A tremendous loss for Srila Prabhupada’s movement.
Bir Krishna Goswami: We are greatly saddened to hear of the sudden departure of Gargamuni Prabhu.
Gargamuni is the initiated disciple of His Holiness Sridhara Maharaj, as dear disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Sridhara Maharaj was instrumental in assisting Srila Prabhupada in establishing the Bombay temple at Juhu and other projects in India.
I have known Gargamuni for many years, first in my capacity as GBC of his home country Slovenia, and then as a dear friend and siksa disciple. Gargamuni was in line to take sannyasa from me in the near future.
Knowing of Gargamuni’s strict adherence to the Krishna conscious process, his exemplary Vaisnava qualities, and his high level of knowledge of the Vaisnava scriptures I requested him to come to Fiji to assist in establishing high standards of Vaisnava behavior and education.
While in Fiji he inspired many devotees, and won the heart of all the Vaisnavas. Everyone who met him loved him and felt inspired by him.
He was very very close to me, and I was depending on his assistance in carrying out Srila Prabhupada’s society in Fiji and elsewhere.
It is a tremendous loss for myself, and Srila Prabhupada’s movement.
Krishna has decided to take him elsewhere to render service in Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement.
His departure from the planet was exemplary and something that we should all aspire for. Surrounded by loving devotees chanting the Holy Name, he left this world to rejoin his spiritual master and Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to His grace Gargamuni Prabhu!
Yours in Srila Prabhupada’s service,
Bir Krishna Goswami

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Marriage vow according to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur!
“The cardinal principle of gṛhastha āśrama is that no one may be the owner of any property or service of another.
Everyone is only a servant whose activities are ever in the service of the Lord.
Similarly, the sole object of everyone’s service as the only master, only friend, only son and only consort is Krishna.

Shyamsundar Prabhu and Gurudas Prabhu Lecture on Prabhupada Memories at ISKCON Chowpatty on 28th January (video)

Please find below the final, official version of the GBC Understanding ISKCON's Lines of Authority paper. This final version has taken into consideration all comments received in Mayapur and thereafter. The release of this version as the full and final paper has been approved by the GBC executive committee. The next step for our committee is to help see that course material is developed so that classes on these principles are taught. In this way the principles expressed in this paper will become part of our ISKCON culture. Continue reading "Understanding ISKCON’s Lines of Authority
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Here is my little contribution on preparing & offering food to Krishna with love & devotion. I have developed all these recipes with special care & effort. I believe it will be of great help to everyone to learn & cook for Krishna. It is a collection of recipes, for everyday cooking as well as for the festivals & other special occasions Continue reading "Why Only Krishna Prasadam?
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Please help Yamaraja Prabhu (BTG).
Back To Godhead has just launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for medical care for Yamaraja Prabhu, who has been designing and laying out BTG since the seventies. I’m writing to ask all of you to help us spread the word about the campaign. This is the link for it: https://www.gofundme.com/yamaraja-prabhus-cancer-treatment
You can read about his situation there. In summary, he has been fighting multiple myeloma, a type of cancer, for about ten years using modern medicine, undergoing one experimental treatment after another. These treatments have kept the cancer in check, but they have not – and cannot – get to the root of the problem, which is in the stem cells, so the cancer will inevitably show up somewhere. Some devotees see his situation as hopeless and have advised him to just give up and chant Hare Krishna. But he’s not ready for that, so we BTG workers here in Alachua have decided to do whatever we can to support him in his desire to get alternative treatment in Mexico, something he has been investigating for quite some time. He realizes that there is no guarantee that it will work, but it just might, and modern medicine is running out of tricks. After his many years of service to Prabhupada’s dear magazine, we feel it is appropriate to give him the moral support he needs at this time. Yamaraj prabhu wants to continue his service as long as he can, so we’re asking the ISKCON community to support him. Thank you. Hare Krishna. Your servant, Nagaraja Dasa

Like a beautiful palace with a closed door the dhama also requires a key to grant us entrance. This is chanting the Name. According to Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura it is chanting the Holy Name with loving affection Continue reading "Gentle forgiving Krsna – the only shelter
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Hare Krishna Sheffield (Album of photos)
Hare Krishna: It was a pretty good January @ Hare Krishna Sheffield! We had Mahamantra das over sharing his wit and wisdom, we started a small food distribution program distributing food to Sheffield`s homeless, and also had a few good days out in the city distributing some amazing books to the good people of Sheffield..all in all, a pretty good month.
let us see what 2018 brings…
Find them here: https://goo.gl/2MJYfz

Harinam @ Queen St, Auckland,NZ on the 2/2/2018 (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The easiest way to control the mind, as suggested by Lord Caitanya, is chanting “Hare Krishna,” the great mantra for deliverance, in all humility. Bhagavad-Gita, 6.34 Purport.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/SX5f5o

“The game point - The mode of goodness and economy.”
During the Iskcon Leadership Sanga of this year, which will take place in a few weeks in Mayapur, the GBC Ministry of Cow Protection and Agriculture will also be presenting “The game point - The mode of goodness and economy.”
The environment which surrounds us has a lot of influence on the way we think. This presentation is about a community in Siberia which has cows and children and is building its way towards sustainability. They are developing a viable business model for ahimsa milk, honey and vegetables, based on a cooperative community sadhana. They have ingeniously weaved part of the farm duties in their morning spiritual practices.
This sets the ground for harmony between spiritual life and economy. Their example is very relevant because it is full of elements both of the mode of goodness and economic development. Their practice is fully sheltered by the vision of their GBC, the local preacher and the GBC Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture.
Presenters will be Kalakantha Prabhu and Vrajaraja Prabhu, who is coming from Russia especially for these presentations.
More photos: https://goo.gl/ArSGGF

Conversation

• Kṛṣṇa is Nārāyaṇa but Kṛṣṇa’s appearance is superior
• Whatever form of the Lord we are attracted to we need to be aware of Kṛṣṇa’s position
• Whatever form of Kṛṣṇa one worships is perfect as it’s Kṛṣṇa’s desire for variegatedness
• It is not the vaiṣṇava way to say one worship is good and another is not
• Lord Caitanya’s contribution is vraja-bhakti and Kṛṣṇa’s ontological position
• The concept in Tirupati is that Viṣṇu has become Govinda although it is the other way around

Malati Devi Dasi: Dear Devotees, Her Grace Narataki Gopal based in Alachua has been taken by ambulance to Northern Regional Hospital...

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Srimad Bhagavatam Class by H.G. Mukunda Datta Prabhu in ISKCON Vrindavan, 31.01.2018 (video)

“Can Lord Chaitanya wear a peacock feather?”
Jananivas: In 1973 we had just completed the lotus building in Mayapur. I went to Prabhupada’s room and asked him,
“Can Lord Chaitanya wear a peacock feather?”
He said, “Why not? He is Krishna.”
I told him some of the Gaudiya Math people were complaining that Lord Chaitanya shouldn’t wear a peacock feather.
Srila Prabhupada became very disappointed and he just looked down. He didn’t say anything else.
I took it to mean that he was disturbed that his God-brothers always criticized him.
In fact he wrote one letter, “How can they help when they only hinder us.” It was an open letter.
My understanding was that Prabhupada was wondering why they didn’t see what he had accomplished?”
He picked us out of the gutter of material existence.
We had shaved heads, we wore tilaka and dhotis and we were chanting Krishna’s names.
In other words, “Look at what he’d done rather than fault finding.”

Since that time I found new evidence where Lord Chaitanya is described with a peacock feather.

In the Advaita Gauranga Maji by Advaita Acharya he gives the description of Mahaprabhu in meditation.

In the description he says He has His sikhi-piccha, the peacock feather in His hair and another one over His ear. [laughs]

There is another in the nitya-lila of Mahaprabhu when after breakfast He goes with His friends on sankirtan.

They see all the white cows and the peacocks and He corresponds with Vrindavan-lila when Krishna goes out with the cows in the morning.

So he gets into His cowboy mood. [laughs]

So he starts calling out to all of His cows,

“Ah, Shyama he, Dubala he, Ganga he, Yamuna he, come on.” [laughs]

All the devotees would inquire, “What’s happening?”

“Oh, He’s in the mood of Krishna in Vrindavan.”

So they are all assuming the same mood as Him.

They would pick up sticks and start twirling them around like cowboys do. “Hi, hi, hi, let’s go up to Goverdhan.”

Nityananda Prabhu tends to have a Buffalo horn, “Woo, woo, woo, Goverdhan he.”

In that description Lord Chaitanya wears a peacock feather.

Also Prabhupada asked Malati mataji one time, "Why Lord Chaitanya is not wearing a peacock feather?”

She said, “Oh, He should be wearing?” He said, “Yes.”

She asked, “What about Nityananda Prabhu?”

He said, “Sometimes he could wear but Lord Chaitanya should always wear.”

So now we had guru, sadhu and shastra. It became a little bit controversial.

—Jananivas

First Monthly Sankirtan Festival Alachua (MSF)
Sri Vrindavana devi dasi: Our first Monthly Sankirtan Festival for 2018 was held on Saturday, January 20, 2018. We started the morning by reading chapter 5 of Bhagavad Gita together -Sanskrit and English translations. Then Sri Vrndavana devi dasi presented a review of Vaisesika Prabhu’s time-tested “How to distribute a Gita on its own merit” followed by a role-playing session. Ragatmika devi dasi, veteran book distributor, then led us in reciting Srila Prabhupada’s Jaladuta prayer, “Markine bhagavat dharma”. She also spoke for a few minutes encouraging us in our upcoming sankirtan yajna.
On behalf of TIA (Team ISKCON Alachua), I’m happy to share these numbers with you. -35 devotees went out in five teams door to door, store to store and to Depot Park. About 400 cookies were distributed, along with, 42 Bhagavad Gita hard 43 Bhagavad Gita soft and 128 small books. We all got back to the Temple to a nice lunch specially prepared for the MSF. We shared sankirtan stories and realizations during prasadam.
We want to thank Vaisesika Prabhu for giving us the tools to make sankirtan fun, organized, and inclusive. We are all feeling very optimistic. Srila Prabhupada ki Jai. Our next MSF will be on Saturday, February 24, 2018. Please mark your calendars.

Nityananda Trayodasi at the VIHE, January 29, 2018 (Album of photos)
Students, teachers, staff and other vaishnavas gathered a...

“What principles can we learn from the Amish Community?”
ISKCON GBC Ministry of Agriculture and Cow Protection: It is striking to see a spiritual culture present in the USA thriving despite all predictions of impossibility. The original 5,000 grew into 400,000 Amish depending primarily on the land. They mainly run their own education system and have two thousand schools catering for their own young, staffed by members from their own communities. They hold onto their young people - up to 93% of the young adults decide to stay within the community.
People come to see it, leaving a yearly revenue of 2 billion dollars for their guided tours, to appreciate a social system that works.
The ISKCON Ministry of Cow Protection and Agriculture will be presenting on the ILS on “What principles can we learn from the Amish Community?” . Presenters will be Kalakantha das and Samba das.

Celebration of Narottama Das Appearance Day (Album with photos)
Deena Bandhu Das: Today we celebrated Narottama Das Appearance ...

• Holy places become sacred due to Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes and presence, and the presence of Kṛṣṇa’s devotees who have Kṛṣṇa in their hearts
• Parikrama is also called pāda-sevanam which is
  • meditation on Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet and keeping Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet in our mind and heart
  • service to the saṅkīrtana movement and the vaiṣṇavas
• The difference between going to Vṛndāvana and being in our place of service and experiencing Vṛndāvana is that Vṛndāvana has a potency devotees immediately feel
• A conscious effort is needed to benefit from being in the dhāma
• Narottama sings tīrtha-yātrā pariśrama, „ what is the use of visiting holy places?”

On any path there will always be ups and downs, and we have to remain steady in difficulties, reverses and success—any of which could deviate us. Krishna consciousness is all about developing and deepening of faith—from beginning to end—and we have to do what is favorable to have and improve our faith. Though we will repeatedly stumble, we have to keep picking our self up, dusting our clothes, and keep on keeping on. I have stumbled many times in the past, yet even in the worst of times I continued to practice Krishna consciousness to some degree. Though I might like to pretend otherwise, I still don’t always choose the most Krishna conscious thing to do. I don’t think I am unique in this regard. We always have to choose, and our choice will be determined by our desires which may be more or less Krishna conscious. Continue reading "Remaining a Devotee Despite Obstacles and Trials
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What are the various definitions of inattention while chanting? A. O Lord! All anarthas are produced when we do not pay attention to our chanting. The exalted devotees have defined inattention as indifference, laziness, and restlessness. (Harinama-cintamani) Q. What is the symptom of a restless chanter? A. Those who are afflicted with restlessness try to finish their prescribed rounds as soon as possible. One should be extremely careful not to commit such an offense while chanting. (Harinama-cintamani) Continue reading "Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura about inattentive chanting
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The GBC Organizational Development Committee at work today (Album of photos)
Bhakti Chaitanya Swami: We arrived in Sri Mayapur Dhama a couple of days ago, and now I’m participating in the GBC Organizational Development Committee meeting. The main GBC meetings start on the 3rd.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/YMNfp2

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Lord Nityananda appeared in the village of Ekachakra, in West Bengal, India, around 1474. In the Caitanya Caritamrita He is declared to be the avatar of Lord Balarama, the direct expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. His father was Hadai Pandit and mother, Padmavati Devi.

As a child He was called Nitai and had a close circle of friends. Together they used to imitate the pastimes of Krishna and His associates. For His first twelve years, Nityananda Prabhu stayed in Ekachakra and shared loving pastimes with His neighbours.

Just before His thirteenth birthday, a traveling mendicant came to His home and said he needed a traveling companion and young Nitai would be an appropriate person for such a service. Nitai was eager, and reluctantly, Hadai Pandita agreed to let his son go.

Nitai travelled from holy place to holy place for the next twenty years, until He was thirty-two, receiving instruction and friendship from His elderly sannyasi companion. He more and more took on the character of an avadhuta, a spiritually elevated person who is aloof to material surroundings.

Nityananda Prabhu reached the land of Nadiya, where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu resided. When the two Lords finally saw each other for the first time, they were immediately overtaken by waves of ecstasy. Nitai was roughly thirty-two years old, and Mahaprabhu was twenty.

From this point until Mahaprabhu left Navadvipa for Jagannatha Puri, Nityananda Prabhu was always at His side. When Lord Chaitanya went to Jagannatha Puri, Lord Nityananda spent some time with Him there. However, the movement in Navadvipa had been sorely neglected, and so, in 1511, Mahaprabhu requested Nityananda, His most reliable sankirtana commander, to return to Bengal.

At the end of His manifest lila, Lord Nityananda returned to Ekachakra where He established a deity of Lord Krishna known as Bankima Raya, accompanied on the right by a deity of Jahnava Devi, and on the left, Srimati Radharani. The priests of this temple say that Nityananda Prabhu merged into the form of Bankima Raya to leave the earth for His eternal pastimes in the spiritual sky.

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 05 April 2015, Durban, South Africa, Ratha Yatra Lecture: The secret of spiritual advancement)

If we do not have a connection with Srimad Bhagavatam, then spiritual life becomes dry! Chanting becomes difficult and then the four regulative principles become very narrow and gradually with time, we start craving for more space. Even though we have all the knowledge, even though we have been enlivened in Krsna consciousness and even though we have been so surrendered, at one point it will become too narrow! So the Bhagavatam is very important because it is the science that explains everything about Krsna and through Bhagavatam, we connect with Krsna. It keeps us focused on seeing who Krsna is, where Krsna is and how everything connects with Krsna… It is essential! For our faith to grow, we need to invest.

When you enter into a new job, in the beginning, you have to learn everything and then after a while, when you have been working for a number of years, then you are totally expert. You can do it real quick. So it gets easier over time. As you get into a routine, it gets easier. But spiritual life is the opposite. In a material situation, as you get more expert, you have to invest less but not in spiritual life.

In spiritual life, as time passes, we have to invest more and if we do not invest more, our faith will dry up! What was enough yesterday, is not enough anymore. You know, may be last year we did all these things and it was enough to keep us enthused but now, we do the same things but we are not feeling enthused because we have not invested more. We have to invest more; that is the way of spiritual life!

Mahatma Das: January 29, 2018 - “The Most Valuable Assets” (5 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: Every one of us is searching after some mellow, some pleasure from everything. Krishna is the reservoir of all pleasures, rasa-vigraha, fully personified. Wherever there is Krishna, there is rasa, a transcendental mellow, enjoyment, relishable. Surat, December 17, 1970.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/FL3uLm