Planet ISKCON

1968 July 4: "The only process for perceiving Krishna is our sincere service attitude with our senses. I thank you very much for grasping the momentum of Krishna Consciousness. May Krishna give you more and more strength in understanding His transcendental nature."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 July 4: "I know there are many Sanskrit scholars in Germany but I am not going to Germany as a Sanskrit scholar - my attempt will be to deliver the message of Lord Caitanya in the shape of Krishna Consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 July 4: "Now preach in English this Krsna consciousness philosophy amongst the educated circle in Calcutta and perform Kirtana. My principle is that where my other Godbrothers cannot preach I shall go there. On my behalf you should follow this principle, also."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1971 July 4 : "Here things are going on very nicely and just this week forty new devotees were initiated. So the stock of japa beads I brought with me has been depleted. I would like that more beads be sent immediately by air."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1973 July 4 : "This is very welcome news, that all obstacles are cleared in the way of building our temple at Vrindaban. Similarly in Bombay we have been victorious and gained overwhelming new popular support."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1975 July 4: "So, you begin the work, and money will come to you by the grace of God. Don't worry, just finish the buildings as soon as possible and somehow or other money will come."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 July 4: "You should be able to sell at least four lakhs of Rupees worth of books per month. You must also keep proper account. Not a single farthing should be wasted. I will see the accounts personally when I return."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 July 4: "The money sent to you is on loan basis. All money is BBT money and must be paid back by you to the BBT account. You can pay back conveniently. We shall help you - but you must pay back."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

The post Conversation with a guest after the Nagyvarad festival appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The blue marble blocks from Bolivia have been cut.

The photos show the wonderful quality of the marble and its pristine luster. The blue marble will be used around the altars in the new temple.

The post Bolivian Blue Marble Slabs appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

43rd Kolkata Rathyatra (29th June, 2014) Photography Courtesy: Avanish Krsna Das & Souvic Das Read more ›

A beautiful aerial view of the newly constructed Iskcon temple of Houston. Read more ›

SB 10.29.33-38 Krishna and the Gopis Meet for the Rasa Dance, Durban, South Africa.mp3

New Vrindaban Garden Manager Takes Step Closer to Sustainable Vision

By Madhava Smullen

Back when she started visiting New Vrindaban at age sixteen, admiring the Rose Gardens at Prabhupada’s Palace and thinking it would be her dream job to work there, Kacey Orr could never have predicted how all the pieces would fall into place.

When her grandfather’s farm in Triadelphia, West Virginia was cut into pieces to make way for the Interstate, farming skipped a generation as her father became a teacher. Kacey, too, seemed destined for a different life, running her own salon. But she felt unfulfilled, and in the late 2000s moved to farming full-time on her family’s farm, and selling her organic produce at local Farmer’s markets in Wheeling and Moundsville.

Her success allowed her to go back to West Liberty University to finish her B.A., for which she wrote a comparative geographical study of Vrindavana, India, and New Vrindaban, West Virginia in 2011. She also began visiting the spiritual community more regularly again, and made friends amongst the community members.

Then at a farmers’ market, she met Madhava Gosh, an agriculturist at New Vrindaban since 1974. Impressed by the news coverage Kacey had gotten for competing in a national farming competition, he invited her to apply for an opening at the community.

Cutting down growing at her own farm to just what she needed for her family, Kacey became New Vrindaban’s full-time Garden Manager in March 2014.

Local food production was, of course, a major goal for New Vrindaban’s founder Srila Prabhupada, and was emphasized in the community from its inception in 1968 until 1979. But in the 1980s and ‘90s it began to taper off and then all but disappeared, until a smaller scale of farming was re-introduced in 1998 by the Small Farm Training Center.

Since 2014, ECO-Vrindaban, a non-profit organization, has been continuing and expanding the Training Center’s program. By caring for New Vrindaban’s forty-eight cattle, milking its eight dairy cows and developing sustainable agriculture, ECOV has been realizing Srila Prabhupada’s vision of self-suffiency and simple living for the community.

And now, as the organization brings in Kacey with her commitment and expertise, community members hope to get closer to that vision than they’ve been in a long time.

Kacey isn’t working alone: she’s gathered a staff of four local people with farm experience and a major interest in sustainability, including some ecology students. And they’re aided by volunteers including local children’s book author Marty Wach, Madhava Gosh as a consultant, and many other New Vrindaban devotees.

They have a lot of work to do. New Vrindaban has three gardens: the five-acre Garden of Seven Gates, the half-acre Teaching Garden, and a small meditation garden behind the temple.

“I have a completely new crew, and this is completely new ground for me,” says Kacey. “It took me years to figure out my ground on my own property. So this year is a lot about learning, exploring and figuring things out.”

It’s a lot about action, too. The garden crew have already put up eight-foot fences and smaller ground-level fences around both main gardens to keep out deer, rabbits, and groundhogs.

In the larger Garden of Seven Gates, they have either planted or are planning to plant during the summer one thousand sweet potatoes, 300 tomatoes, 200 peppers, and 50 basil, as well as squash, snap peas, shell peas, green beans, and organic soybeans for edamame.

Amongst these they’re also planting “cover crops” – plants that act like “green manure” to revitalize the soil – such as buckwheat, Daikon radishes and cowpeas.

“We’re also trying some new things to see what works well,” says Kacey. “There’s ornamental eggplant, large organic edible sunflowers, and quinoa is something I’m very interested in too. It works well at high elevation, can handle drought, and is a whole grain.”

In the Garden of Seven Gates there are also grapes and perennial berries such as raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, bush cherries, goji berries, honeyberries, and blueberries.

Meanwhile in the Teaching Garden, which is planned as an apothecary garden for medicinal herbs, the crew is planting many flowers for the presiding Deities of New Vrindaban, Sri Sri Radha-Vrindabanchandra, including lilacs, hydrangeas, butterfly bushes, mock-oranges, peonies, zinnias and marigolds.

Finally, in the meditation garden near the temple, there are culinary herbs like oregano, basil, rosemary, sweet sicily and mint.

“It’s an enclosed area, the sort of place you can go to sit and chant your japa, if you want to be outside but undisturbed,” says Madhava Gosh.

For even more food production, Gosh explains, ISKCON New Vrindaban has introduced the concept of contract growing – that is, the temple pays people to grow a particular crop. Currently devotees and other locals including a microbiology professor and a full-time farmer are growing carrots, zucchini, brussel sprouts, broccoli, paste tomatoes, and cilantro for ISKCON New Vrindaban.

While only planting is being done now and harvesting will mostly come later in the season, there are a few crops ready now – asparagus is being harvested, and marigolds will be ready to pick by mid June.

What’s more, Kacey says she’s trying to do a lot of succession planting, spacing her planting at two week or one month intervals “so that we have a steady flow of vegetables, rather than one giant wave.”

In addition, three high tunnel greenhouses, planned for going up before the end of the year, will “extend the seasons,” allowing the gardeners to plant crops ahead of time and then harvest them throughout the winter.

“The goal is to supply all the veggies for the thirty or so people being fed by the temple kitchen during the week,” says Madhava Gosh. Gardeners and cooks will work together to ensure that fresh, locally grown vegetables are also available for the Deity kitchen and Govinda’s restaurant.

Kacey hopes to be able to reach this goal, and be “at least producing some food and flowers year around,” within the next five years. Meanwhile the 200 fruit trees the crew planted this spring should also see a yield.

“It takes a while for fruit trees to produce, but when we hit the five-year mark, we should be producing much of our own fruit,” says Kacey.

Despite the challenges of weather and a new environment, Kacey is glad to be working at New Vrindaban, with its strong support staff and pre-existing infrastructure.

“I’m so lucky to have this opportunity,” she says. “To have this kind of environment and infrastructure, and to work with a community that has a sustainability goal and a long-term plan.”

There’s always plenty to do towards this plan in the community gardens, no matter the season, and Kacey is always eager for people to volunteer as much – or as little – as they’d like. To make your contribution, contact her at korr.ecov@gmail.com or, just find her in the gardens!

“Of the nine processes of devotional service, the most important is to always chant the holy name of the Lord. If one does so, avoiding the ten kinds of offenses, one very easily obtains the most valuable love of Godhead.” CC Antya 4.71 Read more ›

Odessa or Odesa is the third largest city in Ukraine. “Simply by chanting the holy name of Krishna once, a person is relieved from all the reactions of a sinful life. One can complete the nine processes of devotional service simply by chanting the holy name. CC Madhya 15.107 Read more ›

Your servants, Mayapurcandra dasa and Campakalata Devi dasi: Thank you, dear supporters! Your generosity has brought us to our $500 per month goal to feed Radha Kunda’s widows! We were feeding ten at first and have already increased that number to fifteen! We are serving rotis (Braj style chapatis) and sabji to them every evening. Our crew is very inspired to do this service. And thanks to your ongoing support, we will be able to continue it indefinitely! :) :) :) Read more ›

Saratov is a city and the administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River Read more ›

(Automatically translated from Russian)Yoshkar-Ola is the capital city of the Mari El Republic, Russia. Participants spectacular action not only sang the sacred mantras, but also danced, played on Indian instruments and handing out sweets Several dozen Hare Krishna (Vaishnavas) passed from the monument to the young family to pl. Nikonov through Central Park of Culture and Leisure and Chavaina blvd. Indian festival attracted the attention of the citizens: the participants not only bright processions singing sacred mantras, danced, played on Indian musical instruments, but also handed out sweets, reported June 28 Portal Pro Yoshkar-Ola. http://pg12.ru/ By the way, the citizens and guests of the capital of the Mari could purchase a Vaishnava even books on Vedic philosophy. Read more ›

The tree in Tompkins Square Park under which Srila Prabhupada was preaching to the people, the Matchless Gifts storefront, first ever temple of Iskcon and more. Read more ›

With Radhanath Swami Read more ›

HH Maha Vishnu Swami – SB 10.69.18 – 24.06.2014

Listen audio...

This talk is a part of the "Fascinating Mahabharata Characters" series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Following the start of Morari Bapu’s historic Ram Katha in Rome, Bapu was invited to meet Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue .

BG 08.24 We Have Only To Want Krishna & Nothing Else 2014-07-01

Lecture – Bhagavad Gita 8.24 We have only to want Krishna & nothing else 7/1/2014 Ljubljana

Every year devotees at New Govardhana celebrate Lord Jagannatha’s Rathayatra on the farm itself. The parade starts at the bottom of the hill at the river and travels to the top to reach the temple.

BY GOKUL DAMODARA DASA

Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world...simply send me an introduction message and I will be happy to make you a member:

rasa108 ::_::{.at.}::_:: gmail dot com

ys

Rasa Rasika dasa

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 22 June 2014, Bhaktivedanta Manor, London, Caitanya Caritamrta Adi-Lila 8.63-66)

It is mentioned in the Hari Bhakti Vilasa that if one accepts the worship of a deity then, not only should one worship that deity very nicely during his lifetime, but one is also responsible to make sure that the seva puja goes on after one’s lifetime! So we see that it is a major responsibility to worship a deity.

Krsna is very kind when he manifests himself in his deity form. Krsna descends from the spiritual world in that particular form and manifests himself here. When Krsna manifests himself in the deity form, the spiritual world is also manifest. Therefore in a way, one can say that our temples are non-different from Vrindavan because wherever Krsna is, the entire spiritual world is also manifest! That is the nature of Krsna.

In this way, we can appreciate the mercy that is manifest through the deity of the Lord. Just like here at the Bhaktivedanta Manor, it would have no meaning without the deity. It is a beautiful Manor but the deity is the centre of the entire property. Srila Prabhupada, as the principle servant, is leading all of us in service to the deity. Everything is going on very nicely. Whatever is here is an asset of the deity and whatever we develop, is offered to the deity. In that way, wherever the deity is manifest, automatically life begins to centre around Krsna. Therefore, deity worship is a very important and powerful element of the bhakti process.

 

Their was an interesting point raised at the end of giving a class and opening it up to questions that of listening and being listened.

What happens if this doesn’t happen?

The point from what I understand was that everyone needs to feel that they are being heard and have a voice, problems arise when we silence or sideline a person or group and this increases resentment.
For some the internet becomes the place to have our voice heard, a tweet or Facebook page can quickly go global and it won’t be long before you have a following of like minded individuals; validation of a point of view or feeling.

Indeed we can see the success of campaign’s for change in government policy or government injustice and even micro campaign’s based on organisation or injustice against group’s or individuals.

As some celebrate the way the internet has opened up discussions given a voice to those who previously didn’t have one, others view it with some irritation viewing anything published that they disagree with with some disdain.

Which brings me to a small note and disclaimer:

This firstly is my own personal blog a way of me sharing my thought’s, realisation and frustrations and should be read with this in mind.
Secondly I make every effort to be open and allow for replies and comment’s, this also allows for e-mail response.
Thirdly in some cases I will end or ask what is your view or thought, this reflects that either I’m still formulating ideas or thought’s or interested in how others feel about a situation or posting. If your view is diversely different to mine don’t get hot under the collar let me know (I may have a bit of a bark at times but don’t bite)
Fourthly I do include posting by third parties as part of my blog, most include their names or under the heading postings by other’s; I will pass on any comments to them and post any response

My blog is my voice because like many few ask or speak directly to me and at times this is the only way to be heard,

BG 08.23 Concentrate On Something Eternal 2014-30-06

Lecture – Bhagavad Gita 8.23 Concentrate On Something Eternal 6/30/2014 Ljubljana

The holy name has to be chanted to please the Supreme Lord, and not for any sense gratification or professional purpose.  If this pure mentality is there, then even though a person is born of  a low family, he is so glorious that not only has he purified himself, but he is quite competent to deliver others.

-  Srimad Bhagavatam, 3.33.7 purport

1968 July 3: "We do not advocate any sectarian religion. We are concerned to invoke our dormant love for God. Any method that helps us in reaching such platform is welcome but we have hardly found anyone to come to that stage simply by following religious rituals."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1968 July 3: "We want ecstasy, it does not matter where one feels it, this church or the other. But, one who feels the ecstasy of Krishna Consciousness, he finishes his ecstasy of material enjoyment - that is the test."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 July 3: "Please convey my blessings to Jayananda, who is helping so much now in organizing for the Rathayatra Festival. LA temple is now an ideal place for all centers to take example. Now make San Francisco as important."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969