Websites from the ISKCON Universe
O friend, please control your mind and senses and go and live in Vrndavana, which is a mine of nectar, and which is so glorious that even millions of books by the greatest poets and philosophers cannot describe a single ray of light from the host of the jewels of its virtues.
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-35 Translation ]
Please click here for more photos
BY JAI SITA RANI DEVI DASI
PHOTOS BY MULAKARANAM DASA
KUALA LUMPUR - Headed by book distributor stalwarts, Ravilocana and Tattvavit dasa, devotees in Kuala Lumpur took the opportunity to distribute books during one of the biggest Hindu event in Malaysia, Thaipusam. This event is celebrated once a year in Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur. The Batu Caves are situated thirteen kilometers (seven miles) north of the capital city Kuala Lumpur. They are the sacred place for the Hindu’s in Malaysia. They consist of three main caves and a number of smaller ones. The caves are made of limestone and 400 meters long and 100 meter high. They were discovered in 1892.
At your arrival you will be greeted by lots of monkeys. They are going for your peanuts and bananas, which you can buy in several shops, before you climb up to the caves. You have to climb 272 steps, which will lead you to the religious and magnificent Batu Caves.
The word Thaipusam is a combination of the name of the month, Thai, and the name of a star, Pusam. This particular star is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates the occasion when gave Murugan Vel"spear" so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman
Since early morning, thousands of Hindus converged at Batu Caves where the Sri Subramaniar temple is located, to partake in the religious festival to express gratitude, fulfill a vow or do penance. As many as 800,000 devotees and other visitors throng the caves. As a form of penance or sacrifice, many of them carry kavadis (literally, “burden,” such as a pitcher or jug). These are large, brightly decorated frameworks, usually combined with various metal hooks and skewers which are used to pierce the skin, cheeks and tongue. By doing this penance they expect some favours from their Gods.
Among the sea of people were foreign tourists who watched with interest and captured snapshots of the colourful kavadi procession and other features of the festival.
At the base of the hill, there are three caves with statuary and mural depiction of the scenes from Ramayana, Mahabharata and lives of renowned Tamil poet, Valluvar.
The three caves are known as Ramayan Cave, Art Gallery and the Valluvar Kottam. The depictions are spectacularly graphic. The Ramayan Cave presents a concise but comprehensive narration of Lord Rama’s history.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 21 December 2010, Cape Town, South Africa, Lecture)
Conviction cannot be based on intellectual understanding. Are we convinced that Krsna consciousness is true?
Yes, I am because it makes sense. But that’s just the beginning and there is a lot more than that. It has to be experienced in the heart. It must be really felt that Krsna consciousness is the most wonderful thing. That’s living on the cutting edge and spiritual life is about living on the cutting edge! It cannot become routine because as soon as it does then we get into trouble. We start to dry up and feel the austerity and the weight of spiritual life – the weight of the promises and the strictness because we are practicing in the spirit of routine.
But each time we apply ourselves to service and give it our best, that’s when we are on the cutting edge. Then spiritual life becomes magic when we are inspired. So one has to conquer Krsna!
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Their Lordships were adorned in an exquisite flower outfits and brilliant ornaments. The blissful service of stitching colorful flowers and beads onto the outfit left devotees spiritually enlivened. There was a roaring kirtan while Their Lordships received the Pushyabhisheka. The entire atmosphere was charged with devotion. -- Read more › 
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur's speech during Sri Navadvipa Parikrama in 1936 inspires us greatly.
“But I am predicting. I am predicting, that the next disciple of mine, who will cross the ocean – but it will not be soon, I won’t be able to see it – this devotee will bring here the whole world!”
Jay Srila Prabhupada! Jay Srila Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama -- Read more › 
We have begun preparing on the global level to show how ISKCON has survived, thrived, and is here to stay. It's an opportunity for major media attention including appreciation from scholars, and a good opportunity to bring out Srila Prabhupada's major contributions to our society. -- Read more › 
New Vrindavan Village Co-op is a consensus based community gathering of individuals who are working towards a more self-sufficient life style. In line with two of the four pillars of Prabhupada’s vision for New Vrindavan, our focus is agriculture, horticulture, agroforestry, natural building, renewable resources, healing arts, crafts, living off the land with local economies and cow protection.
We serve as a think tank and work force for ECOV, who has a very similar mission. In weekly meetings we discuss, organize and prioritize projects we wish to work on. We serve as a place for co-ordination and co-operation between the community members, ECOV and ISKCON.”
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NV Village Co-op Meeting on Sunday January the 12th:
THE AGENDA WAS:
1. Fence Proposal for Teaching Garden
2. Food Production Contracts
3. Food Production Manager
4. Food Production Facility
5.Housing Projects
6. Marketing
Meeting every Sunday at 12 PM
The site was conceived by Anuttama Das, the International GBC Minister of Communications, and Keshava Das, the North American Director of Communications. It was created by Murari Das and Devaprastha Das.
According to Keshava, the website will help to remind devotees that “as a movement, we play a role in a much larger world.”
“We want to encourage our leaders to think of ourselves as not an insular religious group, but as playing a bigger role in the communities that are temples and centers are in,” he says. -- Read more › 
On the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad holiday yesterday, Harinam team went to Vishnu Kencana Garuda Buses Sarbagita use. Along the way we are allowed to harinam and distribute prasadam cake on the bus. Garuda Vishnu Kencana is located in the famous Unggasan Vishnu and Garuda statue measuring 12 meters and 18 meters are able to pick a lot of tourists to the place. That day the place was so crowded by tourists. " Harinam was well received there and some of them come to dance and sing with us. Photo by Kanai Hall das and Nagarivika -- Read more › What should one do if he takes a vow or sets a standard and can’t keep it? How can he be freed of the vow and the offense/reaction of not keeping it?
The post Sruti Kulkarini asks appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
Nelson's Hare Krishna community celebrated the Ratha Yatra festival last week, the first time the event has been held in Nelson.
Ratha Yatra marks the journey of Lord Jagannatha across India.
It is celebrated worldwide besides its spiritual home Puri, a city in eastern India.
Nelson's Hare Khrishna community is based in Motueka. -- Read more › 
Haripuja devi dasi attended the Art College of Pittsburgh in 1970-71, where she learned to hand-design advertisements. Being the age before computers, this art form would later allow her to hand-correct Srila Prabhupada’s book negatives. Her real desire was to learn fashion design. Haripuja prabhu tried many things before coming to Krishna Consciousness such as modeling, traveling, and yoga. She was searching for answers about God and this world. Upon meeting the devotees, satisfying answers convinced her to join the temple in Pittsburgh in 1971. Within a year, she took initiation. -- Read more › 
The Office of Communications for ISKCON launched its brand new website, communications.iskcon.org. The site’s main purpose is to serve as an initial touchpoint for outside parties. It allows groups such as the media, academics, neighbors and the interfaith community to find contact details for their local ISKCON communications liaison, and to get some basic information about what ISKCON is and what it does.
“On New Year's Eve central London becomes one big party,” says organizer Parasuram Das, who serves prasadam meals to one thousand needy people daily as director of the Food For All charity. “Millions of people take to the streets, and no cars are allowed. The ground is set for the biggest Harinam ever.”
Food for life volunteers distribute pure vegan food daily to more than 1,000 victims of typhoon Yolanda-Haiyan in different barangays in Tacloban, Leyte and Samar. A total of 64,210 meals have been served over the last the two months from November 11, 2013 to January 11, 2014.
As ISKCON's flagship project The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium's representatives put it: "The day has come. The suspense is over. After over a year of correspondence, negotiations and near failure, the blue marble has finally been ordered."
On behalf of the ToVP Sadbhuja Das is in charge of carefully and personally selecting only the best materials from around the world in order to build a temple that will last for “much more than a life time.” -- Read more ›
A belated welcome to our newest Christmas 2013 baby bull, Priya Darshan! And congratulations to his mata, Asha Gomata. Hare Krsna!
Priya Darsan, new Christmas baby bull
Asha, Priya Darsan’s mata.
As ISKCON's flagship project The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium's representatives put it: "The day has come. The suspense is over. After over a year of correspondence, negotiations and near failure, the blue marble has finally been ordered."
We will catch up on reporting on events taken place in January.
In Mayapur, the new year was greeted by a Kirtan Mela that featured Kadamba Kanana Swami and Lokanath Swami. The Kirtan Mela was held in Prabhupada Park which is behind the Lotus Building. The program started at 7 pm on the eve and continued until after midnight. Despite it being a cold night, a large crowd turned up which were mostly international members of the Mayapur community. A huge fire and melodious kirtans kept them going. At the stroke of midnight, a fireworks display lit up the sky.
In the first week of the new year, Maharaj presented a three-part Caitanya Caritamrta seminar to the Russian devotees. Each seminar was two hours long. Unfortunately, part one of the seminar was not recorded, however parts two and three were and are available for download below.
Maharaj continues giving Srimad Bhagavatam classes and doing other programs whenever possible. On Sunday (12 January), he was invited to a program at the house of Doyal Gauranga Prabhu, a resident of Mayapur. On Monday (13 January), Maharaj spent the morning with students of the Kirtan Academy. There was kirtan, a Q&A session and a discourse on Caitanya Caritamrta. The Kirtan Academy is a relatively new concept in Mayapur and you may read all about it on their website. Recordings from these two programs will follow shortly.
Maharaj’s service with the TOVP project is ongoing and as part of it, this week he had to travel to Abu Dhabi and to Johannesburg, to meet with engineers. In this short visit to South Africa, he will present the lecture at the Sunday program (19 January) at the temple in Durban which also coincides with the Chandra Yatra festival of Sri Sri Radha Radhanath.
We would like to acknowledge the following devotees who have assisted with photos and recordings for the blog in recent times: Bhadra Balaram Das, Pradyumna Misra Das, Vibhu Caitanya Das, Candrasekhara Das and Malini dd.
Audio recordings
KKS_Mayapur_31 December 2014_Kirtan
KKS_Mayapur_1 January 2014_CC Seminar_Russian_Part 2
KKS_Mayapur_3 January 2014_CC Seminar_Russian_Part 3
KKS_Mayapur_January 2014_Lecture_Russian_SB 5.10.6
Photos
Here are pictures from all the programs mentioned above as well as darshans of Sri Giriraja. If you cannot view the slide-show, then please visit flickr.
It's a constant reminder that, restaurants, delis, and a variety of other businesses are opening or going out of business, but the one establishment that seems to remain constant and unaffected by the economy is that funeral home.
Research showing the relationship between vitamin D and cancer. The benefits of this vitamin apply to both cancer prevention and cancer survival.
HH Candramauli Swami SB 10.57.35-40
“Srila Prabhupada wanted this temple to be opened in his presence. So much of his valuable energy and time were dedicated to opening this very temple. He fought for it, he struggled, he personally collected for it, but it was not possible to open it while he remained in this world. So these devotees—many devotees—but I am thinking now how personally His Holiness Tamal Krishna Maharaja and His Holiness Giriraj Maharaja took this as their gift to Srila Prabhupada that was inviolable. They had to do it. So these two events were so strongly fixed in their consciousness that the opening of this Radha-Rasabihari Mandir was on an equal level to placing Srila Prabhupada in samadhi.”—Bhurijana dasa
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Gopal Krishna Goswami
Bhurijana dasa
Radhanath Swami
Narottamananda dasa
Vishvadevi dasi
Giriraj Swami
Jagjivan dasa
Śrī Rūpa advises that one of the five most powerful practices is sajātiyāśaya-snigdha Śrī-bhagavat-saṅga. The first three words, sajātiya, āśaya and snidgha describe the tope of bhagavat-bhakta we should seek saṅga with. āśaya means “worthy of sheltering” – so in other words, they should be more advanced than us. That’s pretty common knowledge. The other two are less commonly understood. Sajātiya means “from the same mold” – in other words we should associate with more advanced devotees *who we actually have things in common with.* For example since I am a musician it is powerful for me to associate with advanced devotees who are also musicians, or since I am a brainy-type, it is powerful for me to associate with advanced devotees who are studious and scholarly in the same subjects I am into. Etc. The third word is “snigdha” which means “soft” and means that the advanced devotees we have stuff in common with should be soft towards us, in other words soft-hearted, affectionate, kind. When those three things are there, the association is very powerful and it quickly and powerfully inspires our divine inspiration towards Krishna-prema.
When Vidya was a brahmacarini they used to make butter during kirtan.
