Websites from the ISKCON Universe
ISKCON Auckland New Zealand - Friday night Harinam (Album with photos)
By the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada
Books, Prasadam and The Holy Name were distrbuted to all!
See them here: https://goo.gl/pXYz1G
Sweet revenge from the fury of Indra :-) (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: The storm in Pobierowo the day before had stolen our usual crowd. Only a few hundred people had showed up for the festival. But yesterday the prayers of the devotees kept the dark clouds above from unleashing their torrents of rain and thousands of people came to our event. Sweet revenge from the fury of Indra.
See them here: https://goo.gl/HgkRz8
The post Daily Darshan – July 11th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
HG Krishna Kirtan Dasa CCM 20.120 – 05.07.2015
The main thing is to want to chant Hare Krishna. Doing the chanting is extremely easy, it’s just words, anyone can say them or think of them. Wanting to chant is the trick, its the hard part. So to work on my japa I try to work on increasing my desire to chant. Here are a few helpful ways I have sometimes been able to do that.
We get told all the time that this or that or the other thing is “pure devotional service,” but the raw, bare truth is that none of that stuff is. Sorry. Everything we do, we do because we like it to, or because we have to do it. Everything we do gives us some sort of material benefit or prevents us from suffering some material ill. Chanting Hare Krishna (especially nāma-japa – which is generally done when we are all alone, with no one watching, and without arts or decoration) gets us nothing; no one will become our fan or our follower, no one will give us any position or reward from it – because no one even knows what we are doing – the entire thing is a private, internal affair. You can chant for material things, but that’s a whole different thing – it’s not our interest. We are trying for attentive and devotional chanting. Such chanting will not pay our bills or find us a job or make us sexy and suave.
Chanting is just you and Krishna’s name, and no one else even really cares.
That’s why its the real thing. It’s the real “pure devotional service” – an expression of affection for Krishna that has no ulterior motive and brings no extrinsic reward: anyābhilāṣitā-śunyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam anukūlyeṇa-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ.
When the shaved heads, long braids, tilok and indian cloth is set aside; when the “prabhu” “mahārāja” “gurudeva” and “śrī śrī” is dropped and forgotten; when the good-citizen or bad-citizen badges fall off; when whatever you do in the temple or outside the temple is over and done… this is what it all boils down to, this is the bottom line. The amount of interest we have in our private cultivation of nāma-mantra is the only thing that really matters – for its the only true measure to answer the question, “how much advancement have I made?”
When I started to realize this, I became a little depressed, actually, especially at first – but I also automatically started paying a lot more attention to unpretentious nāma-japa.
Look around the world carefully, always. It is all the same pattern just repeating in very, very slightly different ways over and over and over and over again, millions and billions and trillions of different times. Everything that exists, ev-ery-thing, is only a combination of śakti and śaktimān – prakṛti and puruṣa. There is only one pattern: puruṣa seeking the pleasures in its prakṛti. Repeat that pattern an infinite number of times with infinite microscopic variances in the exact flavor of pleasure the puruṣa seeks from the exact instance of prakṛti – and you have the created the entire universe.
This realization has helped me be less distracted by all the dazzling, infinite patterns that line the shelves, flash on smart phones, notify my newsfeeds, flicker on the big and small screens, shake their tail feathers on the sidewalks, and flexing their neck muscles in their wolf-packs. It has helped me to realize, “Wow, I’ve already been everywhere, been everyone, done everything – probably literally over the course of infinite lives, but also ideally because everything is just a minutely different version of the same story. So I guess there’s nothing out there that’s really important for me.”
The original pattern, and patterns built directly off it, are the best. The rest are reflections – exports, “made in China.” The original pattern – śakti and śaktimān enjoying their inherent pleasures – is encapsulated in the words “Hare Krishna” and “Hare Rāma” making itself freely available to unfold in my consciousness and grant me the direct experience of the adi-rāsa, the original flavor, the original pattern of life. Whatever interests me out there is best discovered in here.
“I waste my time everyday, dallying with illusions. But now, for at least just a few minutes, let me do something real and significant.”
I might not be able to make my whole like spiritual and pure, but let me at least have a little bit of time in the day that is purely spiritual – the time for nāma-japa.
I came to realize that trying to make my life “24 hours Krishna consciousness” was just my attempt to be impressive. Better to have even 5 minutes of real Krishna consciousness (focused purely on Krishna’s name with no extrinsic motives) than to have 24 hours of strutting about demonstrating how to be Krishna conscious (even writing this article is so impure, but hopefully it will help many people chant and therefore inadvertainly make Rādhā and Krishna pleased with me.)
“Shrink the universe.”
This means reducing everything to its original form, which is only in the mantra. It also means becoming like a kid playing with toys, unable to hear his mother standing right in front of him. His universe has shrunk to exactly the size of his toys, and thus his concentration is so strong it is very difficult to break. Shrink the universe to the mantra and chant it.
“Nothing truly exists except this.”
Only consciousness exists, everything else exists as a byproduct, within consciousness. The “original pattern” (śakti-śaktimān) is consciousness as an experienced object and consciousness as an experiencing subject – in which the object provides bliss to the subject. The external world is an substandard object precisely because it is “external” – extrinsic to the essence of who and what I am. The real object is in the nāma-mantra and I need to discover it.
“I offer you myself.”
I am consciousness. Consciousness is awareness. Awareness is attention. I am my attention. I will pay attention to Krishna. By doing this I literally “offer myself” to Krishna.He enjoys existence, and I offer myself as a platform of consciousness upon which (within which) he can expand his existence, and thus expand his enjoyment. Thus, literally, I am his strī.
“Withdraw. Withdraw within.”
Sometimes, pulling my attention from everything else and investing it in chanting has a visual and tactile experience to it. Its something like a trees roots (if the tree were made of vapor) withdrawing from the holes they have deeply sunk themselves into, down so many lanes, in so many homes, across so much space and time. Withdrawing like vapor inhaled and compacted within. Envisioning this scene often helps inspire the actual task it represents.
“This is the root upon which the tree can stand.”
This one helps me when I have significant material worries on my mind. I don’t want to chant for the purpose of fixing my material problems, but the truth is that the material problems will be resolved easily, or else will not be damaging in their effect, when the name is chanted purely. So I remind myself that Krishna is the root which sustains all existence, and if I connect more directly and willingly with that root, my need to fend for myself will dissolve.
I may add to these in the comments. If you like this, you may want to subscribe to the comments so you get a notice when something is added. In the comments you are also welcome to share similar tips, or to ask for clarification about what I’ve shared here.
– Vraja Kishor dās
Ultimately, whatever has to happen will happen at the right time, but still, we have choices to make. When we cross the street, it is not like, “Oh! What is happening? I am crossing the street!” No, you are choosing to cross the street. So with everything, you choose. You choose if you are going to have another spoon of sabji or not, or one more roti… it is your choice!Sometimes people say, “Yes, I will be a devotee when Krsna makes me a devotee. I am just surrendered.” This philosophy is dismissing the personal responsibility that we have of making choices. We are making choices. At the right time, the choice comes to us then we have to make it. “Shall I do it? Shall I be a devotee or shall I not be a devotee?”
That is your choice and your responsibility. If you say, “No!” Then you also have to face the consequences, and you are responsible for that.
Parama
Monthly Sankirtan Festival(Carabram)
Festival of India 2015(Rathayatra) 
Sunday School
Gift Shop
Hare Krishna! Time Magazine – The Answers Issue: A Closer Look
The Answers Issue might make you feel guilty if you drive over 13,400 miles a year (the average), since it claims that car emission is the biggest factor to our individual carbon footprints. Eating meat comes in second. Something to consider for those who want to make an impact on their carbon footprint but can’t bring themselves to give up driving. Other lessor categories are our use of air conditioning, air travel and beer drinking, etc. The interesting thing is that the mag is silent on the carbon footprint of our purchases of goods from overseas, since we can hardly buy anything that’s’ manufactured in America anymore.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18377
Hare Krishna! Don’t Worry, Be Happy – The secret to true happiness and well-being
Devamrita Swami: “Anyway, money can’t buy everything,” members of all social tiers often quip. Daily life, however, regularly belies this old mantra. Happiness and even love often seem to have a price tag, or at least a significant financial correlation. Whatever our level of income and indulgence, we all long for true happiness and genuine well-being, however defined. Shouldn’t personal contentment become enshrined as a basic human right, for all people, everywhere? Then again, what about the special persons—the ones who, with wings of selfless magnanimity, soar beyond all social pigeonholes? Compassionate, empathetic, and noble, they radiate human sunshine, in any kind of weather.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18374
The Indian media is exploding with the story of Maryam Siddiqui, a 12-year-old Muslim girl from Mumbai who came first place in her class in the Gita Champions’ League, an annual contest organized by ISKCON Chowpatty, but gave away her winnings to humanitarian efforts.
Radhika, Madhava's wife tells the human story of an exceptional kirtaniya.
While some might turn to prescriptions or over-the-counter aid, there are multiple natural remedies that can help, many of which have been used for thousands of years.
Raincoats and umbrellas but the “show goes on!” (Album with 49 photos)
Indradyumna Swami: One hundred kilometers from our festival in Pobierowo a storm had torn roofs off of houses, knocked down trees and utility poles and left a trail of destruction. Somewhat weakened by the time it reached us, it nevertheless caused serious problems. Two of our tents were severally damaged by wind and a deluge of water made walking difficult, if not impossible, in many areas of our festival site. Despite it all we persevered and went on with our event. And to our utter amazement hundreds of people came, fully equipped with raincoats and umbrellas. Most stayed the entire show, sometimes taking shelter in our tents, where they continued watching the show as it poured rain. All proof of Srila Prabhupada’s statement that Krsna is, “all attractive.”
See them here: https://goo.gl/m4zx9
Nowadays air purifying plants have gained special importance; they are the best and cheapest way to keep the indoor atmosphere as healthy.
Hare Krishna! Religion And Religions
With all the exotic trappings of ‘a traditional Hindu ritual structure’ thus in place, ISKCON appears to many to be heavily freighted with culturally conditioned forms and hence to exemplify sectarianism with a vengeance. It stands in contrast to advaita vedanta, that earlier Indian export, whose philosophical abstractions and non-devotional orientation make it appear universal, nonsectarian, and free from adventitious cultural and historical accretions. Yet even after Prabhupada had everything in place, the Western youth who joined ISKCON never thought of themselves as ‘converting’ to something called ‘Hinduism’ or as participating in ‘a traditional Hindu ritual structure’.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18370
The Polish Festival of India tour led by Indradyumna Swami is now on. This video features some of the highlights of the 2013 tour.
Kirtan in Ireland (12 min video)
Praghosa Das of ISKCON and Govinda’s (Dublin) leads a kirtan chant session at a gathering in County Westmeath, Ireland. Jayananda Davis is the brilliant and enlivening mridanga drum player.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/KnxfEG
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.
(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed)
[Originally published on July 24th, 2012](The final installment of the 3 part series.) One of my favorite accounts in Shrimad Bhagavatam is Narada’s sharing of his previous life with Vyasadeva in the first Canto. This volume was all of the SB that was published when I became a devotee, and I have read it more than any other passage. Still, even with whole 12 Cantos of SB in print, I still find this story very inspiring. I like biographies anyway, and “coming to Krishna” stories are especially interesting and relevant to sadhakas (practicing devotees of Krishna). Although Narada is an eternally perfected devotee, he still has this aspect of his life as a way to teach us about the essential importance of Vaishnava blessings and association to jump start our spiritual lives. Narada embarks on the pilgrim’s journey to attain spiritual perfection, and he seems like one of us as he faces a personal tragedy which catapults him toward Krishna. We read how he depended on Krishna in all circumstances and was not independent in his endeavor to successfully meditate, but had to abide by Krishna’s timing for perfection.
Among the many games that the mind plays, comparison is one of its favorites – and one that is rarely favorable in terms of how it affects us. The mind will always find something with which to unfavorably compare our situation and make us miserable.
So often in routine life we experience phenomena unexplainable by the current western paradigm. Out-of-body or near death experiences, children who can remember past lives leave mainstream scientists baffled. What then to speak of understanding superconsciousness, a phenomenon we all experience throughout our lives.
From Chandramukha Swami
When BHAKTI enters FOOD
FOOD becomes PRASAD,
When BHAKTI enters HUNGER,
HUNGER becomes a FAST,
When BHAKTI enters WATER,
WATER becomes CHARANAMRIT,
When BHAKTI enters TRAVEL,
TRAVEL becomes a PILGRIMAGE,
When BHAKTI enters MUSIC,
MUSIC becomes KIRTAN,
When BHAKTI enters a HOUSE,
HOUSE becomes a TEMPLE,
When BHAKTI enters ACTIONS,
ACTIONS become SERVICES,
When BHAKTI enters in KARMA,
KARMA becomes AKARMA,
AND
When BHAKTI enters a MAN,
MAN becomes HUMAN.
Hare Krishna! Where Is Godhead? Is It Possible To See Him?
Srila Prabhupada: In the Secretariat Buildings in New Delhi there is an inscription on the stone that Liberty does not descend upon a people but it has to earned before it can be enjoyed. Actually this is the fact and we have seen it that much sacrifice had to be rendered by the people of India before they could gain Swaraj. But in the matter of Godhead some irresponsible people ask, “Can you show me.” “Have you seen God?” These are some of the questions put forward by some irresponsible men who want to have everything very cheap. If for attaining a temporary false sense of liberty in this material world so much labour and sacrifice have to be requisitioned is it possible to see Godhead — The Absolute Truth so cheaply? To see God means complete liberty from all conditions. But is Godhead an attending orderly so that He may be present at my command?
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18367
ISKCON Devotees Attend Rome Environmental Convergence.
Young religious environmental leaders from around the world, including four ISKCON devotees, attended an environmental “convergence” and march in Rome at the end of June.
The march culminated in St. Peter’s Square in front of the Vatican, where the Pope’s encyclical is traditionally broadcast from to over 1 billion Catholics across the globe.
“It almost looked like St. Peter’s Square had turned green,” says participant Gopal-Lila Das, who is the Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies’ Bhumi Project. “It was a really beautiful sight.”
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/s5cWs5
The post Daily Darshan – July 10th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
HH Radhanath Swami Singing in Sadhu Sanga Retreat 2015 on Day 2 HD Video
Hare Krishna! The History of the Balaram Mridangas
Some time in 1972-73 Srila Prabhupada saw that the East Indians were not carrying on the tradition of making the original mridangas and kartals. The younger generation who would normally take over the arts from their fathers were becoming more and more interested in going to school and going to the cities. They were thinking that working with leather making the drums and such was a lower class of activity. So Srila Prabhupada sent out a letter to all the GBCs indicating that some men should be sent to India to learn these arts. At that time I was in the temple of Jagadisha who was Srila Prabhupada’s Minister of education and a GBC member.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=18364
“Krishna dictates everything the guru says.
Everything guru says is therefore perfect,
we should not interpret it.”
Friends, the idea that it’s possible to not interpret the guru is a myth.
Subjectivity means seeing something from your own point of view (“interpreting it” according to your own viewpoint). The idea that it’s possible to remain a conscious individual yet avoid subjectivity is a myth.
To be a conscious individual means to be aware of things from a distinct perspective. I look out my window at the street and see it from one angle. My neighbor sees the same street from a different angle. The same principle operates on emotional and intellectual levels as well. We see and understand everything from our own unique physical, emotional, and intellectual perspective – that is what makes us a distinct, individual being.
The only way to get rid of subjectivity is to have no unique physical, emotional or intellectual perspective, which is impossible if one wants to remain a distinct, individual being. Consciousness can be free of subjectivity only if its individuality is completely neutralized and reduced to latency in the homogeneous non-dual brahmajyoti.
If that sounds attractive, go for it – but the Gauḍīya school of Vedānta would not likely wind up being the best fit for you.
So, how do we understand Guru?
It’s impossible to lose our subjective perspective, but we can try to get our perspective to be compatible with his or her perspective. How? By learning what he learned, by feeling what she felt, by experiencing what he experienced, and by being aware of the surroundings and contexts that he was aware of.
The majority of ISKCON members (and probably many other guru-centric groups, too) are indoctrinated to have a phobia of something called “mental speculation.” The majority of them understand this phrase to mean that its wrong to use your own mind and intellect to understand things. (God, the ’70s were weird. No wonder my mother warned me not to join a cult.)
Friends, the idea that its possible to understand anything at all without using your mind and intellect is a ridiculous myth. We have no choice but to use our minds and intelligence, for these are the tools consciousness uses to listen to words and understand things. We cannot understand anything without using our mind/intellect. The goal is not to stop using it, but to make it compatible with the guru’s. How? By learning what he learned, by feeling what she felt, by experiencing what he experienced, and by being aware of the surroundings and contexts that he was aware of.
“I just read guru’s books
and listen to his lectures
and accept whatever he says.”
Unless the people who say this are as enlightened as their guru, the real truth is that they are just lazy – content to allow their maligned mind and intellect make whatever (non)sense the automatically make out of the guru’s words. Yes, they are “just accepting,” but just accepting what? They are accepting whatever their own natural subjective perspective can grasp, without questioning it or reforming it from ignorance. Then they exalt their maligned subjective interpretation as if it were synonymous with the guru’s absolute truth – thereby making a godawful mess of the guru’s effort to distribute divine realization. We who have come after them are expected to be thankful for the tangled maze they have left us, forcing us to sort through the myriad subjective baggage they have piled around gurudeva in our hopeful but longshot attempt to come truly close to the real heart and mind of Śrī Guru.
If you are hearing from guru like that, if you are reading guru’s books like that, the truth is that all you are hearing and reading is your own mind’s version of the guru’s words, you are only learning your own perspective on a new subject.
How should you hear guru? By learning what he learned, by feeling what she felt, by experiencing what he experienced, and by being aware of the surroundings and contexts that he was aware of.
Learn what he learned by studying whatever has been left behind by the teachers who taught him. Are you “jumping over” your guru if you do this? There is a world of difference between “jumping over the guru” and researching the previous gurus for the sake of better understanding your own! Govinda das stepped over Mahāprabhu… to serve him.
Feel and experience what she felt and experienced by practicing the sādhana that she gave to help you do exactly that! And, learn about her life and try to trace the same steps she walked and see the same things she saw, at least in your head. “Walk a mile in her moccasins.”
Be aware of his surroundings and contexts by immersing yourself in the culture he was immersed in – which includes his era, his upbringing, his education, his nationality and ethnicity.
In closing: Guru teaches what he received from his gurus, who are distributing what Vyāsa, Brahmā and Viṣṇu revealed in śāstra. So we have three principles: (1) the śāstra, (2) the ācāryas (“sādhus”) who teach it, and (3) the specific ācārya/sādhu who teaches it to us – our guru. All three are required! We need the guru to understand the ācāryas and śāstra, and we equally need the ācāryas and śāstra to really understand the guru.
If you want to take one of these three without the other two, I think you won’t really comprehend the true teachings of any of them.
If you want to go for it anyway, go for it. But please leave me alone about it; stop trying to make me one of you, and for God’s sake at least please stop claiming that you are the only one who is “humble” and “faithful to guru”!
– Vraja Kishor dās
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 April 2015, Radhadesh, Belgium, Vyasa Puja Morning Lecture, Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya Lila 24.124)
The reason why I brought this little bit of astrology into the lecture, is to point out that we have our nature. I will give an example of Krsna Ksetra Maharaj. I like to call him, “His Relaxedness.” Happy relaxedness! I have never seen Maharaj uptight in all these years. I am the opposite – I get uptight about things, all the time. Like these vyasa-pujas, they make me uptight. There are so many people and I have relationships with everybody and they are all here and they all want to talk to me. But how I am going to talk to all of them!? It is impossible. The only way I can talk to all of you, is through the microphone right now. That is about it, and here and there catch some of you but not all of you, because it is impossible. But I find that Krsna Ksetra Maharaj knows how to deal with everything in a relaxed way. I am learning from Maharaj, this art of becoming relaxed in Krsna’s service.
So our natures are different but still each of these natures has to be adjusted for the sake of Krsna. I realized, through many life experiences, that natures have their good sides and bad sides in devotional service, and that we have to use our natures to the advantage of Krsna. When you have a fiery nature, sometimes you have to just cool it. When you have a very cool nature, sometimes you need to get a bit hot for Krsna.
So we have to make adjustments for Krsna – whatever it is and whatever it takes. We have to have that willingness to be shaped – like chapati dough – into whichever forms are required. Just like a joker in the card game who can adjust to whatever card he is placed next to; he immediately takes on the qualities of the card he is next to. So we have to be like that for Krsna’s service. We have to be ready to change and to rise to the occasion, which means to do anything and everything that is required.
In the material world, you can say that you are not trained for that type of engagement but in Krsna consciousness that does not work because there is always that, “You just surrender, prabhu!” mantra. (laughter)
They ask you, “Can you cook?”
You reply, “Well, no. Not really…”
“Oh, that is easy. Just put some water on the stove, some rice and this and that…“
Half an hour later, there is kitchari and one week later you are in charge of the kitchen! All in the name that Krsna will empower us. But it is true that Krsna will empower us and it is true that we depend on Krsna’s empowerment. Without the empowerment of Krsna, there is nothing we can do. Even with all the talents in the world – even if you can sing like a gandarva, not every morning you will wake up with the golden voice!
Krsna says, paurusham nrishu (Bhagavad-gita 7.8) – I am the ability in man. Everything is simply a gift from Krsna. Therefore, we are using our gifts and where we are not so gifted, we just try to do the best we can, in the hope that Krsna will help us. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada was saying that the word impossible exists only in the fool’s dictionary. By that, he was referring to the principle of empowerment and it is important that we contemplate this principle of empowerment.
Therefore, our limitations do not apply. Otherwise we start to thing logically, “I know myself. I am not a kid. I have been around. I am not new, you know. I know what I can do; I know what I cannot do. I know how I can stretch myself, but really certain things I know I just cannot do.“ Not necessarily! When the Krsna factor is there, then we can surprise ourselves. “I did not know I can do it!’ With Krsna’s help anything can be done.
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