Ratha Yatra in Jakarta, Indonesia
→ ISKCON News

Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia celebrated its 487th anniversary on Sunday, 22 June 2014. On this occasion, the city hosted the Jakarnaval, a cultural parade from the National Monument to the Central Business District of Jakarta. Hare Krishna devotees took this opportunity to organize their third annual Ratha-Yatra festival.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s contributions 2 – See the unity of purpose underlying the diversity of religions
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Special Day Meditation Podcast

“When we have occasion to be present at the place of worship of other religionists at the time of their worship, we should stay there in a respectful mood, contemplating thus: 'Here is being worshiped my adorable highest entity God, in a different form than that of mine. Due to a different practice of a different kind, I cannot thoroughly comprehend this system of theirs. But seeing it, I am feeling a greater attachment for my own system. God is one. I bow down before His emblem as I see here and offer my prayer to my Lord who has adopted this different emblem so that He may increase my love toward Him in the form that is acceptable for me.”

- Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Chaitanya Shikshamrita

6-Hour Kirtan for Bhaktivinoda Thakur! – Saturday, Jun 28, 2014 **UPDATED**
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

This Saturday, June 28, 2014, the Hare Krishna temple welcomes you to join us for a special 6-Hour Kirtan honouring Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and his divine legacy as we commemorate 100 years from his disappearance. 

This non-stop six hour kirtan, starting at 3:00 pm, will mark the culmination of various events that are happening throughout this month! 

Here is the schedule *subject to change*:

3:00pm - 3:30pm: Chaitanya Nimai das
3:30pm - 4:00pm: Bhakta Sahil
4:00pm - 4:30pm: Nandini Radha devi dasi
4:30pm - 5:00pm: Sukhavak das
5:00pm - 5:30pm: Bhakta Nipun
5:30pm - 6:00pm: Bhaktin Shastyna
6:00pm - 6:30pm: Bhakta Keshav
6:30pm - 7:15pm: Rukmini devi dasi
7:15pm - 8:00pm: Bhaktin Tara
8:00pm - 9:00pm: Dhira Grahi das
 



Please mark the date in your calendars, and we hope to see you this Saturday!


Stockholm, June 2014 – Part 3
→ KKSBlog

Report by Harivilasa das*

FU3_6627In Sweden, the 20th of June was a big day, as the country celebrated Midsummers Eve. For Maharaj, it was also a special day, as he took a break from writing and dedicated the day to devotee association. First on the agenda was a disciple meeting. About eight disciples gathered at the home of Ananta Prabhu in Stockholm, where they spent a few hours with Maharaj just speaking informally and doing a little kirtan. It was a very personal gathering, without the cameras and recorders of more official programs. After a light lunch, everyone headed off toward New Brahmakund, an apartment building where only devotees reside. Many devotees assembled in the basement temple for a pumping kirtan and a wonderful class on the importance of sharing Krsna consciousness, especially if our own sadhana ever gets dry.

Maharaj’s sojourn in Sweden also came to an unexpected end on Saturday (21 June), when Maharaj left for England to attend to some urgent issues. He will be in England until Thursday 26 June, when he will depart for Amsterdam.

*Harivilasa is editing Maharaj’s first draft of the book before it is sent to the reference group for reading and then for final editing

 

Photos

Please click here to view photos taken by Uffe and Raya.

Audio

KKS_Stockholm_20 June 2014_Bhajan_Maha manta

KKS_Stockholm_20 June 2014_Lecture_CC Madhya 22.75

 

 

 

Harinama in Tel Aviv, Israel (Album 18 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

Glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is performed in the paramparä system; that is, it is conveyed from spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in the false, temporary glorification of this cosmic manifestation. Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self? SB 10.1.4 Read more ›

Kitchen Religion Cookbooks Reveal Secrets of Quantity Cooking
→ ISKCON News

The first in the new “Kitchen Religion Series” of cookbooks, Rice: 65 Recipes From Around the World doesn’t just offer an astonishing amount of sumptuous ways to prepare that simplest of staple foods. It’s also the first ever ISKCON cookbook to focus on how to cook in large quantities, an extremely valuable resource for its target audience of ISKCON devotees.

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 06/26/14
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

New Vrindaban Horses Farm

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 06/26/14.

Each week we highlight an earlier era of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

This week’s challenge: Can you identify the cart driver and two horses in this photo?

Extra credit: What year and where do you think it was taken?

What to do: Post your guesses on the “who, what, when, where & why” in the comment section at the New Vrindaban Facebook Page.

Technical stuff: We share a photo Thursday and confirm known details Sunday. Let’s keep it light and have a bit of fun!

Special request: If you have a photo showing New Vrindaban devotees in action, share it with us and we’ll use it in a future posting.

Gift
→ Seed of Devotion

February 2013

I rarely sing kirtan nowadays. You know, with instruments, call and response, people. For some reason I'm avoiding kirtan situations where I could be asked to sing. I guess I feel this fear of failure - that I'll sing and feel incomplete at the end. Like I didn't connect, others didn't connect, I looked like a fool.

This morning, though, before class Adi Purusha Prabhu just walked right up to me with a pair of kartals in each hand.

"Yes?" I said.

"You can choose your pair to lead the morning kirtan," he said.

"Oh!" I said. I slowly reached for the pair in his left hand. "Okay..."

So I sang. My voice was low from being sick, and I ended up dropping into a tune that I had never sung before and had had no plan of even singing. It just came out.

Everyone was singing, I felt all of us in class calibrating on the holy name. I felt a lightness and peace in my body. I felt grateful to be surrendering to the random flow of the kirtan.

When the kirtan ended, Srimati Mataji came up to me and gave me a big bear hug, just enfolding me in her love. She murmured, still embracing me, "Never stop singing. Always sing, Bhakti lata,"

"Oh thank you, mata, thank you, I feel so blessed," I said. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and I gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Srimati Mataji sat  back down in front of me and I felt so moved. So moved. I feel moved right now. Krishna has given me a gift, and giving that gift as a service to others is the perfection of that gift. I've been selfish with this gift that Krishna has given me, avoiding kirtan because I'M scared of failure and not being seen as an expert musician and kirtaniya. But maybe that gift can become perfect if I'm willing to just let go. 
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Service comes first
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 10 May 2014, Bhaktivedanta Manor, England, Caitanya Caritamrta Adi Lila 8.31)

Sometimes, we have seen that people have discussed the svarupa of Srila Prabhupada, of what it might be, and some have suggested that it might be sakhya-rasa (friendship with Krsna), and even some publications have made points about it. Whatever that may be – I am not going to enter into debate on this – but sometimes it is stated as a part of evidence that Srila Prabhupada placed Krsna-Balaram as the principal deities on the altar in Vrindavan. However, if we study the Caitanya Caritamrta and read in the purports about Krsna and Balaram being installed in Vrindavan, Srila Prabhupada says that he particularly has installed Krsna and Balaram because they are not different from Gaura-Nitai. In this purport, Srila Prabhupada says the same thing; he basically repeats Narottam das Thakur: nitāi-pada bine bhāi, rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi – without the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda one cannot attain Radha and Krsna.

So we go through Krsna and Balaram, through Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, and then Vrindavan may be revealed to us.

kks japa walkOtherwise, what is the point!? See, what happens is that we will enter into the pastimes of Radha and Krsna and will find them very inspiring! There are very beautiful descriptions of wonderful stories – Krsna drawing dolphins on the breasts of the gopis – wow, dolphins! It is kind of intriguing to the mind but at the same time, when a liberated soul, when one who has love for Krsna hears such narrations then it is sufficient to satisfy the heart. But when one does not have that love of God, then such descriptions may be very intriguing, nice, exciting, and we want to hear more to satisfy curiosity. But it will not be enough to capture the heart exclusively, and other desires will remain and then again one will desire his own pastimes in this world with the opposite sex. In other words – it is not adequate.

So first comes serving Lord Caitanya. It is explained that in the relationship with Krsna there are five rasas (conjugal, parental, friendship, servitorship and neutrality), but that in the relationship with Lord Caitanya there is only one, the relationship of dasya, of servitorship. It is so because Lord Caitanya is acting as a spiritual master, and in the relation to the spiritual master there is only servitorship, nothing else. So, in the same way, in the relationship with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu there is dasya, only servitorship. And by serving Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by taking up his mission to spread mercy to somehow or other engage anyone and everyone in devotional service, in that way one becomes absorbed.

 

Dance in Ecstasy
→ simple thoughts

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“To chant the Holy Name and dance in ecstasy is so easy and sublime that one can achieve all benefits of spiritual life simply by following this process.”
Srimad Bhagavatam 6.2.11

Every Saturday night we pass a restaurant near Leicester Square, and we call to the waiters to come out.
Enjoy the movie
Your servant
Parasuram Das

4 QUESTIONS FOR YOUR SUCCESS
→ Gita Coaching

1. Do you really know what greatness looks like for yourself -- and your service or work? 2. Do you really know what path will take you there -- fastest, safest, best? 3. Do you have the courage and commitment to pursue that path? 4. If you've gone off track, do you have someone to help you get back on the right path, and believe in your sincerity and ability?

Harinama in Parnumaa, Estonia (Album 36 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

By chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord, one comes to the stage of love of Godhead. Then the devotee is fixed in his vow as an eternal servant of the Lord, and he gradually becomes very much attached to a particular name and form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As his heart melts with ecstatic love, he laughs very loudly or cries or shouts. Sometimes he sings and dances like a madman, for he is indifferent to public opinion. SB 11.2.40 Read more ›

Gundica Clean-Up – Sunday, June 29, 2014
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

Please join us on Sunday June 29th for a very special clean up!  Not only is it Snana Yatra... but it's also Gundica Clean Up!

As you may already know, on July 12th we will be holding our 42nd annual Festival of India (Ratha Yatra) and every year we clean the temple two weeks in advance.  This is following the example set by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who held the first Gundica Clean Up some 500 years ago.  This year we will be cleaning the temple on Snana Yatra, which is the day their Lordships Sri Jagannatha, Sri Baladeva and Sri Subhadra are bathed.  After this bathing ceremony, all three fall ill and go into seclusion in order to get better.  After two weeks, They will re-emerge for Ratha-Yatra.  It is important that the temple is clean for when Lord Jagannatha makes His appearance after recuperating from being ill for two weeks.

So please join us for this amazing service.  We promise it's going to be a fun day!

Here are the details:

Date: Sunday June 29th, 2014
Time: 10:00 AM sharp
What to wear: Clothes that you are willing to get a little dirty.
What to bring: Just yourself!  We'll provide everything else you'll need.


Please RSVP if you can make it by emailing us at psenatoronto@gmail.com

Janmashtami 2014
→ New Vrindaban

janma karma ca me divyam
evaḿ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaḿ punar janma
naiti mām eti so 'rjuna

One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 4.9

Janmastami is the Vaisnavas' most important and significant festival of the year. It is held in celebration of the birthday of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, Himself.

This year we invite you to come with your whole family and take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to get the blessings of Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra. You will have the chance to offer a very special Kalash Abhishek. Then witness the Lord, beautifully dressed in His most opulent, attractive attire, as He rides majestically in His famous Swan Boat on the New Vrindaban lake. Enjoy the elaborate Fireworks. Finally, savor a wonderful Prasadam Dinner Banquet.

Lord Krishnaâ's bathing ceremony called Abhishek is witnessed by all attendees while Kalash sponsors personally assist the temple pujaris by handing over the Pancha Dravya, the sacred bathing liquids.

Funds collected from Janmashtami are specifically used to render service to Lord Krishna, His devotees and the cows during winter months.

Dates for Janmashtami 2014:

August 16/17: Actual Janmashtami Midnight Celebration
August 23: Fire Yagna and Janmashtami Celebration
August 30 /31: Labor Day weekend, Janmashtami Celebration
August 31: Dahi Handi cum Garbha Dance Celebration

MAHA KALASH ABHISHEK $1501
• Complimentary accommodation for up to 4 family members,
(2 nights in the newly renovated Palace Lodge or 1 night in the cabin)
• Your entire family can participate in Kalash Abhishek of the Lord
• Special gold-plated Kalash and Harinam chaddar
• Foldable photo frame of Radha-Krishna
• Participation in Maha Yagna and Go-puja
• Special Janmashtami maha-prasadam package
• Complimentary Janmashtami Banquet prasadam for up
to four family members

KALASH ABHISHEK $751
• Complimentary accommodation for up to 4 family members,
(one night in the newly renovated, Palace Lodge)
• Your entire family can participate in Kalash Abhishek of the Lord
• Special gold-plated Kalash and Harinam chaddar
• Foldable photo frame of Radha-Krishna
• Participation in Maha Yagna and Go-puja
• Special Janmashtami Maha-Prasadam package
• Complimentary Janmashtami Banquet Prasadam for up
to four family members

SPONSORSHIPS JANMASHTAMI
Festival Annadanam - $11,111
Deity Dress - $8001
Festival Decorations - $5001
Janmastami Rajbhoga - $2501
Swan Boat - $1008
Fireworks - $501
Janmashtami Maha Yagna - $351
Go-Puja on Janmastami anmastami - $108

Reserve Now! Kalash Sponsorship is Limited.
Call 304-843-1600

Gaurnatraj Das              Parampara Das            Venkata Chalapati Das
Ext. 118                         Ext. 103                        Ext. 107

TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATION


Janmashtami 2014
Date:
Name:




Participate in the biggest event of the Year. Call now and book your sponsorships.

We will celebrate Janmashtami on three different evenings. Please choose the one most convenient for you to participate in.