Gita 03.28 – To know the truth means to see how spirit can stay disentangled from matter during action
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Gita verse-by-verse study Podcast:

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Srila Prabhupada’s Magic: 22 Years After
→ ISKCON Malaysia

BY IKSVAKU DASA

 

PENANG - Late in 1990 the ISKCON Malaysian Yatra asked me and a handful of South American devotees to take care of the Penang Centre since Janananda Maharaja (a brahmacari at that time) was going to India for a few months. Having lived in Mayapur for the last three years, I was thrilled with the opportunity to be on the preaching field again. We accepted the request and happily headed to the island in the north of Malaysia. 


Almost daily we would go out on Harinama and Book Distribution. People were extremely friendly and generous, and the local devotees were supportive of our “Latin flavor” of Krishna Consciousness. We chanted and chanted day after day in every single market selling books and giving invitations and Mantra cards. Our small group of devotees became a somewhat known feature of the town for the couple of years that we stayed there. 


The local devotees were very active. Lead by Kalesha prabhu, they had a couple of regular programs in local Krishna Temples twice a week. Then we would have Saturday “Maha Harinama” (generally a maximum of 10 devotees or so) and a small, but fired-up Sunday feast.
Time went by and we became busier and busier. Devotees would arrange programs at different devotees’ homes and at Demigod Temples. Malaysian devotees are expert cooks, and we were enamored with their passion for preparing Krishna Prasadam. At the end of our permanency, we recommended a few devotees for initiation and left our local friends to return back to South America. It was one of my best preaching-experiences in my limited spiritual life.
After we left, different local devotees took up responsibility and developed the program further to a great extent. From time to time I would hear about how much the preaching had expanded but never went back until last month when the opportunity to return came up. It has been 22 years since I left Penang in 1992. 


This time I found that the temples have grown beyond my calculations. Instead of a tiny mixed town house of cement and wood in a dingy neighbourhood, there were several comfortable centres in the island and nearby mainland (Bukit Mertajam and Butterworth). A beautiful temple complex named Bhaktivedanta Cultural Centre (BCC) was being built with a multipurpose hall and ample facilities for guests. I was truly impressed.


All what I could say when asked about my impressions of “the new Penang Yatra” at the end of one class I gave to a packed temple room of 60 enthusiastic new devotees, was “It’s all Prabhupada’s magic”

Free From This Hankering
→ Japa Group

"The taste of the Hare Krishna mantra can be tasted by one who is free from material hankering. Everyone in this material world is hankering for material enjoyment, but one who is free from this hankering can taste how relishable the Bhagavatam is. The word Bhagavata refers to anything in relationship to Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord, and the Hare Krishna mantra is also bhagavata."

From Bhajan Kutir #124
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Celebrate New Year’s Eve with us on Dec 31st, 2014 from 7.30pm to12am — Hari Naam Diksha Ceremony on Jan 1st 2015 from 10am to 12:00 pm.
→ ISKCON Brampton


New Year's Eve Grand Feast

When?
Wednesday,Dec 31st,2014
Program starts at 7.30pm

Where?
6 George Street South
Brampton, Ontario
L6Y 1P3, Canada
Park underground(free) @ City Hall
Phone:416-648-3312

New! Listen
Click here to listen to previous class recordings on our blog
Make a Donation
ayur harati vai pumsam
udyann astam ca yann asau
tasyarte yat-ksano nita
uttama-sloka-vartaya

Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.
                                      ~ Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.17


We at ISKCON Brampton are eager to provide you with a wonderful start to 2015.
 There is no other better way than to start the New Year with chanting, dancing and feasting in the association of  Lord Krishna and His devotees. The program will  begin at 7.30pm and includes Aarti, kirtan, a Multimedia Presentation, New Year resolutions, New Year's Grand Countdown Kirtan,dance and a vegetarian feast.
 Please join us for an evening filled with devotion, joy and happiness.
Program schedule for 31st December 2014: 
(Grand Kirtan Night)
7.30 - 7.45 pm-    Guru Puja
7:45 - 8.05 pm-    Gaura Aarti And Kirtan
8.05 - 8.10 pm-     Nrsingadeva Prayer - Sunday school girls
8.10 - 8.15 pm-      Welcome Announcement
8.10 - 9.00 pm-     Prasadam (Ekadasi)
9.00 - 9.20 pm-     Slide show of festivals celebrated during 2014 -                                        Mahadevan Prabhu
9:20 - 9:45 pm-     Kirtan Hladini group
9:45- 10:15 pm-    Kirtan
10:15 - 11:10 pm- Kirtan
11:10 - 12:00 am- Countdown Kirtan
12.00 - 12.20 am- Kirtan
      
 DONATIONS AND SPONSORSHIPS
"So if one gives some amount of his money to persons involved in distributing Krishna consciousness, that charity, given to spread Krishna consciousness, is the greatest charity in the world."
Bhagavad-gita 11.54 Purport
New Year's Grand Feast......  $251
Deity Outfits & Sringara.......$301
Flowers & Garlands...............$108

Please contact Aloke Prabhu at the front desk.You'll be duly  provided with a tax deduction receipt for any of your donations above $20.

Hari Naam Diksha Ceremony
on Jan 1st 2015 from 10am-12pm

Please feel free to  join us for Hari Naam Diksha Ceremony taking place at ISKCON Brampton on Jan 1st 2015 from 10pm-12pm by His Holiness Bhaktimarga Swami.Come for a lovely Darshan of Sri Sri Radha Giridhari in Their new outfits.Prasadam will be served.
Please note that ISKCON Brampton is a nut free environment in order to support those with allergies. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Chant and Be happ

Always on our mind
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 21 May 2014, Prague, Czech Republic, Lecture at Govindas)

radha_natabar_ohioAll the rules and regulations in scripture serve one principle – to always remember Krsna and never forget him. One who always remembers Krsna, is always prepared for death.  At the end of one’s life, one must remember Krsna. So if we always remember Krsna and never forget him, then whenever death comes, we are protected. Somehow or other, we need to arrange our lives in such a way to always remember Krsna.

 

Peer pressure
→ Servant of the Servant

There is lot of pressure among peers to do the things everyone does in society. In the US, there is a certain culture where people do things at certain times of the year and we are expected to also do it. This sort of socialization is very normal. Coming from a Krishna Conscious background, these things which are seen as normal actually are detested. So there is peer pressure to attend. Talking mundane subjects ad-nauseum and partaking untouchable things can severely destroy one's devotional creeper. At the risk of social isolation, we still have to continue our Krishna Consciousness.

Even Indians here form their own community and do the exact same things year round as everyone else does. So it is important to not cave into this peer pressure of material way of life. While it may, on the surface, look appealing - it is a culture antagonistic to the soul and Supersoul. Peer pressure exists at all levels of society

Only by chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra sincerely and by studying Srila Prabhupada books can one withstand peer pressure around us.

Hare Krishna

Along The Way
→ travelingmonk.com

Bada Haridas and myself arrived back to winter in Vrindavan. It’s very cold and foggy in the mornings, but by the afternoon it warms up. Immediately after settling in we embarked on a 3-hour parikrama around the holy dhama. Along the way we met many of our old Vrajavasi friends.

Harinama in Asunción, Paraguay (Album 11 photos) Srila…
→ Dandavats.com



Harinama in Asunción, Paraguay (Album 11 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/Ob0P6n

Jailhouse Kirtan
→ ISKCON Malaysia

BY AJAMILA DASA (ACBSP)


MAYAPUR - Over the last two days the Superintendent and his next in charge of the Krishna Nagara Jail, which holds around 850 prisoners, came to Mayapur and received VIP prasadam and a warm Hare Krishna welcome after taking an ecstatic darshan of the Deities.

Amazingly, they expressed very keen interest in ISKCON cooking Daily nutritious prasadam funded by the Government at the prison for all the prisoners. They also want us to do a monthly preaching and Hari nama program in the jail since around 70% of the prisoners there are from Hindu Vaisnava backgrounds, as is the Superintendent and all his key staff. With a little inducement from any dancing white elephant, they and most of the prisoners happily chant Hare Krishna. (But they are still perplexed as to how a few unfortunate Mayapur locals had a 64 year old dancing white elephant falsely jailed, more on that later.)

One of the top officers in charge of the Krishna Nagar Jail said he heard that ISKCON Bangalore, with Government funding, supplies daily all the very nice nutritious prasadam that is fed to the 1,000 plus prisoners in the Bangalore Central Jail. He said that the Government trusts ISKCON with such funding but can't find any other trustworthy parties because in their experience such people pocket around 50% of the funding and the prisoners thereafter get fed a severely undernourished diet.

So there is an immense preaching and prasadam distribution opportunity there in the Krishna Nagar Jail - which is within Navadvipa Dhama - and it won't cost us any money, the Government will fund it. Many Hindu prisoners while in jail are very receptive and will come out of prison with much spiritual benefit. While I was there for 51 days I saw how easy it was to get them chanting and how receptive they were to the message of the Bhagavad-gita. The 'distress' and restrictive nature of the jail makes it most suitable for preaching to such people. And if meat is completely eliminated from the jail diet the entire jail preaching will be so much more potent. We will negotiate that with the authorities, citing Bangalore's jail being supplied Government funded pure Krishna prasadam by ISKCON. It is possible to turn the entire Krishna Nagar prison into somewhat of a Krishna conscious ashram. They call it a "correction home", and what better way for Hindus to become corrected. We could convert a Muslim or two as well. The Christians are regularly trying to convert inmates in the jail so we can also. Krishna Nagar is within Navadvipa Dhama so a preaching program there will most appropriate and this should have already been initiated. In fact, the Superintendent inquired why we had not already approached them like ISKCON did in Bangalore.

When I got dumped into that jail head first in the midst of what was a most blissful month of Kartik on October 17th, I was surprised to see that there was an altar in Ward 3 where I stayed with around 30 other prisoners. So I was able to continue offering lamps to Lord Damodara most days which was a great source of solace in my painful separation from Mayapur and the devotees.

When I arrived at the jail all the prisoners looked at me very suspiciously because they saw my picture which immediately came in the Bengali newspapers - I was portrayed as a rapist. A few extremist local devotees in Mayapur had assisted the ISKCON banned pedophile who got me falsely jailed for rape by going to the media and getting me and ISKCON simultaneously defamed in the newspapers. They wanted to teach me a lesson not to be so outspoken about following strictly Srila Prabhupada's instructions for Mayapur. But when all the prisoners soon saw that this 64 year old dancing white elephant with a young heart was not a rapist but was giving them some genuine blissful enlivening chanting and preaching the good name of ISKCON was not only restored but was significantly enhanced. During the latter part of my stay in the jail, after getting sufficiently adjusted and acquainted in hell, I would conduct animated ecstatic Hari nama chanting in Ward No 1 for around 30-50 imprisoned Vaisnavas where they had an altar with a beautiful picture of Gaura Nitai.

Two days ago in Mayapur I introduced the Krishna Nagara Jail Superintendent to Sankarsana Nitai Prabhu who enthusiastically said he would follow up with the jail preaching.

Although I'm out of prison I'm still imprisoned by my materialistic six senses and mind and am most unfortunate that I don't have a taste for chanting the names of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. But for sure as long as I breathe I will not give up trying and I will live my life with the intense hope that Gauranga will fulfill His promise that He will shower His mercy on the most fallen as am I. The 51 days in jail humbled me greatly but I still have a long way to go which makes me a perfect candidate for getting Gauranga's mercy since I am a wretched rascal and most unworthy.

But actually I don't really mean that, I'm am just saying that so that you will think I'm soooo humble and this again proves I am a total rascal. I will never really be humble, that's an impossibility.

But still, this is the age for getting causeless mercy and I can only plead loudly to the Lord for His help and mercy to give me just one tiny little drop of Gauranga Prema and then I'll be changed eternally, I will be able to see, beyond Praudha Maya, Lord Gauranga in Mayapur dancing with His associates, I will be able to give up the desire for sense gratification completely and just swim eternally in the ocean of Krishna Prema. With such ambitious desires, although completely unqualified, I was somehow able to live in a hellish jail because I got really serious about chanting and praying with some urgent intensity and desperation and was able to see in the far distance at the bottom of my wretched heart some Gauranga Prema light way at the end of the tunnel of my uncontrolled senses and mind.

Praying for an iota of the shade of the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada and all his sincere servants and followers.

Hoping this meets you well. Hare Krishna.


N.B. This is India. Around 30% of the prisoners in the jail have been falsely implicated. There are around 6 prisoners I contacted there who have no one to help them with warm clothing, and that jail is freezing cold and has no windows except for bars. If you have any unwanted usable warm winter male clothing like chaddars or sweaters or head scarfs you could give away I will have it collected from you and delivered to those who really need them in the jail. One man is 83 years old, he always chants Gaura Nitai when reminded. He really needs some warm clothing. Please email me privately if you can help and I'll arrange to have it collected. Thanks. Hare Krishna!

Family Day Carnival 2014 By Sri Jagannatha Mandir, Kuala Lumpur
→ ISKCON Malaysia

BY SJMKL PATRON TEAM

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

KUALA LUMPUR - The much anticipated fun-filling event of the year for Sri Jagannatha Mandir, besides all other immensely delightful spiritual festivals, is the Family Day Carnival! This was specially organized by the patron board with the theme “By Patrons For Patrons”.

While the name itself tells it all, this special day is to bring all devotees of sweet Lord Krsna together, to bind them closer than ever and to build them stronger as a family to do more and more service to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna. With Him playing around in the backdrop, it can only turn out to be completely spectacular as expected! On Sunday 14th December, the day begun with devotees gathering at the temple for Mangala Arathi and Guru Puja, and right after that, all devotees made their way to Bukit Jalil International Park, a mere 10 minutes’ drive from the temple.

By 8.30 am, most of them completed registering to participate in various activities that have been planned out by the organizers. While waiting for more people to join in, Kripa Sindhu Krishna Prabhu filled in by leading a very melodious bhajan together with the devotees. Curious on-lookers were also held captive absorbing the pleasant sight of the congregational members clapping hands and singing together in sync.

By 9am, special breakfast with an array of delicious variety of sandwiches prepared by the Matajis were served. There were also sales of buns, nasi lemak, tidbits and canned drinks. After taking in such an energy boost, devotees moved on to participate in the events they have registered for. With much joy and laughter in the air, devotees who were split into several teams to participate in games such as futsal, tug-of-war, treasure hunt and telematches were all in excitement and full of spirit of sportiveness!

There were some who were engaged in the quieter indoor games such as chess, and some others who were well absorbed in chanting the Maha Mantra. Lots of prizes were given away to winning teams and individuals, and a special birthday cake was presented to Kripa Sindhu Krishna Prabhu during this fun-filled day. This was then followed by something unexpected, the liquid downpour HOLI! The splashing of colors on everybody caught the devotees by surprise, but needless to say, this was giving too much of joy to everyone and made the carnival even more memorable. With the end of all the events organized, lunch prasadam was served. A great combo of rice, sambar, taufu sambal, savoury and sweet halwa was truly a feast to the hungry brood of devotees. With that, the Family Day Carnival 2014 came to an end. It was indeed wonderful to see devotees mingling together in harmony, united in chanting together and helping each another in as many ways as they could.

Everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly and left Bukit Jalil looking forward now to Sri Jagannatha Mandir Family Day 2015!

Watch slideshow here

Radio live broadcast from the MBC (Album 16 photos) MBC =…
→ Dandavats.com



Radio live broadcast from the MBC (Album 16 photos)
MBC = Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation. With Vidura Prabhu and Kartick Mohes. New Year’s message, semi-monthly radio live broadcast organized by Vidura Prabhu, one of senior devotees at Mauritius. The broadcast program is for 15 minutes. Pictures from the broadcast studio and from outside the MBC buidling, near Moka, Mauritius.
See them here: http://goo.gl/dRORn4

‘Religion is so personal’ “Das recollects his favourite…
→ Dandavats.com



‘Religion is so personal’
“Das recollects his favourite session with inmates of Tihar jail. He led a lilting kirtan session but found that most prisoners were unresponsive, when the DIG informed him that they were Muslims. “I asked them, do they not believe in Allah, who corresponds to the Hindu Krishna and Christian God? They said, ‘yes’. Then I explained to them how similar all religions were — if Islam had jannat and jahanum, Christianity had paradise and hell, and Hindus had the concept of swarag and narak, were they not all the same? I pointed out that the life source, energy, was provided by what Hindus call Surya, Muslims call Suraj and Christians, Sun, all the same, is it not? They said ‘yes’. And while Islam talked of Ruh, Hindus of Atman, Christians called it Soul, is it not? They said ‘yes’. Then what was the difference, I asked, were we not all addressing the same thing? We are all souls in different bodies — Krishna only says ‘you are all part of me and I am the Supersoul.’ After, that, all barriers were broken and everyone joined us in singing,” says Das.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/UTGozZ

Prasadam in Norwich, UK If you happen to be passing through or…
→ Dandavats.com



Prasadam in Norwich, UK
If you happen to be passing through or staying in Norwich, or visiting the North Norfolk coast, you may be interested to know that there is a lovely devotee cafe right in town. I stumbled upon Lili Cafe one day when I walked by and noticed Srila Prabhupada’s books in the window. I walked in and received a warm welcome from Vijay prabhu and Urmila mataji , had a lovely chat and delicious prasadam and they gave me information of Sunday evening meetings. I was staying at the coast in late October and trains, one an hour, would have left me walking in the pitch dark alone when I returned. But hopefully next time…
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/MOxS2E

Why is Hari Pure and Blessed?
→ The Enquirer

“Why does the dust that falls from my lotus-like feet immediately destroy all impurities? Why does Goddess Śrī not leave my side even though I do nothing to keep her there, while everyone else struggles to attract the slightest fragment of her attention? I am so pure and blessed only because I am so thoroughly devoted to serving those pure, blessed souls who listen deeply to my kīrtan.”

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.16.7