Planet ISKCON

BY MATHURALILESVARI DEVI DASI

KUALA LUMPUR - When Srila Prabhupada arrived at the Commonwealth Pier in Boston fifty years ago in 1965, he did not know if he should turn left or right. With only forty Rupees and a trunk containing Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagvatam, Srila Prabhupada carried the instructions of his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur close to his heart. In a poem that he penned upon his arrival in America he said, ”O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.” 

2015 marks the 50th year of Srila Prabhupada’s historic arrival in United States of  America. His arrival in the USA created a world-wide revolution. Hare Krishna became a household name. Malaysia, a small country often referred to as the country between Thailand and Singapore was not excluded from receiving Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. In 1971, Srila Prabhupada made his maiden trip to Malaysia on his way to Sydney, Australia.

To commemorate this most historic occasion, the devotees in Malaysia put together a two-day festival to celebrate and remember Srila Prabhupada’s contribution to this world and at the same time further distribute Srila Prabhupada’s mercy to all those who are yet to receive it.

On the first day of the celebration, the festival was inaugurated by HH Bhakti Vrajendranandana Swami - President of ISKCON Malaysia, Gopal Dasa - Srila Prabhupada’s disciple who visited Malaysia in the early days with Srila Prabhupada and Loka Bandhu Gauranga Dasa - a disciple of HH Jayapataka Swami and Deputy Minister in the Federal Territories Ministry of Malaysia. Simhesvara Dasa, the Regional Secretary of ISKCON Malaysia delivered the opening speech and spoke about the various achievements of ISKCON Malaysia since its inception in 1979.

Kripa Sindhu Dasa, the Temple President of Sri Jagannatha Mandir Kuala Lumpur and Param Brahma Dasa, Temple President of ISKCON Ipoh were instrumental in organizing this festival.

The festival continued with a Mahabharata quiz for school children. More than 250 school children from the vernacular Tamil schools took part enthusiastically in this quiz. Every student that attended was presented with a Bhagavad Gita. Everyone went home a winner in their own way.

A food and fun fair with devotees selling delicious prasadam was indeed a crowd puller. Malaysia is known for its spread of delicacies due to its multi cultural society. It was such a hit that the stalls ran out of supply earlier than expected.

On second day of the celebration, the festival started with a Harinam in the city center. Devotees gathered in a Krishna Temple in Brickfields and danced their way through the busy streets of Kuala Lumpur singing the holy names. Upon arrival at the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Kuala Lumpur everyone was soaked with Srila Prabhupada katha by Gopal Dasa and HH Bhakti Vrajendranandana Swami. Gopal Dasa described how he volunteered himself to come to Malaysia when Srila Prabhupada asked who could preach in this part of Asia. Gopal Dasa was visibly in tears as he recalled how wide Krishna Consciousness has spread from just a handful of devotees when he first came in the 70s to a hall packed with devotees, with more than 30 centres nationwide and 34 ratha yatras annually. Both pioneers travelled through time to enlighten the audience with the glorious yesteryears on how ISKCON was established in Malaysia. The wonderful and inspiring pastimes that made the younger generation realise how much they owe to the earlier generation of devotees for paving the path to enable them to slide through the path of bhakti with lesser obstacles. Every youth felt eternally indebted to these pioneers.

A senior member of the ISKCON Malaysia congregation, Tyaga Caitanya Dasa and his team released a multimedia presentation which traversed through time of Srila Prabhupada’s remarkable journey in introducing Krishna Consciousness to the world and the many success events Srila Prabhupada had achieved in the following years up till now. The festival for the day continued with a maha abhishek for Srila Prabhupada followed by Guru Puja.  

The devotees and guests felt an immense appreciation for Srila Prabhupada and a stronger desire to further assist in his mission after this wonderful event.

Malaysia is definitely a success story. As a matter of fact when it comes to ISKCON, every country is a success story, every devotee is a success story. Such is the mercy and potency of Srila Prabhupada.

Tirupati Balaji dressed in diamonds, gold etc done once a year.

Srimad Bhagavatam 3-26-32 - The entire material manifestation began from sound, and sound can also end material entanglement .
TRANSLATION
When egoism in ignorance is agitated by the sex energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the subtle element sound is manifested, and from sound come the ethereal sky and the sense of hearing.
PURPORT
It appears from this verse that all the objects of our sense gratification are the products of egoism in ignorance. It is understood from this verse that by agitation of the element of egoism in ignorance, the first thing produced was sound, which is the subtle form of ether. It is stated also in the Vedānta-sūtra that sound is the origin of all objects of material possession and that by sound one can also dissolve this material existence. Anāvṛttiḥ śabdāt means “liberation by sound.” The entire material manifestation began from sound, and sound can also end material entanglement, if it has a particular potency. The particular sound capable of doing this is the transcendental vibration Hare Kṛṣṇa. Our entanglement in material affairs has begun from material sound. Now we must purify that sound in spiritual understanding. There is sound in the spiritual world also. If we approach that sound, then our spiritual life begins, and the other requirements for spiritual advancement can be supplied. We have to understand very clearly that sound is the beginning of the creation of all material objects for our sense gratification. Similarly, if sound is purified, our spiritual necessities also are produced from sound.
Here it is said that from sound the ether became manifested and that the air became manifested from ether. How the ethereal sky comes from sound, how the air comes from sky and how fire comes from air will be explained later on. Sound is the cause of the sky, and sky is the cause of śrotram, the ear. The ear is the first sense for receiving knowledge. One must give aural reception to any knowledge one wants to receive, either material or spiritual. Therefore śrotram is very important. The Vedic knowledge is called śruti; knowledge has to be received by hearing. By hearing only can we have access to either material or spiritual enjoyment.
In the material world, we manufacture many things for our material comfort simply by hearing. They are already there, but just by hearing, one can transform them. If we want to build a very high skyscraper, this does not mean that we have to create it. The materials for the skyscraper—wood, metal, earth, etc.—are already there, but we make our intimate relationship with those already created material elements by hearing how to utilize them. Modern economic advancement for creation is also a product of hearing,and similarly one can create a favorable field of spiritual activities by hearing from the right source. Arjuna was a gross materialist in the bodily conception of life and was suffering from the bodily concept very acutely. But simply by hearing, Arjuna became a spiritualized, Kṛṣṇa conscious person. Hearing is very important, and that hearing is produced from the sky. By hearing only can we make proper use of that which already exists. The principle of hearing to properly utilize preconceived materials is applicable to spiritual paraphernalia as well. We must hear from the proper spiritual source.

Modi govt says to push for cow slaughter ban in India
India will use all its “might” to ban cow slaughter across the country, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in a speech to spiritual leaders, as the government moves to fulfil a poll promise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A renewed thrust by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to protect cows, worshipped by majority Hindus, has led to a clamp down on beef trade run mostly by Muslims. India is the world’s second largest beef exporter and fifth biggest consumer.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/GgGSdU

June 25th, 2015.

The post Conversation with guests in Istanbul (Part 1) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Hare Krishna! Bhaktivedanta Players 30th Anniversary (1985- 2015)
This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the Bhaktivedanta Manor’s main drama group. It has been led chiefly by Jaya Krishna Das and Dwarka Puri das but over the years a great many other devotees of all ages and backgrounds have participated and given much of their time. Disciples of Srila Prabhupada pioneered the first dramas at Bhaktivedanta Manor during the early 1970’s. By 1985 the baton had gradually passed onto the next generation and The Bhaktivedanta Players in its present structure was born. Since then the Players have entertained and educated audiences consistently during all of the Manor’s major functions. Not only at festivals, but also on Sundays, community functions, Hare Krishna Festivals UK, universities and outreach events. Between 1995 and 2004 the Players performed The Ramayan at more than an hundred schools across the UK, in conjunction with ISKCON Educational Services.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18328

Hare Krishna! First Jagannatha Ratha Yatra in Malang, Indonesia
How would you describe the moment where devotees from all the different locations in a country come in a spirit so enthusiastic just to celebrate Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannatha, a moment where people from different faiths join the devotees and chant and dance so blissfully, a moment where you begin to admire the wonderful mercy of Srila Prabhupada and feel so indebted to him for giving us Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra, Their Chariots and the Ratha Yatra festivals? Such a moment was the Ratha Yatra at Malang, a mountainous city in East Java, Indonesia.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18325

Transcendental Vrindavana (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The letters of the holy name have so much spiritual potency that they act even when uttered improperly. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.59)
See them here: https://goo.gl/ZKPqeq

11 more Temporary Shelters Built by Food For Life Nepal (Album with photos)
After Constructing 5 temporary shelters in Bhaktapur, Food for Life Nepal then constructed 11 more temporary shelters to the earthquake victims in Bhaktapur, Nepal by the Support of LUMANTI- Support for Shelter.
List of People for whom the shelters are being made:
1. Sabitri Rajbhandari (Byasi)
2. Chandra Shova Shilpakar (Tekhapukhu)
3. Krishna Pyari Suwal (Bekhal)
4. Durga Prajapati (Suryamadhi)
5. Ritu Jyakho (Suryamadhi)
6. Narayan Devi Prajapati (Suryamadhi)
7. Krishna Laxmi Awal (Pandu Bazar)
8. Sandhya Basukala (Byasi)
9. Shova Hyanmikha (Mahalaxmi Bholachenn)
10. Raju Prajapati (Talako)
11. Anu Duwal (Itachenn)
FFL Nepal is extremely grateful to LUMANTI- Support for Shelter and to all our donors, large and small. Every contribution helps us continue our vital program.
Hence, we look forward for your support & generosity to help us build shelter for them. Donors can get assurance by looking our work by following us on below links:
See them here: https://goo.gl/MCFBkV

Preaching program with Radhanath Swami at the Yogalution ashram (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Even a faint light from the holy name of the Lord can eradicate all the reactions of sinful life. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.63)
See them here: https://goo.gl/zbHuZ1

Hare Krishna! Becoming Free from the Three Modes of Nature
Niranjana Swami: Anisthita-bhakti is symptomized by six characteristics which are all explained by Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura. The first is utsaha-mayi, false enthusiasm. A person with this symptom thinks that because he has developed an ability to do something in bhakti, he is therefore qualified. He is enthusiastic, because people recognize his expertise. “I can play karatalas, really expertly!” Somebody sees, “Oh, you play very good karatalas.” “Yes, I am a very advanced devotee.” And as soon as somebody does not recognize his expert karatala playing, immediately he loses his enthusiasm. So this is called utsaha-mayi, false enthusiasm.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18322

The post Daily Darshan – July 8th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Kadamba Kanana Swami visited England from 10-17 June and 29 June-02 July. Presented below are recordings and photos from his various engagements. We have published many articles previously describing the first part of Maharaj’s stay in England. Here is a list of them: Summary, London Ratha Yatra, Arrival Day and Chinese Sanga.

Photos

Visit Flickr to see more pictures.

Audio

KKS_UK_BM_11 June 2015_SB 9.18.38-39

KKS_UK_BM_12 June 2015_SB 9.18.40

KKS_UK_BM_14 June 2015_Special Ratha Yatra Class

KKS_UK_15 June 2015_House Program_Kirtan_Part 1

KKS_UK_15 June 2015_House Program_Kirtan_Part 2

KKS_UK_15 June 2015_House Program_Kirtan_Vibhavari Sesa

KKS_UK_15 June 2015_House Program_Lecture_Vibhavari Sesa

KKS_UK_Soho_30 June 2015_BG 1.13-14

KKS_UK_BM_01 July 2015_SB 9.19.11

KKS_UK_01 July 2015_House Program_CC Madhya 9.81

KKS_UK_01 July 2015_House Program_Kirtan_Part 1

KKS_UK_01 July 2015_House Program_Kirtan_Part 2

A few days later I wound up with Mark and Dave in the girl’s wing again – this time to watch some type of hippie movie. A hippie girl in her third year of school was there and within minutes we spontaneously decided that we were boy- and girl-friend. I wound up watching the movie with my head in her lap.

Thus, the three musketeers expanded to four: Marianne joining Dave, Mark and myself as the hippie-Krishna-vegetarian-philosophers of Cal Poly.

My mom and dad seemed to love Marianne; I think they were pretty relieved that I was finally showing some slightly normal social behavior. She majored in Horticulture and lived alone in a small house in that section of campus. Hanging out in the greenhouses with her, I realized that plants and gardening made me feel very calm and centered. Being a recovered alcoholic, Marianne was totally into my straightedge schtick. She would come to Inside Out shows, frightened at first, but smiling from ear to ear most of the time once she got used to it. And she was a full blown later-day hippie so she was totally into my guitar playing and fascination with Hare Krishna. She would often come to the Krishna temple with me.

She was smart and eagerly took to reading Prabhupāda’s Bhagavad-Gītā, until she came across something she really didn’t like towards the end of the first chapter. Prabhupāda’s translation of the verse itself:

When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Kṛṣṇa, the women of the family become polluted, and from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, comes unwanted progeny.

And, in his comment on the verse:

As children are very prone to be misled, women are similarly very prone to degradation. Therefore, both children and women require protection by the elder members of the family… According to Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, women are generally not very intelligent and therefore not trustworthy.

“What the hell, Vic?” She protested. “I know Prabhupāda is supposed to be enlightened and everything, but this is just sexist. Women are like children? Women have to be ‘protected’ like children? Women are not very intelligent? What? What is all this?”

I didn’t like the sound of this stuff either, but I was hooked on Krishna and knew there had to be some way to resolve this in a sensible, acceptable way. I brought up some other sections of Gītā that describe wise people as those who see everyone equally. “So this must not mean that women are inferior. They are just different from men.”

“Yeah,” she retorted, “different in that men are adults but women are like children and need to be ‘protected’ from themselves. If that’s not inferior, Vic, what is?”

I groped for some way to make sense of it, “Maybe women are more easily misled and deceived because they are more naturally trusting and loving than men?”

“Then why does Prabhupāda explain it by saying ‘women are generally not very intelligent’? It’s obvious that he thinks we are not intelligent,” she said. “We are ‘like children’, so have to be ‘protected’ so we don’t have our way and degrade society by having sex with everyone and making unwanted children. Come on, Vic, that is completely out-of-touch with the real world. And, it’s blatant sexism!”

Ever since I was old enough to think straight, I saw sexism as one of the ugliest, stupidest things in existence, so I just couldn’t accept the idea  that the founder of the Hare Krishna movement was actually sexist. The fault must lie with us, I thought, with how we interpret his words.

I sat down and tried to work through it. “The Vedas talk about different kinds of intelligence,” I said, slowly. “The most important kind is the intellect that discriminates between the soul and the body. When Prabhupāda says that women are ‘less intelligent’ he is talking about this type of intelligence, not school-intelligence or practical-intelligence.”

“Do you think women are less intelligent then men in discriminating between body and soul?” she asked.

“Well, in this day and age,” I said, “I think everyone is less intelligent in that way. Prabhupāda says that, too. But, in previous ages, maybe women were less intelligent – in that way. I think that’s just natural,  because women are the ones who have children, and they have to have strong attachment and love for their children, the products of their body, otherwise they wouldn’t take very good care of the kids, or even want to have kids, and the human race would be in danger of extinction.”

She looked at me sideways, trying not to show her frustration.

“Or maybe its some other kind of intelligence,” I offered, “some left-brained type of thing.”

She took a deep breath. “Even if that’s what Prabhupāda really means,” she said, “its definitely not what the Hare Krishna’s think Prabhupāda means.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Oh, come on!” she replied. “How many times have you gone to the temple? Have you ever seen a woman up on the altar? Have you ever seen women doing the kīrtan chanting? Have you ever seen a woman give the class? No, the women are always stuck in the back of the room like black people sent to the back of the bus!”

Shit. There was no arguing with that. 

The next Sunday I went to the Los Angeles temple alone and approached a female devotee at random. She was maybe ten years older than me at most, with a very simple sort of beauty without hairdo or makeup.

“In Bhagavad Gītā,” I asked, “Prabhupāda says women are not very intelligent and therefore have to be protected. Do you believe that?”

To my complete surprise, she not only accepted the idea but was completely in favor of it. “Oh yes!” she declared, “Women are less intelligent then men! We are nine times more lusty and nine times more attached to our bodies than men are. That’s why we are so obsessed with dressing nice and looking pretty.”

I couldn’t tell if this was really happening or if I was hallucinating. She seemed to actually relish the opportunity to declare her inferiority, and was completely unfazed and unimpressed with the disbelief and shock written all over my face.

“So,” I asked, slowly and incredulously, “You’re less intelligent than I am? Even though you are a devotee?”

“Probably!” she said, and burst out laughing.

Maybe she noticed I wasn’t laughing and instead was on the verge of tears. “Well,” she offered, “Prabhupāda did say that devotee women are not less-intelligent like ordinary women.”

“Then why don’t women ever give class in the temple?” I asked.

“Well, devotee women are not less intelligent like ordinary women, but we are less intelligent than devotee men.”

What logic! I just stared at her and kept blinking, as if she might disappear between blinks and prove this whole thing a bad dream.

She compassionately leaned a bit towards me, “You’re brainwashed by the propaganda of the women’s lib’ers,” she explained patiently. “Woman’s liberation is a cheat invented by men. It claims to give women freedom and equality, but actually it only gives women the so-called freedom to be equally exploited by anyone and everyone. In Vedic society women are protected from exploitation, first by their father, then by their husband, and finally by their sons.”

I had nothing else to say. She pointed out the temple doors to a sliding glass door in the building across the street and explained that she lived in that apartment, and was very happy serving her husband there.

I left quietly – exhausted, confused, and disappointed – and dedicated the next few weeks to trying to make all of this make sense. Despite all of what my high school Advanced Placement teachers had praised as “uniquely sharp analytical abilities” I couldn’t reach any resolution beyond what I had reached in the original conversation with Marianne. Certainly there were ways to understand Prabhupada’s comments in a non-sexist manner, and it was even easier to see the enlightened egalitarianism in the original texts he was translating (since he gave word-for-word translations of every Sanskrit text – something I always really admired and benefitted from), but as for the Hare Krishna’s themselves… it was practically impossible not to ascertain their (somewhat eager) acceptance of sexism.

This was the first time I was forced to see that Hare Krishna World wasn’t utopia. But I was in love with Hare Krishna, really, so I decided there was too much good in it to let this one black spot ruin the whole thing for me. Like a “less-intelligent” woman in love with a flawed man, I chose to believe that, if I stuck with them, I would one day be able to help the Hare Krishna’s see Prabhupāda’s words in ways that weren’t so… well, weren’t so ignorant. Certainly there must be many devotees like the woman I had spoken to, who would dismiss any such understandings in preference for the sadomasochistic thrill of sexism, but, out of gratitude to Prabhupāda I felt I should stick with it for the long term and try to do my part to improve it.

– Excerpt from the first draft of
Train-Wrecks and Transcendence:
A Collision of Hardcore and Hare Krishna

by Vraja Kishor dās

VrajaKishor.com

The priests and spiritualists prepared Pṛthu’s coronation by gathering everything necessary from people in the surrounding countries. Everyone offered riches for the ceremony, even the deer, birds, cows, and divine serpents, even the earth, sky, seas, rivers, and mountains.

At the ceremony making him emperor, Pṛthu was exquisitely dressed and wore the finest ornaments. His wife Arci, “the splendid,” indeed appeared like a new form of fire in her brilliant jewelry.

The gods themselves presented gifts to bless the emperor. The god of wealth, Kuvera, gave him a great throne made of gold. The god of waters, Varuṇa, gave him an umbrella that shone like the moon and emitted cooling mist. The god of wind, Vāyu, gave him fans. The god of morality, Dharma, gave him a necklace of fame. Indra, the king of paradise, gave him an exquisite crown. Yama, the god of punishment, gave him a the enforcer’s scepter. Brahmā, the original speaker, gave him armor made of words. Bhāratī, goddess of learning, decorated him with perfect pearls. Hari gave him the beautiful Sudarśana discus, and his wife, the goddess of Fortune, gave him inexhaustible opulence. Rudra, god of destruction, gave him a ten-moon’d blade, and his wife Ambikā gave a hundred-moon’d sheath. Soma, god of immortal nectar, gave him ageless horses and Tvaṣṭā, the divine architect, gave him a chariot that embodied beauty. Agni, god of fire, give him a bow made from the horns of cows and goats, and Sūrya, god of the sun, gave him arrows made of light. Bhū, goddess of the earth, gave him magical shoes. The heavens themselves constantly offered flowers. The Khe-carā, gods in the sky, would teach him the arts of dance, singing, musicianship, and the art of invisibility. The sages blessed him to be truthful.

The ocean offered a conch born from her womb. The seas, mountains and rivers created royal roads.

– Translated from Śrī Bhāgavata 4.15.7 ~ 20
By Vraja Kishor dās

VrajaKishor.com

Free Spirit Festival on Sunday 9th August 2015 from 5pm. Join us for an exciting evening with Devamrita Swami. $5 includes kirtan, dinner and talk by Devamrita Swami. As a world traveller & international author, Devamrita swami is the kind of person to hear from if you really want to gain wisdom & strength to pursue […]

The post International Speaker – Free Spirit Festival appeared first on The Loft Yoga Lounge Auckland.

We must care for one another
Kadamba Kanana Swami: The material world is the world where you have a facade. The material world is the place where you have a hidden agenda. The material world is the place where you want something from someone without really telling them. In the material world, you can never have a totally selfless relationship.
But we have a philosophy that offers a path for developing selfless relationships. So if we have that, then it should be possible amongst us to have real, genuine relationships based on mutually giving to each other. Serving the vaisnavas means that one must give to the vaisnavas. One must give the vaisnavas facility, one must give the vaisnavas space to do what they need to, one must appreciate the vaisnavas and so on.
Read the entire article here: https://goo.gl/elgIfC

Harinama in a hot Tel Aviv (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Regardless of time or place, one who chants the holy name, even while eating or sleeping, attains all perfection. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 20.18)
See them here: https://goo.gl/k7dIoJ

Radhakunda Seva: June 2015 Photos and Updates (Album with photos)
The most auspicious month of Purusottama arrived in the Dhama on June 16th. And the inflow of pilgrims in spite of the oppressive heat has been relentless. In fact, we are seeing record-breaking crowds this year. Doing our seva this month has meant both braving the heat and navigating the crowds.
See them here: https://goo.gl/RLtbJE

CC daily Podcast

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Holy Name Meditation Podcast

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BY RUPAVATI SUNDARI DEVI DASI

SEBERANG JAYA - The event is getting closer, so let us pray for ever - deepening appreciating and glorification of Srila Prabhupada. Let us strive to increase our ability to relish his grace in new and fresh ways (Prabhupada Gallery). Lets pray to understand more and more about the how, what, when, where and why of Srila Prabhupada 's mission. All are welcome to participate and attend this wonderful event of the temple opening and opening of Srila Prabhupada Art Gallery.

BY AR MUKUNDAN

54 DAYS TO GO ll Here's the official digital poster of Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple! Spread the GRAND OPENING today by hash-tagging us at‪ #‎TODU‬ ‪#‎TheTempleOfMyHeart‬