Krishna is great because He is a perfect gentleman!
→ Servant of the Servant

We all know and come to learn that this world and life is temporary. We may live at the most for hundred or so years. From a cosmic time scale, hundred years is practically negligible. Our gains and losses, pains and pleasures - all of it is practically negligible. We may glorify our accomplishments and feel sorry for our losses but great saintly people view life as a great leveler. In that sense, we are always advised to tolerate, as there will be good days as much as bad. Despite the utter insignificance of our human existence, still believe it or not, Krishna who is the all-knowing Being facilitates and sanctions our desires in this world.

A desire to see the sunset or speak to a girl or buy a toy or get a particular type of job or mow the lawn or express anger and hate or travel the world or buy a house or an ant collecting food or a bird building a nest or a plant blooming a flower or an amoeba trying to reproduce or Indra enjoying with celestial woman or myriad other desires which from the cosmic sense is utter meaninglessness. An atheist who denies the existence of God is also given all facilities to deny God. Krishna is so kind He also satisfies those who are utterly against Him. Krishna gives the atheists’ His own resources and the intelligence to voice their opinions against Him. Even though we exist amongst billions of species and our life span is practically negligible, still Krishna takes care of every single minute detail of our life of every single living being!

This shows His magnanimity and this shows to me His true greatness. He is a perfect gentleman who is truly liberal and who loves and cares for all the desires (even though insignificant) of all living beings of all times who are for or against Him!

Thank you Krishna!

Hare Krishna

100,000 Youtube subscribers for an Iskcon devotee (Album with…
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100,000 Youtube subscribers for an Iskcon devotee (Album with photos)
Gaur Gopal das received an award from YouTube for getting 100,000 subscribers. Thank you for everyone who has subscribed and watched his videos so far! Without you none of this would be possible. It’s so encouraging to see the continued support that he has as he tries to create an online community centred around love, gratitude and happiness.
Special thanks for Bhavik Patel, Paresh Kocharekar, Mabick Thappa, Sankarshan Charan das and Vinay Raniga for their support and strategy to grow Gaur Gopal das’ online presence. Mabick has especially excelled in creating high quality films!
YouTube is a platform that has been inspiring people with a purpose to share their message for over ten years now. We want to thank them for this award as it excites and encourages us to what’s possible in the future. If you haven’t subscribed to Gaur Gopal das’ YouTube channel, please do so now. Thank you for joining the ever expanding community. Let’s make a difference!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/m4DJ22

Prabhupadadesh ceiling and wall murals (Album with photos)…
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Prabhupadadesh ceiling and wall murals (Album with photos)
Rudradeva das: “I enjoyed painting this ceiling mural very much, as it was a constant meditation on my spiritual master, and afforded me ample opportunity to concentrate on illustrating and producing his many transcendental qualities, through the medium of my oil paints. Along with the temple president, Guru-caran das, we decided to feature Srila Prabhupada in 8 separate activities, divided by an ornamental cornice (frame). The outside of the frame is in the form of an oval, with the temple room’s chandelier in the middle. In each of these 8 portraits, Prabhupada is seen predominantly displaying one of the qualities mentioned and sung every morning by devotees, in the Sri-Gurvastakam verses, the mangala arotik prayer. The frames are not placed in order, 1 thru 8, due to the shape of the panels comprising the oval, and of course, the different orientations of the photos they were taken from. So the order is random, but I think we chose well suitable representations, matching what we thought was Prabhupada’s dominant quality in these various activities, to match the corresponding Gurvastakam verse.

I used oil paint applied over stained-gesso-treated 3/8 inch-thick 5-ply cross-laminated wooden panels, the top layer being knot-free, of course. Instead of the usual method of applying the underpainting in acrylic colors, in this case I decided to create the underpainting in fast-drying oils, same as the over-layer(top layer). As you can see, 4 of the panels are tall (about 7 ft), and 4 panels are more squat, comparatively. I worked on all 8 panels simultaneously, first bringing all 8 to the completed underpainting stage, then working on 2 or 3 at a time, applying the final layers and details of the over-painting. The panels were not worked on "in-place” on the ceiling “Michaelangelo-style”, but rather, I painted them in a small room off the temple room proper. The ceiling of this makeshift studio was barely high enough to accommodate the larger pieces, which were also quite heavy to move around.

Upon completion of my work on all 8 panels, they were moved from my studio into the temple room and affixed to their place on the ceiling by a construction crew of about 4 men. After they were glued and riveted in place, I climbed the scaffolding to carefully caulk over the small screw holes made during the mounting process, and subsequently, touched-up and painted over the screw holes, to hide them.“

Upon completion of my work on all 8 panels, they were moved from my studio into the temple room and affixed to their place on the ceiling by a construction crew of about 4 men. After they were glued and riveted in place, I climbed the scaffolding to carefully caulk over the small screw holes made during the mounting process, and subsequently, touched-up and painted over the screw holes, to hide them.”

Sometime later, two wall murals were commissioned for the temple room, within 2 large circular spaces on one side of the temple room, flanking the main interior entrance to the temple. One was a copy of Murlidhara’s popular Krsna-lila pastime, and the other was copied from Ramanath das’ Gaura-lila, featuring ecstatic harinam sankirtan thru the streets of Orissa, with Lord Jagannath’s Ratha-Yatra cart in the background. The finished murals were well-received among ISKCON devotees and visitors. Madhusevita Prabhu, upon seeing it, was inspired to ask Rudradeva to come to Milan to do a similar project there (see Villaggio Hare Krsna ceiling mural). Radhanath Swami said, “This is the most beautiful temple room”.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/PL1rtb

Conference on Science, Religion and World Peace: A tribute to…
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Conference on Science, Religion and World Peace: A tribute to Srila Prabhupada (Album with photos)
All credits for the event goes to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada for his unlimited blessings and to His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami (Dr. T.D. Singh), the visionary of the conference. We would like to thank Sri Prakash Angaria and Abhinandan Angaria for their constant support and for showing such high enthusiasm which was a key factor for the success of the event. Our heartfelt appreciation goes to all our volunteer friends who did wonderful service to make the event complete. We also thank all our sponsors and well-wishers for their help and support. We shall remain always indebted to all disciples of Srila Prabhupada for their blessings and guidance. We also would like to thank all the devotees and friends (who are unnamed) for their invaluable support.

Meet the Hare Krishna monk running one of the best vegetarian restaurants in Cardiff
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Hare KrishnaBy Carly Squires

Atma has won several food awards, including The Observer’s 'Best ethical restaurant in Britain' title, and it also provides space for healthy living activities such as yoga and meditation. "We are called the kitchen religion, because we place a lot of emphasis on food. Everything we see, tough and smells affects our consciousness and how we think and feel. Everybody's got to eat. You know you have come to the right religion when you have got a big plate of food in front of you." The cafe, which closed the doors at its previous Church Street location in April, advocates the principal of ahimsa - a belief, central to the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, that all living beings have a spark of divine energy and that to hurt others is ultimately the same as hurting oneself. Continue reading "Meet the Hare Krishna monk running one of the best vegetarian restaurants in Cardiff
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ISKCON Scarborough – HG Kratu Prabhu will be giving a special class tomorrow
→ ISKCON Scarborough



Hare Krishna!

Please accept our humble obeisances!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!


His Grace Kratu Prabhu - a disciple of His Divine Grace A . C . Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada will be gracing us with his presence tomorrow- 17th Nov 2017.

Program starts at 6.45 pm sharp!

Srimad Bhagavatam 4.30.34

Even a moment's association with a pure devotee cannot be compared to being transferred to heavenly planets or even merging into the Brahman effulgence in complete liberation. For living entities who are destined to give up the body and die, association with pure devotees is the highest benediction.


Bio data of HG Kratu prabhu:

Kratu Prabhu was born in aristocratic Gujarati Gaudiya Vasihnava family on July 5, 1944. His father was an ardent vaishnava and his mother persistently chanted 16 rounds of Hare Krishna maha-mantra. His wife Her Grace Amrita Devi Dasi is also initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada.


During high schooling years, he became president of the students union and went on to receive a bachelor degree in engineering from the M.S. University, Baroda. He also achieved a Masters degree in Engineering from St. Louis University, Missouri USA.


His first exposure to ISKCON happened in 1970, at St. Louis. He later joined full-time in 1974, in Toronto. He met his Guru, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada in 1976, from whom he received a direct order for preaching Krishna consciousness. He and his wife were initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1977 in Toronto, Canada.


While in West, he worked as professional engineer for five years in Toronto In Chicago he worked for Chicago temple as director of congregational preaching. He then become temple President of Vancouver temple in 1987. In 1993, he moved to Baroda, Gujarat and conducted college and school preaching. He also started a book distribution program by Bullock Cart for every town and village. In 1997, he became temple President of ISKCON, Delhi and continued house and pandal preaching programs.


In 2002, he became an initiating Spiritual Master in ISKCON and is ever since vigorously travelling and preaching all over the world.

A warm invitation goes out to you and your family to join us tomorrow.

With best wishes from,


ISKCON Scarborough

3500 McNicoll Avenue, Unit #3,
Scarborough,Ontario,
Canada,M1V4C7


Email Address:
iskconscarborough@hotmail.com

website:
www.iskconscarborough.org

AN INTERESTING DREAM LAST NIGHT & MY PRAYER FOR DIVINE HELP and INITIATIVE
→ Karnamrita's blog

Author: 
Karnamrita Das

I HAD AN INTERESTING DREAM LAST NIGHT. I was able to fly and was looking at all the sights of the planet. It was fun, but I wasn't very satisfied with the experience. Then as I was attempting to help someone in a seedy part of town, I was captured and injured. As my new master was putting me in a cage, he freed the former resident of the cage to make room for me, who happened to be my wife. I awoke as she was telling me the rules for living in the cage.

I relate this dream to my wife's difficult health throughout our marriage, and how now it is my turn. At the same time, one of the important ideas now, is to keep a good sense of humor and laugh a lot. That is very healing. I feel such gladness and gratitude

read more

From bondage to bonding – Redefining our relationships
→ The Spiritual Scientist

[Talk at Goldcoast, Australia]

Podcast

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The post From bondage to bonding – Redefining our relationships appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Hearing Krishna katha leads to trance
→ Servant of the Servant

When we first hear, we gradually start to accept the message. As we hear more, we not only accept but start liking the message. In other words, we become attached to the message. If we continue our hearing, our attachment will lead to chanting/recitation and eventually to remembering.

This remembrance,however, is periodical at this point. So we continue our hearing. As we hear more, our remembrance leads to recollection of the memory. As we recollect more, we become more absorbed in memory of our recollection. This absorption further intensifies our remembering. As our absorption increases, that remembrance which was periodical starts to become frequent and constant. As constant remembrance (meditation) increases, one enters into spiritual samadhi or trance (constant meditation). (paraphrased from Nectar of Instruction, Text 8 purport)

Basically it goes like this in that order
  1. Hearing
  2. Acceptance
  3. Attachment
  4. Chanting or Recitation
  5. Remembrance
  6. Recollection
  7. Absorption
  8. Meditation (constant remembrance)
  9. Spiritual trance (constant meditation)
Hare Krishna

BBT Brazil’s Crowdfunding Success for Large Scale Bhagavad-gita Print
→ ISKCON News

“Without a doubt, the most exciting element of the campaign was to see the cooperation of the devotees, leaving their differences aside and uniting in a common purpose. It was possible to see how Prabhupada's books are powerful and go beyond anything we can imagine. They are not just books, but tools for individual and collective illumination," says” BBT Brazil director Nanda Kumar Das.

Harinama in Krasnoyarsk (a city and the administrative center of…
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Harinama in Krasnoyarsk (a city and the administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia) (Album with photos)
Dear devotees, tomorrow, Wednesday 15 November will take place harinama “Rasasthali” on the central streets of Kharkov. Street chanting is the biggest source of bliss for all living beings without exception. You just have to overcome the cocoon of comfort, go out to the people and shake their hand, inviting them to the krishna family. It’s a very simple process, but the bliss that it doesn’t know borders. Tomorrow is the method! Bring your friends!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/9aj2Lt

Famous scientist becomes devotee and becomes an…
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Famous scientist becomes devotee and becomes an outcast.
Paleontologist Becomes an Outcast After Publicly Renouncing Faith in Darwinism!
Once upon a time, the distinguished paleontologist Günter Bechly was on German national TV celebrating Darwinism, but then something happened. He read books about intelligent design and found them compelling. On a web page, Bechly describes part of his transformation from Darwinist to an advocate of intelligent design (ID)
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/dcgPJB

Three Basic Views Of The World . Radhanath Swami: There are…
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Three Basic Views Of The World .
Radhanath Swami: There are three basic views of the world we live in. One is the very materialistic view wherein people see this world as the only real reality. Another is that world is an entirely an illusion, and the third is the best of view, that the world is the sacred property of God. It is real but it is temporary in its manifestations.
Now the conception that the world is the only true reality leaves one with the consciousness that it really doesn’t matter what we do as long as we get what we want. If we hurt people, if we trample on moral values, ethical principles, if we get money, fame, power, sensual and emotional pleasures, its all justified because as that saying goes, “eat drink and be merry because tomorrow may never come”. When we believe that this world is the only reality then even our so called moral principles are built on a very weak foundation because when temptation and fear come, why not break our moral and ethical values if I can get something better. Then we become victimized by greed, envy, lust, anger, arrogance and illusion. We see it so prevalent in the world today. This conception that if it feels good now it doesn’t really matter what else. What matters is me. So much is based upon what makes me happy, what can I acquire what I can call “mine”. In other words, its a world that is so much conquered by this tendency of selfishness and egoism, and so much of that is born from the conception that the world is the only reality.

Another conception is that the whole world is nothing but an illusion. It doesn’t actually even exist. The truth is real but the whole world is an illusion. For those who are thinking like this it is a good impetus for liberation after death because if the world is an illusion it doesn’t matter if we live or die, what matters is that somehow or other we get out of it as soon as possible. Now the environmental and ecological conditions of the world today is extremely precarious. This philosophy that this world is an illusion, if we see all these environmental issues happening, who cares. It doesn’t exist. Let everyone pollute the rivers and air because this world is an illusion. Our impetus is to just get out of this crazy contaminated condemned world and what we really leave behind doesn’t really matter because this world is an illusion. Where is the call for action within the world we live. The call of action is only to get out.

But then we have the Vaisnava philosopy of Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Vallabhacarya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacharya, all these great souls taught. They taught om purnam adah purnam idam according to Sri Isopanisad. The Absolute Truth is the source of everything that exists. It is perfect and compete and everything eminating from the Absolute Truth is all perfect and complete. The material world and the spiritual world – everything is coming from Krishna. Sarvaloka mahesvaram, Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita, this whole world is God’s property. If we see it in this way we are free from that greed, envy, lust and anger because we understand I am not the proprietor, I am the caretaker. If we see someone else doing well we celebrate their good fortune because we understand we are all brothers and sisters, we are all spirit souls, children of God. We are not envious. Exploitation is the symptom of the disease of the selfish egoistic heart. Compassion is the symptom of a person who has actually found inner fulfillment within their hearts.

So this is so important for the world to understand today – that we must build our lives and relationships with other living beings, humans and other species of life, with Mother Earth and the environment on the principle that everything is sacred.

Maya means the energy of God and maya is categorized in two ways: mahamaya and yogamaya. It’s the same energy. This whole material world is God’s energy. All the manifestations within this energy are under the influence of time and therefore are temporary and under the three modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. The spiritual energy is sat-cit-ananda, eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. But what is the difference between these energies? It really is under the basis of our perception. If we see this world as God’s energy, as Krishna’s property then we are seeing it in its true spiritual nature. But if we don’t see it in relationship to God then we see it as” this is mine, this is yours”. This results in so much conflict. But true religion is meant to unite people not divide people. These religions are all manifestations of God’s grace on humanity to come to this earth to give us an understanding how we are all children of God. Wherever there is life there is a sacred child of God. Everything is the property of God and we are meant to be a family to utilize it properly.

This conception understands that everything in this world is meant to be used for the purpose of seva, or unselfish service. It is our sacred duty to God to honor and respect everything in this world as his sacred property and to use it in a spirit of service. If you own a business, own a house, have a family, have wealth, property, it’s all the property of God and used in harmony with God’s will which is to keep it all very very pure as far as possible. So in order to engineer a better world it has to begin by engineering a proper preceptive and realization of the world. Engineering our own inner consciousness to the degree we actually understand the beauty and the love and the greatness of Krishna, to that degree we will actually love Krishna and we will see everything in this world as a beautiful opportunity to serve Krishna and to elevate people’s lives and consciousness. – Radhanath Swami

Paras Jain, Cabinet Minister, Madhya Pradesh Government Energy…
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Paras Jain, Cabinet Minister, Madhya Pradesh Government Energy Department. Madhya Pradesh, India, posted yesterday this nice photo and comment on his Twitter account.
The translation is: “You have established "ISKCON” (ISKCON) to disseminate Vedic knowledge through English and published and edited several Vaishnava religious texts. #ISKCON founder Abhay Charanaravind Bhaktivedanta. The anniversary of the Master Prabhupada ji. “
See it here: https://twitter.com/parasjainonline/status/930338670233632768

TOVP Bell Test Rings Loud and Clear (2 min video)Recently, we…
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TOVP Bell Test Rings Loud and Clear (2 min video)
Recently, we tested an electronic bell sound from the Main Dome of the TOVP. We are planning to install a permanent electronic bell in the near future to ring every hour of the day in the Holy Dhama of Sridhama Mayapur.
Kindly watch this video with the actual sound and Sadbhuja’s commentary, along with stunning aerial footage of the TOVP.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/7VAayU

The biggest book in the world! Huge Bhagavad-gita comes into…
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The biggest book in the world! Huge Bhagavad-gita comes into being!
The project that Rudradeva is currently working on is an exciting endeavor. In Villaggio Hare Krsna temple (near Milan, Italy), GBC Madhusevita Prabhu is producing an English edition of the classic Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, translated by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. The book’s size will measure 2 meters wide X 2.8 meters high. The monumental project of bringing the epic Vedic “Bible” to a scale of this magnitude, will be a first for ISKCON. The cover will feature an 80cm square reproduction of the famous ISKCON painting of The Universal Form, rendered by ISKCON artist Pariksit das. Rudradeva’s part in this will be to reproduce this painting, but re-orienting its’ elements from the vertical original to the square shape required for the center of this huge cover. The book will be printed in Milan, and upon completion, will go on display in Kuruksetra, India, the place where Bhagavad-Gita was originally spoken by The Supreme Lord Krsna to his intimate disciple Arjuna, on the battlefield just prior to the staging of the world’s most significant religious battle. Besides the cover painting, it has been decided that he will also produce a large 80cm square new painting for each of the 18 chapters. You can follow the progress of this painting work by the artist, here: https://goo.gl/9DcV6m

Understanding how bhakti-yoga and the holy name work
→ The Spiritual Scientist

[Bhagavatam class on Srimad Bhagavatam 01.05.37 at ISKCON, Brisbane, Australia]

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Video:

The post Understanding how bhakti-yoga and the holy name work appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Shakuni Character Analysis 2 – Evaluate whether our relationships bring out our best or our worst
→ The Spiritual Scientist

[Seminar at ISKCON, Brisbane, Australia]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

Video:

The post Shakuni Character Analysis 2 – Evaluate whether our relationships bring out our best or our worst appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

ToVP Fund Raiser
→ Ramai Swami

Most devotees around the world have heard of the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (ToVP) in Mayapur. The super structure is finished, tiles  are being laid, but there’s a long way to go.

To this end, a devotee team headed by Ambarish Prabhu, Jananivas Prabhu and Vraja Vilasa Prabhu are traveling the world raising funds.

In the past few weeks they have been to Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne temples and I had the privilege of supporting their efforts in Melbourne. All the campaigns thus far have been very successful.

Nrsimhadeva Dome Arches and Columns
- TOVP.org

In preparation for the installation of the Chakra on Lord Nrsimhadeva’s dome, we are now installing the outer arches and columns on the middle tier of the dome.

Beautifully designed and made in-house, the arches and columns will be placed alongside the cornices (top and bottom), and timber wooden windows will be installed into the arches. Concealed lighting that will flood the dome will be hidden within these pieces. Marble cladding will also be executed on the inside walls.

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

The post Nrsimhadeva Dome Arches and Columns appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.