New Vrindaban’s Monthly Joint Boards’ Meeting Minutes – 12/19/13
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

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Monthly Meeting Minutes of the Boards of Directors for ISKCON New Vrindaban & ECOV - 12/19/13

ISKCON New Vrindaban (INV) Vision Statement: Founded in 1968, Srila Prabhupada boldly envisions New Vrindaban as a sacred place known worldwide for Cow Protection, Self-Sufficiency, Holy Pilgrimage, Spiritual Education, and, above all, Loving Krishna.

ECO-Vrindaban Mission Statement: ECOV is dedicated to cow protection, sustainable agriculture, self-sufficiency and simple living — all centered around loving service to Sri Krishna, as envisioned by the ISKCON New Vrindaban Founder-Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Present INV:  Jaya Krsna, Gopisa, Dayavira, Jamuna, Chaitanya Mangala, Tamohara & Ranaka.

Present ECOV: Madhava Gosh, Ranaka, Chaitanya Mangala & Anuttama.

Recording Secretary: Laxmi Honest.

1. INV Appointed Auxiliary Board Member for ECOV

As had been previously discussed at the INV board meeting, it was agreed that Ranaka will be the INV representative on the ECOV board starting January 1st, 2014.

2. Snyder Gas Well Update

Gopisa reported that Chevron made payments they claim are now up to date.  Based on his preliminary research he thinks their assertion is reasonable, though he will continue to do more investigating. Chevron has until March of 2014 to report totals from 2013.

3. Dates for 2014 Semi-Annual Joint Board Meeting

It was agreed that the next semi-annual board meetings will be held March 21 & 22.

4. ECOV Food Production

Madhava Gosh reported that ECOV is working on this.  A spreadsheet was created detailing Jebbia’s prices to give an idea of what INV might pay for produce grown locally.

The service opportunity announcement for a garden manager has been edited and posted on the Brijabasi Spirit.  Jaya Krsna will ask Lilasuka to post it on Dandavats and other ISKCON related websites as well.

A Wild, Far-Out Idea
→ Seed of Devotion

From my journal, November 1st, 2001 (I was 14)

I just got this way cool, WILD, FAR-OUT, FANTASTIC totally unbelievable idea.

It's a literary magazine that's Krishna Conscious and you get kids from all over the world to write in it... all talking of Krishna consciousness. It would be a sister publication of Back to Godhead, and they would help out with the publishing, reality-checks, lay-out, etc.

And then there would be ambassador "kids" from each country! Of course, the kids would have to be over 15 or 16, but there would be ambassadors from the major countries, and in America, even states! We would print it in several languages and there would be a summit meeting every year or so.

SO COOL!

I just invented a career for myself.

Karmi (worldly) adults would see how philosophical even a teen can be, devotee kids would get interested in Krishna Consciousness again, and regular devotees would pay attention to what we're saying.

I would get to travel around the world to all the temples, meet new people, and preach!

Hmmm... I just had a very funny feeling about that previous sentence... like it wasn't "good". It wasn't a good feeling.

Anyway, I've got to start soon! With my life goal, you see.

HARIBOL!!

P.S. I know why I felt funny: I was being selfish!

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Carry Me
→ Seed of Devotion

Exactly one year ago, I was in the holy land of Mayapur in India. I was snuggled in my bed, and while my roommate was sleeping, I was reading the Bhagavad Gita by flashlight.

I write this now in a dark car in Hawaii, waiting to go inside a temple for a ceremony. The light shines from my phone a bit like a flashlight.

It's strange to realize that two moments in time are so far apart yet so close. So much has transpired since that night long ago in India - images of the past year seem to whirl through my mind. Images of India, New York, Brazil, now Hawaii. Moments of dancing in kirtan, waiting in airports, listening to my spiritual master speak, weeping beside a river, gazing up at the golden forms of Pancha Tattva, laughing until my sides ache with my mother, whispering confessions of my heart to Sri Radha Murlidhara.

So much has happened, so much. I am humbled by the way the river of life carries me to my next destination. I am learning to stop fighting the current. Go with the flow.

So here's to the next year filled with many adventures of soul. May I stay in the river and may these waters carry me to unchartered shores of love.
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ISKCON Scarborough – Grand new year’s eve celebrations tomorrow!‏
→ ISKCON Scarborough



Hare Krishna!
Please accept our humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!


Hare Krishna!

Please accept our humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!

We will usher in the year 2014 in a glorious manner tomorrow with a non stop 3 hour kirtan from 9 pm to 12 am at ISKCON Scarborough.

The program for 31st Dec 2013:

7 pm to 8 pm - Grand free vegetarian feast
8 pm to 9 pm - review of special events that took place at ISKCON Scarborough in 2013
9 pm to 12 am - Ecstatic Kirtan by Radha Murari group, HG Dhiranitai das, HG Paripurna das and others devotees
12 am to 12.30 am - Grand new year Arti
12.30 am to 12.45 am - Distribution of Spiritual gifts

We welcome you, your family and friends to our special new year's eve program tomorrow- Tuesday - 31st December 2013.

With best wishes from,

ISKCON Scarborough
3500 McNicoll Avenue, Unit #3,
Scarborough,Ontario,
Canada,M1V4C7

Email Address:
iskconscarborough@hotmail.com

website:
www.iskconscarborough.com

The Ultimate Dance
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Question: Spirituality should be silent and sober like in meditation. When devotees sing loudly and dance vigorously, how can such a noisy activity be considered spiritual?

Answer: Sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the holy names of Krishna to the accompaniment of music and dance, is actually meditation in its most profound, potent and practical form. Let’s see how.

The purpose of meditation is to connect with and experience spiritual reality. Silent meditation, as done through breathing exercises and yogic postures, tries to achieve this by negating the material, by deactivating the body and the mind. But since we're habituated to physical and mental activity, wouldn't it be easier and more natural if somehow the body and the mind could be used to raise ourselves to spiritual levels of consciousness? That is precisely what sankirtana does. Engaging the body in graceful dance for the pleasure of the Lord, and the mind in prayerful contemplation on the sound of His holy names—especially the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—quickly and efficaciously transports our consciousness to the joyful realm of divine love.

            Sankirtana acts like spiritual-music therapy to heal the soul in the current Iron Age, Kali-yuga. Just as a stone burdens the person carrying it, negative thoughts and emotions burden most people in the present age. Sankirtana floods the heart with positive, uplifting emotions like love, faith and joy and flushes away negative, burdensome emotions like hatred, anxiety and sorrow.

            Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who appeared some five hundred years ago, revived and popularized sankirtana all over India. Lord Chaitanya displayed divine dance so enchantingly that His golden complexion, graceful gait, and intense devotional emotions charmed everyone—from aristocrats like the king of Orissa down to crime-hardened rogues.

            Indeed, Shri Chaitanya's dance charmed even the Muslim emperor Akbar, who lived half a century later: "Hail Thee, O Chaitanya, the victor of my heart.... O my heart's Lord, how can I express the love I have for Thee? Shah Akbar craves a drop from the sea of Thy love and piety." (Quoted by D. C. Sen in Chaitanya and His Age)

            These verses composed by a Muslim emperor in glorification of one who is commonly considered a Hindu saint illustrate the universal appeal of this dancing meditation.

            As a spiritual master in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's line, Shrila Prabhupada, through his ISKCON, popularized the divine dance of sankirtana in our times. Chanting and dancing devotees are now a familiar sight in major cities all over the world. Given that dance, an exuberant physical activity, and meditation, an introspective spiritual activity, intersect in sankirtana, it can well be called the ultimate dance.

Is offering the heart to Krishna easier and more fulfilling than offering the head?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

From Kiran P

I always find easier and effective to control the head or mind through the heart, otherwise mind is very turbulent and chaotic and needs our heart and will power to control it, orelse i get lost somewhere. Heart is easy to control and more within one’s control and more satisfying to control too.

Answer Podcast

How can an aspiring devotee-precher put one’s heart in a career that increases people’s illusions?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

From Aditya Kumar Jha

I’ve been reading your gita daily articles since last two months and they are inspiring me a lot. I’m connected with ISKCON, East Kailash, New Delhi. I’m currently in final year of my engineering in ECE course. Prabhuji! my point is sometimes i feel like i’m very much closer to Krishna and at other times due to my surrounding i feel frustrated and doubtful of myself. I want to prepare myself as an extensive preacher and i want to know in what way should i make a balance between my sadhana and studies? I’m studying Embedded Systems and preparing myself for this field to join a private company but then i feel as an engineer the products which we make are all based on concept of creating unnecessary wants in the market. How can i then devote my time and brain in studying these things while knowing that i’m also a part of the group who are running away from the reality and forcing people to think that technology is the only thing which can make you happy?

Answer Podcast

Ring in the New Year Hare Krishna Style on Dec 31st!
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

The following is your detailed guide to ringing in the New Year "Hare Krishna Style"! As we do every year, devotees gather at the temple on New Year's Eve and then head over to City Hall to join the tens of thousands of revelers, ushering in the new year. However, we come armed with our drums, karatalas (cymbals) and voices as well!

Here's all that you need to know about this evening:
8:00pm - Kirtan will begin at the temple.
10:00pm - The kirtan will really pickup by this time!
10:30pm (approx) - Bundle up and off to Rosedale station.
11:30pm - We will start chanting in front of Old City Hall (NE corner of Bay & Queen)
12:00am - the kirtan will reach it's peak as fireworks set the sky ablaze!
1:30am (approx) - We'll get back on the subway and make our way back to the temple for hot ginger tea and snacks!


Some tips to keep in mind for this evening:
  • Come early to the temple - enjoy the kirtan and association of devotees before we head out to City Hall.
  • Dress warmly - it will be chilly, so dress in layers!
  • Don't worry about weather - whether it be snow, rain, hail or sleet, we will usher in the new year with kirtan!
  • Bring your voices - don't forget to chant with all of your hearts!
To get a glimpse into what it's like to party with us, "Hare Krishna Style" on New Year's Eve, check out this video footage from our 2008-09 New Year's Eve kirtan!  We really hope to see you there!

The Relationship Between Sound And Form
→ Japa Group

"The relationship between sound and form is particularly relevant to chanting Japa. Just as material sound vibrations produce visible forms, similarly, the transcendental vibration of Krishna’s name produces the visible form of Krishna in the heart of a devotee. When chanting the holy name of Krishna, one will eventually see the form of Krishna. This is because the sound of Krishna’s name carries within it the trancendental form of Krishna as well as His abode, associates and pastimes."

From The Art of chanting Hare Krishna
by Mahanidhi Swami

Obituary: His Grace Bhimasena Das
→ Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir, Hare Krishna Temple. ISKCON Brooklyn New York

541886_10202086477074232_409679466_nHis Grace Bhimasena das (Mr. Roberto Fucaloro) passed away on October 9th, 2013 in New York City. He su  A dedicated disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhimasena prabhu lived in New York City for practically his whole life.  He became a full time member of ISKCON in 1975, and his primary service as a devotee was acting in dramas with the famed New York ‘Vaikuntha Players’, with many legendary devotee actors including Lohitaksa Das and Rasajna Devi Dasi.

In 1999, he took up the service as the Director of the New York temple drama troupe, and till his last days was always eager to present dramatic performances at the temple for festivals, or on the big stage at the annual New York Ratha Yatra festival.

We miss his association very much and pray that Lord Nityananda Rama and Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu bless Bhimasena das Prabhu with engagement in Their causeless devotional service forever.

If There’s Something You’d Like to Try
→ Load Film in Subdued Light

Camera: Polaroid EE100BSL | Film: Fuji FP-100C

Camera: Polaroid EE100BSL | Film: Fuji FP-100C

At the risk of brazen redundancy, I wanted to share a negative scan of a photo taken with the EE100BSL (Polaroid EE100 with a Big Swinger single element, plastic meniscus lens).

Above is the negative scan, and below is the original photo peeled off of it.

Camera: Polaroid EE100 (with Big Swinger 3000 lens) | Film: Fuji FP100C

Camera: Polaroid EE100 (with Big Swinger 3000 lens) | Film: Fuji FP100C

These are two very different images. The negative is grainy and has lots of contrast, while the photo is much softer. The feel of the Big Swinger lens comes through in the photo much more than in the negative. In the photo, you’ve got an obvious soft focus, while all you notice in the negative is the grain.

Normally, I give the photos away and scan the negatives, but maybe with the EE100BSL, I’ll scan the photos.