Planet ISKCON

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Srimad Bhagavatam Class by HG Bhima Prabhu on 17th June 2018 At ISKCON Juhu, Mumbai (video)

https://youtu.be/a7TRLu17sO8

By Parasuram das

We were invited to help at a huge evangelical event at a stadium. We have been cooking for the "Feed the 5,000" events all over Europe for the last decade and now we were going back to the original roots - this event would be Biblical! The organisers visited "Krishna's Castle" saw our operation, loved it, so off we went. I was a little hesitant in the back of my mind, being obviously Hare Krishnas in appearance, people could mistake us as religionists, but as we arrived that morning we were greeted with a loving cheer. Dozens of people came to help unload the van and start chopping veg. Continue reading "Christ and Krishna
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London Mellows’18 (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Those who simply chant the holy name with the tip of the tongue are glorious. One does not even have to chant the holy name and understand the whole procedure, namely the offensive stage, offenseless stage and pure stage; if the holy name is sounded on the tip of the tongue, that is also sufficient. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.33.7 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/NWVyzL

Srila Prabhupada: We have got very nice temple near British Museum, 7 Bury Place. And all Europeans, they come to see our temple—from Germany, from France. Because we have been advertised in cooperation with the Beatles. The Beatles, Beatles, the George Harrison. You do not know his name? He is very famous man. Yes. So we have produced some records in cooperation with George Harrison's organization. So because the records are produced through George Harrison, we have got a very, very big sale. You see? And that has advertised Radha-Krishna Temple, London.

Srila Prabhupada: Srila Prabhupada: You are mine and I am Krishna’s, therefore you are also Krishna’s. Letter to Gargamuni, June 18, 1968.

Preaching program with Partha Sarathi Das Goswami in the Iskcon Temple of Kharkov, Ukraine (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupad...

50 HOURS KIRTAN in New Vrindaban (Album with photos)(Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: When there is large-scale congregati...

Don’t open Pandora’s box!
Kadamba Kanana Swami: After years of chanting, we may stop and say, “Why am I doing this? I don’t feel like it anymore. I don’t know. I cannot get myself to chant anymore.” What happened? What happened to your knowledge? Is it all gone? Don’t you know that there is no alternative? Don’t you know that the material world is like hell? Don’t you know that you are caught here? Have you forgotten about all this? Don’t you know that this world is all glossed over by the illusory energy with an appealing packing? Nice beautiful packing with ribbons and beautiful colours, but what is inside? It is poison, it is suffering inside. This beautiful gift, packaged with glitter, beautiful ribbon and everything. And you want it but, oh God, it turns out it is Pandora’s Box.
In Greek Mythology, Pandora’s Box was given as a punishment to mankind. I will not get into the whole description of it, but basically, in Pandora’s Box all the suffering of the material world was kept with this beautiful box. Such an amazing box, that it was a gift from Zeus himself, “Whoa, a gift from the Gods! Oh, we are so lucky! Oh, what will be inside? I wonder! Oh, let’s look, open it up!” And then, all the suffering came out.
So this principle of the beautiful packaging of the material energy is there. It looks good and you may want to open it, but we must always remember that there is suffering inside. We must always look for the sign on this Pandora’s box that reads, “Do not open it. Watch out, do not do it!” So when we have knowledge in this way, we will not go for the material temptation as we remember that it is not worth it.

By Kesava Krsna dasa

Srila Prabhupada’s keen observation picked out the demon word in pan’demon’ium and demon’strate. He likewise slotted in words befitting his siddhantic stance. Democracy did not escape his scathing, if not light-hearted censure. What could be said about it? Democracy as we know it is a free for all conciliatory tool to suit the wishes of disparate views within the precincts of law and order. To date, no two nations who espouse and have fully-fledged democratic institutions have gone to war with each other. That it enables the most deadly and despicable foes to talk rapprochement and co-operate for the good of peace and stability, seems a tangible way of curbing bloodthirsty enmity. It seeks to channel the murderous tendency via the political route, where weapons be replaced by oral deliberations, and consensus be put into law. Continue reading "The virtues of demon’ crazy
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By Kurma Dasa

Anyone who has ever visited a Hare Krishna Temple feast or a Hare Krishna restaurant will have undoubtedly tasted halva. The memory of its sweet, warm, moist, spiritually-infused 'comfort food-iness' will no doubt have lingered long after all traces of the buttery ecstasy have left the lips. You may not know just how widespread the halva story actually is, and how much world history there is to it. Halva is one of those dishes found from the Balkans to India and claimed as its own by practically every culture and country in between. There are many versions. Basic halva, as it is found throughout the Balkans and Turkey is a simple dessert. The most common version is made by cooking semolina and then shaping it into balls which are then sweetened with either honey or "pekmez" - grape must syrup. Continue reading "The Many Faces of Halva
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By Chaitanya Charan Das

Obesity and all other indulgence-induced problems originate from the presumption that material enjoyment is the only enjoyment available to us - and so we must have it, whatever the cost. But the Vedic scriptures - and indeed all the great spiritual texts – inform us that this presumption is a misconception. We are intrinsically spiritual beings. Our deepest fulfillment comes from having a satisfying relationship with God. The unlimited inner happiness thereof is our birthright, but being spiritually uninformed, we are searching in vain for that infinite happiness in the realm of finite matter. Most people assume that they can't enjoy life because they don't have enough money. But obesity statistics show that, even if they get all the money in the world to eat whatever they like as much as they like, still they will not be able to enjoy unlimitedly because their body limits their capacity to enjoy - inescapably. Continue reading "FATAL FAT
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 08 March 2015, Stockholm, Sweden, Srimad Bhagavatam 3.1.4)

After years of chanting, we may stop and say, “Why am I doing this? I don’t feel like it anymore. I don’t know. I cannot get myself to chant anymore.” What happened? What happened to your knowledge? Is it all gone? Don’t you know that there is no alternative? Don’t you know that the material world is like hell? Don’t you know that you are caught here? Have you forgotten about all this? Don’t you know that this world is all glossed over by the illusory energy with an appealing packing? Nice beautiful packing with ribbons and beautiful colours, but what is inside? It is poison, it is suffering inside. This beautiful gift, packaged with glitter, beautiful ribbon and everything. And you want it but, oh God, it turns out it is Pandora’s Box.

In Greek Mythology, Pandora’s Box was given as a punishment to mankind. I will not get into the whole description of it, but basically, in Pandora’s Box all the suffering of the material world was kept with this beautiful box. Such an amazing box, that it was a gift from Zeus himself, “Whoa, a gift from the Gods! Oh, we are so lucky! Oh, what will be inside? I wonder! Oh, let’s look, open it up!” And then, all the suffering came out.

So this principle of the beautiful packaging of the material energy is there. It looks good and you may want to open it, but we must always remember that there is suffering inside. We must always look for the sign on this Pandora’s box that reads, “Do not open it. Watch out, do not do it!” So when we have knowledge in this way, we will not go for the material temptation as we remember that it is not worth it.

The article " Illusory beauty " was published on KKSBlog.

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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana appeared in the 1600’s near Remuna, Orissa. In his youth, he mastered Sanskrit grammar, poetry, and logic. After carefully studying the commentaries of Sankara and Madhva he took initiation in the Tattva-vadi disciplic succession of Sripad Madhvacarya. Baladeva Vidyabhusana became a dig vijaya pandit and began visiting the holy places. Wherever he went he defeated the local sages, scholars, and sannyasis.

In Jagannatha Puri, he learned the super-excellent philosophy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya from Sri Radha-Damodara Goswami and took initiation after converting to Gaudiya Vaishnavism. In Vrndavan, he studied Srimad Bhagavatam under Srila Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and worshiped Radha-Syamasundara.

In 1706 A.D. Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura sent him to Gulta (near Jaipur, Rajasthan) to uphold the credibility of Mahaprabhu’s movement. The local Ramanandis (a branch of Sri Vaishnavas) were claiming that the Bengali Vaishnavas had no right to worship Govinda because they had no commentary on the Vedanta-sutra.

Lord Govinda Himself directly revealed the Govinda-bhasya (a Vaishnava commentary on Vedanta) to Baladeva Vidyabhusana. Using it, Baladeva solidly established Gaudiya Vaishnavism as an independent philosophy. He also reinstated the Bengali Vaishnavas in Govinda’s service in Jaipura. Govinda-bhasya is the only bhakti commentary on Vedanta-sutra.

Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana was a niskincana-parama bhagavata, fully-renounced topmost Devotee of Lord Krishna. According to Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Navadvipa-dhama mahatyam, in Chaitanya lila Baladeva Vidyabhusana is Sri Gopinatha Acarya, the brother-in-law of Sri Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. In Vraja he serves as Sri Radha’s eternal maidservant Ratnavali Devi.

I had informed the highest leadership of BJP and they were also shocked and agreed with us that the UP government should not have done this. On 13th June I went to Delhi and met with the high command of the BJP and informed them that if this happens it would be a great injustice and millions of ISKCON devotees will hit the street.

[Address to the ISKCON Desire Tree team, Mumbai, India]

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Srimad Bhagavatam class by Danakaeli Devi Dasi June 18, 2018, Iskcon Chicago (video)
A devotee must always be fearful of Maha-...

Realizing our Empathic Nature - by HH Bir Krishna Goswami-2018.05.26-Gita Nagari (video)

“Accept the Mercy” by HG Mahatma Prabhu - June 17, 2018 (4 min video)
Suppose a man is fallen in the pit and he’s trying to come out, and another man drops a rope, “Please catch it. I shall take you out of the pit.” He does not catch it. Then how he can be taken out? So sadhu and sastra, they’re always ready to give you mercy, but you have to take it. If you don’t accept it, then how you can recover, recover?

By Varsana Swami

A few days later, after the water had drained out of the footer, Bob and I went back up to Govindaji Hill and continued the footer exaction. To our surprise and delight, the rock broke out easily this time. I cannot say definitely that it was because of the lightning because standing water will also loosen layered rock. The excavation for the footer of Govindaji Mandir was completed in time so that the community was able to conduct two simultaneous installation ceremonies. There was a grand installation ceremony in Bahulaban for the cornerstone of Govindaji Mandir, the first of the seven temples that Srila Prabhupada had envisioned in New Vrindaban. There was another cornerstone ceremony for Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold. Continue reading "Did Indra help the construction of New Vrindavana’ s Govindaji Mandir?
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Anil Agarwal (Anirudha Das) an old acquaintance of Sagara Maharaja is a multi-Billionaire. He’s one of the most powerful businessmen in the world.
But I was personally struck by the spiritual component of his nature. While maintaining his high position in society, he is an incredibly humble and deeply devoted to Lord Krishna. When he talks, you seem to be listening to a saint or a sannyasi guru with the deepest transcendental implementations. Anirudha Das is constantly absorbed in the contemplation and hearing of Krishna’s pastimes.
The story of his life could well be the plot of pre blockbuster. Starting his business in 1982 he had nothing. But in less than 20 years, he has become one of the richest people in the planet. His growth in business has been directly attributed to his relation to Lord Krishna. He was happy to share wonderful stories about how Krishna “played” with him, giving rise to his capital, or lowering their level, depending on his relationship to money and Krishna.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/fcqhxX

Today Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Spokesperson Dr. Sambit Patra in their mission of Jansampark Abhiyan sought the blessin...

Sadbhuja Das: The GRC Factory is going on full swing as you can see by the images of the site.
We have done a very big inspect...

Everything Counts
Vaisesika Dasa: My father used to take my brother and me for regular backpacking excursions into the mountains of California, Wyoming, and Canada. To help us keep our backpacks as light as possible, my father would tell us as we packed: “Watch out for the ounces and the pounds will watch out for themselves.”
His philosophy worked well.
By carefully considering the relative importance and physical weight of each item before putting it into my backpack – no matter how insignificant the difference seemed at the time – the end result was that I brought just what I needed and appreciated the lightness of my backpack while hiking.
Since those days in the mountains, I’ve found my father’s backpacking advice to be equally applicable to the practice of bhakti yoga. That is, my decisions about apparently small matters and my attention to detail (or lack of it) bring larger-than-expected results over time in devotional service.
In the Gita, Lord Krishna says:
“Gradually, step by step, one should become situated in trance by means of intelligence sustained by full conviction, and thus the mind should be fixed on the Self alone and should think of nothing else.” (Bhagavad-gita 6.25)
Krishna’s use of the words, “gradually” and “step by step” mean that one’s progress in bhakti comes in a series of small victories in controlling one’s mind and senses.
One has to win the seemingly insignificant battles that are right in front of one’s nose. Each one counts.
And as the progressive bhakti yogi continues her winning ways, she is quietly, yet steadily promoted to the status of a truly advanced soul.
Om Tat Sat

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 24 April 2011, Durban, South Africa, Ratha Yatra Lecture)

Srila Prabhupada wrote two letters after the departure of his spiritual master. In the first letter, he said, “My spiritual master has now returned back to the spiritual world and has taken up his eternal position as a manjari (flower) in the spiritual world.” In the second letter, he wrote, “Although my spiritual master is now in the spiritual world, he is always looking at everything I do.”

So in other words, Prabhupada was saying how his spiritual master was always actively involved in his work. This is the situation. All great and pure devotees can manifest themselves either by appearing before devotees in this world, or by appearing in the dreams of devotees, or by appearing as someone else. They do this by arranging for Krsna Consciousness to manifest and influence the lives of all us devotees. There is no doubt about this.

We can understand that just like Srila Prabhupada wrote that his spiritual master was watching over him, so similarly Prabhupada is now watching over all of us. Isn’t this what we are experiencing? A devotee once told me how he had done a lot of service one day and still had some rounds left to chant. However, he was just so exhausted, that he went to bed. Soon, he had a dream that there was someone knocking at his door, and when he opened it, there was Srila Prabhupada asking him, “Did you finish your daily rounds?”

So in such ways, Prabhupada will help us, and so will the other great and pure devotees who have departed and are residing in the spiritual world. And just like this, there will be other pure devotees who will emerge and who will manifest themselves by carrying the Vaishnavas. So one should not just look at the pure devotees who have passed on, but one should also look at the pure devotees in the present, who will somehow or the other give us shelter. We must take shelter in them, and then everything can be attained, because the same knowledge and the same mercy is coming from the disciplic succession.

The article " Carrying the vaishnavas " was published on KKSBlog.

By Indira-sakhi Devi Dasi

You are right when you say that setting a good example for the boys is the best precept. There is a saying that an example is better than a precept. Our exemplary character depends on strictly following the four principles, and this will conquer the whole world. Our boys and girls in London, by their exemplary character, have drawn the attention of many respectable persons and even some public papers. Our movement is not only for some theoretical teaching, but it is for developing practical character and definite understanding. (Letter to Aniruddha, Los Angeles, February 4, 1969) Continue reading "Srila Prabhupada On Education By Example
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By Tirtha-pavana Das

Any structure suggests a kind of pattern, but we aim to make education more personal. We have given local leaders the right to adapt curriculums and different resources, including books, training aids, etc., to the needs of their community. Also, we try to make education inextricably linked with mentoring in order to implement the principles of individuality, practicality, and live guidance in education. Therefore we are trying to organize a considerable amount of home programs, where in small groups, devotees can receive education that meets their needs. So, devotees are able to attend courses of their interest, which are conducted in an informal environment from year to year to develop relationships with the elder Vaisnavas and receive systematic mentoring in their life. Continue reading "WELCOME TO MOTHER RUSSIA: Education in ISKCON Russia
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[Bhagavatam class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.22 at ISKCON, Mira Road, Mumbai, India]

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