Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Festival in Sri Vrindavan Dham Farm, Almaty, Kazakhstan (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s transcendental mission is to distribute love of Godhead to everyone. Anyone who accepts God as the Supreme can take to the process of chanting Hare Krishna and become a lover of God. (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, 4.41 Purport)
Find them here: Find them here: https://goo.gl/DbdHnb
Gratitude Community Cooking and Sharing 27.06.2018 (Album of photos)
Shantasya Carlisle: Oh what fantastic helpers today; we were honoured to be visited by Kripamoya Das and Havi Das who are world famous for their devotional music. They made these super tasty pizzas for us. Thank you very much.
Tesco’s community champion and her line manager poped in to see what we do with their food donations and gave us a hand cutting cherries.
We had new comers and old comers having lots of fun preparing together great dishes using what we collected yesterday from the paddock Road Allotments.
We also broke off with a Gratitude tradition, due to the heat we didn’t make soup!
Our lunch included;
Boiled artichokes
Roasted baby potatoes
Roasted zukini
Green salad
Rice
Baked white sauce pasta
Corn on the cob
Panir in red sauce
Sweet roasted parsnips
Baklava
Dates
Fresh cherries
Rhubarb pudding
Drinks
Thank you lovely people, till next time …
Find them here: https://goo.gl/4rJuBW
Mayapur Fulldome Theater (1 min video)
ISKCON Mayapur’s immersive 360-degree spatial augmentation multimedia theater!
Come and experience exciting FullDome films!
Keynote talk to visiting European youth group.
Padayatra Lithuania 2018 (Album with photos)
Bhakti Chaitanya Swami: Padayatra Lithuania 2018 began 2 days ago with a harinama...
By Manali D. Bijlani I was born and brought up in a Hindu family in Delhi, and we used to go to various temples and offer prayers before the gods. Two questions, however, always tickled my mind: Why do we worship so many gods, and who is the real God? As I never got answers to my questions, I considered all the gods equal, and in my teenage years all religions and faiths became one for me. Be it Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, or Christianity, all pointed towards one God. But I could not find out who this God is. During my school days, when I badly needed the help of God I would cry out to Him, but no name would come on my lips. Sometimes I wondered whether God has any name, and slowly and steadily I felt that God has no form or name but is a supernatural power—a powerful light we cannot see but can only feel. Continue reading "Looking for the Supreme God
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Beautiful photos from the 50th London Ratha Yatra.
Please find below links for high-resolution photos from the 50th London Rat...
ISKCON CENTER VESU (SURAT) RATHYATRA AND BOOK DISTRIBUTION REPORT.
“Many fanatic spiritual movement have come and gone, but without the flawless philosophy of Krishna, they cannot stand.Therefore I want especially that my book and Literature should be distributed profusely.This is our substance,real philosophical information, not some weak sentiments.So try for this,to give all men this Krishna philosophy,and many real devotees will come with us back to Home, back to Godhead.”-
By Krishna-kripa Das I just wanted to thank you for being a model of dedication to Srila Prabhupada, his Back to Godhead, his society, ISKCON, and his mission. You have been designing, laying out, and taking photos for Back to Godhead ever since I met you in Philadelphia around 1984. When did you start? Thank you for designing practically all of Sadaputa Prabhu's books, both in the past and present. You were always a great supporter and friend of his. I do not think any devotee appreciated Alien Identities to the extent you did. Thank you for cooking for all the devotees, the halava for the Sunday feasts, the capatis for lunch, the pancakes and the upma for breakfast. Thank you for teaching me typesetting and proofreading so I could do layout for Sadaputa Prabhu's books and so I could help out by proofreading those books, Back to Godhead, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami's books, Tattva Sandarba, Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, and so many more. Thank you for teaching me how to make capatis, upma, and tricks for mass quantities of halava. Thank you for being a good example of a steady devotee and a steady brahmacari. Continue reading "In Glorification of Yamaraja Prabhu
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By Niranjana SwamiAnd that is the activity of Lord Hari, when that fear is taken away by remembrance of the Lord. Lord Hari is the ‘One who takes away’, but He also takes away our fear because generally, it’s the fear which is the cause of so much anxiety. As Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, ‘fear’ means to not know what lays in the future. That’s why we fear. “If I do this, what’s going to happen? If I get on the plane, is it going to land?” Fear comes from the anticipation of the unknown. Continue reading "Chanting with Feelings
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Answer Podcast
The post If someone is suffering but is not open to spirituality, how to help them? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast
The post Gita 18.06 Karmic bondage is like emotional dependence – focus not just on the action but also on the motivation appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Answer Podcast
The post When the mind starts misleading, does the Supersoul intervene? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Podcast
The post Bhagavatam study 82 1.15.45-51 Our spirituality is our responsibility, not anyone else’s responsibility appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Yesterday we were blessed with the association of seven stalwart brahmachari book distributors who are following the Warped Tour. They arrived the night before, attended our entire morning program, and then, after breakfast, we discussed various aspects of the practice and preaching of Krishna consciousness. These devotees are extending Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy to many, many fortunate fallen souls.
Hare Krishna.
Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami
Glorious Rathaytra in London 50th Central Rathayatra - Sunday 24th June 2018 (11 min video)
Uma devi dasi and Nandini Tulasi’s wedding (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Decorate the Deity as nicely as possible with nice flowers and dress. You will forget all other false beauty. Letter to Kirtanananda, October 22, 1968
Find them here: https://goo.gl/eet3uy
By Mahatma Das There is something I’ve noticed about my japa over the years: Bad habits don’t die easily. Prabhupada said chanting produces more chanting. But the question is what kind of “more chanting” does it produce? My experience is that bad chanting produces more bad chanting. And if the bad chanting goes on long enough, it pretty much becomes a habit. Then bad becomes the norm. Since bad chanting is not relishable, japa tends to take less of a priority in life. It becomes harder to finish rounds and they get put off till later. And sometimes later never comes. As bad chanting continues, one becomes weaker. And as one become weaker, it becomes more difficult to chant well. Of course, good chanting produces more good chanting. So if we turn things around and start chanting well, we can expect many wonderful things to happen in our lives. One of the greatest gifts anyone can give themselves is sixteen good rounds daily. By good rounds I mean the best possible rounds one can chant. But if old habits die hard, how does one turn things around? Here’s how I did it. Continue reading "When Bad Chanting Becomes the Norm, You’re in Trouble
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 20 March 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.7.52)
Humility is something alien in the modern world. We had a comic in Holland; I saw it as a kid but it made an impression on me. It was a simple man; he had a cap on – a labourer type – and he was coming for a job interview which was happening in a big hall. The interviewer was sitting behind a glass with a screen so you couldn’t see him but his voice was coming out through a loud speaker.
The voice was saying, “Name?” Then the man said his name and he said, “Thank you very much, please.” And after every question that he answered, he said, “Thank you very much, please,” and he looked like a total fool but actually, if you think about it, he was very humble and the other man (the interviewer) was very cold and arrogant.
But this humility was depicted as like… you become a fool when you are humble. when you are simple! So the whole world projects this upon us that you’re a fool when you’re simple.
Even when you are a devotee, it hounds you, “How many slokas do you know?”
Reply, “Seven!”
“Only seven! My god, how can you know only seven slokas!?” Who can be so simple to say so…
So, the social pressure upon us in this whole world, where you have to be greater than you are, comes into every field. In the modern world, it came into the field of sex because ordinary sex will not do – it has to be super sex! You have to be a super lover and if you’re not a super lover, you’re a loser. That’s the image that is being projected.
The article " The pressure to be super good! " was published on KKSBlog.
By Kavicandra Swami Whenever a devotee leaves his or her body, we hear so much praise of them. Everyone becomes happy to be absorbed glorifying a devotee. It seems that we do not do enough of praising devotees while they are with us. Of course a devotee should not be hankering to be praised. St. Francis of Assisi would tell those who started to praise him, "Wait until I am dead, I could fall down at any time". Of course that just makes him more worthy of praise. "Offering all respect to others, but not expecting anything in return" Siksastakam 3. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu took great pleasure in praising devotees. He gave both a personal example and guidelines. "‘One should see that because of the meeting of material nature and the living entity, the universe is acting uniformly. Thus one should neither praise nor criticize the characteristics or activities of others.' Continue reading "Wait Until I Am Dead
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By His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupadaThe animal part of a human being necessarily require food to eat, shelter to live in, protection from fear and gratification of senses. These four principles of life are common both to the man and the animals. A time is nearing when there will be no wheat paddy in the field and no politician will be able to make a quick supply of bread. The food problem is already acute. The atheistic civilization is to be troubled more and more with the progress of materialism. We have such foretellings in the pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The more the people are turning to the atheistic, the more things of disturbing elements do appear before us. And that is the thing which matters at present. This is a wrong type of civilization. Continue reading "What is the matter with the world
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The latest culinary conquests by Kurma, the Chef (Album with photos)
Kurma Dasa: My final day in Sweden.
The grand finale of my sojourn at Korsnäs Gård was the Vegetarian World Food Masterclass.
Thanks to Kalindi Vraj for most of the images.
Goodbye Scandinavia - I’m looking forward to some nights without sunshine
Find them here: https://goo.gl/b8wX9F
A Mountain of Faults
Dhirasanta Das Goswami: It was the hour of the day when anyone could come to the king and present anything and the king would deal with it. So Maharaja Yudhisthira was on the throne waiting for people and Bhima was at the entrance to the castle in the next room.
Old time North American farmers arrived in DeLand, Florida, to discuss cow protection and farming on the 25th of June. Watch the op...
HH Mukunda Goswami’s address to the North American Farm Delegates at the meeting in Florida (2 min video)
5th Annual Education Conference in Alachua (Album of photos)
Gopi Gita: This weekend was the 5th Annual Education Conference i...
Podcast
The post Bhagavatam study 81 1.15.38-44 Responsibly hand over material responsibility to take up spiritual responsibility appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast
The post Gita 18.05 To be mana-isha, we need not just a mana free from ishvara-bhava, but a mana fixed on ishvara appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Answer Podcast
The post If many other people are good in the area we are good, should we still persevere in that area? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Answer Podcast
The post If someone is very pessimistic about themselves, how to help them? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Who can describe the peerless glory of Lord Krishnas Holy Name. The Name appears like wawes of nectar delighting the heart, and always lovingly tasted by the tongue. The Holy Name is capable of dissolving sing and removing impediments. The Holy Name purifies offences and is the quintessence of all transcendental activities, shining more brilliantly then the Vedas. 
Iskcon London’s announcement (3 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: Simply we have to desire to please Him, and not desire anything for ourselves. Then we become simply instruments for His will. This is the important essence of Krishna consciousness. Letter to Atreya Rsi, October 20, 1973.
Home program in Cuenca, Ecuador (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Even while engaged in various activities, devotees whose minds are completely absorbed at Your lotus feet, and who constantly hear, chant, contemplate and cause others to remember Your transcendental names and forms, are always on the transcendental platform, and thus they can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.2.37)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/8HNBR2
«Important Kirtan Points»
Hare Krishna, everyone! I’m BB Govinda Swami and I’m visiting Bhaktivedanta Manor and I was requested to give a brief interview for Kirtan Space. I was requested to speak on important points, points that I feel are important about kirtan.
“This is love. This service that you are doing, this is also love.”
Kadamba Kanana Swami: It is interesting that when speaking of prema (pure love for Krsna) in the Srimad Bhagavatam, the example is given of the intermediate devotee, the madhyama-adhikārī. Not the kanishta-adhikārī (the neophyte), but of the madhyama, someone a bit more advanced, a devotee who has shown determination. It is provided: īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā yaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2.46). This says that for the madhyama-adhikārī, he has prema for isvara (Lord), friendship for the devotees and indifference for the envious. So it is interesting that the word prema has been used for the madhyama-adhikārī. Now, prema comes at the end of the ladder of the nine stages of bhakti, from sraddha (faith) to prema (pure love for Krsna). So how is it that the madhyama-adhikārī can already have prema, considering it is the uttama-adhikārī who is the advanced devotee. This is because prema is not like flicking a light switch that can suddenly be changed from the darkness of ignorance to “I love Krsna”! There is a lot in between where that Krsna prema is developing and growing.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 May 2016, Vrndavana, India, Bhagavad-gita 3.34)
It is interesting that when speaking of prema (pure love for Krsna) in the Srimad Bhagavatam, the example is given of the intermediate devotee, the madhyama-adhikārī. Not the kanishta-adhikārī (the neophyte), but of the madhyama, someone a bit more advanced, a devotee who has shown determination. It is provided: īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā yaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2.46). This says that for the madhyama-adhikārī, he has prema for isvara (Lord), friendship for the devotees and indifference for the envious. So it is interesting that the word prema has been used for the madhyama-adhikārī. Now, prema comes at the end of the ladder of the nine stages of bhakti, from sraddha (faith) to prema (pure love for Krsna). So how is it that the madhyama-adhikārī can already have prema, considering it is the uttama-adhikārī who is the advanced devotee. This is because prema is not like flicking a light switch that can suddenly be changed from the darkness of ignorance to “I love Krsna”! There is a lot in between where that Krsna prema is developing and growing.
So our movement is operating on this goal of attaining love for Krsna. Prabhupada was very generous in that regard. For instance, we may remember the famous story that Srutakirti prabhu told us about massaging Prabhupada. It started with a large group of devotees receiving Prabhupada at the airport. Since they had not seen Prabhupada in a very long time, everyone was crying when Prabhupada arrived, except for Srutakirti. He had dry eyes with not a single tear. So when he was massaging Prabhupada later that day, he expressed to Prabhupada, “I am such a fallen soul Prabhupada. Everyone was crying at the airport when they saw you, because they were full of love for you. But I am just cold, and I have no feeling in my heart. No love at all. What do I do?” Prabhupada responded with absolutely nothing. The next day however when it was time for the same massage, Prabhupada finally gave the answer to Srutakirti, “This is love. This service that you are doing, this is also love.”
Therefore, Prabhupada was very generous in such ways. There are other pastimes of intimate servants of Prabhupada whose minds were still not always aligned, and wanted to do something else, even while they were serving Prabhupada, a pure devotee. Now we can say things like, “Prabhupada is a unique personality who did the greatest work of bringing this movement forward for all of us.” But his servants, meanwhile, were also after a while, ready to do something else. So imagine how this point counts for all of us. We are engaging in devotional service and yet our mind may sometimes desire some other activity. This is possible. We may think to ourselves while chanting, “Do I really have to do it again? This is not even pure love.” But Prabhupada did not look at it in that strict sense, because even if it is not manifesting as pure love, regardless, it is still love.
The article " Defining love " was published on KKSBlog.
