Planet ISKCON

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2004)

I always tell devotees that we should understand that Vrindavan or Mayapur is our home! This is where we live and now at one point, when we go from here to some foreign country, then we are like tourists – we are only visitors there whether it is New Zealand, Spain, Denmark or UK and so on.

Wherever we maybe, in all of these places, we should know that we are tourists. We live in Vrindavan or Mayapur, we live in the dhama. It does not matter if you are only one day in a year in the dhama – still that is home, that is where we belong and this is the right consciousness! It says, “One should live in the dhama or at least desire to live in the dhama and mentally live in the dhama.”

So a devotee should at least mentally live in the dhama where the mercy is very accessible and very available. Therefore when we come here to these holy dhamas, we very quickly get the mercy!

Srila Prabhupada also made the point that devotees should go every year to the holy dhama. That is why he started the Mayapur and Vrindavan dhama festivals because he wanted all of the devotees to go to the dham. He said, “To become purified of the possible contamination that one might get from the Western world, one must go to the dhama.”

In the dhama, the spiritual energy of the spiritual world is very much manifest. One can very very quickly relate to it and we are all experiencing that!

Govindas asrama in Sydney has three kirtan and prasadam programs a week. The area is not very big but somehow 50-60 people squeeze in to participate in an ecstatic evening.

The crowd is mostly westerners with some coming from other parts of the world.  At one recent program everyone heard about Gita Jayanti – Lord Krsna’s speaking Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna 5000 years ago.

Interest In Vedic Pedagogy Increases in Finland.
Finland has been one of the most successful countries in the world in education, - and perhaps because - the universities and educational institutions are open to different educational concepts. Among other high-quality educational programs, Finland is exporting the concepts of creative education to different countries - to India, too. Tattvavada Das has been part of the Finnish Council for Creative Education (CEE) team since 2014 tour in Pune and Mumbai, traveling and lecturing. Their group was very warmly welcomed everywhere.
Tattvavada is a pioneer of interpreting Krishna-conscious concepts of culture and education in Finnish schools, universities and teacher training in colleges where he has been visiting for more than two decades, at the beginning with Suhotra Swami and later on with Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/m9cPVW

Plea in Lok Sabha for ‘National Book’ status to Bhagwad Gita!
New Delhi: BJP members in the Lok Sabha on Monday made a strong plea for declaring Bhagwad Gita as “National Book” and urged the Centre to organise international festival on the lines announced by Haryana government.
Noting that the scripture teaches immortal values and is a guide to humanity, he hailed the Bhagvad Gita Mahotsave held at Kurukhshetra recently. He also wanted that learning of Bhagvad Gita be made part of school curriculum.
His plea was supported by a large number of his party colleagues with thumping of desks.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/XOT1d2

"Please cancel my tickets," I said to my friend on the phone. "I won't be able to go." I hung up the phone and sank down onto my bed, my head in my hands. My friend had arranged my tickets for the trip to Jagannatha Puri and Mayapur I had been so eagerly looking forward to, and now I had to cancel. The past few weeks in my life had been very turbulent, so when my friends proposed a spiritual retreat to these two holy places so dear to the followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, I jumped at the offer, hoping for a welcome break. But it couldn't happen now. My stringent schedule was not loosening its grip on me. "Damn it!" I cried out. I shot from the bed, threw my pillow to the ground, and pulled out the bed sheet. I lifted the mattress and wanted to fling it too, but it was too heavy. I dropped it half on the floor, stomped out of the room, went into the bathroom, and stood with my arms bent over the sink. Breathing heavily, I stared down at the dark drain and dripped tears into it. Continue reading "Face to Face with Frustration
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“The Bhagavad-gita teaches a pantheistic view of God,” he said, his confidence and years of learning clear from his authoritative tone. “The massive vishvarupa—Krishna’s universal form, which encompasses all material phenomena, including time—tells us much about God in the Gita.” His friend, another scholar of some renown, seemed to disagree. “The Gita goes beyond pantheism. It shows us how to perceive God in all things. The Tenth Chapter, especially, shows us how Krishna is the superlative exemplar in seventy categories, how He exists in the perceivable world.” A third colleague gave his considered opinion as well: “The Gita ultimately teaches bhakti, devotion to Krishna, the supreme personal Deity. In this sense, it is not unlike the great monotheistic traditions of the West. I think you’ve both missed the point.” I was attending a panel discussion at a conference of the American Academy of Religion, and as I sat back and listened, I noted that all three scholars were correct, each in his own way. I considered deeply their individual perspectives, and I realized something: The Gita has it all! Continue reading "Defining the Divine, East and West
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'In a restaurant or place for drinking cold water, many travelers are brought together, and after drinking water they continue to their respective destinations. Similarly, living entities join together in a family, and later, as a result of their own actions, they are led apart to their destinations'. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.2.21) Srila Prabhupada remarks, 'In the material world a so-called family is a combination of several persons in one home to fulfill the terms of their imprisonment. As criminal prisoners scatter as soon as their terms are over and they are released, all of us who have temporarily assembled as family members will continue to our respective destinations'. Continue reading "Serving Krsna as a Husband or a Wife What Makes It Rough, What Makes It Smooth
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Vaishnava Wedding of ISKCON devotees @ Hong Kong, China (Album with photos)
I am not a brahmana, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vaisya or a sudra. Nor am I a brahmacari, a householder, a vanaprastha or a sannyasi. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krsna, the maintainer of the gopis. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, 13.80)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/dYq47z

To invoke global auspiciousness and increased awareness about the need to protect Mother Cow and to gradually introduce the culture of Cow Care in our daily lives, ISKCON Daiva Varnashrama Ministry invites all ISKCON Temples and ISKCON Centers to perform a special Go-Puja to Mother Surabhi on January 1, 2016.

On my way to the mall a billboard on the street caught my attention. It said: "Can India be the world's bright spot?" Google informed me that this was a question presented by Prime-Minister Narendra Modi to, basically, the society.

Asia’s largest museum, the China Art Museum in Shanghai, has dedicated its entire tenth floor to Forms of Devotion, a collection of sacred art from Belgium’s Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA). The exhibit, which opened on November 6^th and is on display until February 21^st 2016, is drawing over 30,000 visitors daily.

Finland has been one of the most successful countries in the world in education. The universities and educational institutions are open to different educational concepts. Among other high-quality educational programs, Finland is exporting the concepts of creative education to different countries - to India, too. Tattvavada Das has been part of the Finnish Council for Creative Education  (CEE) team since 2014.

Gita verse-by-verse study Podcast

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Sunday feast class at Radha Gopinath temple on the occasion of Gita Jayanti, 2015

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Encountering Vishnu: The Lion Avatar in Indian Temple Drama.
Five rare wooden sculptural masks made in India—recently acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York—will be highlighted in the special exhibition Encountering Vishnu: The Lion Avatar in Indian Temple Drama, opening at the Met on December 19. Worn by actors in dramatic plays that were presented during religious festivals in southern India, the masks represent a largely unrecorded category of late medieval devotional art from India. The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund. The appearances of Vishnu in many guises, known as avatars, are most famously celebrated in his Ten Avatars (Dasavatar).
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/MZPCGL

Gita Jayanti 2015 @Gedung Ksirarnawa Art Centre Denpasar Bali (Album with photos)
Gita Jayanti celebrates the appearance day of the Bhagavad-gita. In the year 2015, this sacred event was celebrated in Bali, Indonesia on the 20th of December at the prestigious Bali Art Center. The Bhagavad-gita was spoken to Arjuna by Lord Sri Krsna on the battlefield of Kuruksetra (in present day Haryana, India) approximately 5000 years ago. On this day, ISKCON in Indonesia actively hosts events that promote the philosophy and culture of the holy Gita through dance, drama, food and traditional chanting. Honorable guests from the Hindu Dharma Council of Indonesia and other instances are present to celebrate.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/1nYiCl

Last Push for the UK Sankirtan devotees who try to reach the goal of 100.000 books distributed during the December marathon.
Sutapa Das: The finish line is in sight - now the marathon runners close their eyes, shut out all other thoughts, and draw on every last bit of energy - all the hard work culminates here! 88,000 reached - we need 12,000 books distributed in 2 days! Its the last push…
Special thanks for the “100k Effort” goes to Tanmay prabhu. For the last month, he has been offloading pallets, giving out books, updating the thermometer, and running around all day facilitating the book distributors. Over 40,000 books must have passed through his trusty hands! Always smiling, no complaints. Tanmay prabhu - you’re the best!
And for that matter, we would like to thank all the devotees doing ‘background services’ (driving, cooking, covering services) to facilitate the devotees distributing books. Without you, the marathon doesn’t happen. Thank you, thank you, thank you

December 23. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Prabhupada has said that each person is ultimately alone, like a pilot in a one-man airplane. This will be made clear to us at the time of death when we have to “fly our own plane.” Then we will want to surrender ourselves fully to Prabhupada and Krishna. Then there will be no relief in medicines, when the body itself, which seemed to be our friend and shelter, will not be able to sustain us. Worldly pleasures and possessions will lose their taste. Now is the time to prepare. Later, our ability to think of Krishna and Prabhupada will be impaired. Telling memories of Prabhupada is for now, when we are looking for subject matter for hearing and reading, and when we are capable of it. The living being is so lively and curious that if he doesn’t hear of the pure devotee, he will hear something else. So Prabhupada meditation is a way to keep the mind fixed at the lotus feet of the pure devotees.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=3

The post Daily Darshan : December 23rd, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Kadamba Kanana Swami at ISKCON Mayapur on 2015-12-14, Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 06.17.36-37

More Reasons for Remembering Him

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Coconut Island Harinam Party , Fiji (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: By chanting the Hare Krishna mantra one immediately concentrates on the sound vibration and thinks of the lotus feet of the Lord, and very quickly one is elevated to the position of samadhi, or trance. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.44 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/fH5d3z