Websites from the ISKCON Universe
We are currently working repairing/restoring/replacing the three large domes on top of the altar. Read more › 
Many years ago, Indonesia and much of Southeast Asia today was a part of India and its Vedic heritage. Much resemblance of India and its culture is seen in Indonesia. This includes the moral structure, the language, the arts and to some extent, the religion. As Indonesia only recognises six official religions, all religious organisations has to be linked to either one of them.
by Kacey Orr
Greetings from the garden….
My name is Kacey and I will be in charge of the Garden of Seven Gates. I am looking forward to producing many varieties of vegetables and fruits this year. I have come here from my own small organic farm in Dallas Pike. Each week I will be providing an update for the garden and volunteer opportunities. We also have plenty of space if there is anyone interested in having a personal plot within the garden. Even in this late winter season there is something new and wonderful in the garden each day.
Currently garden activities include:
- Bramble pruning and thinning
- Asparagus preparations
- Greenhouse seeding (flowers, tomatoes, peppers)
- Spring bed preparations
- Planting Perennial Bushes
- Garden Planning
Sivarama Swami at Kirtan Mela Mayapur 2014 Day 1
SB 07.07.15 No Permanent Shelter 2012-08-30
Lecture – Srimad Bhagavatam 7.7.15 No Permanent Shelter – Video Russian
Loving the Mission of Lord Caitanya 2012-08-29 Russian
Lecture – Loving the Mission of Lord Caitanya – Video
SB 03.20.29 Our words, our wealth, our intelligence, our life 2012-08-22
Lecture – Srimad Bhagavatam 3.20.29 Our words, our wealth, our intelligence, our life
AKA
Cooperation at the Brahmabhuta stage
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 October 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.8)
One should never think that we possess anything in this world, not even our children. Our children, they are independent from us; living beings on their own destiny who are placed under our care for sometime, that is all. It is not that they are part of us, ”Something of me lives in this child.” That is illusion.
Genetically, it can be proven, fine! But genes have nothing to do with our identity, absolutely nothing – they are simply part of our bodies. The soul is not determined by genetic clumps in any way. The soul is completely aloof and therefore, why single out one living entity over another and get very affectionate towards one particular living entity and not affectionate towards another.
Maybe if it is based on devotional service, then that criteria is right, that we feel particularly affectionate towards one living being because that living being is very much eager to serve Krsna. That is when we are free from illusion otherwise when we are bound by all kinds of different affections in this world – deep, emotional, we feel it so strong. If it is due to temporary relationships then we are in illusion – we are in maya!
SB 01.01.14 Understanding What Is It That We Do Not Understand 2012-08-15
Lecture – Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.14 Brihuega - Understanding What Is It That We Do Not Understand 2012-08-15
SB 05.14.29 Immunization Against Death 2012-08-14
Lecture – Srimad Bhagavatam 5.14.29 Immunization Against Death 2012-08-14 Radhadesh
Dallas Morning News,Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.
Three days after police found the body of 17-year-old Ivan Mejia in the woods in Garland, his father, Flavio, offered forgiveness to those responsible for the young man’s murder. It was the family’s first public statement.
Two of Ivan’s classmates are in custody for the murder, something police say occurred because of a fight over a girl.
Forgiveness is central to so many faiths. But how do we forgive? And what does forgiveness do for the one who forgives and the one who is forgiven? Can true forgiveness come so quickly as the Mejia family offered it, or must it come through time and grief?
Below is Flavio’s statement.
First, we want to thank you on behalf of our family for
respecting our privacy and our silence. We want Ivan to be remembered as a good servant of society who sought the well-being of others and gave a friendly hand in very humble ways and without pretensions. Also he held in high esteem his faith and his passion for Jesus.
It is because of the faith that we profess and that we instilled in Ivan that we hold no grudge toward the people involved in this unfortunate event. We pray for their families because we understand that just like us they are going through a very unpleasant time. We thank God for his strength, for his care
of our family. We thank from our heart our congregation El Lugar de Su Presencia, the community, friends and relatives who have been of help and blessing in these moments that are so difficult for our family.
We have the certainty that our Ivan lived each moment of his life impassioned by his Creator and we know that he did it as a good soldier of Christ. Like the word says in 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.”
Thanks for your attention. We bless you in the name of Jesus.
NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas
In the Vedas is said that the beauty of a saintly person is their forgiveness. It is the quality of those who trying to advance their spiritual consciousness. It is described that that the chief of all demigods, Brahmā achieved that post because of his superb quality of forgiveness. Krishna, God Himself, becomes please with those who are forgiving.
This quality of forgiveness is realized when one understands that God is the supreme controller. One should not be upset with the instruments of one's own karma. So for one's own pains a person should be tolerant. This is personal forgiveness, if others are harmed a person should do their part to protect. This is especially in regards to those who are in leadership, who have the duty and nature to protect others. Such persons should not avoid corrective methods for the abusive behavior of the unrepentant.
To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.
Dear Maharaj/Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
This clip was taken from a Harinam in London the day before Gaura Purnima.
It is interesting to note that in the beginning the young people are really just interested in goofing around to the kirtan, but later they start reading the mantra and join the kirtan.
Lord Caitanya is very merciful and the Holy Name has the ability to liberate one and all, the goofers, the chanters and the devotees.
Sankirtan leader is Govinda Prabhu,
Your servant
Parasuram Das
Dear Maharaj/Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances all glories to Srila Prabhupada,
Harinam in Chinatown London, March 2014.
HG Giridhari Prabhu leads the chanting.
On that particular day there was a choice of 5 Harinam parties in and around London.
Enjoy the movie,
your servant
Parasuram Das
We are currently working repairing/restoring/replacing the three large domes on top of the altar.
ISKCON, HARE KRISHNA TEMPLE, Sri Sri Radha Madhava Mandir Read more › 
The boards of ISKCON New Vrindaban and ECO-Vrindaban, the two landholding entities in New Vrindaban, voted on February 20th and February 23rd, respectively, to sign leases for the Utica Shale, a deep natural gas formation. In 2010, both boards signed similar leases for the Marcellus Shale. As with that decision, this one was fraught with controversy.
Turmeric is a commonly found spice and herb that is increasing in popularity, and for good reason. Below we’ll uncover what turmeric is great for when it comes to healing and wellness.
As I patiently waited for a tyre change on Monday, I began thinking of how a spiritual movement is just like a car.
Today, Ukraine is all over the news for the civil unrest in its capital Kiev. But devotees are safe, and doing what they can to assist those affected. The crisis has, however, affected the Bhakti Sangam festival, which draws thousands of devotees and is the biggest ISKCON festival in the Ukraine and one of the biggest in the world. The festival was held every September in the Crimean Peninsula on the coast of the Black Sea, an area which became Russian territory in late February.
ISKCON devotees in Russia and Ukraine have had quite a turbulent time in the past month with the revolution in Ukraine. Due to this situation Bhakti Vijnana Goswami has recorded an appeal to the devotees of Ukraine and Russia.
Scare crows and Autumn wreaths were a part of our learning about the Autumn or Fall Season. What happens during this time of year that a scare crow is used for? Harvest! Pumpkins, Other winter squashes, Corn, Nuts, Berries, Apples, Pears, Hay . . . They all must be protected from the many kinds of birds. We also learned about changes taking place in Nature – How leaves change from green to golden yellows, reds and browns before swirling down in the brisk autumn wind to the multicolored ground. This section included a series of Social Studies lessons about the European Pilgrims and Native Americans.
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Dear devotees of Lord Gauranga, please accept our most humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to Sri Navadvipa Dham! All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Navadvipa Candra! We finished our most amazing and blissful Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama Silver Jubilee Celebration on 11th March in a great union of the parties […]
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Today the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Africa will broadcast the second annual Bhaktivedanta Swami Lecture, to be given at WITS University, Johannesburg, by His Holiness Devamrita Swami.
The event will go live at 6:25 pm in Johannesburg. That’s 5:25 in Belgium, 4:25 in London, 12:25 in New York.
Other worldwide timings here:
http://tinyurl.com/BhaktivedantaSwamiLecture2014
Link to live stream:
http://streaming.wits.ac.za/live/index.html. You can also see the video made in advance to promote the event. The Bhaktivedanta Swami lecture highlights the teachings of Srila Prabhupada and their relevance for Africa and the world today. The lecture is now on YouTube.
The post Live broadcast today: 2nd annual Bhaktivedanta Swami Lecture appeared first on Jayadvaita Swami.
This episode had a few brilliant moments, but we had to sit through a whole lot of hot air in between each. I started watching the series saying I was comfortable accepting that a TV Series like this is not a scientific document, but an evangelical piece on behalf of the church of science. Still, since a core tenant of the church of science is the sacred nature of evidence one would hope that even a TV series aired on FOX would take some trouble now and then to demonstrate its logics or present its evidence, rather than simply asserting that such things exist and are acceptable beyond reasonable doubt.
In Episode 2, the show is starting to feel like its relying too much on Tyson’s persuasive charisma and the “wow” effect of computer graphics. Still I’m hoping that this will just be the worst episode, and the rest will be better.
It starts off a little dull, with Tyson at a camp fire explaining how breeding can cause variation within a species. He calls this “evolution by artificial selection.” I don’t know, I think a more eloquent term is “breeding.” He jumps from the explanation of breeding to saying that all life as we know it evolves from simple inert molecules, without so much as a nod to the huge distance he jumped. As if showing that wolves can be bred into dogs, or that bears can change fur color (variation within existing species) is somehow perfectly valid evidence that an inert, dead molecule can somehow transform into a viable, living organism, and that this organism can change into complex life, changing entirely from one species to another.
Sorry Mr. Neil, as handsome as you are and as smooth as your voice surely is, I would raise my hand in your class and call “bullshit” on you. Anyone on any side of the evolution issue whose thought about this with minimal sincerity will honestly admit that evidence for modification within a species is not acceptable as evidence of one species becoming a different species, much less for something without any life at all becoming something alive.
I liked the next part of it, though. The weird-mercurial Spaceship of the Imagination (Still, I think “Spaceship of Factual Proof” would be a better spaceship for exploring science) shrinks smaller and smaller, ala 1966 SciFi Classic Fantastic Voyage, and eventually enters into the nucleus of a cell within the egg of a brown bear. There we get a really, really cool animation of proteins walking along girder like molecular structures – and an amazing animation of DNA.
Fantastic stuff. Loved it.
Then it got stupid again.
Dr. Neil says that silly people think an intelligent being must have created life on the basis that life is too complex to have arisen by random chance. “Take the eye for example”… OK STOP. Why take an eye for example? Take the damn proteins and DNA you just showed us in a nucleus for example! Forget the eye. Look how amazingly complex that stuff is! No, Tyson wants us to take an eye for example — and sets out to demonstrate that the human eye really isn’t complex at all. Its a simple thing that just had a whole lot of time to become complex by little simple steps. He goes back to some bacteria who somehow (“randomly”) develop a trait that allows them to vaguely sense light, and this simple stuff that is photosensitive just became more and more specialized and perfected over time.
OK, neat. But I’m still freaked out about those little cities with construction workers you showed us 15 minutes ago all inside every singe nucleus of every single cell in my body, Neil. Remember that stuff you showed us about DNA – what an amazingly sophisticated, eloquent code it is for building a life form? And remember that amazingly NextGen animation of that protein-machine that pulls a DNA strand apart without damaging it, and then each side of the DNA replicates the missing side??? HOLY FUCKIN’ SHIT Neil!!! That stuff was awesome! I can’t focus on your whiz bangs about eyes right now, cuz I’m still dizzy over how cool that stuff inside the nucleus was.
So wait, tell me again, what’s so simple and randomly-constructable about a bacteria powered by these kinds of natural robotics, which somehow develops a photosensitive area in its body?
Please Neil… just because you’re backed up by graphics that make it look like everything you say is actually happening right before our eyes, and just because you say, “Its not a myth, its a scientific fact” – the left side of my brain ain’t buyin what you’re trying’ to sell in Episode 2. As soon as you let us peak inside the nucleus of a cell it became perfectly obvious that there’s nothing “simple” or “random” about even the simplest thing in nature – and the rest of your arguments just rang hollow in comparison to that roaring crescendo you (perhaps inadvertently) orchestrated.
It’s not just “complexity” that warrants the theory of a sentient origin of life. Its the principle of “inertia” as well. In other words, evolution means that things change. But things will not change from a settled state unless acted upon by an outside force. So evolution implies an outside force set a settled condition in motion.
Further, adaptation and so on indicates movement towards some goal. It appears obvious that life wants to exist and survive – this is the fundamental motive of evolution, is it not? Survival? (According to prevalent theories). But insentient things have no motives - by definition. Since a motive is required for change, evolution cannot originally be driven by an insentient origin. There must be will acting upon the system, spurring it to change.
- Vraja Kishor
This episode had a few brilliant moments, but we had to sit through a whole lot of hot air in between each. I started watching the series saying I was comfortable accepting that a TV Series like this is not a scientific document, but an evangelical piece on behalf of the church of science. Still, since a core tenant of the church of science is the sacred nature of evidence one would hope that even a TV series aired on FOX would take some trouble now and then to demonstrate its logics or present its evidence, rather than simply asserting that such things exist and are acceptable beyond reasonable doubt.
In Episode 2, the show is starting to feel like its relying too much on Tyson’s persuasive charisma and the “wow” effect of computer graphics. Still I’m hoping that this will just be the worst episode, and the rest will be better.
It starts off a little dull, with Tyson at a camp fire explaining how breeding can cause variation within a species. He calls this “evolution by artificial selection.” I don’t know, I think a more eloquent term is “breeding.” He jumps from the explanation of breeding to saying that all life as we know it evolves from simple inert molecules, without so much as a nod to the huge distance he jumped. As if showing that wolves can be bred into dogs, or that bears can change fur color (variation within existing species) is somehow perfectly valid evidence that an inert, dead molecule can somehow transform into a viable, living organism, and that this organism can change into complex life, changing entirely from one species to another.
Sorry Mr. Neil, as handsome as you are and as smooth as your voice surely is, I would raise my hand in your class and call “bullshit” on you. Anyone on any side of the evolution issue whose thought about this with minimal sincerity will honestly admit that evidence for modification within a species is not acceptable as evidence of one species becoming a different species, much less for something without any life at all becoming something alive.
I liked the next part of it, though. The weird-mercurial Spaceship of the Imagination (Still, I think “Spaceship of Factual Proof” would be a better spaceship for exploring science) shrinks smaller and smaller, ala 1966 SciFi Classic Fantastic Voyage, and eventually enters into the nucleus of a cell within the egg of a brown bear. There we get a really, really cool animation of proteins walking along girder like molecular structures – and an amazing animation of DNA.
Fantastic stuff. Loved it.
Then it got stupid again.
Dr. Neil says that silly people think an intelligent being must have created life on the basis that life is too complex to have arisen by random chance. “Take the eye for example”… OK STOP. Why take an eye for example? Take the damn proteins and DNA you just showed us in a nucleus for example! Forget the eye. Look how amazingly complex that stuff is! No, Tyson wants us to take an eye for example — and sets out to demonstrate that the human eye really isn’t complex at all. Its a simple thing that just had a whole lot of time to become complex by little simple steps. He goes back to some bacteria who somehow (“randomly”) develop a trait that allows them to vaguely sense light, and this simple stuff that is photosensitive just became more and more specialized and perfected over time.
OK, neat. But I’m still freaked out about those little cities with construction workers you showed us 15 minutes ago all inside every singe nucleus of every single cell in my body, Neil. Remember that stuff you showed us about DNA – what an amazingly sophisticated, eloquent code it is for building a life form? And remember that amazingly NextGen animation of that protein-machine that pulls a DNA strand apart without damaging it, and then each side of the DNA replicates the missing side??? HOLY FUCKIN’ SHIT Neil!!! That stuff was awesome! I can’t focus on your whiz bangs about eyes right now, cuz I’m still dizzy over how cool that stuff inside the nucleus was.
So wait, tell me again, what’s so simple and randomly-constructable about a bacteria powered by these kinds of natural robotics, which somehow develops a photosensitive area in its body?
Please Neil… just because you’re backed up by graphics that make it look like everything you say is actually happening right before our eyes, and just because you say, “Its not a myth, its a scientific fact” – the left side of my brain ain’t buyin what you’re trying’ to sell in Episode 2. As soon as you let us peak inside the nucleus of a cell it became perfectly obvious that there’s nothing “simple” or “random” about even the simplest thing in nature – and the rest of your arguments just rang hollow in comparison to that roaring crescendo you (perhaps inadvertently) orchestrated.
It’s not just “complexity” that warrants the theory of a sentient origin of life. Its the principle of “inertia” as well. In other words, evolution means that things change. But things will not change from a settled state unless acted upon by an outside force. So evolution implies an outside force set a settled condition in motion.
Further, adaptation and so on indicates movement towards some goal. It appears obvious that life wants to exist and survive – this is the fundamental motive of evolution, is it not? Survival? (According to prevalent theories). But insentient things have no motives - by definition. Since a motive is required for change, evolution cannot originally be driven by an insentient origin. There must be will acting upon the system, spurring it to change.
- Vraja Kishor
