Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Please click here for all photos
May I love Vrndavana, where at the base of a kadamba tree on the cool shore of the Yamuna a dark complexioned, amorous, divine youth dressed in yellow garments plays a flute as He glances at Radha’s lotus face.
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-27 Translation ]
Deena Bandhu Das: Today on the day after Jiva Goswami's Disappearance Day, Sri Sri Radha Damodara Mandir organized a wonderful Nagar Sankirtan in his honor with many different Kirtan Parties. -- Read more › 
Sankirtan Festival in the Kitchen! -- Read more › 
Simhachalam (Nava Jiyada Narasimha Kshetra) ISKCON Farm Community & Seminar Centre. With HH Kavicandra Swami, HH Smita Krishna Swami, HG Lila Shuka Prabhu, HG Prithu Prabhu and more! -- Read more › Kali Yuga series – the conclusion.
The post How to exorcise ourselves from the haunting of Kali appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player is needed; works best with Firefox or Explorer; if you are using Google Chrome it will automatically play, so to not listen, mute your speakers.)
You might consider this blog as a mirror, or opposite, of my last one on amazing things. I have often noticed how it is easier for people to be against something, than for something, and was reminded of this topic by a few comments on some Facebook posts. One person was upset with my “amazing topics” blog that I didn’t include something he was attached to, and then someone complained about my Bhagavad Gita quote, since it is a translation by Prabhupada with certain editing they don’t approve of. While I understand their complaints, I post on my Facebook page and share my Krishna.com blogs to (hopefully) inspire devotees and as my service to them—certainly not to upset them, though hopefully to get them to think—which is, of course, hard work, while reacting is easy, and is the just the opposite. Anyway, along with being a tad annoyed, I had to laugh at human nature (always a good idea), and was grateful for a blog topic that I think is quite interesting.
If you want to get a big group together in “agreement,” find something to be against, some pending problem or disaster, or the shortcomings of a public leader, and you will likely be successful. This is why negative political ads work. Even though the general population says they don’t like them, they still listen. Another way to "unite" people is to discuss, or complain about, the news! Bad news and scandals' sell and make headlines, while good news or stories of a Good Samaritan are often hidden inside the paper or website. If they do make the front page, they are only one out of twenty stories.
News is business, and a news business means readers or viewers are require to make money. Thus they want to give people news that gets their attention through being sensational, or shocking, which in reality doesn’t often reflect the sum total of what is really going on. And the result of constantly hearing bad news is that people become more afraid, cynical, and negative about life.
To be frank and brief, the Vedas are not user-friendly.
Why not?
Because they were not written for the masses. They were written for extremely literate, experience, brilliant people – who used them as sourcebooks and explained their content in a user-friendly manner to hundreds of more common people whom they interacted with.
Vyāsa scrutinized them once, to make them simpler, and produced the four Vedas we know of today. Again, they were not really user-friendly. So he scrutinized them again and produced the Upanishads. The main themes were becoming more obvious for more ordinary reader, but the upanishads were still quite abstract and difficult. So he repeated his scrutiny a third time and produced the Puranas. These were much more readable to ordinary intelligentsia. But still… Then Nārada helped him discover the final touch, and he created Śrīmad Bhāgavatam at long last.
So, if we want a user-friendly Veda, our best bet is to read Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
Still, its not very user friendly compared to what we are used to these days in books. Its still because its not designed to be a do-it-yourself manual. The original paradigm still exists – that Sanskrit Vedic texts are written for highly experienced spiritualists, who then explain it to the masses and thus make it user friendly.
So, the user-friendly form of the Veda is guru.
Now that literacy is very high among all classes of people, it will be a good service to Śrī Vyāsa to make further attempts to produce written works that are highly user friendly. But this era (where there are modern writers with the experience and qualification to do so) is just beginning to dawn.
by Sukhavaha dd
I don’t usually go to movies but I heard from one devotee that Gravity had a deeper spiritual theme with subtle messages. I had the following realizations about how this movie portrayed aspects of our spiritual journey:
On life’s journey, we think we are existing in life (space) to accomplish some feat. Without gravity, we are floating and we are constantly grasping to hold onto the space ship (our only known reality). Then some catastrophe shakes our world and our connection to “reality” (the space ship) is broken.
Our spiritual mentor gives us grounding guidance. At some point, we have one “string” connecting us with our past (space ship) and our guide. Our guide instructs us, “You need to learn to let go.” Letting go, we feel we have lost our guide, until we hear his voice instructing us. As we follow the instructions (vani) in separation from the vapu, we find our way back to the old “reality” (the space ship), which is now burning (deteriorating). We discover our parachute is attached so we cut the ropes that bind us to the past.
When we get to the small capsule, we think we have our escape plan. When we find we are out of fuel – we cannot see any way out. We become desperate – angry – depressed – and then resigned. We want to die (go unconscious). As we approach death, we call out – to something beyond us. We offer an attempt of a prayer, in resignation, a form of total surrender.
When we give up the knowing self, again our guide returns to wake us to another level of consciousness. “Just be here and look at what you DO have.” “Don’t look to the past. Be present and look in front of you.”
In this place, our guide pushes us through the pain of our attachment and guilt. We let go of our pain and our limited conceptions about reality. We forgive ourselves and gratefully proceed with a renewed faith into an even deeper spiritual journey. The “Dark night of the soul” where we see nothing ahead of us.
We thrust ourselves forward – letting go of the fear that holds us to the past – and eject ourselves to another level of consciousness (the capsule) that can transport us home – to our spiritual reality.
In this place, we realize there is no going back to the past reality – it doesn’t exist. We have no idea if we will survive – and we realize it doesn’t matter. Either way – we will either have a great story to tell – or we will have an incredible journey – we are not attached (and not evolve. In the process of transformation, our re-entry is a burning off of all the old forms that we had been using. Everything must be burned for us to descend into our humanity (humility) and be reborn (transformed).
The Force of God’s Love (Gravity) is now pulling us back home. We shake as we burn off attachment to the ego mechanisms – as we “descend in grace to our spiritual place of belonging” (our spiritual identity).
We land in the water – where the capsule is filling with water. If we again become attached to the form in which God’s grace has come to us, we may be consumed (drown). We cannot remain in this womb. For transformation to take place, we must become “naked” shedding all our outer coverings weighing us down. We are reborn and breathe again. “Confirm your identity.” (We are not the same.)
We make it to shore and impulsively grasp the sand thinking we need to hold on to something – to some form. Now feeling the solid ground under our feet, we re-discover gravity (our spiritual place of belonging). We have an epiphany – no more holding onto the forms of how we think Grace (the Love of God) will appear to us. We have found our true self – and our true grounding – and we rejoice.
2013 12 28 Srimad Bhagavatam 10 33 38 Only By Pure Devotional Service Can Enter Into Bhagavatam
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 29 September 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.2.36)
Srila Prabhupada spoke out about machines. He said that although machines are leading the degradation of society, he pointed out that the same machines could be used in the service of Krsna. He said, “Machineries are not that bad because through the machine every one can take advantage of hearing about the Lord.” So Prabhupada, in that respect, was very modern, very much the acharya of the modern age.
Prabhupada gave initiations in that way. Second initiations, he also gave by the tape – the tape with the gayatri mantra. Normally, the gayatri mantra is spoken by the spiritual master in the ear of the disciple so some people in India objected, “How could he do this? This is not bona-fide. Those people are not initiated. No, this is not bona-fide. How can it be on the tape? How can that be bona-fide?”
But Prabhupada, he did it like that - just played the recording on the machine. “That is not the same as speaking it in the ear and therefore these initiations do not count,” some would say. Of course, I would argue back. It is said that when Sukadeva Gosvami finally came out of the womb of his mother, where he remained for sixteen years to the great discomfort of his mother, when he came out, he did not wait for anything.
His father said, “At least wait and let me give you some education.” He did not wait. His father said, “Well, at least let me give you the sacred thread. At least that much, at least some samskar.”
He did not wait he just left. His father then went into the forest, after his son, and he called out his name. No response was there; no response at all except the echo that came off the trees. The echo that came off the trees, it is said, that also was bona fide, that was the chanting of the trees. So here, we see. A tape recording is just like an echo – it is an echo of the voice. Therefore, we say that the chanting on the machine is also bona-fide because it is the echo. In this way, we can appreciate it.
Sukadeva did not want to come back then Vyasadeva began to recite certain verses from the Srimad Bhagavatam. When Sukadeva heard these verses at a distance, he did come back to his father because the Bhagavatam is so attractive,
ātmārāmāś ca munayo
nirgranthā apy urukrame, (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.7.10)
Even a self-realized soul is attracted by descriptions of Krsna because they are naturally attractive. So it attracted the heart of Sukadeva Gosvami who came and his father had instructed him on Srimad Bhagavatam.
In this way, we see that education is valuable after all but not mundane education, not the ordinary education of this world but simply the education of Krsna consciousness. One who is perfectly Krsna conscious, he need not worry about anything, everything will be supplied, everything will come on the path!
The Vedanta deals with a theme beyond the finite views of phenomena. The subjects dealt with in that particular philosophy is not confined to any part of the material space, any definite span of time or any object of sensuous perception made up of any substance of this Universe. The activities of a being are measured in time, the playground of a being either linear, superficial or cubical is accommodated in space and the limited subjectivity or fleshly tabernacular entity is confined to phenomenon. The Vedantic scheme is quite different from such limited structural monuments though some people attempted to bring Vedanta within the prison bars of their senses.
- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, The Vedanta – Its Morphology and Ontology
p
Please click here for all photos
May Sri Vrindavana, which grants auspiciousness and bliss to all, and which is deeply loved by two or three great souls, become the mother and protectress of blind me.
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrndavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-26 Translation ]
To develop a Gir herd at Hare Krishna Valley we need to buy seed stock (3 cows), renovate our existing Dairy, build a new Goshala where the cows can shelter and be cared for, and fence off parts of the Valley from native kangaroos (who compete with our cows for pasture). -- Read more › 
The New Raman Reti Goshala’s primary concern is to glorify and protect the sacred cow whose presence is always supremely pleasing to Lord Krishna. Everything that the cow produces is for the benefit of mankind and yet this all- giving animal is ignored, abused and exploited in modern society. Through the experience of a functioning goshala we will be able to educate people about the value of the gentle, magnanimous cow and the importance of oxen to farming. -- Read more › 
BY DIVYA VRNDAVANA DEVI DASIKUALA LUMPUR - For many of us the New Year Eve is a day when everyone gets ready usher the new year, but it was different for five youngsters in Gokul Garden of Sri Jagannatha Mandir, Kuala Lumpur. For them it was a day they could proudly claim they have successfully completed their first years in Krishna consciousness in Gokul Garden. That's right, it was graduation day for Gokul Garden!
The night started off with Sandhya arati for the Lordships. Later, with the crowd waiting patiently at the main stage, it was show time. The Regional Secretary, Simhesvara das gave his opening speech followed by a speech by the Temple President, Kripa Sindhu das welcoming the guest and congratulating the graduates. This was followed by bhajans, lead by Gaura on the mrdanga, as the Gokul Garden kids sang enthusiastically capturing the hearts of the listener.
The main idea of the graduation was to allow the graduates to showcase their talent. The first of the graduates, Brindha Palani performed a Bharata Natyam dance entitled "Krishna Gautam". The overwhelming response from the audience proved it was going to be a night to remember. Next Hari Priya, the second graduating student, took the stage by reciting a poem entitled 'Thank you Krishna for everything'. Her poem served as a reminder that we should preserve what we have and never look at what we lack. The third graduating student, Vishnu very confidentally narrated the story of Brahma and the cowherd boys. He was an example of what Gokul Garden has brought out from this children. Gaura Sundar, the fourth graduating student showed his talents with his mrdanga proving he has lot to offer in near future. Finally the final graduating student, Breenda Pillai took us back to the land of Navadvip together with her partner Lekhashri enacting the pastime of the meeting of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda.
The graduating students were then given certificates of accomplishments by Simheswara das. The finale to bring an end to the much hyped event was a dance entitled "Jaya Janardhana" performed by the Gokul Garden children who moved the hearts of the audience with their graceful moves. With confetti blasting from both sides, it marked the end of their graduation. Gifts were handed out to the rest of the Gokul Garden children as well as the teachers in appreciation for the wonderful year they had spent together. 
Preparations offered first with love and devotion to the Lord. -- Read more › 
Suchindrum is an important pilgrim centre and the site of the famous Thanumalayan Temple in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Our new year started with book distribution. As of now (evening six thirthy) 300 books are distributed already and still going. Hope and want to distribute more Srila Prabhupad's books. -- Read more ›