Ramanujacharya: The Statue of Equality
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On February 5th, 2022 the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Inaugurated the ‘Statue of Equality of Sri Ramanujacarya as part of the 12-day ongoing 1000th birth anniversary celebrations of the saint.

The 216-foot tall statue is among the tallest metallic sitting statues in the world. It is located in a 45-acre complex on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The foundation stone was laid in 2014. The project cost Rs 1,000 crores and was funded fully by donations from devotees all over the world.

The statue consists of five metals or “panchaloha” consisting of gold, silver, zinc, brass, and copper. It has been constructed on a base-building “Bhadra Vedi” that is 54 ft tall. The building has floors for a Vedic digital library and research center, ancient Indian texts, a theater, and an educational gallery detailing the works of Ramanujacharya. The base will have a meditation hall where a small, 120 kg gold statue of the saint will represent the years he lived.

The Statue of Equality was conceptualized by Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swami of Sri Ramanujacharya Ashram. There are 108 Divya Desams (ornately carved temples) surrounding the Statue of Equality.

The Prime Minister took a tour of the Divya Desams as well before the inauguration.

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The Passing of Lata Mangeshkar
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The legendary singer and most recorded artist in the world (Guinness World Records) passed away on February 6, 2022 at the age of 92. I had the good fortune of meeting her in 1976 and spending several hours one on one with her over a three-day period.

In the summer of 1976, I received a call from Jagatpurusa das from Mumbai. He said that Lata (she told me to call her by her first name) and Mukesh were coming to Houston to perform in a concert and requested if I could arrange daily prasad for her and Mukesh. Lata and Mukesh (and support staff) stayed at the Greenway Plaza Hotel (now a Doubletree) located in an office complex, coincidentally the same complex where I worked. I took this as a great opportunity to provide prasadam to a legend. I brought them lunch for the three days of her stay and also carried along a Fairchild portable projector to show her the latest movies by Yadubara Prabhu.

Lata and Mukesh relished the movies. After the showing, Lata and I had a private conversation. She revealed that all the movie love songs she sings are just her duty but her only real love is bhajans. Lata said it with such conviction and with tears in her kindly eyes. Even though she was one of the most recorded singers in the world, her humility and devotion were striking and palpable. Lata also privately mentioned that Mukesh had little interest or faith in bhajans and I should speak with him. On the following day, Mukesh and I went on a long walk. Later that day, Lata told me that his heart had changed, and he agreed to take up chanting bhajans beginning that very day.

Two weeks later, while on tour in Detroit, Mukesh died of a heart attack. Due to the kindness and concern of Lata he had a change of heart before his untimely death at 53 years.

Lata was a friend of ISKCON and a wonderful Vaishnavi with the voice of a nightingale.

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The Appearance of Lord Varaha
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The Lila (pastime) of Lord Varaha

From ISKCON Bangalore

In ancient times there were two brothers named Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. They were demons born to sage Kashyapa Muni. They flaunted uncommon bodily features and had steel-like frames which grew just like mountains. Their bodies became so tall they seemed to kiss the sky with the crests of their golden crowns. They blocked the view in all directions, and while walking shook the earth with their every step.

The younger demon, Hiranyaksha, was a greedy exploiter of gold. He exploited enough gold from the earth to cause it to spin out of orbit. It then fell into the ocean.

Lord Brahma who was the creator of the Universe was thinking of how to lift the earth which was submerged in water. At this time, the small form of a boar came out of his nostril. The measurement of the creature was not more than the upper portion of a thumb. While Brahma was looking at it, that boar became situated in the sky like a gigantic elephant. Then the boar roared like a rolling mountain. Brahma and the other demigods who saw this came to know that he was an incarnation of Lord Krishna and offered their prayers.

Playing like an elephant, Lord Varaha (the boar) flew in the sky, slashing his tail, his hard hairs quivering. He scattered the clouds in the sky with his hooves and glittering white tusks. As Lord Krishna had assumed the form of a boar He searched for the earth by smell. Diving into the water like a giant mountain, He split the ocean into two huge waves. Lord Varaha penetrated the water with His hooves, sharp like arrows. There he saw the earth, the resting place for all living beings, lying as it was at the beginning of creation. Then He easily took the earth on His tusks and lifted it out of the water. With His anger glowing like molten coals, Lord Varaha then accosted the demon Hiranyaksha.

Thereupon Lord Varaha killed the demon within the water, just as a lion kills an elephant. The cheeks and tongue of the Lord became smeared with the blood of the demon, just as an elephant becomes reddish from digging in the purple earth.

In this manner the Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna the maintainer of all living entities, raised the earth from within the water, and having placed it afloat on the water, He returned to His abode.

 

Shastra (scripture)

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Canto Three, Chapter 13

The Appearance of Lord Varāha: Canto 3 Chapter 13

TEXT 17

Brahmā thought: While I have been engaged in the process of creation, the earth has been inundated by a deluge and has gone down into the depths of the ocean. What can we do who are engaged in this matter of creation? It is best to let the Almighty Lord direct us.

Text 18

O sinless Vidura, all of a sudden, while Brahmā was engaged in thinking, a small form of a boar came out of his nostril. The measurement of the creature was not more than the upper portion of a thumb.

Text 19

O descendant of Bharata, while Brahmā was observing Him, that boar became situated in the sky in a wonderful manifestation as gigantic as a great elephant.

Text 20

Struck with wonder at observing the wonderful boarlike form in the sky, Brahmā, with great brāhmaṇas like Marīci, as well as the Kumāras and Manu, began to argue in various ways.

 

Observance

The Appearance day of Lord Varaha is also known as Varaha Dvadasi, for it falls the day after Bhaimi Ekadashi. Ekadashi fast the day before is fasting from grains and beans, and on Varaha Dvadasi we fast till noon.

 

 

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Srila Prabhupada Arrives in South Korea
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Patanjali Muni das is head of the kitchen at Bhaktivedanta Manor, and he also oversees the preaching activities in ISKCON South Korea. Recently he ceremoniously received the life-size murti (sacred image) of Srila Prabhupada in the temple of Sri Sri Radha Krishnachandra, which is situated on the border of South Korea near to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which divides the South from the North.

Patanjali Muni das bathing the murti of Srila Prabhupada

Srila Prabhupada was received with kirtan and a fire yagya was offered and also a full welcoming and bathing ceremony was held. The historical event for the country was attended by dignitaries and other faith members, as well as the devotee community.

“It is a great leap for the preaching efforts for ISKCON South Korea,” explained Patanjali Muni das. “Srila Prabhupada is now gracing them in his full-size murti form, overseeing their preaching efforts and the mission to spread Krsna consciousness and goodwill amongst the Korean people”.

 

 

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Indian Tribal Care Trust Mobile Medical Unit
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India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) is a US-based non-profit charity. They aim to support the poverty-stricken people of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Their focus is to empower poor people through means of education and skill development, thereby making them capable of living a sustainable life. They serve beyond the boundaries of caste, creed, and color.

In January 2022, IDRF extended its support to the India Tribal Care Trust (ITCT) through the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) by providing a mobile medical vehicle.

The India Tribal Care Trust is an organization that serves to provide a prosperous, healthy, educated, and culturally rich life for tribal communities. Their goal is to help maintain the tribal heritage which is becoming endangered. They have been providing education for children, health care facilities, and uplifting people’s lives with spiritual philosophy. India Tribal Care Trust is putting its time and energy into looking after the neglected communities of South Asia. They have been successful in implementing the principle of simple living and high thinking by sustaining their lives through agriculture.

Bhakti Purushottam Swami, the founder of India Tribal Care Trust, appreciated the efforts of IDRF in his own words; “Last five, six years we have been serving the tribal people. The tribal people are very neglected, the trust especially is taking care of five areas, helping tribal people find areas, health care, educational care, social care, emotional care, and spiritual care. So this is a bus, we have got a donation from America. India development and relief fund from the USA, has given this to India tribal care trust for implementation. So, we’re grateful to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.”

They aim to use this medical bus as a mobile medical clinic, where nurses, doctors, and medicines will be available. The bus is equipped with an ECG machine and oxygen. Under an emergency situation, this could be used as an ambulance to relocate people to a hospital and provide immediate care on the way.

They have already begun their free health camp on January 24th with this mobile medical van to serve people in tribal communities in Jhargram, West Bengal.

Please visit Support India Tribal Care Trust Provide Free Basic Healthcare Facilities To Tribal Communities

 

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Sri Varaha-dvadasi
Giriraj Swami

Today is Varaha-dvadasi, the appearance day of the boar incarnation, Varahadeva. To celebrate His appearance, we shall read one verse about Him from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: “Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions.”

TEXT 1

                       brahmovaca
yatrodyatah ksiti-taloddharanaya bibhrat
    kraudim tanum sakala-yajna-mayim anantah
antar-maharnava upagatam adi-daityam
    tam damstrayadrim iva vajra-dharo dadara

TRANSLATION

Lord Brahma said: When the unlimitedly powerful Lord assumed the form of a boar as a pastime, just to lift the planet earth, which was drowned in the great ocean of the universe called the Garbhodaka, the first demon [Hiranyaksa] appeared, and the Lord pierced him with His tusk.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Since the beginning of creation, the demons and the demigods, or the Vaisnavas, are always the two classes of living beings to dominate the planets of the universes. Lord Brahma is the first demigod, and Hiranyaksa is the first demon in this universe.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

From the beginning of creation, there have been two classes of human beings in the universe. One is the demigods, or the devotees, who are favorable to Lord Vishnu, and the other is the demons, who are against Lord Vishnu. The difference between them has existed from the beginning of creation, and the competition between them has continued until now. There are always struggles and fights between the devotees and the demons.

Even to get the place where we are so comfortably sitting now, Hare Krishna Land, Juhu, there was a great struggle. Srila Prabhupada, the devotee, wanted to purchase the land to build a temple for Radha and Krishna, and so many enemies joined together to oppose him. Month after month, the struggle continued, until ultimately Srila Prabhupada and the devotees were successful.

Even after they acquired Hare Krishna Land, the struggle continued. So many enemies tried to stop the construction of the temple, but again, in the end, the devotees were successful and Srila Prabhupada was able to build this temple for Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihariji.

Even after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance, so many enemies tried to capture Hare Krishna Land and take the management of the temple from the devotees. They accused the devotees: we were CIA, we were spies, we were smugglers, we were this, we were that. They even claimed that the chakras on top of the temple domes were radio antennas for sending and receiving secret messages, and such ridiculous stories were published all over the newspapers. Finally, these enemies induced the police to make a thorough search of the entire premises.

The police came to look for radios, contraband, and whatnot, and eventually they wanted to search Srila Prabhupada’s personal quarters on the fifth floor of the west tower. His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami was the GBC for Bombay, so he accompanied the officer to Prabhupada’s quarters. When the officer saw the quarters, he paused and asked, “Do you know why we are searching Hare Krishna Land?” Goswami Maharaja replied, “Because there are so many foreigners here.” The inspector in charge of the investigation said, “There are more foreigners at the Holiday Inn, so why are we not searching there?” Tamal Krishna Goswami replied, “I don’t know. Maybe you should say.” Then the officer said, “At the Holiday Inn they eat meat, they take intoxicants, they gamble, and they have illicit sex, so no one bothers about them. But here you don’t eat meat, fish, or eggs; you don’t take intoxicants; you don’t have illicit sex; and you don’t gamble. And you broadcast very loudly that people should not eat meat, should not take intoxicants, should not have illicit sex, and should not gamble. That is why we are investigating you. People are comfortable with sense gratification, so where there is sense gratification they feel comfortable. But you are giving up sense gratification, announcing it, and telling others to give it up as well. So people get disturbed, become suspicious, and want to know what’s happening, because they can’t understand how people can actually give up sense gratification. That’s why we are investigating you.”

Shortly thereafter, I happened to read a purport in Srimad-Bhagavatam in which Srila Prabhupada states that the demons want to create a godless society in which they can enjoy sense gratification without restriction: “Demons are very much disturbed when devotees worship the Lord in the prescribed ways recommended in the scriptures. In the Vedic scriptures, the devotees are advised to engage in nine kinds of devotional service, such as to hear and chant the holy name of God, to remember Him always, to chant on beads Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, to worship the Lord in the form of His Deity incarnation in the temples, and to engage in various activities of Krsna consciousness to increase the number of godly persons for perfect peace in the world. Demons do not like such activity. They are always envious of God and His devotees. Their propaganda not to worship in the temple or church but simply to make material advancement for satisfaction of the senses is always current. . . . Demons are always anxious to have a godless society for their sense gratification.” (SB 3.18.5 purport)

So, that is the motive of the demons. They want to create a state of godlessness where they can indulge in sense gratification without restriction, and the devotees stand opposed to godlessness, opposed to sinful activities in defiance of God’s laws. Therefore there is always conflict and struggle. From the beginning of creation to the present, there is always a struggle between the devotees and the demons. The devotees want to establish the order of God, and the demons want to tear down God and God’s order.

Hiranyaksa is described as the first demon, and he was killed by the boar incarnation at the beginning of the creation.

PURPORT (continued)

Only under certain conditions do the planets float as weightless balls in the air, and as soon as these conditions are disturbed, the planets may fall down in the Garbhodaka Ocean, which covers half the universe. The other half is the spherical dome within which the innumerable planetary systems exist.

COMMENT

The universe is a hollow sphere. In the lower half of the sphere is the Garbhodaka Ocean, and in the upper half is space, and within space so many planets are floating or orbiting. There is a very delicate balance that keeps the planets in space, and if the balance is disturbed, the planet may fall down into the Garbhodaka Ocean.

PURPORT (continued)

The floating of the planets in the weightless air is due to the inner constitution of the globes, and the modernized drilling of the earth to exploit oil from within is a sort of disturbance by the modern demons and can result in a greatly harmful reaction to the floating condition of the earth.

COMMENT

The demons do not appreciate the order of the universe created by God. They take everything for granted. They think they can transgress the laws of God without any reaction. They do not know that the creation is engineered very precisely and that if they disturb the natural order, there could be severe consequences. Now people are becoming aware of the threat to the planet and the environment. Just a slight shift in the earth’s axis or orbit will completely change the temperature, change the seasons, change the climate, and affect the ecology. But the demons don’t understand or care that by drilling the earth and extracting oil they can actually disturb the orbit of the earth, what to speak of other harmful effects. The devotees understand the laws of God and the laws of nature and try to act accordingly. And the demons defy the laws of God and do whatever they want. But the result of such independent activities is that they create disturbance for themselves and for others. The earth is surrounded by air and space. We cannot measure the atmosphere around the earth, it is so vast. But the biggest things we know—the oceans and the air—are now being polluted because of disregard for the laws of God and nature.

It is not that the devotees are competing with the demons because they want to enjoy supremacy. Actually, devotees have no selfish interest. They just want to see that the people of the universe, all living entities in the universe, are peaceful and happy. But they know that people can be happy only if they surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead and follow His orders. So out of compassion for others—not for any personal self-interest—they want society to be organized according to the laws of God. And because the demons disturb the natural order and cause innocent people to suffer, devotees feel concerned, and therefore, if necessary, they intervene. They fight with the demons to place the universe in the right hands, in the hands of persons who are submissive to the will of God, to the scriptures.

PURPORT (continued)

A similar disturbance was created formerly by the demons headed by Hiranyaksa (the great exploiter of the gold rush), and the earth was detached from its weightless condition and fell down into the Garbhodaka Ocean. The Lord, as maintainer of the whole creation of the material world, therefore assumed the gigantic form of a boar with a proportionate snout and picked up the earth from within the water of Garbhodaka.

COMMENT

Sri Varaha Bhagavan ki jaya!

The Lord is the creator of the universe. As the father of all living entities, He is concerned for all of His children in the universe. So, when the earth fell down into the Garbhodaka Ocean, the Lord assumed the form of Lord Varaha in order to pick it up. He assumed a form that was suitable for the purpose—the form of a boar with a long snout, which could enter into the water and lift up the earth planet.

PURPORT (continued)

Sri Jayadeva Gosvami, the great Vaisnava poet, sang as follows:

vasati dasana-sikhare dharani tava lagna
sasini kalanka-kaleva nimagna
kesava dhrta-sukara-rupa
jaya jagadisa hare

“O Kesava! O Supreme Lord who have assumed the form of a boar! O Lord! The planet earth rested on Your tusks, and it appeared like the moon engraved with spots.”

Such is the symptom of an incarnation of the Lord. The incarnation of the Lord is not the concocted idea of fanciful men who create an incarnation out of imagination. The incarnation of the Lord appears under certain extraordinary circumstances like the above-mentioned occasion, and the incarnation performs a task which is not even imaginable by the tiny brain of mankind. The modern creators of the many cheap incarnations may take note of the factual incarnation of God as the gigantic boar with a suitable snout to carry the planet earth.

COMMENT

As any sensitive and intelligent devotee would notice, most of the public media is controlled by demons. They use the media to promote materialism, and quite often they use the media to mar spiritualism. During the struggle for Hare Krishna Land, the demons were very active. And apart from the articles that appeared against us, there were many articles that were designed to make a farce of religion. There was a newsmagazine, The Illustrated Weekly of India, that was very popular, and based on its editorial policy, the editor, Khushwant Singh, seemed to be a demon. “Demon” doesn’t mean having ten heads and twenty arms. Demons can also look like you or me. But they are considered demons because they are against the supremacy of the Lord. So, this Khushwant Singh published an article by one Agehananda Bharati, an Austrian scholar who had become a sannyasi, in which Dr. Bharati gave his account of his debate with our Hridayananda dasa, in which he had claimed that Lord Shiva was supreme and advocated the chanting of Lord Shiva’s name.

I could understand that the idea of the article was to make both Bharati and us look foolish—religious fanatics fighting like children over nothing: “Krishna is supreme.” “No, Shiva is supreme.” “You should chant Hare Krishna.” “No, you should chant Shiva Shiva.” So, I wrote Srila Prabhupada what the editor had done, and Srila Prabhupada agreed: “Yes, Giriraj is right. Bharati is a fool, but Singh is a demon.”

Demons try to make religious people look silly so that intelligent people reject religion. Of course, much of what passes as religion is actually fanaticism, and Srila Prabhupada commented that in the present age intelligent people will be skeptical because so many cheaters adopt the guise of religious leaders. But then again, Srila Prabhupada also said that just because there is counterfeit money, it doesn’t mean there is no real money. Just because there are false religious leaders or false incarnations, it doesn’t mean there are no true representatives of God or true incarnations of God.

A real incarnation of God does things that no one else can do, that ordinary human beings cannot even imagine. The Lord assuming the form of a boar and lifting the earth from the bottom of the Garbhodaka Ocean? We can’t even imagine it. These are the activities of real incarnations—not making ashes. Anyone can make ashes just by burning agarbatti, incense. You don’t need an incarnation to make ashes. So, we should judge. Who is an incarnation? One who can do something that no one else can do.

In one sense, Srila Prabhupada is also an incarnation—saktyavesa-avatara. He did what no one else could do: spread Krishna consciousness to every town and village in the world. Of course, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the incarnation of Krishna for the age of Kali described in the scriptures, had desired it: prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama/ sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama: “In every town and village in every country of the world, the glories of My name will be chanted.” (Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya 4.126) But five hundred years passed, and it was actually Srila Prabhupada who fulfilled the prediction and desire of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, which no one else had been able to do. Therefore Srila Prabhupada is accepted as saktyavesa-avatara, a living entity who is imbued with the potency of God. Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Antya 7.11) confirms:

kali-kalera dharma-krsna-nama-sankirtana
krsna-sakti vina nahe tara pravartana

“The fundamental religious system in the Age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Krsna. Unless empowered by Krsna, one cannot propagate the sankirtana movement.” The religious system for Kali-yuga is the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, sankirtana. And krsna-sakti vina nahe tara pravartana: unless one is blessed with krsna-sakti, the energy of Krishna, one cannot spread the chanting of the holy name all over the world. Because Srila Prabhupada was blessed with krsna-sakti, he was able to spread the sankirtana movement throughout the whole world.

Still, Srila Prabhupada presented himself as the humble servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord, and generally we also worship him as the humble servant of the servant of the servant of Lord Krishna. And we want to be his servant, or the servant of his servants. That is the position of a Vaishnava: gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah. Even Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu presented Himself as such:

naham vipro na ca nara-patir napi vaisyo na sudro
   naham varni na ca grha-patir no vanastho yatir va
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramananda-purnamrtabdher
   gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah

“I am not a brahmana, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vaisya or a sudra. Nor am I a brahmacari, a householder, a vanaprastha or a sannyasi. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krsna, the maintainer of the gopis. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.” (Cc Madhya 13.80)

“But if you are not a brahman, not a kshatriya, not a vaishya, and not a sudra, if you are not a brahmachari, not a grihastha, not a vanaprastha, and not a sannyasi, then what are you?” Gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah: “I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna, the maintainer of the gopis of Vrindavan.” So, that is the identity of a Vaishnava. He has no other identity. He doesn’t identify with the material varnas and ashramas. He identifies himself as the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord.

In fact, Sisupala, who was also a great demon, criticized Lord Krishna, “No one knows Your caste. Sometimes You act as a cowherd boy, and sometimes You act as a warrior. So nobody knows Your caste, whether you are a kshatriya or a vaishya or what.” In Vedic civilization, to accuse someone of being without a caste is a great insult. Yet although Sisupala meant to criticize Krishna, indirectly he was glorifying Him, because the Lord—and the Vaishnava—is transcendental; he doesn’t belong to any caste. He doesn’t belong to any varna or any ashrama. So, mundane people or demonic people may criticize, “What are you? You are not a brahmana, not a kshatriya, not a vaishya, not a sudra. What are you? You don’t fit into our categories.” Or in the West, when we used to perform hari-nama-sankirtana in the streets of major cities, people would come up to us and shout, “Get a job!” But our business is to serve Krishna, and Krishna’s business is to enjoy transcendental bliss. Actually, Krishna and Krishna’s devotees are beyond material designations and categories. So although materialists may try to fit them into some category and then become bewildered or disturbed that they don’t fit, devotees know their own identities: they are just the servants of the servants of the servants of Krishna, the maintainer of the gopis of Vraja.

PURPORT (concluded)

When the Lord appeared to pick up the earth, the demon of the name Hiranyaksa tried to create a disturbance in the methodical functions of the Lord, and therefore he was killed by being pierced by the Lord’s tusk. According to Srila Jiva Gosvami, the demon Hiranyaksa was killed by the hand of the Lord and after being killed by the hand of the Lord, the demon was pierced by the tusk. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura confirms this version.

COMMENT

The Lord is absolute: He can perform any function with any limb. But He chose to kill the demon with His hand, and then He pierced the demon’s body with His tusk.

Now, what can we as devotees learn from this pastime? Of course, there are many lessons to learn from every pastime of the Lord. But we are also like planets in the sense that we stay afloat in Krishna consciousness by a delicate balance, and if there is a disturbance to that balance, we may fall down into the ocean of material existence. So we have to be careful to maintain our wholesome condition in spiritual life. And what is the balance? In general, Srila Prabhupada said that the balance is between hearing and chanting about Krishna in the morning and the evening and working for Krishna during the day. Thus Srila Prabhupada established the daily schedule for ISKCON: every morning from 4:30 to 8:30 the devotees come together in the temple and hear and chant about Krishna, and then again every evening from 7 to 9 they gather in the temple to hear and chant about Krishna, and during the day they engage in so many different activities for the spreading of Krishna consciousness. I don’t know if Srila Prabhupada himself used the term, but some devotees call it a “transcendental sandwich.” A sandwich is two pieces of bread with a filling in the middle. Similarly, we have the morning and evening programs, and in the middle we have our practical activities to spread Krishna consciousness. So, we have to keep the balance. We cannot imitate Haridasa Thakura and think that we can sit down and chant 300,000 names daily, because we can’t do it and don’t have the time to do it. Nor should we work like materialistic people, just keeping busy going here and there to get and spend money with no time to hear and chant about Krishna. We need to do both: hear and chant about Krishna and engage in practical service to spread Krishna consciousness.

And we should cultivate favorable relationships with devotees. Because we are social animals, if we don’t develop relationships with devotees, we will make relationships with nondevotees. Relationships with nondevotees will lead us into nondevotional activities or sinful activities, and ultimately we will commit offenses against devotees. So, to maintain the delicate balance, we need the association of devotees. Otherwise, if our outside engagements become too much and our spiritual association becomes too little, we may fall down into the material ocean.

But even if we fall down, grossly or subtly, the Lord, who is very kind, will pick us up. Specifically, the spiritual master will come and pick up the devotee if by chance the devotee falls from the standard of pure Krishna consciousness. So, we are not alone in our struggle. We do our best to follow the instructions we have received from sadhu, shastra, and guru. Still, because the material energy is very powerful, we may become bewildered and fall from the pure principles of Krishna consciousness. But the spiritual master will not leave us. As long as we are sincerely trying to serve him, he will not leave us; he will pick us up again and again. Just like a child who is learning to walk—because the child is weak, sometimes he or she might stumble and fall, but the parent will pick up the child and help him or her to walk again. The parent will actually hold the hand of the child, and the child, being helped by the parent, will walk without any fear or difficulty. So, in Krishna consciousness we are not alone. We don’t try to succeed by our own strength or our own intelligence. Rather, we are helped by the hand of the Lord, who extends Himself in the form of the spiritual master. And if we allow ourselves to be guided by the spiritual master, we can be relieved from all distress and disturbance.

For example, Arjuna was so confused; he did not know what to do. He saw arrayed on the battlefield before him his uncle, his cousin-brothers, his teachers, his superiors—people who loved him, who had fed him, who had trained him—and he was thinking, “How can I fight with them? How can I kill them? Even if I win the kingdom, how will I be able to enjoy it?” People want to enjoy some kingdom or some success or some facility with people they love. He was thinking, “Even if I win the battle and gain the kingdom, I won’t be able to enjoy it, because all the people I would want to enjoy it with will be dead, and I will be responsible.” He was bewildered, and eventually he became overwhelmed with grief. His limbs were shaking, and his eyes were full of tears. Although Arjuna was such a powerful kshatriya, such a fierce warrior, the material energy is so strong that even he was trembling, his eyes brimming with tears.

And then Arjuna made a critical decision. He decided to surrender to Krishna and accept Him as his spiritual master. He had been enjoying a relationship of friendship with Krishna. They would sit together as equals, dine together as equals, and in general enjoy together as equals. And Arjuna had relished that friendly relationship. But when he was bewildered about what to do and what not to do, he could not get any solution just by being friends with Krishna and talking with Him as equals. It was only when Arjuna decided to surrender to Krishna and accept Him as his spiritual master and take instruction from Him that Lord Krishna began to teach him the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita. Arjuna said, “I am confused about my duty—I do not know what to do—so now I am surrendering unto You. Please instruct me.”

karpanya-dosopahata-svabhavah
   prcchami tvam dharma-sammudha-cetah
yac chreyah syan niscitam bruhi tan me
   sisyas te ‘ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam

“Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.” (Gita 2.7) When Arjuna surrendered to Krishna, he asked Krishna to instruct him—what to do, how to solve this problem. And when he accepted Krishna’s instructions, all of his problems were solved.

Srila Prabhupada once wrote to a disciple, “Your enthusiastic response to my instructions is very encouraging. Actually, the disciple is supposed to find relief from all of his problems just by carrying out the orders of the spiritual master. In the beginning Arjuna was completely confused and lamenting, but after accepting Krishna and hearing from Him he said, ‘Now my illusion is over, and I am prepared to do whatever You say.’ If the guru is a representative of the Supreme Lord in disciplic succession and the student is sincere, only then he can get him out of the clutches of the material energy to become situated in spiritual happiness above all material desires, in Krishna consciousness.” (SP letter dated 4.5.1974)

So, this is our process. We don’t try to stay afloat by our own efforts, by our own intelligence. We take help from Krishna and Krishna’s representatives, and that will lift us up. Even if we have fallen down and become bewildered and confused—we don’t know what to do and what not to do—when we surrender to Krishna’s representative, he will pick us up by his guidance and mercy.

Today I read a letter from a devotee in Mauritius. In the beginning he related how after spending a few minutes with me and discussing some problems he had, his chanting improved. But then, after some time, the same problems came again—not as bad as before, but still, the same problems returned. I had given him five instructions, and he was not following one. So he wrote, “Please give me your mercy that I may follow your instructions.” Now, that appeal may sound nice, but in one case when a disciple prayed to Srila Prabhupada, “Please give me your mercy that I may follow your instructions,” Srila Prabhupada replied, “It is like a man who has fallen to the bottom of a well. I come and send down a rope to pull him out, and the man at the bottom prays, ‘Please give me your mercy. Please make my fingers curl around the rope.’” And with that, Srila Prabhupada made such a face of disgust. The person is giving you his mercy by sending down the rope. All you have to do is hold on to it and he will lift you up, and you are praying, “Please give me your mercy that my fingers will curl around the rope.” So, the spiritual master comes and sends down the rope of his instructions, and all you have to do is follow his instructions and he’ll lift you out of the deep, dark well of material existence and situate you at the lotus feet of Krishna. But at least you have to hold on to the rope. At least you have to try to follow the instructions—not even to follow perfectly, but at least try to follow the instructions—and he will lift you up.

Actually, our process, the descending process, is very easy. Knowledge descends from above. Mercy descends from above. We just have to accept it, and then the Lord will lift us up out of our abominable condition, just as Lord Boar lifted up the earth when it had fallen into the Garbhodaka Ocean. This is the mercy of Krishna. Sometimes Krishna comes personally, as one or another of so many incarnations, but generally He sends His representatives. And for us, the rope that can take us out of the material world back to Krishna is the disciplic succession. If we just hold on to the rope of the disciplic succession—the instructions of the disciplic succession—the disciplic succession will lift us out of the well of material existence and situate us at the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari in pure devotional service.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Mataji: [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: The question is: When we do something wrong, is it misuse of our free will, or is it the Lord’s arrangement to purify us?

Both may be true. We may misuse our free will and come into difficulty, but even then we are not alone. The Lord is there, and He wants us to learn from our mistake and rectify it. So, although the Lord is not responsible for our mistakes (nadatte kasyacit papam)—we are responsible—by the Lord’s mercy we can learn from our mistakes and be reinstated in our constitutional position and be stronger and better than we were before we made the mistake. Because we have learned from the mistake, we are actually better situated than before.

Devotee 1: [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, by the misuse of the free will we make the mistake, and by the mercy of the Lord we get the intelligence to realize our mistake and rectify it. Of course, the Lord’s mercy is open to everyone; it is the devotee’s openness to receiving the Lord’s mercy and being rectified that allows the devotee to be reinstated. Not everyone who makes a mistake is purified. But it is to the credit of the devotee that even after making the mistake he or she tries to take shelter of the Lord, to take shelter of the spiritual master, and by the mercy of the Lord and the spiritual master is able to improve, to come back to the proper standard.

Devotee 1: [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: She says that in Bombay people work late at night and then sleep late in the morning, so how to make our transcendental sandwich—how to strike a proper balance between spiritual activities and the material world?

Everyone has his minute independence. In most cases, if someone wants to take rest early and get up early, they can. Although there may be some jobs that require one to work late, still, if we give priority to hearing and chanting about Krishna, we will be able to find time. “Be there a will, and wisdom finds a way.” Many people watch television at night, or read the newspaper or go to clubs. They find time, because nobody can work day and night without recreation. They need some recreation. Generally, people work in the mode of passion, so they want relief from that mode. Sinful people get relief through the mode of ignorance: they go to a bar and get drunk; they engage in meat-eating, illicit sex, and gambling. They try to get relief from the mode of passion by plunging themselves into ignorance. And pious people get relief through the mode of goodness. They want to rise early, to chant Hare Krishna, to attend mangala-arati, to read Srimad-Bhagavatam. So, there is time for recreation. Nobody can work day and night, without recreation. And according to the person’s desire, he or she can seek recreation in sinful life or spiritual life.

If someone is really confused about how to organize their time, they can speak to some experienced devotee and get some suggestions. There are many devotees, even in Bombay, who work during the day, but they still chant sixteen rounds, come to the temple, attend satsangas, and read Prabhupada’s books. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Devotee 2: [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: He says that he read in an article by Khushwant Singh himself that Singh came to Hare Krishna Land, stayed in the guest house, closed the doors so that he wouldn’t be disturbed by conchshells, and drank whisky. He himself has written so.

When the sun rises, the owl goes into the cave; the owl doesn’t like sunlight, so he goes into the darkness of the cave. Krsna—surya-sama; maya haya andhakara/ yahan krsna, tahan nahi mayara adhikara. Godhead is light, and nescience is darkness. Where there is Godhead, there is no nescience, or darkness. Singh came here; he could have been in the light of Krishna consciousness, in the glory of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari. But he went to his room, closed the door, and drowned himself in the bottle. That was his free will. We do not force. Even Krishna does not force. After explaining everything to Arjuna, Krishna did not force him to fight. Rather, He told Arjuna, “Now you have heard everything that I have said; now yathecchasi tatha kuru—whatever you like you can do.” And immediately Arjuna replied, smrtir labdha: Now my memory has come back; now I remember my actual position. Now I am prepared to act as You instruct me. Karisye vacanam tava: I am prepared to act according to Your order. Krishna never forces. He gave Arjuna the choice. He explained everything, but in the end He gave Arjuna the choice, and Arjuna voluntarily surrendered: Karisye vacanam tava: Now I am prepared to act according to Your order.

So, I am sure that those who want to take the benefit of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari’s splendor and mercy and glory will do so. And those who want to close the door and open the bottle—they too have their free will. They too are free to do as they like—and enjoy or suffer the consequences.

Sri Varahadeva ki jaya!
Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari ki jaya!
Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Varaha-dvadasi, February 8, 1998, Juhu, Bombay]

ISKCON Scarborough – Live class on Lord Nithyananda and followed by Arti
→ ISKCON Scarborough

Hare Krishna!

Please accept our humble obeisances!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!


Date: 13th Feb 2022

Day: Sunday

Time: 11 am to 12 noon- Topic: "Pastimes of Lord Nithyananda"

Speaker: HG Dwaraka DD

Time: 12 noon to 12.30 pm -  Live Arti of the Deities


Link to join:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9150790510?pwd=Wk5GYXVRMkJmdk84MzZJRXBKYUgwUT09 



ISKCON Scarborough

3500 McNicoll Avenue, Unit #3,

Scarborough, Ontario,

Canada, M1V4C7

Website: www.iskconscarborough.org

Email:

iskconscarborough@hotmail.com

scarboroughiskcon@gmail.com

Does the word karma have different meanings in different contexts?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Podcast:

Transcriptions

Question: Does the word karma have different meanings in different contexts?

Answer: Many words in Sanskrit are multivalent, that means such words have many different meanings. Karma is one such word. If we consider- its various meanings, broadly it has four different meanings. Karma can refer to action, We all have to do our karma- karmaṇy evādhikāras te
mā phaleṣu kadācana. Here Krishna is clearly using the word karma, he is referring to the actions are meant to be done as our duty, So karma can refer to our action.

Karma can also refer to the reactions that we are going to get. I am suffering my own karma – viṣṇuḥ kenāpi karmaṇā. In the prayers of Pingala, she says I have got this detachment rising in me because of as a reaction to some good karma that I may have done in the past, So karma can also refer to reaction to the action that we have done. Each of us has to suffer to the reactions of our own karma.

Karma can also refer to the system of action and reaction, When we say the law of karma, here we are referring not so much to action or reaction but to the correlation between action and reaction. Gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ. In this context we can broadly say that karma can refer to the system of action and reaction, how it works, it is very difficult to understand that.

Karma can also refer to a particular kind of action that is in the three kinds of action- karmaṇo hy api boddhavyaṁ,
boddhavyaṁ ca vikarmaṇaḥ,
akarmaṇaś ca boddhavyaṁ
gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ. In the same verse Krishna is using the word karma. Karmaṇo is action that will bring good reaction, vikarma is- action that will bring bad reaction and akarma- is the action that will bring no reaction.

In this way we can have four broad meanings of the word karma- (i)action, (ii)reaction, (iii)the system of action and reaction, (iv)particular type of action that brings good reaction i.e. sukarma.

Thus karma is a remarkable multivalent word and we have to see in which context it is used and then determine what the meaning is.

If we consider karma, daiva, kala as three factors which leads to phala, then our endeavors, our destiny and passage of time, these three will lead to the desired results.

With this categorization, karma will definitely mean doing our actions, doing our part- Karmavaad. Karmavaad does not mean that whatever destined we are going to get it, Karmavaad refers if I do my work, I will get the results. So among these four meanings of karma, based on context we understand which meaning is most coherent in a particular context.

End of transcription.

TOVP Nityananda Trayodasi 2022 Flipbook Release: The Advent of Panca Tattva
- TOVP.org

vande ‘nantadbhutaisvaryam
sri-nityanandam isvaram
yasyecchaya tat-svarupam
ajnenapi nirupyate

Let me offer my obeisances to Lord Sri Nityananda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose opulence is wonderful and unlimited. By His will, even a fool can understand His identity.

(CC Adi 5.1)

To celebrate the most auspicious and important occasion of Nityananda Trayodasi this year, 2022, the TOVP is happy to announce the release of the flipbook edition of the book, The Advent of Panca Tattva, published originally in 2004. Many devotees served in the production of this book including His Holiness Bhanu Swami, Braja Sevaki Dasi, Jahnudvipa Das, Nitya-trpta Dasi, Ganga Das, Bhagavatamrta Das and Vijaya Govinda das.

As explained below by the author, Braja Sevaki Dasi, this is the first of two consecutive publications about the production, arrival and installation of Sri Panca Tattva in Sridhama Mayapur. The flipbook also includes a short video documentary of the arrival of Panca Tattva on February 6, 2004 on the inside back cover.

In 2004, Bhagavatamrita Das and Ganga Das produced this wonderful book, “The Advent of Sri-Panca-tattva.” Covering the period of time leading up to the casting of the deities, the transport of the beautiful golden forms from South India to Mayapur, and the many adventures and stories in between, the book’s historical value cannot be measured. It was an event the likes of which we have never seen, and will never see again, and both authors bring the entire story to you in colorful detail.

And as their book ends upon the arrival in Mayapur on February 6, 2004 of the truck bearing its precious cargo, a second book, “18 Days: Sri Panca-tattva’s Mayapur-lila” takes up the story. From the moment the truck arrived, slowly crawling along Bhaktisiddhanta Road to the shouts and chanting and dancing and sheer joy of every resident of this district, eighteen days passed before the great maha-abhiseka “first darshan” of these golden forms of mercy and bliss. Braja Sevaki Dasi and Rasarani Priya Dasi authored this similarly historical account of Sri Panca-tattva’s arrival in Mayapur, and the wild, unbelievable, and ecstatic pastimes that unfolded before “the big day,” when tens of thousands filled the temple halls, spilled out into the gardens, and watched worldwide as the Golden Avatar and His associates finally appeared before us in all Their glorious splendor…

As a most glorious addition to ISKCON’s history, both books will be available here on the TOVP site, the first today on Nityananda’s Appearance Day, 2022, the second on Gaura-purnima, 2022.

panca-tattva jaya jaya sri radha-madhava
jaya navadvipa ganga-devi sri vaisnava

All glories to Sri Panca-tattva and Sri Radha-Madhava! All glories to Navadvipa-dhama, Sri Ganga-devi, and to all the Vaisnava devotees!

Click on The Advent of Panca Tattva to view this and other flipbooks on the TOVP website.

 

  SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The TOVP Announces – Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival, March 2 – 5, 2022

Celebrating 5 Anniversaries in 1 Festival

The TOVP Team is pleased to announce the upcoming, all-auspicious Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival from March 2 – 5, 2022. This will be a festival to top all festivals, commemorating the anniversary of five important events in the history of ISKCON:

  • 50th Anniversary of Chota Radha Madhava’s Installation
  • 50th Anniversary of the ISKCON Mayapur Gaur Purnima Festival
  • 50th Anniversary of Prabhupada Laying the TOVP Cornerstone
  • 50th Anniversary of Jananivas Prabhu as Mayapur Head Pujari
  • 100th Anniversary of Prabhupada Receiving Bhaktisiddhanta’s Order

For more information visit the Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival page on the TOVP website.

 

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Sri Gaura Mandala Darshan – Gaura Purnima Special
→ Mayapur.com

•❁•◈ 𝐒𝐫𝐢 𝐆𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐧 •❁•◈ Visiting the Dham this Gaura Purnima or any other festive period in Sri Dham Mayapur? Make your journey memorable by taking darshan of this Holy places. ❁•◈ • ─── ❖ ─── • ❁•◈ 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑮𝒂𝒖𝒓𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒍! 𝑺𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒘𝒂 𝑩𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝑷𝒊𝒚𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒋 𝑱𝒂𝒋𝒊𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝑨𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒘𝒊𝒑 𝑫𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒓 𝑬𝒌𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒓𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 […]

The post Sri Gaura Mandala Darshan – Gaura Purnima Special appeared first on Mayapur.com.

IKSCON Mayapur Dham Presents – Sri Nitai Kathamrit
→ Mayapur.com

•❁•◈ ISKCON Mayapur ◈•❁• presents ◈• ✿ • ─── ❖ ─── • ✿ • ◈ 🎊 A very special, 🎊 3 day online event , ” Sri Nitai Kathamrit ” on the most Auspicious occasion of 🌕 Sri Nityananda Trayodashi. 🌕 ◈• ✿ • ─── ❖ ─── • ✿ • ◈ 📌 These 3 days […]

The post IKSCON Mayapur Dham Presents – Sri Nitai Kathamrit appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Sri Ramanujacharya’s Disappearance Day
Giriraj Swami

Today is the disappearance anniversary of Sripada Ramanujacharya, the principal acharya in the Sri, or Lakshmi, sampradaya. In a letter dated November 22, 1974, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “We find great shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Ramanujacharya because his lotus feet are the strongest fort to combat the Mayavadi philosophy.” And in the early days of ISKCON in India, before we had Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is in Hindi, Prabhupada would refer people to read the Hindi edition of the Gita with Sri Ramanujacharya’s commentary.

Srila Prabhupada often told a story about Sri Ramanujacharya merciful, compassionate nature. As he related it in Ahmedabad in 1972, “The servants of Krishna take all risk for Krishna’s sake. Just like Ramanujacharya. Sri Ramanujacharya’s spiritual master said, ‘My dear son, the mantra which I am giving, you chant silently and you will be delivered. It is so powerful. Don’t chant this mantra loudly so others can hear.’

“Ramanujacharya thought, ‘If this mantra is so powerful that if others hear it they’ll also be delivered, then why not?’ He immediately went to the market and began to chant the mantra. So, his spiritual master became very angry, that ‘I told you not to chant loudly, so that others may not hear.’ And Ramanujacharya replied, ‘My Lordship, I have done offense unto you. That’s all right. For this I am prepared to go to hell. But if this mantra is so powerful, I must speak it to everyone.’ ”

In this mood, following in the footsteps of Sripada Ramanujacharya, Srila Prabhupada broadcast the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita everywhere, to everyone.

We pray and aspire to follow in their footsteps.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

Shelter to unlimited living beings
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 5 November 2021, Simhachalam, Germany, Srimad Bhagavatam 10.25.19)

How did all these cows, cowherd boys, cowherd men and cowherd women fit under Govardhana Hill? How? The answer is, simply by Krsna’s shakti. Mathematically, it was not possible. If you measured it with a measuring tape and calculate the area that these cows and other living beings would be taking, it would not be possible that they could all fit under Govardhana Hill. No way, they would have to stack the cows on top of each other. But no, by Krsna’s shakti, they all fit. This was an amazing thing and it shows Krsna’s unlimited mercy how all the cows and living beings of Vrndavana fit under Govardhana Hill. There was no difficulty at all on Krsna’s part in giving shelter to them. This is a great encouragement for us, that Krsna can give shelter to unlimited living beings. The pastime of Govardhana Hill, therefore, becomes a reassurance to us that we will always have the Lord’s shelter.

You can watch the full lecture by clicking the below link:

The article " Shelter to unlimited living beings " was published on KKSBlog.

Sripada Madhvacharya’s Disappearance Day
Giriraj Swami

Today is Sripada Madhvacharya’s disappearance day.  Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter 9, describes him:

TEXT 245

madhvacarya-sthane aila yanha ‘tattvavadi’
udupite ‘krsna’ dekhi, tahan haila premonmadi

TRANSLATION

Caitanya Mahaprabhu next arrived at Udupi, the place of Madhvacarya, where the philosophers known as Tattvavadis resided. There He saw the Deity of Lord Krsna and became mad with ecstasy.

PURPORT

Sripada Madhvacarya took his birth near Udupi, which is situated in the South Kanara district of South India, just west of Sahyadri. This is the chief city of the South Kanara province and is near the city of Mangalore, which is situated to the south of Udupi. Near the city of Udupi is a place called Pajaka-ksetra, where Madhvacarya took his birth in a Sivalli-brahmana dynasty as the son of Madhyageha Bhatta, in the year 1040 Sakabda (A.D. 1118). According to some, he was born in the year 1160 Sakabda (A.D. 1238).

In his childhood Madhvacarya was known as Vasudeva, and there are some wonderful stories surrounding him. It is said that once when his father had piled up many debts, Madhvacarya converted tamarind seeds into actual coins to pay them off. When he was five years old, he was offered the sacred thread. A demon named Maniman lived near his abode in the form of a snake, and at the age of five Madhvacarya killed that snake with the toe of his left foot. When his mother was very much disturbed, he would appear before her in one jump. He was a great scholar even in childhood, and although his father did not agree, he accepted sannyasa at the age of twelve. Upon receiving sannyasa from Acyuta Preksa, he received the name Purnaprajna Tirtha. After traveling all over India, he finally discussed scriptures with Vidyasankara, the exalted leader of Srngeri-matha. Vidyasankara was actually diminished in the presence of Madhvacarya. Accompanied by Satya Tirtha, Madhvacarya went to Badarikasrama. It was there that he met Vyasadeva and explained his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita before him. Thus he became a great scholar by studying before Vyasadeva.

By the time he came to the Ananda-matha from Badarikasrama, Madhvacarya had finished his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita. His companion Satya Tirtha wrote down the entire commentary. When Madhvacarya returned from Badarikasrama, he went to Ganjama, which is on the bank of the river Godavari. There he met with two learned scholars named Sobhana Bhatta and Svami Sastri. Later these scholars became known in the disciplic succession of Madhvacarya as Padmanabha Tirtha and Narahari Tirtha. When he returned to Udupi, he would sometimes bathe in the ocean. On such an occasion he composed a prayer in five chapters. Once, while sitting beside the sea engrossed in meditation upon Lord Sri Krsna, he saw that a large boat containing goods for Dvaraka was in danger. He gave some signs by which the boat could approach the shore, and it was saved. The owners of the boat wanted to give him a present, and at the time Madhvacarya agreed to take some gopi-candana. He received a big lump of gopi-candana, and as it was being brought to him, it broke apart and revealed a large Deity of Lord Krsna. The Deity had a stick in one hand and a lump of food in the other. As soon as Madhvacarya received the Deity of Krsna in this way, he composed a prayer. The Deity was so heavy that not even thirty people could lift it. Yet Madhvacarya personally brought this Deity to Udupi. Eight of Madhvacarya’s sannyasa disciples became directors of his eight monasteries. Worship of the Lord Krsna Deity is still going on at Udupi according to the plans Madhvacarya established.

Madhvacarya then for the second time visited Badarikasrama. While he was passing through Maharashtra, the local king was digging a big lake for the public benefit. As Madhvacarya passed through that area with his disciples, he was also obliged to help in the excavation. After some time, when Madhvacarya visited the king, he engaged the king in that work and departed with his disciples.

Often in the province of Ganga-pradesa there were fights between Hindus and Muslims. The Hindus were on one bank of the river, and the Muslims on the other. Due to the community tension, no boat was available for crossing the river. The Muslim soldiers were always stopping passengers on the other side, but Madhvacarya did not care for these soldiers. He crossed the river anyway, and when he met the soldiers on the other side, he was brought before the king. The Muslim king was so pleased with him that he wanted to give him a kingdom and some money, but Madhvacarya refused. While walking on the road, he was attacked by some dacoits, but by his bodily strength he killed them all. When his companion Satya Tirtha was attacked by a tiger, Madhvacarya separated them by virtue of his great strength. When he met Vyasadeva, he received from him the salagrama-sila known as Astamurti. After this, he summarized the Mahabharata.

Madhvacarya’s devotion to the Lord and his erudite scholarship became known throughout India. Consequently the owners of the Srngeri-matha, established by Sankaracarya, became a little perturbed. At that time the followers of Sankaracarya were afraid of Madhvacarya’s rising power, and they began to tease Madhvacarya’s disciples in many ways. There was even an attempt to prove that the disciplic succession of Madhvacarya was not in line with Vedic principles. A person named Pundarika Puri, a follower of the Mayavada philosophy of Sankaracarya, came before Madhvacarya to discuss the sastras. It is said that all of Madhvacarya’s books were taken away, but later they were found with the help of King Jayasimha, ruler of Kumla. In discussion, Pundarika Puri was defeated by Madhvacarya. A great personality named Trivikramacarya, who was a resident of Visnumangala, became Madhvacarya’s disciple, and his son later became Narayanacarya, the composer of Sri Madhva-vijaya. After the death of Trivikramacarya, the younger brother of Narayanacarya took sannyasa and later became known as Visnu Tirtha.

It was reputed that there was no limit to the bodily strength of Purnaprajna, Madhvacarya. There was a person named Kadanjari who was famed for possessing the strength of thirty men. Madhvacarya placed the big toe of his foot upon the ground and asked the man to separate it from the ground, but the great strong man could not do so even after great effort. Srila Madhvacarya passed from this material world at the age of eighty while writing a commentary on the Aitareya Upanisad. For further information about Madhvacarya, one should read Madhva-vijaya, by Narayanacarya.

The acaryas of the Madhva-sampradaya established Udupi as the chief center, and the monastery there was known as Uttararadhi-matha. A list of the different centers of the Madhvacarya-sampradaya can be found at Udupi, and their matha commanders are (1) Visnu Tirtha (Soda-matha), (2) Janardana Tirtha (Krsnapura-matha), (3) Vamana Tirtha (Kanura-matha), (4) Narasimha Tirtha (Adamara-matha), (5) Upendra Tirtha (Puttugi-matha), (6) Rama Tirtha (Sirura-matha), (7) Hrsikesa Tirtha (Palimara-matha), and (8) Aksobhya Tirtha (Pejavara-matha). The disciplic succession of the Madhvacarya-sampradaya is as follows (the dates are those of birth in the Sakabda Era; for Christian era dates, add seventy-eight years): (1) Hamsa Paramatma; (2) Caturmukha Brahma; (3) Sanakadi; (4) Durvasa; (5) Jnananidhi; (6) Garuda-vahana; (7) Kaivalya Tirtha; (8) Jnanesa Tirtha; (9) Para Tirtha; (10) Satyaprajna Tirtha; (11) Prajna Tirtha; (12) Acyuta Preksacarya Tirtha; (13) Sri Madhvacarya, 1040 Saka; (14) Padmanabha, 1120; Narahari, 1127; Madhava, 1136; and Aksobhya 1159; (15) Jaya Tirtha, 1167; (16) Vidyadhiraja, 1190; (17) Kavindra, 1255; (18) Vagisa, 1261; (19) Ramacandra, 1269; (20) Vidyanidhi, 1298; (21) Sri Raghunatha, 1366; (22) Rayuvarya (who spoke with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu), 1424; (23) Raghuttama, 1471; (24) Vedavyasa, 1517; (25) Vidyadhisa, 1541; (26) Vedanidhi, 1553; (27) Satyavrata, 1557; (28) Satyanidhi, 1560; (29) Satyanatha, 1582; (30) Satyabhinava, 1595; (31) Satyapurna, 1628; (32) Satyavijaya, 1648; (33) Satyapriya, 1659; (34) Satyabodha, 1666; (35) Satyasandha, 1705; (36) Satyavara, 1716; (37) Satyadharma, 1719; (38) Satyasankalpa, 1752; (39) Satyasantusta, 1763; (40) Satyaparayana, 1763; (41) Satyakama, 1785; (42) Satyesta, 1793; (43) Satyaparakrama, 1794; (44) Satyadhira, 1801; (45) Satyadhira Tirtha, 1808.

After the sixteenth acarya (Vidyadhiraja Tirtha), there was another disciplic succession, including Rajendra Tirtha, 1254; Vijayadhvaja; Purusottama; Subrahmanya; and Vyasa Raya, 1470–1520. The nineteenth acarya, Ramacandra Tirtha, had another disciplic succession, including Vibudhendra, 1218; Jitamitra, 1348; Raghunandana; Surendra; Vijendra; Sudhindra; and Raghavendra Tirtha, 1545.

To date, in the Udupi monastery there are another fourteen Madhva-tirtha sannyasis. As stated, Udupi is situated beside the sea in South Kanara, about thirty-six miles north of Mangalore.

Most of the information in this purport is available from the South Kanada Manual and the Bombay Gazette.

 

TEXT 246

nartaka gopala dekhe parama-mohane
madhvacarye svapna diya aila tanra sthane

TRANSLATION

While at the Udupi monastery, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu saw “dancing Gopala,” a most beautiful Deity. This Deity appeared to Madhvacarya in a dream.

 

TEXT 247

gopi-candana-tale achila dingate
madhvacarya sei krsna paila kona-mate

TRANSLATION

Madhvacarya had somehow or other acquired the Deity of Krsna from a heap of gopi-candana that had been transported in a boat.

 

TEXT 248

madhvacarya ani’ tanre karila sthapana
adyavadhi seva kare tattvavadi-gana

TRANSLATION

Madhvacarya brought this dancing Gopala Deity to Udupi and installed Him in the temple. To date, the followers of Madhvacarya, known as Tattvavadis, worship this Deity.

 

TEXT 249

krsna-murti dekhi’ prabhu maha-sukha paila
premavese bahu-ksana nrtya-gita kaila

TRANSLATION

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu received great pleasure in seeing this beautiful form of Gopala. For a long time He danced and chanted in ecstatic love.

 

We Must Complete Radha Madhava’s New Home, the TOVP
- TOVP.org

Once again, we are announcing this year’s celebration of the 50th Anniversary of chota Radha Madhava’s arrival in Sridhama Mayapur, and remaining there at Srila Prabhupada’s divine request. To commemorate this and four other important anniversaries this year we have organized the Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival from March 2-5.

In our previous articles we have explained the significance of Radha Madhava, the history of their arrival, an explanation by His Grace Jananivas prabhu and the laying of the Ananta Sesha in the TOVP foundation pit by Srila Prabhupada:

The Meanings and Form of Radha Madhava
Chota Radha Madhava Come to Mayapur
Jananivas Prabhu: Serving Radha Madhava for 50 Years
Prabhupada Placing Ananta Sesha

In this article we would like to focus on one of the major reasons for building the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium: This is Radha Madhava’s new home.

For decades They have been residing in a makeshift temple room with little of the opulence, splendor and grandeur They deserve as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His eternal consort. Their new home in the TOVP will include a beautifully ornate altar and over sixty dedicated rooms on the 1.5 acre Pujari floor.

Each one of us should feel a sense of responsibility to complete this new home for Sri Sri Radha Madhava and the other Deities at ISKCON’s World Headquarters in Sridham Mayapur, the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and original hub of the sankirtan movement. This service belongs to ALL of us, not just a few managers and organizers. We need to eagerly pray for the Grand Opening in 2024 when we will see Them relocated into Their rightful new home in a wonderful festival of love, devotion and joy.

The Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival offers another opportunity to serve Radha Madhava and complete Their new home by sponsoring an abhisheka or Radha Madhava Brick which will provide funds for construction. Ten abhishekas will be performed starting with Their Welcome Ceremony for $25.

Go to the Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival page on the TOVP website and sponsor and abhisheka or Brick TODAY! The festival schedule is also included on this page.

 

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Shri Madhvacharya Disappearance
→ Ramai Swami

Shri Madhvacharya appeared near Udupi, Karnataka in South India. He was considered an incarnation of Vayu (wind god). He had an unusually strong physique and extraordinary intellectual power.

Once a fierce tiger attacked Madhvacharya’s sannyasa disciple, Satya Tirtha. Madhvacharya wrestled the tiger and sent him away with his tail between his legs. Madhvacharya took diksha at age five, sannyasa at twelve and left home.

He appeared with a mission to fight and defeat Sankara’s Mayavada (impersonal) philosophy. By giving a pure interpretation of Vedanta-sutra he promoted pure theism. He named his innovative shastric explanation dvaita-dvaita-vada (pure dualism).

   
With a hope of meeting Shrila Vyasadeva himself Madhvacharya walked up the Himalayas. Vyasadeva gave him a Shalagrama sila called Ashtamurti, approved his Bhagavad-gita commentary, and blessed Madhvacharya with deeper realisations of the sastras. 

In Udupi, Madhvacharya installed a beautiful Deity of Gopala standing alone holding a cowherding stick. This Deity manifested from within a chunk of gopi-candana (sacred clay). He established eight mathas (Temples) to lovingly serve “Udupi Krishna.” The sannyasi leaders of each matha worship the Krishna Deity with a rigorous regimen of ceremonial ritual, punctuality, and impeccable personal conduct.

The Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya originates with the Madhvas. Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His followers thoroughly studied Madhva’s works before compiling their philosophy. For the Sat Sandarbhas Shri Jiva Goswami drew heavily from Madhva’s writings. Jiva Goswami found the Gaudiya philosophy of acintya-bheda-abheda tattva in Madhva’s Bhagavat-parya. Shri Chaitanya Himself visited Udupi, the seat of Madhva’s sect. The Lord introduced Hari Nama sankirtana into their sect. 

Shri Madhvacharya serves as Madhavi-gopi in Radha-Govinda’s eternal Vrindavana pleasure pastimes. He passed away from this world while teaching his commentary to the Aitareya Upanishad in the temple of Anantesvara in 1378 AD. He lived for seventy-nine years.

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Sri Advaita Acharya Appearance
→ Ramai Swami

Advaita Acharya appeared in fifteenth century Bengal, India, as a teacher of Krishna consciousness.

He is frequently mentioned in the biography of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Chaitanya Charitamrita, as an intimate associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and as an avatar of Krishna (specifically an incarnation of Sadashiva and Maha-Vishnu).

Chaitanya Charitamrita relates how Advaita Acharya was so pained to see the degraded condition of the people in Kali Yuga, the Age of Quarrel, that He fervently prayed for Krishna Himself to descend and remedy the situation.

Sri Advaita worshiped Krishna on the banks of the Ganges with Ganges water and Tulasi leaves, crying out and begging for the Lord to come save the suffering souls.

In response to Sri Adwaita Acharya’s devotion and compassion, Krishna decided to appear, in the form of His own devotee—Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Advaita Acharya was the first among Mahaprabhu’s associates to appear within the material world.

Some sixty years prior to Mahaprabhu’s own advent, Advaita Acharya had already begun chanting Krishna’s names in the streets with devotees and discussing scriptures on devotional service to Krishna.

Advaita Acharya’s name indicates that He is nondifferent—Advaita—from Krishna, and spiritual master—acharya—because He taught devotional service to Krishna.

Advaita Acharya lived in Shantipura and Mayapura, in what is now West Bengal, and was the head of the Vaishnava community of Nadia.

Saturday, January 29, 2022
→ The Walking Monk

Brampton, Ontario

Day With Families

Nimai picked me up. We left for Brampton to see Pavan at his home. That makes two families joined together, and me.

A Chinese meal was on the menu, all cooked by Pavan and all offered to Krishna to become prasadam; blessed by the best. We chanted. We studied. It was the beginning of the Gita, made interactive through Zoom with a group from Niagara Falls.

Why was there a need for another rendition of the Gita when other renditions were already there? The introduction of Bhagavad-gita As It Is poses the question. It came from an American woman. Prabhupada’s response in the very text explained that most renditions failed to carry the spirit of the great book, which is actually a dialogue. In our studies with the group from The Falls, we hope to capture that spirit, which is one of surrendering love.

Speaking of dialogue, outside our study, the two families and I dreamed of summer plans. Perhaps a trip to Pelee Island for a weekend of water fun and bhakti. How about vegan marshmallows cooked over the beach campfire? And the next morning, after a good sleep, we arise, swim, chant, and indulge in discussion on the Bhagavatam.

We’ve done it before. We’ll do it again. When covid clears, we’ll do things again.

May the Source be with you!

2 km


 

Friday, January 28, 2022
→ The Walking Monk

Brampton, Ontario

Working on the Feet and Teeth

 

It may sound familiar to you. You’re at the dental clinic for a cleaning of the teeth and before you get in the chair the very friendly assistant starts talking.

 

I was just hanging my coat in the cubical when she started the conversation with a question. “What are you doing this weekend?”

 

“Well, one thing is I’ll be going to Hamilton, to Hess Village, the trendy part of the city, to conduct some mantrameditation.”

 

“Oh, is that what you do?” She was curious seeing my monk’s attire.

 

“I’m a teacher of bhakti yoga.” By now I’m reclining in the dental chair and she continues to be nice.

 

“I’ve done yoga. It really makes you feel good. But haven’t done it for a while. Do you travel a lot?” By this time I’ve been given the usual protective dark glasses to wear. Then, just before her fingers enter my mouth, I answer.

 

“I’m usually in India by now.”

 

“That’s interesting.” She says, but I can’t say too much more. She’s busy looking at my teeth and has begun the cleaning process. When I get a second I blurt out, “I do travel on foot. I did Canada four times.”

 

She’s impressed and continues to work at the plaque on my teeth so, again, I can’t say much more. At a breathing moment I slip in, “I’ve also done the States and a few other countries.” Back into the mouth she goes.

 

“That’s quite the feat!” she remarks.

 

And at the first opportunity I say, “A feat with the feet.”

 

May the Source be with you!

2 km



 

Live to Give ’21
→ ISKCON News

This last Live to Give campaign from the BBT ran from September 21st, 2021 through January 7th, 2022. Informally known as the December Marathon, communities across the globe come together to share and distribute the Bhagavad Gita in a collective effort. Each year, a global goal is created to enthuse, inspire and measure our successes in sharing this wisdom. This year, the goal was placed at 2.2 million Bhagavad Gitas. 

Several devotees around the world participated. Many full-time sankirtan devotees, traveling sankirtan parties participated as well as families, children, and congregations members participated part-time and weekends for this occasion. This year’s campaign tried many new approaches to preaching and book distribution:

  • Devotees set up tables/displays for Gita Jayanti (also known as World Gita Day) and inspired congregation members to sponsor Bhagavad Gitas.
  • Training seminars were organized to empower new book distributors on how to distribute books.
  • Devotees all over the world, irrespective of how big or small their teams were,  headed out to street corners, door to door, store to store distributing Bhagavad Gita.
  • Attractive gift packages, which included a Bhagavad Gita, prasadam cookies, and a personally signed note, were distributed door to door on doorknobs. The recipients responded by sending thank you notes and return gifts.
  • Tens of thousands of books were distributed through the Motel Gita Program to motels, hospitals, nursing homes.
  • The Little Free Library team distributed thousands of books throughout numerous neighborhoods.
  • Spanish and English books in more than 50 stores all over the Bay Area including major cafe chains like Starbucks, San Jose Flea market, and many others.
  • The Wisdom of the Sages Podcast advertised the Live to Give Campaign to its listeners all across North America and many of the listeners enthusiastically called and ordered cases of Gita either for themselves or for their family and friends.
  • Using different methods such as contactless deliveries and calling parties to accommodate COVID restrictions

Vaisesika Das, the Global Direct for the BBT – Marketing, Communications and Innovations Team reflected upon the Live to Give Campaign, “It’s been an amazing experience, one that we will never forget how everyone rose to the occasion together. And how we all cooperated with so many cultural, time, temperature, resources political differences. But it’s actually really fun trying to work around all the odds and we’re discovering that work arounds lead to turn arounds, Never make ultimatums always make workarounds and make it work somehow for the operation.”

We are excited to report that the Live to Give Campaign 2021 was beyond successful. With 36 countries and 230 communities participating, the goal of 2.2 million Bhagavad Gitas was smashed with a resounding final number of 2,805,444 copies shared across the globe! 

Vaisesika Das shares his thoughts on reaching this goal, “We feel that in the process of doing it, we made breakthroughs in the way that we worked together as a team internationally. Devotees were surprised how good it felt to work all over the world together towards a common goal, and we were able to peak inside and some of Prabhupada’s vision – of how the world could actually be inundated with transcendental literature – in a much bigger way than we have done in the past. It made us feel that our expectations for increasing Book distribution – that we are free to expand those expectations – as much as we like, as long as we are willing to work together, plan for it and incrementally improve the process – we feel Lord Caitanya’s presence in the process and we are very certain now that He will carry whatever we lack and preserve what we have, because Its His mission – he wants it done, Srila Prabhupada wanted it to be done and all we have to do is work together and be enthusiastic and very organized.”


The impact of sharing the Bhagavad Gitas is being felt on an individual level across communities. Here are some testimonials from New Zealand and USA. 

Testimonials

Saumyamayi Devi Dasi, New Zealand

One of the many stories from the streets and carparks of New Zealand 

Today I was getting rejected literally the whole day and then this is the last person I approached. I nonchalantly introduced the books and asked for a donation and he said “yeah I know these books. I’ve read Chant and be happy, Easy journey to other planets and Hiding in unnatural happiness” and turns out he got them from monks 2 years ago and loves them! I gave him the Gita and he said he had been really wanting this book and had been waiting to receive it. He knew we don’t sell them at shops so for the last few months since finishing the others,  he had been waiting for the day that the Gita would come to him. So I said today’s the day and he happily took it. I said today I was praying to meet someone who was looking for the books and he said “yeah I’m always praying too with the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.” I gave him the mantra card and he said “yeah ever since I found out about this mantra a few years ago it’s always going thru my mind. I’m always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, when I’m working, driving, waiting, bored- I always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa!” He said he had heard of the mantra years ago and always wanted to know what it meant so when he got the books he found out more and since then has been chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. I then asked if he had beads and he said “Nah but I want them, I can’t find any.” So I went to the van and came back to find him already reading the Gita. “You like it?” “Yeah, I’ve wanted to read this for so long! I’m so grateful!” Then I put the beads in his hand and he lit up and I said now you can chant in the morning on beads. He said “yeaaah japa!” So I showed him where to put fingers and we both chanted the mantra together, it was blissful. We exchanged contacts and he hopes to come to mantra lounge program this Friday for the first time.

 

From ISV-California, USA

Tim and Vickie (standing on right and left of HG Vaisesika Maharaj respectively). They received Bhagavad Gita As It Is during December Marathon, 2020, when we hanged them on every door in our apartment complex. Tim was very happy to receive Bhagavad Gita as a gift along with cookies prasadam. Being a yoga & meditation practitioner both of them appreciated the gift. Three months later, Tim left a note on my door along with very nice vegan cookies as a gift.

Pictures from left to right:Kautukarnava das (ISV), Tim HG Vaisesika Prabhu, Vickie,  and Pavani Bhakti dd (ISV)

In the note, Tim shared deep appreciation for Bhagavad Gita gift. He asked in the note how can he learn to chant Hare Krishna. We visited Tim and Vickie with a copy of Chant and be happy and beads. We also invited them to Bhakti community sessions by His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu. They started joining sessions from March 2020 every Monday and Thursday. Tim also started chanting Hare Krishna.

[ Both Tim and Vickie would eagerly wait for Bhakti Community sessions. They would drink the nectarean sessions delivered by His Grace Vaisesika prabhu. They would also ask relevant questions. I would go see them once in 1-2 months. However, we would exchange texts after every Bhakti community session to share our reflections. As the time progressed, I shared spiritual gifts like prasadam, chanting beads, Srimad Bhagavatam with them. I received presents like organic fruits, track pants, bunnie and more. Tim asked me how he could set up an altar. To keep it simple, I gifted them a picture of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. I also gave little details on how to offer bhoga. By Sep, 2021, they started offering food to Whom Vickie fondly would address as “Nimai Nitai”. Remember, they have never met any devotee except on Zoom Bhakti Community sessions.

Vaisesika Das introduced Tim and Vickie to deity worship in the temple, Guru Puja as well as our priests devotees in temple.]

Tim and Vickie hold Srila Prabhupada in high esteem. They were deeply touched by the whole experience. They even bowed down to Srila Prabhupada and deities and to HG Vaisesika Maharaja. Both of them are eager to spread Krishna consciousness. In 2021 when they heard about the drive to distribute Bhagavad Gita’s as Christmas gifts, Tim was touched and he wanted to give others what he received. They picked up 3 cases of Bhagavad Gita, packed them with thank you cards, Prasadam cookies and they distributed to their friends and some they put them on doors hoping some sincere seeker would be transformed. They are distributing books to their family and friends, and also inviting them to Bhakti Community.

 

What’s Next

As the next year begins, relationships are being built with those that have received a Bhagavad Gita. Several follow-up programs are being initiated around the world. Vaisesika Prabhu states, “Our intention is to connect the two – first contact with follow-up so that they are one and the same process – because there are so many sincere people who are reading the books and then need a very accommodating place to go – so that they can start their practice and continue it throughout their life”. In North America, Bhakti Community is offering ongoing classes for newcomers as a follow-up program for book distribution. By carefully nurturing the newcomers, giving them the right dose of spiritual information, now many of them are joining the book distribution teams to give others what they received.

Throughout the year, the BBT – Marketing, Communications and Innovations Team has various campaigns highlighting Srila Prabhupada’s books. To learn more information about these campaigns, please visit the following links to social media:

Live to Give ’21 Map

Telegram

Whatsapp

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

 

The post Live to Give ’21 appeared first on ISKCON News.

Sri Advaita Acarya
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Today is the day when we honor that personality who has brought the descent of Lord Caitanya into this world Sri Advaita Acarya. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is Mahavishnu, He is the personality who created this entire cosmic manifestation and knowing the purpose of the cosmic manifestations to send everyone back to Godhead that same Mahavishnu incarnated within this material world slightly over five hundred years ago. 1*

Sri Advaita Acarya was born in Navagram, Bengal to Sri Kubera Pandit and Srimati Nabha devi. They were originally inhabitants of Navagram village near Sri Hatta, but later moved to Shantipur on the banks of the Ganga.

He is a disciple of Srila Madhavendra Puri and forms one of the figures of the Sri Sri Pancha Tattva – Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhar Pandit, and Srivasa.

(Cc Adi 3.102)

“My name, ‘Advaita,’ will be fitting if I am able to induce Krsna to inaugurate the movement of the chanting of the holy name.”

Purport: The nondualist Mayavadi philosopher who falsely believes that he is nondifferent from the Lord is unable to call Him like Advaita Prabhu. Advaita Prabhu is nondifferent from the Lord, yet in His relationship with the Lord He does not merge with Him but eternally renders service unto Him as a plenary ativan portion. This is inconceivable for Mayavadis because they think in terms of mundane sense perception and therefore think that nondualism necessitates losing one’s separate identity. It is clear from this verse, however, that Advaita Prabhu, although retaining His separate identity, is nondifferent from the Lord.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu preached the philosophy of inconceivable, simultaneous oneness with the Lord and difference from Him. Conceivable dualism and monism are conceptions of the imperfect senses, which are unable to reach the Transcendence because the Transcendence is beyond the conception of limited potency. The actions of Sri Advaita Prabhu, however, give tangible proof of inconceivable nondualism. One who therefore surrenders unto Sri Advaita Prabhu can easily follow the philosophy of inconceivable simultaneous dualism and monism.
On the auspicious occasion of the holy appearance day of Sri Advaita Acarya who is an incarnation of Sada- Shiv and Vishnu, we pray to him to bestow his causeless mercy upon us so that we may develop unflinching faith in the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

 

Sri Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya wrote a beautiful ashtakam in the glorification of Sri Advaita Acarya, one verse of which is as follows:

yad-dhunkaraih prema-sindhor vikarair
akrstah san gaura-goloka-nathah
avirbhutah sri-navadvipa-madhye
srila advaitacaryam etam prapadye

-Let me surrender to Srila Advaita Acarya. Attracted by His loud calls, the golden Lord of Goloka Vrndavana who is an ocean of ecstatic love appeared in Sri Navadvipa.

Advaita Acarya appeared 50 years prior to the coming of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He lived in Shantipur, with his wife and family, and became a very well-known Vaishnava encouraging everyone to follow the path of bhakti – loving service to Sri Krishna. Sri Chaitanya’s older brother Vishwarup also use to visit Advaita Acarya every day to engage in chanting and dancing.

Advaita Acarya found himself in deep distress when he saw how people of contemporary times had started indulging in extreme sense gratification instead of satisfying the Lord through loving devotional service. In order to deliver the fallen conditioned souls, he prayed fervently to the Lord for several months by worshiping his shaligram shilas (a stone that Vaishnavas worship as a form of Vishnu) lovingly with sacred Tulasi leaves and Ganges water. He roared in agony, calling out aloud to the Lord to manifest and enlighten all conditioned by the dreadful darkness of ignorance…

Hearing his unrelenting loud cry, Sri Krishna advented Himself as Sri Krishna Chaitanya in Mayapur, Bengal as the son of Sri Jagannath Mishra and Saci Devi.

jaya jaya advaita isvara avatara
krsna avatari kaila jagat-nistara

“All glories to Advaita Prabhu, the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He induced Krsna to descend and thus delivered the entire world.”

According to the Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika, the divine Yogamaya took the form of Advaita’s wife Srimati Sita devi, and that Sri is her prakasha expansion of the Narasimha shaligram shila and Deities made in the image of Sri Sri Madan-Gopal that were worshiped by Sri Advaita Acarya are still to be found at Shantipur in Madan-Gopal Para.

The place on the banks of the Ganga where Sri Advaita Acarya worshiped the shaligram shila and called out to the Lord to descend to the world is known today as Babla. A temple has been built in memory of Advaita Acarya’s pastimes there.

All glories to Sri Advaita Acarya, the incarnation of Sada-Shiva and Mahavishnu, who is an intimate associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

 

 

1= Mayapur.com: https://www.mayapur.com/2021/appearance-day-of-sri-advaita-acharya-19th-feb-2021/

 

The post Sri Advaita Acarya appeared first on ISKCON News.

Only By His Mercy – Sri Advaita Acharya Appearance 2022
→ Mayapur.com

Today is Advaita Saptami, By his mercy, Lord Caitanya came. We always remember him prior to any nama yajna or any festival. By his appearance, Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda appeared. Today is a very sacred day. Advaita Gosai is very merciful. By his mercy, one can get the mercy of Gauranga and Nityananda. It […]

The post Only By His Mercy – Sri Advaita Acharya Appearance 2022 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Only By His Mercy – Sri Advaita Acharya Appearance 2022
→ Mayapur.com

Today is Advaita Saptami, By his mercy, Lord Caitanya came. We always remember him prior to any nama yajna or any festival. By his appearance, Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda appeared. Today is a very sacred day. Advaita Gosai is very merciful. By his mercy, one can get the mercy of Gauranga and Nityananda. It […]

The post Only By His Mercy – Sri Advaita Acharya Appearance 2022 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Some Thoughts on Disciples in ISKCON
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By Krishna dharma das

“One should learn how to associate with the devotees of the Lord by gathering with them to chant the glories of the Lord. This process is most purifying. As devotees thus develop their loving friendship, they feel mutual happiness and satisfaction. And by thus encouraging one another they are able to give up material sense gratification, which is the cause of all suffering. The devotees of the Lord constantly discuss the glories of the Personality of Godhead among themselves. Thus, they constantly remember the Lord and remind one another of His qualities and pastimes. In this way, by their devotion to the principles of bhakti-yoga, the devotees please the Personality of Godhead, who takes away from them everything inauspicious. Being purified of all impediments, the devotees awaken to pure love of Godhead, and thus, even within this world, their spiritualized bodies exhibit symptoms of transcendental ecstasy, such as standing of the bodily hairs on end.” SB 11.3.30-31 Continue reading "Some Thoughts on Disciples in ISKCON
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Sri Advaita Acharya’s Appearance Day
Giriraj Swami

We are gathered here to celebrate the appearance day of Sri Advaita Acharya. Advaita Acharya is an incarnation of Maha-vishnu. In terms of pastimes, He appeared before Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and so was considered an elder by Mahaprabhu. He was actually older than Lord Chaitanya’s own father.

Advaita Acharya, although Vishnu Himself, was in the mood of a Vaishnava. As a Vaishnava, He felt compassion for the fallen conditioned souls who were suffering without Krishna consciousness. Although previously Navadvipa had been a great center of devotion, it had deteriorated into a center of dry learning. Thus, Advaita Acharya felt compassion for the fallen souls of the age, so engrossed in material affairs, devoid of devotional service to Krishna. In the mood of a humble Vaishnava, although He was Vishnu Himself, He felt that He was not capable of delivering the fallen souls. He believed that only Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself could preach the yuga-dharma of hari-nama-sankirtana and deliver them.

Advaita Acharya Prabhu was an ideal householder. He had read in the scriptures that the Lord sells Himself to a devotee who offers Him a tulasi leaf and a palmful of water. As a grihastha brahman, He worshipped a salagrama-sila at home. Therefore, He specifically began to worship Salagrama with Ganges water and tulasi leaves with the aim of bringing about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s descent.

The Caitanya-caritamrta describes Sri Advaita Acharya’s appeal to Lord Krishna to appear again on earth. He cried with such intensity that the sound traveled throughout the entire universe and ultimately reached Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Because of the loud cries of Sri Advaita Acharya, Mahaprabhu did indeed descend, appearing in Navadvipa on the full moon night of Phalguna (February–March). Thus the Lord came at the request of Advaita Acharya, His pure devotee, to reclaim the fallen souls.

What was the method by which He reclaimed them? The method was hari-nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. And so, in response to Advaita Acharya’s cries, the Lord appeared in Navadvipa on the full moon night of the Phalguna month, during a lunar eclipse, while millions of Hindus were bathing in the Ganges loudly chanting the holy names. Later, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself practiced sankirtana in Navadvipa-dhama, and after adopting the renounced order of life (sannyasa), He left Navadvipa and traveled throughout India. Wherever He went, He chanted the holy names and induced others to chant the holy names as well.

Originally, after Lord Chaitanya took sannyasa, He wanted to make His residence in Vrindavan. His mother, however, could not bear the thought that He would be so far away. So, in deference to His mother’s will, He made His headquarters in Jagannatha Puri, which is not so far from Navadvipa. Every year, devotees would travel from Navadvipa to Puri to attend the Ratha-yatra festival and have the association of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus, they would go back and forth between Navadvipa and Puri and bring news to Mother Sachi about Lord Chaitanya.

Still, Lord Chaitanya had an ardent desire to visit Vrindavan, and so He left by foot from Puri to travel to Vrindavan-dhama. On the way, He stopped in a place called Ramakeli, the capital of the Muslim despot Nawab Hussein Shah. There the prime minister and the finance minister of the Nawab, who later became known as Srila Sanatana Gosvami and Srila Rupa Gosvami, came to meet Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in disguise.

At the time, thousands of devotees were following Lord Chaitanya, and Lord Chaitanya inaugurated the hari-nama-sankirtana in Ramakeli just outside the area of the Nawab’s palace. The devotees chanted and danced day and night for many days. They totally forgot about eating, sleeping, and other bodily demands. They were simply absorbed in the ecstasy of hari-nama-sankirtana.

But after some time, a few of the devotees began to think of the Nawab, realizing that they were just outside the doorsteps of his palace. The Nawab, Hussein Shah, was a terrible tyrant. He killed people like anything. And he used intimidation to compel Rupa and Sanatana to serve him, threatening that if they didn’t accept his proposal to act as his ministers or secretaries, he would wreak havoc on the Hindu community and kill thousands. Some of the devotees began to become anxious that they were doing such loud hari-nama-sankirtana so close to the Nawab’s palace: “What if he takes notice of us and becomes enraged? He could kill us all!”

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as the omniscient Lord, could understand the anxiety of these devotees. So He stopped the kirtan and told them, “Although I am acting as a devotee, actually I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and because I am the Supreme Lord, no one can harm Me or My movement.” He explained that His movement of hari-nama-sankirtana was destined to spread to every town and village of every country of the world: prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama, sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama. (Cb Antya 4.126)

During the time of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, His mission spread throughout India. But with the passage of time, even in India it became weak. Unauthorized groups who claimed to be His followers but who did not actually understand or follow His principles arose and became prominent. The situation got worse and worse until, in the 1800s, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura appeared. He separated Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s true followers from the pseudo-followers and identified at least thirteen deviant groups (apasampradayas). He re-established the true idea of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He also discovered the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Mayapur-dhama, and with his followers he located many different sites associated with the Lord’s pastimes, including the residence of Sri Advaita Acharya in Mayapur. Advaita Acharya actually had two residences—one in Mayapur-dhama itself and one about twenty miles away in Shantipur.

Although Lord Chaitanya had predicted that the holy name would be chanted and preached in every town and village of the world, even learned devotees could not imagine how such a phenomenon could come to pass. Still, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura predicted that very soon somebody would come to fulfill the prediction of Lord Chaitanya. And, as we know, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada did emerge from the followers of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura to fulfill the desire and prediction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Yet this entire arrangement, from one point of view, was created simply to fulfill the desire of Sri Advaita Acharya. Sri Advaita Acharya was the one who so intensely desired that the Lord should come and deliver the fallen souls, especially through hari-nama-sankirtana, that Lord Chaitanya did appear. And now, more than five hundred years later, we are gathered here in Camarillo, California, chanting the holy names of Krishna. This is possible only because Sri Advaita Acharya Prabhu desired so intensely that we would be able to do so and thus be delivered from the bondage of material existence and imbued with the ecstasy of devotional service.

The sixteen words of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—contain all spiritual truths. Realized devotees have actually seen the entire pastimes of Radha and Krishna within the maha-mantra. Srila Jiva Gosvami wrote a poem describing various pastimes of Radha and Krishna that transpire in the course of chanting one round of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura discussed the import of each word of the maha-mantra and each pair of words (Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, etc.). There are eight pairs of names that combine to make the sixteen words, and Bhaktivinoda Thakura explained how each pair corresponds to one verse of the Siksastaka prayer of Lord Chaitanya. Further, he wrote an entire chapter on each verse of the Siksastaka.

So, although superficially the Hare Krishna maha-mantra appears to be a simple combination of three different words arranged in a combination of sixteen, actually it contains the entire spiritual world. And as we go deeper and deeper in chanting the maha-mantra, we come closer and closer to entering into the spiritual world and the pastimes of Radha and Krishna. Thus, what Lord Chaitanya came to give by the intense desire of Sri Advaita Acharya, although it appears to be very simple—just an arrangement of sixteen words—is actually deeply profound and unlimitedly vast. It is the entire spiritual world, in comparison with which the whole material world is just a fraction.

The whole process is inconceivable. We know the story of Mother Yasoda and baby Krishna. On Krishna’s birthday, Balarama and the cowherd boys accused Krishna of having eaten some dirt, and Balarama and other sons of the gopas complained to Mother Yasoda. But Krishna denied that He had eaten any dirt. To the contrary, He accused Balarama and the other friends of being angry with Him from Their play and wanting to get Him into trouble. He said, “If you have any doubts, Mother, you can look into My mouth and see if there is any dirt.” So, Krishna opened His mouth, and Mother Yasoda looked inside. And in Krishna’s mouth she saw the entire universe, the whole cosmic manifestation. She saw all moving and nonmoving entities and all directions. She saw past, present, and future. She saw the material elements and the three qualities of nature. She even saw herself and Sri Vrindavan-dhama, and she became completely bewildered.

Mother Yasoda saw the entire cosmic manifestation in the mouth of Krishna, while Krishna Himself appeared just like a small child that she could hold in her arms. In the same way, the entire spiritual world is contained within the two syllables Krs and na, because the two syllables Krs-na are Krishna Himself, the origin of everything. That is actually the invaluable gift of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu upon the fallen souls, given to us due to the desire of Sri Advaita Acharya.

Sri Advaita Acharya is very merciful. Advaita means “nondifferent.” He is Advaita because He is nondifferent from Hari, the Supreme Lord (advaitam harinadvaitad). And He is Acharya because He preaches the cult of devotion (acaryam bhakti-samsanat).

We are followers of Advaita Acharya. He is one of the acharyas in the line of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Actually, He was initiated by Sri Madhavendra Puri and therefore is in the same generation of spiritual masters as Sri Isvara Puri, the spiritual master of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself. Nevertheless, in one sense we can say Sri Advaita Acharya is in the line of Lord Chaitanya because He considered Himself to be His servant.

So, He is acharya—Advaita Acharya. Not only did He induce Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to descend to deliver the fallen souls through the holy name, but He also set the example how one can be acharya. Even as a grihastha, He was an acharya. Most people, especially in Kali-yuga, marry and become householders. Therefore, the example of Sri Advaita Acharya is most important for us. In some ways, His example may be even more relevant for most people in Kali-yuga than the example of Lord Chaitanya, who renounced family life at an early age, or that of Nityananda Prabhu, who as an avadhuta was beyond all material categories.

Thus, we all have been blessed by the mercy of Advaita Acharya, directly and indirectly. We should take advantage of His mercy and of the mercy He caused to descend from the spiritual world for us. We should serve Him with great love and affection.

maha-visnur jagat-karta
  mayaya yah srjaty adah
tasyavatara evayam
  advaitacarya isvarah

“Lord Advaita Acarya is the incarnation of Maha-Visnu, whose main function is to create the cosmic world through the actions of maya.

advaitam harinadvaitad
  acaryam bhakti-samsanat
bhaktavataram isam tam
  advaitacaryam asraye

“Because He is nondifferent from Hari, the Supreme Lord, He is called Advaita, and because He propagates the cult of devotion, He is called Acarya. He is the Lord and the incarnation of the Lord’s devotee. Therefore I take shelter of Him.” (Cc Adi 1.12, 13)

Hare Krishna.

Devotee: Some of Lord Chaitanya’s devotees went and stayed with Him in Jagannatha Puri. So why not Advaita Acharya?

Giriraj Swami: Advaita Acharya was a grihastha, so He remained in Bengal. But when the other devotees would travel from Bengal to Orissa to join in the Ratha-yatra festival and spend the four months known as Chaturmasya with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri, He would accompany them. But then He would go back. It was really just the renunciates who were able to join Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Some of them were married previously but joined later. Advaita Acharya, however, as far as we know, remained based in Bengal.

Actually, all the members of the Pancha-tattva more or less concealed their glories. It was only later that the devotees gradually realized their positions.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Sri Advaita Acharya’s appearance day, February 8, 2003, Camarillo, California]

Raghunatha dasa Goswami Appearance
→ Ramai Swami

Raghunatha Dasa was born around 1416 Shaka (1494 AD) in the town of Saptagram in Hooghly district of West Bengal. He was the only son of his father Govardhana Majumdar a wealthy landlord of the area.

Govardhana Majumdar’s elder brother was Hiranya Majumdar who had no male progeny. Hence Raghunatha Dasa was the sole inheritor of the vast fortune the brothers had accumulated.

Both his father and uncle were devoted to Lord Chaitanya and revered Advaita Acharya. This was because of the influence of their family priest Balarama Acharya. When Raghunatha was still a young boy, Balarama Acharya hosted the great Acharya of the Holy Name, Haridasa Thakura at his village Candapura, which was within the jurisdiction of Saptagrama.

Raghunatha used to visit Haridasa Thakura every day. Being naturally compassionate, Haridasa Thakura showered his mercy on the young Raghunatha. It was due to this mercy that Raghunatha later attained the shelter of Lord Chaitanya.

Raghunatha got his first opportunity to see Lord Chaitanya when the Lord, after accepting sannyasa, came to Shantipura and stayed at the residence of Advaita Acharya. Since Govardhana and Hiranaya Majumdar always served Advaita Acharya with great faith and devotion, he was naturally inclined to give His mercy to their boy Raghunatha. Thus, He gave the remnants of the Lord’s food to Raghunatha for as long as the Lord stayed at Shantipura. After staying in Shantipura for some time, the Lord departed for Jagannatha Puri.

Raghunatha Dasa stayed in Puri for 16 years till Lord Chaitanya and His chief confidante Svarupa Damodara disappeared from worldly vision. When this happened Raghunatha Dasa unable to bear their separation, left Puri to commit suicide in Vrindavan. There he met Srila Rupa and Sanatana Goswami who convinced him to serve Lord Chaitanya by relating His Puri pastimes to them.

Sri Raghunatha Dasa Goswami resided at Radha Kund and was responsible for getting Radha and Shyam Kund enlarged and finished with steps for devotees to take holy dips there.

In the Gaura Gannodesha Dipika, Sri Raghunatha Dasa Goswami is revealed to be a Manjari called Rasa Manjari. Other names for this Manjari are Rati Manjari and Bhanumati.

ISKCON Scarborough – Virtual multimedia class – HG Dravida das – Sunday 6th Feb 2022 (today) – 11 am to 12 noon- "Meditation in Krsna Consciousness"
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Hare Krishna!

Please accept our humble obeisances!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!


Date: 6th Feb 2022

Day: Sunday

Time: 11 am to 12 noon

Topic: "Meditation in Krsna Consciousness"

Speaker: H.G. Dravida das


Link to join the class from your desktop or laptop:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9150790510?pwd=Wk5GYXVRMkJmdk84MzZJRXBKYUgwUT09 


 H.G. Dravida das

A disciple of Srila Prabhupada, Dravida dasa joined ISKCON in 1973 and has served as an editor and proof-reader for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust for over 45 years. From 1983 to 1989 he was part of the team that completed Srila Prabhupada’s magnum opus: a commentated English translation of India's jewel of Vedic wisdom, the 18,000-verse Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana). He also helped produce the revised editions of Srila Prabhupada’s Isopanisad, Krsna Book, Caitanya-Caritamrta, and Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and he is part of the team that produces Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja book every year. In addition to his editing work, he teaches Bhakti Yoga classes at ISKCON’s San Diego temple and other centres in North America.


Throughout all this immersion in transcendental literature, Dravida Dasa developed a love of the Sanskrit language, and especially the elaborate verses of the Bhagavatam and other works of bhakti literature.

His devotion and expertise in chanting form a marvellous combination. He has a been Brahmacari throughout his devotional career.

ISKCON Scarborough

3500 McNicoll Avenue, Unit #3,

Scarborough, Ontario,

Canada, M1V4C7

Website: www.iskconscarborough.org

Email:

iskconscarborough@hotmail.com

scarboroughiskcon@gmail.com

ISKCON Mourns the Passing of Lata Mangeshkar
→ ISKCON News

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) joins the world in mourning and remembering the legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, The Nightingale of India.

Acclaimed singer Lata Mangeshkar took her last breath at Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai on Sunday, February 6th, 2022, she was 92. The singer was cremated at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park with full state honors. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and many others paid their respects to Mangeshkar.

Daughter of Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar and Shevanti Mangeshkar, Lata belonged to a musical family. Her father was a well-known Marathi musician and theatre artist. She was first tutored by her father and later appeared as a child artist in several of his plays.

Lata Mangeshka and ISKCON

The following is an excerpt from Back to Godhead- India’s “Nightingale” Sings for Krishna

…The humble Miss Mangeshkar has won the Padma Bushan, India’s highest national award, and so many “Filmfare” awards (her country’s equivalent of the Oscar) that she’s had to declare herself ineligible for more. Time magazine called her “the indisputable and indispensable queen of India’s playback singers.”

When she went on stage last January 30 at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium, Miss Mangeshkar told her audience, “I’m giving this concert as a benefit program for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The proceeds are going to a cultural theater they’re building in Bombay.” She then captivated her fans with a three-hour concert beginning with the Bhagavad-gita and going on to the popular songs that have made her India’s most famous vocalist.

“I began singing at age five,” she said after the concert. “My father taught me our classical music—ragas from the Vedas. When I was a child, I learned to sing only for God.” And why the benefit concert? “My whole family are members of the Hare Krishna society… When I sing for Lord Krishna; everything is complete.”

 

May the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna bless this great soul.

Hare Krishna

 

 

The post ISKCON Mourns the Passing of Lata Mangeshkar appeared first on ISKCON News.

Relationship with Vrndavana
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 4 February 2022, Radhadesh, Belgium, Zoom Disciple Meeting)

We are building a relationship with Vrndavana, and as we know, Vrndavana is all about devotional service. Whether you are engaging in hearing and chanting or whether you are doing another service in Vrndavana, it is ultimately all about service in the dhama. Service is the way to penetrate into Vrndavana. So, when we go to Vrndavana, we start making a connection, and then we go again and again where we meditate on Vrndavana. This way, our connection to Vrndavana grows deeper and so does our desire to be in Vrndavana. In this way, it is a lifetime relationship which has to evolve, and this happens through our service.

You can watch the full zoom disciple meeting on our YouTube channel or by clicking the below link:

The article " Relationship with Vrndavana " was published on KKSBlog.

Sriman Jananivas Prabhu: Serving Sri Sri Radha Madhava for 50 Years
- TOVP.org

No one can speak with more authority and inspiration about Sri Sri Radha Madhava than their first full-time pujari, Sriman Jananivas prabhu. Along with his twin brother Pankajanghri prabhu, they served the Deities of ISKCON Mayapur without any break, thus setting the high standard for worship of Their Lordships. Jananivas even vowed never to leave the boundary of ISKCON Mayapur. However, for Their service to build the TOVP he went on several tours to raise funds.

Srila Prabhupada personally commented on their service:

“Only the Deity program is going nicely,” he remarked. Referring to the two English identical-twin brothers who are the head pujaris, Prabhupada declared, “The two brothers Pankajanghri and Jananivasa – there is no comparison. Everyone should know, there is no complaint.”

A TRANSCENDENTAL DIARY VOL. 1 – 2/18/76, Mayapur

In this video he gives some glimpses into Their history since 1971. For more details, please read these articles:

Chota Radha Madhava Come to Mayapur
The Many Meanings and Forms of Radha Madhava

This year celebrates Jananivasa’s 50th anniversary as ISKCON Mayapur Head Pujari, and also commemorates chota Radha Madhava’s 50th anniversary in Mayapur. Both historic occasions will be observed during the Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival from March 2 – 5.

These four days will be packed with ecstatic activities for all present (and viewable live on Mayapur TV), including kirtans, talks by senior devotees and leaders, dramas, dances, and a truly amazing abhisheka ceremony that will include ten types of abhishekas for Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madhava.

Devotees can take advantage of this auspicious celebration by sponsoring an abhisheka for Sri Sri Radha Madhava or a Radha Madhava Brick that will be inscribed with your name and placed under Their altar.

Visit the Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival page for more details and sponsor an abhisheka or brick TODAY!

The photos below are of Jananivas and Pankajanghri in the 1970’s.

  SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The TOVP Announces – Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival, March 2 – 5, 2022

Celebrating 5 Anniversaries in 1 Festival

The TOVP Team is pleased to announce the upcoming, all-auspicious Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival from March 2 – 5, 2022. This will be a festival to top all festivals, commemorating the anniversary of five important events in the history of ISKCON:

  • 50th Anniversary of Chota Radha Madhava’s Installation
  • 50th Anniversary of the ISKCON Mayapur Gaur Purnima Festival
  • 50th Anniversary of Prabhupada Laying the TOVP Cornerstone
  • 50th Anniversary of Jananivas Prabhu as Mayapur Head Pujari
  • 100th Anniversary of Prabhupada Receiving Bhaktisiddhanta’s Order

For more information visit the Radha Madhava Golden Jubilee Festival page on the TOVP website.

 

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…And of Seasons I am Flower-bearing Spring
→ Mayapur.com

Vasantha Panchami Feb 6th, 2022 …Of course spring is a season universally liked because it is neither too hot nor too cold, and the flowers and trees blossom and flourish. In spring there are also many ceremonies commemorating Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes; therefore this is considered to be the most joyful of all seasons, and it is […]

The post …And of Seasons I am Flower-bearing Spring appeared first on Mayapur.com.