Websites from the ISKCON Universe
On September 8th, award-winning flutist Luis De La Calle opened his own music academy in Geneva, Switzerland, where students aged four through seventy-five can learn the transverse flute, recorder, pan flute, and Japanese, Bansuri, and Peruvian bamboo flutes. But his lessons come with added spiritual nutrition. Because Luis, also known as Bhadra Rupa Das, is an ISKCON devotee.
Devotees headed by ISKCON Communications director for Italy Parabhakti Das organized and participated in the Diwali celebrations at Rome’s City Hall on October 23rd, with positive results. “If Brussels is the diplomatic capital of Europe, Rome is its capital from the religious and cultural point of view,” Parabhakti says. “So it is important that our movement is well represented and clearly visible in this world-famous city.”
Communications secretary for the temple, Radha Mohan Das, said: "The day was a really big success, everyone had a lot of fun. There was a great atmosphere, particularly in the lead up to the fireworks." The day also saw two drama perfomances, which told parts of the story behind Diwali. Diwali celebrates the triumph of good over evil, which is told in the ancient Indian text, Ramayana.
The festival was greatly anticipated, as students in Patna have lesser opportunities to attend youth events, compared to youth of metro cities of India. The event was aimed at providing Krishna-conscious philosophy to youngsters as an alternative solution to practical problems faced by contemporary society.
Luxuries have become necessities, without which, we just can’t function. Modern-day spiritualists, it seems, are faced with a unique challenge: the art of living is not how big we can make it, rather how small we can keep it!
The Sahyadri Varnasrama College (SVC) is now accepting applications for its one-month course to be given from January 1 to 31, 2015 on the campus of Sahyadri Sri Krishna Balarama Ksetra (SSKBK) located near the small town of Hebri in the district of Udupi, South Karnataka, India
Representatives of the Global Village Initiative Committee (GVIC) from three continents (Asia, Europe and North America) met at the ISKCON Tirupati temple along with members of various global committees from October 14th to 18th to share insights and prepare strategies to further the purpose of the initiative committee.
Into the Villages of Vrindavana - Vraj Padayatra (Album 118 photos)
Dharmatma Das: Sad to say the 22nd was my last day on Padayatra. Returned to Vraj with food poisoning and a bad stomach infection. Spent a day at the Bhaktivedanta Hospital getting rehydrated and pumped full of antibiotics and now recovering. Had my first real meal in 8 days today at MVT, lets see if it stays down. The Padayatra was an incredible experience thanks to Parasuram and his wonderful crew. Who would have thought that at 71 I’d be able last as long as I did. Anyone who wants to experience the real Vraj and interact with villagers and not just take photos of them sign up for next years trip. You should be young, fit and have not lived too cushey of a life style and you’ll do just fine.
http://goo.gl/OTWddh
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.
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
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
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.
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.
(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.
Srila Prabhupada envisioned the TOVP/Mayapur City project as a grand display of devotional service and Vedic science (the combination of religion and science) which would attract the whole world to the Krsna Consciousness Movement.
While in Mayapur for the annual Gaura Purnima festival in 1976, he stated,
“We shall show the Vedic conception of planetary system within this material world and above the material world. We are going to exhibit the Vedic culture throughout the whole world, and they’ll come here.”
In accordance with this stated desire, the planetary display for the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium main dome has been preliminarily designed. The devotees involved with this project have maintained strict faithfulness to Srila Prabhupada’s instructions.
The current drawing is merely a rough outline and does not display all of the details that will be included in the final model. The final model will also include: Ananta Sesa supporting from below, the four Kumaras hearing Srimad Bhagavatam from Ananta on Patalaloka, Lord Kurma in Mahatala, Matsya in Rasatala, and many other features.
The TOVP Planetarium Team worked diligently to put all the parts of the Vedic Cosmological Chandelier drawing together. You can see the scale of the actual model compared to the temple room area and to peoples’ actual size in the computerized picture.
Srila Prabhupada was a great spiritual reformer who knew how to preach and influence the world and those who would visit the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. We feel very fortunate to serve him by fulfilling his desire.
The post The TOVP Main Dome Planetary Display appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
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.
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.
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
From Keshavagopal Prabhu