Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Bukvoed, one of Russia’s leading bookstore chains, has been selling Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is from a prominent stand at one of its specialist stores in St. Petersburg since last year. The bookstore, called “The Shop of the Most Essential Books: In All Senses,” stocks about 60,000 titles, with many unique books on spiritual traditions, world religions, spiritual practices, history, astrology, philosophy, psychology, health and business.
Francis joked that we all make mistakes: "The perfect family doesn't exist, nor the perfect husband nor wife. Let's not even talk about the perfect mother-in-law!"
Non-stop ecstatic bhajans lead by multiple devotees giving short explanations to songs that were being sung for the pleasure of Sri Gaura Nitai. It was Sri Nityananda Triyodasi celebrations; what better time to have visited the temple than this. Read more › 
The book explores key questions related to the early church. Who were those first followers? Did Jesus actually intend to found a church separate from Judaism?
Parasuram das: In this video you can see how one devotee's full enthusiasm for chanting the Holy Names can convince others to join in! Read more › 
Devamrita Swami took to the stage to deliver a powerfully relevant class on Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and the topic of innovation. Maharaja spoke as to the numerous ways by which Saraswati Thakur utilized the technology and resources of his time to spread Krishna-consciousness.
Mukunda das: Last week we visited different schools and gave lectures, had kirtans, distributed Shastra Dana books and prasadam to students and teachers. Here is a short film (2 minutes long) from one of the days. Read more › 
For the past 22 years I have lived with the people of Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Middle Asia. They are all wonderful people.
To see Europeans being shot dead in the streets brings sadness to the heart.
But upon waking this morning, with a very heavy heart, I found solace in a small book that I was given yesterday.
That book is entitled, "Crying for Krishna." Read more › 2014 01 18 SB 10 35 20 21 Increasing Quality and Quantity of Service Candramauli Swami ISKCON Ch
When Krishna offered Karna kingship of the Pandavas’ kingdom if he defected to their side, Karna by the side of Duryodhana. Doesn’t this make him a glorious example of a faithful friend?
Sadly, no. It makes Karna a classic but tragic example of a good person becoming bad due to bad association – and then mistaking faithfulness to that bad association to be a matter of honor.
It is true that Duryodhana helped Karna in his time of need by giving him the kingdom of Anga. And it is laudable that Karna was grateful to him for that generosity. Yet in the larger picture the Kauravas were immoral and evil. The way Duryodhana dishonored the Pandavas and especially their wife was heinous.
When an honorable person gets unknowingly entangled in something dishonorable, then honor requires that the honorable person come out of the mess on coming to know of it, not stay on in it in the name of honor.
To illustrate with a provocative parallel, suppose a starving boy in Pakistan is offered food and shelter by a group of terrorists who brainwash people into becoming suicide bombers. The boy may not be initially aware of the evil agenda of his helpers, but when he becomes aware, should he in the name of loyalty to those who helped him once continue lifelong to be a part of a machinery of death and destruction? Is Karna’s faithfulness to Duryodhana all that different from Mohammed bin Atta’s faithfulness to Osama bin Laden in becoming a suicide bomber who brought down the twin towers and killed thousands?
Karna may not have had any idea of the evil nature of Duryodhana initially, but when he came to know about it, he should have parted ways. But unfortunately, far from parting ways, Karna not only joined Duryodhana’s way, but also egged the wicked Kaurava further along that way. Karna, in his mistaken desire to please Duryodhana, suggested the dishonoring of Draupadi. Karna’s joining Duryodhana emboldened that arrogant prince to become even more insolent, imagining that he could excel the military prowess of the Pandavas, thereby courting self-destruction and causing world destruction.
What Krishna offered Duryodhana and Karna when he came as a peace messenger shows his extremely accommodating nature – his willingness to go to any length to avoid or minimize bloodshed. Krishna asked Duryodhana to give just five villages, but that evil prince rejected the offer.
Then Krishna knowing that bloodshed was inevitable decided to try to minimize it. He knew that the various formidable Kaurava generals like Bhishma, Drona, Kripa and Ashwatthama bore no animosity towards the Pandavas – they would fight only because they were obliged to. The only formidable Kaurava general apart from the Kaurava brothers who was bent on the fight was Karna. If he could be won over, then that would break the back of Duryodhana’s obstinacy. It might even persuade him to agree for a peaceful settlement. If not, at least it would shorten the fight. With this intention to minimize violence, Krishna invited Karna to come on the side of the virtuous Pandavas. And when Krishna offered Karna the kingdom, that offer was not as a temptation but as Karna’s rightful legacy as the eldest Pandava.
It was Krishna’s accommodating nature that he not only gave Karna a chance to do the right thing, but also offered him an unparalleled reward for doing the right thing. After all the wrong things Karna had participated in or even instigated, it could well be said that he didn’t deserve such an offer. Yet Krishna magnanimously made the offer, thereby making it as easy as possible for Karna to do the right thing at least at that late stage. When Karna refused that offer, he chose wrong instead of right – all due to a mistaken sense of honor.
From the devotional perspective, Karna rejected God for the world; he gave greater importance to being honored by the world than by God. He didn’t have the intelligence to recognize that whatever Duryodhana had given him ultimately belonged to God, who had given it temporarily to Duryodhana. And it was that God who was now offering him the world’s emperorship.
Even if Karna didn’t accept Krishna as the Supreme God and so didn’t consider his word authoritative, he could at least have accepted the authority of his worshipable god, Suryadeva. That effulgent deity advised Karna that for his own well-being he should side with the virtuous family of his birth and not the vicious family that he had befriended. Yet Karna stuck to his own notion of what would be honorable.
What Krishna was inviting Karna to was not defection, but redemption – a return to the path of virtue that Karna would probably have tread had he not become attached to Duryodhana.
To err is human, but to continue in error isn’t. And to mistake continuing in error to be loyalty is stupidity. And when that mistake causes the death of millions, that mistaken loyalty ceases to be mere stupidity; it becomes monstrous perversity. Karna’s mistaken loyalty was his greatest inner enemy and it made him a puppet in the hands of the evil Duryodhana.
Was Karna not disadvantaged during the final fight because of the curses of Parashurama and the brahmana that caused respectively his forgetfulness of the mantras for his potent weapons and his chariot’s sinking into the earth?
Yes, but again he was not the only one to be cursed. Arjuna was cursed by Urvashi to become a eunuch. And Arjuna’s being cursed was even more unfair than that of Karna’s.
Urvashi had wanted to unite with him, but Arjuna respectfully refused, regarding her like a mother as she had been the wife of his ancestor Pururava. Being infuriated at being turned down, Urvashi cursed Arjuna. So Arjuna got the curse without having done anything reproachable – in fact after having done something immensely laudable. Indra lauded him later, “Your self-control exceeds even that of the great sages.” In contrast, Karna’s curses were due to his having done something reproachable, even if it might not have been with bad intention. He lied to Parashurama, saying that he had been born in a brahmana family. And he accidentally killed the brahmana’s cow, mistaking it to be an animal to be hunted.
Further, many other people have also got cursed disproportionately for minor transgressions: Dasharatha, Pandu and Parikshit, for example. So there’s nothing uniquely tragic about Karna’s getting cursed - no need to make a martyr out of him.
Moreover, what happens to us is not as important as we respond to it. By choosing right responses, the effect of unfortunate happeningsan be minimized. Arjuna used the curse to live discreetly as a dance teacher during the period when the Pandavas were expected to live incognito. Karna too could have done something to deal with the curse. To minimize the effect of the "chariot-being-swallowed" curse, he could have had a backup chariot always ready or could even have switched to an entirely different carrier, say, an elephant. To minimize the effect of the "mantras-forgetting" curse, he could have done austerities and acquired other weapons along with the mantras to hurl them – Parashurama’s curse applied only to the mantras he had given to Karna. Overreliance on one weapon, especially that is known to, even fated, to let one down is a suicidally unsound strategy – entirely unworthy of anyone who wishes to be considered as the world champion archer. And of course he could have entirely avoided this ill-starred conflict if he had had the good sense to listen to Krishna and chose the side of virtue.
(To be continued)
Originally posted on The Enquirer:
Here’s my new video on the subject – when you realize you are going to die, what becomes important?
It’s part of the weekly series I am doing on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Canto Two. Here is the playlist of the whole series, from the beginning:
Sedimentary rock is formed when running water deposits humus and minerals, which are then pressed together under the earth. Metamorphic rock is changed by heat or pressure. And igneous rock is cooled lava.
4th graders demonstrate the forming of these three kinds of rock by pressing, melting, and cooling crayon shaving.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 13 January 2014, Mayapur, India, Lecture: Kirtan Academy 1)
I would like to say something about kirtan since I like kirtan. There are different sides to it. There is the essential side which is the service that we render by chanting the holy name; engaging our mind and senses in chanting; and then our heart eventually which of course takes some time because the heart is like stone and for stone-hearted persons, the heart doesn’t get so much involved.
Then, there is the musical side which is meant to enhance the transcendental side. It is secondary to the transcendental aspect of the name. In Bengal, there is a culture of singing that we have noticed; especially these long drawn out notes, “Haaaaaa…” that go on for a long time. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta didn’t have much enthusiasm about that and if someone was chanting like that for a long time, Bhaktisiddhanta would ask people who couldn’t sing to lead the kirtans just to get away from this mood of being professional singers.
It is just like decorating the deities. When you decorate the deities, you should bring out the deity with the decoration. You should not cover the deity with the decoration. If you put so much decoration and just cover the deity; it’s all far out but it doesn’t bring out Krsna then that kind of decoration or alankar, is not desired. One should decorate in such a way that the natural qualities of the deity are being emphasized and magnified!
In the same way, melodies and the voice are meant to support the holy name. Our focus remains on the holy name. So, although some long notes are very nice for musical embellishment but if everything just becomes like, “Haaaa reeee…” and it takes twenty minutes to get through one mantra then it’s a little over the top!
Sinful or pious, infamous or famous, wealthy or so poor a morsel of food is hard to get, incomparably dull or a great treasury of knowledge, friend, don’t count these things. Somehow see Vrndavana, and with the help of the words of guru and sastra, cut, cut the ropes of material illusion.
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-68 Translation.]
Please click here for more photos
Their is something amazing about sharing the holy names of Sri Krishna and during the primary school visits this week it occurred to me how appreciative and what a difference hearing the mahamantra and the pastimes of Krishna makes.
Playing the madanga as the reception children came into class had an immediate response they needed and wanted to dance; great joy. Then being captivated by the stories they really get involved made me realize how important it is to share with even the youngest people we meet.
It was noted by the teaching staff how out of all the visitors mine was the one they all remembered even a year on so it was nice catching up with many of them and they were much more lively and involved. Even my humble Govardhan Cake was well received.
But there is a small story, I was invited whilst with one of my client’s in a local swimming pool, a surprise to see a teacher speaking and asking me to come and visit. It however turns out it was one of the pupils who had seen me come into the pool and asked the teacher why I hadn’t been to visit them recently.
Indeed again the teachers spoke how the pupils spot me whilst I’m out and about with my client’s singing and waving; as I left at the end of the day some parents were coming in for parent’s evening my little friends telling them about my visit (nervous looks from some what do you say to a man in a bhoti in the Welsh Valleys?)
So I have more primary school visits, some secondary school visits and were already planing a third community Diwali.
But in all I share and encourage the singing and dancing to the mahamantra and this more than anything is what they remember most.
Can you imagine all the poor lost souls walking through Leicester Square,in the dark, in the rain, millions of souls and millions of lifetimes bewildered.
Then the merciful Paravidha Prabhu distributes the mercy of Lord Caitanya, on the order of our Srila Prabhupada.
One young black man learns the mantra and blissfully leads the chanting.
These people’s future has changed, they have received a gift.
See you on the street!
Your servant
Parasuram Das
No one can be happy in prison life, although one may be a first-class prisoner and another a third-class prisoner. The intelligent person should not try to be promoted from third-class prison life to first-class prison life, but should try to be released from the prison altogether. One may be promoted to first-class prisoner, but the same first-class prisoner is again degraded to a third-class prisoner in the next term. One should try to be free from prison life and go back home, back to Godhead. That is the real goal for all types of living entities.
- Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam > Canto 2: The Cosmic Manifestation > Chapter 10: Bhagavatam Is the Answer to All Questions > Verses 37-40
The ILS serves as a forum for devotes to not only learn about the work being done to push forward the ISKCON’s Governing Commission’s (GBC) strategic plan, but provides leaders with the tools to help implement it in their own communities.
The inside, by general impressions, appears even bigger than the outside! Read more › 
Every opportunity to glorify the Lord in the association of other devotees is welcome! Specially in the Holy Dham! Read more › 
Prasadam (mercy) is coming in all kinds of attractive forms and varieties! No one remains disappointed :-) Read more ›