāntikī veyam avicārāt pratīyate |
vastu-tastu tathā naiva yada śāstrī yat ekṣyate ||1.2.102||
“Those who understand śāstra
know that such behavior is not really ‘exclusive Hari-bhakti.’
It is inappropriate misbehavior
without the true essential substance of bhakti.”
Here are several questions that resulted from discussing this point in today’s Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu class, along with my replies.
Q: Our question was that we do not get many holidays, so we have to lie and take our sick days off to go to some retreats or book distribution. According to your discussion, this was not in accordance with the moral principles.
This is not a “lie,” you are allotted sick days, and you are using them.
Q: In BG, Chapter-18.78, Sanjaya said: Wherever there is Krishna, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power and morality.
The presence of Krishna is expected to automatically cause the appearance of morality. If there is immorality, it shows that Krishna is not present.
This proves the point that bhakti should automatically produce morality. The presence of Krishna is expected to automatically cause the appearance of morality. If there is immorality, it shows that Krishna is not present. If we claim that Krishna is present in our immoral act, this is just kalpana – imagination, as the Brahma Yamala quote referenced by Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī says. We are just imagining that it is Hari-bhakti, but in truth it is just a disturbance (utpātaya).
Q: When there is an endeavor or performance of an act of devotional service (may not be in absolute perfect consciousness), even if apparently it may have led to some other acts of immorality like lying, but because it has a relationship to Krishna, wouldn’t it be considered moral?
There are exceptional circumstances and there are normal circumstance. These have to be differentiated. Exceptions are allowed in exceptional circumstances. These exceptions are applied on the basis that love is the essence of all morality, if some appearance of morality has to be forgone for the sake of the essence of morality (love), in some exceptional situation where the two cannot be reconciled, that is allowed.
We cannot cite exceptions and say they establish the norm.
But we cannot cite exceptions and say they establish the norm. The norm is that love should manifest all the moral qualities as its support and ornament. Therefore the norm is that bhakti would not transgress any subordinate moral principles.
Q: Also there is the verse (tyaktva svadharma…): one who renounces other things for Krishna may even fall down but is not a looser when compared to one who performs his occupational duties precisely with all dharma and morality, who in fact gains nothing.
This verse (ŚB 1.5.17) is meant to glorify bhakti, not to minimize dharma.
Love is the essence of all morality.
Bhakti is the essence of all dharma. Love is the essence of all morality. Therefore what is to gain, really, if you apparently have all morality, but don’t have any love? And what is lost, really, if you apparently lose morality, but are full of love?
This does not mean that we practice love by abandoning morality.
This does not mean that we practice sādhana by abandoning our duties. Śrī Rūpa stipulates the 4th item of sādhana just to make that point clear, quoting Brahma Yamala, śruti smṛti purāṇādi… “so-called Hari-bhakti that disregards the principles of the Vedas is not really Hari-bhakti, it is just a disturbance to society.”
Morality supports love in almost every case
What ŚB 1.5.17 means is that bhakti is the essence of morality, therefore nothing can be lost by pursuing it, even if there is a superficial appearance of immorality. It would not be the norm that morality would have to be abandoned for love, because love is the essence of morality, so morality supports love in almost every case.
Q: We are not clear on where to draw line between morality and devotion to Krishna.
You shouldn’t draw any line between morality and devotion. Devotion is the essence, the soul, of morality. Where can you draw the line between the essence of a thing and the form of a thing? The essence pervades the form and the two are inseparable.
Krishna is the ultimate creator of the Veda, through Viṣṇu. The moral principles of the Veda are his requests. Following those principles is therefore a practice of bhakti, anuśilana. (Sri Rupa will specify this in the 47th and 51st practices of sādhana, and later will clarify that worldly duties without bhakti is not sādhana, but bhakti can encompass the worldly activities).
To draw a line between bhakti and dharma is artificial. To draw a line between love and morality is unnecessary. To draw a line between worldly and spiritual duties is contrary to what Krishna tries to teach in the Gita.
To draw a line between bhakti and dharma is artificial. Maybe it is even an aparādhā against śāstra. To draw a line between love and morality is unnecessary. To draw a line between worldly and spiritual duties is also contrary to what Krishna tries to teach in the Gita – that we must add wisdom to our worldly activities and thus make them spiritual, not that we become spiritual by rejecting our worldly activities.
Q: There are exalted examples in the scriptures where morality was rejected for devotion to Krishna like gopis leaving their families,
Gopīs are not sādhakas, nor are their families.
Q: Sanatana Goswami lying and reading SB,
What “lying”? Out of Love for Śrī Caitanya, Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana wanted to live in Vṛndāvana focused entirely on Hari-bhakti. Śrī Rūpa obtained blessings to resign as Alauddin Hussain Shah’s minister. Śrī Sanātana attempted to get the Shah’s blessings to resign from his post as treasurer, but the Shah would not give it. Sanātana protested by no longer coming to court, claiming to be sick. When the Shah learned he was not sick, he threw Sanātana into jail. Sanātana paid the guard to let him escape.
I don’t see any of this as immoral. If one principle blocks the execution of a more essential principle, the less essential principle can be suspended. Here the less essential principle of fealty to country blocked the more essential principle of divine love, so it was rightfully suspended. The important point is that this is an exception not a norm. We cannot claim, “Śrī Sanātana Goswāmī lied to the king and bribed people, therefore I can also lie to people and cheat them.” This is how Śrī Sanātana behaved in an exceptionally difficult situation – it is not how he normally lived his daily life.
We should follow him by living our daily life similar to his daily life as far as we are able, and if our circumstances are ever as extreme as his then we can follow how he behaved in those exceptional circumstances, to the best of our ability.
Q: You said that abandoning family to become a devotee is a transgression of moral principles, and therefore violates this Rupa Goswami’s advice to stay within the bounds of morality. This is hard for many people to understand, since they have abandoned their families to become brahmacārīs and so on on.
If you have abandoned your family without their blessing you have done something very, very dangerous. You have severe debts to pay to your family and others, if you do not repay these debts it is very, very dangerous. If they willingly exonerate you from the debt, that is their blessing, their mercy, but to abandon them without such blessing is thoroughly immoral. I doubt very much that anyone will attain Śrī Krishna by displeasing and wronging his expanded parts and parcels.
I doubt very much that anyone will attain Śrī Krishna by displeasing and wronging his expanded parts and parcels.
Why is it seen as such a need to abandon things and become a renunciate? Is it so that one looks spiritual and can be admired as such? There is absolutely no requirement that Hari-bhakti can be practiced only by people who have abandoned their worldly duties. The only true qualification Śrī Rūpa gives for sādhana is enthusiasm for it, which is gained either by comprehending the conclusions of śāstra (i.e. vaidhi-bhakti) or by developing a passion to have a specific loving relationship with Hari (i.e. rāgānugā-bhakti). Śrī Rūpa made an explicit point in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu that anyone in any varṇa or any āśrama is equally qualified for sādhana-bhakti. So what is the importance of being in some tyāgī situation like a sannyāsī or brahmacārī?
There is absolutely no requirement that Hari-bhakti can be practiced only by people who have abandoned their worldly duties.
The most important practice of sādhana, Śrī-Nāma-Saṁkīrtan can be practiced by anyone in any situation. You do not need to abandon your wife, husband, children, father, mother, etc. to practice Śrī-Nāma-Saṁkīrtan. Neither does any of the other five most important practices require such things. Neither does any practice require it. So why do you feel it is so important that you must “abandon your worldly duties”, or else you cannot “be a devotee”?
The claim that one has no option but to abandon family or else one cannot become Krishna conscious strikes me as being without any merit at all. Maybe it is useful for people who want to attract attention and make overt or covert followers and fans? Or maybe it is a useful concept to be leveraged by a cult or by an organization that requires manpower? I don’t find any validity in it.
What appears to be “one-pointed Hari bhakti” yet disregards our obligations and the needs of others produces very, very little spiritual advancement even with an apparent boat-load of effort for a very long time.
I can tell you from my own rather pitiful trial and error that what appears to be “one-pointed Hari bhakti” yet disregards our obligations and the needs of others produces very, very little spiritual advancement even with an apparent boat-load of effort for a very long time. Far more effective is sādhana done in compliance with our moral obligations.
Vraja Kishor das
Have you ever been in a challenging situation at work?
Maybe a website went down and you had to fix it, while, at the same time, trying to appease an angry client? Maybe you had to give a presentation to a roomful of skeptical, intimidating people? Maybe you had a gruelling performance review after making a serious mistake? Or maybe a dragon attacked the office?
All of these situations are difficult. What can you do you to master these kinds of situations? How can you prepare for future challenges? Read onwards...
Watch this video of US marine drill instructors shouting at recruits. For the first 3 months of a recruit's life, the drill instructs are basically shouting at them the entire time. Why do they do this? Are the drill instructors all sadists who enjoy torturing their soldiers? No (well, okay, maybe some of them do, but they don’t enjoy it, for the most part). So why?
Say what you will about the United States military, they are very good at killing the enemy and winning wars. Of the branches of the military the Marine Corps is particularly effective. After completing the training, a marine recruit will be going to a war zone. There will be explosions, people screaming, guns firing, engines rumbling, and officers shouting orders, and the young soldier will need to keep a cool head, listen to the orders and fight effectively. The drill instructor is preparing the recruits for this kind of situation with their constant shouting. The recruits eventually learn to handle the intensity. They develop the mental toughness that makes them able to handle the realities of war.
So, that’s what you need to do to prepare yourself to handle a challenging situation. Repeatedly put yourself in such situations, or situations that closely mimic the challenge. You will eventually adapt and learn to handle the pressure.
Slow down. We all tend to speak too quickly when nervous. Make a conscious effort to slow down your speech. It will help keep you calm, and it will also help those listening to you make sense of words coming out of your mouth.
Also, try to be helpful, not defensive. It’s easy to get close up and defensive when you feel threatened. Instead, let any insults, real or imagined, roll off you, and do whatever you can to help.
Sometimes, in a meeting, a notorious rambler will start speaking and won’t stop until many hours later, that is, unless you interrupt them. Sometimes everyone will want to get a word in, and if you wait until it’s your turn to speak, your turn will never come and no one will hear the important thing you have to say. That’s when it’s time to interrupt. Speak up and keep speaking until whoever is currently speaking stops speaking and you can get your point across. It’s hard to do at first, but it gets easier with practice.
Look at the person you are speaking to. It’s far easier for others to understand what you are saying when they can see your face. The human brain interprets mouth movements to help understand what someone is saying. That’s why the McGurk effect works (check out the video demonstrating the effect—it’s quite amazing).
Additionally, your words will be more effective when their power is focused. You can better engage with one person by focusing your attention on them, and you can better engage with an entire audience by focusing on one person in that audience.
Adopt a proper internal attitude when going into a challenging situation. Your internal thoughts about yourself reflect out into the external world and determine how people perceive you. So, internally you should be: confident, detached and firm. That is, you should be thinking: “Yeah, I got this. Bring it! Is that the best you can do? I really don’t care what you say. But regardless of what you say, you'd better listen to me!”.
Image: Counselor Deanna Troi
As much as it’s nice to be internally confident and detached, there is no need to tell everyone. People might not appreciate it, especially if they have a problem that they themselves are really concerned about. So instead, be externally concerned and emphatic. Be like Counselor Deanna Troi from Star Trek The Next Generation: emphatically relate to other people’s feelings, and show real concern about their problems. Those problems are not your own and not yours to own, but you will do what you can to help.
When faced with a challenging situation, there are a number of little tricks you can use to help manage.
Stall for time: sometimes you just need some time to investigate something without people shouting at you. So, ask for a break to reconvene the meeting after 15 minutes, or say you’ll have to get back to someone later, or simply excuse yourself for as long as you need.
Summarise: in a long meeting or complex discussion, it makes sense to summarise everything that has been said so far. That makes matters clear in your mind, and helps everyone else, too. It’s also a great way to fill awkward silences when everyone is out of ideas.
Escalate to tier-3 support: when faced with a website outage, say you’ll escalate the issue with tier-3 support. Tier-1 support usually answers the phone and does basic diagnostic. Tier-2 support is more specialised, and tier-3 support has the best specialists who know a particular area in-depth. Even if your company doesn’t have tier-3 support, you can still say you’ll escalate to them and then frantically run around the office, asking anyone you find for help.
Name emotions: if the discussion gets quite heated, or emotional, it’s a good idea to name the emotion, e.g: “It seems everyone is feeling quite angry about this issue”. Naming the emotion gives it less power. It allows people to take a step back from the situation and evaluate it objectively.
Suggest tasks for others: when you are under the gun, you can gain some headspace by delegating things to others. Even if a task isn’t something assigned to you, if you can think of something that might help a situation, suggest it and volunteer someone for that task.
Accept responsibility: when Apple Maps launched with iOS 6, it fell short of customer expectations. Apple CEO Tim Cook didn’t make excuses for the poor quality product. Instead, he said: “We screwed up. That’s the fact (source)." Be like that. If something goes wrong, and it was your responsibility or your company’s responsibility to prevent it going wrong, own up to the fact, accept responsibility, apologise and commit to doing what you can to improve the situation.
Image: Meditation in nature
The challenging situation has passed. You might be a bit battered, but you’ve survived. Now you need to take some time off to recover. You won’t be productive right after a big challenge anyway.
So, take some time off, get out of the office, visit nature, meditate, listen to your favourite music, play a game, do whatever you do to regain your mental strength. Tomorrow is another day and another challenge awaits. Good luck, soldier!
Have you ever been in a challenging situation at work?
Maybe a website went down and you had to fix it, while, at the same time, trying to appease an angry client? Maybe you had to give a presentation to a roomful of skeptical, intimidating people? Maybe you had a gruelling performance review after making a serious mistake? Or maybe a dragon attacked the office?
All of these situations are difficult. What can you do you to master these kinds of situations? How can you prepare for future challenges? Read onwards...
Watch this video of US marine drill instructors shouting at recruits. For the first 3 months of a recruit's life, the drill instructs are basically shouting at them the entire time. Why do they do this? Are the drill instructors all sadists who enjoy torturing their soldiers? No (well, okay, maybe some of them do, but they don’t enjoy it, for the most part). So why?
Say what you will about the United States military, they are very good at killing the enemy and winning wars. Of the branches of the military the Marine Corps is particularly effective. After completing the training, a marine recruit will be going to a war zone. There will be explosions, people screaming, guns firing, engines rumbling, and officers shouting orders, and the young soldier will need to keep a cool head, listen to the orders and fight effectively. The drill instructor is preparing the recruits for this kind of situation with their constant shouting. The recruits eventually learn to handle the intensity. They develop the mental toughness that makes them able to handle the realities of war.
So, that’s what you need to do to prepare yourself to handle a challenging situation. Repeatedly put yourself in such situations, or situations that closely mimic the challenge. You will eventually adapt and learn to handle the pressure.
Slow down. We all tend to speak too quickly when nervous. Make a conscious effort to slow down your speech. It will help keep you calm, and it will also help those listening to you make sense of words coming out of your mouth.
Also, try to be helpful, not defensive. It’s easy to get close up and defensive when you feel threatened. Instead, let any insults, real or imagined, roll off you, and do whatever you can to help.
Sometimes, in a meeting, a notorious rambler will start speaking and won’t stop until many hours later, that is, unless you interrupt them. Sometimes everyone will want to get a word in, and if you wait until it’s your turn to speak, your turn will never come and no one will hear the important thing you have to say. That’s when it’s time to interrupt. Speak up and keep speaking until whoever is currently speaking stops speaking and you can get your point across. It’s hard to do at first, but it gets easier with practice.
Look at the person you are speaking to. It’s far easier for others to understand what you are saying when they can see your face. The human brain interprets mouth movements to help understand what someone is saying. That’s why the McGurk effect works (check out the video demonstrating the effect—it’s quite amazing).
Additionally, your words will be more effective when their power is focused. You can better engage with one person by focusing your attention on them, and you can better engage with an entire audience by focusing on one person in that audience.
Adopt a proper internal attitude when going into a challenging situation. Your internal thoughts about yourself reflect out into the external world and determine how people perceive you. So, internally you should be: confident, detached and firm. That is, you should be thinking: “Yeah, I got this. Bring it! Is that the best you can do? I really don’t care what you say. But regardless of what you say, you'd better listen to me!”.
Image: Counselor Deanna Troi
As much as it’s nice to be internally confident and detached, there is no need to tell everyone. People might not appreciate it, especially if they have a problem that they themselves are really concerned about. So instead, be externally concerned and emphatic. Be like Counselor Deanna Troi from Star Trek The Next Generation: emphatically relate to other people’s feelings, and show real concern about their problems. Those problems are not your own and not yours to own, but you will do what you can to help.
When faced with a challenging situation, there are a number of little tricks you can use to help manage.
Stall for time: sometimes you just need some time to investigate something without people shouting at you. So, ask for a break to reconvene the meeting after 15 minutes, or say you’ll have to get back to someone later, or simply excuse yourself for as long as you need.
Summarise: in a long meeting or complex discussion, it makes sense to summarise everything that has been said so far. That makes matters clear in your mind, and helps everyone else, too. It’s also a great way to fill awkward silences when everyone is out of ideas.
Escalate to tier-3 support: when faced with a website outage, say you’ll escalate the issue with tier-3 support. Tier-1 support usually answers the phone and does basic diagnostic. Tier-2 support is more specialised, and tier-3 support has the best specialists who know a particular area in-depth. Even if your company doesn’t have tier-3 support, you can still say you’ll escalate to them and then frantically run around the office, asking anyone you find for help.
Name emotions: if the discussion gets quite heated, or emotional, it’s a good idea to name the emotion, e.g: “It seems everyone is feeling quite angry about this issue”. Naming the emotion gives it less power. It allows people to take a step back from the situation and evaluate it objectively.
Suggest tasks for others: when you are under the gun, you can gain some headspace by delegating things to others. Even if a task isn’t something assigned to you, if you can think of something that might help a situation, suggest it and volunteer someone for that task.
Accept responsibility: when Apple Maps launched with iOS 6, it fell short of customer expectations. Apple CEO Tim Cook didn’t make excuses for the poor quality product. Instead, he said: “We screwed up. That’s the fact (source)." Be like that. If something goes wrong, and it was your responsibility or your company’s responsibility to prevent it going wrong, own up to the fact, accept responsibility, apologise and commit to doing what you can to improve the situation.
Image: Meditation in nature
The challenging situation has passed. You might be a bit battered, but you’ve survived. Now you need to take some time off to recover. You won’t be productive right after a big challenge anyway.
So, take some time off, get out of the office, visit nature, meditate, listen to your favourite music, play a game, do whatever you do to regain your mental strength. Tomorrow is another day and another challenge awaits. Good luck, soldier!
Ecstatic celebration of Gaurapurnima Festival in Vraja Eco Village in Philippines (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The holy name, chanting of holy name, if we act it properly, without any offense, then we are directly in connection with Krishna. Vrndavana, September 16, 1976.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/eUSTgt
By Mahaprabhu das
On Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016, a terrorist attack with multiply blasts has shaken Belgium’s capital Brussels killing and injuring dozens at Zaventem Airport and in the subway.
On March 23rd, ISKCON Belgium has issued the following statement:
“ISKCON Belgium deplores the atrocious acts of violence committed by monsters that do not represent or practice any spiritual tradition but on the contrary, only represent and practice hatred, madness, envy, violence and terror.
Our prayers and thoughts are for the victims and their families. May all faiths stand together to condemn all acts of terror and promote peace, dialogue and respect.”
By Dwarakadhisha Devi Dasi I love chanting japa—some days. Other days, I endure chanting japa. It seems to be bliss or boredom. On the good days I am enthralled. Krishna feels very close, and very dear. Not that I’m seeing visions or hearing voices—nothing dramatic that would excite the tabloid crowd. The experience is closer to returning home after a long, arduous journey. Such a sweet pleasure from the simple fingering of beads, the rhythmic repetition of the maha- mantra:Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. But then there are the bad days. Unfortunately, when I speak of bad days I don’t mean an occasional lapse. There are so many bad days they could actually be divided into categories: sick days, cold days, sleepy days, busy days, lonely days, traveling days, foul-mood days, messy-house days, family-visiting days, summer-vacation days, lots-on-my-mind days, too-many-kids-around days, all of the days between Christmas and New Year—those are just a few. And there are others that spring up unannounced, defying categorization. Continue reading "The Best and Worst of Japa
→ Dandavats"
An Instrumental Tribute To The Son of Mother Sachi
On the auspicious occasion of the appearance day of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we offer two Esraj songs unto His divine lotus feet. These songs, ‘Ujjvala Varana Gaura Vara Deham’ and ‘Nava Gaura Varam’ were composed by Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. The melody has been taken from the albums of H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami.
Esraj is an important instrument in traditional vaisnava music and by the 1980s the instrument was nearly extinct. Of late, this instrument is seeing some revival. However only a handful players remain all over the world.
The Esraj played here is carved out of a century old block of Burma teakwood. No effects or reverb have been added to the sound of the instrument.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/
Dr. Sahadeva dasa
On Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016, a terrorist attack with multiply blasts has shaken Belgium’s capital Brussels killing and injuring dozens at Zaventem Airport and in the subway. On March 23rd, ISKCON Belgium has issued a statement "deploring the atrocious acts of violence committed by monsters that do not represent or practice any spiritual tradition."
Early 70’s pop star John Richardson aka Jayadeva Prabhu released today on Gaura Purnima day (23 March), his ISKCON 50th Anniversary offering–the virtual mantra choir. Having gathered the voices of devotees from more than 25 countries, Jayadeva conducts the Mantra Choir in singing the name of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
A devotee, professional photographer, loses his heart in Vrindavan and finds it back in Mayapur! He publishes 206 high-resolution photos to show how this happened.
Srila Prabhupada: I can see you, you can see me, similarly, you can go directly, see God and live with Him, dance with Him, play with Him, eat with Him. That is the perfection of life. Paris, June 13, 1974.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/4cvf3Y
Mantra Choir is a unique experience in community devotional expression. Sitting somewhere between Rock Choir and the popular kirtan performances, Mantra Choir blends the ancient euphoric call and response art of kirtan with upbeat counterpoint melodies to provide a beautifully rich sound and experience. In celebration of Gaura Purnima, the Mantra Choir team has just released a new piece "Mahaprabhu", involving over 400 musicians, singers and dancers from all over the world.
Gaura-Purnima celebrations in Iskcon Los Angeles (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The great liberated souls and incarnations who appear from time to time in this material world are not actually coming back, because they are never subject to material contamination or the laws of material nature. For the purpose of delivering the fallen living entities they come here temporarily and then go back when their business is finished, and this is all under the direct order of the Lord. So the appearance of the Lord or the great liberated souls in the material world is different from the appearance of the contaminated living entity who is forced to take birth in the material world due to his desire to lord it over the world. Letter to Vrindavanesvari, June 6, 1969.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Dcdpd9
Mantra Choir performance of 'Mahaprabhu' involving over 400 musicians, singers and dancers from all around the World. Composed by Jayadeva John Ridhardson and arranged by Gareth Ryth Jones.
The post Gaura Purnima Abhishek 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Appreciating The Unparalleled Mercy Of Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu On His Appearance Day!
For me, on appearances day of ...
Prabhupada wanted us to understand that we shouldn’t think, “Now I am very big, I can take over my spiritual master’s position.”
Dina Bandhu: Around 1970, we drove from Boulder to L.A. and were present when Prabhupada started playing the tape of the Govindam prayers. Although it’s taken for granted now, before that time we didn’t play that tape of Yamuna singing.
But on the second or third day that we were there, Prabhupada came into the temple, the tape was put on, and he paid his obeisances. He took some charanamrita and then sat down on the vyasasana, all the while singing along with the tape.
Suddenly we saw tears gliding down Prabhupada’s cheeks. We all felt unqualified to be in his presence. When Prabhupada experienced ecstatic symptoms, you just wanted to lift up one of those linoleum tiles and crawl under it, thinking, “I don’t belong here.”
Then suddenly Prabhupada sniffed, wiped his face, and started chanting the Isopanishad mantras that he was teaching us at the time. He had a deep, rich voice that reminded me of a sea captain.
Every day we would start from the beginning and chant all the verses we knew, and then he would teach us the next verse.
Whenever I came to L.A. I would sit at the foot of Srila Prabhupada’s vyasasana in the temple room. One day Prabhupada sat down on his vyasasana, looking rather concerned.
He pointed toward me but I didn’t know what was wrong. I looked down thinking maybe my dhoti was open but it wasn’t. I looked back up. Prabhupada nodded his head as if to say, “Everything is okay.”
My hands were resting on my knees, and I froze in that position thinking, “Now everything is all right. Whatever was wrong is all right now.” I sat there while Prabhupada lectured but in the middle of the lecture, Prabhupada got disturbed again.
I was wobbling my knee. Prabhupada stopped speaking, pointed at me, and said, “Don’t do that.” I stopped doing it.
On a morning walk in Vrindavan, Prabhupada was preaching heavily against abortion and birth control. He gave the example that,
“If I have rented an apartment and you stop me from living in it, that is illegal. Or if I am living in an apartment and you come and kick me out, that is also illegal. You will be arrested. Similarly, that soul has rented that womb which is his apartment, and if you prevent him from staying there it is illegal. He’s inside and you kick him out—that is illegal.”
He explained how those who commit abortion will go from womb to womb and will never see the light of day. He was so heavy.
On the way back, Prabhupada was a little quiet. Then one Indian man said, “I read today in the newspaper that Guru Maharaj Ji’s mother said that Guru Maharaj Ji is a bogus fellow. She’s denounced him.”
Prabhupada and everyone else laughed. We walked a few more steps and the Indian man said, “Yes, practically she has finished him.” Prabhupada stopped, dug his cane into the street, looked at all of us and said, “She should have finished him in the womb.”
Prabhupada explained that a mouse went to a yogi and complained that a cat was bothering him. The yogi said, “What do you want?”
The mouse said, “I want to become a cat, and then the cat won’t bother me.” The yogi waved his hand and the mouse became a cat.
Later the cat (who was previously the mouse) went back to the yogi. The yogi said, “Now, what’s the matter? You want something?”
The cat said, “Now a dog is bothering me. I want to become a dog.” The yogi said, “All right, become a dog.” So the cat became a dog.
After a while he came back to the yogi, who said, “Do you want something?” The dog said, “Yes, now a tiger is bothering me. I want to become a tiger.”
The yogi said, “All right, become a tiger.” When the dog became a tiger, he looked at the yogi with longing eyes. The yogi said, “Oh, do you want to eat me?” The tiger shook his head “yes.”
The yogi said, “punar mushika bhava,” which means, “again become a mouse.” The tiger immediately transformed into a mouse. When we heard this we all burst out laughing, but Prabhupada meant it to be serious, and later we understood what the story meant.
Prabhupada was telling us that if we become puffed up and fail to realize that Prabhupada is actually the power behind us, then we would fall back to our former position.
Prabhupada wanted us to understand that we shouldn’t think, “Now I am very big, I can take over my spiritual master’s position.” After he told that story, Prabhupada looked at me and said, “Try to understand. Don’t laugh.”
Excerpt from “Memories-Anecdotes of a Modern-Day Saint”
by Siddhanta das
Inspiration from two Drunkards! (6 min video)
They say if you find gold even in the filthy place you should take it.
Let’s see why even Yamaraja was in tension because of two drunkards and how everyone became jubilant at last :-)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/5XI56a
Alone and penniless during his first years in America, Srila Prabhupada’s early pastimes were ideal examples of powerful grassroots preaching. Sitting on a park bench in New York City, he revealed to one acquaintance that so many devotees and temples existed – it was simply time that separated them.
Gaura Purnima celebrations at Iskcon of Silicon Valley! Ecstatic Kirtan lead by Vaisesika Dasa Prabhu and amazing prasadam! Haribol!!
Srila Prabhupada: The sound of the spiritual world is nectarean and eternal, whereas the sound of the material world is hackneyed and subject to end. The sound of the Holy Name – Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare – everlastingly increases the enthusiasm of the chanter. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 3.21.22 Purport)
Thomas Edison said that five percent of people think, ten percent think they think, and the other eighty five percent would rather die than think. Thinking is hard work – that’s why so few people genuinely do it.
The post Daily Darshan: March 23rd, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Gaura Purnima at New Raman Reti, Alachua, Florida (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The demigods are pleased when sacrifices are performed, just as prison officers are satisfied when the prisoners are turned into obedient subjects. Lord Caitanya, however, has recommended only one yajna, or sacrifice, called the sankirtana-yajna, the chanting of Hare Krishna, in which everyone can take part. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1.6.20 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/RXa4Yd
A new inspirational video produced by Prananatha das shows a current view of the TOVP construction site. 3 of the 8 chatris have been completed with blue tiles and kalashes. More segments have been put onto the 3 domes, in preparation for the kalashes. The 4th stage (out of 6) of the decorative sandstone features has been completed.
March 23. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Free to Preach.
Room 307 at 72nd Street was never meant for use as a residence or ashram or lecture hall. It was only a small, narrow office without furniture or a telephone. Its door held a large pane of frosted glass, the kind common in all offices; above the door was a glass-paneled transom. Prabhupada placed his blankets on the floor before his metal foot locker, which now became a makeshift desk where he wrote. He slept on the floor. There were no facilities here for cooking, or even for bathing, so daily he had to walk to Dr. Mishra’s apartment.
When he had lived in Room 501 at Dr. Mishra’s yoga ashram, Dr. Mishra had financed his needs. But now Prabhupada was on his own, and whatever he could raise by selling his books, he would have to use for his daily maintenance and for the monthly rent of seventy-two dollars. He noted that for a little powdered chili, the West End Superette charged twenty-five cents, ten times what he would have paid in India. He had no guaranteed income, his expenses had increased and his physical comforts had reduced. But at least he had his own place. Now he was free to preach as he liked.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=6
Free to Preach
New Sannyasi for Iskcon.
Halayudha Prabhu recently took sannyasa from HH Radha Govinda Maharaja. This was the first-time a sannyasa ceremony has ever taken place at the ISKCON Bhubaneswar temple.
Over 2,000 devotees, joyously came to take part in the ceremony.
His name now is Haladhara Maharaja. Haladhara Maharaja ki jaya!
Madhavananda das: Halayudha has been preaching in Odisha for many years and is deeply loved by thousands of devotees for his expertise in speaking krishna-katha, his sastric knowledge, sweet nature, renunciation, and complete lack of political behavior.
After the ceremony was completed, Haladhara Maharaja asked me, "Should I begsome alms now?"
"Yes", I said, "I think that would be appropriate."
"What mantra should I chant when asking for bakshish?" he asked.
"You can say, bho mata, (or bho pita), bhavati bhiksham dehi - "O respected mother, (or father), please give me some alms."
earing an announcement that Maharaja was going to accept his first donations, the crowd of devotees became wildly ecstatic. Suddenly there was a huge crush as everyone started pulling out large rupee notes and pushing to get close enough to offer something to him.
Afterwards I laughed and told him, "Maharaja, I think you got a pretty good collection today. You must have gotten enough to make a start on building a new temple."
"No." he said with a serious look on his face, "whatever I collected today, I'll give everything to the temple here."
I was touched by his natural simplicity, humility, and genuine appreciation for the devotees. It's inspiring to see such a good hearted devotee who can nicely represent Gour Govinda Maharaja. We wish him all success in his preaching efforts.
“Srila Prabhupada, at the age of seventy, and at the order of his guru maharaja, crossed the ocean and sat down under a tree and chanted Hare Krishna. He said that anyone could take Krishna consciousness to anywhere in the world by the same method. You just go to a park in the center of the town, sit down under a tree and chant Hare Krishna. And—this is Srila Prabhupada’s own words—’Immediately people will think, Who is this crazy fellow sitting and chanting in the town square? And they will come around to find out about this crazy fellow.’ Then you tell them about Bhagavad-gita and Krishna consciousness. So, this is continuing by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy. All we have to do is take it and distribute it. This is the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu—that you should taste the nectar of the holy name, taste love of God and distribute it—share it with others.
For Tomorrow, a short film produced by Kriyate is focusing on a typical day in the life of 12-year-old Mayapur Gurukula student and his school-friends. Through training, introspection, and perseverance, the boys set aside their differences to serve a common transcendent purpose: giving pleasure to the Supreme Person, Sri Krishna. Puru's typical day turns out to be not so typical after all, as he gains an experience which will forever alter the lens through which he sees the world. -- Written and Directed by Jagannath Kirtan Das (JP Lew), Directory of Photography: Dhira Krishna Das (Dan Karpinsky).
A video by ISKCON Desire Tree.
An interview with Devamrita Swami on Material Happiness and Spiritual Happiness.
The cow shelter is the region's biggest and is operated by the Muslim Educational and Welfare Society of Jodhpur. Over 200 cows, most of them old and sick, are taken care off here by a team of veterinarian doctors
Answer Podcast
Download by “right-click and save content”
The post As devotees, how can we deal with our relatives sensitively? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Podcast
Download by “right-click and save content”
The post Bhakti is an experiential science appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Podcast
Download by “right-click and save content”
The post Pray not to get things done but to connect with Krishna appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Answer Podcast
Download by “right-click and save content”
The post If one devotee serves Krishna as a brahmachari and another, as a grihastha, who is better? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
