Planet ISKCON

Friends of Caitanya Lila Holt, 30-year-old US national, who died after allegedly choking on mud in a paddy field last week, have started an online campaign on the social media seeking justice for the former US soldier. The #JusticeforCaitanya campaign started on Facebook, alleges that Caitanya, a member of the ISKCON was "murdered by a lynch mob and the police in Goa."

Where is the question of free will?
Question: We say that Krsna is all knowing and He knows past, present and future. And not a blade of grass move without His sanction. So where is our free will coming? We say the living entities has free will to surrender to Krsna or to Maya but Krsna is all knowing then He must know how each living entities going to use their free will. So Krsna already knows the entire depth of every living being. He knows when the person goes Back to Godhead, when he become purified from material desires, how many billions of life times it will take. He must know all these things if He knows everything. So therefore He already knows so therefore it’s predestined. Everything is going to happen so where is free will coming?
Answer by Radhanath Swami: He knows every question you are going to ask for in the rest of your life. And He knows that you will not understand the answer. But still He will not interfere. Krsna is better than you. Krsna is the supreme.
Krsna knows everything in the past about everyone. Krsna knows everything in the future about everyone and everything and Krsna knows all things in the present there is nothing unknown to Krsna but Krsna’s greatness is that He can know everything without in any way interfering with your minute independence. He knows when you will surrender to Him and go Back to Godhead but He knows when you will make the right choice to do so. And He will give opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to gradually purify you and He knows when you will accept it and when you reject it. But it is in your hands to accept it. We should not justify that Krsna is the doer so why should I try because until make up your mind to really try with your heart and soul you will never make any spiritual progress.
Krsna is Avijna Swarat. Avijna means who knows everything and as His part and parcel you know something. Swarat means He is completely independent. As part and parcel you have minute independence that means at every movement you have the free choice to either accept Krsna or Maya at every movement and surrender is a movement to movement process. At the present movement I will accept Krsna and you have to continue for the rest of your life at every present movement to accept Krsna i.e. your free choice and i.e. how we will make spiritual advancement. He knows when you accept or reject. But He is so powerful and so wonderful that He can know without in any way interfering with your freewill. We were singing the song by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur about Lord Nityananda Prabhu how He opened up the market place for the Holy Name and He was whole sale distributing the Holy Name of Krsna and through the Holy Name He was whole sale distributing love of God the ultimate desire of every soul and He was begging the only price you have to pay is your faith. But you have to use your free will to be willing to pay that price of your faith to accept it.
Hari Bol…

A visit to Govardhan Eco Village (Album with photos)
We visited the most marvelous place, Govardhan Eco Village, HH Radhanatha Swami’s project north of Mumbai. Beautiful peaceful forests, replicas of the seven Gosvami Temples, beautiful cows, organic gardens, and amazing Temple!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/n281Fx

Hare Krishna dear Jayapataka Swami,

Please accept our obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

It is a letter from the Russian team of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium construction project.

We are grateful to you for engaging us in fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s personal desire – construction of the magnificent Temple of the Golden Age! Please accept our efforts as an offering.

For 2015, we collected and transferred to a bank account in Mayapur over USD 160,000. This money was collected by many different ways. Particularly, we invited donors to pay for square feet and bricks. They paid for 300 square feet, 37 Nrisimhadeva bricks, 54 Mahaprabhu bricks, 12 Radha-Madhava bricks and one silver coin. We hold talks about the New Temple at many big festivals, did promotions on the Internet, as well as presentations in different cities.

We are asking for your blessings to be able to collect at least double the amount we did this year, in 2016 for Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure.

Thank you for bestowing upon us such a mercy to participate in this way in the New Temple construction.

Your servants from Russian & CIS ToVP team

MUMBAI: Empowering the young with a new level of spirituality will be one of the foremost missions of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), as it gears up to celebrate its fifty years. Iskcon, also known as the Hare Krishna movement, has expanded widely since it was founded by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupda in New York City in 1966.

Although Mumbai is home to three temples, Juhu, Girgaum and Mira Road and the under-construction temple at Kharghar, a mammoth rath yatra is being planned so that all devotees can culminate at one place. Also, preparations are rife as a three-day spiritual and cultural festival is scheduled to be held on February 5, 6 and 7.

“There will be a Lord Jagannath rath yatra from Lokhandwala to Juhu on February 5 which will be followed by two days of spiritual discourses, cultural and musical programs,” explained Shri Sura Das, national convener of the celebration committee.

Alfred Ford, heir to the Ford empire, and his wife Sharmila will share the dais with a number of dignitaries that include CM Devendra Fadnavis, actor-MP Hema Malini, artistes Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Anup Jalota, Pandit Jasraj and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, and industrialists Ajay Piramal and Ashok Hinduja, philanthropist Rajashree Birla and cardiologist Dr B K Goyal.

Iskcon will also launch an Android phone app Krsna that will enable users to view darshans, chants, music and hear chapters from the Bhagwad Gita. “Spirituality has to be taken to another level and given what the world has come to, it is delightful to see the young interested in it and keen to understand,” Das said.

The golden jubilee celebrations have been planned over the year and will end with an event at the DY Patil Sports Stadium in Nerul, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to grace.

At present, completing the Kharghar temple is foremost for Iskcon. “Almost 75% has been completed but there has been a slight dip in funding. We are hopeful of sailing through,” Das said. The temple is an elaborate structure—a replica of 12 villages of Vrindavan and is spread over 9 acres.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Iskcon-turns-50-three-day-spiritual-fest-from-Feb-5/articleshow/50748757.cms

Dear devotees, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Šrila Prabhupada!

I’d like to use this opportunity to warmly recommend to you Madhucchanda prabhu’s unique offer that could lead to a new, highly efficient and effective way to embark many new people to Krishna consciousness. I have known Madhucchanda prabhu for more than ten years. Therefore, I can vouch that he is a very sincere devotee, well versed in Vaishnava philosophy (as presented by Šrila Prabhupada) and very enthusiastic to share KC with as many people as possible. Originally from Macedonia, living in Croatia, he and his good wife Acyuta-priya devi dasi are trying to reach creative and broad-minded ISKCON leaders who would recognise sincerity and importance of their offer. Please read the following text written by Madhucchanda prabhu and watch his short video presentation (5,30 minutes). His contact details are displayed at the end of the video presentation. Also, please share this information with all devotees who would be interested in introducing this outstanding Bhagavatam exposition to their Vaishnava communities and the broad public.

Your servant, Vrsabha das

Dear devotees and temple leaders,

Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Purpose of this text is offering for performance of a very unique preaching project.

It is a project created to support Srila Prabhupada’s and Iskcon’s mission to present Srimad Bhagavatam to the world.

This has been done through organizing Bhagavatam festivals or popularly known to the Hindu community as performance of Bhagavat – saptaha.

Through our presentation and lectures people would get many valuable spiritual lessons and inspiration for development of there spiritual life.

People and devotees will get chance to connect to divine realm of bhakti through hearing the stories from Srimad Bhagavatam and chanting of holy names of Krishna.

This Bhagavatam festivals can be also part of celebration in your local temple in honour of 50 years of Iskcon.
We all know how Srimad Bhagavatam was important to Srila Prabhupada. His all life was dedicated to translation of this divine scripture and giving it to the world.

Our program has been designed to benefit your local temple and community and is performed by Ojasvi das ( bhajan singer ) and Madhucchanda das ( katha speaker ) from Croatia.

If you would like to know more how such event and spiritual festival can be organize in your local temple or community please feel free to contact us through our contacts bellow.

More detailed description of our project below and in the video link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUzZSNc2nUM

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

YS. Madhucchanda das

Madhucchanda das ( Croatia )ISKCON – International society
for Krishna consciousness
Mob: 00385 91 791 2805
Skype: madu108
Email: bhagavatam.katha@gmail.com
Web: www.bhagavatam-katha.com
Facebook page: Krishna story – every day
Youtube: Krishna story – every day by Madhucchanda day

Subject: Preaching project – performance of Bhagavatam festivals ( Bhagavatam – saptaha )

Dear devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada

The purpose of this text and offering is a special preaching project – the performance of Bhagavatam festivals or popularly known as the performance of Bhagavatam – saptaha.

Using tradition for preaching – Bhagavatam saptaha is an important part of the Hindu
religion

We all know that performing Bhagvatam saptaha is a part of the Hindu tradition. Every Hindu
knows that by hearing Bhagavatam katha will get many blessings. By organizing such events
people can be influenced and engaged in the 5 most powerful methods of bhakti as given by Rupa
Goswami:

 Hearing and chanting the Holy Names ( Nama – sankirtan )
 Listening to the Srimad Bhagavatam, ( Bhagavatam – sravana )
 Service to deities( Murti – seva )
 Association with devotees ( Sadhu – sanga )
 Living in the holy dhama by hearing Krishnas lilas performed there. ( Dhama – vasa )

Preaching project in Iskcon

Many devotees and Iskcon Gurus such as Lokanath Goswami and Radha Govinda Swami are
preaching this way in India and it has had great effects. People are encouraged after katha to take Srimad Bhagavatam sets to their homes and to study. In this way devotees distribute many books. So this project has proved to be highly successful.

Srila Prabhupada opinion on Bhagavatam saptaha

At the beginning, Srila Prabhupada was not so enthusiastic about Bhagavatam saptaha. We find
some quotes in Srimad Bhagavatam where he is strongly condemning modern professional
bhagavatam speakers who do this only for money. These speakers are usually materially motivated
and contaminated with mayavadi philosophy. Therefore they are not able to give people any real benefit from hearing about Krishna. But when Srila Prabhupada saw how so many people were going to such events he said to some of his disciples: Why we do not organize such events and
explain to people what is real philosophy!
Preaching opportunity

Organizing bhagavatam saptaha is a great preaching opportunity for your local ISKCON temple and
it can bring many benefits such as:

 People can connect more with ISKCON temple
 People are encouraged to take part in temple activities
 We can distribute Srila Prabhupada books
 Everyone gets the association of devotees
 People are encouraged to contribute to the temple with donations

Structure of our unique katha presentation consist of:

Our way of presentation of bhagavatam saptaha is a unique in the world. It’s done throug the
performance of many different tools and media connected to Bhagavatam such as:

 Singing Bhagavatam shlokas
 Narrating stories
 Magic tricks
 Explanation of verses according to previous acaryas and our own experience
 Bhajans
 Slide show presentation
 Videos about katha performed
 Videos from holy places
 Diferent sound effects conected to naration of katha
 Drama
 Bharat natyam dance

Partners in organizing Bhagavatam katha

Such bhakti events can be organized in ISKCON temples or in cooperation with local Hindu
communities and organizations , Hindu embassies and important people in the community who can
be sponsors of such bhakti festivals. In the west, Bhagavatam saptahas are not so often organized, so they could be nice way to attract many people to Krishna. When katha is organized I prefer the
presence of ISKCON devotees, who should have there tables, whereby they can sell Srila Prabhupada books, paraphernalia, prasadam, etc.

Bhagavatam katha can be performed at places such us:

 Iskcon Temples  Hindu temples
 Auditoriums
 Community centers
 Pandals
 Private houses
 Spiritual festivals
 Yoga studios
List of Bhagavatam katha subject matters that we perform ( from 1st to 12th canto )

 Narada Muni katha
 Maharaj Parikshit katha
 Kunti stuti – Maharani kunti ki prathana
 Bhisma stuti – Pitamaha Bishma  Varāha deva katha
 Kapila Devahuti samvad
 Dakṣa yagja
 Bhakta Dhruva katha – Charita katha
 Pṛthu Maharaj katha
 Purañjana katha
 Pracetās katha
 Ṛṣabhadeva katha
 Maharaja Bharata Katha
 Ajamila katha
 Vṛtrāsura katha
 Citraketu katha
 Bhakta Prahlāda katha – Prahlada charita
 Gajendra Moksha katha
 Samudra Mantan katha  Bali Maharaja katha
 Matsya avatara katha
 Ambarish carita katha
 Rama Lila katha
 Paraśurāma katha
 Yayati gita katha
 24 gurus
 Uddhava gita
 Markandeya rishi charita  Dashavatara katha
 Sampurna Bhagavat Katha
 Srimad Bhagavatam Mahatmya

List of subject of Bhagavatam kathas that we perform ( from 10th canto )

 Krishna janma lila
 Krishna bala lila
 Putana vadha
 Damodar lila
 Brahma vimohana lila
 Kaliya mardan
 Gopi gita
 Rasa lila
 Rasa panca adyaya
 Venu gita
 Govardhana lila
 Gopi vastra harana lila
 Akrura Milan
 Mathura Lila
 Dwaraka Lila
 Kurukshetra Lila

We also perform seminars and lectures on difertent subjects such as:

 The art of storytelling  Vraja – Land of God
 5 limbs of Bhakti
 Death – gate to immortality  64 qualitis of krishna
 Enemies of the soul
 6 steps to real love
 Journey of Gop Kumar
 Shikshastaka
 The temple of the hearth
 My relationship to Krishna
 Smaranam
 The art of transformation
 Seing Krishna everywhere
 The power of blessings
 Emotions – essense of soul
 Hospitality in Vedic culture
 Vandanam – underszanding hearth of Krishna
 Kirtan – singing for conection

(Subject-matter of katha to be performed is chosen by you or left to our inspiration)

Bhagavatam katha for children:

Children are the future of human society. Creating samskaras or spiritual impression in their minds should be started early, from childhood.

Following this instruction of Prahlad Maharaj, we have created a program to present Srimad
Bhagavatam to kids in a very unique way and, at the same time, very easy for them to understand.

Usually children are often seen as a disturbing element during katha due to an insufficient program for engaging them. But we want to give children a feeling that they are cared for.

Programs for kids can be performed during the katha in a separate room. This program can be performed at the weekend when children are free from school and other obligations.
Magic show

 Magic show illustrating stories from the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Aratik

 Each child learns to offer incense, lamp, flower. After aratik, kirtan is sung by the children.

Search for Sita

 Children become monkeys (imitating), get balloon swords, face-painting of their faces,
children make a bridge to cross the ocean.

Games

There are different spiritual games which we perform with kids such as:

Demons in Vrindavana, imitating animals of Vraja, imitating activities of different avatars, churning the ocean of milk, steps to Vaikuntha, imitating Krishna’s games as a child, Hanuman hops.

Following the example of Krishna and his great devotees:

In all the games, children follow the example of how Krishna plays with his cowherd friends in the
forest of Vrindavana. It is said that Krishna would play all possible games in creation with his friends…

In the past great devotees of Lord Krishna have also played as children in a bhakti way.
In the Srimad Bhagavatam, we find how many great devotees of Krishna such as Uddhava and
Maharaja Parikshit started their lives playing not as ordinary children but playing with
dolls of Krishna, performing deity worship and performing spiritual festivals even as children. As a result of this early bhakti samskaras being implanted into their minds, they became great saints and devotees.

Extra programs:

We also have wonderful spiritual programs for schools and other child organizations where with our
program we cover different important topics for community such as nonviolence, spirituality, child education, healthy life style etc. By organizing such programs where we can have our presentations you can also have the activities of your organization promoted.

Western people doing Bhagavatam saptaha

We ( Madhucchanda das and Ojasvi das ) are one of the few western born people who perform Bhagavatam saptaha in the world. In these modern times when people are going away from their own Vedic tradition and culture, our presence is very encouraging. We are western devotees born
into a Christian religion and culture but we have accepted the Vedic culture and religion as our life
and soul, and have spent many years in India. To every Indian and Hindu, this should be an example
and inspiration to search for gems of spiritual wealth in their own religion and culture. Srila
Prabhupada addressed his western born devotees as white dancing elephants. In this way we can
attract people back to their original Vedic way of life and at the same time connect them to the organization of Iskcon.
Profile of the katha speaker – Madhucchanda das

Birth and childhood

Madhucchanda das is born in ancient land of Macedonia. (a country where many famous
personalities such as mother Teresa and Alexander the Great were born). As a child he was not really interested in playing normally as other children did. He was on spiritual search. He was
dreaming of traveling to India Born into the Christian Orthodox religion he tried to find answers to life’s questions such as: Who is God? Who am I? Is life eternal? Is there life after death? But he
could not find the answers. So he turned his studies to other world religions but nowhere was his thirst satisfied.

Srimad Bhagavatam

At the age of 16 he come across the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad- Gita and they would
become his life’s guidance. They were the answers to all his questions. His thirst for God and bhakti had finally been fullfiled. So, at the age of 16, he started learning and studying Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita.

Study and life in India

He traveled in India where he lived for many years and studied under many saints and pandits. He
studied subjects on the Indian culture such as sanskrit, yoga, jyotish and finally Srimad
Bhagavatam. He traveled across India where he visited hundreds of holy places, met many sadhus and also spread glory of Bhagavatam Dharma.
Finally he arrived at the Holy Sri Vrindava Dham, the place of Krishnas eternal pastimes. His heart
became so very attracted to Vraja that he didnt wanted to go anywhere else in the world. In his search for Krishna, he wandered all over the holy places of Vraja Mandala parikrama.

Iskcon and his Guru

His Search brought him to the Hare Krishna movement, formally known as The International
Society for Krishna Consciousness ( Iskcon ) and its founder-acarya Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada. He became an Iskcon member. By divine arrangement and guidance he came
to meet his divine guru His Holines Srila Sacinandana Swami who has given him many valuable spiritual instructions. From Sacinandana Swami he received diksha initiation and in this way he
become a member of a glorious guru – sisya parampara known as Brahma – Madhva Gaudiya sampradaya .

Exceptional story teller

He is very much dedicated to telling stories about Krishna in very unique way. At his kathas you
can listen to thousands of stories which illustrate spiritual points and teachings of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Present life

At the present time he is based in Croatia where he lives with his wife and his son Manu. His work
and service has taken him all over world to many countries such as Austria, Greece, Japan,
Malaysia, Hungary, Hong Kong, Germany, Croatia and in many of these places he has lectured on the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Profile of Katha bhajan singer – Ojasvi das

Ojasvi was born in 1975 and from childhood was very attracted with music and its aspect by which it describes intimacy of the soul, but until war in Bosnia that was just a unnoticed thing.
These circumstances in its own way provoked it to come to surface.
By studying ancient Vedas during this time his experience of this phenomena was directed
practically to singing of traditional Indian style of music.
By the end of the war he left for India( Bengal, Delhi, Vrndavan ) to come in touch with original
dimension of this expression of the heart.
In the next 20 years he studied and explored different depths of singing, especially kirtan style.
He started travelling to many countries sharing the experiences of deepest needs of the heart
through kirtan and psychology of understanding the needs which every living entity has, in order to awake understanding of Self, Godand the connection between them (yoga).
He is a bhajan singer who with his bhajans take an audience to another spiritual dimension. He is
the only western singer who can so nicely sing even traditional Vrijavasi and Hindi bhajans.

He has traveled all over the world and has performed his bhajans at kathas and bhakti festivals in
places such as Germany, Belgium, UK, Slovenia, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Estonia, Malaysia, Serbia, Croatia, India, Delhi, Vrindavan, Mayapur.

With his beautiful bhajans, he accompanies the kathas performed by Madhucchanda das.

Steps for organizing Bhagavatam katha:

Once you have decided to invite us to perform Bhagavatam saptaha at an event you are organizing, there are few things to be managed for the successful realization of the project.

Here are some guidelines:

1. Send us the katha registration form that is on our web page: www.bhagavatam-katha.com and give us a more detailed view about the organization of the katha.

2. We will send you a reply within 7 days.

3. If you like we can provide you with materials for katha invitation in electronic format so you can print or share information on your web page, facebook or any other media.

4. Finally katha is to be performed for the pleasure and benefit of all!

Previously he had been staying in the Holy Dhama of Vrindavan for approximately six months and prior to that was living in Jagannatha Puri. On January 25, 2016, he fell unconscious and devotees brought him to the Rama Krishna Mission Hospital where he was refused admission due to his critical medical condition. He was then brought to the Bhaktivedanta Hospice while still in a coma. He was suffering from epilepsy.

For the past few months, Janaradan Prabhu had been living at the ISKCON Vrindavan temple. In his final days and hours at the Bhaktivedanta Hospice, Janaradan Prabhu received comfort care while devotees read Bhagavad-gita As It Is at his bedside, chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and played Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental bhajans. He passed away peacefully in the at the Bhaktivedanta Hospice during the auspicious hour of 2:30 a.m. while hearing the chanting of the Holy Names of Lord Krishna.

All glories to Janaradan Prabhu!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Pearl Festival Sankirtana at Silicon Valley.
Vaisesika das: While finishing my book, Our Family Business, I noted how meticulously the publishers looked for and closed unintended gaps within the text during their final edits. Most of these gaps were tiny and invisible to the untrained eye. Nonetheless, in a book with hundreds of pages, closing these gaps significantly reduces the overall page count of the book, (a plus for any publisher). Similarly, with the efficiency of expert editors, bhakti yogis attentively search for and close gaps of idle time in their daily lives. In the course of a lifetime, such vigilant bhakti yogis stockpile extra hours, days, and even years, which they invest in the journey back to the spiritual world. Om Tat Sat
To read the entire article click here: https://www.scribd.com/doc/296932669/ISV-Sankirtana-MSF-Dec-PearlFestival

Pushya Abishek in Mayapur: Millions and trillions of flower petals alling from the sky!
In an over crowded temple , Mayapur Chandra started the evening program with a very sweet kirtan which set the peaceful mood… Radha Madhava all dressed in a breath taking flower outfit complete with flower jewelry, were proudly standing on their altar surrounded by the beautiful Gopis. Their Lordship seemed to be overlooking the crowd bestowing blessings on all the devotees gathered to glorify the Lord of their heart. It was such a touching moment to see HH Jayapataka Maharaj appear on the altar platform to participate in the abishek. My heart melted at the sight of his lotus feet…Such a great amazing soul… A few minutes later, gracefully, Radha Krsna came to take place on their specially made full flower altar ready to allow their devotees to perform puspa abhisek for them. For some time, it seemed like everyone had stopped breathing and time had stopped, it felt like a dream, unbelievable… Then, abishek started, wow….colorful flower petals falling from all sides, then all white… it was suddenly snowing in Sri Mayapur Dham, gorgeous, so beautiful! Yellow, red, orange, pink, even green…what a sight, how close we all feel to the Lord in those very special moments he so mercifully allows us to share with him. Sometimes, sweet Radharani was so covered in flower petal, it was scary , I thought “please someone save her, she needs to breath…” Thank God for the pujari who had the service of saving Radharani… Millions and trillions of flower petals were falling from the sky, obviously the Demi Gods got involved in this evening’s abishek, how can so many flower petals fall everywhere at the same time? Devotee eyes didn’t move fast enough to look at both Radha Madhava and Lord Nrsimhadeva who also got a puspa Abishek! Now that really proves that this whole celebration is not from this world. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it started snowing on Our Large Deities… no more words……….. i can only look now, with a few tears blocking the view… After some time, ecstasy took over the crowd, showers of Maha flower petal were somehow or other thrown from the altar and soon were covering the entire temple room, no one was spared, all were covered in spiritual …bliss. I don’t think anyone present will ever forget that incredible evening in Sri Dham Mayapur. Sri Mayapur Dham Ki Jay!
You can see all the high-resolution photos here: http://goo.gl/Q2LwIc

The Yoga of Construction and Community.
Madhavananda das: Once there was an expert carpenter who had spent his entire life building houses for other people. When he informed his boss that he planned on retiring, he was requested to complete just one last home. The carpenter reluctantly agreed. Eager to finish the job, he worked quickly and did not put his heart into the work. Consequently the quality of the construction was very poor.
When he informed his boss that the house was finished, to his surprise he was told, “Actually, this house is a gift for you. You have worked hard for so many years, I wanted to give this to you.”
The purport is that whatever we do, we should do it to the best standard.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/Oe9EdI

A new video produced by Prananatha das presents a current view of the TOVP construction site with the three main dome superstructures completed and ready for the blue tiles to be applied.

The post New TOVP Pictorial Video Update appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

The Wealth of Prabhupada’s Lectures

January 28. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: The Wealth of Prabhupada’s Lectures.
A devotee can sustain his spiritual life by hearing Prabhupada’s lectures. They are not intended as background noise. We should listen to Prabhupada lecture tapes with the same attention we would have if Prabhupada were personally in the room. To ignore Prabhupada is an offense.
There are always times throughout the day when we can listen to at least part of a lecture. In the old Christian monasteries, the monks used to observe silence while they ate, while one monk read aloud from the scriptures. In one monastic refectory, I saw a sign over the door, “Man lives not by bread alone, but by every word that issues from the mouth of God.” We can also honor prasadam, while hearing the scriptures directly from Srila Prabhupada.
A spoken lecture is an important medium for the Vaisnava acarya. Speaking Vedic truth requires specific, special qualification. The more purely the message is spoken, the more potent the result. For example, unless one has memorized and assimilated Sanskrit slokas, he cannot cross-reference and prove his points. And for the audience, what strength is available by hearing transcendental sound vibration from a realized devotee! He calls to us with his knowledge and realization of the scriptures, and our souls respond, leaving the critical mind and sleepy body behind. Transcendental sound cuts through matter.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=4

The post Daily Darshan : January 28th, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Gita verse-by-verse study Podcast

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The post Gita 09.05 – God’s self-contradiction points to his inconceivable multi-level manifestations appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Ingredients:
Spring Roll Wrapper
2 cups finely chopped cabbage
1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots
1 cup fresh shredded coconut pulp
Note: Frozen one will do, but if you can’t avail either, replace the coconut with mung bean sprouts which you can easily avail at any grocery store.

1/4 cup roasted sesame seeds
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp minced ginger
1 regular size habanero pepper minced
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp cooking oil
black pepper
green onions

Procedure:
1. In a hot pan, add the cooking oil and saute the ginger, habanero pepper, and the onion (put the bulb part of the onion first)

2.Add the carrots and stir for a minute, then add the cabbage,salt,sugar,soy sauce and a dash of black pepper. Stir for 2 minutes.

3. Stir in the roasted coconut and sesame seeds for a minute, then mix in the green onion stalks.

4. Let it cool and set aside.

Wrapping Procedure:
1. Let the spring roll wrapper defrost to room temperature.
I use this brand:

2. Cover the spring roll wrapper as well as the finish spring roll with a damp paper towel to keep it moist.

3. Deep fry until golden brown.

4. Follow this tutorial video, and enjoy rolling.

Wrapping and frying tips:

1. Wrap the filling as tight as you can to avoid opening during frying, but don’t wrap it too tight, or you’ll end up tearing the wrapper.

2. Make sure that the oil is hot, or you’ll end up with a soft and oily spring roll rather than crispy.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, June 2008, Durban, South Africa, Lecture)

The mercy of Lord Caitanya is our saving grace. But how to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya is the question. We know that the mercy is there but our problem is that we are not taking shelter of it; we are not serious about taking it.

We chant casually, we do not always take prasadam, we could go to the temple but we do not always go, we could do so much more to spiritually “stay in the fire” so to say but we do not… We all know the analogy of iron in fire: the iron becomes hot and acts like fire. But there is the other side of the story. When the iron is out of fire, iron cools down and stops to act like fire!

Then we go, “Oh, it’s so difficult!” This is our problem. This part is really up to us and this part is called surrender! Although Lord Caitanya’s mercy is very elaborate and there is unlimited variety of maha prasadam, there is still one complication with maha prasadam which is: you have to get it and then open your mouth! It does not automatically fly into your mouth! It is not that you just open your mouth and the rasagulla flies in! You actually have to take the trouble to get it!

This is where the problem is. We have to make the endeavour ourselves. That is the one difficulty that we have… that is the part where we lose out… that is the part where we drift away… that is the part where gradually weakness sets in… that is the part where maya catches us… that is the part where in spite of the mercy of Lord Caitanya we do not get it! Therefore, we must endeavour.

Sometimes I don't know if I should be sharing about my inner thoughts and heart yearnings, and yet, I also feel it is important to do, with the hope that we may all be benefited. Thus I take the risk of being criticized. However, sometimes we have to bet our lives on following our convictions due to pivotal events in our lives. For me, the realizations I have acted on from my cancer diagnosis feels like a huge juncture in my life, or a “perfect storm” if you will, which is setting the direction and mood for the rest of my life—at least it seems that way.

Thus, I keep returning to the same themes that inform and inspire my life. Every day I begin it with reading and thinking, showering with water and prayers, waking our home Deities, and then praying my heart out for my present aspirations, in the mood of "What do I want and aspire for that will be of the most benefit for everyone and most pleasing to my gurus and Lords of my heart?"

Facing death, means stripping aside the unessential, and looking at my attachments, even as I strive to be the best person I can, and more, by the infinite grace of the Almighty. Praying and writing helps me strip away my facade to look at my bare desires and who I am now—and pray to be—since we are our faith and attachments. I find it a powerful process, and recommend it to all who believe in a higher power, or God, whom they have an intimate relationship with. We are all near death after all!

I am a mercy beggar being in my own estimation quite insignificant, and yet I am tired of being so mediocre, reserved, disengaged, indifferent, and withdrawn, and also a casual bhakti practitioner. Therefore, I love to pray for my highest good and to be a vessel of giving mercy. I have such high intentions for my writing and now speaking. I pray that my thinking, feeling, willing and acting will be in divine order and in alignment with God's, or personally, Krishna's, will for me.

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I had the good fortune of meeting and having lunch with Bhakti Caru Maharaja during his recent visit to Australia.

Maharaja usually comes a couple of times a year and this time in Sydney he gave a four day seminar on Krsna’s pastimes outside Vrndavan.

Sanatana Goswami, a prominent disciple of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, lived under a tree as a renunciant. Once, a poor brahmana heard that Sanatana possessed a stone that could turn anything it touched into gold. The brahmana eagerly went to ask Sanatana for the stone. Without the least hesitancy Sanatana told the brahmana he could have the stone; it was in a rubbish heap nearby. The elated brahmana found the stone but, being intelligent, began to consider the situation. Why would Sanatana discard something so valuable unless he had something better? When he asked Sanatana about it, Sanatana said that he would give him the most valuable thing but first the brahmana would have to throw the magical stone into the river. To discard the stone was a test for the brahmana, but after some deliberation he complied with Sanatana’s condition, and Sanatana gave him the Hare Krishna mantra. Continue reading "The Secret Behind “The Secret”
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Harinama at Coolangatta - 24 January 2016 (Album with photos)
May Lord Chaitanya, the moon of Navadvipa, who is the king of dancers, appear splendidly in your heart. As beautiful as fully blossomed lotus flowers, His affectionate, charming, and restlessly moving eyes are moistened with pure love of Krishna. His character and pastimes are very sweet, and His beautiful limbs are resplendent.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/ytzEEN

Meet Dimyana, a happy recipient of Srila Prabhupada’s books. She studies neuroscience and pre-Medical. Wears shirt that says ‘Yogi Namaste’. Her grandmother is from Egypt. She approached the table, she had already Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita, which she started. Not only Gita but also most of the other books I had on the table. We spoke about where she comes from, the bay area, and how her experience is down here in southern California. She’s into philosophy and wants to help society to her full capacity. Before she left I gave her a garland that I brought from the temple. I could see that she is a very grateful person. She even gave me tips on where a more optimal place to set up a meditation book table on campus.
More here: http://tattvadarsi.com/blog/

September 15th, 2015.

The post Discussion with a member of Turkish congregation on the three modes of nature (Part 3) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Devotees Hall of fame.
Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra (SGGGPY) entered Konne village, a part of Bachannapet mandal on 27 December 2015. I was part of a team of devotees who travelled from Hyderabad to join the other team members to associate with them in their activities over the weekend. The night stay for the devotees numbering about 15 was arranged in Cherial town, hub for the third phase of the Yatra. This hall was part of a temple dedicated to Hanuman and the authorities there allowed us to stay in the premises on hearing about the mission. The devotees had made the premises their home for the next 7 days or so.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/a208yQ

Music video by Kula Shaker performing Govinda. (C) 1996 Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd.

In 1891, Hindus who were bathing in the sacred river Yamuna witnessed an amazing scene. A ship with a name in an unknown language was approaching.

On the spiritual path, adversity is a well-known challenge, but paradoxically prosperity can be an even greater challenge. While misery can threaten our faith, pleasure can deaden our sense of purpose.

Comfort breeds complacency

The Ramayana illustrates this through the story of Sugriva, the simian-hero who had been unfairly exiled by his brother, Vali, due to a misunderstanding. During the exile, after all his attempts at reconciliation with his brother had failed, he formed an alliance with Rama, who himself had been exiled from his kingdom Ayodhya and was searching for his abducted wife, Sita. Rama helped Sugriva right the wrong and gain the kingdom. In return, Sugriva promised to help Rama find Sita.

By the time Sugriva was enthroned as the king, the rainy season had started. The four months of rains made traveling impossible. So Rama and Sugriva agreed to wait for the rainy season to end before they began the search for Sita. During the waiting period, Sugriva invited Rama to stay in his kingdom in a royal palace. But Rama, wanting to be true to the terms of his fourteen-year exile, stayed in a cave outside the kingdom.

During this four-month period, Sugriva found himself amidst prodigious creature comforts – comforts that he had long been deprived of during his exile. And he unwittingly lost himself in sensual revelry, forgetting all about his promise to Rama.

Time passed and the rainy season ended. Rama found no sign of Sugriva making any arrangements for the search. Feeling concerned, Rama asked his younger brother Lakshmana to go to the monkey kingdom to take stock of the situation. On his way to Kishkinda, Lakshmana contemplating what he thought was Sugriva’s ingratitude became increasingly incensed till he was seething with fury. Seeing him, the monkey-guards became alarmed and scurried off to the palace to alert their king.

Meanwhile, Sugriva hadn’t remained entirely inactive – he had been jolted into activity by his vigilant counselors, his wise wife Tara and his able minister Hanuman. When the rains had started lessening, they had reminded Sugriva of his promise and he had immediately ordered that monkeys be summoned from far and wide so that they could join the search. But after this brief phase of dutifulness, Sugriva was once again sucked into indulgence by his surrounding luxuries.

When Lakshmana entered Sugriva’s chambers and saw the signs of sensual revelry, he exploded. He declared that ingratitude was the greatest of sins and condemned the ingrates who enjoyed themselves while neglecting their promises to their friends. While Sugriva was mortified, Tara intervened and pacified Lakshmana with gentle words: Even great sages had fallen prey to temptations – what then to speak of a monkey who had been long deprived of pleasures and was suddenly surrounded by them. When she assured Lakshmana that powerful monkeys from far and wide were already on their way to Kishkinda to assist in the search for Sita, Lakshmana became pacified.

Sugriva faced another temptation just before the climactic war between Rama and Ravana. The demon-king with characteristic cunning tried to engineer a split in his opponents. He sent messengers secretly to Sugriva with gifts, stating that the vanaras and the rakshasas had no enmity with each other. He further offered Sugriva a favorable pact of mutual assistance if he withdrew his forces from the fray. Living in an austere military camp and being fixed in Rama’s service, Sugriva felt not in the least tempted. He rejected the allurement declaring that Rama’s enemy was his enemy too.

Subtle erosion of devotion

Comforts often erode our devotion subtly. If some miscreants attacked a dam explicitly, security forces would spring into action to counter them and protect the dam. But if those miscreants caused a tiny leakage, most observers may not even notice it – and the water seeping through that leakage may eventually bring down the huge dam.

Similarly, if the forces of illusion came straight out and tempted us with immoral, anti-devotional indulgences, we would probably reject such temptations. But those forces attack using the weapon of comfort, the attack doesn’t make us openly reject God – it just makes us push him down our priority list as comforts rise up on that list.

We may acquire worldly resources for God’s service and might even use them for that purpose initially. But gradually we may start indulging in them till the original purpose is forgotten and abandoned – not because of any explicit perfidy on our part but simply because of our an increasing sense of complacency has subtly eroded our devotional determination.

Such subtle erosion can be countered by the practice of austerity. While adversity involves imposed deprivation of material things, austerity involves their voluntary renunciation. Austerity can sharpen our spiritual purposefulness, as illustrated in a pastime from the Mahabharata.

When the Pandavas were living in the forest, during one of the later phases of their exile, they ascended through the Himalayas to the heavenly arena where Kuvera, the treasurer of the gods, had his gardens. That great god invited them to stay there for as long as they desired. The Pandavas were technically still in forest exile, but their stay in this heavenly forest was far more comfortable than their austere life in earthly forests.

But after staying there for some time, Bhima and Arjuna approached Yudhishthira and urged him to return to the earthly forest. They both felt that staying amidst comfort would make them forget the atrocities perpetrated against them, deaden their martial spirit and leave them unprepared for confronting the wily Kauravas, who had wrongfully seized their kingdom.

The Pandavas hoped to regain their kingdom non-confrontationally, but they were no Pollyannas – they knew that Duryodhana was driven by an inveterate envy for them, so he would be unlikely to settle for any compromise. So they needed to be prepared for the war, both in spirit and in resources. Yudhishthira agreed with the reasoning of his two heroic brothers and they soon descended to the austere life on earthly forests.

Externally the situations and responses of Sugriva and the Pandavas were radically different. Sugriva had regained his kingdom, whereas the Pandavas had lost theirs. Further, Sugriva had forgotten his obligation to the Lord, whereas the Pandavas wanted to remember their duty – they wanted their kingdom so that by ruling it dharmically, they could serve and glorify the Lord. Still, despite these dissimilarities, both pastimes share the same underlying theme: indulgence in comforts can erode our sense of purposefulness. Sugriva lost that sense because of immersion in comforts and pleasures. The Pandavas, on the other hand, protected themselves from such a loss by giving up the comforts that might have made them complacent. Indeed, austerity can often serve as an insurance against complacency.

Technological paradise?

In our times, comforts come to us primarily through technology. It often fills us with a sense of godless omnipotence – we are led to believe that we can just by clicking a few buttons get whatever we want. Thus we are allured towards a technological paradise that is touted, overtly or covertly, as a superior substitute to any spiritual paradise.

But while we may temporarily control more and more external things by clicking a few buttons, we find ourselves being increasingly unable to control by any button the world within us. Our minds and our emotions become increasingly disorderly. As Martin Luther King put it, “The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

In contemporary times, the more humanity is distancing itself from God in the hope of a hi-tech paradise, the more it is being overwhelmed by mental problems. Indeed, mental health problems have been declared by the WHO to be the greatest health challenge of the current century.

Nonetheless, the bhakti tradition is not Luddite; both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata feature sophisticated weapons. Bhakti wisdom explains that the problem is not the prevalence of technology; the problem is the absence of God consciousness – an absence that is aggravated by the reductionsitic worldview that accompanies modern technology.

Reductionism makes us see technological wizardry as the product of humanity, not the gift of divinity. However, all technological products that humanity has developed – be they planes for commuting or phones for communicating – are based on pre-existing natural principles such as the laws of motion or the semiconductor effect. And these natural principles don’t originate in human intelligence; they originate ultimately in God’s intelligence. Therefore, for the discerning observer, every technological success is not just a testimony to human intelligence but also a tribute to divine intelligence.

To cultivate such discernment, we need to perform the conscious austerity of fixing our mind on God through direct devotional practices such as meditation and scriptural study. When we habituate ourselves to such direct God consciousness, we will be able to see the spiritual underlying the technological, thereby protecting ourselves from complacency.

Spiritualization, not rejection

Bhakti asks not for the rejection of the world but its connection with its source. While some renouncer traditions do see the world primarily as a place of entanglement, the bhakti tradition sees it more positively – as a resource to serve him. Everything material and spiritual comes from God, so it is intrinsically connected with him as his energy and is meant to be used in his service.

Accordingly, the bhakti tradition doesn’t romanticize adversity or demonize prosperity – it urges us to utilize whatever circumstance we find ourselves in. Adversity in and of itself is not spiritually beneficial; extreme adversity can make both basic material subsistence and basic spiritual practice difficult. And prosperity in and of itself is not spiritually harmful; a reliable and comfortable provision of material needs can free the mind from survival anxiety to ponder higher spiritual truths and ultimately the highest spiritual truth God.

Though the kingdom had induced forgetfulness in Sugriva, none of his counselors asked him to renounce it. Instead, they asked him to revive his remembrance of Rama’s benedictions and render practical service to him. Similarly, we can see whatever comforts we have as God’s gifts. Rather than seeing them as agents of temptation and illusion, we can see them as expressions of God’s kindness and thus feel inspired to serve him better. We can think, “As God has given me such a comfortable situation in which to serve him, let me increase and intensify my service to him: increase in quantity by using these resources to spread his glories, and intensify in quality by cherishing his remembrance more.”

Tara, Hanuman and Lakshmana all reminded Sugriva of his obligation and helped him correct his deviation. Similarly, we too need friends and guides who can remind us of our obligation to the Lord, especially when we start deviating from it.

Spiritual association is vital for preserving our sense of devotional purposefulness. To the extent we keep ourselves in such association and hear spiritual messages therein – as did Sugriva – to that extent we will be safe, even if we are amidst worldly comforts. We won’t be caught by the material, but will see beyond the material to the supreme spiritual reality, the Lord of our heart, thus staying connected with him. And that inner connection is life’s supreme comfort, the one comfort that will never become pale and stale, the one comfort that will always shelter us, and the one comfort that far from breeding complacency will raise our devotion to greater fervency.

The post Sugriva: Comfort – Material and Transcendental appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Saint Tukaram: “I want to taste sugar; I don’t want to be sugar.” Can water quaff itself? Can trees taste of the fruit they bear? He who worships God must stand distinct from Him, So only shall he know the joyful love of God; For if he say that God and he are one, That joy, that love, shall vanish instantly away. Pray no more for utter oneness with God: Where were the beauty if jewel and setting were one? The heat and the shade are two, If not, where were the comfort of shade? Mother and child are two, If not, where were the love? When after being sundered, they meet, What joy do they feel, the mother and child! Where were joy, if the two were one? Pray, then, no more for utter oneness with God. Continue reading "All You Need is 2 For Love / Primordial Valentine
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Skype conference.

The post After 20 minutes of technical difficulties we answer whether ladies should offer dandavats and other questions (English/Russian) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Iskcon Tribal Preaching Programme.
-Mahaprabhu told “Grihe thako vane thako sada Hari bole dako” Srila Prabhupada also had that dream which is a success in so many towns, but now only by his blessings a dream to make a difference in the lives of the tribal people of India is coming true.
These tribal people are simple but with a great sense of intimacy with Mother Nature and thus they can easily personally get close to God if shown the right path.
They are, like everyone else, clearly falling prey to the ways of the modern world and it was necessary to make them realize the beauty of their own culture and lifestyle in order to pull them out of the strong clutches of the greedy modern world. With this vision in mind a journey started, the journey of ISKCON Tribal Care Initiative.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/ScnZIL

The post Tuesday evening kirtana in NVD appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

By N. Swaminathan, Ph.D.

A pilgrimage to ISKCON’s grand complex in Lord Chaitanya’s land provides indelible inspiration for an engineer and his family.

When I entered the spacious temple and looked to the right, I was stunned on seeing the huge and extremely beautiful deities of Radha-Madhava, with four sakhis on each side gazing at the perfect beauty of Lord Madhava and Srimati Radharani and very eager to serve Them. The temple was full of devotees offering ghee lamps, an act that symbolizes how our heart burns in separation from Krishna. My family and I also got ghee lamps and offered them to Radha-Madhava and the eight sakhis.

We then went to the adjoining hall, also spacious. When I saw the huge golden Panca Tattva deities, I couldn’t imagine ever having to leave Mayapur. The devotees’ graceful dancing and the beautiful kirtana enchanted me. And before I could recover, I was in front of the deity of Nrisimha. Dressed in silver, He looked like silver fire. He was so ferocious, and yet so assuring. I don’t remember how many times I offered obeisances to Him, or maybe I didn’t at all.

Thank you, Srila Prabhupada. Even though you were satisfied with whatever Krishna provided to you, you undertook great hardships to create such a beautiful place and a real society of devotees so that people like me would be attracted to spiritual life.

I work in an engineering software company, and I had been attending a Bhagavad-gita class conducted by ISKCON for four months when our teacher invited my family and me for a four-day pilgrimage to Mayapur during the auspicious month of Damodara (Karttika). Mayapur is the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who in the sixteenth century propagated the chanting of the holy names of Krishna, the recommended spiritual practice for Kali-yuga, the current age.

Our reception at ISKCON Mayapur’s Gada Bhavan was most magnificent. We were garlanded with flowers, and cool sandalwood paste was applied to our foreheads. This is how guests are received in the Vaishnava tradition, said our hosts.

The next day we got up really early and bathed in unheated water. We attended mangala-arati at Prabhupada’s Pushpa Samadhi and then at the Radha-Madhava temple. I completed sixteen rounds of chanting before 7:00 A.M., and I had a full day ahead of me.

While walking to the goshala, we were shown the grihastha quarters and a building that’s home to brahmacharis two months a year. The rest of the year they are out traveling in buses and distributing Prabhupada’s books. We also were told about four schools: one with the CBSE pattern, one with the Cambridge Board, one a girls’ school, and one a Vedic gurukula. The first three have a mixed curriculum, modern with Vedic, but the last is purely Vedic. We were surprised. What about the future of these boys? We learned the answer, a very instructive one, when we went to the gurukula in the evening.

The goshala has four sections: for old cows, younger cows, calves, and bulls. We had kirtana and a wonderful lesson on the importance of cow protection and cow’s milk. Bala Govinda Dasa, our guide and teacher, also told us that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is not a great saint but the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. To make the best of this pilgrimage, he advised us to (a) abstain from prajalpa, or useless mundane talk, (b) chant as much as possible, (c) listen very carefully to the glories of this place, and (d) maximize our association with the devotees.

We felt great honor in feeding the calves with straw and date-sugar balls. The children enjoyed this a great deal. I was thankful to Lord Krishna for His being as accessible and loving to children as to adults. I remembered our visits to many South Indian temples when the children got bored and we couldn’t sustain their enthusiasm. But in Mayapur it was different. The children woke up the parents because they were eager to start the day early.

The evening took us to the Vedic gurukula. The students learn Vedic mathematics, English (and through it, other languages, including Sanskrit), music, martial arts, Vedic mantras, Vaishnava texts, and leadership and organizational skills. They do menial tasks such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, and filling water containers. They use only oil lamps at night and cook with cow dung as fuel. We asked them if they worried about their future. They are completely cut off from current affairs and modern education. Even their Vedic degree is not recognized outside ISKCON. What if they decide to do something outside ISKCON?

The answers we got, in the form of rhetorical questions, were an eye-opener: What do we need to a job for? Do we trust our boss more or Krishna more? How did Prabhupada manage in the U.S. with no money? How does a dog survive without current affairs and degrees? How does an ant get its food? Are we worse than dogs or ants?

The answers showed us the depth of these boys’ faith and the shallowness of ours. How can Krishna reciprocate with us when we have no faith in Him? That made us worry. And indeed, by Krishna’s mercy these boys become gurukula teachers, run establishments, and assume important roles that require relational and managerial skills rather than academic degrees.

The next day, after mangala-arati we saw a diorama exhibition of Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes. Then we walked along the road outside the temple campus to board a boat to one of the islands in Navadvipa.

Out of respect for this holy land, I stopped carrying my mobile phone and started walking barefoot, feeling nourished by the cool Mayapur sand under my bare feet.

Godruma-dvipa

The boat glided on the whitish Ganga, which met the Jalangi, dark like the Yamuna. On the Jalangi shore we formed a sankirtana party as we walked to Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s house on the island of Godruma-dvipa. We learnt that he had started life in a modest manner and later rose from clerk to magistrate. He was extremely punctual and efficient and thus was respected by the British. To convince him to postpone his retirement, they built a railway line just to ferry him to and from his office. He was the father of ten children. He wrote prolifically in Bengali to bring people the rich Vedic texts in the form of poems and songs. He discovered the birthplace of Lord Chaitanya and built a temple there by collecting mostly small donations from the local people. He eventually organized two thousand village groups for practicing and spreading Krishna consciousness. He is an inspirational, ideal grihastha.

The name of this island (dvipa) comes from the words go (cow) and druma (tree). Long ago, Surabhi, the mother of all cows, performed austerities under a banyan tree here to please Lord Vishnu. In another incident associated with this sacred place, the sage Markandeya once wanted to see Lord Krishna’s maya, or illusory potency. Fulfilling the sage’s request, Krishna flooded the entire world. Markandeya was washed away but landed safely at Godruma-dvipa, the only place above water. There he saw a beautiful baby on a banyan leaf, sucking His own toe. The baby was Krishna, who wanted to experience the taste of His own lotus feet, a taste that steals the hearts of all devotees and great sages. Suddenly, the baby sucked the sage into His stomach, in which the entire universe was visible, and just as suddenly expelled him. Thus Markandeya saw how the entire universe is contained within Lord Krishna while He is simultaneously aloof from it.

We then returned by boat with a stopover for bathing in the Ganga. Mother Ganga flows from the feet of Krishna and is very sacred. People with material eyes cannot see the purity of the Ganga and the spiritual benefits she can provide. We prayed for Mother Ganga’s permission before entering, and while bathing we prayed that her pure water might cleanse our hearts of impurities, which stand in the way of reviving our original Krishna consciousness. The children had a wonderful time in the cool water, and we had tough time getting them out.

Prabhupada’s Samadhi

In the evening we visited Prabhupada’s samadhi. Its circular shape allows many people at once to view Prabhupada sitting majestically on his altar. Inside the dome, tile mosaics depict various landmark events in Prabhupada’s life. I was touched by the picture of him guiding an American child in writing a Sanskrit letter. On the first floor are dioramas depicting Prabhupada’s life-his own Rathayatra at age four, writing his heartfelt poem expressing his full surrender to Krishna as he reached America, his first public kirtana in the U.S., and so on. At an advanced age, in a foreign land, with almost no money or support, he transformed misguided American youth into spiritual practitioners and leaders, established more than a hundred temples all over the world, and produced dozens of books based on Vaishnava philosophy. How could he do all this? Because he had faith in his guru and Krishna.

After mangala-arati the next morning, we offered our obeisances to the Panca Tattva and thanked them for allowing us to enter the dhama. We prayed for their grace to help us steadily progress in Krishna consciousness. We begged forgiveness for any offenses we may have committed during our pilgrimage. And we requested their permission to leave the dhama.

Yoga-pitha

From the ISKCON complex, a bus took us a short distance to the birthplace of Lord Chaitanya, known as Yoga-pitha. The deities here are Radha-Madhava; Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with His consorts (Vishnupriya and Lakshmipriya); Sri Jagannatha Misra and Saci Devi, Lord Chaitanya’s parents; and the Adhokshaja (Vishnu) deity worshiped by Lord Chaitanya’s parents and discovered by Bhaktivinoda Thakura while the temple foundation was being dug.

After spending some time at Yoga-pitha, we prayed to Lord Chaitanya for love of Krishna and left for ISKCON’s Jagannatha temple in Simanta-dvipa, a little farther up the road. Before entering the temple we heard from Murari Dasa about the appearance of Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra there, and how the temple came under the care of ISKCON. The place gives devotees the same spiritual benefit as visiting the Jagannatha temple in Puri. The island’s name refers to a time when Goddess Parvati prayed here to Lord Chaitanya. When the Lord appeared, she put the dust from under His feet on the part (simanta) of her hair.

Back in Kolkata, I realized that Mayapur is an example of how one can live a completely spiritual life right here in the material world. “O Lord!” I prayed. “When can I return to Mayapur?” And I recalled the caption I’d seen under a picture of ISKCON Mayapur’s Sri Radha-Madhava: “Meet your new boss.”

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TOVP Update. Blue Tiles. 360 degree Fly Around (3 min video)
This is a glimpse of the finished super-structure, with some close-up views of the blue tiling on the chatris.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/7GyH7x