Food for Life Global teaches that pure food has the power to create unity and it is my hope that this challenge goes viral and we all start seeing the spiritual equality of all beings.

Lecture Podcast

Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day in Iskcon Kiev, Ukraine (Album 30 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/Xq2Zue

Lecture Podcast

Award-Winning Flutist Infuses Lessons with Krishna!
“My compositions in my concerts are inspired by Krishna and the philosophy, so I explain their meanings, not only during the concerts but also during TV and radio interviews,” he says.
He grins with his trademark enthusiasm. “I want to preach directly through my music.”
http://goo.gl/QKBtSn

Lecture Podcast

Lecture Podcast

Humility in Leadership
When we hear the term “leader,” we imagine someone strong, confident, an expert problem-solver, has all the answers, and someone who can lead the charge; someone who goes in and carries out all the injured soldiers from a battlefield.
A Forbes article provides a balanced perspective on the place of humility in leadership.
” A humble leader is secure enough to recognize his or her weaknesses and to seek the input and talents of others. By being receptive to outside ideas and assistance, creative leaders open up new avenues for the organization and for their employees”.
http://goo.gl/V2KaMt

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), expressed hope that the Yamuna would be clean by year 2017. 

Lecture Podcast

Lecture Podcast

Construction is set to begin within a few weeks on an opulent new ISKCON temple in Bangalore, South India, one of the most modern and cosmopolitan cities in the country. The temple will be set on a half-acre of landscaped gardens, with the words “ISKCON” and “Founder Acharya: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada” embedded in a waterfall at the entrance that will light up at night.

Lecture Podcast

(The lectures from 9 to 18 in this series will be uploaded later)

This short film depicts a day at Germany's Goloka Dham farm, just before Krishna Kshetra Swami's sannyasa initiation. A video by bhaktin Inci Milano.

Radha Damodara, Radha-Syama, Gaura Nitai, other spiritual pictures and one to remind us how good we have it. https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5LGGcH

The post More from Coimbatore appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The post Prasadam anyone? Everyone! appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Generally, when we hear the term "humility," we imagine an individual who lacks confidence, is weak and unsure of themselves and in general is a pushover.

2014 10 19 SB 10 51 54 56 Aspire for Nothing less than Pure Devotional Service Candramauli Swami

Since last week’s photo got a lot of responses we’ll continue with a variation on the theme.

This week’s challenge: In this photo here are up to 15 people who can be identified. Who are they, what are they doing and when was it taken?

What to do: Post your guesses on the “who, what, when, where & why” in the comment section at the Brijabasi Spirit website.

What the ISKCON GBC is Supposed to Be?

Life is weird. There are things we don’t want to be involved in at all, yet we can’t get off our minds. In such times, I think maybe the best idea is to get it off our minds by expressing it and trying to let go. This particular subject is hard to let go of, because Śrīla Prabhupāda, naturally, is such an important person in our lives, and we are attached to the hope that the main part of his Society would function with as much spiritual efficacy as possible. Maybe it already does, but I think it’s worth the stress publish my thoughts about how to dramatically improve its spiritual performance… and then try to let go.

Unfortunately I am a junior person with no special qualities, and no position in or out of ISKCON, but hopefully someone might pay attention to the truth in this presentation.

Anuttama Prabhu (current Chairman of the GBC) says, “Srila Prabhupada stated the GBC is ISKCON’s ultimate managing authority. That means overseeing the practical management as well as being the highest ecclesiastical body of ISKCON.”

My guess is that “highest ecclesiastical body” means “ultimate religious authority.” So, Anuttama means, “The GBC is not only the overseer of all practical management in ISKCON, it is also ISKCON’s ultimate religious authority.”

He makes this statement immediately after quoting Śrīla Prabhupāda, so the obvious implication is that Prabhupāda’s quote validates his statement. Prabhupāda said, “The GBC is ISKCON’s ultimate managing authority.” Do you see any mention of anything ecclesiastic in this? I don’t. I do see obvious validation for the idea that the GBC is the overseer and ultimate director of all practical management in ISKCON, but I don’t see any validation for the idea that the GBC is also the ultimate religious authority.

One can argue: “ISKCON is a religious institution, the ultimate institutional authority is necessarily also the ultimate religious authority.”

That’s a weak notion. A religious institution requires practical management, and religious authority. There is no necessity that they be provided by the same entity.

One can ask, “Well, if not the GBC, the who is the ultimate religious authority for ISKCON?”

The answer is, “śāstra” (see Vedānta Sūtra 1.1.3, 2.1.27, and 2.1.11, for example). Anyone who doesn’t agree that śāstra is the ultimate religious authority has no right to consider themselves Vaiṣṇava or Vedic. This being the case, I am sure every leader of ISKCON would immediately agree.

Of course, the problem is that śāstra doesn’t sit in front of you and reply directly to the nitty-gritty of your short-list. That’s what a guru is for. Guru is the entity who understands śāstra so thoroughly and carefully that s/he can sort out how śāstra would most likely address the nitty-gritty of your short-list.

Really, these are elementary points. Certainly Anuttama and everyone else is already very familiar with them. Therefore everyone knows that asserting the GBC to be “the highest ecclesiastical body” of ISKCON is in fact an assertion that the GBC is the ISKCON’s ācārya, ISKCON’s ultimate Guru.

Is that really a good idea?

Is it really a good idea to expect a large panel of people to function effectively in a role classically placed in the care of a single individual? How many cooks can fit in a kitchen?

Further, is it really a good idea to expect that panel to juggle the practical managerial affairs of a complex international corporation at the same time as we ask them to be the (necessarily) detached spiritual leaders of our society? Can anyone be a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, and vaiṣya all at the same time, without significantly compromising their efficacy in all three roles?

There are infinite precedents for individual gurus teaching śāstra (and thus the ultimate religious authority) for one or many people. Is there any precedent of a group of people burdened by monumental management tasks yet effectively teaching śāstra (and thus functioning as the ultimate religious authority)?

Someone may say, “Yes. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Mahārāja set the precedent.”

That’s quite misleading. He established a GBC to look after the practical management of his institution. As for the spiritual leadership, he explicitly told them to wait for an obvious spiritual leader to emerge.

Someone may lament, “What you say is reasonable, but there is no one fit to assume the position of ācārya for ISKCON.”

Probably there are at least a few who could at least be considered. But I can also agree that no one is doubtlessly “self-effulgently” qualified to fill the role of spiritual leader for ISKCON.

But, Why not?

Doubtlessly there must be many reasons. But here is a ver big, very relevant one: all of the candidates currently looked towards for the position of “spiritual leader” are practically forced to become mired in managing the web-like co-dependecies of “practical affairs” for an international clearinghouse of novices who are still very needy, confused, and often quarrelsome. Thus these candidates scarcely ever find the time and inner-clarity to focus on purifying and increasing their dedication to hari-nāma-saṁkīrtan and hari-nāma-japa.

Ironically, those who do make time for personal purification are removed from the running, so to speak, somewhat insanely looked upon as having a misunderstanding of “Prabhupāda’s mood” and labeled as a “Bābājī” and “Bhajanānandī” (as if such titles disqualify one from spiritual leadership).

The slogan “work now, samādhi later” is brandished with confidence against such trends. But the brandishers seem not to realize that we are supposed to work towards samādhi. The misconception that workaholism dovetailed to the legacy of a pure devotee with grant us kṛṣṇa-prema is heterodox, wrong, against śāstra. Harer nāmaiva kevalam! Hari’s name is the only means to get kṛṣṇa-prema. Working for a pure devotee is also glorious because it is karma-miśra bhakti and rapidly purifies us for hari-nāma niṣṭhā. However, if an individual languishes for decades in karma-miśra without developing inclination for hari-nāma niṣṭhā, something is amiss in their approach to karma-miśra-bhakti.

Conclusion

The problem is that ISKCON asks its leaders to be multinational managers and spiritual superheroes at the same time. That doesn’t work. Fish are fish and birds are birds. Some birds can swim, but not very far. Some fish can fly, but not very far. ISKCON currently asks its leaders to be fish who can fly south for the winter. Thus the leaders die, or never become very spiritually healthy.

Then what’s the solution?

1) GBC restricts itself to being the overseer and ultimate director of business and politics in ISKCON.

2) Spiritual leaders (Gurus) are expelled unless they relinquish all financial and political power, direct or indirect.

The GBC no longer decides who will be a guru or a sannyāsī. A disciple decides who will be their guru, and it is the guru’s business whether to acknowledge or discourage the relationship. Similarly it is the sannyāsa-guru’s business to accept or reject a candidate for sannyāsa.

Obviously the situation needs “police” but these police are not the managers. Brāhmaṇas, sannyāsīs, and gurus police one another.

This would fail because power corrupts. To combat this, Gurus and sannyāsīs no longer have any position allowing them to control finance and manpower. The role of the GBC (and the whole hierarchy, coming into the individual temples as the presidents, etc) is to allocate resources. The role of gurus (sannyāsīs, brāhmaṇas, etc) is to educate people in the bhakti-śāstra so that they can clearly and intelligently understand sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana-tattvas and thus attain kṛṣṇa-prema.

The GBC determines the practical “services” of individual members, and the gurus oversee the sādhana of their disciples.

In addition to separating the spiritual leaders from corruptive practical power, they must also volunteer to abide by an extremely rigorous sādhana: Gurus (sannyāsīs, etc.) are required to spend several months a year in Vṛndāvana, studying with learned scholars, doing kīrtan in the Kṛṣṇa-balarāma Mandir several hours a day, and chanting 64 rounds every day, in focused solitude.

Within a short time of such adopting sādhana many self-effulgent leaders will emerge with sincerely pure hearts free from greed and envy. At that point the GBC managers would naturally look to them for general inspiration as to the best allocation of resources, etc.

From Pancha Pandava P

Answer Podcast

From Keshavagopal Prabhu

Answer Podcast

Answer Podcast

On Thursday, October 9th, the day after we went to the Dallas Children’s Theater to watch the play “Rapunzel! Rapunzel!”, I invited my students to share their thoughts. One of them compared the knight to Lord Rama. It then occurred to us that we could make a correlation between other characters and aspects of the story as well. If the knight is Rama, then Rapunzel would be His beautiful consort Sita. His companion throughout the rescue expedition would be Lord Rama’s loyal brother, Lakshmana and the guarding dragon would be Hanuman. The envy, greed and pride of Lady Zaza, her desire for fame and fortune while stealing the wealth of others and kidnapping the princess, reminded us of Ravana and his demoniac followers. All ended well when she got her karma and the proper order was restored to the kingdom! 

Theater Thursdays –  On Thursdays, we head to the computer room to watch and listen. Its like going to the movies at school. Afterwards, there’s an activity related to the story. Here students made a story board about Library Lion depicting 4 memorable scenes and add captions too. For the story Harry the Dirty Dog we made black dogs with white spots & white dogs with black spots out of construction paper, paint, chalk, pipe cleaners, & creativity.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 23 September 2014, Durban, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.10.4)

Some people think that actually, the planet can only comfortably sustain one billion people. Which one billion should that one billion people be!? Some people think that the other six billion which we have currently, should not be there. Which category do you think they are going to put us (the devotees) – in the one billion that should be on the planet or in the six billion that should not be on the planet? Which one do you think…

Therefore, devotees cannot just stay at home and have mahaprasadam, and have a nice darshan of the deities, and happily chant Hare Krsna because the demons do not sit still. The demons do not just sit at home and eat their horrible things. Oh no! They have a big agenda to systematically exploit the world as much possible, and they want as big a piece of the world that they can get under their control, and they are ready to work very hard for that. Some of them are very, very determined and very austere! They hardly sleep.

One famous demon was Stalin. It is said that Stalin would hardly sleep, sometimes just two hours a night, maximum four, and no more. Stalin was also very tolerant and very determined. It is said that he had open heart surgery without any anaesthetic! He was a tough guy.

So, sometimes we see great determination in people but unfortunately, it is misdirected, misguided and demoniac! We see very weak determination in devotees who are wavering and thinking, “How will I chant my rounds today? So many… sixteen! It is going to take me the whole day! I do not have time to do anything because I have to chant sixteen rounds.”

Bhagavatam-daily Podcast