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Giriraj Swami and Vaisesika das read and spoke from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila.
“When we take up the process and make the effort to chant without offense—which means without distraction, with attention—we will see how many different thoughts pass through our mind. Those thoughts have underlying conceptions, mainly related to the body, that ‘I am the body’. Some are gross, like ‘I’m hungry; when can I take prasada?’ And some are subtle, like ‘How are people regarding me? Are they appreciating me?’ But if we stay steadfast in our practice, these things will vanish. Srila Prabhupada gave the example of making ghee from butter. When you put the butter on the fire, the impurities come up, and you wipe them off. Then more come up, and you wipe them off. And then, eventually, none come up, and it is pure ghee. So the fact that these things come up need not discourage us as long as we remain steadfast in our practice. They come, and they go—the holy name takes care of them. It may be that some are a little persistent, and in such cases we may want to consult some senior devotee or go deep into the scriptures to find an answer. Then gradually the chanting becomes more relishable.”—Giriraj Swami
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 01 October 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.1)
Many things are considered justified in the name of sankirtan. You know, in the name of sankirtan, you can do any damn thing! I wouldn’t think so.
I think that even in the name of sankirtan, sankirtan devotees should be careful and should avoid unnecessary suffering to other living beings. We should be strict about what we eat, we should read the E-numbers and if they’re the wrong ones, we should not eat it.
(Australian accent) “Anyway, who cares about these things! Can’t be fanatic. You know, it’s the sankirtan movement, Lord Caitanya is very merciful. It’s alright! No worries. She’ll be right”. (This is a reference to an Australian slang/idiom which basically means “everything will be okay”)
I’m not so sure if “she’ll be right”. Yes, I have my doubts about it.
Sri Gaura Purnima festival, an appearance day of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was celebrated by ISKCON, Ludhiana. A large number of people including political, religious enthusiastically participated in the festival. Deities Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baldeva and Subhadra and Sri Sri Gaur Nitai look very beautiful in their colorful dress. Read more › The post Gaura Purnima Abhiseka appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
Mayapur has descended in Bangalore after the auspicious appearance of Sri Sri Gandharvika Giridhari! We had a wonderful Sri Gaura Purnima celebration this year. We had festivities for whole day, Devotees were engaged in cooking, dressing, chanting, hearing the glories of the Lord, reading, making garlands, the entire atmosphere was filled with the sweet name of Gaura. Read more › 
Maha Abhishek, Theatrical performance, Prasad distribution and more blissful events! Read more › 
There is a very special holy place located in central Spain about 100 kilometers east of Madrid, Spain's capital city.
It is geographically right outside the little town of Brihuega, near Guadalajara. It is a small farm community, with flower and vegetable gardens, a couple of small greenhouses, a beautiful goshala right across the road from the temple, and then a larger goshalla down the road.
They have approximately 12 cows and 2 bulls that are definitely pampered and adored. They provide the milk for the milksweets and curd used in the daily Deity offerings. Read more › 
Broadbeach is a suburb on the Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia. Read more › 
The mercy of Lord Chaitanya distributed everywhere! Read more › 
Scenes from yesterday's Gaur Purnima celebrations here @ ISKCON Baroda.
Mayor of Baroda, Sri Bharat Shah, graced the occasion, Provident fund Commissioner Sri M.P. Sinha (father of Nisha Sinha) with family was also present, with hundreds/thousands of devotees, residents of Baroda who came for the festival. Read more › 
During the 1970s, Srila Prabhupada regularly visited ISKCON Melbourne to give lectures and inspire his many followers who would eagerly await his arrival. On very special occasions he came to install the Deity forms of Lord Krishna so that his devoted students could learn to worship the Lord in His archa-vigraha (Deity form). In 1973, when the temple was still located in Burnett Street, St Kilda (our first location), Srila Prabhupada installed Melbourne’s presiding Deities, Sri Sri Radha Ballabha. Much to everyone’s delight, in May 1975 Srila Prabhupada attended the opening of our current temple at 197 Danks Street, Albert Park, simultaneously installing Deities of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda, Sri-Sri Gaura Nitai. Read more › 
Spring is almost here, and therefore we have the Holi- The Festival of Colors, this is also the appearance day of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In Kali yuga, Lord Krishna appears as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to propagate the Congregational chanting of the holy names. Therefore, what better way to celebrate Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's divine appearance day than to chant the holy names with our heart and soul.
This year Holi was on March 16, Radha Madhava temple had arranged for 12 Hr Kirtan from 6am - 6pm. Our founder Acharya Shrila Prabhupada says, “Whenever there is congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord, Gaura Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His incarnation as Lord Chaitanya, immediately appears and is worshiped by sankirtana-yajna.” Read more › The post Govinda Swami reading Act Two of Caitanya Candradoya Nataka – Revelation of all Incarnations appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
Srimad-Bhagavatam class in Krsna Balaram mandir.
The post Krsna varnam tvisakrsnam… appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
The post Was this the wildest kirtan? appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
Srila Prabhupada's visit to Atlanta was a most memorable one for all of the devotees who had gathered to be with him. He became visibly overwhelmed by the magnanimous presence of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai, the presiding Deities of Atlanta, and by the fervent, unconditional devotion pouring forth from the more than three hundred disciples surrounding him. Read more › 
Have a look in the "battlefield"! Read more › Short Answer: It signifies the burning of the impurities of our heart and the subsequent realization of our spiritual glory.
Answer: Let’s first understand the significance of festivals themselves.
In traditional Vedic culture, festivals served a purpose that has been almost forgotten nowadays. They were primarily meant to bring humanity closer to divinity; they served as occasions for people to put aside their worldly preoccupations and focus on the Lord and His glorious deeds, as connected with the specific days of the festivals. Without knowing this spiritual purpose, people nowadays seek only material fun through festivals and miss the internal enrichment.
The festival of Holi, celebrated on the last day of the bright fortnight of the month of Phalgun, offers an excellent opportunity to regain what we have missed for long.
Let’s now come to the bonfire.
The history of the bonfire dates back to millennia, when the demon king Hiranyakashipu ruled and terrorized the universe and considered God, Vishnu, and His devotees to be his arch enemy. When the demon saw that his own son, Prahlada, had become a devotee of Vishnu, he became enraged and decided to kill Prahlada. But Lord Vishnu protected Prahlada during all the assassination attempts. In despair,
Hiranyakashipu ordered his sister, Holika, who had been blessed with immunity from fire, to take Prahlada into fire and burn him to death. She complied, but to the dismay of the demon, Prahlada came out of the fire, unscathed, being protected by Lord Vishnu, whereas Holika was reduced to ashes. Why? Because she had been given that blessing by Brahma with the condition that it shouldn’t be used to cause harm to others. This burning of Holika is commemorated by the bonfire and by the name ‘Holi’.
The significance of this historical narrative is immense. Prahlada signifies our godly, serving, selfless nature; Holika, the ungodly, exploitative, selfish tendency that covers our original nature. When gold is placed in fire, the impurities melt away and the purified gold emerges, shining brighter. Similarly, the purifying Holi bonfire signifies the burning away of our superficial, lower tendency and the re-emergence of our essential, higher nature. When our pure nature re-emerges, we realize our identity as spiritual beings, as souls, who are sac-cid-ananda, eternal, enlightened and ecstatic. Realizing our identity as the beloved children of the infallible Lord, we become free from fear and full of joy.
Prahlada emerged triumphant from the fire by dint of his unflinching devotion to the Lord. Similarly, we will emerge successful through all the fire-like trials and tribulations of life by developing unflinching devotion. Just as Prahlada developed devotion from his devotee-guru Narada Muni, we too can develop devotion by learning chanting of God’s holy names from a contemporary devotee-guru.
With this devotional training, when we light the Holi bonfire, then the sacred fire will illuminate us not just externally, but also internally.
Sally Aggarwal visits NV
Sally Aggarwal, with New Vrindaban Goshalla in background
One elderly American lady and two younger ladies wandered into the lobby of Sri Sri Radha Vrindabanchandra temple the afternoon of Thurs. March 13, 2014.
Parampara prabhu inquired: “Good afternoon, ladies. May I help you?”
One of the younger women replied, smiling, referring to the elderly American lady, “You know, this lady is very special to your Hare Krsna movement!”
Parampara didn’t understand what she was referring to.
“Yes, this is my mother, Sally Aggarwal! She sponsored Srila Prabhupada on the Jaladuta from India in 1965!” she proudly declared.
Parampara greeting Sally
Parampara was very happy to accompany Sally, her daughter and her daughter’s friend on an adventure to the goshala, where they had fun seeing the three new little bull calves and some of New Vrindaban’s milking cows.
Sally spoke of how humble Srila Prabhupada was when he stayed with them in their small apt. in Butler, PA, where he had to sleep on the couch.
She recalls, “At first, we would, of course, cook meals for the Swami and ourselves. But our apt. was so small that after a short time, we had to get the Swami a room at the local YMCA. Even so, he used to come to our apt. every day and cook delicious meals for the whole family! What a treat! It was a very special time. But I did feel bad taking service from him.”
Sally spoke about how Srila Prabhupada expressed a strong desire to go to New York. She told Parampara that Srila Prabhupada’s main goal at the time was to distribute many books to the American people.
“He told my husband, Gopal, and myself that his original idea was to come to America, distribute his books and then return to India. As a matter of fact, he had left a trunk of books with us for 10 years, so we finally asked some devotees here from New Vrindaban to come and pick them up. I realized much later that I should have kept those books. If I had, I’d be a millionaire by now!” Sally laughed at this thought.
Jaya Krsna, community president, greets Sally
Caitanya Bhagavat das took the opportunity of Sally’s visit to give her a copy of the DVD “Your Ever Well-Wisher”, in which she appeared, since she had heard about this movie, but had never seen it. He gave her a Bhagavad Gita as well, for which she was very thankful.
Soon after the Swami had arrived in Butler, PA, Sally was concerned that people in the small town would think he was weird. So, in a motherly and protective mood, she went straight to the local newspaper, Butler Eagle, and arranged for an article, so people would know more about him.
Sally described another very amazing time in their lives. “When Srila Prabhupada was leaving his body in Vrindavan, India, both my husband, Gopal, and I had the unbelievable fortune to be at his side.”
New Vrindaban was very fortunate to have a special and very fortunate lady, Mrs. Sally Aggarwal, drop in for a visit.
Sally, her daughter, a friend and some Brijbasis
Kripamoya Prabhu at Kirtan Mela Mayapur 2014 Day 2
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 14 March 2009, Korsnas, Sweden, Srimad Bhagavatam 3.2.15)
Question: Are the faults that we see in others simply a reflection of our own faults or is there something else to it?
Not always but it can well be. If one is a liberated soul, when one sees faults in others then one sees real faults in others, faults that are there. If one is a conditioned soul then there are two options. One option is that everything one sees is coloured by the glasses of one’s false ego. The false ego gives us coloured glasses where everything is coloured by them. In that case, we see faults in a person and we add a little colour from our own false ego to it as well. Thus we make faults into something more than what is really there. We take what is there and then add something. That is looking at faults through false ego. The other option is that there are no faults at all, and that we just project with our false ego faults onto someone.
So these possibilities are there for the conditioned soul – first is that there are real faults but they are coloured, and other times there are no faults but they come from projections of our false ego. But in the case of a liberated soul, he sees things as they are because he is completely sober and he can see right through you and he sees everything at the glance: the faults, the good qualities – but with compassion, with unlimited compassion.
Gaura Purnima is a Gaudiya Vaishanva festival that celebrates the divine appearance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Navadwipa, India. Gaura Purnima means “Golden Full Moon”. The name signifies that Lord Caitanya took birth at time of full moon and He blesses everyone with the moonlike rays of His teachings. Festivities at ISKCON Delhi include a shobha-yatra (parade) with utsava murti of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai on Juhu beach followed by Sringar-arati and lecture on the glories of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprasad. The evening festivities consist of maha-abhishek of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, Sri Gaura arati followed by dinner prasada for all. Read more ›