The 10 Fittest Religious Leaders in the U.S. lists an Iskcon devotee!
→ Dandavats.com

Samir Becic, 4 times Number 1 Fitness Trainer in the world and his Health Fitness Revolution team created a list that is the first of its kind- the 10 Fittest Religious Leaders in the U.S. Health Fitness Revolution believes that spiritual health is a key component of total body health. We also believe that spiritual leaders cannot achieve their full potential without being physically fit. Healthy body = Healthy Spirit. This is why we are bringing you the list of the Fittest Spiritual Leaders in America. Read more ›

Glories of Aindra Prabhu
→ travelingmonk.com

For those with a deeper vision, Aindra Prabhu spent most of his life chanting Hare Krsna in Vrindavana, serving his Deities, doing parikrama and his final act of service was to fall down in front of his Gaura-Nitai Deities. I am sure a flower airplane appeared and took him back to the spiritual world.

ISKCON Disciple Course to be Prerequisite for Initiation from 2015
→ ISKCON News

At the 2014 Annual General Meetings of ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission in Mayapur, the GBC resolved that devotees wishing to take initiation from an ISKCON guru will be required to first pass the ISKCON Disciple Course. The resolution will not be effective until Janmastami 2015, so that ISKCON leaders throughout the world will have time to put the proper systems in place to make the course widely available.

Harinama in Arbat Street, Moscow, Russia (Album 98 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

Material affairs have herein been compared to an ocean of poison. They have been described in a similar way by Srila Narottama dasa thakura in one of his songs: samsara-visanale, diva-niSi hiya jvale, judaite na kainu upaya "My heart is always burning in the fire of material existence. and I have made no provisions for getting out of it." golokera prema-dhana, hari-nama-sankirtana, rati na janmila kene taya "The only remedy is hari-nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, which is imported from the spiritual world, Goloka Vrndavana. How unfortunate I am that I have no attraction for this." (Srimad Bhagavatam——5:1:22——-purport). Read more ›

Gaura Purnima Lecture – HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja
→ Mayapur.com

[Kindly transcribed by Swetha Ganeshan Mataji] Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: March 16th, 2014, Sri Gaura Purnima Speaker: HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja (missing) HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja: After Krishna leaves, which seems to be imminent. So then Krishna said, I will come back. I will come […]

The post Gaura Purnima Lecture – HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja appeared first on Mayapur.com.

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 04/03/14
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

NV TBT 04-03-14

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 04/03/14.

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

This week’s challenge: There are twelve devotees who faces can be seen in the photo. How many can you identify?

Extra Credit: What occasion was being observed and what festival was being celebrated?

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.

Seeking and Serving the Pure Devotee, Sunday, March 30, Dallas
Giriraj Swami

SP_airport“We were all at the departure gate, and Srila Prabhupada went down the ramp to board the airplane. All the devotees were crying. I asked Arundati dasi, ‘Why are all the devotees crying?’ She replied, ‘Because Srila Prabhupada is leaving.’ Then I had a doubt: maybe this is the one thing about Krishna consciousness that is not perfect—the spiritual master has to leave. But she told me that Srila Prabhupada had said that on the absolute platform, meeting and separation are the same—both are occasions of ecstasy. That struck me as a perfect answer, but I wasn’t sure how practical it was. Then one day we were chanting in front of the Copley Square subway station, and  I suddenly felt Srila Prabhupada’s presence. It felt like he was really there. I became emotional, and I realized it was true—on the absolute platform, there was no difference between meeting and separation.”

Seeking and Serving the Pure Devotee, Sunday Program, Dallas

The body illustrates achintyabhedabheda tattva
→ The Spiritual Scientist

“The body is one, but different parts of the body are considered superior and inferior. This is called acintya-bhedabheda philosophy. ‘simultaneously one and different.’ The anus and the genitals are part of the body, and the brain is also part of the body, but the brain is superior to the anus and genitals.”

(Lecture Nairobi, Kenya, November 1, 1975)

 

Being Open to Learn Through Humility: Part 1
→ Karnamrita.das's blog

Author: 
Karnamrita Das

(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player is needed; works best with Firefox or Explorer; if you are using Google Chrome it will automatically play, so if you don't want to listen, mute your speakers.)
Sanatana Goswami approaches Shri Chaitanya in true humility photo SanatanapaysrespecttoLordChaitanya_zps88aa9202.jpg
I had the good fortune Sunday to spend time with a devotee friend and neighbor, along with her two visiting daughters—one out of college and looking for work, the other, soon to finish high school and already accepted at a college of her choice. I love to share my experiences and what I have found is valuable with others—anyone who is interested to hear and discuss—but especially to devotee young adults and teens. In my life growing up, and later as a devotee, I suffered for want of wise elder guidance, and basically had to wing it by trail and err.

Though my life has worked out well in many ways, I feel I could have had more skills to help others and be further along spiritually had I had help. Admittedly, we all have our personal journey and ways we are given to learn our own lessons (even with guidance) through personal experience and trying various endeavors. Never the less, I know that having supportive, kind, and experienced mentors can make one’s path more fruitful, one’s decisions better informed—if one is willing to listen. Remembering my own lack of guidance I feel inspired to share what I have learned in life, both my mistakes and successes. This is one reason I write, and in this case, enjoyed speaking to our guests.

I found the young ladies to be very open-hearted and humble. This caused me to think about the importance of humility on our lives. I have written a fair bit about this, as has my wife, but today I am looking at humility as a means of being open and grateful, and how there is real, and shadow humility. I shared with my two young friends that my behavior as a young devotee appeared to many to be humble, or unassuming, and I was willing to do almost anything. However, as I learned in my thirties, my so-called “humble” attitude was more a result of being beaten down by agents of the material energy as well as feeling bad about myself than arising from any spiritual understanding.

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Faithfully Performed With Enthusiasm
→ Japa Group

"In addition to these four prohibitions (yama), there are positive regulative principles (niyama), such as the daily chanting of sixteen rounds on japa-mālā beads. These regulative activities must be faithfully performed with enthusiasm. This is called tat-tat-karma-pravartana, or varied engagement in devotional service."

From Nectar Of Instruction
Verse 3 purport

Serve to succeed
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 20 March 2014, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.7.52)

We are not free; we are not free to live the life that we want:

prakrteh kriyamanani, gunaih karmani sarvasah (The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature. Bhagavad-gita 3.27)

key to successRather there is a script and this script is just going along even though we have so many desires. In the middle of all that, “I want this, I want that. I want to be here, I want to be there. I want to do all these things.” But ultimately, the script will determine what we are allowed to do and what we are not allowed to do, where success will be and where will be failure. With time, we begin to realize that more and more because with time, we see, in so many situations, we wanted things but it is not at all under our control prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah. All are controlled by the material energy, simply by circumstances.

Sometimes, we are successful and we are surprised. It was something very difficult and it worked; everyone says, “Wow, you did that very expertly.”

But actually the truth is, it just happened, somehow or other, it just happened and was successful. Other times, you work so hard, you know you worked so hard and it just does not want to work. “It is just not logical. I’ve done it a hundred times and it worked a hundred times. Now it’s just not working; why not?” So like this, we are in the material world, depending on the arrangement of Krsna and who is providing things to us through the material energy.

Spiritual life is different. In spiritual life, you can be sure. In material life, you are never sure.  You never know, you can’t be sure about anything but in spiritual life you can be sure, actually. The result is guaranteed; it is certain. When you engage in devotional service, success will be there.

etavaj janma-saphalyam (CC Adi 9.24), if you want to make this life successful, dehinam iha dehishu (CC Adi 9.24), while we are now in this body, then use it in the service of Krsna. Then surely, it will be successful. That is the injunction of scripture.

 

New Vrindaban Daily darsan @ April 2, 2014.
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

01

Vrinda?vana is illuminated by numberless moons of spiritual bliss. It is cooled by the sweet nectar of spiritual love and it is filled with desire trees and many hosts of madly cooing birds. Whose heart will not run to Sri Sri Ra?dha?-Krishna, who enjoy eternal transcendental pastimes in that Vrinda?vana?

[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, Sataka-2, Text-6, Translation.]

Please click here for more photos

Ocean of Mercy: Bhakti Benefits for Doomed Cows?
→ Devamrita Swami's Facebook notes

Myths and fantasies are an essential part of ordinary human culture. Through science fiction, legends, and fairy tales, the mundane imagination soars, unfettered by reality.

But here's one daydream Krishna's devotees, in the real world of bhakti, can do without: we spiritually benefit the condemned cow by offering its milk to Krishna.  

First of all, let's avoid a straw-man response that often pops out of the closet when the milk issue arises: "Hmmm . . . I smell  . . . veganism! You are advocating a concoction, in a spiritual culture wherein milk plays such a central role."

Let's brush that diversion aside. Though well-intentioned, it's far off the point. The issue is certainly not veganism or banning milk, but whether we should exercise spiritual discrimination in choosing from where we source our milk.

Without criticising those opting for the non-selective approach to their dairy products, an increasing number of devotees, both junior and very senior, feel strongly motivated to:


1) drink only milk from protected cows

2) avoid implication in the cow-slaughter industry

3) actively seek ahimsa milk solutions

4) remind devotees of Srila Prabhupada's vision of ISKCON farms supplying milk to ISKCON centres.


Too often, though, ready to relieve our milk-loving society from any angst or disquietude, a folk tale sincerely issues forth: the dead cow has benefitted by our offering its milk to Krishna.

At the recent GBC meeting in Mayapur, four GBC-persons, while making an official presentation on ISKCON's need for ahimsa milk, also dealt with the "graced-though-dead" notion.

Take the USA, for example. Aside from the 32 million cows, bulls, steers, and calves slaughtered annually, the USA has 9 million dairy cows on their feet, giving milk. 

Please tell me, when you offer your milk, which is the cow that has benefitted by giving that milk? 

Visit any dairy processing plant and you will see technology blending milk from thousands upon thousands of cows, the number increasing as the centralisation of the dairy industry mounts. In Canada, for example, now just 3 processing plants handle 80% of Canadian milk.

Consider the case of cow X. Alive for the usual 3 to 5 years, dairy cow X will never see its normal 20-year lifespan. Somehow cow X may—I repeat—may have been able to contribute a droplet to the milk that happened to find its way to your temple or home altar. Now really . . . can we please reconsider the "benefit legend" . . . 

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says this planet has 260 million dairy cows. The UK has 1.8 million; Australia, 1.6 million; Canada, almost 1 million.

Let's pick on New Zealand, a place famed for its top quality milk products. The Kiwis milk 4.6 million dairy cows, which annually produce 19.1 billion litres of milk for processing. Please find for me the cow that contributed the specific milk you offered?

Consider a few extrapolations, elastically based on shastra. The dust of the feet of devotees is spiritually invaluable. Therefore all pedestrians who tread an avenue where great devotees have walked now accrue spiritual credits? They benefit from the dust of Vaishnavas' feet? 

Okay, you say these pedestrians weren't walking barefoot; nor did they put the dust on their head. Consequently they don't really get the mercy. But haven't they "followed in the footsteps" of the great souls?

That's stretching things too much, you reply? How about this: besides the dust of the feet, the water that washed the feet of devotees is another treasure of bhakti. 

Some devotees exercise by swimming in large public pools. Certainly some of the chlorinated pool water that envelops their feet then, throughout the day, flows over the submerged heads of other swimmers in the pool. What benefit unknowingly bestowed upon everyone in that Olympic sized pool! Though the pool contains 2,500,000 litres (648,000 gallons) of water, eventually recycled, surely some droplets of mercy will contact my head. And just think how I'd be benefitted . . . if some of the pool water . . . trickles into my mouth. After all, blended with the 2,500,000 litres of pool water must be a drop of holiness. 

Some of us old-timers remember way back in the early 70s when devotees, motoring past seemingly endless cornfields in the American midwest, would decide to stop and offer to Krishna a whole cornfield, as far as they could see. Convinced they had transformed all the countless rows of corn into prasada, the fledgling devotees rejoiced at how they had struck a blow against maya and uplifted the world. 

Other senior devotees recall enthusiastic cohorts who offered entire supermarkets to Krishna—mentally subtracting the meat, fish, and eggs. "Unknowingly all the shoppers will take home krishna-prasada!"

Outrageous, you say? I agree. Let's consider the fantasised benefits to the millions of slaughtered cows in the same way.

Moreover, don't forget that not only female calves but also male calves take birth, all to be killed sooner or later. How does our imagined ocean of mercy apply to the males, whether the ones allowed to mature, for steaks and hamburgers, or the newborns killed almost immediately, for delicate veal cuisine?

Back to living in the USA, we see that out of the total of 32 million cattle slaughtered yearly, approximately half the dead are male. How can we hallucinate "bhakti benefit" for them? And 760,000 of the total annual kill are little calves, the "vealers" or "bobby calves," as they are known in various parts of the dairy world.

City people take note: to produce milk, a dairy cow needs to be either pregnant or nursing. Therefore the mothers are made to birth a calf each year until their milk production falls below profitable levels. That means 3 to 5 years. Once the mother's yearly gifts slip—in Australia, below 4,500 litres (1188 gallons)—she dies. 

Most of the male calves and some females are "surplus" to the farmer’s needs. This "excess" or "unwanted byproduct" cannot remain alive. You see, dairy calves do not grow as fast as beef calves, and their flesh, when mature, is considered unsatisfactory quality to justify the expense farmers would have paid to maintain them.  

Immediately after birth, the "bobby calves" are removed from their mother and hand-fed. At merely 5 days old, they ride to the slaughterhouse, regardless of the hardships of the journey.

In Australia, the dairy industry allows these 5-day-old newborns to be unfed for 30 hours and transported for up to 12 hours, to be killed. 

We should note that the animal humane society in Australia, the RSPCA, advocates compassion, urging farmers to increase the death-wait of calves from 5 days after birth to 10. The RSPCA also promotes heightened sensitivity: slaughter the newborns within 12 hours of their last feed rather than 30. Mercy in the Age of Darkness.

Without fear of condemnation, bhakti practitioners should make an informed personal choice about how and whether to cope with the milk problem. Regardless of our chosen option, please, let's retire the tragic tale about the slaughtered cow receiving spiritual benefit when her milk is offered.


All Glories to Srila Prabhupada
→ Servant of the Servant


Between 1968 and 1977 Srila Prabhupada created a spiritual revolution around the world. This is an understatement. The following are simply his accomplishments which are tangible and document-able. To his sincere followers, Srila Prabhupada means more than words can describe, however if I want to write a resume on Srila Prabhupada's accomplishments, then perhaps we can cite the following.

  • He dictated total of 22,000 pages of text.
  • He translated and wrote purports to 10 cantos of Srimad Bhagavata Puranam - Reading one verse with purport daily would take the reader 50 years to complete
  • He translated and wrote the purports to the 700 verses of Bhagavad Gita - Reading one verse with purport daily would take two years to complete
  • He translated and wrote the purports to the 17 volumes of Caitanya Caritamrita - in total 2,170 pages or 11,555 verses! - Reading one verse with purport daily would take the reader 31.6 years to complete. Reading one page daily would take 5.9 years to complete
  • He also wrote Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Nectar of Devotion, Teachings of Lord Kapiladeva, Sri Isopanishad.
  • He created Back to Godhead magazine of which 1 million copies are distributed every year.
  • He wrote more than 7000 letters to His disciples, which were published in 5 volumes of books.
  • Just the Srimad Bhagavatam lectures which he gave, are compiled in 11 volumes of books.
  • Bhagavad Gita lectures are compiled in 7 volumes of books.
  • His conversations have been compiled in 42 volumes of books.
  • He published 147 books. Reading one book monthly would take 13 years.
  • If one started to read one book monthly now, in 2014, he would not finish till 2031.
  • He produced innumerable devotional musical recordings.
  • He established 108 worldwide temples.
  • He traveled around the world 14 times.
  • Beside this, he changed the lives of at least 5000 people who become his initiated disciples and numerous grand disciples.
And all of this Srila Prabhupada did in ONLY 9 years in the age between 70-80!!!

Therefore we say "Al glories to Srila Prabhupada"

Hare Krishna