Chowpatty Flower Festival (Album of photos) Indradyumna Swami:…
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Chowpatty Flower Festival (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Every year ISKCON’s Chowpatty temple in Mumbai, India holds a flower festival where over one ton of flower petals are lovingly poured over the presiding deities of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath. The pujaris then gather the flower petals in baskets which are then poured over the devotees from ramparts above the temple room. Then the fun begins as 1,000 devotees throw handfuls of flowers at each other for over 2 hours.The whole event is accompanied by a rousing kirtan. One can only conclude that Krsna consciousness is simply joyful!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/VkFiYz

2018 North American Leadership Conference
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Hare KrishnaBy Mukhya devi dasi

Several of us met to create a much needed communication tool, an online Temple President-only forum that would allow us to throw out questions and get feedback from other TPs who might be experiencing similar situations. It'll be a place to share best practices, warnings on dubious characters traveling temple to temple; request part time help; and create a support office where we can look for group pricing on things we all need for our temples like insurance, travel and other purchases. We’ll share pdfs for preaching and outreach and general info.  All Coming Soon! Continue reading "2018 North American Leadership Conference
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1000 young people from Surat attend lectures by Iskcon devotees
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Hare KrishnaBy ISKCON Surat Communications

Over 1000 young people from three premiere educational institutions of Surat heard Radheshyam Das, President of ISKCON Pune, speak about various spiritual topics on 22nd January. Radheshyam Das, who is one of ISKCON’s pioneering youth outreach leaders, spoke on subjects such as: building bonds of trust, awakening leadership abilities, and true freedom. Continue reading "1000 young people from Surat attend lectures by Iskcon devotees
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Sharing Krishna consciousness in Delhi (Album with photos) On…
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Sharing Krishna consciousness in Delhi (Album with photos)
On 28th Dec 2017, Gaur Gopal Das was invited to speak at the Times of India Speaking Tree Retreats at Surajkund Delhi.
He spoke on ‘Secrets to Transform Your New Year.’ He shared wisdom to help the audience experience change and achieve their goals in the year ahead.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/vKCD2E

Work on Nrsimhadeva’s Wing External Walls
- TOVP.org

As the installation ceremony and Gaur Purnima quickly approach, many activities and preparations are in motion. There has been a considerable effort to complete the external walls and staircases on Lord Nrsimhadeva’s wing. The Rajasthani style windows have been set in place and will be followed by the cornices and pillars.

In the photos you will see that the top level is the last to be finished. The pillars are now being put in place as well as the small window cornices. Once completed the same procedure will continue on all the temple walls.

To sponsor an abhisheka for Sri Sri Radha Madhava’s and/or Lord Nrimhadeva’s Chakra please go to:
https://tovp.org/donate/once-in-a-lifetime-chakra-abhisheka-seva-opportunity/

The post Work on Nrsimhadeva’s Wing External Walls appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Gita 16.05 Acknowledging where a car’s wheels are pointing is not accusing the car driver
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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

The post Gita 16.05 Acknowledging where a car’s wheels are pointing is not accusing the car driver appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Varaha Dwadasi
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Varaha Dwadasi Tomorrow ( 29 January) is Varaha Dwadasi. Devotees observe fasting today ( On Ekadasi – 28 Jan) for Lord Varaha. Lord Varaha;s pranam mantra from Dasavatata Stotra: vasati dasana-sikhare dharani tava lagna sasini kalanka-kaleva nimagna  kesava dhrita-sukara-rupa jaya jagadisa hare 0 Kesava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed […]

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The Significance of Ratha-yatra, January 21, Dallas
Giriraj Swami

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.35 during the Sunday program.

satam prasangan mama virya-samvido
 bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah
taj-josanad asv apavarga-vartmani
 sraddha ratir bhaktir anukramisyati

Translation:
In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin. SB 3.25.35

01.21.18, Kirtan (Right-click to download)
01.21.18, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.35 (Right-click to download)

D.C. Metro’s anti-religion ad policy is a train wreck! Iskcon…
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D.C. Metro’s anti-religion ad policy is a train wreck!
Iskcon and Catholics cooperate to ban it.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The D.C. Metro, as a government body, is supposed to ensure free speech for everyone, yet now Metro bans any religion-related advertising in its stations and subway cars. After being told it could not buy advertisement space for its annual “Find the perfect gift” Christmas campaign last year, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington sued the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) for banning religious speech. On Friday, Becket along with Arizona Senator Jeff Flake and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. (ISKCON), filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Archdiocese of Washington v. WMATA, arguing that WMATA does not get to arbitrarily exclude messages just because they are religious.

In 2015, WMATA issued a ban on “issue-oriented advertising,” forbidding ad space to political, advocacy, and religious advertising from the Metro subway car walls. Secular ads about Christmas – such as department store sales – are permitted, while ads about the religious meaning of Christmas are prohibited. Metro’s speech ban has also been challenged by the ACLU as a Free Speech violation. As Becket states in its brief, “[T]he government has no authority to privilege the view of Christmas that starts at the shopping mall over the view that starts in a manger. Even Charlie Brown understood that privileging a secular, commercial expression of Christmas over one with religious motivation is a value judgment.”

“Metro’s advertisement policy is a train wreck,” said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel at Becket. “It happily allows defense companies to advertise the latest weapons and Macy’s to advertise a holiday sale, but there is no room at the inn for Baby Jesus? Metro should spend less time playing speech police and more time preventing fires in its stations.”

Bus and subway advertising are one of the most effective ways for the Archdiocese to spread its message of hope during the Christmas season. But WMATA’s guidelines exclude the Archdiocese from advertising solely because its message is religious. Even though a secular organization can post meeting times, address, or contact information on a metro ad, religious groups – including a monastery – were banned from doing the same thing.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/cfgZRn

Thursday, January 25, 2018
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Mayapur, West Bengal

Mayapur Fullness

Young Sukhie (Sukadeva), age nineteen, from South Africa, has also arrived.  He and I took to the part brick/part dirt road to the region of the two queens.  By that, I mean the two elephants, Vishnupriya and Laksmipriya.  They appear to be both now fully grown.  It was Sukhie and I who could see them through the trees, even though it was early dawn. 

They are very passive in their setting.  What is calm in the holy dham?  Any place away from motorized conveyances.

I was invited to speak to the older boys in the school, SMIS.  They delighted in hearing of my road adventures: the bear encounters, people, the elements, the police, and mosquitoes.  The idea is to bring to the minds of these young men, a sense of a bigger world, a world to explore and to contribute to.  I have always felt travelling can provide the greater part of education.

I admire them, these eleven to sixteen year olds, who are learning in such a sacred environment, out in the country with its God-centric spirit all around.  It’s a great privilege.

Also, everything is kept so clean on the campus.  The grounds are well-maintained.  There are issues, however, of pop music blaring out from loud speakers into the wee hours of the morning from the village nearby.  That’s a tough item to sort out; at least hard to enforce so far as policies are concerned.

I enjoyed lunch with the couple Kala and Yashomati.  Over a meal of good food, all great relations are cultivated.

May the Source be with you!

5 km

Wednesday, January 24, 2018
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Mayapur, West Bengal

Mayapur Again

We hooked up at Delhi’s airport, then flew to Kolkata for a crazy taxi drive to Mayapura.  It was Pariksit, Parama, Karuna, and some members of our drama troupe who took the last leg of the journey together.  I was greeted by Keshava and swarmed with additional love by Vaishnava, Janaki, and Suniti, Canadians who spend the winter in India.  Also on board was Dustin Hines whom I took for a walk.

Who is Dustin? It seems that just about everyone in Mayapur knows Dustin.  His tenor operatic voice is being used in many venues for chanting on the Mayapur campus.  In fact, next to my room in the Gada building, I sat with Marshall, my support on last summer’s U.S. walk, when Dustin’s voice was on the iPod.  “I know those vocals!” I thought.

I like to take people I know along the Tarampura Road out back, then the trail parallel to the Jalangi River.  “ Here are the trees they tap for the sap,”  I pointed out to Dustin.  “And these are rice paddy fields.  There is mustard growing.  Soon the coriander will manifest.  Perhaps they are ready for harvest.  I just haven’t seen it yet.” https://instagram.com/p/BeZnO6flWpz/

I ventured into the temple room with Dustin when the mic came to my mouth.  “Lead!” Said the chanter.

“Okay!” And I flung the mic to Kripanidhi, another pilgrim from Canada, and we alternately sang.

Yes, here in Mayapur, we reunite with so many friends.  Our guru, Srila Prabhupada, encouraged an annual visit to such sacred places as Mayapur.  It is a battery charger.  As Dhruva from Montreal, who is also sharing the room with Marshall, said, “It is a necessity.”

Yes, a break from mundane doings!

May the Source be with you!
5 km

Tuesday, January 23, 2018
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Delhi, India

Chaitanya

My name was called over the loud speaker at the International Gates in Toronto’s Airport. I went to the counter and was informed that I had been upgraded. Okay! Some secret admirer? Krishna? I accept!

The passenger next to me, a young family man, is from Alabama and going on to Bangalore for business. He asked about my order and I was happy to explain.

“I adapted to an old tradition from India, a form of yoga called bhakti. Our guru came over from India to New York in 1965 to introduce this ancient but relevant way. Our beliefs are based on the text Bhagavad-Gita (song of the Divine), where warrior and wiseman have a dialogue over life-and-death matters. Sri Chaitanya, born in the late 15th century, is a great teacher in our lineage.”

My newly-made friend was listening and said, “I’ll look it up.”

When he went to sleep, I pulled out the latest book by Steven Rosen aka Satyaraja Dasa, a favourite author. I read from the third chapter of his book  Sri Chaitanya’s Life and Teachings where the opening lines define the great motivator and king of kirtan, himself.

“Who is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?”  At the risk of seeming evasive, the answer depends very much on whom you ask…. Joseph T. O’Connell, an expert on Bengali religion and culture wrote of the traditional Gaudiya Vaishnava perspective: “During Chaitanya’s own lifetime, it became axiomatic among his closer devotees that he was in some fashion Hari/Krishna (Krishna with feelings and the complexion of Radha, descended in human form.”

May the Source be with you!
0 km

Monday, January 22, 2018
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Toronto, Ontario

It’s Who You Know

The acclaimed “Hare Krishna” film documentary is playing at the Cineplex downtown but I’m going to miss it.  I had the pleasure of seeing it in Nevada City this last summer.  The other reason for not viewing this masterpiece this evening is that I have to catch my flight, Air Canada Flight 42 to Delhi and beyond.  I’m on my way to holy destinations.  To be more precise, it’s Mayapura that I’m going to.  This is the birthplace of monk, Sri Chaitanya, the king of kirtan.

Laksman drove me to Pearson Airport to assist with extra luggage—costumes and props for our production “Many Mothers, Many Fathers.”  The personnel at the check-in said, “You’re over-weight.  You’ll have to transfer some content to the lighter bag (a duffle bag, in fact).  Laksman and I proceeded to go and do that transfer. They have a weigh scale facility and counters for adjusting your baggage. An employee came over, a familiar face—someone I had met at the airport before.

“Never mind this. You don’t have to deal with this nonsense. Here, I’ll check you in. You’re ‘The Walking Monk’, aren’t you? I’ve read your blog,” said the accommodating lady. She continued, “You travel a lot, don’t you? I’ve seen you around. Hare Krishna!”

Naturally, I was elated by this, and I would have been even more exploding with joy had she said, “You travel a lot…I’ve seen you walking.”

Anyway, good enough!

May the Source be with you!

0 km

Gita 16.03 Giving appropriate honor promotes harmony, demanding excessive honor disrupts harmony
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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

The post Gita 16.03 Giving appropriate honor promotes harmony, demanding excessive honor disrupts harmony appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

How 100 “Hare Krishnas” transformed my Lonely New York City Experience.
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Hare KrishnaBy Julia Djeke

I wasn’t sure if I was ready to admit that I was lonely. I couldn’t use the word “suffering” because that’s reserved for the “real” sufferers like the homeless, orphans, and abandoned veterans—so I found prettier, more poetic ways to describe my sadness. But something happened that night that I did not expect: I started to remember the feeling of community. I realized that a separation had occurred, quite unconsciously, between my communing self and the isolated person I had become. I had chosen to abandon people because New York City had abandoned me—and by making that choice, I divorced myself from the chaotic mess of human beings. Continue reading "How 100 “Hare Krishnas” transformed my Lonely New York City Experience.
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Sankirtan is life changing! And it is infectious! – The joy of sharing Krishna with others!
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Hare KrishnaBy Ganapati Govind Das

ISKCON Of CT has been around for more than 35 years and during that time, the small congregation has been using a small house in East Hartford as a Temple. The presiding Deities are Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra Devi, along with Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. The congregation has been actively distributing books for many years, but the year 2015 brought a dramatic change in the history of ISKCON CT. Continue reading "Sankirtan is life changing! And it is infectious! – The joy of sharing Krishna with others!
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27th January 2018 Disappearance Day of Sri Ramanujacharya…
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27th January 2018
Disappearance Day of Sri Ramanujacharya
Ramanujacharya (1017-1137) was the principal acharya (spiritual teacher) in the Sri sampradaya, one of the four main lines of Vaishnava teachers and disciples. His Vedanta-sutra commentary — Sri-bhasya — establishes the doctrine known as Vishishtadvaita, “qualified nondualism.” A staunch proponent of the philosophy of personalism, he taught that although the Supreme Lord and the individual souls are qualitatively one, there is still a difference between them, for the Lord is infinite and the living entities are infinitesimal.
Srila Ramanujacharya traveled extensively throughout India, teaching personalism and defeating proponents of monistic philosophy. He founded seventy-four centers of Sri Vaishnavism and initiated seven hundred sannyasis (renounced monks), twelve thousand brahmacharis (celibate students), and thousands of householders, including kings and wealthy landowners.

Puri, Orissa Yatra 2018 – Inauguration Ceremony (Album of…
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Puri, Orissa Yatra 2018 - Inauguration Ceremony (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Radha-Krishna. Radha’s name is first. Why? Nobody can be better devotee than Radharani. As soon as Radha’s name is there, Krishna is more pleased. That is the way. If we glorify the devotees, before the Lord, He’s more pleased than to glorify Himself, He directly. Hawaii, March 24, 1969
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Zm31bs

Disappearance Anniversary of Srila Ramanujacarya
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By Jananivas Dasa

Our proposition is to the Ramanujacarya followers because they are very, very strong, especially in South India they are prominent, purifying all of the world actually. It is mentioned in the Bhagavatam that when pure devotees appear in South India they then maintain the pure principles of bhakti. Continue reading "Disappearance Anniversary of Srila Ramanujacarya
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Preparation of Flags for TOVP Installation Ceremony
- TOVP.org

The victory flags for the TOVP domes are now being prepared for the installation ceremony to be hoisted along with the Chakras. This is called Dhwaja Rohan.

Each flag on the dome has a different size based on shastric measurements from the Matsya Purana. Once completed, they will be further decorated with auspicious Vedic symbols like the Sun and Moon.

To sponsor an abhisheka for Sri Sri Radha Madhava’s and/or Lord Nrimhadeva’s Chakra please go to:
https://tovp.org/donate/once-in-a-lifetime-chakra-abhisheka-seva-opportunity/

The post Preparation of Flags for TOVP Installation Ceremony appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.