Planet ISKCON

1972 February 12: "I am very sorry to hear about your demoniac neighbor cutting down many tulasi plants, but do not worry, he shall get his due punishment in time, rest assured. If he is caught trespassing on our property again he may be severely punished by us."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

A new year offers new opportunities to take our campaign against fur to the country that buys more of it than any other in the world: Russia.

Love, we are told, is all we need. Yet despite our ability today to acquire many things, love—or loving relationships with our friends, spouses, children, parents—often eludes us. Why?

Invitation video for Sri Jagannath Ratha Yatra to be held in Vasai, Mumbai, February 16th, 2014.

Does the growth in yoga's popularity, particularly in the West, mean that its spiritual content and religious roots are being neglected?

A historic film from Bengal, produced in 1957.

The post February 12th, 2014 – Nityananda’s Appearance Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

With Jayapataka Swami Read more ›

During the 1970s, Srila Prabhupada regularly visited ISKCON Melbourne to give lectures and inspire his many followers who would eagerly await his arrival. On very special occasions he came to install the Deity forms of Lord Krishna so that his devoted students could learn to worship the Lord in His archa-vigraha (Deity form). In 1973, when the temple was still located in Burnett Street, St Kilda (our first location), Srila Prabhupada installed Melbourne’s presiding Deities, Sri Sri Radha Ballabha. Much to everyone’s delight, in May 1975 Srila Prabhupada attended the opening of our current temple at 197 Danks Street, Albert Park, simultaneously installing Deities of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda, Sri-Sri Gaura Nitai. Read more ›

The post Remembering Nitai and Eka-cakra from Mayapura appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Yudhisthira inquired, "What produces the highest merit?" Bhisma replied, "Self-restraint surpasses all other activities in this regard and is therefore considered to be the highest virtue. Because self-restraint purifies and controls every aspect of one's life, it is more important than giving in charity and the study of the Vedas. By self-restraint alone one can achieve liberation from the material world. Self-restraint comprises sense-control, freedom from anger, non-enviousness, impartiality, truthfulness, steadiness and contentment. However, the essential quality of self-restraint is austerity. Thus no good can be achieved without austerity." Read more ›

Amala Harinam Kirtan

The Gopinath's Kids Camp has been a one-day annual summer event since 2006. This year, Krishna's Funskool is very happy to announce their first ever March-Break kids camp! We promise three full days of interactive spiritual learning, yummy prasadam meals and lots of fun. See attached poster for details.

You can register your child via this preliminary form

For further information, please contact kids@torontokrishna.com 

A video of Inddradyumna Swami's festival tour in Gujarat.

Biotechnology giant Monsanto is scrapping plans to win approval to grow new types of genetically modified crops in the European Union.

The devotees working at the ToVP offices in Mayapur will be very busy in the coming years finishing off not only designs for the main structure but for the internal and external ground plans as well.

Please read my book, Beautiful Tales of the All-Attractive, Volume 2.

Holy Name Meditation Podcast

Holy Name Meditation Podcast

Lord Nityananda appeared as Lord Caitanya's principal associate for spreading the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord.

Although the opulences of liberation clutch his feet, he runs to hell. After obtaining a cintamani jewel, he throws it in the ocean. After making the Supreme Personality of Godhead his submissive servant, he becomes the lowest dog. Such is a person who, after attaining Vrndavana, again leaves.

[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-60 Translation.]

Please click here for more photos

The other day we visited the house where Srila Prabhupada stayed with his Western disciples during a visit to Surat in 1970. Many of the local people vividly remembered His Divine Grace. To celebrate our visit we chanted in the same streets that Srila Prabhupada sent his disciples out to do harinam in 44 years [...]

"Your Devotional Service will be tested at the time of death. Practice to chant the Hare Krsna Mantra. Do not chant like the Parrot who may learn to Utter "Hare Krsna", but when grabbed at the throat cries, "Caw,Caw!". Prabhupada said Practice so that when death comes, you will chant Hare Krsna."

From Japa Reform Notebook
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 14 February 2003)

The lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are essential. Without the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, one cannot ever get the mercy of Radha and Krsna. In another words, one cannot ever be an eligible candidate to go back to the spiritual world. We need that mercy of Lord Nityananda.

 

 

 

Last Wednesday we celebrated our anniversary of The Darshan Room

What is The Darshan Room you ask?  The Darshan Room is weekly event that taps into the giving newcomers the essence of the Krishna Consciousness experience.  Uplifting kirtan, dynamic discussions, and an absolutely amazing vegetarian feast. 

Many similar venues have been developed throughout the US such as Krishna Lounge in San Diego, Krishna House in Denver, and the traveling Pilgrim’s Lounge in Oakland.

We had a wonderful class given by Nityananda Prabhu our temple president and rousing kirtans by Kalindi Patel.

Everyone had a wonderful time. Here are some responses. 

“I had such a beautiful night yesterday. Thank you for everything.”

“Hare Krishna brother, much love to you and thank you for awesome gathering at the darshan room last evening! so much blessings”

“Having the best celebration of my life!”

“Man the Wednesday program was awesome!!!! nice to see Reivin Alexandria after a LONG time ”

“I enjoyed it, as always “

 

Hare Krishna!!!

Nityānanda Chandra Dās: The Darshan Room is weekly event that taps into the essence of the Krishna Consciousness experience. Uplifting kirtan, dynamic discussions, and an absolutely amazing vegetarian feast. Read more ›

Over the past couple of day’s I’ve been getting ready for up and coming visits to primary schools which are always interesting.

Unlike high school’s there is no direct learning outcomes set by SACRE (Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education) which frees the primary teachers to explore in their own unique manor; those requesting visits have asked me to cover festivals.

Which raises a unique challenge, I cannot just put together one presentation that covers all; (a one size fit’s all approach which many feel comfortable with) but a multiple layered approach given the vast age range.

Reception class is by far the easiest a nice story played out, kirtan and cake Yummy! We like cake

But as the ages increase so does the learning outcomes, but festivals are a difficult one there are so many, some connected by the same story but cover different event’s. Do I present in chronological order as we celebrate or connected to the story? I ponder!

It also allowed me to do one thing, research into each festival, it’s significance, the story behind it and also how different groups celebrate and what it means to them.

During my research one notation or theme recurred: this festival had all but died out and was re-invigorated by the International Society For Krishna Consciousness who made it part of their calendar and promoted it’s importance.

Yes Srila Prabhupada’s white elephants, the ragtag hippies who became happiest when serving Srila Prabhupada’s mission; and yes they didn’t always get it quite right Govardhan Hill is an example of that but non the less it enthused and made many realize what a wealth of joy and happiness can be gained by a little Kirtan, Prasadam, dressing the deities nicely, play’s and recitation of the stories.

Lovely.

And it reminded me of this, it is not that we turn to others to maintain this tradition of celebrating Sri Krishna’s pastimes but ours we should be that enthusiastic to share our festivals with everyone; which means we need to get involved.

So next time your at the Temple/preaching centre ask what do you want me to do next festival?

Being a part of the work involved is as rewarding to just turning up on the day for Kirtan and prasadam; indeed you gain more as you get amazing association in it’s run up. The association is magical enough

I hope that in my small presentation to the primary schools may be they too can join in the Diwali celebrations indeed may it become a tradition that everyone no matter what their background becomes so enthused by Srila Prabhupada’s white elephants that they all join in.

Hare Krishna

Jayapataka Swami: So, today is a good day to follow in the footsteps of Krishna Das Kaviraj and take shelter of Advita Gosai who was incarnation of a devotee. Lord Caitanya is devotee, Nityananda is expansion as his devotee, Advaita Acharya is the incarnation of devotee. When Lord comes, he is always supreme personality of God Head. In this Lila He is supreme personality of Godhead, and simunteously He is supreme personality of devotee. He is combined form of Radha and Krishna. He has special power which even Advita Acharya did not have, Advita Acharya could give liberation but to give love of Godhead is bit more difficult which only can Lord Chaitanya can offer. Read more ›

Based on story told by Srila Prabhupada

One person was traveling away from home for ten years, and he went to the Himalayas to find a yogi who could give him some perfection.

It is quite natural that any person who achieves some success wants to show it off before friends, relatives, and countrymen. So, after ten years, he came back to his village. All the villagers assembled and were very anxious to know what had happened to him.

“My dear friend, for ten years you have been searching, trying to learn yoga perfections. So what have you learned? Please let us know.”

He said, “I have achieved the laghima-siddhi perfection. That means I have learned how to become the lightest.” And what is the result? He said, “I can walk on water.”

So everyone was very anxious because people are very inquisitive and curious. So they requested him, “Let us have some demonstration. Please show that you’ll walk over the river.”

“All right, I shall show you tomorrow morning.”

In the village lived an old man. He said to the yogi, “My dear such-and-such, after working for ten years, you have learned something that is two cents worth.”

The yogi was very angry. “Oh, it is two cents worth, you think?”

“Yes, I think it is two cents worth.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ll walk over the river, but I shall pay the boatman two cents and I too will cross over the river.”

So these things are two cents worth in comparison to Krishna consciousness. Don’t be after them. Real yogic perfection means to achieve liberation from material existence by developing spiritual, Krishna consciousness. One may attain one of the eight yogic perfections such as becoming smaller than the smallest or heavier than the heaviest, and make a wonderful show of material nature, but because such a mind is still on the material platform, such a person will still have to stay in the cycle of repeated birth, death, old age, and disease.

Bhagavad-gita (6.47) reiterates this point:

“And of all yogis, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.”

Squirt Guns, Yogis, and Moksha

There are many possible motives for suicide. Saintly people, for example, sometimes commit suicide to atone for some serious mistake or as an involuntary expression of some extremely deep emotion.

Cota Haridās drowned himself in a sacred river as an expression of spiritual grief.

Sanātana Goswāmī planned to kill himself under the juggernaut-wheels of a huge sacred cart.

Raghunātha Goswāmī attempted suicide by leaping from the cliff of a sacred hill.

Śiva’s wife, Sati, for example, committed suicide out of grief of being related to her father, who had disrespected her husband.

The result of suicide, like everything, depends on the motive. Sati’s result was that she became Parvatī, married Śiva again and was free from her inglorious previous family/father. This shows that suicide does not always have a negative result.

Almost always, however, suicide is an unrecognized expression of the desire for moksha (spiritual liberation). The pains and depressing, inescapable realities of existence become too great to bear; they vastly outweigh the joys and pleasures of life – one decisively prefers not to exist at all, rather than exist amidst such unbearable circumstances.

Since the desire for moksha is unrecognized, the individual seeks to end their existence by some physical means – a bullet, a pill, a blade, a steep drop, etc. If the desire were recognized as a desire for moksha the individual would instead recourse to nihilistic spiritual disciplines to extinguish his or her existence altogether – a much more effective form of suicide – since it destroys not just the physical self, but also the emotional self.

What destination is attained by a person who physically kills themselves?

It depends on their consciousness at the time of death. yat yat vāpi smaran bhāvam tajantyante kalevararam – “Whatever your heart is absorbed in when you die will become the general condition of your next birth.” (Bhagavad Gita 8.6)

Not always, but most often the consciousness of a person committing suicide is tragic and filled with negative emotions. Therefore most often, the destination of those who commit suicide is tragic. It is not always the case, but it is arguably the norm. When a person dies with a lot of unfinished, unresolved emotional ties to people, places, and things in their life, they will find themselves unable to move on to their next birth. A suicidal person, specifically, will also be loathe towards the proposal of starting the whole depressing cycle over again in another birth. When the mind is paralyzed from moving on to the next life, the being has to exist for a while without a physical form, only in an emotional “body” – a very troubled emotional body.

People tend to experience such beings as “ghosts” and so on. Often, people who commit suicide have many, many unresolved issues with their life, thus it is quite frequent that suicide produces what many people call “ghosts.”

Another problem is that suicide most often leaves behind unfulfilled responsibilities. This is a serious karmic problem incurred by committing suicide. If a person is old, legitimately renounced, or somehow has fulfilled or never incurred many familial and social responsibilities, this may not be an issue.

Eventually (it can take centuries) the ghost forgets his or her negative ties to the previous life and drifts slowly towards another birth. In that next birth they will have to again deal with what they wanted to escape: being alive in a painful world.

If a person recognizes the suicide impulse as the desire for moksha and fulfills that impulse not by physical suicide, but by “spiritual” nihilism – what is the result?

Another type of “ghost” – really.

They extinguish their false existence, which is good, but they do so with a sense of disgust, disdain, frustration, or repulsion. These negative motives invariably generate negative results. The result of such moksha is to obliterate one’s false being, but not attain any true being – a type of ghostly existence in a sense, in between falsehood and truth, and neither of either. Like a ghost, they exist for sometime without any tangible existence. Eventually, the negative, unresolved emotional ties to the false world will again pull them into subdividing their consciousness into negative existence and they will again acquire a material birth.

In the end, suicide of either type fails to solve the problem. You eventually have to actually face your problems and solve them. The problem is suffering. Self-centered existence is the root of suffering. Selfless existence is the end of suffering and the root of joy. “Selfless existence” means an existence of pure love. Pure love is realized in its most perfect zenith when the beloved is absolutely pure and real – focused on the absolute reality as the supreme beloved.

The only real way to end suffering is love – bhakti. Practice of bhakti is the only way to accomplish what suicide would like to accomplish, but cannot.

Please view the following galleries: Abhishek Darshan Appearance day lecture of Advaita Acarya by HH Jayapataka Swami. So, today is a good day to follow in the footsteps of Krishna Das Kaviraj and take shelter of Advita Gosai who was incarnation of a devotee. Lord Caitanya is devotee, Nityananda is expansion as his devotee, Advaita […]

The post Appearance of Advaita Acharya appeared first on Mayapur.com.

The following is taken from a lecture Srila Prabhupada gave in Hawaii on May 25, 1975

The glaring attraction of the city is maya. In the modern age people are attracted by city life, but we should know that city life is not for the devotee (or any other transcendentalist); generally, people like city life, but that is maya. Maya means “that which is not a fact” or that which is an illusion. We are under the spell of maya, thinking that by living in the city we shall be happy.

One English poet, Cowper, said that a city is made by men, but a village is made by God. So, if you can stick to village life you can produce your necessities and be satisfied with whatever you produce. If we keep cows and grow food grains, fruits, and vegetables, then we can live very peacefully. There is no need of going to the city. That is the plan of God, Krishna.

Krishna personally exhibited living in a village. Vrindavana is a village; it is not a city. We are trying to go to the village of Krishna — Vrindavana.

Formerly one was considered to be rich if one possessed many cows:. Now, artificially, the society has made a promise that if you can possess some paper – a hundred dollars, five hundred dollars, a thousand dollars, then you are rich. But actually that is not wealth. When there is no food, you cannot eat this paper no matter how much it may be worth – a hundred dollars, five hundred dollars, etc. But if one possesses grains and cows, then one will never starve. The city people, who have money, are getting food supplies from remote villages. Thus they are dependent whereas the farmers are free.

Money means paper, which they are using to cheat people. There is no money really, but they have made an economic condition in such a clever way that we are accepting this paper as money. We are being misled to think we need money to obtain so many material possessions that the city offers so that we can live properly and be happy. They are mostly superfluous things. Real riches are actually the grains and milk. Those are real riches; according to Vedic civilization it is said, dhanyena dhanavan gavaya dhanavan.

So the Krishna consciousness movement is designed to teach everyone that we should not be attracted by false things. City life is like fool’s gold.

Produce your own food; keep cows, and milk. And, if you produce cotton, you can produce your own cloth also.

That is an actual civilization. You are all Europeans and Americans, and are not accustomed to it. But if you develop the civilization of plain living and high thinking, and save time for advancing in Krishna consciousness, you will achieve the real success of life.

Comfortable means without anxiety. That is life. Real life is without anxiety. That is comfortable living. If you are living and sleeping in a very high skyscraper building, but full of anxiety, is that a comfortable life? That is not a comfortable life. Canakya Pandita, regarded as a greatly wise man in India, has said that a comfortable, happy person is one who does not have to go too far from home to work and who is not a debtor. He is happy. However, in the city everyone are debtors, and they have to go fifty miles, a hundred miles, etc. for earning livelihood. Is that comfortable? The bank is ready to give you money – “Purchase motorcar. Purchase this. Purchase that.” And at the end of the month, after working hard to get a salary, all of the money is taken by the bank, and again you have to work. So you are a debtor and full of anxiety; is that a comfortable life? No, that is not a comfortable life. A comfortable life means no anxiety.

So you have got this land. Don’t go away. Develop it. That is my instruction. Keep cows. Produce your own food and thus save time for spiritual life. This is perfect. You don’t require a technical education and this education, that education, wine, meat. That is a hellish civilization. That is not human civilization.

Read Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam; produce your own food; live peacefully. What is the use of going to the city? Bhaktivinoda Thakura (a modern saint and writer) said that this material way of life, material advancement of civilization, means giving an advantage to illusion to increase its influence over us.

So be satisfied with a humble life in the village and be advanced in spiritual consciousness. That is the real profit of life. Don’t be misled by the glaring, dazzling situation of the city. It is not worth it.