Planet ISKCON

Even glorious Laksmi-devi, who rests on Lord Narayana’s chest, cannot taste the supremely sweet nectar Radha’s maidservants always taste in many ways. O dear friend, please worship Radha in Vrndavana forest.
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-85 Translation.]

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Conversation in Mayapura.

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Please view the full gallery: Kirtan Mela Photo Gallery Kirtan Mela! Kirtan Mela! JKirtan Mela!  This is the only talk that devotees shared  during the five blissful days of Kirtan Mela.. Pancatattva Mahabhisheka was the added highlight during Kirtna Mela. HH Radhanath Swami, HH Lokanath Swami, HH Jayapataka Swami, HH Niranjan Swami, HH Bhakti Charu […]

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Lord Nrsimhadeva Deity Installed in New Vrindaban – Back to Godhead Magazine – July 1986.

At a recent festival in New Vrindaban, devotees installed the Deity of Lord Nrsimhadeva and His eternal associate, Prahlada Maharaja. The seven-foot black Deity of Lord Krsna’s half-man, half-lion incarnation is the first full-size Deity of Nrsimhadeva installed in the U.S. At the Hare Krsna farm in the Bavarian Forest, West Germany, devotees worship the Society’s only other full-size Nrsimhadeva Deity.

The Srimad-Bhagavatam and other Vedic literatures elaborately describe the activities of Lord Nrsimhadeva. When the demoniac Hiranyakasipu continually harassed his five-year-old son, Prahlada, a pure devotee of the Lord, Nrsimhadeva burst from a stone pillar and effortlessly killed the powerful demon. Lord Nrsimhadeva represents death personified for the demons, but the devotees worship Him with love and devotion as their dear-most protector.

Soma dasa, whose many’ sculptures adorn the New Vrindaban community, carved the Nrsimha Deity.  Soma dasa, consulting regularly with Sampat Kumar Bhattacarya, head of the famous Vyenkatesvara temple in Tirupati, India completed the Deity in only three months. The Deity is modeled according to descriptions of Nrsimhadeva given in the Vedic literature.

The installation ceremony lasted three days. with devotees from throughout the U.S. and Canada participating. Australian-born Gaura-kesava dasa, a brahmana priest fully trained in South India, performed the installation.

Darshan of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, ISKCON Temple,Chowpatty,Mumbai;2nd Mar. 2014

Let us worship the Person more splendid than a blue lotus and sweeter than the nectar handsomeness of all other forms of Godhead, who wanders in a forest filled with nectar from Radha’s feet.

[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-84 Translation.]

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The most advanced devotees in the Gaudiya Vaishnava teachings are the gopis, or simple village girls, of Vrindavan. Also, Jahnavi Devi, the wife of Nityananda Prabhu, took the role of an acharya, or teacher, after her husband left this world.

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam we see many great women devotees, such as Queen Kunti, Draupadi, Mother Yashoda, Devahuti, the wives of the yajnicbrahmanas, the naga-patnis or wives of Kaliya, and many more. Even Pingala, who was a prostitute, was able to attain self-realization by her devotional service.

A woman sincerely and seriously serving the Lord in whatever capacity she chooses should be honored and encouraged. In his Purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.12, Prabhupada writes, “Everyone should be allowed to render service to the Lord to the best of his ability, and everyone should appreciate the service of others. Such are the activities of Vaikuntha [the spiritual world]. Since everyone is a servant, everyone is on the same platform and is allowed to serve the Lord according to his ability.” ( Lec. by Srila Prabhupada)

A little later, in the spring of 1970, when Srila Prabhupada was forming the Governing Body Commission (GBC) as the management arm of ISKCON, he included women on the list of disciples he was considering for the position.

When asked if a woman could become a temple president (Chicago, July 5, 1975), Srila Prabhupada replied, “Yes, why not?” and then explained that a woman should remain dependent on either her first-class father, first-class husband, or first-class son. (In the final analysis, only the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, is independent, but Vedic culture specifically enjoins that women should remain dependent on their intimate male relation.)

Here Srila Prabhupada states that a woman may be a temple president, but he also says that she also must be dependent. Is this contradictory? To gain some insight, we can turn to a conversation between Vallabha Bhatta, Advaita Acarya, and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu:

One day Vallabha Bhatta said to Advaita Acarya, “Every living entity is female [prakriti] and considers Krishna her husband [pati]. It is the duty of a chaste wife, devoted to her husband, not to utter her husband’s name, but all of you chant the name of Krishna. How can this be called a religious principle?”

Advaita Acarya responded, “In front of you is Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the personification of religious principles. You should ask Him, for He will give you the proper answer.”

Hearing this, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “My dear Vallabha Bhatta, you do not know religious principles. Actually, the first duty of a chaste woman is to carry out the order of her husband. The order of Krishna is to chant His name incessantly. Therefore one who is chaste and adherent to the husband Krishna must chant the Lord’s name, for she cannot deny the husband’s order.” (Caitanya- caritamrita, Antya-lila 7.103-7)

Similarly, under the guidance of her spiritual master, a chaste, Krishna conscious woman encouraged by her Krishna conscious father, husband, or son may render whatever service she’s qualified to do, whether as a mother, a cook, a temple president, a GBC, or a spiritual master.

In the Hare Krishna movement, Srila Prabhupada trained men to see all women except their own wife respectfully as “mother,” and women to see all men except their husbands respectfully as their “sons.” As the son’s duty is to protect his mother, so one of the duties of Srila Prabhupada’s men is to protect Srila Prabhupada’s women. A devotee-woman leader is protected by her husband and her “sons.”

 (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 28 December 2013, Mayapur, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.10.24)

One small anecdote comes to mind about Srila Prabhupada. It was late in the evening and Srila Prabhupada sat down to do translation work, at eleven o’ clock at night. So he invited a devotee, a brahmacāri to come and sit with him.

He said, “Come and sit with me while I’m translating”.

He said, “Srila Prabhupada, it’s very late now. I have to go to bed. I’m very tired, so if I can be excused, I would appreciate it.” 

And Prabhupada said, “But I’m not going to sleep, I’m not going to sleep. Why do you have to sleep?”

He said, “You are a pure devotee”.

Then Prabhupada said, “Why are you not a pure devotee?”

So this should be our meditation. This should be our constant meditation. Why I am not a pure devotee? What is in the way? And how long am I going to take? Slow and steady wins the race… very slow (laughing). I mean if you calculate the average lifetime and how many years we have left, and how much have we already achieved so far, then at this pace, are we really gonna make it? Then we are going to go a little bit of the way and we need a lot of mercy to make up for the rest. That is risky, to rely that much on mercy.

Both factors are there ultimately, in deciding whether this life will be successful or not. We should put a little more on the side of endeavour because devotional service is transcendental. It is part of the hladini-shakti, the pleasure potency. It gives pleasure to Krsna. Therefore devotional service never goes unnoticed. So, therefore, in the Krsna book, it is mentioned that Krsna is known by the name of Acutya or one who never fails to notice the smallest service rendered, even the smallest service rendered. Krsna notices and he appreciates.

I would like to share with you some incidents from today’s distribution of Life’s Final Exam at ISKCON Los Angeles.

Giriraj Swami, my guru maharaja, had graced a weekend festival at New Dvaraka, celebrating the disappearance of Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja on Saturday and Maha Siva-ratri on Sunday. His new book, Life’s Final Exam: Death and Dying from the Vedic Perspective, was officially launched during the Sunday festival. Aditi, Nikunja Viharini, and I had set up a book table outside the temple. Many special souls approached the book table and bought Guru Maharaja’s books, and some made especially inspiring comments:

A disciple of Srila Prabhupada said to a visitor who was curiously inspecting Watering the Seed: “First there was Planting the Seed, and now there is Watering the Seed. You should take this book! I read it—it’s a good one!”

A gentleman visiting Los Angeles from Finland was scheduled to return in three days. He was a consular officer at the Finnish Embassy in Los Angeles in the early ’70s. At first he was not sure if he would buy any of the books, but he returned after taking prasada, bought a copy of Life’s Final Exam, and requested Guru Maharaja to sign it, saying proudly that the book was going to Finland.

A Bengali lady who lives near the temple walked by the book table and gazed at the display of Life’s Final Exam. She stopped abruptly and exclaimed, “Death really is the final exam. I must read this book.” While getting an autograph for her book, she told Guru Maharaja that the front cover of the book was what had caught her attention, because her aging mother lives in an ashram in Benares, hoping to leave this world beside the Ganges River.

A young corporate law student from Ontario, Canada, was visiting the temple for the first time. He was on his way to catch a flight back to Canada, so he took a copy of Life’s Final Exam and exclaimed that now he had divine prasada to eat and a nectar book to read on his flight!

A graduate student from Brisbane, Australia, studying at the California Institute of Technology, one of the top science and engineering universities in the world, had already read Many Moons and was happy to get a copy of Watering the Seed. But tonight he was especially elated to meet the author of the two books in person.

In less than an hour, one full box of Guru Maharaja’s books were bought.

Thank you. Hare Krishna.

Your servant,

Krishna Kirtan Das