Planet ISKCON

Why does Srimad Bhagavatam, the book for paramahamsas speak so much about varnasrarama?

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Our mission is to make everyone happy by His Grace Vijaya Prabhu (2 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: Narada Muni says that even if one falls from the platform of devotional service, he is not lost, whereas nondevotees are lost entirely because they are not engaged in service. Bhagavad-gita (9.14) therefore recommends that one always engage at least in chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.2.37 Purport).
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/bv4MJT

The post December 16th, 2014 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Preaching program in Japan (Album 32 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Even while engaged in various activities, devotees whose minds are completely absorbed at Your lotus feet, and who constantly hear, chant, contemplate and cause others to remember Your transcendental names and forms, are always on the transcendental platform, and thus they can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.2.37)
See them here: http://goo.gl/LYkZOh

Sunday feast in Iskcon Denmark (Album 20 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Persons suffering from jaundice cannot taste the sweetness of sugar candy, although everyone knows that sugar candy is sweet. Similarly, because of the material disease, nondevotees cannot understand the transcendental name, form, attributes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.2.36 Purport).
See them here: http://goo.gl/noOynr

https://flic.kr/s/aHsk6PMGwj

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6 hours kirtan in Japan (Album 63 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The mango fruit is different from the name of the mango. One cannot taste the mango fruit simply by chanting, “Mango, mango, mango.” But the devotee who knows that there is no difference between the name and form of the Lord chants Hare Krishna, and realizes that he is always in Krishna’s company.
(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.2.36 Purport).
See them here: http://goo.gl/weKU8x

Harinam Party in Manly beach Sydney (Album 44 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “O Lord,” the demigods say, “the impersonalists, who are nondevotees, cannot understand that Your name is identical with Your form.” Since the Lord is absolute, there is no difference between His name and His actual form. In the material world there is a difference between form and name.
(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.2.36 Purport).
See them here: http://goo.gl/CImuB8

We Wish You a Merry Krishna (2 min video)
This Christmas, Soho creative agency Mr.President have collaborated with the Radha Krishna Temple to produce a Christmas album like no other: ‘We Wish You a Merry Krishna’
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/VN7pH2

Gita verse-by-verse study Podcast:

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Gita verse-by-verse study Podcast:

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In my life I have a material existence and a spiritual existence. They both proceed, and they overlap, but they are distinct. I don’t anymore feel the need to sing “Hare Krishna to you” instead of “Happy birthday to you.” Or say, “Ho ho ho, haribol to all and to all a good night.” =) Or “We wish you a merry Krishna.” =) I’m fine with birthday cake and christmas presents having nothing obvious to do with Krishna. These are part of material existence, which goes on by its own momentum, by its own destiny, its own fate, its own karma. I am just along for the ride, as a passenger waiting for the vehicle to stop so I can get off.

Meanwhile I try to chant japa and look for opportunities to have kīrtan. That is the essence of spiritual life. If I can chant even one mantra attentively, the whole rest of the day can be spent in nonsense, and still I will not have another material birth. Though actually what I find is that by chanting attentively even slightly, I see the inherent, natural spiritual substance and presence of Krishna within “material” things, within each smile from my wife, children, etc. within each toy under the tree and each candle on the cake. So, without effort, the material life reveals its spiritual essence, as an automatic side effect of my spiritual life, as weak as it honestly is.

Unfortunately, often I am so distracted by false-ego that I fail to even chant one mantra attentively. But even on those days I console myself that at least I continue to chant inattentively, keeping the hope alive of chanting attentively now and then.

BY SRI JAGANNATHA MANDIR

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

KUALA LUMPUR - To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to re-establish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarhaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

Lord Sri Krishna spoke the Gita 5000 years ago to Arjuna in the battle field of Kurukshetra and this particular day is celebrated worldwide as Gita Jayanti.

As for the devotees of Sri Jagannath Mandir Kuala Lumpur, they were indeed fortunate to celebrate this auspicious day of Gita Jayanti on 2 December 2014. This event kick started at 5:50pm with the recitation of Bhagavad Gita slokas. Devotees together chanted all 700 slokas of the Bhagavad Gita. And this chanting was especially dedicated to ISKCON Malaysia Co-GBC His Holiness Srila Jayapataka Swami since Maharaja was undergoing a treatment on that day. It took two and a half hours for the devotees to complete chanting of entire 700 slokas.

The event was even more blissful when the children of Gokul Garden recited Bhagavad Gita slokas with translation that they had memorised. The kids were divided into three groups (based on their classes); Gopal, Domodara and Madhav, and each group recited their slokas. Once they were done, the kids of Gokul Garden were dressed up so wonderfully and they performed a small sketch of the Mahabharatha war. They managed to bring all the devotees back to the time when the war happened! Simheswara prabhu, ISKCON Malaysia Regional Secretary presented certificates to all the children who had taken part in this recital.

This was followed by chanting of 108 names of Lord Nrsimhadev for the speedy recovery of ISKCON Malaysia Co-GBC His Holiness Srila Jayapataka Swami. The program came to an end with devotees pledging a total of 200 Bhagavad Gitas to be distributed in the name of His Holiness Srila Jayapataka Swami.

The whole of Gita Jayanti celebration concluded with wonderful kirtan by the youth and delicious ekadsai feast.

Gita verse-by-verse study Podcast:

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Talk Podcast:

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Answer Podcast:

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 14 September 2012, Pretoria Arts Campus, South Africa, Lecture: The perfect soul mate)

Love and hate are kind of natural sentiments in this world; everyone has it. I hate Mondays, for example. I do not know what you think about Mondays but I hate them!  Like that, everyone has got something they hate and something they love and it is quite obvious. So that is the first principle – love is everywhere. People love things, they love places but more than that, they love other people, and they love other people the most. People get all sentimental when it is about mum and dad and things like that.

Love is here, in this world but is this love free from hatred? Does it even exist? Is there any relationship where there is some love but which is also free from hatred? That is not so easy, “Oh God, I just hate the way he leaves his socks lying around!” Or, “I hate the way she does this and that.”

So, in this world, love and hate come together and that is a point to consider in light of the perfect soul mate. If you think that somewhere around the corner there is a Cinderella or something… I never met Cinderella yet, I’m sorry. Or some prince on a white horse…. who has a horse these days? Who can even afford it? These things all exist on the level of our desire, since we desire it like that. We desire the fairytale, a perfection, but where is it in real life?  In real life, you have got to make do with the best there is, and that is more or less how it is.

So whenever I see something like the perfect soul mate and exploding hearts, then I think, ‘Yeah, today it is going to be all rosy and so on and tomorrow, it is going to be something else!’

It is said that when falling in love, you meet a new person and this person looks full of amazing qualities, entirely like an ocean. After a while, you walk around that ocean and find out that it is only a pond and you don’t bother seeing that person again! What can be said? A lot happens in the mind. We dream in the mind of what we want and then we project our dreams into reality but reality has nothing to do with that dream. Sometimes it looks like it is happening, and at other times it does not.

So, where to look for the perfect soul mate? And love, it is possible? Surely love is the best quality we have but can we develop it? Before we talk about relationships, what about us? It begins with ourselves. If we are not full of love, then how can we expect a relationship which is full of love? It will not work, it is not possible. Only those who are themselves full of love and free from hate, only they can become perfect soul mates, and no one else.

So you can look at the world and you may think, “Every pot has its lid, everyone has his perfect counterpart.There is one person in the world, just somewhere around there and that is the one for me.” That is rubbish! It does not exist. It is not like that at all. It is give and take. On a material plane, as the paper blows away, so does love –  it flies away in the wind! What to do?

Only when you are spiritually realized, can you have pure love. Only when you see that there is another world other than this world –  an eternal world where we belong and where everybody belongs, then you can develop loving relationships together. Then you can have a world free of hatred. Otherwise, what do you do in this world? Everybody has seen enough hatred.

So that is what we have to get rid of. Not, “I love my dog and I love my little turf and what is in between my wall, and the rest of the world I hate.” That is not love. No, love means all inclusive; it means we have to be all inclusive. When love goes together with hate then it is not love.

Today, you can have a relationship with someone and it will be all love and the hate is for the neighbours, but that will change.  One day, the love will be for the neighbours and the hate will be in your relationship, and that is when furniture starts flying… So true relationships begin when we ourselves become pure, free from hate!

Perth is a spread out city and the growing temple community lives far and wide in various suburbs.

Daily-Bhagavatam Podcast:

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Iskcon Hungary, Altar renovation news: Latest visit to the wood carver (Album 50 photos)
I have been fortunate to spend time with my spiritual master,HH Śivarāma Swami since he has been back from India. He is investing an immense amount of energy in the making of Radhe Syama’s beautiful new altar in New Vraja Dhāma, Hungary. He is excited, dedicated, and personally sacrifices a lot to make everything happen.
See them here: http://goo.gl/an38mo

Boat-ride for the Dieties at the Mahebourg lagoon in Mauritius.
Bhakti Chaitanya Swami: Devotees came in more than 20 boats and gathered around the Deity boat.
See the photos here: http://goo.gl/EEAUXp

Somewhere In The Persian Gulf… (60 min video)
This sixty-minute documentary shows the Birth of Bhakti-Vriksha In The Middle-East. At the very beginning of the twenty-first century, somewhere in the Persian Gulf region, a Deity of Jagannath appeared in a coastal town surrounded by desert. After carrying the Lord onto a chariot, a group of Indian expatriates are pulling the chariot by hand in the same ancient procession as in the Lord’s home across the Indian Ocean. This film shows the remarkable spread of devotion to Krishna from two ISKCON members in the early years of the new millennium, to two thousand practicing devotees in just one one decade, in just one country of the Persian Gulf region. No name is mentioned to identify the country, which is a strictly Islamic state; nor are the Hindus in this film trying to convert their Muslim hosts. Yet, the Bhakti-Vriksha approach to preaching is shown not to be restricted to Indians. Vijaya Venu-gopal Das explains in his running commentary that the same approach has been established in several countries of the ex-USSR. “There are no Indians there”, he says, and yet Bhakti-Vriksha (the tree of devotion) program has proved to be working in Russia, In Argentina, in China, and as is portrayed in this film, now also in the Middle-East.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/YPg7qz

Radharani’s Palace (2 min video)
This is a brisk two-minute drop of nectar from Srimati Radharani’s magic abode. The use of drone technology to rise into the air in Varshana’s sunset creates a perfect mood for darshan of the supreme feminine Godhead.
The devotional ascension, in synergy with the superb score by grammy award-winner Ilan Chester, takes the viewer up the palace’s fortress with an ease that bhakti alone can provide. Such an effect is hoped to make you ready for a view of infinite beauty and grace — Her name is Radha, at the feet of Whom only the dark Lord of Braja known as Shyam, agrees to bow His head.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/UMG1oh

Iskcon wants MHA to consider relaxed visa norm for ageing members
Iskcon governing body commission member GK Goswami and president of Iskcon, Baroda, BG Das, met MoS Home HP Chaudhary on Tuesday and requested for a considerate view to be taken of the cause of their some foreign devotees who wish to breathe their last in India. Iskcon pointed out to the minister that it has a group of foreign devotees who are aged, have spent long time in India with it and now wish to be here till they die.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/OSgWfU

Govinda Swami: In Kazakhstan the religious laws restrict the distribution of Srila Prabhupada’s books to kiosks in specific shopping centres. Here are pictures of the first kiosk in Kazakhstan, in a city called Karaganda. Sri Krishna Sankirtan Yajna Ki Jai !!
(Album 12 photos) See them here: http://goo.gl/yLYzXy

Different types of Charity (48 min video)
The fact of life is that money comes in one hand and soon after it leaves from the other. Money does not stay with us for long. So you have a choice of either wasting it on material possessions or spend it wisely in the service of Lord Krishna.
It is important to realize that everything, including your money, belongs to Lord Krishna. You are just a caretaker for a very short time. You can spend it in the service of Lord Krishna by donating to his temples or devotees who are engaged in His service.
Watch it here: http://goo.gl/9dNQzi

The post Yesterday I had a wonderful spiritual experience appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Harinama in Tel Aviv, Israel, December 13, 2014 (Album 105 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If one uses the vibration of the holy name for the benefit of the material body, for material wealth and followers, or under the influence of greed or atheism — in other words, if one utters the holy name with offenses — such chanting will not produce the desired result very soon. Therefore one should diligently avoid offenses in chanting the holy name of the Lord. (Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.60)
See them here: http://goo.gl/sqDex4

Harinama in Moscow, Russia (Album 38 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If a devotee once utters the holy name of the Lord, or if it penetrates his mind or enters his ear, which is the channel of aural reception, that holy name will certainly deliver him from material bondage, whether vibrated properly or improperly, with correct or incorrect grammar, or properly joined or vibrated in separate parts. (Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 3.60)
See them here: http://goo.gl/4mPUh5