Hare Krishna! Yoga, Srila Prabhupada’s books, Kirtan and Mahaprasad: International Yoga Day in Bali, Indonesia
This year June 21 was celebrated as the first International Yoga day. People from all walks of life came out to participate in the celebration: India, the US, Beijing, Paris, Manila, Seoul, Bangkok, Taipei and of course, Indonesia. Indonesia, as one of the supporter of the Yoga Day, also organized a mass Yoga relaxation program in its four biggest city, Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya, and Denpasar. Through Indian Embassy in Indonesia, as part of the “Friend of India: festival of India in Indonesia 2015”, promoted Yoga Day event. The committee invited the school of Yoga, practitioners, people interested in yoga, and the Hare Krsna Devotees to participate in the celebration of the International Yoga day.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18703

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: THESTAR

A TOTAL of 3,000 copies of the Hindu holy scripture — Bhagavad Gita were handed over to all 28 Tamil vernacular schools in Penang.

Copies of the holy book were given to the primary schools in an effort to educate the young about the values in life to achieve unity and peace in the world.

The event was organised by Global Integrated Transcendental Association (GITA) of Penang.

Its president Madhusudan Das said through this event, the pupils would have the opportunity to learn anddiscover more about the Bhagavad Gita.

“Besides these Tamil schools, we will also hand out copies of the Bhagavad Gita to other educational institutions, libraries and participants of ongoing programmes by GITA.

“We aim to distribute 5,000 copies by the end of the year,” he said at the opening of the Penang Tamil schools’ GITA Programme at Komtar in George Town on Saturday.

He added that the copies, which were given out were in English and Tamil.

Madhusudan said GITA would hold a Gita Champion League, which would be a statewide competition on the reciting of the Bhagavad Gita.

“This competition, which will be held both in English and Tamil, is to encourage students to read the holy book and to understand it,” he added.

Details of the competition will be announced at a later date.

State Youth and Sports, Women, Family and Community Development Committee chairman Chong Eng, who was present at the ceremony, said good values were important for a community.

“Everyone can own the holy book, but it is more important to put in the effort to learn what is in the book and to follow it,” she said.

Hare Krishna! Peace prayer by Dr. A.P.J. Kalam in his address “The Joy of Human Life”
Oh Almighty, create thoughts and actions in the minds of the people of the nation so that they live united. Oh Almighty, bless the people to take a path of life with righteousness as righteousness gives the strength of character. Help all religious leaders of the country to give strength to the people to combat the divisive forces. Guide the people to develop an attitude to appreciate different ideologies and transform enmity among individuals, organizations and nations into friendliness and harmony Embed the thought ‘Nation is bigger than the Individual’ in the minds of the leaders and people. Oh God, bless the people to work with perseverance to transform the country into a peaceful and prosperous nation and promote world peace.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18700

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 20 December 2011, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.14.1)

Question: In the purport, Prabhupada first explained the brahmachari, vanaprastha and sannyasa ashrams and then at last he said, “Grhastha ashram for those who are so attached to sex life.” So it sounds like the only reason to go to grhastha ashram is lust. Is that what it is?

Well, generally speaking it is but sometimes, even self-realized souls take to the grhastha ashram to fulfil a purpose of the Lord; that also happens. Srinivas Acharya, for example, had two wives but he was fully self-realized; he was seeing the spiritual world. That was an arrangement of the Supreme Lord but for most of us, well you know…

It is like this, you are perfectly happy all by yourself and then suddenly, some sex desire begins to arise and then one comes to desire to have a relationship with someone. Some people may say that is not all there is to it; there is also companionship. Alright, I agree that companionship is important. We cannot just be alone in this world, we need to have other people but I think marriage, and I say that after twenty-four years of having tried it, that marriage is an unnatural arrangement! I will explain why.

I think that to give someone else so much right to just infringe on your privacy is too much. See, if you are not married to someone, you can nicely and politely say, “Thank you very much. I need a little time for myself!” But you cannot say that to your wife! I mean, you can say it but my God, see what comes next, “You never spend any time with me… you have no interest in me whatsoever… you completely cold and uninterested… you are always preoccupied with other things…”

And you are thinking, “I just want to finish chanting my rounds!”

So it does not allow you the privacy that you naturally need. Marriage is very intense. The infringement on privacy that it brings is an unnatural arrangement. As far as companionship is concerned, I think there is a need for that but I would not recommend marriage as the solution for that.

Hare Krishna! Dressing Like a Vaishnava
Bhakti Charu Swami: There should be no compromise in our Vaisnava appearance. We are representatives of Srila Prabhupada. We should aim to be first class representatives. We need to be aware of the bonafide standard of appearance, maintain it and preach it. In the age of Kali deviations easily become the standard. We should be alert to this. Proper Vaisnava dress helps us maintain proper consciousness regarding our identity and responsibility in service to Srila Prabhupada and the Vaisnavas.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18697

Animal Sacrifice Banned at Nepal’s Gadhimai Festival, Half a Million Animals Saved
New Delhi—In a move that will spare the lives of millions of animals over coming years, animal sacrifice has been cancelled indefinitely at Nepal’s Gadhimai festival, the world’s biggest animal sacrifice event held every five years for around 265 years. The decision announced by the Gadhimai Temple Trust follows rigorous negotiations and campaigning by Animal Welfare Network Nepal and Humane Society International/India.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/3NDE76

The post One who observes injustice and does nothing is also implicated in sin appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Please Join us in prayers for Surabhi prabhu, beloved disciple of Srila Prabhupada and the devotee architect of Vrindavan and Juhu Temples. At this time, he has come to Vrindavan to leave this world, as he lost the battle with cancer. Went to see him this morning, he was unconscious and the devotees were doing kirtan. Just for the service of building two of Srila Prabhupada’s favorite temples, he is assured the highest destination!

Hare Krishna! “God”?
Ravindra Svarupa dasa: What the punctuation in the title indicates: Quotation marks: Draping the word God in quotation marks indicates that we are first concerned with the signifier, not the signified. (Compare these two sentences: I am interested in God. I am interested in “God.”) Question mark: The mark of interrogation backstopping “God” points us next to questions concerning the concept or idea of God. What does it mean? Aren’t there many different meanings? Isn’t the meaning often vague or ambiguous?
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18692

Hare Krishna Athlete!
Professional soccer player Devala Dasa reveals his t-shirt glorifying Lord Krishna after his team Bayamon wins the Puerto Rico Soccer League championship vs Athletico San Juan!

Warming up for the maha Sankirtana Yajna! (7 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Two hundred thousand young people have already arrived for the Woodstock Festival, which begins in two days. Taking advantage of the big crowd we went on harinama with 250 devotees. A number of them distributed invitations to our Krsna’s Village of Peace. Many people danced with us in ecstasy, relishing the sweet nectar of Krsna’s holy names. A number of them followed us back to our village where we had more kirtan. After prasadam we had even more kirtan well into the night! Kirtan is our life and soul and an intricate part of the great Woodstock Festival.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/yop0cT

Bread Baking Class-basic techniques and healty options (Album with photos)
Pizza Effect, Poland - Summer’s Course.
Our groups’ approach to learning to cook is all about being relaxed and having fun together: some conversation, some laughs, some photos , some more fun, and a lot of cooking in between!
See them here: https://goo.gl/VV0K2u

Hare Krishna! WSN June 2015 – World Sankirtan Newsletter
June was a very good month for book distribution worldwide. Summer months are generally good for us book distributors. The sunny weather puts people in a relatively nicer and happier mood. The highest increase in June was by the temple in Monterrey, Mexico. Something inspired them to do a lot of book distribution. They had a 610% increase, distributed over 1,800 books, and did 2,024 book points, which makes Monterrey the No. 1 temple in all of Central and South America. Congratulations, Monterrey book distributors! Nairobi also had a good month with a 366% increase, over 1,300 books distributed, and 1,832 book points.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18688

Preaching program with Radhanath Swami @ Golden Bridge Yoga (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If one chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra without offences, all of one’s sinful actions are surely atoned for immediately, but one should not commit such deeds again, for that is an offence. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.16.14 Purport)
See them here: https://goo.gl/czJslP

Lecture Podcast:
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Talk Podcast:
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Today our ranks swelled to 730 devotees as buses arrived from all over Europe. We held an istagosti where the many services connected to our preaching work at Woodstock were divided up. It’s an exciting time as we begin one of ISKCON’s biggest and most influential festival programs. But as great as it all is, [...]

रात्रान्तेत्रस्तवृन्दे रितबहुबिरवैर् बोधितौकीरसारी
पद्यैर्हृद्यैरहृद्यैर् अपिसुखशयनाद् उत्तितौतौसखीभिः
दृष्टौहृष्टौतदात्वो दितरतिललितौ कक्खतीगीःसशऩ्कौ
राधाकृष्णौ सतृष्णाव् अपिनजनजधाम्न्याप्ततल्पौ स्मरामि

rātrānte trasta vṛnde / rita bahubi ravair / bodhitau kīra sārī
padyair hṛdyair ahṛdyair / api sukha śayanāt / utthitau tau sakhībhiḥ
dṛṣṭau hṛṣṭau tadātvo/dita rati lalitau / kakkhatī gīḥ saśaṅkau
rādhā-kṛṣṇau satṛṣṇav / api nija nija dhām / nyāpta talpau smarāmi

rā

trān

te

tra

sta

vṛn

de

ri

ta

ba

hu

bi

ra

vair

bo

dhi

tau

kī

ra

sā

rī

pad

yair

hṛd

yair

a

hṛd

yair

a

pi

su

kha

śa

ya

nāt

ut

thi

tau

tau

sa

khī

bhīḥ

dṛṣ

ṭau

hṛṣ

ṭau

ta

āt

vo

di

ta

ra

to

la

li

tau

kak

kha

tī

gīḥ

sa

śaṇ

kau

rā

dhā

kṛṣ

ṇau

sa

tṛṣ

nāv

a

pi

ni

ja

ni

ja

dhām

nyā

pta

tal

pau

sma

rā

mī

As the night comes to an end and dawn approaches, Vṛnda hurridly awakens them with the songs of many love-bird parrots.

The birds recite poems to help them arise from their pleasure-bed; some poems are dear to their heart, and also some are not. The girlfriends witness it all and participate.

When they finally rise from their graceful romantic dalliances, they are shocked to see the dawn and hear the words of Rādhā’s favorite monkey, Kakkhatī.

Although they still thirst for one another, Rādhā and Krishna return to their own rightful beds in their own abodes.

I meditate on this.

---

The reason some songs are “not dear to the heart” is that the parrots must remind Rādhā and Krishna that they have to get out of bed and leave one another. The fearful words that Kakkhatī exclaims to Rādhā are something along the lines of “Your mother in law might be coming down the path right now, searching for you!”

It is a very magical, fantasiac, wonderful scene – with all the forest animals awakening Rādhā and Krishna.

The sakhīs watch while the animals waken Rādhā-Krishna. They they begin to participate, once the couple has arisen. Eventually they also express pleasant and unpleasant poems to help the couple separate and return home.

– Vraja Kishor

VrajaKishor.com

Tagged: govinda-lilamrta, Krishna, krishna lila, Radha Krishna, Radharani, Vraja-lila

Sonu and Manisha are from the Punjab in India and have been living in Australia for the last 5 years. They have a little baby called Hargun who is also called Vrnda.

The Articles

Article 1: Hare (Rādhā)

Article 2: Krishna

Articles 3 & 4: Repeat Articles 1 and 2.

Articles 5 & 6: Repeat Article 2, twice.

Articles 7 & 8: Repeat Article 1, twice.

Article 9: Hare – as in Article 1.

Article 10: Rāma – Rādhā’s lover.

Articles 11 & 12: Repeat Articles 9 and 10.

Articles 13 & 14: Repeat Article 10, twice.

Articles 15 & 16: Repeat Article 9, twice.

Article 17: We, the bhaktas, shall treat the above 16 Articles as ends in and of themselves, not as means to any other end. We shall therefore set aside or best time, energy, and concentration to cultivate these Articles. These Articles are not encumbrances or obligations to complete, nor are they tools to serve our illusion-intrinsic exhibitionism.

Article 18: In our personal practice of these Articles, nāma-japa, we shall sit firmly, and work diligently against addictions to self-centered thoughts which keep the mind loud, occluding true personal relationship with the 16 Articles.

Article 19: In our communal practice of these Articles, nāma-saṁkīrtan, we shall decorate the Articles with exquisite melodies and delicate rhythms, to fully express the inner bhāva trying to dawn within our hearts, not to occlude it with the loudness of ego that makes an exhibition of skill or “advancement.” We shall take our time, explore the articles fully and slowly, and allow the energy to peak when natural.

Article 20: There shall be no further articles. Though there may be amendments to support them.

---

The Amendments

First Amendment: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam

Second Amendment: Explanations of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam by realized Gauḍīyas. Especially:

• Śrī Jīva’s Ṣad-sandarbha
• Śrī Viśvanātha’s Sārārtha-darśinī
• Swāmī Prabhupāda’s purports

Third Amendment: Expansions of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Especially

• Expansion of Bhāgavatam’s sambandha-tattva – like Śrī Sanātana’s Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, and Śrī Vyāsa’s Bhagavad-Gītā
• Expansions of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam’s abhidheya-tattva – like Śrī Rūpa’s Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu
• Expansions of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam’s prayojana-tattva – especially Śrī Kavirāja’s Govinda-līlāmṛta, Śrī Bīlvamaṅgala’s Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta, and Śrī Jayadeva’s Gītā-govinda.

Fourth Amendment: Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta

Signed,
the only active memember of this
Individual Search for Krishna Consciousness,

Vraja Kishor dās
VrajaKishor.com

Tagged: ISKCON, Krishna

 

 

Topic
Part 1 (August 11th) and Part 2 (August 16th)
Beyond Frustrated Love to Bhakti, the Yoga of Ultimate Connection

 

 

Topic
Part 1 (August 11th) and Part 2 (August 16th)
Beyond Frustrated Love to Bhakti, the Yoga of Ultimate Connection

The Lord is so kind to us that He can be present before us personally in the form of transcendental sound, but unfortunately we have no taste for hearing and glorifying the Lord's name and activities. We have already discussed developing a taste for hearing and chanting the holy sound. It is done through the medium of service to the pure devotee of the Lord.

SB 1.2.17 purport

Padayatra in Russia 2015 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Compared to the ocean of transcendental bliss that one tastes by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, the pleasure derived fromimpersonal Brahman realization is like the shallow water in canal.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, 7.97)
See them here: https://goo.gl/JwJYfu

Prasadam distribution program in Poland (Album with photos)
See them here: https://goo.gl/m4zx9

Sommercamp Simhachalam, Germany Ratha Yatra 2015 (Album with photos)
See them here: https://goo.gl/Fz9bx8

Preaching program in Kiev, Ukraine (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “In Dvapara-yuga one could satisfy Krishna or Visnu only by worshiping Him gorgeously according to the pancaratriki system, but in the Age of Kali one can satisfy and worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari simply by chanting the holy name.” (Narayana-samhita)
See them here: https://goo.gl/NPRD30

Dasyam, sakhyam and atma-nivedanam. (English/Turkish)

The post Istanbul lecture on Bhakti-yoga (Part 2) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Harinama in Moscow (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “My dear lord, what kind of mantra you given have Me? I have become mad simply by chanting this maha-mantra!” (Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, 7.81)
See them here: https://goo.gl/GwJZYG

Detroit ISKCON celebrated its 30^th Annual Rathyatra on Sunday July 19^th with its largest attendance ever – an estimated 10,000 visitors. There were many highlights of the day, including grand opening ceremonies, amazing kirtan by Gaura Mani, Gopal and others, five hours of captivating stage entertainment, jammed packed Kidz Zone featuring Vedic crafts, live cooking demos and so much more. 

Hare Krishna! ISKCON Community Pays Tribute to Former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam appreciated the services rendered by ISKCON such as Bhagavad Gita Book distribution, Promoting people to become Vegetarian and ISKCON’s Food for Life Mid-day meal program. Further he also inaugurated Bhaktivedanta Hospital for Heart Center which is part of ISKCON activities. On behalf of the entire ISKCON Community we would like pay tribute for the former President of India. It is a great loss for India.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18685

Hare Krishna! The one who startled India with kirtan
One morning, soon after our arrival at Kailash Seksaria’s home, Srila Prabhupada called on a male devotee to chant the new melody of Gurvastakam. After two lines of the prayer, he asked him to stop and then requested another devotee to continue. The same thing happened, and he asked another devotee to chant, with the same result. Then he asked me to lead the prayer, and he did not stop me. So later, I asked him why he had done that, and he replied: Learn to listen. You cannot follow nicely unless you hear nicely, and you cannot lead nicely unless you have learned to follow nicely.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18682

The Restless Mind - How can we control it (5 min video)
Our mind is restless and fickle in nature. It is turbulent in its actions and tenacious in its selections. It is extremely difficult to control because it is strongly bound to desire for habituated sense gratification.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/wVLpNA

The post Daily Darshan – July 28th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Rathayatra in the City of a Hundred Spires (Prague) (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: To chant the holy name of Krishna one does not need to speculate on the philosophical aspects of the science of God, for one automatically becomes ecstatic and without consideration immediately chants, dances, laughs, cries and sings just like a madman. (Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, 7.79 Purport)
See them here: https://goo.gl/YsyLtf