Planet ISKCON

1968 March 12: "Householders may wear dhotis in the Temple. Outside the Temple they may wear American gentleman's dress, with Tilaka, flag, and beads. If they so desire, for ceremony, they can dress in dhotis for Kirtana."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

Nabadwip and Nadia were great centres of learning and intellectual prowess. For five centuries, it was referred to as “Oxford of Bengal”. Read more ›

1968 March 12: "This is willful violation of our rules and regulations. She cannot take charge. She may execute nicely wherever she is, I have all blessings for her, the door of Krishna Consciousness is always open. But to be in charge one must be completely above suspicion."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1970 March 12: "By the Divine Will of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura we are now combined together, although born in different parts of the world, unknown to one another. This is the way of Krsna transaction. So follow the path chalked out by our predecessors, and success is sure."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1970 March 12: "Krishna will give you timely a suitable place, don't worry. Our leader, Sanatana Goswami, was living underneath a tree, keeping His Deity hanging on the branch of a tree and still He was always engaged in the service of the Lord. So place or no place, we must go on with our preaching work."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 March 12: "If self-realized souls write something song about Krishna, that is perfectly from the transcendental platform, without any tinge of mundane influence or nonsense imagination. Unless someone comes from this category, his manufacturing some songs about Krishna will be misleading to himself and others."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 March 12: "Become determined to fix all your attention for seeing Krishna face to face by the Krishna Consciousness process and chant always this Hare Krishna mantra - than you shall qualify yourself for writing songs about Krishna."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1975 March 12: "Yes, you are right - all qualifications come if you simply surrender to the bona fide Spiritual Master. To take shelter of the Spiritual Master means to follow his instructions. So, you should be very careful to not deviate even a little bit from the order of the Spiritual Master."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

On 13th march there is a big festival held at shantipur a place near Mayapur which was the residence of Advaita Acharya. There will be a huge amount of cooking held and all devotees including Maharajas will serve Khichudi to the devotees and pilgrims. The pastime behind this festival is – A very auspicious festival […]

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(Kindly transcribed by Swetha Ganeshan Mataji) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From: Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: March 10th, 2014 Speaker: HH Bhakti Asraya Vaisnava Swami Subject: S.B. 5.13.21 rajovaca aho nr-janmakhila-janma-sobhanam kim janmabhis tv aparair apy amusmin na yad dhrsikesa-yasah-krtatmanam mahatmanam vah pracurah samagamah TRANSLATION: King Rahugana said: This birth as […]

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Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir! Date: February 20, 2004 Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.32 Speaker: HH Bhakti-tirtha Swami atah param yad avyaktam avyudha-guna-brmhitam adrstasruta-vastutvat sa jivo yat punar-bhavah TRANSLATION: Beyond this gross conception of form is another, subtle conception of form which is without formal shape and is unseen, unheard and unmanifest. The living being […]

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(Kindly transcribed by Mataji Swetha Ganeshan) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From: Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: March 8h, 2014 Speaker: HH Danavir Goswami Subject: S.B. 5.13.20 HH Danavir Goswami: Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. S.B. 5th Canto, Chapter 13, Rahugana converses with Jada Bharatha, […]

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(Kindly transcribed by Mataji Swetha Ganeshan) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: March 7th, 2014 Speaker: HG Krsnanandini devi dasi Subject: S.B. 5.13.19 HG Krsnanandini devi dasi: Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya So we are reading from the Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto […]

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(Kindly transcribed by Sheela mataji) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: March 5th, 2014 Speaker: HG Anuttama Das Subject: S.B. 5.13.17 So reading today from the Srimad Bhagavatam Canto Five Chapter Thirteen entitled “Rahugana converses with Jada Bharata’ tair vañcito hamsa-kulam samavisann arocayan silam upaiti vanaran taj-jati-rasena sunirvrtendriyah […]

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(Kindly transcribed by Mataji Swetha Ganeshan) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: March 4th, 2014 Speaker: HH Niranjana Swami Maharaja Subject: C.C. Adi Lila 8.16 HH Niranjana Swami Maharaja: jaya jaya śri-caitanya jaya nityananda jaya advaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda (Call and response) Reading today from Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi Lila […]

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(Kindly transcribed by Sheela mataji) From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir Date: March 3rd, 2014 Speaker: HG Dravida Dasa Subject: S.B. 6.3.22 narayanam namaskrtya naram caiva narottamam devim sarasvatim vyasam tato jayam udirayet [SB 1.2.4] Before reciting this Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is our very means of conquest, we should offer respectful obeisances unto Lord Narayana, the Supreme […]

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“From my heart it entered your heart. I therefore understand that a great personality will soon take birth.”

(Kindly transcribed by Mataji Swetha Ganeshan) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: March 2nd, 2014 Speaker: HH Radhanath Swami Subject: SB 8:23:16 HH Radhanath Swami: Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. mantratas tantratas chidram desa-kalarha-vastutah sarvam karoti nischidram anusankirtanam tava (word to […]

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(Kindly transcribed by Sheela mataji) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: March 1st, 2014 Speaker: HH Lokanath Swami Subject: S.B. 11.5.36 In the glorification of sankirtana, Kirtan Mela, we are asked to, speakers these days, Bhagavatam speakers are asked to select a verse that glorifies the Holy name. […]

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(Kindly transcribed by Mataji Swetha Ganeshan) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: February 28th, 2014 Speaker: HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami Subject: S.B. 12.13.23 HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami: Because we are celebrating Kirtan Mela, so these 4-5 days, we are instructed to speak on the glories of the Holy Name. […]

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(Kindly transcribed by Sheela mataji) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: February 27th, 2014 Speaker: HH Kadamba Kanana Swami Subject: CC Adi 7.20-21 – The Holy Name So today they have asked me to speak, to inaugurate the upcoming Kirtan Mela. This evening there will be the adhivas […]

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Super colorful and with much joy, remembering Lord Krishna's pastimes! Read more ›

Niranjana Swami: My dear Abhyarci devi dasi, Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Yesterday, March 7, 2014, you left this world surrounded by so many loving devotees, loudly chanting Krsna’s names. As I was standing next to you, chanting and simultaneously hearing the kirtan, chanted so loudly and with such great fervor, […]

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Manu Prabhu at Kirtan Mela Mayapur 2014 Day 3

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. You can bring a man to knowledge, but you can’t make him think.

Svananda Kunja is Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s house at Sri Godrumadvipa Mayapur.

 Please click here for more photos

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 March 2012, New York, USA, Caitanya Caritamrta Adi-lila 9.37)

Question: Maharaj, you spoke about associating with the mode of goodness and being natural also. Do we do it step-by-step, little-by-little?

I am regularly in Germany and in Germany they have the autobahn (highway) with no speed limit. Some years back, they had a big sign at the side of the highway which said, ‘Turtles to the right!’ Similarly, in spiritual life, there is also a turtle lane. So as this German autobahn has different lanes, you can stay in the turtle lane forever, thinking, ‘Well, step-by-step; better safe than sorry!’ Or you can take a bit of a risk and go drive in the middle lane, and in Germany when you drive in a middle lane sometimes you see these lights flashing behind you and then some Porsche comes flying and that’s Rupa Gosvami or someone like that! So, think about that also. If we just stay in the turtle lane forever, I am not sure…

Is it under the guidance of devotees that we shift?

Yes, to some extent. You got to have some faith that Krsna is going to protect you. You cannot always be under the guidance of devotees, every step of the way. You cannot always be on the hand of your mother as a kid also – you have to venture out, to take some risk, fall on your face even! Nowadays, we have the counselor system and I am the first one to say, “Very good, very nice!” But of course as with every system, it also has a flip side. That is, we also don’t want to create overly dependent people. We want self-reliant people who are able to take care of themselves spiritually, to intelligently follow. It has to come to that – that is maturity. Certainly, we are always eager for association of devotees, we don’t want to live without that but we have to become spiritually self-reliant. That is important. Therefore step-by-step is okay but big steps! It’s a short life! (snapping fingers)

I mean, I am old fashioned – I still am. In 1999, I gave a seminar which was called, From 1966 till 1999. In ’66 the mood was, ‘We all are going to go back to Godhead in this lifetime!’ And in ’99, the mood was, ‘If your guru is a parama-prestha-priya sakhi, then maybe theoretically it would be possible to go back to Godhead but we are not going to make it, it’s gonna take many, many lifetimes.’ That kind of things. I am old fashioned, I still sort of believe that maybe it is going to be done in this lifetime, if I try hard. So the turtle lane, nah… I want to get out of this place.

 

 

By Her unsurpassed love, Radha charms He who performs wonderful lilas on the banks of the Yamuna. Therefore, those who are sober know Him as Krsna.

Srila Jiva Goswami

Harinama is the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord as shown to us by Srila Prabhupada. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu introduced the sankirtan movement 500 years ago and it is the spiritual process recommended in the Vedas for the age of Kali, the age we now find ourselves in. From the beginning of the Krishna consciousness movement in the West, Srila Prabhupada directed the devotees to chant congregationally in the temple as well as in the parks and streets of the towns and cities. Read more ›

Like the Vatican and its shepherding of a disparate flock of many-hued sheep, we may end up with several dozen ‘orders’ within the Hare Krishna movement, but at least they will be working under the same name and style. Theologies have a tendency of variation according to the very genuine physical needs and faith-levels of their proponents. As such, they won’t always mesh together, and practices may not always conform to strict orthopraxis, but splintering might be prevented, and we may all be spared the debilitation of any further reduction in size and influence. Splintering diminishes the strength of collegiate effort and repeated division is a scourge that ultimately ends in a loss of power and increased apathy. If people can be united to do good in the world it is helpful for everyone concerned. Read more ›

Not just the typical Vrindavan pig story that describes the ugly, dirty fellows bowling people over, in the wee hours of the morning, in order to claim their pig breakfasts. Read more ›