The following is the 3rd lot of Nava-vraja Mahima original pictures for sale on ebid
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O-A3-018  Gopala  350 euros

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Hare Krishna! Madhudesha commemorates Jaladuta…
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Hare Krishna! Madhudesha commemorates Jaladuta anniversary
Madhudesh Yatra, celebrated the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s visit to the country with a programme in a port city in the country on 3rd September 2015. After Srila Prabhupada departed Kolkata in August 1965 on board the Jaladuta, the ship docked in Colombo, Cochin and a port city in Madhudesha on 3rd September, before arriving in Boston. The special program was celebrated in a factory on the banks of an international canal. Several hundred people attended the celebration which featured kirtan, aratik, a lecture on Srila Prabhupada’s life, and how he stopped in Madhudesha on his way to Boston.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19687

Tribute to Shrila Prabhupada
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari


Dear Shrila Prabhupada, please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to your Divine Grace!

Namo om vishnu padaya krishna preshtaya bhu-tale 
Shrimate Bhaktivedanta Swamin iti namine 

Om ajnana timirandhasya 
jnananjana shalakaya 
cakshur unmilitan yena 
tasmai shri gurave namah 

With a touch of bitterness mixed with so much joy I write to celebrate the holy day of your Vyasapuja, your holy and salvific appearance in this world. This world otherwise horrible host of incarnations marked by joy and pain that obsessively would end each time with the tragedy of death, harbinger of the next rebirth in the infinite cycle of samsara. 
You came and you have given us the opportunity and the means to redeem ourselves, save ourselves and fall in love with God. 
Glory and infinite gratitude to You for bringing the divine light of hope and faith in the darkness of our existence! 
My mother, Anandavrindavana Devi Dasi, a fervent devotee of yours, your admirer and servant, recently left her old and exhausted body, and her physical presence has disappeared from the sight of our eyes, thus exiting at the same time from our relationships, and this has left a large void, yet filled by an infinite and poignant feeling of Love at a distance. 
I’m telling You this, not to sadden You, but to offer my experience of how this event made me realize, once again, the infinite luck we received to have known You, immediately welcomed You into our heart, and later served You, by shaping my life, both of my parents life and the life of my whole biological and spiritual family in accordance with Your divine teachings. 
The writing of this letter implies every year - at least once a year- a honest and deep look into the mirror of our consciousness, and every time, it is for me both arduous and highly beneficial because, by seeing the good and the bad in me allows me to adhere strongly to the first one and even more decisively take distance from the second one. So I offer You the conclusions I have drawn from this immersion by seeking what unites me to You.
When I think of whom, in the course of this incarnation has had the greatest influence on the human and spiritual forming of my character, no doubt it's You. 
When I think of whom, who over the last forty years I have turned to, every time I found myself faced with crucial choices, no doubt it's You. 
When I think of whom my heart bestows the utmost gratitude on, no doubt it's You. 
You are the source of my inspiration. You are my model of active and contemplative Bhakti. 
You are the one whom I dedicate my every initiative to, because I know that the success of my offer to God depends on obtaining Your Divine Grace under the form of intercession.
You, with Your behavior, teaching and works, are the most divine thing that I could see in this life. 
You are to me more than a father and a mother, whom I love dearly, because I was born from You into Knowledge and Love. 
I honor You and give You all my gratitude for what I have accomplished. 
I ask You for forgiveness for any lack in my behavior and the blessing of being able to serve You with ever increasing commitment, purity and spiritual strength. 
With infinite gratitude and devoted affection I offer the remaining years of my life, waiting, when it will be, to come to You, by Krishna, among the blessed people! 
Your servant, 
Matsyavatara dasa

Ultimate goal
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

We haven’t arrived in this world to build houses, to create organizations, to erect churches or temples and turn the earth into a garden; this is not the purpose of our existence.
We are here to gain spiritual realization; everything else is just a means to this goal, everything else is to be used by us for the purpose of our development.
We have to act, because without acting we would starve, we would die from thirst or from sleep… but action is functional and what counts is the goal for which we act.
What elevates us on the platform of spiritual evolution and what shows us the Truth behind appearances, is the spirit with which we offer our action.

Matsyavatara das

Hare Krishna! Iskcon Devotees Honestly the devotion and…
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Hare Krishna! Iskcon Devotees
Honestly the devotion and dedication by the Devotees of ISKCON is too exemplary and beyond any words to describe. Please accept my infinite humble pranams to one and all GURU MAHARAJS, and the Devotees who are serving and who have WISELY carrying out their life to SRI SRI RADHE KRISHNA,in the SriDham, I am spell bound by their Dedication towards SRI SRI RADHE MADHAV, GURU MAHARAJ, even in FLOODS, [leave alone normal day, daily duties] doing the duties with utmost LOVE , AFFECTION AND CONCERN in preparing the koil for timely pujas, decorating the LORDSHIPS AND GURUMAHARAJ,with ornaments, attires, flowers . Even in early morning, during the day and night devotees do the duties, perfectly instructed by SRI SRI GURU MAHARAJ.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19677

Spiritual Vision
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it”. Bhagavad-gita VII.14
In the Bhagavata Purana the “ocean” of the material existence is described as something scaring, terrifying, in which the jivabhuta – the conditioned living entity – life after life is forced to experience birth (jati), old age (jara), disease (vyadhi) and death (mrityu).
Only by the mercy of Guru and Krishna this ocean of obstacles becomes like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print.
All in all, there is no real dichotomy between nature and spirit, as both energies arise from the same supreme Consciousness, God, Who permeates the entire universe, exactly as the individual consciousness permeates the entire body of the living entity.
Therefore in the world everything is tightly connected: the subject to the object, spirit to nature, the living entities to each other and each of them to the Supreme, the individual bodies to the cosmic body, the individual mind to the universal mind.
A deep comprehension of these thick connections and relationships between micro- and macrocosm is an essential requirement on the path of spiritual realization, which in the vaishnava-vedic tradition does absolutely not imply an escape from the world, but rather means the development of an organic and complete vision of the absolute Reality.
Matsyavatara das

Hare Krishna! Radha Kunda Seva – August 2015 Photos and…
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Hare Krishna! Radha Kunda Seva – August 2015 Photos and Updates
By the Radha Kunda Seva team
The new kitchen facility we rented has been working well for serving their daily meals. And we’ve continued to use the Lalita Kunda temple facility for the once per month feast for the widows. Our ladies are well-fed and happy. Our 68 ladies are now nearly 80% sponsored! 53 of them! Thank you! Progress is being made on opening our Padma Charitable Trust Bank Account and the acrylic latex painting work at Sakhi Kunda is nearly complete. Meanwhile, cleaning and garden maintenance are continuing through rain and heat, clouds and shine. Please browse our latest photos and join our efforts
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19674

Oh, the Warlike Days of Yore, When I was a Real “Preacher”…
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This bit is getting edited out of my memoir, Train-wrecks and Transcendence: My collision of Hardcore and Hare Krishna. I’m editing it out for the sake of brevity and focus, but I don’t want it to just disappear immediately into oblivion, so here it is as a post.

Issue Four of Enquirer also published a letter from one of the most outspoken anti-Krishna voices in the scene.

 …I feel your zine is a total waste. [My zine] In Memory Of was pretty much anti-everything included in your zine, esp. Cappo.

Religion is for the weak-minded. The “Supreme Being” just does not exist except in books. Anyone who puts their faith into a “Superior Being” is mentally insecure and/or afraid of everything.

Here is a sample of the less pompous sections of my reply:

Don’t think that religion only happens in Bible studies. If your religion doesn’t come from a pulpit, it comes from your TV, your friends, your magazines, your records, or from the crazy little ideas that pop up in your mind… (which are nothing more than habitual responses to environmental and genetic stimuli).

You are very religious (just a different kind of religion). You have firm faith in what you believe, but there is no actual substance behind your arguments against the existence of non-material reality or its source, the Supreme Living Entity. Throughout your entire letter, not once did you provide a single argument for anything at all. You just shouted accusations. Any religious zealot can do that… Do you expect me to accept the religion you are so forcefully proselytizing simply because you said so? Isn’t this what you profess to be against?

You put tremendous faith into a “supreme being” – your fantasy image of yourself as the strong-willed John Mayne combatant of religious weak-mindedness. In this way you put your faith into a person “who just does not exist,” except in your head.

The opening article, “Atheism: What’s it Doing in Hardcore?” was a similarly bold counter-attack on the enemy – describing atheism as another type of religion, whose tenants undermine many of the most important values of Punk Rock, like individuality, and equal rights for humans and animals. Atheism, I argued, describes life as an unintentional, chance combination of chemicals and electricity – which would mean that there is no real substance to personality, emotions, or any other aspects of individuality. And if individual life has no real meaning or purpose, I argued, there is no compelling reason to protect it or improve it.

Vraja Kishor

www.VrajaKishor.com


Tagged: Atheism, Hare Krishna Punk, Individuality, krishnacore, Religion is for the Weak

Hare Krishna! The spiritual world is conducted by the internal…
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Hare Krishna! The spiritual world is conducted by the internal potency – Radharani
Srila Prabhupada: Radharani is the pleasure potency of Krsna. As we understand from Vedic literature, Krsna has many varieties of potencies. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. Just like the same example, as a big man has got many assistants and secretaries so that he hasn’t got to do anything personally, simply by his will everything is done, similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has got varieties of energies, and everything is being done so nicely. Just like this material energy. This material world, where we are now living… This is called material energy. Bahir-anga-sakti. The Sanskrit name is bahir-anga, external energy of Krsna. So how nicely it is being done, everything in the material energy. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita, mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram: [Bg. 9.10] “Under My superintendence the material energy is working.” The material energy is not blind. It is… On the background there is Krsna. Mayadhyaksena prakrtih [Bg. 9.10]. Prakrti means this material energy. Similarly… This is external energy. Similarly, there is another energy, which is internal energy. By the internal energy the spiritual world is being manifested. Paras tasmat tu bhavah anyah [Bg. 8.20]. Another energy, para, superior, transcendental, the spiritual world. As this material world is being manipulated under the external energy, similarly, the spiritual world is also conducted by the internal potency. That internal potency is Radharani.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19665

He Will Reward Us
→ Japa Group

I have found recently that if I continue to regularly chant attentively with determination, then the desire to taste a drop of Krsna's mercy increases.
When we have knowledge and trust in the Lord as our best friend....then He will reward us with tears flowing when we repeat His Holy names and Krsna will dance on our tongues.

Worship of the spiritual master: Part 1
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 15 August 2015, Vrindavan, India, Bhagavad-gita 17.1)

SP_VP_2015_DBN

Worship of the spiritual master goes beyond offering a flower and offering some incense. It goes beyond one’s own worship to the point of pleasing the spiritual master. The other day I was thinking, “Chant sixty-four rounds?” Then I thought, “That would be nice but wouldn’t it be nicer to make sixty-four devotees!

What would be a nicer offering – sixty-four rounds or sixty-four devotees? Of course, one does not necessarily exclude the other. One can chant sixty-four rounds and then make sixty-four devotees! But sometimes, rather than chant sixty-four rounds, maybe we should somehow or the other, spread Krsna consciousness.

So what does it mean to worship the spiritual master? When Srila Prabhupada received the order from his spiritual master to preach in the English language that was understood, in those days, to mean that he should preach to the English speaking world. But Prabhupada took it quite far. He could have just done some preaching in the Western world but Prabhupada filled that order to the maximum.

He extended not only in terms of language, from English to over seventy languages in which his books are translated. He also expanded it by traveling the globe. He expanded it to ultimately take it that his mission was to deliver the entire world – simply based on the words, “Preach in the English language!”

So where does it begin and where does it end – this worship of the spiritual master?

Monday, August 31st, 2015
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Monday, August 31st, 2015
Toronto, Ontario

Come To Terms

I had come to terms with one thing about our little chanting party that makes its merry way regularly through streets of pedestrians. The group, like today, consisting of three monks, one nun, and a layman by the name of Patrick, are not a particularly "loud-sounding" group of singers. I suppose I can belch it out to the accompaniment of a resounding mrdangasound but everyone else....?

This is not to blow my own horn but the others are by nature more soft-toned as well as more soft-spoken. So, the resolve in my mind is that we agree to not be a boisterous group but to be what we are - a bunch of mellow fellows.

Since I'll be leaving soon for a historic walk I thought, "Let's see what it looks like when I'm not there. Can we assemble a meaningful procession to go up Bloor Street? No! Then let's settle for a milder approach, sit on the grass and let our song run like smooth molasses."

So, to Christie Pitts Parkwe went this evening and delivered, or rather, tested the waters. We plopped ourselves onto the grass next to a small oak and sang. Two drums played with light thumps and one kartal (hand cymbal). During this time, the whole hour, what appeared to be a lost, homeless character had been in a daze while seated on a park bench. He kept looking our way. From the ample distance away, approval or rejection from him was not easy to discern.

Our group did what our alotted time could and as we were about to leave the fellow came over, again a bit dazed and perhaps traumatized by a ruthless world, and handed me a roll of quarters. It was done so nonchalantly. He turned and went off. I asked one of the boys to run after him and hand him one of our books for his edification but, "no, not interested". The mantras we sing were enough for him to appreciate, I imagine.

Perhaps a point was proven. A small group can choose a spot to sit down, chant with all their heart, in mild format, and people will love it.


May the Source be with you!

6 km

 

London Harinam Mela (Album with photos) The Krishna…
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London Harinam Mela (Album with photos)
The Krishna consciousness movement is chiefly engaged in chanting the maha-mantra all over the world. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu introduced the congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra to give everyone a chance to hear Krishna’s holy name, for simply by hearing Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, one becomes purified (ceto-darpana-marjanam)
See them here: https://goo.gl/MxurBr

Hare Krishna! Sri Radha—the Feminine Divine Satyaraja Dasa: The…
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Hare Krishna! Sri Radha—the Feminine Divine
Satyaraja Dasa: The divine counterpart of Sri Krishna is known as Sri Radha. Together, according to the ancient Vaishnava tradition, this dual-gendered divinity is God-male and female dimensions of the Absolute Truth. Sri Radha is the complete energy, and Sri Krishna is the complete energetic source. They are nondifferent from each other, just as musk and its scent are forever merged, or as fire and heat are inseparable. Radha and Krishna are one, yet They have assumed two separate forms to enjoy loving pastimes. Numerous theological texts explain how this is so, but most thorough are the writings of Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami, great masters in the Vaishnava tradition whose books have been translated and commented upon by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. To understand Sri Radha, then, English readers would do well to turn to Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=13069

Hare Krishna! Srimati Radharani’s Beautiful Mood An early…
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Hare Krishna! Srimati Radharani’s Beautiful Mood
An early offering for Radhastami. Srimati Radharani, the tenderhearted, feminine counterpart of Godhead, is that one person in all of existence who knows best how to express love for Krsna. She is the supreme container of love for Him, and, as such, She is known as the asraya category. Moreover, it is She who, like a mother, nurtures us in our devotional service. Krsna, the object of Her love, comes once in a day of Brahma to display and enjoy His pastime mellows. Afterward, however, Krsna was left with three unfulfilled desires, and to fulfill those inner longings is the paramount reason for His return as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srimati Radhika is the unique, munificent cause of those unfulfilled desires of Krsna. In this way Vrishabhanu-nandini is establishing the greatest welfare for Him……..and for all His uncountable jivas.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=1087

Hare Krishna! Devotional Services Srila Prabhupada: Lord Shri…
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Hare Krishna! Devotional Services
Srila Prabhupada: Lord Shri Krishna Who is the Personality of Godhead in His eternal Form is glorified because He has endeared Himself by His acts of benevolence in disseminating the different kinds of Rasa or Zests. Rasa is psychologically described as a sense perception. But the sense perception which we experience in our material conception of life is a perverted reflection of the reality. The reality is approached by self-realisation of understanding the all inclusive Personal Form of the Supreme Who is the all attractive Shri Krishna. The very name of Shri Krishna is suggestive of a conception of complete attraction by dint of wealth, strength, influence, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. Complete embodiment of all these opulences combined together in their fullness is exhibited by the manifested activities of the Lord when He is, out of His causeless mercy, within our view, although the Supreme Person is transcendental to the speculative actions of thinking, feeling and willing of a living being.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19658

NBS#20 – The Glories of Srimati Radharani For the upcoming…
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NBS#20 - The Glories of Srimati Radharani
For the upcoming festival of Sri Radhastami, we wish to humbly present the Glories of Srimati Radharani.
**Radhastami Special Edition** NBS#20 Features: 1) The Crest Jewel Among Krishna’s Lovers Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur 2) Who Is Srimati Radharani? Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami 3) Devotional Service In Conjugal Love His Divine Grace A .C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 4) Sri Radhikastaka Eight Prayers Glorifying Sri Radhika Srila Raghunatha Das Goswami
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19655

Dependence leads to Independence Absolute Dependence on the Lord…
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Dependence leads to Independence
Absolute Dependence on the Lord bestows us Independence from Maya, and gives us a feeling of fearlessness and permanent happiness. To attain this stage, it is of foremost importance that we render devotional service unto the lotus Feet of Lord, by hearing about His pastimes, chanting His names as has been taught by ever benevolent Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who gave us the beautiful, Harinama. This will enable us to clean our souls and merge our consciousness in the service of Lord Shri Krsna.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19651