Websites from the ISKCON Universe
On Friday March 18th, GBC and ISKCON New Delhi leader Gopal Krishna Goswami had the opportunity to meet with Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at his residence in the capital city, to discuss ISKCON’s work. Mr. Modi is known for promoting the Bhagavad-gita, and so Gopal Krishna Maharaja gifted him a special deluxe edition of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
Gaura Purnima Festival in Iskcon San Diego (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Krishna says that his devotee is never vanquished. Therefore all the disciples practicing Krishna consciousness should obediently follow the regulative principles and remain fixed in chanting the holy name of the Lord. Then there need be no fear. Otherwise, one’s position is very dangerous, especially in this Kali-yuga. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.1.58 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/4SqSfT
Imagine if you could fight as the great warrior Arjuna, launching an attack with your Gandiva bow? And imagine if your friend, taking on the role of Karna, could counter-attack with his own bow, Vijay? Now you both can. It all came about when back in 2012, high school friends and huge gaming fans Varun Devanathan and Huren Sivaraj met to catch up.
Gaur Purnima Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Canberra
Podcast
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The post Gaura Purnima lecture – Lord Chaitanya manifested the three internal reasons for his descent in his Ratha-yatra lila appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
The Radha Gopinath Temple in Mumbai, India celebrated their annual Flower Festival on January 30th, 2016. Over two hundred western yoga teachers and students joined thousands of members of the Radha Gopinath Temple congregation for the event. Participants of the Bhakti Immersion Retreat held at Govardhan Eco Village rushed to Mumbai for the celebrations. Gaur Vani, of the music band The Hanumen, posted on the internet, “After seeing the new developments at Radhanath Swami’s Govardhan Eco Village (including life-size replicas of the holy sites of Vrindavan), tons of hugging cows, serving with villagers, and loads of kirtans and music and yoga classes we’ve come back to Mumbai for the world-famous Flower Festival….” Sixty students of Jiva Mukti Yoga’s Yoga Teachers Training also joined in.
At 7:00 a.m. on the day of the festival a team of hundreds of volunteers began plucking petals from 2300 pounds of flowers – white and yellow chamomile, orange and coppery marigold, yellow and white chrysanthemum, pink and red roses, jasminum molle and jasmine. This seva continued for several hours as Radhanath Swami gave a talk describing the history and teachings of the path of devotion. Then in the evening those plucked petals were showered upon temple deities Sri Sri Radha and Krishna as Gaur Vani, Vishvambhar and his wife Vrinda lead the thousands of devotees in Kirtan. Finally the same petals were showered upon the devotees.
Gaur Vani posted on Facebook the next day, “At one point while chanting the entire harmonium gets covered in petals. I’m just poking at this flower covered, wheezing box hoping to hit something that sounds halfway decent. Flowers in every pocket, gap, opening, fold, and crevice. Still pulling petals out of cameras and backpacks the next day .
Just prior to the flower showers Radhanath Swami spoke of how bhakti unites us for the common purpose of serving Sri Krishna: “Here are people from Mexico and United States, from Canada and Sweden, from Switzerland and Australia, from Russia and Ukraine, from England and Italy, and a lot of people from India. And this morning everyone was sitting around the same little baskets of flowers, plucking petals, irrespective of what status, caste, sex or economic bracket we came from. Despite our incredibly amazing differences we are one in our love for God, in our compassion for each other, and in our appreciation for each other.”
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Bhaktivedanta Manor: 50 hours of kirtan!
This weekend Srila Prabhupada’s grandchildren celebrate 50 years of ISKCON with 50 hours of kirtan at Bhaktivedanta manor… Will be streamed on Mayapur TV as well
Sacred Sound Kirtan Retreat ISKCON New Govardhana - Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari, Australia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The process of chanting the holy name of the Lord is always superbly effective, but it is especially effective in this age of Kali. All the great authorities of bhakti-yoga recommend the devotional process beginning with the chanting of the holy name of Krishna (tan-nama-grahanadibhih). (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.1.21 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/eHk7Sa
March 25. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Letter to Sumati Morarji.
Prabhupada expressed his optimism about his situation in a letter to Sumati Morarji:
I was very much encouraged when you wrote to say, “I feel that you should stay there until you fully recover from your illness, and return only after you have completed your mission.” I think these lines dictated to you are the words of Lord Bala Krishna expressed through your goodness.
You will be pleased to know that I have improved my health back to normal, and my missionary work is nicely progressing. I hope my project to start a temple of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna will be realized by the grace of the Lord.
Since I came to New York from Butler, Pennsylvania, I have rented the above room at seventy dollars per month, and I am delivering lectures on the Bhagwat-gitaand Sriman-Bhagwatam, accompanied by sankirtana. And the American ladies and gentlemen come to hear me. You will be surprised to know that they do not understand the language of sankirtana, yet they hear with attention. The movement which I have started here is completely new to them, because Americans are generally acquainted with the Indian yoga gymnastics as performed by some Indian yogis here. They have never heard of the bhakti cult, of the science of Krishna before, and still they are hearing me. This is a great success for me.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=6
Letter to Sumati Morarji
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in Mayapur in the town of Nadia just after sunset on the 18th of February 1486. The moon was eclipsed at the time of His birth, and the people of Nadia were then engaged, as was usual on such occasions, in bathing in the Bhagirathi with loud cheers of Haribol.
His father, Jagannatha Misra, and His mother, Saci-devi, both descended from ‘brahmana’ stock originally resided in Sylhet. Mahaprabhu was a beautiful child, and the ladies of the town came to see Him with presents.
His mother’s father, Nilambara Chakravarti, a renowned astrologer, foretold that the child would be a great personage in time; and he, therefore, gave him the name Vishvambhara. The ladies of the neighbourhood styled him Gaurahari on account of His golden complexion, and His mother called Him Nimai on account of the ‘nimba’ tree near which He was born.
Lord Chaitanya is the Supreme Person, Krishna, appearing as His own worshiper. He is the combined form of Krishna and Krishna’s most dear devotee Srimati Radharani. He came to experience the love She feels for Him, and to show by example how to fully surrender to Krishna.
He exhibited symptoms of love of God to the highest degree, and emphasised chanting the holy names of Krishna as the best means to attain love of God.
This post addresses some questions that arose from yesterday’s post on this topic.
I’m not sure how “morality” is precisely defined and on what basis?
Morality is a translation of the concept of dharma.
Dharma literally means the essential nature of a thing. Everything has a particular function based on its nature, and to fulfill that function is the definition of morality. The function of a student is to study, studying is a moral act for a student. The function of a teacher is to teach, teaching is a moral act for a teacher. Everyone is slightly different, so everyone’s moral definitions will be slightly different, this is why you may not find “precise definitions” in śāstra – but instead you find the essential principle, guidance on how to apply the principle, and some examples of how it should be applied to different types of people in different situations.
Also, everyone has many different natures in many different contexts and thus many different co-existing duties. For example I am a student in one context, a teacher in another, a son in one, a father in another, a husband in yet another, a neighbor in yet another, etc. etc. etc. I have duties for each role, and to attend those duties is my morality. To fail to attend those duties would be immorality.
My ultimate identity is as consciousness, emanated from the root consciousness, and therefore in an eternal mutual relationship. My ultimate duty and morality, therefore is to function in that capacity.
The more eternal the nature of a thing, the more important its function. For example, I was once a Californian, and I was once a child – but am no longer. Yet I will be a human being for my entire life. So the duties I have as a result of being human (my responsibilities to the planet, for example, and to the animals and ecosystem) are more important than my responsibilities to the Californian government or my rights and responsibilities as a child to play and have fun. This is another reason Krishna-bhakti is the supreme dharma, because it is the function of who we are on the deepest, eternal level: consciousness in mutual relationship to the supreme root of consciousness. That’s why it is nitya-, sat-, or sanātana- dharma — because it never changes. In contrast all other dharmas are naimittik- (“occasional”, “conditional”)
[in] the sastras that we study– BG, SB, and allied literatures— … I can’t think of a place where one gets the strong message to “Take care of family,” for ex. or be “fixed up in your prescribed duties.”
For example, see Bhagavad Gītā, particularly the first five chapters.
The sruti-smrti-puranadi verse doesn’t exactly clarify things either b/c exclusive bhakti, even if (not saying this is required) performed abandoning “morality,” viz. the nitya/namitika-karmas of varna-asrama, is something certainly taught in the sruti-smriti, etc; (BG 18.66 for ex).
BG 18.66 states that Bhakti is self-sufficient. It does not state that you should abandon morality, but that you should abandon seeking it outside the context of bhakti. By taking shelter of Krishna in bhakti, you become moral automatically. This is why he says ahaṁ tvaṁ sarva pāpebhyo – “take shelter of me and you will never be sinful, I see to it.”
It is common sense. If you have love you care about others, and are thus moral.
Bhakti can and does superceede other moralities – because love (bhakti) is the very soul of all moral principles. Where there is love, there cannot be immorality. Where there is all-inclusive divine love, there cannot be immorality to anyone in any circumstance.
The examples given by our acharyas in [this section of BRS] are Lord Buddha, whose “devotion” appeared to be aikantiki but was w/out belief in scriptures.
This anga, #4, sādhu-vartmānuvartana, has two facets; one is related to karma/dharma and the other is related to jñāna. Our comprehension and implementation of the guru’s guidance on sādhana (1) should always be within the bounds of the moral conclusions established by śāstra, and (2) should always be in harmony with the philosophical conclusions established by śāstra.
Śrī Jīva’s comment here is that if a person’s teachings cannot be understood and followed within those two bounds established by śāstra, they cannot be accepted as a guru. He gives the example of Buddha and Dattatreya to show that even if the guru is literally an avatār of Viṣṇu, we cannot follow them if their teachings are contrary to, or oblivious to, the the moral and philosophical conclusions of the Veda.
Sri Rupa even opens up this section (called the purity of devotional service in SP’s NOD) by saying “[One] is not at fault for failing to perform the duties of varna-asrama, but is at fault for failing to perform all the important angas of bhakti.” (1.2.63-64 BRS).
The above quote is for 63 only. It does not include 64.
It concludes the section of Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu describing eligibility for sādhana-bhakti, by establishing what are the moral duties of a person who is eligible for Sādhana Bhakti.
It says such a person must never fail to observe their practice of sādhana. If they must fail in some other regard for that sake, this is acceptable. (63) If they thus unintentionally are forced by circumstance to violate some moral principle, there is no need for them to do something other than bhakti to reform. (64)
Therefore this section cannot be leveraged to support intentional abandonment of ones responsibilities and moral duties.
All the quotes from 65 to 71 (which include Gītā 18.66 and ŚB 1.5.17) powerfully show that bhakti is self-sufficient, and therefore generates morality automatically. Thus someone who has bhakti does not need to endeavor for morality by any other means, because bhakti automatically establishes morality.
How is morality precisely defined and on what basis?
Padma Purana (Srsti-khanda 19.336) gives the absolute essence of morality:
“Listen to the essence of dharma, then put it into practice: Do not perform acts towards others that you find displeasing to yourself.”
The same concept is in Gītā (6.32), where Krishna says:
“One who sees the happiness and distress of all living beings as identical to his own, that yogi is considered the topmost.”
This is the essence of dharma. “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” “Care for others the way you care for yourself.”
Specific details of how to practice this are given to different individuals on the basis of their different natures, talents, needs, culture, background, age, location, etc. etc. etc. They are too numerous to mention, because there are infinite different natures, talents, etc. but they are discussed categorically to illustrate by example.
Can it be conclusively said that those who abandon duties before bhakti … are actually transgressors of the scripture? There are many statement that at least appear to support this notion (11.20.9; 11.5.41)?
Yes.
But a bhakta will never intentionally transgress any moral principle.
We know already from the second quality of uttamā-bhakti that it bestows auspiciousness (śubhadā), and the first and second aspects of “auspiciousness” are (1) to hold everyone dear and be endeared to everyone, and (2) to have good moral qualities, like humility, honesty, simplicity, kindness, etc.
Also, if we just think about it clearly, we will see that it makes no sense to suggest that a person with love in the heart (bhakti) would harm others (be immoral).
Where is the unambiguous moral theology in the books we are accustomed to reading?
See for example Bhagavad Gītā, especially chapters 3, 4, and 5.
THE PAST CAN BE A GOOD PLACE TO LEARN, BUT IT'S A LOUSY PLACE TO LIVE: One of the reasons I share my past growing up and my various struggles on account of it, is to show that we have to make peace with our history so we can move on, often through some type of healing, forgiveness, or various kinds of personal work, often with professional help. In spite of how horrendous our past might be, it doesn't have to define us or have negative power over our lives.
There are two extremes, one is to repress or not deal with our past and stay in reaction to it, and the other is to let it define and limit us by keeping us a tied down victim. We want to identify ourselves as a lovable part of Krishna, not as an incest survivor, child of an alcoholic, or what have you. Some people wear their past trauma like a badge of honor. At the same time, while spiritual advancement is the ultimate solution to all our problems, where we gradually realize and identify ourselves as a effulgent soul beyond material designations or clinical diagnosis, it can be helpful to "name" our type of conditioning since we often identify with it as who we are and suffer accordingly. The way out is through! We aren't our life story, and yet within that story are keys to rise above it. Every negative situation carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater gain.
This is a further elaboration on one of the basic questions of life: "Who am I?" that I recently spoke of. Just rattling off our spiritual identity, or that "we are not the body," without dealing with our conditioning will fall short of helping us come to the spiritual platform.
Kadamba Kanana Swami’s stay in Durban continues. He is still in the compulsory recovery phase after his surgeries. During this time, Maharaj has been making a weekly appearance at the Sunday Program. On the special occasion of Gaura Purnima, a day that is known for special mercy, Maharaj extended himself to be part of the morning program at the Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple Durban and to be part of the evening program at the New Jagannatha Puri Temple in Phoenix, about 40 km away. His lectures focused on the theme of mercy and especially on the fact that in order to receive more mercy in our lives, we need to give out mercy. Recordings of the lectures and photos are found below.
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KKS_DBN_23March2016_GauraPurnima_SSRR_Morning_Bhajan_Sri-krsna-caitanya-prabhu
KKS_DBN_23March2016_GauraPurnima_SSRR_Morning_Lecture
KKS_DBN_23March2016_GauraPurnima_NJP_Evening_Kirtan-during-abishek
KKS_DBN_23March2016_GauraPurnima_NJP_Evening_Lecture
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From left to right: Venkatachalpati, Venkatash Krsna, Gaurnataraj and Nikunja Rasa.
The Congregational Development department (the CD team) is taking care of members and pilgrims alike this winter with an array of services. From Go Puja and Parikramas, offered by Venkatachalapati dasa, to outreach programs such as daily phone calls by Venkatash Krsna dasa, or gifts of delicious sweets from our Goshala, made by Sri Rupa dasa, the CD team has it covered. Gaurnataraj dasa, the head of the CD team and Nikunja Rasa das have been traveling tirelessly this winter, preaching at Bhakti Vriksha’s nationwide, and have been well received, while Rahul dasa has been away in India purchasing alters.
This winter, the CD team had a goal to increase home visits and outreach programs, emphasizing the chanting of the holy names. More than doubling their efforts from last year, they are exceeding their expectations and the results are great. Registrations and long weekend turnouts have increased and new families are visiting New Vrindaban as well.
“The only thing we can offer them is love and devotion and they are becoming very enlivened to chant the Mahamantra and listen to class. ” says Gaurnataraj, “Lots of people have shown interest in Srila Prabhupada’s books and we have already sold eight sets of the Srimad Bhagavatam this winter.”
Happy devotees holding sweets made right here in the Dhama.
Lord Chaitanya predicted the holy name will be spread to every town and village in the world and the CD team is helping to fulfill this desire by chanting the holy name wherever they go by giving lectures, singing kirtans and holding japa introduction courses. With visits to over ten states this winter, they are networking Bhakti Vriksha programs nationwide, encouraging its members in spiritual life and helping to awaken their dormant love for Krishna. Those who were not previously chanting, some are committing to chanting every day and those who were already chanting are committing to chant even more attentive rounds.
For Christmas last year, the CD team held a seminar on chanting japa, as well as classes about ‘The Ten Subject Matters of the Srimad Bhagavatam’, over a span of three days. Then, for New Years Eve, Sukhavaha Dasi gave a special program on ‘Giving Up Bad Habits’ which followed by a Bhagavad Gita class, and ended with kirtans lasting into the New Year’s morning.
To offer Lord Damodara the lamplight of their love this upcoming Kartik, the CD team is currently procuring altars to install Radha Krishna deities for members who are serious. They hope to have many altars installed so that they can sing Damodarastakam prayers for the pleasure of Their Lordships.
Gaurnataraj preforming a fire sacrifice.
Gaurnataraj says of the team, “our outreach programs are increasing and our team has great camaraderie and harmony amongst each other. Our main goal is to glorify and serve New Vrindaban and we hope that our offering of love and devotion touches the hearts of all those we speak with and that they become inspired to visit and become devotees. We hope to increase this outreach mission in a big way.”
Gaurnataraj is currently doing a series of lectures, ‘The Seven Kandas of the Ramayana’ every Thursday night at 8:30 pm starting March 3 – April 14, leading up to Rama Navami.
People can join in on the Rama Katha, as well as Bhagavad Gita class every Tuesday, via the live feed on his website – www.astroandyoga.com/live/
Even Google is into Holi!
If you click on the following link and place your pointer or cursor on the word Google you will see the Holi animation: https://www.google.ca/?gws_rd=ssl
Basu Ghosh Das: Here are the links:
1. Tulasi arati — http://tinyurl.com/h5aexo7
2. Abhishek — http://tinyurl.com/gtj5uvb
3. Deity Darshan — http://tinyurl.com/hoof6h6
4. Holika dahan [burning of the demoness Holika] —
5. Sandhya arati — http://tinyurl.com/jcvk7kx
By Sri Nandanandana dasa If we do a comparative study, we can recognize numerous aspects of the Vedic culture, Krishna consciousness, in many of the Native American traditions. In order to show this, I conducted an interview with Felicity O’rourke who is a member of the Anishnaabi Native American tribe. This describes many of the similarities she recognizes between Vedic culture and her native American traditions. She explains: My family did not have a very strong Native American upbringing because my mother’s grandmother was the one who had a lot of the old ancient teachings and the knowledge, which she then taught to my grandfather or my Mom’s father. But she taught it to him in a way that was more of a lifestyle, not like a spiritual practice. And she wouldn’t let him or anyone else in the family know specifics of her native culture because she was ashamed. This was when so many Native Americans were going into boarding schools, or being taken away from their family members. So they, my particular family, hid from that. So there’s actually no physical documentation of my family at all in regards to them being native. Continue reading "Vedic Traditions in the Native American Customs
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Gaur Purnima Abhishek at ISKCON Mira Road (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is described as maha-vadanya, the most munificent of charitable persons, because He gives Krishna so easily that one can attain Krishna simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.3.38 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Z4y6LA
ISKCON Salem Gaura Purnima festival (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: By chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, we gradually develop our eternal relationship with the Supreme Person and thus attain the perfection called svarupa-siddhi. We should take advantage of this benediction and go back home, back to Godhead. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.3.37 Purport )
Find them here: https://goo.gl/AalkLh
By Padmapani Das
Conversation with devotees in Mayapura on October 30th.
The post Book distribution appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
By Bhurijana dasa Kamsa was thinking: "Simply hearing Krsna's name causes my heart to tremble. By some trick, by some clever plan, He must be killed. Already I have tried plan after plan, each one more clever than the last, but all have failed. They were useless." As he thought in this way, Kamsa walked out of the palace with one of his spies and asked him, "According to what you have seen, whom does Krsna love the most?" The spy reported, "Lord, I think Krsna is most filled with love for His calves." Kamsa then ordered, "Now return to your home." Kamsa then turned to another attendant: "Summon Vatsasura. With his great power he places even the demigod Indra in distress. He makes Indra appear as insignificant as a drop of water." Because many others were surrounding him, Kamsa had whispered these words of praise. Vatsasura soon arrived, and Kamsa greeted him as if a son, "Dear child Vatsasura, please go to Nanda's village of Vraja. Approach Nanda's small son as He herds the calves. Then, yourself assuming the form of a calf, attack Nanda's son. Affirming his obedience by saying, "As the king commands, so I will act," Vatsasura went to the Yamuna's banks. Continue reading "One day…
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By Chaitanya Charan das Doesn’t renunciation indicate an absence of the will to keep fighting amidst frustration? Not necessarily. Renunciation can also be a sign of realization; it can indicate the presence of the insight that there is more to life than fighting futilely for perishable material pleasures. Firstly, we need to recognize that the material eye and the spiritual eye don’t see alike, as the Bhagavad-gita (2.69) confirms. For materialists, the journey of life has only one track: the track to material enjoyment. Life has no purpose higher than the enjoyment of material pleasures. So, for them, renunciation or the abandonment of the pursuit of material enjoyment implies a cessation of progress on the journey of life, a stagnation that reduces life to a purposeless emptiness. Continue reading "Isn’t renunciation a sign of frustration?
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All glories…
Let’s show our gratitude to the devotees who were worshipping the deities when we visited the temple, for those who were keeping it very clean and burning incense, let’s show our gratitude for those who cooked that delicious prasada that we put in our mouths for the first time.
Let’s show our gratitude to those who gave us Srila Prabhupada’s ‘transformational’ books.
Society means people together working with a purpose, and that is ISKCON; our home.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Hare Krsna!
Amritsari Aaloo kulchas (non dairy)
Try out this spicy and soft Potato filling bread, famous in Dhabas and restaurants. The spicy flavour of carom seeds and ginger separates it from regular Aaloo parathas. I have tried both Baking and pan cooking options and both turned out great. Because of its spicy flavor, this goes very well with a cooling dip.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/ZsYnxB
By His Divine Grace A.C.B. Swami Prabhupada Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita is the record of immortal activities of the Lord. In the first part 9th chapter of the book the welfare activities of the Lord is described in nutshell. According to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, everyone who is born in the holy land of Bharat Varash or India must engage himself in the welfare activities for the human society. He says that one desirous of doing welfare activity must implant in his own life the real ideas of welfare. For without knowing the art of doing such welfare activities nobody can do real welfare to the human society. Why he has stressed on the point of taking birth in the land of Bharat Varash. Because Bharat Varash is the land of real culture. The sages and Rishis of India cultured very gravely the problem of life and all of them agreed in one point that no permanent welfare can be done so far the material body and mind is concerned. Continue reading "Lord Shri Chaitanya, His welfare activities
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The post Daily Darshan: March 24th, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Srila Prabhupada: Please continue to try and convince the world leaders who are in Washington D.C. about our Krishna Consciousness program.
A letter of Srila Prabhupada: November 12, 1970
My Dear Damodara,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 4th October, 1970 and I’ve noted the contents with much pleasure.
I am glad to see that you are working in the universities. They are a good field for spreading our Krishna Consciousness activities. Try and get all our books accepted in the college libraries and classroom courses. That will be our real success. Dr. Cenkner is correct in saying that Sankaracarya’s belief is personal. Actually he is a covered personalist. He became impersonalist just to drive away Buddhism. All of India was Buddhist voidism. So, although a personalist, he had to keep pace with voidism by expounding impersonalism. There is very little difference between impersonalism and voidism, but because he had to bring Buddhists back to the Vedic cultural form, he adopted impersonalism. From the Padma Purāṇa, it is learned that Sankaracarya is Lord Siva, and who can be a greater devotee than Lord Siva? Lord Siva is considered to be the foremost Vaisnava.
*Please continue to try and convince the world leaders who are in Washington D.C. about our Krishna Consciousness program. Why don’t you approach the Congressmen and Representatives and inform them of the work that our men are doing within their states and cities. If they are favorably impressed with our work, they may be able to give us government land and property and so many other facilities which we can utilize to aid all of the population.* I think so many men will be glad to receive our books, so please utilize this opportunity. Simply it requires determination and imagination. Maybe you can get the Indian Ambassador and his wife to hold a meeting at which many important men can be invited. If he and his wife are favorably impressed, certainly they can hold a nice meeting one evening. At that meeting you can speak and explain what our movement is and show slides and movies. Make a book table and display all of our books. Never mind if they also like to read from Ramakrishna. If you give them our KRSNA book to read, very soon all other tastes will go away.
Please offer my blessings to all the other Prabhus in Washington. Hope this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Gaura Purnima festivities in Amsterdam, Holland (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Sometimes it is very risky to give great philosophical instructions to ordinary people, but Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, for the benefit of the fallen souls of Kali-yuga, has given us a very nice instrument, the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 5.10.18 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/iebQVO
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
