Planet ISKCON

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

tvad-alokana-kalāhi-daṁśair eva mṛtaṁ janam
tvat-padāmbja-milal-lakṣa-bheṣajair devi jīvaya

Someone is so near death, from the bites of the black snake of not seeing you. O Goddess, revive that person with the antidote: a meeting with the red-lac that adorns your lotus-feet.

This exquisitely beautiful poem is the 9th verse of Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Goswāmī’s Vilāpa-kusumāñjali. The entire book is full of such beauty. Those who read and appreciate this book destroy the limits of their good fortune.

1966 November 13: "My preaching work is gaining ground. My followers and assistants are all young Americans. They are educated and possess an aptitude for grasping reality. I am enclosing our prospectus and some press cuttings from which you will see how this movement is growing."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1966

1968 November 13: "This is useless talks. These topics are not to be discussed in the conditioned stage. When we come to the liberated stage we can understand. Let us first do the preliminary work very nicely and be cured of the disease of maya."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 November 13: "Remember I am always with you. Although physically we are not together, we are not separated spiritually. So we should be concerned only with this spiritual connection."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 November 13: "A jackal made himself king by fooling the other forest animals but his ruse was soon exposed. What are these Swamis? They cannot go outside. In a small forest, a jackal is King."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1970 November 13: "To those engaged in the service of the Lord, dictation is given from within. But still you should check with me. One should be cautious, not callous."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1974 November 13: "You are simply carrying out my order without any consideration of your self-interest. It is for this I have given you sannyasa, to go anywhere on my order and preach sincerely and purely without any other consideration."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1975 November 13: "You are all elder devotees, yes I think a woman's asrama will be a good idea. Kirtana is our first duty. The Deity worship should be simple and the eating should be as meager as possible."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 November 13: "I want that what I have established may go on nicely, but I see the devotees are reviving their old 'good' qualities. That is the difficulty. If the old habits come back, then everything is finished."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

There are ten facets, ten topics, in Śrīmad Bhagavatam. 2.10.1 lists them. The next verse explains that the first nine serve to clarify the tenth and main topic. Then five verses elaborate on what the titles of the topics mean. Here are the ten topics:

1. The origin of things (sarga)
2. The creation of things (visarga)
3. The existence of things (sthāna)
4. The maintenance of things (poṣaṇa)
5. Enjoyable deeds (ūti)
6. Spans of time (manvantara)
7. Affectionate discussion of the Master (īśa-anukathā)
8. Death and the destruction of things (nirodha)
9. Liberation (mukti)
10. The ultimate shelter and refuge (āśraya)

 

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings convened a group at the George W. Bush Institute last Thursday to discuss the role faith-based schools play in American cities. The group drew upon representatives from various traditions, including Catholic, Islamic and evangelical educators.

Later, Rawlings said one of the first big words he learned in Sunday school as a kid was “omniscient.” He said he went on to learn “omnipresent,” which led him to think that if God was indeed everywhere, then he is in schools, too. Rawlings, who identifies himself as a Democrat and Protestant, summed up his feelings this way:

“Surely we can create a new way to educate, to fund the best and the brightest in this country,” Rawlings said. “For me, it starts with God being omnipresent in lives across this country.”

So, here’s what I would like to hear you all discuss:

Are people of faith better off focusing their attention on education to schools that reflect their own tradition?

Of course, I imagine most of you think that public schools are valuable. Many of us probably attended them.

But if you really want to make an education dent, especially getting students to discuss God and larger issues of moral consequence, couldn’t one argue that schools that represent the values of a particular faith tradition are the better place to start?

Certainly, Catholic schools have produced strong results. Speaking at the Bush Institute conference,Father Tim Scully of Notre Dame claimed that 99 percent of students in Catholic high schools graduate. Eighty-five percent of those graduates, he said, attend college. And Latino and African-American students who attend Catholic school are two-and-a-half times more likely to graduate from college.

What do you think?

Where should people of faith put their focus on education, especially in our big cities? How would you try to move the needle, as the expression goes?

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

Educational institutions are not simply meant to create industry and employment but rather education is primarily for the purpose of character development. The ancient Vedic aphorism states that the sign of an educated man is that:

1. He sees all women, except for his wife, as one would view their own mother.
2. He does not covet other people's property, no more than one would covet garbage in the street.
3. He sees the pains and gains of others as his very own and therefore is compassionate towards other's distress and happy for other's happiness.

This wisdom is naturally developed when one studies and practices the science of the soul. In America we have so many educational institutions, yet how many institutions discuss the nature of consciousness? How many institutions can clearly explain the difference between a dead body and a living body?

Everyone in this world wants to be happy, however to be happy one must know the self and how to please the self. Because of mis-identifying the temporary body as the self, people in general look at the opposite sex or same sex as objects of their enjoyment.
Other people's property is seen with envy. And the pains and gains of others are something to take advantage of and exploit. Therefore, if there is no higher knowledge of the self, the modern educational institutions often can increase materialism and unhappiness within society.

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.

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Recently I received a very nice email which made me realise the importance of chanting together with quality. Here is the message:

My partner and I live in different countries for now and so naturally difficulties in our relationships are manifest. Sometimes though, when we call each other on skype, we just chant a few rounds together and naturally feel better and forget our silly problems. It becomes easier to talk about our relationship in Krsna consciousness and what we can do together in service than focus on how we can ¨fix¨ our problems in our relationship.

Of course, I am always in the nectar of tidbits from japagroup and so am hoping this feeling of thankfulness for the holy name serves someone else.

Hare Krsna,

Your servant,
Bh. D****

This is not the second time I posted this photo, but it is the second photo I’ve posted of the Pecos Ruins taken with the Mamiya C3 using Kodak EktaChrome 64x. This other one was here.

I’ll repost it here to show the differences:

Since these photos were taken within twenty minutes of each other using the same exact camera and the same brand of film, why would there be such a difference? My guess would be the film. The rolls I was using both expired in September 1994 – interestingly, the month that I moved from Pennsylvania to Columbus, Ohio. Film degrades over time, and it’s clear that it degrades in differing ways.

Another reason for the contrast between the two shots could possibly be the processing. I develop my own film and while the C-41 process (in this case, cross-process) is pretty standard, I’m not always as careful as I should be when it comes to times and temps (the former much more so than the latter).

I’m not sure which I like better, but, as I was mentioning yesterday, I’m not sure I like either.

What is Studio Uma and what is coaching? Studio Uma is a warm and safe place were one can realize that there is no limit for living his life to the fullest potential – with more love, peace and connection to his inner self. No matter how his life is successful at the moment. And it is a warm and safe place were one can openly admit that his life doesn't work! The purpose of coaching is to

The Lotus Trust – the welfare arm of ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor – is working with the UK Hindu community to assist with the huge relief effort that is required. We have partnered with ISKCON Food for Life volunteers in the Philippines who are travelling to the area to assist in the food relief efforts Read more ›

With His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Swami and His Grace Ramanujacharya Prabhu Read more ›

Answer Podcast

And Barnaby Booth asks about Nara-Narayana Rsi and about living stones.

The post Silpa-karini dd asks whether Srila Prabhupada gave instructions to follow Purusottama masa appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Italians from Bologna attend this nice festival Read more ›