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If you desire to easily get vast wealth, a beautiful wife, good children, a palatial home and the other opulences that don’t come in this world without a struggle, and if you desire krishna-bhakti, which carries liberation in the palm of her hand, then simply reside in the spiritual realm named Vrindavana.
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-34 Translation ]
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 12 December 2013, Midrand, South Africa, Evening Lecture)
To be part of this movement means to become thoroughly honest, it is said. Thoroughly honest, it is not about not speaking a lie but it is more about being completely dedicated to speaking the absolute truth, Krsna, and not hiding it! Krsna, it’s about Krsna. Not ashamed (laughing)!
“What’s that there?” (pointing at tilak)
“Oh that, oh, it’s nothing much”.
“No. What is it actually?”
“Uh…vaisnava tilak”.
“Oh, what is that?”
That is sacred clay, from a sacred place, Gopi-candana. It is placed there (on the forehead) and it is said that between the two lines, Lord Visnu resides, om kesavaya namaha! In this way, in twelve places, the Lord is installed on our bodies. In this way, our body becomes a temple, a sacred place which is to be respected. A sacred place which is meant for worship and nothing else!
During a recent visit to one of the Sanga’s held in London I was asked by one of those attending if it was possible to visit their terminal ill farther in many ways an continuation of the request made to me by my Guru Maharaja.
It was a busy visit with a maha-clean of Radharani’s bakery and also the opportunity to give the evening class, so we made an arrangement to visit in the evening before my return to Wales.
Arriving I could see the crumpled diseased body which was suffering the pangs of a deteriorating body; unable to communicate it’s hard not to be moved by the suffering the material body goes through.
It was so nice as we started a small kirtan and as some of you know I’m no expert indeed I’ve been nicknamed the Kirtan killer but it was nice that the elderly gentleman responded indeed you couldn’t help but be moved by the families sincerity, love for their farther but most of all their seeking of spiritual guidance (something I am immensely disqualified to do) in order to keep their farther connected to Sri Krishna.
Followed was a small Gita class I gave the follow on from the previous evening’s class I gave, then came the questions and their was a lot. It is hard to see a anyone suffer even more so if it’s a loved one; and we forget what a physical and emotional toll this takes especially if one has taken up the often thankless task of looking after their loved one.
I had two realisations:
1) The need to make sure that we have support and regular devotee visits to sick and terminal ill individuals
2) That we have and offer support to the families
It reminded me that the earliest recorded infirmary (hospital) was not the large institutions we see today, but were connected to the monasteries; at large people understood that the body would die and would make sure the soul was well cared for.
As devotee’s we need to make sure that the body does not have to take birth again filling the air with the transcendental sound vibration of the maha-mantra; as in a vast majority of cases the hearing is the last thing to go to hear the blissful names of Sri Krishna makes the greatest of difference.
I’ve in my nursing years seen many spirit souls leave their body, often you see the pain in the facial features or the hollow emptiness of the eyes; but when the mahamantra and words of Sri Krishna are present there is bliss and a brightness in the eyes uncharacteristic of most souls experience of death.
They explained his joy in offering Tulasi Arati but now looking at the disease riddled body it appeared useless; my advice continue Please continue, Sri Krishna will remind him of the joy he felt offering Arati to Tulasi Maharani he will I am convinced remember.
Leaving I promised that on my return to London I would visit again, as they dropped me off at The Manor we spoke for some time in the car park; of the painful discussions ahead; it was nice to hear such openness indeed we do need to be honest in speaking about our struggles in Krishna Consciousness.
And as we parted way’s they asked that no matter what happens would I still visit, indeed it reminded me that this is the key to Krishna Consciousness friendship’s, a listening ear, understanding without condemning and a willingness to just be their.
If we want to show that ISKCON Cares then in my humble realisation it starts with:
“I learn to CARE”
During my recent visit to Bhaktivadanta Manor I had the privilege of sitting in on one of the classes given by HH Sivarama Swami; an opportunity not to be missed, here is the recording:
“It is so simple that you will miss it!”, said Srila Prabhupada to Tribhuvanath Prabhu. I can still hear the words in my ear as if it was yesterday and still hear Tribhuvanath’s laugh as he told us the story.
He left the planet about 12 years ago, what I saw in that devotee was a kind person who took the words of His Divine Grace in a serious way. Srila Prabhupada wanted us to be happy.
In the Juhu temple he stopped my wife Moksha Lakmi on the stairs “So you are chanting Hare Krishna?,” (yes Srila Prabhupada!)”are you happy,”(yes Srila Prabhupada).
Check out the smiling faces of the devotees and non devotees
Jai Srila Prabhupada.
The Bhagavad Gita being honoured at London’s Houses of Parliament
The appearance day of the Bhagavad Gita is to be celebrated every year from this time forth at the House of Commons.
Can you imagine just 100 years ago the topic would have been “how to turn India away from it’s primitive books”, and last year in Russia there was the concept of banning the Bhagavad Gita.
Tribhuvanath Prabhu’s Festival team and Food For All crew performed Kirtan for half an hour to a packed house.
Jai Srila Prabhupada,
your servant Parasuram Das
Kavicandra Swami: Serving prasadam to the dham vasis on this auspicious day at this sacred place is very special. The festival has a long description in the Caitanya Bhagavata, about when Caitanya Mahaprabhu himself was there. -- Read more › The post Back in Budapest appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
ISKCON's Grihastha Vision Team is offering "Strengthening the Bonds That Free Us" in Mayapur, India on Feb 13-15th, 2014.
This is an interactive skill building seminar for grihastha couples and those wishing to enter grhastha ashram. -- Read more › 
Harinama ki jaya! -- Read more › 
Visiting Buenos Aires, The "Walking Monk" reveals how trekking can guide to divinity. Interview with Bhakti Marga Swami in a prestigious Argentine newspaper Clarín Buena Vida.
This year’s annual ISKCON North American Leadership Conference, held at Hare Krishna Dham in Houston, Texas from January 9th to 12th, presented many developments that inspired both new and seasoned devotees alike.
Members of ISKCON’s highest ecclesiastical authority, the Governing Body Commission, met before the official conference, on January 7th and 8th.
The Leadership Conference proper was then held for the following three-and-a-half days. Seventy-five devotees, both senior and new, attended and were housed at ISKCON Houston’s recently built residential apartments. -- Read more › 
Sutapa das: Imagine we played a movie showing our public, personal and private life side-by-side. Would everything match up? Would it look like the same person? Maybe not. Some may call it hypocrisy, duplicity and pretence, but there could be more to the story. Often times it’s not deliberate or devious, but simply the result of human weakness. -- Read more › 
...and around. -- Read more › 
ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement opened a centre in the heart of Sandton, the commercial hub of Southern Africa. Since opening in August the centre has hosted several seminars and festivals with the famous Sunday Love Feast program a weekly feature. Several construction and renovations projects have been undertaken the foremost of which is the Food for Life (vegetarian food relief program) kitchen. -- Read more › 
Mayapur Dhama ki Jaya! -- Read more › 
This year’s ISKCON North American Leadership Conference, held at Hare Krishna Dham in Houston, Texas from January 9th to 12th, presented many developments that inspired both new and seasoned devotees alike. Seventy-five devotees attended in total and were housed at ISKCON Houston’s recently built residential apartments.
The post January 16th, 2014 – Pushpa Dress Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Today, as they did four decades ago, devotees at ISKCON New Vrindaban are embarking on a labor of love. They’re restoring the Palace of Gold, home to Srila Prabhupada. Devotees began building the Palace with their own hands back in 1973 as a simple residence for Srila Prabhupada, who enjoyed the peace and spiritual atmosphere of New Vrindaban during his visits.
New Vrindaban’s Transcendental “Throwback Thursday” – 01/16/14.
Each week we highlight an earlier era of ISKCON New Vrindaban.
This week’s challenge: Put a name to the three devotees who can clearly be identified in the photo.
Extra credit: Pinpoint their location and describe what they are doing.
Post your best guesses on the “who, what, when & where” in the comment section at the New Vrindaban Facebook Page.
Technical stuff: We share the photo Thursday and confirm known details Sunday.
Let’s have a bit of fun and see who knows their New Vrindaban history!
Special request: If you have a photo showing New Vrindaban devotees in action, share it with us and we’ll use it in a future posting.
ISKCON's Grihastha Vision Team is offering "Strengthening the Bonds That Free Us" in Mayapur, India on Feb 13-15th, 2014. This is an interactive skill building seminar for grihastha couples and those wishing to enter grhastha ashram.
Social pressures, the weight of expectation and the fear of judgement can force us to present an image of ourselves which is not entirely accurate.
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HG Murli Manohara Prabhu SB 1.5.24 Iskcon London
Yesterday I made a post called “DRESS PROPERLY” (Playing on the popular, famous soundbite of Śrīla Prabhupāda saying “sit properly”) Someone had a long conversation with me about it. Here is the summary play-by-play of that conversation. Hopefully it will clear up anything that wasn’t clear from the first post
He claimed that my quote from Rūpa Goswāmī was misleading because Rūpa only mentions “symbols” not clothing or dress in general.
To which I replied: cihṇa (the exact word Rūpa Goswāmī uses) includes all sorts of marks, it doesn’t exclude indicative clothing.
He also took issue with my including a picture of people dressed as Superman and Superwoman, thinking I was implying that devotees who don’t “dress properly” will wind up wearing superhero outfits. So I clarified that the reason I put that picture is to show that clothing certainly and obviously affects the way we feel. When we wear a costume we feel much more like the character.
He asked if I ever dressed and acted normal. Or if I ever did cultured things like attend the Opera or Philharmonic concerts, or if I ever tried to get a normal job.
I replied: Sure, I’m all sorts of things. I do, wear, eat, etc, all sorts of things – but I don’t change the Gaudiya philosophy to make my idiosyncrasies seem like perfections. I am comfortable admitting that I am substandard and not particularly exemplary.
I don’t wear dhotis, etc. very often. But its not because I’m such a wonderful devotee, so off the bodily platform, its because I’m a pretty normal person. If I had more integrity I would dress like a sādhu because that would help me feel like a sādhu, and thus act like a sādhu, and thus, eventually be a sādhu.
When I hear a lot of people implying (perhaps those people are members of the “Krishna West” faction, I don’t really know) is this, “you can be a perfect sādhu and dress normal, in fact if you dress like a sādhu you’re probably a superficialist.” That doesn’t sit right with me. Dressing normal helps me be normal (and for me, even that is a pretty good improvement), and dressing like a sādhu will help me be a sādhu.
Certainly dressing like a sādhu is by no means the most effective way of becoming a sādhu. Chanting Hare Krishna and studying Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is. But still, if we’re going to talk about clothes, lets not pretend that clothes are an irrelevant part of the environment we practice our yoga in.
I cited an example where Caitanya Mahaprabhu tells Sanatana Goswāmī to dress a certain way. “Sanatana Goswāmī initially dressed as a Fakir. Gaurahari asked him to stop and dress as a Vaishnava. This is not an isolated incident. A few places in Cc Kaviraja Goswāmī depicts Mahaprabhu caring about the clothing that people wear.”
He replied that Mahaprabhu asked him to dress “like a sādhu,” not “like a vaishnava.” He claimed there was no śāstric reference to any Vaishnava dressing differently from the rest of society. He said that dress codes in śāstra were all related to varnashrama, not Vaishnavism.
I said that I don’t disagree with the above points. In the original post I never suggested that there is some “authorized” or “bona-fide” “vaishnava dress” that we all have to conform to – I simply said that clothes affect your identity, and therefore we should dress in a way to help us identify ourselves (to ourselves) as Krishna-bhaktas.
There is no exact and specific “Vaishnava Uniform” defined in any authentic śāstra. But it is a universal principle expressed in all shastra that environment impacts the consciousness, therefore we should situate ourselves in an environment that facilitates our yogic practice / sadhana-bhakti.
He again claimed that there is no shastric pramana to support my point. He reiterated his opinion that Śrī Rūpa only speaks of symbols, not of clothing. He said that Mahaprabhu did not change his dress after he became a Vaishnava.
Again, The word for symbols does not exclude clothing.
The pramāna is everywhere in the śāstra, every time it is acknowledge that all objects are made of the modes of nature, and the modes of nature which create our environment affect our consciousness.
The pañca-saṁskāra initiation ceremony (accepted by Mahaprabhu and his predecessors and his descendants) changes many many things: Name, caste-affiliation (the significance of the tilaka), and the guru may specify dress.
I think Mahaprabhu and others didn’t significantly change their dress because it was not, and is not, terribly important. There are more important things to change. But if we are on the topic of clothing – i.e. if we are making the topic important by making it the focus of a discussion – then we should not conclude that clothing is outside the purview of cihṇa in the injunction vaiṣṇava cihṇa dhṛti (“Bear the marks of a Vaishnava.”), nor should we conclude that it is outside the universal principle that everything in our environment affects our consciousness.
Finally, he implied that dressing in “normal” clothing makes preaching more effective; and made the statement that preaching is sādhana.
Harināma Saṅkīrtana is a part of sādhana, the most important part actually, as explicitly stated by Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Jīva. “Preaching” If it is something other than that, or something other than broadcasting the meanings of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, is not a part of sādhana.
I agree with the principle that one should have things in common with the persons he or she wishes to communicate with. If one seems completely alien it can make communication very difficult. However I do not agree that dressing “normally” is essential for effective preaching. The Krishna Consciousness movement spread like wildfire and attracted the most outstanding and qualified individuals as a result of the very simple and direct Harināma Sankīrtana devotees performed constantly on the sidewalks in the late 1960s, without feeling any need to dress normally and so on.
“Bhakti means to please Krishna. A pure devotee has no selfish desire. Of course, it is good to want to have taste for the holy names, but the ultimate goal is to please Krishna. At one stage Tamal Krishna Goswami told Srila Prabhupada that he was so disturbed by all the complications here that he could not chant properly. And Srila Prabhupada replied, ‘I know how you feel—I feel the same way.’ This is transcendental anxiety. Impersonalists want peace (santi santi); they want to merge and become one—but devotees struggle for guru and Krishna. His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja said to Srila Prabhupada, ‘I have just one department—Bhaktivedanta Institute—and there are so many difficulties and problems. And you have a whole worldwide movement—I can’t even imagine how you deal with all the problems. Srila Prabhupada replied, ‘Problems? I don’t see any problems. I only see service to my Guru Maharaja.’ So, we conditioned bhaktas want things to be comfortable and pleasant. But a pure devotee has no such conditions. He just wants to serve his spiritual master and Krishna.”
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 05 October 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Lecture)
Success in spiritual life depends on how much faith you can develop in Srila Prabhupada. That is really what it means – there is no doubt about it. That is the secret to our success. The strength of our movement, the backbone of this movement, is how much are we serving Srila Prabhupada. Yes, we take shelter of Srimad-Bhagavatam! Yes, we take shelter of Bhagavad-gita. Yes, we take shelter of the Vedas and all these things but particularly, the way Prabhupada gave it to us.
He is truly the one who will transform our lives, if we just take shelter of him. There is no corruption in him, there is no fault in him – it cannot be found! So if somehow or other, we can do something to serve His Divine Grace, that is where the change will come from a spiritual life without nectar to a spiritual life with nectar. Otherwise, it is so hard to taste nectar. For so many people, spiritual life remains an austerity but that is the secret of the change where one becomes an inspired devotee.