Planet ISKCON

And what to do when they don’t change.

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Hare Krishna! Looking for the Supreme God
I was born and brought up in a Hindu family in Delhi, and we used to go to various temples and offer prayers before the gods. Two questions, however, always tickled my mind: Why do we worship so many gods, and who is the real God? As I never got answers to my questions, I considered all the gods equal, and in my teenage years all religions and faiths became one for me. Be it Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, or Christianity, all pointed towards one God. But I could not find out who this God is. During my school days, when I badly needed the help of God I would cry out to Him, but no name would come on my lips. Sometimes I wondered whether God has any name, and slowly and steadily I felt that God has no form or name but is a supernatural power—a powerful light we cannot see but can only feel.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18652

Hare Krishna! Please do not leave!
Yamuna Devi: So my sister bluntly expressed to Srila Prabhupada that she wanted to leave. She told him that “When you are here, everything is fine; but when you leave, everything becomes harder to deal with, especially the men, and I don’t want to do it.” I looked at Srila Prabhupada, whose eyes glistened with tears of love. I was also crying—we all were. With a combination of deep love and gravity, he said: Please do not leave. We have the best philosophy. You will not find a better philosophy in this world. There is nothing like the knowledge that we have in Krishna Consciousness. We have the best scriptures, like Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, The Nectar of Devotion and Caitanya-caritamrta.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18649

Vaishnava Summer Festival 2015 in Lietuva,Palanga (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: By chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, we gradually develop our eternal relationship with the Supreme Person and thus attain the perfection called svarupa-siddhi. We should take advantage of this benediction and go back home, back to Godhead. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.3.37 Purport )
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Maha Saturday Harinama at Union Square Park, New York City (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If someone calls Lord Ramacandra by the vibration Hare Rama, understanding it to mean “O Lord Ramacandra!” he is quite right. Similarly, if one says that Hare Rama means “O Sri Balarama!” he is also right. Those who are aware of the Vishnu-tattva do not fight over all these details. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 5.123 Purport)
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Confusion is a Blessing If We Respond Accordingly.
Radhanath Swami: Confusion is a blessing. Because when we are confused, it shakes us from our complacency, and we start asking the questions that you are asking today.
This is the basis of the Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna was in total illusion. Then he became extremely confused. He thought his illusion was truth. The Bhagvad Gita begins were Arjuna is telling Krishna why he will not fight and he cannot fight. He had such good logic, such good scientific philosophical and social reasons. But ultimately all of his reasoning couldn’t really save him from distress because the nature of the world is that things happen that we just don’t want to happen, but they happen anyway. It’s the nature of this place.
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Mangal Arati Of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath; 13th July 2015

The teaching of Bhisma are one of the major teaching in Mahabharata. He is one of the Mahajana.

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Hare Krishna! US Congressman and Mayor Among 10,000 Attendees for Detroit ISKCON Rathyatra
Perhaps one of the greatest surprises of the day was when US Congressman David Trott joined the Opening Ceremonies as Honory Chief Guest. He joined already impressive group of Honorary Chief Guests for the Opening Ceremonies, including the Mayor, entire City Council, City Manager and several key city officials. Just before Mayor Gatt and Congressman Trott addressed the large crowds, they both were presented with a copy of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita As it Is. Mayor Gatt was so touched by the gift that he announced in front of all: “wow, I’m honored. I will begin reading it today!” Congressman Trott pledged his support for the festival and requested us all to reach out to him whenever needed.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18646

kuñjād goṣṭhaṁ niśānte / praviśati kurute / dohanānnāśanādyāṁ

From the groves to the villiage at dawn
making his return.
Then sleeping, having breakfast, and milking the cows.

prātaḥ sāyaṁ ca līlāṁ / viharati sakhibhiḥ / saṅgave cārayan gāḥ

Enjoying play day and night 
enjoying with his girlfriends
enjoying and moving among them

madyāhne cātha naktaṁ / vilasati vipine / rādhayāddhāparāhne

Then, during mid-day and mid-night,
manifesting delightful dalliance with Rādhā
(And in the afternoon and predawn, unmanifestedly)

goṣṭhaṁ yāti pradoṣe / ramayati suhṛdo / yaḥ sa kṛṣṇo ‘vatān naḥ

Going to the villiage in the evenings
To delight his dear ones.
Thus Krishna reveals himself to us

There are 8 divisions of the day, 4 of the daytime, 4 of the nighttime.

The 1st division of daytime is the daybreak. At this time he returns to the village from the groves and catches a few winks of wonderfully deep sleep. In the 2nd division he wakes up, has breakfast, and milks his cows. In the 3rd division, mid-day, he plays with the gopīs headed by Rādhā. In the 4th division, afternoon, he plays with them in an unmanifest way – he stays in their hearts and minds, but goes externally to play with the boys.

In the 1st division of night, evening, he returns to the villiage, and delights his family. [He has dinner and so on] In the 2nd division of night, he moves to meet the gopīs, and plays with them. In the 3rd division, midnight, his play with the gopis is at its manifest height (as it was at mid-day). In the 4th division the play is unmanifest – they all sleep.

The meter for chanting the sanskrit is: – – – – * – – / * * * * * * – / – * – – * – – (“–” is a long syllable, held twice as long as “*”, the short syllable). The pattern is the same for every line.

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Tagged: govinda-lilamrita, govinda-lilamrta, Krishna, krishna lila, nitya-lila

Krsna Lunch preaching, Gainesville, Florida, US (Album with photos)
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ISKCON-INDONESIA - Beautiful Hymn of ISKCON-INDONESIA by teen devotees (4 min video)
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Ratha-Yatra New Govardhan Farm (Album with 97 photos)
ISKCON New Govardhana - Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari
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and what they eat, Baladeva asks which side to worship the shila and Rasa-Panrayana about good preachers with bad conduct.

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Ratha Yatra in Munich, Germany (Album with photos)
Everyone should be given a chance to take prasada and thus be induced to chant the holy names of Hare Krishna and also dance in ecstasy. By these three processes, although performed without knowledge or education, even even a dog went back to Godhead. Chaitanya Caritamrta Antya Lila 1.32
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Hare Krishna! Serving Prabhupada Together
Giriraj Swami and Shyamasundar Prabhu: One of the programs that I remember best was a midday program at the home of Ramchand Chabria. He invited a lot of big people, including Sadajivatlal. Now, Sadajivatlal was, in a nice way, a Hindu chauvinist. And while everyone was mingling, he somehow sat down next to me and began telling me about the glories of India’s heritage. He just went on about the superiority of Indian culture, focusing on Indian sweets. He said, “What do you have in America? Only chocolates and cake–that’s it. And we, just from milk and sugar, have burfi, pera, sandesa, rasagulla, rasamalai, rabri, gulabjamun–more than one hundred varieties.” He just went on and on. “And then with grains there is halava, malpura, jalebi, laddu, khir …” Just on that point he was completely smashing Western culture and establishing the superiority of India’s.
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Hare Krishna! Devotees carry out founder’s wish for temple made 44 years ago
WHEN His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada visited Malaysia in 1971, he had a vision for a Krishna temple to be built in Penang. The founder of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) had then drawn a rough sketch of the temple and left instructions for the devotees here to follow. It was quite a tall order but the devotees will soon see the fruits of their labour when the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple of Devotion and Understanding in Bandar Seberang Jaya officially opens on Aug 29.
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Hare Krishna! Whatever Happened to the Revolution?
Padmapani das: For many of us who came of age in the Sixties and Seventies, the counterculture and its promise of an alternative society based on love and peace was an important part of our lives. Art, music, poetry, philosophy, ecology and human rights were just a few of the buzzwords floating around the collective psyche of the Sixties generation. Revolution was in the air. “The establishment” was doomed and soon to be replaced with a kinder, gentler society. Peace would reign supreme and all peoples of the world would unite and be free from the chains of oppression. Or so we thought. At the time, it appeared that massive cultural changes were about to sweep away the capitalist system (or the “military-industrial-complex” as we used to call it). Every day there was a new victory for change.
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HG Jagadish Prabhu at ISKCON Mayapur on 2015-07-13, Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 06.11.26-27

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Hare Krishna! 34th annual Baroda Jagannath Rathayatra festival 2015
The Jagannath Rathayatra festival was seen by approximately four lakhs (400,000) local residents. Many devotees commented that the size of the crowds right from the Railway Station were noticably more than in past years! Before the Rathayatra procession began in the afternoon, prominent elected leaders of society visited the Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar Mandir at ISKCON Baroda in the morning for darshan of the Deities. The dignitaries included the Honorable Mayor of Baroda, Sri Bharatbhai Shah, Deputy Mayor Smt. Sunita Shukla, Baroda City President of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Sri Bharat Dangar, Leader of the opposition Congress Party in the Baroda Municipal Corporation, Sri Chandrakant (Batu) Shrivastava, Vuda (Vadodara Urban Development Corporation) Chairman Sri Naranbhai Patel, and Municipal Commissioner, Sri H.S. Patel (IAS).
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Written by Bhaktin Klara

Summer Camp

The camp took place from 01-06 July in the heart of the Czech Republic, near the town Kamenice nad Lipou. This was the second time that the Camp was hosted at this venue and the first time that Kadamba Kanana Swami graced the new place. Krsna again showed His mercy and we were blessed with wonderful weather and the devotees were satisfied. The Camp site had a nice pond, with rowing boat facilities and the unlimited current of warm water was a lure to both children and adults alike. If you attended the Camp before then you would know that almost every year there are some pastimes with water, so this new site was greatly appreciated.

Maharaj arrived on Thursday, 02 July and from that moment, he was besieged by devotees. On Friday morning, he gave a lecture where he highlighted the importance of regulated chanting, hearing and reading. He mentioned that we should chant whether we have taste for it or not, and if we are not chanting for the pleasure of Krsna, then we will not get the full benefit. Maharaj gave the afternoon seminar about appreciating vaisnavas and after lunch, he to the town Jindřichův Hradec where he led a wonderful harinama and was followed by many of our spiritual family.

Saturday, was the day of remembrance of Srila Prabhupada, so all lectures, thoughts and services were especially dedicated to Him. Maharaj mentioned that we should deepen our relationship with Srila Prabhupada and that we should find out what was important to Him. What was important to Srila Prabhupada is also important to Krsna and therefore it should be important for us also. Maharaj went on further to say that Srila Prabhupada manifests Himself to the extent how we; as His disciples, grand disciples and great-grand disciples; try to follow His instructions. And that we have to develop the mood of compassion and humility like Srila Prabhupada had. After this seminar, Maharaj led a roaring and very spontaneous kirtan so there was not enough time for another seminar that day!

During an initiation ceremony on Sunday, Maharaj mentioned that our chanting should be performed with great determination and that when we take up devotional service, all aspects of our lives will lead to devotional progress and all our activities will give benefit to all living beings. Bhaktin Veronika is now Vani devi dasi. Later in the afternoon, there was a Vedic wedding ceremony held and Maharaj led a very nice kirtan and his presence made this important event even more auspicious. His last and an unscheduled program at the Camp, was evening interview for a new documentary on the Czech Yatra.

Ratha Yatra

Lord Jagannatha with His siblings came to the streets of the Czech capital, Prague for the eighth time on 19 July. It was a really big party with so many devotees and visitors in attendance. Everyone was ecstatic in service to the Lord of the Universe.

This year, we were blessed by the association of many precious guests apart from Kadamba Kanana Swami, namely Janananda Swami, Danavir Goswami, Bhakti Vaibhava Swami, Parividha Prabhu and Jay Gurudev Prabhu.

The program after the procession was very busy. We had kirtans and bhajans, a speech by the Indian ambassador, Bharata Natyam dances, a musical show by Parividha Prabhu and Odissi dances. People could buy Indian and devotional goods in the Govinda shop, books, prasadam ice-cream, bakery products from the Czech farm and other kinds of delicious prasadam. Of course, there was also free prasadam for everyone who attended. Kadamba Kanana Swami led wonderful kirtan during the procession and then at the end of the day and in between, he talked to devotees.

The whole city was flooded by Krsna´s mercy and the mercy of all those vaisnavas. Now, we are looking forward to many future years of the festival.

Photos are courtesy of Martin Schubert, Višnujan das, Antardvip das, Lakšmí dd, Madhva Muni das, Indranudja das and Dayapara das.

Visit flickr to see all the photos