Planet ISKCON

1969 August 17: "Why do you forget that you are always in association with me? When you are helping my missionary activities I am always thinking of you and you are always thinking of me. That is real association. Physical association is not so important as preceptorial association."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 August 17: "I am very glad to learn you have lectured nicely. Kirtana means whatever we hear from the Spiritual Master we repeat it again nicely. One who can reproduce the sound vibration heard from the Spiritual Master, he will be a good preacher."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 August 17: "I have got many inquiries and friendly invitations from many different parts of India, simply we want our place at Mayapur immediately, then everything will be in order. If we work sincerely keeping faith in Krsna and Spiritual Master there will be no difficulty at all in our preaching work."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1971 August 17: "All our men living in the temple are brahmanas. Otherwise, why they are offered sacred thread? We should live on the paltry income, whatever we receive, by selling our magazines."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

Today we are coming together to celebrate Sri Krishna Janmastami, the appearance of Lord Krishna in the material world. On special occasions such as this—we’ll soon be celebrating the pastime of Mother Yasoda binding Krishna with ropes, and then Krishna lifting Govardhana Hill—unless we know who Krishna is, we won’t know what to make of these seemingly fantastic stories.

The scriptures give different explanations of why Krishna, the all-loving, ever-blissful, Supreme Person appears. The Bhagavad-gita (4.8) states, paritranaya sadhunam, vinasaya ca duskrtam/ dharma-samsthapanarthaya, that He appears to deliver the devotees and to annihilate the miscreants and to reestablish the principles of religion. Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.33.36) explains further, anugrahaya bhaktanam, manusam deham asthitah/ bhajate tadrsih kridah, yah srutva tat-parobhavet: “When the Lord assumes a humanlike body to show mercy to His devotees, He engages in such pastimes as will attract those who hear about them to become dedicated to Him.”

So, who is this Krishna? Is Krishna just a concept or, as some people think, is it that the impersonal One assumes the form of Krishna, or Rama or Shiva or Ganesh or Durga, and you can worship any form and in the end merge into the oneness? To avoid such misunderstandings, we have to know who Krishna is, and that begins with the Bhagavad-gita and then the first cantos of the Bhagavatam. Ultimately, Srimad-Bhagavatam gives us a picture of the spiritual world, what life with God in the spiritual world is like. We read about Krishna, how He comes home from tending the cows, and we read that we can live with Him forever in a loving relationship in the most splendorous land of Vrndavana. And we become attracted and think, “Oh, I want to go there; I want to experience that life.”

That is why Krishna comes, specifically in His humanlike form—to show mercy to His devotees so that by hearing about life with Krishna, we become attracted to Him and inspired to dedicate our lives to Him.

But we should not think that Krishna is there only in the spiritual world; Krishna is everywhere, and if we surrender to Him, we can get the same benefit here in the material world that the pure devotees get in the spiritual world.

If you read the Krsna book or otherwise hear about the pastimes of Krishna, you’ll find that almost every day some demon was coming to Vrndavana to cause trouble. But did the residents of Vrndavana come rushing out with their ploughs and sticks to attack the demons? No. What did they do? They took shelter of Krishna. And what did Krishna do? He protected them. So when we hear these stories, we should think, “Wow—Krishna is so kind to His devotees. Even in the midst of the worst calamity, if we just take shelter of Him, He will protect us. All I need to do is surrender to Krishna.”

So Krishna appears for that reason, and we can make the purpose of His appearance successful by hearing about His pastimes and dedicating ourselves to Him.

Hare Krishna.

Your servant,

Giriraj Swami

1974 August 17: "I am very pleased that you have gone to that place simply on my order, alone, to preach the message of Lord Caitanya. The secret of success in spiritual life is to satisfy one's Spiritual Master. This is the essence. You have captured this. So now go on in this way and do not falter."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1975 August 17: "Your success of book distribution to the libraries has given me great pleasure. Please expand this program all over India. In one library carrying my books, hundreds of people will be able to read."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 August 17: "I would like to have a temple in every village in India. But we do not have enough devotees to manage. If you can make local devotees who have management ability, then you may accept as many plots of land as are offered."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

Jhulan Yatra Darshan 10th August 2014 , Sri Sri Radha Gopinath

“Here in New Vrindaban the atmosphere is exactly like Vrindavan. They are performing the routine activities from 4 am. in the morning till 10 pm. at night. The aratiks are going on several times daily as you have seen in Vrindavan.”

Click here to read the rest of the letter.

Thanks to Vanipedia for the source material.

Some things just don’t get along well with each other.  Take oil and water as an example, you can mix them together and shake as hard as you like, but they’ll never become friends…..  or will they?

Upper Elementary students learn about solutions and different substances’ ability to mix by observing a jar of water, oil and food coloring.

Students note their observations down, changing variables and asking different questions.  The bottles of liquid are turned upside down, swished around, and watched.  Which is more dense?  The oil or the water?   Why do they stay separate?  How does the food coloring react to the mixture?

I ask visiting student Kana his observations on the experiment.  His exuberant and vehement reply:  “Mother Vrinda Priya is the best teacher in the world!  Even simple science ideas are so fun with all of her experiments!”    What about the experiment?  What did you learn?

“The oil molecules are larger than the molecules that make up water.  So oil is less dense than water and will always float to the top.  No matter how many times we turn the bottle around.”

In this TKG Academy classroom, oil plus water equals 10 year old kids looking forward to their next day at school.

 

"Everyone is thus advised to seek shelter in the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and remain engaged in his own occupational duty. There is no loss in this, and the gain is tremendous. Even from a material point of view, everyone should take to chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra to be saved from all kinds of danger."

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.6.3

From the KKS Blog Team, we wish you a blessed day!

Regular blogging will resume on Tuesday (19 August).

Hare Krsna!

The ISCOWP Staff went to the auction barn to save three calves but instead came home with eight calves. The condition of the auction barn and the cows there overwhelmed their hearts and they had to save more.

Read the latest ISCOWP e-newsletter to find out more.

Every year, on the day of Srila Prabhupada Vyasa-puja, we see a beautiful work done by hundreds of devotee hands. It is an invaluable gift to the Mayapur community from our dear His Grace Padma-lochana prabhu, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, who lived among us for many years. This is not an easy task at all. A team of enthusiastic and committed devotees start working on it months ahead. From reminding the community members to submit their offerings to collecting them, arranging them in order, designing the layout and the cover-page of the book, to securely binding hundreds of well decorated pages together in an attractive publication, is certainly a commendable service. Read more ›

Krishna Lounge is getting a pretty mural!

The holy name is eternally situated in pure goodness. Those jivas who take shelter of Krsna's holy name are most fortunate, because chanting soon removes the anarthas from their hearts. Consequently, hridaya daurbalyam (weakness of heart) disappears. Read more ›

ISKCON Punjabi Bagh had a humble beginning in 1984 as a small temple and was shifted to its present premises on 15th July 2005. ISKCON Founder Acarya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada always desired to establish the deities of Sri Sri Krishna Balaram in Delhi. Fulfilling the desires of Srila Prabhupada, under the guidance of HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, the deities of Sri Sri Krishna Balaram were installed on the auspicious occasion of Radhastami in September 2007. This feat gave the temple the special status of being the ONLY Krishna Balaram temple in Delhi! Since then it has become one of the most popular temples in West Delhi! Indeed the deities are world famous for their exquisite beauty. Read more ›

Deity darshan, lecture by Sriman Anupam Vallabh Das, panchamrita abhishek by temple brahmanas, and kirtan in the temple room during the abhishek ceremony. Pictures taken by Ras Bihari Das & others Read more ›

10-08-2014 Lord Balaram’s Appearance Day and Initiation Talk Part 1, ISKCON Durban, South Africa.mp3

As one practices bhakti, he finds materialistic endeavor to enjoy wealth and women repulsive. He follows the path of righteousness, being satisfied in his service to the Lord. He accepts only what is favorable for executing devotional service and rejects that which is unfavorable. He has absolute conviction in all situations that Lord Krsna is his protector, savior and maintainer. He is free from attachments to the body and the notions of 'me' and 'mine.' In a humble state of mind, he constantly chants the holy name of the Lord. Such a person is never again inclined to sinful activities. Read more ›

Once a god-brother asked Srila Prabhupada: "How do we attain Krishna?“ Srila Prabhupada's answer was immediate: "By your anxiety.“ My god-brother was amazed: “Is anxiety not something material that has to be given up?” Srila Prabhupada clarified: "Not that kind of anxiety! Material anxiety is a product of the false ego. Be anxious for Krishna, not yourself. Be so eager to attain Him that all other anxieties fall away!” Read more ›

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d1MaD-xhzw

At the wood carver’s shop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6h5qHQBqw0 (Hungarian only)

The post At the Marble craft shop appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Rockshow, Lecture, Drama and Feast Prashadam Read more ›

As faith in the Lord's holy name becomes firm, the propensity to sin is totally extirpated. All previous sins are then dissolved, and the heart shines with positive purity. Sinful activities sprout from the seeds of sinful desire in the heart, and the sinful desire seeds are rooted in ignorance; these three (ignorance, the seeds of sin and sin) are the source of all suffering for the conditioned soul. Not being able to bear the sufferings of His dependent parts and parcels, the Lord in His infinite compassion gives them help through the process of bhaktiyoga by which the lust to enjoy the senses is driven from their hearts. Read more ›

"Hare Krishna -- a way of life for these intense young people" "Well, needless to say, a lot of Buffalonians don't dig it. All these weirdly dressed kids downtown, or in front of the fountain at UB's Norton Union. ... Of course, their neighbors love them -- clean, quiet, asleep by 10 p.m.; the sort of young people who if they read, read scripture, if they write, write about Krishna, if they paint, paint Krishna followers." Read more ›

If a devotee meets or even just sees the face of an unrepentent doubter of the power of the holy name, he should immediatly plunge himself, fully clothed, into the Ganges for purification; if the Ganges is not nearby, he should bathe in some other pure water. In the event that this also is not possible, he should purify himself by bathing mentally. Read more ›

https://flic.kr/s/aHsk1Tyt3c

The post 2014 Krsna Valley parikrama appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Devotees who have taken complete shelter of chanting the pure name are never prone to commit any of the ten namaparadhas. The holy name Himself protects these pure devotees who have surrendered themselves to chanting. But as long as the pure name has not dawned in the heart of the devotee, he is always threatened by the danger of commiting namaparadha. Therefore devotees in the namabhasa stage have to particularly avoid this offense of commiting sin on the strength of chanting. Read more ›

They are recently brought all the new flower pots...Please Visit Srila Prabhupada House And His Garden in Vrindavan. Read more ›

Lord Balaram’s Appearance day Abhishek video, Kirtan by H.H.Lokanath Swami Maharaj

1965 Monday, August 16 :
"The ship ran all night smoothly and in the sky although cloudy there was moonlight. In the morning there was sunshine but from 12 noon we are passing through cyclonic weather. The ship is tilting too much. I felt sea sickness all day and night. At 3 p.m. the ship turned towards the coast and we are now in Ceylon waters."
Jaladuta Diary :: 1965

1969 August 16 : "Regarding throwing the I-Ching, this cannot go on in our temples. These boys should be trained up nicely in Krishna Consciousness. Unless one agrees to follow all of our principles, they may not be allowed to live at the temple. This must be our policy."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 August 16 : "Our different centers are meant for organizing a group of pure devotees so that neophyte visitors may take examples from them and thus become attached to Krishna consciousness. This formula must be active everywhere."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 August 16: "This spot life is meant for becoming God conscious and there is no other purpose or meaning. So now you have got the right Spiritual Master and the process I've given you, so now it is up to you. If you really want to achieve the goal of your life, then become very serious and do not be distracted by anything false."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 August 16: "Establish college courses and attract the student class. We are in need of intelligent preachers for expanding this movement all over the world. I want that all my advanced disciples become very bold preachers. Convert the leaders of your country to our philosophy and the whole world will follow."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 August 16: "My plan is to come to Vrindaban for Kartik Vrata and I want to sit down there in the Sri Radha Damodara Temple until some time near the end of November. I will lecture daily in the courtyard on the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu, especially for the benefit of the devotees. So you can make arrangements in that way."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1974 August 16: "One should not leave a place if there is important business to do. That should be the principle. Constant changing is not good. Even if there is some fault in management, it should be corrected, not changed. You remain there permanently and manage the temple very nicely. That will please me."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974