Planet ISKCON

GITA SEVA MUSIC LYRICS HOLY NAME Chant the name and walk with me Name's the light that makes me see On this path my soul name leads With the joy my heart name fills I need the name more than breath Name's my hope in name I live Sadhus chant the name for long Chant and name will make you strong Holy name, glorious one Holy name, live in my heart Now and forever, chant holy

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 19 February 2014, Mayapur, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.8.5)

Recently, I have spent time here in Sridham Mayapur because the GBC asked me to do some service. They asked me to do a kind of analysis of Mayapur and develop a strategy of how it should develop, in which direction it should go and asked me to write a report.

So, I spent four months working on that and I had to temporarily cut down my reading of Bhagavatam and had to sort of come down to management, management, management! So even now, in this lecture that is what will come out. It is inevitable because whatever we hear ultimately finds roots in our hearts, stays there and will manifest.

But I did read interesting and nice things about Mayapur, to comfort you. It’s not that bad [laughter]. After all, it is the spiritual world so it was a positive meditation. One interesting point came up in an old BTG article where Ambarish was being interviewed about the Mayapur project. Ambarish was saying that this project in Sridham Mayapur is very challenging. It’s challenging us to go beyond anything we could have ever imagined.

So the interviewer was asking, “In what respects do you mean? Are you talking about the money?” Ambarish said, “No, I am not talking about the money; money can come. I am talking in terms of organization.” He said that this is the biggest thing, the biggest thing this movement has ever undertaken and it’s just way beyond anything that we ever imagined we would do in this life. In this way, we are greatly challenged and that is indeed a fact!

In the course of interviewing various leaders, one of them said that just to build the temple, he said, “I bet you my bottom dollar that it will never be done unless everyone gets involved.” I thought that was the general principle which applies to the entire city and I thought it only comes alive if we all start giving to Mayapur.

We have come here again and again for inspiration. We have received the mercy of the dham. Here it is so easy! While I am here, automatically I can get up early. In other places, it is so difficult but here, it’s so easy. It just comes natural especially if there is no festival; there is nothing to do here at night, most of the time even the Pizzeria is not functioning [laughter]. So then where would you go? Nowhere to go!

So, just go to bed and then rise early and then chant before mangala-arati when there is really nothing going on, when there is no one talking and when one can just actually chant sixteen uninterrupted rounds, which is such an opulence – to just chant sixteen rounds without doing anything else, day after day. So I had a great time in that respect, I must say.

So, the dham was generous because the dham is surcharged with the generosity of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We know that Caitanya-caritamrta highlights that generosity is an essential principle – that when we take the fruit of love of God and when we start to distribute that fruit of love of God, we will find that we wind up with more than we had before.

So, this principle applies here also. It equally applies to Sridham Mayapur. That actually we have to give to the dham, our effort has to be here, pranair arthair dhiya vaca (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.22.35); our energy, our wealth, our intelligence, our words – they all have to manifest here for this project to become what it is meant to be.

 

 

Home programs, with their simple formats of kirtan, class and prasadam, are a wonderful way for devotees of the Lord to associate. Here is one such program at the home of my disciples, Sakhi Rai das and Vraja Laksmi dasi. Devotees from Brisbane and the Gold Coast attended. Great photos by Ananta Vrindavan, as always.

The 2nd to 3rd graders just finished a Social Studies Unit on Government.  Objectives of this unit were:

• Identify prominent presidents in the US, naming leadership qualities that enabled them to succeed.
• Discuss qualities of leaders in the Vedic times versus today’s leaders
• Understand the importance of rules and consequences in a community.
•  Identify the needs of our society today and strategies we would place in order to meet those needs.

We started with the story of “Arjuna visits Maha-Vishnu” where a brahmana had blamed the king for his children dying untimely.  We discussed how much responsibility leaders face.  In a brainstorming session, students came up with a list all the problems they see in the community around us.

“No trash on the lawns.  No drunk driving.  No loud music after dark.”  One student, hearing from the news that Target credit cards were hacked recently added “No hackers!”    These 7 and 8 year olds were making policy. Each child picked a president to write about.  The active boys picked presidents that were generals in armies.  The girls picked those who had qualities similar to theirs.

We read “So You Want to Be President?” and watched a tongue in cheek version of it.  We read about Lincoln’s push to abolish slavery, and how Ulysses S. Grant fought bravely.

These were our Presidential Canditate hopefuls:

Gaurang Grant.  Abrinda Lincoln.  Jamuna Jefferson.  Gopal Washington.  Padi Jackson.  Krishna Kennedy and Bala was Obala for Barack Obama.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

They researched facts about their presidents.  They put together a Presidential Campaign with their rules for the society they would govern and perks for what they would offer.

What would they give their citizens in return?  ”I will help you on the wind and on the water and on the land.”  ”Free homes.”  ”Free education.”  ”I will give everyone jewels.”

My favorite?  “I will help you go Back to Godhead by chanting Hare Krishna.”With these presidential candidates, we have a bright future ahead.

 

 

 

A new study that is set to be presented to a conference of experts later in the year indicates that eating foods rich in vitamin C can reduce hemorrhagic stroke risks.

It is very common to find people who want to love, care and help in a world where suffering is so prominent. But to motivate those people to become truly qualified to love, care and help, that's where society seems to come up short. (Produced by Bhakti Lounge, Wellington, New Zealand.)

1008 Golden bricks with the names of the sponsors engraved on them which will be put on the platform of Mahaprabhu’s altar in the new temple which is now under construction. These are limited to 1008 and many people who have come for the festival are sponsoring these bricks as a donation towards the construction of the new Temple. www.tovp.org

The final plenary was scheduled for two hours, but went on for three, with devotees longing for more. As a perfect ending, the very last plenary for the ISKCON Leadership Sanga 2014 ended as the first one started – with a very sweet and loving Guru puja for the founder acarya, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.  Throughout the entire ILS, Srila Prabhupada and his teachings were at the center. 

1968 February 25: "We accept Krsna on the evidence of Vedic literature. This man, who is actually Gadadhara Chatterjee, declared himself as the same Rama and Krsna. There is no evidence in the Vedic literatures that a common, unintelligent person by worshipping the goddess Kali can become an incarnation of Godhead."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1968 February 25: "It is our movement only under the guidance of the acaryas in disciplic succession which strictly follows. This sublime movement is not only for the present age, but for all ages, past, present and future."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1968 February 25: "Nobody can compare with the Merciful Nityananda. He can defend Himself quite well; He could have killed the sinners in an instant, but He had decided that He wanted to save these sinners. He was setting an example that we have to preach Krishna Consciousness even at the risk of personal violence."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

One major drawback of today’s IT systems is the de-personalizing of communications. When you are face to face with a person you try to display some decorum even when there are issues at hand. You tend not to vent your spleen in excessively harsh terms, not least because you may elicit a response in kind. However, when you face only a docile screen it becomes all too easy to let loose a tirade of vitriol that you may well regret in calmer moments of reflection. Especially if your acerbic comments have landed you in jail, as was the case recently with a couple of Twitter users found guilty of posting racist and inflammatory tweets.

We have probably all been there. Hitting the send button on an angry e-mail and quickly wishing we had paused for perhaps a moment or two. The Mahabharata says that ‘wordy arrows’ once released cannot be retracted, and that is especially true when they are recorded in black and white for all to see, particularly the magistrate you may end up facing.

The real problem is anger of course, the ‘enemy with the face of a friend’. We think that by giving someone a piece of our mind we will feel that much better, but we usually become as disturbed as the person we aim to castigate; especially when we add remorse to the equation. Then there is the pain we mete out to the recipient when we fail to own and express our anger responsibly. The Mahabharata says that, while ordinary arrows cut us once, the arrow of our words ‘burn the heart day and night.’ This is poignantly true when the heated exchange is between near and dear ones, as is so often the case. And sometimes it escalates to much more than a mere exchange of opposing views. A person under the influence of anger can lose all sense and do any crazy thing. I heard of a recent case of road rage where an irate driver leapt from his car brandishing a gun and a hammer, fired at the other driver and proceeded to pound his vehicle with mighty blows from the hammer.

Harbouring anger in the heart is another problem, as it consumes us with negative thoughts. Lord Buddha said that retaining anger is like ‘holding a live coal intending to throw it at someone else.”

How though do we control the powerful emotion of anger? Perhaps it would help if we understood its causes. The Bhagavad-gita describes the dynamics of anger. It is said to be a corollary of lust, a secondary emotion coming after we are frustrated in some desire. Krishna explains how by contemplating sense pleasure we become attached, then lusty to enjoy what we contemplate, and this inevitably ends in frustration. Either we don’t get what we want, or we do and it fails to satisfy us, as material pleasures always will. This anger then leads to delusion, bewilderment and continued entanglement in Maya and her miseries.

The key then to reducing anger is to reduce our material attachments. The more we have the more often we will be liable to get inflamed. The Gita describes how those of a materialistic mindset are constantly prone to anger due to “insatiable lust” and being “bound by a network of illusions”.

On the other end of the scale is the spiritual practitioner who does not experience material anger as he has no material attachments. He is also humble and meek and does not take personal offense even when affronted. Like everything else, he uses anger only in Krishna’s service. Srila Prabhupada writes in his Bhagavad-gita, “A devotee is generally very humble and meek, and he is reluctant to pick a quarrel with anyone. Nor does he envy anyone. However, a pure devotee immediately becomes fiery with anger when he sees that Lord Viṣhṇu or his devotee is insulted.” Unlike material wrath born of selfish desire, anger used in the Lord’s service is beneficial to all, being pleasing to Krishna.

Most of us are probably somewhere between the demon and the devotee, a work in progress as they say. We therefore need to manage our anger and indeed our attachments. Krishna therefore tells Arjuna how this is achieved. After explaining how anger comes from frustrated lust, he says that lust must be kept in check by ‘regulating the senses.’ He goes on to describe how above the senses is the mind, above that is the intelligence, and above them all is the true self, the spirit soul. Therefore one needs only to engage in the regulated spiritual activities of Krishna consciousness and the senses are automatically controlled. Commenting on this Srila Prabhupada says, “That solves the whole problem.”

Of course, it takes time and practise, but Prabhupada assures us that ‘success is certain for the rigid practitioner.’ So the choice is ours. Become victims of lust and anger, along with all the dangers that this presents, or try our best to rise to the spiritual platform.

And I hope that doesn’t make you angry.

1969 February 25: "You may paint Guru Maharaja, myself, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Gaura Kisora, Panca-tattva, Sankirtana, etc. We have immense work to be done so you become expert painter. Continue to improve your artistic talents and it will soon come to the perfectional stage."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 February 25: "Authorized songs means songs composed by self-realized Acaryas. Unauthorized songs or statements should never be heard. The comparison is given, milk, although very nutritious food, if it is touched by the tongue of a serpent, it acts like poison."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1970 February 25: "It is a great advancement that George Harrison has given up composing nonsense songs. I can give him many themes for songs and if George can compose such nice song in his own words, I am sure it will be an epoch making event."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

Konark Dance Festival is a dance festival held every year in December in backdrop of the Sun temple in Konark, Odisha in India. Read more ›

1972 February 25 : "The art of dancing, like any art, can be engaged to glorify the Supreme Lord. Organize a classical dancing group to depict very exquisitely stories from our Krishna Book. That will be very nice proposal."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

The Anniversary of Vrinda devi's Installation at Vrinda Kund! Read more ›

1972 February 25: "When intelligent people begin to understand that if one becomes Krishna Conscious, that is the highest perfection of understanding philosophy, then our Krishna Consciousness Movement will advance very quickly because everyone respects the opinion of intelligent scholars."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

On Sunday February 23rd, 2014 in Sri Mayapur, five of our esteemed sannyasi’s gave class glorifying the new Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. Below you will find links to the transcription of what each one of the Maharajs had spoken. There are also links to the audio. Please read and share with others: HH Jayapataka […]

The post Glories of the ToVP appeared first on Mayapur.com.

The post Conclusion of our wonderful ILS appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The post Evening kirtana February 24th appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

(kindly transcribed by Sheela Mataji, Singapore) Note: Saturday’s class was held in the temple courtyard facing the ToVP construction site. HG Praghosa Prabhu was coordinating the presentation. There were five speakers and we are sending each one separately. Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: February 23, 2014 Speaker: […]

The post The Glories of the ToVP – HH Gopal Krishna Goswami appeared first on Mayapur.com.

(kindly transcribed by Sheela Mataji, Singapore) Note: Yesterday’s class was held in the temple courtyard facing the ToVP construction site. HG Praghosa Prabhu was coordinating the presentation. There were five speakers and we are sending each one separately. Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: February 23, 2014 Speaker: […]

The post The Glories of the ToVP – HH Radhanath Swami appeared first on Mayapur.com.

(kindly transcribed by Sheela Mataji, Singapore) Note: Yesterday’s class was held in the temple courtyard facing the ToVP construction site. HG Praghosa Prabhu was coordinating the presentation. There were five speakers and we are sending each one separately. Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: February 23, 2014 Speaker: […]

The post The Glories of the ToVP – HH Bhakti Charu Swami appeared first on Mayapur.com.

(kindly transcribed by Sheela Mataji, Singapore) Note: Yesterday’s class was held in the temple courtyard facing the ToVP construction site. HG Praghosa Prabhu was coordinating the presentation. There were five speakers and we are sending each one separately. Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: February 23, 2014 Speaker: […]

The post The Glories of the ToVP – HH Sivarama Swami appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Mayapura, India

The Finnish To Begin

Today was the final day for a glorious ingenious program, it’s the second time around for the ISKCON Leaders Sanga.

Sanga means association or gathering of saintly persons.  What our leaders just went through was a harmonious infusion of the Spirit. This involved seminars and workshops on seminars along the line of Devotee Care, Empathic Listening, Strengthening family life, etc.  Practical items were the bulk of the stuff.

It got me thinking, “How can I put together a seminar on walking?” and expressing and informing about its benefits on all levels.

I was honoured to lead the chant at the beginning of the final gathering.

Our group was informed by convenors, Gopala Bhatta, of something quite helpful presented in motivational terms— “The 8 Steps to Create Change”.

1.       Understand and/or create the elements of urgency (the example given here is of how our guru, Srila Prabhupada, used to say that the entire world is suffering).
2.       Collaborate to establish performance and accountability.
3.       Reflect on overall vision and strategy.
4.       Refresh our understanding and commitment to the change vision.
5.       Obtain total “buy-in” from all stakeholders.
6.       Generate short-term success.
7.       Consolidate gains and produce more success.
8.       Anchor the new energy.

May the Source be with you!

5 km 

 Mayapura, India

Places of Real Sound


In the mornings, there is a mist that people walk through on their way to the temples.  As early as 4 AM you have pilgrims in stride moving to one of three outlets for chanting—at the samadhi of our guru, Srila Prabhupada, the kutir, or meditative hut, where he first resided in the early seventies when there was only an open plot of land, and finally, the main mandir, or temple, which accommodates thousands.

It is definitely a busy beehive at predawn.  Now, being Saturday, pilgrims pour into the Mayapura area from the city of Kolkata and other surrounding areas.  Busses of people park in the wide expanse of future development areas, buses with screeching horns of prolonged sounds.  Once you step out of the ISKCON compound, you are sure to be in the throes of passion with traffic and noise.

While in the haven of the dhama (sacred place), the atmosphere becomes more relaxed, but not without excitement.  By 5 PM there is a hati (elephant) procession on the grounds.  Drummers, cymbals, turbaned players, priests, and of course, the large mammals themselves, decorated with draped cloth and coloured pigments, circle the area of thruway, transforming it into much more than Disney could offer.

Teachers of the bhakti school say that wherever there is reverential love, that is the spiritual realm.  And that holds true, they say, especially where the ether is surcharged with sound, mantra, from another world.

When the sun meets the Ganges in Mayapura, only a few metres away from my accommodation (five minutes only), a repeat of the morning fog dynamic occurs.  The number of pilgrims has quadrupled and the option for places to hear kirtan and release karma are also increased.  It’s all so much devotion.

I will declare that I am not missing the mundane sounds of the West, not even the East when it has no connection to the parama dhama, the supreme abode.

May the Source be with you!

4 km

(kindly transcribed by Sheela Mataji, Singapore) Note: Yesterday’s class was held in the temple courtyard facing the ToVP construction site. HG Praghosa Prabhu was coordinating the presentation. There were five speakers and we are sending each one separately. Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From: Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: February 23, 2014 Speaker: HH […]

The post The Glories of the ToVP – HH Jayapataka Swami appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Home programs, with their simple formats of kirtan, class and prasadam, are a wonderful way for devotees of the Lord to associate. Read more ›

(kindly transcribed by Sheela Mataji, Singapore) Download the audio for this lecture here: Download From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir! Date: February 22, 2014 Speaker: HH Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Verse: Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.53-54 So today we are reading Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1, Chapter 7 ‘The Son Of Drona Punished’, Text 53-54 brahma-bandhur na hantavya ?atatayi vadharhanah mayaivobhayam amnatam?paripahy […]

The post Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.53-54 – HH Bhakti Vijnana Goswami appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Kirtan. Nityananda Trayodasi: Appearance of Lord Nityananda. 12.02.2014

Gita Coaching Ebook By Akrura dasa Introducing Gita Coaching Welcome to Gita Coaching! Our service is helping devotees, specifically ISKCON devotees, learn and apply Srila Prabhupada’s instructions with enthusiasm and determination, in order to achieve maximum spiritual success in this lifetime. This is our purpose; this is our service for ISKCON

Excellent questions elevate our consciousness, improve the quality of our lives and bring excellent results By Akrura dasa – Gita Coaching www.gitacoaching.com TABLE OF CONTENTS ·         Introduction ·         Start Everything With Questions ·         Arjuna's

On Monday February 3rd, students from Preschool to 3rd Grade visited the Texas Discovery Gardens and Butterfly Museum with parents and teachers.The Middle Elementary class (2nd and 3rd graders) have been studying Invertebrates and Insects.  Did you know that over 90% of animals in this world are invertebrates?

Ms. Erin Shields, at the Texas Discovery Gardens, spent an hour showing students the different parts of a butterfly.  They felt cocoons (where the butterfly spends its time in metamorphosis), and gently touched the scales on a butterflies wings, and practiced learned about the butterfly life cycle.  How can you tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth?  If you don’t know, ask one of the children from the TKG Academy and they will tell you.

Everyone was then escorted to a beautiful Butterfly Sanctuary, protected by two sliding glass doors so that the butterflies wouldn’t escape.  As they entered into this enchanting natural world, they were immediately mesmerized by sights of different colored butterflies flying around.  Big flowers for the butterflies to drink from, tons of greenery and foliage were the habitat for these gentle insects.

 ”It reminded some of what Vrindavan must be like – a protected habitat for living entities to live in harmony, serving Krishna together”.

 

O sadhu, if you can’t suddenly renounce this dreamlike world, then day and night meditate on Vrndavana. Worship Vrndavana’s king and queen, always chant Their holy names, and always hear Their glories. With food, clothing, and other gifts, serve the residents of Vrndavana.

[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-72 Translation.]

Please click here for more photos

The importance of hearing the Holy names cannot be overstated. Hearing is the first process in devotional service and the most important.
Keep trying to hear the Holy names beginning with hearing the next mantra and then the next. Persistence pays off and we will soon be absorbed in the Lord's spiritual energy.