Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Auckland NZ : Chant,chant,chant, Friday night Harinam!! (Album 34 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: It is the aspiration of a devotee that while he chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra his eyes will fill with tears, his voice falter and his heart throb. These are good signs in chanting the holy name of the Lord.
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, 7.81 Purport)
See them here: http://goo.gl/bilV59
Levels of religious restrictions and hostilities among the world’s 25 most populous countries vary tremendously.
Hare Krishna! From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir: HH Bhakti Purusottam Swami
When the living entities they forget Krishna, they develop desire to enjoy separately from Krishna so maya catches. That’s why Bhagavad Gita explaining that two kinds of living entities as, ksara and aksara. ksara living entities they are prone to fall down, they are prone to fall down, so they develop this desire thinking that I will go enjoy separately from Krishna and though Krishna forbids him but still he wants to come. Prabhupada saying, Krishna is greatest friend of the living entity. Just like a friend always likes to fulfill the desire of his friend, then Krishna reluctantly He wants to fulfill the desire of this living entity and living entity wants to come to this material world thinking I will enjoy, I will enjoy more in this material world.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15943
There’s nothing gray about Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s all black. Abuse is not glamorous or cool. It is never OK, under any circumstances.
Hare Krishna! Lord Chaitanya makes the abominable age worshipable
To understand how sankirtana makes this inauspicious age auspicious, let’s consider the prison metaphor. What matters most in a prison is not how miserable it is, but how accessible the way out of it is. In Kali-yuga, the way out of the prison of material existence becomes eminently accessible: no strenuous yogic austerities, no expensive fire-sacrifices, no complicated deity worship, as was required in the previous ages; just the chanting of the names and glories of Krishna.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15940
The Indian president has approved a bill which bans the slaughter of cows and the sale and consumption of beef in the western state of Maharashtra.
A 2.8-million-year-old jawbone fossil unearthed in an Ethiopian desert is pushing back the dawn of humankind by about half a million years.
Festival of Jagannath Mishra (3 min video)
The Festival of Jagannath Mishra is an observance of the Jata karma samskara for baby Nimai (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu). Following the fast for Gaura Purnima, which is broken upon the rising of the moon, the next day is held for feasting. On Jagannath Mishra festival day, the devotees meditate upon the Jata karman ceremony. The festival is also known as Anandotsava amongst the Gaudiya Matha devotees.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/Rov54T
The post March 6th, 2015 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.
I am very happy to learn that you are rendering a nice service to Krishna by cooking for him and distributing prasadam to others. The association of devotees is the only solace for our existence.
Letter to: Yadunandana, San Francisco, 26 March, 1968
For those who followed the charts in the 1980’s may recall a band called The Belle Stars with a dynamic singer by the name Jennie Matthias, you never expect to meet of hear from your musical idles.
However some desires Krishna fulfils in the strangest of ways for this singer has been busy putting her time and talents into helping the devotees in an area that has a dedicated band of supporters, our very own Food For All.
Now here comes the humble request
Food For All in London is on a fund raising mission
And Jennie Matthias has been working hard to put on a concert with the proceeds going to help the prasadam distribution (sadly for me they dont deliver in the Welsh Valleys)
As part of the concert this lovely prasadam is being distributed, and what makes prasadam that much more special the smiling faces of the devotee’s.
So the call to action is here the time to show why Krishna Prasadam is the best ever and give the most valuable commodity a devotee has that of association. You never know your smile may make a devotee whilst raising funds for the food for all team, with your support this mission will be a success
SB 06.17.21 by Bhima Prabhu at ISKCON Juhu on 2015-02-08
Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world...simply send me an introduction email and I will be happy to make you a member:
Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila, chapter 7.
In distributing love of Godhead, Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates did not consider who was a fit candidate and who was not, nor where such distribution should or should not take place. They made no conditions. Wherever they got the opportunity, the members of the Panca-tattva distributed love of Godhead. — Cc Adi-lila 7.23.
Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada followed this principle and distributed Krishna consciousness throughout the world. And he excepted as devotees people from all parts of the world, from all casts and communities and creeds, and elevated them to the positions of servants of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga. So we also should not make any conditions. In other words we should be free from envy. One of the obstacles to devotional service is jiva himsa. Which means to do violence to others or to envy them. So, we should welcome and encourage everyone — without pride, without discrimination, and without envy or malice. And then we will truly be able to chant and dance in ecstasy.
——————————
Gaura Purnima, Juhu
C.C Adi 14.1
kathancana smrte yasmin duskaram sukaram bhavet
vismrte viparitam syat sri-caitanyam namami tam
“Things that are very difficult to do become easy to execute if one somehow or other simply remembers Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But if one does not remember Him, even easy things become very difficult. To this Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu I offer my respectful obeisances.”
The 2015 Gaura Purnima festival was joyously celebrated Wednesday at the Bhakti Centre and Thursday at the Brisbane Temple.
Needless to say, everyone was in ecstasy chanting Hare Krishna and “Gauranga.”
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 15 January 2015, Soho Temple, England, Srimad Bhagavatam 10.77.33-37)
I was reading a verse where it says, “Not by any means nor by any weapon, can one take away the possessions of a devotee.” That was interesting because I do watch over my electronics and do not leave them lying around because things sort of move in different directions. I learnt that early in the days of when I joined the Hare Krsna movement; I saw someone go out the door with a sleeping-bag that looked just like mine and I understood that things do go missing.
But the possessions of a devotee cannot be taken away by any means, because the true possession of a devotee is Krsna and devotional service; and devotional service cannot be taken away! Devotional service is always there. It is something we can always do, a little service to Krsna and no one can take that away!
In South Africa, where I regularly visit, every year they celebrate a very large Ratha Yatra. Every year for the Ratha Yatra, the deputy mayor of Durban attends and he gives a speech. He never misses it and the speech is the same every year. He talks about the apartheid days where he was part of the forbidden political party and all the leaders of that party were jailed, so this man was also in jail. He was put into solitary confinement and he was allowed to have one book. He asked for a Bhagavad-gita, and he was given a Bhagavad-gita As It Is and for three years, he was locked up in jail with Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita.
You can understand that there was nothing else to read – no newspaper, no internet, nothing else to read – but Prabhupada’s Gita! That jail sentence, in one way, was a blessing because it changed his life… I mean, three years with just Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita. He can never forget it and therefore, every year he has to come to Ratha Yatra and tell that story. Although we have heard it a hundred times, it does not matter, every time the story has power… three years with just Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita! What an amazing blessing he got! In that way, we can never take away the possessions of a devotee; it is not possible because no matter what we do, devotional service remains.
Gita Verse-by-verse Study Podcast
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Holy Name Meditation Podcast
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Bhagavatam-daily Podcast:
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CC daily Podcast
The material world is like a jail; here we eternal joyful souls are sentenced to life in temporary miserable bodies. This jail becomes especially wretched in the present dark age of Kali because people live disharmoniously and incur grievous karmic reactions. The Puranas are replete with grim references to the miseries of Kali-yuga.
Yet Srimad Bhagavatam (11.5.36) sounds a dramatically different note, declaring this abominable age to be worshipable:
kalim sabhaajayanty aaryaa guna-jnah saara-bhaaginah
yatra sankirtanenaiva sarva svaartho 'bhilabhyate
“Those who are actually advanced in knowledge are able to appreciate the essential value of this age of Kali. Such enlightened persons worship Kali-yuga because in this fallen age all perfection of life can easily be achieved by the performance of sankirtana.”
What matters most in a prison is not how miserable it is, but how accessible the way out of it is.
To understand how sankirtana makes this inauspicious age auspicious, let’s consider the prison metaphor. What matters most in a prison is not how miserable it is, but how accessible the way out of it is. In Kali-yuga, the way out of the prison of material existence becomes eminently accessible: no strenuous yogic austerities, no expensive fire-sacrifices, no complicated deity worship, as was required in the previous ages; just the chanting of the names and glories of Krishna.
Though this special privilege of Kali-yuga was revealed in scripture, it was best broadcast by Lord Chaitanya. No doubt, many bhakti saints have glorified sankirtana. But Lord Chaitanya alone expounded a systematic theology explaining its progression, profundity and potency. He alone propagated it extensively by dancing and singing across the length and breadth of the country, thus earning the epithet “the Dancing God.” And he alone infused sankirtana with the mood of topmost devotion of the gopis, especially Radharani, thus making available spiritual sweetness of an unprecedented intensity.
By accepting the gift of Lord Chaitanya and engaging in sankirtana, we can easily gain higher taste and break free from the lower taste that shackles us to matter and material existence. However, such an appealing process seems unappealing because this age’s illusion makes us believe that the prison will transform into paradise if we just improve things materially. Bewitched by this illusion, we become eager to labor unendingly for the material improvement promised by the world and become averse to endeavor even modestly for the devotional enrichment promised by the Lord.
To protect ourselves from this treacherous illusion, we urgently need shastra-chakshu, the vision offered by scripture. No wonder the Chaitanya Charitamrita (Adi 2.117) warns us to avoid laziness (aalasa) in understanding philosophy:
siddhaanta baliyaa citte naa kare aalasa
iha haite krishna laage sudrudha maanasa
“A sincere student should not neglect the discussion of such conclusions, considering them controversial, for such discussions strengthen the mind. Thus one’s mind becomes attached to Sri Krishna.”
Aptly, Srila Prabhupada, the greatest modern propagator of Lord Chaitanya’s mission, didn’t stress chanting alone – he also strived tirelessly to make shastra accessible to us. In fact, he expanded the ambit of sankirtana to include even the distribution of shastra to others, what to speak of its assimilation ourselves.
The more we absorb our head in shastra, the more we will become convinced to absorb our heart in sankirtana. With both our head and heart thus focused on transcendence, we will relish Lord Chaitanya’s mercy and march out of the material prison on the path of sankirtana – a path that will take us to the highest spiritual abode, the personal abode of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna.
Inside Hare Krishna (Album 6 photos)
This project was completed during the 2014 Summer Course on Documentary Photography at the LCC in London organised in collaboration with Magnum Photos. The pictures were taken over a period of one week.
It was a wonderful experience that gave me a first unique insight into the Hare Krishna’s way of life different from the well known chant and dancing performances in the streets of Soho. In addition to the colourful temple life with its worship sessions and festivals, I was given access to the men’s as well as the women’s ashram in order to acquire a sense of place that is very much interwoven with the basic principle of devotional service or Bahkti. To serve another is to serve the devine and therefore spiritual in nature and the way to transcendence.
See them here: http://goo.gl/dUT3VM
New kind of kirtan found! “Horizontal Harinama” :-)
The post March 5th, 2014 – Gaura Purnima Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Shunned women attend festivities in Vrindavan, one of two north Indian cities known as the 'cities of widows'.
A new official Youtube channel, dubbed “The Sadaputa Digital Channel,” is offering the most complete and organized collection of the late ISKCON scientist Sadaputa Das’ lectures, seminars, interviews and videos in one place. Sadaputa Das (Dr. Richard L. Thompson) received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Cornell University, where he specialized in probability theory and statistical mechanics.
Writer-director Shaktyavesha Avatar Das is planning a sequel to his award-winning short film, “Long Lost.” The original 25-minute short, which tells the story of a young London man searching for answers in life and discovering Krishna consciousness, came in at third place in Russian film festival “I See God.”
"We have borrowed the future from our children instead of inheriting it from our ancestors." This African proverb vividly describes the contemporary use of natural resources.
New Hare Krishna Vegetarian Restaurant in Broadbeach “Rocks”!
Broadbeach is a suburb on the Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia.
“Cardamom Pod” owners, Phalguna dasa, Subhadra dasa, Manjumedha devi dasi and Gaura Shakti devi dasi relocated to new premises at 1/2685, Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach in November last year. The new location is prime, as it fronts on to a park. With head chef Kesava Reciuga at the helm, The Pod is open for business seven days a week.
Gaura and Manju combined their creative talents to set about refurbishing the interior with innovative design. A striking feature wall displays a massive picture of Their Lordships, Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/G9BwNl
For material success one needs to put in hard labour. However the process of devotion taught to us by Lord Caitanya is so simple, so sublime, so sweet and so joyful that while treading the path of devotion there is no negative emotion.
As part of its ongoing efforts for child safety, ISKCON’s North American Child Protection Office will kick off 2016, the year of the society’s 50th anniversary, by holding its first annual “Safe Temple” awards. The awards will be held at the annual Governing Body Commission and Temple Presidents’ meetings in Houston, Texas during the second weekend of January 2016.
$10,000 cash prize! Essay Competition prize Winner Announced! Gambhir Watts, the judge of the “Bhagavad Gita as it is” Essay competition, announced the prize winner on 27 February 2015 at the prize giving ceremony. The prize winner is: Helena Widolf Congratulations! Well done!
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/vMgylZ
Auckland, New Zealand: Gaura Purnima celebrations 2015 (Album 63 photos)
See them here: http://goo.gl/O4fJFS
A new Krishna Conscious application
Vaishnava Reader 108 is a feed reader application that lets you
access vaishnava digital content from hundreds of vaishnava feed
channels. From Temples to Bhajan mandalis, from ISKCON News to
ISKCON Desire Tree, from Dandavats to various Maharaja feeds, get the latest from upto 500+ vaishnava feed channels from around the
world.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15929
North American Education Conference
Dear Devotees, Parents, Educators and Students,
Please accept our sincere obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
It gives us immense and profound pleasure to invite you to the
North American Education Conference
ISKCON Houston, July 30th through August 2nd, 2015
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15923
Hare Krishna! The Prabhupada Global Kirtan Revolution website has been launched!
Our initial offering is to invite temples to submit kirtan recordings from past and present kirtan chanters. We aim to have every temple featured by ISKCON’s 50th anniversary. Please visit the site to hear and be a part of creating this offering for Srila Prabhupada! Sincerely, your servants The Prabhupada Global Kirtan Revolution team.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=12210
Hare Krishna! Sannyasa Waiting List
As on 1 March, 2015, the following are the candidates for sannyasa along with their respective waiting periods: Adi Purusa Das (GGS) (Bhubaneswar) 1 year Adwaitacharya Das (GGS) (Bhubaneswar) 2 years Agnideva Das (ACBSP) (Caribbean) 2 years with conditions Akincana Das (BSDS) (Odisha) 2 years Amala Bhakta Das (ACBSP) (Los Angeles) this year with conditions Ambarish Das (GKG) (Russian Federation) 1 year Ananda Caitanya Das (BCAIS) (Baltics/Russia/US) this year Ananda Vardhana Das (BVG) (Baltics/Finland/Europe) 3 years Asit Krsna Das (GGS) (India/Hong Kong/China/Taiwan) 2 years Bhaktipada Das (SRS) (Hungary/Romania/Turkey) 3 years
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15917
