Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Quite a few of the Srila Prabhupada disciples who were at our reunion in the Village Hall the day before had turned out. See if you can spot them in the exciting video below Read more › 
50 photos: Harinama during Sri Krishna Janmashtami Festival in Abranovce, Presov, Slovakia Read more › 
New Vrindaban Board Members with Srila Prabhupada at his Palace, April 2013.
Monthly Meeting Minutes of the Boards of Directors for ISKCON New Vrindaban & ECOV - 8/15/13.
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.
ECOV Mission Statement: ECOV (Earth, Cows, Opportunities & Vrindaban Villages) 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 from INV: Jaya Krsna, Dayavira, Chaitanya Mangala, Gopisa, Ranaka & Jamuna.
Present from ECOV: Madhava Gosh, Kripamaya, Navin Shyam, Chaitanya Mangala & Ranaka.
Recording Secretary: Laxmi Honest
The first item of discussion was the Palace restoration. The sub-committee met on 8/9/13 and they decided to send out an international call for a project manager. Kripamaya suggested that we also contact senior devotees and sanyasis such as Radhanatha Swami for people they may know who are engineers and so forth. Gopisa mentioned that the Palace front steps renovation project is very hard, heavy work and we really need younger people to do it. Gopisa has estimates from private contractors ranging from $65,000 to $115,000, not including materials, which would be an additional $25,000. He expects a response by 8/16 from a company in Pittsburgh and will email the joint boards with updates.
Jaya Krsna then began a discussion regarding the desire of HH Bhakti Raghava Swami to create a Varnashrama Eco-Village at the Old Vrindaban farm. The proposed community would strive to be self-sufficient. Bhakti Raghava Swami reports that he has already set up such a village in Indonesia which has been very successful. Jaya Krsna will email for review some possible steps toward accomplishing this goal. Madhava Gosh mentioned that ECOV would be willing to offer food bearing trees to the project. Overall, board members expressed enthusiasm for the project and ideas were exchanged regarding how it might manifest. It was decided that a “straw vote” would be taken to determine potential future acceptance of the proposal by the two boards. Both boards voted in favor of the concept.
The next agenda item was the funding of Gopal’s Garden School. Ranaka reported that the school will need about $24,000 to cover expenses for the 2013-2014 school year. Both boards reconfirmed their commitment to the school and acknowledged its importance in our continued efforts towards developing a more vibrant community. In previous years, this funding has been split between INV and ECOV. At their last meeting ECOV approved $12,000. Ranaka explained that the funds will not be needed within the next 30 days. Dayavira suggested that INV table the item until the next meeting so that they could discuss how best to fund their portion of the budget.
Next, Gopisa gave an update on the Bahulaban projects. Madhava Gosh asked about the repairs to the roof of the utility building. Gopisa said that he talked to some workers in regards to patching holes and generally repairing the roof. He will give a full report at the next meeting. The demolition of the pink building is complete and the question was raised of whether or not to bury the remaining wood scrap, which still has a small amount of foam adhering to it. Jamuna had researched the environmental impact of this and reported that the impact would be negligible. It was proposed that the balance of the wood be buried at a spot in lower Bahulaban. Both Boards voted in favor of the motion.
Lastly, in a discussion of improving community spirit, Madhava Gosh reiterated the need for additional transparency in management. Board members agreed on the importance of continuing to improve communications.
Thousands of happy devotees partecipated in this significant annual vaishnava event! Read more › Sri Krishna Janmastami Celebrations Recorded on Aug 28 2013
From Kanai Krishna P
I heard your answer to a question about Bhagavatam being natural commentary on Vedanta Sutra. There's a famous reference from Garuda Purana which says 'arthoyam brahmasutranam...'(quoted in CC Madhya 25.143-144)This reference speaks of number of verses in Bhagavatam as 18000. Can we say that this reference is certainly speaking of Bhagavatam as we have it(and not pre-edited version written by Vyasadeva)?
From Kanai Krishna P
In introduction to first canto of SB, Srila Prabhupada speaks of difference between God and Absolute Truth. Can we conclude that 'God' refers to Lord's role in material world and 'Absolute Truth' conveys the idea of Lord in touch with spiritual energy?
From Kanai Krishna P
From Parampara Vani P
“Think outside the box.” That’s a common saying among those who want us to break free from stereotyped thinking.
However, such people don’t know the big box that confines everyone’s thinking. So, even if they think outside some small boxes, their meta-thinking, or the basic framework that undergirds their thinking, remains largely within the big box.
That big box is matter. People’s ambitions and accomplishments are largely confined to the arena of matter. Gita wisdom empowers us to think outside this big box. Its fourteenth chapter delineates three boxes that typically condition people’s thinking. These three boxes are the three modes of material nature that pave the roadways for people’s thinking, feeling, willing, seeing and acting.
What most people call as thinking outside the box simply means moving from thinking within one mode to thinking from within another mode. But overall their thinking remains trapped within the impregnable mega-box of matter. Even when they somehow sometimes think of spirit, they see it as deriving from or depending on matter.
However, Gita wisdom underscores that spiritual reality is an independent glorious reality. And spirit is the arena of the most fulfilling thinking, as the Gita (14.27: sukhasya aikantikasya) indicates. This concluding verse of the Gita’s fourteenth chapter also stresses that Krishna, the all-attractive personal divinity, is the foundation of this spiritual reality (brahmano hi pratistha ‘ham).
When we contemplate on Krishna as the Supreme Absolute Truth, as completely transcendental to matter, that contemplation becomes the gateway for our thinking to break free from the big box of matter. The more we habituate ourselves to thinking about Krishna thus, the more we relish a non-material fulfillment whose variety and intensity far exceeds the boxes of material enjoyment.
Thus does thinking about Krishna comprise the ultimate out-of-the-box thinking.
***
14.27 - And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness.
This year the gurukula has started a school lunch program under direction from Mother Padma of Kalachandji’s Restaurant. Working closely with a dietitian and a cook, M. Padma created a menu that the children thought was super tasty, while the parents were very pleased with the nutrition that their sometimes picky eaters were receiving. The students are receiving a hot, tasty plate of prasadam and learning new food tastes, while still enjoying classics. The menu even has a vegan version for our vegan students!
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 June 2013, Vrindavan, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.16.34)
To really serve in a mood of trying to please Krsna is not so easy. Obviously, a lot of people get restless and may want to leave so it does require special determination, I think. In the light of that I can say, “Give them enough rope so they can hang themselves.”
It means that in this regard, some people are not meant for this program. It does not mean there is no program. There is somewhere else but not this one. This program requires commitment. It requires that at least one understands that we are greatly blessed, that we can chant here in Vrindavan and that our whole existence in the material world has become so simple.
Can you imagine the complexities that everybody has? Look around, people have to make so many arrangements just for their mind. Just because their mind is driving them, whipping them and somehow or other (as a devotee), you do not have to. We came to Vrindavan; it is a rare opportunity that life can be so simple and that we can do such direct activities.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 June 2013, Vrindavan, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.16.34)
To really serve in a mood of trying to please Krsna is not so easy. Obviously, a lot of people get restless and may want to leave so it does require special determination, I think. In the light of that I can say, “Give them enough rope so they can hang themselves.”
It means that in this regard, some people are not meant for this program. It does not mean there is no program. There is somewhere else but not this one. This program requires commitment. It requires that at least one understands that we are greatly blessed, that we can chant here in Vrindavan and that our whole existence in the material world has become so simple.
Can you imagine the complexities that everybody has? Look around, people have to make so many arrangements just for their mind. Just because their mind is driving them, whipping them and somehow or other (as a devotee), you do not have to. We came to Vrindavan; it is a rare opportunity that life can be so simple and that we can do such direct activities.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 June 2013, Vrindavan, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.16.34)
To really serve in a mood of trying to please Krsna is not so easy. Obviously, a lot of people get restless and may want to leave so it does require special determination, I think. In the light of that I can say, “Give them enough rope so they can hang themselves.”
It means that in this regard, some people are not meant for this program. It does not mean there is no program. There is somewhere else but not this one. This program requires commitment. It requires that at least one understands that we are greatly blessed, that we can chant here in Vrindavan and that our whole existence in the material world has become so simple.
Can you imagine the complexities that everybody has? Look around, people have to make so many arrangements just for their mind. Just because their mind is driving them, whipping them and somehow or other (as a devotee), you do not have to. We came to Vrindavan; it is a rare opportunity that life can be so simple and that we can do such direct activities.
So everyone may try his best, that’s all. The public may take or not take, it doesn’t matter. And if you are, want to please the public, public says that “You dance naked, I will be very happy with you, I’ll give you [support].” So I’ll have to do that. Then what is the use of making a spiritual master? Public, they have got their whims, how to become pleased. So we are to follow all these things? We have to follow our instruction of the spiritual master.
Room conversation with Siddha-svarupa - May 3, 1976, Honolulu
Lord Balarama’s Appearance Day brings a smile to the faces of the gurukula students at TKG Academy. Hearing, learning, remembering the heroic pastimes of Lord Krsna’s older brother makes the children’s eyes grow wide with awe and wonder, while the sweeter pastimes make them giggle with delight.
Parents and students bring special sweets and savories. The older students take extra care with Lord Baladeva as they carefully fix his crown upon his head and give him offerings as he sits beside his sister and brother, while the younger students hand make their own offerings of love.
Later, the children gather out back and how do they celebrate Balarama jayanti? Texas style! A pinata stuffed with honey sticks. Each student takes a swing while their friends stand to side cheering them on and when the honey falls… laughter ringing as the students clamor towards the prize.
balarama jayanti ki! Jaya!
The Kirtan Mela in Germany was held from 13-18 August 2013. Apart from Kadamba Kanana Swami, many other well-known kirtan leaders participated in the festival, such as: Sacinandana Swami, Bhakti Vaibhava Swami, Niranjana Swami and Ojasvi Prabhu, to name a few.
Recordings of kirtans and a CC lecture by Kadamba Kanana Swami are presented below.
All other recordings of the festival are available for download via this link.
Kirtan
KKS_Kirtan Mela_14 August 2013
KKS_Kirtan Mela_15 August 2013
KKS_Kirtan Mela_16 August 2013
KKS_Kirtan Mela_17 August 2013
Lecture
KKS_CC Adi 7.82_Kirtan Mela_14 August 2013
The Kirtan Mela in Germany was held from 13-18 August 2013. Apart from Kadamba Kanana Swami, many other well-known kirtan leaders participated in the festival, such as: Sacinandana Swami, Bhakti Vaibhava Swami, Niranjana Swami and Ojasvi Prabhu, to name a few.
Recordings of kirtans and a CC lecture by Kadamba Kanana Swami are presented below.
All other recordings of the festival are available for download via this link.
Kirtan
KKS_Kirtan Mela_14 August 2013
KKS_Kirtan Mela_15 August 2013
KKS_Kirtan Mela_16 August 2013
KKS_Kirtan Mela_17 August 2013
Lecture
KKS_CC Adi 7.82_Kirtan Mela_14 August 2013
The Kirtan Mela in Germany was held from 13-18 August 2013. Apart from Kadamba Kanana Swami, many other well-known kirtan leaders participated in the festival, such as: Sacinandana Swami, Bhakti Vaibhava Swami, Niranjana Swami and Ojasvi Prabhu, to name a few.
Recordings of kirtans and a CC lecture by Kadamba Kanana Swami are presented below.
All other recordings of the festival are available for download via this link.
Kirtan
KKS_Kirtan Mela_14 August 2013
KKS_Kirtan Mela_15 August 2013
KKS_Kirtan Mela_16 August 2013
KKS_Kirtan Mela_17 August 2013
Lecture
KKS_CC Adi 7.82_Kirtan Mela_14 August 2013
It started off with some short explanation on a personal aspect of the Divine. As it continued through the evening more and more people were coming and eventually about 65 people attended Evening of Bhakti. Everyone was singing, clapping and smiling. We sung a couple of bhajans and by the end of the night everyone danced on the feet! What a bliss it was!
Mahadevi Dasi: Just came back from AJA Annada Ekadasi Vrndavana Parikrama by ricsa; my health does not permit walking and still be able to do some service when I get back. It was so enlivening to hear many groups of Brijabasi ladies in brightly colored sarees singing Brij bhajans.. Read more › There are now 2.5 million people unemployed in the UK. Those at least are the official figures. Over 7% of the workforce. It’s become a job in itself just looking for a job. Even the most qualified find it hard with one in ten graduates still failing to find a job a full year after graduating.
Economists and politicians will point to a host of possible causes, perhaps one main reason for labour not working might be our ‘labour saving’ technologies. My spiritual teacher Srila Prabhupada once said, “You have created a machine that can do the work of fifty men and now those fifty men are unemployed. Is this progress?”
Well, that’s how most of us see it. I guess it depends upon your paradigm. If you believe life to be about bodily enjoyment then you will likely view work as a bit of a problem. You want to free up time to relax and do things you enjoy, which is not usually work. Then there is the all important profit motive. If a machine is cheaper than manpower then that manpower will find itself added to the jobless stats. And so it is that a great welter of machinery has come into being, along with an equally huge mass of idle persons.
But has it made us happier? This is surely the critical question. For those in the dole queues the answer is not likely to be yes. ‘Unemployment depression’ is a recognised condition. And where work is scarce many of us are forced to do jobs we detest; again hardly a formula for a happy life or indeed a better society. Mark Twain observed that “the fellows who groan and sweat under the weary load of toil they bear never can hope to do anything great. How can they when their souls are in a ferment of revolt against the employment of their hands and brains? The product of slavery, intellectual or physical, can never be great.”
It is not only the direct misery of having no work or work you hate that is problematic; there is also the question of how to support those millions of out of work people. It certainly doesn’t make for easy economics. Still more social issues arise from the old idiom that an ‘idle mind is the devil’s playground’. With increasing numbers of unengaged and bored young persons hanging around on our streets, trouble is sure to follow. Especially when they become desperate for the cash they cannot earn.
The Vedic paradigm works on the assumption that human life has a higher spiritual purpose; that we are meant for self realisation. Actual happiness is derived from this direction, from inner contact with the spiritual, rather than from external sense pleasure. With such a paradigm and its attendant culture there is far less need to advance technology in order to increase material comfort. Those who are happy within themselves are less concerned with their worldly situation. Srila Prabhupada called this ‘simple living and high thinking.’
The simple life of Vedic society means one closer to the land; an agrarian lifestyle where most people grow their own food within local economies. We can easily produce everything we need in this way. The basic requirements of the body are analysed as eating, sleeping, mating and security, and these can be obtained without excessive hard work. Prabhupada would often point out that the animals have no industry and technology but still they obtain all the same necessities as us simply by nature’s arrangement. Life used to be like that everywhere, with everything produced more or less locally by local farms and traders. In many parts of rural India still one will find such a lifestyle where people hardly travel beyond the few villages in their immediate locality. And they certainly seem happy enough.
But human society is fast moving away from this kind of life. Local economies are being swallowed in the engulfing tide of globalisation. Great corporations and conglomerates are producing all our necessities, as well as a whole heap of not so necessaries, and all we can do is try to get a job with them so we can get the money to buy all that stuff. We find ourselves completely at their mercy in so many ways, dependent on fragile infrastructures and supply chains, along with volatile market forces controlled by cash hungry investors.
All this so called progress over the centuries has been driven by the belief that we can somehow improve our material sense pleasure. Atheism and a failure of religion to give people a real spiritual taste lies at its heart. It has been the march of ‘civilisation’ which Prabhupada simply dismissed as “sophisticated animal life”. Virtually all human endeavour now is about advancing material facilities. The idea that life is meant for self and God realisation is all but gone, along with the wonderful experience of pure spiritual happiness, far superior to any worldly joy. But only when we rediscover this spiritual pleasure can we reverse the materialistic trend that appears headed for disaster.
And it surely does seem that disaster looms. Unemployment with its attendant difficulties is just one of many social problems we have created. A host of environmental issues coming out of our new technologies now threaten our happy lifestyle, which is anyway not that happy with those pesky depression figures heading ever upward. In the UK, child and mental health service caseloads have risen over 40% over the last three years. One in ten 1 – 15 year olds has a mental health disorder and the UK has one of the highest levels of self harm in Europe. This has contributed to more and more alcohol and substance abuse and dependence. In Britain this alone costs around £39 billion per year. Then there is global poverty and starvation due to one side of the world exploiting the other for its resources. Meanwhile, in the bloated and spoiled developed world another burgeoning problem is family breakdown. In its report ‘Every Family Matters’, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) stated that one in three children born in the UK today will experience parental divorce. Which of course leads to so many other issues. And so it goes.
There is a crisis on our streets. In a recent speech to the Charities Parliament, the chairman of the CSJ, Iain Duncan-Smith said, “You are working in communities without hope. It is not that they have even known hope and had it taken away. Rather, the people in the communities you work with are quite literally without hope: they are hopeless.”
Prabhupada once said that in modern society we first of all put ourselves into anxiety and then we struggle to get out of it. “That is your heroism”, he said.
In a properly functioning Vedic society, examples of which are now very hard to locate, everyone is engaged according to their particular qualities, doing what they enjoy and can do well. There is no jostling for promotion and ever increasing salaries. People are satisfied due to their spiritual practise and they understand life’s goal, which is not ephemeral material pleasure and security, but eternal spiritual happiness. A house built upon rock rather than sand, as one Jesus Christ advised a long time ago.
It is a simple formula. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita, “Grow food, worship me and work for my pleasure. Thus you will be happy in this life and the next.” It is time we put it to the test.
Conversation.
Today's, 1st September 2013, front page of BBC news online, carries this nice article for Iskcon Read more › 
In Venezuela, Havi approached the conductor of the Venezuelan Symphonic Orchestra Tulio Cremisini, who had previously worked as recording engineer on Havi’s Latin Grammy-winning “Tesoros de la Musica Venezolana.” The two had been planning to work on a Spanish language orchestral project. But now, Havi had a different plan.
“Forget about that -- listen to this!” he told Cremisini.
It wasn’t long before the conductor fell in love with Havi’s idea to set ancient Sanskrit and Bengali prayers by Vaishnava saints to symphonic orchestral music. Read more › Srila Prabhupada Tours His Palace and Gardens in New Vrindaban — June 22, 1976
Much thanks to the Vanipedia website for the transcript.
At a New Vrindaban construction site, Srila Prabhupada looks at a stained glass window, 1976.
Prabhupada: Thank you.
Kirtanananda: In New Vrindaban, this is your Palace.
Prabhupada: Oh! So many (indistinct).
Kirtanananda: Yes.
Prabhupada: There is no such building in America. [break] These are our workers?
Kirtanananda: Yes, these are your builders here. Bhagavatananda Prabhu has done the design.
Prabhupada: Oh. Very nice.
Kirtanananda: And Atmabhu Prabhu is the chief construction man.
Prabhupada: Oh, all our men.
Kirtanananda: All our men.
Prabhupada: It is very nice.
Kirtanananda: Your car will come in here, and you get out and come right in.
Prabhupada: And this is the hall?
Kirtanananda: This will be a little hall, and that is the worship room. We can put your vyasasana in there, and you can lecture there, and we can worship you always there.
Prabhupada: Hare Krsna.
Kirtanananda: But this dome will go up another twelve feet, and four feet from the top there is, this lotus flower starts, and this is just one little sample of the kind of casting that will finish it. It will all be done now with smooth plaster. This dome here is being done like this dome, in cement. And then where you see these arches are being poured, there will be colored glass windows, stained glass windows.
Prabhupada: To enter that temple you have to go through here?
Kirtanananda: To enter the Deity room you go through the kitchen.
Prabhupada: No, generally people will go from this side to see the Deity?
Kirtanananda: No, they will see just from out here.
Prabhupada: All these walls closed, there is no window.
Kirtanananda: There is no window.
Prabhupada: Only one window.
Kirtanananda: Four windows on the up.
Prabhupada: Ventilation.
Kirtanananda: Ventilation?
Prabhupada: No ventilation.
Kirtanananda: There will be artificial ventilation, fan.
Prabhupada: Oh. Natural ventilation is prohibited. (laughs)
Kirtanananda: No, these windows can open, air that way.
Prabhupada: Nice veranda. This will be open like this?
Kirtanananda: Yes.
Prabhupada: These are rooms?
Kirtanananda: Yes, these will be servants’ quarters on this side.
Prabhupada: This will be window?
Kirtanananda: Yes. This will be a kitchen.
Prabhupada: Nice, very nice. And there will be garden here?
Kirtanananda: Yes. We are gradually clearing all this land, this was all wooded last year, and we’re clearing now.
Prabhupada: Very nice.
Kirtanananda: It has very good view, all the way around.
Prabhupada: Oh, yes.
Kirtanananda: These are your quarters here. This will be your study room, and there will be a wall there. This is your bedroom.
Prabhupada: These are all marbles? No.
Kirtanananda: Yes, this is all marble. The devotees—you see how the marble is all inlaid on the pieces there—they’ve done that. Then there will be a dressing room and a bath.
Prabhupada: Oh. That side?
Kirtanananda: That side.
Prabhupada: These framework will remain?
Kirtanananda: No, it will be covered with plaster.
Prabhupada: Then it will be taken away? No.
Kirtanananda: No, no, it remains.
Prabhupada: It will continue.
Kirtanananda: You have some question about this?
Prabhupada: This iron is corroding. If it will not hamper.
Kirtanananda: It will be covered.
Prabhupada: Covered, but now it is corroding.
Kirtanananda: I see what you are saying. There is another door that goes in that wall there, like this, for access to that side.
Prabhupada: Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat. Little service in this connection, Krsna consciousness, can protect one from the greatest danger. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya.
Kirtanananda: You are so kind to let us do it.
Prabhupada: Hare Krsna. Krsna’s desire. White sand, where from you secure?
Kirtanananda: In Ohio, about sixty miles from here.
Prabhupada: From the seaside, sea beach? No.
Kirtanananda: No, they call it silica sand. I think it’s made from glass.
Prabhupada: Not glass, it is a kind of stone made powder. Silica sand. They are like sandstone.
Kirtanananda: This is just the first cut, not polished. Now, in this dome you see this is a…
Prabhupada: No, while constructing, filling up this, what is called, column, in Bombay, they’re putting air so that they become solid stone. You have seen in Bombay? Big engineer, they are giving some pumping air so that while the cement is filled up, it becomes solid.
Hari-sauri: Oh, vibrators.
Kirtanananda: We also do that.
Prabhupada: You have got some machine?
Kirtanananda: Yes.
Prabhupada: That makes solidified.
Kirtanananda: No voids.
Prabhupada: Ah, no. I see, but…. It appears there is no vacancy. Everything is there, engineering. Engineering process is (indistinct).
Kirtanananda: Yes. And we’ll take you down to the gray house down here, we’ll show you a few more things, how it’s being finished. It is just rough here.
Prabhupada: What are these pipes?
Kirtanananda: That’s for drainage. For when the water goes out into the sewer, and goes out into the field and drains.
Prabhupada: You can utilize this water for fertilizing, drain water.
Kirtanananda: Well, first of all, we have to satisfy the health department.
Prabhupada: [break] …wood as fuel so that gradually this jungle will be clear. Thank you very much.
Devotees: Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! [break]
Kirtanananda: (in car:) It’s sand, yes. It’s not from our property, but it’s gotten locally. It comes out of the river.
Prabhupada: Everything you had to purchase?
Kirtanananda: Yes.
Prabhupada: It will be required.
Kirtanananda: For some time anyway. While we are building so much we need some help. We do not have sufficient manpower. No one is idle.
Prabhupada: That is wanted. Pusta Krsna Maharaja, you like this?
Pusta Krsna: It’s very wonderful. (out of car, entering a room)
Hari-sauri: We have to take our shoes off?
Kirtanananda: It’s OK.
Prabhupada: These are specially made?
Kuladri: Yes, special for you, in New York City, Srila Prabhupada.
Kirtanananda: And this is the kind of doors and the stained glass work is being done like this. The marble is being worked like this.
Prabhupada: This is lead?
Kirtanananda: Yes.
Prabhupada: Like in the church. Who has done this painting?
Kirtanananda: That is, I think, from India.
Prabhupada: Oh.
Kirtanananda: These pictures are rose quartz. This is rose quartz and twenty-four-carat gold.
Prabhupada: Gold? (laughter)
Kuladri: Twenty-four karat.
Prabhupada: In that Detroit house, so much gold. That is also like this. What are these?
Kirtanananda: This is a sample of the handles.
Prabhupada: Plumbing?
Kirtanananda: Like those on the doors. But we are just sudras; we don’t know how to do anything else.
Prabhupada: Hare Krsna. What for these marbles?
Kirtanananda: That will go on the wall in the bathroom, Italian cremo marble. Here’s a picture of how the windows are being done in jali work. This is being cast out of white cement.
Prabhupada: Doing here?
Kirtanananda: Yes. This is some of the castings they’ve done. This goes up on the ceiling.
Prabhupada: Cornice.
Kirtanananda: Cornice, yes. Then around the top of the building on the outside, there’s a railing with these balusters.
Prabhupada: This is made of cement?
Kirtanananda: No, this one is plaster, this was our first model, but the ones that will be used will be done out of cement. This is very light. Do you have your drawing of the outside?
Prabhupada: Somebody’s staying here?
Kirtanananda: Yes, Bhagavatananda and a couple of the other construction members stay here. [break] This is the way it will look when it’s finished—the balusters and the brackets supporting the sunshade. [break]
Prabhupada: …When God is there, within the heart, He’ll give you, “Do like this.” Buddhi-yogam dadami tam yena mam upayanti te. If one is sincere to serve the Lord, the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, He’ll give him, “Do like this.” Tesam evanukampartham aham (indistinct) BG 10.11 . It is special favor of God. Even if he’s less aware of everything to be arranged(?), He’ll give instruction, “Do like this.” So there is no scarcity of instruction if one is sincere. Thank you very much. (leaves house) [break] …I came to your country for preaching this, I had no idea how to do it. (laughs) But things are being model. People are surprised how within a short so many short years this world movement has sprung. I had no idea how to do it. (laughter)
Kirtanananda: Seeing your palace here is almost like seeing the Krsna-Balarama temple for the first time.
Prabhupada: Yes. In Raman Reti there was no temple. Similarly, in this quarter there was no such building. Many people will come to see it.
Kirtanananda: They already do, Prabhupada.
Prabhupada: (laughs) Yes, I can understand.
Kirtanananda: Many people come by every week to see what progress has been made. And everybody who drives by, they stop.
Prabhupada: Yes, it is something wonderful in this quarter.
Kirtanananda: You can drive fifty miles away around here and they’ll stop and ask you about how’s the palace coming.
Devotee: Jaya Srila Prabhupada.
Prabhupada: Changing New Vrindaban. It is already organized, New Vrindaban? (in car:) Little further.
Kirtanananda: We’re trying to clear all this now too.
Prabhupada: This is ours?
Kirtanananda: Yes.
Prabhupada: Oh.
Kirtanananda: It takes a long time to clear it, though.
Prabhupada: Never mind. Do slowly, that is pleasure.
Kirtanananda: Well, we could do it much faster if we didn’t try to utilize the wood, but we want to utilize.
Prabhupada: Yes. Unnecessarily you should not cut. When it is necessary for Krsna, then you cut. This is also living entity. We cannot kill them without any sufficient reason. (sings) Sri krsna caitanya. This is our property?
Kirtanananda: Yes.
Prabhupada: Oh. This side also.
Kirtanananda: This side. Goes down to that road there.
Prabhupada: All this land can be planted. There is some graveyard?
Kirtanananda: Yes. You want to ride any further?
Prabhupada: No. Harer nama harer nama harer Adi 17.21 . [break]
Kirtanananda: …can be seen in one direction at least a couple of miles away, several, no, three directions. This is the capital that will go in the courtyard here in the assembly area. On those columns, this will go at the top.
Prabhupada: Very nice. Thank you. This is plastic?
Kirtanananda: This is what they make the mold from. This one is in plaster. Now they will cast more. Below that the…
Prabhupada: They can do Deity also, they can.
Kirtanananda: Yes, after they’ve done with your palace they’re going to start on some Deities. I think they would like permission to first start with your Deity.
Prabhupada: Hare Krsna. Jaya. Kulasekhara is here?
Kirtanananda: Kulasekhara, yes, he is editing Brijabasi Spirit now. We will put a wall around and then all nice gardens inside.
Prabhupada: Cement wall or wooden?
Kirtanananda: No, a combination of masonry and fancy iron so that people can see through.
Prabhupada: Reinforced.
Kirtanananda: Yes, but also so they can see through at certain points.
Prabhupada: Jaya. With sunshine this wood becomes very, very beautiful. Tapo-vana. [break] …in this house. Who is staying now?
Kirtanananda: Usually there are devotees that stay there. Right now we are not having anybody stay there. Lord Jagannatha stays there.
Prabhupada: Oh. Here, in this house? No.
Kirtanananda: What is that? No, Jagannatha stays in that house. [break]
Prabhupada: …are grown here or brought from somewhere else?
Kirtanananda: This was brought from somewhere else because there was nothing here in which to grow it. We can grow it. That’s why it’s so wet right now, very wet. [break]
Prabhupada: They will do it like this, now it is very nice.
Kirtanananda: Very beautiful.
Prabhupada: That one girl is taking care, she’s doing very nice. We can sit down here?
Kirtanananda: Kuladri, find some more (indistinct). Come up this side. As soon as you sit down, everything looks complete.
Prabhupada: Hm? (laughs) Where is Pradyumna Maharaja?
Kirtanananda: He’s just inside the house. You’d like him to come out?
Prabhupada: No. Palika, you came before here?
Palika: Six years ago. There was just that one small, original farm.
Prabhupada: Now it is a big property. And when the palace will be ready, many people will…. You simply advertise “Come and see palaces in New Vrindaban.” It will be a combination of Western and Eastern culture. For the profit of the whole human society. So Vrindaban-candra will come here? No. Vrindaban-candra Deity?
Kirtanananda: No.
Prabhupada: His palace will be different.
Kirtanananda: His palace will be where the building is now. We’re planning to move Him into the new building next to the present temple, the four-story building. He will occupy the fourth floor for now. Then we will take down that old building and put up a nice big temple.
Prabhupada: So why you dismantle, construct another?
Kirtanananda: The building is not in such good condition.
Prabhupada: That’s all right. As soon as the new temple is, move it; or you want to dismantle it.
Kirtanananda: The site is good.
Prabhupada: Oh, yes, site is good.
Kirtanananda: It will make a nice complex in relationship with the other buildings.
Prabhupada: That will…. Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare.
Kirtanananda: We are about to install your murti in that temple.
Prabhupada: Yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau [SU 6.23] . The Vedic secret(?) is that, para bhaktir, yasya deve, unto the Lord, similarly, to the guru, they, to them, the whole thing becomes revealed automatically. Vedic knowledge is grasped not by erudite scholarship. Mundane scholarship has nothing to do. The secret is yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau. My Guru Maharaja wanted that some books should be published. So I tried my best, and he’s giving success more than expectation. In the history nobody has sold religion, philosophical books in such large quantity.
Pusta Krsna: Or quality.
Prabhupada: Yes. These are all Guru Maharaja’s blessings. Therefore Narottama dasa Thakura is stressing on this point,
guru-mukha-padma-vakya, cittete kariya aikya,
ara na koriha mane asa **
Simply execute that. Krsna bhakti, krsna prapti haya yaha haite. You’ll get Krsna. (long pause) [break] Govinda, Gopinatha, Madana Mohana, Syamasundara, Radha-Damodara, Gokulananda, and…? Radha-Rama?a. The same thing, Gaudiya-Vais?ava. Then other Vais?avas came, Ra?ganatha, Ramanuja. [break] …devotees from India, we import to develop these quarters, will government allow?
Kirtanananda: I don’t think there’s as much trouble from our government as from the Indian government. Our problem so far has been Indian government.
Prabhupada: What is the difficulty? If somebody wants to go, migrate in America, what India government will do?
Kirtanananda: They won’t give them passport.
Prabhupada: No, no, passport means coming back. But if he’s going to domicile, Indian government cannot check. If I want to go somewhere and live there…
Kirtanananda: You have to have passport. As far as I know.
Prabhupada: But passport means if he wants to return.
Kirtanananda: No, in other words, in order to get visa from US, you have to present your passport.
Prabhupada: There are different kinds of visa. Immigration visa. Suppose if anyone wants to migrate in America, our society here, we give guarantee. I think there will be no…
Kirtanananda: No difficulty. We can try.
Prabhupada: Our society is here, and we give this man our guarantee for maintenance. So what is the objection? By law there is no objection. And if the immigration department allows, “Yes, you can come and live,” then where will be…? Immigration means that here government should be satisfied that this man is coming, he will have no difficulty, government gives permit.
Kirtanananda: Should be like that, anyway.
Prabhupada: Yes, that is (indistinct). Similarly, you can bring some men from India.
Kirtanananda: We would like that.
Prabhupada: And they also will be very pleased. India is now so congested. If they get food…. Especially many East Bengalis who migrate in West Bengal for the troublesome condition there, they’ll be very happy here. You can write to Gopala to inquire that we require here some Indians to come to help us.
Pusta Krsna: Mistris for construction?
Prabhupada: Mistri or anyone, to develop this Krsna culture, so the Society will give guarantee. Why not take permission? And they may not come back. They may reside.
Kirtanananda: I don’t understand. That seems to be the government’s, the Indian government’s objection was that they wouldn’t come back.
Prabhupada: So they are disturbed with overpopulation.
Kirtanananda: It doesn’t make any sense. But their objection was that they might not come back.
Prabhupada: But that is good for you, because you are harassed by overpopulation. You cannot feed them even. Why you object? Let them go and live somewhere else peacefully. Just like the Europeans came here. Originally, in America, Europeans came. Because it was over congested and they got…, Columbus found this land, enough, and they migrated. So still there is so much land. The Indians are hard workers, they will develop very nicely. Just like this quarter; if Indians would be allowed, they’ll come and make it very nice. In South America, they have done. Many Indian cultivators, they have come in remote villages. This cooperation should be. Everything belongs to God. Why a class or community should be congested? Just like China, Japan, India, so much congested. What is this nonsense United Nations doing? What they have done for the last thirty years? No liberal-minded. Let them propose that wherever there is enough land and wherever there is overpopulation, let them go and the government give them simply land and let them work and be happy. Why not arrange, our Krsna consciousness movement, arrange between these two, United Nations. Why a section of people is rotting in a place and devising some means how to fight with the others and get land? Why? There is no meaning. Isavasyam idam sarvam ISO mantra 1 . This is our philosophy, everything belongs to God, and everyone is a son of God; therefore the son of God has the right. Why they should be thrown together and live compulsorily in that rotten place, that in China they are living on the sea? You know that?
Pusta Krsna: Taiwan.
Kirtanananda: Thailand, yes.
Prabhupada: Everywhere. They have no place to live on the land.
Kirtanananda: They build boats and live on the water.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Pusta Krsna: Especially if people are coming for agriculture.
Prabhupada: Agriculture is the noblest profession. Give him some land, he cuts the wood, makes cottages. The land is clear, now till it, keep cows and grow foodgrains.
Pusta Krsna: Doesn’t put any local men out of work.
Prabhupada: Simple thing. And then live comfortably, eat comfortably, chant Hare Krsna. Comfortably does not mean satisfaction of the senses. Comfortably means we require primary necessities, to eat something, to sleep somewhere or have some sex—this is also bodily need—and to defend, that’s all. These are the primary necessities. That can be arranged anywhere. God has given all facilities. Grow your own food, eat, and live anywhere. Just this place was rough like that, now it is handled nicely, it is very attractive. (Bengali) Any damn place, you cleanse it, it becomes home. And any nasty man, you decorate him, he becomes a bridegroom. (laughs) (Bengali) ( japa ) Let Krsna consciousness movement give this sense to these rascals. They do not know how to adjust things. They simply plan their United Nations, but they do not know what is that plan. Yes. United Nations. First of all why nation? Why manufacture nation and create trouble and again ununited? Nation—this word is not there in the Vedic language. There’s no conception of nation. There is conception of var?asrama, everywhere. Not for any particular nation or any particular country, but everyone, according to quality-first-class men, second-class men, third-class men. That is there everywhere. Everywhere you go, you find some people first-class intelligent, some people less than him, some people less than him, up to fourth class, that’s all. And then fifth class. So everything is there in the Bhagavad-gita. Now you try to implement. Perfect human life. Let any sociologist, politician come forward. We shall convince them that this is only way. Why you are wasting time and barking dog in the United Nations for the last forty years and doing nothing? What I said, barking dogs? You have read it? I accused them as barking dogs, Melbourne, and they published in the paper. Actually, this is the fact.
Kirtanananda: Barking for the last thirty years.
Prabhupada: Yes. Nobody has criticized them. They have taken it seriously; otherwise, why they have published? Yes, that’s right. What they have done except barking? “I am American,” “I am Russian,” “I am this,” “I am that,” that’s all. If you keep them dogs and hogs and, nicely dressed, they go to United Nations and talk of unity, is it possible? Can the dogs and hogs can unite? Common sense. You bring all the dogs of this neighborhood and ask them “Don’t bark now. Live peacefully,” (laughter) will they be able? (laughs) The United Nation is like that. They’re kept as dogs and they’re advised, “Now keep peacefully.” Is it possible? They have no common sense even. First of all, let them become human beings. Conference is going on, big conference, and Jawaharlal Nehru has imitated, that in the conference there are different languages, different…, but if somebody is speaking in any language you’ll hear it in your own language. Remember? In New Delhi he has done that. This rascal thought, “Now I am finished, I have done my duty.” All rascals. ( japa ) Thus our definition, that anyone who is not Krsna conscious, he’s either in these four groups, bas, final. You just try to prove it. Hm? Kirtanananda Maharaja? You have any doubt about it?
Kirtanananda: No.
Prabhupada: Anyone?
na mam duskrtino mudhah
prapadyante naradhamah
mayayapahrta-jnana
asuram bhavam asritah
BG 7.15
Do it very nicely. Push Krsna consciousness movement vigorously. If you keep the people in ignorance like dogs and hogs, what is the value of advancement of knowledge? So many universities? But discuss this point, our charge, explain to them, and let someone defend them, someone talking for, and let him decide.
Pusta Krsna: Na mam duskrtino mudhah?
Prabhupada: Whether this is fact. It is fact, but even if we do not accept it, what is the wrong there, find out. We don’t find any wrong, everything. Because Krsna said it, then it’s all right. Because they will say it is too sectarian, that anyone who is not Krsna consciousness, he’s the most miscreant, sinful and ass and lowest of the mankind; he has lost his all knowledge. This is our accusation. Now defend. Any gentleman will protest that “I am such a respectable gentleman, and because I do not take to Krsna consciousness, then I’ll fall amidst these groups? What is this?” They will say. Now you’ll have to prove, that “You are not a gentleman.”
Kirtanananda: Gentleman means one who is cultured. So culture is not of the body but of knowledge.
Prabhupada: But what do you mean by culture? First of all, the question will be “What do you mean by culture?”
Pusta Krsna: There’s some idea of progress involved, advancement of life. Otherwise, there’s no need for any kind of progress. One remains as a child.
Prabhupada: Yes. Culture means advancement in knowledge. We say, “You’re a gentleman of culture.” That means he’s advanced in knowledge. So what is the advancement of knowledge? Next question will be.
Raksa?a: Krsna told Arjuna that that was to know that he was factually not his body.
Prabhupada: Yes, that is advancement of knowledge. Otherwise, what is the difference between this bird and the human being? He’s also dancing very jolly, but he has no knowledge that he’s not this body. So if the human being also remains falsely jolly without any knowledge of his existence, then what is the difference between these birds, dogs and human beings? Why we say low grade, animals? He’s living in his own way. He has got all the facilities of eating, sleeping, sex and defense. Just you have all the same things. Where is the difference between you and him? Why you say advanced in knowledge?
Raksa?a: Nowadays they say that they’re advanced in knowledge even without any sophistication at all, while Arjuna, when he was giving his arguments to Krsna…
Prabhupada: No, don’t bring Arjuna now. Just speak on commonsense platform. As soon as we bring Arjuna, they think it is sectarian. We are talking on human common sense. What is advancement of knowledge?
Devotee: They say if it’s advancement of knowledge, if they are advanced, why do they have to die? The animals are dying, and they’re accepting that, and the human beings also die. But why does he have to die if he’s advanced in knowledge?
Raksa?a: Even if you are advanced in knowledge, you still have to die.
Kirtanananda: Advancement of knowledge is to distinguish between what is temporary and what is eternal.
Prabhupada: Discuss on further.
Pusta Krsna: They may say though that even the human beings, the necessities are there, eating, sleeping, mating and defending.
Prabhupada: Everyone is doing. What is your advancement of knowledge? The bird is chirping, dancing, they’re living, they are sleeping, they have got sex. So everyone is doing. What is your advancement of knowledge?
Kirtanananda: We carry out these activities in relationship with the eternal soul. So that by performing the activities one is gaining knowledge.
Prabhupada: Yes. Provided you have got the knowledge of the soul, then you are advanced than the birds and beasts. Otherwise, where is the advancement? Athato brahma jijnasa . The human beings, they can inquire about the spirit soul. These birds, beasts, they cannot.
Kirtanananda: Then we find so many purported religious people. Just like Christians, they may say “Well, I believe in the soul,” but nonetheless they are going on with their materialistic civilization.
Prabhupada: That means you do not know seriously what is soul. You have simply an idea, but you do not know in detail. Just like they say, the Christians, “God is great.” But they do not know who is God and what is the meaning of greatness. That they do not know. They accept this theoretically or religious sentimentally, “God is great.” Just like your state says, “In God We Trust.” As soon as I inquire what kind of trust and to whom, there is no reply. That means they do not know what is God, what is trust. As a matter of slogan they write, that’s all. Even the state heads, and what to speak of the nonsense ordinary citizens. Seriously taking, it is very important question. They should have reply. But they do not know how to reply.
Pusta Krsna: With all of the situations that take place in the material world, they may not be able to see how God is actually active in the material world, that whether there’s a war or whether…
Prabhupada: Well, that you should…. Why you should remain in ignorance how God is acting? If you are serious about God, then you must know. Just like a statesman, he knows how government is acting. Ordinary man, he knows government is acting, but he does not know how government is acting. But advanced in knowledge, they know what is the constitution, how the government is acting. That is the difference. Therefore lawyer is appointed when there is some trouble. He can find out where is the defect. That is advancement of knowledge. (end)
Blissful faces during Shri Krishna Janmashtami celebrations in Iskcon Moscow Temple Read more › 
Even on an empty stomach, Shyamala Kishori was full of energy. The gold paint sparkled on her forehead in the afternoon sun as she stood on the Plaza of the Americas on Wednesday. She was fasting in observance of Janmashtami, an annual Hare Krishna celebration Read more › 
Bhaktivedanta Manor's 2013 Sri Krishna Janmashtami celebrations, being the 40th anniversary of Sri Sri Radha-Gokulananda's installation.
Read more › Janmastami 2013 – Evening Program – Live from ISKCON Chicago
These delicious sweet balls are dairy, sugar and gluten free but taste AMAZING! For a real treat substitute the peanuts for hazel or almond butter.
PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes
YIELD: 30 balls
Main ingredients:
250g washed pitted dates
70g carob powder
1 ½ tsp cinnamon powder
1/8 tsp chocolate essence
80g smooth peanut butter
Carob topping:
1/4 cup carob powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1. Combine the main ingredients & blend
2. Combine the topping ingredients & sprinkle out over a small tray
3. Using your hands roll the mixture into small individual balls
4. Roll each ball into the carob topping
5. Say Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! :D
The Middle East has been receiving much Western attention of late. Now of course it is Syria, but not long ago it was Egypt where a similar furore arose during the much touted ‘Arab Spring’.
In the wake of that particular disturbance the Foreign Secretary William Hague did the diplomatic rounds of Arab nations. While there he made the usual Western calls for more human rights with some fine sounding rhetoric. “Freedom of assembly, the rule of law, freedom of speech, and free and fair elections – these are inalienable rights that are the building blocks of free and open societies.”
Well spoken sir. I guess we have all that here in our green and pleasant land, although some may argue, and most of us would no doubt hold that it needs to be diffused more widely across the globe, particularly in some eastern quarters.
I think I would also have to agree that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, based upon which such calls are made, could do with being a bit more universal in its application. Especially when it comes for example to statements like the first article, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
A spirit of brotherhood has been notably absent from too many places in recent years. Unless it means the kind of brothers who like to knock hell out of each other.
Which brings us to the next article. “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” Fair enough, but what exactly does that mean? Is it ever really achievable? Preservation of the body, even in those states where it is taken seriously, is never guaranteed. Our right to life is somewhat tenuous in this world with death our constant companion.
As for liberty, just what does that entail? We may be free to walk the streets and say our piece, and I for one am grateful for that, but are we liberated from the many miseries that afflict the body? We all face disease, anxiety, old age and all kinds of pain as we struggle to keep body and soul together. Okay, we have our health systems and hospitals and the like, but these are never going to eradicate the ills and tribulations of this life.
Our security of person is subject to powers over which we have very little control. We want to peacefully get on with life and suddenly civil war erupts around us, or maybe a neighbouring state or different ethnic group decides it is time we ceased to exist, and we are plunged into a living nightmare. Or perhaps an earthquake, tsunami or typhoon suddenly rears it awful head. Or a loved one dies, or maybe just good old cancer gets its malignant grip on us. We are surrounded by dark possibilities.
Hence we are forever plagued by anxiety – ‘what will happen?’ The Vedas say this is rooted in the fact that we are eternal beings in a temporary world. Everything is always changing and under threat. The very fact that we need a declaration of rights demonstrates that they are not assured; we have to fight for them. That may just be by going out to work every day to achieve some kind of secure existence, or it might mean a whole lot more, but without some kind of endeavour we will soon lose everything. But despite whatever we may attempt, lose it we must, sooner or later.
Unless that is, we discover the real meaning of our human rights. All of us have the intrinsic right to eternal life, freedom from death and suffering, and the everlasting security of divine shelter. This has been declared by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. “The living being in this world is an immortal part of the Supreme Spirit. Only due to illusion does he struggle in material existence.”
Really our demand for rights is about happiness. We don’t want anyone to impinge upon our ability to enjoy life. But the most serious impingement arises from our own ignorance, from not knowing who we really are, where we belong and how to get there. Even if we do finally succeed in establishing the ideal of fairness and universal rights throughout the world, it is still not our real home and as long as we remain here we will be obliged to undergo constant agonies of one sort or another.
We therefore have to strive for actual liberation, which means freedom from material bondage, or in other words illusion. The pains of this world are no more real than those seen in a dream. Everyone has the right to realise this truth and the right to be established in undying happiness which is the intrinsic nature of the soul. That is freedom.
Until we achieve pure transcendental consciousness, no longer identifying with the temporary body and all its attachments, we are not free. And that consciousness means reaching the kingdom of God, as Krishna declares in the Gita. “One who attains my eternal abode never again experiences suffering.”
Perhaps someone should tell our well meaning leaders.
At Bhakti Lounge, we especially love kirtan. It’s a fusion of mantra – specific words or sounds embedded with the potency to free the mind, and live music, in a collective call and response style. Here you can hear a bit of what goes on with kirtan at the Bhakti Lounge.
Ananda-Chandra leads at our Tuesday evening Kirtan Yoga:
Jaganatha Swami, Nayana Patagami, Nayana Patagami, Bhava Too May.
A snippet of Khadiravan’s talk from our Sunday Soulfeast about Kirtan. “The mind’s always jumping from one place to another…but if you can experience these different sound vibrations when chanting, your mind can come to rest.
