Websites from the ISKCON Universe
By GBC Corresponding Secretary The Annual General Meeting of the ISKCON GBC Society will begin on March 3, 2019. Following the ISKCON GBC Society's Rules of Order, the GBC Secretariat requests proposals, duly sponsored by TWO GBC members, to be submitted by December 15, 2018. This will allow adequate time for the GBC Deputies to prepare the proposals for presentation at the meeting. Continue reading "GBC Proposals AGM 2019
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Arabic book distribution in NY (Album with photos)
Satyanarayan das: Bringing a special transcendence to the iconic “New York state of mind”, the great Arabic book distributor Mahotsaha Dasa Brahmachari has already gone through two cases of Arabic Gitas, with more having just arrived so as not to interrupt this unending river of bliss! The fortunate souls seen here holding up their new books were visiting NYC from Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia….
Find them here: https://goo.gl/MBPPU4
Windows to the spiritual world.
Kadamba Kanana Swami: The other day I was remembering Srila Prabhupada’s statement of how paintings of Krsna are like windows to the spiritual world; it means that through these paintings, we are looking into the ‘real world’, and when we are looking out of this window (of the building), we are simply looking at a picture. So Krsna consciousness must begin with that understanding, that the spiritual world is the real world. It is there where we find our nourishment because after all, in the material world, we will never be emotionally nourished.
Srimad Bhagavatam Class by H.H. Bhakti Gaurav Narayan Swami at ISKCON Vrindavan, 04.06.2018 (video)
The “mystic” ingredient in the sweet rice!
“When I got to the scene, [the lobby] it was a wonder. San Francisco was famous for its Sunday feast kirtans. After the feast, there was always a huge kirtan in the hallway. Why the hallway? I suppose there was no time to clear out the temple. But these hallway kirtans were wonders. When I got there, I saw Jayananda in the center, surrounded by 40 or 50 devotees, just going wild. The kartals and drums were like staccato transcendental machine guns annihilating every inch of maya for miles around. Jayananda was doing this dance, legs back and forth, twirling, going nuts, playing kartals like a madman, and everybody was equally mad, it was really powerful. I never saw such powerful energy, it was Krishna’s internal energy. Maybe the sweet-rice had a little something to do with it! Yeah, mix ecstatic prasadam with ecstatic dancing and chanting, and you’ll get a crowd of madmen/women there at the Frisco temple, every Sunday. It’ll happen every time.” JT vedaBase => Jayananda in powerful kirtan
‘Other scriptures’ and devotees.
“One should have firm faith that he will achieve all success in life by following those scriptures that describe the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān. At the same time, one should avoid blaspheming other scriptures. One should rigidly control his mind, speech and bodily activities, always speak the truth, and bring the mind and senses under full control.”
(SB 11.3.26)
Working with Habits.
Caitanya Caran das: Habit can be terribly powerful. When people get caught in some bad habits such as smoking or drinking, they find quitting those habits almost impossible – it appears that habits have a power bigger than theirs.
Another body.
Ananda Vrindavaneswari Devi Dasi: My family and I were just visiting my mother, Edith, in Boca Raton, Florida to celebrate her 90th Birthday. As we honored her and celebrated her life, she declared that 90 is too old and that people shouldn’t really live that long. Gaura Vani tried to bless her by saying: “May you live as long as you like!” She responded by saying, “Tomorrow, I’m ready to go tomorrow”.
“Enthusiasm” (4 min video)
Enthusiasm is one of your greatest assets. Practically speaking, nothing great is ever accomplished without it.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 May 2018, Radhadesh, Belgium, College of Vedic Studies Retreat Lecture: ‘Krsna Consciousness in the Real World’)
The other day I was remembering Srila Prabhupada’s statement of how paintings of Krsna are like windows to the spiritual world; it means that through these paintings, we are looking into the ‘real world’, and when we are looking out of this window (of the building), we are simply looking at a picture. So Krsna consciousness must begin with that understanding, that the spiritual world is the real world. It is there where we find our nourishment because after all, in the material world, we will never be emotionally nourished. There will always be something lacking as this is the nature of the material world. It is usually when we talk to people behind closed doors where people reveal their heart and usually what comes out is that they are not feeling fulfilled, “I’m not happy with my life!”
It was recently in the news that some Russian lady who supposedly turned 119 years old said, “I have never had a happy day in my life!” Now, that is a bit depressing, isn’t it? I mean I don’t think this life is that bad (laughter). Everyone should at least remember some happy days, with the exception of that lady clearly (laughter). What to do? But the point of this is that we will never find fulfilment in this material world. Can we have everything that we have ever wanted here? Who has that?
So therefore, we always feel a little undernourished in this material world. Real nourishment comes in our relationship with Krsna and that is where we have to find it. Now, it is easy to say, “But Krsna is so far away. I need something here and now to nourish me.” Well, Krsna is far away but only if we put him far away. We should make an attempt to bring Krsna closer to us. So we must begin with our Krsna consciousness. By understanding that we have to invest in cultivating our relationship with Krsna, we bring him closer to us! That is what we are doing when we are having our morning sadhana – our regular reading, chanting and so on. We are coming closer to Krsna. In the Ādi Purāṇa, it is stated that when we chant the holy name, we are extremely close to Krsna. So this is what we are actually experiencing. It may take a little while to experience it in that way, but at least we can begin to reflect on it right now!
The article " Real nourishment " was published on KKSBlog.
By Paramadayala Nityananda Dasa ISKCON is a monotheistic movement, based on authoritative scriptures which provide an ontology and epistemology unparalleled in the history of mankind. Monotheism, and acceptance of sacred literature is pervasive throughout the western world: and there is high regard for critical/philosophical analysis, as a means for finding truth. As such, creating an accurate perception of ISKCON in the minds of people in general is the most powerful way to attract true spiritual seekers among the masses. However, we are utilizing our energy on “bridge preaching” programs which cloud this accurate perception. Continue reading "Some Problems With “Bridge Preaching”
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Seeking Forgiveness, Offering Forgiveness: Lessons from the Srimad Bhagavatam by HG Radhika Raman Das (video)
Suffer the pains of the discipline or suffer the pain of regret (3 min video)
Sivarama Swami’s 4 steps for life transformation.
Iskcon Leicester, UK: We hosted “The Big Lunch” event today at ISKCON Leicester. Over 250 people dropped in for a delicious vegetarian meal, ask questions and make friendships. (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/TA64TW
Installing the complete set of Srimad-Bhagavatam books in the house of a nice family in Copenhagen, Danmark (Album with photos)
Srimad-Bhagavatam 8.7.11, Budapest
Telangana Padayatra Party: Reduced But Determined (1 min video)
June 3, 2018, Visnuswami Dasa: Our team is now reduced to only two devotees but by Krishna’s arrangement every evening we are getting guests who participate in Nagar sankirtana. On May 19th ISKCON Hyderabad lead a huge party of nearly 200 congregation devotees at Hayath Nagar, outside of Hyderabad, with temple president Vedanta Caitanya Das leading the harinama. This was the biggest harinama we had in Hyderabad so far.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/zmBsyC
Holy Name Festival Slovenia May 2018 (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: In this material world, we are trying to be happy in...
The Art of Dying - Varnashrama Dharma.
Dhirasanta Das Goswami: In the eternal Vedic social system, a man’s life is divided into four stages:
1) Brahmacharya: This stage extends from the birth of a child to his marriage, after the completion of his studies. Brahmacharya means complete celibacy, meaning that till one’s education is complete, one has to remain celibate.
2) Grihastha: Entering into the life of a householder. After completing one’s education one has to get married and enjoy the material things in life such as begetting children, so that the system of life as handed down to us by our forefathers continues unbroken.
3) Vanaprastha: As soon as some young fellow from the family is ready to take on the household affairs, one should at once retire from family life to prepare oneself for spiritual upliftment. One is not supposed to stumble in the dark alleys of household life till one is forcefully dragged out by the will of death.
4) Sannyasa: Indeed, everyone’s life must be so arranged that in the last stage of life, at least fifteen to twenty years prior to death, one can be completely devoted to contemplation of the lotus feet of Lord Krishna. The first part of these last years is formed by the Vanaprastha ashrama. The last part is known as Sannyasa, where one has to give up absolutely everything, except a small cloth to cover one’s private parts. The final stage of Sannyasa is for exclusive and concentrated meditation on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
By Acarya Dasa When these 8 boys joined us they became part of our padayatra party, in fact we felt like they were also padayatris. Their sadhana was very strong- they used to get up at 3 am and chant their rounds before mangala arati. Not only did they attend all the programs with us but they also lead some harinamas and other programs and sang the prayers of mangala arati and Gaura arati with so much enthusiasm. They walked with us all day, tolerating the scorching sun. Sometimes we did not have much water to drink, but they never complained. Almost all of them caught a common cold due to the weather change, but they happily accepted it as part of their padayatra experience. They were all very fervent to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. One of them exclaimed, “We have never seen such book distribution anywhere! Even Muslims are taking books and participating in sankirtana. It’s a miracle they do it, it’s all mercy. Their hearts are getting transformed by the darsana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundara.” Continue reading "Lessons Learned On Padayatra By Devotees Of The Noida Personal Development Course
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ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 05/20/2018
Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes cow protection, local agriculture, and above all, loving Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON New Vrindaban’s Founder-Acharya.
Participating Directors: Anuttama (partial attendance), Chaitanya Mangala (chair), Jamuna Jivani (board secretary), Ranaka, and Vraja.
Participating Advisors: Jaya Krsna, Kalakantha and Kripamaya.
1. Ranaka reported on the previous month’s activities:
– Ananda Vidya and Lalita Gopi are currently milking seven cows: Jamuna, Surabhi, Laxmi, Sita, Anjali, Sriya, and Malati – approximately 34 gal. of milk per day
– Malati, who suffered a rather serious illness this winter, has been able to regain her health and nurse her four-months-old calf, Gopi Katyayani, as well as give milk.
– Ananda Vidya continues to transform the extra milk into 15 lbs. of butter, 15 gal. of yogurt, and ½ gal. of ghee on a weekly basis, as well as two (8” diameter x 3.5 inch high) wheels of Colby cheese.
– Lalita Gopi and Ananda Vidya rented a machine to rough up the surface of the cement in the calf pen which was slick and therefore dangerous to the calves.
– Usha is pregnant and due in late August.
– Ray is working on a cattle crossing to replace the entrance gate to the Garden House at Nandagram. The form has been built and cement was poured in it. The pipe frame still needs to be constructed. Once the frame is complete, Ray will take the backhoe to dig a pit to set it in.
– Ray has spent much time this month working on the bullpen and fencing at Nandagram. Madhu the bull is now free to graze in his area.
– Vidya’s greenhouse repairs have been finished.
– Ray replaced the drive belt on cub cadet lawn mower
– The hay equipment is ready for the beginning of this season’s harvest at the end of the month as the weather permits
– Caitanya Bhagavat continues the usual daily activities on the farm, such as general cow care; ensuring the cows are healthy, fed and have water; counting them twice a day; checking the fences; mowing and weed whacking; and general maintenance of the barns.
– Caitanya Bhagavat has brought the bullpen to a functional state. It still needs a little more work, but Madhu is now able to be outside on pasture. Jaya Radhe is still residing with him.
– Dr. Moors visited. He check Jaya Radhe and Usha for pregnancy, and drained the abscesses on Priya’s hoof. Priya got an antibiotic shot the next day.
– A considerable amount of fence repair has been happening at Bahulaban and Nandagram over the past two months. This is due to a number of trees that have fallen from storms, and also in order to separate the oxen from the cows, who will go to Bahulaban for summer pasturing. This project should be completed soon.
– There was maha barn clean up where lots of cow dung was moved out of the barn to be used as fertilizer.
– Suchandra reported planting 200 hundred big marigolds, 100 tomato plants, bitter melon, peas, green beans, lettuce (some of which was eaten), and green peppers at Vidya’s garden, which completes the planting there. Monique, Radhanatha, and Govinda helped with this and have been picking the asparagus. Four bunches have been delivered to the Deity kitchen.
– Ryan and Suchandra tilled, covered, and weeded the Teaching Garden, and started transplanting vegetables for the Community Garden into bigger six-packs. Also, Suchandra planted most of the bulbs at the Teaching Garden – dahlias, lilies, and gladiolas. She delivered some of the ground cover rolls to the gardens. Currently, they are planting flowers at the Teaching Garden.
– At the Nandagram garden, Mukunda and Lila have removed the ground cover and replaced it with hay mulch.
– Mukunda and Lila transplanted the following plants: 144 marigolds, 128 roma tomato, 12 grape tomato, 40 rutgers tomato, 12 bell pepper, and 12 hot pepper. Also, they seeded kale, bitter melon, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, and summer squash.
– Ranaka researched, inspected, and purchased a 2006 F-150 Ford pickup with 73,392 miles in very good condition for $8,495. The vehicle is being used by the garden and farm departments.
– Ray and Ranaka planted 1,900 lbs. of potato seed this month in two different areas: 1,300 lbs. at the Valley Barn, and 600 lbs. at the Community Garden.
– Ranaka has been developing plans with Tejo to upgrade the water systems for the Field and Garden houses at Nandagram.
2. ECO-V Mission Statement Update
WHEREAS: The ECOV board wishes to continue condensing and refining its mission statement for clarity and brevity.
RESOLVED: The ECO-V board adopts the following as our updated mission statement:
“ECO-Vrindaban promotes cow protection, local agriculture, and above all, loving Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON New Vrindaban’s Founder-Acharya.”
Point of clarification: Our mission statement comes directly via a 1973 quote from Srila Prabhupada: “Agriculture and protecting the cow, this is the main business of the residents of Vrindaban, and above all simply loving Krishna.”
3. INV Funding Request for NV50 Events
WHEREAS: 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of New Vrindaban (1968 – 2018), an important milestone in the village’s gradual development, and the ECO-V Board wishes to support the NV50 celebrations planned throughout the year.
RESOLVED: The ECO-V Board approves a budget of up to $45K towards the NV50 celebrations throughout 2018.
4. INV Funding Request for Truth & Reconciliation Facilitation
WHEREAS: The ECOV board wishes to support ongoing open communication and conflict resolution within the Village of New Vrindaban.
RESOLVED: The ECO-V board approves a matching grant of up to $5K toward the costs of three sessions of Truth and Reconciliation facilitation.
5. Update on the IMCPA Meetings
Kalakantha and Jamuna Jivani reported on the plans for the upcoming ISKCON Ministry of Cow Protection and Agriculture meetings June 25-26 in DeLand, FL. The Board was asked for ideas regarding its future goals. Some of the objectives shared included building a greenhouse for year-round growing, involving more devotees in cow protection and gardening, celebrating the 50th anniversary of cow protection in ISKCON in 2019, as well as networking with – and learning from – other groups with similar interests.
Here’s a link to the ECO-Vrindaban website.
For regular updates, please visit, like and follow the ECO-V Facebook page.
[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Kolkata, India]
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Maha Harinama in Kiev, Ukraine (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If one hears one day, one minute, one second, this vibrat...
Why the Yadu Dynasty was destroyed as per Lord Krsna’s plan.
Srila Prabhupada: Yadu-kula-ksayam. The Yadu dynasty… When Krsna was present, the family members were about ten million. This is Krsna. Everything is wonderful. He married 16,108 wives, and each wife had ten children, and each child begot another ten children. In this way, the Yadu-kula was a very big family. So they were destroyed.
Festivities in Iskcon Lithuania (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Devotional service is just like a seed, and if it is sow...
How to build character in children? (2 min video)
The activities which we do with the children will help them becoming fixed in the virtue and It is very direct, it’s just hearing the past times of the personality of Godhead, it cleanses the heart and it lifts the character just by hearing, they may not understand the stories in the way just I described they are doing something else right now but that’s the effect of hearing Srimad Bhagavatam, hearing of Ramayana and hearing of Mahabharata.
Hearing these essential teachings gives us knowledge and it gives purification of heart, builds the character. Essential part of education is character development, or in other words, without character development education is a dangerous thing, to put something powerful in the hands of fool is dangerous, as the newspapers today are showing us very dangerous, very dangerous, increasingly dangerous. The solution is to encourage by every possible means that people should read, hear from the right sources not just google or some other internet source. To hear from the right sources the name, fame, qualities etc, this is Bhagavad dharma, that’s the panacea, that’s the medicine.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/B9duaT
ISKCON Bangladesh Leadership Sangha at world’s heritage, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong.
The inauguration of ISKCON Bangladesh Leadership Sanga (IBLS) held at Cox’s Bazar with the participation of 200 top leaders of different ISKCON centers of Bangladesh.
Maha Harinama in Moscow, Russia (7 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: If one hears one day, one minute, one second, this vibration o...