Answer Podcast

The post When different people consider different courses of action as right, how to reconcile? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Kadamba Kanana Swami: The essence of the process that we are following in this movement is the chanting of the holy name. This process is the yuga dharma – the dharma (religion) for this age of Kali. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has made this chanting of the holy name widely available to us and also added his extra mercy. The holy name has been chanted widely throughout the millennia but in this particular millennia, there is the added mercy of the Lord himself. Therefore, now it is very easy and quick for us to chant Krsna’s name and attain the results.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 December 2017, Govinda Valley, Australia, Initiation Lecture)

The essence of the process that we are following in this movement is the chanting of the holy name. This process is the yuga dharma – the dharma (religion) for this age of Kali. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has made this chanting of the holy name widely available to us and also added his extra mercy. The holy name has been chanted widely throughout the millennia but in this particular millennia, there is the added mercy of the Lord himself. Therefore, now it is very easy and quick for us to chant Krsna’s name and attain the results.

It is described by Rupa Goswami that in other kali yugas, there are also incarnations of Vishnu who teach harinam sankirtan. But because Vishnu is not the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, he cannot invest the name with the special mercy by which prema (love) is very quickly attained. So in those yugas, the chanting is going on, but it is difficult; the progress is slow. But now, the progress is very quick as the added mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is rapidly invoking Krsna prema.

In the first initiation, the main focus is the holy name – that is the essence! The spiritual master chants on the beads first to invest them with his blessings and the blessings of the entire parampara (disciplic succession), coming from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is then that he invests his special mercy on us. Therefore, even though one has been chanting before, where the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is still available to all, the spiritual master invokes the entire parampara’s prayers during an initiation, which is very powerful!

The article " Special mercy " was published on KKSBlog.

Today, Jahnu Saptami, is the disappearance anniversary of Arca-vigraha dasi, a renowned artist from South Africa who left her cancer-ridden body in Vrindavan twenty-four years ago. Her desire that other devotees also have a proper facility to spend their last days in the beautiful spiritual atmosphere of the holy dhama inspired the creation of the Bhaktivedanta Hospice. The year of her departure, Bhurijana dasa’s Vyasa-puja offering to Srila Prabhupada glorified her and Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna’s mercy upon her:

My dear Srila Prabhupada,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you. We pray that your powerful preaching potency continues forever.

As I write this, Mother Arca-vigraha is still alive. By the time this offering is read by the devotees, she will be gone. She now lies bedridden within her Ramana-reti house; her thin, almost white hair is cropped close and with sikha. The May Vrindavan heat glares, and her body burns as if filled with poison from one thousand scorpions. Only her left arm near the shoulder is fat, for there the cancer spreads from her lymph gland. The rest of that arm lies thin and useless at her side, like the arm of a doll, but burning with pain.

“ ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ in the material world are the same thing. [They] are mental creations. All is actually distress, for we must die. Human life is meant for Krishna consciousness. Why should we lose this chance? A Krishna conscious person is not under the laws of material nature.” (All quotes are from a 1969 New Vrindaban lecture by Srila Prabhupada.)

Arca-vigraha was a famous South African artist. She took initiation from His Holiness Giriraj Swami years ago and developed deep faith in you, her guru maharaja, Krishna consciousness, the holy name, Vrindavan dhama, and the Vaishnavas. Now, in her final days, her face is gaunt; deep crevices rim her eyes. Yet she is neither miserable nor morose nor fearful. Mother Arca remains either silently Krishna conscious or jolly.

“One who is Krishna conscious is never afraid or disturbed in any condition of life. This is the effect of Krishna consciousness. Therefore Narada is trying to convince Vyasadeva, ‘You preach Krishna consciousness. Whatever you have so far written is useless. Now you write something that by reading, one will become immediately Krishna conscious.’ Srimad-Bhagavatam is so nice that by reading, immediately one can capture the Supreme Lord within his heart. Our whole program is that Krishna is very kind, always kind upon us.”

She hasn’t eaten any solid food for about seven weeks and has been subsisting on less than 500 milligrams of juice a day. Her life has been sustained by krsna-katha, which she longs to hear constantly. And Mother Arca still preaches. Despite her pain, as long as she can speak, she greets all with good spirits, encouragement, and Krishna conscious advice: “Most problems don’t seem important from this perspective, do they?” “The body is useless, isn’t it?” “Jaya, jaya Sri Radhe-Syama!” Devotees approach her to offer solace but find shelter in her Krishna conscious strength.

“The pure devotees, if they are put into difficulty, they think, ‘This is Krishna’s grace. It is Krishna’s grace.’ They take it in this way. ‘I was to suffer hundreds of times more due to my bad activities in my past life, but You are only giving me a little of it. So it is Your grace.’ ”

We do not know when Krishna will actually take Mother Arca. She almost left just after Gaura-purnima, and we rushed to her bedside at 11:00 p.m. to find her gasping and wheezing and unable to breathe. The cancer is gradually closing off her windpipe. But Krishna wouldn’t take her then. She is now quite ready to go and awaits His call. She chants more or less constantly in her mind.

“Hypnotized. It is so nice—hypnotized! Otherwise, why are these boys working so hard? They can earn money, but they are hypnotized here. Krishna is so nice. He is all-attractive. He hypnotizes His devotee. Just like the Pandavas. They are all Krishna’s friends. Narada met Krishna, and because he was a devotee, he could speak to Krishna with a little criticism: ‘My dear Krishna, by becoming Your devotees, have Your Pandavas become happy? They have lost their kingdom. Their wife has been insulted, and now they are banished for twelve years. Is it a very good thing? But the wonderful thing I see, in spite of all these inconveniences, is that they have increased their love for You!’ So Narada is asking, ‘What kind of hypnotism You do I don’t know. In spite of being placed in so many inconveniences, their love for You has increased.’ That is the position of a bhakta.”

Both her breathing and swallowing are now strained and painful. I used to ask her if she had anything remaining to accomplish within the world of matter. Her last anxiety was spiritual, to finish the remaining true-to-size drawings for the 6’ x 3’ panels at the back of your samadhi mandir. She wasn’t physically capable, but she strained and sat up and directed the remaining work to its end. “See, I told you I’d finish!” No further work remains for Mother Arca-vigraha within this world.

“Anyone who has associated with Krishna consciousness, he cannot forget . . . He cannot give it up. If one once surrenders sincerely, ‘Krishna, I am Yours,’ Krishna will never leave you. He will protect you.”

Prabhupada, you have already bestowed your mercy on this fine devotee, Mother Arca-vigraha. We, out of affection for her, nevertheless pray to you for her eternal welfare. We also beg you to continue giving us the association of exalted and exemplary Vaishnavas.

Praying to serve you eternally,
Bhurijana dasa

*  *  *

Devotees can read about Mother Arca-vigraha in the chapter about her in my book Many Moons: Reflections on Departed Vaishnavas and in the section “Mother Arca-vigraha—An Inspiration” in Chapter 2 of my book Life’s Final Exam: Death and Dying from the Vedic Perspective.

May Mother Arca-vigraha’s mercy shower down upon us all.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

Srimad Bhagavatam Class by Drutakarma Prabhu in Los Angeles, 4-20-2018 (video)

THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR WORLD!!! (1 min video)
Sivarama Swami: A threat bigger than Nuclear weapons and Terrorists … a threat WE need to be conscious of!

During a blisful initiation ceremony in the San Diego Temple, Giriraj Swami performed the initiations of Bhakta Will Southall who received the name Vaisnava dasa, Bhaktin Usha Madan who received the name Urjesvari dasi, and Bhaktin Farida Sharafutdinova who received the name Saraswati Devi dasi.

————————————————————————————————

———————————-
Kirtan (Right-click to download)
Initiation talk and name giving (Right-click to download)

In Canto Twelve of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhumi, Mother Earth, says this: “Although in the past great men and their descendants have left me, departing from this world in the same helpless way they came into it, even today foolish men are trying to conquer me. For the sake of conquering me, materialistic persons fight one another. Fathers oppose their sons, and brothers fight one another because their hearts are bound to possessing political power. Political leaders challenge one another: ‘All this land is mine! It’s not yours, you fool!’ Thus they attack one another and die.”
On the other hand, those who are enlightened use everything in Krishna’s service, knowing well that the world and everything in it belongs to Him.

Vaisesika Dasa

Unconditional love.
BB Govinda Swami: We should be prepared to open ourselves up. We should be prepared to take down our guards. We should be prepared to dismantle our protective fences that we have around us. And we should say:
“I’m ready to serve You. So You just please do to me whatever is necessary so that I would serve You purely”.

Vishoka Dasa: Jayananda would often show a playful mood. He wasn’t just all work and no play. He would often say things and do things that reminded us that service to Krishna was fun and spontaneous, and just as Krishna has an amazing sense of humor, so do His devotees have a lively sense of humor.

Read More...

Preaching in North Florida, Albany, Philadelphia, DC, NYC.
By Krishna-kripa das.
One should not be envious of those less advanced but should be compassionate toward them.
Serving is the best way to counteract envy.
Forgetting the source of our qualities and achievements causes us to be proud.
Our envy of others derives from our envy of Krishna, and that can be removed by service.
If we are not compassionate to those who do not have Krishna consciousness and give them the opportunity then we are acting enviously of them.
Sometimes on book distribution we want to benefit the people but they deal with us in such a way we give up on them, and we find our compassion has a limit, but if we were completely not envious that would not be.
Bhakti Tirtha Swami said that if you are not envious you will go beneath someone and push them up, not considering advancing your own position.

Helping someone comes from appreciating their value not from thinking we are superior and have something to give.

Glorifying those we are envious of counteracts the envy, but it is hard to do.

The Christian saint Theresa describes the most elevated persons see themselves as least qualified just as we understand from our tradition the maha-bhagavata, highest devotee, does.

Someone may have done so many things, but they are all insignificant compared to Krishna’s mercy.

It is not that we just offer respect to the Supersoul in others and neglect the souls themselves.

If I am superior and I am happy about it, or if I am inferior and I am unhappy about it, it is really the same thing.

Every soul has the potential to please Krishna eternally, so how valuable they are! Thus I should serve them.

We are not just receiving from superiors, but we receiving in all our relationships.

Relationships that are give, give, give, or take, take, take, are imbalanced.

When you are envious of someone you are distant from them, but when you serve them you start developing affection for them, and then they start developing affection for you.

Attention is the beginning of love.

Although Srila Prabhupada hated Mayavadis, when Dr. Mishra was sick, Srila Prabhupada cooked for him, and Dr. Mishra said that Swamiji had saved him by his love.
To read the entire article click here: https://krishnamonk.blogspot.it/2018/04/travel-journal147-north-florida-albany.html

Answer Podcast

The post Amidst so many materialistic temptations today, how can we stay devotional? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post How can we alert others to future dangers without discouraging them? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Nectarian Stories of Srila Prabhupada - Bhaktisiddhanta Dasa (12 min video)

“Krsna Wants to Give Us Love” by HG Mahatma Prabhu - April 14, 2018 (4 min video)
Krsna likes being controlled by his devotees. So why does he not easily give bhava and prema? Actually, he wants to give it, but we must want it more than anything else. If we want anything else, then he continues to withhold this love from us.

The Time of The Sages - Interview with John Stratton Hawley
by HH Krishna Ksetra Swami (video)

A transcendental tale of two cities (13 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: A transcendental tale of two cities: Novosibirsk and Bar...

Answer Podcast

The post Were Internet and wifi present at the time of the Mahabharata? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Preaching in Siberia (Album of photos)
Bhakti Chaitanya Swami: I spent the last couple of days in Bratsk, in Siberia. It’s an obscure part of the planet, but still there are some very nice devotees there.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/ERf433

Answer Podcast

The post Why does Krishna make it so difficult for us to come to him? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post Do intellectuals find it more difficult to love Krishna? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[God-family meeting]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

Video:

The post Appreciating Radhanatha Maharaj’s contributions towards helping devotees practice bhakti sustainably appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust has already translated ISKCON Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada’s books into 87 languages, and is distributing them all over the world. But even now, 52 years after ISKCON’s inception, new frontiers are being reached.

How to ignore others opinion of us? Kumārī Devī Dāsī asks.

• Some people talk too fast and too forcefully
• Get the other person to change his approach or leave
• The example of Sanātana Gosvāmī and of Jaḍa Bharata
• Inner strength comes from Kṛṣṇa consciousness
• Worrying about what people think of you is material consciousness
• Only people who are clear of where they want to go get somewhere
• Inventions come from thinking for yourself and no caring about what others think
• We need to be situated in our own identity



The post Daily Darshan: April 21,2018 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Lord Nityananda and Lord Nrsimhadeva in the forms of Their shoes and helmet respectively, continue to guide our tour and perform miracles. Although we were only scheduled to visit the Sri Sri Gaur Nitai temple in Poland, a last minute arrangement was made to also visit the Nava Navadvipa temple.

Each temple had about 25-35 devotees in attendance, and as usual the Lord was greeted with an arati, abhisheka and kirtan. Jananivas and Braja Vilas prabhus both spoke and presented an inspiring video. But the real miracle began when devotees started making their pledges. Each temple raised over $30,000 U.S. for a total of $60,000 in pledges, an unheard of amount for any program in this region.

Both programs were history making for these temples from the spiritual point of view, but also because no one ever expected there to be such a surge of financial support coming from the small number of devotees at these temples with limited resources. The maximum temple managers have ever collected was 2,000 Euros or about $2,500 U.S. for a Janmastami program. The Euro is a currency that is smaller than the U.S. dollar and doesn’t buy as much either in the European countries. For devotees to make large pledges in these countries is a great sacrifice and a sign of the devotion and love these devotees have for the Lord and His TOVP project.

We want to thank Their Holinesses Prahladananda Swami and Bhaktivaibhava Swami, the GBCs of this area for their cooperation and support, Krishna Kirtan das the temple president of the Sri Sri Gaur Nitai temple who also organized the program, Dwaraka Acyuta das the temple president of the Nava Navadvipa temple, and Kishor Kishora who, at the last minute, organized the Nava Navadvipa temple program and himself pledged 4,000 Euros ($5,000 U.S.).

All glories to Lord Nityananda! All glories to Lord Nrsimhadeva! All glories to all the devotees of the Lord!

Note: The photos are only from the Sri Sri Gaur Nitai temple.

The next stop on the tour is Slovakia where the temple of New Ekachakra Dhama is established. Lord Nityananda will undoubtedly be most merciful here upon visiting His own home. The complete Euro Tour schedule is below.

Click on this link to signup for TOVP News and Updates

https://goo.gl/forms/ojJ2WcUUuqWh8bXt1

Visit us at: www.tovp.org
Follow us at: www.facebook.com/mayapur.tovp
Watch us at: www.youtube.com/user/tovpinfo
Support us at: www.tovp.org/donate/seva-opportunities/
Download the TOVP phone App here: http://tovp.org/news/announcements/new-tovp-phone-app-goes-live/

The post TOVP Euro Tour Days 4 and 5: Wroclaw, Poland appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

We have some very good news. We have begun the walls all around the internal areas of the temple. The first area is the temple room. We started 3 walls with white marble and in the next few days we will commence with the red marble decoration.

After, we will also start the festival wall (center wall in the image).
This is a very beautiful decorative work with the marble. You can see how slowly the temple room is coming to life.

The post Temple Room Walls appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Answer Podcast

The post If peer pressure makes us do materialistic things, what to do? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post When the abducted Sita was not the real Sita, why was Rama distressed by her abduction? (Ramayana) appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.