Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Preview the Narasimha graphic novel now!
One hundred early copies of the graphic novel “Narasimha, Demon Slayer” have been sent to North America and are ready to be shipped anywhere in the U.S.
Click this link to preview the first seven pages and order your copy today: http://goo.gl/XmDHpA
Answer Podcast
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The post How authentic are the Dwarka arcahaeological findings about Krishna? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post How did ordinary people see Lord Chaitanya’s ecstatic trances? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post How are the Gita and the Bhagavatam related? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Brahmachari class at ISKCON, Melbourne
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The post Understanding the purpose of explicit language in scripture appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Brahmachari class at ISKCON, Melbourne
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The post Two ways to realization: as sudden illumination and as gradual awakening appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
The post Daily Darshan: March 30th,2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Food for Life Hungary (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The animal propensity is to exploit others. And human propensity should be to do good to others. That is the difference between animal propensity and human propensity. Seattle, September 24, 1968.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/RuRoCX
Kiwi Land (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: The town of Varsana in Vrindavan is where Srimati Radharani lived with her family 5,000 years ago. New Varsana is where Her aspiring devotees live in beautiful New Zealand. The large community of devotees work harmoniously together in a loving spirit of devotion. Their reception for us yesterday touched our hearts as we sang and danced together in great happiness. Glad to be back in Kiwi Land! [ Photos by Dina Bandhu das ]
Find them here: https://goo.gl/3DNDsU
March 30. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: No One Has Seen a Picture of Krishna
Prabhupada is speaking: We should always remember that He is God. He is all-powerful. In strength, no one could conquer Him. In beauty – as far as beauty is concerned – when He was on the battlefield … Have any of you seen a picture of Krishna? Have any of you ever seen Krishna? Oh … no?
Prahbupada’s voice fades as he pauses, looking out at his audience. No one has ever seen Krishna. None of them have the slightest previous knowledge of Lord Krishna. In India, hundreds of millions worship Lord Krishna daily as the eternal form of all beauty and truth, and view His graceful form in sculpture, painting and dance. His philosophical teachings in Bhagavad-gita are all famous. And Prabhupada is His intimate emissary. Yet the ladies and gentlemen in Room 307 look back at the Swami blankly.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=6
No One Has Seen a Picture of Krishna
Giriraj Swami spoke with devotees in India via Skype from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.15 25-27
rajas tamas ca sattvena
sattvam copasamena ca
etat sarvam gurau bhaktya
puruso hy anjasa jayet
Translation:
One must conquer the modes of passion and ignorance by developing the mode of goodness, and then one must become detached from the mode of goodness by promoting oneself to the platform of suddha-sattva. All this can be automatically done if one engages in the service of the spiritual master with faith and devotion. In this way one can conquer the influence of the modes of nature.
Purport:
Just by treating the root cause of an ailment, one can conquer all bodily pains and sufferings. Similarly, if one is devoted and faithful to the spiritual master, he can conquer the influence of sattva-gu?a, rajo-guna and tamo-guna very easily. Yogis and jnanas practice in many ways to conquer the senses, but the bhakta immediately attains the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the mercy of the spiritual master. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado. If the spiritual master is favorably inclined, one naturally receives the mercy of the Supreme Lord, and by the mercy of the Supreme Lord one immediately becomes transcendental, conquering all the influences of sattva-guna, rajo-guna and tamo-guna within this material world. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate). If one is a pure devotee acting under the directions of the guru,one easily gets the mercy of the Supreme Lord and thus becomes immediately situated on the transcendental platform. This is explained in the next verse. SB 7.15.25
yasya saksad bhagavati
jnana-dipa-prade gurau
martyasad-dhih srutam tasya
sarvam kunjara-saucavat
Translation:
The spiritual master should be considered to be directly the Supreme Lord because he gives transcendental knowledge for enlightenment. Consequently, for one who maintains the material conception that the spiritual master is an ordinary human being, everything is frustrated. His enlightenment and his Vedic studies and knowledge are like the bathing of an elephant.
Purport:
It is recommended that one honor the spiritual master as being on an equal status with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Saksad dharitvena samasta-sastraih. This is enjoined in every scripture. Acaryam mam vijaniyat. One should consider the acarya to be as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In spite of all these instructions, if one considers the spiritual master an ordinary human being, one is doomed. His study of the Vedas and his austerities and penances for enlightenment are all useless, like the bathing of an elephant. An elephant bathes in a lake quite thoroughly, but as soon as it comes on the shore it takes some dust from the ground and strews it over its body. Thus there is no meaning to the elephant’s bath. One may argue by saying that since the spiritual master’s relatives and the men of his neighborhood consider him an ordinary human being, what is the fault on the part of the disciple who considers the spiritual master an ordinary human being? This will be answered in the next verse, but the injunction is that the spiritual master should never be considered an ordinary man. One should strictly adhere to the instructions of the spiritual master, for if he is pleased, certainly the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadan na gati? kuto ’pi. SB 7.15.26
esa vai bhagavan saksat
pradhana-purusesvarah
yogesvarair vimrgyanghrir
loko yam manyate naram
Translation:
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord K???a, is the master of all other living entities and of the material nature. His lotus feet are sought and worshiped by great saintly persons like Vyasa. Nonetheless, there are fools who consider Lord K???a an ordinary human being.
Purport:
The example of Lord K???a’s being the Supreme Personality of Godhead is appropriate in regard to understanding the spiritual master. The spiritual master is called sevaka-bhagavan, the servitor Personality of Godhead, and K???a is called sevya-bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is to be worshiped. The spiritual master is the worshiper God, whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead, K???a, is the worshipable God. This is the difference between the spiritual master and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. SB 7.15.27
At Easter, many people go on holidays and our temples are usually quite busy receiving guests from all walks of life.
New Gokula, even though in a little remote area of the country, welcomed 100-200 visitors every day at the Easter Holidays.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, October 2014, Mayapur, India, Siksastakam Seminar: Verses 3&4, Part 2)
Humility is our main topic of the day. I was thinking that humility also includes other qualities. For example, humility includes forgiveness because if you cannot forgive then there is no question of being humble. Forgiveness comes because we do not consider ourselves so important. When we are very important, then we cannot forgive, “How could you do this to me! YOU did this to ME! I will never forgive you for this!” There is a false concept of the self in lack of forgiveness. So, I see forgiveness as a quality of humility.
I see generosity and being magnanimous, these kind of qualities, also in humility because again, one has to be able to put one’s own concerns in second place, then you can be magnanimous otherwise one is all the time thinking about ME, and MY condition and MY needs… As long as we are concerned with our own comforts, then humility is very difficult!
Let’s progress firmly in Krishna consciousness.
Giriraj Das: I was hearing a lecture by HH Bhakti Vidyapurna Swami on the same topic and Maharaj explained these three terms in a simpler way as well the relation between them.
Sambandha : attraction, what draws the mind.
Prayojana : attachment.
Both the above are moods, they create feelings but there is no activity.
Abhidheya : This is the actual expression of the above two.
So we become attracted towards Krishna and then due to that attraction we become attached to Krishna and then we want to do something. The real meaning comes with service.
We say mind has three functions: thinking, feeling and willing.
If something is attractive we think about it, if we are not attracted then we won’t think about it. Feeling is when we get attached to it. Then..willing.. we actually do something about it. So we see Krishna, we become attracted to Krishna then we become attached to Krishna and then we finally want to serve Krishna.
So it is in abhidheya that we understand the knowledge, contemplate on it and then practice that knowledge. It is application. How we are related to Krishna and what we want to achieve, what is it’s purpose.
Abhidheya is the most important and critical part among the three and I am sharing some nectar, which I heard in last few months, on how we, as aspiring devotees, can traverse this wonderful and exciting journey, making it more enriching and less painful (for us and those around us!)
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/xaIBf3
Holy Week
One of my favourite quotes is from the business mentor Stephen Covey, who said that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. In other words, don’t lose your focus. To achieve that of course, I need to have a clear aim in life on which to focus. For many years I grappled with that, not being altogether clear what I was trying to achieve beyond survival and hopefully a bit of fun now and again. Finding myself struggling on both counts I eventually consulted the intelligent Mr Covey via his books. This resulted in a bit of navel-gazing and, after I recovered from that, I constructed a personal mission statement which I actually look at from time to time.
For me life’s chief aim is a spiritual one. It’s about finding out who I really am, beyond the temporary names and labels given by this world. Ultimately it’s about attaining the divine abode of God, where I believe I truly belong. I therefore welcome holy celebrations and festivals, because they bring my often misaligned endeavours back into focus, reminding me of the sacred goal of life. Easter is not in my tradition but I have always been an admirer of Christ and his teachings. I see his messages to be very much in line with those of my own Krishna faith, and indeed with those given most spiritual traditions. From my own experience it seems to me that most faith’s teach that we are not merely material beings, and instead are spiritual souls meant for everlasting happiness, not just the ephemeral variety offered by this world.
Christ famously said that it profits a man nothing if he gains the world but loses his soul. In other words, if our happiness depends only upon the temporary things of this world it will be lost sooner or later. So, as we remember Christ this Easter I shall revisit my mission statement and make sure I’ve got the main thing of my spiritual practise firmly front and centre.
Harinama Sankirtana Yajna in Philippines (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: May the glorification of the transcendental name, form, qualities and paraphernalia of the Supreme Personality of Godhead protect us from the influence of bad planets, meteors, envious human beings, serpents, scorpions, and animals, like tigers and wolves. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.8.27)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/M0h55m
The post On a boat ride north up the Yamuna appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
By Achyutananda Das The Name of God can only be spoken through spiritual lips; in which case, in our Krishna Consciousness society, which preaches the group chanting of the Name of God, exactly what are we all doing? Why chant the 16-word mantra of Hare Krishna if God's Name is beyond our power to utter? This sensible question deserves a sensible answer, and to do justice to this common inquiry we can only go to the writings of those souls who actually have had spiritual bodies, senses and faculties and who had regular intimate communion with Krishna. Bhaktivinode Thakur is one such spiritual entity whose poems, writings and powerful, inspiring personality is moving mountains of darkness from the hearts of the devotees. He has written, "O Harer Nama [the Name of God], You enter my ear, my tongue and penetrate my heart and tears spring from my eyes, turning the dust at my feet to clay. Thus the impressions of my steps are left so that others will follow my way." So it is not by his own initiative that anyone may chant the Name, but it is the Name which takes the initiative and out of His own prerogative descends to the soul of the aspirant. Continue reading "Mystic Experience and the Name of God
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50 km walk in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya for the 50th Anniversary of ISKCON!
To get the special mercy of Lord Caitanya ISKCON Kanya Kumari is organising a padayatra covering the 5 places He visited during His tour of South India . We seek your blessings and also request you to kindly join us and bring as many devotees as possible.
In the Kanyakumari District Lord Caitanya visited these five places, as mentioned in Caitanya Caritamrita ( 2.9.225 to 229) :
1. Kanyakumari – Bhagavathiamman temple
2. Suchindrum – Sthanumalayan temple.
3. Tovalai – Subramaniya Swami temple
4. Bhootapandi – Bhoothalinga Swami temple
5. Thiruvattar – Adikesava temple
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/rqN1l2
Los Angeles temple wins 3 awards!
Los Angeles temple (New Dwarka) recently received 3 major awards in India during the 2016 Mayapur Gaur Purnima Festival.
#1 book distribution award for best temple in North America 2015. #1 book distributor Award to Bhakta Jay Khush.
#1 Senior Disciple book distribution award to Bhrigupati Prabhu. A total combined effort of over 249,000 book points!
All for the pleasure of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada!
By Radha Mohan das
As part of ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, Bhaktivedanta Manor’s main drama group The Bhaktivedanta Players were invited to perform in ISKCON Mayapur for its huge international Gaura Purnima festival.
As part of the evening stage program, they performed different dramas over five consecutive nights. This included the premier of Jaya Prabhupada: Every Town and Village which covered Srila Prabhupada’s journey to America and his time in New York with Dr Misra, in the Bowery and rounding off in 26 Second Avenue when ISKCON officially began.
Other plays included Jaya Prabhupada: The Gaudiya Foundation, The Golden Avatar, Tales of Narada Muni and the highly popular Musical Ramayan.
“The international stage program pulled together wonderful mixed audiences from across the ISKCON world and it was an honour to be part of it, ” said Players Director Jaya Krishna das. “…and the feedback was excellent!”
“We considered it a great privilege to perform this drama seva in the Holy Dham, especially in observance of ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary” added actor Radha Mohan das
2016 Festival Of Chariots Durban (several brief videos)
Srila Prabhupada: Simply by taking prasada and taking part in chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, ordinary persons are being considerably elevated. Saubhari Muni regrets that he had bad association even in the deepest part of the water. Because of the bad association of the sexually engaged fish, he fell down. A secluded place is also not secure unless there is good association. (Srimad Bhagavatam, 9.6.51 Purport).
Find them here: https://goo.gl/ih135d
Answer Podcast
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The post Should new people be told strongly to give up meat-eating? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post How can we apply the mood of “Krishna, I am yours”? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post If the devotees who introduced us to bhakti don’t inspire us later, what should we do? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post When Vibhishana went over to the side of virtue, why didn’t Vidura do the same? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post When Lakshmana left Sita unguarded because of her harsh words, whose mistake was it? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post How do I know which type of surrender is suitable for us? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post How do avoid depression caused by the mistakes we make and by thinking about past bad karma? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post Is black magic real – what should devotees targetted by it do? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
By Mukundamala Dasa Discussions about the relationship between science and religion usually end in a stalemate: Scientists accuse religionists of relying too much on faith, which they say is experimentally unverifiable, while religionists accuse scientists of relying too much on physical and chemical laws, which they say fail to measure the emotions and sentiments of a conscious living entity. The scientists fail to address or even acknowledge consciousness and its attendant needs; religionists fail to provide a satisfactory scientific and logical explanation for the practices they follow. The refusal of scientists to experiment beyond mechanistic science and the inability of religionists to present religion as a bona fide science have only widened the gap between the two parties. Continue reading "The Laws of Bhakti
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Srimad Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Adelaide
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The post Vritrasura lila analysis 2 – The heroic leader and the hidden devotee appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post Vritrasura lila analysis 2 – The heroic leader and the hidden devotee appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Sri Mayapur International School - Open Day 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The Hare Krishna chant is called the maha-mantra, the great, exalted mantra above all other Vedic mantras, because simply chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra brings so many beneficial effects. (Srimad Bhagavatam, 9.1.17 Purport).
Find them here: https://goo.gl/JIUpRU
Evening program at ISKCON, Adelaide
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The post The mind is a monkey that makes us a donkey appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
March 29. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Exploring His Western Audience.
Sometimes his mood is light, and he commiserates with his fellow New Yorkers, chuckling about the difficulties they share: “Suppose there is a heavy snowfall, the whole New York City is flooded with snow, and you are all put into inconvenience. That is a sort of suffering, but you have no control over it.” Sometimes he praises Dr. Mishra’s students for having learned so nicely from their teacher: “Now, what Dr. Mishra is teaching is very nice. He is teaching that first of all you must know, ‘Who am I?’ That is very good, but that ‘Who am I?’ can be known from Bhagavad-gita also – ‘I am not this body.’” And sometimes a guest suddenly speaks out with an irrelevant question, and the Swami patiently tries to consider it.
Yet behind his tolerance, Prabhupada’s mood is always one of urgency. Sometimes he talks quickly, and one senses his desire to establish Krishna consciousness in the West as soon as possible. He has no followers, only a few books, no temples, and he openly states that he is racing against time: “I am an old man. I could leave at any time.” So, behind the full delivery of Krishna conscious philosophy is an anxiety, an almost desperate desire to convince at least one soul to take up Krishna consciousness immediately.
Now the constrained situations of Butler and the Ananda Ashram and Dr. Mishra are behind him, he is free to speak about the Absolute Truth in full. Throughout his life he has prepared for this, yet he is still discovering the best ways to present Krishna, exploring his Western audience, testing their reactions.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=6
Exploring His Western Audience
QUESTION: Why did Lord Rama abandon Maa Sita?
This is not my specialty, I am a devotee of Krishna, who, I’ve heard, was Rāma in a previous life. :) Nonetheless, I will try to share with you whatever I know about this heartbreaking topic.
Why did Rāma abandon Sītā?
The answer is simply this: Rāma’s reason-for-being is not prema, it is dharma. Specifically, Rāma’s reason-for-being was to illustrate rāja-dharma, the moral duty of kings.
If you are a king, duty to your citizens supersedes your duty to anyone else, even including family. This is why, for the sake of the citizens, some of whom did not approve of our beloved Sītā, Rāma had to abandon her.
Personally, I would rather have seen such citizens decapitated, but then that is probably why I would not make the best king. As Rāma showed, a king must be willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of his subjects. Sītā Jī came with him in this avatāra of her own accord, knowing what would happen. She sacrificed herself to assist him. This is prema. She is always the emblem of Prema, for she is Sri Radha.
In Rāma līlā, the better character for us is Sītā, not Rāma, I think.
Sincerely,
Vraja Kishor
www.vrajakishor.com
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, October 2014, Mayapur, India, Siksastakam Seminar: Verses 1&2, Part 1)
The process of glorification of Krsna through his name is actually our means of purification. So we are preparing to chant and the first reason why we chant, is for purification, whether it is in kirtan or japa. In japa, we are exposed because in japa we are alone. When you are in kirtan, you can become so swept up in the kirtan that you think you are almost approaching bhava! Then, when you are chanting japa, you realise you are a total neophyte, you have no taste for the name at all because during japa, you are alone with the name and there is no help from the music, there is no help from all the voices chanting to carry us…