Planet ISKCON

And Darvas Csaba asks, if God is one why can’t religions get together.

By Satyanarayana dasa

More than two years in the making, this meticulously translated Arabic edition of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is is now being snapped up by temples all over North America and worldwide (including the UK, Europe, Aus/NZ, and even India)! Specifically designed for distribution to the millions of Arabic speaking tourists and university students visiting the West annually from the Middle East (including the large populations of foreign residents), ISKCON book distributors around the world have joyfully discovered that these visiting Middle Easterners are truly open-minded (plus seriously interested in Indian culture), and are therefore most eager to purchase it. Continue reading "Beautiful New Arabic BGAIS!
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In this episode… How a French Canadian mother of a 1 year old went from idea to published book within 2 weeks… without her husband even knowing about it! Her dream from Star Wars that came true when she became a devotee. What her English teacher taught her that led her to Krishna consciousness. The […]

The post 15 Rise Up Your Life – Gitavali Devi Dasi appeared first on Successful Vaisnavas - Personal Development for Hare Krishnas.

In this episode… How a French Canadian mother of a 1 year old went from idea to published book within 2 weeks… without her husband even knowing about it! Her dream from Star Wars that came true when she became a devotee. What her English teacher taught her that led her to Krishna consciousness. The […]

The post 15 Rise Up Your Life – Gitavali Devi Dasi appeared first on Successful Vaisnavas - Personal Development for Hare Krishnas.

Answer Podcast

The post Does accepting our emotions mean that our getting angry is not a matter of concern? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post How can we avoid making a ruinous mistake like Ravana made? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post When we are telling ourselves to concentrate, who is telling this – the soul or the intelligence – and to whom? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Class at Charlotte, USA]

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The post Three ways of perceiving Krishna’s love appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Gilles le Suisse avec les dévots d'Hare Krishna (video)
Radhadesh: The documentary which was shot during our festival in January finally got aired during Easter weekend. Its a wonderfully made and positive take on the Hare Krsna movement & Radhadesh with at its center the Chanting of the Holy Names, Prasadam, and Sadhu Sanga. Quite simply incredible to have such encouraging footage broadcasted on the main french Belgian tv channel. The Maha Mantra has surely reached hundreds of thousands of more ears and hearts. Thank you for all the many devotees who gave their best during the festival to ensure our special guest Gilles le Suisse a simply unique Krsna Conscious experience.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/ws6JEu

[Congregation Program at Charlotte, USA]

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The post Interrupting the mind’s train of thoughts 1 appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Most ancient festival of India called RathYatra was celebrated today as “Festival of Joy” despite of freezing cold all the devotees were determined to serve his lordship “Jagannatha”!!
Such an amazing festival!! (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/zKxrBm

Answer Podcast

The post If some Vaishnava sampradayas reject the worship of Radharani, how to respond? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Why don’t we get reactions to our actions in the same lifetime? QA Karma and Destiny Series (3 min video)

HG Jivanath Prabhu is sharing with us his memories before he met devotees and during being in the Sankirtana movement. (18 min video)
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“Seminar on Japa” with His Grace Mahatma Prabhu. This seminar was given in London (video)

By Garuda Das

In order to appreciate aspects of the relationship between God and evil in Bhakti traditions, specifically for the Krishna Bhakti tradition of Caitanya, we must apply at least some essential conceptions of the school’s complex and richly nuanced theology to our topic. First, however, we must acknowledge at least briefly what we all know about the Hindu theological palette that undergirds this school’s vision, before we can appreciate the school’s theological portraiture. Continue reading "Reflections on God and Evil in the Krishna Bhakti Theology of Caitanya
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By Radhika Ramana Dasa

Recent decades have seen persistent tension between Hindus and scholars of Hinduism. There is, for example, ongoing disagreement over how Hinduism is taught in school textbooks, how scholars portray Hindu deities in their writing, and how we ought to conceive Hinduism’s history. The accusations from both sides often become heated, with nationalist politics, colonialist agendas, and missionary zeal allegedly part of the mix. Continue reading "Hinduism and the Academy: Towards a Dialogue Between Scholar and Practitioner
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By Satyaraja Dasa

TWO commemorative events of landmark stature inspired the essay you are about to read: First, the year 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Thomas Merton’s abrupt departure from our material vision. Second, 2018 is also the semicentennial celebration of a consequential publication: It was in 1968 that His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada released his unprecedentedly influential Bhagavad-gita As It Is. As we shall see, the trailblazing Western visionary, Merton, and this particular edition of the Gita engaged in productive conversation with each other Continue reading "Fight or Flight: Thomas Merton and the Bhagavad Gita
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 18 October 2017, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.3.17)

I have a disciple who always signs their letters with ‘your mercy case’ instead of the usual ‘your servant’. It has been consistent over many years and it is nice. It sounds good to think with that mentality, ‘I am your mercy case!’

Whatever reminds us of our humble position, that is an asset! When we are seeing ourselves as fallen, then we feel a need for shelter. As soon as we think, “Well I know it all. I have been around for a long time,” then the difficulty begins. We immediately start to derive some status from our position but by taking birth in this age of Kali, we are actually all inherently weak. So we deal with such weaknesses by chanting, taking shelter, adopting Vaishnava etiquette and ‘beating our mind’.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura advised that we must always ‘beat the mind’. He did not just say that; he actually did it. Krsna consciousness is not just about reading the books, understanding them and getting some glories – “I have now thoroughly understood Srila Prabhupada’s books in a way that they are very rarely understood.” No, rather we have to reform ourselves again and again, except that is still not the main thing; it is only a catalyst. That conscious endeavour is only the catalyst. It is one of the factors that support the real purification that comes from devotional service because ultimately, mercy is more important than our endeavour.

It is good when a child is trying to do something independently. However, when an adult interferes and provides assistance, that is obviously more powerful than the child trying to do it all alone. Sometimes, we may also need a little help from someone who knows more. So in spiritual life, we need help. We should never think, “Now I have come to the point that I do not really need help from my spiritual master. He has helped me a lot, but now I am a teacher myself! So I do not need him anymore.” Absolutely not. We always need the mercy of the spiritual master. We always need to have him to help with our attitude. We must always be at the feet of our spiritual master, talk to him, be open to him, consult him, share our lives with him and ask him for directions!

The article " Your mercy case " was published on KKSBlog.

Indradyumna Swami: Following in the footsteps of our beloved spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, we are back in Russia on a two-month winter preaching tour, taking us from the far eastern shores of Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, 6,532 kilometres to the west. The rigours and austerities involved in such a tour are nothing compared to the joy and satisfaction that come from sharing our good fortune as devotees of the Lord with others.

ISKCON MIRA ROAD, MUMBAI had organized a 3 Day workshop Entitled Bhakti Vriksha-Hands on Training between 6th-8th April 2018. Around 65 devotees participated in this workshop which includes Congregation devotees, Youth Forum Devotees and Brahmacari's from ISKCON Mira Road. This workshop was facilitated by Nityanand Ashraya Prabhu from ISKCON Bahadurgarh, Harayana.



The post Daily Darshan: April10,2018 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Answer Podcast

The post How do we know that Krishna accepts our gratitude? (Vedic Wisdom) appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post When we can’t remember Krishna purely now, how will our remembering him at death take us to him? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post Was Ravana a good person who just committed one mistake? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Sunday feast class at ISKCON, Washington DC, USA]

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The post Does religion cause war? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Sunday feast class at ISKCON, Baltimore, USA]

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The post The mind may stray away, but don’t let it stay away appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Srimad Bhagavatam Class by H.G. Mukunda Datta Prabhu in ISKCON Vrindavan, 05.04.2018 (video)

Book Distribution - weekend of April 4-6, 2014 (Album of photos)
Mohanasini Devi Dasi: The bliss is never ending! Thanks to Fo...

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 25 January 2018, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.12.23-24)

The human form of life is very different from the animal form of life. In the human form, we have responsibility. An animal has no karma in whatever they do – karma-free! You want a karma-free life with no restrictions and the ability to do anything? No problem, here is a tail and a snout to go with it; become an animal! Here, all you get as an animal is your old karma from previous lives and you do not create any new karma. So isn’t it great to be an animal? Not really, because then you do not proceed anywhere.

You may say, “Oh, I will do it. I will sign up for that. I will opt for an animal birth next time. Where do I sign up to be free from karma? Phew!” But what you may forget is that when the previous karma comes, so will happiness and distress, so it is not that good.

The other thing is that you will not go anywhere and make no progress. You are stuck here in the material world, chained by sex life. How long have we been locked away in this jail where the bars of this jail are sex life? These bars keep us here within the jail of the material body. We should not think that this body is for enjoyment. It is actually a cell within a jail. Some may have a big jail cell, whereas some may have a small jail cell, some may have a beautiful jail cell, whilst others may have an ugly jail cell. But which one is good? We may look at each other and think, “That one looks much better. I want to have what they have.” We may look at others with envy, but there is no need to be envious as everyone is actually suffering within different cells of this jail.

When my spiritual master was in New York, a policeman approached him and asked, “What is it that you monks have to give up?” My spiritual master replied with, “Suffering!” The policeman said, “Well, that makes sense.” This is because we can see all layers of society in a city like New York. We get a good overview of the varieties of the sense-gratification that are available to us and its results. But since the ultimate result is not happiness, we voluntarily embrace restrictions in our life.

 

The article " Embracing restrictions " was published on KKSBlog.

The only “prisoner of conscience” to die in a Soviet labor camp.
When Saci-suta was a young boy in Armenia he would hike into the country hills and renovate abandoned churches with a friend and later met the devotees. He was always encouraging the other devotees in the Yerevan temple even when the Russian soldiers would come and break up the Sunday festivals and destroy the few furnishings in the ashram. Later, he became a fearless book distributor and would take Communist books out of the library and use the bindings for Srila Prabhupada’s books making them beautiful with his devotion. Then he was caught by the KGB and would not denouce Srila Prabhupada and his movement so he was eventually thrown in a Siberian prison. You cannot imagine the difficulties the devotees encountered at that place. He was so sick with tuberculosis that he passed away. The devotees didn’t know the story until one day a man came up to them when they were on street sankirtan years later. He was exhuberant…and crying, saying, “I was with him. He was so pure. What they did to him. I was with him when he left this world.” He then told the devotees just what happened that day that Sacisuta dasa left his body in a prison in Siberia. That day Saci took up the bed sheet as he had never done before and fashioned it into a dhoti and with some toothpaste applied very nice tilak. With colored paper from magazines he made a garland for Krsna and then put it on himself chanting very intensely. His friend left the dorm facility for some time and when he returned Saci-suta was no longer chanting…just sitting there very straight. After some time the man asked him, “Saci, what is wrong? …you are always chanting. You are funny, Saci…what are you doing?” and then he walked up to our dear Saci-suta dasa and looked very closely this time…“Saci…Saci!” and began crying realizing Saci-suta had left this filthy place forever.
Read more: https://goo.gl/f9KGgz

TOVP: Sadbhuja Das: The second crane has been coming down as you can see in the images.
Now that it has been removed, we are us...

Krishna has Justice and a Plan for Everyone!
Once there was a sweeper in a well-known Krishna temple and he was very sincere and devoted. Every time he saw thousands of devotees coming to take darshan of the Lord, he thought that the Lord is standing all the time and giving darshan and He must be feeling very tired.

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Radha Kunda Seva: March 2018 Photos and Updates (Album of photos)
March was a month of simple, steady, and happy service. We a...

A devotional children’s book by Ananda Rupa devi dasi is recognized as one of the best among all books published in Midwest last year