Websites from the ISKCON Universe
News of the peaceful death of former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke on May 16that the age of 89, has evoked praise of the charismatic leader. Dominating Australian politics in the 1980s, he is credited with introducing universal healthcare, modernising the economy. A lesser known achievement is his 1987 intervention to help free the Hare Krishna devotees from state persecution in the USSR.
The 20 foot (6 meter) tall murti of Vijay is almost complete! Along with Jaya, these two incredible murtis will stand guarding the main entrance of the temple.
Pictured is the sculptor completing the last details. Mold production for casting the finished deity in fiberglass is already going on. Very soon the first guard of the TOVP will take his permanent place at the main entranceway.
Visit us at: www.tovp.org
Follow us at: www.facebook.com/tovp.mayapur
Watch us at: www.youtube.com/user/tovpinfo
Phone App at: http://tovp.org/news/announcements/new-tovp-phone-app-goes-live/
Mailing List at: https://goo.gl/forms/ojJ2WcUUuqWh8bXt1
RSS News Feed at: https://tovp.org/rss2/
Buy from us at: https://tovp.org/tovp-gift-store/
Support us at: www.tovp.org/donate/seva-opportunities
The post Vijay Murti Almost Complete appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
We ask Gopal and Sahar about being visibly religious (2 min. video)
This is a funny, short clip from BBC SESH about how two pe...
Delaghn gets his ticket for the spiritual world!
Shastrakrit Das: Delaghn had a copy of Gita as it is and he was trying to read it on his own. Krishna’s arrangement he meets one of our devotees that drives uber and finds out about our Gita evenings. He happened to live 2 mins from our ashram. So this eve he came & during what was supposed to be Gita discussion, for almost 2 hours, We discussed the glories of Srimad Bhagavatam & how for the first time it’s available in English (hint hint) At the end of the evening he gladly agreed (as you can see in the picture) to take home a set of Srimad Bhagavatam.
Thirumagal Mataji distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books.
I love observing devotees distribute books. We all have our own individual style & approach, yet we share the same goal and objectives. It’s also great to share methods and learn from each other. On Saturday I watched Thirumagal Mataji distributing. She was so bold and enthusiastic in stopping the Watford shoppers. I admired her confidence, resilience and dedication. She stopped a gentleman and spent some quality time sharing small parts of wisdom contained in each of the books she was holding. He explained he had visited India and practised yoga and whilst he had heard of Srila Prabhupada he had never read his books. After a hearty philosophical conversation with Thirumagal Mataji he walked off with a couple of books. It was such a lovely interaction to watch and it did make me giggle to see Thirumagal Mataji almost have to bend backwards to speak with such a tall gentleman.
By Srimati Dasi In any relationship, the nature of the reciprocation and rasa that evolves between loved ones will naturally be very much influenced by their quality of speech ⎯ their verbal exchanges. This is particularly so in Vraja ⎯ a land where the culture is sublimely subtle and ever-so-fascinatingly sweet. It’s a land where Krsna not only loves everyone and has loving exchanges with everyone but speaks to them all in their own language! An old woman in Vrndavana, present at the time of Krsna’s pastimes, once stated in surprise, “How wonderful it is that Krsna, who owns the hearts of all the young girls of Vrajabhumi, can nicely speak the language of Vrajabhumi with the gopis, while in Sanskrit He speaks with the demigods, and in the language of the animals He can even speak with the cows and buffalo! Similarly, in the language of the Kashmir Province, and with the parrots and other birds, as well as in most common languages, Krsna is so expressive!” She inquired from the gopis as to how Krsna had become so expert in speaking so many different types of languages. Continue reading "The Sweet Speech of Vraja
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Podcast
Transcription
Question: All the people in the Malaysian airlines crash died was it due to their own past karma
Answer: Generally, every particular event has to be placed in the most constructive context. Constructive means how can we act constructively over there. If I say this heat is because of climate change and climate change is there because of corporate controlled industry, or the corporate control economies are so exploitative. May be that’s true but can I do anything about it right now? Immediately I can’t. So, we have to place things in the most constructive context.
If somebody is suffering, distressed, victimized, we should never resort to victim blaming. If somebody has been victimized in this life, we have to treat them that they are victims and it was bad and unfair. Philosophically, yes, what happens to us, it is probably a result of our own past karma. People who die in terrible calamities, terrible accidents, they had some karma because of which it happened. Things can have multiple causations. From this life’s perspective, it was a catastrophe, a terrible thing. As much as possible, we have to take measures to prevent such things from happening. The idea is that if we can plug things at this level itself, then we should try to plug things at that level. But if things cannot be plugged at that level, then rather than feeling simply helpless and thinking that the world is a horrible place where anything can go wrong at any time and it’s so horribly insecure, you must believe that there is some higher principle that is operating. A doctor is meant to treat the patients to the best of their capacity. But sometimes when an epidemic comes up, it’s just not humanly possible to treat everyone who is sick at that time. You try as much as you can.
As long as things are in our control, we do the best that we can. But when things go beyond our control, for accepting, we put that in the context that, okay, there was something happening in the bigger picture, some past karma that was coming, because of that it happened. Past karma should never to be taken as an excuse for not doing one’s present dharma. We have our present duty and it’s important for us to do that duty.
The Malaysian Airlines can’t say that people crashed or plane crashed because of their past karma. They have to inquire and find out what caused the crash of this plane and they have to take responsibility to prevent recurrences of such things. But when despite of our best efforts, something just happened, then we can say that it is past karma. Let’s accept it and move on.
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Nrsimha Caturdasi 2019 (Album of photos)
Lord Nrsimhadev’s appearance day at New Govardhana San Diego, May 17, 2019
Shots of New Vraja Dham and the recent blissful festival (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “My heart is always burning in the fire of material existence, and I have made no provisions for getting out of it. The only remedy is hari-nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, which is imported from the spiritual world, Goloka-Vrndavana. How unfortunate I am that I have no attraction for this. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 5.1.22 Purport)
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Vrindavan India 4 April 2019, SB 8.17.25-27)
They did not go to the moon. Although I was there in front of the television and we saw it, and it was a big thing. The whole world was together. It overcame everything, the Russians, the Chinese and everyone was part of it. They were all watching and they all were sharing the monitoring of the space shuttle. It was a big thing – a man on the moon Neil Armstrong.
“It was all a hoax.”
“Well Srila Prabhupada if you say so then it must be true. And why do you say so Srila Prabhupada?”
“Simply because in the Bhagavatam it states that the moon is further away from the sun,”
Finished! That settles it. That was the only reason – that was it. That was outrageous – to say that in this world. Prabhupada had full faith in the Bhagavatam.
The article " The man on the moon " was published on KKSBlog.
By Sri Prahlada das News of the peaceful death of former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke on May 16th at the age of 89, has evoked praise of the charismatic leader. Dominating Australian politics in the 1980s, he is credited with introducing universal healthcare, modernising the economy, floating the dollar and of achieving the highest approval ratings of any Australian leader while in office from 1983 to 1991. A lesser known achievement is his 1987 intervention to help free the Hare Krishna devotees from state persecution in the USSR. Continue reading "Remembering Help in Freeing Soviet Hare Krishnas Rendered by Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke
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Narasimha Chaturdasi festival & Kirtan Simha 2019 (Album of photos)
Narasimha Chaturdasi festival and Kirtan Simha festival is an annual festival for the appearance day of Narasimhadeva and a Holy Name festival combined that takes place in South of Germany, Baveria at Simhachalam “the lion temple” its a 5 day non stop program where over 500 devotees gathered from all over the world to partake and “chant with the roar of a lion.
It’s the boat festival season in Mayapur. After 7 days of ecstatic boat festival of Radha Madhava, we celebrated two very sweet and ecstatic boat festivals of Sri Jagannath, Baladev Subhadra- one at Rajapur, while the other being at Srila Prabhupada Ghat to Pancaveni by Land department. HH Jayapataka Maharaj took part in the celebration. […]
The post Boat Festival Season! appeared first on Mayapur.com.
[Sunday feast class at ISKCON, Phoenix, USA]
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The post Can we love ourselves? – HOPE acronym appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
By Madhusudana Visnu Das A Swaminarayana Monk Appreciates Srila Prabhupada and his Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Few months ago, we received a call from a monk belonging to Swaminarayana sect in Gujarat. He expressed the desire to learn Bhagavad Gita As It Is. It was quite a surprise for us. On inquiring from him the purpose behind his request, he informed us that their chief-guru had written in their sacred literature called siksha-patri, the manual of good instructions, that every sincere seeker should study Bhagavad-gita very nicely. Since, he had heard from many people that ISKCON’s Bhagavad-gita is the best, he got inspired to approach us to assist him in this regards. Continue reading "An appreciation for Srila Prabhupada and his Bhagavad-gita As It Is
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Podcast
Question: Are our present sufferings because of our past karma?
Answer:
Basically, there is a cause-effect connection in the world. If your child comes back home and got a black eye, you wonder what happened. He says, no, I just got a black eye. No, no, no, you just got a black eye. What happened? Did you get into a fight with someone? Whenever we see an effect, we presume that there must be a cause. A cause-effect correlation is something which we implicitly assume. Even, science operates that way. I had been invited to speak in Cambridge University. We passed by the same tree when Newton is said to have seen the fruit falling. So, when he saw the fruit falling, he asked the question, what made the fruit fall? And that’s how he came up with the theory of gravity. But the idea is when he saw the fruit falling, he asked what makes the fruit fall? That means he is assuming that things don’t happen just by themselves. There is a cause of the connection.
Both in our daily life as well as in science, we presume that there is a cause-effect connection. But there are times when we can’t see the cause of a connection. If a child has come with a black eye, you’ve got to fight with someone. Find out what the fight was. Sometimes we can find the cause. But sometimes we can’t find the cause with our own intelligence. Then we have two options. One is we can presume that there is no cause-effect correlation. Things just happen at random. Second is maybe there’s a bigger picture in which I can see. I need to place this in a broader framework in which I can see this cause-effect. So, intelligence means to frame things in the right context.
Each and every thing can be placed in different contexts. For example, if we start feeling very warm we could say that, am I getting fever? If we were feverish and we are feeling hot, maybe I am getting fever. That could be one context in which we place it. Another could be, oh, maybe the ventilation in this room is not very good, that’s why I’m feeling hot. Or maybe there’s too much crowding here. Too many people. That’s why it’s hot. Or it could be that the temperature has gone high and the summer has become too much now. Or we could say, oh, actually there is climate change. The temperature of the whole world is increasing and this indicates that we humans are disturbing the ecological balance. So, any of these contexts could be true.
Intelligence means we place things in the right context. If there is a problem that we are facing like the fan is not fast enough. We increase the fan and we feel reasonably comfortable. If a thing can be placed in a small context and understood, then it may not be necessary to go to a bigger context. But when things can’t be understood in a small context, like if there’s a heat wave across the country, then no matter how much fan I increase, it may not make much difference. Sometimes when things cannot be explained in a smaller context, we need to place them in a bigger context. Similarly, when in our small context, okay, this doesn’t make sense. Why is this happening? Then we place it in the bigger context. And then we see, oh, could it be from our previous life? That’s how we make sense of things.
Suppose we have a credit arrangement with some supermarket. We go and buy things from there. And then at the end of the month, we pay them. If we go there at the end of the month and we buy a $2 object and they give us a bill that is $700. Hey, what happened? This is not $700 worth. But what are they doing? Yeah, the bill is not for the specific product that we have taken. So, when we see the bill, we have to understand this is not just for this. There’s much more coming.
Basically, the principle of karma and reincarnation plays our present situation in a bigger context. So, when the immediate cause-effect connection doesn’t make sense, then we place it in a bigger context. And that is what we do in various fields. In science, for example, the theory of gravity worked very well and it was considered a bedrock of classical physics. But by the start of the 20th century, especially when scientists started studying very small fundamental particles and very big particles at the cosmic level, they found that these didn’t seem to be obeying the law of gravity. Some other theory was required. They didn’t say there is no cause-effect connection. They came up with a different theory, a different frame of equations. For the subatomic particles, they came up with quantum physics. For the large bodies they came up with relativity.
The idea is that karma gives us a broader framework in which we can see things. So, when things make sense in the immediate cause-effect connection, we just stay at there and take that as an explanation. But when things don’t make sense, then we place them in a broader context.
End of transcription.
[Talk at Scarborough, Toronto, Canada]
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The post Understanding papa, punya and bhakti – How the good obstructs and supports the best appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
The Cambridge body of examination based in UK through which Mauritius gets their Higher School Certificate has included ISKCON as a topic to be studied as from next year in Hinduism. The examinations will be held by 2021. Students aged 17, 18, 19 will be studying ISKCON movements in high school. This is truly an achievement and a step ahead to make students Krishna Conscious. 
MOSA Italy Visit (Album of photos)
Visiting the Museum of Sacred Art’s beautiful gallery in Tuscany Italy. Only 15 minutes drive from Florence city. The collection of paintings from the Mahabharata and Ramayana are a sight to behold. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.
Krishna House - Party Time! (Album of photos)
At the end of every semester, the sincere Krishna House team gathers to appreciate each other’s contributions and have a bit of KC fun.
We are very pleased to report to all the devotees the results of our marathon fundraiser, the #Giving TOVP 10 Day Worldwide Matching Fundraiser from May 7 (Akshaya Tritiya) – May 17 (Nrsimha Caturdasi).
But we first want to thank the devotees from all over the world who participated in this event and helped make it a phenomenal success beyond our expectations. We especially want to thank the Canadian yatra whose total donations raised were truly outstanding. Under the inspiration and organization of Indresh prabhu they raised $139,000 USD from devotees all over Canada. The U.S., India, Russia, Hungary and U.K. also shined during this marathon.
Although our goal was $250,000, the Grand Total from all sources comes to over $425,000 and still counting, and includes Ambarisa’s matched amount of $125,000. This is a sign of what we can all accomplish together to serve Srila Prabhupada and his mission if we put our heart and soul into something. The Lord reciprocates in kind and fulfills our desires for His service. Let’s keep this tsunami wave of service to the TOVP going.
“Those who are trying their best to keep intact the flow of service to Sri Mayapur, will be considered the benefactors of the world of Vaisnavas.”
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur
There are now less than three years left to complete the TOVP by 2022 and there is still much work to do in that short time-frame. We need all of you to continue to show support by either continuing with your monthly pledge payments, or making regular donations from time to time as you are able. No amount is too small. This temple is being built by the hands of every devotee and the legacy we are leaving behind will affect the future of human civilization for generations to come in ways we cannot even imagine.
MISSION 22 MARATHON KI JAYA!!! THINK 22! TOVP NOW!
Visit us at: www.tovp.org
Follow us at: www.facebook.com/tovp.mayapur
Watch us at: www.youtube.com/user/tovpinfo
Phone App at: http://tovp.org/news/announcements/new-tovp-phone-app-goes-live/
Mailing List at: https://goo.gl/forms/ojJ2WcUUuqWh8bXt1
RSS News Feed at: https://tovp.org/rss2/
Buy from us at: https://tovp.org/tovp-gift-store/
Support us at: www.tovp.org/donate/seva-opportunities
The post FINAL RESULTS – The #Giving TOVP 10 Day Worldwide Matching Fundraiser appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
Monday, May 20th was the death anniversary of my mom. I usually post the blog I wrote a few days after she “left her body” (as devotees call death of the physical body, since the soul moves on) nine years ago. Today, I would like to express some thoughts for your consideration, and perhaps, for thinking of your own mom, or your relationship to your parents in general. One of the questions I am thinking about is: “How has your relationship with your parents effected your life in terms of your relationships with your spouse and children (if you are married), or to friends, people in general, or yourself?” 
I’ve been visiting Govindas Asrama in Darlinghurst for years and the kirtan, lecture, prasadam program is still going strong.
The crowd is mixed, but mainly westerners with half regulars and half new guests. Everyone is enthusiastic to chant the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra and I always enjoy participating.
Podcast
The post Are there any brahmavadis in the world today? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Madhavendra Puri, a great 14 century saint in our lineage, had visited the ancient temple in Remuna and saw the priests (pujaris) offering small pots of sweet rice to the Deity. In his heart, he desired to taste the sweet rice so that he could create a similar preparation for his personal worship of his own Deity. Seeing the genuine sincerity in his heart, the Deity of the temple secretly hid one of the earthen pots of sweet rice offered every night and then appeared in the dream of the priest (pujari) and instructed him to locate the hidden pot and give it to Madhavendra Puri. In this way, the legend grew of the Gopinatha Deity which stole sweet rice for his devotee and thus Deity became known as "Ksira-Chora Gopinatha"!
Lecture – Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.32 All Revealing Sun and Illusion Cloud Dissipates 2013-12-08 Dallas
Chanting japa is one of the activities most central to Krishna consciousness. So every year for the past seven years, devotees from Kemerovo in Siberia, Russia, have put on a special Japa Retreat for both local Vaishnavas and those from surrounding areas.
Over 1,000 attended the service in Washington, DC,, including religious dignitaries representing Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish and Christian faiths, members of Congress, U.S. government representatives, Ambassadors, members of the diplomatic corps, and Sri Lankan community members.
A few weeks ago I did an interview with a good friend of mine & godbrother Candrasekharacarya Prabhu. I thought it would be interesting for everyone to hear from him because he is a person that takes a bit of initiative and tries to do things to help spread Krishna consciousness. He's a good musician. […]
The post 27-Candrasekharacarya appeared first on Successful Vaisnavas - Personal Development for Hare Krishnas.
Nrisimha caturdasi festival @ ISKCON Salem, Tamilnadu, India (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: One is understood to be an et...
How I came to Krishna Consciousness - His Grace Sri Bhakti Das ( min. video)
Srila Prabhupada: To the sincere devotee, this ocean of maya is easily crossed by the cool breeze of Krishna’s Grace. This is our business, to submit to Krishna’s desire to have us back with Him in the eternal sky of Krishna Loka. Letter to Syamasundara, November 24, 1968.
Lord Nrisimhadeva appears three times to HG Sesa Prabhu (video)
From a recent Nrsimha Appearance Day Class at the Krishna Hous...
New Veg Iskcon Restaurant downtown of Ljubljana, Slovenia (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Preaching is more important than...
HH Radhanath Swami and Vaisesika Prabhu join forces for the Monthly Sankirtan Festival in New York (Album of photos)
Yasoda-du...
Now you can see the Board of World Largest Bhagavad-gita As It Is in Delhi Metro stations in New Delhi 
Ratha-yatra in Ukraine - Dnipro (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Dnipro is one of the main cities in Ukraine. We arrived just in time for the local temple’s celebration of Nrsimha Caturdasi and next day’s Ratha Yatra. A thousand devotees attended both programs. The city seemed alive with Krsna consciousness. There are over 10,000 devotees in Ukraine. A most perfect place for spreading Krsna consciousness.
Photos from London Nrsimhadeva Caturdasi 2019 celebrations.
Please find below photos from Nrsimhadeva Caturdasi 2019 in London...
By Parasurama dasa Srila Prabhupada: "... everyone identifies to some party, either politically, socially or religiously, economically. We have got so many fields of activity. But, in each and every field, we have got a party feeling. You cannot avoid that. In political field, oh, we have got so many parties. Even in your own country, even there are democratic party or conservative party and this party, that party. Worldwide is also the capitalistic party, the communistic party. In our country also there is congress party. So party's already there. Socially also, oh, we are Christian, I am Jew, I am Hindu (https://prabhupadabooks.com/hindu). Of course, this is religiously. And socially also. In India, there is very social party. So you cannot avoid this partyism. All ladies and gentlemen who are present here, I ask you, do you not belong to any party? Can you deny that "I don't belong to any party"? Oh, everyone belongs to some party. Now spiritualism, spiritualism means that we should identify ourself as God's party. Continue reading "Krishna’s Party
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titiksavah karunikah
suhrdah sarva-dehinam
ajata-satravah santah
sadhavah sadhu-bhusanah
Translation: The symptoms of a sadhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime. SB 3.25.21
“Srila Prabhupada related this verse to his own situation in Juhu—trying to preach, establish his mission and build a temple there. He said that a sadhu has no enemies. Still, people are so fallen that an envious person will become the enemy of a sadhu. Not through any fault of the sadhu, but just because of their envious nature. And Srila Prabhupada said we have so many enemies who are trying to stop us. We have many branches all over the world. If the people of Bombay are trying to stop us we could go somewhere else. But, no—a sadhu is merciful. he wants them to take to Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada described the various difficulties that we we were facing and then said. ‘What can be done? Titiksava—we must tolerate and go on with our mission.’ Fortunately for us these characteristics of a vaisnava are fully exemplified in Srila Prabhupada and therefore by studying his character we can know what is a vaisnava and we can follow in his footsteps.”
Nrsima-caturdasi talk (Right-click to download)