1970 July 16: "I met my Guru Maharaja in 1922. I was born in a Vaisnava family - Kasinatha Mullick Thakuravati - so by the grace of Krsna from the very beginning of my life I was Krsna conscious by family tradition and by my father's caretaking."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1970 July 16: "I think very confidently that this Krsna Consciousness Movement will solve all the problems of the world - political, social, economic, etc. I am writing books and articles on this subject strictly in the line of Acarya Parampara. So there is great potency of spreading this movement all over the world."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1975 July 16: "If the farm cannot be utilized, then it may be sold. What is the use of keeping a bad cow? Somehow or other you have to keep the men who are there engaged. If they are allowed to become idle gradually they will again become hippies."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 July 16: "Why they should get salary? There should be no salary. You are working without salary, so why they should take. So after this month arrange for no one to get any salary there. That will be nice."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

Toronto, Ontario

Not Much But So Much


Not much to say other than the event.  The 42^nd Annual Ratha Yatra Chariot Festival was a smashing event.  I saw all kinds of people come out of the woodwork, so to speak, at the Yonge Street procession, as well as Centre Island where crowds were enjoying good clean fun.  As pointed out in the past, no drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, sex, and at the same time having a blast, is practically unheard of in this day and age. 

That’s what happened!

May the Source be with you!

10 KM

Toronto, Ontario

High Point


Monks have come, sannyasis by the name of Gopal Krishna, Bhakti Raghava, Chandramauli, and Janardan.  Lay members have arrived, some who are family members, some who are singles.  There are the elderly, the very young, children and babies, and adolescents that have made their way to 243 Avenue Road for the warm-up session leading to this year’s Chariot Festival.

I am referring to a 12 hour kirtan, a chanting marathon.  These folks have come from far and wide, cities from locations in primarily North America are represented.  The vibes are great.  I was given the honour to kick start the function.  I was fortunate to have our boys from the Krishna Culture Bus Tour all around me.  The well known kirtan icon, Madhava, was there to support with his voice while Phil Lussier, who so expertly adjusts to any of my tune switching, was fingering on the harmonium. 

Throught the day, mantras were resounding.  I would call our building nothing less than a busy anthill or beehive.  By evening, the high point reached during Madhava’s lead – a crescendo of sound, of movement, of smells, and finally, the fire of digestion. 

Anyone who was there at those lofty moments could appreciate the words of the Bhagavad Gita, “The Higher Taste”.

May the Source be with you!

10 KM

The other day I told you about my 40th anniversary of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Now here is an old friend of mine who has probably sung thousands more kirtans than myself, who has involved hundreds of thousands more people, and who tours the world introducing kirtan to countless people for the very first time. He never – ever – tires of sitting down with a small pair of cymbals and singing. To see the effect he has on others while he’s singing, have a look at this very short film:

BY SANTI VARDHANA CAITANYA DASA

PHOTO BY KULAPRADA RADHA DEVI DASI

JOHOR BHARU - One gem of a devotee, although not active now, is in very critical condition.

Bhakta Lal, a youth from Teluk Intan, cultivated by Adi Purusa Krishan Prabhu, contracted denggi and is in ICU in Johor Bahru. He is unconscious.

In youth days, he used to dedicately serve HH Jayapataka Swami, together with other youth boys from Teluk Intan.

Please pray for for his quick recovery. He is the bread winner in his family.

I was a little shocked and perplexed by an article posted recently on a very prominent devotee news outlet given the flack I sometimes get on postings on my blog which is posted on only 1 devotee outlet via a historical RSS feed set up without my knowledge
I read and wondered what verses from any devotee source or teachings from Srila Prabhupada was being used and what stage did we promote such uncompassionate almost fundamentalist ideas or immense hatred of others.
In this material world in the age of kali quarrels and war are a symptom and in these global disputes it is the elderly, women, children who become collateral damage, indeed modern warfare rather than being a nobal one between two sets of soldiers with casualties being on both sides; modern warfare has now more civilians killed than soldiers.
What shocked me was the comments made on one long running war over disputed territory which both claim for historical and religious reasons is theirs and which has seen a recent excilation with now nearly 200 killed mainly women, elderly and children who live in these disputed territory.
The article pointed out one does not allow devotees freedom to worship Sri Krishna and one does hence one legitimately has the right to kill another and we should not show compassion or be comcernedy for the loss of life.
Do we preach this?
Your a non devotee you don’t let us chant the holy names of Krishna so killing you or watching you suffer and be killed is fine?
Is this Srila Prabhupada’s teaching the death of women and children is fine if it’s non devotee or they live in a state that does not allow preaching of Krishna consciousness for that’s what they deserve?
NO!
We see how many devotee’s risked their lives to preach Krishna Consciousness in countries were it was banned showed compassion distributed not only the holy names of Krishna but krishna prasadam.
And how did Krishna respond? He made the country political system change and then an explosion of devotees came, quiet revolution that took everyone by surprise, we show the willingness to share true love Krishna reciprocates.
Violence begets Violence
Indeed scripture warns of the consequence of armed conflict indeed the only righteous war is waged by Sri Krishna himself and NO civilians are killed injured or become refugees in wretched conditions.
Why war?
False identification
I am this body
This land is mine
This is my people
This is our way.
What did Srila Prabhupada teach?
What did Sri Krishna teach?
You are not the body you are spirit soul; identification of the body is illusion
Krishna says Surrender unto me become my devotee render service unto me become my devotee
Devotee is full of compassion for the fallen conditioned soul captivated by maya and her illusionary energy falsely identifying with the body with little or no understanding of the soul.
Our preaching was made simple chant the holy names of Krishna, if this is not possible then distribute Krishna prasadam this will change their consciousness, this is our bullet’s they do not kill! they feed and nurish both body and soul.
So we go into the lands that appear by mayas illusionary energy to hate us and liderate them through kindness, through prasadam and show Krishna’s love is the example! The only way
For our body, gender, background is tempory
Our land is only temporary
Both belong to and should be engaged in Krishna’s service offered daily to Krishna the moment we exclude Krishna and stop showing Krishna’s love then as a society we are doomed.
So scatter those bullets of Krishna prasadam, offer comfort and shelter to even those who say they are our enemy for by our kindness as Krishna states even our enemy will forget sit down and act like family.
Krishna consciousness is sublime and the most powerful of weapons, and our biggest weapon compassion and love.

See: http://bit.ly/1oH7yRq

The post A request for assistance for devotees in Ukraine appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

We have recently found out that you will take sannyasa, and that the initiation will take place at Goloka Dham, Germany on Janmastami this year. What made you decide to take this step? What made me decide to take this step was no single event, it was I would say the culmination of a process of reflection that I`ve been having quite some years actually. I was cautious because we have seen in ISKCON there have been in the past what you might call sannyasa casualties and I didn`t want to be a part of that statistic. So I thought better to wait and make sure. I also felt that since Srila Prabhupada gave sannyasa to senior devotees, he had a purpose for this and I want to respect that purpose and, I think, to expand my service by making this commitment. And in one sense people say I`m already a sannyasi. That may be the case, but I`d like to make it confirmed. And since it`s Krishna`s arrangement that there are four ashramas, I thought let me also take advantage of the ashrama. All of the ashramas are meant to be supportive for devotional service, so I also see the sannyasa ashrama as a means of support for my spiritual life personally and also for helping others in their spiritual life. Read more ›

It was a historic moment o build a new temple for Lord Jagannath & Srila Prabhupada in the land of Jagannath i.e Utkal (aka Odisha). Temple construction has started 7 years ago and completed in the year 2014. Read more ›

The Old Log Cabin  and The Brick House

The New Vrindaban Advocacy Sanga met with Jaya Krsna prabhu on Tues. July 5, 2014.  One of the topics that came up was the recent removal of the old log cabin that used to sit just off the road across from Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of gold.  It was made of massive, thick logs and, at one time, was an attractive remnant from the Limestone area’s past.  Over the years, there have been various additions and subtractions made on the cabin.  Acting on inquiries from residents of the community, who noticed with some surprise that the cabin was being dismantled, the Advocacy Sanga brought up the topic with Jaya Krsna on behalf of the residents.

According to Jaya Krsna, although the log cabin has been taken down, it will be re-used as a temple for Krsna for the devotees living in the area of Yudhisthira’s land.

Jaya Krsna explained, “There are a few reasons why the log cabin has been removed.  First of all (but not necessarily in order of importance) New Vrindaban has been doing a lot of promotion over the last two years to bring back visitors and buses to Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold.  This includes TV spots in Pittsburgh, ads in tourism magazines, as well as distributing flyers to a wider area than we have done in a long time.

 to bring back visitors and buses to Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold. This includes TV spots in Pittsburgh, ads in tourism magazines, as well as distributing flyers to a wider area than we have done in a long time. As a result, we have experienced that more buses and tourists are coming. Our Palace parking lot is not big enough to accommodate all the vehicles. At the beginning of the season, two spaces for tour buses have already been realized.

Jaya Krsna went on, “Another reason concerns the history of this cabin. Some people thought that the cabin was a significant historic building, in which case we would not want to remove it, but rather have it certified and marked as such. However, after some research, Varsana Maharaj discovered that the cabin had been a church built in 1810, originally in Limestone, but had been moved two times prior to settling where it was for some years now, across from the Palace. It was not at all connected with the historic Wetzel family, as many people thought – a family who had settled the current area of New Vrindaban back in frontier days. In addition, when Yudhisthira recently approached the Marshall County Historical Society, they showed no interest, nor did they give any historical significance to the cabin.”

According to Jaya Krsna, the third reason for removing the cabin is related to Varsana Maharaj’s Govardhana Hill and Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir project. There have been plans in place for many years to construct this small replica of Vrindavan Dhama in New Vrindaban in the area of Govardhana Hill, a region which includes the log cabin as well as the brick house (Kirtanananda Swami’s old house). Just a couple of years ago, when some professsors from WVU did research work on the topic of holy places of pilgrimage in New Vrindaban, they recommended that, for optimum effectiveness, there should be no buildings obstructing the view or the access between the Palace and Govardhana Hill.

 

This is a fact which has already been proven at the recent July 4 festival. Visitors were seen leaving their Palace tour, and then walking directly up to the Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha Mandir, which was now clearly visible due to the removal of the cabin.

“Finally,” Jaya Krsna reminded everyone, “the decision about the log cabin was discussed at the April joint Board meetings and then presented to the community during the community dialog that same weekend.

The Brick House

The brick house, still standing next to where the log cabin was situated, originally belonged to non-devotees, but was bought by the community in 1980, and ultimately became Kirtanananda Swami’s residence for some years, with a men’s asrama downstairs. After he left the community in 1994, the brick house was used as living quarters for one family upstairs, and offices for the Palace downstairs. But then, the house remained empty for many years and fell into disrepair. Eventually, there was a new roof put in, and the basement was gutted in order to eliminate the black mold, all in an effort to possibly make the house useful again. However, due to various changes in New Vrindaban at the time, the house was never again used to this date, and is now in even worse shape.

Jaya Krsna says that this house will also soon be taken down and partially re-used, in order to further clear that area for the Govardhana Hill project, which is meant to help fulfill the part of Srila Prabhupada’s vision for New Vrindaban as a place of pilgrimage.

 

Mangala Arati of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, 14th July 2014 Iskcon Chowpatty

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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

Banned in V.K. (Vai-Kuṇṭha)

This is an extremely important purāṇik story, please hear it attentively. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.15.26:

Brahmā’s four sons became saturated with supreme, unprecedented delight when the force of their attachment granted them entry into Vaikuṇṭha, which is the only truly praiseworthy place, full of dazzling, amazing, transcendental crafts, and predominated by the Guru of All. They felt a bliss greater than they had ever felt before, because they anticipated that here they would receive the highest enlightenment from that supreme guru.

The “force of attraction” is yoga-māyā. Hari extended this to the Kumāras because he is the viśva-guru and wanted them to come to him to learn about bhakti.

27₂₈:
With complete detachment, those four scholars passed through the gates of six walls, approaching Hari’s palace. At the seventh they saw two divine beings of the same age holding clubs and bedecked with incalculably valuable bracelets, earrings, crowns, and exquisite cloth. Delirious bees surrounded the flower-necklaces hanging from the bluish shoulders between their four arms. Their eyebrows frowned, their nostrils flared, and their reddish eyes, stirring to anger, glanced at the four boys.

“Why were they angry at the boys?” The gods asked Brahmā.

29:
Brahmā explained that the boys had no sense of discrimination, no sense of property or boundaries, so they were habituated to simply going wherever they wanted and doing whatever they needed without asking permission. Therefore, they tried to open the gold-and-diamond doors of the seventh gate without asking permission from the doorkeepers.

30:
The doorkeepers saw that the four naked five-year-old children had comprehended only the reality of oneness. So the held out their staffs, preventing the children from entering. They thought, “These monists are too proud of their powerful realization, and do not deserve to enter the palace. Their behavior will not please Hari.” But from another angle it was the door keepers who took their powerful post too seriously and displeased Hari by disregarding the fact that Hari is always pleased to meet a true spiritualist.

31:
Many divine entities saw this and realized that the two gatekeepers had blocked the most deserving souls, so they hurried to inform Hari. Meanwhile, the eyes of the children suddenly flooded with anger, as a result of the obstacle to their most eagerly desired audience with the dearest friend of the soul, Hari.

Actually the four children did possess some type of seed of bhakti, because they had lobha (greed) to attain Hari’s darśan for the sake of learning about him. So they should not have been blocked. Being blocked from their transcendental greed, they developed transcendental anger. The verse uses the word kāmānuja for “anger”, it literally means “the younger brother of greed.”

32:
“Who are you,” they incredulously asked, “to have attained such exalted service to the All-Attractive, yet to still have a character that generates disharmony among the harmonious residents here in Vaikuṇṭha?”

“We are gatekeepers!” they said, “We must guard against the possibility that Hari’s enemy may take the guise of a spiritualist to infiltrate the palace!”

“You are guarding the person who is the source of all peace and who has no enemy!” The sages pointed out, their anger flaring higher. “You alone among all the residents of Vaikuṇṭha do not have a nature similar to his! That must be why you suspect that there could be an enemy who might sneak into Vaikuṇṭha.

33:
“Fools!” they continued, “just try to listen to reason.

The All-Attractive beyond this gate contains the entire cosmos within him and is the soul of every soul. Every soul is simply like a pot containing a portion of the sky that is Hari. You don’t seem to understand this. You two look like divine beings, so why have you developed this foolish idea that living beings are separate from Hari, and could possibly threaten him?”

The doorkeepers did not reply.

The children spoke amongst themselves,

“We should think of some punishment that would bestow a supreme blessing upon these two slow-witted servants of the Husband of Vaikuṇṭha.”

Then, turning to the doorkeepers, they declared,

“Leave here and enter the worlds where you can easily see the three awful results of your dualistic mentality: lust, anger, and greed — the only true enemies.”

Proponents of the theory that the living entity was established actively in a life in Vaikuṇṭha prior to entering the material world frequently refer to this incident in search of some support from śāstra for their conception. However this is not a tenable reference, for the following reasons:

1) The theory claims that aversion to Hari can develop in Vaikuṇṭha. However, the gatekeepers did not possess aversion to Hari, they simply made a bad decision on a difficult issue, as a result of their devotion to Hari making them feel the vatsālya-bhāva that they needed to protect Hari from possible enemies.

2) The theory seeks to explain why the living entity falls into delusion and forgets Hari. However, the gatekeepers did not fall into maya like an ordinary soul.

3) The astonishment of the Kumāras over their misconception that the doorkeepers were disharmonious with the nature of Vaikuṇṭha indicates that such a thing (disharmony in Vaikuṇṭha) would be impossible, inexplicable and astonishing.

4) The departure of the two doorkeepers from Vaikuṇṭha is an extremely uncommon event requiring the curse from extremely powerful brahmanas. Yet the theory seeks to use this incident as evidence for the eternal, normal generation of jīvas who are not in perfect harmony with Hari.

Therefore this incident does not at all illustrate the viability of the theory that we infinite living entities were previously in Vaikuṇṭha with Hari.

Feeling Separation Part 5 2012-09-21 Ukraine

Feeling Separation Part 4 2012-09-20 Ukraine

"Always be sure to chant 16 rounds and study my books daily. This will keep you strong in spiritual life."

Letter to Locanananda das
16 January, 1975

Feeling Separation Part 3 2012-09-19 Ukraine

Feeling Separation Part 2 2012-09-17 Ukraine

Feeling Separation Part 1 Ukraine 2012-09-17

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, April 2010, Radhadesh, Belgium, Lecture)

Time gradually forces us to rely on Krsna! We can no longer rely on our reflexes; we can no longer rely on our wit as our memory is fading day-by-day. An old man with a T-shirt, I met him in Johannesburg airport some years ago, and it said, “Done it all! Seen it all! Heard it all! But can’t remember it all!” Yes, a great T-shirt!

He said, “You like it? I designed it myself.” Which made it even more authentic, you know. So in this way, old age is certainly a factor in the life of a vaisnava but it works favourably! Whereas for the materialists, it is just limiting him further and further, and diminishing all his means to happiness! But for the devotee, it brings him to the one pointed root of just relying on Krsna, taking shelter of Krsna and realising that it is Krsna who provides!

 

 

 

Rtadhvaja Swami, Jayadvaita Swami, Giriraj Swami, and other devotees and guests were present at this ceremony, in which Giriraj Swami awarded second initiation to Krishna Kirtan Das, from Ventura, and first initiation to Brent Pyeatt, from Bellingham, WA, who received the name Balabhadra Das, and to Nick Pritchard, from LA, who received the name Narottam Das.

“Srila Prabhupada had a press conference during the pandal program in Calcutta. A lot of the reporters were in that atheist-communist mood. One of the reporters asked, ‘What is the use of spending all this money on this big elaborate arrangement? What are you going to achieve by this?’ The implication was that we could have used the money to feed poor people or do some charitable work. Srila Prabhupada replied, ‘What will it achieve? It will achieve hearing. This whole elaborate arrangement that you are seeing has come from hearing. Some young men and women heard from me, and because they heard they have been inspired to make this arrangement.’ And that is a fact—everything begins from hearing. And then, as Srila Prabhupada would say, following his Guru Maharaja, ‘One who hears nicely can speak nicely.’ So, we are not manufacturing anything new, we are simply repeating what we have heard from Srila Prabhupada and our predecessors.”

—Giriraj Swami

Rtadhvaja Swami
Jaidvaita Swami
Giriraj Swami

Here is another inspiring exchange with Srila Prabhupada about Hare Krishna Land, Juhu. —GS

Tamala Krsna: You always came out victorious—always. I have never seen you defeated. In Bombay it was absolutely impossible. It seemed to be impossible.

Prabhupada: Nobody encouraged—not a single man. Who could see that such a big project would come up?

Tamala Krsna: Only you could see that—you and Radha-Rasabihari. I was . . .

Prabhupada: Still, I was determined: “No, this place is very nice.”

Tamala Krsna: They should write a book about that.

Prabhupada: Yes, it is worth writing, history.

(Room Conversation, June 18, 1977, Vrindavan)

 

 

 

The last few weeks have been VERY busy in the gardens. We have had many new volunteers.  A family from Maryland came to work and camp in the garden.  Currently we have two volunteers from WWOOF (world wide opportunities on organic farms) that have been helping with our abundant harvest of green beans.  The Roots & Shoots 4-H Cloverbud Club came and spent a day touring the gardens and picking flowers.  The kids had a wonderful time and learned all about farming and flowers.

The first week of July we planted four varieties of squash.  This is the last big planting until fall.  Our sweet potatoes are looking great and the vines are filling in all the spaces in their beds. Twice a week we harvest herbs and greens for the temple (lettuce, kale, swiss chard, and arugula).  This week brought us our first full sized red tomatoes and bitter melons. Our current pick list also includes red raspberries, peppers, beets, basil, oregano, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, dill, and tons of green beans.  Two of our local contract growers have been also making weekly deliveries or carrots and cilantro.

Both the Teaching Garden and the Garden of Seven Gates are bursting with beautiful flowers.  The temple staff has been picking hundreds of marigolds for garlands and a variety of flowers for vases. As we move further into the summer harvest we hope to have more volunteers to continue to provide the community with a bounty of vegetables and flowers.

1968 July 15: "My special instruction to you all is that you practice Sankirtana very rhythmically and in a responsive way. That means one should chant first, and others should follow him. That is a very nice system."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 July 15: "This program of offering grand scale quantities of prasadam amongst the general people was encouraged by Lord Caitanya, because if someone partakes of the remnants of offerings to Lord Krishna, then he is sure to come back to Krishna Consciousness again at one time or another."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 15: "Regarding Festivals, you may hold as many as possible. If you can hold such festivals daily, that is also nice. Our movement is for ananda, simply bliss, and the method of pushing this movement is chanting, dancing, feasting and philosophizing."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 July 15: "As I have taken this work as my life and soul on the order of my Spiritual Master, similarly if you take my desires as your life and soul, then the whole thing is immediately connected with Krsna. That is the meaning of Parampara system."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1970 July 15: "None of these activities are our personal affairs. Each and every activity is directly connected with Krsna because they come through the proper channel. They can only be received through the Spiritual Master."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 July 15: "Regarding the songs by Jayadeva, Srita Kamala is not approved. Sometimes our Krsnadasa Babaji sings, but it is not approved by Prabhupada. Those songs are for siddha bhaktas, not for us who are learning bhaktas."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1974 July 15: "The philosophy discourses we had years ago is now lying without any utility, so all devotees are very much anxious to publish it. Why it should be delayed unnecessarily?"
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1974 July 15: "We wish to hold a grand festival of the opening of Krishna Balarama temple at Raman Reti. There will be seven days function, and the arrangement has been made that anyone who visits our temple may be supplied with sumptuous prasadam both kachi and pakki."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.18.52 Purport: “If one is trained to honor and worship the cows and brahmanas, he is actually civilized. The worship of the Supreme Lord is recommended, and the Lord is very fond of the cows and brahmanas (namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca). In other words, a civilization in which there is no respect for the cows and brahmanas is condemned. One cannot become spiritually advanced without acquiring the brahminical qualifications and giving protection to cows. Read more ›