Learning to be kind to ourselves
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[Congregation program at Chicago, USA]

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The process of deduction concludes that God is a medium sized person
→ SivaramaSwami.com

  • The description of the universal form is for the faithless
  • The universal form is imaginary as the Lord has no material form
  • The virāt-rūpa helps to achieve a conception of God
  • Association brings understanding
  • God is both great and small
  • The concept of a unified energy shouldn’t degrade to māyāvāda
  • For interaction and relationship there is the middle size Lord
  • The Lord has both a male form and a female counterpart but not the universal form
  • Among the middle sized forms Kṛṣṇa is the most complete form
  • Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes are for devotees
  • Preaching means giving association and the opportunity for people to approach Kṛṣṇa
  • Kṛṣṇa gives the intelligence to understand Him
  • People understand God differently according to their adhikāra

 

Preaching program in Iskcon Barnaul, Siberia (Album of photos)…
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Preaching program in Iskcon Barnaul, Siberia (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Our visit to Siberia has been magic. The sweet, enthusiastic, dedicated devotees - the blissful endless kirtans, the katha, the prasadam; everything! Even the biting cold and slogging through the snow could not deter us. We’ll miss this hidden, secret, remote part of the world. And if the Lord grants us His mercy, we’ll be back again next winter.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/KmNMRv

Spontaneous devotional service
→ KKSBlog

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

Our first Ratha Yatra in Jaipur was a humble attempt. The devotees had just recently opened a small little centre. It was not much but they still wanted to have Ratha Yatra so decide to keep it simple.

They had one chariot. A life member made a little stage and in India, it is quite common that the stage is built to the height of the chariot. When the chariot stops people go to the stage and make offerings to the deity. So they had one such stage at the end of the procession.

But as the parade started, the local people of Jaipur got interested, “Hey, what is that? You are having a festival? Oh, we are joining in!” Further along, a drum band appeared out of nowhere and joined the parade. At the end, there were elephants marching as well! As it was getting dark, a group of men came carrying lights on their head and all this was not organised. It just happened! The people of Jaipur welcomed Ratha Yatra. There was just spontaneous devotional service. That is the result of chanting Hare Krsna. There will be spontaneous devotional service and then it will spread.

The article " Spontaneous devotional service " was published on KKSBlog.

Bhakti in three modes 3 – Bhakti in goodness brings sustainability, purity and harmony
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[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Chicago, USA]

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Making sense of life through karma and reincarnation
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[Talk at Moksha Yoga Studio, Chicago, USA]

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Harinama in Paris (Album with photos) Srila Prabhupada: This is…
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Harinama in Paris (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: This is Vedic civilization, not to waste a single moment of life for useless attempt. That is Vedic civilization. Every moment should be utilized. Especially for the human being, it’s so valuable. And they are finding out sporting, swimming and surfing — simply all programs of wasting time, especially in the Western countries. How much they have invented, I see only and laugh. The elderly men of your age, of course, maybe my age also, they are swimming and surfing. (Srila Prabhupada, Morning Walk, November 11, 1975)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/GQgyP7

Golden Age comes again? (3 min video) Well, surely at least a…
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Golden Age comes again? (3 min video)
Well, surely at least a beautiful step towards it!
Love & Peace maha-mantra flash-mob is now ON!
This special inspirational 2.5 min video features chants by:
HH Radhanath Swami, Bhakti Chaitania Swami, Indradyumna Swami, BB Govinda Swami, Bhakti Vijnana Goswami and many other Maharajas as well as respected Chaitania Chandra Charan, Yadubar, Jayadev, Malati, Mondakini, Mohanasini Prabhus and Matajis.
All that is just to kindly seek your participation in this amazing, utmost auspicious campaign!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/1zurSv

Food for Life program in Glasgow, Scotland
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Hare KrishnaDwaipayana das: We have a wonderful programme of giving out free prasad to students on a Wednesday at Glasgows main university we are having up to and over 60 students lining up for our nutritional vegan meals.Sundays we give out prasad to everyone students, homeless people and the general public and we are having a wonderful response from everyone there is alot of homeless people on our streets here and they really appreciate a good warm meal.

Siberia, Novosibirsk: Just Like Vaikuntha! (Album of photos)…
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Siberia, Novosibirsk: Just Like Vaikuntha! (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: As we continue our journey through Russia at winter’s end we meet devotees everywhere. In the city of Novosibirsk, in Siberia, we chanted and danced with blissful devotees for hours on end in an old hall in the city. It was just like Vaikuntha!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/UJt52Z

Monday, April 16th, 2018
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Toronto, Ontario

New Monk

A new monk has come to town.  Dwarkanatha, 29, is from Vrndavana, India, and he recently has joined our crew to help in the cooking department.  Apart from being a chef, he also plays a lovely sitar and is quite good at the mrdungadrum.

From the musical side, it is a relief.  When here, I'm the one to play the beats, but now I can enjoy a break and have a realdrummer play away.

When weather improves, I’ll take him to the nearest ravine to experience a taste of urban-green walking.  It will be novel for him, being in a modern Canadian setting.  Even flying overseas is a first for him.

I am left to reflect on my first journey, not by plane, or by boat—when I was 5 my mother took me to Holland by one of those ocean liners—but my first experience in a temple.  It was like a foreign zone, something like church, but more.  I felt so much joy cut off from mundane-ness.

That initial journey was in Montreal, the winter of ’72, when Krishna devotees had rented a spot on the third floor of an apartment building on Park Avenue.  It was actually a former bowling alley.  The markings of the bowling parameters were still there.  In those days no one sang Bol! Or even Haribol!

A friend of mine, Durward, also had his first venture into Krishna culture in Montreal. He tells me that in that old bowling alley a person, a visitor, had set up a tent inside and had his pet iguana with him.  That was novel too.  In those days it was rather more of an open door policy.  Anyways, welcome Dwarkanatha.

May the Source be with you!
0 km



Sunday, April 15th, 2018
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Toronto, Ontario

April 15thin Toronto

April is very deceptive.  Just when you think spring has burst through, or is about to, then a merciless storm crushes all you want to do.  They have reported over a thousand accidents in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).  There are high winds, and piercing-cold pellets of rain coming down, leaving a precarious situation at ground level. Slush!  Mush!  It’s weather that bends things out of shape—your windshield wipers, for instance.

Billie and I trudged through the mess.  Its newly-formed mountain ranges and rivers, we attempted to navigate through to get to our destination—the Convention Centre and to the ever-popular Yoga Show.

Most attendees are downtowners who braved the weather.  They are not discouraged.  They are here to see people bend, but not out of shape,rather in shape.  There was a session of ecstatic dance.  It only needed a mantra to make it complete and qualify it as kirtan.  Someone by the name of Sandeep gave a free head massage.  Oh, and I met friends I hadn’t seen in years.  It was a stupendous event lasting for three days. I like the yogis as much as they like our food (prasadam).  Many yogis also like kirtan.

Billie went around with mantra cards promoting kirtanand the monthly “Evening of Bhakti.”  Thank you Billie.  Thank you Demi, for co-ordinating the food section.  Many heroes emerged from the kitchen department of Krishna food distribution.  Thousands were fed.

May the Source be with you!
2 km



Saturday, April 14th, 2018
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Toronto, Ontario

At the Yoga Show

We had to cancel our spring Farmer’s Conference, which was to be held in Brighton, Ontario, due to sleet and icy rain.  It is postponed until next Saturday, April 21st.  By default, I then redirected myself to the attention of the Toronto Yoga Show held at the Convention Centre.  To my delight, the attendance was great, despite the occurring weather.  Where do all these people come from? I had to ask myself.

Although the numbers of people were phenomenal and the draw to the event has much to do with wellness, simply stretching limbs in tight clothes has its limitations.  Of course there are some great products for sale by exhibitors and there is also the food court, with Govinda’s being one terrific food outlet.  The line-up is long.  Apparently people like the prasadam(blessed food).

What really made me feel complete about the event was the presence of kirtanconducted by the Gaura Shakti group.  The set-up took a while for their hour-long allotted time, but once the band began their songs, the massive hall at the convention centre, the entire place, transformed in sound.  People sang and got up to dance.

I was also pleasantly surprised by meeting Adrien, a massage therapist.  Why so?  I met him on the Trans-Canada Highway in 2012 when I was in stride, walking, and he was in a van supporting a cyclist’s club who were travelling across Canada, raising money for a charity.

“Are you The Walking Monk?” he inquired, when he met me near the food court.  From that question was triggered a recollection of the instance on the highway.  “And you had that guy with the parrot?”

“Yes, Billie, the parrot.”

May the Source be with you!
2 km

Friday, April 13th, 2018
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Toronto, Ontario

On This Day

I never in my life held any superstitious attitudes toward Friday the 13th. However, in a Vedic context, when it is said by some astrological authority that one is under the influence of the dark planets, Rahu and Ketu, I take it a little more seriously.  I personally survived a period of my life, said to be a Rahu period.  It wasn’t nice and I won’t go into minute detail.  What is important was how I approached this negative period.  I started a long walk to the distance of 8,000-plus kilometres on Canadian soil.

That was in 1996.  I also took to a lot of chanting.  Many days, it was 64 rounds on the japabeads.  The combination of walking, chanting and some speaking opportunities/engagements kept me going.

It was this afternoon that I took a mini-walk with Dave, not to counteract any ill omens of bad fortune Friday the 13thmight bring—I already explained my position on this.  Dave and I strolled along some of the laneways of the posh shops of Yorkville, just for a break from what we were both doing.  Trying to bond a bit might be what we were trying to do.

Dave serves food at Govinda’s and does some of the dishes when needed.  I was administratively engaged.  So we walked and talked.  No chanting was done, but that’s okay.  The friendship building is what was important.

It was Dave’s idea to go for this first walk.  “I’ll take up your offer on it,” he told me.

“Really, when did I ask for the walk?” I hadn’t remembered I had done so.

“You wrote the invite to walk, on a card, and I've been keeping that card.”

“When did I leave you the card?” I asked.

“About five years ago,” he responded.

May the Source be with you!
3 km

Giriraj Swami: My beloved spiritual son Kunjabihari dasa left…
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Giriraj Swami: My beloved spiritual son Kunjabihari dasa left this world today, on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, from a heart attack, in Dallas. Just last night he wrote me, “One thing I admire about you, you have so many wonderful, qualified disciples all over the world. I am not qualified in front of them. But I have true love and attachment for you. I love to talk about you. I love to glorify you to others, and when I do, I really get joy in my heart for you. I feel very much connected to you, heart-to-heart.” And this morning, just two hours before leaving this world, he forwarded me a beautiful photo of Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji.
I feel separation from Kunjabihari Prabhu, but I take solace in the thought that he will continue his service in a better place, in a better situation, and that in time we will be together again, in service to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji and their devotees.
Please join me in praying for Kunjabihari Prabhu, for his smooth transition to an auspicious destination, where we will all meet again.
Hare Krishna.

Bhakti in three modes 2 – Bhakti in passion equates material success with spiritual advancement
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[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Chicago, USA]

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How to be detached without becoming irresponsible
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[Class on Bhagavad-gita 2.47 at ISKCON, Chicago, USA]

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New Devotee Website “Second Half” Launched into Orbit: The Fusion of Farming and Preaching
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Hare Krishna Devotees living at New Talavan Farm Community in Southern Mississippi have launched a dynamic new website called The Second Half (Second-Half.org). The name "Second Half” references Srila Prabhupada’s expressed desire for land-based preaching prototypes that make the philosophy and culture of Krishna consciousness approachable and understandable to Western people.

Grand event hosted by ISKCON Kanpur despite thunderstorm’s destruction
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Hare Krishna As a matter of fact, the event was scheduled for the eve of 7th of April 2018, but throughout the previous night tumultuous lightning and thunderstorm reigned. Thus, all the arrangements were shattered, materials tattered and broken, sound boxes and gadgets were destroyed, basically everything collapsed. Everybody was helpless, since the Lord and nature had different plans. As the sun shined upon Kanpur on the 7th of April, the temple authorities together decided to postpone the entire event to the 14th of April. Hence re-arranging the entire event with the same impact was the biggest challenge. However, the hard-working temple devotees lead by Radha Ranjan Das, Acyuta Mohan Das and Kurma Avatar Das brilliantly planned, managed and executed the gala event, with double enthusiasm and vigour.

Veda Course at the Manor, UK
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Veda Course at the Manor, UK
This is a three month course, where participants have a comprehensive experience of living like monks. Doing the full morning program, taking active part in the services going on at the temple, adopting Vaishnava attire, appearance and lifestyle. The chanting process is also emphasised more, with the aim of bringing practitioners up to the standard of 16 rounds.

“Maya Times” – The fake news agency
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Hare KrishnaBy Purushottam Nitai Das

Maya forces us to believe that happiness can be attained in this material world. Srila Prabhupada points out, “This place is miserable. But maya’s illusion, we are taking this miserable condition of life as happiness. This is called maya. There is no happiness in this material world. Everything miserable.” Lecture on BG 2.6 -- London, August 6, 1973. Continue reading "“Maya Times” – The fake news agency
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