Planet ISKCON

Ratha-yatra in Agra (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/lXc2os

The latest issue of Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu e-magazine (#359) was just released. Topics include, Srila Prabhupada on our accomplishments, plus a new translation from Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakura.
* OUR MISSION – Excerpts from letters and conversations with His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
* FIFTEEN ESSENTIAL TRUTHS – A fresh translation done for this issue of Bindu from Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakura’s Bhagavatamrita-kanika.
It can be downloaded here: https://archive.org/details/bindu359

Irish Children Chanting Sanskrit Mantra for Modi’s welcome - 23 Sep 2015 (5 min video)
“I congratulate their teachers. It’s a matter of happiness that we can do it in Ireland.
“Overwhelmed by the community programme in Dublin.
Recital of Shlokas in Sanskrit by children was very touching.
Simply mesmerising! Great to see these children recite in Sanskrit,” Modi tweeted.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/cxKUNn

https://youtu.be/nPpcXsya3iY

The post The full festival program in Timesoara last Saturday appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The post Bhagavatam class: Giving humanity the only other social alternative through atma-vimarsanam appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Hare Krishna! Praise for the Highest Mercy
Gour Govinda Swami: Conditioned souls, being victims of illusion and the repetition of the cycle of birth and death, are prone to commit errors. The material world created by the Lord is our testing place. Here at every step we are continually being tested by maya. To pass this test one has to hear the devotional message spoken by mahajanas like Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Bhaktivinoda’s teachings should be preached more and more. If the leaders of present-day society sincerely desire the welfare of humanity, they should deeply cultivate and introspectively reflect upon these teachings. Please practice these teachings in your life and teach them to the world. This will surely bring auspiciousness and the unlimited blessings of Thakura Bhaktivinoda.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20028

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2015, Cape Town, South Africa, Lecture)

You cannot just love like that. First, love is in practice. We can say, love-under-construction just as in work-in-progress. So called love-at-first-sight does not go so deep. Love at first sight may be the initial attraction but how deep does it go?

Love for Krsna develops by finding out more and more about Krsna: who he is, what he does, what he says, what he likes… And then, if we begin to act in such a way that is pleasing to Krsna, then gradually everything becomes favourable.

Then we begin to slowly develop our love for Krsna because Krsna is wonderful and by acting in a way that is pleasing to him, we too will become pleased, because Krsna’s directions are perfect, full of depth and wisdom, and whoever dedicates his life to that, will see that his life will become perfect…

The post Daily Darshan – September 24th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

ISKCON Auckland, New Zealand: 50th-anniversary cake (Album with photos)
Cooked by Radhikatma and his team.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Bsxuue

Hare Krishna! Donor Spotlight: Jaysri Radhe (Dr. Jayshri Chasmawala)
Nrtya Kisori Dasi: Even after my dear friend and neighbor, Jaysri Radhe, mentioned her plans to give a donation to TKG Academy on Janmastami, I wasn’t prepared for what was coming. When she handed me the envelope, a big surprise was in store: $2900. And that is not all! She also informed me of her joining our school’s monthly donor program. Her generosity deeply touched my heart and I wanted to share her story. Jaysri with fatherJaysri Chasmawala’s family is from India. She was born in Boston, and growing up she remembers her father as a devout practitioner of the Ramanuja Sampradaya who provided her first spiritual inspiration. (Later in life, two weeks before leaving his body, he accepted initiation from H.H. Giriraj Swami).
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20023

Dear Devotees,
Hare Krishna,
Kartik starts on the 27th October.

Vraj Padayatra from Food For All on Vimeo.

It is a special time for spiritual advancement, service performed in Kartik gives 100 times more reward and in Vraj again is another 100 times more reward. And as we know the distribution of Books, Prasad (spiritual food) and the Holy Name are the backbone of the Yuga Dharma.

We are printing 50,000 small books and we can distribute them in your name , one book costs 5 pence, that means for £100 you can have 2,000 books distributed in your name

Prasad distribution for the month costs £3,000 for the month and that is £100 a day.

https://www.justgiving.com/foodforalluk

Your servant
Parasuram das

Hare Krishna! “Touching the Feet of the Gods”
Indradyumna Swami: Inside the tent, a young teenage girl carrying a plate of prasadam came up to me. “I’ve always wanted to thank you for how you changed my life,” she said. “Five years ago I came with my parents to your festival. I put on a sari in the fashion tent, and when I came out you were standing there. You said I looked like an angel. I was just a child then, but I was touched by your words, and I decided I should actually become like an angel. I started going to church more, and every night I prayed to God. “Then last year I found a Bhagavad-gita in our house. My parents had bought it at your festival. I started reading it and found many instructions about how I could become the angel you saw in me. I even became a vegetarian and I started learning English so that if I ever met you again I could thank you and learn more about your way of life.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20020

I recently made a post about the importance of understanding the meaning of a mantra. Among the repies I got these inquiries…

I think mantra is not what we vibrate with our mouth because that is purelly a mechanic activity. And hearing a mantra is not about receiving sound waves with eardrums, another mechanic interaction from the outside.

This is very dualistic – as if the “inside” has nothing to do with the “outside.” If you take that out, and add the word “just” or “only” then  your conclusion makes more sense to me. I would say it like this: “Mantra is not just what we vibrate with our mouths or hear with our eardrums…”

I think the “sound” itself is not understood with mechanic vibrations of the air but the sound is the words which we create in our counsciousness.

The most important part of the mantra is the meaning you receive from the sound, but the sound itself is also important because it symbolically carries the meaning.

The sound waves are symbols carrying meaning/understanding, like the wind carries a breeze. Words don’t need to be audible. They can be written or simply pronounced by the mental voice to the mental ear.

But “the mind” is also a brain or a subtle body, so it is also an external thing.

Yes! That’s why the dualism of “external/internal” is not realistic. The external is a projection of what is internal. Therefore the external and internal are inter-related and affect one another. Thus an external sense perception, or a mental recollection of it, affects the internal state of consciousness and ultimately can be witnessed/experienced by the ātma itself.

Hari nāma is a  state of consciousness where you want to chant the hari nāma.

It is not just a state of consciousness. It is actually a word, a name. But this word-name cannot be heard or chanted perfectly without a perfect state of consciousness. Hari nāma is a transcendental entity, so it cannot be produced by an ignorant tongue, nor heard by an ignorant ear. Only the absolutely pure ātmā drenched in śuddha-sattva can hear or enunciate the real names of Krishna.

The endeavor to hear and chant this word-name, however, purifies the consciousness gradually. So the method for eventually hearing and speaking the true spiritual names of Krishna is to practice hearing and speaking the external approximations of those names.

I have heared that the chanting of a pure devotee can set everyone who hears it free of material desires.

A pure soul would be able to chant the true name of Krishna, so this would have a profound effect. Just like if you hear someone explain something they really understand, it is more profound and you can understand it more easily then when someone who doesn’t really grasp the subject tries to explain it.

Hearing the name enunciated by a pure soul would make a very profound impact on us, making us really desire strongly to understand what that person experiences. This would propel us in bhakti-yoga very strongly by giving a very, very strong śraddha (conviction in the value and worth of Krishna).

Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com

I recently made a post about the importance of understanding the meaning of a mantra. Among the repies I got these inquiries…

I think mantra is not what we vibrate with our mouth because that is purelly a mechanic activity. And hearing a mantra is not about receiving sound waves with eardrums, another mechanic interaction from the outside.

This is very dualistic – as if the “inside” has nothing to do with the “outside.” If you take that out, and add the word “just” or “only” then  your conclusion makes more sense to me. I would say it like this: “Mantra is not just what we vibrate with our mouths or hear with our eardrums…”

I think the “sound” itself is not understood with mechanic vibrations of the air but the sound is the words which we create in our counsciousness.

The most important part of the mantra is the meaning you receive from the sound, but the sound itself is also important because it symbolically carries the meaning.

The sound waves are symbols carrying meaning/understanding, like the wind carries a breeze. Words don’t need to be audible. They can be written or simply pronounced by the mental voice to the mental ear.

But “the mind” is also a brain or a subtle body, so it is also an external thing.

Yes! That’s why the dualism of “external/internal” is not realistic. The external is a projection of what is internal. Therefore the external and internal are inter-related and affect one another. Thus an external sense perception, or a mental recollection of it, affects the internal state of consciousness and ultimately can be witnessed/experienced by the ātma itself.

Hari nāma is a  state of consciousness where you want to chant the hari nāma.

It is not just a state of consciousness. It is actually a word, a name. But this word-name cannot be heard or chanted perfectly without a perfect state of consciousness. Hari nāma is a transcendental entity, so it cannot be produced by an ignorant tongue, nor heard by an ignorant ear. Only the absolutely pure ātmā drenched in śuddha-sattva can hear or enunciate the real names of Krishna.

The endeavor to hear and chant this word-name, however, purifies the consciousness gradually. So the method for eventually hearing and speaking the true spiritual names of Krishna is to practice hearing and speaking the external approximations of those names.

I have heared that the chanting of a pure devotee can set everyone who hears it free of material desires.

A pure soul would be able to chant the true name of Krishna, so this would have a profound effect. Just like if you hear someone explain something they really understand, it is more profound and you can understand it more easily then when someone who doesn’t really grasp the subject tries to explain it.

Hearing the name enunciated by a pure soul would make a very profound impact on us, making us really desire strongly to understand what that person experiences. This would propel us in bhakti-yoga very strongly by giving a very, very strong śraddha (conviction in the value and worth of Krishna).

Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com

To greet their king, the citizens decorated each part of his city with strands of pearls and flowers, draped cloth from its golden gateways, and flooded the air with the most wondrously fragrant incense. They washed the roads, squares, and lanes with water infused by sandalwood and agarwood, decorated them with flowers, whole fruits, shoots of grains, and lamps, and lined them with clean young betel trees and banana trees in fruit and flower. Strands of young mango leaves decorated everything.

The citizens greeted the king with limitless lamps shining auspiciously. More brilliant than the lamps were the shining young maidens with glistening jewelry who came forward to welcome him.

He entered his palace to the sound of priests singing the Veda while drums and conch shells boomed. He had no vanity, in spite of being the object of so much adoration and respect. Indeed he, the object of so much worship, turned to worship each one of his citizens, from the famous and important nobles down to the common workers. He gave each one what they needed or wanted. Fully satisfied, they all overflowed with good wishes towards their king.

Thus began his reign over the earth, marked by constant magnanimous welfare work, which made him history’s most famous ruler, greater than any other great person and elevating him to the transcendent position.

To greet their king, the citizens decorated each part of his city with strands of pearls and flowers, draped cloth from its golden gateways, and flooded the air with the most wondrously fragrant incense. They washed the roads, squares, and lanes with water infused by sandalwood and agarwood, decorated them with flowers, whole fruits, shoots of grains, and lamps, and lined them with clean young betel trees and banana trees in fruit and flower. Strands of young mango leaves decorated everything.

The citizens greeted the king with limitless lamps shining auspiciously. More brilliant than the lamps were the shining young maidens with glistening jewelry who came forward to welcome him.

He entered his palace to the sound of priests singing the Veda while drums and conch shells boomed. He had no vanity, in spite of being the object of so much adoration and respect. Indeed he, the object of so much worship, turned to worship each one of his citizens, from the famous and important nobles down to the common workers. He gave each one what they needed or wanted. Fully satisfied, they all overflowed with good wishes towards their king.

Thus began his reign over the earth, marked by constant magnanimous welfare work, which made him history’s most famous ruler, greater than any other great person and elevating him to the transcendent position.

I have written several times of the need in society for an increased numbers of volunteers to provide good spiritual teaching, pastoral care, encouragement and guidance. Essentially the need for gurus, by whatever nomenclature or sub-category we might wish to call them.

In this clip from 1975, the founder-acarya of the Hare Krishna movement requests his followers to create an organisation of many thousands of such ‘acaryas.’

“Radha means the embodiment of wanting to please. In various sastras they describe that the essence of Her reality is that she wants to please. She is non-different than Krishna. It’s like if you have a rose with fragrance and color and the various potencies of the rose—Radha is the color, Radha is the fragrance, Radha is the potency. Radha is the potency of God. She is what makes God beautiful—which is happiness and His love. Radha is that expression of love to the highest degree.”

—Dhanudhara Swami

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Dhanudhar Swami Bhakti Centre, NYC
Radhanatha Swami Bhakti Centre, NYC
Giriraj Swami Bhakti Centre, NYC

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