Spiritual retreats, UK.
The College of Vedic Studies (CVS) is now organizing no less than 6 retreats a year. There have been five retreats since last September, including Buckland Hall in Wales, Radhadesh Temple in Belgium and the Goloka Dham temple in Germany. Retreat attendees have a chance to immerse themselves in the daily practice of Krishna Consciousness and the association of devotees, away from the mundane routines of life. Asha Bhimji shares her experience: “My highlight over the last few years has been the CVS retreat to the Goloka Dham temple in Germany. The association of the devotees, in particular a great luminary like Sacinandana Swami, and the level of immersion away from the stress of work was magical for me. That’s the beauty of retreats; there is a great mix of amazing locations, creative programs, association of other devotees as well as plenty of free- time to do your own thing!”
Known American rapper and occasional producer KRS-One, a longtime friend of the devotees, presents in this video his own version of “you are not this body”
Senior Padayatra bull Narasimha completed 1 and a half round walking around India in 13 years!
All India Padayatra NEWS (1 min video)
By Acarya Dasa and Prajeesh Prabhu
On August 3, 2018, All India Padayatra left Pandharpur Dhama for onwards journey and reached Ajote, a small village 10 Km from Pandharpur. We left our senior bull Narasimha at Pandharpur gosala. He was with the padayatra for more than 13 years and completed 1 and a half round walking around India i.e. Tirupati to Tirupati and Tirupati to Pandharpur. The next senior bull Nandkishor, Narsimha’s best companion must be feeling bad in his absence. Now we got 2 new bulls from Gujrat. We stayed in a school at Ajote. Evening sankirtan at a nearby Hanuman temple. Many congregational devotees and villagers attended the programme.
TOVP’s outer wall update (Album of photos)
Sadbhuja Das: One section of the temple room outer wall is completed!
This is how the visual effect will be. This gives you an idea and indication of the detailing that we are doing.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/sC5Ats
Karnamrita Das: To make spiritual progress we must be introspective enough to understand our strengths and weaknesses, as well as where we are now, and what the goal is (so we can remain fixed on it). There is a time to hear and chant about Krishna, and a time to be real about our material attachments and lack of spiritual standing.
Yesterday Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja arrived in Carpinteria to spend some time with me at my ashram. I was much impressed with his plans and initiatives for cow protection (go-raksya) and, of course, as always, with his spiritual purity and Krishna consciousness. And I know that it was only his love for Srila Prabhupada and me that brought him so far to visit.
Today Maharaja continued to enliven and inspire us with his memories and realizations of Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON, and the future of the Krishna consciousness movement. He is truly a loyal disciple, member, and friend.
Auckland NZ: Giving out the mercy!! (Album of photos)
Kalasamvara Das: This process given by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is like the perfect transcendental storm.
Or transcendental net that catches everyone,
By books, prasadam, the holy names, and Association with devotees.
It’s so attractive and brings smiles to all
Bringing them BTG!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/XZVQct
Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold Named One of the Most Beautiful Places in the U.S.
ISKCON devotees will be pleased to note that amidst such attractions as the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art was the headline “Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold - New Vrindaban, West Virginia.”
To read the complete article please click here: https://goo.gl/58xPpt
Mahadyuti Swami’s great performance during the Vaishnava Baltic Festival 2018 (6 min video)
Mahadyuti Swami sang a song about how he likes to take prasadam at Govinda’s. Maharaj wrote this song 25 years ago when he was a manager there.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 15 September 2014, Cape Town, South Africa, Evening Lecture)
The more the eternal associates of Krsna develop their love for Krsna, the more they also develop their love for all those who are serving Krsna in love. Therefore, it is not that anyone looks with an envious eye at his neighbour. No, there is a very deep and genuine appreciation which is based on service, because everyone can see how everyone else in the spiritual world is trying to serve Krsna, and how eager everyone is to satisfy Krsna.
Everyone is impressed with the service attitude of everyone else, therefore there is no spirit of seeing shortcomings. Still, some may serve Krsna better than others, and that is appreciated.
Although 52 years have passed since the founding of ISKCON, the society is still growing. In 1965 Srila Prabhupada left the city then called Calcutta on a merchant steamer bound for New York. Only his son, Vrindavan Chandra De, was present to see him off. At age 60, Srila Prabhupada was carrying out the order of his guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada. The directive was to spread the glories of Lord Krishna to the English-speaking world. Srila Prabhupada had no friends or acquaintances in the US. Continue reading "52 Years and Counting! → Dandavats"
I was the TP in Nairobi from 1975 to 1982 and I know very well the extremely challenging situations preachers face in Kenya. After 36 years I returned to see the progress. Under my almost 7 year watch the preaching on the one side to the Indian community resulted in newly initiated Indian devotees and an increase of life members from 350 to 1,500. Substantial preaching was made with the African community too in terms of newly initiated devotees, Back to Godhead magazine in Kiswahili, regular performance of street and temple kirtans, and prasadam distribution. But all along our outreach to the students at the university campuses has met with very limited results and this of course left Srila Prabhupada’s cherished desire unfulfilled. Continue reading "Amazing ‘University Students’ Preaching in Kenya → Dandavats"
Hare Krishna! Please accept our humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!
We are very pleased to inform you that HH Bhaktimarga Swami will be giving a special class coming Sunday at ISKCON Scarborough. The program starts at 10.30 am.
About HH Bhaktimarga Swami: Over forty years ago it was a youthful quest for the life that leads Chatham, Ontario born Bhaktimarga Swami, (formerly John Peter Vis), to adopt an Eastern order of monastic life that landed him in the Hare Krishna movement. Since that time, as a celibate monk, Swami has evolved as an instructor of bhakti-yoga and mantra meditation. His presentation on this subject of life, based on the popular Hindu text, “Bhagavad-gita” is lively, candid and informative.
With a background in fine arts, Swami also developed a passion for the performing arts. Even in the course of his duties as a monk, he expands his portfolio and manages to take an active role in theatrical productions from epics of ancient Indian origin. Casting, scripting, and directing morality theatre takes him annually to venues from North America to India and Africa.
Finally, Bhaktimarga Swami achieved a remarkable feat in 1996 when he went the way of a pilgrim and walked on foot cross country from west to east and then back for a return journey from Cape Spear, Newfoundland to Vancouver Island in 2003, going full circle. He likes to share his unique experiences and fond memories on the road after trekking 16,000 kms. Swami is a consistent feature in “The Longest Road”, a recent National Film Board documentary detailing the history of the people who shaped or were shaped by the Trans Canada Highway, the world’s longest continuous maintained road.
ISKCON Scarborough 3500 McNicoll Avenue, Unit #3, Scarborough,Ontario, Canada,M1V4C7
Question: What can we do when we see terrible things happening in the world?
Answer: Whatever actions we do are reflections of the consciousness we have. Consciousness of different people is directed in different ways. Suppose we are walking on a road and we step on someone, as soon as we realize that we stepped on someone we immediately apologize. Normally a person is sensitive, when they cause pain to others, they feel sorry and apologize. However, sometimes some people may deliberately step on someone. They feel pleasure when they cause pain to others. At extreme level, people are sadistic or psychopaths. They feel pleasure in causing pain to others. Such people do not feel any remorse as there is no conscience left. These are different levels of awareness.
Wars happen, people kill, damage ecology, because their consciousness is at a particular level. Our consciousness is directed at the level where we find pleasure. Somebody who is compassionate, kind hearted feel pleasure in bringing joy to others. Somebody who is self-centered, sadistic get pleasure in causing pain to others. Somebody who is materialistic or technologically infatuated get pleasure in watching TV or playing video games.
We need to raise our consciousness because the more our consciousness evolves upwards, the more we become a part of the solution. Einstein said, “Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.” Practice of spirituality raises our consciousness upwards. We may be associated with some field – finance, engineering, politics, education etc. However, irrespective of the field, our consciousness will make us either a positive contributor or a negative contributor in that field. Spirituality help raise our consciousness which help us become more of a positive contributor. The world is a big place and we do not have control on how people act. However, we have control on how we act. Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. If each of us try to raise our consciousness then we can become the part of the change.
Suppose we are sitting in a room and the power goes off then we may get annoyed, complain or yell. However, we can switch on the flashlight in our mobile. The flashlight does not replace the room light but gives enough illumination to take few steps forward. Similarly, the world around us is a dark place. It is easy to curse the darkness that we are surrounded with. Yes, there are many problems, but it is much more productive to light at least one light. That light is the light of our own consciousness. If we can spiritualize our consciousness, then whichever area we are in we will be able to contribute and who knows we may start a chain reaction by which others elevate their own consciousness as well. A small change can lead to a big change over a period. On the mountaintop, it starts with a trickle of water but eventually becomes a forceful river. Similarly, a change in our consciousness in the right direction, can lead to a bigger change in the society with time.
On 60th anniversary celebration of United Nations in India, the United Nations in-charge of India told, “In last 60 years, we have worked very hard, got thousands of volunteers and spent billions of dollars. When we started, UN had 60 different forums like World Trade Organization (WTO), World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO etc. In all these 60 different forums, things have become worse. Not even in one of the areas, things have tangibly improved. UNESCO charter states that, “Just as war begins in the minds of people, similarly peace also has to begin in the minds of people. Now we are recognizing that social activism is important but we need something to change the consciousness of people. The change has to happen inside-out.” The world is focused a lot changing the outside. Outside change is required, but for the change to be sustainable and transformational, it must be an inside-out process. By raising our consciousness, we are trying to be part of that inside-out change.
Two days back, Sriman Gopal Agarwal, husband of Sally and father of two daughters, left his body due to old age afflictions. One of the daughters called New Vrindaban requesting one of our temple Brahmans to attend and offer rites prior to cremation.
ISKCON UK and NHS in joint care initiative.
A joint initiative between ISKCON UK and the SWAN end of life scheme was launched at a conference in the ISKCON Temple in Leicester. SWAN offers dedicated support to patients in the last days of life and to their families into bereavement and beyond. The SWAN scheme is a national programme which is present in 47 Trusts across the country. It was set up by Fiona Murphy MBE, the assistant director of Nursing at the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. The conference was attended by around fifty nurses and doctors, many of them practicing devotees of Krishna, and everyone felt the concepts discussed were helpful. Sukanti Radha dasi, a nurse, was the organizer of the conference and ISKCON’s National Office was represented by Praghosa das. Key speakers from ISKCON included Kripa Moya das who presented “Journey of the Soul”, and Nila Madhava das, who spoke about last rites and funeral services.
His Grace Mahabhagavat Das is a disciple of His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari. Mahabhagavat Das along with his spouse are very senior well respected devotees in Toronto and are often associated along with the names of Vaisesika Prabhu for expanding the Sankirtan initiative across the GTA and South Western Ontario. Together as a family they have made preaching their life mission and will go beyond their limits to ensure that Srila Prabhupada’s books are being distributed.
Chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
And Be Happy!!
ayur harati vai pumsam udyann astam ca yann asau tasyarte yat-ksano nita uttama-sloka-vartaya
Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one
who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.
Kamika Ekadasi Fasting.....................on Tue Aug 7th,2018 Breakfast................ on Wed Aug 8th, 2018 b/w 6.14am – 11.00am
Every fortnight, we observe Ekadasi, a day of prayer and meditation. On this day we fast (or simplify our meals and abstain from grains and beans), and spend extra time reading the scriptures and chanting the auspicious Hare Krishna mantra.By constantly ‘exercising’ our minds through regular japa we can train our senses to push the threshold of contentment.
English audio glorification of all Ekadasis is availablehere
ONGOING PROGRAMS
Adult Education At The Temple ISKCON Brampton offers various courses and Seminars for adults. The courses take a personal approach to learning. It encourages the student not only to study thoroughly the contents of Srila Prabhupada’s books but also to clearly understand the philosophy and practically apply it. The course focuses on behaviour and character, nurturing students in appropriate Vaishnava values. Professionally designed and presented, it draws on the principles of Krishna consciousness and the best of progressive education. In this way, it is true to ISKCON’s heritage and at the same time relevant to its mission in contemporary society.
The Sunday School provides fun filled strategies through the medium of music, drama, debates, quizzes and games that present Vedic Culture to children. However the syllabus is also designed to simultaneously teach them to always remember Krishna and never forget Him. The Sunday School follows the curriculum provided by the Bhaktivedanta College of Education and Culture (BCEC).
Monthly sankirtan Festival(MSF)
“One who has life can preach, and one who preaches gets life.”(Previous Acaryas)
Every member of ISKCON should have the opportunity to make advancement in Krishna consciousness by preaching.We encourage everyone to come out and participate and make Srila Prabhupada happy.
Please note that registration in the Mentorship System is now a mandatory requirement for all initiation requests at ISKCON Brampton.It
1.Facilitates and nurtures devotees aspiring for first and second Initiation. 2.One-on-One personal follow up on a regular basis. 3.Systematic training to devotees in matters of Philosophy, Sadhna, Vaishnava behavior, etiquette, Lifestyle and attitudes.
Are you looking for some amazing gift items which are less expensive and more beautiful for your loved ones for festivals or many other occasions?? Our boutique is stocked with an excellent range of products, perfect for gifts or as souvenirs of your visit. It offers textiles, jewelry, incense, devotional articles, musical instruments, books, and CDs inspired by Indian culture.We're open on all Sundays and celebrations marked in our annual calendar.
Question: When people are distressed, should we think philosophically, or should we just help them?
Answer: It is natural for a compassionate heart to want to help people. At the same time, we must see how best we can help someone since we all have limited resources. We also must think what is the most effective way in which we can help others. Suppose there is a hospital and next to it there is a medical college. There are people in the emergency department of the hospital and somebody needs to treat them. If some relative of the person in emergency department comes running to the medical college and says, “What you all students are sitting here in this classroom? Somebody is dying there, go and help them.” It may appear that the students are sitting for hours reading something, and when so many people are dying, they should do some practical help. However, for them to do something practical they need to learn medical science. It may appear that the students are stone hearted. However, the medical knowledge equips the students to help people in a more effective way. If they just run to emergency, they may be able to offer some basic help like bandaging or first-aid but if they become qualified doctors they can offer much better help.
When I was in college, I was a part of a social service organization where I would go to slums near my college and offer free tuitions to children. I found most of the kids came from dysfunctional families. Their fathers were alcoholics, they would suffer from domestic violence etc. Slowly as the children started to open to me, I felt that by teaching them Mathematics or English, how much am I really going to help them. Their lives were in such a mess that they needed help at a different level. Then after talking to our organization leaders, we decided that we will help people break free from alcohol. I used to go to slums, my friend would go to a nearby village. We worked together, and we succeeded in making one village dry (free from alcohol). At that time, it was a big achievement for us. One evening my friend came back from that village and he looked shattered. He told that previous week there were local elections and one of the candidates freely distributed three truckloads of alcohol. To his surprise not only the fathers but even their kids were drunk.
We thought that through education we can open doors for people. We also thought that by helping people to leave alcohol we are helping them to walk through those doors. But then we realized that there is something within people which sabotages them. I realized that not only those people but something within me also is self-destructive. I was very short tempered at that time. In fact, I was infamous for my anger. There is something within me which made me work against my best interests. I wondered what it was and how can that be combated. It was then I started reading Bhagavad-gita, where I found answer to this question, “What makes us act self-destructively?” Bhagavad-gita gives a complete psychological and spiritual analysis which explains that there are self-destructive forces within us and we need to deal with them by purification. This purification comes by spiritualization of our consciousness.
If we look at the major problems of the world today, all of these have a psychological basis. For example, problem of corruption is primarily caused by greed. Sexual violence is caused by lust. Violence is caused by anger. Environmental problem of pollution, global warming etc. are primarily because of greed. Greed, lust and anger are the three forces which are primarily the causes of most of the problems. If we could help ourselves do the inner cleansing by which we can decrease the level of lust, anger and greed then we can significantly help ourselves. We can significantly change the world to become a better place.
If people are starving we can give them some food, if somebody is sick we can give them medicine. These are all very good. If we have the capacity and inclination to do such a help we may do so, but is that a lasting solution? If somebody has certain habits which are self-destructive, will providing food or medicine really help? When I was helping those kids by teaching Math or English, I felt that the help I was offering was like filling water in a leaking bucket. The material education I gave to people, they were not really benefitted. The material education did not help in their inner purification.
If we can empower people internally to push back negative powers within them then they can help themselves. This happens by providing them spiritual education. Materially we can help anyone to a finite degree only. However, if we can equip someone to help themselves then that is a far greater help. By ourselves becoming spiritual and by sharing spirituality with others, we are equipping people to become the best that they can be. Equipping people to fight negativities within themselves through spiritual education is the best help. It is good to have the desire to help others, however, we should use our intelligence, to see what the best way is to contribute.
Social reformers, politicians and welfare workers etc talk about eradicating social ills but they do so comparing to the woes of today. But we have never reached that absolute utopian state, why? Because we live in a world of duality. This is an axiomatic truth - a self-evident one. But we do not accept it and we cannot accept it because if we accept a world with duality, then we have to accept always there will be good and there will be bad. There will be richness but also there will be poverty. There will be security but also there will be crime. As a politician or any social reformer, this sort of 50-50 condition is unacceptable and hence for all their life, they struggle in the name of upliftment and service to man to change human condition.
As long as man exists and time exists, we will have two sides to a coin since this is a relative world we live in. This desire for an absolute good world, however, is an indication of something deeper. Therefore, a true social reformer will speak the truth. He will point to man the futility of a relative world and that true absolute freedom from social ills is possible only in an absolute setting and not in a relative setting and that absolute setting is the Spiritual world or Vaikunta!
Question: Are we meant to face our destiny or to fulfill our destiny?
Answer: It is both.
Here we are referring to destiny in two different senses: (i) philosophical (ii) conversational.
Philosophically speaking destiny refers to the sum of our past karma whose reactions have not yet come upon us but are going to come. Sometimes, we may do good but get some bad reactions because it is the reaction for some other action from the past. Such destiny we need to face.
However, destiny also refers to something which we are meant to achieve. This sense of destiny is more referred in a conversational sense and not in a philosophical sense. For example, somebody has great talent for musical since early childhood and the person grows and becomes a musical maestro, then it is said that they have fulfilled their destiny. By our destiny we have been given certain talents and using those talents to achieve something worthwhile is in one sense fulfilling our destiny. That is something we all are meant to do.
Some of us may feel we do not have any special talent so what destiny can I fulfill. Our material talents can lead to the fulfilment of some destiny at a material level in terms of getting some fame or making some contribution in this material world. However, we all have spiritual destiny which every one of us can fulfill irrespective of differences in our material talent.
We are at our core souls and the soul has potential for an eternal life and eternal love. The soul is a part of the whole God. If the soul learns to love the whole purely through the evolution of its consciousness, then it can attain eternal life and eternal love by graduating from this temporary material world to the eternal spiritual world. That is the spiritual destiny which we all are meant to fulfill. Through multiple lifetimes and multiple species, we are evolving towards that ultimate destination. By practicing the process of bhakti yoga diligently and directing our love towards the Lord through such practices, everyone irrespective of their material destiny, can fulfill our spiritual destiny of attaining eternal life and love.
Karnamrita Das: To make spiritual progress we must be introspective enough to understand our strengths and weaknesses, as well as where we are now, and what the goal is (so we can remain fixed on it). There is a time to hear and chant about Krishna, and a time to be real about our material attachments and lack of spiritual standing.
By Mukunda Goswami
By Ajamila Dasa
Two days back, Sriman Gopal Agarwal, husband of Sally and father of two daughters, left his body due to old age afflictions. One of the daughters called New Vrindaban requesting one of our temple Brahmans to attend and offer rites prior to cremation.
Adult Education At The Temple
