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Answer Podcast

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[Talk at Raleigh, USA]

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[Talk to Duke University students, Durham, USA]

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The post Science & Spirituality – Why psychiatry can’t replace spirituality appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Srimad Bhagavatam in Mayapur, 8.14.6, Class Speaker: HG Bana Bhatta Das on 11.04.2018 (video)

Today’s festival of Shri Shri Radha Krishna boat festival Iskcon Temple, East of Kailash, New Delhi (5 min video)

New Raman Reti - Alachua - Eco Farm Update - Building a Small Log Cabin.
Mukhya devi dasi: Our latest project happening is building a small log cabin which might serve as a little shop to sell the crafts and output from our devotees and our farm. Akuti devi dasi has been directing many sustainable projects at the Eco Teaching Farm including building a cob oven, the new Vrinda Devi temple, a sustainable flourishing garden, our biogas digester, a chikki hut with a cow dung floor, and more! Future projects for the Eco Teaching Farm include building tiny houses for volunteers & for retreats, building bamboo trellises for the garden, using the back fields for growing our staple foods, collecting the cow urine for different uses, making herbal salves, making sustainable organic clothing made from banana trees, learning to become a totally sustainable and zero waste farm…well, the sky’s the limit!
The log cabin is in the process of being built right now using local trees like White Pine and Swamp Maple. We have had some volunteers come and stop in for a few hours to help out and we’d love to have more. If anyone is interested in volunteering or just stopping by to learn how to build a log cabin, feel free to come by! This project is somewhat experimental so we will be learning how to build this together as we go. Thus far we have Akuti devi dasi heading it up with help from: Kaliyapani das, Purana Rishi, James and Erin, Jaya Nitai and Steve Hunt.

We’ve cleared an area and measured up for the 10 x 10 cabin. The guys cut down and collected some White Pine & Swamp Maple trees. They measured 14 foot section of logs and put them on the trailer. It took about 3 or 4 guys to pick up one log, but strangely Akuti prabhu was able to carry one log by herself. The guys were a bit unsure about how they would feel pulling trees from in and around the swamp where the snakes hide, but they braved it and pulled the logs through. We’ve build tripods to hold logs as we peeled the bark back. Next we will let the logs dry for a few months. This week we are hoping to finish peeling all of the logs and next week we will be starting forms for the foundation by mixing and pouring the cement pillars. The week after that we are going to be working on making the framing for the wood floor and laying the logs. In four weeks we are going to start laying and saddle notching the logs. Anyone who is interested in learning how to build a log cabin is welcome to come to our workshops. Our volunteer hours are Monday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. If anyone is interested in donating any materials for any of our sustainable projects, it would be much appreciated. Thank you to everyone who has helped with our sustainable projects and with The Eco Teaching Farm! Stay tuned for more of projects.

TOVP: An update about the extensive work which is being done in the Temple of Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur (Album with photos)
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Simha means “lion” and chalam means “hill”. So this is lion’s hill, the hill of Lord Nrsimhadeva. The Deity here, Sri Varaha Laxmi Nrsimha Swamy, is popularly known in Sanskrit as Simhadrinatha or in local Telugu language as Simhadri Appanna (“the Lord of the Lion Hill”). The Sthala Purana of Simhachalam recounts the history of the great devotee Prahlada Maharaja and his demonic father, Hiranyakasipu Continue reading "Sri Varaha Nrsimha Swamy Temple at Simhachalam
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Documentary about a revolutionary spiritual master!
Avant Premiére, April 3, 2018
Buenos Aires, Village Recoleta
Have you ever encountered a man you thought was supernatural? Were you ever encouraged that perhaps the world had a promise of a spiritual future? Those who attended the incredible gala last night of the movie, “Hare Krishna. The Mantra, the Movement, and the Swami Who Started it All” left feeling inspired and hopeful.“ This film by John Griesser portrays the arrival of Srila Prabhupada, a saintly sage, in America. This spiritual personality, despite so many obstacles, revolutionized the hearts of millions of people and developed the Hare Krishna movement in these latitudes.
Participants filled the room: authorities of different faiths, government members, journalists and devotees. We all received superb attention from the organizers including vegetarian snacks, music, kirtan, and the chanting of mantras. There was time for questions and answers after the film while savoring traditional Indian dishes. Free distribution of a biography of this revolutionary saint, the subject of the documentary, was available for those interested in further understanding.. Every detail of the gala was involved in the message and atmosphere that Srila Prabhupada infused into the movement: humility, tolerance, joy, and vocation of service … These were two hours of a time without time, or even better, of a sacred time!

In the following material, we will look at the evidence that seems to indicate that there was first the Avatara Buddha, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu who appeared near 1800 BCE, and then there was another person who became known as Gautama called Buddha, born around 560 BCE Continue reading "Were There Two Buddhas?
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TOVP Fundraising Event Radhadesh (Album of photos)
A very nice fundraising event was organized for the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) in Radhadesh on the 11th of April in the presence of Lord Nityananda’s Padukas and Lord Nrsimhadeva’s Sitari (helmet) from the Mayapur Chandradoya Mandir, accompanied by His Grace Jananivas prabhu and His Grace Vraja Vilas prabhu representing the TOVP.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Z3oaHq

Sadbhuja Das: Another mesmerizing event took place recently - Lifting of the flagpole and new flag!
Previously because of the c...

Answer Podcast

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Morning Class SB 4.8.62-63 - HH Janananda Swami - 8 April 2018 in Iskcon Melbourne (video)

[Class at Raleigh, USA]

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[Talk at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA]

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Preaching in the Siberian tundra (13 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Our travels in the service of the Lord recently took us to t...

The subject of Lord Buddha and how we as Vaishnavas should consider him is a deep, highly complex subject, and the very complexity and depth of Buddhist teaching makes it impossible to discuss in detail in an article of this length. Suffice to say that Lord Buddha, as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, played a major part in the reformation of religious thought in India 2,500 years ago, and thereafter across the world. When we view him in the light of his being an incarnation of Krishna, working in mysterious and complex ways to restore the Vedic teaching while seeming to refute it, we can only be left in wonder and awe at the Lord’s incredibly wondrous ways. Continue reading "Lord Buddha: Making the Faithless Faithful
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A visit to the ISKCON center, Dvaraka, in Kaunas (Album with photos)
Bhakti Chaitanya Swami: Yesterday afternoon and this morning we spent at our Dvaraka project in Kaunas, Lithuania. It’s a very nice center, with about 21 resident devotees, run very enthusiastically and effectively by Anantara prabhu.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/MMrp11

Summary of the morning class in Budapest

• The Lord is present in many forms in the ocean churning pastime
• The Lord is equally disposed but is partial to His devotees
• The main instruction is not to get distracted
• Go for the nectar of immortality
• We are churning our hearts and should say no to what is offered as a by-product: wealth, followers etc.

International Vaisnavi Retreat at Govardhan 2018 (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Arjuna says that “I’ll not fight. I’ll not fight with my relatives and brothers for the sake of achieving some kingdom. No, no, no.” Now, for the ordinary man it appears to be: “Oh, Arjuna is very nice man, nonviolent. He’s giving up everything for the sake of his relatives. Oh, what a nice man he is.” This is ordinary calculation. But what Krsna says? “You are fool, damn fool number one.” You see? And that we have already discussed. Asocyan anvasocas tvam prajna-vadams ca bhasase: [Bg. 2.11] “My dear Arjuna, you are talking like very learned man, but you are number fool one.” Yes. This is the, I mean to say, reward given. “You are, you are declining to fight? This is your nonsensical.” Now, just see. The things which are estimated in the public eyes very nice, very good, that is condemned by God. Condemned by God. We have got so many examples and experiences life that what is eulogized by some of our friends, it is condemned by others. So whole thing, our perfection of any act, that should be certified by the Supreme Lord. Dharmah svanusthitah pumsam… [SB 1.2.8]. Svanusthitasya dharmasya samsiddhir hari-tosanam [SB 1.2.13]. Hari-tosanam. We have to see it, “Whether the Supreme Consciousness is pleased with my, this action.” So Arjuna’s action was not approved, not approved by Lord Krsna. But the same Arjuna, he fought at the last. After hearing the instruction of Bhagavad-gita, he engaged himself in the fight. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 2.55-58 – New York, April 15, 1966
Find them here: https://goo.gl/buFV87

Chandra: I used to write an inmate in the Louisiana prison system. I forget her former name but she was initiated Sarva Laksmi dasi. On a Hari-nama in New Orleans, she approached a visiting sadhu and said, “I am the happiest woman on earth and I’ll tell you why…In the 60’s I committed a horrible crime and was sentenced to 90 years in jail…but several years ago devotees started a bhakti yoga program in the federal penitentiary where I was incarcerated. I began attending the programs and soon took up Krsna consciousness in earnest. I was trying hard to become a good devotee, so I also became a model prisoner. Two years later, after my spiritual master initiated me inside the prison, I was suddenly granted a full pardon and released. No official reason was ever given why they released me. Now I try to share my good fortune with those who are prisoners in the jailhouse of material existence.

WHAT IF??
[March 1972: JUHU BOMBAY, INDIA – Cornerstone laying ceremony at “Hare Krishna Land”] Atreya Rsi: In the same house, Prabhupada gave me a conch, left-handed conch, and he said, “Karttikeya has been such a great host to us and is well-wisher and so generous to us, and he has given me this conch, which is supposed to bring a lot of wealth, and I want to give it to you.”
So he gave me the conch and he said, “I never expected to be able to do all this. I thought maybe we could just have some chanting, we could have a few devotees, but I never…” and he referred to all the temples, all that.
Because Prabhupada, when he was saying that “I never expected it,” he was kind of laughing at himself.
He was saying, “Hey, I went after a little fish and I caught such a huge fish, I don’t know what happened.”
So I said, “Do you remember, Prabhupada, the story of Mullah Nasiruddin where Mullah Nasiruddin is sitting by a lake and putting some yogurt in the lake.

And people say, ‘What are you doing?’

He says, ‘I am trying to see if the whole lake will catch to become yogurt.’

They say, ‘How could that be possible?’

He said, ‘Yes, it’s not possible, but what if?’”

And we both laughed and laughed, “What if? What if?”

I said, “Yours was the same thing. You just ‘what if’ and it caught on,” and he says, “Yeah,” and we just laughed around that. It was a very joyous time.

—Atreya Rsi

Chandramauli Swami: Krishna Katha and Krishna Kirtan must go together side by side like husband and wife, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur tells us, each one supports the other. - After a year of asking Maharaj to speak something about Kirtan, He finally agreed to speak about the importance of Krishna Kirtan along with Krishna Katha. It's such an important topic for the success of our spiritual lives! Continue reading "The Importance of Reading
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