Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Harinama by ISKCON São Paulo devotees (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: It is essential that one constantly associate with pure devotees who are engaged morning and evening in chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. In this way one will get the chance to purify his heart and develop ecstatic pure love for Krishna. (Nectar of Devotion, 17)
See them here: https://goo.gl/Svg7K9
Sunday Feast Lecture at Radha Gopinath Temple
I may be hopelessly biased, but I think Invincible Time is one of the most important new albums to have come out this year. Its from a new generation of musicians who take classical themes – in this case the Mahabharata of India – and breathes new life into them with a sound that is completely contemporary.
Ananda Monet was trained in Russian folk singing – which gives her a dynamic and at times unearthly edge to her powerful yet emotional voice – a sound that lifts the lyrics to a new dimension. The collaborative trio of Jagannatha Suta, Pete Booker and Andy Baldwin (The Who, Florence and the Machine, producer) make sure the sound is superb.
I witnessed the launch of the album with the full stage performance in London, but with the astounding new visuals supplied with the album and the website to support the story behind the album, you won’t be missing out if you didn’t see it there first.
Don’t take my word for it, read reviews, see the story and hear clips here on the dedicated website. Best if you buy it before it runs out by clicking here.
Hare Krishna! Deciphering the Codes of Kali
Many have tried to pinpoint the origin of the world’s evils. In the game of finger-pointing, one group always blames another. Frequently named culprits include the Vatican, Washington DC, London bankers, and Hollywood. Others point to secret societies, Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Then there are the world corporations and the financial institutions that run them. Many simply accuse unqualified world leaders who opportunely act like bumbling idiots whenever it becomes convenient. Shrila Prabhupada sums it up, “When there are too many materialistic activities by the people in general all over the world, there is no wonder that a person or a nation attacks another person or nation on slight provocation. That is the rule of this age of Kali or quarrel.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18136
Hare Krishna! Until the Cows Come Home
I was being pushed constantly in the press of human and animal traffic, feeling somewhat battered, longing for a solitary place. Suddenly a large bull knocked into me, pushing me into the oncoming traffic. I was hit by a car, breaking both my legs and various other bones on the left side of my body. I lay there in shock, trying to recover my senses. As the reality of what happened sunk in, so did the pain—I couldn’t move, and was bleeding profusely. But the worst was yet to come. The driver of the car got out and asked some bystanders to help him drag me to the side of the road. Imagine the pain! Then he took a can of motor oil from his trunk and poured it on my wounds. What madness was this? He told horrified bystanders that this would keep infection away from my wounds and that I would be okay in a few days.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18133
Grand New Temple to be a Center of Education and Learning in Baltimore
Construction has begun on a grand new ISKCON temple in Baltimore, Maryland, which devotees hope will reach more local people and provide the facilities to better care for the existing congregation. ISKCON devotees first established a temple in Baltimore in the early 1970s, to which ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada responded, “I am so glad… Baltimore is a very important city of your country and we must maintain our center there at all costs.” In 1974, the current temple at 200 Bloomsbury Avenue in the suburb of Catonsville was acquired, and in 1976, Srila Prabhupada visited it, making it a dhama, or holy place in the eyes of ISKCON followers. For at least the past two decades, ISKCON Baltimore has been a small center, and the congregation remains at only around 150 people today. But it has been growing, with more young Indians and Westerners becoming regular visitors due to several innovative outreach programs.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/rt2fKB
Children’s Rathayatra in Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria) 2015 (5 min video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/f5FMHf
Harinama at Burleigh Heads - 28 June 2015 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: In the Adi Purana Krishna tells Arjuna: “Anyone who is engaged in chanting My transcendental name must be considered to be always associating with Me. And I may tell you frankly that for such a devotee I become easily purchased.” (Nectar of Devotion, 12)
See them here: https://goo.gl/tOr1pW
And so the US supreme court has recognised same sex marriage in the USA.
The post As Srila Prabhupada said, democracy means demoncrazy appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
Harinama in Florence with exceptional participation from the public! (22 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: Pure devotees chant the Hare Krishna mantra, and simply by hearing this chanting from a purified transcendental person, one is purified of all sinful activities, no matter how lowborn or fallen one may be. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.126 Purport)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/q5gao6
Children’s Rathayatra at Gauranga festival – Ukraine, 13-Jun-2015 (4 min video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/p5OMCS
On June 28th, 2015, at 8.45 AM on the auspicious Padmini ekadasi in the greatly auspicious month of Purushottoma, amongst the sacred cows in the holy land of Vrindavan, Mathura, Kurma-rupa Das left his body surrounded by devotees, Vrajavasis, and uplifting Hare Krishna kirtan, with sacred tulasi on his tongue and head and his salagram-sila on his chest.
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Harinama in Paris, France (Album with photos)
Simply by chanting the holy name of Lord Krishna, one can be freed from all undesirable habits. This is the means of awakening all good fortune and initiating the flow of waves of love for Krishna.
See them here: https://goo.gl/DhmiKt
Harinam at New Garden Park, Rawang 28/06/15 (Album with photos)
Sri Jagannatha Mandir, ISKCON Malaysia HQ
See them here: https://goo.gl/hzZOPP
The latest issue of Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu e-magazine was just released. This issue includes: * FOOD RELIEF OPERATIONS – instructions from His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. * EXTERNALLY ATTACHED, INTERNALLY DETACHED – Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja speaks about grhastha-ashram. * DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE OTHERS – A fresh translation done especially for this issue of Bindu from the Udyoga-parva of the Mahabharata.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18127
How can we stay open to new ideas without weakening our convictions?
How can the spiritual soul taste or enjoy a material sweet?
What is the difference between object and concept – and how does it apply to our philosophy?
What should a devotee do on being overcome by temptation?
What is the difference between nitya and shashvata in Gita 2.20?
When the guru is mostly inaccessible to disciples, isn’t initiation just a rubber-stamp?
What is the difference between phenomenal and numinous in Gita 7.2
Is the prayer to get a good spouse a material prayer?
Is a devotee’s grihastha-ashrama a failure if the children don’t become devotees?
How do we decide which of our emotions are material and which are spiritual?
As yogis become bhaktas at their topmost stage does that mean we should practice yoga before bhakti?
Is it selfish to want taste in chanting?
Why does Krishna refer to someone else as the object of surrender in the Gita 18.62?
Dharma is that which is coming from God – do the Abrahamic religions also come from Krishna
How can we keep our mind steady amidst outer agitation and inner temptation?
How can we stay open to new ideas without weakening our convictions?
Evening Kirtan ( Ujjain01.03.2015 )
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Kurma Rupa prabhu left this world in Vrindavana.
At 8.45am on the auspicious Padmini ekadasi (June 27th, 2015) in the greatly auspicious month of Purushottoma, amongst the sacred cows in the glorious Care for Cows Go-sadan in the holy land of Vrindavan, Mathura, the most-dear-to-the-cows Kurma-rupa prabhu left his body surrounded by devotees, Vrajavasis, and uplifting Hare Krishna kirtan, with sacred tulasi on his tongue and head and his salagram-sila Giriraja Maharaja on his chest. Tears of joy and sadness flowed freely as Prabhu peacefully continued to his next service.
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Nāma-japa is meditation on a mantra composed of Krishna’s name. We should therefore consider ourselves “meditators,” and we should be aware that we are supposed to be practicing our nāma-mantra meditation for 1 – 2 hours daily.
In meditation, negative simply clears the path for positive. Pratyahāra is the negative step – removing, silencing, negating all thoughts, all activity in the material mind. This negative step always must immediately be followed by the next step, the positive step, dharana – placing the object of meditation within the consciousness.
Consciousness cannot focus on emptiness, it focuses on a subject with a name, quality, etc. Therefore, we should not think that our objective is to keep our minds free of distraction – that is a negative goal. Consciousness cannot be satisfied to focus on the absence of distraction, emptiness. The absence of distraction simply clears the field so that consciousness can focus clearly and fully on the object we want to meditate upon – in our case the Krishna-nāma-mantra.
This is why my second japa tip is about how to be cognizant – how to have focus on the mantra. I have found two ways: (1) cognizance of the mantra itself, and (2) cognizance of the act of invoking the mantra.
Words are sounds, but they are a special type of sound – they are a sound which conveys meaning. Sound can often convey meaning without words, but words convey uniquely specific and exact meaning. The nāma-mantra is not made of sounds it is made of words, specifically, nouns, names, “nāma“.
Hearing a word is more involved than simply hearing a sound without meaning. When we hear a sound we can pay attention to its pitch, texture/timbre, volume, the sharpness of its attack, the mellowness of its decay, the rhythm formed by the alternations of its attacks and decays, etc. When we hear a word we also hear all these qualities of sound, but the most important part of hearing a word is to become cognizant of the exact meaning conveyed by the word.
I’ve written posts, like this one, about the meanings of the names in the Hare Krishna mahāmantra. While chanting, we must focus on these meanings of the sounds we hear! We must think about these meanings while hearing the words that encapsulate them. Not exactly in an intellectual way, but in an experiential way. Not so much to “understand” as to “experience.” We must listen to the words of the mantra – cognizant of their meanings – so that we can experience them.
Thus a good deal of improving japa happens when we aren’t chanting japa. We need to study about Krishna, deeply, so that we can fully comprehend (not just memorize) the meaning of his names. And we need to regularly review and remind ourselves of what we have already begun to learn about him.
Here is an attitude towards hearing that is simple and effective:
I remember the first time I heard Krishna’s names, especially the name Krishna itself. There was a certain tingle in my skin, flutter in my heart, excitement in my mind – when I heard the name. The sound, the pattern of consonnants and vowels, was a sonic stimulant that brought out an exotic sense of transcendental adventure and excitement. The sound itself had a velvet to it, a purr to it, an allure.
[by the way, thats why I continue to spell it “Krishna” and not “Kṛṣṇa.” For me, something about the shape of the letters in the word “Krishna” evokes those early reactions to the name]
When hearing the name today, I’ve heard it and said it and typed it so many millions and millions of times, I am a little desensitized to it. So, while chanting, I try to make an effort to put myself back in the mental and emotional space I was in 26 years ago when I started hearing “Krishna” for the first time. I find this very effective, the velvet and purr starts to come back.
We also have to be cognizant of what the act of trying to meditate on the name actually implies. This puts us immediately into the right mental and emotional space for the name to more truly manifest in our consciousness.
The Vedas explain carefully that the one becomes many for the sake of its thirst for bliss. We exist for the sake of enhancing the bliss of the one, and thereby experiencing the same, or even greater, bliss (just as a wire carrying current to an appliance also becomes electrified).
How do we enhance the bliss of the Original One? By pure love. Love is synonymous with ānanda, bliss. And ānanda is synonymous with consciousness in its supreme condition (ānanda-maya).
Krishna, the supreme consciousness exists full of all bliss (akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti), but has infinite thirst to expand that bliss infinitely. To do so he manifests you and I and everyone else. We among his manifestations who require sādhana however, are those not initially inclined to dedicate our existence to the expansion of his bliss. We instead have spontaneous interest in developing a separate existence for ourselves.
The act of nāma-japa and nāma-kīrtan is the most direct and powerful reformation of this inclination. To do nāma-japa properly, we must agree – “Today, for these next few minutes, I will give up hoarding my consciousness for my own separate interests. Now I place this consciousness at your feet, Krishna. You desire to expand. I offer you the infinite space within my consciousness. Expand! Manifest in me. Step into me, enter me, pervade me, expand within my consciousness. Take all that I am, take my conscious-universe, and do whatever you like with it. My darling, my love. I am yours. I exist for you.”
The very act of nāma-japa is thus the most profound revolution of consciousness and the most sublime expression of the essence of gopī-bhāva.
Let me strive for it. May my foolishly writing of it, not weaken the flame. May it serve the Vaiṣṇavas.
Hare Krishna.
Vraja Kishor dās
Vivaha ceremony in Kiev, Ukraine (Album with photos)
The sacraments performed at the time of a wedding are called ‘Vivaha Sanskar’. This sanskar marks the start of the second and the most important stage of life called the 'Grihastha Ashrama’ which involves setting up of a new family unit.
See them here: https://goo.gl/5yfTOZ
Hare Krishna! WSN May 2015 – World Sankirtan Newsletter – astounding results for Mayapur!
May was Mayapur’s month: an astounding 163,624 book points and a 340% increase. I think this is how the Mayapur book distributors are showing their feelings for Jayapataka Swami during his illness. They know that he’s into book distribution and that he’ll be encouraged if he hears great results. It’s not only his disciples who want him to get well, there are thousands of devotees praying for him, because he is such a great inspiration in the movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Please stay with us, Jayapataka Swami. Among the large temples Russia’s Moscow-Jagannath temple also did quite well, with 12,469 book points — another increase over 300% (326%).
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18114
Harinam in a very hot day of Tel Aviv (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Once can be free from all sinful reactions after reaching a place of pilgrimage, but one can have the same benefit at home or at any other place simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. (Srimad Bhagavatam 2.7.15)
See them here: https://goo.gl/yXxwsg
HG Brahmananda Prabhu’s Samadhi Installation Ceremony.
So, it has been decided that there will be a Samadhi Installation Ceremony for HG Brahmananda Prabhu on 10th November, during Kartik, at the Bhaktivedanta Swami Goshala Samadhi area in Sri Vrindavan Dham. On behalf of ISKCON Vrindavan, we invite all the devotees from all over the world to participate in this beautiful memorial program for our dearest Brahmananda Prabhu.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18111
Hare Krishna! My request is that everyone offer a prayer to Gopal for this selfless servant
BB Govinda Swami: “No !! If you do recover stay here and serve your cows with more and more love and affection. But I order you, never, never, never leave Vrindavan. Never leave … Until that blessed moment arrives when Gopal comes to take you from this Vrindavan to the other Vrindavan, welcomes you with tears, embraces you with love, swears to you that you that He will never allow you to leave again, and then, introduces you to Sudama, Subala, Madhumangala, and you both walk, arm in arm, in the mist of 900,000 cows. He said, “I accept your instruction as an order. I will never leave Vrindavan.” The next day Kurma Rupa returned to Care For Cows. He told me that he wanted to go back there as soon as he could. he said he wanted to hear the cows, smell the cows, breathe the dust of the cows. He looked at me seriously and said; “Maharaja, If you ever have a problem in life .. serve a cow with love .. then, all your problems will dissipate by the grace of Gopal and you’ll be blessed with bhakti.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18107
Nagara Sankirtan and Go Seva @ Kampung Rusa (Album with photos)
In conjunction with Purushottama month, devotees from ISKCON Sungai Petani and ISKCON Bedong organized nagara sankirtan and go seva. Ecstatic kirtan, happy cows, and sumptous prasadam was the highlight of this program. We humbly offer this program unto the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. We hope this miniscule effort will help more and more people to be able to taste the nectar of the holy name.
See them here: https://goo.gl/tX2DuW
Purusottama month being sincerely observed!
Since 17th June, devotees at ISKCON Mayapur are sincerely observing the Purusottama month. Daily ghee lamps are being distributed for free in the Temple hall. Devotees offer these lamps to all the Deities singing melodious Hare Krishna kirtan and bhajans like ‘Jay Radhe Jay Krishna Jay Vrindavan’. Some devotees take daily bath in the Ganges, chant more rounds of Hare Krishna mantra and keep eating simple. There is daily recitation of the mantras: govardhana dharam vande, gopalam gopa rupinam / gokulutsava me isanam, govindam gopika priyam “I worship the lifter of Govardhana Hill, Who has the beautiful form of a cowherd boy, and who continually plays with the gopas. He is the Lord of Gokula wherein everyday is a festival.” vande navaghana-syam dvibhujam murlidharam pitambardharam devam saradham purusottamam “I offer my obeisances to Navaganasyam (Krsna, who has the color of a fresh rain cloud), who is holding the flute with His two hands. I worship Purusottama who is so beautiful in His yellow dress (pitambhara).” A large number of devotees from around the world are sponsoring offerings of ghee lamps, lotuses, fruits and Tulasi to Their Lordships.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/aUTsDX
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