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Answer Podcast

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The post Are the other 5 schools of Indian philosphy relevant for devotees – are they speculations? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 23 August 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.29.55)

People are hankering to be devotees! Yesterday, in the morning, I was going for a walk and there was this person who came and stood opposite of me. The street was very crowded and this person was fifteen centimetres away, face-to-face. He gave me a really deep penetrating look. I could see that this person wants to be a devotee, since he was actually checking me out. He was lost and looking for answers wondering, “Does he have answers? Does he know?”

There are lots of people like that out there, who look at us, who say Hare Krsna and fold their hands… who just look at us and think, “Do they know? Do they have the answers?”

There is not doubt about it! There are many people who can be convinced. And the books will bring people. So like that, we can go forward again.

Dharmakala Cooking Biscuits in RVC Temple 1984

By Madhava Smullen

Dharmakala Dasi’s destiny seemed set from the start – she grew up with the smell of fresh baked bread and cookies lingering throughout her home.

“My parents had eight kids, so we didn’t really go out to eat – my mother just cooked constantly to feed us all,” she says. “So being around it all the time, I started cooking myself when I was a little kid. I baked my first brownies at the age of seven.”

But with all that good old-fashioned home cooking, Dharmakala never tasted anything quite like the Sunday Feast at the Hare Krishna temple in Ocean City, Maryland, in 1972 – “It was totally out of this world,” she says. And it was this that would lead to her cooking for Lord Krishna, and becoming synonymous with New Vrindaban’s celebrated history of prasadam baking.

First, though, she joined ISKCON in Ocean City, then moved to New York, where she was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1973. There, she began baking “Prabhupada cookies” and offered her first cake to the Lord, a huge multi-layered whipped mango affair for Radhastami.

In July 1974, Dharmakala decided to move to New Vrindaban, West Virginia, where she received second initiation the following year, and thereafter began cooking daily for the Deities for approximately the next fifteen years.

New Vrindaban, a remote, austere rural community, couldn’t have been more different from New York City. Dharmakala prepared the legendary 4pm offering of fried curd, milk sweets, cookies, cheesecake, and more using a wood oven and wood stove that had to be constantly stoked.

“There wasn’t anything electric at all at the Bahulaban kitchen – everything had to be done by hand,” she says. “The curd used in the cheesecake had to be kneaded out by hand to smooth it, as there were no blenders.”

The upside to the simple life was that all the dairy products were made from the milk of the sacred village’s protected cows, which was thick with cream. It was this cream that was separated from the milk and used in Dharmakala’s much coveted maha-prasadam condensed milk, or kheer, which was often served with peaches, strawberries and bananas.

“The feasts and Deity offerings in Bahulaban back then were so outrageously opulent you wouldn’t believe it,” Dharmakala says.

Until 1989 – during which the kitchen moved from Bahulaban to Radha Vrindabanchandra’s current temple – Dharmakala cooked full-time for the Deities and devotees.

As well as the 4pm offering, she also made popcorn, cereal, breadsticks and other snacks for the devotees in the afternoon, and cooked chapatis over gas flames on a large griddle for lunch.

New Vrindaban Bahulavan 1976 (Dharmakala pictured)

“Together our team would do a thousand chapatis a day,” she says.

But over the years, Dharmakala became most famous for her baking.

In the mornings, she often baked bread for the devotees. On Sunday feasts and festivals, she would make orange cake, date nut bars, or apple and rhubarb strawberry crisp for 800 people, sending huge trays to locations all over the community.

And nothing was ever half-baked – if you’ll pardon the pun – with Dharmakala.

“Whatever I did, I would do to the best of my ability,” she says. “For instance, instead of just making normal sugar cookies for the 4pm offering, I’d make coconut walnut squares or sandwich cookies. That would be two Prabhupada cookies with a filling of fresh strawberry jam and an icing glaze on top.”

Dharmakala worked very hard, often spending eleven-hour days from 10am to nearly 9pm in the kitchen, with no days off.

“I remember being eight-and-a-half months pregnant with my daughter Dinataruni one Thanksgiving, and baking as many pumpkins as I could for pumpkin pie well into the night, because we didn’t have any canned pumpkin,” she says. “The next morning, I went in, made the crusts, and finished up ten trays of pie with fresh whipped cream on top. All while I was about to pop!”

But for Dharmakala, the memories are good, full of the kind of loving exchanges between godbrothers and godsisters that Srila Pabhupada formed ISKCON to facilitate.

Prabhupada 1973 NY Henry Street Temple – Dharmakala lower right corner

“Kuladri’s wife Kutila taught me how to make milk sweets; Prabhupada’s servant Nanda Kumar oversaw the kitchen; and Hari-Kirtana, Vraja Kumari and Gita from Canada were my chapati crew,” she says. “Everybody was working together, and it was such good teamwork and camaraderie. It was devotional service for us, and we just wanted to make a nice lunch for Krishna. You just had that intention that it was going to turn out great, and it always did.”

After 1989, Dharmakala stopped serving full-time at the temple kitchen, but continued to make cakes for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations held in New Vrindaban, a service she offers to this day.

“I make chocolate, carob, and vanilla cakes, carrot cakes, and more,” she says. “Whatever people want. I always use organic, non-GMO ingredients. I use organic flour, demerrara sugar or Sucanat, and for vegan cakes, I make my own soymilk from organic soybeans.”

In 1995, Dharmakala started her own company, “World’s Best Cookie,” selling to health food stores and coffee shops along the East Coast. Her products include raisin, chocolate-chip, carob-chip, and pumpkin-spice oatmeal cookies, along with wheat-free raisin and chocholate-chip options, and an energy cookie.

Dharmakala Baking Worlds Best Cookies

So far, she has made 500,000 of these, all by hand, in pink ovens decorated with hearts and the inscription “Baked with the intention of love,” at her bakery on the ECO-V farm. What’s more, each and every cookie is offered to Srila Prabhupada, whose murti oversees the bakery from his vyasasana. He reminds Dharmakala of a special loving moment.

“I remember that when Prabhupada visited New Vrindaban in 1976, he was giving out cookies in the tiny Bahulaban temple room,” she says. “It was absolutely packed with devotees, and I was eight months pregnant with my son Suddha Sattva and afraid that I’d get pushed or shoved. So I hid in a corner to the side of his vyasasana, and just held out my hand, and he gave me a cookie. I put it in my beadbag, then held out my hand again, and he gave me another cookie. And again, and again. I left with six cookies!”

Today, after decades of service cooking for the Lord and his devotees and raising her five children, Dharmakala is still living in New Vrindaban. And just as it did back in the ‘70s, it’s the camaraderie and devotee association that keeps her there.

“My friends are the reason,” she says. “We all built this place together. So we’re like family.”

And when asked what advice she has for the next wave of New Vrindaban residents, Dharmakala suggests trying out the simplicity that made those early days special.

“Turn off the electric, get away from your computer, and see what you can manifest,” she says. “And, in the kitchen as well as in life, work from your heart!”

Dharmakala’s Coconut Walnut Squares

“I love this recipe because it’s super rich and opulent. It has been a favorite at New Vrindaban for years, since I used to make it in the Deity kitchen for the pleasure of Sri Sri Radha Vrindabanchandra.”

Makes 18 squares.

Ingredients:

1st layer:
1 cup of butter (melted)
½ cup of brown sugar
2 ½ cups of flour

2nd layer:
1/3 cup of yogurt
2 cups of brown sugar
¼ cup of flour
1 cup of shredded coconut
1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
½ cup of chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of grated lemon rind
½ teaspoon of salt

Glaze (optional):
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of butter (melted)
3 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Directions:

To make the first layer, mix the ingredients together and press firmly into a 9 x 12 inch baking tray.

Before putting the first layer into the pan, make sure the inside of the tray is lightly greased with butter (or vegetable oil). Next, sprinkle a small amount of flour over the butter (or use parchment paper). This will help minimize sticking.

Bake the first layer for approximately 10 minutes at 400 F. Remove from the oven and and cool slightly.

To make the second layer, mix all ingredients and spread over top of the first layer.

Bake at 350 F for around 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Remove tray from oven and allow to cool.

For the glaze, combine ingredients together, stir until smooth and drizzle over the entire tray.

Finally, cut into 18 good-sized squares, offer and serve.

ISKCON Minister Speaks on Spiritual Abuse at World Parliament of Religions.
ISKCON’s Minister of Communications, Anuttama Dasa, spoke in October at the World Parliament of Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah, on a Panel entitled “Understanding and Mitigating the Dangers of Manipulation, Undue Influence and Abuse within Religious and Spiritual Communities.”
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/66A3zt

ISKCON's Minister of Communications, Anuttama Dasa, spoke in October at the World Parliament of Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah, on a Panel entitled "Understanding and Mitigating the Dangers of Manipulation, Undue Influence and Abuse within Religious and Spiritual Communities." 

Govindas Swansea, was smashed up and ransacked on Thursday night, 19th November.

Burglers broke a hole in the roof to get in, then they went through the whole building, smashing up anything of value on their way, and stealing cash and valuables, which were used in the worship there.

Govindas is home to a vegetarian cafe, and is the local Temple for the Hare Krishnas. They are well known and liked in the area, being in this location for the last 15 years. I personally have very fond memories of my time there 15 years ago. The community of devotees is a wonderful, selfless community, and aswell as being generous of heart, also have a great sense of humour and compassion.

It is heartbreaking to think that such a womderful group of individuals, who give so much, have fallen victim to such a heartless, selfish and violent act.

Please show your solidarity and support for this community, by donating according to your ability. I know that they will be so grateful for your support, and our support will also alleviate their shock and disturbance at this time.

All funds will go towards repairing the roof, fixing the broken window used as an escape route, repairing many other items, and replacing the crowns and other jewellery for the Pancha Tattva Deities in the Temple.

Thank you, but more importantly, They will be so grateful, and this will really help restore the communities spirits, aswell as their home.

https://www.gofundme.com/govindasswansea

Hare Krishna

Definition of Perfection - HG Shyamasundara Prabhu (2 min video)
“If there is a definition of perfection then Srila Prabhupada is it!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/iXlNJx

One More Time Around! (9 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: There are devotees of the Lord who circumambulate Govardhana hill two, or even three times, a day. Busy with visiting other holy places in Vrajamandala our group of 350 devotees only managed to do parikrama around Giriraja twice during our stay in Vrindavan. But what a wonderful parikrama the second one was! At the southern tip of Govardhana Hill we performed abhiseka for Giriraja at an ancient temple of Lord Nrsimhadeva. Devotees enjoyed bathing two silas and singing and dancing along with Sri Prahlada prabhu’s kirtan. Jaya Giri-Govardhana! Jaya Srila Prabhupada!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/VaWZyF

Question: Maharaj, I have not done anything for Krishna. Why would He care about me?
Kadamba Kanana Swami:Long before… what happened is this… One day, you were in a street and you did not remember your name. You stood there, looking and you did not know your name or where you are from. You were suffering from amnesia! You had lost your memory and your identity. Anyway – some people saw you and they kind of took care of you. They noticed which languages you spoke and someone of the same language took care of you. So somehow or other, since that time you have been living with this false identity. You got used to it and now this is almost like your real self. But once before, in your original identity, you did so much service for Krishna. You forgot but Krishna never forgets because He has no amnesia.

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The post Krsna is Bahudhak appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Today’s Harinama Sankirtan in Harajuku Tokyo, Japan. (Album with photos)
Wakako Tanaka: It’s cloudy day and temperature is only 14° degrees (in Mayapur it was over 30 degrees!!). At first we felt cold atmosphere, but we kept chanting HARE KRISHNA and DANCING, finally we put off the jacket.
Many people joined our Harinama and chanted the holy name together!! Policemen tried to stop us, but we didn’t give up!!!
With Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy we could continue Harinama and met nice people!!! Hare Krsna!!!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/xr1beL

After the Mahabharat war ended, Krishna asked Arjuna to get down from the chariot first. But Arjuna requested Krishna to get down first. Krishna advised Arjuna to do what he is being asked to do. So Arjuna got down first and then Krishna followed. And as soon as Krishna got down, it blew up and burned to ashes. Arjuna was horrified. Krishna explained that the weapons unleashed by Bhisma, Drona and other Kaurava warriors were extremely powerful but because of him the lethal weapons did not harm Arjuna a bit. Arjuna always remained safe in Krishna’s hand. Krishna, the all-powerful and all merciful is our only saviour. Continue reading "In Krishna’s care there is no tear of fear
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November 23. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Memories of Prabhupada are nectar. Without them, there would be no substance to Prabhupada consciousness. If there were no memories of Prabhupada, then he would become only a legend. For example, although I don’t have any direct experience of Lord Caitanya’s appearance in the world, many persons who were with Lord Caitanya recorded His pastimes in diaries and books. Therefore, I can know who He actually was. Similarly, the followers of Prabhupada write memoirs and encourage Prabhupada’s disciples to compile their accounts before they pass away, so that everyone now and in the future can know what it was like to be with Prabhupada.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=2

The post Daily Darshan – November 23rd, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Memories of Prabhupada

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 10 October 2015, Sydney, Australia, Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 20.339)

Transcribed by Nama-rupa dd

Question: Maharaj, I have not done anything for Krsna. Why would he care about me?

Long before… what happened is this… One day, you were in a street and you did not remember your name. You stood there, looking and you did not know your name or where you are from. You were suffering from amnesia! You had lost your memory and your identity. Anyway – some people saw you and they kind of took care of you. They noticed which languages you spoke and someone of the same language took care of you. So somehow or other, since that time you have been living with this false identity. You got used to it and now this is almost like your real self. But once before, in your original identity, you did so much service for Krsna. You forgot but Krsna never forgets because he has no amnesia.

In the Fourth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam Narada Muni states: "My dear King, in the place where pure devotees live, following the rules and regulations and thus purely conscious and engaged with great eagerness in hearing and chanting the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in that place if one gets a chance to hear their constant flow of nectar, which is exactly like the waves of a river, one will forget the necessities of life -- namely hunger and thirst -- and become immune to all kinds of fear, lamentation and illusion." (SB 4.29.39-40) That’s what the living entity needs. He needs to transcend the bodily concept of life. The way to transcend the bodily concept of life is to hear the glories of pure devotional service. In the Eleventh Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam it is stated: "Pure devotional service rendered to the Supreme Lord is spiritually so potent that simply by hearing about such transcendental service, by chanting its glories in response, by meditating on it, by respectfully and faithfully accepting it, or by praising the devotional service of others, even persons who hate the demigods and all other living beings can be immediately purified." (SB 11.2.12) Continue reading "Removing the Scarcity of Pure Devotional Service
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By Urmila Devi Dasi

On a visit to schools for the deaf, Hare Krishna devotees find more evidence that bhakti-yoga is for everyone.

It’s easy to imagine being blind. A simple close of the eyelids in a somewhat dark place or a walk through an unlit room at night, and we can empathize with those who cannot see. Making oneself temporarily deaf, however, is almost impossible. First of all, it’s hard to completely seal the entrance to the ears. Putting our hands over our ears or using earplugs blocks only a portion of the sound. Secondly, much sound is transmitted through the bones of our skull, bypassing the ear. A hearing person’s empathy with the deaf is, therefore, limited.

My interest in the deaf world was perhaps different from that of most hearing people. The basis of bhaktiyoga as taught in the Hare Krishna movement is to hear and chant the Lord’s name and glories. How could the deaf and mute do either? One day I got to discover the answers and to explore that silent world. I visited four schools for the deaf in Indore, India, to teach the children about Lord Krishna.

“Is this the right train? Which car?”

The four of us walked through the train and finally reached a nonsleeper car and took out our breakfast. The city of Ujjain, which we were leaving, quickly zoomed past the windows.

The other residents of the car stared at us. We were the only ones wearing dhotis and saris and displaying clay tilaka marks on our forehead, indicating that we are devotees of Krishna. Three of us also had fair skin, which usually draws some stares in India. But it was not our outward appearance that was most unusual. It was the way we were communicating in silence.

The gestures that normally complement speech had become the entire medium. One member of our group, Dayal Gauranga Dasa, has been profoundly deaf since his birth in an Indian family in the United Kingdom. Prema Pradipa Dasa, from Spain, was there as his interpreter. Kesava Bharati Dasa and I were accompanying them. We were traveling to the schools as guest “speakers.” What form would our teaching about bhakti take with the deaf children we were about to visit?

Dayal Gauranga and Prema Pradipa had recently become initiated disciples of Bhakti Caru Swami. They have been bringing spiritual life to deaf people in England for many years (see Back to Godhead 28/2, 1994, Project Profile). I tried, with a little success, to communicate directly with Dayal Gauranga, and I often had to enlist Prema Pradipa’s help.

The Plight of India’s Deaf

After about two hours of travel, Gyanendra Puroit, the head of one school, picked us up at the train station. He explained that India has the second-largest deaf community in the world, but few receive training in sign language or are given a chance to earn a livelihood. In fact, only about ten percent of the Indian deaf receive any specialized education at all. This was one of a few schools that teach children and adolescents the skills they need for the world. Gyanendra Puroit wanted our help in giving them a rich spiritual life as well.

Mostly boys filled the room. Their attractive appearance, bright eyes, and intensely eager expressions caught my attention. Many of these students had to live at the school. I was the first to speak, with the principal translating my words into sign language.

As I often travel in countries where English is not the native language, I am accustomed to giving translated lectures and presentations. Some translations are simultaneous, which requires great skill on the translator’s part. Usually translators prefer to work with phrases or very short sentences, where the speaker says a little and then they translate. To teach in such circumstances one has to keep track of one’s thoughts while frequently pausing and breaking up ideas into little “bits.” When classes have to be translated, I try to arrange the room so that people can see the body language of both the translator and me, since body language makes up about seventy percent of communication. Naturally, these students couldn’t hear my tone of voice, which is about twenty-three percent of how we understand each another’s meaning. But at least, I thought, let them see my facial expressions and gestures. Thinking in this way, I sat very close to the translator.

Fixed on the Translator

I was in for a surprise. How little I had carefully thought about the world of the deaf! All their attention had to focus on the translator because they had to read his signs, which looked to me like a blur of motion. Not for a moment could they divert even the smallest percentage of their concentration to me.

I spoke about how we are not this body. Each of us is a soul who has our original spiritual body with spiritual senses. Our bodily covering restricts our natural ability to see, hear, and so forth. In the human body, however, the soul has the special facility of awakening the true spiritual nature, just as eagles have special abilities to see, and dogs extraordinary smell. Although the deaf’s practice of bhakti-yoga would be tailored to their bodily restrictions, I explained, Krishna is independent and can fully reveal Himself to anyone who approaches Him with love, regardless of their bodily situation. I kept thinking how exhilarating it must be for these young people even to theoretically understand that their real identity has nothing to do with their temporary body.

Next, I described how wonderful Lord Krishna is His opulences, nature, and activities. And I explained how to link ourselves with Krishna through bhakti, the yoga of love and devotion. Thinking that chanting the Lord’s name would be too difficult for them, I concentrated my presentation on some of the other aspects of bhakti, especially remembering the Lord, worshiping Him, and serving Him.

The students practically jumped up to ask questions, signing so rapidly they seemed to explode with eagerness.

“Please tell us stories about Krishna!” they asked again and again.

I told story after story, and their joy brightened the room. Some asked detailed philosophical questions. I was impressed with their broad intelligence and their thirst for spiritual knowledge.

A Comrade “Speaks”

Finally Dayal Gauranga “spoke.” Although vastly different forms of sign language are used in different countries, he has mastered several of them and knows universal forms he can use in many places. Sometimes the principal had to assist him with the particulars of the Indian system, but mostly he could sign to the students directly.

How happy they were! Here was one of their own, someone who understood them and who has seriously and joyfully taken up a spiritual practice normally based mostly on sound. As Dayal Gauranga signed his presentation, Prema Pradipa translated the signs into spoken English for Kesava Bharati and me. We lived as much outside their visual exchange as they lived outside our verbal one.

Then another surprise: Dayal Gauranga had them rise at the end and chant the Hare Krishna mantra with him. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. He did this by having a specific sign for each of the three words: Hare, Krishna, and Rama. Over and over again all “chanted” the mantra with their hands and eyes. Usually such group chanting, kirtana, is a loud yet sweet mixing of voices and instruments connecting with the Supreme Lord as He manifests through sound. But in this kirtana, there were no drums, no cymbals, and no melodious harmonium. In fact, there was no sound at all. Yet the Lord, present in His name, was palpably there in that assembly.

We next spent time at three other schools, two of which had children with more severe difficulties than the first. One school catered to the very poor, and another to a mix of deaf and blind children. Our guide told me how much the fourteen million deaf in India value picture books and how his students long to read such books, in English, about how wonderful Lord Krishna is.

Deaf Chanting

On the train back to Ujjain, I asked Dayal Gauranga to explain how he chants the Hare Krishna mantra for his vow as a disciple. When ISKCON members become disciples of a guru, they promise to abstain from illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and meateating. They also vow to chant the Hare Krishna mantra on each of 108 beads, going around the beads at least sixteen times a day.

Dayal Gauranga has four methods of chanting, and he alternates between them to keep his mind focused. The first is that he visualizes the hand gestures for each word of the mantra. The second is that he visualizes the printed words of the mantra. Third is visualizing the form of the Lord as the worshipable deity. “Hare” is Radharani, and “Krishna” and “Rama” are Krishna. His fourth method is to form the words with his mouth and focus on the feel of his mouth for each word.

When I tried his methods, I found myself automatically also verbalizing the sounds of the mantra, either out loud or in my mind. It was very difficult to only meditate on the visual or the feeling without the sound. It was also very slow.

“At first,” Dayal Gauranga signed, “it took me at least a half hour to finish one round of 108 beads.”

Hearing persons usually take between five and seven minutes to do the same.

“After many years, with increased practice and concentration, I was able to reduce the time to twenty minutes for a round. Several years later, I got it to fifteen minutes, which is how long it takes me now.” Because of his uncommon situation, his vow is for a minimum of four rounds a day, though he keeps trying to chant more.

Hearing people might feel that these methods of mantra meditation are, in a technical sense, not really chanting and hearing. But surely Krishna, who understands all languages and can hear with any of His senses accepts service sincerely offered according to one’s capacity. One can also observe practically that deaf persons who take up such chanting are becoming purified and spiritually enlivened.

We might often feel that, while we want spiritual life, the practices are too arduous. Yet here was someone who had reason for excuses but made none. His face shone with the happiness of his dedication to his desire to help deaf people find deep spiritual satisfaction. He is fortunate to have the love of his brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, all gentle and dedicated devotees of Krishna. He also has support from the Hare Krishna temple outside London, Bhaktivedanta Manor.

Generally, though, few hearing people know of the profound desire many of the deaf have for answers to life’s problems on the spiritual level. As Krishna has shown me countless times in various ways, it is often the people who seem to have less than I who actually possess much more.

More from ISKCON Auckland New Zealand Rathayatra and Gopastami celebrations (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “In Dvapara-yuga one could satisfy Krishna or Visnu only by worshiping Him gorgeously according to the pancaratriki system, but in the Age of Kali one can satisfy and worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari simply by chanting the holy name.” (Narayana-samhita)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/6V3UDm

Srila Gaura Kisora Das Babaji Disappearance observance at ISKCON-Delhi (Album with photos)
He reasons ill who tells that Vaisnavas die
When thou are living still in sound!
The Vaisnavas die to live, and living try
to spread the holy name around!
– Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura,
on the samadhi of Srila Haridasa Thakura, 1871
Find them here: https://goo.gl/8yBOKh

Today is the disappearance day of Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, a great devotee--maha-bhagavata. He was a disciple of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and was very renounced. Earlier, he had lived for many years in Vrndavana, roaming the twelve forests, chanting the holy names of Krsna, eating by begging alms, and sleeping under the trees. Later, after Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura discovered Lord Caitanya’s birthplace in Mayapur, Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja, the siksa-guru of Bhaktivinoda Thakura and parama-guru of Gaurakisora dasa Babaji, instructed Gaurakisora to move to Navadvipa-dhama. There Gaurakisora resided on the banks of the Ganges and practiced devotional service with intense devotion and renunciation. Because materialistic men would come and disturb him with their desires for mundane blessings (asirvada), the babaji began to stay by a municipal lavatory, where the filth and obnoxious smells would discourage unwanted visitors. Continue reading "Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji’s Disappearance Day
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ISKCON's Minister of Communications, Anuttama Dasa, spoke in October at the World Parliament of Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah, on a Panel entitled "Understanding and Mitigating the Dangers of Manipulation, Undue Influence and Abuse within Religious and Spiritual Communities." Anuttama was joined by Dr. Michael Langone, the Executive Director of the International Cultic Studies Association. Both discussed potential problems of spiritual leadership and the means of avoiding abuse through training, accountability, and transparency.

(English/Russian)

The post The Kanya-kumaris’ austerities for Krsna appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

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The post Last night the demigods were dancing appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The post Saturday in my room in Vraja appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Radharani’s Home (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: The other day our parikrama party visited Varsana, the home of Srimati Radharani. This beautiful photo album by Ananta Vrindavan dasa perfectly captures the mood of the people and places of this most revered village. Such photography helps to increase one’s desire to one day reside in the eternal realm Goloka Vrindavan.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/UNLGed