Websites from the ISKCON Universe
On Day One of the ISKCON sannyasis and gurus in Mayapu,r participants explored ISKCON’s past, examining the trends in and influences on ISKCON. Following from that, on the second day participants began to look at ISKCON’s present. The meeting’s facilitator’s started with a question: How well do the four groups in the room address the trends in ISKCON.
One of the consequences of modern globalization is that we are all being forced to reconsider the external elements of our respective faith traditions.
American aid worker Kayla Mueller, 26, from Prescott, Arizona, who had been held hostage by Islamic State militants for 18 months, had been killed on February 6th in Syria. She was a practicing ISKCON devotee, who after graduating from high school volunteered at Food for Life Vrindavan.
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The TOVP Team would like to recognize the wonderful service of Sri Radha Vallabha Das who is responsible for the interior design work of the new TOVP Seva Office in Mayapur.
Sri Radha Vallabha prabhu, a graduate in Architecture from SDM Polytechnic College in Hyderabad and Interior Design from Holmesglen Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has been enthusiastically working with the TOVP Team for the last 18 months. His experience in the Interior Design Industry over the last 10 years includes designing various commercial, residential and office projects in India and overseas, including the residence of former Indian cricketer and politician, Mohammad Azharuddin, as well as the ISKCON Temple in Sigatoka, Fiji.
We look forward to seeing his amazing talents continue to bring forth the glory of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
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A tribute to Kayla Mueller
Kayla volunteered at Food for Life Vrindavan in 2010. She had a heart of gold. She volunteered for more then 6 months. At the beginning she was giving English classes and then the Kindergarten kids stolen her heart. She was very simple and humble. She loved the kids, without the “fear” that many foreigners have. She made many friendships with the parents of the children, use to visit them in the slum, even eat with them.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/vR8VVG
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GBC Strategic Planning Network (SPN) Mayapur 2015: Part 5 of 5 Badrinarayan Swami, whom we introduced in previous posts, speaks on the exciting deliverables coming out of the strategic planning work, the latest being the leadership training college, a legacy for ISKCON’s future. http://gbc.iskcon.org/2015/02/04/spiritual-inspiration-and-strategic-planning/ Praghosa Prabhu, a GBC member for the UK, Ireland, and parts of Northern Europe, […]
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Hare Krishna! The Bhagavat Dharma Experience: Prabhupada’s Second Visit to New Vrindaban
Prabhupada wrote to his disciples elsewhere in the world expressing his appreciation of the festival. “The Bhagavata Dharma discourses here in New Vrindaban are going on very nicely, and daily several hundred devotees and guests are coming to hear, and it is truly a wonderful time,” he wrote to Radha Damodar Das. And to Brahmananda, he wrote, “Now go on holding [these] Bhagavata Dharma discourses in every city of the world.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15507
Flower Festival – A Festival of Unity in Diversity
On Januray 31st, 2015 the annual Flower Festival was celebrated at Radha Gopinath Temple in Mumbai. First an enthusiastic team of hundreds of volunteers plucked petals from 2000 pounds of flowers including white and yellow chamomile, orange and coppery marigold, yellow and white chrysanthemum, pink and red roses, jasminum molle and jasmine. The petals were then showered upon the deities of Radha and Krishna in the temple as everyone sang melodious kirtan. Finally when the same petals were showered upon the assembled devotees and guests, the ambience pulsated with colours, fragrances, and most of all – spiritual delirium.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/KLZYmG
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Famous american singer Prince presented himself dressed like a Hare Krishna devotee, or almost, wearing saffron color clothes and carrying chanting beads, during the popular Grammy Awards event in Los Angeles, at least according to this website: http://goo.gl/NHPmRD
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New Vrindaban started the New Year with a colorful, lively, family-friendly Nityananda Trayodasi celebration on Sunday Feb. 1. Snow covered the ground all over New Vrindaban, but that didn’t stop many devotees from bundling up and carefully driving down to the temple for bhajans at 10:30 Sunday morning.
Bhakta Cold
The sweet sounds of Nityananda bhajans – “Boro sukher kabor gai” and “Akrodha paramananda nityananda raya” and others – filled the air, serenading the Deities and devotees. Then at 12 noon, the big, wooden Deity doors rumbled open to reveal Their Lordships, small Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, standing gracefully on a small podium, ready for Their abhishek. Everyone was amazed, watching the thick, syrupy honey poured luxuriously over Their Lordships’ forms, followed by yogurt, water, and other auspicious liquids infused with all sorts of sweet-smelling oils. It was a treat for the eyes and heart.
Lord Nityananda’s Abhishek
During the Lord’s arotik, a mellow kirtan was led by some of New Vrindaban’s most melodious singers.
Nityananda Bhajan Bliss
Then, the devotees listened with rapt attention to His Holiness Varsana Maharaj relating intimate pastimes of Lord Nityananda and His associates, narrated with great love, as Maharaj always does.
Varsana Maharaj gives Class
All of these festivities culminated in a well-attended and sumptuous feast in honor of Lord Nityananda, the one whose name means “eternally blissful”; the one who is the elder brother of Lord Caitanya; the one who is an avadhuta not bound by any social customs; and the one without whose mercy no-one can understand Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jaya!
Mangala arati Iskcon London
Sciences, philosophies, and arts are like huge mountains of importance to humanity. All of them are clustered at the roots of the Vedas, whose peaks soar high in the far distance.
If all the mountains of the Vedas — even the enormous spire called Mahābhārata, with its golden summit called Bhagavad-Gītā — combined along with all their foothills of arts and sciences to create a single, monumental height, that mountain would merely be a hill standing in the shadow of the limitless enormity that is Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
This gorgeous mountain, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, is resplendent with parks, lakes and terraces created by the divine goddesses who reside upon it, bearing names like Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, Bhakti-rasāmṛta Sindhu, Bhāgavata-sandarbha, Sārārtha-darśinī, and Bhaktivedānta Purports. The butterflies and bees who flutter amidst these parks on Mt. Bhāgavata are constantly intoxicated with enlightening joy. No one can reach high enough to touch their feet.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 23 December 2014, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 9.19.20)
Question: A devotee mentioned that you have to stay on very good terms with your family and maybe compromise many things for them because they are the ones you can depend on. They help you, they are there in a crisis whereas the devotees, you cannot depend on…
Well, I tend to agree that you cannot depend on the devotees (laughter)… but why would you? Is that the only option – to depend on your family or to depend on the devotees? How about depending on Krsna? I would depend on Krsna.
About family, the scriptures says ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api (Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.4), they are fallible soldiers. What can they do? They are going to protect you but they cannot protect themselves. They will also die. So how are they going to protect you?
I experienced it myself. My parents died unexpectedly when I was still relatively young. I was just at the stage where I was independent in life but still in my teenage years and my independence was such that I knew at anytime if I have an emergency, I could just call my parents and I say, “Geez, you know, I got stranded and I just ran out of money. I do not know what to do. How do I get back home?” And then, (snaps fingers) they will send a ticket. So, I knew I had the security that my parents were there and then, my parents just died. Boom! Then all I had left was my sister and my sister, well…you know, she was not just going to give me money like that. So, I felt alone in the world.
This so called security of the family is not as great as we want it to be. Of course, in Africa, there is no social system, no security. So the family is the only social security but the price you have to pay for that is that you have to do exactly what the family wants, otherwise they throw you out! But do not worry… there is a world of devotees!
You may say that the devotees will not take care of you. Depends… it depends on who you are. If you are a bum, the devotees may not take care of you. If you are not serious in Krsna consciousness, if you are not following anything or if you are a half-baked devotee and you are following only half principles, and you are chanting half-baked rounds and you are never willing to do any service, and so on… then what do you expect?
But if you are really doing something in devotional service then devotees will do something for you! Then the devotees will care for you, then they will look after you and that is the security we have. It is a fact that the more you do for Krsna, the more the devotees will take care of you. Then you do not have to worry about anything.
So just see. Let us just do service and the devotees will take care of us. They will do so many things for us. You will be surprised! At the end of the day, devotees are not that bad after all (laughter). Krsna will make arrangements for sure. Yeah, so that is the ‘leap of faith’. You know philosophers speak of the ‘leap of faith’ and you have to take that leap and put your faith in Krsna and his devotees and never give up…
Gaura Govinda Swami and Giriraj Swami in Mauritius 1995
The celebrations started of with puspanjali at Srila Gaura Govinda Maharaj’s samadhi, and then proceeded to a small community hall in the Mayapur grhasta complex.
“Srila Gaura Govinda Maharaja told me there were three things that were causing him distress. He said. “One, is that I want to preach to the preachers—when I see devotees falling down and going away it gives me great pain in my heart. The second thing is that I want to show that everything is in Srila Prabhupada’s books. And those people who say that Srila Prabhupada only gave ABC, I want to make them mum.” And he was so strong about that. The third thing he said is that. “Everything is in ISKCON and people do not have to go outside for some so-called ‘higher teachings’.”
—Madhavananda Dasa
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Je Anilo Prema Dhana by Niranjana Swami
Talk by Niranjana Swami
Talk by Giriraj Swami
Talk by Guru Prasada Swami
Talk by Madhavananda dasa
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Lord Nityananda’s Appearance Day in New Vrindaban Dhama
New Vrindaban started the New Year with a colorful, lively, family-friendly Nityananda Trayodasi celebration on Sunday Feb. 1. Snow covered the ground all over New Vrindaban, but that didn’t stop many devotees from bundling up and carefully driving down to the temple for bhajans at 10:30 Sunday morning.
The sweet sounds of Nityananda bhajans - “Boro sukher kabor gai” and “Akrodha paramananda nityananda raya” and others - filled the air, serenading the Deities and devotees. Then at 12 noon, the big, wooden Deity doors rumbled open to reveal Their Lordships, small Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, standing gracefully on a small podium, ready for Their abhishek. Everyone was amazed, watching the thick, syrupy honey poured luxuriously over Their Lordships’ forms, followed by yogurt, water, and other auspicious liquids infused with all sorts of sweet-smelling oils. It was a treat for the eyes and heart.
During the Lord’s arotik, a mellow kirtan was led by some of New Vrindaban’s most melodious singers.
Then, the devotees listened with rapt attention to His Holiness Varsana Maharaj relating intimate pastimes of Lord Nityananda and His associates, narrated with great love, as Maharaj always does.
All of these festivities culminated in a well-attended and sumptuous feast in honor of Lord Nityananda, the one whose name means “eternally blissful”; the one who is the elder brother of Lord Caitanya; the one who is an avadhuta not bound by any social customs; and the one without whose mercy no-one can understand Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Thaipusam Book Marathon 2015 (Album 98 photos)
Sri Jagannatha Mandir,ISKCON Malaysia HQ
See them here: http://goo.gl/5sksK9
Hare Krishna! Mayapur Sanga of ISKCON Sannyasis, Gurus and GBCs – Day Two
The discussions were dynamic and pertinent, and then the participants broke for lunch. After lunch, the participants stood before a large banner on the wall with an important excerpt from a letter from Srila Prabhupada: “This is called unity in diversity. I am therefore suggesting that all our men meet in Mayapur every year during the birth anniversary of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. With all GBC and senior men present we should discuss how to make unity in diversity. But, if we fight on account of diversity, then it is simply the material platform. Please try to maintain the philosophy of unity in diversity. That will make our movement successful.” Giriraja Swami, Radhanath Swami, and Anuttama Prabhu were invited, one after another, to read the excerpt aloud, and time was given for everyone to meditate on Srila Prabhupada’s words.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15493
Iskcon leaders meet in Mayapur for the 2nd day (Album 58 photos)
On day one participants explored ISKCON’s past, examining the trends in and influences on ISKCON, both internal and external. Following from that, on the second day participants began to look at ISKCON’s present. The meeting’s facilitator’s started with a question: How well do the four groups in the room (the GBC members, the sannyasis, the gurus, and the BBT trustees) address the trends in ISKCON. They were asked to list their perception of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the four groups of devotees.
See them here: http://goo.gl/JtMwFA
For those devotees not familiar with the name Sadaputa Dasa (Dr. Richard L. Thompson), he was one of Srila Prabhupada’s foremost preachers to the scientific community, one of the founding members of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, author of numerous books presenting the Vedic view of reality, international lecturer, a respected Vaishnava, and a veritable transcendental genius. He is also responsible for much of the current design of the Vedic planetarium in Mayapur and many other exhibits planned for the TOVP. It was the world’s great misfortune that in 2008 he passed away from this world, leaving much work undone in his life’s mission and service to Srila Prabhupada.
In his own words he felt that, “believing science to be wrong and Krishna consciousness right is not sufficient. You must know WHY science is wrong.” Thus, aside from finding ways of bridging the gap between science and the Vedic wisdom, one of his main goals was to teach and educate devotees exactly why scientific explanations of reality are incomplete at best, and continue to be so.
There is now underway an effort to collect, preserve, and disseminate his legacy of lectures, books, videos, interviews, papers, etc. for the benefit of all future generations of devotees and researchers of Vedic wisdom. And first in this effort is the creation of a dedicated Youtube Channel, The Sadaputa Digital Channel, now available to watch at http://www.youtube.com/user/SadaputaChannel. This is undoubtedly the most complete and organized collection of Sadaputa’s lectures, seminars, videos, and interviews available in one place. We recommend you visit the channel and subscribe so you can receive announcements of related Archives progress.
In the coming years we hope to provide all these lectures, seminars, etc. in CD format along with transcriptions for serious research and study. A website and Facebook Page are also planned for the near future.
The Sadaputa Digital Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/SadaputaChannel
Note: We are continually on the lookout for additional recorded lectures or videos of Sadaputa prabhu. If you know of or have access to such, please contact us at: *protected email*
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Hare Krishna! All the way from Finland - to do Harinama in London!
This week we were joined by two enthusiastic devotees, Nrtya Gita Dasi and Bhaktin Jaana, who had taken the time to travel all the way from Finland to London, especially to take part in our popular London Saturday Night Harinam. In the short video clip below, you will see Nrtya Gita dressed in orange dancing joyfully and encouraging bystanders to take part in the Kirtan. Also, at the end of the video, our Govinda prabhu gives a very potent little public address.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15487
HG Hari Vilasa Prabhu gave the lecture yesterday (9th February) on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Appearance day. Below is the transcript of the lecture. So I am very humbled to be here in front of so many exalted Vaisnavas, my Godbrothers and Godsisters, and of course Srila Prabhupada, especially today, on the appearance day of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati […]
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Hare Krishna Melbourne: Faces of the St Kilda Festival (Album 36 photos)
Happy faces at a happy event!
See them here: http://goo.gl/EV0D62
[The theme of this blog is very much on my mind and was originally published in 2008-08-08--I spruced it up a bit and added pictures to make it more consistent with my current blogs.]I just returned from a trip to the ocean. I spent time thinking of some lessons I learned during my life which I wanted to share with you. As we age and hopefully mature we have to apply the spiritual principles of Krishna consciousness in different ways. At the same time, in our pursuit of spiritual perfection, we also have to apply different material strategies of support (i.e marriage, living in an ashram, occupational development, etc.) in order to be peaceful, satisfied, and able to remain fixed in our goal of loving and serving Krishna for our whole life. We don't want to be a shooting star, but a brilliant sun in lasting service. The following are points for your contemplation:
As we mature we will have a much different idea of what spirituality is than when we were young and inexperienced. In fact we may very well see what we once thought was Krishna consciousness, was only a shadow, or a beginning layer of a much deeper, broader, nuanced view.
Your conceptions of Krishna consciousness, and what you thought was your level of advancement will in time be challenged—so never be complacent and think you have gone somewhere by only a head full of knowledge or some years of chanting and service. The quality of our practice is much more important than the time spent. We may obtain Krishna in a moment, or not for a million births.
Hare Krishna! “Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary…”
Admiration for the astounding abilities of Sherlock Holmes is certainly not misplaced. The methods he and his contemporary scientific counterparts use for acquiring knowledge—observation and reasoning—are universal and necessary, and even the Vedic literature of ancient India recognizes them as valid for certain purposes. Nevertheless, they are not sufficient. Because they are imperfect processes, subject to limited certainty and scope, they should not be independently relied upon.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15484
“Marriage is an ashram. It is important to make it successful.” His Grace Mahatma prabhu (ACBSP) will be conducting a seminar about relationships on coming Sunday (15th February) in Sridhama Mayapur. “Sacred Union”, the title of his presentation gives us a hint of the importance of marriage in our spiritual life. This is what he […]
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On 8th February, 2015 morning Temple lecture was given by HH Bhanu Swami. Below is the transcript of the lecture. As we know from the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, the whole purpose of Bhagavatam is to glorify and describe the pastimes of Krishna. Vedavyasa has divided up the Vedas into four and given them […]
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Hare Krishna! Hold on!
I analyzed my work through the lens of Krishna consciousness and found it degrading and contrary to Krishna consciousness. I work for a retail company where I create propositions that entice people to buy more and more. I started feeling that any kind of work is equivalent to contributing to maya’s trap of increasing material desires. “I’m on the path of Krishna consciousness to escape the influence of maya, but I’m busy creating material allurements for others.” That thought disturbed me constantly.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15481
Hare Krishna! We need to go back to Dwarka. This is why
Could Dwarka really be the most ancient civilization in human history?
=> Was there or was there not a government cover-up?
=> Did Dwarka truly possess ahead-of-its-time technology?
=> What other ancient scriptures offer clues to the truth about Dwarka?
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15478
Hare Krishna! NOW STARTING–Distance Learning Hospice Course
REGISTRATION is NOW OPEN for the Vaishnavas C.A.R.E. Distance Learning Hospice Course where you can learn “The Art of Caring for a Terminally ill Loved One” in the quiet and comfort of your own home.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=15474