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Dear Maharajs/Prabhus,
please accept my humble obeisances,
all glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Amsterdam Rathayatra took place last Sunday.
There must be a few movies about this Rathayatra, this movie is put together from a Prasad distribution angle, sorry about the funky sound track in advance.

Movie put together by Achinta Rupa Prabhu,
your servant Parasuram Das

113 photos by Dvijapriya dasi: Amsterdam Harinama with Dhananjaya and Parividha prabhus
→ Dandavats.com

Dvijapriya dasi: Last Saturday evening we headed for Dam Square in central Amsterdam. Dhananjaya prabhu led us into the huge crowds and then Parividha prabhu in his inimitable way had many in the audience chanting and dancing ecstatically, I've never seen anyone who connects with the crowd so wonderfully. Many invitations were passed out for the Rathayatra on Sunday. Read more ›

I will only acknowledge a Master’s Degree from my favorite college
→ Nityananda Chandra Das' Blog, ISKCON Dallas


“It doesn't matter, either Hindu religion or Christian religion or Mohammedan religion, anything you like. But we have to test. Just like a student who has passed M.A. examination. Nobody inquires, "From which college you have passed your examination? You have passed M.A. examination? That's all right." And we are concerned, whether you are graduate, postgraduate. That's all. Nobody inquires, "From which college, from which country, from which religion, you have passed your M.A. examination?" No. Similarly, nobody should inquire, "To which religion you belong?" One must see whether he has learned this art, how to love God. That's all. That is religion”

Excerpt From: His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
"Satisfying The Senses"
73/08/15 London, Bhagavad-gita 2.9

Prabhupada, are you a servant of the gopis? How do I serve the servants of the gopis?
→ Nityananda Chandra Das' Blog, ISKCON Dallas

Devotee: I read somewhere in your writings that in order to understand the confidential affairs of Radha and Krsna one must serve the gopis who are servants of the gopis, and I assumed that you were a servant of the gopis. Is that correct? Or... How do I serve the servants of the gopis?

Prabhupada: Gopis, they are not conditioned souls. They are liberated spirits. So first of all you have to come out from this conditioned life. Then the question of serving gopi will come. Don't be at the present moment, very eager to serve gopi. Just try to get out of your conditional life. Then time will come when you'll be able to serve gopi. In this conditional stage we cannot serve anything. Krsna is performing it (everything?). But Krsna gives us opportunities to accept service in this arca-marga. Just like we keep the Deity of Krsna, offer prasada under regulation, under principle. So we have to make advance in this way, this chanting, hearing, and worshiping in the temple, arati, offering prasada. In this way, as we make advance, then automatically Krsna will reveal to you and you'll understand your position, how you have to... Gopis means who are always, constantly engaged in the service of the Lord. So that eternal relationship will be revealed. So we have to wait for that. Immediately we cannot imitate serving gopis. That's a good idea that you shall serve gopi, but it will take time. Not immediately. Immediately we have to follow the rules and regulations and routine work. Yes.

"Revive Our Relationship with Krishna"

68/11/27 Los Angeles, Bhagavad-gita 2.8-12

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A Boy With Talent
→ Dandavats.com

BGIS got another reason for celebration. Vishal Sachdeva the present 12th grade student have secured AIR - 08 rank in ICE (Institute of Creative Excellence) auditions, 2013 out of 751 participants. He will study Acting Philosophy after 10+2 in ICE. Read more ›

11.26 – Confront reality before reality confronts us
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Gory scenes of mangled flesh, spattered blood and distorted corpses may be a stable in horror movies, but still they cause most people’s stomachs to roil in shock and revulsion. And we wouldn’t expect to find such narratives in wisdom-literature. Yet we find them in the Bhagavad-gita’s eleventh chapter as a part of the mystical vision of the Universal Form. In the Gita (11.26), Arjuna reports how the assembled warriors are sucked into the mouth of that scary form.

What is the meaning of this ghastly revelation?

It is a call to confront reality before reality confronts us.

The Bhagavad-gita is not squeamish about life’s ugly realities. Death and destruction are the inevitable end of everything in this world. Refusing to confront them doesn’t help because they will sooner or later come to confront us, whether we like it or not.

How does voluntarily confronting these truths help?

It forces us to acknowledge the ultimate futility of life at the material level and thereby pushes us to explore whether life has any higher dimension. This exploration when guided by scripture helps us discover the sweetness of spiritual reality. We are all souls meant to relish eternal spiritual love with Krishna. By redirecting our love from the world to Krishna, we can not only attain that sweet reality at the end of our life, but can also relish glimpses of that reality even in this life. Our life becomes redefined from a fruitless struggle to resist futility to a fruitful endeavor to reclaim glory.

If we refuse to confront life’s harsh reality, then that reality confronts and consumes us, as the Universal Form devoured the warriors. By denying the harsh reality, we deprive ourselves of the sweet reality. Lifetime after lifetime. The Gita’s horrific descriptions help end our denial and deprivation.

**

All the sons of Dhrtarastra, along with their allied kings, and Bhisma, Drona, Karna – and our chief soldiers also – are rushing into Your fearful mouths. And some I see trapped with heads smashed between Your teeth.

 

Even if we can’t practice, we can still have faith
→ The Spiritual Scientist

An ordinary man with firm faith in the eternal injunctions of the Lord, even though unable to execute such orders, becomes liberated from the bondage of the law of karma. In the beginning of Krishna consciousness, one may not fully discharge the injunctions of the Lord, but because one is not resentful of this principle and works sincerely without consideration of defeat and hopelessness, he will surely be promoted to the stage of pure Krishna consciousness.

Bhagavad Gita As It Is 3.31 purport