Planet ISKCON

Yadunath das's comedy act at Kulimela 2006 at New Vrndavan.

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Nearly 50 years after Srila Prabhupada journeyed from India to America to bring the new teachings of Krishna to a generation of Western burnouts, Hare Krishnas have moved out of the airports, into the streets, and into the cubicle right next to yours.

Like “What did Srila Prabhupada mean when he said there would an ISKCON in the spiritual world” and “Why did you say women worshipping Radha-Damodara would contaminate Them?”

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Leaders of faith communities across Europe have gathered in Geneva to consider the role of inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. 

Please view the following galleries: Darshan Gold Dress Yajna Procession Adivas Abhishek We have now posted many amazing photos of the Nrisimha Caturdasi festivities, including 170 pictures of the abhisek. The extremely elaborate Sudarshan yajna was performed the previous day this year  being well planned out and conducted by our Gurukula boys, headed by HH Bhakti Vidya […]

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More excitement at the TOVP as the third ring of the main dome begins installation. It is expected to take five weeks for completion.

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HG Jagat Palana Prabhu – SB 10.64.30-44 – 02.05.2014

GOD’S ANGER

Reflections on the Installation of Lord Nrsimhadeva in New Vrindaban.

From the Brijabasi Spirit, June 1986.

by Gadadhara dasa

A million years ago, in a previous era, the universe was controlled by the terrible demon, Hiranyakasipu. His five year old son, Prahlada, was a great devotee of the Lord and was always instructing his classmates on the science of Krsna consciousness.

Hiranyakasipu couldn’t tolerate his saintly son, so he tried to kill him in so many ways, although failing again and again. Finally, Lord Krishna personally appeared as Nrsimhadeva, to protect His small devotee, Prahlada, and kill Hiranyakasipu by tearing him apart.

“I offer my obeisances to Lord Nrsimhadeva, who gives joy to Prahlada Maharaja, and whose nails are like chisels on the stone-like chest of the demon Hiranyakasipu.”

1986 began in a most auspicious way in New Vrindaban. Lord Nrsimhadeva, the half-man, half-lion incarnation of Lord Krishna, decided to appear at our annual New Year Sankirtan Festival, held the first week in January. By His causeless mercy, He appeared as a seven-foot tall, coal-black Deity, with piercing red eyes, accompanied by his five year old eternal associate, Prahlada Maharaja.

Prahlada is standing with folded hands in front of His Lord, who is seated on a magnificent golden throne. In one hand Nrsimhadeva has a conch and in another a chakra (discus). At the end of His powerful fingers are gleaming, golden fingernails. His black and gold mane, like an effulgence, frames His glowing red eyes and fierce snout,where two downward curving white fangs protrude. A jeweled helmet of gold adorns his head.

Thinking back to the first time I saw Lord Nrsimhadeva, I remember Him vividly in a painting on the wall of the Radha Krishna temple in New York, during my first visit there. It was a frightening scene to behold.

I could almost hear His thunderous roaring as He placed the demon-king Hiranyakasipu on His lap and disemboweled him. Blood was flying everywhere. Bhakta Prahlada was calmly looking on with tears of love and devotion in his eyes.

I stopped myself from gawking, pulling myself away to ask a nearby devotee what all this meant. His answer satis­fied me then and still satisfies me: “This is Lord Nrsimhadeva” he said. “He is God’s anger personified, and He’s proving to the world that the Lord protects His devotees.”

Soma das, New Vrindaban’s sculptor, had previously been requested to carve a Prahlada-Nrsimha murti. Soma became inspired with the project and soon carved out of clay a beautiful form. With the help of Kumara das and the mold shop crew, a mold was made and the casting went very smoothly.

“When Lord Nrsimhadeva wants to appear, no one can stop Him,”

Sampat Kumar Bhattacharya, a priest for the famous Tirupati temple of Balaji in South India, was consulted from beginning to end on many details of the Lord, and the Silpa Sastra and other Vedic texts were carefully refer­enced.

Most people can’t understand that the form of the Lord is not a concoction of anyone’s imagination; authorized descriptions can be found in the revealed scriptures. At the request of the Lord’s pure devotees, Krishna agrees to personally manifest as the arca-vigraha incarnation.

A golden altar and throne were cast in the mold shop and were placed to the right of Sri Sri Radha-Vrindaban Chandra’s altar. The Sankirtan Festival was ecstatic. Three days of chanting, dancing, feasting, plays, videos, initiations and other festivities pushed us all forward into new realms of transcendental bliss.

The ceremonies inaugurating the appearance of Lord Nrsimhadeva were organized and overseen by Gaura Kesava Prabhu, who previously installed the great Nrsimhadeva Deity in Germany. The festivities began with Gaura Kesava explaining the meaning behind all the rituals, followed by a fire yajna and a bathing ceremony. After the yajna, all the devotees had an opportunity to bathe the Lord and His devotee, Prahlada.

That evening, there was one of New Vrindaban’s memor­able three-hour kirtanas. The giant kirtana hall was packed with people. The lights were dimmed. Mounds of rice with candle wicks were placed on the floor, creating as aisle of ghee lamps. Young maidens carrying auspicious items were presented before the closed curtain.

Then at about 9:00 p.m., the curtains opened and Lord Nrsimhadeva, resplendent with garlands, a jeweled golden crown and golden ornaments, accompanied by Prahlada Maharaja, also fully decorated and effulgent, blessed us with His darsan.

The Lord’s beautiful red lotus eyes will bring great pleasure to the devotees and strike fear into the hearts of the demons.

“God’s personified anger…protecting His devotees…” I flashed back. Lord Nrsimha’s visage seemed peaceful and calm at this point. It seemed that Prahlada Maharaja, a five year old boy, alone was able to keep the Supreme Person­ality of Godhead from standing up and shaking the whole universe with His unearthly roar. I could appreciate Prahlada more than ever before, and how Krishna can be controlled only by the love of His devotee.

Now some time has passed since the New Year appear­ance of Lord Nrsimhadeva and Prahlada Maharaja. Our temple activities are more exciting and glorious than ever. The Gurukula boys perform all the morning arotiks to Lord Nrsimhadeva. It’s a great thrill to see young boys worshiping the most powerful personality in all of creation.

I’m looking forward to seeing the amazed look on the faces of the thousands of visitors this season when they first see the transcendental form of Lord Nrsimhadeva. I hope someone will ask me who He is. Then I will have the chance to tell them, “He is God’s anger personified.”

Ethics is the basic principle of purification. Unless one…knows what is moral and what is immoral… Of course, in this material world everything is immoral, but still we have to distinguish good and bad. That is called regulative principle. Simply by following the regulative principle, if he does not reach the ultimate goal of spiritual life, so that is also not wanted. The real aim is to come to the spiritual platform and become free from the influence of these laws of material nature.

Dialectic Spiritualism: A Vedic View of Western Philosophy(Prabhupada Books, 1985), conversation about Socrates

bhaj ity eṣa vai dhatuḥ       sevayaṁ parikirtitaḥ 

tasmat seva budhaiḥ prokta      bhaktiḥ sadhana-bhuyasi

“Bhaj as a root is used to convey ‘service.’ Therefore, the wise explain that engaging in the Lord’s service is the way of bhakti.”

Garuda Purana  (Purva-khanda 231.3)

Holy Name Meditation Podcast

Holy Name Meditation Podcast

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 9 March 2014, Sydney, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.6.11)

I have some cartoons. This cartoon shows, first picture – a child, you know, baby just born and the caption says, “Too young.” Next picture shows a couple in love, hand-in-hand, full moon behind them, “Too much in love.” Next picture shows a family, a few kids, you know, bags with groceries. He has got a phone, a computer, a drill and a screwdriver. I mean, they have six arms; they are, “Too busy.” Next picture, an old man; death, “Too old.” Last picture has cross on the grave, “Too late.”

So at every stage of life, we have an excuse. We always have an excuse. So, now you can say, “I always thought chanting Hare Krsna was very difficult and now I have the perfect excuse – children! So happy that I have children because I don’t have to chant Hare Krsna anymore. It is a relief, right, because now I have very good arguments not to chant.”

No, chanting must be done under any condition of life and no material difficulty can ever be accepted as a valid excuse for not chanting.

Yeah, you know, “Why didn’t you chant your rounds today?”
“I broke my leg.”
“That is not a valid excuse. You could have chanted in the hospital.”
“Yes, but I was unconscious.”
“Well, then you should have started chanting when you regained consciousness.”

So we don’t accept any excuse when it comes to chanting. Sorry! That is the first point and that’s how we have to deal with ourselves. You have to take charge of yourself with intelligence as if you are another person, looking at yourself. Here you are, your intelligence; it is as if another person looking at your and then you see yourself coming with excuses.

“I’m too busy.”
“Sorry, that’s not an excuse.”

Make time. You manage to make time when you really want it. Mmm… for your favourite TV program. So yes, with our intelligence, we must take charge and make arrangements – make time to chant. And chant with a plan. Don’t just let chanting happen.

“I have to chant sixteen rounds. I’m really trying, I’m trying. But I’m so busy, I’m so busy. You can’t believe how busy I am, I just cannot do it. I just don’t have the time. I try and try, every day I try. Don’t have the time.”

Uh, uh. Get time management! You have a time management problem. Yes, you are chanting without a plan. How do you think you will get it done without a plan? You have to have a plan. You have to build chanting into your day. Say, “I’ll chant here, I’ll chant there, and I need so much time for sixteen rounds. So many rounds here, so many rounds there.” That is how it is done!

You know, I also have a plan to chant today because I just arrived in Australia. I’m sort of still dizzy and disoriented and looking at like, “Where am I?” Seems to be Sydney and there are three programs today. Three programs. So, I have to chant some rounds on the drive back… I have to make sure that I don’t fall asleep and that the driver is not going to try to reveal his heart to me while driving (laughing). So, make a plan for spiritual life and it will go well.

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.9 during the morning program.

“The mercy of Lord Nrsimhadeva is manifest in different ways: There are internal demons and external demons, and He is fully competent and inclined to vanquish both. As preachers we face both internal and external demons, and being sincere in our service we are quite distressed by the internal demons—not just because they disturb our consciousness in our own bhajana, or worship, but because they also interfere with our ability to help others. So we take shelter of Krishna consciousness. Prahlada is actually praying that people think of Krishna, for the power of thinking of Krishna is immeasurable. As stated in the last paragraph of the purport, ’If the Krishna consciousness movement spreads all over the world, and if by the grace of Krishna everyone accepts it, the thinking of envious people will change. Everyone will think of the welfare of others. Therefore Prahlada Maharaja prays, sivam mitho dhiya. In material activities, everyone is envious of others, but in Krishna consciousness, no one is envious of anyone else; everyone thinks of the welfare of others.’ (SB 5.18.9 purport)”

Nrsimha-caturdasi Kirtan
Nrsimha-caturdasi Talk

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Over the past few weeks one of the main topics locally has been the recent arrests of health care professionals for falsifying medical records, and a report on failings in health care provisions falling well below the professional level that even unqualified home care staff are expected to deliver.
For me one statement from a qualified nurse was unexplainable they didn’t see that basic care was their responsibility and the person being left in distressing unclean condition’s. The disconnect of the patient need and care delivery has left a stunned health board, assembly government and community silent and stunned.
Working in the profession I am am saddened to read such headlines whilst reassessing the standards of care I personally deliver to my clients is it the best I can given the restraints of time and facilities at my disposal.
What disappointed me working in the profession is not the relative’s call for heads to roll (that’s understandable) but that each looked at blaming everyone other than themselves, the nurses weren’t to blame as they had been let down by lack of management direction, the management weren’t to blame as they had been let down by lack of health board direction, they intern weren’t to blame as they were only in place over the last few years and look to the assembly government. Who in tern said sorry but pointed out it was the trust boards responsibility overall.
I wondered what happened to nurse accountability, how we are not only care provider’s but also primary advocates for those vunrable and unable to self advocate due to illness, it was seen as the nurse’s duty and great pride was taken in how high the standard’s of not only the ward you worked on but the hospital.
Accurate and honest documentation
Clean well cared for patient’s, with each component of the care package delivered in a timely fashion. This was see as good nursing.
After all in vedic culture the nurse is described as one of our mother’s and this is high praise indeed as no mother can turn a blind eye to suffering putting others needs before her own, a majority of nurses put patients needs before their own.
I return to the thought of personal responsibility
And also personal responsibility as devotee’s/my responsibility.
It is easy as in the case highlighted to pass blame, its not my responsibility it’s the temple, senior devotee’s (let me tell you so and so Prabhu/Mataji don’t do ###### and so that’s why I don’t)
It’s easy to fall into this trap.
But Krishna consciousness is personal not impersonal
I am personally responsible for our japa
I am personally responsible for reading and studying Srila Prabhupada book’s
I am personally responsible for distributing and sharing prasadam, and inspiring others to take to Krishna consciousness
The GBC, Iskcon give guidelines and instructions to follow, it is personal choice to follow or not the results will reflect this.
As in my professional life I have guidelines from the professional bodies that oversee the care profession it is my responsibility to make sure this standard is met, the results of my client’s experience will reflect this.
If their is failings it is not theirs but mine.
I as a devotee should reflect the highest standards any failings is non other than mine.
Personalism not impersonal
The end thought
I should be the example and by this example others should be inspired to follow