Planet ISKCON

1968 July 12: "He is a foreigner and belonging to a different country and culture, but Krishna Consciousness is so nice that one forgets his material designations and becomes melted on the pure spiritual platform. We hope to bring everyone to such spiritual platform."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1968 July 12 : "You must take with you one mrdanga and at least four pairs of cymbals to begin Kirtana immediately there. When I came to your country I brought only one pair of cymbals, and it has increased at least 50 times. So you must similarly increase the number of cymbals proportionately, namely, 50 times four. "
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 July 12: "Regarding the usefulness or uselessness of the inmates, it all depends on proper management. You can't expect that all men and women who will be going there will be very useful. You have to make them useful by your arrangement."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 12 : "Devote your attention for first-class editorial work. You may continue to send me Sanskrit transliterations for being corrected as I did last time. Your first business is to see my books and magazine are published very nicely."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 July 12 : "Our process is for manufacturing sincere souls. If you are sincere, other sincere souls will come. How is it possible? Simply by following the rules and regulative principles and chanting offenselessly."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 July 12 : "At every step there is danger. We must become very diligent in executing spiritual life, and not neglect even a moment. I am very much anxious to know what is your condition, and how you are recovering."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1975 July 12: "Do not spend very much time in this way. There are already so many prayers written by the great acaryas. What will you add to this? If you have got inclination, put the chapters of Krsna Book into verse."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

SB 10.47.11 Exchanges With the Honeybee, Durban, South Africa.mp3

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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 ›

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It seems I went a little bit viral a couple of days ago with the “Ask a Monk” picture. It has to be said, that the original idea was not mine, but my dear friend and Godbrother Sadbhuja Prabhu's . Thanks must be given also to my dear friend and Godsister Sanatani Devi-dasi who suggested I did it and took the pictures. I have never gotten as intimate with people on the street as I did with this method. As I see it, this is mainly due to three factors, namely 1: They come to me, I don't approach them, so naturally they are inclined to listen to what I have to say. 2: It says “any topic” so that means we are talking about something they identify with from the get go, and 3: I am sitting down, they are walking by, so psychologically I look inferior to them. This means I am not confrontational in any way. Read more ›

Lord Krishna said to Arjuna, 'O Arjuna! Listen attentively. When the living entity chants My name, whether out of devotion or indifference, I never forget this act. It remains always close to My heart. There is no vow like chanting the holy name, no knowledge superior to It, no meditation which comes anywhere near it, and it gives the highest result. No penance is equal to it, and nothing is as potent or powerful as the holy name. Read more ›

Anyone who chants Lord Krishna's holy name is to be worshipped like a guru without considering that such a person is a woman, a sudra, a pukkasa, a yavana or of even lower birth. Read more ›

Kirtan by Nadia Mani Devi Dasi

Answer 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

Lecture Podcast

Outline:

1. Krishna from Mathura sent message through Nanda to his loved one but not gopis - so sent special written message through Uddhava

2. Uddhava's declaration "I am Krishna's confidential servant" is not out of pride, but out of desire to reassure gopis - humility is not meant to detract from our service

3. Are Krishna's pastimes with the gopis confidential? No textual delimiters at the start of the tenth canto or at the start of the rasa-panchadyaya

4. Gita Govinda a devotional and musical super-hit for centuries without any aspersions of immorality

5. Victorian prudishness of Christian rulers of India imputed immorality on Krishna and Bengali bhadraloka had no persuasive answer

6. Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati cautioned against premature trespassing into tenth canto. Not phobia, but rational caution to protect from two misconceptions: presumptuous rejection or premature imitation

7. Prabhupada's usage of honorifics for Radha as 'Srimati Radharani' and Krishna as "Supreme Personality of Godhead"

8. Inconceivability in the Gita - attempt to change sarva-dharman parityaja (give up all religions) as sarva-'dharman parityajya (give up all irreligions)

9. Need philosophical conviction and devotional purification to move from reflection to reality

 

"Doing other things while chanting is not good. Still, sometimes out of expediency you do it. But you should try to put off so-called expedient actions until after chanting. Chant at a designated time and chant loudly. Let other things wait."

From Japa Reform Notebook
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Answer:

Let’s first consider how unfair the whole battle was for Bhima. Due to Gandhari’s blessing Duryodhana’s body had become invincible, no matter how expertly or forcefully Bhima hit it. What was he supposed to do? Just let himself get beaten to death for no fault of his – all because his opponent had got a blessing for no virtue of his?

A “blessed” batsman

To grasp the unfairness of the situation, consider a rough cricket analogue: during a faceoff between a champion batsman and a champion bowler, suppose the batsman gets a “blessing” to never get out, even if he is caught, trapped leg before wicket, clean bowled, hit wicket or whatever else. What is the bowler supposed to do? No matter how well he bowls, there’s just no way he can win.

Suppose a batsman gets a "blessing" to never get out, no matter what. What is the bowler to do?

Fans with even a modest sense of fairness would be up in arms protesting the way the contest had been rigged against the bowler. But suppose no one protested. The poor bowler bowled the best spell of his life, got the batsman out several times and yet got no credit for it. Wouldn’t that be patently unfair?

That’s what happened to Bhima. He hit Duryodhana twice with such awesome force that the blow could have rent a mountain apart, what to speak of breaking a human frame apart. His achievement was like that of a bowler clean-bowling the batsman not just once but scores of times. And yet what did Bhima get for his feat? Nothing – leave alone victory, not even a crack on Duryodhana’s body.

How long could Bhima go on like this especially when Duryodhana was counterattacking and wounding Bhima? Among the many blows that hit Bhima, two of Duryodhana’s blows were so brutal that they would have instantaneously killed a lesser warrior. Though Bhima was badly injured by those devastating blows, he with superhuman fighting spirit maintained a stoic face, showing no weaknesses. His plight was like that of a bowler carted for six sixes in two successive overs. Actually, Bhima’s plight was a million times worse. Why? Because Duryodhana’s blows were wounding not just Bhima’s morale, but also his body. It’s something akin to the batsman’s shots hitting the bowler, thus rendering him less and less capable of bowling – while still being expected to go on bowling till death.

Can we really blame the battered bowler if he took the only way out of the carnage: bowl bodyline and get rid of the batsman, retired hurt? If we were being wounded like that, can we be sure that we too wouldn’t do something similar?

Understandably, Bhima took the only way out of the slaughter by hitting Duryodhana at the only place it hurt: his thighs. Just as bowling bodyline in normal cricket is unfair, so was hitting the thighs unfair in a normal mace-fighting battle. But when it was the only way to bring some fairness back into an unfair battle, would it still be blameworthy?

Honoring the spirit of the rule, adapting its letter

Rather than blaming Bhima for hitting that unfair blow, perhaps we need to give him credit for fighting fairly for so long, despite being sentenced to an eminently unfair contest. Bhima could have claimed justification for finishing the battle quickly with an early unfair blow:

1.     Maitreya Rishi had cursed Duryodhana that he would die due to the breaking of his thighs and Bhima could have claimed to simply be an instrument for fulfilling the sage’s curse.

2.     Bhima could even have claimed that he had vowed to break Duryodhana’s thighs for having obscenely exposed those thighs to publically humiliate Draupadi – and that he had to do whatever it took to fulfill his vow.

That Bhima did not take recourse of any of these reasons at the first possible opportunity demonstrates his respect for for the spirit of fair play. But the battle had been rendered unfair not because of his action, but even before he took any action.

Krishna implemented part A of the emergency plan when he persuaded Duryodhana to cover his private parts while going to see his mother. And then he told Bhima to implement part B of that plan by hitting Duryodhana’s vulnerable thighs.

Their battle was not like a normal mace-fighting battle to which the standard rules applied. Duryodhana had brought something extraneous into the battle – his mother’s protection in the form of an invisible invincible armor.  That extraneous factor so totally tilted the scales in Duryodhana’s favor that to re-balance the scales Bhima too had to bring something extraneous – Krishna’s protection in the form of an action plan to bypass that armor. Krishna implemented part A of that emergency plan when he persuaded Duryodhana to cover his private parts while going to see his mother. And then he told Bhima to implement part B of that plan by hitting Duryodhana’s vulnerable thighs.

Yes, that kind of blow was unfair in a normal wrestling battle, but what was normal or fair about a wrestling battle in which one player couldn’t win, no matter how well he fought? Understandably, such an abnormal battle couldn’t be played by the normal rules if there was to be any hope for a fair result.

As Krishna later said, there was no other way Bhima could have won – and so he had to take the only way available.

Although World Cup host Brazil is still reeling from a 7–1 loss to Germany on July 8^th, football fever still grips the country as the World Cup barrels towards the final. “Football is the most important thing amongst things that don’t have any importance,” says Sri Krishna Murti. “It’s nice entertainment, but it’s not going to change anyone’s life.” For the ISKCON devotees, however, the World Cup was life-changing.

“As if their Gods fell into the dust.” This was my first reaction seeing the videos and photos of the devastated faces after the Brazilian football team’s 1-7 loss to Germany.  "What’s the big deal? Wasn’t it just a game?”

On July 7, 2014, girls from Senior Girl Scout Troop 733 from Alachua, Florida were invited to meet with Samuel Mbae Ragwa, Governor of the Tharaka-Nithi County in Kenya. The girls were invited to share details about their project focused on reducing barriers to education for girls and young women around the world.

Some of the locust tree logs taken from ISCOWP property were thick enough to split into two or more posts. We used metal wedges and a sledge hammer to split the logs

ISCOWP July 2014 E-Newsletter

Collaboration with Like Minded Folks
The Art of Fencing
The Garden Begins
Summertime for the Cows

 

I couldn’t let this week go by without saying a few words of appreciation for Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi who has just passed on, aged 89. I met him once, some years ago in London, and he was the father of a friend of my wife who is from Winnipeg, Canada.

My knowledge of him is sketchy, but I do know that he was a teacher of Judaism and brought invigoration to dispersed congregations around North America. Together with Arthur Waskow he created a movement of small groups known as Ruach Havura, whose practise of Judaic liturgy and ritual was creative, experimental – and apparently effective. Many people owe their renewed appreciation for the Jewish culture to his outreach.

After escaping the Nazi threat in 1941 he discovered a USA where Judaism was somewhat accommodated and on the decline. By singing in English, using theatre and alternative forms of presentation, he rekindled interest in spirituality and tradition but in a way that took modern thought and artistic expression into consideration.

When I read his book: “The First Steps” in which he described the key factors of Jewish belief and practise, I knew that he was someone who loved his tradition, but that wanted others to appreciate it too. It was no surprise to me to discover that he was also associated with the Lubavitcher tradition, since outreach is one of their key activities.

Interestingly for me, due to his influences in America and the counter-culture times, he started something called the Jewish Ashram, and was also very favourable to meditation, even chanting the Hare Krishna on occasion. Shalom.

1966 July 11 : "To the surprise of the people gathered Mr Goldsmith stood up and made a short announcement asking for signers on an incorporation document for the Svami's new religious movement."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1966

1967 July 11: "The Rathayatra Festival was performed with great pomp. More than 500 people followed the procession to the beach where they distributed thousands of capatis. At last Sri Jagannatha, Subhadra, and Baladeva kindly came here and will stay for one week and then return."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967

1969 July 11: "Yes, this is the rule, the Spiritual Master remains in the material universe until all of His disciples are transferred to the Spiritual Sky. Therefore, every student should be very much careful not to commit any offense to the Spiritual Master."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 July 11 : "Each and every one of our books should have pictures as many as possible. That is my desire. People become attracted and even without reading they become inclined to purchase. It is simply to the pictures."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1969 July 11 : "If one deliberately defies the instructions of the Spiritual Master, then advancement is hampered. This defying means to disconnect the relationship with the Spiritual Master. And anyone who defies can hardly expect the assistance of the Spiritual Master life after life."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1972 July 11 : "Yes, Bhagavat Dasha, or ten day festival of reading from Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam will be nice. In future, you may join one of the parties for preaching tour, this alone preaching is not good."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1973 July 11: "People are fed up with materialistic propaganda so you will find good response simply by chanting, speaking from Bhagavad gita As It Is, and distributing prasadam. Unless human society takes to this process the situation is very precarious. So we have to work hard."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

So far the summer days on the Baltic Sea coast have been mostly bright and sunny. Taking advantage, our festival team can be seen everywhere; on the beaches, in the towns and villages and performing on stage each night.