Hare Krishna! Congregational Preachers Awarded Every year ISKCON…
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Hare Krishna! Congregational Preachers Awarded
Every year ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry awards those devotees around the world who have done an outstanding service in the area of congregational preaching. This is done during the Gaura Purnima festival in Mayapur, where several of ISKCON leaders and preachers are gathered at that time of the year. During this 2015 Annual Award Ceremony, devotees who have pioneered, maintained and supported congregational preaching programs were formally recognized and offered appreciation for their efforts in pleasing Srila Prabhupada’s preaching mission.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16035

Congregational Preachers awarded in Sridham Mayapur
→ Mayapur.com

Every year ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry awards those devotees from around the world who have done an outstanding service in the area of congregational preaching. This is done during the Gaura Purnima festival in Mayapur as  several of ISKCON leaders and preachers   are gathered there at that time of the year. During  2015 Annual […]

The post Congregational Preachers awarded in Sridham Mayapur appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Gaura Purnima Deity Darshan
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

Click below for full gallery of The Deities from Gaura Purnima celebrations on Thursday, March 5th, 2015. Gaura Purnima is one of the largest festivals at Toronto's Hare Krishna Temple. This festival is the celebration of the appearance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is none other than Lord Krishna Himself. Over 500 years ago, in a special appearance, Lord Krishna personally came as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and acted as His own devotee by propagating the chanting of the Holy names of the Lord in every town and village!


Post by ISKCON Toronto: The Hare Krishna Centre.

Weathering the Weather
→ Seed of Devotion

Serenity Series: February

Ice falls from the sky. The road and the sidewalks are smothered in ice, puddles, and blackish snow. All is dark, and headlights from oncoming cars rush towards me in big SWISH SWISHes.

I'm on my way to work at 6:30am. I tightly grip my umbrella. If I don't hurry, I'll be late. Walking through the sidewalks is near impossible, as they are nearly impassable with ice and water. So I walk on the road, but it's frightening to be sharing space with cars in the near-dark.

When I reach the subway station at last, I hurry down the steps, holding to the rails. But there it is - just as I'm descending I hear the giant rumbling of my train speed away.

I wait and wait in the subway station cave, checking my phone every several minutes. Come on, come on...

Finally, a train arrives in a roar, screeching to a stop. When I get out at my stop, the nightmare of walking through the streets replays all over again. I step into a sheet of ice that disguises a pool of icy water beneath.

When I get to work, I feel harrowed. Exhausted.

This is my reality. What can I do about it?

Well, nothing. I can't control the weather. I can't. I never will.

The thought and realization runs through my head: "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change." The weather is definitely one of those things. I immediately feel reconciled with the strange ways of the universe. There's no need to even talk about the crazy journey to work. It is what it is.

Maybe I can't change the weather but I can get get rain boots. A better coat. That's my responsibility. Otherwise, if I'm caught out in the dark and the rain again, who am I to complain? I might as well start singing and stomping in the puddles. 
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Parakīya-Bhāva in the Fourth Canto! Sibling Marriage?
→ The Enquirer

I’ll start by sharing my English treatment of Bhāgavatam’s 4.1.2 through 6 – a section that involves marriage between twin siblings and, if examined with care reveals the essence of Rādhā and Krishna’s parakīya-bhāva.

With his wife’s approval Manu allowed his daughter Ākūti (inspiration) to marry the sage Ruci (desire), on the condition that Manu and Śatarūpā would raise the couple’s boy as their own son.

Ruci – a blessed progenitor with great spiritual realization and exalted meditations – produced twins with Ākūti. They named the boy Yajña and the girl Dakṣiṇā, because inspirations (ākūti) and desires (ruci) are fulfilled when they lead to efforts (yajñā) that successfully invoke rewards (dakṣiṇā).

The boy was Viṣṇu himself, and the girl was an expansion of Goddess Bhū, Viṣṇu’s consort. Manu was delighted to raise the extremely brilliant boy in his own home. Ruci was delighted to raise the girl. After being raised separately, their eternal, unstoppable love brought them together in marriage, and they were delighted to produce twelve children.

This  illustrates the essential principle of parakīya-bhāva. Parakīya is the most exalted form of love because it destroys all obstacles. In fact it enjoys expressing its unstoppable force by having obstacles to destroy. Parakīya is most famously manifest in Krishna-līlā. Krishna doesn’t marry the Gopīs. They are married to other men. Why? So that parakīya can express its power by destroying that obstacle to their love.

As is the case in this example,  obstacles to love very often take the shape of social restrictions. For us, social restrictions have real utility, but for liberated beings, the only purpose of social restrictions is to facilitate their play. The ultimate reason for social restrictions is to facilitate the play of divinity. The  byproduct of social restrictions is that they benefit conditioned beings. The concept of marriage originates in not in the need for stable child rearing, etc. It originates in the desire of the Supreme to express a love so powerful that it will destroy everything else, all other conventions, all restrictions. So marriage originates to facilitate the parakīya mood of Krishna and Rādhā. As a byproduct, marriage becomes the basis of svakīya-rasa, and as a more remote byproduct marriage generates social conventions that happen to be very helpful and useful in the lonesome world of cause and effect.

In this particular case, with Yajña and Dakṣiṇā, parakīya-rasa is not literally the sense of being unmarried. Yajña and Dakṣiṇā duly married with Brahmā, Manu, Śatarūpā, Ākūti, and Ruci’s blessings. In this case, however, the essence of parakīya manifests by breaking the social convention that siblings must not marry.

The purpose of this convention for ordinary souls is to keep family life sane and safe, and, even more practically, to keep human DNA healthy. Yajña and Dakṣiṇā are not human beings. In essence they are Viṣṇu and Bhū / Krishna and Rādhā, and even in appearance they are born amongst the supreme, super-human gods. Their mother was a supra-human because she was the immediate daughter of Manu, and their father was super-human because he was created directly by Brahmā. They lived at the dawn of universal time, when there were barely a few beings in the entire world capable of organic reproduction. For all these reasons, they had no practical need to observe the convention against marriage between siblings. Further, they were intentionally seperated at birth (due to the forethought of Śatarūpā) and were not raised as siblings, so their romantic mood never changed into the mood of being siblings. Thus they could take the opportunity to enjoy the extreme bliss of parakīya bhāva by expressing romantic love so strongly that all rules and conventions standing in its way were destroyed.

- Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com


Tagged: Love, Marriage, Romance, siblings, social conventions

A world without walls
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 January 2015, London, England, Lecture at Matchless Gifts)

Queensday_2013If we see ourselves as a master, “I am trying to be master. You are all my dogs,” then what will we get? A world where nobody trusts each other and everyone is thinking, “Who is going to exploit me next?” It is a world where everyone has defense mechanisms – a world with walls, a world with locks, a world full of strangers.

That has to change. It can change only when we take up spiritual life! We can only become really close to each other when we all serve the same Supreme Lord Krsna. Then we can be bound as brothers, sisters and friends. When will that day come – the day when we need no more keys?

Now you need a phone because you are in a city full of strangers and at least you can call a friend. But what if everyone is your friend? Then you would not need a phone.

I remember when I used to walk around in India. I was alone and had no money. I would just walk up to some house and ask for some water. They would give me water and offer me a meal as well!

This is culture – the culture where we see the whole world as one big family, not a world of strangers but a family based on real friendship, being real well-wishers of each other. We are all actually desiring this. This is what we are hankering for. We want such a world because everyone feels strange in a world full of strangers.

 

Soul-utions
→ Tattva - See inside out

Last week I drove into Central London at 4.00am. It was refreshing - no cars, no traffic jams, no stress. Unfortunately it didn’t last very long. Cruising toward my destination I unexpectedly encountered major roadworks and got stuck in a huge tailback. Despite the strategic timing of my journey, I still ended up delayed! It reminded me of the challenges encountered in our early morning spiritual practices. Every day we dedicate the two hours around sunrise to focused personal meditation. Through the process of mantra, we whisper the sacred names of Krishna and try to conscientiously hear that transcendental vibration. Attentive aural reception frees the mind, cleanses the heart, and brings us in contact with the spiritual reality. You simply have to focus on the vibration. Nothing else. Sounds simple, but in reality quite problematic, since the mind is notoriously difficult to control. One thought leads to another, which leads to a third, and soon we are drifting off and straying far from our purpose.

The early morning hours are considered 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 journey to London, mental agitation can similarly inhibit the strength of one’s spiritual connection. As I sat down this morning in preparation for my chanting, a million things were going through my mind. There were doubts and uncertainties about pending situations. There were quarrels and conflicts of opinion on pertinent issues. There were worries about friends and pressures of expectation from respected associates. There was also excitement about future opportunities, a sense of pride at this week’s achievements and anticipation at the day ahead. What can I say... the mind is a busy place! How in the world would I be able to put this all to one side, pacify the mind, and concentrate on the task at hand – to simply hear the mantra and focus on the eternal reality?

I tried to cultivate a broader mindset. Everything in my life can be resolved if I deepen my spirituality. The problem is not other people – but it’s actually my lack of tolerance, empathy and sensitivity. The problem is not the situations I find myself if in – but it’s actually my rigidity, stubbornness and lack of broader vision. It even occurred to me that all my aspirations and dreams can manifest beyond my imagination, but only after I fine tune my motivations and eradicate my ulterior selfish motivations. Everything is resolved through spiritual purity, and spiritual purity comes from determined and focused spiritual practice. As I sat down I thought to myself - “let me just focus on this mantra for the next two hours. After that, life will look quite different - situations and perspectives will change.”

It worked. Bucket loads of mental energy saved, and substantial solutions found. I’ll try the same tomorrow. Wish me luck.

mistaken identity
→ everyday gita

Verse 4.35: Having obtained real knowledge from a self-realized soul, you will never fall again into such illusion, for by this knowledge you will see that all living beings are but part of the Supreme, or, in other words, that they are Mine.

Ever been mistaken for someone else? How did you feel? I've been mistaken for someone else a few times and its normally resulted in an awkward/amusing encounter once I've let the other person know that I'm not who they think they are. It's often followed by an apology and sometimes even an explanation - i.e. Wow! Your hair looks just like my friend's.

Although its personally never happened to me, I've heard rare cases of people insisting that they are right, saying things like, "You have to be such and such person! You're trying to fool me!" I can only imagine the poor recipient of such words. I'm sure if that type of questioning and conversation carried on for sometime, the recipient could get frustrated and even angry.

Regardless of the circumstance, the point is that in the majority of cases, we are quick to correct if we are mistaken for someone else. It highlights how strongly attached we are to our identity and ensuring that we recognized appropriately.

In fact, it's rare that we question and ever think that we might not be who we think we are.

The Gita flips this illusion on its head. Think you are the mind, ego, intelligence or body? The Gita resoundingly answers "No! You are experiencing a case of mistaken identity!" The Gita proclaims, "You are the soul! A spiritual spark that is part and parcel of the Divine."

This central teaching of the Gita has the capacity to revolutionize our lives and is exemplified by a beautiful analogy given by the great bhakti-yogi Prabhupada. Once a man visited his friend who had a bird which lived in a bird cage. The man was very proud of his bird cage and took great pains to ensure it looked shiny and new. The friend, when entering this man's house remarked upon the bird cage and praised the man saying that it looked beautiful. He then asked, "What's that smell? What happened to the bird?" The man looked inside and was shocked to see that the bird inside his beautiful cage had died.

In this analogy, the bird is the soul and the cage the body. Often, emphasis is placed on maintaining the body to ensure its health, beauty and abilities, which are, no doubt, important. However, the Gita explains, solely focusing on the body can result in ignoring the precious cargo it carries inside - the soul.

The purpose of physical yoga is to ensure that the body is strong enough to engage in activities which serve to nourish the soul. Activities such as hearing, chanting, meditating, serving etc.

So take heed of the reminder that the Gita gives us: there's a soul inside all of us that's crying out for nourishment. Please make sure to remember to feed it.

Hare Krishna! Graduates! On 5 March 2015, His Holiness Bhakti…
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Hare Krishna! Graduates!
On 5 March 2015, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja awarded sannyasa to His Grace Ganga Narayan Prabhu. His sannyasa name is His Holiness Bhakti Prema Swami. On 21 February 2015, His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Maharaja awarded sannyasa to His Grace Ananda Caitanya Prabhu. His sannyasa name is His Holiness Bhakti Swarupa Caitanya Swami. On 21 February 2015 His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Maharaja awarded sannyasa to His Grace Dhirasanta Prabhu. His sannyasa name is His Holiness Dhirasanta Das Goswami.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16027

Harinama 2015.03.07. Budapest (Album 109 photos) Srila…
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Harinama 2015.03.07. Budapest (Album 109 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Haraye namah krsna yadavaya namah, gopala govinda rama sri-mudhusudana. This is another way of chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. The meaning is as follows: “I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. He is the descendant of the Yadu family. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Gopala, Govinda, Rama and Sri Madhusudana.”
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, 25.64 Purport)
See them here: http://goo.gl/jrzrCv

Hare Krishna! UK Prime Minister announces new Avanti school Two…
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Hare Krishna! UK Prime Minister announces new Avanti school
Two new Croydon free schools, including the borough’s first Hindu faith school, were announced by Prime Minister David Cameron this week. A primary school run by Hindu charity the Avanti Schools Trust and a secondary school offshoot from a top Sutton grammar were among 49 new Department for Education approvals revealed on Monday. Both are expected to open in the next three years. Avanti Schools Trust, which already runs exisiting schools, had its initial application turned down by the DfE last year.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16024

GBC College, Day Two: Up Close and Personal with Giriraj Swami and Bhakti Charu Swami
→ ISKCON News

The GBC College for Leadership Development isn't specifically or exclusively designed to groom future GBCs (ISKCON Governing Body Commissioners). The intention of the GBC is to assist in creating better leaders; devotees who can deeply imbibe Srila Prabhupada's mood and instructions and who can give shelter to devotees and help them feel happy in Krishna-consciousness.

Hare Krishna! Step-by-Step: How to Start a Vaishnavas Care Team…
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Hare Krishna! Step-by-Step: How to Start a Vaishnavas Care Team in Your Community
A Vaishnavas Care Team (V-Care Team) is a group of devotee volunteers within your temple or community who assist members of your congregation when they are acutely or chronically sick or even terminally ill with an end-of-life illness. Even when a devotee is sick with a “flu” or has had an accident, is hospitalized for any reason, or needs surgery, help is often required from the community. Visits from our volunteers, bringing prasadam meals or maha-prasadam from the Deities, flowers, or photos of the Deities are acts of kindness and very appreciated.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16020

Satyam Bruyat Priyam Bruyat
→ Servant of the Servant

Satyam bruyat priyam bruyat ma bruyat satyam abruyat. It is social convention that if you want to speak truth, you speak truth very palatable, flattering. Don't speak unpalatable truth. But we are not meant for that purpose, social convention. We are preacher, we are servant of God. We must speak the real truth. You may like it or may not like it, that a godless civilization cannot be happy in any stage. That is a fact. Therefore we have started this Krsna consciousness movement to awaken this godless civilization, that you try to love God.

-Srila Prabhupada lecture to College Students -Seattle, October 20, 1968

The scriptures advise satyam bruyat priyam bruyat, "in the material world only palatable truths should be spoken. Unpalatable truths should be carefully avoided." Devotees always humbly offer respect to everyone, but when there is a discussion on a point of sastra, they do not observe the usual etiquette, satyam bruyat priyam bruyat. They speak only the satyam although it may not be necessarily be priyam

- Srila Prabhupada Letter to Sumati Murarji, 1976

Hare Krishna

Donor Spotlight: Narayana & Laura Meyer
→ TKG Academy

IMG_7869

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. Their daughters, Catherine and Laleh attend school in Highland Park and Rockwall High School, respectively, and their youngest son, Ethan, is enrolled in the Preschool class at TKG Academy.

mathuranathIn getting to know Narayana and Laura, I have grown to appreciate how gentle and relatable they are. Mathuranath Prabhu’s and Mother Lila’s Vaisnava qualities combined find their perfection in Narayana. My recent interview with the couple revealed even more admirable qualities, rendering the staff of TKG Academy privileged to be serving their family.

Narayana currently works as Director of Merchandise and Design for Sports Obermeyer, a sports company that manufactures ski clothing. He previously worked for St. Bernard Sports in Dallas and was Vice President of Merchandise.   His work requires him to travel to international locations such as China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Germany, for more than two months out of the year.

Narayana proudly credits his professional success to the education he received at TKG Academy. He was a student under the tutelage of Rupanuga Prabhu and Mother Jayanti. “The main reason why the Dallas Gurukula has flourished all these years has been the Robinsons’ team.” When asked what he applies from his education, his first response is respect. “I learned how to treat people in the world. Rupanuga Prabhu was very respectful – from his expecting students to respond, yes, sir; no, sir, to the very demeanor in which he taught us.”

question-box1-300x300He also appreciates how the Gurukula taught him to “question everything”. This is the basis of the Krishna conscious philosophy, athato brahma jijnasa. Children aren’t expected to just follow the regular norm of society – they are expected to challenge it, question it. They are expected to consider how something can be better, different, improved. “This gets you ahead in the world.”

Back to Godhead - Volume 12, Number 12 - 1977Even his expertise in sales and marketing he attributes to his Gurukula education. Narayan fondly remembers distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books at Deep Ellum. “Preaching taught me how to sell!”

“The flexibility that the Gurukula offers isn’t found anywhere else. We break stereotypes. We educate differently. Creatively.” Because of all of this, Narayan feels that Gurukula children have an edge. They are ready to take on any hurdle, without fear. He gives the example of how he had to learn Adobe Illustrator for his job. What would have taken others two years to learn, he tackled in less than two months. Laura nods knowingly.

What does Laura think about all this? Born in a devout Christian family, she too has had a remarkable journey. When asked about this, she laughs, “I told him I could never marry him because he was a Hare Krishna. I was conflicted. Ultimately, my dad told me, ‘Listen. He loves God and you love God. That’s all you need.’”

IMG_20141028_100119832Today her son Ethan is in a Hare Krishna school, and she loves it. “It’s the best any private school can provide. It offers what people pay thousands of dollars for. His teacher, Nrtya Kishori, takes it upon herself to individualize his education. What’s right for Ethan may not be right for every other student. In the previous private school, he was stuck. Here, I’m seeing him make such strides. His fine motor skills have significantly improved.” She loves the individual learning environment. Her favorite quote: “Everybody is a genius.  But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

IMG_20141104_092721900And though she isn’t a practicing Hare Krishna, she has never felt foreign to the TKG Academy atmosphere.  She comes to the playground and sees an Upper Elementary student carrying her little son.  “We’re part of the family,” she says with a smile.

Yes, TKG Academy is a family because of supporters and parents like Narayana and Laura Meyer. Thank you.