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Srila Prabhupada’s Palace is one of ISKCON’s most impressive achievements. Built by young, inexperienced devotees who trained themselves in construction and artisanal skills, it began in 1973 as a simple residence for Prabhupada.

Madhvacharya was a great religious reformer and an orthodox commentator on the Brahma Sutras and the ten Upanishads. He was born in 1199 A.D. at Velali, a few miles from Udipi in the district of South Kanara in South India.

He was a Tulu Brahmin by birth. He was born of Madhya Geha and Vedavati. Vedavati was a virtuous woman. Madhva is regarded as an incarnation of Vayu, the Wind-God. The father gave him the name Vasudeva.

Madhva distinguished himself in physical exercises and field games. He had a wonderful physique. He could wrestle, run, jump and swim. So people gave him the nickname Bhima. Madhva took to the study of the Vedas and the Vedangas and became well-versed in them.

He took Sannyasa in his twenty-fifth year. Achyutaprakashacharya initiated him. Madhva was now known by the name Purna Prajna. Achyutaprakashacharya found that Madhva was a brilliant Sannyasin with efficient knowledge in Vedanta and other scriptures. He put Madhva as head of the Mutt in his place. Madhva received the name of Ananda Tirtha now.

Madhva had superhuman powers. He performed many miracles. He saved a boat which was caught in a storm. A boat which contained an image of Lord Krishna capsized. Madhva brought back the image from the ocean.

During his tour, king Ishvara Deva in Maharashtra asked Madhva to work in building a dam. Madhva noticed that he had been unconsciously working for the king the whole day. Once he stilled the waves of the ocean when he went to take bath.

He went on an extensive tour in Southern and Northern India to preach his gospel of Bhakti. He made several converts. He went to Badrinarayan, and soon after his return, he wrote his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedanta Sutras. He built several temples at Udipi, the principal centre of the Madhva sect. Most of the orthodox Madhvas try to go to Udipi at least once in their life.

Madhvacharya is the great exponent of the Dvaita school of philosophy. His Vaishnavism is called Sad-Vaishnavism in order to distinguish it from the Sri-Vaishnavism of Ramanujacharya. According to his philosophy, the Supreme Being is Vishnu or Narayana

We read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Nine, Chapter Ten: “The Pastimes of the Supreme Lord, Ramacandra.”

TEXT 20

te ’nikapa raghupater abhipatya sarve
dvandvam varutham ibha-patti-rathasva-yodhaih
jaghnur drumair giri-gadesubhir angadadyah
sitabhimarsa-hata-mangala-ravanesan

TRANSLATION

Angada and the other commanders of the soldiers of Ramacandra faced the elephants, infantry, horses, and chariots of the enemy and hurled against them big trees, mountain peaks, clubs, and arrows. Thus the soldiers of Lord Ramacandra killed Ravana’s soldiers, who had lost all good fortune because Ravana had been condemned by the anger of Mother Sita.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The soldiers Lord Ramacandra recruited in the jungle were all monkeys and did not have proper equipment with which to fight the soldiers of Ravana, for Ravana’s soldiers were equipped with weapons of modern warfare whereas the monkeys could only throw stones, mountain peaks, and trees. It was only Lord Ramacandra and Laksmana who shot some arrows. But because the soldiers of Ravana were condemned by the curse of Mother Sita, the monkeys were able to kill them simply by throwing stones and trees. There are two kinds of strength–daiva and purusakara. Daiva refers to the strength achieved from the Transcendence, and purusakara refers to the strength organized by one’s own intelligence and power. Transcendental power is always superior to the power of the materialist. Depending on the mercy of the Supreme Lord, one must fight one’s enemies even though one may not be equipped with modern weapons. Therefore Krsna instructed Arjuna, mam anusmara yudhya ca: “Think of Me and fight.” We should fight our enemy to the best of our ability, but for victory we must depend on the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

Coming to Bhaktivedanta Manor, I was reminded of the struggle that we faced here to keep the temple open to the public and to preach Krishna consciousness. Although in such battles the enemies sometimes appear to have the upper hand, in the end, as long as we remain faithful to and dependent on the Lord and at the same time make our best effort with all sincerity and intelligence, we will be successful according to His will.

We had a similar struggle in Juhu, Bombay. In fact, in Juhu we were even less equipped than were the devotees here, who had already established the mission quite solidly and had many friends—a large congregation, and friends in influential positions. Still, it was a great struggle here.

In Juhu we were comparable to the band of monkeys that joined Lord Ramachandra. Srila Prabhupada himself drew parallels between himself and Lord Ramachandra, and between us and the monkeys. He compared the Western countries to Ravana, because they had so much wealth, just like Ravana in his opulent kingdom of Lanka. And wealth is Lakshmi—a manifestation of Lakshmi, or Sita. So, Srila Prabhupada said that just as Ravana had kidnapped Sita, the Western countries had kidnapped, or taken possession of, so much wealth. And just as Lord Ramachandra had crossed the ocean to redeem Sita, so Srila Prabhupada had also crossed the ocean. And just as Lord Ramachandra was assisted by so many monkeys, he was assisted by us.

The Juhu struggle is a great story, which has been told to some extent in Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta. One incident took place after we had been successful in getting the land from the previous owner, Mr. Nair. Srila Prabhupada used to refer to him as “the demon Nair.” Probably some of you have been to Juhu. The front of the property was vacant, and in the back were some old tenement buildings. When we first got possession of the land, we built a temporary temple in the front for the Deities, Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari. At first we were living on the roofs on the terraces of the buildings, but eventually we were able to get at least one of the apartments from one of the tenants—for Srila Prabhupada.

So, Srila Prabhupada was living there, and he would go up to the roof in the late afternoon and meet people. One evening he was sitting on the terrace and his disciple Haridasa was fanning him. Srila Prabhupada said to Haridasa, “Do you hear that?” And Haridasa said, “Hear what?” Prabhupada said, “Do you hear the sound of the kirtan in the temple?” Haridasa said, “No.” Srila Prabhupada said, “That’s the point! There’s no kirtan going on in the temple!” Then Srila Prabhupada said, “Where are all the devotees? They should be in the temple doing kirtan; it’s the time of arati.” And Haridasa speculated and said, “They are probably out collecting. They haven’t gotten back from the city yet.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “That was not my idea that devotees should go out all day and collect and neglect the temple programs.”

Then he said, “Why do you think we were successful here? Mr. Nair was so much more powerful than we were. He was a wealthy man. We had very little money. He had been the sheriff of Bombay and knew so many influential people. We hardly knew anyone. And he owned one of the three English daily newspapers in Bombay. So he was very powerful. And we had very little money or influence, yet we were successful. Why? Because we were working for Krishna, for the pleasure of Krishna, we were successful.” Regarding the temple program, he said, “We will be successful not because we go out all day to collect money and then come back late—we’ll be successful if Krishna is pleased. So we should go out, but we should come back in time. The devotees should leave the city by five o’clock and come back, otherwise they will become like karmis. They should come and chant in front of the Deities and please the Deities, and when the Deities are pleased, we will be successful by Their mercy.”

This is always our position, that we make our best effort but depend on the mercy of the Lord. And making our best effort means according to the desire of the Lord—in our case, according to the order of the spiritual master. In the case of the monkeys of Lord Rama, they were directly under the Lord. Arjuna was directly under the Lord. We are also under the Lord, but under sadhu, shastra, and guru. They tell us what will please the Lord, and if we act to please the Lord, if the Lord is pleased, we will be successful.

Although the monkeys were successful in killing the army of Ravana, ultimately it was Lord Ramachandra who killed the great demon Ravana, and Rama-vijaya-dasami celebrates the victory of Ramachandra and specifically His killing of Ravana.

Now, this is in one sense an easier battle: it is easier to battle the forces that are outside of one’s self. Lord Rama and his monkey army were victorious against Ravana in their great battle, but there are also enemies inside us with which we have to contend, and that struggle can be more difficult and more painful than the battle against enemies outside. Prahlada Maharaja survived so many attacks on his life organized by his own father, Hiranyakasipu, but in his prayers to Lord Nrsimhadeva, he said that his biggest enemy was his mind and senses. The Bhagavad-gita also says that the mind can be one’s best friend or one’s worst enemy. So that’s a constant battle that we all face—how to keep the mind focused on Krishna, especially when we gather together to hear and chant the holy name, to hear and chant the transcendental topics. We should fix the mind on Krishna. Mayy asakta-manah partha. In the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says that the mind should be attached to Him. For us, aspiring devotees, or practicing devotees, the best way for us to fix the mind on Krishna is to hear the holy names of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—and to hear, to actually hear each word, each syllable. But it is difficult because the mind is flickering and unsteady (cancalam hi manah krsna). Arjuna tells Krishna that it seems more difficult to control the mind than to control the wind, and who can control the wind? Nobody. That means it is practically impossible to control the mind. But Krishna says it is possible by suitable practice and detachment. Abhyasa is the word for “practice.” We have to practice chanting and hearing. It is struggle—it’s an effort—but we have to practice. As Srila Prabhupada said, “Practice makes perfect—even in spiritual life.”

Still, by our own efforts alone we will not be successful. I think we all have that experience—it applies not only to chanting japa, but to any of our activities. It applies to book distribution. Sometimes devotees go out thinking, “Oh, I am really fit today. I am going to have a great day.” And then they hardly have any results. And other times they go out feeling miserable. They don’t even know how they are going to get through the day, and they are very successful in their book distribution. They feel that the lesson they are being taught is that they are not the doers; they are not the controllers. Whatever they do is by the mercy of the Lord, the mercy of the spiritual master, the mercy of the disciplic succession.

So, we make our effort, but ultimately we have to depend on the mercy of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada showed that all the time. After the success of the first Bombay pandal, he sent Tamal Krishna Goswami and me to Calcutta to organize a pandal program there. There were many Naxalites—communist youth—in Calcutta at the time. They used to kidnap people from rich families and would kill for their cause. When Srila Prabhupada first came to Calcutta, in North Calcutta, the Naxalites shot a wealthy person dead right on the street, just a few blocks from where Prabhupada was staying. They were envious. They may have had their reasons, but still, they were envious.

When Prabhupada came for the pandal program, the Naxalites were very disturbed and even sent Prabhupada a note, “Fly or die.” To compose the note, they had cut letters out of the newspaper and pasted them on the paper so that no one could trace the typewriter. The mood was very tense in the city.

Before the pandal program began, we had a small press conference with Srila Prabhupada behind the tent, and one of the reporters challenged, “What is the use of spending all this money on this pandal? You could use the money to help poor people.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “What is the use? The use is to give people a chance to hear. Actually, the whole pandal has come from hearing. I went to America and spoke and some young people heard me, and because they heard me, now they have made all the effort to organize the program. So the use is to give people a chance to hear, and everything comes from that.” And in the Bhagavad-gita also Krishna says, tac chrnu: “Just hear from Me.” He tells Arjuna, “Just hear from Me.” So, first comes hearing (sravanam), and then kirtanam and other items of devotional service. Srila Prabhupada said, “They heard from me, and now they are repeating what they heard.”

On the first night of the pandal program, thousands of people came. People were streaming in. We had dhuries, simple Indian carpets, on the ground, and most people sat cross-legged on the dhuries. To the side, we had seats, folding chairs, for people who weren’t comfortable on the floor, and we charged one rupee for a seat. So, some Naxalites came, and they were agitated that some people got to sit on the seats while other people had to sit on the ground. They made a huge disturbance. Prabhupada was trying to speak, and they were banging chairs together to make a noise so that Prabhupada wouldn’t be able to speak. It was really tense. We didn’t know what was going to happen, and we looked at Prabhupada. Then suddenly he leaned forward, and we could hear his voice booming through the speaker system: “govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami.” He just began to sing the Govindam prayers. Suddenly the commotion stopped, and the Naxalites just walked away. I thought, “He just has so much of faith in Krishna. He completely depends on Krishna.” (Years later I read Gurudasa Prabhu’s account of that incident, and it seems that along with singing the Govindam prayers, Prabhupada was sending notes to Gurudasa telling him what to do with the Naxalites. And that’s good, too. We make our best effort and depend on Krishna. That’s our process.)

We are about to begin the special month of Damodara, Kartik. In the month of Damodara we celebrate this binding of Krishna with ropes. Dama means “ropes” and udara means “belly.” Many of you know the story. Mother Yasoda was breastfeeding Baby Krishna, and while doing so she realized that milk that was on the fire was boiling over. So she set Baby Krishna aside before He was satisfied, to tend to the milk on the fire. Baby Krishna became angry, and eventually He broke a pot of makhana (freshly churned butter) and began to eat it and share it with His friends.

When Mother Yasoda returned to where she had left Krishna, He wasn’t there. She saw His little footprints—His feet had been smeared with butter—and saw the broken pot. She was concerned and considered that she would have to discipline Him so that He would grow up properly. All responsible parents are concerned that they have to raise their children properly, that if they don’t discipline them the children will not learn how to behave. As it was, Krishna was going to the neighbors’ homes and doing mischief, and they were complaining to Yasoda, “You better take care of your son. He is not behaving properly.”

Ultimately she found Krishna, and when He saw her approaching—He was sitting, eating the makhana—He immediately got up and began to flee, and she started to pursue Him, but because He was smaller and more agile, He was able to run faster than she. But eventually He allowed her to catch Him, and once she caught Him, she wanted to bind Him with ropes. Every morning she would tie His belt before He went to the pasturing grounds, so she didn’t think it would be difficult. But when she attempted to tie the rope, it was two inches too short, or, as the Bhagavatam says, the width of two fingers too short. So she added some more rope, and lo and behold, it was still two fingers too short. She added some more. It was still two fingers too short. She gathered all the ropes in the household—and being in a cowherd community, they had a lot of ropes for tying the cows and calves. And the neighbors were bringing their ropes. It was miles and miles of ropes, but she still couldn’t bind Krishna. But she didn’t give up. Her friends were telling her, “You are not going to be able to do it. This is not working. Just give up.” But she was so sincere, feeling that, as Krishna’s mother, she had a duty, that she endeavored to tie Him up so that He wouldn’t create further mischief—and to teach Him a lesson. So she didn’t give up, and when Krishna saw her sincere effort His heart melted and He allowed her to bind Him.

Our acharyas have commented on the significance of the two fingers by which the rope was too short. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that there was a competition between Krishna’s desire and Yasoda’s desire. Krishna’s desire was to be free and play with His friends, and Yasoda’s desire was to bind Krishna. So their desires were opposed to each other. Krishna has two saktis. One potency is called satya-sankalpa-sakti, which means that whatever He desires is fulfilled. So, that came into play. Another potency is called vibhuti-sakti, which allows Him to manifest His opulences, although He usually doesn’t—only when necessary. Say there is a forest fire. He can be defeated by His friends in their sports, but when there is a forest fire or some other threat to the residents of Vrindavan, the vibhuti-sakti comes into play and allows Him to manifest His opulences and swallow the forest fire.

In this case the two saktis—satya-sankalpa and vibhuti—joined together to fulfill His desire to play, and Mother Yasoda couldn’t bind Him. But when He saw her tireless efforts, He felt compassionate toward her, and He allowed her to bind Him. The acharyas say that one finger represents parisrama, personal endeavor, and that the other represents krsna-krpa, Krishna’s mercy. When these two combine, Krishna agrees to be bound.

So, we make our effort. We never give up, no matter what. We make our effort, and when Krishna sees that we are so sincere in our effort to serve Him and please Him, His heart melts and He allows Himself to be bound. In any effort it is the same combination: our hard labor (parisrama) and Krishna’s mercy (krsna-krpa). It applies to our efforts to preach, to distribute books. It applies to our efforts to hear and chant, to chant japa. We make our effort, and at the same time we pray for Krishna’s mercy. We depend on Krishna and pray for His mercy.

Here the mood of humility is essential. As long as we think we can do it on our own, we won’t get Krishna’s mercy, at least not to the same extent. That was Ravana’s mentality. He thought he didn’t need anyone. He thought he could do everything by his own strength and powers. So, we all have that little Ravana tendency. You may not—I do. I shouldn’t include you with me. So, we have to be conscious of that tendency and pray to Lord Rama to subdue that Ravana-like tendency within us.

There’s a beautiful prayer by Prahlada Maharaja in the Fifth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, in which he prays to Lord Nrsimhadeva, “Please vanquish the demonlike desires in my heart, just like You vanquished the demon Hiranyakasipu.” Hiranya means “gold,” and kasipu means “soft bedding.” Those are the main interests of materialistic people—money and sense indulgence. So, “just as You killed the great demon Hiranyakasipu, please vanquish the demonlike desires within my heart.” After Nrsimhadeva subdued Hiranyakasipu, He sat on Hiranyakasipu’s throne, lifted the demon onto His lap, and tore his heart out, so we want Lord Nrsimhadeva to sit on the throne of our hearts and kill these demonlike desires for gold and sense gratification.

Srila Prabhupada has given us everything. I am sure people have said the same thing before, but he really has. He has given us the knowledge, he has given us the process, and he has given us the way to invoke Krishna’s mercy. The best way to invoke Krishna’s mercy is to practice and preach. That combination will invoke Krishna’s mercy and make us successful.

In previous ages the Lord would kill the demons—Nrsimhadeva killed Hiranyakasipu, Ramachandra killed Ravana, and Krishna killed so many demons—but in Kali-yuga, because we all have demonic tendencies within us and pretty much everyone has bad habits, the Lord doesn’t physically kill the person; He kills their demonic mentalities by His mercy, by giving them the holy name. We find that exemplified in the story of Jagai and Madhai. They were violent toward Lord Nityananda, and when Lord Chaitanya heard, He came rushing to the spot, ready to kill them with His Sudarshan chakra. But Nityananda Prabhu appealed to the Lord, “This is Kali-yuga, My Lord. In Kali-yuga You can’t kill the people like that. In Kali-yuga everyone will be like Jagai and Madhai, so are You going to kill everyone? In Kali-yuga Your mission is to deliver them by Your mercy.” When Lord Nityananda intervened on behalf of the two sinful brothers, Lord Chaitanya hesitated, and the two surrendered to Lord Chaitanya, and He forgave them for their sins, with the condition that they would not commit sins again. They took up the chanting of the holy name. That means they developed faith in Nityananda Prabhu and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and because they developed faith they took up the chanting and were eligible to receive the Lord’s mercy, and they were forgiven.

That’s our position in Kali-yuga. We need the mercy of Lord Nityananda and through Him the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. Srila Prabhupada said in LA, “To approach Radha and Krishna, we need the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. And to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, we need the mercy of Lord Nityananda. And to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, we have to approach people like Jagai and Madhai.” In other words, the people on the street, the people in the subways, the people at the airport, the people in the offices, the people in the neighborhood, and sometimes even closer.

So, that is Prabhupada’s special mood, coming from the Panca-tattva. It is his special mood to get the Lord’s mercy by preaching, by approaching anyone and everyone to give them Krishna consciousness, give them the holy name of Krishna. So our effort (parisrama) has two sides: one is our own practices, hearing and chanting attentively and following the whole system that Prabhupada gave us (sadhana-bhakti), and at the same time making the effort to give Krishna consciousness to others, to induce others to accept the great gift of the holy name.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Rama-vijaya-dasami, October 19, 2007, Bhaktivedanta Manor, near London, England]

Today I heard a wonderful talk by Srila Prabhupada in which he spoke of love and service, that love must be accompanied by, or expressed through, service. He said, “Real love, engaged in the service of the Lord—then our life is successful. If you sacrifice your life for serving Krishna, you will always remember Krishna. You are taking so much trouble, going place to place to give one book to somebody. Why? Because you love Krishna, and you are thinking, ‘If this gentleman takes one book, never mind small or big, he’ll read at least one page about Krishna.” So you are thinking of Krishna. That is meditation. Real meditation is how to think of Krishna. Krishna—Krishna’s form, Krishna’s pastimes, Krishna’s activities, Krishna’s desire, how to fulfill it, that is wanted. That is Krishna consciousness.”

—Srila Prabhupada, talk on Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.101, July 6, 1976, Washington, DC

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

In my recent travels an Orthodox priest came to meet me and attend my program. He wrote, “I have an interest in Vaishnava theology. I wanted to share with you how I am trying to work Vaishnava pneumatology into my sermons. I hope it is pleasing to Prabhupada. I truly look forward to meeting you and getting to spend time with you and ask questions.” The priest is a wonderful, compassionate soul, deeply influenced by Srila Prabhupada’s life and teachings, and I relished conversing with him and seeing him develop his spiritual—Krishna—consciousness.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

A video by Hare Krishna TV & ISKCON Desire Tree.

Today I heard a beautiful talk by Srila Prabhupada in which he spoke of the order of the guru and his own achievement:

“[Sanatana Gosvami] therefore said, krpa kari’ yadi more kariyacha uddhara: ‘I know that it is due to Your mercy that I have been able to give up my material position, as Your man. Now order me what is my duty.’ This is devotee, you see? Not that ‘Now I am free from family life, I have no responsibility. Now I shall take prasadam and sleep.’ No. You must be hundred times more active than in your family life. That is devotional service. Of course, it is not pride, but take the example of my life. I was retired in Vrindavan, and at seventy years old I thought that it was to be done: ‘Nobody did it. Let me try.’ So I came to your country. Today is the tenth anniversary. So at least from material calculation, if I would not have taken that risk . . . When I was coming, my friends and others said, ‘This man is going to die.’ ‘Never mind,’ I thought. ‘Death will come. Let me try.’ So this activity must be there. That is the begging of Sanatana Gosvami. He said, apana-krpate kaha ‘kartavya’ amara: ‘What shall I do?’ It doesn’t matter what is your age, young man or old man. You must execute the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, through parampara, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and your guru. That is the real life of devotional service, to take some responsibility for working and execute it to your best capacity.

“In this connection, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has explained in connection with the verse

vyavasayatmika buddhir
ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-sakha hy anantas ca
buddhayo ’vyavasayinam
       [Gita 2.41]

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura said that ‘My only duty is to execute the order of my spiritual master. I do not mind whether I am going to hell or going back to home. No. My only life and soul is to execute the order of my spiritual master.’ He has explained like that. So devotional service is a great responsibility, to execute the order of the superior. Then our life is successful.

“Thank you very much.”

—Srila Prabhupada, talk on Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.101, July 6, 1976, Washington, DC

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

One cannot come to Vrndavana by road, boat, train, plane or helicopter, one simply cannot. One can only come by pure devotional service, there is no other way to come…

The Braja Parikrama 2019 is a chance for you to immerse yourself (again!) in the pastimes of Krsna and his family, on the strength of the holy name and devotional service. The registration is still open until the 15 October 2019. Make sure you register soon as bus seats are limited. Use the button below to register or go to the special parikrama page for more info.

Relive

Last year, we discovered places like the Nrsimha Temple, Dauji, Vyomasura’s cave and other places connected to Krsna’s pastimes. To increase your eagerness to join this year’s tour, watch this huge playlist of videos from Braja Parikrama 2018 that was recorded and compiled by Antardvip Dasa. If you cannot view the video playlist, please visit youtube.

Reread

Rukmini (along with Vasanti, Nara Nārāyaṇa, Harsarani and Chandrasekhara) have written a beautiful series of articles describing the travels and stories of the Braja Parikrama 2018. In nine articles, they take you deeper into the holy places of Braja, Vrndavana and complement the already outstanding videos.

Read all Braja Parikrama 2018 articles below or find them here.

The article " Braja Parikrama 2019 – Reminder " was published on KKSBlog.

Podcast

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[Bhagavatam class on 3.31.13 at ISKCON, Denver]

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The post Understanding the unborn’s understandings 1 – How can the embryo with an undeveloped brain speak prayers? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Talk at Atlanta, USA]

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The post How to understand Krishna’s blessings – Mukunda Mala Stotra 1 – BULL acronym appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Talk to Gita-Wise students, Atlanta, USA]

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[Combined Bhakti Vriksha class at Atlanta, USA]

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The post How hearing the Bhagavad-gita raised Sanjay’s standard of longing appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Talk at Bhakti Lounge, Atlanta, USA]

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The post The three modes and the search for happiness appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

About one and half years ago, Deva Gaura Hari, whom I have known for many years, worked hard to set up a restaurant at the mall in Murwillumbah. He named it, “Lucid.”

Since then, many people have come in to sample the fine vegetarian prasadam cuisine.

Although Deva Gaura Hari had invited me to come for lunch a few times, until now I hadn’t done so. However, I was so impressed by the layout, decor and menu that I instantly fell in love with it. Needless to say that Deva Gaura Hari very graciously looked after us with wonderful prasadam. Lucid Ki Jaya !

This is a pandal which was constructed in Kalyan, a city in the Thane District of Maharashtra, for Durga Puja, which was inspired by the TOVP.

Our model of the TOVP is actually used every year for the pandals in different places of India every time Durga Puja comes around, and we find that to be a wonderful preaching source for glorifying this vast project and Mayapur Dham as well. With each year the pandals are built larger and larger, and look more like the actual temple being built. This really shows how much they appreciate and are inspired by the TOVP, as well their love towards this magnificent project!

The post TOVP Design Popular at Durga Pujas in India appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Answer Podcast

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The post How do we know whether we are in harmony with our true nature and God’s plan – what does harmony feel like? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

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As you come up the main staircase of the TOVP towards the temple room you will be greeted by two gigantic elephant sculptures standing side by side in front of an immense, 30’ tall, four column entranceway pillar.

There are two such pillars, each with two accompanying elephants and four interconnected columns. The elephant, hasti in Sanskrit, symbolizes wealth, strength, wisdom and royalty, and characterize the Vedic standard of abundance, along with cows.

Pictured here are the TOVP elephant sculptures in their current state of progress.

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The post Elephant Sculptures for the TOVP Main Entrance appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.23.

Giriraj Swami read and spoke on Bhagavad-gita 9.14