Hope, faith, inspiration and enthusiasm, which give us the hunger for life, are perhaps our most precious assets – if we have those, we have everything.

A video by ToVPInfo.

The VIHE invites devotees to attend the Bhakti-sadacara course, which will take place from the 17th of January to the 8th of April, 2020.  The Bhakti-sadacara course is especially designed to give systematic knowledge to new devotees and to train devotees who did not have a chance for such systematic training before. More information: https://vihe.org/bhakti_sadacara.html

Flowers are a special part of the Vaishnava tradition. It is the way to honor special guests. It is the way to honor the spiritual master and the Vaishnavas. It is a form of worship, a form of appreciation.

We all have heard the virtue of forgiveness a number of times. But we all know how difficult it is to forgive someone especially those who have intentionally tried to make our life miserable.

More than 30 people have taken to their mats to welcome the first Hare Krishna Shala to North Wales, UK.

The Committee envisions the development of Mayapur as a world tourism center, which includes ISKCON's flagship project the Temple of Vedic Planetarium, educational institutes, and the Ganga ghat development.

TV Asia was the first coast-to-coast entertainment and information channel for the South Asian community settled in the U.S. It airs regularly scheduled programs in Hindi, English, Gujarati and other regional languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The first meeting of the Advisory Committee for the development of Mayapur Heritage City was held on 9 January 2020 at Sajjan Jindal's office. The meeting was initiated by Devakinandan Das, Zonal Secretary and Vice Chairman of Member of Mayapur Executive Board (MEB), and saw the participation of some of the most distinguished members of the corporate world namely Sajjan Jindal (Chairman - JSW Group & Advisory Committee), BK Goenka (Chairman - Welspun Group), Ajay Piramal (Chairman - Piramal Group), Ashok Goel (Chairman - Essel Group), Harshvardhan Neotia (Chairman - Ambuja Neotia Group) and Sanjiv Goenka (Chairman - RP Industries Ltd). Other businessmen who are members of the Committee but were unable to attend the meeting are Shri Gautam Adani (Chairman, Adani Group), Shri Anil Agarwal (Chairman, Vedanta Resources) and Puneet Dalmia (Dalmia Bharat Group). Continue reading "Prominent Indian Corporate billionaires initiate efforts to develop Mayapur Heritage City
→ Dandavats"

On February 13, 2020 all of ISKCON will be celebrating the historic, milestone Grand Opening of the completed Pujari Floor. In this video His Holiness Bhakti Caru Maharaja speaks about the importance of this accomplishment as we head towards the Grand Opening in 2022.

This event heralds the relocation of our beloved world deities into Their new, long-awaited new home. It is the largest facility of its kind in the world at over 2.5 acres in size with over 20 seva rooms specially designed by Their Graces Jananivas and Pankajanghri prabhus.

You can read more here: https://m.tovp.org/pujarifloor. The entire event can be viewed live on mayapur.tv

The post TOVP Pujari Floor Grand Opening, February 13 – H.H. Bhakti Caru Maharaja Speaks Out appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is very happy to announce the release of a new website, www.bbt.info, your ultimate guide for all things BBT. Visit this website to learn more about BBT, its mission, organization, and governance, the unique relationship between BBT and ISKCON, and more.

With less than a month to the Grand Opening of the TOVP Pujari Floor on February 13 we are racing to complete all the details and embellishments. Pictured here are the beautiful and ornate ceiling panels being installed from which chandeliers will be hung.

Below is the official promo flyer for the Pujari Room Grand Opening with the schedule. Please share with other devotees to get the word out about this historic, milestone event. You can watch live on Mayapur.tv.

The post Further Progress of Pujari Floor Ceiling Panels appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Cow protection - interview (audio)
HH Krishna Ksetra Swami: Here’s an interview I gave a few days ago on NewBooksNetwork about “Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics”
What does cow care in India have to offer modern Western discourse on animal ethics? Why are cows treated with such reverence in the Indian context? Join us as we speak to Kenneth R. Valpey about his new book Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). Valpey discusses his methodological odyssey looking at ancient Hindu scriptural accounts of cows, to modern Hindu thinkers (Gandhi, Ambedkar) on cow protection, to ethnographic work on individuals engaged in the modern Indian cow protection movement.

Do you remember me?
I was distributing in Byron Bay, Australia. When I approached a man, he asked, “Do you remember me?” “No, sorry, I don’t.” “Three years ago, you gave me the Bhagavad-gita, and I gave you a donation.
I thought it might help me through my troubled times. I had lost my business and my family, so I was drinking a lot. Basically I wanted to drink myself to death. Miserable.

Srimad Bhagavatam class by HH Prabodhananda Saraswati Swami in ISKCON Vrindavan, Jan. 16, 20.

HG Satyasena prabhu ACBSP left the mortal world yesterday evening in Belgaum (India). By Krishna’s mercy, just before leaving the body, he was in the temple - all good, chanting, listening class and all of a sudden he left!
He left his body in Uttarayan (Makar Sankranti was just the day before yesterday) in the temple – while chanting, listening katha in the association of devotees, his family was there, HH Bhakti RasamritaSwami was also there - so surely he has gone back to his eternal service for his beloved Lord in Goloka Vrindavan.

The Ministry of Education invites devotees to a symposium designed to bring together the many ISKCON-members involved in Education. 

To assist Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee's vision to develop spiritual tourism in the Ganga Sagar belt, West Bengal, India, ISKCON is ready to launch a permanent kitchen there, with a capacity to prepare up to 10,000 meals a day.

A video by Bhava Films.

Traditional kirtan and dance performed in Srngarvat, Vrindavan, India with The Kirtaniyas. This is just before this beautiful location was painted over and developed.

A video by Ananta Vrindavan.

The Bhakti Center is more than a Lower East Side yoga studio, a meditation school, a temple or even a cultural center. The Bhakti Center is a place of spiritual education and personal transformation. Each year in January we publish an annual report: a document that highlights our key achievements and successes of the year. This year, we decided to focus on the stories of our community –and their experiences of spiritual growth. We hope this publication will not only inspire you, but will invite you into the lives of our community members and help you feel a part of our growing Bhakti community.

TOVP progress report (Album of photos)
Sadbhuja Das: Here is a progress update on the installation of the GRG ceiling panels which are on the pujari floor. As you can tell from the pictures we have definitely fastened up the pace, and the results of these fixations are looking quite stunning

Srila Prabhupada: Even if we vegetarian are, then how you become big? The goats are vegetarian. Huh? Apadāni catuṣ-padām. This vegetable is meant for the catuṣ-padām, for the animals, four-legged animals. If somebody says that "Why shall I take this vegetable? It is meant for the animals. I shall take the animal." That is a good argument. Yes. So, to become vegetarian is not ahiṁsā at all. It is a bogus theory. To become a devotee and take Kṛṣṇa prasādam, that is perfect. Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati

You Too Can Chant Hare Krishna and Be Happy! (13 min. video)
While advertising the 2019 Ratha-yatra festival, Harinamananda and Sundar Nitai Prabhus of Harinama Ruci engaged dozens of shop workers, tourists, locals, and street performers of Dublin in chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, thus relieving them of their karmic burden and giving them a taste of devotional service to Krishna. You too can chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

Serves: 4
Cook time: 50mins

Chaunce
1tsp cumin seeds
1tsp fennel seeds
1tbs ginger
1/2tsp hing

Veggies
1L worth of veggies (potato, carrot)
2c baked pumpkin (pureed)
2c chickpea or red kidney beans, soaked over night in water

1/2c coconut cream
1/3c lemon juice
1/2c sugar
pinch chilli flakes
1.5tsp ground fenugreek
2tsp coriander powder
1.5tsp turmeric
2tsp salt

Method 
1. Heat a pot with oil, lightly toast the cumin and fennel seeds, when they’re slightly browned add the ginger and hing
2. Add the chickpea or beans with water that comes just above the beans, boil for 45 minutes or until they are cooked (take one out and if can easily be squished it’s done)
3. Peel and roughly chop the pumpkins, bake in the oven until soft then puree (or mush with hands)
4. Chop the other veggies into bite sized pieces and lightly steam them separately
5. When the beans are cooked, add the lightly steamed veggies and all the other ingredients, cook for another 5minutes
6. For our secret ingredient, and to make it Krishna Food quality, simply say ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare’ over the pot and then enjoy the meal!

Podcast

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The post Is science atheistic – does it promote atheism? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

A photo of Taal volcano erupting since Sunday and getting stronger every day as I speak. Just 30 km. From New Vraja eco-village temple. Sources said that the entire area is covered with ashes. Devotees are also preparing food for life, clothing and water for the evacuation centers. The eruption looks like someone dropped a nuclear bomb!

Lecture – Srimad Bhagavatam 1.4.5 Do not imitate Brahman Vision 2019-12-05 #Dallas

Today, Makara-sankranti, is the forty-second anniversary of the grand opening of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari’s temple in Juhu. On this day I have submitted the final manuscript of my book about Srila Prabhupada and Juhu, entitled I’ll Build You a Temple: A Good Fight and a Promise Fulfilled, so that it can be formatted for publication. Attached is a lovely photo of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari from today.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 05 May 2019, Melbourne, Australia, Bhakti Vriksha Program)

Krsna is so attractive, yet our material desires constantly bounce back up like a ball in water. We push it down, but then it always pops back up. How about that? Krsna will always win in the end because Krsna is the most attractive, however maya also appears to be attractive. Not as attractive as Krsna, but enough to make you think, “Yes, you can have Krsna, but He is far away. But I am here right now. You also have to live now. I mean of course, pure love of God is a beautiful and desirable thing, but what about now?” So this is the ongoing difficulty. However, by regular practice of Krsna consciousness, we are assured to always get more and more attracted to Krsna, and less and less to maya. So in this way, Krsna will always win!

The article " Krsna will win! " was published on KKSBlog.

With this in mind just like a drop of rain can become a pearl with the touch of oyster, in the same manner with the touch of a pure devotee we can clean our filthy hearts filled with dust and make it shine like a mirror. But, when that same drop of water drops into the gutter, it is not even worth of washing our feet.

How to remain satisfied and keep a positive disposition by HG Navina Nirada Das (video)

Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami, one of the six Goswamis of Vrindavan, was born in 1503 on the 13th day of the dark moon in the month of Pausha. Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami lived for 75 years and left this world to enter into the eternal pastimes of the Lord in 1578.    

Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami was the son of Vyenkatta Bhatta, a brahmana resident of Sri Rangam in South India, who was initiated in the Sri Sampradaya tradition, in the disciplic succession of Sri Ramanujacarya. 

In 1511, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed at the house of Vyenkatta Bhatta. At the time of Mahaprabhu’s visit, Gopal was only a child. When the little boy offered his respects at the feet of Sri Chaitanya, the Lord picked him up and held him on His lap and affectionately embraced the boy.

Later, when Gopal Bhatta arrived in Vrindavan, Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatana Goswami looked after him very nicely.

 After some time, Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami went on a pilgrimage to various holy places.

He stayed at Hardwar, and then went further north into Nepal and to the Gandaki river where he retrieved twelve Salagram Silas from the river. He used to keep them in a cloth bag hung round his neck. Still, he had a desire to worship the Sri Vigraha of the Lord in His Deity form.

Around this time a rich merchant visited Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami. Eager to serve, the rich man offered some fine clothes and ornaments for the service of the Lord. Sri Gopal Bhatta placed these things before his Salagrams saying tearfully that he wished he could adorn the Lord with all the nice ornaments and clothes. 

The next morning he bathed in the Yamuna and went to wake his Salagrams. When he opened the basket, he saw, in the midst of the Salagrams, one of the Salagram silas had turned into a full-fledged Deity of Krishna

The Goswamis named this Deity, “Sri Radha-ramana deva.”