Planet ISKCON

Hare Krishna Kirtan by H G Asim Krishna Das on 21 July 2014 at ISKCON Juhu

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 07/31/14.

Each week we highlight an earlier era of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

This week’s challenge: Though the photo is a bit blurry, those familiar with New Vrindaban oxen programs, both in the 1970s and 2014, should be able to recognize the person driving the ox cart. Can you identify him?

Extra credit: When and where was this photo taken?

Extra, extra credit: What are the names of the two oxen?

What to do: Post your guesses on the “who, what, when, where & why” in the comment section at the New Vrindaban Facebook Page.

Technical stuff: We share a photo Thursday and confirm known details Sunday. Let’s keep it light and have a bit of fun!

Special request: If you have a photo showing New Vrindaban devotees in action, share it with us and we’ll use it in a future posting.

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

1965 July 31: "Tomorrow I am going to Calcutta to catch my ship M.V. Jaladuta and I am starting for U.S.A. by the 10th of August, 1965 reaching New York after a month. I may return to India by November next."
Jaladuta Journal :: 1965

1969 July 31: "My Guru Maharaja would often send young boys out to sell literature of Krishna Consciousness, and if they would come back having sold only a few issues, Guru Maharaja was very, very pleased. So you have sold 300 issues of Back To Godhead so I know that Guru Maharaja is very, very pleased with your work."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 July 31: "The Krishna consciousness movement is not meant for fulfilling one's personal ambition - it is a serious movement for the whole world. Therefore in this old age I am going to the Eastern hemisphere starting with Japan just to set an example for my young disciples who have recently taken the Sannyas order."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1970 July 31: "It is the injunction of the Vedas that the bona fide Spiritual Master should not be treated as ordinary man even if sometimes the Spiritual Master behaves like ordinary man. It is the duty of the disciple to accept Him as Superhuman Man."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 July 31: "For you, child worship is more important than deity worship. If you cannot spend time with your child, then stop the duties of pujari. At least you must take good care until he is four, and if at that time you are unable, then I shall take care of him."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 July 31: "Teach the small children to play Krishna games, then attend arati, then learn some ABC, then play some more, have kirtana, little ABC, in this way they shall not lose interest and they will keep their attention always focused on Krishna."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1975 July 31: "Your feeling on seeing the Ratha Yatra, which you say cannot be expressed in words but which has since given you great peace in your life - it is stated that one can be liberated from all material suffering simply by seeing the Ratha Yatra cart passing."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 July 31: "Your desire to follow the path of the gopis, that can only be done by following the rules and regulations in the association of devotees. All the things you are yearning for are there. Radha Krishna are being worshipped, and there are many devotees there."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

"In the material world, if one engages in chanting a material name, he will feel tired after chanting a few times. However, one can chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra all day and night and never feel tired. As chanting is increased, it will come out new and fresh."

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.30.20

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 22 May 2014, Czech Republic Temple, Bhagavad-gita 7.20)

Actually material desires are not our problem because material desires will be washed away by devotional service. It is offences against the holy name that is a complication because that will slow down the cleansing process. Otherwise, we are not worried (about material desires).

It is just like if you have a real good washing machine and good washing powder, you are not worried about a dhoti that is all covered in black dirt. On the television advertisement, you even see mothers washing the football clothes of their sons and it comes out perfectly white. It even sparkles! So you know, when you have a good washing machine and good washing powder, you are not worried about some dirt. So, why would we be afraid of some material desires when the holy name never fails? It washes cleaner than clean, in the washing machine of the heart.

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ, (Śikṣāṣṭaka 1)

The holy name will always clean any dirt accumulated so we are not worried. But the offences against the holy name is like, you know, you have in the washing machine that little box for putting the soap and then you throw black dirt in there! Yeah, well, then what can you expect when the clothes come out black!? So the offences against the holy name are like that. We are putting dirt instead of soap. The soap is good. The holy name is powerful but if we make such offences then we slow down the cleansing process. The clothes come out a little grey…

“I am chanting Hare Krsna but I am making offences.” So this is the only thing that will slow down our process. Otherwise, material desires are very quickly disappearing. I mean what is so good in the material world? What can make a person satisfied? What is it? Where is it? Tell me? Then I will go and check it out. If anything is that good, tell me. I will go. We will go together! Tell me where it is. Let us go. Yeah, let us go! Let us enjoy! But where? Where is it? I do not see it. Do you see it? Where is that enjoyment? Where? That can satisfy the heart. Without Krsna, what is the meaning of anything? When Krsna is not part of it, I do not want it. There is no real juice.

 

Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the Aryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas and fulfilled everything required. SB 3.33.7 Read more ›

There are two things (1) external (2) internal, also called form and substance. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati maharaj also calls it morphology and ontology. But anyways, anything we do in this world, we have to understand these two factors (external and internal). Pure devotees of the Lord do not show discrimination between external and internal. Because there is no discrimination, there is no duplicity of thought and action. Hence when they say Krishna is God, surrender unto Him. We accept it as it is - as there is no duplicity.

On the other hand, the educated class of this world take professional training to be politically correct externally (in the name of efficient management) while harboring conflicting internal thoughts. So duplicity is a great quality for a material person. Duplicity and hypocrisy leads to quarrel which we experience in abundance today.

One should not hear about the subject matter of God from such duplicitous persons even if he is a popular religious figure. Search and seek out a person whose external and internal behavior is identical and hear about God, such a person can impart knowledge as he has seen the truth. There is no other path to understand God!

Hare Krishna

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge. SB 2.1.11 Read more ›

Two days before Woodstock officially opened 20 thousand young people had already arrived and set up their tents. We took full advantage and went on harinam with 500 devotees and invitations to Krsna’s Village of Peace. Though we ourselves were still putting the finishing touches to our village we managed to have kirtan in our [...]

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22-07-2014 Govardhan Parikrama Continued Part 1(With Russian Translation), Vaisnava Summer Festival 2014, Lithuania.mp3

The VIHE in Vrindavan was established to fulfill Srila Prabhupada's desire for an educational institute in Vrindavana. The VIHE in the holy Dhama provides an ideal facility and atmosphere for you to improve your sadhana, develop your devotional qualities, engage in serious study, associate with senior devotees, and receive training in practical skills relevant to management and preaching. The VIHE also aims to preserve and disseminate standards Srila Prabhupada set for acting in Krishna consciousness and to deepen devotee's understanding, realization and appreciation of Srila Prabhupada's teachings and movement. Thus, the Krishna conscious culture and values that Srila Prabhupada gave us can be passed on to successive generations. All courses are well researched and taught by senior devotees who have a deep understanding of the subject. Read more ›

Indradyumna Swami: Two days before Woodstock officially opened 20 thousand young people had already arrived and set up their tents. We took full advantage and went on harinam with 500 devotees and invitations to Krsna's Village of Peace. Though we ourselves were still putting the finishing touches to our village we managed to have kirtan in our Mantra Yoga tent for 8 hours and distribute 6,000 plates of delicious prasadam. It's only the beginning .... Read more ›

The holy town of Vrindavan’s narrow streets are made even narrower by the makeshift businesses encroaching on the pavement and using this space for their shops. Since this is having a negative impact on traffic flows, the municipal government last week launched a campaign to remove them, starting on Monday. Under the direction of the Executive Officer of the Palika Parishad, Rajneesh Sharma, and junior engineer Suresh Chandra Lawania began the campaign to remove roadside encroachments, primarily motivated by the expectation of an influx of pilgrims over the next two months, when Vrindavan is invaded by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. Read more ›

Prosperity of the Earth Culture

By Varsana Swami

July 2014

In healthy families and communities, both male and female are valued equally. A flourishing child’s psyche is guided and protected by the father figure, while the mother figure nurtures growth and development. Without such a stable structure, children perceive a hostile world (lack of feminine nourishment) within an empty universe (lack of masculine direction giving meaning and purpose). Without proper relationship to mother and father, a suffering condition develops which tempts its subjects with intoxication in order to fill the void and dull the pain.

Without loving families and communities, we feel inadequate, lost, with no sense of belonging. Unable to tolerate, we rapidly fill that void with artificial types of happiness. These “quick” fix solutions simply exasperate the distress.

In fact, in current times, we see how everything has to be faster and faster. “Snail” mail is outdated and high speed internet is considered a necessity of life which can answer all of our dilemmas. We live in a society where the price of fixing something exceeds the cost of a new one. Modern consumerism requires petroleum and fuel from the earth, drawing out more of her energy. Although it is simpler for the individual to dump broken items and waste into a landfill, the toxic waste burdens Mother Earth, kills our life support systems, and concurrently pollutes our collective unconscious.

As this mentality expands, it pervades within the realm of our relationships which also become disposable commodities. There is not enough time to cultivate meaningful connections. Accustomed to the comforts and luxuries of technology, parents work harder and longer to earn more money to provide what the global and socially transmitted disease of Affluenza (addiction to modern conveniences and the narcissism that it aggravates) deems as “normal”. There is therefore less time and energy for children.

Having strong relationship with both parents offers more than mere emotional stability, it furthers connection to the supreme seed-giving Father of all (Krishna) and the original Mother (Radha), the tender-hearted feminine beloved of the Lord. Organic lifestyle and quality time with parents can help offspring naturally develop faith in God above (dharma) and respect for Mother Earth below. Such healthy individuals propagate the perennial seeds of prosperity, living in communion with God’s plan.

Conversely, the ongoing disintegration of our culture, of our families and communities, and of sustainable infrastructures, has destroyed our natural sense of rejuvenation and regeneration. It has become evident to many that we need to “slow” down and develop a long term scheme that will conserve our natural resources, as well as preserve our relationships. However, Krishna has already created such a system. Maybe it is time to re-examine how to incorporate His gifts.

Understanding our relationships, our place and purpose, facilitates God’s original plan and will to resonate and blossom within us. It is our dharma, our constitutional position, to feel and experience our relationship to the Lord. In the Varnashram system, agrarian lifestyle naturally appreciates and utilizes male and female energies in order to maintain a balance. Honoring Mother Earth, we develop genuine respect for birthing (renewing), nurturing and growth processes. We value our many mothers which include, our human mother, Mother Earth and Mother cow. The Male figure in the Agrarian society is represented by the Bull – the protective and providing father.

To re-establish an ox program as a component to a more holistic lifestyle will facilitate a breakthrough in consciousness, piercing the layers of denial of our addictions, confronting our attitudes about the masculine and the feminine, as well as humbling us and preparing our consciousness for the profoundly deeper spiritual significance of what Srila Prabhupada wanted for us at New Vrindavan.

Foremost among Srila Prabhupada’s primary mandates for New Vrindavan was cow protection and agriculture. He emphasized the position of the cow and the bull as the mother and father figures in order to safeguard our consciousness from seeing them as objects of our exploitation.

Cow protection, as set forth by Srila Prabhupada was not merely that the cow and the bull lead a full and natural life, but that they also be jolly, as a member of a family would feel. Cows and bulls are happy to be fed and brushed. While cows like to be milked, the main source of pleasure for the ox has been obscured by the tractor. An ox is a bull who has surrendered his procreative potential, transforming that energy into a submissive and manageable temperament capable of being trained and utilized for agricultural and transportation services. As a father figure he loves to provide for his family of humans by pursuing his occupation in the field which assures a source of income and prosperity to mankind.

From the inception of the New Vrindavan vision until his later visits, Srila Prabhupada showed consistent concern that the bull maintain a solid footing on the soil of the holy dhama and in the agricultural field. He considered the use of tractors as a concession, only to be used in addition to oxen, never as a replacement. When the father figure is unemployed, the family can experience only temporary and artificial prosperity, nothing secure, long lasting or fully satisfying. At some point in time, an unemployed father (the bull), will be seen as a burden to the family.

Cultivating a relationship with Mother Earth by utilizing the Father figure, the bull, brings us together in community spirit. In an agrarian culture, both planting and harvest are festive occasions where everyone comes together in a joyful mood, delighting in preparing an offering of the gifts of Mother Earth, plowed by Father Dharma, back to their source, Sri Krishna. If we as devotees of Krishna cannot employ our father and appreciate his position as provider, how will we ever develop a wholesome love for Krishna, Who so dearly loves both the cows and the bulls?

As a replacement to the sustainable culture of the land, in the Iron Age, in order to produce machines, Mother Earth is exploited for iron ore by industrial enterprises fueled by petroleum. In India, rubber trees are planted to replace the sandal wood forests, meaning that tires are given preference over articles of sacrifice. Every step of the industrial world diminishes the life force of the planet. Chemical fertilizers are used which adversely affect our lives, poisoning both the soil and those who partake of the toxic crop.

Conversely, every step in cow protection and ox power enriches the ecology with renewed life and vitality. Fuel for the ox team is grass which otherwise needs to be mowed. When it becomes food for the ox, it returns to the earth transformed and enhanced as manure, liquid gold. When a tractor dies, some of its parts are recycled, some go to the toxic waste dump; whereas a deceased ox contributes to mrdunga heads, bull horns for the deities, ayurvedic remedies and the rest of his body is composted back to Mother Earth.

Furthermore, tractors, cars, and machines often become an extension of ego and aggravate the false identity we are attempting to overcome. In training and driving an ox team, the animals will never cooperate with the egotistic outbursts of man. They cannot be “controlled” like a machine and so they serve as a mirror reflecting the passionate and stubborn attitudes of ego. Driving an ox team can assist a devotee in learning patience, sensitivity and a cooperative spirit, such a precious service which a tractor cannot offer.

The bull represents power. Whereas technology encourages competition (Power over paradigm), true agriculture necessitates and cultivates cooperative, united efforts (empowerment with others).

In addition, while working a team of oxen, the teamster is never haunted by the scarcity issues which accompany the tractor (how will I pay for the machine, parts and fuel and replace the tractor when it wears out?) By the time an ox team retires, it has already been replicated (reproduced) many times over since about one half of calves born are bulls. In working the land with oxen, every step leads to prosperity, whether that comes in the form of overflowing bounty, the faith that Krishna will always provide enough to go around, or simple lessons in cooperative team spirit.

The full range of spiritual and practical import served by the bull is integral to our Krishna Conscious culture, New Vrindavan’s identity as the very first farming community, as well as a source of insight into the subconscious mind. The bull stands as an emblem of male fecundity or procreative potency which tends to be wild and combative until tamed and disciplined.

The common sight of a bull driving a turnstile reflects the image of Vrishabha, the macrocosmic Vedic bull, who sets the turning of the universe into motion and is the source of Dharma, whose four hooves represent the four pillars of spiritual life: cleanliness, austerity, mercy and truthfulness. At the end of each Yuga, Vrishabha lifts one of his hooves from the ground indicating the loss of yet another pillar.

In Kaliyuga, truthfulness alone stands, and even that is being challenged. While Kali attacks in an attempt to exploit both Dharma, the bull and Bhumi, Mother Earth, Maharaj Pariksit intervenes to re-establish Dharma. Without the bull and the cow – spiritual culture diminishes being left with “no leg to stand on”. Cow protection both ensures and indicates the barometer, the spiritual health of the society. The work of the oxen is represented by the plow which turns under the weeds of the field and opens the furrow where seeds of our sustenance as well as seeds of bhakti are sown and cultivated for the upcoming harvest.

Placing dharma back in the field represents more than a satvic and sustainable way of life, as these are mere consequences, not the actual fruits of the harvest. The root significance is valuing Krishna’s arrangements and Srila Prabhupada’s intent for us, the spiritual foundations for everything else we do. Combining our efforts to include all the essential ingredients offered by Srila Prabhupada, we can assist in re-creating New Vrindavan as a harmonious, interdependent farming community, where sustainability is manifest in both earthly and spiritual ways. The world can then see a true and complete solution to the ominous ecological crisis overshadowing us all.

In attuning our lives with the rhythms of earth culture, we live in harmony with Mother Nature and her laws and in accordance to dharma, Krishna’s design for order in the universe. Honoring archetypal mother and father figures facilitates understanding real meaning and purpose in life while creating a deeper connection to our universal and merciful Mother, Srimati Radharani, and to the message of our Father, Lord Krishna: to chant His holy Names.

The Maha Mantra is likened to the sound of Sri Krishna’s flute song which calls all the lost cows back home. Sri Krishna, by his flute playing and the rope He carries, assures the cows will be home in time for their milking. His big brother, Dauji, by the plow He carries, ensures that the oxen will be properly situated. And Srimati Radharani, Vrishabhanu Nandini, by the Name She cherishes, assures that the archetypal bull, Vrishabha will forever be honored.

Although lost and misguided, we can follow in the footsteps of the cows and the cowherd boys and girls. By chanting Krishna’s Names, attracted by that sacred vibration, we too can return home to Krishna’s heartland.

There was something that Maharaja did and said that held great importance to me. Firstly, he sang the famous Hare Krishna maha mantra tune that which Srila Prabhupada immortalized at No 26, Second Avenue and at Tompkins Square Park. Even today when we look at the red tinted videos of those recordings our hair stands on its ends surcharged with its spiritual potency. Srila Prabhupada had a unique gravity in his chanting and in his kirtans. His kirtans assumed musical quality not for the sake of music but for the sake of the holy name itself. Similarly Danavir Maharaja sang the same tune for almost 45 minutes with identical solemnity. He sang only the aarohan (upscale) version and sustained it for so long without slightest variation in his enthusiasm towards singing harinama. Read more ›

The Krsna consciousness movement is based on this principle: chant the Hare Krsna mantra at every moment, as much as possible, both inside and outside of the temples, and, as far as possible, distribute prasada. This process can be accelerated with the cooperation of state administrators and those who are producing the country's wealth. Simply by liberal distribution of prasada and sankirtana, the whole world can become peaceful and prosperous. Read more ›

How to be in the world but not be of the world 01 by H G Bhima Das on 16 July 2014 at ISKCON Juhu

1965 July 30:
"Mr. J.M. Choksi today handed over me the following documents.
1. The Passport.
2. "P" Form passed Dt 27/7/65
3. Original letter & no objection certificate from Gopal P. Agarwal.
4. Copies of letters for Calcutta office Scindia Steam Navigation Co.
5. International Certificate & vaccination. (3 years & 6 months)."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1965

1970 July 30: "You are lying for some time in the hospital bed and still you have made these beautiful Deity clothes. I am very glad that you have got this feeling to not waste a single moment but to utilize very carefully every moment of life in the loving service of Krishna."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 July 30: "I have just got one letter from Acarya das, wherein he requests to live with Lalita Prasad Thakura for taking instruction from him. I do not like this idea, I don't know where these ideas are coming from. No one should go there any more."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 July 30: "I want that we shall excel them. They have been struggling for 50 years and we shall surpass them in two. That is American style. If I defeat my godbrothers, then I am worthy to be called the Guru of the Americans. Even in spiritual life there is competition."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 July 30: "We are not going to abide by the government schedule. The children should be taught our books as soon as they can read and write. They should learn to rise early, attend mangal arati, go on sankirtan, and a little ABC, mathematics, history, that's all."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 July 30: "These children are given to us by Krishna, they are Vaisnavas and we must be very careful to protect them. These are not ordinary children, they are Vaikuntha children. This is very great responsibility, do not neglect it."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1975 July 30: "Go on being aggressive on Sankirtana. I was aggressive coming to your country. No one invited me but I came and I preached and now you are my disciples. Aggression for the cause of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is pure."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

Listen audio...

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

The learned Kṛṣṇa conscious person may act in such a way that the ignorant person working for sense gratification may learn how to act and how to behave.

(Srila Prabhupada, Bhagvad Gita-As It Is, 3.26 Purport)

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