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Gadahara Pandit das: "What is prajalpa?" - a lecture at the Tuesday Night Sanga at the Bhakti Center New York. Jan 7, 2014 -- Read more › 
Hare Krishna Explosion Cover
Srila Prabhupada on New Vrindaban: Seven Temples on Seven Hills – July 1968.
An Excerpt from The Hare Krishna Explosion.
By Hayagriva dasa
The Montreal temple is located in a large, grey Gothic building near McGill University. The ground floor is occupied by a commercial printing company. The upstairs bowling alley has been converted into a kirtan hall and living area for new devotees—Shivananda, Jayapataka, Hansadutta, Vaikunthanath. Now it is crowded. There has been a flurry of activity since Prabhupada’s arrival.
Kirtanananda and I visit Prabhupada in his nearby apartment. As always, it seems, Prabhupada is seated behind his footlocker, the familiar aromas of gardenias, incense and sandalwood about him. Goursundar and Govinda dasi scurry about, fretting that too many people are disturbing him. We pay our obeisances, and I offer Prabhupada yellow roses, which Govinda dasi arranges in vases.
“So how have you come?” Prabhupada asks.
“By plane from New York,” I say.
“Ah, very good. And in New York they are doing nicely?”
“Yes, Srila Prabhupada. Very nicely.”
“And what about New Vrindaban? That is doing nicely?”
“The owner has finally agreed on a long term lease,” I say, “but he wants the timber.”
“Oh, that cannot be. We must have all rights.”
“The coal rights were sold sixty-five years ago,” Kirtanananda says. “This is the case with all the properties in that area.”
“This means that if the government develops the coal industry, we may be asked to vacate,” Prabhupada says, concerned. “And no law can stop it.”
We admit that this is a point to consider.
“Yes,” he continues, “even if the government does not interfere, if some big industry moves into our vicinity, our New Vrindaban will fade away.”
I suddenly envision the little farmhouse and willow tree enveloped in a haze of smoke, the pastures invaded by steel drills abusing Mother Earth, giant smokestacks….
“New Vrindaban must be free from industrial contamination,” he says. “Industries like mining will ruin everything. Consider well the land’s future.”
“Most of the coal has already been mined through underground tunnels,” Kirtanananda says.
“Another important point,” Prabhupada goes on. “What happens to the property after ninety-nine years?”
I don’t know,” I say, not having really thought of this. “We won’t be around then.”
“But the Society will,” he says. “There must be an agreement that at the end of the lease, the property will go to us.”
This had been our oversight. Of course it must go to the Society! Great temples will be rising from the blackberries and pokeweed!
“We’ll try to get Foster to agree,” I say.
We then describe the property. As soon as Prabhupada understands where the main road is, he asks, “How do you get up to the farmhouse?”
“Well, that’s the big problem,” I admit. “It’s not really what you’d call easily accessible. But you could drive a jeep or horse and wagon up it. Otherwise, it’s a two mile walk.”
Prabhupada reflects on this a moment.
“Hm. Horse and buggy would be better,” he says at length. “You should avoid machines and become as self-sufficient as possible. And horses are pleasing to look at. They are the most beautiful of animals.”
Kirtanananda presents a quart of blackberry chutney and one of raspberry jam.
“Ah, very fresh,” Prabhupada says, sampling them. Then, serious, thinking again of New Vrindaban: “Yes, in New Vrindaban everything will be Krishna conscious because everything will be for Krishna. So building houses, tending cows, and working fields will also be bhakti-yoga. People mustn’t go there just to retire. They must be engaged. In your country, old people like to keep dogs and smoke pipes when they retire. Or they play… what do you call—?”
“Shuffleboard,” I say, thinking of the old men in Golden Gate Park. “And checkers.”
“Yes. That is what we want to avoid. We must always engage in Krishna’s service so maya cannot enter.”
“There’s no end to engagement, Prabhupada,” Kirtanananda assures him.
I think of breaking my back removing rocks from beneath the waterfalls. I think of all the wildflowers left unpicked.
“The hills and temples must all be named,” Prabhupada says. “On seven hills we will build seven main temples, as in the original Vrindaban—Govindaji, Gopinatha, Madana-Mohana, Shyamasundara, Radha-Ramana, Radha-Damodar, Gokulananda….
Sitting before him, we begin to see spiraling gold-domed temples in the West Virginia hills. Vaporous fantasies, perhaps, but so strong is Prabhupada’s confidence that for us his New Vrindaban temples seem as tangible as his tin footlocker.
“Of course, Kirtanananda, you have seen Vrindaban,” Prabhupada continues. “Remember the atmosphere? There are temples everywhere, some five thousand, it is said. That is a far distant scheme.”
A far distant scheme. I wonder if we can repair the farmhouse roof before the autumn rains.
“But now let us build at least seven temples,” he says, his eyes wide with anticipation. “The hills you can name Govardhan. There must be pastures for the cows, and ghats for bathing, like Kesi-ghat. Oh, I will give you so many names! And Kirtanananda, you can attract the neighbors with your delicious prasadam.”
Talking leisurely in the cool Montreal afternoon, Prabhupada describes New Vrindaban so graphically that we envision great lines of tourists waiting for guides to lead them through marble temples and palaces.
Every moment, Prabhupada builds and tosses out schemes to occupy thousands of devotees. On his footlocker is a lamp, some papers, and a few books. Bhagavad-gita is always within reach. I see him sitting thus eternally, looking up from the holy scriptures through his spectacles, creating whole cultures and civilizations centered about Krishna.
In the evening, Govinda dasi serves spiced puffed rice.
Prabhupada garlands us. We drink sweet yogurt, and he comments on Janardhan’s plans for a Back To Godhead in French for Canada. He is jolly, and when we pay obeisances before leaving, he says, “Yes, try for this New Vrindaban with heart and soul. And rest assured it will develop.”
For four days, Prabhupada waters the New Vrindaban devotional creeper. It is indeed a young, tender plant requiring special treatment.
On the fifth day, carrying plans, schemes, visions, and lofty aspirations, we fly back to New York, accompanied by universal royalty, the Jagannatha Deities, purchased from a Montreal import house.
A few snippets from the 2013-14 Recharge Festival hosted by HH Devamrita Swami at New Gupta Vraja. -- Read more › HH BB Govinda Swami’s kirtan at Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda temple 4.11.2013 Part 1
Please click here for all photos
He who gives up the company of ordinary people, keeps no servants or followers, agitated with a desire to serve Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, constantly sheds tears, his hands placed on his cheeks and lives in Vrindavana, is the most fortunate of all persons.
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-33 Translation ]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2010, Mumbai, India, Lecture)
Transcribed by Madhumati Devi Dasi
When you see women as lust objects then how can you look after them!? You will not protect them; you will use them as though they are not human beings; as if they don’t deserve a man to support and protect them throughout their life…
You don’t care! You just care to get them in bed and when they are pregnant, you line-up an abortion and go for the next and another one and then another one. In this way, you become more and more selfish and you become less interested in the well-being of all those women with whom you are having sex with. Maybe, you will get bored with women and try men for a while or maybe you will try something else!
Giriraj Swami and Radhanath Swami spoke at the Bhaktivedanta Hospital Annual Day.
“A devotee is concerned for people’s suffering. Srila Prabhupada showed his concern by giving us the message of the Bhagavatam and giving us the holy name, but he was also concerned for our health. He would sometimes nurse his disciples—such as His Holiness Giriraj Maharaja—when they were physically sick. He signed his letters, ‘I hope this letter finds you in good health’. But his approach was holistic: body, mind, and soul.” —Radhanath Swami
Belo Horizonte is the capital city of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of the country. -- Read more › 
More than 5000 people had participated in Rath Yatra -- Read more › 
Kanpur, is the largest industrial city of Uttar Pradesh and one of the largest in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kanpur Nagar district and Kanpur division. -- Read more › 
Promotion and dissemination of religious literature from ancient times were considered sacred and civic duty of every sincere believer -- Read more › 
Vaishnava Society for Krishna Consciousness is always open to dialogue and cooperation with other religious organizations and traditions. An example of this dialogue serves famous acharya: six Gosvamis, Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Prabhupada. -- Read more › 
I loved sitting down and just soaking in the sounds from the temple. The people singing, the ringing of the bells, the blow of the conch shell were some of the sounds that I remember the most. I saw people from all over the world, Australia, Europe and different parts of the US coming to the Vrindavan temple. -- Read more › 
Due to unusually cold weather attendance was down at our first festival in Ahmedabad last night. But we made up for it with our preaching on a popular talk show the same evening. Several million people watched "G Television" as myself, Sri Prahlad das and Syama Premi dasi spoke for 40 minutes about Srila Prabhupada establishing Krsna consciousness in the west and how Lord Krsna's teachings in Bhagavad Gita can solve the problems of modern society. We also went into great detail about the glories of chanting Hare Krsna and ended with a sweet kirtan. What bliss! -- Read more › 
“This man continued giving us biscuits and bananas every day for close to two weeks. So it’s like he used that way to drag so many people. And we loved the man, so every day he [saw] us there singing and dancing, chanting “Hare Krishna” until he left my village and he told us he was going back to India.” -- Read more › Presentation to senior health workers at the amazing Peacock Clinic in Nottingham.
The post How knowledge of the soul is relevant to health (Part 1) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) India invites ISKCON devotees to participate in a 2-day seminar on the “Merits of Organized Book Distribution.” It is scheduled to take place on Jan 31,2014 and Feb 1, 2014 at ISKCON Tirupati. It is being conducted under the expert guidance of Vaisesika Dasa Adhikari.
The post January 11th, 2014 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Recently there was a picture of Samba on the Brijabasi Spirit Throwback Thursday. Naturally it reminded me of him. What he will be best remembered for is that he was a trucker who hauled in much of the materials that manifest as what most devotees would now recognize as New Vrindaban.
He took initiation from Srila Prabhupada in 1972 and helped build the Palace. All that marble you see at the Palace was hauled in and Samba made frequent trips to New York and other places to pick it up.
He was especially active in the 1980s when the lodge, Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Candra temple and all the associated building were constructed. We had our own cement mixer for the floors and curbs and a paving brick factory where all the pavers used in the parking lot were made. All that material was hauled in as well as the gravel substrata under the roads. Also a lot of the construction materials that were used to build the structures.
Samba was so dedicated he would be at the gravel place when it opened in the morning. He would haul gravel all day until it closed. He would dump the gravel on a lot we purchased at Rte 88 and 250. Then when the gravel place would close he would reload the materials onto his truck and haul it the rest of the way into New Vrindaban because he could get more done in a day that way.
When the lake by the temple, then called Kaliya Ghat, was being built he was involved. A large hole was excavatedIn order for a lake to hold water it needs a clay liner and the clay on site wasn’t suitable so he was trucking it in. He would dump it and the man (or in this case, kid, our current ECOV director Chaitanya “Chaits” Mangala then age 14 ) on a dozer would smooth it out to make the liner.
BTW other members of the crew were Varsana Maharajah overseeing, Pippalada, grader operator, Murti, truck driver, Kaliya Krishna, trucker, Sarva Saksi back hoe and Samba, son of Hayagriva, also just a kid at age 12, dozer.
They would run in shifts around the clock and a leader at the time said he couldn’t fall asleep unless he heard the equipment running.
Some of Samba’s ashes were spread in the ghat so the next time you watch a Swan Boat Ceremony, remember Samba.
Samba was also a devotee of Tulasi and spent a lot of time caring for Her.
After Srila Prabhupada left the planet and Kirtanananda took over Samba left for a few years. He got cancer and moved back to New Vrindaban to leave his body. He was set up in a room in what is the guest quarters now of the temple.
While there he was chanting furiously, so intently that a prominent leader told him that because he had done so much service and was rightly situated in the temple that he didn’t need to worry so much about chanting so hard. Samba waited until the leader left the room then went right back to chanting furiously.
At the end there was a sannyasi who was visiting and standing next to his bed holding his danda. With his last breath Samba reached out, grabbed the danda , and left his body. Those of us at the time who were hard core householders appreciated that although it is proscribed that at some time we take up the sannyasa life of celibacy, traveling and preaching, Samba only had to endure that for the shortest possible time, one breath, as we figured grabbing the danda was taking sannyasa. It was another thing to admire him for.
Curiously, although India is often associated with ideas of peace and tolerance, no Indian has ever been awarded the Peace Prize.
The newly launched website DevoteeClassifieds.com - is a place where devotees (and their friends) can buy and sell items amongst themselves, whether it be a house, a car, furniture or children’s books.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Orthodox Christians and all citizens of Russia who celebrate Christmas.
2014 01 04 Prerna Festival The Power To Change Radhanath Swami ISKCON Chowpatty
The tragic events in Volgograd makes us wonder about the nature of terrorism. The saddest thing is that people explain or justify terrorism with God, and with the name of God.
In each stage of the TOVP’s construction, only the top quality materials are selected. The goal of which is to ensure the sturdiness of the temple for years to come.
The project has entered a new phase of construction beginning the new contract for laying the brick on the walls and on the floors. Maintaining the TOVP standards, only India’s finest brick was chosen. This layer will form a solid base upon which the marble and decorative cladding works will be added. Furthermore, the walls will serve as weather protection for all of the structural elements.
The brickwork reveals a new dimension of progress as the sterile construction site becomes gradually transformed into a recognizable temple. If looking closely, one could perhaps already see hundreds of devotees dancing in ecstasy as the sounds of mridangas echo triumphantly throughout the ether.
