Planet ISKCON

As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one's sinful activities. SB 6.2.18 Read more ›

Ratha Yatras Meaning.mp3

Supriya d.d. about bad luck with bad vastu and Gaura Nita d. a string of questions including why are bulls castrated.

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The area of Radha Kunda, Shyama Kunda and Govardhan Hill is the topmost holy place in the universe. It has been recorded that about 10 million people visit Govardhana on Guru Purnima day alone. Education and trash cans are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what it will take to keep this holy place clean. To match the cleanliness and beauty standards of New York City’s Central Park, we will need a small army of sanitation workers, tree care experts, gardeners, drivers, park rangers, and more, all taking care of Govardhana. Right now we have about 30 local brajavasi’s (mostly widows) working to keep a few areas in Radha Kunda clean. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see 2,500 people working to keep all of Govardhana area clean, beautiful, and organized in many different departments, including relief for the poor and elderly? We don’t need to control the government. We just need to organize the care of Govardhana. Are we His servants, or is He ours? Read more ›

Living beings who are entangled in the complicated meshes of birth and death can be freed immediately by even unconsciously chanting the holy name of Krishna, which is feared by fear personified. SB 1.1.14 Read more ›

The event which took place in the temple premises at Umuebulu 2, Etche LGA (Nigeria) saw people from all walks of life. Including devotees from far and near trooped in to the premises to have a glance of the young pupils. The father of the day, Prabhu Hariha Das, appreciated the teachers and the school committee for instilling Krishna consciousness into the young ones despite the fact that most of them are children of non-devotees. In the same vein, the Chair lady of the occasion, mother Kapasuni Devi Dasi, encouraged the children never to forget Krishna conscious activities and always be studious even as they go on long vacations. Also speaking was the master of ceremony (MC) Prabhu Bhadra Das, who commended the children and the teachers for a good job. Read more ›

My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom. SB 12.3.51 Read more ›

At the St James Junior School in London, the number of students wanting to learn the language has grown by leaps and bounds. Read more ›

Simply because I chanted the holy name of the Lord in the association of devotees, my heart is now becoming purified. Therefore I shall not fall victim again to the false lures of material sense gratification. Now that I have become fixed in the Absolute Truth, henceforward I shall not identify myself with the body. I shall give up false conceptions of "I" and "mine" and fix my mind on the lotus feet of Krishna. SB 6.2.38 Read more ›

Answer Podcast

Shayan Darshan of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath;25th July 2014

Answer Podcast

Lecture Podcast

Answer Podcast

Answer Podcast

Answer Podcast

Lecture Podcast

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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

Answer Podcast

Edmonton, Alberta

The Last


The last of the stops for the festival tour culminated in Edmonton.  The sky had been insistent on bucketing the water.  By noon, the dumping of yesterday converted to a spray which eventually depleted as our outdoor procession of the Chariot Festival was in progress. 

As remarked by more than one person, there was a remarkable focus on chanting and dancing.  The location or route was a little odd – through an industrial plaza strip area.  Perhaps it will take a little more time for us to prepare ourselves for hip Whyte Avenue for the future. 

One instance that pulled out of the sternness in me, and then later a chuckle, had to do with one of our young bus troupers.  Young Raj is from Texas.  He was in the procession like the rest of us.  He managed to grab a plate of prasad (sanctified food) and had a nibble at it.  Where one of the escorted police cars was parked along the way, Raj decided to place his food on the front hood of the car as he was fiddling with something.  The police officer was making his way back to his vehicle when I noticed the plate on the car.  I conveniently had a mic in my hand since I was the person responding to the lead singer in the procession.  I used the mic to alert Raj, I beckoned him towards me, “Raj!” who then picked up the plate and came to me.  I gave him a mild chiding and said, “You should never do that.  You don’t want to be disrespectful, do you?”  indicating that the police are our friends and are there to help us.

In innocence he said, “You mean I shouldn’t disrespect the prasad?”

“No, Raj, the police.”

Anyway, when it came to my few minutes on the stage once the chariot procession was over, I relayed the story to the crowd sitting before me.  They also had a good laugh.

Our day ended with an hour long chanting session on Whyte Avenue where the evening young folks hang out.  Kish, of the Mayapuris, lead the chant which had the support of three booming mrdanga drums.  I personally like the percussion, it gets people hopping.

May the Source be with you!

7 KM

Calgary, Alberta

A Monk’s Take on Family and Kids


“I would just like to see wholesome families become a part of the social fabric.”  This I expressed to a young devotee of Krishna who’s engaged to be married. 

It was the second time today that I had a conversation on the topic of marriage.  “New world with old values,” were our mutual thoughts.  “Many new experiments aren’t working,” said the thoughtful young man, without elaborating. 

Then I offered to say, “Chosen life partners must be good listeners towards each other.”

A second person whom I would deem as successful in his marriage of several years, told of a third child on the way, and that I played a major role in what will soon be a new arrival.  He explained that in my last visit I said something about how a good couple should consider many children.  “It would increase a finer percentage of humans,” that was the logic.  We know that is not always the case, yet my observation tells that dharmic couples can help the world with their procreation. 

This second person, also a pious person, asked me frankly, “What do you, a monk, think of people like me, a married man, caught up in the world of money?”

I was frank, “You’re doing great.”  I indicated, “Let’s populate the world with great offspring, kids with a good sense of right and wrong and who have a good drive.”  We rambled on as rain and wind continued to be a lame excuse for not trekking today. 

May the Source be with you!

0 KM

Jasper, Alberta

Water


A herd of elk came into our purview, while ground squirrels (black tail prairie dog) poked their heads out of their holes, mostly to see what we could offer them in the form of food.  These creatures kept us company at the Marmot Meadows Campsite.  We also caught glimpse of a black bear who entertained tourists simply by his very presence.  European tourists just go nuts when they see Canadian wildlife, but they’re not the only ones.  Canadian city slickers also go into a frenzy clicking their cameras. 

It really was a day of wetness.  The boys tents and their contents; cots, blankets, pillows, clothes, got drenched.  It warranted a trip to the laundry mat.  The place was already full, but with our entrance, 25 or so wild young folks, I’m the oldest, the place was completely packed. 

In general, on a day of rain, or whether it be high winds, Indra dynamics becomes a reality.  Still, water was not enough to intimidate.  The big draw or attraction for the day for our bus crew was a swim and Radium Hot Springs, surprisingly done inside.  By day’s end my legs became antsy for something outdoor.  For a challenge I took to the downward road from mountain high down to the direction of Yellowhead Highway.  There in raingear I tread, dodging the hefty currents of water coming down as rivulets on the asphalt.

I took these waves of downward water as a tax by maya, illusion.  I was most alert, yet anything to avoid wet socks.  Surely my chanting was evermore sharp as opposed to the more casual approach taken when sitting on the front seat of our bus.  A small ounce of austerity or inconvenience imposed on the self always goes a long way to contributing to the life of a monastic.  It happens to occur right here on the road, once again. 

May the Source be with you!

6 KM

Jasper, Alberta

Mountainous Beauty


I covered a mere few kilometres on foot before the trip to Jasper, with stops along the way to capture with the eyes, the mountainous beauty.  My hosts, Radha Madhava, Swasti, and daughters in Calgary, and I, drove along Highway 93. Any stops made along the way, whether washroom breaks or gassing up, gave me the opportunity to add a kilometre here and there.

One tourist pulled over and offered a ride wondering how I mystically moved so swiftly as he passed me by twice before.  He just got so curious.

At Athabasca River we ventured down a trail as did so many other tourists from every part of the world imaginable.  Nature here seemed to have carved out of the earth these cool grooves by glacial and water movement in what is described as a tug of war for territory between rock and water.  Along the trail a plaque is entitled ‘Battle Front’, with the following text:

Water fights the rock lip back a few millimetres a year.  Now, the water is winning, but the nature of the rock may one day force the water to abandon this channel and seek another route. 
 
At the site of the gushing falls, more text follows:

Here, in a fury of sound and spray, the power of roaring water and a trembling earth meet.  Echoes of timeless batter assault our senses. 
 
After reading and viewing the facts we carried on to Whistler’s Park, where the Krishna Culture Bus Tour vehicle was kept.  I hooked up again with our team only to engage in spiritual talks over campfire roasted veggie marshmallows.  Marshmallows are an ancient food of the Egyptians. 

All is good here.  You just have to watch where you step.  One of the boys accidentally stepped into a prairie dog hole and sprained the ankle.  Such are the forces of nature. 

May the Source be with you!

11 KM

1968 July 29: "We should not be satisfied remaining in the third grade platform but we should try to elevate ourselves in the second grade platform. So far the first grade platform, it is not attained by our endeavor but it completely depends on the causeless Mercy of Krishna."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 July 29: "The boys and girls of America are generally good souls, that is why they have taken birth in such a nice country, and now they should make perfect all of their opulences by engaging everything in Krishna Consciousness. This will be the finishing touch for all the nice qualities found in the American people."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

Klungkung, Bali, is an area steeped in ancient tradition. Many years ago the Maharaja ruled the area from his opulent palace near the centre of town. 

Today I received a nice message from a Japa Group subscriber.

"Thank you for sending this post. you have inspired me to finish my japa today. Haribol!"

You can subscribe to the Japa Group using the following link:

http://www.japagroup.com/p/form-methodpost-targetpopupwindow.html

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 27 June 2014, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.13.17)

People say, many times, that the greatest enjoyment in the material world is sex! Well, we can also say that greater than that is to be free from such desires. If you do not have the desire then it saves a lot of trouble! You know, then you do not have to worry about Saturday night. You do not have to buy flowers. You do not have to spend a lot of money in bars and all these things. So many things you do not have to do if you do not have sex desire. You do not have to spend a fortune on all kinds of clothes and things like that. Think about it, the consequences of sex desire are quite far reaching!

The other day, I was writing about this and I was comparing it to being addicted to cigarettes, to smoking. Say that we are smokers and airports now are all smoke free zones so then you have this glass box and people smoke in the glass box. It looks kind of foolish, these people in the glass box! Everyone looks at them and it is just a handful of them in a small glass box. So, those are the smokers and everyone can see them. They just sit in there, trying to feel at ease but meanwhile it is embarrassing to go sit in a glass box and smoke, obviously. But if you would ask the people that come out of the box, ‘Do you like smoking?’ They would say, ‘Oh yes, very much! Yes, I like it very much.’

But then, if there is someone who is not a smoker, when they see all that and hear all that, they will say, ‘This is foolish. You like it very much because you are addicted!’ So, the same we can apply to sex also. We are addicted! We are just addicted but when we take up serving Krsna then gradually our interest changes from enjoying the body to enjoying serving. Instead of taking – enjoying the body means taking for our senses – instead of taking for our senses, we now become very active in satisfying the senses of Krsna.

Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter where he explains to Kirtananda, ‘You please worship the deity and if you decorate the deity very beautiful, and when you make the deity very beautiful, then you will forget everything about the beauty of the material world.’ The beauty of the material word, it cannot satisfy the heart. So we are not proposing a life of giving up. We are not proposing of a life of giving up mundane pleasure; that is not our focus. We are proposing a life of embracing spiritual pleasure.

 

 

Cleansing the Gundica Temple.mp3

Krishna-valley / New Vraja-dhama is more than 250 hectares of typical Mid Europian rural area, located in Hungary about 30 Kms from the well known tourist place Lake Balaton, in a beautiful natural environment. New Vraja-dhama is the transcendental realm of the world’s most beautiful deities Sri Sri Radha-Syamasundara. Please visit Krishna-valley for a spiritual journey. Read more ›

The District Forestry Office is working on a plan to make a peacock sanctuary. The team of the environment activist raised various issues related to deforestation in Vrindavan. They were particularly concerned about recent reports about peacock deaths in the district. The DFO assured the team that steps are taken to protect the peacocks in Vraja. As per the forest office, they are also working to make a “monkey safari,” for which they have already sent a proposal to the government. Once the project is approved, monkeys from Vrindavan and other places will be translocated to forest land in Farah, between Mathura and Agra. Monkeys have become danger for trees, birds, peacocks and even for the humans. Read more ›

One who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately freed from the reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants indirectly to indicate something else (sanketya), jokingly (parihasya), for musical entertainment (stobha), or even neglectfully (helana). This is accepted by all the learned scholars of the scriptures. SB 6.2.14 Read more ›

As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one's sinful activities. SB 6.2.18 etävän eva loke 'smin puàsäà dharmaù paraù småtaù bhakti-yogo bhagavati tan-näma-grahaëädibhiù Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society. SB 6.3.22 Read more ›

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