Planet ISKCON

The post Braja-sevaki asks how Lord Caitanya giving the garland of “conch shells” to Dasa Goswami signified his receiving Radha’s shelter appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Hare Krishna! Sacred Stones and Plants
The ancient story of the wedding of a sacred plant called Tulsi to Krishna in the form of a sacred stone. Please join us for a short lecture on the spiritual principles behind this story and how we can relate to them. “The word ‘vana’ means forest. Vrindavana is the name given to the forest where Srimati Vrinda-devi (Tulasi-devi), grows profusely.” (CC Madhya 17.l93p.) Another name of Tulasi is Vrinda-devi (one who awards residence in Vrindavana). Srila Narottama dasa Thakura says: krpa kori koro tare vrindavana vasi, “Dear Tulasi, please bestow your mercy upon me, so that I may forever reside in Vrindavana.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20318

Harinama in Russia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If one somehow or other chants the Hare Krishna mantra, he will immediately be purified, just as one who takes a potent medicine will feel its effects, regardless of whether he takes it knowingly or unknowingly. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.19 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/nbbgGw

Ethan Hawke Film Shot at Bhakti Center Released on Blu-Ray
The independent film 10,000 Saints, which includes scenes shot in the Manhattan Hare Krishna Temple “The Bhakti Center” and features ISKCON devotees, was released on Blu-Ray, DVD and streaming services on October 6th. Based on the novel by Eleanor Henderson, it is directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini of the Oscar-nominated American Splendor. It stars Ethan Hawke (Boyhood, Training Day), Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld (co-stars of Ender’s Game), and Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, Lone Survivor).
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/8tHs8T

Vlogging for Krishna.
“Those Two Hare Krishnas” channel was developed, to try and create a series of regular videos positively presenting the Hare Krishna lifestyle and philosophy.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20266

The post Daily Darshan – October 8th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Teaching the chanting of Hare Krishna in Mongolia (7 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Five hundred years ago Lord Nityananda opened a market place of the holy names. Two days ago we took that sublime commodity of chanting Hare Krsna to the market places of Uliastal here in Mongolia. First we were invited to chant inside a large modern supermarket. Afterwards, with a police escort, we chanted outdoors in what the local people called the infamous, “Black Market.” Whatever danger there may have been was immediately neutralized by the loud chanting of the holy names. So powerful and so pure are the holy names of Krsna that soon we had many people in the market chanting and dancing alongside us. The miraculous effect of kirtan never ceases to amaze me. All glories to Sri Krsna Samkirtan!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/T1ojyw

Hare Krishna! ISKCON 50th Anniversary Celebrations – ISKCON Sri Lanka
The 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s visit to Sri Lanka was celebrated by the devotees and congregation of ISKCON Sri Lanka on the 19th of August 2015. On this day, the program commenced with Nagar Sankirtan and following that Special Darshan, Special Kirtan & Bhajans were conducted. To mark the 50th anniversary of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada’s visit to Sri Lanka, ISKCON Sri Lanka organized to release the commemorative stamp and commemorative cover on the 04th of October 2015 and for this event there were VIPs present too, like ministers and industrialists. This function was held at Ramakrishna Mission Hall, Wellawatta, Colombo – 06. There were cultural dances performed by the student of Hare Krishna Music & Dance school and also by the students of the University of Visual and Performing Arts.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20296

Hare Krishna! ISKCON Sandton Celebrates Srila Prabhupada’s 40th Anniversary Arrival to South Africa
“The lotus flower blooms most beautifully from the deepest and thickest mud”. The arrival of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada materialized the above praxis when he arrived in South Africa in October 1975 during the height of the apartheid regime. The juxtaposition of apartheid, its racial and ethnic segregationist policies and the restlessness of a suppressed people caused the message and teachings of Srila Prabhupada to resonate widely and be felt deeply. He came to spread the universal message of peace, love, harmony and the tangible means of achieving such a state of existence. During His tour of South Africa, His Divine Grace spoke at the famous Great Hall at the University of Witwatersrand on the 23 October 1975.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20275

4.10.2015 H.H.Kavi Chandra Swami_SB-06.01.55

Bhaktimarga Swami has become famous as “The Walking Monk” from his treks on foot four times across his native Canada, as well as across Ireland, Israel, Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana and Trinidad. The Swami’s current walk, however, may mean the most to him on a personal level.

The independent film 10,000 Saints, which includes scenes shot in the Manhattan Hare Krishna Temple “The Bhakti Center” and features ISKCON devotees, was released on Blu-Ray, DVD and streaming services on October 6^th. Based on the novel by Eleanor Henderson, it is directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini of the Oscar-nominated American Splendor.

Hare Krishna! The virtues of demon’ crazy
Srila Prabhupada’s keen observation picked out the demon word in pan’demon’ium and demon’strate. He likewise slotted in words befitting his siddhantic stance. Democracy did not escape his scathing, if not light-hearted censure. What could be said about it? Democracy as we know it is a free for all conciliatory tool to suit the wishes of disparate views within the precincts of law and order. To date, no two nations who espouse and have fully-fledged democratic institutions have gone to war with each other. That it enables the most deadly and despicable foes to talk rapprochement and co-operate for the good of peace and stability, seems a tangible way of curbing bloodthirsty enmity. It seeks to channel the murderous tendency via the political route, where weapons be replaced by oral deliberations, and consensus be put into law.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=2333

When I lay down in my comfortable apartment in Budapest, all I could see are images of little children lying on the dirty floor of Budapest’s railway stations waiting for their transfer to a new, safer and better life.

NY Union Square Harinama (Album with photos)
The “most happening place” in the city. Dedicated devotees engaged in following Srila Prabhupada’s simple process of Harinama, Book distribution and Prasadam distribution. So inspiring to be in the company of such focused and serious devotees, especially the youngsters, who amazed us by their sincerity, determination, humility and sweetness. Rama Raya prabhu is managing wondefully in Aindra prabhu’s footsteps. If you’re in the city please do join them, you will be very nicely welcomed and thoroughly enlivened. Photos by Dvijapriya dasi.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/E28WmU

Written by Vasanti dd

As the transcendental dust-storms (caused by the lotus feet of the devotees jumping in ecstasy for Lord Jagannatha) were beginning to settle down in Soweto and the glowing embers of the initiation yajna were simmering down in Pretoria, the devotees of the Cape Town yatra were preparing to finally get the answer to the question that had been buzzing in the air for weeks, “When is Kadamba Kanana Swami arriving?”

In the late afternoon of Tuesday, 22 September 2015, Maharaj gracefully arrived in the Mother City of South Africa and was warmly welcomed by a calm reception of disciples. Things, however, were not to stay that calm for very long at all…

After a short time to settle-in and catch his breath, Maharaj made an appearance and initiated (through a full-swing one hour kirtan and an hour’s lecture from Bhagavad-gita 7.17), the first of the many jam‑packed morning and evening programs that were to follow for the rest of the week.

Wednesday was filled to the brim with ecstasy with three (almost) back-to-back programs. We started-off with a morning class from Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.42 followed by a fun-filled afternoon program in the Bhakti Yoga Society hall at the University of Cape Town where Maharaj gave a wonderful talk on Stress Management and Vedic Lifestyle and also spent a lot of time afterwards engaging in questions-and-answers with the eager and inquisitive students who stayed behind to cash in on the nectar.

The last stop for the day took us all the way out to the beautiful Stellenbosch yatra where the devotees had some nice downtime to chat with Maharaj before the students arrived for a kirtan straight from the spiritual world, a charismatic talk in true KKS style and a feast of ecstatic prasad.  Meanwhile, back at the temple, excitement was starting to build up about the next day’s scheduled program which was, by far, one of the highlights of Maharaj’s visit …

Thursday morning started-off with a lecture on verse 1.3.43 of Srimad Bhagavatam. The weather was absolutely perfect and the hustle and bustle was building up as devotees started streaming in from all over Cape Town in anticipation of the blissful day that lay ahead.

The sankritan warriors then began their preparations: sun block and tilaka boldly painted on; mrdangas, djembes and harmonium straps fastened tight around the shoulders; kartalas and whompers, ready for action with books/flyers locked and loaded into book bags, ready for launch …

Maharaj hopped into the passenger seat of a bright, cherry-red Toyota Etios and zoomed-off around the mountain leading the devotees, in a convoy of cars, towards the tropically majestic, crystal-blue oceans and pearly-white sands of the Camps Bay suburb of Cape Town.

The devotees exploded into Camps bay, instruments blaring, colorful garments swaying to and fro with smiles as wide a Cheshire cats as they sang the Holy Names from the heart. Maharaj led the devotees all around Camps Bay as the ecstasy grew from strength-to-strength.

Some book distributors broke off to meet the curious and jolly crowd of onlookers who had started gathering… some people even came running out of restaurants asking for books!

It seemed as though the bliss would never end…

After what felt like (and probably was) hours we eventually settled down on the grass, overlooking the ocean, for a delicious ekadasi feast. We then ended the day off with a little more kirtan. What a day indeed!

The week ended-off just as fully and busily as it started with sweet talks and dramatic narrations from Maharaj in appreciation of the Lord and his amazing devotees, starting with the appearance day of Lord Vamanadev on Friday, 25 September (morning class at temple and evening at HG Medhavi prabhu’s home), followed by the appearance day of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur on Saturday, 26 September where Maharaj spent the day aptly doing justice to the glories of the great acarya and last, but certainly not least, the disappearance day of Srila Haridas Thakur on Sunday the 27^th where Maharaj spent a lot of time glorifying Haridas Thakur and emphasizing the importance of properly and sincerely chanting the Holy Names.

As things started to wind down on Sunday, evening Maharaj went to a nearby old-age home to visit Mrs. Retrout, a beloved elderly lady who used to frequent the temple when she was in better health.  Since she has been struggling with her health the devotees have been visiting her at the retirement village to try and lift her spirits and Maharaj’s visit most certainly brought a lot of life back to her eyes.

The Sunday Love Feast Prasad was finished and packed away and the party was officially coming to an end.  At the request of bhakta Rama, Maharaj sat down at the harmonium once more and gladly showed Rama a tune or two attracting a small group of devotees who sat and reveled in the last few moments of Maharaj’s precious association before he left to get ready for the next long haul to Australia…

It was visit filled to the brim with nectar, mercy, bliss, ecstasy and all the good things the association of a pure devotee brings.

Recordings to follow shortly…

KK Bindu #360: Can an ant touch the Moon? The answer in this issue of Bindu is yes!
The latest issue of Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu e-magazine was just released. Topics include:
* IMPORTANCE OF HIGHER ASSOCIATION – Instructions from the writings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
* NOTES ON THE BHAGAVATA – Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode speaks about the mentality necessary for understanding Srimad Bhagavatam: “most readers are mere repositories of facts and statements made by other people. But this is not study. The student is to read the facts with a view to create, and not with the object of fruitless retention.”
* FIRE OF SEPARATION – A verse composed by Srila Rupa Goswami describing a prayer to Krishna from his cowherd boyfriends of Vraja.
* RESPECT TO ALL – Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja comments that a sincere devotee will see everyone except himself as a devotee.
* WHEN WILL I GO TO VRINDAVAN? – A fresh translation done for this issue of Bindu from a song by the Gaudiya poet Radhamohan Das.
* THE ANT AND THE MOON – Is it possible for an ant to touch the Moon? A first time translation done for this issue of Bindu from a little known Sanskrit book called, “Subhasita-ratna-bhandagara”.
It can be downloaded here: https://archive.org/details/bindu360

Join Padayatra Odisha 2015
This Kartik, please come and join the annual Sankirtan Padayatra in Odisha. This most ecstatic preaching program, in the sacred land of Mahaprabhu’s and Lord Jagannath’s pastimes, will begin on November 1st in Kantilo (60 km from Bhubaneswar) where the ancient Deity of Sri Nila Madhava resides by the banks of the Mahanadi. The padayatra will last until the 20th of November and will see devotees walking and chanting, with the bullock cart of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Srila Prabhupada ,through Nayagarh district stopping in a different village every day for kirtan, book distribution, prasad distribution and preaching programs. The villagers are especially interested to see and hear the experiences of Western devotees blissfully chanting Hare Krishna.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20258

Hare Krishna! Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay foundation stone for ISKCON Golden Temple in Kondaveedu, AP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu would lay foundation stone for the first Golden Temple in the State by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) on Vijayadasami Day (October 22). Preliminary works like construction of sheds and rearing of cows at the Cow Protection Centre (Gosala) began a few months ago at Lord Krishna’s temple close to Kondaveedu Fort of Guntur district with a budget of Rs. 200 crore in 80 acres of land given by the State Endowments Department. A rare idol of young Krishna, locally called as Venna Mudda Gopaludu (butter Krishna idol), was found during the excavations at the Kondaveedu fort belonging to the 13th century during 1998 it inspired ISKCON to construct a golden butter Krishna temple at Kondaveedu. It was sculpted during the period of Sri Krishnadevaraya and this golden temple is going to revive the religious cultural heritage of Kondaveedu.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20255

On the bright afternoon of 3^rd October 2015, the chariot of Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra rolled down the roads of Old Kanpur, India, with hundreds of devotees dancing. People enthusiastically participated in the chariot pulling fiesta. Simultaneously young students of different colleges of Kanpur earnestly distributed books on the roads and the marketplace.

The World Peace Forum is a worldwide platform that brings together a large number of professionals of all backgrounds and from all corners of the Earth. Their recent meeting was held on October 2-3, 2015 in the European Parliament in Luxembourg and Germany, where ISKCON devotees were also invited.

Mongolia’s vast steppe is home to one of the world’s last surviving nomadic cultures. Situated between China and Russia, the Mongolian steppe remains mostly intact, and its nomadic way of life has been largely unchanged for generations. Some herding customs alive today pre-date the era of Genghis Khan. Slowly, however, the steppe’s landscape is changing, as more and more of its nomadic population move to urban areas in search of education, employment, and modern conveniences. On ISKCON-devotees 8-hour drive to Erdenet for their first public program in the city, they passed many nomadic people herding their cows, horses and sheep.

Spirit Matters a new YouTube channel developed by ISKCON devotees in New Zealand aims to give people insights into a more conscious way of living. The idea is to make it easy for people to learn about aspects of bhakti-yoga, mantra meditation and Krishna conscious living, and become inspired to enquire further about the knowledge they contain.

I’m born and bought up from Hyderabad, actually I love Krishna & I offer my prayers every day to Krishna & also for every time I love think about Krishna. My question is in Krishna consciousness can we should watch TV serial and movies? Or it is an offence?

The post Vikkas writes: appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Taking rest after Harinama the in University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/kUO1ll

With ‘Vanity Karma,’ a Jewish swami comes full circle From Kohelet to Krishna - With his book ‘Vanity Karma,’ a Jewish swami comes full circle
“The idea of Krishna consciousness is that it’s not a religion one turns to by abandoning their religion, but it’s the essence of what religion is about: to cultivate one’s love for God. From that point of view, I’m a Jewish swami,” he said. “From another angle, this is the fulfillment of Jewish culture, if the purpose of Judaism is developing one’s love for God, and the chanting of God’s name is seen as an effective means for that. In my Jewish life I wasn’t particularly interested in God or convinced by God. By Krishna Consciousness, or Bhakti Yoga as it is also called, my life is dedicated to God’s service. “Does that make me more Jewish or less Jewish?”
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/mlI7W6

The post Daily Darshan – October 7th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Hare Krishna! ISKCON Prakriti Forum organizes international summit on environment and economy in Kerala
The summit is expected to be the “biggest gathering of its kind in Kerala this year”, the release said. Around 1,400 participants are expected at the summit, which will bring together distinguished scientists, entrepreneurs, industry experts, government representatives and students. Rajeev Dubey, HR and corporate services president of the Mahindra group; Shaurya Doval, MD, Zeus Capital; Ramchunder Singh, advisor to the President of South Africa and Brian Bloch, advisor to the interior department, the USA are some of the dignitaries who will attend the summit, the press release said.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20251

Only the Best Marble for the TOVP! (Album with photos)
Royal Blue marble from Bolivia that will be used on the Altars.
Find them here: http://goo.gl/NXnvyD

HH Bhakti Vidyapurna Swami at ISKCON Mayapur on 2015-10-04, Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 06.15.20-23