Planet ISKCON

[Talk at Aus Crystals, Melbourne, Australia]

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Answer Podcast

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Transcribed by: Sudeep Naik

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.

End of transcription.

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[Congregation program at Wellington, New Zealand]

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Hare Krishna Festival Team on non-stop tour across the UK.
So far this year, members of the Hare Krishna UK Festival Team hav...

Kirtan London’s summer of success!
This year, Kirtan London is reaching out even wider than ever before with many more outreach kirtan (music) events in London: 1. Mantra Lounge – Kirtan evenings in Covent Garden have become weekly in frequency since the beginning of the year, with 40-50 people attending every session. 2. Pop-up Temple at the Wellbeing Festival (Mind Body Spirit) in May: - over 700 people participated in kirtan and japa meditation sessions; - over 900 prasadam sweets distributed; - 340 medium and 90 big books on spiritual topics sold, and - over 300 sets of japa chanting beads have been given out to eager participants. 3. Kirtan at Triyoga - Since March 2018 the team has been running weekly sessions at Triyoga Shoreditch, one of the branches of the prestigious yoga studio in London. 4. Barefoot in The Park – in July, the team held a big 6 Hour Kirtan and picnic at the Hyde Park Bandstand. Over 500 people attended throughout the day with many more passers-by enjoying the kirtans. 5. For those who want to dive deeper into the bhakti yoga philosophy and practice, study Bhagavad Gita and learn more about kirtan and its roots, we have developed special courses, residential retreats and monthly Bhakti Sanga (reading group). We also continue to offer our guests regular day retreats at Bhaktivedanta Manor, with tours, workshops, kirtans and talks on bhakti-yoga (the yoga of devotion), as well as the quarterly 6 Hour Kirtan at the lovely Swiss Church in Covent Garden, which attracts 120150 people each time.

Bulls Massage Mother Earth (video)
“Spending a day with the bulls is very satisfying work, and Mother Bhumi (Mother Earth) likes it. She is not so happy to have the tractor pounding her around. When the bulls are working, they’re walking on

Polish Woodstock Festival: Sneak Preview (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: The actual Polish Woodstock Festival [ Pol'and'...

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Answer Podcast

Transcription :

Transcriber: Suresh Gupta

Question: What is the most effective way to combat anger?

Answer: Combating anger happens at three broad levels – the spiritual, psychological and physical.

At a spiritual level, if we do not have spiritual awareness, we think that we are meant to be the controllers, and everything should work according to our plans. When we are unable to exert our control, anger is just a natural response. With spiritual wisdom, we can understand that in the broader scheme of things we are not the controllers but we are co-operators. There is a higher plan in which we are meant to play our part. If things are not happening according our plan, we need to recalibrate how to function. Redefining ourselves as co-operators and not controllers substantially decreases anger.

Anger depends on how we process what has happened. And that depends on how we conceive ourselves. For example, if somebody shouts at us, naturally we feel hurt. If that person is someone whom we have a good relationship with, we do not expect them to act in that way. Suppose the person who shouts at us is a stranger, who is under the influence of drugs. More often than not, we do not care because they are lost in their own world. Therefore, while the event of shouting is the same, how we react to somebody yelling at us is dependent on how we are processing it. How we process it, depends on how we conceive ourselves in relationship to the other person.

Spiritual practices help us instil the belief that we are not the controllers. The more we do spiritual practices the more our anger will go down both at the conscious and sub conscious levels. Consciously, we start to understand that we are not the controllers. At the sub conscious level, if we do meditation, regularly come to spiritual association, we will find that within few months of practice those situations which would have provoked us earlier, are not affecting us so much.

At the psychological level, all of us need to express ourselves in some way. We deal with our emotions in two ways: express or repress. With spiritual knowledge, we open a third option – process. Processing means that we care about our anger. Let me explain using my own example.

Earlier I used to get angry very much. Even now I get angry. When I am angry on someone, I write an e-mail to the person. However, I have a policy that if I have written a mail in anger, I will not press the send button for twenty-four hours. By writing email, I vent my anger out. If I do not write, the anger will burn me. If I write and send it, anger will burn the other person. Hence, I follow an intermediate option – I express it by writing but do not send it. Whenever anger and thoughts are held inside us, they congest and choke us. Writing down releases the inner pressure. Many times, it happens that within twenty-four hours the other person clarifies, and the situation is resolved. However, after twenty-four hours if the situation is not yet resolved then I revisit it. I am much calmer and able to see things clearly. I analyse and see that I have made certain reasonable points, but I am expressing it harshly or that I may be making a lot of assumption about the other person’s motive. In that way, I go over the whole email. Almost every time I would edit the email. When I do so, I find that things move towards resolution much better. What is happening here is that there is expressing, but within a finite range and to myself, or on a computer. Then there is processing. When I process my emotions, I know how to deal with them. Sometimes, I may decide that this whole issue is not a big deal and I will talk with the person when I meet him in person.
At physical level, all of us have certain triggers or things which make us angry. We have to learn to be cautious about this. Sometimes, when two people come together, they bring out the best within each other. That relationship is symbiotic. However, when some people come together they bring out the worst in each other. Just being in their presence makes each other angry. They may be doing something to provoke us consciously or unconsciously, but just being with them agitates us. Therefore, if we have to work with such people, we have to prepare. We just cannot rush into a meeting with them.

If we have had a long and difficult day with things are continuously going wrong and we come in touch with this person on such a day, then, even if there was a small issue, there will be a big explosion from our side. Hence, when we are aware of our triggers, then we can be cautious. At a physical level not giving ourselves the opportunity to express the anger by keeping ourselves at a distance from the stimuli that trigger anger, that helps quite a bit. Having things or having objects by which we can express our anger can make things much worse.
In America, quite a few school shootings have happened in the recent past. I was giving a talk at a college in America and suddenly someone entered and asked all of us to duck under the desk. When I enquired what happened, they told that there was a shooter in the school and urged everyone to duck under their desks. Finally, they clarified that this was a drill to train everyone. In many of these occasions, such shooters end up killing themselves also. The shooters after killing, feel extremely horrible about their actions. Under the spell of anger, they become very cold blooded, but after the anger has been expressed, they are so horrified that they end up killing themselves.

Anger is an emotion which everyone has, but if the angry person has a gun then it makes things much worse. If we could minimise our access to the trigger of our anger or minimise our access to the channels by which we express our anger, then we will decrease the consequences of the anger.

End of transcription.

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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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Gopala Bhatta Goswami (the son of Vyenkata Bhatta, a Sri Vaisnava brahmana) appeared in Sri Rangam, South India. Lord Caitanya once stayed for four months in his home and converted the family to Gaudiya Vaisnavism.

A boy at this time, Gopala personally served the Lord. Sri Caitanya treated him affectionately giving His remnants and blessings to become an acharya.

On pilgrimage he obtained twelve Salagrama Silas. Later the Damodara Sila manifested Himself as the beautiful Radha Ramana Deity. Since 1542, Sri Radha Ramana has been worshiped with pure devotion following precise sastric rituals.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 February 2013, Prague, Czech Republic, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.19.4)

If we want to be counted amongst the saints, we must have the courage to stand up for Krsna and not think, “What will the neighbours say?”

We have heard many stories of devotees during the early days of the movement in the former Soviet Union (Russia) and how the devotees were put into jails, mental hospitals and even labour camps. However, even during such circumstances, the devotees, using spoons over heating tubes, were ticking slowly in Morse code, “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna“. It takes a little longer to chant this way in Morse code as you can imagine but slowly the chanting of the holy name spread throughout the jails. Srila Prabhupada said, “This movement cannot be stopped! It is too late… it simply cannot be stopped. It is like a disease; when it has gone too far, there is nothing you can do. Nothing can be done to stop it now!” This is because vasudeva-katha-rucih (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.16). This is the key because of the taste of glorifying Krsna, how can one ever give it up!

Let the people say what they want to, we will still glorify Krsna!

Let the world criticise us, we will still glorify Krsna!

Let the word condemn us and declare us illegal, we will still never stop to glorify Krsna!

The article " Stand up for Krsna! " was published on KKSBlog.

Yesterday we were graced by a visit from Kalakantha Prabhu and Bhakta Jeff, from Gainesville. Kalakantha is such a sincere, intelligent, thoughtful, dynamic, compassionate, innovative preacher, I always feel enlightened and encouraged by his annual visits.

As stated in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 1.50),

tesam satata-yuktanam
  bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam
  yena mam upayanti te

“To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.”

Purport: “This verse of the Bhagavad-gita (10.10) clearly states how Govindadeva instructs His bona fide devotee. The Lord declares that by enlightenment in theistic knowledge He awards attachment for Him to those who constantly engage in His transcendental loving service. This awakening of divine consciousness enthralls a devotee, who thus relishes his eternal transcendental mellow. Such an awakening is awarded only to those convinced by devotional service about the transcendental nature of the Personality of Godhead. They know that the Supreme Truth, the all-spiritual and all-powerful person, is one without a second and has fully transcendental senses. He is the fountainhead of all emanations. Such pure devotees, always merged in knowledge of Krsna and absorbed in Krsna consciousness, exchange thoughts and realizations as great scientists exchange their views and discuss the results of their research in scientific academies. Such exchanges of thoughts in regard to Krsna give pleasure to the Lord, who therefore favors such devotees with all enlightenment.”

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

This year we had he largest gathering for the Dublin Ratha Yatra ever! It was a truly wonderful day beginning with lively kirtan as Lord Jagannatha ascended His chariot. 30 minutes later we were hearing the 1st citizen of Dublin waxing lyrical about how once he learned he would be attending today, he was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to help pull the Lord's chariot! An avid walker and long term abstentionist from motorised vehicles, he was very impressed with such a grand vehicle having no horsepower. And so we began, gliding through the streets with not an inch of free rope available to pull from. With an ever crescending kirtan we eventually arrived at our destination, the splendid St Stephen's Green park in the centre of the city. For the next 3 hours (with just a short pause for a powerful summer shower) all were captured by the multi generational cultural program from the quaint bandstand, as well as the various exhibits circled all around. As the pleasant evening drew to a close with many attendees and onlookers hesitant to leave, the Lord led the way although also appearing slightly reluctant to leave behind the summer sun and blissful festival-goers. So we are already looking forward to next year to experience yet again this unique spiritual and fun-filled festival! Continue reading "Dublin Ratha Yatra 2018
→ Dandavats"

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Erecting a great wall versus character-building.
Laksmi Nrsimha Das: When the ancient Chinese decided to live in peace, they made the great wall of China.
They thought no one could climb it due to its height.
During the first 100 years of its existence, the Chinese were invaded three times. And everytime, the hordes of enemy infantry had no need of penetrating or climbing over the wall…
because each time they bribed the guards and came through the doors.
The Chinese built the wall but forgot the character-building of the wall-guards.
Thus, the building of human character comes BEFORE building of anything else..
Like one Orientalist said:
If you want to destroy the civilization of a nation there are 3 ways:
1. Destroy family structure.
2. Destroy education.
3. Lower their role models and references.
1. In order to destroy the family: undermine the role of MOTHER, so that she feels ashamed of being a housewife.
2. To destroy education: you should give no importance to TEACHER, and lower his place in society so that the students despise him.
3. To lower the role models:
You should undermine the Saints and Scholars, doubt them until no one listens or follows them.
For, when…
* a conscious mother disappears,
* a dedicated teacher disappears, and
* there’s a downfall of role models,
Then _who_ will teach our children VALUES?
*Aren’t we being already invaded..?*

Pop-up Temple at Kensington Olympia, UK.
This year’s “Wellbeing Mind Body Spirit Expo” took place at Kensington Olympia last May. Kirtan London devotees organized a pop-up temple and Ananda Monet led kirtan on the main festival stage. The chorus comprised a talented team of Manor School alumni. As well as hosting kirtans, the pop-up Temple ran mantra meditation workshops, and no less than 400 of Srila Prabhupada’s books were distributed.

‘Superb’ Open Day in the Manor!
The annual Open Day held on Saturday 7th July was described as ‘superb’. In the middle of a heatwave, Bhaktivedanta Manor received a steady stream of guests throughout the day, many of them for the first time. Devotees from across the entire community teamed together to ensure the best experience for everyone. Guests enjoyed tours, ox-cart rides, ‘Meet the Monks’, a free veggie lunch and kirtans. Inside were ongoing hatha yoga sessions, reflexology and ‘drumfullness’ workshops (‘mindfulness’ with percussion by Jayadeva das!) Meanwhile, children were also treated to henna decoration, face-painting, a bouncy castle and the very popular Children’s Yoga sessions in the George Harrison Garden! Balaram Nityananda das reflected, “We were off to a great start, after chanting the Hare Krishna mantra on the BBC Three Counties Radio Breakfast Show during an interview about the Open Day! “The energy, vibrations and team-work on the day was exemplary. We really had the best attendance we could ever hope for because guests were so interested to learn more that they renounced watching a crucial England World Cup match!”

On Saturday, approximately twenty-four devotees & seven children participated in our MSF in honor of Bhaktivinoda Thakur in Kingsbury, UK. Five of the devotees and the children went door to door and the rest of the devotees engaged in street distribution and kirtan. 137 doors were knocked!The first photo is of a Muslim gentleman who was very interested in our philosophy and took this book on our presentation. He explained he didn’t have any money to offer a donation but, driven by a desire to not miss an opportunity of taking a book, he asked a guest at his home to lend him some money so that he give a donation and take the book. His guest, understanding how important this was to him, gave him the money!
The second photo is of a Polish lady who was very happy to receive books from Niharika Jain. She felt blessed that our books had arrived at her doorstep.
The third photo is of a spiritually inclined gentleman who was happy to accept the books and gave a generous donation. Our books have given him the chance to further his spiritual knowledge and to advance his learning in spirituality.
The fourth photo is of a lady named Vivienne ans as soon as the books were presented to her, she was very happy to take them. She wants to start yoga so we took her details and gave her information about the Manor and invited her to visit us. It was really heartwarming to meet her and to share the special mercy Srila Prabhupada has left us with in the form of these transcendental books.
As you can see from the subsequent photos the children and devotees had so much fun. We are all looking forward to our next MSF!
More photos: https://goo.gl/ZdNJzj

Birmingham youth enjoy dancing happily with devotees as Agnideva Prabhu leads the Hare Krishna chanting at the Ratha-yatra parade (...

Answer Podcast

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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, March 2018, Durban, South Africa, Human Relationships Lecture)

Question: What is the most appropriate way to inspire your spouse towards Krsna consciousness?

With a lot of love! It is going to take a lot of love because it is through love that the inspiration will come to the other person – the inspiration to make a sacrifice. It is a challenge for someone to inspire a spouse to take up Krsna consciousness therefore, it must be done in a loving way. It does not mean that every word has to be decorated with roses. No, it means that we have to speak simply with the interest of the other person at heart, not that we are the centre and that we are going out of our way for someone else and that we are adjusting ourselves to others. Love means to give. Love means that we are ready to sacrifice and when someone sees this, that can really awaken something within them.

Srila Prabhupada’s sister was an extraordinary devotee. She looked just like Prabhupada in a female form. In her younger years, she was married to a man who was not a devotee. Her husband was engaging in all kinds of activities, which during that time in India was quite shocking. But she never gave up. She never left him. She kept on serving him and so on. It took quite a long time but eventually one day, he admitted it, “My wife is a saint!” and that actually changed him. He gave up all his bad habits. So in this way, she conquered him by her saintliness.

The article " Inspire through love and sacrifice " was published on KKSBlog.

INDIA IN GREECE Or, Truth in Mythology (Free pdf)
Edward Pococke: Where did the Aryans come from originally? Did they invade India? Or were they actually Indian invaders who colonized Greece?
In India in Greece, E. Pococke explores the theory that the Aryans may have originally traveled from India to Greece, colonized the latter and influenced the culture there. Centuries later, they came back to India. Covering topics as diverse as the sources of the Hellenic Race, the colonization of Egypt and Palestine, the wars of the Grand Lama and the Bud’hist propaganda in Greece, the author tries to show that at some point in history, India and Greece were closely associated
To read the pdf please click here: https://goo.gl/7Ywyvi

The Sanga Initiative 2018: Matchless Gifts (4 min video)
A video compiled by Avig Pointi, Anandarupa Kundu, and Gaura Klein! A...

Devotee awarded British Empire Medal.
Acyuta Charan das, based in South London, manages a vegetarian food charity for homeless people, and was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year’s Honours list. The award category was for voluntary and charitable services to homeless people in the area. For ten years he has been heading up food distribution for the charity Food For Life while also working as a Home Office accountant at Lunar House in Croydon. “I wasn’t expecting it at all!” responded Acyuta, “We serve all meals from a pop-up table and if it’s raining we operate from a van. I just get on with my service; I don’t expect to be nominated for awards. The Medal was presented to Acyuta at Tower Hill, Central London, by the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, Mr Ken Olisa OBE.

Devotees attend Royal Reception in the UK.
Kripamoya das and Sita Rama das were guests of HRH Prince Andrew at a reception to welcome inter-faith representatives of the Emir of Bahrain. The event was held in a venue adjacent to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Krish Raval, director of the Senior Faith Leadership Programme spoke on the importance of religious understanding between traditions. Clergy from Windsor Castle and the Dean of Windsor were also present.

Three, Two, One… (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: With Polish Woodstock [ Pol'and'Rock ] just days away the countdown has begun. People are beginning to trickle in and set up their tents at this free event. As our men continued setting up our “village” I took the opportunity to walk around and meet some of the people who had arrived early.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/vSWwru