Planet ISKCON

The post Why did Uddhava send Vidura to hear from Maitreya Muni (Part 2) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

In May, Bosnia and Herzegovina had been hit  by the worst floods in its history, forcing  tens of thousands to leave their destroyed homes. During the two-week operation, with the help of the ISKCON community worldwide, especially the Hungarian devotees, the local devotees distributed 6,000 plates of prasadam to the victims. 

The post June 6th, 2014 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

One hundred devotees from ISKCON Radhadesh in the Belgian Ardennes pack into the community’s small bakery, just a few meters away from the Château de Petite Somme turned Krishna temple. They’re all craning their necks to get a glimpse over the counter at Nadia Bihari Das, his wife Shyamalika Dasi and son Gopinath Das as they bake up a storm in celebration of their family business’s 25^th anniversary.

By Madhava Smullen

Bhakta Josef Lauber clearly loves his service. It comes through in his voice, as the words tumble out in a colorful torrent, filled with emotion.

And why wouldn’t he? As head of ISKCON New Vrindaban’s Congregational Development Department, he is constantly guiding newcomers in Krishna consciousness, watching them learn, seeing their enthusiasm and their love for God build.

Josef reaches out to the 25,000 Westerners and Indian immigrants who visit New Vrindaban every year, giving many of them instructions on how to chant Hare Krishna, and sending them home with japa beads and Srila Prabhupada’s books.

“I love sitting down with visitors who drove six to ten hours from Washington, New York, Chicago, Toronto, and beyond, reading and reciting the Bhagavad-gita with them and seeing them soak it all up,” he says. “And then seeing how they start reading and chanting, taking Bhagavad-gita and Bhakti Sastri courses by phone conference call, and even how some of them eventually get initiated.”

Bhakta Josef on the Govardhan Parikrama

Josef has also revived the Govardhana parikrama that Varshana Swami created to scale according to Srila Prabhupada’s instructions. And every Sunday morning, he takes guests on a two-hour tour of replicas of the sacred hill and the lakes Kusum Sarovara, Manasi Ganga, Lalita Kunda, and Radha Kunda, while narrating Krishna’s pastimes.

“After two hours of singing the Holy Name, hearing Krishna Katha, breathing the fresh air, and seeing the untouched beauty of nature in New Vrindaban, you can see how they revive their spiritual selves, and become happy,” he says.

Pilgrims tour Govardhan.

Another of Josef’s favorite activities is his outreach program, in which he and other members of the Congregational Development Department visit friends of New Vrindaban, invite them for a return visit, give them books and encourage them in their Krishna consciousness.

“Sometimes we’ll do a house-warming ceremony, or try to accommodate whatever else is happening in their lives,” he says. “Going to their homes, and seeing their devotion — how they center their lives around their home Deities and chant on their beads every morning, despite the struggles of everyday life — really touches my heart.”

Another element of Josef’s service is raising the large amount of funds needed to keep New Vrindaban running every year. With three years of experience as a fundraiser for Greenpeace, and ten running his own fundraising consulting company for non-profit organizations, he’s an expert, inspiring many to donate towards the community’s cow protection and other needs.

While it’s predominantly Indian congregation members who donate and participate in the above programs due to their natural attraction to Krishna consciousness, Josef is also involved in a number of efforts specifically targeted at reaching out to a Western audience.

Chief of these is his service as promoter for Srila Prabhupada’s Palace, known as The Palace of Gold to tourists. Rated one of “8 Religious Wonders to See in The US” by CNN Travel as recently as 2012, the Palace is still New Vrindaban’s ace, and Josef knows it.

Through local TV and newspaper ads, flyers in nearby hotels, and collaborations with local tourist agencies, he has already significantly increased the number of non-Indian visitors since last year. And he attracted major interest from Lenzner, one of the biggest bus tour operators in the US, when 25 of the company’s managers visited New Vrindaban in late April.

“The Palace of Gold is an asset that has potential to revive New Vrindaban as a place of pilgrimage, just like Srila Prabhupada wanted,” he says.

Josef is also a firm believer in the Festival of Colors, introduced in 2012, as a major way to attract Westerners to Krishna consciousness. Last year, over three-and-a-half thousand people, mostly young students from nearby universities, attended the event at New Vrindaban, with nearly twice as many expected this year.

And the first Pittsburgh Festival of Colors, put on by New Vrindaban devotees on April 19^th this year, drew between five and six thousand students from three universities.

To achieve success in all these projects, it’s essential for the New Vrindaban Congregational Development Department to work as a team, one of the most important things that Josef has brought to it.

“I’m trying to cultivate a Vaishnava-like atmosphere of helping each other and an enlivening team spirit where everybody feels welcome and accommodated,” he says.

Josef has many more improvements he hopes to implement in the future. He hopes to grow his team from three active preachers to six or seven, further refine his database of contacts, build a solid base of monthly donations, and upgrade Radha-Vrindabanchandra’s swan boat.

Gaurnatraj, an enthusiastic devotee in the CD Dept.

Parampara and Venkat, other enthusiastic devotees on the team.

Sudevi dasi and Jayasri dasi (next photo) and Manasa Ganga dasi  work behind the scenes.

With New Vrindaban’s Palace Lodge already beautifully refurbished, he hopes to repeat the process with the cabins by the lake for more quality accommodation, and to renovate the Palace of Gold, a ten-year, multi-million-dollar project.

Meanwhile on the spiritual side, he hopes in the future to see a more systematized way of preaching in the form of an academy where the congregation can study the scriptures and receive Bhakti Sastri diplomas.

Report by Antardvip Das and Bhaktin Klara

From Modra (Slovakia), Kadamba Kanana Swami travelled to Czech on Tuesday (20 May). The first stop was at the village Nove Sady or New Nandagram which is a devotee community currently consisting of eight families. In the presence of Their Lordships Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra, a yajna took place to celebrate the ‘first grains’ ceremony of little Dauji, the son of Gauravani Devi Dasi and Parama Karuna Prabhu.

On Wednesday, Maharaj travelled to Prague and participated in a spectacular maha harinam which included brahmacaris from the Sri Harinam Mandir Traveling Temple of Estonia. The weather was really summer-like and not only did Maharaj make devotees dance but also lots of tourists as well. After the harinam, devotees went to Govinda’s restaurant where they continued glorifying the Lord. Maharaj then gave a public lecture and answered several interesting questions. During the lecture, he again showed his great sense of humour and many times he made all attendees laugh heartily.

Thursday was a day for resting and Maharaj had only a morning lecture on his schedule. However, after lunch, he decided to go out for a walk to a village called Svaty Jan pod Skalou, with a few devotees. Although climbing up to the top of hills was challenging for all who were wearing either Birk’s or Crocs shoes, it was definitely worth it. The reward followed in the form of sweet kirtan on the summit and an even sweeter evening lecture that was inspired by singing on the hill. In this lecture, Maharaj took devotees on a very vivid and fascinating walk through Uchagaon (a village in Varsana), the place of Lalita Devi’s pastimes.
On Friday morning, Maharaj again gave the Srimad Bhagavatam lecture and in the afternoon another maha harinam was planned. It started almost one hour late because of rain and during the harinam, it was still lightly raining but this yuga dharma is very ecstatic and for the major part of it, devotees were followed by locals and visitors to Czech, who were enthusiastically dancing and singing.

Saturday’s morning lecture took place on the farm Krishna’s Court, where Maharaj stayed until the afternoon. He gave a group darshan to disciples, he rendered sweet kirtan to the deities Nitai-Gauranga and then he returned to Prague, this time to the Harinam Mandir. There he led a long, tumultuous kirtan and the temple room, which is considered by devotees to be big enough for such events, was full to bursting. Slowing down of the heart rate was possible only during the lecture which ended with Maharaj announcing wonderful news – he will return to Czech for Janmastami and stay for a few days!

On Sunday morning (25 May), came the time for bidding farewell. After the Srimad Bhagavatam lecture at the temple, Maharaj departed for Leipzig in Germany where in the afternoon he participated in a program in one of the local parks.

These past few days, the Czech devotees were floating on waves of ecstasy after the very personal and kind association of a pure devotee! Already, everyone cannot wait his next visit. His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Swami ki jay!

Photos

Flickr still isn’t allowing us to embed slide-shows, so please click here to see all the pictures.

Audio

You may listen online by hitting the play button or download by clicking on the title and save target as.

KKS_CZ_Govinda_21 May 2014_Lecture

KKS_CZ_Govinda_21 May 2014_Kirtan

KKS_CZ_temple_22 May 2014_SB_4.28.38

KKS_CZ_temple_22 May 2014_Kirtan_On_the_hill

KKS_CZ_temple_22 May 2014_BG_7.20

KKS_CZ_temple_23 May 2014_SB_4.28.39

KKS_CZ_farm_24 May 2014_SB_8.15.29

KKS_CZ_farm_24 May 2014_Kirtan

KKS_CZ_Harinam Mandir_24 May 2014_Lecture

KKS_CZ_Harinam Mandir_24 May 2014_Kirtan

KKS_CZ_temple_25 May 2014_SB_4.28.41

HG Vatsala Dasa- CC Madhya 17.99-103 – 31.05.2014

The unfortunate position of science is that  it tries  to know  truths which  are beyond is scope.   Though  it  has   no   qualification  for   spiritual  matters,  it  tries   recklessly to understand, and  ends  up  with  worthless conclusions and  a depraved mentality.

Chaitanya Shikshamrita, Bhaktivinoda Thakura

The waterproofing is being taken to the next level, the rainwater pipes are now being installed.

They function to allow the surplus liquid from the dome to pour off and prevent water damage. The building is being protected against water seepage on any level and it will be perfectly sealed against moisture. These pipes will be spread across the dome in many locations for maximum efficiency. The HDPE pipes being used are of the highest quality to ensure that they will last at least 100 years.

The post Update: Waterproofing appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Listen audio...

This talk is a part of the "Fascinating Mahabharata Characters" series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

“I had the idea that you didn’t choose your guru but that he was already there and he just had to manifest himself to you. And I even had a vague mental impression of what he looked like—and he didn’t have hair. All the other swamis I had met had long hair. I had gone to see so many swamis and masters, every time with high hopes, but in the end I had always been disappointed. Finally I started feeling despondent: ‘How will I ever find my perfect master?’ Then one day I saw a poster on campus: ‘Bhagavad-gita As It Is — A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.’ I looked at it, but I was so discouraged I couldn’t believe that he could be my perfect master. . .”

Finding My Perfect Master

Dear Maharaj/Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,

Harinam led by Govinda Prabhu on the streets of London in China town.

Other devotees in the movie include Parividha Prabhu, Smara Hari Prabhu,and Pandu Putra Prabhu

your servant
Parasuram Das

Spheres found in the mines of South Africa have piqued the curiosity of researchers for decades.

An interfaith panel discussion on the topic of “Spiritual Science and Modern Education” was held at the Macquarie University, Sydney on April 29, 2014. The panellists were Bhakti Rasamrita Swami who spoke on the topic from the perspective of Gaudiya Vaisnavasim and Mr. Kamal Saleh who spoke in the context of Islam.

Answer Podcast

ISKCON’s Family Vision Team explores practical tips for loving
relationships in a new book. The authors have a total of approximately 200 years of marriage experience and 100 years of providing marriage, family and relationship education.

A video about a revolutionary farm community in Maharastra, India.

The post Can one climb into a cherry tree at the age of 65 appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjY31eDw

The post The cherry tree, the cherries and the cherry picker appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.