Speaking according to time-place-circumstance to make outreach effective
→ The Spiritual Scientist

[God-family meeting at Toronto, Canada]

Podcast


 

Podcast Summary


 

Video:

The post Speaking according to time-place-circumstance to make outreach effective appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Ramananda Raya Disappearance
→ Ramai Swami

Five hundred years ago in the district of Puri, in the village of Bentapur, there lived a great devotee named Bhavananda Raya. Bhavananda had five sons, the eldest of which was Ramananda.

It is said that Lord Caitanya visited the birth-place of Ramananda in Alalanath every year.

Ramananda became the Governor of East and West Godavari and a minister of King Prataparudra. A great statesman of that period, Ramananda was also a poet and a scholar.

When Bhavananda met Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord embraced him and said, “Formerly you appeared as Pandu, and your five sons appeared as the five Pandavas.”

The five sons of Bhavananda Raya were Ramananda Raya, Pattanayaka Gopinatha, Kalanidhi, Sudhanidhi and Nayaka Vaninatha.

The Gauraganoddesa-dipika (120-124) states that Ramananda Raya was Arjuna in his past incarnation. He is also considered to have been an incarnation of the gopi Lalita, although in the opinion of others he was an incarnation of Visakha devi.

He was a most confidential devotee of Lord Caitanya.

Sri Ramananda Raya left this world after the disappearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Jagannatha Puri.

Minister of Science & Earth Technology of India launches a…
→ Dandavats



Minister of Science & Earth Technology of India launches a Krishna conscious book.
Vrajendranandan Das: Today morning, May 4th, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science and Technology, Government of India, launched the book, “Values of life” (volume 4) at his residence. This children book is written and compiled by Ajita Govinda Das from ISKCON Delhi. This series of books (Values of life) is already introduced as a Moral science subject in some of the public schools across India. These books wonderfully explain the teachings of Srila Prabhupada in a secular way with the help of beautiful illustrations.

New Govardhana Goshala under construction (Album with…
→ Dandavats



New Govardhana Goshala under construction (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The example is set by the Supreme Personality of Godhead that human civilization will advance only on the basis of brahminical culture and cow protection. As soon as there is fall down from brahminical culture, and as soon as there is discrepancy in the protection of cows, there will be no more peace in the world. Therefore He specifically said, go-brahmana-hitaya ca. This Krsna consciousness movement is for the protection of brahminical culture and cows. Then automatically the peace of the world will come, if two things are done.Srila Prabhupada, lecture – December 4, 1968, Los Angeles
Find them here: https://goo.gl/c6LTUC

Humility implies perfect submission
→ Servant of the Servant

In my previous post I spoke about the broad principal of preaching that somehow or other one should try to connect a soul to Krishna, all other considerations or rules are secondary. Sometimes, we may speak bluntly or sometimes we flatter.  Taken from an excerpt from HH Satsvarupa Goswami's book 'With Srila Prabhupada 1966-69; Srila Prabhupada writes that We can induce someone to take to Krsna consciousness, and that may sometimes include flattering that person's false ego.

Once OBL Kapoor (godbrother of Prabhupada) was interviewed and he recalled his memory of Prabhupada when Prabhupada was still a householder. Prabhupada said 'I know the method to spread the movement in English speaking countries' and he continued by reciting - trnad api sunicena taror iva sahisnuna, amanina manadena kirtaniya sada hari.

So while Rupa Goswami's instruction of somehow or other one must induce one to Krishna, the method according to Prabhupada is to take a humble position just as Lord Nityananda did in His earthly lila. Below is an excerpt from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Takur that capture this idea;

A chanter of Hari-kirtana is necessarily the uncompromising enemy of worldliness and hypocrisy. It is his constant function to dispel all misconceptions by preaching the truth in its most unambiguous form, without any consideration of person, place, or time. The form to be adopted is that which is least likely to be misunderstood. It is his bounden duty to clearly and frankly oppose any person who tries to deceive and harm himself and others by misrepresenting the truth, whether due to malice or genuine misunderstanding. 

This will be possible if the chanter of kirtana is always prepared to submit to being trodden upon by thoughtless people, if such discomfort will enable him to benefit his persecutors by chanting of the truth in the most unambiguous manner. 

If he is unwilling or afraid of considerations of self-respect or personal discomfort to chant kirtana under all circumstances, he is unfit to be a preacher of the absolute truth. 

Humility implies perfect submission to the truth and no sympathy for untruth. Those who entertain any partiality for untruth are unfit to chant Hari-kirtana. Any clinging to untruth is opposed to the principle of humility born of absolute submission to the truth.

-Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur “Harmonist 26.249-50 (Apr 1929)”

Hare Krishna

ISKCON Devotee to Win Eurovision
→ Dandavats

Hare Krishna ISKCON devotee Yashodamayi d.d. (Ieva Zasimauskaitė) will be representing Lithuania in a popular international song competition Eurovision. She is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada’s disciple and initiating spiritual master HG Sankarshan das Adhikari. We encourage everyone to vote for her on the 8th of May (information on how to vote is given below).

Newsletter from Iskcon’s Sannyasa Ministry
→ Dandavats

Hare KrishnaBy Prahladananda Swami

This is Issue Number Eight of the Sannyasa Newsletter. Revealing one’s mind in confidence is one of the six loving exchanges between devotees that nurture the creeper of bhakti. I hope that this sannyasa katha inspires in you a deeper sense of commitment to the mission of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu under the guidance and example of Srila Prabhupada and his sincere followers. Continue reading "Newsletter from Iskcon’s Sannyasa Ministry
→ Dandavats"

Vedic Cosmology: Integrating God and Physics
→ Dandavats

Hare KrishnaBy Mauricio Garrido, Ph.D.

One of the strongest points of tension that often comes up in cosmology between science and religion is the age of the universe. Some interpretations of the Bible calculate it to be about 6,000 years old, while the most recent calculation according to the Lambda-CDM concordance model is 13.8 billion years. The Vedic literatures see the manifestation and eventual destruction of the universe, like most events in nature, as a periodic occurrence and give it in trillions of years. In fact, they talk about an expansion of the universe after its inception and an eventual contraction at the end of its lifespan, in line with modern cosmology’s concepts of inflation and/or dark energy. Ideas regarding a cyclic behavior of the universe have also been proposed by prominent physicists like Sir Roger Penrose and Paul Steinhardt. Vedic cosmology also states that within the lifespan of the universe, there are periodic partial devastations of the universe. The time elapsed since the last one is on the order of billions of years, which roughly corresponds to the age of the universe calculated by cosmologists. In between the partial devastations, there are time periods called ages. The current age we live in, the Age of Kali, began about 5,000 years ago, which is roughly in line with (or equivalent to) the Bible’s estimates of the age of the universe. We can thus begin to see the potentiality of Vedic cosmology in creating a bridge between science and religion: The apparent contradiction regarding the age of the universe can be regarded as simply calculations of different important periods in the history of the universe. Continue reading "Vedic Cosmology: Integrating God and Physics
→ Dandavats"

Vedic cosmology
→ Dandavats

Hare KrishnaBy Drutakarma Dasa

Cosmology is defined as the study of the origin, purpose, structure and functioning of the universe. Vedic cosmology gives a vast amount of information about not only the structure of the phenomenal universe as we see it, but also a clear idea of the source of the manifested universe, its purpose, and the subtle laws that govern its operation. Continue reading "Vedic cosmology
→ Dandavats"

Room Conversation with Lord Brockway – July 23, 1973,…
→ Dandavats



Room Conversation with Lord Brockway – July 23, 1973, London:
Lord Brockway: And my childhood was spent at Berhampur (Brahmapur).
Prabhupāda: Berhampur?
Lord Brockway: Yes.
Prabhupāda: I see.
Lord Brockway: My parents were missionaries there.
Prabhupāda: Hm. I was also a student of missionary college, Scottish Churches’ College.
Lord Brockway: Oh yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We had very good professors. W. S. Urquhart, Dr. W.S. Urquhart, he was a Scotsman.
Lord Brockway: Yes, yes. Was that in Calcutta?
Prabhupāda: Yes, in Calcutta. And Lord Rolandson, Zetland, Marquis of Zetland. He was governor of Bengal. So he’s also a Scotsman.
Lord Brockway: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So he came to our college in our, when we were young men, second-year student. All our professors, mostly they were Scotsmen, and there was one English professor, Mister Warren. All other professors, they were Scotsmen, Mr. Keye, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Scrimgeour in this way.
Lord Brockway: Those are Scottish names.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Scottish names. So you remained only four years after your birth.
Lord Brockway: That is true. But I have quite clear memories, especially of Berhampur, of our house, of playing with Indian children under a tree…
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Interviews with Macmillan and various English Reporters – September 12, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: Sanskrit compulsory and additional there was Sanskrit. So I took both, compulsory and additional.
Prof. Gombrich: I see.
Prabhupāda: Up to my I.A., I regularly studied Sanskrit, and in my B. A., I gave up Sanskrit. I read history. (laughs) No. Not in B.A. B.A., my combination was economics and philosophy. In I.A. I was intermediate, I.A. I had history and Sanskrit.
Prof. Gombrich: That was at Calcutta University?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Calcutta University, Scottish Churches’ College.

Sunday 4/29/2018 Lecture by Devamrita Swami (video)Srila…
→ Dandavats



Sunday 4/29/2018 Lecture by Devamrita Swami (video)
Srila Prabhupada: …here we are having Bhagavata class. This is not ordinary Bhagavata class, not jumping over Krsna’s rasa-lila. It is not like that. It is step by step studying what is Krsna, what is this material world, what is the sambandha, or relationship with Krsna – so many things – how this body has developed, how we have forgotten Krsna, how to revive our Krsna consciousness. These things must be studied first of all. Then we can understand what is Krsna’s pastimes with the gopis. But these professional Bhagavata preachers, they go, jump over at once. Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.31 – January 8, 1975, Bombay

somehow or other
→ Servant of the Servant

I am not very advanced in terms of preaching but I have seen many others preach successfully. Of course, my main inspiration as always is His Divine Grace. If I have to take one fundamental value of preaching from Srila Prabhupada, it is this;

yena tena prakarena manah krsna nivesayet
sarve vidhi-nisedha syur etayor eva kinkarah

An acarya should devise a means by which people may somehow or other come to Krsna consciousness. All rules and regulations are subordinate to this principle.- BRS.1.2.4

To me, this is the founding principal upon which Prabhupada built his preaching ideas. To me this is the broadest definition (somehow or other inspire others to Krishna). Because it is so broad, no one idea or method can be delineated as gold standard. According to time and circumstances, this principal can be applied differently (albeit within the legal laws of the land).

I recall one conversation Srila Prabhupada had with his disciples in a car on his way to New Vrindavan farm where he said that he did not impose any rules in the beginning when people used to visit his storefront temple. Prabhupada then quoted the verse above and said that somehow or other he wanted the people who visited to take to Krishna. He said rules he introduced later once they had some attachment to him. I cannot recall the source but I think this is in one of Hari Sauri prabhu’s dairies.

In fact, in a lecture in December 1966 in New York (pretty much the beginning of ISKCON), Srila Prabhupada himself confirms the statement above. You can read the lecture transcript here.

This is my 2 cents on the technique to preach and I try this whenever I get chance!

Hare Krishna.

What India can offer to the World?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

This talk was given by His Grace Chaitanya Charan Das at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Chaitanya Charan Das – From spirituality to Yoga, from culture to technology, from number system to the World’s first University, India has already offered many valuable things to the world. Watch what now India can offer to the world. Chaitanya Charan is a monk, mentor and spiritual author. He has done his Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering from the Government College of Engineering, Pune. Seeing the prevalent problems of stress, depression, addiction and overall misdirection – all caused by a lack of spirituality – he felt inspired to dedicate his life to the cause of sharing the spiritual wisdom of the Bhagavad-gita under the aegis of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness). He is the author of the world’s only Gita-daily feature, wherein he writes daily a 300-word inspirational reflection on a verse from the Bhagavad- Gita. Till now he has written over seventeen hundred Gita meditations that are posted on www.gitadaily.com and are read through daily feeds by thousands from all over the world. He also answers questions by seekers on his site www.thespiritualscientist.com , where his over three thousand five hundred audio answers and several hundred articles are available.

Video:

The post What India can offer to the World? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Nrsimha Caturdasi Harinama in Radhadesh and King’s…
→ Dandavats



Nrsimha Caturdasi Harinama in Radhadesh and King’s birthday in Amsterdam (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Preya means immediately palatable, and sreya means ultimately beneficial. That is called sreya. Just like for a child, playing is priya, preya. He likes to play. But he is by force, by the parents, he is studied books. That is called preya. But because without education his future life will be dark, so parents know it. Therefore, although the child likes to play – that is preya – the parents engages them into sreya, into education. So that is the Vaisnava’s duty. These rascals and fools, they are busy in material sense gratification, and it has become the duty of the devotee. Because the devotees mean the servant of the supreme father, Krsna. So they have been engaged. Just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna’-upadesa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. So devotees are so confidential servant of the Supreme Lord; therefore they are engaged in preaching Krsna consciousness. They have no business for themself – they are completely perfect as soon as they have accepted Krsna – but they are working on behalf of Krsna to turn these two-legged animals to become Krsna conscious. This is the meaning of Krsna consciousness movement. Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.29 – January 6, 1975, Bombay
Find them here: https://goo.gl/kBM5Jb

Narasimha Jayanthi at Durga temple, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA…
→ Dandavats



Narasimha Jayanthi at Durga temple, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (Album with photos)
1st May 18 Hare Krishna! Many people know Lord Narasimha because of the movies, but if you want to actually know why the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared in such form, of half man and half lion and killed the demon Hiranyakashipu, then you would surely need to attend ISKCON festivals. We tell you the truth nothing but the truth! Yesterday at Dewi Sri Thurkai Amman temple, Taman Medan, about 75 people attended the Narasimha Caturdasi festival, we had the most attractive Lord Narasimha drama in Tamil which really really attracted the crowd, narration and pastimes of Lord Narasimhadeva spoken by HG Muralidharasyam prabhu, they offered ghee lamps to the Lordships and relished the sumptuous prasadam meals which was prepared by Taman Medan Namahatta. We would want to express our deepest appreciation to HG Sukamurti prabhu, who tirelessly organizes this festival for Lord Narasimha every year at different temples and different locations. He is very determined to organize this program despite any obstacles as how it is described in Part 1, Text 3 of the Nectar of Instruction, there is six qualities which favorable to pure devotional service, and two of the qualities is on utsāhāt — by enthusiasm; niścayāt — by confidence. So to progress in spiritual life, we should always have lots of confidence, enthusiasm to attain love of God, Krishna. By the mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga, this Narasimha Caturdasi program was very successful because it had attracted the general public and it certainly created awareness on what Krishna conscious is all about! Jai Srila Prabhupada, we are indebted to him life and soul!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Uw5Lg4

Managing the voice inside the head – 1
→ The Spiritual Scientist

[Congregation program at Montreal, Canada]

Podcast


 

Podcast Summary


 

Video:

The post Managing the voice inside the head – 1 appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Speculative knowledge does not give peace of mind
→ Servant of the Servant

I am not a big fan of modern astronomy because there are many views to the origin of the universe which tells me there is no definitive one. As recent as last year, before his demise, Stephen hawking and his colleague presented an alternative explanation to the origin of the universe than the popular big-bang. In it, the duo claim that eternal inflation as a theory of the big bang is not acceptable. Once the bang happened, the universe inflated at an exponential rate and that this inflation is forever happening in some regions of the universe. In other words, this phenomenon of inflation is eternal. Now, Hawking and his friend think otherwise thus nullifying the effects of big-bang theory or in other words questioning its very occurrence?

This sort of theories and opposing theories are considered advanced science and is considered evolved mature discussion. That may be, but one thing I fail to understand is how come they do not agree that they were wrong in the past that it required for them to change their position. If existing theories evolve or completely change means scientists' cannot claim monopoly over knowledge. Certainly, there is a need to look elsewhere.

Coming back to theoretical physics, one of the key factors for such variations or multitude of explanations of the universe is because the basic assumptions physicists hold to me is not scientific. I have mentioned this in another post but the basic idea is that the universe is homogeneous and looks same in all directions. These two principles when tested from earth will always give similar results although these are unverifiable truths. Here, therefore, we depart from empiricism to faith. Modern astronomy will fall on its head if these two principles are open for debate. Hence a student who enters the school of astronomy has to accept these two principles as undeniable truths (based on faith!). 

I will not be surprised, therefore, that sometime in the future we may go back to a geocentric model or we may say we never landed on the moon but another planet etc. Such speculative knowledge may please the mind but will never alleviate one from misery. The symptom of real knowledge including astrophysics, when properly heard from the correct superior source, will alleviate the listener from misery and lead him or her to peace and happiness. This is the test of real knowledge.

In Srimad Bhagavatam, we have astronomy and description of the universe. It is not speculative but definitive. Considering that Maharaj Parikshit is about to die, still Srila Sukadev Goswami was compelled to speak it means that the knowledge of the universe also provides relief from the pangs of materialism (birth and death) as creation is tied to Krishna who is praised by excellent verses - Uttamasloka!

Hare Krishna

My Service. Kadamba Kanana Swami: Only in Vrndavana is Krsna…
→ Dandavats



My Service.
Kadamba Kanana Swami: Only in Vrndavana is Krsna fully manifesting his pure transcendental nature which is based only on loving exchange and nothing else. It is not based on any sense of duty. Krsna is only purchased by pure and unalloyed love. To follow a sense of duty is the lower platform of devotional service. Vaidhi-bhakti – it is the platform where one is still materially conditioned and then one takes shelter of rules and regulations.
The higher manifestation of devotional service is devotional service based on pure love, when are contemplating, when we are hearing about these unique qualities of the residents of Vrndavana and we see how much they desire to please Krsna! Everything is done to please Krsna. This awakening in us of some desire to also please Krsna is a big change because for our whole life, we have simply been trying to please ourselves! Everything we ever did was to please ourselves. So to come to that state of pleasing Krsna, is the spirit of loving devotional service.

In the beginning, we serve according to rules and regulations and then gradually, attachment to serving Krsna will develop. In this way, serving Krsna according to rules and regulations transforms as attachment to Krsna develops. To develop attachment to serving Krsna is our aim, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu (Bhagavad-gita 7.1).

Sometimes, we see devotees who do not find a service. They try this one. They try that one but they just cannot seem to get absorbed in any service; nothing captures them. This is a misfortune. Whenever we are given service, we should take that service and wholeheartedly with dedication try to develop that service as nicely as possible by making some special effort. It is not just, “Okay, this is my service.” No, “I’ll try and do it especially nice.” This is the point where attachment will develop.

But if one simply mechanically engages in prescribed duty then the service may stay dry. So this eagerness to do service especially nicely is what will make the difference in our lives. That is where attachment to Krsna and to that service begins to develop, where one starts to feel, “This is my service. It is mine!”

First Jagannath Ratha Yatra in Parigi Moutong, Central Sulawesi
→ Dandavats

Hare KrishnaBy Hari Narayana Das

Parigi Moutong District is one of the Second Level Regions in the province of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The district capital is in Parigi. Parigi Moutong district covers most of the eastern coast of Central Sulawesi and Tomini Bay. The Government of Parigi Moutong Regency, Central Sulawesi, involved a Russian artist at the Tomini Fashion Carnival which was held at the height of the Tomini Gulf Charm Festival (FPPN). Head of Tourism Office of Parigi Moutong Hamka Lagala in Parimo, declared Tomini Fashion Carnaval or parade of regional clothing was a promotion of regional culture to foreign tourists. Continue reading "First Jagannath Ratha Yatra in Parigi Moutong, Central Sulawesi
→ Dandavats"