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We had the pleasure of attending two Gaura Purnima festivals, one at the Bhakti Centre on the Gold Coast and the other at Brisbane temple.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 01 October 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.1)
More and more devotees are becoming vegan because they say milk is not pure; so much cruelty to the cows is involved now. But Srila Prabhupada was not fanatic about this. Srila Prabhupada felt that milk was very important, that we needed it for finer brain tissue development. Even in America, when the milk was adulterated with Vitamin D which might not have been of a vegetarian source, Prabhupada said, “Don’t worry about it, just take it. We need to take milk.” So, Prabhupada sometimes seemed to be quite pragmatic in these matters.
Now they say, “But it is worse than ever. Now, we do better to become vegans.” Well, I respect these devotees but personally I feel that even if a cow is kept in a hellish condition and being mistreated, it’s a bad thing. It is bad!
I’ve seen here in Australia, many cows waiting to be put on the train. Calves, all in a pen, locked up. I was chanting japa early in the morning, there was nobody around, just these calves… something in me felt like… I sort of felt an urge to let them escape. But there was nowhere for them to go to. I felt like letting them out but they had nowhere to go! The whole planet is a prison for them. There is not a free inch of space for them. Wherever they go, they will be caught – so hellish, absolutely hellish!
But, at least if we take their milk and offer it to Krsna, they make eternal benefit! Although their suffering is hellish, it is temporary. If we don’t take their milk, we may bring some relief to them; a few, tiny drops of relief to their temporary suffering.
We don’t take their milk, okay… (booming voice), “If everyone becomes vegan and like millions and millions of people in the world don’t drink milk, then the milk industry will feel it and milk consumption will go down and less cows will have to suffer for all this. That reduces the temporary suffering of the cows! Yay! We got some temporary benefit for the suffering of those cows.”
But what if we take the milk and offer it to Krsna? We give those same cows eternal benefit that cannot be destroyed by anything. Let devotees take all the milk, as much as possible, and offer it all to Krsna! In this way, give the cows as much eternal benefit as possible. The rest of the world should become vegan (laughing). We should have lots of milk, lots of it and we give milk sweets to the vegans!
Giriraj Swami spoke during the evening part of the celebrations.
“Srila Prabhupada, at the age of seventy, and at the order of his guru maharaja, crossed the ocean and sat down under a tree and chanted Hare Krishna. He said that anyone could take Krishna consciousness to anywhere in the world by the same method. You just go to a park in the center of the town, sit down under a tree and chant Hare Krishna. And—this is Srila Prabhupada’s own words—’Immediately people will think, Who is this crazy fellow sitting and chanting in the town square? And they will come around to find out about this crazy fellow.’ Then you tell them about Bhagavad-gita and Krishna consciousness. So, this is continuing by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy. All we have to do is take it and distribute it. This is the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu—that you should taste the nectar of the holy name, taste love of God and distribute it—share it with others.
Lord Chaitanya's appearance day was celebrated all over the world with great partecipation and joy for His devotees and followers! Read more › 
Blissful events for the vaishnavas and the huge congregation of Iskcon UK! Read more › 
Govinda Swami: Today we served the Vrindavan sadhus and acaryas.
Tomorrow we will serve a feast to all of the ISKCON devotees at Krishna Balaram Mandir, as well as sponsor all of the Deities Seva's and feeding the cows in the Bhaktivedanta Goshalla.
May Gaura Nitai, Krishna Balaram, Radhe Shyam, the vaisnavas, and the cows bestow their grace upon the soul of my mother. Read more › The post The Vrndavana festival of prasadam distribution in favor of the late Helen Hobgood (see pictures) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
The post Govinda Swami reading Act Four of Caitanya Candradoya Nataka – Acceptance of Sannyasa appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
Sri Jagannatha Mandir, ISKCON Malaysia head quarters celebrated the most auspicious appearance day of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
The programme started with Tulasi Puja and Guru Puja followed by Abhishekam of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. His Holiness Bhakti Vrajendranandana Swami Maharaja, President of ISKCON Malaysia, graced the occasion with his presence and talk. HG Simhesvara Prabhu, Regional secretary, also spoke and inspired everyone highlighting the glories of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His blessings to all of us. We were also honored to have the presence of YB Senator Datuk Dr Loga Bala Mohan (HG Loka Bandhu Gauranga Prabhu), the Deputy Minister of Federal Territories and His Excellence the Ambassador of Venezuela. Read more › 
As part of our Gaura Purnima festival in UK the Bhaktivedanta Players produced a new play, "Avatars of Kali," featuring Lord Caitanya and Lord Kalki. Read more › Syamananda Prabhu at Kirtan Mela Mayapur 2014 Day 2
Video of Anuttama dasa leading New Vrindaban’s 24 Hour Kirtan - June 15th, 2013.
Click here to view the video on YouTube.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 25 December 2013, Mayapur, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.9.3)
Faith is based on desire. The living being is by nature is pleasure seeking, ānandamayo ’vasāne, according to the Vedanta Sutra. So, wherever we think that happiness is found that is where we will direct our faith. If we think it is in money then all our efforts will go towards money. If we think it is sex then all our effort will go towards that. If we think it is children then all our efforts will go towards the children. And if we think that happiness is really found in so many things – this one, that one and really everything; then we will be very restless!
It is like when Canakya Pandita speaks about a girl who is talking to one man, looking at another one and thinking of the third one; he could also speak about a boy in that way. So we are like that, whatever object of sense gratification we have, we hold onto that and meanwhile we are thinking, “Where is the next?” Everywhere, we are looking for more and more, still more and nothing satisfies us completely. It satisfies us at least partially so we keep everything we have and just get more! In this way, we think our happiness is increasing, “We are doing a lot better now than twenty years ago. We made a lot of progress.”
In this way, the illusory energy seems to indicate that we are making progress but it is false progress. Something like this situation – I saw pictures of Iskcon development. In the 1975 picture of the temple and all the devotees, some were on the roof, some were on the balcony in front of all the windows and the brahmacaris were next to the sankirtan van. In 1978, a newer picture – bigger house, more devotees everywhere. But what it does not show is the dent in the bank. It does not show that the new temple was purchased with a big loan. It does not show that all those devotees in the picture now have to work very hard to pay-off that loan.
So, in the same way, it may show that we have made so much progress in spiritual life. Look at what we have now – nice garlands, chadars, dhotis, hats in the right colour and matching socks. It looks good on Facebook but what about our spiritual bank account? That is the question and that is what we are facing in Jada Bharata as one who had a lot of substance in his spiritual bank balance and therefore, he had incredible strength!
Auspicious scenes from Mayapur! Read more ›