Radhanath Swami speaks at Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India.
→ Dandavats.com

Shri Vimalananda Saraswati, the President, introduced Radhanath Swami and praised the accomplishments of Srila Prabhupada, the guru of Radhanath Swami. He acclaimed Srila Prabhupada’s braving two heart attacks on his voyage to America and gifting the world with the chanting of the Holy Names of God. Radhanath Swami sang bhajans and kirtans and spoke, recollecting an incident years ago when he was invited to speak at the same place by Swami Chidananda Saraswati. At that time Radhanath Swami had asked Swami Chidananda Saraswati what he should speak on. The Swamiji had, without a moment’s hesitation requested him to speak on the famous verse of Sri Chaitanya’s Sikshastakam, ‘trinad api sunicena’. Read more ›

Mother Indrani departed
→ Dandavats.com

It is with great joy and jubilation, yes there is no remorse or regret here, that I inform everyone of the passing from this mortal world of Srimati Indrani Devi Dasi, dear disciple of His Holiness Bhakti-tirtha Swami and beloved grandmother of the entire New Raman Reti community. After spending her last few hours being visited by scores of New Raman Retivasi's she peacefully passed from this world. At the time of her passing which was the 528 year of Lord Gauranga, Visnu masa, Asvini naksatra, on the cusp between the dvitiya and tritiya tithi, she was surrounded by devotees chanting kirtan, the japa of the Holy Name recited by Srila Prabhupada being played, garlanded with deity garlands from Radha Syamasundara's altar, wearing Nrsimha kavaca's, with Govardhana sila on her chest, massaged with various Nrsimha oils and gently sprinkled with Yamuna water. She passed away in a very peaceful and stress free manner, simply finishing her breathing for this life. Read more ›

Surrender unto the Living Bhagavata – an online booklet
→ Dandavats.com

"If you want to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then you go and study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the pure devotee. Then you'll understand. Otherwise, you'll write all these nonsense." Bhāgavata para giya bhāgavata-sthāne. So one bhāgavata... The two bhāgavatas. You study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from living bhāgavata. So if one does not take or does not surrender unto the living bhāgavata, he cannot understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Many scholarly, learned scholars, Sanskrit scholars, they cannot understand Bhāgavatam. Read more ›

HG Narayani Mathaji(ACBSP) will be at ISKCON Scarborough this Saturday
→ ISKCON Scarborough





Hare Krishna!
Please accept our humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!

HG Narayani Mathaji will be in town from April 2nd to April 9th 2014 and will be giving various seminars and classes in the GTA area.

We are extremely honoured to welcome HG Narayani Mathaji(ACBSP) to ISKCON Scarborough on Saturday – April 5th 2014.Program on Saturday starts at 6.45 pm


We also cordially invite you for our regular weekly programs that take place

Every Friday (6.45 pm to 9.30 pm)

Every Saturday (6.45 pm to 9.30 pm)

Every Sunday (10.45 am to 1.30 pm)


According to our Vaishnava calendar, this Friday  - April 4th 2014 is the appearance day of a great Vaishnava Acarya  Sri Ramanujacarya

Sri Ramanuja is well-known as the great philosopher and Acarya of the Sri Vaisnava sampradaya.

Some of the teachings of Sri Ramanujacarya 

-Worship all Vaisnavas as you worship your guru.

-Have faith in the previous acaryas and never be controlled by the senses.

-Study the scriptures that describe the glories of the Supreme Lord. Transcendental knowledge can overcome the pushings of the mind and senses. Be indifferent to the promptings of the mind.

-Always relish the chanting of the holy name and qualities of the Lord.

-The best way to serve the Lord is rendering service to his devotees.

-Every day spend some time in contemplating the greatness of the spiritual master, and every day study the teachings of the Vaisnava acaryas.



With best wishes from,

ISKCON Scarborough
3500 McNicoll Avenue, Unit #3,
Scarborough,Ontario,
Canada,M1V4C7


Email Address:
iskconscarborough@hotmail.com

website:
www.iskconscarborough.com

New Vrindaban Daily darsan @ April 1, 2014.
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

01

Vrinda?vana is filled with countless supremely beautiful golden trees as splendid as numberless millions of blazing suns. When these trees appear before the heart they shower a cooling rain of transcendental bliss that immediately extinguishes the burning sufferings of repeated birth and death and grants the rarest and most difficult to obtain spiritual treasure.

[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, Sataka-2, Text-5, Translation.]

Please click here for more photos

A symbolic story of penguins
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 18 March 2014, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.7.50)

In the 11th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, there is a discussion between Maharaj Nimi and the Nava Yogendras. At one point, there is a discussion about the material energy where Maharaj Nimi is inquiring about the workings of the illusory energy and so on. Then, the sage who was speaking on behalf of the Nava Yogendras said, “Now you should inquire about how to get out of the material energy.” More important is the process of getting out of the material energy because we can see the limitations of the material energy. It is temporary and it is only the shadow or reflection of the spiritual world, and it does not have the full potential to satisfy the heart of the living being.

krishna-art-painting-coolTherefore, the material energy cannot satisfy, cannot fulfill the living being. Therefore, without a relationship with Krsna there is no question of fulfillment. The word fulfillment is important because in the material world there may be some moments where happiness seems to be present. Some experience of happiness but no fulfillment. Of course, the material energy may sometimes show its enjoyable side and it may change.

I like to tell the story of when we were travelling in Europe, on a bus and with the group of people, and we were going towards Scandinavia. Since we were going to the North, the tour organizer decided to show appropriate videos so they showed videos of penguins, polar bears and all these things. We were watching these videos and we saw emperor penguins – the big ones, twenty-five meters long. We saw how both the male and female birds were sitting on the eggs; they took turns. When the polar winter came, the big dark night, it is the men that sit on those eggs and the ladies go to the South, to the warmer climate. Throughout the dark polar night, those men sit on those eggs in minus 70-80 temperatures.

At the end of the polar winter, the sun comes up and the first light comes. Then the men also go to the South and the eggs remain alone. The warmth of the sun warms up those eggs and after a while, you see maybe a thousand eggs lying on the ice. Then, they all crack and the little penguins come out and step on the ice, with their big flat feet. The ice is sort of sloping towards the water and within moments those little penguins discover that they can ski!

emperor penguinsWithin moments, they are skiing down the slope and flap their little wings – they have so much fun. The sun is shining; it is wonderful; they just go for the edge, dive over the edge and are about to plunge into the waters of the ocean when the huge gaping mouth of the killer whale comes out of that ocean and eats all the penguins! Oh my God! I am still traumatized…

That has become like the symbol of material existence. They had so much fun and at the height of their fun, they got swallowed by this nasty killer whale, isn’t that the material world!? Isn’t it like that!?

Time and time again, the material energy strikes and suddenly things turn around. Suddenly, everything changes and we get the other side of the coin – suffering! So like this, the material energy has this problem, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (Bhagavad-gita 8.15), everything is temporary and whatever happiness there is, does not offer fulfillment and therefore leads to frustration and in the end, it is all suffering duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam! It is said that the material world is an abode where ultimately everything leads to distress through suffering.

Happiness plus temporary equals misery, because the happiness does not last. So, no matter how happy we are, ultimately it will be gone…

 

Meeting with Bengali Congregation, March 29, Carrollton, Texas
Giriraj Swami

prabhupada“The rabbi quoted a little story from Jewish literature. ‘A student was going to live with the rabbi, and a friend asked him, “Why?” He replied, “So I can see how he ties his shoes.” ‘ The idea is that if someone is spiritually elevated—and what to speak of Srila Prabhupada, who was on the highest platform of spiritual perfection—you can learn from everything they do. Because everything they do is done in God consciousness, Krishna consciousness. There are so many things that come up, all the time, and I think of Srila Prabhupada: ‘What would he do?’ ”

Meeting with Bengali Congregation, Dallas

Breaking News!! Statue of Nirākāra Brahman was stolen from the temple!
→ Nityananda Chandra Das' Blog, ISKCON Dallas

At around 11:08 last night His Grace Ayudhya Prabhu and Nirguna Rupa looked everywhere for the statue and concluded that it must have been stolen.  An anonymous donor had paid the high price of $16,108 for the inconceivable statue and records have shown that the statue was duly shipped.

(This is where the statue was going to be installed – Picture by channel 12 news)

When interviewed by the news, Avyaktā Das and his wife Arupina Devī Dāsī revealed,

“It is really hard to figure out how are we going to find this statue, for we do not know what it looks like, it’s color, it’s height, nor do we even know how we feel about it being missing.  Even Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita 12.5 says that to find Nirākāra Brahman is very troublesome.”

Oh and by the way HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY

You can also read about:

Hare Krishna Miniature Goat Farm Opening day at ISKCON Dallas

MEET ISKCON TORONTO'S NEW PET MONKEY!!!

A NEW INITIATIVE TO BE MORE ECO-FRIENDLY!

Was the Karna who was defeated by Bhima during the pre-Rajasuya yajna conquest different from the Karna who befriended Duryodhana?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

From Niraj

Srimad bhagavtpuraan makes it very clear karna was an honoured guest at pandavas rajsuya yagna and was in charge of the charity section. K.M. Gangulys mahabharata mentions many karna. One particular karna is mentioned but this karna king of anga is not mentioned. Here are the passages “ And making the earth tremble by means of his troops consisting of the four kinds of forces, the foremost of the Pandavas then encountered Karna that slayer of foes. And, O Bharata, having subjugated Karna and brought him under his sway, the mighty hero then vanquished the powerful king of the mountainous regions” Here we see some karna but had it been written karna of anga or karna the son of radheya or suta then it would have been beyond doubt that karna was conquered by bhima. Even when bheeshma was abusing karna left right and centre he mentioned karna failures ie virata gandharva but he did NOT mention bhima conquering karna. Incidently a son of dhirtharashtra also was named karna. Shisupala had nominated karna instead of krishna for the foremost gueste of honour. Now shishupala was evil but he had to play a role of a good sales man hence he had nominated bheeshma and other reputaed people as well. Karna too has his fair share of victories over bhima in mb war.

Answer Podcast

Krishna, The Joking God
→ NY Times & Bhagavad Gita Sanga/ Sankirtana Das

Various religions often  talk about God's compassion, God's wrath and that God is just. But God, like everyone else, has a well rounded personality.  There is a lot  more to Him then these particular qualities. For instance, what  religious traditions describe how God likes to play jokes and tricks?  Today being April Fools Day, is an appropriate time to talk about this characteristic of God. Krishna is the supreme joke maker and trickster.  He and friends, both the gopies and cowherd boys, delight in playing jokes upon one another.  This is part of their loving, playful exchange.  Krishna is forever engaged in loving pastimes  with His devotees.

These activities are described in Krishna Book(Srimad Bhagavatam) and categorized in Nectar of Devotion. Sometimes the boys would come to Yasoda's house early in the morning and wait for Krishna while she got Him ready for the day. Mother Yasoda would call to one of them, "Visala, why don't you come over and help."  And when the boy came and bent down to put on Krishna's ankle bells, Krishna would playfully hit him with His flute. Descriptions of Krishna smiling and joking abound in both His childhood and adult pastimes.

Prabhupada is giving us a profound understanding of a personal God,  our dearmost Friend, and by doing so, inviting us to develop a love for that Supreme Person.

 Sankirtana das is author of Mahabarata: The Eternal Quest -  www.Mahabharata-Project.com       

New Raman Reti, Alachua, during festive times (Album 108 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

New Raman Reti is a spiritual community based on the principles of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), located in Alachua, north Florida, USA. Situated on a rural 127-acre property surrounding a tranquil, marble-floored temple, New Raman Reti is a devotional refuge from the material world.The temple deities are the most merciful Sri Sri Radha Shyamasundara, Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. Read more ›