Gopal’s Garden Home School Co-op began its seventh year this September.  Two new students joined us from the Philippines and we are very happy to have them as part of our class.  Every morning we begin our day at 9:30 with chanting Hare Krsna and Bhagavad-gita verses.  The students hear stories about Krsna and the philosophy of Krsna Consciousness.  The rest of the morning is devoted to writing and reading.  After lunch and recess, we spend the afternoon studying history, science and math.

* * *

Compassionate Communication Class With Sukhavaha

Gerald the Giraffe – by Brinda Turner

Mother Sukhavaha has been doing a weekly class with the students of Gopal’s Garden. She has been talking about compassionate speaking feelings, and emotional boundaries.  The class now has its very own Gerald the giraffe puppet because a giraffe has the biggest heart on the planet.  Gerald is there to help the children learn to speak nicely and use compassionate communication.  When they feel troubled they simply come to Gerald for help.  Mother Sukhavaha has been teaching the children how to talk about what they are feeling and why they are feeling that way.  The class has worked together to create a list of agreements to help them act and speak compassionately.  The students have not had many sessions but it is already helping to transform the classroom.

* * *

Trip To Varsana Swami’s Temple

The Lucky Day  by Brinda Turner and Shemaella Rivera

On the morning of Radhastami,  we painted wooden frames and decorated them using stencils.  At the time we wondered what picture to put inside the frames.  Later in the morning we piled in the car and hurried to Varsana Swami’s temple.  Although it had been raining really hard, as soon as we arrived the rain turned into a light sprinkling. Taking off our shoes, we entered the temple where Varsana Maharaja gave us a picture of his deities – a perfect picture to place inside the newly decorated frames.  When we returned to the class, we decided to put the beautiful framed pictures on the altar.  The frames looked beautiful!  We were so lucky and blessed to have found the perfect picture.

* * *

 

Art Class With Krsna Bhava

Learning to Draw What They See

By Ruci DD
Every Tuesday morning the students enter the classroom enthusiastic and ready to draw and paint with Krsna Bhava. This school year they have studied color theory, three dimensional art, and how to recognize the simple shapes and lines in objects in order to draw what they see. In creating their art the students have used acrylic paints, oil pastels, pencils, and markers. Krsna Bhava has been teaching art at Gopal’s  Garden for seven years.  Her ability to teach and inspire basic art concepts can be seen in her students completed projects (attached) as well as the year-end class project where the students publish their art and writing.

* * *

Student Writing Project With Sankirtana das

By Ruci DD

Sankirtana comes in once a week and has started the school year reading and writing poetry. He is introducing the students to the poetic elements of imagery (‘painting a picture with words’),  use of strong words and the way words sound together, expression of  feelings, and trying to show that poems are often about common, every day things and moments in life.  He starts with role modeling by writing a poem on the spot and helping them write a collective poem which he puts on the blackboard. Then they settle in to write their individual poems. The kids take turns in reading their poems as Sankirtana offers encouragement and constructive criticism.

 

Poems by Students

Awesome – by Josh Fintel

I’m a fun guy

right after a day of school.

I bring my friends

to the school playground.

We bring our water guns and balloons.

We soak each other to be cool.

I see a red, orange, and green leaf pile move.

I throw a water balloon.

It ends with a splash.

The leaves slide down and my friend starts to laugh.

 

Living In This Moment – Brinda Turner

Although the leaves are falling

And it is almost Monday

I try to concentrate on this moment

I don’t let myself think

About by feet pounding

Down the hallway to our classroom

I try not to think that it is

Almost winter

I laugh as I fly into the air

Then giggle as I fall back

To the floor of the bouncy house

I am having fun right now

And that is all that matters

As I live in this moment

Not worrying about tomorrow

 

Poem About Writing

Writing – Josh Fintel

 

Writing is fun

Writing is story making

Making stories is easy & hard

But stories are entertainment

And learning

I’m an entertainment story guy

 

Poem About Art

 

Art – Shemaella Rivera
Since I was a young kid

I wanted to draw something

I kept on thinking how to draw

Painting, drawing, coloring –

The rainbow that makes

My heart happy!

 

 

Poems About Math

 

Math – Josh Fintel

 

Math is good

Math is food for my brain

Math can be easy like 1 – 1

And math can be hard like 35 x 52

But for me it’s just right

 

Math – Shemaella Rivera
I don’t care if it’s hard

I don’t care if it’s easy

I’ll just do my best

I’m not gonna give up

Till I get it

 

Reading – Shemaella Rivera

 

Peace and quiet

Inside the classroom

You can read

Whatever you love or like

But you can’t read nothing

Come on ! Show me what you’re reading!

 

Lost in a World of My Own – by Brinda Turner
As soon as I pick up a book

I get sucked in

I despair at difficult situations

Laugh at the funny parts

And sometimes even cry

I forget where I am

About the people around me

All I think about is my book

It is beautiful to see

The words on the page

As they make an image in my

mind

I see every detail

I love the feel of a new book

The crisp white pages just begging to be read

And when the book ends

I reach for another

It amazes the people around me

But to me it is natural

Completely normal

I can read books so thick

My hands can’t even fit around them

In one day without rushing at all

It offers me another world

And that is why reading

Is so important to me

If I have a bad day

I can pick up a book

And forget why I was even upset

I can get lost in a world

Where anything can happen

Anything at all

1968 November 14: "There is a vast difference between initiated and non-initiated. One who becomes initiated is channelized to the authorities in the disciplic succession. One who is initiated is authorized and one who is not initiated is not authorized."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1970 November 14: "It doesn't matter whether the priestly class accepts or not. When my Guru Maharaja introduced this system, even the inner circle of disciples of Bhaktivinode Thakura protested but my Guru Maharaja didn't care for it."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1974 November 14: "We have a great responsibility to present Krishna's words without any change. You have heard what I am speaking so you just speak what you have heard and it will have potent effect. This is the power of parampara."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1974 November 14: "Your news of more publishing is very happy news. You are appreciating the chastisement of your Spiritual Master and Krishna will bless you. Six more books means you go further to Krishna six more steps. Now overflood Europe with books and your march will be followed by others."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1975 November 14: "My Guru Maharaja said, 'I wish by selling the marbles in the temple I could publish and distribute books.' Now by his mercy he is giving me the facility for doing both - constructing so many marble temples and distributing so many books."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 November 14: "So-called scholars and saintly persons have misguided the people by unnecessarily making different interpretations of the divine instructions. That is the cause of the ruination of India's culture."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 November 14: The Westerners have good brains, but no good leader. Now the Krsna consciousness movement will provide them good leader if they take it seriously. This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's prediction."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 November 14: "Now we have to revive this Aryan civilization and rectify things. Our mission is to have Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu applauded all over the world. Param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam. That statement must be fulfilled - that we want to see."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

Kirtan at Santipur — Niranjana Swami — 29-Oct-13

Answer Podcast

From Tamil Mani

Is equal disposition similar to equanimity? As with Arjuna and Duryodhana,can a devotee (who has done no harm) take appropriate steps to defend his honor against a demonic person delirious with envy and hatred?

Answer Podcast

From Mishri

Self pity is opposite of pride. but in our practice just to avoid the pride we try to be humble and that turns out to be self pity. It is very difficult to be exact what we want to be.

Answer Podcast

From Stoka Krishna P:

In the purport of Gita 13.8-12, Srila Prabhupada explains humility as not being anxious to have the satisfaction of being honoured by others and you have explained it in one of your Gita daily articles as being Krishna Centered. How do we link up these two perspectives on HUMILITY.

Answer Podcast

From Avatari Chaitanya P:

Whenever I think of 18.66, the only worry I have is whether Krishna actually considers me surrendered. Devotional service is a vast unlimited ocean and because of so many limitations and conditionings, I am only able to go so far. I have to draw the line somewhere regarding how much I can do. In addition, I am visibly short on several counts expected of me. Srila Prabhupada expected his followers to attend mangala arotika at Bhramha Muhurta every day. That is far from feasible for me. SP expected us to attend Srimad Bhagavatam classes every day. Again a far cry for me. At the time of Srila Prabhupada, most of ISKCON was a fully engaged community family. As a person who has a full time job, I often get the question of how Krishna (and Srila Prabhupada who is non-different from his in intentions) must be thinking of me. Prabhu, it will be great if you address some of these doubts in some future articles.

 Answer Podcast

Isn't it an abuse of the renunciate's dress? And how can a devotee like Arjuna become besotted by a woman?

Answer Podcast

Lecture Podcast

Holy Name Meditation Podcast

Holy Name Meditation Podcast

Holy Name Meditation Podcast

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Canto Two, Chapter Ten, Text Eight

yo ‘dhyātmiko ‘yaḿ puruṣaḥ so ‘sāv evādhidaivikaḥ |
yas tatrobhaya-vicchedaḥ puruṣo hy ādhibhautikaḥ || 8 ||

The key words in this śloka are: (1) adhyātmika, (2) adhidaivika, and (3) ādhibhautika. All three words basically start with “adhi” and end with “ika” – if we strip away these parts we can see the key parts more clearly: (1) ātma, (2) daiva, and (3) bhauta. These three are in a strengthened grammatical form. If we revert this, the three words will become very familiar: (1) ātma, (2) deva, and (3) bhūta.

So, the three key concepts in this text are:

1. Individuality (ātma)
2. Divinity (deva)
3. Substance (bhūta)

The subject of this śloka is the word puruṣaḥ - a “person.” Every person has three aspects: individuality, divinity, and substance. This śloka explains the interrelationship of these three aspects of a person:

About individuality (ātma) the text says: yo ‘dhyātmiko ‘yaḿ puruṣaḥ - “Where there is individuality there is a person.”

About divinity (deva): so ‘sāv evādhidaivikaḥ - “And that person is also certainly divine.”

About substance (bhūta): yas tatrobhaya-vicchedaḥ puruṣo hy ādhibhautikaḥ - “But, the part of a person that stands between the two is the substance.”

“Substances” (solids, liquids, etc) can be unreal products of māyā or real products of yogamāyā. When considering substance as the unreal product of māyā, it refers to a material body. So the meaning of the śloka is - A person is a divine individual, but a body of unreal substances separates and cuts off the individuality off from divinity. This is the primary meaning. The secondary, or hidden, meaning emerges when we consider “substance” as the real products of yogamāyā. That meaning is - A person is a divine individual, and a body of true substances facilitates the relationship between the individual and the divinity.

Note: “Cuts off” dually means “Facilitates the connection” due to the dual nature of the prefix vi- in viccheda. However this is an uncommon, unconventional, hidden meaning.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Canto Two, Chapter Ten, Text Nine

ekam ekatarābhāve yadā nopalabhāmahe |
tritayaḿ tatra yo veda sa ātmā svāśrayāśrayaḥ || 9 ||

This verse continues talking about the three (tritayam) components of a person described in the previous verse: individuality (atma), divinity (deva), and materiality (bhūta). 

The first thing it says is ekam ekatara - the three components of a person are interdependent, that is, one depends upon the other. How so? ekam ekatarābhāve yadā na-upalabhāmahe - if one of them is not present, the other two cannot be tangible.

An divine (deva) individual (ātma) without a body (bhūta) cannot be tangibly experienced, for example. An individual body without a divine element is also not tangible, it quickly decays and disappears.  Etc. Śrīla Viśvanātha and his greatest modern follower Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swāmī Prabhupāda give another example by brilliantly extending the three keywords like this: deva is analogous to the (divine) power of perception, ātma to the consciousness, and bhūta to the physical organs of perception. In the absence of one, the others become intangible.

To review, the śloka so far says “These three components of a person are interdependent, if one is not present the other two seem to vanish also.”

The second half of the śloka says something revolutionary for us, in the sense that it points out a part of reality that is so close to us that we almost always see right through it, and thus forget about it. It says that these three components of personality are not the actual person itself. After all it has already said that these three are relative realities. Now it will point to the actual person, an absolute (non-relative) being. It says: tritayaḿ tatra yo veda sa ātmā - “The one who possesses all three, s/he is the true self.” In other words the true self (ātmā) has three intrinsic qualities: individuality, divinity, and substance. 

The śloka ends, thus ending the “paragraph” begun in the previous śloka by saying something deep in a very amazing way. It ends by saying svāśrayāśrayaḥ. This is a compound of three words: sva-āśraya-āśrayaḥ. The true self is the shelter of three amazing qualities (individuality, divinity, and substance), but the true self is not independent. Svāśrayāśrayaḥ means means that the true self is an entity sheltered (āśrayaḥ) by one who is his own shelter (sva-āśraya). In other words, the spiritual entity is sheltered by/ rooted in the Supreme Spiritual Entity, and the Supreme Spiritual Entity is self-sheltering / self-rooted.

Conclusion

Altogether, these two outstanding verses teach us this:

Where there is individuality there is a person, and that person is also certainly divine, but the part of a person that stands between its individuality and divinity is its substantiality.

These the three components of a person are interdependently relative. If one is not present, the other two cannot be manifest.  The entity who possesses all three of these is the true self, an entity sheltered by one who is his own shelter.

May we all take sincere shelter of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

A very interesting and sometimes humorous seminar on the 10 offenses by Dulal Chanda dasa. Email subscribers click the blue link above.

The post November 14th, 2013 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

A visit to Varsana brought our parikrama party to one of Vraja’s most special places – the home of Srimate Radharani. We prayed for Her mercy every step of the way. [ Photos by Ananta Vrindavan dasa ]

Indradyumna Swami: A visit to Varsana brought our parikrama party to one of Vraja's most special places - the home of Srimate Radharani. We prayed for Her mercy every step of the way. [ Photos by Ananta Vrindavan dasa ] Read more ›

What’s There To Worry About?

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mariano and I were the first awake in the ashram.  With a spurt of claustrophobia, we decided to hit the main street nearby for a walk before brahma muhurta, predawn.

“We’ll have to be careful though!” he warned.

“Alright, so what’s there to worry about?” I challenged with a chuckle.  “No drug dealer’s going to sell us anything, and if a prostitute is at a street corner, we will say to her, ‘Hare Krishna, Mataji’.”  Mataji means ‘mother’ respectfully.  “If a group or a gang spots us, they won’t know what to do with a couple of guys in robes.  It’s beyond their scope of experience.  If someone wants our money, we can prove we are pennyless and say, ‘hey, we’re monks’.”  It appears Mariano’s fears were dispelled.

Of course, I live in no denial about the dark side of life.  “It is for real,” I thought, while we were walking and seeing graffiti caked on store fronts almost everywhere we roamed.  It’s the sign of the times.  Some people say this is the age of Aquarius.  From a Vedic perspective, this is the age of Kali, a time of spiritual sleepiness.   This is quite easy to see anywhere in the world.

There’s a diversity of shops, all closed at this hour, mind you – modern furniture places, confectionaries, banks, clothing stores, office buildings.  A woman was lying there in front of a store front.  She had a blanket partially covering herself, and as we passed by, she looked ashamed and covered her face.  A few blocks further on, and we saw a reclined fellow enjoying a cigarette.  He gave a wave with a complacent smile.  He seemed content enough in his pile of meagre belongings.  If anyone’s life is not safe, it’s these types of people who are homeless and are in a vulnerable situation.

Safety or guarding from suffering is a concern for everybody, and it is apparent that some people do take shelter of God for alleviating pain.  This is one of the motivations behind approaching a life of devotion.  At noon today, four young people accepted diksa, spiritual initiation, as a step toward a better quality of life.  Held at the local temple, Mariano received the Sanskrit name, ‘Gaura Dayanath’ by his guru, Virabahu.  Then I delivered the names Markandeya Rishi to Marcos, Sevakund to Sebastian, and Nitya Siddha to Nadia.  The community in Argentina has treated my monk assistant, Maha Mantra and I, with amazing warmth.  I won’t forget their send off chanting party, just like I won’t forget their greeting.  The food was sublimely digestible, and I couldn’t get enough out of peach juice and fresh basil leaves in the veggie dishes.

Adios!

May the Source be with you!

8 KM

http://bit.ly/1cUvgtu

The post A very special and powerful vow with which to complete the month of Kartika and observe Bhisma Pancaka appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Float parade through the streets of the city to get to Plaza Francia, PARTY! Read more ›

Bhakti Caru Swami Srimad Bhagavatam 3.29.37