Planet ISKCON

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

1974 August 16: "Regarding the restaurant, do not name it as you have suggested, but call it Hare Krishna Restaurant. That should be the name. In each restaurant there should be a picture of Lord Caitanya, and the food should be offered then distributed to the customers. There should also be a tape recorder playing Sankirtana in mild voice."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

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The Desperation of Suicide Fueled by Depression and Lack of Self Worth

In the midst of writing a blog about Shri Krishna’s and Balarama's appearance days, I was interrupted by the sad news of Robin Williams’ (the famous actor and comedian) suicide on Monday and was unable to continue. Since this unfortunate event has been on my mind for the last few days, I felt compelled to write about this topic for many reasons. As some of you know, my father committed suicide, but additionally, my wife’s older brother did also, and so our family has been greatly affected by suicide. Thus, Mr. Williams’ death hit a nerve with me, as did some of the rather harsh, uncompassionate, and frankly, ignorant comments I have read online.

Certainly Robin Williams wasn’t a saint. He had many imperfections and unresolved life issues, and his suicide seemed a terrible response, and yet, in spite of this, I found something very sincere, human, and compelling about him. Perhaps due to my past, I could sense some kind of pain beneath the surface of his humor. Admittedly, upon hearing about his cause of death I found it sadly ironic that a person celebrated for his humor would find no humor or value within himself. Later I learned that this isn’t as rare as I imagined for brilliant comedians. Someone even suggested that some clowns paint their faces to hide their melancholy. Whether true or not, I can say with certainty that people are not always what they seem, and are often full of duality!

Severe depression has become another modern epidemic and is one of the leading factors of suicide, though anger, social isolation, alcohol and drug abuse, need for control, impulsiveness, and certain medications, or chronic medical illness can also be factors. I find that people are complex and sometimes difficult to understand without knowing their often secret history.

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"Chanting japa is repairing our broken relationship with Krsna with intense absorption we calm down our mind and get ready to meet Krsna for two and half or three hour’s and if that meeting was very attentive than the whole day the remembrance is present subconsciously."

Japa Retreat
by Mahatma dasa

The transcendental vibration of hari-nama-sankirtana is imported from the spiritual world. Thus although materialists who are addicted to experimental knowledge and the so-called “scientific method” cannot place their faith in the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, it is a fact that simply by chanting the Hare Krsna mantra offenselessly one can be freed from all subtle and gross material conditions. The spiritual world is called Vaikuntha, which means “without anxiety.” In the material world everything is full of anxiety (kuntha), whereas in the spiritual world (Vaikuntha) everything is free from anxiety. Therefore those who are afflicted by a combination of anxieties cannot understand the Hare Krsna mantra, which is free from all anxiety. In the present age the vibration of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is the only process that is in a transcendental position, beyond material contamination. Since the holy name can deliver a conditioned soul, it is explained here to be sarva-mantra-sara, the essence of all Vedic hymns.”

Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi lila 7:74
HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.

Enjoy the movie:

Your Servant
Parasuram Das

In celebration of Sri Krishna Janmasthami and Srila Prabhupada Vyasa Puja Part Two of the film series documenting the construction of Prabhuapada's flagship project The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur, West, Bengal, India, has been released. While Part One entitled "The Cosmos out of the Rice Fields" explores the history and start-up of the project, Part Two of the series focuses more on the community behind this ambitious project, and points out that it is just as much selfless dedication, respect, and cooperation than bricks and marble that have been the main building blocks of the development.

Executive producer: Alfred B. Ford
Director/Producer: Dr. Krisztina Danka
Photography: Filip Cargonja, Denes Doboveczki
Sound: Stipe Kristic, Gyula Szarnyas
Editing: Szabolcs Guth
Studio: Karuna Productions (www.karunaproductions.com)
Music: BB Govinda Swami, Gaurangi Dasi, Gunagrahi Das

For more information about the project please visit: www.tovp.org

This weekend is jam-packed with festivities in preparation for Sri Krishna Janmastami and it all begins with a 6 Hour Kirtan on Saturday August 16, 2014! The kirtan will kick off right at 4:00pm and end with a grand finale at 10:00pm and will include sumptuous prasadam (vegetarian feast).


Please come and join us as we begin to celebrate the appearance of Lord Krishna this weekend!

Schedule (subject to change):

4:00pm - 4:30pm: Yura
4:30pm - 5:00pm: Pragya
5:00pm - 5:30pm: Caitanya Pandit
5:30pm - 6:00pm: Julia
6:00pm - 6:30pm: Radha Murari Kirtan Band
6:30pm - 7:15pm: Yagna Gauranga das
7:15pm - 8:00pm: Radha Mohan das
8:00pm - 8:30pm: Aruna Kesavi devi dasi
8:30pm - 9:15pm: Dhira Grahi das
9:15pm - 10:00pm: HH Bhaktimarga Swami

From Kalanidhi Prabhu

Answer Podcast

Christians and Hare Krishna devotees opened the Trutnov Open Air Music Festival (Czech Woodstock) on August 14, 2014. The Christians did a song and some prayers. Prabhupada's Guru Das Prabhu spoke and Nrsimha Caitanya Das Prabhu led kirtana. In the end the Krishnas and Christians clapped, smiled, and danced together. The Christian guitar player played along with the kirtana. Harinamananda Prabhu swang the Christians around in the kirtana, and a Krishna devotee girl swang a Christian lady around. Martin, the organizer of the Trutnov festival, likes Lord Jagannatha, whose beautiful face always graces the back of the main stage. It was beautiful scene. Read more ›

The Festival of India in Poland from back stage ….

The post August 15th, 2014 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Bada Haridas: We could speak about kirtan for a long time. There’s way more to it than it may seem. Briefly, the kirtan leader’s role is to help people connect with Krishna and you can’t do that if you’re not connected. So really the focus is internal. Try to be present in the moment, hearing attentively, sincerely calling out, asking for service and purification, singing for Krishna’s pleasure, thinking of the Lord, and begging for mercy. Chanting is all about re-establishing our relationship with the Lord. Read more ›

Lecture Podcast

The kids that go by the Harinam are very fortunate. Whether they know it or not they are automatically gaining the pious credit needed for understanding Krishna Consciousness by hearing the Maha Mantra and seeing the Sankirtan party. The one’s who come everyday and actively participate are especially blessed by Mahaprabhu’s mercy. The daily Harinam in New York City has been going on for about two and a half years and by Prabhupada’s mercy it will continue. When these kids grow up perhaps they will join us help to increase the performance of the Yuga Dharma. If enough of us join, the whole city can become conscious of Krishna, indeed the whole world, even the whole universe! Read more ›

The tragic suicide of Academy award winning actor and comedian Robin Williams has shocked the entertainment world. Suffering from depression caused by among several things a relapse into substance abuse, he reportedly ended his life first abortively with a knife and then finally with a belt.

Conflating humor and happiness

That depression can afflict anyone, even the wealthy and the famous, is well known. After all, in America, despite its first world prosperity, anti-depressants are the third largest prescription drugs. Yet the fact that depression afflicted fatally a comedian is sobering. If forces us to contemplate the difference between humor and happiness.

Normally because comedians make us laugh, we tend to think of them as happy people. Those who are sources of such joy would be themselves joyful, wouldn’t they?

Far from being a medicine for the heart, it becomes a painkiller that hides the hole in the heart.

Not necessarily. Because humor is just like any other ability that is endowed by nature and enhanced by practice. Being good at humor is like being good at any other cerebral ability such as mathematics or writing. Or, to underscore the difference between abilities and happiness, let’s consider largely physical skills such as skating or singing. Those with such skills can dazzle us by their performances. Yet we intuitively know that a good singer is not necessarily a happy person – happiness is a different ball game. While the difference between the ability to sing and the ability to be happy is easily discerned, the difference between the ability to be humorous and the ability to be happy can be easily missed.

Emphasizing the difference between humor and happiness is not meant to give humor a bad press. No doubt, humor can bring spice to a life that is dry and demanding. Most of us could do with more doses of humor in our ultra-fast, stress-filled lives. The many popular comedy shows and columns do serve a human need to lighten life’s burdens with humor.

Yet might our culture be over-rating humor?

The humor column in the Readers Digest claims through its title, “Laughter is the best medicine.”

Is it, really?

Evidently, it was not a good enough medicine to cure a comedian of fatal depression.

Further, the very fact that laughter is marketed as a medicine points to some underlying malady, some inner emptiness. When there’s inner emptiness, humor can be a mask to hide the absence of happiness. Far from being a medicine for the heart, it becomes a painkiller that hides the hole in the heart.

Dragged down to depression 

It is a telling commentary on the state of popular culture that one of its quintessential icons – an exemplar of ability and prosperity and popularity – had to fight against depression for decades, and ended up disastrously losing the fight.

The materialistic popular culture seduces us with promises of worldly pleasures. Being enamored, we crave and slave to make our way to the top of the ladder of success. The struggle itself can be draining. If we manage to be among the few who do get to the top, we find the achievement to be unbelievably anti-climactic. The high of being high up is agonizingly short-lived. The euphoria dies all too soon, the charm of newness fades and the glamorous becomes monotonous. John Ruskin put it well, “Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.”

What was touted as a source of relief from misery itself becomes a source of misery.

When we are troubled either by emptiness after achieving the material things we aimed for or, more commonly, by frustration due to not achieving them, what does the culture offer us for relief?

Prominently addictive indulgences.

The culture impels us to drown our miseries in tobacco, alcohol or drugs with the promise of instant relief. The relief ends quickly, but the hold of those indulgences on us doesn’t; rather, it tightens with repeated indulgences till it becomes an addiction. The escape-ways often turn out to be trap-ways. What was touted as a source of relief from misery itself becomes a source of misery – and often a much greater misery.

Why greater misery?

Because this misery is almost entirely self-inflicted – we knowingly and willingly fall for indulgences that are known to be addictive.

As we fall for self-destructive addictions, our self-esteem falls too. We can’t digest the reality that we didn’t have the intelligence to see through the deception of the addiction. And we find even more mortifying the reality that we lack the self-mastery to break free. Our plummeting self-esteem drags us down into the dark ditches of depression.

Beyond biochemistry to consciousness

No doubt, depression is sometimes a medical condition that needs appropriate treatment. Drugs like Prozac have had some success, but it’s been limited and uneven. Doctor-author Siddhartha Mukherjee points to the limitations of neurological treatments in an essay titled Post Prozac Nation in New York Times: “We can only mix chemicals and spark electrical circuits and hope, indirectly, to understand the brain’s structure and function through their effects.”

The indirect approach is necessitated because emotions and their foundation, consciousness, are beyond the reach of the material methodology. Consciousness is a dimension of our inner life that is essentially non-material. As Nobel Laureate neurophysiologist John Eccles put it, “The brain is the messenger to consciousness.”

Reducing depression to neurobiology is as superficial and misleading as reducing happiness to humor. In a broader sense, reducing consciousness to chemistry is like missing the driver for the car. The brain is not me; it is a vehicle for the real me, the soul, who is the source of the consciousness that activates the brain’s chemistry

Reducing depression to neurobiology is as superficial and misleading as reducing happiness to humor.

That’s why waiting for some future magic drug as a cure for depression is tragically shortsighted. After all, millions of people have lived for millennia without those drugs – and without depression. While accounts of melancholia and similar emotions can be found even in ancient times, they were hardly ever as prevalent as they are today, a condition that caregivers call an epidemic of mental illness.

What is it that makes people in our age so vulnerable to depression?

The reasons can be many, but one fundamental, often overlooked, reason is the increasing erosion of a sense of purpose and meaning in life.

The materialism that holds much of our culture in its stranglehold refuses to admit any non-material purpose or meaning to life. But where does that leave achievers who find life’s material pleasures unfulfilling? And what about the many more who can’t achieve those pleasures?

It leaves them frustrated and depressed, going through the motions in a life increasingly stripped of meaning and purpose.

Energized by spiritual purpose

Dr Viktor Frankyl in his book Man’s Search for Meaning explains how the sense of purpose and meaning are essential for not just happy living, but for living itself. While chronicling the atrocities in the concentration camps at Auschwitz, he reports how the inmates who couldn’t find any meaning or purpose to their sufferings succumbed much earlier than their biological capacity to endure. In contrast, those who could find meaning and purpose were able to survive much longer and eventually emerged stronger through their harrowing experiences.

While we may all try to impart some subjective meaning and purpose to our individual lives, is there any objective meaning and purpose to life itself?

The spiritual wisdom-traditions of the world assert that there is indeed. The ultimate purpose is love – lasting, fulfilling spiritual love for God and all living beings in relationship with him. When we use our abilities to lovingly harmonize with him, we find the highest satisfaction and do the ultimate good for others. The various theistic traditions of the world are essentially meant for providing support systems for harmonizing with the divine.

Modern science is increasingly vindicating the benefits of such harmonization, especially how it protects people from problems like depression and suicide. The authoritative Handbook of Religion and Health published by Oxford University that compiled the findings of two thousand published studies from various parts of the world concluded that people across all ages, walks and educational levels benefitted mentally and physically by religious practice. Germane to our discussion is the finding that religious people suffered much lesser from depression and suicidal urges than their non-religious peers.

If we probe inside with the torchlight provided by yogic practice, we will find a goldmine of wisdom that will animate our life with the ultimate meaning and purpose.

Of course, religion is not just a matter of nominal affiliation but of higher realization and inner transformation. For such realization and transformation, the Vedic wisdom-tradition of ancient India provides profound philosophy and empowering yogic methodology. The Bhagavad-gita, a philosophical classic in the Vedic tradition, explains that we are at our core souls. We are meant to find enrichment and fulfillment in life at the spiritual level, in relationship with the Supreme who is the reservoir of beauty and joy.

Yogic meditation connects us with the power of the Supreme, thus empowering us to regulate our impulses and moods. If we probe inside with the torchlight provided by yogic practice, we will find a goldmine of wisdom that will animate our life with the ultimate meaning and purpose. In such spiritual animation lies the ultimate cure to depression and addiction. Indeed, thousands of people the world over have already found freedom and fulfillment – and many more are finding it as they experience the empowerment of yoga.

The Srimad Bhagavatam, a devotional classic within the Vedic library, describes its own genesis through the narrative of Vyasadeva, the sage who authored a phenomenal canon of scriptural works. He was a literary super-star. Despite his ability and productivity, he felt inexplicably incomplete.

To gain relief, what did he do?

He turned inward and upward: inward to introspect, and upward to consult his spiritual master, the celestial sage Narada. Both introspection and instruction led him to the same conclusion: he hadn’t used his talents for their ultimate purpose – glorifying the Supreme. He rectified that anomaly by profusely and purely glorifying the Lord in what became his magnum opus, the Srimad Bhagavatam.

By similarly looking inwards and upwards, we can all find greater meaning, higher purpose and richer fulfillment.

There’s nothing wrong with outer achievement as long as it doesn’t become a substitute for inner fulfilment. There’s nothing wrong with Prozac as long as we don’t let rigid materialism make our life utterly prosaic. There’s nothing wrong with laughter as long as that’s not all that we are after; when we put the pursuit of a meaningful and purposeful life first, then the laughter within such a life will be enduring.

Without such meaning and purpose, the laughter on-screen or off-screen is just a show. There’s life after that laughter, for not just the spectators but also the actors. And that life is not as rosy as is often imagined. The media doesn’t usually show that unflattering picture. When tragedy forces it into the public eye, it’s up to us to see it and to learn from it.

As we pray for the departed soul of Robbin Williams and offer our condolences to the bereaved, maybe it is time to seek deeper, spiritual meaning and purpose in our own lives too.

 

 

 

Haribol! ISV Heartily extends a warm welcome to you to come and participate in our grand celebrations of Sri Krishna Janmashtami! We hope to have the opportunity to serve you at our temple. Do not miss the opportunity to come and give Krishna a Gift through our innovative, vivacious, and option-filled programs. Read more ›

In celebration of Sri Krishna Janmasthami and Srila Prabhupada Vyasa Puja Part Two of the film series documenting the construction of Prabhuapada's flagship project The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur, West, Bengal, India, has been released. While Part One entitled "The Cosmos out of the Rice Fields" explores the history and start-up of the project, Part Two of the series focuses more on the community behind this ambitious project, and points out that it is just as much selfless dedication, respect, and cooperation than bricks and marble that have been the main building blocks of the development.

Executive producer: Alfred B. Ford
Director/Producer: Dr. Krisztina Danka
Photography: Filip Cargonja, Denes Doboveczki
Sound: Stipe Kristic, Gyula Szarnyas
Editing: Szabolcs Guth
Studio: Karuna Productions (www.karunaproductions.com)
Music: BB Govinda Swami, Gaurangi Dasi, Gunagrahi Das

For more information about the project please visit: www.tovp.org

On August 18th, ISKCON celebrates the birthday of its founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977). This upcoming film celebrates his life and echievements. For more information please visit: www.acharyathemovie.com

“Srila Prabhupada first arranged and celebrated Rathayatra at the age of five on the streets of Kolkata with his neighbors and friends,” says organizer Ananga Mohan Das. “He always wanted the ISKCON Kolkata Rathayatra to be the second largest in the world after the one in Jagannath Puri. And since he established ISKCON in Kolkata in 1971, it has been growing, with an ever-increasing number of attendees.”

The Honorable Martin J. Walsh, Mayor of the city of Boston, has signed a proclamation declaring August 17, 2014 to be "Sri Krishna Janamastami Day", a first for Boston ISKCON. It was at Boston’s Commonwealth Pier in 1965 that Srila Prabhupada first set foot on Western soil, and where he composed his prayer "Markine Bhagavata-dharma", entreating Lord Krishna for the spiritual deliverance of the western countries.