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Why would there be lust and anger in someone hearing rasa-lila, can grhstas advance in KC and whether just service to guru without advancement allows one to go back to godhead?

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Mangala Arati of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath ; 3rd August 2014

Ever saw a flying swami?

If you would have attended the Summer Holi Festival in Radhadesh then you might have seen Kadamba Kanana Swami stagedive into the dancing crowd. We have proof on video, so check out the links below for ‘the flying swami’.

The Radhadesh Summer festival is a 2-day annual festival that takes place at the “Chateau de Petite Somme” in the Belgian Ardennes. The festival includes organized castle tours, a special stage program, the market and this year, for the first time, a special holi celebration. And we had some special guests visiting, namely Kadamba Kanana Swami, Lokanath Swami, Krsna Ksetra dasa, Tattvavit dasa and of course our Parividha prabhu. The festival was well attended and the extra special holi put the icing on the festival cake.

Straight from the Czech Republic, Kadamba Kanana Swami landed upon the Summer Holi Festival in Radhadesh that always takes place in the last weekend of July. This year, the festival was combined with a special holi celebration organized by Manu dasa. Kadamba Kanana Swami rocked the kirtan which was already strong during the throwing of holi colors. And he continued the next day, during the Summer Festival final kirtan in the amazing orange party tent.

Kadamba Kanana Swami also gave the morning Srimad Bhagavatam class and did a multi-lingual introduction on stage in addition to the kirtans. He left Radhadesh on Monday morning to attend the Swiss Mountain Retreat and afterwards he will visit the Czech republic for Lord Balarama’s Appearance Day.

Audio

Jaya Radha-madhava – 26 July 2014

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Srimad Bhagavatam SB 6.8.42 – 26 July 2014

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Kirtan Explosion – Final Summer Festival Day – 27 July 2014

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Srimad Bhagavatam SB 6.9.1 – Krsna Ksetra dasa – 28 July 2014

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Video

Kirtan Explosion – part 1

Watch video on youtube

Kirtan Explosion – part 2

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Kirtan Explosion – part 3

Watch video on youtube

Photos

Bhagavad-gita in Romania June 30th.

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Answer Podcast

Transcribed by: Krishna Dhan das

Question: Does one has to give up his family life on becoming an Iskcon member if one doesn't become a bhramachari?

Answer: No it's not about giving up your material life but it is integrating and harmonizing our material life with our spiritual life that is what is required. So the key thing is that to recognize our goal of life is Krishna because International society of Krishna Consciousness is meant to bring us closer to Krishna. So how do we come closer to Krishna? By committing ourselves to him. So that committing to Krishna involves certainly at one level investing significant amount of time in directly devotional activities there is study of scripture, association of devotees, chanting of the holy names, going on pilgrimages but along with that it also includes spiritualizing our material life. So sometimes in some places some immature devotees may give a perception that to be a devotee means one has to renounce his material life but Iskcon is based on the example and teachings of Bhagvad Gita and example in it is that of Arjuna, he did not renounced his material life but spiritualized his material life. So that means the important thing is whatever spiritual wisdom, spiritual insights, spiritual impressions we get by doing our directly devotional activities we carry them in our heart and then we use them to infuse spiritual motives spiritual purpose even in our worldly activities. For eg somebody is a student then student definitely shouldn't give up studies he can study seeing as a service to Krishna that Krishna has put me into this situation and by studying I am doing my service which Krishna has given me and for doing it for Krishna's pleasure I am actually integrating study as a part of my Bhakti. So how do we do it for Krishna's pleasure? Firstly we do it because it is what Krishna has put us in a situation to do and doing that is essentially a devotional service. Secondly if we are having adequate spiritual connection through our sadhna then even our material life helps us deepen our connection with Krishna. We understand that in Bhagavad Gita Krishna Says (Karmana cha abhyar tha...) Worship me through your work. So we study and excel in our studies for the sake of Krishna and he is satisfied even if we excel or don't excel because Krishna sees the endeavor and not the result and just working for Krishna's pleasure can give us deep fulfillment whatever we do and that is satisfaction and fulfillment is missing for those who are working just for worldly results of success or fame. Beyond that we also need to recognize that Krishna is our greatest well wisher he is our ultimate goal in everything that we do. So if I am having a family and if I take care of my family responsibilities then I do it understanding that these are not just my family members, they are all precious parts of Krishna who have been entrusted in a relation with me. So by serving them, taking responsibility of them I am going closer to Krishna and in that way we will all be able to spiritualize our activities. now sometimes it may see that a devotee is giving up his material life because a devotee may give up many of the frivolous activities that are standard in material life today. For eg a devotee may not spend time in ideal gossip, chit chat, watching tv, reading newspapers and going for mundane parties and things like that. We don't have to equate material life with today's stereotype of what material life means. If we see what is considered to be fashionable or cool today that was not the case 50 yrs ago or 100 years ago and that is not the case in many parts of the world. There are material activities which weaken or wreck our connection with Krishna. so there are regulative principles viz, no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication and no illicit sex. So if we indulge in these activities then that weakens our connection with Krishna so devotees give it up. So now for those who are in these activities a lot for them it may seem as devotee is giving up material life itself but the point is that devotee is not giving up material life but devotee is giving up peculiar conception of material life which has become mainstream today. So a devotee can have respectable and feasible material life in terms of having a family in terms of having a career and pursuing the family and career responsibilities diligently but without necessarily confirming to today's stereotype of what a successful person needs to be. So devotees can be performers in their field and even successes in their field in terms of their productivity their competence but they don't have to conform to all the things that go on in the name of being cool. So that does not mean giving up material life. There are people, though they may be few, because of their principles they decide for eg that they will not eat non vegetarian food even if everyone else around them is eating and in today's mutli-cultural society although there may be a little bit pressure to conform but over a period of time there is also a respect for diversity and people are left alone so to do what they feel is right. So there are many people who have active material life but even in that they chose how they are going to live their material life. They may chose to avoid eating non vegetarian food. There are even few people in society who are teetotaler's, they refuse to drink although they may be having their career's also and if people make these kind of choices they should be respected for that. So they are respected in the sense that their individuality and their freedom of choosing how they wish to live must be respected. So same with this also. As devotees we shouldn't be neglecting or evading our material responsibilities in the name of devotion. That sort of thing is actually renunciation in the mode of passion or ignorance and that doesn't lead to spiritual advancement. So if some devotees has done like that then we should know that it is not the right example and we should look at those devotees who are having healthy balance between their material and spiritual life and we follow their example and that way we can grow steadily in our spiritual life. So becoming a devotee doesn't mean that we have to give up our material life, we may have to give up certain conceptions of what it means to pursue a material life and we pursue a material life in Krishna's terms that by doing our responsibilities family, professional and various others diligently and competently but integrating them within the framework of our Krishna Bhakti. Thank You.

Answer Podcast

Transcribed by: Krishna Dhan das

Question: Is Iskcon an organization for rich people?

Answer: In no Iskcon temple is income certificate is required as an entry pass. All Iskcon temples are free for anyone and everyone to enter and to avail up the spiritual facilities there. So it's definitely not restricted to rich people. People from any financial bracket are most welcomed to temple take darshan, take prasad, participate in the kirtans and overall benefit from the mercy of Krishna that is available. At the same time, as far as the institutional focus is concerned the idea is that we would like to reach as many people as possible and for that, because our resources, our time, our manpower is limited we focus on reaching people with influence. So that through them the message can be reached to large number of people and this not actually only Iskcon's strategy but Krishna's strategy. We see in the Bhagvad Gita when he talks about sharing spiritual knowledge, he gives that knowledge to Arjuna, who is a king who is a person with influence it's not just wealth but power, leadership qualities, intelligence etc. He has them all and it is not that Krishna does that once. That is been the tradition. Evam parampara praptam...So he says that this knowledge is given in parampara to saintly kings. The idea is if the kings are god conscious then that knowledge can be shared with citizens in general by the kings. Today we don't have kings but we have different kinds of social leaders. There may intellectual leaders, political leaders, financial leaders, cultural leaders.So what Krishna indicates by his own example as well as traditions example i.e. by his sharing the knowledge with Arjuna is creating the system of knowledge generation after generation through the kings is that the knowledge if it spiritual knowledge is given to people with influence then they can share it with many other people also. So thats why Iskcon in and of itself its focus may target people with influence that can include financially well to do people but that can also include intellectually well to do people. For eg the youth outreach Iskcon may go more to colleges where students are more of intellectual nature more intelligent may be engineers, doctors or other kind of people. So it's not that it goes only to wealthy people. Anyone who has influence naturally through message the message will reach larger number of people and they also have the capacity to understand and share. Now this does not mean that others don't have capacity but the point is that Prabhupada would give an example that if there is a red cross on the war front and there are finite number of doctors and large number of casualties. so what do the doctor do at that time? They would like to treat everyone but they know that it is not humanly possible to treat everyone. Therefore they focus on treating those who have reasonable chance of living. If some people are extremely severely wounded its unlikely that they could be quickly recovered then in trying to battle with them others who are slightly wounded may become further wounded and their condition may also become irrecoverable but those are slightly wounded and if they are quickly treated and they specially if those who are treated like this are capable of treating others then such people can help many more people after recovery. So idea is not to discriminate but to disseminate as widely as possible. Disseminate the treatment, medical facilities. So for that whatever is effective is done. In some cases if there is abundant manpower available then most critically wounded people would also be treated first and others can be treated afterwards. Strategies may vary but principle idea is not to discriminate but to be effective. So similarly when Iskcon is doing its educational outreach or cultural outreach at that time it may focus on people who are intellectually or financially or in other ways who are influential to the society because through them larger number of people could be reached eventually but when Iskcon even undertakes humanitarian relief so at that time poverty stricken people are helped especially. So for eg when Iskcon has food for life program, midday meal program for food relief and in these initiatives devotees go to people who are struck worst by calamities and those who are extremely poor extremely afflicted and offer them relief. So it is definitely not true that Iskcon is an organization meant only for rich people but it is meant for all of humanity. Because Krishna's message of love is meant for all of humanity and while trying to reach as many people as possible different strategies may be used but that doesn't mean that someone is intentionally neglected or rejected. the principle is of reciprocity. So at one level it is effectiveness. How can Krishna's message and wisdom can be shared as effectively as possible to as many people as possible. But at an individual level the principle is essentially reciprocity. So even if somebody is coming from a financially challenged background if that person is serious and sincere in inquiring about philosophy and understanding and applying in life then that person will also be given whatever attention is required whatever facilities are required and that person can also grow spiritually and the movement will facilitate that. So there is no deprivation of anyone because of their financial status. The important point is that everybody is encouraged to practice spiritual life and sometimes when there are yatras or other spiritual programs where some financial input is required and some devotees are not able to offer that input then there are other devotees who may sponsor or subsidize and that way facilities are provided. So the key point is from broad social point of view the goal is to discriminate but to disseminate effectively and at an individual level it is not financial level that is considered primarily but what is considered is individual interest and seriousness and based on that all facilities are provided. So sometimes the perception may come that wealthy people are given more attention or focus but it is not that it is something non scriptural because Krishna himself does that and most important thing is it does not mean that others are not provided facility where the important thing is to share Krishna's message and if somebody is seriously interested then facilities for learning Krishna's message or living Krishna's wisdom are provided adequately. Thank you.

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26 July ’14 Sringar Darshan at ISKCON Juhu