Hollywood Movie Filming At The Temple - Extras Needed!
Last month, the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple was contacted by a local production company that is working with Hollywood-based filmmakers for an upcoming big-budget movie set to be released in 2018. They were scouting locations for a film shoot and came upon our building and fell in love with it! They contacted the temple to see if they could shoot a major scene of the movie at the temple this spring.
We have been given permission to share that the movie is a futuristic zombie-apocalypse story and it has one key scene which takes place wherein the main characters take refuge in a temple only to find that it’s monks are also zombies! The movie producers want the scene to be shot at our temple!
Needless to say, the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple spent the last several weeks carefully combing through the script of the movie to ensure that there was nothing that would portray our faith in a negative light. Having given the green light, we are happy to announce that the production company has given us a chance to ask our own community members if they would like to play roles as background extras in the movie. Some extras will also be dressed as zombies!
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/4nTnLB
A new Sannyasi for Iskcon: Bhakti ratnakara Ambar Swami.
He accepted the sannyasa order today (1 April 2016) in Vrindavana by HH Gopal Krishna Swami.
Srila Prabhupada: Krishna takes special appreciation for His devotees who are engaged in risking for His preaching work, and He will give you special care and guidance at all times because you are sincerely trying to serve Him in this way. Letter to Amogha, August 9, 1972.
Students Join Nairobi Hare Krishna Training Centre.
The new ‘Hare Krishna Training Centre’ in Nairobi, Kenya, has become a popular accommodation destination for local students, who are chanting, studying Srila Prabhupada’s books, and following the four regulative principles of Krishna consciousness. The idea germinated when manager Govinda Prema Das and others began trying to follow Prabhupada’s instructions to reach out to local Africans, rather than Hindus. “It is an African country,” the ISKCON founder told Brahmananda Das, who was preaching in Nairobi in 1971. “They are the proprietors. We should be preaching to them.” Later that same year, he wrote to Chyavana, “I am very pleased to hear that the African boys are becoming serious devotees.”
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/gHIhgB
Please Remember - 5 min. hip-hop musical video based on Sri Isopanisad Mantra 17.
vayur anilam amritam athedam bhasmantam sariram om krato smara kritam smara krato smara kritam smara
TRANSLATION: Let this temporary body be burnt to ashes, and let the air of life be merged with the totality of air. Now, O my Lord, please remember all my sacrifices, and because You are the ultimate beneficiary, please remember all that I have done for You.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/QS3J4R
Album of beautiful photos from ISKCON Vrindavan’s Boat Festival 2016
Srila Prabhupada: “My heart is always burning in the fire of material existence, and I have made no provisions for getting out of it. The only remedy is hari-nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, which is imported from the spiritual world, Goloka-Vrndavana. How unfortunate I am that I have no attraction for this. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 5.1.22 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Mgs2j9
April 1. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: The Paradox Restaurant.
The Paradox, at 64 East 7th Street on the Lower East Side, was a restaurant dedicated to the philosophy of George Ohsawa and the macrobiotic diet. It was a storefront below street level with small dining tables placed around the candlelit room. The food was inexpensive and well-reputed. Tea was served free, as much as you liked. More than just a restaurant, The Paradox was a center for spiritual and cultural interests, a meeting place reminiscent of the cafes of Greenwich Village or Paris in the 1920s. A person could spend the whole day at The Paradox without buying anything, and no one would complain. The crowd at the Paradox was a mystical congregation, interested in teachings from the East. When news of the new Swami uptown at Dr. Mishra’s reached The Paradox, the word spread quickly.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=7
Last month, the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple was contacted by a local production company that is working with Hollywood-based filmmakers for an upcoming big-budget movie set to be released in 2018. They were scouting locations for a film shoot and came upon our building and fell in love with it! They contacted the temple to see if they could shoot a major scene of the movie at the temple this spring.
We have been given permission to share that the movie is a futuristic zombie-apocalypse story and it has one key scene which takes place wherein the main characters take refuge in a temple only to find that it's monks are also zombies! The movie producers want the scene to be shot at our temple!
Needless to say, the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple spent the last several weeks carefully combing through the script of the movie to ensure that there was nothing that would portray our faith in a negative light. Having given the green light, we are happy to announce that the production company has given us a chance to ask our own community members if they would like to play roles as background extras in the movie. Some extras will also be dressed as zombies!
Each actor/actress will be financially compensated and the movie producers will also be making a sizable donation to the temple once shooting is complete (by the end of the spring).
We have been assured that all filming will take place during the week when the temple is less busy and that there will be no interference with regular weekend programming (Sunday Feasts, etc).
If you are interested in being an extra in the movie, please feel free to fill out the form below. You can also learn more about this futuristic zombie movie by visiting their official website.
For those of you who figured we are too spiritual to play tricks on you, we'd like to wish you a Happy April Fool's Day!!! There will be no zombies roaming the halls of our temple... at least, not for now! (Check out previous years' Aprils Fools jokes here, hereand here!)
From Beijing to Belgium, from Bulgaria to Buenos Aires, from Canada to Karnataka, from Nairobi to Naperville, from Istanbul to England, From Delhi to Gaborone, to Slovenia, to Switzerland, to Ecuador, to Romania, Poland, etc., four dozen leaders assembled in the Govardhan Ecovillage outside of Mumbai, learning for thirteen days at the GBC College for Leadership Development how to serve as Zonal Supervisors.
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.
The new ‘Hare Krishna Training Centre’ in Nairobi, Kenya, has become a popular accommodation destination for local students, who are chanting, studying Srila Prabhupada’s books, and following the four regulative principles of Krishna consciousness. The idea germinated when manager Govinda Prema Das and others began trying to follow Prabhupada’s instructions to reach out to local Africans, rather than Hindus.
Is there a scientific explanation for “changing bodies”?
Question: Is there any scientific explanation for the concept of changing bodies? Could a spirit soul transfer to a completely different universe or dimension? Does the soul remain in the body after death for any amount of time?
Our Answer: Anyone can prove to themselves, using scientific methods, that they perpetually remain the same conscious entity while the body perpetually changes. It’s simply a matter of hypothesis and observation. Depending on what kind of science you accept as valid, the Bhagavad-gita gives a thoroughly scientific explanation of transmigration of consciousness through different bodies, especially in the eighth chapter. You may also want to examine Dr. Ian Stevenson’s three thousand case studies of children remembering past lives.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/eAm79a
Gaura Purnima in Slovakia (Album with 48 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: In this Age of Kali, the process of worshiping Krishna is to perform sacrifice by chanting the holy name of the Lord. One who does so is certainly very intelligent, and he attains shelter at the lotus feet of Krishna. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 20.11)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/4iEhNs
ārtāh — the distressed; devān — to the gods; namasyanti — pay obeisances; tapaḥ — austerities; kurvanti — perform; rogiṇaḥ — the diseased; nirdhanāh — the poverty-stricken; dānam — donations; icchanti — desire [to give]; vṛddhā — old; nārī — lady; pati-vratā — is devoted to her husband;
“The distressed automatically start paying obeisances to the gods [for they have no other option]. The diseased naturally perform various austerities [for they have no other option]. The poverty-stricken desire to give big donations [for they do not have the option of doing it in real life] and an old lady automatically shows devotion to her husband [for all hope of attracting paramours is lost].”
[Verse and translation provided by Hari Parshad Prabhu]
Life’s temptations frequently deviate us from the right path – they make us give up principle for pleasure. Conversely life’s tribulations, especially tribulations that we have no hope of solving on our own, impel us to the right path; they make us accept the available even if it is not particularly appealing, because the alternative is utterly unpalatable. This Subhashita talks about such forced choosing of the right course of action.
People often have a similar utilitarian attitude towards God. Such motivated devotion is usually interrupted devotion. When things go wrong in our life, we come rushing to God; and when things start looking up, we bid him goodbye.
The mistaken notion that God is a dispensable means is illustrated in an insurance company’s ad: “If you don’t have our insurance, it’s time to say your prayers.” Actually, it is always the time to say our prayers and to connect with God. Why? Because we as souls are his eternal parts, and we can find lasting happiness only in loving and serving him. Moreover, even in dealing with our practical problems while living in this material world, no solution can work without God’s sanction. Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.9.19) illustrates how the apparent solution can’t provide the actual solution, if divine sanction is missing: parents can’t always protect their children; medicines can’t always save the sick; and boats can’t always rescue the drowning. Extending this principle, we can contemplate that the insurance company too can’t guarantee us relief. What if it goes bankrupt at the same time when we are facing a crisis?
Of course, motivated devotion is better than no devotion at all – instead of living godlessly, we at least believe in God and worship him, even if for self-centered purposes. How we can rise from motivated devotion to pure devotion is outlined in the Bhagavad-gita (07.16-19). The first verse (07.16) mentions four kinds of people who approach Krishna and start worshiping him: the distressed, the inquisitive, the wealth-seekers and the knowledgeable. Krishna appreciates all of them for their piety in approaching him – he calls them as large-hearted (07.18). Yet he lauds especially the knowledgeable, for they are unmotivated in approaching him – they are interested only in him, so their devotion is one-pointed (07.17). He concludes the section by declaring (07.19) that after many lifetimes, the motivated become unmotivated when they finally understand that Krishna is everything – he is the embodiment and fulfillment of all our heart’s aspiration for happiness (vasudevah sarvam iti).
When we see Krishna as a means to an end, we focus on him only till we get that end. Not only that, if we feel that we can get that end by some other means, we turn away from him. If we find that we can’t get it by any other means, we return to him. But such return doesn’t last for long – it ends when we start feeling that some other means might work better. Thus, we keep taking U-turns in our journey towards Krishna.
The best way to come end such oscillation is by philosophically understanding and experientially realizing that he is the highest end of everything. And Krishna is the end not in the negative sense of the exhaustion of something desirable – he is the end in the positive sense of the termination of something troublesome. Our long and harrying search for happiness that has extended over many turbulent lifetimes ends when we are united with Krishna in love.
Sri Srivasa Thakur is incarnation of Narada muni. He appeared in Shrihatta and lived there along with his 3 brothers Sripati, Srinidhi and Srirama. The four brothers after sometime came to live in Mayapur – at the house of Srivasa Thakur – Srivas Angan, located next to Yogapitha. Every day they used to go to […]
The family of vaisnavas.
Kadamba Kanana Swami: The family of vaishnavas is somehow or other our support. Prabhupada made this movement a very personal one. In the beginning, we overlook how important relationships are because we are not used to it. In the material world, when a relationship does not work, you just cut it off and try another one… then another one and another one.
Now I’m not talking just about friendships. So many friends came and went in our lives in the material world but spiritual relationships are very different. Spiritual friendships are different because devotees are very rare. Therefore, devotees are precious and the relationship with the devotee is precious and once broken it is difficult to repair; not like a broken pot that can be glued back together.
Therefore with devotees we cannot just afford the mentality that if it does not work, get rid of this one and get another one! Because the day will come when we will need all the devotees. The day will come when we will very much depend on devotees because the vaisnavas are sustaining us in our spiritual life and without them it becomes so difficult. The day will come when all artificial behavior in our relationships will have to go because that cannot sustain us and time will test us. As they say, “It all comes out in the wash!” It means that sooner or later, it has to get real.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/0dZkqZ
ISKCON.Pakistan’s Gaura Purnima celebration, March 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: When loud chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra is performed all over the world by those who follow in Your footsteps, all living entities, moving and nonmoving, dance in ecstatic devotional love. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.72)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/kMdkI5
In 1981, our family (myself, Chayadevi, son Baladeva and daughter Lakshmi) moved to the farm community called Gita Nagari in the state of Pennsylvania, USA.
Balabhadra, Baladeva and Lakshmi on the Gita Nagari Farm in 1981.
In the mid 80’s the farm started a program called “ADOPT-A-COW” which was to raise funds to help support the cows. By that time we had a herd of 157 cows and it was way to many cows for the land that we had to work with. We were the 1st ISKCON farm in North America to stop breeding along the commercial dairy way of doing things. It was realized that if you are not killing your unproductive cows and male offspring as a commercial dairy does, then you lose your economic profit. So it was necessary to raise funds to pay for the feed that we could not grow on the farm. My wife and I ran the “ADOPT-A-COW” program from 1988 to 1990. During this time we also were in charge of the agriculture department on the farm.
It was during the celebration of Govardhan Puja and Go Puja in 1989 that a devotee by the name of Adwaita Chandra paid us a visit and had an idea that he wanted to discuss with us. At that time each of the North American ISKCON farms each had a cow protection program. There was “ADOPT-A-COW,” “SAVE A COW” and “MOTHER COW,” each dealing with a specific herd of cows. Adwaita Chandra’s idea was to develop a cow protection program that was universal in application, global not regional. We talked for many hours over that weekend and came up with the name of “INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR COW PROTECTION’ as well as a basic list of goals that have since evolved into the present day goals of ISCOWP. We parted company after the festival and he said, “Think it over and if you want to go ahead with ISCOWP, go ahead.” He is an idea man, consultant type of person, not a cow man or farmer. We decided to organize ISCOWP as a non-profit charitable incorporation. We legalized everything in March 1990.
ISCOWP traveling by Salt Lake, Utah.
The spring of 1990 we started traveling to all the North American Rathayatra festivals, the Earth Day Festival, and other programs. We took a team of oxen and led the Ratha Yatras during the parades. At the festival site we would have the oxen available for people to pet, touch, and photograph. The festival visitors were completely in awe of the beauty and size of the oxen. We also had a booth where we sold t-shirts, distributed literature, and had many pictures of the farm and what the oxen did at the farm. “THE OX IS THE BACKBONE OF THE FAMILY FARM, NOT THE SOUP BONE” was one of the slogans that we used to show the usefulness of the oxen in our lifestyle. We did this for approximately 4 summers in which we received positive press coverage throughout the USA. In the meantime we acquired some small acreage (3 acres) in North Carolina to establish a small family farm.
The team Vraja and Gita and teamster Balabhadra in front of the USA capitol, Washington DC.
Beginning in 1990 my wife, Chayadevi, began writing and publishing the ISCOWP quarterly newsletter. This newsletter is still printed today. She also started a children’s newsletter and materials but could not find many persons to subscribe, so it was discontinued. Chayadevi does most of the correspondence, fund raising, accounting, photography, curriculum development, designing of original ISCOWP T-shirts and display paraphernalia. In 1993 she began the ISKCON COM cow conference that had approximately 90 members from about 20 different countries. The cow conference formulated cow protection standards that are now ISKCON Law 507 so that mistakes aren’t made and repeated in cow care facilities. Since the beginning of 2005, we have not been active with the cow conference. Now we have a presence on the social networks: Facebook,YouTube, etc.
Planting wheat with ox power on the North Carolina property in 1992.
On the 3 acre North Carolina property we acquired in 1991 we grew wheat, rye, and vegetables with the help of the oxen only, no machines. Eventually we found this acreage to be too small for our family, 2 oxen, and the crops we wanted to grow. A friend of ours had bought a large parcel about 2 hours away in which there was approximately 20 acres in bottom land. An oral contract was made that we could cultivate that property to expand our program. There was no electricity, no water system, and the land had not been worked for years. I lived there in our school bus that we used to travel coast to coast with the oxen and began to cultivate the land with our ox team, Vraja and Gita. We developed a hand water system drawing water from the nearby stream. The living situation was austere. Oil lamps for electricity, hand pumping all water, and living in the school bus that had no facilities but shelter. Here we grew large vegetable gardens, dry land rice, wheat, and rye. No machines were used for farming or living on this property.
Mowing rye with ISCOWP ox team Vraja and Gita at Prabhupada Village in 1993.
For approximately 3 years we cultivated this land until we received an invitation in the beginning of 1995 to live at New Vrndavana and join Varsana Maharaja’s disciples work towards self-sufficiency. It was proposed I would teach the younger devotees the skills I knew so they could get established on the land. We were enthused to make the big move so that we could gain energy and association on the path to establishing cow protection as Srila Prabhupada desired.
Balabhadra and ox team Vraja and Gita teaching the “How To” and philosophy of ox power at New Vrindavana, West Virginia.
We sold our 3 acres, our trailer home, and made numerous trucking trips long distance to move all the ox equipment and household to New Vrndavana. During the first year we trained approximately 10 teamsters and 20 oxen from the New Vrndavana herd. Due to financial difficulties of the New Vrndavana administration our project could no longer receive strong support from New Vrndavana. At this point we had the opportunity to purchase land from New Vrndavana as they were selling land to minimize their financial pressures and to attain funds for expenses. In 1996, we acquired a 57 acre parcel which was the heart of an old family farm. The devotees had worked it about 15 years ago. Some of the buildings were still standing but most were not in good repair. Numerous springs, a stream, pastures, and forest were some of the features that attracted us to purchase the property.
Part of ISCOWP Farm property in West Virginia in 1996 when it was first bought. Building to the right was being built by ISCOWP for living quarters.
In 1998, I was appointed the ISKCON Minister for Cow Protection and Agriculture to advise and instruct ISKCON centers and devotees protecting cows. To this end, ISCOWP and the members of the cow conference created the Minimum Standards for Cow Protection which is ISKCON Law 507. I traveled to various ISKCON centers and cow protection projects worldwide for the purpose of establishing these standards and distributing cow protection knowledge. It was my pleasure to also acquire knowledge through these travels. In 2012, I resigned from this position due to on-going, unresolved health problems..
Part of ISCOWP Farm in West Virginia 2015.
In the last 19 years we have been working to establish ourselves on the ISCOWP Farm. We have built two modified earth shelter homes and one cabin for trainees, refurbished the old standing barn, built a new barn adjoining the old barn, built a hay barn, a geriatric barn and an equipment storage/workshop building, installed new fencing (ongoing process) and a new water system, reclaimed the pastures from rose bush weeds (ongoing project also) and removed truckloads of garbage. Twenty-four cows and oxen (mostly rescues) reside here protected and loved in a beautiful environment. Since 1996 we have acquired two adjoining parcels and another parcel that will make the land holding 165 acres. Now we have more facility for the cows and oxen.
Ridra protecting one of the gardens full of chard, kale, spinach strawberries, peas etc. from predators.
We have been growing much of our food and preserving it by canning and drying. There is a big deer and groundhog population here that tries to eat much of the garden. A very important resident, Rudra the dog, guards the garden and has been quite successful in scaring off the wild animals. However, the deer became so profuse that we built a 9 foot fence around the 1 acre garden with the help of our donors.
Balabhadra and a young Brahman ox named Priya
We have come to realize that no matter how many cows one can rescue, save and care for, there will be thousands more suffering and in the need of love. Both the meat and commercial dairy industries make profit from exploiting the cow, her brothers and her children. If you can become vegetarian and not take milk from the commercial dairy industry but only from life-protected cows (Krsna – Dairian), then you are contributing to lessening the demand for meat and commercial dairy products. The less demand the less the supply and the less suffering for Mother Cow. One person’s diet change a drop in the bucket? That is why we feel education is so important to saving more cows. Many people do not realize the correlation between diet change and saving cows. Once people understand the correlation and how much Mother Cow is suffering because of the meat and diary industries, they will be encouraged to make a diet change. Our goal is to not only protect the ISCOWP herd but to spread information about diet change and the need for cow protection. We are looking forward to hearing from you at: iscowp@gmail.com. and please feel free to explore this website.
Written By :
William E. Dove (Balabhadra dasa)
President of ISCOWP
Ratha Yatra - Durban - 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: My Lord, the moving entities who have heard Your loud sankirtana have already been delivered from bondage to the material world, and after the nonmoving living entities like trees hear it, there is echo. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.70)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/EAL6ih
ISKCON Communications Conference 2016.
On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of ISKCON we have a very interesting and rich Conference with many known speakers:
- Srila Prabhupada The Greatest Communicator by Anuttama prabhu
- How to discuss and resolve controversial and sensitive issues in ISKCON by Kaunteya prabhu
- ISKCON and Interfaith by Radhika Ramana prabhu
- Video Skills for High Impact Communications by Krishna Lila dasi
- Preaching, Undue Influence and Religious Freedom – Panel Discussion by Shaunaka Rsi, Prof. Raffaella Di Marzio and Maria Cristina Carratu
- First Draft Screening of Joy of Devotion and Feedback session by Krishna Lila dasi
- ISKCON Communications Europe report by Mahaprabhu dasa
- Communications Reports by participating Yatras
- 50th Anniversary report by Madayanti dasi
- Outing to Florence. We will meet interesting people and visit amazing places.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/9eT7jY
Gunacuda Dasi: Sri Mayapur International School has a service opportunity for an Early Years teacher beginning in August 2016.
We require a trained teacher for our class of 4 and 5 year old students. The successful candidate should have previous experience teaching young children. Knowledge of teaching reading and writing ,using synthetic phonics, is essential as well as experience of working with children who have English as an additional/second language.
We require an enthusiastic devotee who can plan teaching, learning and assessment of a Krishna conscious curriculum. The applicant must be able to provide an educational environment conducive to the learning of the children in the class in line with the school educational philosophy based on the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.
We are looking for a caring teacher who can understand the needs of the individual children in the class, structuring their learning so that they progress at a rate which challenges them in a secure devotional environment.
If you would like to live and serve in Sri Mayapur dham, please email your CV and details of professional and devotional referees to mayapurschooloffice@gmail.com There may be other vacancies for suitable candidates in the Primary school.
More details of the remuneration will be given on receipt of your application.
As we look around the world, or watch and read the news, practically everywhere is affected by some kind of natural disaster. Floods are displacing millions of people, forest fires are destroying thousands of acres and burning out of control, earthquakes continue to force people to live in fear, and tornadoes and hurricanes have become more fierce and numerous than ever. And if that is not enough, droughts are causing massive crop damage and water shortages. The fact is that nobody likes a loss, no matter how great or small it may be. And a disaster can take years to recover from, which can only increase our struggle to exist in this world. So what are we to make of all this? Is this just our own bad luck? Is this some kind of karmic reaction we are suffering? Is this merely the way life goes on in this material world? Or is this what God is doing to us? In fact, where is God in all of this? Or how many times have your heard someone ask, how can God be so cruel? Continue reading "Natural Disasters: Where is God in All of This? → Dandavats"
The yearly boat festival in Vrindavan, part of the Gaura Purnima celebrations, is most popular amongst the devotees. The sunken courtyard of Krishna Balaram Mandir is flooded and becomes a beautiful kund where small Radha Shyamasundara are taken on gentle ride on Their swan boat. They glide to every corner of the lake to the sounds of resounding kirtan to see all Their devotees and admirers.
The surface of the temple lake is completely covered by flower petals by artisans in a beautiful flower rangoli design that mysteriously stay in place. This year’s design includes a huge lotus motif in rose petals with the ISKCON lotus-tilak symbol done in golden flower petals bordered by real floating open pink lotuses.
Seven-hundred kilos of flower petals were used to decorate the temple room and used by devotees to rain down on their Lordships that created a festival for the eyes. In total, over one-hundred thousand individual flowers were used for the festival decorations, taking sixty devotees about thirty-six straight hours.
The Vrindavan boat festival originally started in 1979, but we learn from long-time resident Daivi shakti Mataji that interestingly, the temple was purpose-built by Surabhi Prabhu to be flooded for a boat festival from its inception.
In the early days of the festival, devotees would perform dramas and place bhoga on the different banks of the temple lake. The Deities would then stop in Their boat to view the dramas and accept the devotees offerings.
When we got back from the old world, I tried to book a string of shows and make 108 actually happen. It was something I had never done before and have never done again.
The first show would be on Saturday, October 10th at the Unisound in Reading, Pennsylvania with Another Wall and one or maybe two other bands. The next weekend we would do a Friday program at the Baltimore ISKCON temple, a “108 Spoken Word.” It would be a regular Hare Krishna event with kīrtan, “class” and a “feast,” but the subject of the classes would be our lyrics. We tried to book a show somewhere nearby the day before… but that was unusuccessful. That Sunday, however, we managed to book the Apocolypse in Norwalk, Connecticut, this time with Supertouch, Another Wall and one or two others. We planned to hold another spoken word somewhere in Norwalk the next day… but that never worked out.
The next weekend had two shows: Saturday in Dayton, Ohio with World’s Collide and Endpoint; Sunday in Bloomington, Indiana at a place called Rhino’s, with a spoken word the next day. The Friday after that we planned to do a show and spoken word in Columbus, Ohio.
I put all these dates on a flier with the 108 logo, a picture of Rādhā-Krishna I had drawn myself, a notice that our delayed 12” EP would finally be out in November, and an address for inquiries and interviews.
Norm Arenas had recently moved into the temple, so we got him to play second guitar, planning to do all these shows as a five-piece, but before we could even practice with that line-up, Rob quit. That left us without a singer… a week before we were finally supposed to play our first shows.
I wouldn’t admit defeat and decided to sing and play guitar.
The first show, at Unisound, went surprisingly well. I wore my bleach-splattered black pants and a cool shirt with Lakṣmī and Viṣṇu seated together on the sea-dragon, Ananta Śeṣa. With a thick black marker I had drawn the Hare Krishna mahā-mantra around my right forearm, and wore a bracelet of red, shiny beads that the Rādhārānī deity in D.C. had worn. On the inside of my left forearm I drew a heart with the word “Vraj” in it. We played practically every song from the Holyname record, plus a few songs I had written since then: thorn, hostage:i, and woman. I drew up and handed out a flier with 108 lyrics on it, and explained the songs from the stage with semi-psychotic Krishna-banter.
I had been working lately with two women from the Baltimore temple, who came to the show and stood at the side of the room on a raised bench of some sort. I dedicated Woman to them, “This song goes out to those two ladies over there, Kārtika and Tracy. They are Hare Krishna women. They’re real women because they know what a real man is. They can tell a real man from an imposter. They know that the real man… is Krishna.”
– Excerpt from an early draft of
Train Wrecks and Transcendence: A Collision of Hardcore and Hare Krishna
March 31. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: “I Have to Execute My Duty”
Prabhupada is discussing the real meaning of going to a sacred place in India.
One should go to a sacred place in order to find some intelligent scholar in spiritual knowledge living there and make association with him. Just like I … My residence is at Vrindavana. So, at Vrindavana, there are many big scholars and saintly persons living. So one should go to such holy places, not simply to take bath in the water. One must be intelligent enough to find some spiritually advanced man living there and take instruction from him and be benefited by that. If a man has no attraction for hearing from learned people there, he is considered to be an ass. (He laughs.) So, the whole civilization is moving like a civilization of cows and asses. Everyone is identifying with the body … Yes, you want to speak?
Woman: In the places known as secret places –
Prabhupada: Sacred. Yes.
Woman: Is it “sacred” places?
Prabhupada: Yes.
Woman: Isn’t it also a fact that there is more magnetism because of the meeting of saints and more advanced people?
Prabhupada: Oh yes. Certainly. Certainly. Therefore the place itself has got some magnetism.
Woman: Yes, and when –
Prabhupada: Just like at Vrindavana – that is practical. Here I am now sitting in New York, the world’s greatest city, such a magnificent city, but my heart is always hankering after that Vrindavana.
Woman: Yes. (Laughs.)
Prabhupada: Yes, I am not happy here.
Woman: Yes, I know.
Prabhupada: I shall be very happy to return to my Vrindavana, that sacred place, but then, ‘Why are you here?’ Because it is my duty. I have brought some message for you people. Because I have been ordered by my superior, my spiritual master: “Whatever you have learned, you should go to the Western countries and you must distribute this knowledge.” So, in spite of all my difficulties, all my inconveniences, I am here because I am obligated by duty. If I go and sit down in Vrindavana, that would be good for my personal conveniences – I shall be very comfortable there and will have no anxiety, nothing of the sort, but I have taken all this risk in this old age because I am duty-bound. I am duty-bound, so I have to execute my duty despite all my inconveniences.
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On 26th March 2016, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj came to Kolkata. Maharaj gave pandal program for the Bhakti Vriksha devotees. Around 2000 devotees attended the program. Next day, on 27th March, Maharaj came to Sridham Mayapur. During this visit to Mayapur, Maharaj held three separate meetings with the local brahmacaries, foreign bodied devotees […]
On 21st March 2016, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj visited ISKCON Mira road temple in Mumbai. Maharaj gave special class on Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes (Gaura Katha). Also the same day ISKCON-desire-tree team took interview of Maharaj where they asked many pertinent questions and Maharaj gave amazing answers. Gaura Katha class at ISKCON Mira […]
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 [...]
By Sri Nandanandana dasa
The next weekend had two shows: Saturday in Dayton, Ohio with World’s Collide and Endpoint; Sunday in Bloomington, Indiana at a place called Rhino’s, with a spoken word the next day. The Friday after that we planned to do a show and spoken word in Columbus, Ohio.
The first show, at Unisound, went surprisingly well. I wore my bleach-splattered black pants and a cool shirt with Lakṣmī and Viṣṇu seated together on the sea-dragon, Ananta Śeṣa. With a thick black marker I had drawn the Hare Krishna mahā-mantra around my right forearm, and wore a bracelet of red, shiny beads that the Rādhārānī deity in D.C. had worn. On the inside of my left forearm I drew a heart with the word “Vraj” in it. We played practically every song from the Holyname record, plus a few songs I had written since then: thorn, hostage:i, and woman. I drew up and handed out a flier with 108 lyrics on it, and explained the songs from the stage with semi-psychotic Krishna-banter.
