One who does good is never overcome by evil
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 09 November 2014, Mayapur, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.19) 

Srila_PrabhupadaWe have seen cases where devotees were murdered. I know of a devotee who was murdered whilst chanting japa; it happened in South Africa. Everyone was stunned because this was evil. I mean, this was a devotee. We had a big gathering for the departure of that devotee and we discussed it in great depth. Many senior vaisnavas came for that occasion and discussed and finally, the conclusion was that sometimes it is not the body that is protected by Krsna but it is the soul that is protected by Krsna. Therefore this statement of the Bhagavad-gita (6.40) certainly applies at all times,

na hi kalyana-krt kascid
durgatim tata gacchati, 

A vaisnava is never overcome by evil; it is not possible even though it may appear like that. The soul is always protected and the soul will always attain the most auspicious destination!

So in this way, we can see that one who is taking shelter of Krsna, even when a little service is performed, is making so much advancement and one is immediately receiving the protection of Krsna. That protection of Krsna is very great for such a devotee. Even if mistakes are made, still he is not doomed but rather he is saved from doom. Soon thereafter, the devotee will attain the ultimate goal of life because Krsna will continue to make further arrangements for purification.

Therefore, once we have started this process, once we are on this path, then surely we will continue and continue, and the only thing that can temporary delay our progress is the result of vaisnava aparadha. That temporary delay can be for a long time, just like Daksa who had to suffer for a kalpa with the head of a goat. A kalpa is quite a long time. So in that way, vaisnava aparadha is the one thing that we must avoid and nama aparadha also. Then we can progress very nicely, automatically on this path of pure devotional service!

 

Hare Krishna and Blasphemy
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One subject that has come up in the last week is the notion of ‘blasphemy.’ Its an old word which we hardly use any more in English, except when we’re referring to how religions other than Christianity get offended by cartoons. It wasn’t always like that. We used to take it very seriously.

I’m an occasional visitor to the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, and just a short walk from there is the spot where Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury, was publicly burned at the stake on the 21st March 1556. He died an excruciatingly painful death because his religious ideas did not sit well with the leaders of the day.

The members of the Krishna consciousness movement are fortunate indeed that blasphemy is no longer a capital crime in Britain. If it were, we would all have been burned a long time ago.
That doesn’t mean it has been easy. In bringing religious ideas from one part of the world to another, particularly if you dress differently and attract attention to yourself by singing in the streets, you soon get to realise the level of tolerance in your own culture.

I remember the first time I was invited to lead a kirtan. I was seventeen and had not long shaved my head and donned the saffron robes of a brahmacari. It was Portobello Road on a Saturday afternoon, and I was happy to have been asked to play the drum and sing, leading the procession along the street lined with market stalls and packed with shoppers and tourists (see picture).

Portobello

Not everyone shared my enthusiasm, though. It wasn’t long before a freshly chopped chicken’s head, complete with swinging entrails, came sailing through the air, hitting me full in the face. The butcher who threw it laughed loudly, and was congratulated by his friends for his good aim. I carried on singing, after a momentary pause to wipe off the blood.

It was a good introduction to the level of treatment I’d receive from then on. In the years to come I was to experience a wide range of insults and missiles: gobs of spit, Brussells sprouts and other lobbed vegetables, beer cans (sometimes generously half full), empty bottles, clumps of earth with tufts of grass, cups of urine, large stones – and even fireworks!

Not everyone likes religion, you see, and even when they do they like the one they know, not a foreign brand. And something as alien-looking as Hare Krishna with its strange-smelling incense, flowers, ‘tambourines’ and blue-coloured gods is as foreign as they come. Consequently, there are many who just want to express their considered theological opinion by throwing something – and its not always rose petals.

Many policemen, too, chose to express their philosophical preferences by arresting us for singing, usually on the pretext of the Highways Obstruction Act of 1863. Their treatment wasn’t always soft and gentle back in the 1970s. As far as selling books about God, I have lost count of the number of times I was arrested and locked up in a cell with one grey blanket (used).

But a devotee of Krishna has to be tolerant. As followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we have our role model in the example of Nityananda Prabhu, who tolerated even a wine pot thrown by a ruffian, that drew blood from his forehead. Tolerance, forgiveness and determination are qualities that serve messengers of God well.

What happens when the abuse is levelled not at the messenger but at God himself? In the ancient world, a world where they actually believed in a life after this one, and the distinct possibility of heaven or hell, the abuse of God was known as blasphemy. Of course, the idea of blasphemy largely depended on whether you were insulting the locally prevailing concept of God. If no-one around you believed in your God then they would not consider their insults to be blasphemy – it would be your idea of God that was blasphemy. Thus you had to be careful levelling charges of blasphemy against anyone, lest they turn the tables on you. It all got rather complex.

But here’s a question: can someone draw a picture, perhaps a cartoon, of Lord Krishna that would be considered blasphemy? Would the devotees of Krishna ever get so offended they’d go looking for some kind of retribution? I’m not saying never, but its highly doubtful, because the very concept of Krishna involves the understanding that he is quite capable of dealing with any animosity by himself. He forgave Shishupala one hundred times before he dealt with him – and even then it was an inside joke. Krishna may be Almighty God but he’s also the Supremely Compassionate and Ultimate Forgiver. Devotees remembering that will not become over-excited on his behalf.

Except on one occasion, that is. Not so long ago. It was when the American rock band Aerosmith released their 12th album Nine Lives. Their artist took a Bhaktivedanta Book Trust picture of Krishna dancing on the many-headed snake Kaliya and superimposed the head of a cat over the Lord’s beautiful face. The devotees were a little irate at this image theft and wanton manipulation and, it being the USA, they took the legal route and were given a generous settlement. That’s how to deal with blasphemy (and copyright infringement) painlessly.

Since the 1960s, when the devotees of Krishna first appeared in the public consciousness, the movement has undergone a radical shift in perception, at least in Europe. We have been accused of being everything from a witch’s coven (Weekend magazine) to a mind-control cult (The Sun). Like I said, it has not been easy. Its taken perseverance, tolerance and a lot of explaining to get us accepted, and even liked, as part of Britain’s multi-faceted spiritual landscape.

My message to anyone who wants to introduce a way of life and a belief system that is culturally alien to Britain: Have patience – you will need enormous amounts of it. Don’t expect everyone to like you – they won’t, just be happy if even a small number like your message. Don’t get offended if they don’t understand you or even if they insult you or your God. Just remember that you can always let God deal with it, and He doesn’t actually need you to get angry on his behalf. Attract people to your God by showing how happy your God makes you. If you’re not happy, it might be that you’re doing something wrong. Finally remember there’s only one Creator and Ultimate Source, the Origin of All. There’s no point arguing over his name – he has so many.


Nityam Bhagatavata Sevaya Issue no 4  Dear Devotees, …
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Nityam Bhagatavata Sevaya Issue no 4 
Dear Devotees, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All Glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga! By the mercy of Sadhus and Vaishanavas, below is the link to the fourth issue of NBS. This issue features: 1) THE SECRET OF LEARNING BHAGAVATAM His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 2) DANGERS OF BAD ASSOCIATION Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur 3) GLORIES OF SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM Conversation between Lord Chaitanya & Devananda Pandit 4)THE IMMORTAL HIDDEN NECTAR Srila Sanatana Goswami 5) ONLY LISTENING TO THE BHAGAVATAM WITH FULL ATTENTION WILL PRODUCE RESULTS Bhagavata-mahatmya
Read the document here: http://goo.gl/WCCMw1

Preaching program in Benesov, Czech Republic (Album 13…
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Preaching program in Benesov, Czech Republic (Album 13 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The difference between a devotee and a nondevotee is this, just like the bee and the fly: the bee always is attracted by the honey and flies go to the open sores. So the devotee is only attracted by the good qualities in other people and does not see their faults. Letter to Badrinarayana, November 7, 1971.
See them here: http://goo.gl/jE6ATx

Iskcon Arusha, Tanzania Tanzania, a country in East Africa,…
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Iskcon Arusha, Tanzania
Tanzania, a country in East Africa, borders Kenya but is much more rural and about thirty years behind in terms of modern development. The small town of Arusha, two hours’ drive from the Kenyan border, is popular with tourists for nearby wildlife reserves like Arusha National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, as well as for mountain climbing on the nearby Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro. The preaching center itself is located on a dirt road off of the main Njiro Road in Arusha. Close to rural villages belonging to the Masai and other tribes, it caters mainly to local Africans. Although people in Kenya speak English, Kiswahili is the main language in Tanzania. The locals are simple village people working on the land. The landscape is green with regular rainy seasons.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/47eFC6

Ponggal Programme 15 january 2015 at New Godruma Dham farm…
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Ponggal Programme 15 january 2015 at New Godruma Dham farm (Album with many photos)
Hare Krishna. Ponggal is celebrated grandly in South India. In Malaysia also Ponggal is a grand celebration especially for the Tamils. It is also widely celebrated in schools, villages, universities and homes. But to experience the original mood of the celebration one will definitely need to be at a farm setting where there are abundant cows, trees, hills and ponds.
At New Godruma Dhama farm the regular farm employees from Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Nepal, and volunteer workers from Denmark, Germany and Italy joined the first part of the Ponggal celebration at the sugar cane plantation at 7AM. At about 8.30AM about another 50 devotees joined the celebration and this time at the rose apple orchard which is bordering the farm’s cow barn. Gopesa Govinda prabhu the farm manager and Gokul Damodara prabhu the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Manager and Sri Jagannatha Mandir, Kuala Lumpur temple commander jointly organised this wonderful programme.
It is really nice to celebrate the programme with our very own cows, trees, fruits and roots harvest. The set up at our Gosala and Rose Apple orchard made the event real and original. Cows were roaming around the orchard while devotees kept feeding these favourite of Lord Krishna’s animals with fruits and especially jaggery. The happiness of devotees kept increasing as they kept feeding mother cow.
See them here: http://goo.gl/3tlrkE

Huge Makara Sankranti prasad distribution and kirtan (5 albums…
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Huge Makara Sankranti prasad distribution and kirtan (5 albums with hundreds of beautiful photos)
Makara Sankranti, the day when the Sun enters the Northern Hemisphere, and begins it’s six months residence there, is a huge festival in the state of Gujarat. Gujarat is where Lord Krishna Himself resided at Dwarakadham, 5,000 years ago. A large segment of the population of Gujarat are devotees of Lord Krishna. ISKCON Baroda, for the past 20 years, on this festive occasion, prepares 25,000 prasad packets at the temple, and distributes the packets at various places around Baroda. The prasad packets, approximately 350 grams in weight, consists of two types of laddus — sweets — one made of wheat flour fried in ghee, and then mixed with sugar, and the other made with sesame seeds - “til” in Gujarati and Hindi - of two varieties, black and white, mixed with “gur” - unrefined sugar The prasad distribution is accompanied by harinam nagar sankirtan, by ISKCON Baroda temple and congregational devotees.
See them all here: http://goo.gl/q3BL0k.

A visit to the Indus University at Ahmedabad (Album 47…
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A visit to the Indus University at Ahmedabad (Album 47 photos)
The visit of ISKCON Gujarat Zonal Secretary Jasomatinandan Das, Kaushalya Pitham head, Acharya Samskritananda Hari, and ISKCON Baroda Temple President Basu Ghosh Das to the Indus University at Ahmedabad, that has been created and developed by the Bhandari family.
Dr. Rakesh Bhandari, a Professor of Clinical Anaesthesiology at the University of Western Ontario, at London, Ontario, Canada, who has been connected to ISKCON in Vienna, Austria, as well as at Toronto, Canada, gave us a tour the campus, and expressed his interest in establishing a Chair in vedic studies there.
See them here: http://goo.gl/Tpv3GQ

Temple Profile: Arusha, Tanzania
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Tanzanian people were first introduced to Krishna consciousness in the 1970s by Srila Prabhupada’s early disciple Brahmananda Das as well as then Nairobi temple president Ajamila Das. In the 1990s, the late inspirational traveling preacher Tribhuvanath Das visited the country’s cities Dar Es Salaam and Tanga and made a major impression.

Preaching programs in Leicester and Mayfair, UK (Album 94…
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Preaching programs in Leicester and Mayfair, UK (Album 94 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If one renders even a small amount of sincere devotional service, Krishna becomes obliged to elevate such person; and what to speak of one whose entire life and soul has been dedicated to Krishna’s service. Letter to Harer Nama, November 6, 1969.
See them here: http://goo.gl/vaS0AF

Chile’s Krishna Sambandha Reconnects Souls Through Kirtan
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The Krishna Sambandha kirtan band from Chile, South America, has a motto that is inspirationally opposite to just about every other music artist out there: “We don’t want fame through music, but we want to make Krishna famous.” The group has the skills to do just that. Formed in 2007 by Sri Bhakti and Visvanath Chakravarti, it now has seven members, each with over ten years’ formal music training.

ISKCON Hosts First Vaishnava-Christian Dialogue in India…
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ISKCON Hosts First Vaishnava-Christian Dialogue in India
Tirupati, India—Twenty men and women of the Christian and Vaishnava traditions met for more than two days of interfaith dialogue in the historic temple town of Tirupati, in Andra Pradesh, India, earlier this month. The event, convened by the ISKCON Communications Ministry, was the first formal Vaishnava-Christian Dialogue ever held in India. The group was hosted by the ISKCON Tirupati Temple. Its conference rooms overlook the beautiful Tirumala Hills, the seat of the famous Balaji Temple, one of India’s most famous pilgrimage sites.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/6i9ZMZ

New Book : “10 Leadership Sutras from Bhagavad Gita”
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In today’s stress-filled environment, corporate leaders are increasingly turning towards the world’s time-honored traditions for relief and insight. “10 Leadership Sutras from Bhagavad Gita” serves this need by presenting the wisdom of one of the world’s greatest philosophical classics in condensed sutra-like nuggets by drawing on the rich commentarial tradition of the Gita.

HH Prahladananda Maharaj Visiting Perth 17 Jan – 25 Jan
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HH Prahladananda Swami

Dear Devotees & Friends,

We are pleased to inform you that HH Prahladananda Maharaj will be visiting Perth from Saturday 17 Jan till Sunday 25 Jan.

HH Prahladananda Maharaj is a very senior disciple of HDG Srila Prabhupada. He is also the Health minister, Sanyasa minister and GBC member. He visits Perth regularly and well versed in the vedic scriptures. Maharaj will be giving the Classes on the following days

  • Srimad Bhagavatam Class - Sunday 18 Jan till Thursday 22 Jan - 7:30 am.
  • Sunday Feast Class - Sunday 18 - 5.00 pm.
  • Evening seminar on Nectar of Instruction Verses 5 and 6 - Saturday 17 Jan and  Monday 19 Jan till Wednesday 21 Jan.
  • Maharaj will be giving seminar at the retreat on Saturday 24 Jan and Sunday 25 Jan.


For more information Please contact temple on 6293 1519

Hare Krishna

Moral Madness
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 Recently a man was jailed for hunting badgers with a dog, and another was fined for shooting a seagull. But when it comes to the meat industry it seems that any amount of cruelty is acceptable.