Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Recently, responding to the escalating humanitarian crisis in Eastern Ukraine, the Executive Commitee of ISKCON's Governing Commission released a letter addressed to the Ukrainian devotees affected by the challenging situation.
“When the military operations intensified our home turned out to be on the front line. Until the last moment, I had hoped that the war would be over soon.” They were not so lucky. When Lugansk got attacked by mortars and the neighboring street became a battlefield, it was time for Nilacala Dasi, her husband Vrajamani Das and daughter Vrinda Gopi to leave.
The post July 23rd, 2014 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Every morning, seven days a week, she wakes the Deities and makes the mangala sweet offering. She says one of the reasons she likes to wake the Deities daily is because, "They wake us up." Then she offers the mangala aratik. Every day since 1979 her service has been to bathe and dress Chota Radha Govinda. When she goes on pilgrimage or on the rare occasion is ill, it takes five devotees to cover her services.
Every morning she is there for Greeting of the Deities and Gurupuja. She does the morning transfer and carefully puts the Lord's remnants into little bags to distribute to guests & devotees. She always saves a plate and has someone take the plate around after class so each and every devotee gets some maha-prasadam. Seven days a week she is in Srimad-Bhagavatam class hearing very attentively.
Right after class she goes on the streets distributing small books and prasadam lollipops. She waves to each driver on the street with a smile and a "Hare Krishna, Good Morning.” She then heads to the park and does the same. Most people are receptive to some extent to her purity and divinity. Although she doesn't move her counter beads after 16 rounds, she estimates she chants about 25 rounds daily.
Daily, Mother Nidra engages in 2-3 hours of correspondence. She is in touch with 12 prisoners and does all the mail outs for IPM (since the 1980’s). She also contributes to the Temple newsletter and stays in touch with devotees and congregational members. She somehow recognizes all the devotees' birthdays with whom she in touch, and always sends a devotional card filled with her love and blessings.
On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, she attends Gaura aratik and then gives the Bhagavad-Gita class. Every Wednesday night she joins the devotees in Boulder for Harinama to distribute books as well as at the downtown Denver Mall on Fridays. On Saturdays she distributes books door to door at apartment complexes in the greater Denver area. Read more › 
The holy name of Lord Krishna is a reservoir of all transcendental happiness. It destroys the sins of the Kali-yuga. It is the most purifying of all purifying things. It is the saintly person's food as he traverses the path to the spiritual world. It is the pleasure garden where the voices of the greatest saints, philosophers, and poets play. It is the life of the righteous and the seed of the tree of religion. May that holy name of Lord Krishna bring transcendental auspiciousness to you all.—author unknown (Padyavali 3) Read more › 
O Supreme Personality of Godhead, when someone desires to chant Your holy name, sins tremble in fear, the glory of material illusion faints unconscious, Yamaraja's scribe Citragupta becomes happy and gazes at the chanter's toenails with awe and reverence, and Lord Brahma prepares madhu-parka with which to worship him. O Lord, what more can we say than this?—author unknown (Padyavali 4). Read more › This talk is a part of the "Fascinating Mahabharata Characters" series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com
"I do not know how a Christian can violate this important commandment of the Bible, "Thou shalt not kill.'' So in this way, if we want to criticize we can, but it will simply increase our enemies. Better let us try to invoke the dormant transcendental emotion by chanting and dancing."
Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita 2 March, 1969
Question based on this Gita-daily article:
Question based on this Gita-daily article
We don’t have any choice except to believe in our power of choice
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 20 June 2014, Stockholm, Sweden, Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 22.75)
I will tell you the story of André. Some of you may have heard it… There was a devotee in Holland who was always very eager to preach. He was the kind of person who was very friendly to everyone and with strangers, he would always be friendly. So, he was quite a bold preacher but he had one problem: with principle number four! That principle was a little difficult for him sometimes.
Anyway, one day he went to the director of a big, big warehouse store. You know, a multi-multi-storey thing which has branches all over the country and he said, “In your book department, you are missing the books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and you should take a full set of these books to make it complete.”
The director told him, “Young man, no one has ever walked to my office like that and sort of treated me the way you did. I must say, you have guts. I will do it.” So, he got (Prabhupada’s) books into all the stores, all over the country. That was very big! So like that, he was a powerful preacher.
Then due to the weakness he had with the principles, in a city like Amsterdam it can be dangerous. At one point, I was no longer in Holland but I heard about it, I heard that he had AIDS. You know, what to do? Anyway such is, such is life.
Then some time later, I was coming through the Netherlands for a few days and someone said, “Did you remember André?”
I said, “Yeah, sure.”
He said, “Well, he is really very close-by in some sort of hospital and he is in his final days. You want to go?”
I said, “Okay, let us go.”
So we went there and he was in this hospital bed and then he coughed. He started coughing and a ball of mucus as big as a tennis ball came out of his mouth and I was like, “Whoa! Some kind of pneumonia that only parrots get and AIDS patients.” It was intense.
So then we were speaking a bit and then he said, “Can you…” He said, “You know, could you do me a favour?”
I said, “Sure.” You know, dying man, right.
So he said, “I am just right now organizing my funeral and I like your singing. Could you sing at my funeral?”
So what can you say when somebody asks. So I said, “Yes.” Then I was thinking, “Gosh, I may have to come back for this…” You know what I mean! “Or should I stay here?” It is like what do I do it? I promised him now.
Anyway, he left his body within days after that and then it was the funeral. So, we went for the funeral. It was a cremation and they had like an amphitheater, and a stage and on the stage, the box was standing there.
So, first a letter was read out and the letter said, “I know that most of you think that I am dead and gone but I have news for you: I am still alive. I am still here but no longer in the same body in which you knew. I have moved on but certainly alive. All of you are my friends and all of you are from very different backgrounds but today, for my sake, I am asking that you appreciate each other. Within a few moments from now, a devotee of the Hare Krsna movement will come forward and he will start singing that Hare Krsna song and I want you all to sing along and not just a little bit but with full enthusiasm, for my sake, today. After that, you are invited to go to the temple and have some prasadam there.”
Then it was my turn and I chanted Hare Krsna and I chanted a basic tune, you know, “Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare…” Prabhupada’s tune. Then the people got into because he told them to. There was this big lady (high pitched voice), “Hare Krsna!” You know, like the opera. Then at the very end they gave me a signal to stop and then they turned on the Govindam tape and then slowly the box was going down the stage. The people cracked. I mean, that music was very powerful. They cracked. They just fell in each other’s arms and were crying. Everyone said, “I have never seen a funeral like this.” Well, what can I say? I am sure he got some mercy for that. What do you think? If I could organize my funeral like that, it would be pretty good.
"One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God."
To possess bhakti or love for God means to have come in contact with a vaisnava-- a lover of God. This comes about due to sukrti or past tendencies towards spiritual culture. If one holds ice near one's body, he becomes cold. If one holds a flame near one's body, he becomes hot. If one associates with a devotee-- a vaisnava-- he becomes devoted to God. Prahlada Maharaja was a great devotee who, when he was only a young boy, spoke of nine processes which, if executed with sincerity, are sure to reinstate one's original position as an eternal servitor of the Lord. Read more › 
The new Mayor of Harrow officially opened the Summer Fayre at the Krishna Avanti School on Camrose Avenue. The fair was all about raising funds for a new minibus for the school and a great time was had by all.
(pictured)
The children of Krishna Avanti school along with the Head of the Parents Association, Mr Shah, the Headteacher of the School, Usha Sahani and the Harrow Mayor's chaplain, Srutidharma das of the Hare Krishna temple. Read more › 
Lord Jagannatha's New Vrindaban country-style Ratha Yatra on July 19 was the best one yet!
Even though there was a constant mist of rain from the skies, with brief periods of hard rainfall, this didn't dampen the devotees' enthusiasm for kirtan. The balloons tethered to the Lord's cart bounced around joyfully, the bubbles from the bubble machine floated around the devotees' heads, the offerings to the Lord were presented from each householder along the route. A good and transcendental time was had by all.
This year, for some reason, there were many automobiles trying to drive down the road during parade time. However, of course, they all had to wait for the Lord's chariot to pass. As we were aplogizing to one couple who had to turn their large van around in a tight spot, the couple cheerfully declared, "We've been wanting to come up here for a long time. This looks like fun! Can we stay and watch?" They weren't phased by the inconvenience..
Jagannatha Ratha Yatra ki jaya!
The post July 22nd, 2014 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.
And Manjari asks about the connection between devotees’ lifestyle and ability to follow vows.
The post Rajen ask of the relevance of the caste system in this age of equal opportunity appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
The post Evening kirtan in NVD on July 21nd appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
I’d like to inform you that our family (_______ prabhu, myself and our daughter ______) had to to move to Krasnodar (Russia). Before the war started we had lived in the downtown of Lugansk and planned to stay at the downtown and perform service in the yatra of Alchevsk. When the military operations intensified, our home turned out to be on the front line but till the last moment I had hoped that the war would be over soon. With great disappointment I can tell you that I am still quite strongly attached to everyday material conditions of life. It was difficult for me to leave everything: my friends, yatra, job, career, relatives - and go to some unknown situation. We left the very day when Lugansk was attacked by mortars and the next street became the battlefield. My brother followed me and found himself under air bombardment. We failed to evacuate my father. By Krishna’s mercy all of us survived. I was really scared to cross the border, which was fired on by snipers. _______ turned on the Narasimha kirtan in the car and we thought that if we are shot we might hear the Holy Name at the last moment. For the month we had lived in the area of military operations we had prayed to the Lord for help many times but perhaps our material attachments were stronger than intelligence, which insisted on moving to some safe place. Read more › 
On 20 th July few days ago ISKCON in Jogjakarta held Ratha Yatra for the 1st time in Jogjakarta. It was in Bantul one of Jogjakarta's region. Actually we got invitation for 183 Anniversary of Bantul City. After we attained the Anniversary ceremony than we did the Ratha Yatra parade. The Ratha Yatra end in Mayor's office of Bantul city.
At the Anniversary ceremony of Bantul city, Sultan of Jogjakarta Sultanate and also a governor of Jogjakarta was there to lead the ceremony. And HH Subhaga Swami Maharaj had chance to gave one copy of Bhagavad-gita As It Is (Bahasa) to the Sultan. Not only that Maharaj also gave the Bhagavad-gita to the Mayor of Bantul City, Hj. Sri Surya Widati.
Ratha Yatra started late so we can distribute the prasadam in the time of the people break their Ramadhan's fast. Many people took our cookies with simle in their face. They also took picture especially our Krishna. Janaspriya prabhu colored his body with Blue paint and dance as Krishna with the gopis.
Many devotees come from many part of Indonesia to join the festival Ratha Yatra in Jogjakarta. More than 200 devotees chanting and dancing ecstatically in the street of Bantul. Local people also dance with them. Srila Prabhupada and Lord Jagannath so mercyful that the Ratha yatra came to Jogjakarta.
Next Ratha Yatra will be in Binjai, North of Sumatra (August 10th, 2014) than Prabhupada Festival and Ratha Yatra in Denpasar, Bali (23-24 August 2014). Read more › 
"In this age of Kali, there is no alternative, there is no alternative, there is no alternative for spiritual progress other than the Holy Name, the Holy Name, the Holy Name of the Lord."
The usage of repetition in the above verse as a means of emphasis is rare in Vedic literature, and should be taken to indicate, without a doubt, the paramount position of importance this method of attaining self-realization holds in this era, the Kali-yuga ("the age of quarrel"). The Holy Name of Sri Krishna and Sri Krishna Himself are inseparable, and therefore wherever the Holy Name is, so is Krishna. Read more › Quickly becoming a favorite New Vrindaban festival, the Fourth Annual Pushpa Abhishek will be celebrated Sat. July 26, 2014.
Their Lordships, Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra will be showered with thousands of fragrant flower petals of all colors and descriptions in the evening, accompanied by ecstatic Hare Krsna kirtan.
Please join us if you’d like.
Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra getting showered with flower petals.
Schedule:
7:00 PM Artika
7:30 PM Pushpa Abhishek begins
8:15 PM Feast
9:15 PM Swan Boat Festival
If you have any flowers or flower petals you would like to offer to the Lord for the Abhisek, please bring them to the temple room by 9:00 AM. on Saturday morning. We would love your help preparing the petals beginning at 10:00 AM Saturday.
ISKCON (Hong Kong) participates in the HK International Book Fair, as usual, we have 2 booths selling books. over 1.200,000 visits were recorded last year, and this year the organizer is expecting another record. Read more › 
This week was spent with HH Kadamba Kanana Swami. The students learnt all about the history and tradition of kirtan and how music is an integral part of the spiritual world. The students also learnt about the prominent/pioneer kirtaniyas in ISKCON from Yamuna devi and Acyutananda to Vishnujana Swami and Govinda Maharaja to Aindra prabhu and Madhava
Maharaja also shared with the students his realisations from being an expert kirtaniya. The importance of listening and being attentive to the mood of the congregation is paramount. The essence is to include everyone, bring people in; there must be not only the communication and relationship with Krishna but also with the devotees present
Then the students got a unique opportunity to compose their own melody to the maha mantra with Maharaja which they then sang in the temple room for Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha the following evening. Read more ›