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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

Hare Krishna! A special home preaching program in Camarillo, California
One main area that was discussed was the need to better ourselves in three “S” areas- sanga (association), sadhana (devotional practice) and sadachara (character). The speaker quoted- “If one loses money, nothing is lost. If one loses health, something is lost but if one loses character, everything is lost.” The topic of hatred and religious intolerance rampant in the world today was also touched upon and the speaker enunciated beautifully how greed is leading to proprietorship of things that don’t belong to us in the first place. He specifically talked about the ‘simple living, high thinking’ model which is much needed in today’s society. Focusing on students, he encouraged them to think deeper since they would be the leaders of the future and to follow a path based on compassion and care was of prime necessity.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18679

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730 strong “transcendental army” gathers at the field for an epic battle! (5 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: 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 programs. But as great as it all is, we remember and keep close you our hearts, the fact that we are simply instruments in the hands of Srila Prabhupada and our previous acaryas. Narottam! Srinivas! Syamananda! Please send us your blessings too! You are our heroes in spreading Mahaprabhu’s samkirtan movement!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/MNhMhO

Consciousness is “light” (jyoti) because light illuminates the world and makes it perceptible. External objects are described as “dark” (tamas) because they are insentient. Yes, this is a dualistic paradigm, but is nonetheless useful and accurate because it describes the situation in the external world – which in fact is a dualistic reality.

Infinite lights shine upon the dark world, but the peculiar thing about consciousness-light which is different from ordinary light is that it is “svayam-jyoti” – a light that illuminates things only for the light-source (svayam-jyoti, btw, also means that it can illuminate itself to itself). Someone in a different city reads a Harry Potter novel, for example, and their consciousness illuminates the book to themselves. I don’t learn all about the goings on of Hogwarts as a result of someone else reading the book. I don’t see what you see, only you see what you see. [note: it IS possible to see what others see, but only if one looks inward properly]

Therefore the world is “dark” even though it has infinite points of light in it. The world only becomes bright to us, only insofar as we shine our own light upon it.

We try to shine our light upon other sources of light, but all we can illuminate is their projection into the external world of objects. This is because our light is fixed towards that external direction – we are “bahir-mukha jīva” – consciousness that faces outward. We try to experience and understand other people – the most valuable objects in existence – but we fail to penetrate beyond their mutable and mysterious physical, intellectual and emotional layers.

Direct experience of other sources of light (other “souls”) is not possible while our own light shines outward. Only when we illuminate our own inner reality can we be truly connected to other conscious, sentient beings – via Paramātma – a super-conscious being at the root of all conscious beings.

– Vraja Kishor
VrajaKishor.com

Tagged: Consciousness, dualism, jyoti, light

When people in the West throw their clothes away, their cast-offs often go on a journey east, across the oceans, to India’s industrial interior.

Modern science also supports this Ayurvedic claim that water stored in copper vessel up to 16 hours is able to considerably reduce the presence of harmful bacteria.

We had a wonderful Festival of India this month but the summer fun isn't over yet - join us for the
annual Summer Kids Camp, which is happening this year from August 4-7th (Tuesday - Friday every day).

You can register for any number of days! As always we have lots of fun activities planned out with sumptuous prasadam (vegetarian meansl) for all the children.

The registration is $25 per day or $75 for all 4 days. You can pre-register your child by emailing us at kids@torontokrishna.com or by clicking here for the registration form.

This tale of Pṛthu’s confrontation with the Earth Goddess continues from my previous post.

---

“I will destroy you,” Pṛthu replied, “because you do not observe my orders.”

She would certainly wonder, “what orders did you ever give me?”

So he explained that he was referring to the standing order that the gods must reciprocate with sacrifices. “The people worshipped you and you accepted it,” he said, “but you refuse to grant us blessings. You are like a cow eating grass day after day but never giving milk. Such a creature should be punished and corrected, even if she is a cow! Your mind is so lowly that you refuse to fructify the seeds created by Self-born Brahmā, even when I ask you to!

“My poor citizens suffer from starvation! I will put a stop to their laments by feeding them your meat, sliced from you by my own arrows!”

The earth become absolutely terrified and wanted to cry out, “But I am a woman!”

Pṛthu stopped her by declaring, “You are not a woman – you are selfish! A selfish person has no compassion for anyone else and is therefore the worst person in the world – it doesn’t matter if they are a man, a woman, or transgendered! If a king kills such a person, it is not ‘killing’.”

She would cry, “But I am a cow!”

Pṛthu said, “You are pretending to be a cow! In truth you are a madly stubborn creature, and my arrows shall reduce you to food!”

“But I am the earth,” she would cry, “If you destroy me how will you keep from falling into outer space?”

Pṛthu said, “I will take care of that myself, by my own mystic power. I will personally become the ground upon which the citizens can stand.”

– Translation of Śrī Bhāgavata 4.17.22 ~ 27
A draft for Part 4 of Beautiful Tales of the All-Attractive

by Vraja Kishor

VrajaKishor.com

Tagged: meat eating, sacred cow, Vegetarianism

Everyone of you should be thoroughly convinced of the power of the Hare Krsna mantra to protect you in all circumstances and chant accordingly at all times without offense. Then advancement will be swift and you will gradually come to see everything clearly so that you may act for the pleasure of the Lord without uncertainty.

Letter to Damodara
January 10, 1971

Calgary Ratha Yatra & Festival Of India (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: One must engage his tongue in the service of the holy name. Our Krishna consciousness movement is based on this principle. We try to engage all the members of the Krishna consciousness movement in the service of the holy name. (Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, 8.16 Purport)
See them here: https://goo.gl/cevAVI

Hare Krishna! Liberation Through Chanting
Srila Prabhupada: In our country Carvaka Muni has advised, bhasmi-bhutasya dehasya kutah punar-agamano bhavet: “Why are you thinking of your next birth? Another birth is not possible. We see that the gross body is burnt into ashes. And where is the soul? Who is coming back again? Don’t care for all these things.” Yavaj jivet sukham jivet: “Live happily. Eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy.” This philosophy is going on. “There is no mind, there is no intelligence, there is no soul, only this gross body, and as long as we possess this gross body, let us enjoy the senses.” This is called maha-vimoha, the greatest bewilderment. People have no education about how we are existing in the material world, how nature is working. They are thinking there is no life after this one, but that is not the fact. They are living in a very great entanglement.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18675

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