Planet ISKCON

November 2015 will be a month remembered in worry and fear for Muslims all over Europe, after the Paris attacks, yet again marked the tensions their religious community faces in Europe and the rest of the world. Just a week before the attacks, from Oct. 26 – Nov 2^nd, youth from all over Europe were building a network of peace and connection at the Religions for Peace Interfaith Youth Conference, in San Gandolfo Italy. 

Govindas Swansea, Wales, UK, was smashed up and ransacked on Thursday night, the 19th of 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.

Govinda’s is home to a vegetarian cafe, and is the local ISKCON Temple. The presiding Deities are Sri Sri Pancha Tattva. The devotees are well known and liked in the area, and have been in this location for the last 15 years, led by Tarakanath prabhu. The community of devotees is a wonderful, selfless community, and, as well as being generous of heart, also have a great sense of humour and compassion. There are regular well attended programs, Harinamas, prasadam and book distribution going on.

It is heartbreaking to think that such a wonderful group of individuals, who give so much, have been prey to such a heartless, selfish and violent act.

The break in was discovered on the Friday morning by Danda Krt prabhu, the restaurant manager, and his wife, Vraja Varuna devi dasi. The thieves had broken through the roof, smashed up the office, ripped out the safe, gone downstairs, and destroyed the till in the hope of finding some cash inside. Then, to get out, they smashed their way through the office window. The most disturbing thing for the devotees, though, was that they had been on the altar. All the Deities jewellery had been stolen, but fortunately neither the Deities nor the altar had been damaged .

This community is small, and the cost of this for them is high. With this in mind, a page has been set up where donations can be sent. The devotees are extremely grateful for any help received:

https://www.gofundme.com/GovindasSwansea

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.

This is a link to the local news coverage:

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/City-temple-smashed-thieves/story-28214190-detail/story.html

Thank you for your prayers and support.

On behalf of the devotees at Govinda’s Swansea,

Your servant, Devaprastha das.

By Krishna-kripa das (November 2015)

 

 

Rama Raya Prabhu usually led the evening kirtana.

 

It was often very lively as on this night (https://youtu.be/CbypuKNW_BI):

 

 

Here is another ecstatic night (https://youtu.be/6ZK70VONDv0):

 

We continued encouraging people to offer lamps to our picture of Damodara from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. each evening.

 Some new people really delighted in offering lamps to Damodara.

 

Kids also participated.

 So did a group of friends.

 One lady dressed in striking black offered a lamp.

One evening after offering lamps a young lady played the shakers with us.

 

Later a guy played the shakers with us.

 

One evening lots of wild dancing went on.

 

Previously we did not do the offering of lamps to Damodara in the subway because we knew authorities would object to the open flames, but now that we were using electric candles in Union Square because the park police had complained, we had them to use in the subway station.

Here Jake guides a happy lady in offering a lamp.

One man offered a lamp while holding his son.

 

Then he held the boy and helped him offer a lamp himself.

 

One day a young lady named Amanda was attracted by the chanting and the peaceful effect it had on her mind. She sat down on our rug next to the harmonium player, listening and smiling for two hours. She was surprised how much time had passed. I invited her to that nights’ program with Bhaktimarga Swami, who had walked and chanted across Canada four times.

 She came and delighted in the Bhaktimarga Swami’s kirtana, which I share the culmination of here (https://youtu.be/ZYw-uEOk0bI):

 

She and another young lady, who also learned of the program from our Union Square harinama, stayed to the end of the program.

 Amanda even joined us on harinama the next day.

 

One day when Tulasi Das Prabhu was leading kirtana in the Union Square subway station, one Afro-American guy really got into dancing to our Hare Krishna chant. After dancing for a while, he would go to leave, but he liked it so much, he kept coming back. Ultimately he gave a donation and got some literature. You can see for yourself (https://youtu.be/N1ceWgdDIkg):

 

 

I share videos of different devotees chanting, sometimes by day and other times by night, and inspiring the passersby to dance:

 

Kaliya Krishna Prabhu (https://youtu.be/FDzrLSkU_3Q):

 

 

Deva Madhava Prabhu (https://youtu.be/aqG3aHy8eW0):

 

 

Ananta Gauranga Prabhu (https://youtu.be/yHmgquDxlKc):

 

 

Kishor (https://youtu.be/xijaUJPW97o):

 

 

Jake (https://youtu.be/yHGRL2i3ryg):

 

 

One day I came out of the Burlington department store bathroom to return to our Union Square harinama, and I was surprised to see a man standing there reading a Bhagavad-gita he must have purchased from us.

 

Bhaktimarga Swami in New York City

One day Bhaktimarga Swami joined us on New York City Harinam. He chanted the “Damodarastakam” followed by the Hare Krishna mantra. Nihal continued inviting passersby to offer lamps to Damodara. After they made their offerings, devotees gave them spiritual food and literature. You can see all this in the video (https://youtu.be/ctVrjl-PkNs):

 

 

Bhaktimarga Swami wrote about his experience, “In the evening we went to chant at Union Square in Manhattan.  It was outstanding to see how many people came forward to offer a small light to the image of Krishna and His mother, Yasoda, which was placed upon a small table, after being welcomed to do so as we chanted away.”

Once day Bhaktimarga Swami and some followers and devotees on the New York City Harinam team chanted from Union Square Park to Tompkins Square Park. There we chanted around the famous Hare Krishna tree.

 

Bhaktimarga Swami and those who walked with him, even part of the way, from Boston to Butler, Pennsylvania, and then finally to Manhattan, shared realizations, and Abhiram Prabhu and I told stories about the supernatural events that take place at the Hare Krishna tree.

 

Govardhan Puja

 

At our Harinam Ashram many devotees contributed sweets to our Govardhan Hill, which had the Govardhan-silas of Jayadvaita Swami and Rama Raya Prabhu seated atop it.

 

On Govardhan Puja day we chanted at Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center subway station so it was easy for us to attend the evening program at Radha Govinda Mandir in the evening.

 

One young lady stepped forward with a smile and watched our kirtana party for some time. I spoke to her. She asked if it was intentional that our singer was playing in the same key as the competing musician nearby. I said yes, because he told us he was going to do that to make the best of the situation. She said she was a musician and that she played piano.

 

I invited her to sit and play the shakers with us, but she said she would rather dance, and so she took off her sweater and did just that. Here is a brief video of her dance (https://youtu.be/oHGbs2Xsae4):

 

She had Bhagavad-gita and knew about the Bhakti Center, and I told her about our Brooklyn temple, just one stop away on the subway, and our special festival that night. She said she would try to convince her boyfriend to go.

Later, when we did the offering of lamps to Damodara, Sasha gave remnants of our Harinam Ashram Govardhan Hill to the people after they offered their lamps.

 

The Govardhan Hill at Radha Govinda Mandir was very opulent.

 

It was covered with varieties of doughnuts from the Doughnut Plant.

 

Chant at Philly’s Rittenhouse Square

 

After taking my niece, Fern, to Govinda’s Gourmet to Go, in Philadelphia, I chanted by myself for three hours at Rittenhouse Square.

 

I met a nice young lady who was doing a documentary on spiritual sound and was happy to hear of the 24-hour kirtana at the Philadelphia temple starting at 6 p.m. that night. She asked if she could come and video it.

 

I met friends of the devotees who were also happy to learn of the kirtana program.

 

I met devotees I knew from England, New York, San Diego, and Florida when I visited the Philadelphia temple’s 24-hour kirtana program. It was truly amazing. Even though I could not participate the whole time, it was so inspiring to hear the constant kirtana.

 

Silver Spring Harinama

 

Both on Saturday, and Sunday, which was Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day, we did harinama for about three hours in Silver Spring, Maryland, a Washington, D.C. suburb.

 

Gaura Vani Prabhu, a popular Hare Krishna kirtaneer, joined us on Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day, after he chanted a couple hours at the temple. He told me, “I had work I had promised a friend I would do, so I was not planning on coming out. It’s my kids who got me on harinama tonight. They wanted to go. How could I tell them no?”

 

Devotee children distributed lollipops and pamphlets.
 

A lady onlooker played the djembe.

 

One lady heard our kirtana as she left an ice cream shop, and followed the sound to our party, listening to us as she finished her ice cream.

 

She remembered the Hare Krishnas from when she was a Moonie and also distributed in Miami airport. Since then she became involved in following an Indian teacher who also does kirtana, and thus she was attracted to our chanting.

 

Here is some of Gaura Vani’s kirtana on the streets of Silver Spring (https://youtu.be/LhSI_vUbFqw):

 

 

Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja in Potomac

 

Laksmivan Prabhu:

 

Srila Prabhupada didn’t like us singing songs without knowing their meaning.

 

The spiritual master is never touched by the three modes of material nature.

 

In the brief time Srila Prabhupada was present, his encouragement and the youthfulness of his followers combined to spread make Krishna consciousness dramatically.

 

Everyone was aware anyone could please him by distributing his books.

 

Even now, by distributing books and doing harinama, we can feel Prabhupada’s presence.

 

Palaka Prabhu:

 

Srila Prabhupada explains the situation of the pure devotee, and thus his own situation, in his purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.13.55:

 

“A pure devotee of the Lord does not live on any planet of the material sky, nor does he feel any contact with material elements. His so-called material body does not exist, being surcharged with the spiritual current of the Lord’s identical interest, and thus he is permanently freed from all contaminations of the sum total of the mahat-tattva. He is always in the spiritual sky, which he attains by being transcendental to the sevenfold material coverings by the effect of his devotional service. The conditioned souls are within the coverings, whereas the liberated soul is far beyond the cover.”

 

Do not let Prabhupada disappear from your life. Keep him present by hearing from him.

 

Kalindi Devi Dasi:

 

Although living in Vrindavan, I was visiting Delhi the day Srila Prabhupada left this world, and I returned in the evening. I recall one godbrother, insufficiently dressed for the cold November evening, chanted bhajans all night before Srila Prabhupada’s body, before it was interred.

 

Dinanatha Prabhu:

 

Prabhupada said even if you do not understand, continue hearing and someday you will understand.

 

We would hear him speak in Hindi and would somehow understand.

 

The ear processes information 1000 times faster than the eye.

 

The devotees loved to please Srila Prabhupada, and he loved to please them.

 

He stressed “you are not the body” and “life is meant for self-realization.”

 

Sugata Prabhu:

 

When I first saw Srila Prabhupada step out of a car in Vrindavan in 1974, I realized he really was a pure devotee and I also realized, in shock, that I would have to surrender to him.  I am still trying to do that.

 

To see the photos I did not include in this blog, click on the link below:

https://picasaweb.google.com/103872792410945983719/TravelJournal1121?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJuW0qLLlcnzZg&feat=directlink

 

Insights

 

Bhaktimarga Swami:

 

From a talk on walking at the Bhakti Center:

 

Walking is a chance to make friends. It is a friend raiser rather than a fund raiser.

 

I find the media is favorable and willing to learn.

 

Walking helps you focus on the present.

 

Devotional clothes make a difference. I have been called Buddha, Jesus, and Gandhi.

 

Walking is a chance for communication. It gives people a chance to perform service to the sankirtana movement. It shows people we are there. It can make you more sensitive.

 

We get into elementary schools and yoga centers.

 

When walking, you cannot help but wonder what it was like before the Europeans came to the West.

 

We have had incredible Hindu hosts, though usually we camp and bath in rivers and camp sites.

 

People from the Film Board of Canada traveled with me for a month, and we are part of their documentary, The Longest Road.

 

Srila Prabhupada said the GBCs (Governing Board Commissioners) should travel with brahmacaris throughout their zones.

 

I started walking in 1996 as an offering to Srila Prabhupada for the centennial of his birth.

 

My mantra for new devotees is “you are taking over.”

 

Every time you do a long walk, it gets better and better.

 

Now there is more security than when I started in 1996, but there is also more acceptance by the people I meet.

 

I told Ambarish (Alfred Ford) that I do not like cars. I do not like what they have done to the world. Ambarish said, “I don’t like cars either.”

 

In 2016 I plan to walk from New York City to San Francisco to encourage Americans in a more car-free, care-free life.

 

The food we eat is garbage. The wild food is heavenly.

 

We found a deity of Ganesh in a lake we went swimming in.

 

I would be happy if I could walk until I am 108.

 

Many people who do long distance walking end up believing in God after.

 

Jayadvaita Swami:

 

From a lecture on Govardhan Puja on this verse spoken by the gopis (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.21.18): “Of all the devotees, this Govardhana Hill is the best! O my friends, this hill supplies Krishna and Balarama, along with Their calves, cows and cowherd friends, with all kinds of necessities — water for drinking, very soft grass, caves, fruits, flowers and vegetables. In this way the hill offers respects to the Lord. Being touched by the lotus feet of Krishna and Balarama, Govardhana Hill appears very jubilant.”

 

The gopis praise Govardhana Hill for the variety of services it renders to Krishna, while they feel they themselves are unable to do so much. This is the attitude of the advanced devotee.

 

Annakuta comes from two words, anna meaning rice, more generally grains, or even food, and kuta which means mountain.

 

Everyone was pleased by Govardhan Puja except Indra.

 

As you [the New York Harinam devotees] seek shelter in the subway station from the rain, the residents of Vrindavan sought shelter from the rains sent by Indra. They did not have subways, so Krishna lifted up Govardhan Hill to protect them.

 

Govardhan Puja has all the elements to attract people all over the world, just as does the Jagannath Ratha-yatra. I envision someday a massive Govardhan Puja festival in Madison Square Garden.

 

Q: What is your favorite sweet?

A: Pure devotional service. The only problem is I cannot get enough of it. In Nectar of Devotion it is said that it is rarely attained.

 

Keshava Bharati Maharaja renovated a broken down old palace to create our present Govardhana facility. Vasesika Prabhu and others take shelter of our Govardhana ashram and read Srila Prabhupada’s books there hours a day during Karttika (October-November).

 

Rupa Goswami exalts Govardhana above Vaikuntha [the kingdom of God] and even Vrindavan [Lord Krishna’s personal abode].

 

Sridhara Maharaja said that Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura did not stay at Radha Kund. He considered Radha Kund the place of residence of his superiors.

 

Srila Prabhupada wanted us to strictly follow so we could ultimately attain the highest state.

 

We are dancing into the pastimes of Radha and Krishna by our sankirtana and our preaching, not being babajis or dressing in saris in Radha Kund.

 

Srila Prabhupada said the entire spiritual world is contained within the four walls of our Krishna Balaram temple compound in Vrindavan.

 

Comment by Abhiram Prabhu: When the sun shines from different angles at Govardhana, the rocks reflect different colors.

 

If you do not observe Govardhana Puja you will be bitten by snakes of Govardhana Hill.

 

Comment by Rama Raya Prabhu: Or the snakes of material desire.

 

Romapada Swami:

 

The Lord, having just encountered the brahmanas performing sacrifices in the forest, returned to Vrindavan to find its residents performing a similar sacrifice.

 

The Govardhan pastime is meant to teach us that there is one Supreme Lord, who is the recipient of all sacrifices, and that is Krishna, and also that Krishna and Govardhan are nondifferent.

 

Children who hear Krishna book when they go to sleep when they are young become so attached to it they will not go to sleep without hearing it, even though they can explain it themselves.

 

George Harrison donated $19,000 for the printing of the Krishna book. Srila Prabhupada never forgot George, and a few months before Srila Prabhupada left this world, he gave Tamal Krishna Goswami his sapphire ring to give to George as a gift.

 

Palaka Prabhu:

 

From a conversation over prasadam:

 

Kalindi Devi Dasi, former wife of Rupanuga Prabhu, says that in the sixties, she asked Rupanuga before he had met the devotees, where he wanted her to take him for his birthday. He had just seen in the local newspaper the picture of Srila Prabhupada singing with his disciples in Tompkins Square Park, so he told her he wanted to go to the park and chant with the Swami.  So they did. She took care of their kid, and he listened to Prabhupada sing.

 

Sikhi Mahiti Prabhu (Philadelphia temple president):

 

The Padma Purana states that chanting Rama once has the same potency as chanting Narayana one thousand times, and chanting Krishna once has the same potency as chanting Rama three times.

 

The holy name is so powerful people do not have to agree with it, they just have to hear it.

 

Anyone who hears the devotees chanting Hare Krishna is a mahatma, a great soul. It is so rare.

 

In the initiation letters throughout the 1970s, Srila Prabhupada would regularly list street sankirtana [congregational chanting of the holy name] as a duty of the newly initiated disciple.

 

Comment by Vishnu Gada Prabhu:

 

In New York City, when Srila Prabhupada visited in 1971 or 1972, he spoke on the first three chapters of Canto 6 of Srimad-Bhagavatam. He said that Maharaja Pariksit inquired about how the living entities could be delivered from the hells described at the end of Canto 5 because that is the kind nature of the devotee of the Lord. He quoted the verse “kecit kevalaya bhaktya / vasudeva-parayanah / agham dhunvanti kartsnyena / niharam iva bhaskarah: Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to Krishna can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.15) He said the Ajamila story is an explanation of this verse. The Hare Krishna mantra is an explanation of this verse: “aho bata sva-paco ’to gariyan / yaj-jihvagre vartate nama tubhyam / tepus tapas te juhuvu? sasnur arya / brahmanucur nama grinanti ye te: Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the Aryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas and fulfilled everything required.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.33.7)

 

An Indian devotee, who gives classes in Potomac on Sunday mornings:

 

Underneath Govardhana Hill, although you would expect to find a lot of dirt, there were grass and streams. Stones fell from the Hill and surrounded the perimeter thus keeping the water out. The light of Krishna’s toe nails illuminated everything.

 

Indra, the boys, and Yasoda were in anxiety. Indra was in anxiety because he offended Krishna, the boys were scared that Krishna’s flute playing would melt the stones of Govardhana Hill, and Yasoda was worried that Krishna was hungry. Krishna reassured the boys.

 

Krishna will deliver us if we take shelter of Him as did the residents of Vrindavan.

 

Indra’s mother advised him to approach his guru, Brhaspati, who advised him to approach Brahma, who told him to surrender to Krishna. This shows the value of devotee association.

 

Krishna corrected Indra in a secluded place, demonstrating his ideal leadership.

 

Engaging everything we have in devotional service to Krishna will protect us.

 

—–

 

kuveratmajau baddha-murtyaiva yadvat

tvaya mocitau bhakti-bhajau krtau ca

tatha prema-bhaktim svakam me prayaccha

na mokse graho me ’sti damodareha

 

“O Lord Damodara, just as the two sons of Kuvera–Manigriva and Nalakuvara–were delivered from the curse of Narada and made into great devotees by You in Your form as a baby tied with rope to a wooden grinding mortar, in the same way, please give to me Your own prema-bhakti [pure loving devotion]. I only long for this and have no desire for any kind of liberation.” (“Damodarastakam”, verse 7)

The post If you are not into gloom and doom today, don’t listen to this appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The post Daily Darshan : November 27th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

The post Daily Darshan – November 27th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

November 27. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
We didn’t know where Swamiji came from. He was asked, “Where did you come from? Who sent you?” Bit by bit, he told of his Guru Maharaj and the tradition he represented. Nowadays we speak with confidence about Prabhupada’s background and his intentions to spread Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement. But in the earliest days, no one knew anything about these things. We only knew Swamiji. First came Swamiji; everything else came later. He just started singing; he explained later. You walked into the park and saw the Indian swami singing, then you waited because he would explain everything later. That was his preaching spirit, his greatness. Vaisnavas who live in India may take their enormous cultural facility for granted. Their culture accepts Hinduism, being Indian, following the Vedas, the Gods, sadhus. To be a Vaisnava in India is similar to being a Catholic priest in the West.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=2

I read your Gita-daily article about terrorism: Terrorism arises from ignorance, materialism and ego. Clearly, Islamic State is Islamic and Islam is the cause of the maximum terrorism in the world, Why can’t we call a spade? Why do we have to be politically correct and try to come up with roundabout explanations to avoid putting the blame where it is due?

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I read your Gita-daily article about the genesis of faith: Faith is nourished by divine revelation, saintly reiteration and personal realization. I wanted to know: Did Arjuna’s seeing the Universal Form enhance his faith?

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H.G. Chaturatma Prabhu Katha at Prem Sarovar Barshana

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Who Are You?

By popular demand, here is a quick summery of the last Thursday’s discussion at Krishna Lounge.

Unless things are put in perspective, they can not really be understood and thus can not really be discussed. Once I witnessed two people vehemently arguing over the statement, “all you need is love.” One thought the statement was true while the other person insisted that we need other things such as food. The concept, “love,” obviously has to be placed in context so that it could be understood. Thus I found the following excerpt from the New Testament excellent.

“Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control patience; and in patience godliness; and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love.” 

Peter, the speaker of the above quoted statement, was addressing a group of people who were managing to resist materialism, which encouraged and made Peter happy. Thus he invited the people to increase their diligence in the matter of avoiding materialism and further focusing on their spirituality. I think it is beautiful how he put things in perspective and thus qualified the ideas he was promoting. Thus, according to Peter, faith is qualified by moral excellence. In other words, faith in and of it self is neither good or bad – it really depends on whether it is moral or not. Immoral faith, even though arising in a spiritual or religious setting, is not good. Moral means good, and immoral means evil.

He further says that knowledge qualifies moral excellence. In other words, mere conviction about something does not make that thing good or morally excellent. That matter should rather be defined by knowledge.

Those who know the first thing about yoga, know the basic rule that knowledge can not be had without self-control. Self-control does not mean much without patience, and all that should be done for the goal of “godliness.” Godliness without brotherly affection is a weird mutant. And, at the end, this should produce love. Such love is a real thing.

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 10 May 2013, Simhachalam, Germany, Srimad Bhagavatam 9.6.50)

Transcribed by Jnana-samudra das

Smaranam kirtanam kelih preksanam guhyam asanam (Srila Prabhupada Lecture, SB 6.1.11, 25 July 1971, NY). It is said that hearing about illicit sex; speaking about illicit sex; remembering illicit sex; looking, joking, sitting with a member of the opposite sex in a secluded place; or actually contemplating illicit sexual activity or actually engaging in the act itself – all these eight constitute illicit sex. So, when we promised no illicit sex, it means we have to really like, not just deal only with the externals, but we have to root it out completely – also out of the consciousness – to be safe.  And that is not fanaticism; that is not overly strict.

If we are at all aware of how dependent we are on God—for the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and our very ability to eat and drink and breathe, to think and feel and do everything else we do—we will feel grateful and want to reciprocate God’s kindness. We will want to do something for He (or She or They) who has done, and continues to do, so much for us. We often take things for granted until we lose them. I use my right hand to chant on meditation beads, and one morning I found that I had severe arthritic pain in my hand and could no longer use it for chanting. I had taken the use of my hand for granted, but when I lost its use, I resolved to never take my hand for granted and to always use it in the best way in God’s service. Continue reading "Gratitude for God’s Gifts–Giving Thanks
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If we are at all aware of how dependent we are on God—for the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and our very ability to eat and drink and breathe, to think and feel and do everything else we do—we will feel grateful and want to reciprocate God’s kindness. We will want to do something for He (or She or They) who has done, and continues to do, so much for us.

We often take things for granted until we lose them. I use my right hand to chant on meditation beads, and one morning I found that I had severe arthritic pain in my hand and could no longer use it for chanting. I had taken the use of my hand for granted, but when I lost its use, I resolved to never take my hand for granted and to always use it in the best way in God’s service.

How can we attempt to return some of God’s favor, some of God’s care—and love—for us? My spiritual master, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, gave one answer:

“Whatever you have got by pious or impious activities, you cannot change. But you can change your position, by Krishna consciousness. That you can change. Other things you cannot change. If you are white, you cannot become black, or if you are black, you cannot become white. That is not possible. But you can become a first-class Krishna conscious person. Whether you are black or white, it doesn’t matter. This is Krishna consciousness. Therefore our endeavor should be how to become Krishna conscious. Other things we cannot change. This is not possible.

tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah
tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah sukham
kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa

   [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.18]

Kalena, by time, you will get whatever you are destined. Don’t bother about so-called economic development. So far as food is concerned, Krishna is supplying. Eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman. He is supplying even cats and dogs and ants. Why not you? There is no need of bothering Krishna, ‘God, give us our daily bread.’ He will give you. Don’t bother. Try to become very faithful servant of God. ‘Oh, God has given me so many things. So let me give my energy to serve Krishna.’ This is required. This is Krishna consciousness. ‘I have taken so much, life after life, from Krishna. Now let me dedicate this life to Krishna.’ This is Krishna consciousness. ‘I will not let this life go uselessly like cats and dogs. Let me utilize it for Krishna consciousness.’ ”

I pray that I will dedicate this life and everything I have—everything that God has given me—fully in God’s service, following His pure devotees.

manasa, deho, geho, yo kichu mora
arpilun tuya pade, nanda-kisora

“Mind, body, and home, whatever may be mine, I surrender at Your lotus feet, O youthful son of Nanda [Krishna]!” (Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Saranagati)

The …Mridangam Purana! (9 min video)
Hare Krishna Halder shares curious anecdotes about the origin of the folk music instrument Shree Khol from different Hindu texts. He traces the journey of Mridangam through the ages, to its present form. He emphasizes on the role of Shree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in popularizing the instrument.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/yohyGO

The Sankirtana arrives at the Pyramids! (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Krishna, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. (Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 20.12)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/A9RSz1

(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed)

[Originally published on January 13th, 2012]
While there are many ways to frame, or lead into, speaking about the root cause of the problems of the world, or of the country I live in, looking more closely at the concept of selfishness will be helpful. I have often thought that fanaticism is the real enemy of the world, since people’s inability to consider other viewpoints is at the root of most world or local conflicts. To me, fanaticism is a type of selfishness, or the result of a very narrow vision. Both come from bodily identification. My guru, Shrila Prabhupada spoke of selfishness, and extended selfishness. We are all eternal souls, yet we have the power to invest ourselves into matter. So although in the ultimate sense, or spiritually speaking, we have nothing to do with matter, due to false ego, we (the soul or consciousness) become duped or fooled by the illusion of the material world (maya), to think we are a particular body and mind, separate from God, others, and Nature.

Material life is a process of expanding this basic delusion, through the qualifier we give to persons or things by calling them “mine,” which could be called my-ness, or mine-ness (or mind-mess!). When things or persons become mine, it sets up the possibility of conflict with others: my body, gender, race, ethnicity, house, neighborhood, family, possessions, money, religion, sport’s team, community, nation, species, etc. We will think someone crazy who says they are Napoleon, Jesus, or Joan of Arc, but saying we are Joe Smith or Ravindra Gupta, man, woman, or gay, American or Indian, white or black, Christian or Hindu, is no less insane.

Realistically, for most of us to function in this plane we have to acknowledge these conditioned labels and act through them, since their influence upon us is so strong. However, we should note that material designations will frustrate us at some point and certainly at death, when these temporary constructs evaporate like the fog they actually are. To realize peace, purpose, and cooperation in the world, we have to cultivate spiritual knowledge of who we are (consciousness) and our spiritual propensity to serve the Supreme.

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By Kumari Kunti Dasi

November 2015 will be a month remembered in worry and fear for Muslims all over Europe, after the Paris attacks, yet again marked the tensions their religious community faces in Europe and the rest of the world.

Just a week before the attacks, from Oct. 26 – Nov 2nd, youth from all over Europe were building a network of peace and connection at the Religions for Peace Interfaith Youth Conference, in San Gandolfo Italy.

The outcome of the event was simple and hopeful – friendships and knowledge can break any barriers.

ISKCON-London was one of six other religious partners, sending five youth and one facilitator to the training conference entitled “Empowering Youth in Interfaith and Multicultural Peace Action” at the Focolare’s Mariopolis Centre in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

The ISKCON delegation was all second generation youth from around London, took part in the seminars and forums in an active way, as well as lead a “moment of peace” for the entire assembly reciting the Mangalam Caranam prayers and the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra, as well as held evening Damodarastakam prayers where many youth form other backgrounds took part. More than 50 youth were present, representing 15 EU countries and all major faith backgrounds.

The week-long event was a rigorous schedule including back-to-back seminars such as the “Role of Interfaith Youth in the Building of the Future of Europe: Dialogue with Katarina von Schnurbein European Commission”, and “Training Youth Citizen Reporters”, “Changing Our Way of Thinking-Towards a Holistic Approach for Contributing to Peace.”

However, in between these lofty presentations was where the real learning took place. “How do deal with how people treat you in school?” Why do you think people in your country don’t understand your religion?” were some of the questions and discussions heard as one walked through the hallways and on the dining tables. The youth were setting deep set roots and making connections to the international community in ways that will last a lifetime.

As Said Touhami‎, a 21 year-old Sufi Muslim participant from the Netherlands, put it on the Religions for Peace internal Facebook group:

“In Roma [Castel Gandolofo is near Rome] we tasted a peace of Heaven. And if we only can taste a peace of Heaven when we are together. That’s only way to create one on earth. With eachothers differences, ambitions and qualities.”

By Kumari Kunti Sherreitt
ISKCON-London Communications

It’s coming very soon. And ISKCON devotees in 75 countries across six continents are determined to make their guru and Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada proud. In the UK, an avalanche of major, inspirational events for ISKCON’s 50^th anniversary are being planned throughout the year 2016, including some that will be tied into international efforts by all ISKCON temples.

The post Learning from the Kanya-kumaris appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The post Daily Darshan : November 26th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Forget to Remember, the new transformational short film from young Russian director Shaktyavesha Avatar Das, is now available online with English subtitles. The 36-minute Russian language short won second place at the viewer-voted Moscow film festival “I See God,” which is dedicated to work that explores different understandings of God.

Arjuna Krishna’s 3D Mobile free App, Live Wallpaper ( min video)
Everything which reminds us of Lord Krishna is useful! Let us bring Bhagavan to the center of what, for many, is their constant object of their attention :-)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/eEupqw

Raval - The Birth Place of Radharani (8 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Srimati Radharani appeared in Raval and later moved to Varsana when she was a young girl. The beautiful pastoral setting in Raval was a perfect place for our parikrama party to hear and meditate on the transcendental pastimes that took place there 5,000 years ago.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/VbWuUp

A visit to Sri Mayapur International School (Album with photos)
Sri Jahnavi dd: Last Wednesday Jayapataka Maharaj came to our school, he gave a very sweet and inspiring class. He said ‘I have faced many obstacles to come here today, but I really wanted to come to SMIS’ referring to a problem with the lift of his building.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/RQiJjg

Hence, although the situation seems to be very gloomy in this dark age of quarrel and hypocrisy, and people in general are ignorant and averse to spirituality, still there is a ray of hope in the form of chanting of the holy names of the Lord, which can not only counter all the ill effects of Kali Yuga, and relieve one of the pangs of material miseries, but also make one situated in the perfect stage of pure love (devotional service) with the Lord. Chanting the holy name of the Lord is especially advised in this age of kali, and described as the only means of deliverance. Continue reading "World Peace and Sanatana Dharma
→ Dandavats"

Henry Ford’s great-grandson was heading for ruin and then had a better idea: spiritual enlightenment. Now, 40 years later, Alfred Ford is spending millions to build a monument in India to the faith that brought him redemption.

Alfred Ford and Michael Glancy tour Europe in 1970.

By Jay Cheshes

Alfred Ford might have been any old corporate road warrior, in his pressed khakis and soft traveling shoes. He had come up from Calcutta, a three-hour drive along dusty roads clogged with mule-drawn carts, arriving in Mayapur, West Bengal, to look in on a big building project rising near a bend in the Ganges River.

In his VIP suite, across from the site, he slipped into a loose-fitting kurta and wraparound dhoti, a strand of beads creeping out from under his Indian shirt. A murmur of song began to rise in the distance. He caught the tune, barely moving his lips. “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare.”

For 40 years Ford has been repeating the mantra just as his guru instructed, 1,728 times daily, counting off under his breath while fingering beads tucked in a cloth bag around his neck. For all that time, Alfred Brush Ford—Motor City royalty, great-grandson of Henry, heir to a comfortable slice of his family’s $1.2 billion in Ford Motor stock—has been quietly living a double life. “I have kind of a split personality,” he says, “with one foot in one world and one in another.”

Source: http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/news/a4350/alfred-ford-multi-million-dollar-monument-india/

November 26. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Another example of Prabhupada’s mix of worldliness and otherworldliness is his emphasis on book distribution. Prabhupada was not content to write his books on a palm leaf and just let them sit. He used book printing technology, although he said he was simply “blindly” following the order and example of his spiritual master. It took both spiritual acumen to write the books and down-to-earth practicality to transfer the spiritual message into type and then bind it. The book distribution was not a worldly activity, it required practical intelligence and hard work to accomplish. The difference between Srila Prabhupada and ourselves (there is a huge difference) is that we belong to this world and he was in another world. He always had Krishna on his mind. He could withdraw into himself and become so grave that he wouldn’t be present with us any more.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=2

I am not “against intoxication.” I just haven’t had been drunk or high for many, many years, and have lived the majority of my life that way. It’s not because I am “against it.” It’s because I practice yogic mantra-meditation and rarely have much, if any, interest in drinking or getting high. When the opportunities for intoxication arise I simply find that I don’t have a hunger for what it offers, or that I have better ways of accomplishing the same effects.

I’m not “against” it. I just don’t need it.

I think alcohol is a useful, practical social thing. Alcohol and drugs are also a part of Vedic culture. Soma, for example, is an intoxicant, and is practically the most essential ingredient in Vedic ritual. Pot, aka Cannabis Indica is (as the “Indica” part indicates) a native and deeply rooted part of Indin cultures for centuries, if not millenia. In fact, the vast majority of really traditional Indian culture considers alcohol a dangerous drug, but employs cannabis as the safe and socially acceptable drug.

I don’t recommend or promote drug use, but that doesn’t mean I am “against” it.

If someone wants to be a serious yogi (including bhakti-yoga) and advance in their meditation (including nāma-japa), I would unequivocally recommend that they abstain from significant drugs like alcohol, cannabis, and so on, because the goal of yoga is to gain full control of one’s mental powers, and drugs actually work against that (though in some ways they present an illusory facade of doing otherwise) because drugs free our mental powers from our intellectual control – the opposite of what yoga works towards.

But it’s hardly realistic to expect everyone to seriously practice yogic meditation (even many of the people who have some degree of sincere initial interest in yogic meditation) so I don’t see the point of preaching to such people that it’s extremely important that they immediately stop using social drugs like alcohol and cannabis in normal social contexts and to normal social extents.

Even when I was younger and was a “straightedge hardcore kid” the militant stuff like “bring back prohibition” and “I’ll kill you for blowing smoke in my face” just made me embarrassed or amused (respectively).

I acknowledge that there is definitely such a thing as “substance abuse.” People get carried away with a lot of things, including intoxication. It’s the “getting carried away” part that seems to be the essence of the problem. Drugs do seem to be dangerously prone to “getting carried away with” – and/or they seem to have more dramatic impact when we do get carried away with them, so I certainly respect and applaud anyone – yogi or not – who abstains from intoxication for whatever reason. But that’s hardly the same as saying I’m “against it.”

Manu puts it nicely in Manu-saṁhitā (5.56). “There is no evil in eating flesh, getting intoxicated, and having sex, for these are natural behaviors of embodied beings. There is no evil in these things, but abstaining from them is a great virtue.”