Sri Krishna Haveli project update (Bhaktivedanta Manor, UK)
Construction work on Bhaktivedanta Manor’s new Haveli has begun and is in full swing with a date of completion for Janmashtami 2019. • The Primary school & Preschool have been relocated. • Radharani’s bakery has been relocated. • New access roads to car parks are in use. • New greenhouses for Tulasi devi are completed • The Site perimeter has been erected for construction • Over 100 truck-loads of subsoil has been removed to level the site • Foundations for the building has been laid • Drainage has been installed • Walls around the cottage have been erected to secure the stability of the building • Concrete slabs for the main buildings have been laid

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

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.

Hare Krishna.

Your grateful servant,
Giriraj Swami

Answer Podcast

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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Melbourne, Australia]

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[Seminar at Community Hall, Melbourne, Australia]

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The post From ritual to spiritual 1 – Analysis of Krishna’s pastime with the ritualistic brahmanas appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

BHAGAVAD GITA seminar 2018 at Iskcon Nola On Esplanade, New Orleans, USA (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Lord Caitanya Mah...

Devotees of ISKCON Kurukshetra called for Maha Harinam in Jodhpur, Rajasthan (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: O Hari-nama! ...

The Peace Garden.
Faith representatives and well-wishers from the local area joined the former Mayor of Watford, UK, Dorothy ...

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

Vaishnava Summer Festival Baltic 2018 (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Of the nine processes of devotional service, the mos...

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.

The article " Genuine appreciation " was published on KKSBlog.

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"

Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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Answer Podcast

Transcription :

Transcriber: Sudeep Naik

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.

End of transcription.

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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.

Iskcon representative in Narendra Modi event at London.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Indian diaspora in L...

PadaYatra walking festival in Czech Republic (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Of the nine processes of devotional service, ...

Lord Jagannath At Woodstock (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Lord Jagannath gave His first blessings at Polish Woodstock [...

HH Subhag Swami in stable condition after an angiogram operation.
Srivasa Pandit Das: Good news. I just had a conversation wit...

Answer Podcast

Transcription :

Transcribed by: Sudeep Naik

Edited by: Keshavgopal Das

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.

End of transcription.

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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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