How would you feel in his shoes?
Similarly Krsna wants us so much and we pray to Him, "Please give me someone else."
Websites from the ISKCON Universe
BBT press release
The BBT is pleased to announce the release of the annotated scans for chapter eight of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. They are now online at www.BBTedit.com/changes.
In this chapter, the revisions made are extensive. In fact, so much of what Srila Prabhupada originally wrote has been restored – and this so enriches the chapter – that lovers of Srila Prabhupada’s words may well ask themselves, “How could we not want this in?”
You’ll see:
In several places the revisions and restorations are so extensive that the scans include attached tables to show you the old and new versions side by side with the original transcription of Srila Prabhupada’s words.
You’ll see all the revisions done for the purports, along with explanatory notes. And for nearly all the changes you’ll see images from the earliest manuscripts in the BBT’s files.
Apart from images for specific changes, also included are six complete sample pages from the transcriptions of Srila Prabhupada’s original tapes.
Whether you’re for “the changes,” against them, or neutral, here’s another opportunity to see what the changes actually are.
See for yourself in the annotated scans for chapter eight, now online at www.BBTedit.com/changes.
The changes for the Preface, the Introduction, and the previous chapters are already online. See them all at www.BBTedit.com/changes.
The post “Gita changes” for chapter eight an eye-opener, now online appeared first on Jayadvaita Swami.
BBT press release
The BBT is pleased to announce the release of the annotated scans for chapter eight of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. They are now online at www.BBTedit.com/changes.
In this chapter, the revisions made are extensive. In fact, so much of what Srila Prabhupada originally wrote has been restored – and this so enriches the chapter – that lovers of Srila Prabhupada’s words may well ask themselves, “How could we not want this in?”
You’ll see:
BBT press release
The BBT is pleased to announce the release of the annotated scans for chapter eight of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. They are now online at www.BBTedit.com/changes.
In this chapter, the revisions made are extensive. In fact, so much of what Srila Prabhupada originally wrote has been restored – and this so enriches the chapter – that lovers of Srila Prabhupada’s words may well ask themselves, “How could we not want this in?”
You’ll see:
Prabhupada Sangam at the Palace
By Sachimata Prins
July 24, 2013
On Tuesday, July 23rd, there was a wonderful evening program organized at the Palace in New Vrindaban to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s first tour of the Palace being built in his honor. Many devotees attended.
We heard how, forty years ago, the Palace was really in its rough stages – only the foundation and a few walls. But the devotees were anxious for Srila Prabhupada to see their devotion, and Kirtanananda Swami wanted to give him the grand tour, along with some of the devotees who were actually building the Palace. Soma das recalled that Bali Mardhana mentioned in Krishna Book, that Krishna’s Palace in Dwarka was illuminated with jewels. Srila Prabhupada turned to him, and spoke one of his now most memorable quotes, “These devotees, my disciples, are my jewels.”
After learning about all the elaborate plans for Prabhupada’s study, bedroom, kitchen, bath and temple room, Prabhupada turned to Kirtanananda Swami and asked, “So are you going to install Radha-Vrindaban Chandra here, and Kirtanananda replied, “No, Srila Prabhupada, we are going to install you here.”
To which Srila Prabhupada replied, “This is proper.”
A few senior Prabhupada disciples, namely Yudhistira das and Rasa Lila dasi, also contributed wonderful stories and personal experiences about his visit at that time. We learned that Rasa Lila was initiated on that visit, along with Bhakta Marga Swami, Advaita, and Meghamala. Varsana Maharaj, who was Kashyapa das at that time, took 2nd initiation. Yudhistira’s pastimes were centered on Prabhupada’s desire that New Vrindaban be a beacon of light in the process of establishing self-sufficiency in Iskcon farm communities. That we should depend on the cows, and train the oxen, so we could grow our own food, etc. All in all, it was a wonderful and interesting evening.
I personally am so happy that these monthly programs are being organized by Kripamaya prabhu. I’ve been to three so far this summer, and I’ve noticed that Srila Prabhupada always seems to have a big smile on his face, which tells me how pleased he is to have some of the local N.V. residents, newcomers, and guests visit him in his home and glorify him.
I just know that anyone who takes advantage of these sweet get-togethers will not be disappointed. They are all centered on pastimes of
Srila Prabhupada, his instructions, and his vision for New Vrindaban.
Besides our regular daily sadhana, it’s so important for devotees to come together and relish the stories and history of New Vrindaban. Hope to see you at the next one.
Haribol, your servant,
Sachimata devi dasi
Vaikuntha Lake Evening Programme with Mahavishnu Swami
Love is life’s driving force. We all want to love and be loved.
Our longing for love drives our lives and our dreams – to have great looks, to earn big money, to shine professionally. Through such achievements we hope to attract the love of others or show our love for them.
Conversely, few things demotivate us as much as the feeling of being unloved, unvalued, uncared. They take away our drive to achieve, leaving us apathetic and lethargic – depressed.
And such depression seems inevitable in life. Those whom we love don’t reciprocate our love, at least not as much as we desire. And even their partially reciprocated love is terminated by time, sooner or later. Such tragedies can kill our drive to achieve, even live, thereby drowning us in a bottomless depression.
Thankfully, we can transcend such depression if we understand the Gita’s vision of a supremely loving and lovable God. Krishna always loves us, values us, cares for us – no matter what happens, even no matter what we do. He loves us so much that he constantly accompanies us as the Supersoul in our heart. Even when we keep spurning his love, He keeps striving tirelessly to change our heart so that we join him in his eternal world of love.
In fact, Krishna loves love so much that in his personal abode he conceals his divinity so that love can reign supreme. Thus, he enthrones love as existence’s crowning reality.
When we truly understand Krishna and his love, we cannot but offer all of our heart’s love to him, as the Bhagavad-gita (15.19) indicates. Then, life’s driving force never loses force, but continues forever, catalyzing us to live a fulfilling life in this world and catapulting us to an ecstatic life of eternal love in the next world.
***
Whoever knows Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without doubting, is the knower of everything. He therefore engages himself in full devotional service to Me, O son of Bharata.
At my lunch break and listening to Srimad Bhagavatam lecture 2.1.5 given at our temple yesterday by Gopa Vrndesh Prabhu. Drew this cartoon when these statements from the purport stood out :
“The foolish materially attached men are wasting their valuable time in the improvement of the material conditions of life by sleeping, indulging in sex life, developing economic conditions and maintaining a band of relatives who are to be vanquished in the air of oblivion.
Being engaged in all these materialistic activities, the living soul entangles himself in the cycle of the law of fruitive actions. This entails the chain of birth and death in the 8,400,000 species of life: the aquatics, the vegetables, the reptiles, the birds, the beasts, the uncivilized man, and then again the human form, which is the chance for getting out of the cycle of fruitive action.
Therefore, if one desires freedom from this vicious circle, then one must cease to act as a karmī or enjoyer of the results of one’s own work, good or bad. One should not do anything, either good or bad, on his own account, but must execute everything on behalf of the Supreme Lord, the ultimate proprietor of everything that be”.
The Supreme Lord is so full that for the deliverance of the conditioned soul He is the supplier and digester of foodstuff, the witness of his activity, and the giver of knowledge in the form of theVedas and as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, the teacher of the Bhagavad-gita. He is worshipable by the conditioned soul. Thus God is all-good; God is all-merciful.
From: ankush sharma
according to varnaashram dharam a person who is working in a bank and born in brahmin family following regulative principles and chanting 16 rounds ,who is he a brahmin or a vashya.please describe.
From: ANKUSH SHARMA
how many types of bodies in spiritual world ? and how one will get that particular body and family?
From: sadhupran das
Is it okay to contribute for krsna consious purposes(like for preaching), financially even when we are personally in debt?
From: Shivam Saraogi
This is in relation to the Srila Prabhupada quote "Is a devotee an escapist." It is said that 20 generations of a devotee goes back to the spiritual world with him. Isn't this a bodily identification? Please clarify (and forgive if i have committed any offense by asking this question).
From: Prashant
Can a devotee perform the Agnihotra yagna which is prescibed to enhance the positive energy of the surroundings? Does it only helps in the material advancement or does it helps in spiritual advancement as well?
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 3 May 2013, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.19.20)
Devotee: I have also heard that there is something called jiva apradha (offense to another living entity). Is that a speculation?
Kadamba Kanana Swami: Well, udvege divasa (CC. Antya- Lila 20.40), there are such statements for example, that one should not cause any anxiety to any living being and if we do then there are also reactions; that we should know. We should be ready to offer respect to all others. It does not say to all other devotees but ”to all others”. So, there are plenty of injunctions that we should not offend any living beings but the reactions are different when we start to offend vaisnavas. But we should not just stop at the vaisnavas and treat everyone else like dirt - no, we should be respectful to everyone.
Devotee: With vaisnava apradha, it is also by speech but with jiva apradha, we may speak badly of the karmis and so on?
Kadamba Kanana Swami: Sometimes a little bad is also all right. Narottama Das Thakur says that if we have anger that we can direct it towards the non-devotee, not towards the devotee. Sometimes you have to call a “spade a spade” and call people nonsense rascals which Prabhupada liked to do very much. And Prabhupada said things like, “I kick on their face,” and that was not offensive - that was appropriate.
However when we start imitating that, it may not be appropriate because we do not have the depth and vision. We start imitating left and right, “I kick this one on the face and that one is a rascal….”
So, especially in the beginning, we must be very careful and when we become more mature then we may be able to more clearly say who is at fault.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 3 May 2013, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.19.20)
Devotee: I have also heard that there is something called jiva apradha (offense to another living entity). Is that a speculation?
Kadamba Kanana Swami: Well, udvege divasa (CC. Antya- Lila 20.40), there are such statements for example, that one should not cause any anxiety to any living being and if we do then there are also reactions; that we should know. We should be ready to offer respect to all others. It does not say to all other devotees but ”to all others”. So, there are plenty of injunctions that we should not offend any living beings but the reactions are different when we start to offend vaisnavas. But we should not just stop at the vaisnavas and treat everyone else like dirt - no, we should be respectful to everyone.
Devotee: With vaisnava apradha, it is also by speech but with jiva apradha, we may speak badly of the karmis and so on?
Kadamba Kanana Swami: Sometimes a little bad is also all right. Narottama Das Thakur says that if we have anger that we can direct it towards the non-devotee, not towards the devotee. Sometimes you have to call a “spade a spade” and call people nonsense rascals which Prabhupada liked to do very much. And Prabhupada said things like, “I kick on their face,” and that was not offensive - that was appropriate.
However when we start imitating that, it may not be appropriate because we do not have the depth and vision. We start imitating left and right, “I kick this one on the face and that one is a rascal….”
So, especially in the beginning, we must be very careful and when we become more mature then we may be able to more clearly say who is at fault.
I’ve uploaded the recent classes recorded during my visit to Bhaktivadanta Manor it’s on the cloud as I enjoy listening to them whilst on the move but even nicer to share
HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami (1).mp3
From Subramanian
Athyahara means accumulating more than necessary. A vaishnava should keep only what is necessary for upkeep for daytoday existence. In this context how do we understand , Rupa and Sanathan Goswami accumulating boat loads of gold?
Last week 30 good hearted people decided to sacrifice their time and energy by coming to Matchless Gifts in London and spend the day decorating the whole building.We took this as a good opportunity to revamp the whole place.
Now we have new toilets,sinks,floors and a full paint job. It was all in honor of Nelson Mandela and his ethics. In the 80′s I used to distribute prasad to those people who would protest out side the South African embassy.
People love to support those personalities who put a cause about their own existence. Let’s distribute Srila Prabhupada lilmrita and in the future we will see thousands of volunteers engaging in devotional service.
Your servant Parasuram Das
East London Rathayatra will be on the 22nd September 2013.
We are calling all devotees from the UK and abroad to attend the second Rathayatra in Ilford, East London.
All brahmacaries, brahmacarinies, householders, sanyasis, Pandava send, devotee youth and children for the greatest party in East London ever.
Please come hungry to the best Rathayatra feast ever and invite your friends to be amazed by our wonderful stage program.Jai Jagannath, Jai Srila Prabhupada.
Enjoy the movie,(put together by Rajesh Hirani prabhu)
your servant Parasuram Das
For the old time New Vrindaban devotees who remember him, Vahna has left his body. We were notified 7/24/13 it may have been the 23rd. There will be a memorial service in about two weeks, details forthcoming.
He was 68 years old. He was preceded in leaving the planet by his father and his second wife Hladini. He is survived by his first wife Visvadhika, his son Rich (Paratha Sarthi) and two grandchildren.
He ran a poetry magazine at the end of the beat era and was the original publisher of some of Allan Gingsberg’s poetry, that was the crowd he rolled with. He was a poet himself and wrote hundreds if not thousands of poems. He has a book of poetry available from Amazon.con, The blind receptionist and other poems.
He moved to New Vrindaban in the early 1970″s (that was before my time (1973) so someone correct me if it was earlier) and was initiated by Srila Prabhupada. He built the house across the road from the Madhuban temple and was married to Hladini who lived with him there where she was the pujari at that time. His father was an early supporter of New Vrindaban.
He was a brilliant tortured soul who struggled with alcohol for most of his life. This caused him to avoid the direct association of devotees of whom he always spoke well and respected. As his son is going through his affects, he discovered a medical diagnosis that Vahna was schizophrenic and had some bipolar issues.
As his son said, he dealt with it by writing poetry, and had a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and a bead bag in the other. When he was at the funeral home making the arrangements for cremation, the director asked him if he wore any jewelry. He told him he always had his bead bag. They looked and found his hand in his bead bag.
When he wasn’t drinking, and he would have periods where he could keep it together months or even years at a time as in his early days at New Vrindaban, he was the sweetest person, who was always interesting to talk to.
To newer devotes all they would know of Vahna is seeing him walking from his house in Talaban to the Limestone General Store. Although he was walking there to get his booze, he had his hand in his bead bag as he walked.
He continued to live in New Vrindaban in Talaban until his passing. Once when Srila Prabhupada was here he told the devotees to just stay in New Vrindaban no matter what. While Vahna may have had his struggles, he did obey that instruction. He also never deviated from the instruction to chant Hare Krishna.
From Sheela Mataji
Srimad-Bhagavatam class.