Planet ISKCON

Lecture Podcast:
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When we see others behave in an inappropriate way, we tend to attribute that behavior to their internal character flaws, not their external extenuating circumstances.

As ISKCON approaches its 50th anniversary in 2016, ISKCON News is increasing its coverage of both the latest plans for the 2016 celebrations, as well as looking back on the early years of ISKCON and how Srila Prabhupada's worldwide society developed. This article is part of a series connecting New Vrindaban, ISKCON's first farm community, to the grand visions by Srila Prabhupada.

Toronto's Hare Krishna Centre (ISKCON Toronto), has always been the hub of a rich, vibrant and enthusiastic community. Whether it be grand festivals, programs at local universities and yoga studios, philosophical discussions, cooking sessions, or singing and dancing on the streets, there are events taking place for everyone's interest.

Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka: Two Florida Ratha-yatras and More
Read the diary here: http://goo.gl/P3uVJR

Hare Krishna! What is the relationship of the small group of devotees to ISKCON?
The original roots of an organisation – the regional headquarters or a national office – serve its branches and the branches serve the head office, or in our case the head temple or national ISKCON structure. If the head office provides nothing for the branches, they become weak and stop growing. If the branches provide nothing for head office it also becomes weak, or in many cases, begins to conserve valuable resources for itself. It gets weak all the same; it just takes a little more time. Only by each part of an organisation performing mutual service for the other parts can natural growth happen. How do they work together?
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16888

Hare Krishna! What is the relationship of the small group of devotees to ISKCON?
The original roots of an organisation – the regional headquarters or a national office – serve its branches and the branches serve the head office, or in our case the head temple or national ISKCON structure. If the head office provides nothing for the branches, they become weak and stop growing. If the branches provide nothing for head office it also becomes weak, or in many cases, begins to conserve valuable resources for itself. It gets weak all the same; it just takes a little more time. Only by each part of an organisation performing mutual service for the other parts can natural growth happen. How do they work together?
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16888

A short video of  "outsider" people trying out the Hare Krishna lifestyle for a weekend in Krishna-valley Indian Cultural Center and Ecofarm, Hungary. (Text in Hungarian.)

Sometimes, the simplest invention can change millions of lives.

Parikrama to Ter Kadamba, Asheshwar Mahadev, Pavana Sarovara, Nandagram, and Vrinda Kunda! (Album with photos)
See them here: http://goo.gl/tm2PdQ

As part of ongoing efforts to establish good relations with the wider Hindu Community, ISKCON’s Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir Temple was honoured to welcome Swami Baba Ramdev, the famous yoga teacher from India, on Friday 10^th April. It was just a short visit (part of an official welcome to Melbourne) as Swami Ramdev gave his yoga programs elsewhere.

The ISKCON Studies Institute will hold its next conference at Radhadesh (Belgium) from May 22-24, 2015. This year’s conference theme is Devotional Ethics, Community, and Practice in Caitanya Vaisnavism. The ISKCON Studies Institute Conference 2015 features an outstanding array of academic scholars from around the world.

Hare Krishna! TOVP Tour Daily Diary: Day 26-30, Arrival in Ottawa, Canada and Home Programs
On Wednesday, March 8th Jananivas and Sunanda prabhus visited the home of Shyamakund and Ananda Rupa prabhus for prasadam and darshan of their Deities, after which they departed from New Jersey with the Lord’s Padukas for the first stop in Canada, Ottawa, the Nation’s capital. On Thursday, April 9th Jananivas, Vraja Vilas and Sunanda prabhus brought the Padukas to the home of Vanamali prabhu and his family where they also had prasadam. In the evening the Temple President, Shankar prabhu, arranged a program in his home for darshan of the Padukas and a lecture by Jananivas prabhu…
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16885

Hare Krishna! TOVP Tour Daily Diary: Day 26-30, Arrival in Ottawa, Canada and Home Programs
On Wednesday, March 8th Jananivas and Sunanda prabhus visited the home of Shyamakund and Ananda Rupa prabhus for prasadam and darshan of their Deities, after which they departed from New Jersey with the Lord’s Padukas for the first stop in Canada, Ottawa, the Nation’s capital. On Thursday, April 9th Jananivas, Vraja Vilas and Sunanda prabhus brought the Padukas to the home of Vanamali prabhu and his family where they also had prasadam. In the evening the Temple President, Shankar prabhu, arranged a program in his home for darshan of the Padukas and a lecture by Jananivas prabhu…
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16885

Ellen talks about going vegan. February 2, 2010.

Tamil Preaching, ISKCON Batticaloa, Sri lanka (1 min video)
Vasudeva Datta Prabhu (from Europe) making young children chant Mahamantra. The children are sweetly surprised to see a person from European background speaking their language Tamil.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/rrY1ux

The post Attention everyone!! appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Gita Lessons to be Included in School Syllabus: Haryana CM
GURGAON: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today said that lessons from ‘Gita’ and other holy books would be included in the syllabus of schools for imbibing moral values among students while also declaring that a university will be set up in Gurgaon. According to an official statement released here, Khattar made these announcements while addressing a gathering at a function organized in Government College for Women, Sector 14.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/B1YmEa

Hare Krishna! Water: A Meditation
Water is one of the categories of Krishna’s energy, as described in scripture such as Bhagavad-gita and Brahma-samhita. Krishna always exists as a transcendent person apart from His energy, while at the same time He is present in that energy. Therefore, while water is not Krishna, Krishna is water. In what ways can we appreciate Krishna in water? He is the taste or the essence of water, the quality that quenches our thirst and brings satisfaction
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16880

Hare Krishna! The Science of Knowing God
God: The Evidence; The God Delusion; God: The Failed Hypothesis; The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Apparently, writing about God is the latest rage among scientists, both theistic and atheistic. Many of these authors have also been invited to speak to college crowds, and they are causing quite a stir. But is this really the best way to approach the question of God’s existence?
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16876

Watch the making of the amazing Vedic Cultural & Educational Center at Govardhan Ecovillage (11 min video)
Temple made from stone.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/gZzf6g

Om Sri Surabhi Campaign (16 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: “Therefore the world is suffering, so much sinful activities. The greatest sinful activity is cow slaughter, and they are committing. They do not know what will be the result. Such brain, stool, stool-bound brain. Thorough overhaul is required. That we are doing. Otherwise the stool cannot be cleansed.” [February 19, 1977, Mayapur]
“There should be a thorough overhauling of the social system, and society should revert to the Vedic principles, that is, the four varnas and the four asramas.” [SB 4.29.54]
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/mv4H9J

Lecture Podcast:

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The post April 17th, 2015 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

12.04.2015 H.G.Sankarshana Prabhu_SB-5.19.8

Why do we say that lust needs to be curbed when it can be channelized towards Krishna as Narottama Das Thakura says?

Is the Supersoul actually expanded in every heart or is it an appearance of expansion?

What happens to the Supersoul after death and after liberation?

Does Prabhupada’s instruction ‘do as I have done’ mean there’s no need to innovate in preaching”

When everything is in Prabhupada’s books, what is the need to read other books either by ISKCON devotees or previous acharyas?

Why did Yudhisthira agree for a second gambling match after the disastrous first gambling match?

Why did the virtuous Bhishma fight on the side of the vicious Kauravas?

Why did Krishna not protect Yudhisthira from errors of judgment?

Who was Yuyutsu? How did he come from the Kaurava side to the Pandava side?

Did Vikarna get any good result for trying to defend Draupadi’s honor?

Did Karna have to choose the side of evil due to his past karma?

What does the Gita’s inverted tree metaphor signify?

How is the world a lila of the Pursha avatara? Is it a virtual reality manufactured by him with chosable scripts for us?

In monozygotic twins where do the differences come from?

Is the universal form in the Gita’s ninth chapter a conceptualization and the eleventh chapter, a revelation?

Can God create a stone that he can’t lift?

To realize everything is illusion amidst adversities, is yoga and pranayama the way or is bhakti-yoga sufficient?

When the number of breaths of a soul in a body are fixed, how can a purpose-driven attitude increase longevity?

Why does Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati criticize organized churches when ISKCON is also an organised church?

As developing internal conviction takes time, isn’t it better to be stimulated in our devotion by external inspiration?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rudra hurled himself towards Dakṣa’s sacrifice in the vanguard of an army of monsters, roaring with horrible eagerness for destruction and wielding a spear forged of death’s death. Even the anklets on his feet roared!

At the sacrifice, night approached far too early. “What is this darkness?” everyone worried. They discovered that a dust storm was approaching quickly from the north. “What is raising all this dust?” The brāhmaṇa couples began asking one another. “There is no wind. It cannot be raiders, because Prācīna-barhiḥ is still the powerful king, enforcing law and order. There are no herds of cows… Is this dust a sign that destruction is upon us?”

Prasūti and her daughters – who were terribly aggrieved by the loss of Satī – spoke out, pointing at their husband and father, Dakṣa, “This man’s wickedness is certainly the cause of the disaster that approaches! This so-called ‘forefather’ completely dishonored his own faultless child, Satī, while all his daughters bore witness!

“When the end comes,” Prasūti declared, “Śiva’s matted hair scatters, as the points of his spear pierce and scatter the protectors of the dimensions. He dances with weapons aloft in his hands, waving like flags, and his loud, mad laughter is thunder that cracks the dimensions. His anger is unbearable, impossible to even look at! The frowning of his eyebrows and bearing of his fangs destroys the sun, moon, planets and stars. How could anyone, even the Creator himself, expect any good fortune after angering him?”

Everyone expressed agreement with Prasūti and her daughters, with eyes full of fear. Dakṣa himself, though very powerful, became afraid as thousands of terrible monsters approached from all sides, on the ground and from the sky. Rudra’s hosts fell upon the huge arena of sacrifice, with reddish scales and jaws of yellow fangs, like legendary crocodiles. Brandishing many cruel weapons they quickly surrounded everyone and destroyed the arena. They tore down the beams of the sacrificial hall, destroyed the women’s quarters, the guest’s quarters, the fire’s quarters, and the kitchen. They tore down the sacred boundary, shattered the offering pots, and extinguished the fires by pissing on the altars. They arrested the sages and threatened to turn their wives into widows.

The gods tried to flee, but were quickly arrested. Rudra’s Maṇimān arrested Bhṛgu, while Caṇḍeśa and Nandīśvara arrested Pūṣā and Bhaga.

They made all these gods and guests watch as they rounded up the priests and gleefully stoned them while they tried to flee, in vain.

— Śrī Bhāgavatam 4.5.6 ~ 18

Vraja Kishor dās

VrajaKishor.com

Tagged: Bhagavata Purana, destruction of religious ceremony, monsters, Rudra, Srimad Bhagavatam

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Rasa Rasika dasa

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 05 April 2014, Durban, South Africa, Ratha Yatra Lecture: The secret of spiritual advancement)

Krsna is our solution. Krsna will fulfil our desires. Everything we need, we find it in Krsna and if destiny does not go our way, “My dream, it didn’t work out. Everything, it all collapsed!” It is all right, accept Krsna’s will and somehow or other, tolerate it. If it is difficult, then know, “Krsna wants me to bear this difficulty and this will make me strong.” We know that if life was so soft and if life was so easy what we would become…

Once, I was on a train. I had to carry a suitcase of cash in India so I traveled by train in a first class, air-conditioned compartment. It was more expensive that flying so nobody goes there. In that compartment, you have a button at your seat and when you press it, a servant comes running. There was another man in the compartment and this man, his finger was like always on the button and the servant would come and the man would ask, “Do you have a cushion?” And the servant would go bring a cushion and then the man would ring the bell again and ask for another cushion! In the end, he had like twenty cushions! He was sitting propped up with many cushions. This man was very fat also so I was looking at him and wondering if he had any bones. More and more, I began to think that if you get too many cushions in life, you become like a jelly-fish! You become like very soft and weak when life is too cushy! You have to fight a little bit.

You know, with children also, if you shelter them too much then they don’t learn to deal with life and they become very helpless. So, come on, grow up and deal with the world; make the best of it; and what you cannot control, tolerate! That is life! So, we cannot shelter people too much and we cannot shelter ourselves too much. It is simple, when difficulties come, we accept. We try to make the best of it and for the rest… accept! This is Krsna consciousness, this faith that our happiness lies with Krsna. When I am faithful to what Krsna wants with my life then it will work and when I go for other things, it will not work! Then one can overcome personal weaknesses and one can get strength.

 

It was with great sadness that we left Tatarstan yesterday. The small group of devotees pushing on Lord Caitanya’s samkirtan movement there – so far away from the rest of the world – are the sweetest devotees you could ever imagine. Please everyone send them your blessings!

Deepak prabhu and Nitu mataji from Perth participate in a Bhakti Vrksa program. Occasionally, they also invite devotees to their house for arati, kirtan and prasadam.

Does the small group in ISKCON serve the local temple, or does the temple serve the small group? Who serves whom?

 It’s a question that’s often asked in organisations, especially in charities or campaigning groups:  Does the local branch of a charity serve the national office, or does national office serve the branch? Do finances and resources flow from the branches back up to the head office, or from head office down to the branches?

In many organisations that are not functioning all that well, there will be complaints about head office by the branches, while head office will complain that the branches don’t seem to be performing well. Who is right?

The answer lies in the organic way that organisations grow, and the very word “branch” provides a clue to the answer. Back in the days when our English language employed more colourful expressions drawn from nature, we used to favourably compare organisations to trees.

The reason is of course, because when people agree to work together and function as one unit, they do grow like trees. They grow from a single idea – a seed – by a passionately committed individual; the intensely focused dedication of early co-workers, and, when successful, they grow up straight and strong, producing many branches.

Yet although the trunk of a tree, being the biggest, looks the strongest part, it can only remain strong if all of the trees smallest parts, the leaves, are also doing their job.

How a tree works is ingenious. The leaves of the tree trap the energy of sunlight with their green chlorophyll, and the astonishing process of photosynthesis then transforms water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen that pass down into the trunk. Invigorated by this, the trunk soaks up water and sends it back up to the leaves. Every part of the tree is working and the entire structure is functional. It continues to grow.

If the trunk doesn’t do the big stuff, like raising water from deep underground all the way up to the top of the tree sometimes fifty or more feet in the air, the tree will die. And if the leaves don’t do their sunlight catching, the tree will also die. The trunk serves the leaves and the leaves serve the trunk. Biological symbiosis makes a completely functional system.

Any organisation with many branches functions like this. That is, any functional, growing, balanced organisation.

The original roots of an organisation – the regional headquarters or a national office – serve its branches and the branches serve the head office, or in our case the head temple or national ISKCON structure.

If the head office provides nothing for the branches, they become weak and stop growing. If the branches provide nothing for head office it also becomes weak, or in many cases, begins to conserve valuable resources for itself. It gets weak all the same; it just takes a little more time. Only by each part of an organisation performing mutual service for the other parts can natural growth happen.

How do they work together?

Every organisation is different of course. There are those that are very ‘Trunk and Roots’ orientated. The branches simply serve as agents to collect money for the big stuff that is conceived and executed from head office. Many charities work that way. Oxfam, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, the Red Cross, all operate with their numerous branches raising funds which are sent to a head office that makes campaign decisions and then disburses the funds accordingly. Religions can be like that too. All decrees, innovations, directives and appointments come from a supreme governing body, and funds flow from the supporters in the branches to a central body from where they are apportioned and disbursed.

Other organisations have a very small head office and leave it up to the branches to be innovative, self-funding and locally directed. Some religions function like this too. They expect their branches to run on enthusiasm, to be self-sustaining, and to have a wide spectrum of theological understanding.

Observers comment that these different styles of religious organisation suit different types of people. Each has inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Our question, as followers of Srila Prabhupada is: “What kind of organisational structure did Srila Prabhupada want? Luckily for us, Srila Prabhupada was an extremely intelligent organiser as well as a scholar and a saint.

His many instructions for running ISKCON are well documented and were put into effect even in the early years of the movement. He considered that “organisation and intelligence” would preserve the movement he’d started, and that these two essentials, as well as spiritual strength resulting from: ‘rising up from sleep before four in the morning, chanting sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra, gorgeous deity worship, going out on the sankirtan party, holding festivals and scrutinisingly studying and discussing my books’.

Srila Prabhupada not only translated the scriptures from Sanskrit into English for the first time in history, and travelled constantly guiding his early followers; he managed all the affairs of his movement through correspondence and telegrams. So ISKCON functions with balance between trunk and branch, with a good deal of regular reciprocity between them, yet tending towards complete autonomy for the branch when it reaches the level of ‘ISKCON centre’.

Yet for each group to prosper, it is essential for it to have a great deal of spiritual nourishment flowing up from the trunk of the ISKCON tree. Preachers, teachers, book distribution, local festivals and good advice in both personal spiritual practise and outreach activities, will all help the group members, and through this the group will grow strong.

The group leader can invite preachers to come until the group members themselves are knowledgeable and proficient enough to conduct the courses that are recommended for a good understanding of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Some funding is required for this, but if each member can contribute to the transport cost of the preacher this will be very helpful.

(Taken from The ISKCON Small Groups Handbook)