ISKCON Malaysia: Hare Krishna. We regret to inform that HG Radha…
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ISKCON Malaysia: Hare Krishna. We regret to inform that HG Radha Madhava Prabhu a disciple of HH Jayapataka Swami just left his body at his home in Teluk Intan this morning at 7.30AM. HG was the Regional Council Chairman of the ISKCON Perak Council, a Trustee of ISKCON Malaysia and also director of ISKCON Malaysia farms. We offer our deepest condolences to his family members and bearing in mind he has left on this auspicious Damodara month. HG was very instrumental in the success of many preaching programmes around the country especially congregational preaching programmes. We pray that he attains the shelter of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Krishna.

South Korean Kirtan Tour Soothes the Seoul! A video currently…
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South Korean Kirtan Tour Soothes the Seoul!
A video currently making the rounds on social media shows well-known U.S. kirtan chanters Gaura Vani and Ananta Govinda dancing out of a conference room into the hallway at the Korea Yoga Conference in South Korea. They’re followed by two lines of smiling Koreans, who are holding their arms up in the air, swaying with the Swami step, and sweetly chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. “Korean people are very hardworking, very modern, and tend to be very stressed out,” says Gaura Vani, who toured South Korea’s capital city of Seoul from October 6th to 20th this fall. “So with kirtan, we tried to help them open up more and live less in the head, and more in the heart. And they were very receptive.”
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/9eHBSp

Monday, November 2nd, 2015
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Monday, November 2nd, 2015
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania


I Met Ben



I met Ben, a cyclist who worked for TESCORP in Zambia.  He stopped cycling for a bit just to talk to me.  He was curious about my clothes and, interestingly enough, he was familiar with the Bhagavad Gita, the most widely read philosophical classical text from India.

I was also fortunate to meet Charles at the West Susquehanna River.  He was also nice  Kind of a relic of a hippie, I would say.  He had read the book, ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ and was very much impressed.

“It was insightful”, he said.

But he expressed some disagreement with the worship aspect of the yoga culture.  He also said that he was not entirely excited about the worship practices of the local Buddhists in town.  He also denied the personality of God and simply wanted to settle with the universe.

“So you appreciate the universe, right?” I asked.

He agreed.

“Just appreciation alone is a form of worship in the mind.  It doesn’t require any special instrument to make use of it,” I expressed.

Charles certainly affirmed that he was an admirer of George Harrison and his music. We parted on great terms.

Two women, both with the same name, Christie, pulled over.  They recognized us from reading the article in the ‘Altoona Mirror’.  They were thrilled.

Amanda from the Patriot News came to meet us and take some photos on the bridge over the Susquehanna.  She was very creative with her camera and she was a beautiful and inquisitive person.

Lunch was at Nam Dev’s, a prominent member of our community in Harrisburg.  There, I met two of his employees who have become quite intrigued with the bhakti (devotional) approach to life.

Tre’von was a real hero.  He stuck by me practically every step of the way.  The temperature reached over the 60 degree Fahrenheit mark.  We both acknowledged that the power from above, Krishna, was with us, giving us His mercy on the walk.

May the Source be with you!

24 miles / 38 km

Saturday, October 31st, 2015
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Saturday, October 31st, 2015
Port Royal, Pennsylvania

Got To The Farm


Pandu, a father of six from the local area, decided to try to trek for a few hours.  We were all bundled up to address the 28 degree Farenheit temperature.  Moving upwards on an ascending road caused us to sweat to pieces and before long took off as many clothes as we had put on. 
Pandu covered a good 15 miles with us, which included a walk through one of those iconic east coast covered bridges.  Then, we all came to another milestone for this walk, the place called Gita Nagari Yoga Farm, a rural haven.  Here we were greeted by earnest kirtan performers, the young, old, and the strong.  Among them was Nandi, a young man from New Zealand and a tender to the bulls.  He brought along a massive one, a brown Swiss breed, to be part of the greeting. 
Our greeters followed our walking troupe all the way to the country-style temple of Radha Damodar.  It became a lively spiritual procession.  The bull also came along and even performed a dance step to the best of his ability. 
Also, since yesterday, we gained some unique company in the form of a cat who tagged along by our side for two miles.  Who the owner might be, we had no clue, so we allowed him to join the crew.  He became our fifth team player.  This predominantly black cat was sweet and lovable.  He would hardly make a sound.  That evening we were determined to leave him at the farm but in the morning as we were packing and setting ourselves up for the day’s trek, he requested us in his own way to be ‘one of the boys’.  We even gave him a name, Raj, which means ‘king’.  Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your relative outlook, during a segment of our stepping along on this quiet back road, his majesty got distracted, left us, and was not to be seen again.  He’s entitled to his own adventures, after all, he is the king. 
Two women from the Gita Nagari community joined us for the last leg of our walk.  One of the ladies narrated her story, that when she was young she had contemplated suicide. At one point she was preparing herself to jump from a high elevation.  Now, she had been following Buddhism and she had heard that Buddha was an incarnation of Krishna.  At that critical moment, she made a plea to Krishna within herself calling for help.  She decided against giving up, sought some followers of Krishna, stayed with them, and never left. 
Good girl!  Stick with it and don’t follow the path of Raj, the cat. 
May the Source be with you!
21 miles / 33 km

Sunday, November 1st, 2015
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Sunday, November 1st, 2015
Alinda, Pennsylvania  


Pain and Pleasure



Our walking party of three did more like sneaking along the highway.  It wasn’t exactly like riding on the back of the celestial serpent Vasuki.  Rather, it was quite an endeavour going through the mountainous area.  I would give credit to the engineers and construction crew who laid the asphalt that was good and recent.  Was there a shoulder to the road?  Hardly!  After an hour of puffing and panting, the road finally leveled off.  The traffic picked up eventually after the long Sunday morning slumber that followed Halloween adventures from the night before.

Each and everyone of us, the walkers, is encountering some pain.  Tre’von has an issue with his back and his right knee, Mandala has a muscle spasm in his right ankle, and Vivasvan, although not walking too much being our support driver, talks about an aggravating tick that he has burrowed into his thigh.  As for myself, well, I’m breaking in a new pair of shoes and there are some issues with my hamstring.  The shoes are good but it takes some time to adjust to them.  This evening a doctor and congregant from our community in Harrisburg will be diagnosing us and offering recommendations.

At one point in the walk, I grew fatigued and decided to go for a nap by the side of the road.  Tre’von was with me and was watching over me.  Sure enough, a concerned motorist pulled over. 

“What’s going on?”

We must admit, we looked a little bit odd on the Pennsylvania landscape.  Here you have this dude with dreads, Tre’von, and myself in complete orange in a horizontal position.  Anyway, the motorist went away somewhat satisfied by Trevon’s brief explanation.

By 2:30 pm, we left from Sherman Creek, the location for our final steps of the day.  Vivasvan picked us up and drove us to Harrisburg where the local Vaishnava community has recently acquired a church.  I spoke on verses 51-53 from chapter 18 of the Bhagavad Gita regarding the ways to seek self-realization.  No doubt, the ego is the major obstacle and that we addressed.

I was really impressed by the enthusiastic dancing one man performed during the kirtan.  Overall, I perceived a happy bunch here.

May the Source be with you!

20 miles/ 32 km

Thursday, October 29th, 2015
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Thursday, October 29th, 2015
Mapleton, Pennsylvania

Mapleton By The Sand Mill


I had just trudged through thorny brush, gone up and down a steep ridge, through a low creek, over some train tracks, and finally on to a road which lead me to a porch of someone by the name of Jim.  It was here that I asked Jim, “Where am I?”  And Jim, rather delighted to be asked by a man in orange, responded, “You’re on Callowhill Street.”  Out came his mother, his senior by 17 years (both are rather elderly), to join us.  She was very startled to see me.  She went back inside the house and then returned with the ‘Daily News’.  “You’re on the front page.”
I had challenged the off-the-route trail to rediscover an old one, one that included a quaint iron bridge over the highway.  After a few warm moments with Jim and his mom, she asked me about my origin. 
“Ontario,” I said, which was followed with a remark,
“Toronto!  The Blue Jays!  They beat my New York Yankees.”  I admitted to not following baseball.  In any case, I admit that a game of any sort brings people together. 
Vivasvan, Mandala, and I, accepted an invitation from Daniel Hugh at the end of the day’s trek.  His place happened to be only two doors away from Jim’s in the small town of Mapleton.  Daniel works for correctional services.   We chatted at his home and sipped on apple cider.  Funny, but it was the first day since beginning this trek from Boston that I could not find an apple tree.  So here we were, sipping on apple cider.  Daniel also just got married.  Congratulations! 
The other major encounter with a human soul was with Dane who had just come up from down the river where he caught an 18 inch bass.  Another congratulations.  “Do take my card and enjoy the mantra on the reverse side.”  I left him leaving with what I consider a gift.  There are a few items that sustain me on this walk – my team members, my legs, my guru, and the mantra.  Once in a while, I get a chance to snatch an apple off a tree.

May the Source be with you!

21 miles / 33 km

Friday, October 30th, 2015
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Friday, October 30th, 2015
Blacklog Valley, PA


Police Again



A man in a pick-up truck was passing by where Vivasvan was parked.  He rolled down his windows and warned him, “I’ll give you a heads up. The police are back there and they caught some prisoners”.

Vivasvan was wondering if this was the same scenario repeating itself again - The Walking Monk, wearing orange, has been mistaken for an escaped convict.

Sure enough, that was the case.  The police had received complaints from some suspicious people.  Two officers came to the place where Tre’von, Mandala and I were trekking.  I asked one officer if they could please notify all the police stations across the state of Pennsylvania about what we are doing so that we could avoid these kind of encounters in the future.

“I’m rather harmless”, I said facetiously.

“Of course you are”, expressed the officer, a little embarrassed.

The second officer volunteered to say, “Well, it is Halloween time but things still happen.  A few years ago we got a report that someone saw a hand sticking out of a car trunk.  We thought it was a prank but when we investigated it, it happened to be an actual body”.

What he was saying is that these things do occur; it is not simply that people watch too many horror movies.

Today I was also involved in a presentation at the religious department of Juniata College with Professor Susan Prill.  I was asked to speak about Krishna consciousness and ecology.  I quoted the first verse from the text, Sri Isopanisad:

“Everything animate or inanimate in this world is owned and controlled by the Supreme Lord.  Every living being is entitled to his or her individual quota and should not accept more than necessary, knowing well to whom everything belongs”.

One interesting thing that Professor Prill pulled out for us was an 18th-century, page-by-page, handmade, calligraphic presentation of the Bhagavata Purana with Sanskrit script and one-of-a-kind paintings.  We were somewhat wowed by that.

As far as the students were concerned, the response was very satisfying.  Some of the students insisted that they wanted to do some walking, and we happily received their company. Professor Prill also joined us.  She is very cool and she is also a vegetarian.

May the Source be with you!

21 miles / 33 km

Wednesday, October 28th, 2015
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Wednesday, October 28th, 2015
Williamsburg, Pennsylvania


For Mukunda



Today’s walk is dedicated to a monk who I adore very much.  Mukunda Goswami is his name.  He is currently in intensive care in the hospital in Australia struggling for his life.  I believe he is 73.

To tackle this day, which I held in honour of this great soul, I approached it (and the heavy rain) as a kind of sacrifice.  Along with Tre’von and our new team player Mandala, we took out our best water-resistant attire.  I even surrendered to wearing trousers and a plastic rain shell for practicality.  It wasn’t easy move through the unstoppable waters coming from the sky.  The liquid fell from above and didn’t let up until the last hour of my walking when I was alone.  Frankly, I felt that the three of us were like men at sea.

When my two companions pulled off the road to put a warm meal together (compliments to Paul for offering the use of his kitchen in his Bed & Breakfast), I ventured through the Lower Trail along the Juniata River.  Not a soul could be seen.  The rain seems to intimidate many creatures, except for some happy plants that I could see along the way.  The river’s waters rushed forward in a way that was inspiring but I just couldn’t keep to the pace of the flowing H2O.  Despite all efforts to stay dry, wetness still came through.  What to do?  You just have to accept it as an austerity.  And again, I’m doing this for Mukunda.

While water was very much the main feature of the day, the mantra emanating from the lips penetrated through all the predominating fluids.  Motorists somehow seemed to figure out that my walking had something to do with Russ O’Reilly’s article in the ‘Altoona Mirror’ as well as a broadcast on a local radio station.  The message was, “If you see a monk and believe in honouring our teachers, then give a honk.”  And that they did.

May the Source be with you!

19 miles 31 km

Mahabharata: The Condensed Version Available on Amazon as Free Download
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Torchlight Publishing is happy to announce the release today of a new e-book of the condensed version of the great epic, The Mahabharata by the world renown author Krishna Dharma. Mahabharata: The condensed version of the world’s greatest epic, is now available on Amazon.com. As part of the release promotions, the book is free for 3 days from November 6 - 8 inclusive.

When Bhagavatam talks about karma as a cause, shouldnt we see karma causally?
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Both Yamaraja in Suyajna pastime and Kamsa while consoling Vasudeva-Devaki talk about karmic causality.
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If someone’s child has cancer should we not offer charity to avoid interfering with karma?
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Does the guru literally come back lifetime after lifetime till the disciple is delivered?
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How can we cultivate humility without becoming negatively self-centered?
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If our mantra shouldn’t be “I am fallen” why do we sing daily trnad api sunicena?
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What does the Pandavas didn’t deserve to live mean in Bhagavatam in 1.9.12?
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Trancendental Journey to Vrindavan Dham
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For the pleasure of their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Pancatattva, Nrisimha Dev and Srila Prabhupada, and for all the readers, Mayapur Bhakti Vriksha (MBV) is happy to inform everyone that for the first time ever, Bhakti Vriksha group, successfully conducted a Vrindavan Tour with 50 Bhakti Vriksha devotees. The journey commenced on 17 Nov 2015, […]

The post Trancendental Journey to Vrindavan Dham appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Humility and love of God
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Untitled Lecture)

pancatattva1

The quality of humility and the quality of being able to develop love of God come together. It is not possible to develop love of God if there is no humility in our hearts. A person who is proud, how can he hear!? His ears are blocked because he is overwhelmed by his own ideas that he cannot even hear what everyone else says. But if one is humble, then one can think, ‘Yes, I need mercy.’

So a humble personality is eager to hear and being eager to hear from superior personalities also brings about special dynamics. When people are eager to hear then the mature vaisnava who speaks opens up his heart. He will automatically, by the eagerness of the audience, become very enthusiastic and he will find that there are so many realizations in his heart that he did not even know he had! Because in the relationship between vaisnava’s, the mood is very intimate and close and one of deep friendship; a mood of acceptance. An envious person cannot accept.

A envious person will always find some reason not to accept others, he will always find some quality that is not allowed, something wrong, ‘You can’t sit like that, you can’t look like that, you can’t speak like that…’ and so on and so on. Just on some external feature, an envious person will reject. Basically anyone who is not supporting them, adoring them, recognizing their greatness – such persons are undesirable.

So humility is the quality where one is ready to see good in others and recognizes that everyone can make a contribution which can be appreciated. So amongst vaisnavas there is an atmosphere of appreciation.

Hare Krishna! Sadhu Sanga Bliss – Raval, Chinta Haran and…
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Hare Krishna! Sadhu Sanga Bliss – Raval, Chinta Haran and Brahmanda Ghat
In continuation with Vraj Parikrama, HH Subhag Swami Maharaj took a group of devotees to Raval, Chinta Haran and Brahmanda Ghat. Buses left straight after mangala arti, all devotees were requested to attend the arti in order to invoke an auspicious start to the yatra. In order to seek the blessings of Srimati Radharani we firstly visited Raval Dham. After taking darshan and praying for Her mercy, we proceeded to Chinta Haran. The presiding deity here is Chinta Haran Mahadev. As stated in the Bhagavatam, ‘vaisnavanam yatha sambhuh.’ We therefore prayed to Lord Siva that we can follow in His footsteps and increase our attachment to Krishna and His holy Dham.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=21184

Hare Krishna! Live in Kolkata (3 videos from the performance of…
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Hare Krishna! Live in Kolkata (3 videos from the performance of Parividha Prabhu in Kolkata)
Lokanath Swami: Seeing Parividha’s performance in Kolkata at the 50th-anniversary celebrations, reinforced that I have always felt when I watch his performances. They are no frivolous and no-nonsense performances which are an inspiration to one and all. They display his deep sincerity and are filled with emotion and spiritual devotion, which have a soul-stirring effect on the audience. The videos in turn bring to life that which we are always longing to see. Once again, salutations to Parividha and we hope to see many more of his performances in the future. Bhakti Charu Swami: I appreciate your artistic talents. You are a very talented singer and the way you present Krishna Conscious themes in Western tune is very appealing. This kind of presentation can be a very effective means to especially attract Westerners to Krishna Consciousness. I wish that devotees all over the world would take advantage of this very powerful method of preaching.
Watch them here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=21181

The King of Mountains (12 min video) Indradyumna Swami: Going on…
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The King of Mountains (12 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Going on Govardhan Parikrama is always a highlight for every pilgrim who visits Sri Vrindavan Dhama. This was certainly true for our group of 350 devotees, who assembled at Radha Kunda at 5 AM in the morning to begin circumambulating the sacred mountain, so dear to all Vaisnavas. Softly chanting on our japa beads we walked the 23-kilometer path praying to Giriraja to bless us with service to the Divine Couple, Sri Sri Radha Syamasundara and eternal residence in Their holy dhama. By the time we finished we were literally running down the sacred path in great joy and happiness.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/DJcieK

November 5. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations. We can…
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November 5. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
We can be certain that Prabhupada did not reveal everything on his mind to us. Even if we were to ask him, “What do you think of when you chant, Prabhupada?”, it is unlikely he would reveal his innermost state. There is a sastric statement that when a pure devotee appears in the world, he is not really seen by the people. His appearance is compared to a cloud in relation to the moon. The moon is actually stationary in the sky, but it appears to be blowing across the sky with the clouds. It is an optical illusion. Similarly, a pure devotee often appears to be an ordinary person moving through the world, but actually his mind is fixed only on Krishna. “One should not try to understand the mind of the acarya.” This should be a stabilizing reminder to us. Although we want to know our spiritual master as deeply as possible – we will listen to him and pray to him and study his books to find out exactly what he wants from us – we should be careful not to look for so many hidden meanings, or to speculate on esoteric principles. Prabhupada will give us what we need to know.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490

Narrotama Kirtan Utsava 2015 (Album with photos) Srila…
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Narrotama Kirtan Utsava 2015 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: For a devotee, liberation is no problem at all. The impersonalists undergo severe penances and austerities to attain mukti, but the bhakta, simply by engaging himself in the bhakti process, especially in chanting Hare Krishna, immediately develops control over the tongue by engaging it in chanting, and accepting the remnants of foodstuff offered to the Personality of Godhead. (Srimad Bhagavatam, 3.25.33 Purport)
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Krsnaizing Halloween (Album with photos) Even Halloween can be…
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Krsnaizing Halloween (Album with photos)
Even Halloween can be engaged in Lord Krsna’s service. At TKG Academy we celebrated the Fall Festival with the students dressed as characters from our devotional scriptures. The costumes included some of the Lord’s main incarnations, such as Lord Nrsimhadeva, Lord Vamanadeva, Lord Ramacandra along with His wife Sita, Their devotee Jatayu and Ahalya, Lord Parasurama and Kurma Avatar. There were other manifestations such as The Universal Form and Mohini Murti and some demigods, like Agni and Lord Siva. Lord Krsna’s personal weapon, the Sudarsana Cakra was present. We also had Lord Krsna Himself, in His original form as a cowherd boy in the village of Vrndavana, along with His mother Yasoda, His most beloved Srimati Radharani, other gopis and cowherd boys and the river Yamuna. We had some characters from the Mahabharata, such as Bhismadeva and Yudhisthira. The goddess Kali appeared in her very ferocious form and the most recent and merciful incarnation of Lord Nityananda joined as well. Everywhere you looked you were reminded of Krsna and His various pastimes. In fact, the students enacted those pastimes, according to the particular personality they were dressed as, thus further immersing our minds in remembrance of the Lord and absorbing our consciousness in Him.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/urbllr

SGGGPY to Mattampally Village – Lucky Seven ! On October 25,…
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SGGGPY to Mattampally Village – Lucky Seven !
On October 25, 2015, the inaugural day of Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra in ISKCON Hyderabad, several devotees from city had accompanied the Yatra devotees to the first village of Ramapuram. They had tasted the nectar of preaching in village. They did not wish to come back to the artificial life of city but were forced by their conditions. Again when they got the opportunity of weekend break, they fled towards Mattampalli in their cars.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/ZbQqMX

Update on Mukunda Goswami’s Recovery. Mukunda Goswami is…
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Update on Mukunda Goswami’s Recovery.
Mukunda Goswami is making a slow but steady recovery from the surgeries. While in ICU he was looked after 24/7 by a team of doctors and nurses to make sure that his vital functions were properly restored. Their particular concern was Maharaja’s lungs (risk of a pneumonia) from extended confinement to bed due to the hip fracture as well as possible clotting. Therefore the day after the hip surgery physiotherapists started gently but forcefully encouraging Maharaja to sit up and then to put weight on his legs and walk with the support of a frame. This was (and still is) very painful and difficult for Maharaja, but is paramount for his recovery.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/KBZfbm