Planet ISKCON

Bhagavatam-daily Podcast

Holy Name Meditation Podcast

Improving skills in Mayapur Academy (Album 18 photos)
Muci haya suci haya yadi krsna bhaje. It is said that even a cobbler or person born in the family of a cobbler can be elevated to the position of a brahmana (suci) if he takes to Krishna consciousness. Any person who is purely Krishna conscious and who engages in chanting the Hare Krishna mantra is the purest in the whole universe. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 4.12.37 Purport)
http://goo.gl/tBQ3Xo

A visit to ISKCON Rohini, Delhi (Album 45 photos)
Chanting is the medicine, and prasada is the diet. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 4.7.24 Purport)
http://goo.gl/ilMC4w

We all aspire to be free, to be liberated from external limitations to our pursuit of happiness. The Statue of Liberty appeals to many because it symbolizes this human aspiration for freedom. This same aspiration makes many countries celebrate the achievement of independence as a defining moment in their national history.

Such forms of liberation, however desirable, don’t free us from the most fundamental limitation – the limitation of our inevitable mortality. Nothing limits our pursuit of happiness as much as death. And what subjects us to the sentence of death is our material shell, which is temporary and destructible.
Recognizing the fetter of matter, most Eastern wisdom-traditions have equated liberation with disentanglement from matter. Yet even while seeking liberation from matter, many Eastern conceptions of liberation have still remained matter-centric.

For example, among the six systems of Indian philosophy, the Nyaya-Vaisheshika schools hold that consciousness emerges when the soul contacts samsara through the mind. So liberation occurs when the soul is uncoupled from the mind. Such liberation involves attainment of eternity but without consciousness or happiness, that is, sat without cit or ananda.

The Sankhya-Yoga schools accept consciousness or Purusha to be eternal. They hold that bondage begins when the Purusha becomes attached to prakriti (material nature) and thereafter starts perceiving the duality of subject and object. So liberation involves dissolution of this duality, leading to consciousness without any observer or observed, just content-less consciousness. Such liberation features sat and cit, but no ananda.

Vedanta recognizes that sat, cit and ananda are innate features of the soul, features that are obscured due to absorption in matter. So liberation, which occurs when the soul becomes detached from matter, leads to the experience of sat, cit and ananda. But Vedantic liberation is sometimes misconceived in impersonal terms, wherein the conception of personality is dissolved to attain cosmic consciousness. The attainment of such consciousness is deemed to be liberation. Though impersonalists claim this liberation to be blissful, the prospect of an eternity without personality or reciprocity is bankrupt of emotional richness and tangible happiness.

The problem with all the preceding conceptions of liberation is that they are incomplete – they focus on the removal of outer obstacles to happiness such as foreign rule or worldly entanglement or personal existence. However, Personalist Vedanta, which is essentially the path of devotion, sees liberation positively, as an inside-out process, as the revival of what lies within. Complete liberation is the fulfillment of our core longing – the longing for love. When misdirected towards matter, this longing causes bondage; when directed purely towards the Supreme Absolute Truth, Krishna, it brings liberation. Such liberation is a life of immortal love that is permeated through and through with sat-cit-ananda.

The Bhagavad-gita establishes this liberation as the summit of the spiritual quest. The Gita (18.54), after delineating the conventional notion of impersonal liberation, declares pure devotion to be the zenith attained as the post-graduate stage of such liberation. The next verse declares that such pure devotion reveals Krishna as he is, in his full transcendental glory. He is seen not as a product of mythological human imagination or as a transitional tool for spiritual meditation, but as the transcendental Supreme Person, the embodiment and fulfillment of our heart’s deepest longing for love, the bestower of the supreme liberation. The eternal life of love with him fulfills our longing for happiness, perfectly and eternally.

Thus the life of devotion comprises the culmination of our aspiration for liberation.

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Crow Collection of Asian Art.
A Night in India from 6pm to midnight. Step into the world of famous painter B.G. Sharma with the exhibition Seeing and Believing: Krishna in the Art of B. G. Sharma and a full schedule of activities, dances and performances!
http://goo.gl/cSNued

Japa Marathon During Bhishma Panchaka at Bhaktivedanta National School – Sreedham Mayapur
The unending enthusiasm of the children was much inspiring. As many as 2,600,000 holy names of the Lord were chanted by the students in JUST 5 days! Towards the end, in appreciation of the enthusiasm exhibited by the students by Chanting the name of Lord a small celebration was held and cakes were distributed to all the children and gifts were awarded to 19 students who chanted maximum number of rounds.
http://goo.gl/ynhZs2

ISKCON India Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Prabhupada’s Leaving for U.S
ISKCON is ramping up for its mega 50th anniversary celebrations, with events to be held all over the world throughout the year 2016. These will commemorate the day Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada officially registered the society in New York on July 11th, 1966. But ISKCON will warm up for that by celebrating another 50th in 2015. They’ll commemorate both Prabhupada’s leaving Kolkata on the steamship Jaladuta on August 13th, 1965, and his arriving in Boston, USA on September 17th. ISKCON India’s Eastern temples have banded together with chairman Sankarshan Nitai Das to organize events centered around the first part of his journey.
Below: The Scottish Church College, where Prabhupada was educated as a young man
http://goo.gl/QDV4eF

Harinama in Melbourne
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s transcendental mission is to distribute love of Godhead to everyone. Anyone who accepts God as the Supreme can take to the process of chanting Hare Krishna and become a lover of God.
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, 4.41 Purport)
http://goo.gl/syAV8F

Japa Marathon During Bhishma Panchaka at Bhaktivedanta National School – Sreedham Mayapur Bhaktivedanta National School was started in the year 2003 and is now in its 12th year. The School has got affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) this year. Admission to the school is open to all. A total of 609 students […]

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“Your idea to start a nursery school in New Vrindaban is very good proposal and you may immediately try for it by cooperatively consulting amongst yourselves how to do it.” – Srila Prabhupada, February 1972.

Click here to read the rest of the letter at the Brijabasi Spirit website.

"This temporary life is full of miseries. Take shelter of the holy name as your only business."

Arunodaya-kirtana from Gitvali
by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 29 September 2014, Pretoria, South Africa, House Program)

Harikesh was very smart, very intelligent. So when they were smuggling books behind the Iron Curtain, they had two vans that were exactly the same. One van would drive over the border, out of the East Bloc, empty and then they would change the number plates and then the other one van, exactly the same, would go back. Then the driver would say, “I am back…yeah. I forgot. I forgot something and I need to go back.” Then they went back with a van filled with books, hidden in different panels. In this way, they smuggled so many books into the East Bloc.

Yesterday, upon my return to India, I had the good fortune to visit a somewhat unknown, but historically significant, place of worship for followers of Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON. Tucked away in a small corner of Chandni Chowk, the oldest and busiest market in New Delhi, is the temple of Radha Vallabha, where Srila Prabhupada [...]

Bhagavatam-daily Podcast

Holy Name Meditation Podcast

Ayurveda Daily
The term Ayurveda is derived from two Sanskrit words: ‘ayus’ meaning life and ‘vid’ meaning knowledge. The “science of life”, Ayurveda, is increasingly popular the world over, as people look for alternatives to allopathic care. The Ayurvedic teachings have huge amounts of valuable insights into all aspects of our lives, from the food we eat, to the times we sleep and rise. Did you know that with just a few simple changes to your daily routine, you can make a big difference to your health, well-being and effectiveness in all aspects of your life? Come and find out more at the College of Vedic Studies, as we continue with the Ayurveda Series.
http://goo.gl/qGNQnP

TOVP cake at friend raising party in Dubai recently (Album 50 photos)
There may be so many impediments for a person who is chanting Hare Krishna. Nonetheless, tolerating all these impediments, one should continue to chant so that at the end of one’s life one can have the full benefit of Krishna consciousness. Bhagavad-Gita 8.5 Purport.
http://goo.gl/bh0iLC

Harinama Perth City - 21 November 2014 (Album 41 photos)
The easiest way to control the mind, as suggested by Lord Caitanya, is chanting “Hare Krishna,” the great mantra for deliverance, in all humility. Bhagavad-Gita, 6.34 Purport.
http://goo.gl/j6abaM

Lecture Podcast

This video takes you around the seven sacred hills of Tirumala, the abode of India's wealthiest Temple Deity -Venkateswar Swami, known affectionately as Balaji. A video by Vasudeva Das.

ISKCON is ramping up for its worldwide  50^th anniversary celebrations throughout the year 2016. These will commemorate the day Srila Prabhupada officially registered the society in New York on July 11^th, 1966. But ISKCON will warm up for that by celebrating both Prabhupada’s leaving Kolkata on the steamship Jaladuta on August 13^th, 1965, and his arriving in Boston, USA on September 17^th.

Brazilian and international youth aged 12 to 16 will get the opportunity to experience Krishna consciousness in a fun way at the first ever Radha Krishna Camp in January, which is summertime in Brazil.  It will be held amidst the stunning natural beauty of the Ibirapitanga Reserve, part of the remaining 7% of the Atlantic Rainforest preserved by the Brazilian government.

After a two-year struggle following the end of their rent contract at their temple of the past twenty years, Finnish devotees have secured a new temple for rent, a beautiful Manor in the Helsinki. Now, they’re applying modern technology to realize an ever-elusive dream: they’re attempting to use crowdfunding to purchase the Manor and make it the first temple ISKCON Finland has ever owned outright.

Devotees are still rebuilding their temple complex in the city of Visakhapatnam after Cyclonic Storm Hudhud ravaged it back in October. The cyclone blew through the province of Andhra Pradesh on India’s East Coast at speeds of 109 mph, causing $11 billion USD in damage and killing over 100 people. Fortunately, it spared the devotees and the Deities at ISKCON Visakhapatnam, but destroyed the community’s gift shop, dioramas, temple shed, and goshala (cow shelter)

Indians in the twentieth century, victims of propaganda that urban industrial development would bring them prosperity and well-being, neglected the Vedic principles of God consciousness.

ISKCON devotee Premamaya Vasudeva Das (Pierre Edel) singing in front of millions of Russian viewers on the Voice. He was wearing a Prabhupada-shirt during his performance. When asked who it was on his shirt, Pierre answered, "My grandfather".

The Jewel of Humility
A crystal-clear look at one of the priceless ornaments of the transcendentalist.
The underlying basis for humility must be knowledge of our humble position in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. When we perceive how insignificant we truly are, and when we understand how we have foolishly identified with our temporal bodies and minds, then we can humbly conclude that we are indeed fallen. We need guidance to understand ourselves as spiritual and to learn to position ourselves in a devotional exchange with God. Such stirrings, or realizations, constitute the beginnings of the wonderful humility described by Lord Caitanya.
Every day we are humiliated here in the material world. Just to be here is embarrassing. For the pure soul to fall into this state is shameful. What are these bodies we hold so dear, anyway? A thin sheath of skin encasing an assortment of foul-smelling ingredients, a breeding ground for disease, and an open invitation to pain, senility, and death. Yet the bewildered spirit soul is content to build a complex identity on this arrangement of flesh and bone, thinking, “I am a white Anglo-Saxon American male,” or whatever. We spend an entire lifetime serving these bodies with constant feeding, grooming, and rest, and in the end they simply become shriveled and useless.
http://goo.gl/nVMVrl

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Like what activities differentiate that one devotee takes birth in Krsna’s lila and another in Bauma Vrndavana?

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