Planet ISKCON

Hare Krishna! Sri Ananta Padmanabha Swamy Temple at Trivandrum
Sri Ananta Padmanabha temple is one of the most prominent temples of India. It is considered as one of the 108 Vaishnava temples (divya sthanam), one of the seven moksha sthalas and one of the six Narayana sthalas. Lord Balarama, Lord Nityananda and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited this temple. The Temple is located inside the East Fort in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16066

Haryana CM Khattar shows the way; bans cow slaughter in state!
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has the potential to emerge as an important political leader who is not hesitant to stand up for Hindu interests.
Khattar’s state government is set to ban the sale of beef and cow slaughter in Haryana, which will become a crime chargeable under the same section that deals with murder.
After Maharashtra, Haryana government will introduce a bill in the Budget session to ban beef and cow slaughter in the state. Punishment under Section 302 which amounts to murder, will be slapped for cow slaughter and possession of beef will also be included as crime.
Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Parkash Dhankar had on March 8 said that the state is set to introduce a bill for “protection and upkeep” of cows in the session.
In the proposed ‘Govansh Sanrakashan and Gau Samvardhan (Cow Protection and Cow Conservation and Development) Bill’ efforts will be made to ban cow slaughter and for conservation and better care of indigenous cattle, he said. Dhankar also said adding that sale of packaged beef has been banned in the state.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/IiykMP

Peter`s View. The Krishna`s in Malaysia (4 min video)
“…What I see is a movement dedicated to doing many good deeds in a troubled world…” Peter Quest from www.lovelyplanet.com talks about his experience so far with the Krishna`s in Malaysia.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/jlbr8W

The post March 13th, 2015 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

TKG Academy Newsletter for Spring 2015!
TKG in TKG Academy stands for His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami. He was a dynamic, influential and powerful guru, winning the hearts and minds of all he met. It was his personal instructions and guidance that have formed the existing academic and spiritual standards of TKG Academy. He invested a considerable amount of time training and instructing the teachers, perfecting the curriculum, and creating a nurturing community where the school and its families can thrive.
Dear friends, take a look at what we have accomplished! Your support makes all this possible. Thank you.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/NMlJiu

Hare Krishna! Meet Narayana & Laura Meyer, TKG Academy’s regular supporters
Let me introduce Narayana and Laura Meyer. We wish to recognize them as the Donor Spotlight for this month and express our gratitude for their support over the past year. In addition to their regular monthly donation, they gave $1,500 to TKG Academy over the New Year holiday. Narayana is the son of Kalachandji Dham’s Mathuranatha Prabhu and Mother Lila. He grew up in the Dallas Hare Krishna community. Along with his brother Janardan, he attended TKG Academy throughout his entire education – from preschool to high school. Narayana and Laura have recently moved back to Dallas.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16063

07.03.2015 HG.Jaya jagannath Prabhu_BG-11.26

GBC Leadership College, Questions and Answers, Govardhan Eco-Village, Wada, Maharashtra
Radhanath Swami: “Getting things done is important. But the spirit and the unity of the community is what will give substance to what you get done. We can build a temple, but people are not going to be Krishna conscious beyond a certain level just due to the temple. They are going to be Krishna conscious by the quality of the association they get when they come to the temple. In one purport Srila Prabhupada writes that the purpose of developing all these temples is to give people the opportunity to associate with devotees. And the quality of their association with devotees is what is going to be important. In Mayapur, with the Temple of Vedic Planetarium, there are going to be millions of people coming from all over the world to see the temple and experience the atmosphere of Mayapur. But what is really going to open their hearts to receive the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the quality of the association of devotees they get when they come.”
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/JflkcU

Hare Krishna! Two Muslim Classmates Meet as Krsna Devotees
“Dissipating Lord Caitanya’s message in Kazakhstan is challenging. The devotees faced hurdles as in 2007, when envy and anger overcame the local governors who destroyed houses at the farm where the devotees lived and wanted to destroy the temple as well. Under the Lord’s protection, diplomacy and wisdom of Srila Gurudeva and other leaders and the support of devotees worldwide, Krsna consciousness is thriving in Kazakhstan. There is a big summer tent for festivals, goshala (cow farm), a wonderful lake revered as the local Radha-kund and a beautiful garden with apple trees and flowers.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16060

After an absence of more than fifteen years, Hare Krsna Food For Life has reopened in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 December 2015, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 9.19.26) 

I was reading Chanakya Pandit’s Neeti-Shastra. It was a long time ago that he wrote it, when he said ‘Which family has no blemish? Which family is not scarred by some scandals?’

In every family, there are some stories… Like, I have this uncle and his wife was a professional prostitute. What to do!? She got pregnant and he married her. The whole family, whenever they see her, it is always like, ‘There she is!’ She does not care but they will never ever forget that once she was a professional prostitute! That is how it is… We sort of do it behind the back of my uncle but some people want him to see their disapproval. It is somewhat of family entertainment.

Okay, now I put it on the table, ‘Oh my God, really? In your family, Maharaj? We always thought that you were from a respectable background and now we have to hear this? Oh gosh, Maharaj has gone down one level in public estimation, on this day.’ But as Chanakya Pandit explains, every family has some stories, something is there to tell, that is the situation but then we all try to sort of cover it up and keep it quiet.

The other day, I was talking to one devotee, devotee X, who was explaining that their family last name is the same as one of the people in the history of America who made an attempt to kill the president. It took him until he was forty-three when he finally asked his mother, ‘Does our family have any connection with so and so?’ And his mother just went like ‘We do not talk about that!’ Another blemish on the family. So it is interesting these things. In every family, there are some stories…

Sannyas initiation of HH Krishna Kshetra Swami (45 min full HD video)
We have been there with two professional cameras and we shoot everything in all details.
The editing is been done with great care and I guess it could be used as a documentary to represent the Initiation ceremonies in Vaishnava culture.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/YRQ9KL

Gita Verse-by-verse Study Podcast

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Holy Name Meditation Podcast

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Prahaladananda Swami, Bhakti Charu Swami, Radhanatha Swami and Giriraj Swami participated in the questions and answers session.

“Getting things done is important. But the spirit and the unity of the community is what will give substance to what you get done. We can build a temple but people are not going to be Krishna conscious beyond a certain level due to the temple. They are going to be Krishna conscious by the quality of the association they get when they come to the temple. In one purport Srila Prabhupada writes that the purpose of developing all these temples is to give people the opportunity to associate with devotees. And the quality of their association with devotees is what is going to be important. In Mayapur, with the Temple of Vedic Planetarium coming up, there are going to be millions of people visiting from all over the world to see the temple and experience the atmosphere of Mayapur. But what is really going to open their hearts to receive the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the quality of the association of devotees they get when they come.”

— Radhanatha Swami

GBC College Q and A, Eco-Village, Wada

Bhagavatam-daily Podcast:

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Srimad-Bhagavatam has been reprinted in Spanish after being out of stock for four years!
ISKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada’s masterwork the Srimad-Bhagavatam has been reprinted in Spanish after being out of stock for four years, to the delight of the Spanish-speaking world. Why has it taken so long? Well, for one, the once-struggling Spanish and Portuguese branch of Prabhupada’s publishers the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust has been on a decade-long climb back to success and sustainability, during which it had to focus on smaller books for mass distribution.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/9sAvN4

Gaura Purnima 2015 at ISKCON Chicago (Album 142 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: http://goo.gl/FHhtJY

Hare Krishna! Vanipedia to Translate Prabhupada’s Gita Introduction into 108 Languages
Vanipedia manager Visnumurti Das explains that the print edition of the Gita, in which Prabhupada’s spoken introduction appears, has only been translated into 59 languages so far. “Compared to the Bible’s 520 languages,” he says, “We see that there is still a lot of scope for expansion.” Twenty-four 8-minute audio clips of Srila Prabhupada’s 3 hour-and-12-minute spoken introduction have been matched with endearing slides of Srila Prabhupada to create videos and are already posted to Vanipedia’s Youtube channel with English subtitles.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16055

Hare Krishna! Visit of Chief Minister of UP to ISKCON Vrindavan
Honorable Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri AkhileshYadavji came for darshan to the Krishna Balaram temple, ISKCON Vrindavan on 11th February, 2015. He was scheduled to come to Govardhan for some work, but as a pleasant surprise, he added darshan of ISKCON Vrindavan to his program only 3 days back. It was his personal decision to have darshan in ISKCON Vrindavan, which he said, he had last visited only in his childhood.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16052

Hare Krishna! BBT Only Day
How can we Celebrate BBT ONLY DAY? BBT is requesting all GBCs, ISKCON centers and BBT directors to bring to the attention of all of ISKCON this very important letter that Srila Prabhupada wrote. Therefore it is important to emphasize and commemorate “BBT ONLY” DAY on March 14. We humbly request that ISKCON Temples promote BBT Only Day according to the availability of resources and manpower.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16046

Hare Krishna! Failing to Succeed
The Brahma-vaivarta Purana describes a beautiful story of a brahmana in South India who wanted to offer sweet rice (khir) to his Deities but couldn’t afford the ingredients. So he decided to offer the sweet mentally. In deep meditation, he collected all the ingredients and cooked it. After the preparation was ready, he wanted to cool it down before he offered it to Krishna. After a while he touched his finger to see if the sweet rice had cooled down. It was still hot, and to his surprise his finger was burnt by the sweet rice! Because of his devotion in preparing and testing the khir, even though only in his mind, the Lord happily accepted the offering and soon brought him to Vaikuntha, His eternal abode.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16043

On February 19^th and 20^th 1966, ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada spoke an introduction to his Bhagavad-gita As It Is over the space of two lectures. Volunteers for Vanipedia.org, the dynamic online encyclopedia of Srila Prabhupada’s words (vani) are planning to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of these talks by making the audio available on Youtube with subtitles in 108 plus languages by February 20^th 2016.

The post January 9th, 2014 evening bhajans at Karuna Bhavan appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

A short deocumentary about the ToVP featuring Indian actress and parliament member Hema Malini.

Archaeologists working in Nazareth have identified a house dating to the first century that was regarded as the place where Jesus was brought up by Mary and Joseph.

The morning hours are the most conducive for spiritual practice since the mind can peacefully flow toward the spiritual goal. However, just as early morning road works slowed down my car, mental agitation can similarly inhibit the strength of one’s spiritual connection.

ISKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada’s masterwork the Srimad-Bhagavatam has been reprinted in Spanish after being out of stock for four years, to the delight of the Spanish-speaking world. It’s been a lot of work. Proofreader Gauravani Dasi in Mexico and designer Govinda Damodara Das in Argentina marathoned for sixteen-months nonstop to get the proofs ready.

Hare Krishna! Labeling Body Parts
People have assumed that intelligence is linked to the ability to suffer and that because animals have smaller brains they suffer less than humans. That is a pathetic piece of logic, sentient animals have the capacity to experience pleasure and are motivated to seek it, you only have to watch how cows and lambs both seek and enjoy pleasure when they lie with their heads raised to the sun on a perfect English summer’s day. Just like humans.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16039