Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Throwback Thursday is a weekly theme commemorating vintage moments. Let’s see who knows their New Vrindaban history.
Extra credit for anyone who can correctly name the cows as well! Read more › 
Fulfilling Srila Prabhupada's desire for Iskcon Moscow Read more › 
As the dialogue by which Crown Prince Rama becomes Sri Rama - it seemed like a fitting choice for a future King, and Prince William was most appreciative of the gift. After conversing regarding its context, His Highness expressed his gratitude and said that he would read it to his son, Prince George Read more › Throwback Thursday is a weekly theme commemorating vintage moments.
We thought to have a little transcendental fun with this internet trend.
Each week we will post a photo and highlight a time from the early days of New Vrindaban.
Visit ISKCON New Vrindaban’s Facebook Page and take your best guess on the who, what, when & where by posting your responses in the comment section.
Let’s see who knows their New Vrindaban history.
Extra credit for anyone who can correctly name the cows as well!
Madhava Naidoo — Vijaya Dasami Evening Kirtan
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“In order to have the strength to engage in devotional service, we need to engage seriously in chanting and hearing about Krishna. That is why we are here—to deepen our relationship with the holy name, which means Krishna. There are technical elements—our posture, our pronunciation, our mind, our heart. But when that chanting and hearing reaches a certain point, one will feel a natural sense of compassion, and that compassion will be manifest in the endeavor to bring others to Krishna, to bring others to Vrindavan. Having had the opportunity to be with Srila Prabhupada personally, I know that he felt separation from Vrindavan. Once, I was with him in his room in Los Angeles, and after a few meetings he leaned back on the bolsters of his asana and quoted Narottama dasa Thakura’s verse, visaya chadiya kabe suddha ha’be mana, kabe hama herabo sri-vrndavana—’When will I give up material sense objects? When will my mind become purified? When will I be able to behold Vrindavan?’ Then Srila Prabhupada added, perhaps for me to hear, ‘Of course, it is not visaya, material; it is Krishna’s service. But still, I wish to be freed. I am hankering for Vrindavan.’ So it was not a small sacrifice for Srila Prabhupada to leave Vrindavan. And it is because of his sacrifice that we are here.” ——————————————————————————————————————
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Talk by Giriraj Swami
Kirtan by Sacinandana Swami
Please read generously. This is just a blog post, not an article or an essay or a book.
My angle on the question of the relevance of Varṇāśrama to bhakti is that there are two things: pure bhakti and mixed bhakti. For one, Varnāśrama is quite irrelevant, for the other Varnāśrama is quite relevant.
Pure bhakti is completely independent and unstoppable (“ahaituky apratihata“), it doesn’t rely on anything for facilitation or help, etc. – i.e. you don’t have to be healthy, or happy, or wealthy, or wise, or this or that or the other thing before you can completely dive into pure bhakti. It is immediately acessable, and nothing is an obstacle to it.
Pure bhakti is accomplished by it’s own internal parts:
If one has faith (śraddhā) in pure bhakti – in other words if one is substantially convinced that pure bhakti is the real immediate and essential objective of life – then one won’t find a need to “psycho-physically situate themselves properly” or have a proper social life, etc. etc. One will merely feel the need to engage in Hari Nāma Saṁkīrtana with the support of the four practices mentioned above. Nothing else will seem important, and full satisfaction on all levels, physical, mental, social, intellectual, and spiritual will come directly from the Holy Name.
If one doesn’t have faith in pure bhakti (kevala bhakti-śraddha) then one should weep incessantly. That’s the most useful endeavor.
The tears should inspire one to find someone else who does have such faith. We should try to associate with that person in such a way that their faith Pure Bhakti rubs off on us.
Meanwhile, since we still keep some roots of faith in temporary things we will unavoidably feel all sorts of lackings, deficiencies, and hungers, from the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual realms and will wish for a different world, where varṇāśrama was established and everyone was psycho-physically healthy and happy.
But then such worlds do exist, and that will probably be our destination if we care too much about nursing our mixed faith in bhakti (miśra bhakti śraddha). That’s why miśra bhakti leads to higher “planets” within the material world.
What is “faith in mixed bhakti”? It’s the idea that “bhakti is important but other things are important too.”
“Social development is important, physical health is important, emotional health is important, education is important, and bhakti is important too.” That’s a phrase from the miśra-bhakti handbook. In the kevala bhakti phrasebook there’s this phrase “to hell with everything else, where is the beautiful Son of Nanda, the source of all physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual bliss!?!?!?!?”
As far as I can tell this assessment of the relative use and uselessness of Varṇāśrama is extremely similar to the conclusion of Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 1.2.246-263 (http://www.dicara.com/Members/vic/BRS/1-2-245.htm#246)
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 02 October 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.2-7)
Even though we do not look for austerity, we do not spend the whole day trying to avoid austerity. We must take some austerity – that is bhakti yoga and we use our time, as much as possible, in devotional service. Therefore this chapter that we are reading from, continues quickly. We do all these verses (about demigods) today, in one shot and then tomorrow, we can go to the next verse which is about devotional service, which is the topic of this chapter. That is what we want to talk about and not about demigod worship – it is a waste of time.
We may get so many questions, “But my great-grandfather was worshipping such-and-such a deity. It’s in my family. It’s our tradition and what is the problem if we do a little puja on the side!?”
The point is that we divide our faith; that is the issue! Wherever you worship, you begin to put some faith there. We should reserve our faith only for Krsna, therefore we are worshipping only Krsna and not the demigods.
Like I said yesterday, we sometimes think that we will worship some demigod for small things because we don’t want to bother Krsna for these things. No, the truth is that we are then putting our faith partially in Krsna and partially in the demigods. That is how it happened in the past. Many Vishu temples have turned into demigod temples. So, it is not wise. Why would we divide our faith!? It is difficult enough for us; we are by nature already weak in this age therefore it is not wise to divide our faith.
“But how can we give this up? Is it not an offense?”
No, because Srimad Bhagavatam says: devarsi-bhutapta-nrnam pitrnam, na kinkaro nayam rni ca rajan, sravatmana yah saranam saranyam, gato mukundam parihrtya kartam (SB 11.5.41). It says that one is relieved from all duties to the devas (demigods), rsi (sages), parents and forefathers if one takes up the service of Mukunda. All these other duties are automatically fulfilled. By serving Krsna, the demigods are more satisfied than by any other offering. It is the most satisfying offering to them because they are devotees of Krsna.
This idea that we are afraid, if we don’t worship the demigods then we don’t know what will happen – the demigods will get angry! No, then we are in ignorance; we do not understand. Bhagavatam has already stated to us. I can give a crude example.
Someone was serving me by bringing breakfast everyday. Then they stopped that and started to go out everyday, to distribute books, which is what Srila Prabhupada wanted. You think I’ll be upset! No! What will I say, “Go all, go everybody and distribute books. I’ll get my own breakfast!” It is more pleasing if you serve Prabhupada than if you serve me! It is a crude example but that is the mood of the demigods.
A prostitute has no reputation for good womanly qualities. Similarly, the tongue, which is given to the human being for chanting the Vedic hymns, will be considered a prostitute when engaged in chanting some mundane nonsense.
SB 10.51.31 Duties & Rights 2013-12-03
Lecture – Srimad Bhagavatam 10.51.31 Duties & Rights 12/3/2013
Brahm?’s second 98,630 years
Two verses repeated in Man manah and Gita.Bg 3.35 Bg 18.47
There are many purificatory processes for advancing a human being to spiritual life. The marriage ceremony, for example, is considered to be one of these sacrifices. It is called vivaha-yajna. . . . The Lord says here that any sacrifice that is meant for human welfare should never be given up. Vivaha-yajna, the marriage ceremony, is meant to regulate the human mind so that it may become peaceful for spiritual advancement. (Bg. 18.5, purport)
Marriage based on the principles of religious life is therefore current in all civilized human society because that is the way for restricted sex life. This restricted, unattached sex life is also a kind of yajïa because the restricted householder sacrifices his general tendency toward sense gratification for higher, transcendental life. (Bg. 4.26, purport) Read more › The post Pictures from parikrama of Dec 3rd appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
From Divyangi Lalita M
I was with the understanding that Brahman and Paramatma are limited and can only exhibit sat and sat-cit features respectively. From the lecture, I understood that they are the same absolute truth and there is difference only in the way it is perceived by the practitioner, can you please explain further.
From Divyangi Lalita M
In the explanation of the Isopanishad, you had mentioned that it is a conversation between sages. Since this knowledge is also called apaurseya, meaning directly spoken by the Lord, I am not able to connect these two together. Can you please explain.
From Divyangi Lalita M
ISKCON Durban is the winner at the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Official Page Tourism Awards, in the Landmark category Read more › From Divyangi Lalita M
I was under the impression that only Gaudiya Siddhanta teaches madhurya rasa, but I was recently corrected by a devotee stating that Andal from the Sri sampradaya was situated in madhurya rasa. Can you please explain on what basis we can convince new devotees about the supremacy and unique position of Gaudiya Siddhanta?
From Divyangi Lalita M
From Priya Aiyar M
Is love of God available to followers of non-vedic system who don't recognise Krishna to be the Supreme Lord but worship God as Buddha, Prophet Mohammed, or Jesus Christ. In other words, there is a vast difference between Vedic literature and non-vedic literature. So how do the followers of religions other than sanatana dharma come to the right conclusion of God and attain love of God? In their own system can they attain love of God?
From Vikas
From Prashanti M
The post Walking through the fields along the Jalangi appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
Sri Gopesvara Mahadeva Temple is the oldest located in Vrindavan Read more › 
The first festival of Vedic culture Goloka Fest invites you to Luzhniki Stadium on "Friendship" with loved ones and welcome guests ES Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Maharaj, EM Aditi Dukhahoy Ave, EM Krishna Leela, etc. and of course the ES Bhakti Ananta Krishna Goswami Maharaj.
This GOLOKA FEST will open to you the secrets of spiritual deeds of Krishna, which you can see firsthand in the performance of a laser show, and to hear from the man truly knows them. This is an incredible and breathtaking story of how Krishna, playing the role of an ordinary child raised left thumb huge mountain Govardhana. Read more › Video of Madhava dasa leading New Vrindaban’s 24 Hour Kirtan – June 15th, 2013.
Click here to view the video on YouTube.
Kirtan Evening with HH Kadamba Kanana Swami