Planet ISKCON

“A person who has developed detachment can give up the bondage of material society, friendship and love, and a person who undergoes great suffering gradually becomes, out of hopelessness, detached and indifferent to the material world. Thus, due to my great suffering, such detachment awoke in my heart; yet how could I have undergone such [...]

From Sushant P:

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From Rambhadra Priya P:

The question is based on Srila Prabhupada's purport to Bhagavatam (2.6.20)

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(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed)

[reprinted from 4-15-2012] Every year I’m so inspired by the feeling of spring as I watch its gradual unfolding like the stages of a lovely flower, from bud to full blown petal perfection, or a step by step, most profound, yet accessible concert, which carries one to a moving experience, difficult to convey to others. While the basics of earth, plants, flowers, trees, insects, animals, wind, sky, clouds, sun, moon, and stars are obvious, how they affect and teach me by the power of Krishna’s seasonal changes, can be challenging to express in fresh ways. This is my challenge every year as I am stirred by spring and the various natural transformations, yet because I have the desire to share something meaningful with you, making the endeavor to serve and give, I find new inspiration. This is what has come to me:

The cultivation of spiritual life is like setting different small parts of special lenses in place which enables us to view life from a new and deeper perspective. Beginning with the premise that there is a God, we are eternal souls having a relationship with Him, and that this is a purposeful universe gives us insights completely different from thinking consciousness is simply chemical, electrical reactions, and that life has no meaning. As quantum mechanics in physics has taught scientists that the act of observing something changes the phenomenon being observed, life reflects back to us according to our faith or belief about existence. This can be expressed in the words of Krishna in his Bhagavad Gita [4.11],

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Answer: Let’s consider the answer in three different ways.

1. Once a person read a novel for the first time in his life. On coming to know that the novel was written by an author, he asked, “Where is the author in the novel?” The above question is quite similar to that. The answer obviously is that the author is not in the novel; he created the timeline, the storyline and the characters in the novel, but he exists outside it. Similarly, God created time, space and everything, including all of us, who live within time and space, but he himself exists outside the fabric of time and space. So everything that exists within time and space needs a beginning, a cause, but God who exists outside it, needs no cause, for he is the cause of time and space; he exists outside the chain of creator and created.
2. The Vedic literatures provide us the definition of God: sarva karana karanam. “He is the cause of all causes.” This definition implies that, while tracing back the origin of all the things around us, the point where we stop is God. If God were to have an origin, then that origin would be God. Because even according to pure logic, the source of everything cannot have a source. So this question is itself illogical as it originates in an illogical understanding of the term, God.
3. Modern science has confirmed that our universe has a beginning, that it is not eternal. Most current scientific theories propose the origin of the universe to be a singularity, a point of infinite density, infinite temperature and infinitesimal size, a point that is beyond all conceptions of space and time, a point that is mathematically indescribable and physically unrealizable. And science has no reasonable answer to the question of where this singularity came from. Thus even so-called rational science cannot avoid ascribing inconceivable (we could say “irrational”) attributes to the origin of everything, but it is ascribing them to a lump of matter instead of God. So materialistic science and spirituality both require us to accept on faith their version of how the universe originated. But let’s examine: which faith is more reasonable? Does a lump of matter organize itself into a building or does an intelligent person organize lumps of matter into a building? All experience points to an intelligent person. So isn’t it logical that the organization, structure and harmony in the universe – the cosmic building we live in – require a Super-intelligent Person, not just a super-energetic lump of matter?

To summarize, no one created God because he exists outside the chain of creator and created, he is by definition the causeless cause of all causes and he is the most reasonable conception of the origin of everything.

 

 

 

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Often I find myself struggling to think of new things to say about Japa that haven’t been said already – I try to use quotes from Srila Prabhupada or senior devotees and occasionally video and audio but still it can be a struggle.
Actually, the whole reason I started the Japa Group all those years ago was because of a quote I read where Srila Prabhupada was saying that we should write each day about our realisations in Krsna consciousness.
I don’t have many, but I have a few about Japa and one thing is for sure – we need to take Japa very seriously and make it the priority in our day over everything else.

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.17

“The  devotees in Hong Kong had arranged for a Rolls-Royce to pick up Srila Prabhupada at the airport. One of the reporters that came to the press conference asked him. ‘You are supposed to be a spiritual person, why are you riding in a Rolls-Royce car?’ Srila Prabhupada replied. ‘As spiritual master, I am the representative of God. In the kingdom of God everything is made of spiritual gems. Actually, they should have received me in a vehicle made from spiritual gems. Even if they had received me in a solid gold Rolls-Royce, it would not have been good enough. But, because this is all they could offer I had to accept it.’ And then Srila Prabhupada said to me. ‘What else can you say to such envious people?’ But there is truth to what Srila Prabhupada said—there is always truth to everything he said.”

Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.17, Leicester

Gita Verse-by-verse Study Podcast

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Hare Krishna! TOVP WORLD TOUR 2015-2016: Day 1 and Day 2
On Thursday, March 12 around 6:30pm the Lord in the form of His Padukas and Sitari arrived at Radha Jivana prabhu’s home to an ecstatic reception kirtan led by devotees from the Gainesville Krishna House. The Padukas and Sitari received an abhishek, and Jananivas prabhu received a foot washing and spoke about Mayapur and the TOVP project to all the assembled devotees.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16236

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Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Caitanya-caritamrta Antya-lila chapter 8.

isvara-puri gosañi kare sripada-sevana
svahaste karena mala-mutradi marjana

Translation: Isvara Puri, the spiritual master of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, performed service to Madhavendra Puri, cleaning up his stool and urine with his own hand.

—CC Antya 8.28

Giriraj Swami: You can see the contrast — Ramachandra Puri was so proud that he thought he could instruct his spiritual master and Isvara Puri was so humble that he was willing to clean up his stool and urine. So the one who is very proud is actually fallen and the one who is humble is actually exalted.

Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya 8, Bhaktivedanta Manor

Western culture means complicated superficial culture. Western culture believes in industrialization and today all of the world is following this culture thinking it to be the most civilized culture. But if we look at data objectively, you will find all the diseases, depression, wars, natural resources depletion takes place in urban populated centers, not in places where there is no industrialization. In other words, the true cost of industrialization is our own physical and mental health.

On the other hand, people from the east are supposed to be more spiritual in tune with nature more. Unfortunately, more and more this is not the case any more. The art of simple living and high thinking is completely lost. Srila Prabhupada constantly preached the concept of a simple life on what he called "getting away from unnecessary necessities". People today are more connected with facebook than they are with their next door neighbors.

Anyways...here is a man who is showing us how to live a simple yet a very happy life - example is better than precept. From watching this video, I concluded, he may not be a university graduate but surely a very intelligent, sensitive and common sense individual - things you don't learn in universities.





Hare Krishna

Himalayan Harinam in Nepal (Album 57 photos)
See them here: http://goo.gl/6txdp8

HH Indradyumna Swami’s health update.
Indradyumna Swami: Dear devotees,
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I would like to thank all of you for your concern, your care and especially your prayers during these last few days. As my dear friend Govinda Swami reported, I was recently diagnosed with Melanoma skin cancer, but the small malignant mole was successfully removed and further testing showed the cancer had not spread anywhere at all. I am presently recovering from surgery to the affected area. My doctors are happy with the results and told me today that I’ll be good to go in a few weeks time.
Krsna has been very kind to me and I have had many realizations over the past 2 weeks. I am more grateful than ever for the mercy of my spiritual master, the association of devotees, the holy names, service to my Deities, the chanting of my gayatri mantras, the abode of Sri Vrindavan Dhama and service to the samkirtan movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I wake up each morning and thank the Lord for a new day of service and the opportunity to come closer to His Lotus feet. I am infinitely more aware now how temporary life is and am determined to use every second of what remains of my life in service to guru and Gauranga. I feel a resurgence of dedication to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to me to, ‘preach boldly and have faith in the holy names.’ In fact, I feel my service to him has only just begun. Once again I thank all of you for remembering me in my time of difficulty. I look forward to your association for many years to come.
Your servant, Indradyumna Swami
“A person who has developed detachment can give up the bondage of material society, friendship and love, and a person who undergoes great suffering gradually becomes, out of hopelessness, detached and indifferent to the material world. Thus, due to my great suffering, such detachment awoke in my heart; yet how could I have undergone such merciful suffering if I were actually unfortunate? Therefore, I am in fact fortunate and have received the mercy of the Lord. He must somehow or other be pleased with me.” [ SB 11.8.38 ]

12-03-2015 The Important Role of Women in Society, Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa.mp3

Family Room/Nursery Opened at the Alachua Iskcon Temple
The new family room/nursery at the Temple (previously the old gift shop) opened on Gaura Purnima. This space is a much-needed heated and cooled space for parents to take care of their babies and young children and for mothers to nurse their babies in a safe contained space while listening to the Temple program via radio. Current opening hours are festival evening programs and Sunday feasts when the gift shop is open. Additionally, a coded lockbox with a key inside is now installed on the building so parents can access this space during the daily morning program and festival morning programs.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/RzKQKd

Harinama in Radhakunda (Album 13 photos)
We did Harinama Sankirtana at Radha kund and we where very lucky because HH Janananda Goswami joined us this day! (15.03.2015 ) Shri Harinama Sankirtana yajna ki Jai!
See them here: http://goo.gl/GMLkjj

Hare Krishna! In honor of the passing of our dear Godsister, Nandalal Dasi ACBSP
In honor of the passing of our dear Godsister, Nandalal Dasi, here is part of a manuscript she wrote about her dandauti parikrama of Govardhan. “I was initiated in 1970 in Los Angeles. Shortly after joining the temple I was told by temple authorities that because I was 28 and had been married as a karmi, I should not get married in the Movement. I became Karandhar Prabhu’s secretary and was also in charge of the Brahmacarinis for periods of time.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16233

Hare Krishna! Fundraising for H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s Tirobhava - 2015
Please, I am writing you on behalf of the Gita Nagari team organizers for the Tirobhava of H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami which is to tale place from June 25th to 29th of this year in Gita Nagari. There are about 300-500 devotees who are expected to attend from all over the world, and we are looking for donations to manage the festival in order for it to move on smoothly.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16230

The post Surf the wave. Its the last one coming in. appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Project of Burning Ghat in Mayapur (Album 5 photos)
Project for the departure of the devotees from the material world.
See them here: http://goo.gl/0N0ywR

Hare Krishna! Open positions in Mayapur
Landscape designer/architect: Mayapur Development Projects in cooperation working with Mayapur Master Plan development team looking for devotees, professionals in Landscape Area. Work would include designing Mayapur Master Plan green areas, advising on plans, design and oversee the development and construction of external land areas such as gardens, parks and recreational areas and residential, industrial and commercial sites. Preferable person should stay in Sri Mayapur Dham in order to work closes with dynamic team.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16224

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

Gaura Purnima Class – HG Jai Nitai Dasa – 05.03.2015

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An Acharya is teaching by example. If this is humility in Krishna consciousness, then I consider myself less than a neophyte.

Personally, I have no hope for any direct service for the coming crores of births of the sojourn of my life, but I am confident that some day or other I shall be delivered from this mire of delusion in which I am at present so deeply sunk. Therefore let me with all my earnestness pray at the lotus feet of my divine master to allow me to suffer the lot for which I am destined due to my past misdoings, but to let me have this power of recollection: that I am nothing but a tiny servant of the Almighty Absolute Godhead, realized through the unflinching mercy of my divine master. Let me therefore bow down at his lotus feet with all the humility at my command.

- Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja Offering, 1936

Hare Krishna

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Everything was supremely auspicious when they were born. In space, in the wind, in the waters, and on the land – everything became happy, carefree, and pleasant. Music vibrated through the heavens, and flowers fell like rain. Satisfied sages chanted auspicious mantras. Gandharvas and Kinnaras sang. Celestial women danced.

Brahmā and all the gods offered congratulations and prayers. They said, “Today the Supreme Person has appeared as a sage in the family of Dharma. He is the one who creates this world from the mystical power within his own self. The world is like a cloud, and he is like the sky.

“He is the ultimate object of all the hypotheses of we hosts of gods and spiritualists. He has come here to cure the ills which disturb this creation, by his abundantly merciful glance, which is more auspicious than even the spotless lotus in which the Goddess of Auspiciousness dwells.”

While worshipping and praising the All-Attractive, the gods obtained that merciful glance. Nara-Nārāyaṇa then departed for the intoxicatingly fragrant Mount Gandhamādana.

Those two sages, Nara and Nārāyaṇa, are certainly fragments of All-Attractive Hari. They have now appeared as the two Krishnas: Yadu-Krishna, and Kuru-Krishna (Arjuna), and continue to relieve the burdens of the world’s ills.

This is an English rendition of Bhāgavata 4.1.53-59. I am finally back on track, translating forward. This chapter was a challenge. It took a lot of time to discover the import in the genealogical tables, many of which involve very ancient and rare Sanskrit names, and then to figure out the best English edit to express the import without losing the genealogy and without sounding goofy.

Here is a very nice painting of Nara-Nārāyaṇa discussing tattva with Nārada.

Tagged: avatara, little-known avatara, nara-narayana, Srimad Bhagavatam

Guest: She is also doing that japa. And while this mālā, doing mālā, and doing the japa, the mind doesn't remain fixed in God. You know, it wanders about. So what is the way of fixing the mind?
Prabhupāda: To hear. "Hare Kṛṣṇa." Chant and hear.

Morning Walk
Los Angeles December 21, 1973