In Any Language
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In any language, isn’t communicating what we really care about? And in any spiritual process, isn’t God consciousness all that really counts? Kevin Lahart of Newsday interviews His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Mr. Lahart: I wonder if you could tell me how you came to found the Krsna consciousness movement here in the United States? Srila
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Adding the Krishna Chemical
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“Water from the sky falling down on the ground looks muddy, but water is not muddy, it is clear. When the water is again filtered, and muddy things are precipitated, the water comes to its original lustre, crystal clear. So our Krishna Consciousness movement is that we have to clear our consciousness by the transcendental
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HG Urvashi Devi Dasi ACBSP departed
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HG Urvashi Devi Dasi ACBSP departed. HG Mahadevi Dasi : Dear Vaishnavas, a prayer request. Two days ago, one of Srila Prabhupada’s dear disciples suffered a stroke. Urvasi Devi Dasi was a pioneer of ISKCON in Toronto, serving as pujari and book distributor, and spending endless months selling paraphernalia on the streets to collect the
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SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM –Spiritual Science Exhibition by 300 children from ISKCON MIRA ROAD
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SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM –Spiritual Science Exhibition by 300 children from Narasimha Insititute for Childrens Education(NICE) Education wing of ISKCON MIRAROAD On the auspicious occasion of Ashad Ekadashi 10th July,2022 ,30 NICE teachers engaged 300 children to make 220 models on the topics of Srimad Bhagavatham covering all 12 cantos of Srimad Bhagavatham and 100 verses from
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Gopal Bhatta Goswami Disappearance
→ Ramai Swami

Shri Vyenkatta Bhatta was a Vaishnava brahmana and an inhabitant of Shri Rangakshetra. He belonged in the disciplic succession of Shri Ramanujacharya. Shri Rangam is one of the places of pilgrimage in the province of Tamila-desha. The inhabitants of that province do not retain the name Vyenkatta. It is therefore supposed that Vyenkatta Bhatta did not belong to that province, although he may have been residing there for a very long time. 

Vyenkatta Bhatta was a member of the Ramanuja Sampradaya known as Badagala. He had a brother in the Ramanuja Sampradaya known as Shripada Prabodhananda Saraswati. The son of Vyenkatta Bhatta was later known in the Gaudiya Sampradaya as Gopala Bhatta Goswami and he established the Radha-ramana temple in Vrindavana.

After receiving initiation from Sri Prabodhananda Sarasvati, Gopala Bhatta came to Vrndavana and became a dear friend of Sri Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis. He did bhajana in Vrndavana for forty-five years, mostly at Radha-kunda.

On pilgrimage he obtained twelve Salagrama silas. Later the Damodara sila manifested Himself as the beautiful Radha Ramana Deity. Since 1542, Radha Ramanaji has been worshiped with pure devotion following precise sastric rituals.

Lord Caitanya ordered Gopala Bhatta to write a book to check the spread of pseudo-loving rasas and negligence to vaidhi bhakti. In corroboration with Sri Sanatana Gosvami he compiled the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, the authorized book explaining the ritual and devotional practices of the Gaudiya ‘Vaisnavasampradaya. He also wrote Sat-kriya-dipika and the outline for Sri Jiva Gosvami’s Sat Sandarbhas.       

He eternally serves Srimati Radharani as one of Her asta manjaris, Guna-manjari. His samadhi is within Radha Ramanaji’s temple compound behind the appearance place of the Deity. Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami initiated Gopinatha (Pujari Gosvami), a lifelong brahmacari who served Radha Ramanaji for his whole life. Gopala Bhatta Gosvami initiated Srinivasa Acarya and many other stalwart Vaisnavas.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022
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Casa Loma, Toronto

Snazzy Buildings

Janardana Maharaja is a Filipino-born person who joined Krishna Consciousness in the ’80s, right in Toronto. He came from Catholic parents. “So did I,” I mentioned to Dayananda, American born and who joined Prabhupada’s movement in ’67.

“I came from a Quaker background,” he said. From there, the three of us, sitting in Govinda’s Restaurant, dove into the deeper history of the Protestants and Catholics, and of our indigenous people in North America. I said, “I heard the Quakers and the Puritans didn’t get along with each other.” That was my speculation.

Our conversation, after a great Govinda’s meal, delved more into our mission. I suddenly had a flashback to ’75, Dallas, when Dayananda was teaching and memorizing the Gita verse, na buddhi bedha janayed… This passage by Krishna is all about encouraging others into the spirit of bhakti. The Lord clearly states, “Do not disrupt the minds of the ignorant…”

That was so long ago, but the lesson Dayananda taught was like yesterday.

In reaching into the past, my usual walking partner, Vallabha Hari, interested our Floridian guests in a walk to the nearby Casa Loma, a handsome castle. The building is only ninety years old, but it has that ancient look. It turns out that many folks stroll up the hill to the famous castle. Upon returning to 243 Avenue Rd, the address of our temple/ashram, I could appreciate that I live in a rather posh building, like a castle. Now that all the doors and window frames have been given a fresh coat of satin black paint, it looks snazzy if not classy.

May the Source be with you!



 

4 km

Monday, July 11, 2022
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Yorkville, Toronto

Lessons on Life

Halifax and Toronto Zoom-ed together on a call to explore the first two lessons taught by Sri Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita. Chapter 2, verse 12 opens up in revealing the mystical trait in all of us; the eternal factor in all of us. Yes, all of us, regardless of vocation, we all live eternally. One additional point we made in our discussion is that all beings are permanent spirits.

Verse 13 elaborates more on the concept of true recycling. Our bodies, made of matter, adjust through birth, death and all changes in between to end up as dust only to be reshaped as a new body. The soul stays as one despite bodily changes. This lesson number 2 is a full endorsement on reincarnation.

Our listening and discussing group were diving into these first two sessions, which were logical points by Krishna to discourage being too emotional at times when work needs to be done. In fact, He will repeat over and over that one should not lament.

This evening after the Gita Chat, it was imperative that I head to the street for a walk. Vallabha, Vrnda and I headed south towards Yorkville. It started to rain and I thought perhaps these were tears of lamentation – clouds being separated from the ocean; a kind of home-sickness. When you think about the way of the elements, they display a form of recycling involving wind, fire, water, space, etc. We need only to enjoy the passion of it all as Krishna’s artistry.

May the Source be with you!

3 km


 

Sunday, July 10, 2022
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Montreal, Quebec

With a Book On the Way

On the second day of the Chariot Fest we had more joy. As always one of the main features is people. Why are festivals put on in the first place? In order for people to have a leisurely time. Just for gaining a balance in life some recreation is required. In the context of Krishna Consciousness chanting, dancing, having some good prasadamand philosophising are tension relievers.

Another area of activity that offers comfort is what our dear Srila Prabhupada gave us; books to read and encouraging his students to write on their realizations. I brought with me a copy of Blazing Sadhus or Never Trust a Holy Man Who Can’t Dance:by Achyutananda Das, as I knew the weekend drive to and from Montreal/Toronto eats up a good twelve hours plus.

The driver of our four-car-caravan vehicle was Brhat Mrdanga who heard about the book and encouraged me to read aloud whenever I could on the journey and back. Well, he was having the greatest laugh and so was I. not all Vaishnava literature is so rigid and stiff. In particular, this one highlights the authors journey to bhakti, devotion, when he stumbled upon Swamiji (Prabhupada) on the lower east side of New York.

If I could quote from the outside cover, “Do you know what just happened in there? Do you know what he just did? He gave me the answers to the most cosmic, theological, universal, eternal questions ever asked! And like it was just matter-of-fact! Then he thanks me for asking! I gotta tell people about this.”

May the Source be with you!


 

Saturday, July 9, 2022
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Montreal, Quebec

Festival Back in Montreal

The local devotees of Krishna Consciousness pulled off a great fest today; the first of two days to honour Jagannatha, the Lord of the Universe, on this 44th celebration. Back they are to the procession on Ste. Laurent and then to Rue Mont Royale. Our group from Toronto and the Bhakti Academy took to the stage for the performance of “Demon.” Actually, community theatre like this is very meaningful. My experience tells of the best form of teamwork. From age eight up to my age (I’ll be 70 this year) our troupe put hours of anticipation in an offering to our public at Jeanne Mance Parc.

Once my duty of assembling the play and delegation of responsibilities were over, it was time for me to take to another duty and habit. It’s usually an annual trek for me to walk back to the ashram in Montreal’s Hochelaga, a mere eight kilometres. I get the chance to wind down from the crowds and connect a bit more with the city and its people.

So, I set out on Mont Royale, which for many blocks is open only for pedestrians. What a treat that is! In terms of directions, all I had to do was to move towards Olympic Stadium, which is a towering symbol in the Montreal skyscape. I was chanting on my beads all the way and keeping that tie-in and buy-in with Krishna and His great devotee, Prahlada.

The sun was setting by the time I arrived at the temple/ashram on Pie IX Blvd. It was great being on the street and being at home.

May the Source be with you!

10 km



 

The Cool Breeze of Krishna’s Grace
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“When we remember always to have unflinching faith in the spiritual master and the message of Krishna then automatically we become free from the attacking Maya. In the material concept also everyone is trying to avoid the onslaughts of Maya but with no success. To the sincere devotee, however, this ocean of maya is easily
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Two FFL Devotees Killed in Donbass Ukraine
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Krishna-tattva Das (right) and Madana-gopal Das (left) killed in missile attack in Donbass  On July 16, two Food For Life devotees in Alchevsk (Donbass) — Krsna-tattva Prabhu, director of the program, and Madana-gopal Prabhu — were killed in a missile strike that hit the Food For Life kitchen. They had just returned from prasadam distribution […]

The post Two FFL Devotees Killed in Donbass Ukraine appeared first on ISKCON News.

Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s Disappearance Day
Giriraj Swami

Today I thought to read a verse and purport about Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten, “The Branches of the Caitanya Tree”:

TEXT 105

sri gopala bhatta eka sakha sarvottama
rupa-sanatana-sange yanra prema-alapana

TRANSLATION

Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches of the tree. He always engaged in discourses about love of Godhead in the company of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was the son of Venkata Bhatta, a resident of Sri Rangam. Gopala Bhatta formerly belonged to the disciplic succession of the Ramanuja-sampradaya but later became part of the Gaudiya-sampradaya. In the year 1433 Sakabda (A.D. 1511), when Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was touring South India, He stayed for four months during the period of Caturmasya at the house of Venkata Bhatta, who then got the opportunity to serve the Lord to his heart’s content. Gopala Bhatta also got the opportunity to serve the Lord at this time. Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was later initiated by his uncle, the great sannyasi Prabodhananda Sarasvati. Both the father and the mother of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami were extremely fortunate, for they dedicated their entire lives to the service of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They allowed Gopala Bhatta Gosvami to go to Vrndavana, and they gave up their lives thinking of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When Lord Caitanya was later informed that Gopala Bhatta Gosvami had gone to Vrndavana and met Sri Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami, He was very pleased, and He advised Sri Rupa and Sanatana to accept Gopala Bhatta Gosvami as their younger brother and take care of him. Sri Sanatana Gosvami, out of his great affection for Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, compiled the Vaisnava smrti named Hari-bhakti-vilasa and published it under his name. Under the instruction of Srila Rupa and Sanatana, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami installed one of the seven principal Deities of Vrndavana, the Radharamana Deity. The sevaits (priests) of the Radharamana temple belong to the Gaudiya-sampradaya.

COMMENT

Actually, one of the families entrusted with the Deity service at the Radha-ramana Mandir has a history of relations with the line of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. Visvambhara Gosvami’s father or grandfather had relations with Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the family maintained relations with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and then Visvambhara Gosvami had very friendly relations with Srila Prabhupada. And he spoke very nicely about Srila Prabhupada. Now Visvambhara Gosvami’s son Padmanabha Gosvami is also very favorable to ISKCON. In fact, ISKCON devotees often honor prasada at his home at the Radha-ramana Mandir. When I took prasada there with His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, Padmanabha Gosvami showed us a letter that Srila Prabhupada had written to his father, Visvambhara Gosvami, about how all Vaishnavas should cooperate. So, not only does the Radha-ramana temple belong to the Gaudiya-sampradaya, but at least some of the sevaits have had close relations with the line of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

PURPORT (concluded)

When Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami took permission from all the Vaisnavas before writing Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami also gave him his blessings, but he requested him not to mention his name in the book. Therefore Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami has mentioned Gopala Bhatta Gosvami only very cautiously in one or two passages of the Caitanya-caritamrta. Srila Jiva Gosvami has written in the beginning of his Tattva-sandarbha, “A devotee from southern India who was born of a brahmana family and was a very intimate friend of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami has written a book that he has not compiled chronologically. Therefore I, a tiny living entity known as jiva, am trying to assort the events of the book chronologically, consulting the direction of great personalities like Madhvacarya, Sridhara Svami, Ramanujacarya, and other senior Vaisnavas in the disciplic succession.” In the beginning of the Bhagavat-sandarbha there are similar statements by Srila Jiva Gosvami. Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami compiled a book called Sat-kriya-sara-dipika, edited the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, wrote a foreword to the Sat-sandarbha and a commentary on the Krsna-karnamrta, and installed the Radharamana Deity in Vrndavana. In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (184) it is mentioned that his previous name in the pastimes of Lord Krsna was Ananga-manjari. Sometimes he is also said to have been an incarnation of Guna-manjari. Srinivasa Acarya and Gopinatha Pujari were two of his disciples.

COMMENT

Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami ki jaya!

One story about Gopala Bhatta Gosvami is that on the eve of Nrsimha-caturdasi all the other Gosvamis and Vaishnavas in Vrindavan were preparing to worship their Deities and hold festivals. Gopala Bhatta Gosvami had only a salagrama-sila; he didn’t have a Deity with arms and legs and a body that he could dress and decorate. So he was feeling deprived of the opportunity to serve like the other devotees who had Deities they could serve in these ways. And out of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s strong desire, a salagrama-sila became manifest in the form of Radha-ramana. Radha-ramana is considered the most beautiful Deity of Krishna. He is the one original Deity of the Gosvamis that has remained in Vrindavan, while the others had to be taken elsewhere for fear of the Muslim invaders. And near the temple of Radha-ramana in Vrindavan is the samadhi of Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami.

Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s uncle and siksa-guru was Prabodhananda Sarasvati. His samadhi is also located in Vrindavan, just off the parikrama path near Kaliya-ghata, quite near our Krishna-Balaram Mandir. So, often when we go on parikrama down the path near the Yamuna, we visit Prabodhananda Sarasvati’s samadhi and bhajana-kutira. And then we proceed to Srila Sanatana Gosvami’s samadhi. Srila Sanatana Gosvami was the most senior of the Gosvamis and was also a close associate and instructor of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. In fact, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami worked with Sanatana Gosvami to produce the great treatise Hari-bhakti-vilasa.

I feel that Gopala Bhatta Gosvami has been especially merciful to me on two occasions. On one, I visited his bhajana-kutira at Sanketa, a place between Nandagrama and Varsana where Radha and Krishna used to meet and sometimes perform rasa-lila. Gopala Bhatta would sit and chant underground in a deep cavern accessible only through a long, narrow passage. At the end of the passage was a somewhat roomier place where Gopala Bhatta used to chant, now marked as his bhajana-sthala. I remember going there with Tamal Krishna Goswami and others on a very hot day and struggling to crawl through the passage to the bhajana-sthala. It was difficult, but when I finally reached there, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was very merciful: he allowed me to chant with a glimpse of taste. And after all the devotees emerged from the cavern, I stole back in. I crawled back to Gopala Bhatta’s lotus feet, and I sat there chanting. I will never forget his mercy to me there, and I pray that he will enable me to chant with relish and love.

On the other occasion, during Kartik of 1999, shortly before my surgery, I visited Gopala Bhatta’s samadhi near the Radha-ramana Mandir. We arrived just after raja-bhoga-arati, and the pujari was closing the doors to the samadhi-mandira. But he was kind enough to open them for us and allow us darshan of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. He gave us some flowers and caranamrta and invited us to stay for prasada. Thus our small party, along with some local sadhus, honored Gopala Bhatta’s maha-maha-prasadam with great relish, and we even stayed to take a little rest before we continued on our way, filled with bliss. So, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami is very kind.

 Years later, when some of my disciples from Bombay went to Vrindavan on pilgrimage, they visited the samadhi. They told the pujaris about me, how my health no longer allowed me to visit Vraja, and asked for some prasada for me. And one of the pujaris kindly gave them a piece of cloth from the samadhi. It is very special. Now, twice a year, once on Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s appearance day and once on his disappearance day, we bring it out and touch it. So now we shall pass it around and touch it to our heads and to our hearts—and pray to Gopala Bhatta Gosvami for his sublime mercy.

Thank you.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day, July 31, 2002, Carpinteria, California]