Planet ISKCON

Yamuna Devi Dasi was a pioneer and a true inspiration in ISKCON. Dedicating 45 years of her life in the service of Guru, Krishna,  and Vaishnavas. She was known for a number of services such as leading kirtanas in India in front of thousands and publishing vegetarian Indian cookbooks, which won many awards. Born Joan […]

The post Remembering Yamuna Devi Dasi appeared first on ISKCON News.

Yamuna Devi Dasi was a pioneer and a true inspiration in ISKCON. Dedicating 45 years of her life in the service of Guru, Krishna,  and Vaishnavas. She was known for a number of services such as leading kirtanas in India in front of thousands and publishing vegetarian Indian cookbooks, which won many awards. Born Joan […]

The post Remembering Yamuna Devi Dasi appeared first on ISKCON News.

Yamuna Devi Dasi was a pioneer and a true inspiration in ISKCON. Dedicating 45 years of her life in the service of Guru, Krishna,  and Vaishnavas. She was known for a number of services such as leading kirtanas in India in front of thousands and publishing vegetarian Indian cookbooks, which won many awards.

Born Joan Campanella, Yamuna Devi came to ISKCON in September 1966 through her sister, and it was then that she met her spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.

In August 1968 Yamuna Devi, her husband Guru Dasa, and four other disciples of Srila Prabhupada fulfilled the long-cherished desire of their parama guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, by opening an ISKCON temple in London, England. There was a lack of resources for the six of them, but their faith and perseverance eventually connected them with The Beatles and namely introducing George Harrison to Krishna Consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada and Yamuna Devi Dasi

Her Devotion to Her Spiritual Master

Giriraj Swami recalls the first time Srila Prabhupada’s poem “Markine Bhagavata-dharma” was published in an issue of Back to Godhead magazine and Yamuna Devi read it. “Gurudas, Yamuna, and I got together to look at the magazine, and Yamuna read the poem out loud. It was written in a mood of deep humility and dependence on Krishna, And when she got to the end—“Signed—the most unfortunate, insignificant beggar, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami”—she burst into tears.”

She had once asked Srila Prabhupada about the amount of time he actually spent with his spiritual master to which Srila Prabhupada replied that there were only a few, but they were very close. Then he said, “Those who think that association with the spiritual master is physical, they are no better than a mosquito sitting on the lap of a king. And what is the business of a mosquito? Simply to suck blood. So many of my godbrothers, they were big, big sannyasis, and they thought like that, and they simply sucked blood.”

Yamuna Devi took these words of her spiritual master to her heart. She said, “So that was a turning point for me, to realize that Prabhupada was going to leave this planet: ‘He is an old man, and he is going to leave, and I have to prepare.’”

She recalls, “Prabhupada said, ‘I am speaking because you want to hear so much. I am speaking as much because you want to hear so much.’ So he knew that hunger. I never expressed that to him, but he knew.” As Yamuna often said, Srila Prabhupada was completely aware of every disciple in every way—both their internal consciousness and the external manifestations of their service.

She was very strong in reading and studying. Every morning she would read the Bhagavatam and the teachings of the acharyas—Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura—taking special note when they spoke about the holy name. This was a major focus for her, and she would relish reading, especially instructions related to nama-bhajana and to guru-seva.

Srila Prabhupada Called Yamuna Devi Dasi a Sannyasini

Srila Prabhupada, “His wife is also great devotee, you know Yamuna. So now Yamuna has taken a very nice path. She has also become sannyāsīnī. Although there is no sannyāsīnī for women, but she has voluntarily taken. She is doing very nice; therefore I advised her husband that “You also take sannyāsa.” Because wife’s affection is very, very tight knot.”

Gurudasa Sannyasa Initiation — San Francisco, July 21, 1975.

About Srila Prabhupada’s Kirtana

She said, “Srila Prabhupada’s kirtana had no tinge of being a performance. It was purely for the pleasure of Krishna. It allowed the chanters access to the fact that the Lord’s holy name and the Lord Himself are non-different. He said that the key to engaging in kirtana without anartha was hearing and studying our literature and that gradually one would rise to the platform of pure devotional service.

In correspondence to Bhakta Carl, Yamuna Devi wrote, “Leading and chanting in kirtana has little to do with how we sound to each other. It has much more to do with how we call out to Krishna and immerse ourselves in hearing the vibrations of the holy names. What a vehicle for experiencing the love of Godhead.”

Yamuna Devi said that to the degree one follows Srila Prabhupada, to that degree things are revealed, and she gave the example of Bhakti Tirtha Swami. She felt that because of his deep connection with the holy name—his dedication to japa, his private time with japa—he was able to perceive Srila Prabhupada’s presence in separation. She said, “Prabhupada freely gave everything to all of us. But it is the individual’s hankering, which leads him to make certain decisions in his life to catch that mercy, that facilitates his or her perception of Srila Prabhupada, especially in separation.”

 Yamuna Devi Dasi leading kirtana

The Govindam Prayers

Yamuna Devi led the vocals for the Govindam Prayers, and the recording, composition, and production was done by George Harrison himself. It was released to the public and topped the European music charts.

George Harrison was so impressed by her singing that he told her that he could make her one of the most famous and celebrated vocalists in the world. But she wasn’t interested. Her singing was —pure devotional service to please Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha-Govinda.

In this context, Mukunda Goswami recalls, “But the devotees in Los Angeles didn’t want Prabhupada to hear this because they thought it was very strange that a woman’s voice would be leading the Hare Krishna mantra. And so they didn’t let Prabhupada hear it. One morning, just before the greeting of the Deities, Prabhupada was sitting on his Vyasasana. When the Deity doors open in Los Angeles, there is a big billow of incense smoke from the charcoals. The devotees use a lot of incense, and when they open the doors, it kind of pours out like a big cloud coming out. So right before this, Prabhupada said, “What about that record that the devotees sent from London?” He had heard about it. But they told him, “It is just Yamuna singing; we don’t want you to hear it.” Then they said, “There is no place to play it.” And he said, “Just play it on the system – the speakers.”

In [the] Los Angeles temple there are very large speakers where they play lectures. They said, “Okay,” and very reluctantly went and fetched the recording and played it. It was just at the right time, and it is about six minutes long. As the Deity doors opened, Prabhupada didn’t say a word. He just listened with his eyes closed. Devotees got to see streams of tears coming down his cheeks. That day Prabhupada ordered that the song be played in temples all over the world at the time of greeting the Deities.

Her Kirtana

Yamuna-devi had a dream and Giriraj Swami recollects it here, “In this dream, or vision—whatever it was, she took it as very real—she was a sage in the forest and Srila Prabhupada was also in the same forest, and somehow he engaged her in doing kirtana. She felt that from her past life there was a connection with Srila Prabhupada in relation to kirtana.”

Yamuna Devi Dasi cooking in her kitchen

 

Her Cooking

She served as the personal cook for Srila Prabhupada for eight years. This turned out to be an inspiration for her own cookbook entitled, “Lord Krishna’s Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking” which won multiple awards, including the International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook of the Year.

She later wrote, “For two years, I was part of a group that accompanied Srila Prabhupada on extensive tours of the subcontinent that gave me the opportunity to learn from scores of famous temple brahamana cooks. In some cases, I was privileged to be the first westerner allowed in previously restricted temple kitchens.”

She paid attention to every detail. For instance, once when Srila Prabhupada was coming to Vrindavan, she went to the Vraja-vasis and asked, “What is the best way to make Vraja-vasi rotis?” They told her, “You have to get this red Punjabi wheat berry. You have to grind it in the morning, and then you have to cook it with nima wood.” She followed all these steps involved.

 Yamuna devi then went into Srila Prabhupada’s room and placed a hot roti before him. He took one bite and remarked, “This is from red Punjabi wheat berries. You crushed them this morning and used neem wood to cook the rotis.”, she had not told Prabhupada this, he just knew everything. Even then, he had an improvement proposal. He said, “Just one thing. They’ll be wonderful if you fry them for another one or two seconds.”

Her Deity Worship

In 1969, at John Lennon’s Tittenhurst Manor in England, Srila Prabhupada began teaching Yamuna the fundamentals of Deity worship, or seva-puja. Prabhupada taught her how to bathe, clothe, and decorate his six-inch Radha Krishna deities, as well as how to perform arati, using his own six-inch Radha Krishna deities. He continued to train her while she was in India with him, and she began worshiping her first tiny deities in 1971.

When Yamuna was assigned the task of preparing for deity seva at ISKCON’s impending Krishna Balaram Mandir in Vrindavan in 1972, Srila Prabhupada requested her to research the Goswami temples in Vrindavan for deity worship standards, attire, and procedures. And now, a just recently published Yamnua Dei’s Deity Seva teachings are now available to the masses. Read more about The Study of Seva Puja here.

 

Saranagati Ashram

Yamuna and Dinatarini moved extensively, then settled in Saranagati Village in Canada to live a simpler life and share kirtan, classes, deity seva, and devotional inspiration. It especially recounts Yamuna Devi’s deep empathy and care for ISKCON’s youth, how she spent so much time engaging and encouraging them in Krishna consciousness, and the powerful impact she had on their lives.

Her Deep Sadhana

Giriraj Swami remembers, “In the afternoons when there was some free time, Yamuna-devi would chant in the courtyard. It was very cold in Amritsar in November, but it would be a little warmer when the sun came out in the afternoon, and she would sit cross-legged with her back erect and chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra japa continuously with her eyes closed—nonstop. She told me then that when she chanted, her ears and mind and heart opened up to the holy names and that the names would enter and she would just hear the sound. She would be fully absorbed in the sound, not even thinking that she was chanting the holy names or that these were names she was hearing—she was just absorbed in the sound.”

The Samadhi of Srimati Yamuna Devi Dasi, Vrindavan

Her Last Days

At about 6:30 in the morning on December 20, Yamuna Devi’s constant companion and spiritual confidante, Dinatarini dasi, found that Yamuna had left. Her hand was in her bead bag, and a slight smile was on her face. She looked completely at peace—even blissful. She had been unafraid of death. She had been confident that she would again be with Prabhupada, or somehow engaged in serving his mission.

Her Samadhi

Yamuna Devi Dasi’s samadhi stands alongside Samadhis built for three other late disciples of Srila Prabhupada: Narmada Goswami, who worked with the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in Mumbai; Purnachandra Goswami, who preached for many years in Russia; and Vibhu Chaitanya Das, the head cook for the Deities, who lived there since Srila Prabhupada’s passing. Yamuna Devi’s beautiful Samadhi has arched dome and is covered with intricate carvings of peacocks, pillars and arches. Vishaka Dasi mentioned, “Although smaller, it is very much in the same style as the Samadhi of Vaishnava Saint Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakura, “Yamuna was very fond of it. Of all the Samadhis in Vrindavana, it was her favorite.”

The front of Yamuna’s Samadhi a plaque reads: “Unalloyed Servant of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Yamuna Devi Dasi. May 19, 1942 – December 20, 2011. She knew the art of devotional service, lived a dedicated life of devotion, and graciously and joyfully gave the gift of Bhakti to others.”

For more information you can read “Yamuna Devi: A Life of Unalloyed Devotion” which is a loving offering of devotion from some of the many devotees who were deeply impacted by her.

Malati Devi Dasi, Dinatarini Devi Dasi, and Yamuna Devi Dasi 

Her Main Concern

Yamuna Devi was very much concerned about the position of women in ISKCON.

One day Prabhupada had come into his room and Malati Devi Dasi and Yamuna Devi had just made his bed and done whatever else had to be done in the room. Srila Prabhupada responded and said that this is very unusual for a sannyasi to have this service done by women but it was appropriate. He continued, “Sometimes I am like your father and you are like my daughters, and sometimes you are like my mothers and I am like your son.”

In her last days Yamuna Devi said, “But if Krishna does give me some more time, I would like to do something for the women, to support the women, to give a strong voice to the women.”

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With TOVP’s state-of-the-art Flipbook service, we are able to increasingly offer various publications, calendars and promotional materials as viewable, downloadable, shareable and printable Flipbooks on the TOVP website.

Now available are the North America and India 2022 calendars, set to the theme of the Prabhupada Welcome Ceremony from October 14 and 15 this year celebrating the arrival of Srila Prabhupada to his new home in the TOVP. All Vaisnava and important secular days are included.

Visit the TOVP Flipbook Page to view the calendars and other flipbooks we have created for your transcendental pleasure, and share them with others.

Hare Krishna!

Please accept our humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!


Date: 2nd Jan 2022
Day: Sunday
Time: 11 am to 12 noon

Madhava Smullen is synonymous with ISKCON News. For the last 14 years, he has been the main storyteller for the global ISKCON Community for the news site. 

Here is a great and easy idea for the Christmas Marathon. One of the brahmacaryas here in San Diego, Govardhana prabhu, came up with it. He puts together three soft-bound books (Gita, Science of Self-realization, and Chant and Be Happy), and puts a Christmas bow around them.

Source: Sanskrit Sense

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Source: Veena Mauri

Mahotsaha Das has proven that the words of our founder Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada are still living strong in the hearts of many.  Our beloved Srila Prabhupada’s heartfelt call to all his students of Bhakti Yoga to push vigorously for book distribution is amazingly still being carried down with great enthusiasm and fervor by his grand disciples.  

A brand new Crossways Hare Krishna Restaurant has opened in the heart of the busiest part of Melbourne, Australia, serving inexpensive all-you-can-eat vegetarian and vegan meals to the Melbourne community. 

With this holiday season upon us, devotees from Alachua as well as from Gainesville’s Krishna House, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine participated in the St. Augustine Christmas Parade in Florida on December 4^th.

By Aditya Varna Devi Dasi

Once in India Srila Prabhupada said to you “Yamuna you will become as famous as the river Yamuna.” In the mood of a pilgrim at the banks of a sacred river offering drops back to the river in the hope of receiving its blessings, so I offer to you words from your own life of devotion in the hope that this fallen soul may receive your mercy . The above prophetic words were spoken by Srila Prabhupada after a gentleman in India had just shown him a glowing newspaper article about the success of Sri Sri Radha Londonisvari with pictures of the Deities. It was largely down to your high standards as a pujari, and your expertise in organisation which he praised you for. He turned to you and uttered these words , and then he laughed and laughed and laughed. You made him laugh. Continue reading "In appreciation of Mother Yamuna’s biography
→ Dandavats"

                                                 Manager Ramesh Das in the new Crossways restaurant on opening day A brand new Crossways Hare Krishna Restaurant has opened in the heart of the busiest part of Melbourne, Australia, serving […]

The post New Crossways Hare Krishna Restaurant Opens in the Heart of Melbourne appeared first on ISKCON News.

                                                 Manager Ramesh Das in the new Crossways restaurant on opening day A brand new Crossways Hare Krishna Restaurant has opened in the heart of the busiest part of Melbourne, Australia, serving […]

The post New Crossways Hare Krishna Restaurant Opens in the Heart of Melbourne appeared first on ISKCON News.

Mahotsaha Das distributing books “I want that you all my students shall very vigorously try for this book distribution.” Srila Prabhupada, Letter to Kirtiraja — Vrindaban 27 November 1971 Mahotsaha Das has proven that the words of our founder Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada are still living strong in the hearts of […]

The post Mahotsaha Das Breaks Book Distributing Record appeared first on ISKCON News.

  In his purport to Caitanya Caritamrta (Madhya 24.256), he writes, “This is the process of initiation. The disciple must vow that he will no longer commit sinful activity — namely illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling, and intoxication. He promises to execute the order of the spiritual master. Then the spiritual master takes care of him […]

The post What Technically Happens During Initiation? appeared first on ISKCON News.

 

 

In the West, this is the holiday season, with Christmas and Hanukkah both coming up. As Srila Prabhupada explained, the Lord comes to this world to enlighten people with transcendental knowledge. Sometimes He comes personally, and sometimes He sends His son or His prophet or His representative, but they all come with the same message. They may speak in different languages according to the circumstances and the audience, but the essence of the message is the same: God is great; we are but small parts and parcels of God, meant to serve Him with love, and we have come from God and are meant to return to Him.

One of Srila Prabhupada’s purports in the Bhagavad-gita As It Is contains a statement that relates to the holidays people in the West are about to celebrate:

“ ‘The avatara, or incarnation of Godhead, descends from the kingdom of God for material manifestation. And the particular form of the Personality of Godhead who so descends is called an incarnation, or avatara. Such incarnations are situated in the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. When they descend to the material creation, they assume the name avatara.’ [Cc Madhya 20.263­–264] There are various kinds of avataras, such as purusavataras, gunavataras, lilavataras, sakty-avesa avataras, manvantara-avataras, and yugavataras—all appearing on schedule all over the universe. But Lord Krsna is the primeval Lord, the fountainhead of all avataras. Lord Sri Krsna descends for the specific purpose of mitigating the anxieties of the pure devotees, who are very anxious to see Him in His original Vrndavana pastimes.” (Gita 4.8 purport)

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, said that Jesus Christ was a saktyavesa-avatara; he accepted that Jesus Christ descended to the earth from above. That is avatara. And saktyavesa means one who carries the power of the Lord. Thus, he accepted that Jesus Christ descended to earth with the power of the Lord to preach the message of Godhead. And Jesus Christ preached more or less the same message as Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. Sometimes people would ask Srila Prabhupada about Jesus, and Srila Prabhupada would reply, “In the Bible Jesus said that he was the son of God, and in the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says that He is the father of all living entities, so there is no contradiction.”

Jesus Christ filled the role of a spiritual master, or guru. The spiritual master teaches the science of Godhead, and when a disciple surrenders to a spiritual master, the spiritual master accepts the disciple’s sinful reactions. Jesus Christ performed the same functions in relation to his followers or disciples; he taught them about God, and he accepted their sinful reactions. Sometimes Christians quote Jesus as having said, “There is no way to the Father except through me.” This statement is a little controversial in learned circles—there is some question whether the attribution is authentic or not. But in any case, Srila Prabhupada took the truth in these words to be that one cannot approach the Lord directly; one can approach the Lord only through the Lord’s representative, the spiritual master.

As far as the idea that Jesus Christ accepted the sins, or sinful reactions, of his followers, Srila Prabhupada expressed one concern: The followers should refrain from sin. They should consider, “Oh, if I sin, my spiritual master will have to suffer!” Christians in particular may consider, “Because I have sinned, my spiritual master had to suffer! So I should not commit sin any longer.” That should be the basic sense. They should not think, “Oh, poor Jesus suffered for me, but now I can go on sinning.”

So, we accept Jesus as a saktyavesa-avatara, as an incarnation of Krishna. Christmas should be a time when we remember the teachings of Jesus Christ, the mercy of Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice he made for us. And we should resolve to be better followers, better servants of God and God’s representatives, and of all humankind and all living beings.

Hanukkah, in the Jewish tradition, is also an important festival celebrated at this time of year. It is a winter festival, and winter is a dark season, when the sun sets early and rises late. Hanukkah is the festival of light. Historically, the ancient temple in Jerusalem was seized and desecrated, but eventually, with great courage and sacrifice, the Jewish heroes, the Maccabees, won it back. They wanted to clean and purify the temple to make it fit for worship of the Lord, and their worship included a flame that was sustained by sanctified oil, to be maintained at all times. But when the Maccabees regained the temple, they found only one flask of the priestly oil, enough to burn for only one day. Still, they lit the great temple lamp, the menorah, and, according to the story, the oil burned for eight days, until they could get more. So, the miracle of Hanukkah is that the purified oil, which was sufficient to last only one day, burned for eight days, time enough to obtain more.

Figuratively, the temple is the heart. Cleaning the temple means cleaning one’s heart of the many dirty things that accumulate there by material association. That dirt includes false identification with the body and material desires for the gratification of the body’s senses and mind independent of God’s sanction and God’s service. And figuratively, the light is transcendental knowledge, or consciousness of God, which illuminates the heart and dispels the darkness of ignorance.

Just as the year has its cycles, we also pass through phases. We wish we could always be fully God conscious, but practically we may find cycles in our spiritual life, periods of increased devotion to God interspersed with periods of increased preoccupation with other matters. And the Hanukkah festival, the lighting of the candle or burning of the lamp, means brightening our hearts with God consciousness, with Krishna consciousness—cleaning the temple of the heart and rekindling the light of God consciousness, devotion to God, within the heart.

But we require help with such devotional activities, because alone each of us is quite weak. In the face of the material world, in the face of maya, we are weak and feeble, and we need the support and help of other devotees. If one person alone had to clean the temple, he or she would have a very hard job. But when all the devotees clean the temple together, the job becomes much easier.

The most complete science of God consciousness is presented in Srimad-Bhagavatam, which nicely explains the process of cleansing the heart:

srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah
   punya-sravana-kirtanah
hrdy antah stho hy abhadrani
   vidhunoti suhrt satam

 “Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.” (SB 1.2.17)

The Bhagavatam says that hearing topics of Krishna, of God—just as we are sitting here and listening to Krishna’s message—is itself a pious activity, a form of devotional service. We have only to open our ears to the message of Godhead and we become pious (srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana kirtanah). Then, hrdy antah stho hy abhadrani: the inauspicious things in the heart—we could say, the dirty things in the heart, our evil thoughts and selfish desires—become cleansed. How? Vidhunoti suhrt satam: The Lord Himself helps the truthful devotee to clean the dirt, because the Lord Himself is already there in the heart. He is already there, but because the heart is covered by material contamination, we cannot perceive the Lord’s presence; we cannot hear His voice. However, when we show our eagerness to hear the Lord’s message through our ears, the Lord within reciprocates. He helps cleanse the dirty things from the heart so that we can hear Him there, guiding us. And when we surrender to the Lord and make sacrifices for Him, He supplies unlimited fuel for maintaining our heart’s flame of devotion.

Satam means “truthful devotee.” The truthful devotee is honest in his endeavors in Krishna consciousness. One who is dishonest will make a show of piety or religiousness but behind the show will have other interests, harbor other ambitions. But the truthful devotee actually wants to understand the science of God and to serve the Lord and all living beings. Though he may be weak, if he is honest in his endeavors to listen to the messages of Godhead and apply the principles in life, even if he is incapable of executing the orders perfectly, still he is considered satam, a truthful devotee. And the Lord within the heart, who acts as the well-wishing friend of the truthful devotee, will cleanse the heart of the dirty things that have accumulated there.

Again we see the importance of association, because the process for cleansing the heart is hearing the messages of Godhead, and only in the association of devotees can we receive the messages properly. Through our hearing and then chanting and repeating what we have heard, the heart becomes cleansed by the grace of the Lord. Ceto-darpana-marjanam: By chanting the holy names of God and by hearing the transcendental glories of God, the heart becomes cleansed and the light of Krishna consciousness there burns more brightly. It spreads throughout the entire body and then emerges—through the skin, through the eyes, through all the different sense organs. Especially, it comes out through the mouth in the form of transcendental sound, which comes from the heart. The messages that one has received through the ears and that have entered the heart come out again through the mouth and spread light, enlightenment, throughout the world.

So, tonight we greatly appreciate the efforts of Mother Urvasi, for she works so hard to create a situation where we all can come together and speak about God, hear about God, and remember God. Holy days are special occasions when we can get together and remember the Lord’s appearance, or the appearance or disappearance of great devotees, or great events that have taken place in the service of the Lord. And when we get together and hear about the Lord and the great devotees of the Lord and the great service and miracles that have taken place in relation to the Lord, we become purified. And we become enlightened and engladdened.

Peace on earth and goodwill toward humanity actually can be achieved through God consciousness. The Bhagavad-gita explains how we can achieve peace: we must first make peace with God. If we reestablish our relationship with God and experience God’s peace and friendship, then we can have real peace and friendship amongst ourselves and help each other in our relationships with Him.

Srila Prabhupada said, “God consciousness is there. You have begun these Christmas holidays in your country. Throughout the whole month of December, you’ll observe nice festivities. Why? It began with God consciousness. Jesus Christ came to give you God consciousness, and in relation to him these festivities are going on. It may have degraded into another form, but the beginning was God consciousness. Now we may have lost it. But people cannot be happy without reviving God consciousness. It may be named differently—‘Krishna consciousness’—but that means God consciousness. That is the necessity. We want to love somebody. Our love will be perfected when we love Krishna, or God. We are teaching that. Try to love God, and if you love God, if you love Krishna, then automatically you love everybody. That is the perfection of love.”

Are there any questions?

Guest: I want to ask how you feel about a belief I am entertaining, namely that Jesus was a spiritual master because he had attained a spiritual level of consciousness or ascendancy through releasing his ego attachments and becoming transparent to God, and that statements attributed to him such as “No one can come to the Father but through me” and “I am the way, the truth, and the light” could be referring to the way he had attained his level of spiritual mastery. That is, such statements may be indicating that one cannot come to the Father in any other way but to release ego attachments and create this transparency to God. I realize that you were referring to the need for a spiritual master to assist one in achieving a level of spiritual ascendance, but could Jesus have been saying, “This is the way—the way I’ve done it”?

Giriraj Swami: What you say could be true. In fact, Srila Prabhupada used to describe the spiritual master as transparent. To be transparent, we have to purify ourselves of all material dross, and the subtlest level of material contamination is false ego. We cannot be transparent unless we become free from false ego. However, we do not accept the idea of the impersonalists that we give up our ego to merge and become one with God. Rather, we accept the instruction of the Bhagavad-gita, of Jesus Christ and other theists, to give up the false ego, the misconception that “I am the body, I am the Lord, I am the controller, I am the proprietor, I am the enjoyer” in favor of the real ego, the true understanding that “I am the eternal servant of God.” Certainly, the spiritual master is the eternal servant of God, or Krishna, so he can properly represent Him and direct others to Him. And certainly, the process of giving up the false ego in favor of the real ego, the process of devotional service, is the only process that will bring us to God, that will enable us to fully realize we are eternal servants of God rather than illusory masters of the world.

Hare Krishna.

[Adapted from a talk by Giriraj Swami, December 17, 2000, Ojai, California]

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 3 May 2021, Simhachalam, Germany, Srimad Bhagavatam 3.19.27) 

What did it mean when Srila Prabhupada said that ISKCON cannot be destroyed from the outside, but only from the inside?

Yes, ISKCON can be destroyed from the inside. Srila Prabhupada is referring to a forest fire here. There are two forest fires that Krsna swallows. One of these forest fires is the disagreement that comes about in the spiritual movement in the sanga of the devotees. And so, this is highlighted as something that can destroy our movement from within. As long as there is a core group of devotees who are embodying pure Krsna consciousness, then everyone will be blessed by them. These are the devotees who are above the dualities, who have no enemies and are the well-wishers of all. As long as there is this core group within our movement, who are the well-wishers of all, then our movement can never be destroyed. Srila Prabhupada was very much that person. He was completely the well-wisher of all. If we turn to Prabhupada in that mood of being close to him, then that mood of giving and being generous will pass on. But if everyone starts fighting for themselves, for their position, for their room, for their facility, for their recognition and so on, then there will be fires. Then, that kind of fighting can undermine this movement. But fortunately, by Prabhupada’s grace, there are still so many Vaisnavas who are dedicated.

Prabhupada started the ISKCON movement, and when he did so, the older splinter groups about the succession of Gaudiya-matha also revived. But it is not so easy to destroy ISKCON because Prabhupada is so present. We always have to keep on it. Not just doing the Guru-puja of Prabhupada, but also aligning with his teachings and aligning with what he considered important. Therefore, book distribution should always remain strong as long as there are printing presses. The temples have a history of strong book distribution and we should really keep that and continue to revive it. It goes up and down. We have to rebuild it up again with new enthusiasm. It is very important here because that was the thing that pleased Srila Prabhupada the most, no doubt. That is what will revive our community. The fact that there are so many young people within our temples is because of book distribution. Where there is book distribution, people join. So this is one way to remain connected to Srila Prabhupada and of course in many ways we need to ensure that we remain connected to Prabhupada. We have to read not only his books, but we have to read his letters. We have to find out what did Prabhupada want? Not just lip service and, “Guru carana padma.” No, we must focus on what our founder acarya wanted, and then just do it.

The article " What did Srila Prabhupada want? " was published on KKSBlog.

This is a short video by Sadbhuja das explaining the process of external facade cleaning of the TOVP GRC (glass reinforced concrete) which will take place annually after the monsoon season. The TOVP will be maintained in an immaculately clean condition externally for years to come, and rightfully so.

 

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From door knobs to big domes – the work continues on. Adjustments, refinements and accuracy on the drawings to fit the site conditions are in full swing for various elements of this grand building. Sharing some Architectural frames in this TOVP Architecture Department report.

Hope all devotees are keeping well and praying that we can progress sooner than later to offer this building to Their Lordships.

Click here to read the entire offering in your browser or download a copy to your desktop for offline reading.

 

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The first-ever online youth girls camp for unmarried girls of India will be held on December  18th- 16th, 2021. This virtual event was originally to take place earlier in 2020 when the pandemic hit the world.  This event is an excellent opportunity for youth girls struggling with peer pressure and the inability to balance both […]

The post ISKCON India Youth Girls Camp appeared first on ISKCON News.

Burnaby, British Columbia

Night Walk

Sarva Rasa agreed to join me for an evening walk down by the greenhouse enclave. This was after a full day of his teaching and then catching up with the final portion of a reading of the Gita in the temple. Today marked the anniversary of Arjuna hearing the timeless truth from the mouth of Krishna Himself. It was aural reception divine.

In any event, it was time to just get outside and let nature do what it would wish of us. As is common, nature is a teaser. Within minutes of our start, clouds began to spit. A slight hesitation struck Sarva’s heart, about continuing our trek, so I tested him. “Do you want to go back?” I admit to a sarcastic tone of, “Are you chicken?”

“No! No! There’s no turning back,” he rebounded. “I’m inspired. This is going to help me,” he admitted with conviction.

The whole day, from early morning to afternoon, and finally with this walk, thought of the priceless lessons of the Gitacame as reminders to me; how my life turned around decades before. It’s been an experience of wellness.

Street lights allowed for us to recognize puddles. In the night, they are black and some glisten with lampposts reflecting on their surface.

It doesn’t fail that a reminder of covid always sneaks about. On every stroll I see an abandoned mask that, in most cases, slipped from someone’s pocket.

Some predator birds flew low and near as we made our way through the rain as it was letting up. Only near the end of our walk did clouds spit again. As we were nearing the door to our apartment, Sarva once again remarked about the need to be out. “I’ve got to make this a daily regimen.”

May the Source be with you!

4 km