Planet ISKCON

1970 April 24: "You have asked me to disclose my dream about John Lennon. I dreamt that John took me in a place at Calcutta, a big palatial building, which formerly belonged to a very rich man, and he was a famous musician also."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1971 April 24: "In the Sankirtana festival pandal if a very big kitchen arrangement can be made, then we shall distribute prasadam daily. Try to make this arrangement. Puri, halava, kitri - whatever can be arranged as much as possible."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1972 April 24: "The more one renders service, the more he becomes enthusiastic. This is the secret of spiritual life, when one can work all day long and not be tired. That is real spiritual life."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 April 24: "To make each and every center spiritually strong should be the duty of the GBC. So far financing, let them do in their own way. We have to increase our preaching propensity. That is our main business."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1974 April 24: "You ask me how to recruit strong devotees to come there. You have to prepare strong devotees, not import them. You yourself become strong devotees and teach others by your example. Importation is not a good plan; everyone should be strong by behavior and action."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1974 April 24: "Sometimes he hesitates to accept prasadam from us. If he desires to cook that means he keeps aloof. If he keeps aloof from us that is not very much desirable. I wish that he should mix with us with open mind, without reservation."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1974 April 24: "We cannot pay for these dresses. Why go to a tailor? They charge extraordinarily. We don't want to go to them. Whatever our devotees can make, that is all right."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

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Nice and easy tutorial! Read more ›

Experience the vibrant, colorful culture and festivities at Kalachandji's Hare Krishna Temple in Dallas's annual Festival of Chariots through these photos. Children's Carnival, Henna & Face-painting, Free Asana Yoga, Live Entertainment, Delicious Vegetarian Food & much much more .. Read more ›

Chandan Yatra is coming on May 2nd! Read more ›

"Sankirtan will always be appreciated because it is the special blessings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu on the people of this fallen age of Kali" Letter to Achyutananda 1975 The general public of London are appreciating more and more the devotee's Kirtan on the streets. There was a time when we would get arrested for chanting and book distribution, now the police just walk by and nod to us with a smile. We started the Maha Harinam at 1pm and continued till 6pm took prasad and went out again till about 10pm. 350 books were distributed, 280 medium and 70 maha big. This was organised by Sutapa Prabhu of the Manor brahmacaris and the Soho temple devotees. The first part of the video show the "Hari Haris" Kirtan band chanting on Soho street, then Guru Das brahmacari leads Kirtan and then HG Parividha Prabhu. Enjoy the movie (put together by Achinta Rupa Prabhu) Read more ›

Srimad Bhagavatam 3.1.2 Bhakti Caru Swami

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 04/24/14.

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

This week’s challenge: In this photo, there are twenty five devotees and pretty much all of their faces are recognizable. How many can you identify?

Extra Credit: What year was this photo taken and where?

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.

Durban, South Africa

Something About Family
 
After four days of intense devotional output at this 26^th annual Festival of Chariots in Durban, there was happy fatigue.  The attendance at the temple’s morning program was skimpy for that reason, and more.  Some of the visiting monks from Europe, the US and India, had already departed for other destinations.  You can say things are back to normal.  The party’s over.  Members of the spiritual family have gone to their respective areas of what they call home. 

The few of us lingering folks sat down for listening to a recording of our guru, Srila Prabhupada, speaking about the concept of family from the Vedic perspective.  Imagine stretching out to beyond extended family.  “It is not just a man with wife and children, it is generations,” Srila Prabhupada explained from a pravachan (talk) he delivered on October 5^th, 1976, Vrindavan, India.  He went on to say that the family consideration was so important in Vedic culture.  If there was some misbehaviour on the part of a member of the family, it would leave a great scar on the dynasty. 

This is a major issue raised at the inception of the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna in the “Bhagavad Gita”.  Arjuna was concerned about improper action impacting the family.  From his standpoint, the proper action was no action, in the case of the Kurukshetra war.  From Krishna’s point of view, failure to perform meant cowardliness and irresponsibility.  Krishna’s constant reminder to Arjuna, being of a dignified clan, was saying that there was an obligation to act in their defense, making it honourable. 

While some Krishna followers I know have little or sometimes no tie with biological family, there is, however, a strong allegiance to their spiritual family.  Another case, family in the broad sense, needs protection from ill repute.  You want to try to avoid doing that which is embarrassing to yourself, and above all, your allegiances. 

May the Source be with you!

 3 KM

Durban, South Africa

Trail Break

I had been pining for an African trail to come my way, and so it came to pass that Tamohara dispelled the dream, and had in most practical terms, arranged for a drive by his dad, Thayalan, to take Kala, Jambavan and I to a gorgeous gorge at Krantz Kloof.  We arrived there at the hour of dawn when trees drop dew and the aromas of plants perk the nostrils.  The rubber tree was there to greet us, perfectly circular mushrooms of a rustic tone were also there.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, no big game crossed our paths.  In fact, the largest form of wildlife that we sighted came in the form of a microphone length (you can tell I’ve been on the stage lately) centipede of sorts.  It was perfectly coiled as it clung on to the side of a tree.  A creek appeared and disappeared, snaking its way to its own natural whim, and making its own descension to manifest as waterfalls. 

Being in this green zone was a great break from the asphalt at the festival site.  And, as always, when you trek the softened and uneven path under nature’s canopies, it is such a far cry from moving over the hardened, flat surfaces of city constructs.  I felt certain leg muscles stretch – muscles that become lazy from plying over the terrain of manmade evenness. 

‘Twas a treat. 

Back to a baking sun at the old Durban Drive-In Theatre grounds, and this day, at the Bhakti Cloud tent, we danced out the eight stanza “Chaitanya’s Verses”.  Verse three especially resonated with volunteers as I rapped out,

It is best to chant with humility
To be as humble as you can possibly be
It’s like a blade of grass you see
And be more tolerant than a tree…

From executing the dance I could appreciate the dynamics of flatness. 

May the Source be with you!

5 KM

May Lord Syama’s beloved Radha, who from each of Her limbs floods Vrindavana forest with charming, effulgent, wonderful golden nectar oceans glistening with drops of intense sweetness flowing from the original source of the nectar of all love and filled with the happiness of wild amorous pastimes, play within my heart.


[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, Sataka-2, Text-21, Translation.] · 

Please click here for more photos

"The Gosvamis, especially Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, strictly followed all the regulative principles. The first regulative principle is that one must chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra loudly enough so that he can hear himself, and one must vow to chant a fixed number of rounds."

Caitanya-caritamrta Antya 11.24 purport

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 01 April 2014, Cape Town, South Africa, Evening Lecture)

We may think, “What about my security? I need some security; like a little money in the bank, a credit card maybe. You know, just in case, something happens. Need to be prepared. What about my security?”

But a vaisnava’s security is his goodwill; his goodwill with the people. That is the best security because goodwill goes much further than the bank. You know, the banks may say, “Well, sorry!”  If you have maybe 150 000 and the bill is 160 000. The bank is not paying the extra 10 000. No way! But goodwill, oh, goodwill can pay anything. Yes!

“A million? Alright, what to do. We’ll pay.” Goodwill is like that because goodwill has a heart and the bank has no heart; that’s for sure. The bank is just cold, making profit and impersonal. So what kind of security is that?

You know, plastic! Plastic money, plastic card and one day, there might be no money in the bank! It happened already, in some places there was no money in the bank. People went to the bank to take their money and the bank had no money. What do you do? Put your money in the bank all this time and when you want to take it out, it’s not there! So what kind of guarantee is that? But goodwill will never be depleted. So this is really how the vaisnava community functions, away from this artificial society which is based on impersonal security.

Insurance!? Previously, again goodwill was the insurance. When relationships were there, that was the insurance. It still works for many people in the world. The family is your insurance and life was going on as much it is going on now. It is not like, “Oh my God, before we invented insurance, life was so terrible. People were dropping dead like flies, left and right! Serious! Imagine – they were depending on their friends and family and maybe even on the village! That must have been terrible!” No, it worked fine! It helped also to have good relationships.

In countries where the government took over – an interesting country is Sweden because it has a very socially supportive structure, a socialistic structure actually. Basically the idea is the state takes care of everything. So family is something that is really not relevant. You rely on the state and not on your family. Therefore people don’t really want families.They want to minimize families – less family and more state; everything comes from the state. It’s interesting how it really works like that. The state is very benevolent, gentle and always provides. No problem! Everything provided by the state. But you know, everything is impersonal, very impersonal in such a condition.

In a family situation, everything depends on relationships. So vaisnavism depends on that, depends on service, depends on giving people something valuable, giving them valuable knowledge so that they become indebted. Giving them valuable support, giving answers, real answers…  It works, there is no difficulty at all in maintaining in such an environment and yes, that is how the world should be. The world should not depend on an artificial, global economy and so on. No need for families to be spread out over six countries; every family is sort of going that way these days. A relative in one corner, a relative in another corner. What a weird world? Strange!

Just a village – everyone in the village and then, it all is simple because there are relationships and relationships become important. It’s like when you live in a city, it doesn’t really matter because people are just faces. You don’t know them. There are all these faces of people you don’t know. So it’s just endless faces, meaningless faces. But living in the village, you know everybody and well, you have to live with them, so you, you know, you better invest in the relationships so that it works. So that is actually the natural way of life.

 

Renowned activist and author Michael Pollan argues that cooking is one of the simplest and most important steps people can take to improve their family's health, build communities, fix our broken food system, and break our growing dependence on corporations. 

Constant change has become the underlying theme of the age – update your fashion, contrast your scenery, evolve your goals and upgrade your gadgets. After all, variety is the mother of enjoyment.

The Vaishnava tradition is famous for its festivals. And within ISKCON, the New Vrindaban community in West Virginia has become one of the most renowned places to celebrate. As New Vrindaban finds a fresh start and rebuilds itself, festivals have been found to be one of the best ways to inspire and bring together devotees, as well as to develop a mutually appreciative relationship with the local public.

“Sankirtan will always be appreciated because it is the special blessings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu on the people of this fallen age of Kali”

Letter to Achyutananda 1975

The general public of London are appreciating more and more the devotee’s Kirtan on the streets. There was a time when we would get arrested for chanting and book distribution, now the police just walk by and nod to us with a smile.

We started the Maha Harinam at 1pm and continued till 6pm took prasad and went out again till about 10pm. 350 books were distributed, 280 medium and 70 maha big. This was organised by Sutapa Prabhu of the Manor brahmacaris and the Soho temple devotees.

The first part of the video show the “Hari Haris” Kirtan band chanting on Soho street, then Guru Das brahmacari leads Kirtan and then HG Parividha Prabhu. Enjoy the movie:

(put together by Achinta Rupa Prabhu )

Your servant Parasuram Das

24-09-2013 SB 8.20.16-19 Simplicity and Duplicity, ISKCON Cape Town, South Africa.mp3

1970 April 23: "Materialism means forgetfulness of Krishna. A man may possess the whole world and be a perfect transcendentalist or one may be a gross materialist without possessing a farthing. This distinction must be made on the basis of consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

This weekend myself and Bada Haridas prabhu will continue with our travels. Our first destination is Moscow. While studying the itinerary, I suddenly realised that 22 years ago on the same weekend in April,1992 I was doing samkirtan in Moscow with my godbrothers. Srila Prabhupada, may we continue to serve your orders until our dying [...]

A tree lives for hundreds and hundreds of years, but there is no point in living a long time like trees, or breathing like bellows, or begetting children like hogs and dogs, or eating like camels. A humble God-centered life is more valuable than a colossal hoax of a life dedicated to godless altruism or socialism.

- Srila Prabhupada, Sri Isopanishad Mantra 2

1971 April 23: "You and your university are interested in hearing about Krishna philosophy. My life is dedicated to spreading this culture all over the world. This culture is so well planned that it would be acceptable by any thoughtful man throughout the whole world."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1972 April 23: "Our latest edition Krsna Book can be distributed to every student and to the whole English speaking public. Make one advertisement: 'Read KRSNA the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Available in all bookstores, 3 Volumes - Rs. 15.'"
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 April 23: "Our temple should be the via media for feeding the poor with food and spiritual knowledge. So we invite all hungry and naked people to come to us and we will give them food and clothing as well as Krishna consciousness. Our program should be based on this."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1973 April 23: "So it is very nice Mr. Neil Diamond has given $3,000.00to my Book Trust, that is practical help. Now you have to impress upon him that when talent is used to glorify the Supreme Lord, that is perfection of talent. So you become convinced of this Krishna consciousness movement and you will get the strength to convince others nicely."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1974 April 23: "The first preaching work is to become an ideal devotee. That will be strong preaching by behavior. There is no point in telling a man to stop smoking if you are still smoking. First make yourself perfect and then attempt to instruct others."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

The bell works as anti-dote to the chaos of your mind. Before you enter temple, it prepares you for the calming taste of of spiritual awareness you are going to experience.

Just a single serving of legumes a day can significantly improve cholesterol levels and lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.

With thousands of toxins circulating in the world it can be very easy to become overwhelmed. These are 5 toxins to be especially concerned about.

The 3rd Annual Baltic's Kirtana Festival - Kirtana Mela Tallinn 2014 - will take place in Sri Harinam Mandir, Tallinn, Estonia on April 25 - 27th. To register: http://kirtana-mela-tallinn.weebly.com/

“Srila Prabhupada: The Founder-Acarya of ISKCON,” was written by ISKCON scholar Ravindra Svarupa Das and published by ISKCON GBC Press. “Our main concern [in writing this book] was that, in the very near future, our movement faces a time when all the devotees who had direct experience of Srila Prabhupada will no longer be on the planet,” says Ravindra Svarupa. “And I know from the history of religions that this is always a critical time.”