Did the presentation of bhakti evolve or even its definition evolve over time?
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How can we reconcile “act according to your nature” and “do what Krishna wants you to do, not what you want to do”?
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From the Mahabharata Krishna to the Bhagavatam Krishna
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Bhagavatam class at Radha Kunjabihari temple, Pune
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Flower Whispers
→ Seed of Devotion

(To know more about this Duet, click here. We have switched and now I am writing first, Rukmini doing art in response.)

Art & Words Duet: Day 8
Flower Whispers

slender and graceful with flared petals, like a lady going to a ball
fireworks of color
considered weeds but look like queens
bold artists who paint petals in broad strokes
tiny painters with tiny portraits
grow out of the filth but are never touched by it
grow in tame rows in gardens and fields
grow out of cracks in cement
and in the windowsills of highrises
perched in millions of glass vases
or up high in trees
surrounded by guardians of thorns
or moats of lakes
or fierce scents
each and every one who ever lived
opens her mouth
and whispers silent words,
"glorious and beautiful I am
for hours and days,
but offer me to God
and I will live forever."





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Balaram Jayanti 2015 in Mayapur (Album with photos) The Supreme…
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Balaram Jayanti 2015 in Mayapur (Album with photos)
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, is the fountainhead of all incarnations. Lord Balarama is his second body. They are both one and the same identity. They differ only in form. Balarama is the first bodily Balaramexpansion of Krishna, and He assists in Lord Krishna’s transcendental pastimes. He is the source of the entire spiritual world and is the adi-guru, the original spiritual master.
See them here: https://goo.gl/OBf4v8

Jealous Gods: Indra spies Pṛthu’s magnificence.
→ The Enquirer

On the eastern course of River Sarasvatī is Manu’s sacred field, Brahmāvarta. There, King Pṛthu began performing one hundred horse-sacrifice rituals. Indra was the only other person who had successfully done this before. When he heard what Pṛthu was doing, he could not tolerate the possibility that someone else might excel his ritualistic accomplishments.

Indeed, he saw many signs that the king was already surpassing his glory. Most importantly, the ultimate aim of all rituals – Hari, the All-Attractive supreme master, soul of everyone, source of all power, and ultimate leader of all communities – literally and personally attended Pṛthu’s ceremonies. And he had not come alone! Brahmā and fearless Śiva accompanied him, as did the protectors of the world and all their followers. All of them created a grand kīrtan led by scholars, in which the singers and dancers of heaven performed. This company included all the celestial masters and scientists following Brahmā, the demons, anti-gods, and many other mysterious creatures following Śiva, and the most exalted associates of Hari, like Sunanda and Nanda. Among the scholars were Kapila, Nārada, and Dattātreya, powerful yogis like Sanaka, and many blessed beings enwrapped in the joy of Hari’s service.

Indra saw that Pṛthu would easily get all the opulence he needed to perform these hundred rituals more extravagantly than they had ever been performed before. The Earth Goddess, with her famous milk that grants all wishes, attended Pṛthu, producing everything the rituals required. Her abundant milk seeped into the ground, making the trees blossom with huge fruits, and drip with honey-sweet saps. It overflowed into the river, which seemed to flow with milks, creams, and yogurts. The milk-river brought extreme opulence to the lands it irrigated as it flowed to the ocean. The kings and citizens who lived along this flow came to the ceremonies bearing incredible gifts: heaps of jewels, and mountains of all sorts of food.

Jealous of the King’s unsurpassed wealth and devotion to Hari, which had caused He Who is Beyond Perception to personally appear before him, powerful and blessed Indra decided to interfere.

– Excerpt from an early draft of Part 4 of
Beautiful Tales of the All-Attractive
A translation of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam’s fourth canto
[4.19.1 – 10]
By Vraja Kishor [VrajaKishor.com]

Tagged: devotion, Indra, jealous gods, jealousy, opulence, pṛthu, wealth

Help Needed – Sri Krishna Janmastami!
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From Friday, September 4th to Saturday, September 5th, the Hare Krishna Temple will be celebrating the biggest birthday party of the year, Lord Krishna's appearance day - Sri Krishna Janmastami!

With any big festival, it requires the help of many to help out to ensure it is a wonderful festival for all. If you have an hour to spare or even the whole day, please sign up to volunteer your time and efforts on this very auspicious weekend.

To sign up, please fill out the form below with your availability and we will get back to you!

Thank you!

Confirms My Desire And Reasons
→ Japa Group

I was thinking about the day when I decided to start the Japa Group, almost 10 years ago now. The reason I started the group was based on a desire to share my thoughts about this important spiritual activity of Japa - My struggles and small realisations.
I thought this would also encourage the realisations of other chanters from around the world.
I was reading Satsvarupa Maharaja's writings on Japa recently and came across this quote that confirms my desire and reasons for starting this group:

"Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. Sincere chanters appreciate sincere expressions by fellow chanters. They want to hear the perfect sastric statements on the glories of the holy name and its blissful effects, but they also like to hear from one who takes his chanting seriously, even though he admits it’s a struggle and he hasn’t chanted with all the bliss “claimed” by the sastra.

Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Show people how happy you are!
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, March 2015, Mayapur, India, Kirtan Mela Lecture)

Srila-Prabhupada-playing-harmonium-and-chanting

We are here by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada who brought us together and therefore we begin our kirtan mela with a prayer to his lotus feet. Prabhupada made Krsna consciousness more accessible and easier for us; he patiently brought us up and now we have come here clearly by his mercy and the arrangement of the Panca-tattva, to chant Hare Krsna. Just like it was Lord’s arrangement when he was on the earth five hundred years ago that the devotees would chant at the Srivas-angan and in that way, yata yata piya trsna badhe anuksana (Caitanya Caritamrta Adi 7.20-12); by chanting, by drinking this transcendental sound of maha-mantra, their thirst would increase and increase.

So may the same happen to us – may our thirst increase and increase so that we develop great eagerness to chant again and again, everywhere and anywhere, because that is how Krsna consciousness actually spreads. It is not that the Panca-tattva broke the lock of the storehouse of love of God and then just grabbed whatever fruits were there and then immediately ran out of the door and started to flood the entire world! No, first they got absorbed and they themselves overflowed. They appreciated it and relished it and with that relish they chanted. It is explained that the Panca-tattva themselves danced again and again and thus made it easier to drink the nectarean love of Godhead. They danced, cried, laughed and chanted like madmen and in this way they distributed love of God. Just like how Srila Prabhupada said that to preach Krsna consciousness is very easy – all you have to do is show people how happy you are! Easy, isn’t it!

 

Hare Krishna! Inauguration of ISKCON 50 celebrations at ISKCON…
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Hare Krishna! Inauguration of ISKCON 50 celebrations at ISKCON Punjabi Bagh
On 13th Aug’15, , the entire community of devotees at ISKCON Punjabi Bagh came together to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s Historic Jalduta Yatra. It officially marked the launch of ISKCON 50th Anniversary Celebration as well. It was an evening of expression of gratitude to Srila Prabhupada and about the opportunity we have for celebrating 50th Anniversary
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19447

Hare Krishna! WSN July 2015 – World Sankirtan Newsletter In…
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Hare Krishna! WSN July 2015 - World Sankirtan Newsletter
In July, the biggest increase percentage-wise in the Large Temple category was Bhaktivedanta Manor’s score, an increase of 222%. It’s nice to note the Manor’s steady increase. I’m sure that Srila Prabhupada is pleased with the Manor devotees. The Manor was the last place he visited in the West, and many European devotees went there at that time to get his association and give him their good results in book distribution. Another surprise is that the No. 1 temple in the world is in the Small Temple category, which may be a first. Rupanuga Vedic College in Kansas is No. 1, with 31,046 book points: a 242% increase. This demonstrates that where there is teamwork, amazing things are accomplished. The RVC has seven books distributors traveling all over the USA. During the summers they do the WARP concert tours together, driving and distributing long hours. Very focused book distributors.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19443

How can we avoid comparing ourselves with others while living in a comparing culture?
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How can we avoid moroseness caused by repeatedly falling for sense gratification?
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How can we serve according to our nature within an institutional setup?
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Appreciating Bhagavatam as rasa shastra
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Srimad Bhagavatam class at Radha Vrindavanchandra temple, Pune

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Hare Krishna! The Prime Minister of East Timor receives Bhagavad…
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Hare Krishna! The Prime Minister of East Timor receives Bhagavad Gita As It Is
On Ekadasi day, August 26, 2015 Trata-dasa (Dr. Tri Astawa) from Bali, Indondesia, an ISKCON devotee/ disciple of His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami, met with the Prime Minister of East Timor, Dr.Rui Maria de Araujo in Jakarta, Indonesia and presented him with the Bhagavad Gita As It Is in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian). The occasion was a reunion of medical doctors who worked at a hospital in Dili, East Timor. Trata-dasa and the now Prime Minister worked together at the hospital.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19432

The Origin of Cities
→ The Enquirer

Seeing her fulfilling everyone’s desires with her milk, Emperor Pṛthu fell in love with the Earth Goddess. But since he had taken her milk, she seemed like a mother to him, and it felt wrong to express his love in a romantic way. Even then, since he had threatened to punish her, it also felt wrong to love her like a mother. Finally, he realized that she was like his daughter, and he expressed this love to her with great affection.

Remembering that she had asked him to make her surface more level for the sake of agriculture, the Emperor stuck the mountaintops with arrows. They crumbled, and the earth became much more level.

The All-Attractive Son of Vena then turned his fatherly attention to the practical welfare of his people, who lived in a disorganized fashion, scattered here and there. He gave them places to live, organized into cooperative units: small villages, larger towns with markets, and large cities with bustling commercial centers. He also made fortresses with barracks to house the soldiers and protect farmers and animals in the pastures. And he built mining villages near the mountains, where miners dug for gold, silver, and other metals.

Previous to Pṛthu, planning of towns, villages and so on was unheard of. People simply lived wherever they liked, without fear. But after the calamities initiated by Vena, Pṛthu introduced these social structures to help people protect one another.

– Excerpt from an early draft of Part 4 of
Beautiful Tales of the All-Attractive
A translation of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam’s fourth canto
[4.18.28- 32]
By Vraja Kishor [VrajaKishor.com]

Tagged: agriculture, cities, earth goddess, prithu, social organization

Beloved
→ Seed of Devotion

(To know more about this Duet, click here. We have switched and now I am writing first, Rukmini doing art in response.)

Art and Words Duet: Day 7
Beloved

For years upon years
I searched for The One
I cried many tears
and on the years spun

I looked inside
and looked out there
was tempted to hide
but honed my prayer

When I discovered my Lord
He filled the hole in my heart
I let down my guard
for my heart had become whole 

I became calm and content
spending long days alone
I watched the sun rise and set
Peace covering my soul

Now I didn't even want to get married
For my life was going fine
But of course that was when the Lord carried
me to His beloved
and mine. 



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