Websites from the ISKCON Universe
When will I renounce all material duties, cut off all contact with the affairs of the material world, and alone enter the abode of Va?nda?vane to pass my time absorbed in the topics of Sri Krishna, Vrinda?vana’s master?
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-97 Translation.]
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Greetings from the Garden:
After a few weeks spending time in the garden I have now seen its huge potential. Many hours have been spent trimming, pruning, and doing a thorough pest investigation of the blackberries and red raspberries. I found raspberry crown borer. The borer lives in the roots and crown of the plant. It can be identified by knots at the base of the canes and sawdust like material around the plant base. The swelling at the base of the cane is the most common way to identify. There is also a cane borer that lays the larva in the cane of the plant. It is also identified by knots or bulges in the upper sections of the cane. The infestation can kill prima canes (first year growth). The removal of damaged canes and crowns is the most efficient and organic method for the removal of borers. Now they are just about ready for spring. Our next project will be building the trellis to make for easier picking and better sunlight for the fruiting canes. Right now is a great time for anyone to catch up on winter pruning especially for brambles.
Plans for the season are starting to develop. Many of my goals will be focused on providing food throughout the season. This will be achieved with multiple plantings, up to four times, of the same crop. I am planning on three plantings of green beans, multiple plantings of beets, lettuce, kale, and more. I will be trying some new plants such as yellow watermelon and pumpkin eggplant. Also, for both their beauty and their bounty of edible seeds I am planning on a large plating of sunflowers. Looking forward to our first spring plantings. This week I would like to end with a quote by Francis Bacon~ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures.
The salt, wind blown waves of the sandy shores of Jagannath Puri dham await us all in an unlikely yet familiar place—at the 61st Vyasa Puja ceremony of our dear Guru Maharaj in Radhadesh, Belgium.
This year we will take a trip to the transcendental realm of Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes with the Lord of the Universe and try to fix our hearts in the form of the Lord that drove Chaitanya Mahaprabhu mad! So please bring your Jagannath Deities with you, to put them in the “Jagannath temple” altar that will be created in the community hall.
Guru Maharaj’s Vyasa Puja event is taking place on April 24th – 26th, Guru Maharaj himself will be staying in Radhadesh until May 1st. There is now an official flyer already on the KKS blog.
Here is the finalized SCHEDULE of the festival:
Thursday 24th - Arrivals and Cultural Program Friday 25th - Vyasa puja ceremony and Initiations Saturday 26th - Kingsday harinam in Amsterdam Sunday 27th - Departures
If you haven’t registered yet please do so: www.kksblog.com/vyasapuja/register/ but please do not register twice.
Entertainment
The Cultural Program is on the evening of April 24th (Thursday), the first day of the festival.
The Vyasa puja team is hoping that devotees of the various yatras (different countries) have something they would like to present. We were hoping to have around 4 yatras represented. What we are looking for:
20 – 30 min skit/drama/slideshow/presentation
It must be related to the theme of the Chaitanya Charitamrita, topical or something personal to do with Guru Maharaj
The Vyasa Puja team should be asked for approval first.
*One idea for a skit inspiration: www.kksblog.com/2010/03/hypocrisy-in-the-heart/ This is a class that Guru Maharaj gave that could be acted out in some way?
Cultural Program Schedule
17:30 – 18:30 Welcome message and “icebreaker” by Sutapa das 18:30 – 20:30 Entertainment 20:30 – 21:20 Bhajans (possibly in the temple room with Guru Maharaj)
A few requests
1) If you are planning on staying in Amsterdam after the Kingsday please NOTIFY us now so we can make a count to let the temple management know in advance.
2) If you have not yet signed up for service on the Google Drive document please do so now. If you do not have access to Google Drive, or you do not know how to use it – please let us know what service you are interested in or if you would like to do service or we can assign you something! To sign up for service please use this link: Service list
Fundraising
We are happy to announce that we slowly reaching the desired fundraising goal, thank you! You are very welcome to donate if you have not yet.
If you are able to contribute financially, please contact Gopali at gopali.dasi.kks@gmail.com or send your contributions directly via paypal or bank account. This is direct link to donate by paypal.
Bank account details: Please contact us.
If you have any FURTHER QUESTIONS contact us at:
vyasapuja@kksblog.com or savitri@radhadesh.com
Your servants,
Uddhava das Gopali dasi Anasuya devi dasi Savitri devi dasi Kumari Kunti Gita Govinda
What can really be a better occupation than glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the chanting of His Holy Names! Read more › 
It is amazing to see how the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and his faithful followers have influenced the lives of so many persons on this planet! They have given up all other duties and engage soul, mind and body in the Sankirtana Yajna of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu! Read more › 
Lord Krishna once overheard a conversation about how His dearest devotees, the cowherd maidens of Vrindavana, were lamenting in His absence. When He heard these accounts of overwhelming love in separation, the Lord’s hair began to stand on end, His eyes opened wide and filled with tears, and His arms and legs contracted as He went into a state of spiritual ecstasy. Seeing Lord Krishna in this condition, His elder brother, Balarama (Baladeva), also began to feel ecstatic symptoms and displayed similar features. When Their sister, Subhadra, arrived at the scene, she too became consumed with ecstatic joy. Thus the sublime deity forms of Jagannatha, Subhadra, and Baladeva represent this sweet pastime.
The festival of Ratha-yatra represents Lord Jagannatha’s longing to reunite with His dear devotees in Vrindavana, foremost among them, Srimati Radharani. According to tradition, the Lord gets lovesick once a year just prior to the festival. To cheer him up, His servants arrange for Him to go on a lavish procession to meet up with His devotees. Read more › 
New Temporary ISKCON Temple Opens in Moscow. The new rented place is spacious and beautifully renovated. But still not spacious enough to accomodate the crowd of five to ten thousand people that are expected to visit the Centre on Janmashtami. That is why, says temple president Sadhu-priya das, devotees are seeing this as a temporary place and are making continuous efforts to acquire a place of their own. But though the place is temporary, it will fulfill the spiritual needs of the Moscow devotee community. Read more › The post Bhanu Maharaja makes a presentation on how Guru-daksina should be managed in ISKCON appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
Devotees of Lord Krishna perform public chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord inban attractive way, to raise God consciousness to the fortunate visitors of that big park of Moscow. Read more › Jahnavi Devi Dasi & Radhika Devi Dasi at Kirtan Mela Mayapur 2014 Day 1
Ter Kadamba Mandira (Shyama Sakhi, Vraja Kishor, and many other wonderful guests) have just released a new CD! “Sounds from an Ocean of Tears” - An exotic, authentic and unprecedented blending of Indian and Japanese instruments, in the sweetly dark mood of divine separation. Over an hour and ten minutes of kīrtan!
To get more info and order a copy, click: Sounds from an Ocean of Tears
Ter Kadamba Mandira (Shyama Sakhi, Vraja Kishor, and many other wonderful guests) have just released a new CD! “Sounds from an Ocean of Tears” - An exotic, authentic and unprecedented blending of Indian and Japanese instruments, in the sweetly dark mood of divine separation. Over an hour and ten minutes of kīrtan!
To get more info and order a copy, click: Sounds from an Ocean of Tears
The Brisbane temple celebrated Gaura Purnima with great pomp. The devotees erected a big marquis in the front yard where the abhiseka of Gaura Nitai was performed. There was also kirtana, lecture and drama of Lord Caitanya gathering a samkirtan party and marching to the Chand Kazi’s house.
In Vrndavana I see the black bee of Krsna sometimes land at Radha’s lotus feet, sometimes drink the nectar of Her lotus mouth and sometimes becomes attached to Her lotus-bud breasts.
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-96 Translation.]
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 14 March 2014, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.7.46)
We see in Caitanya Caritamtra, it is mentioned in Madhya Lila, chapter nineteen where it is leading to Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructing Rupa Goswami; a description is given that out of so many living beings within the universe, there are only very few in the human form of life. And of those in the human form of life, there are very few who are actually following Vedic culture. Out of those who are following Vedic culture, most are just rendering lip-service! That is the situation that we find today – in more than 90%, lip-service only!
Some quick ritual, something external but where is the substance; where is the purity? Where is that? The thread is worn but where are the brahminical qualities; where are the samskaras; where are all the standards that are to be followed?
The last figures I got are a bit outdated. In the year 2004, it was published in the Times of India, that in general, less than 30% of the population of India were now vegetarian and of the Brahmins, 55% were vegetarian but what about the other 45%? And that was in 2004, ten years ago! I think these figures have gone down a lot very quickly. You will be shocked now to see where it is at. We will not inquire into these things. We will leave them for what they are.
Therefore ye ’nye ca papa yad-apasrayasrayah (Srimad Bhagavatam 2.4.18), for those who have taken to the sinful way of life, that has become the standard. Kalau sudra-sambhava (Skanda Purana), in the Age of Kali, everyone is sudra or even less, therefore sense gratification has become the only standard, “What is enjoyable to my senses is important; that is what counts and that is the standard by which I measure things.”
Sin is no longer so much of an issue. That is an old fashioned word – in modern dictionaries, you don’t find it. The old dictionaries have this archaic word called “sin”. This is an awkward word that you don’t know what to do with. Sin is like some sort of outdated morality and has nothing to do with the modern world.
It is mentioned in the encyclopedia Britannica, which is considered by some to be an authority, that probably Sigmund Freud has had the greatest impact on the intellectual life of modern man because this is an age of psychology. There is a model of a human being which is like a pressure cooker. Everyone knows that the pressure cooker has a safety valve which makes the hissing sound and if there was no safety valve, then it would explode.
According to Freud, human beings are depicted as pressure cookers that can explode at any moment if we suppress our desires! Therefore we must let out the steam. This is meant to justify all degraded behaviour because (according to Freud’s theory) it is psychologically damaging if you are denying your natural tendency – it is dangerous as it can cause psychosis. Therefore, do not suppress any desires and do not let such a terrible word as sin, which done so much damage to society, do not let it harm you, o’ modern man!
With that philosophy, we do not have to worry about sin; just be true to yourself but which self, is the next question: the lower or the higher self? Which one are you?
