15th Annual Vrinda Kunda Festival. Deena Bandhu dasa: Early…
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15th Annual Vrinda Kunda Festival.
Deena Bandhu dasa: Early next year will be the auspicious 15th Anniversary of Vrinda Kunda Temple opening! From 29th Jan to 12th February we will celebrate with special parikramas to the Holy Places of Braja. The high point of the Festival will be our famous Kalash Yatra, an ecstatic Sankirtan procession with the ladies carrying water pots with coconuts on their heads. Parikramas will be taken out almost every day with the main festival day on Sunday 4th Feb.

Havi das’ interview. Havi values special moments in his…
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Havi das’ interview.
Havi values special moments in his spiritual life, such as the time he got to wash Srila Prabhupada’s feet in Venezuela in 1975, much more than he does any of his career achievements.
He is eager to warn younger generations of devotees enamored with the idea of fame and the Grammys that there is a dark side to the music business, with predatory record labels taking advantage of artists, morally bankrupt companies like McDonald’s sponsoring awards shows, and more.
And ultimately, he says, people worship pop idols because they’re disconnected from their relationship with Krishna.
Havi, for his part, would rather reconnect people with Lord Krishna, their original lover and friend, than be part of reinforcing the disconnect.

“To be honest, I’m waiting for the first opportunity to open the door and run away,” he says. “I’m 65 years old – enough is enough! I want to dedicate the rest of my life to serving the Vaishnavas and talking to people about Krishna. And if the fact that they think I’m important helps me, well, then I’ll use that.”
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/gxAGP1

Fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s desires
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, May 2011, Radhadesh, Belgium, Lecture)

Srila Prabhupada emphasised book distribution and that emphasis will never go away no matter what we do! There was a time when book distribution was THE EMPHASIS of the Hare Krsna movement and there was only a small percentage of devotees who were not part of it. But as time went on, book distribution at one point become a peripheral program – a side program and it lessened as a mainstream focus.

Now in recent years, we see a resurgence of book distribution worldwide, as statistics shows. So as they say, the pendulum swings – it swings from one side to the other BUT Srila Prabhupada’s desires remain valid. Whether our community takes different forms at different historical points in time, Prabhupada’s desires remain as an exceptional source of blessings! We can get such blessings by simply trying to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desires!

Therefore, again and again, that will come to the forefront, even if at times the focus shifts a little, still it remains within the boundaries of authorised vaisnava behaviour. If we miss the emphasis which Srila Prabhupada gave or the points that he stressed then we will dry up a little bit. So, therefore, our connection with Srila Prabhupada is extremely important and it must remain a focal point of our movement then our movement will flourish!

A live turkey has been the guest of honor at Govinda’s…
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A live turkey has been the guest of honor at Govinda’s Restaurant in Tuscon, Arizona for the past twelve years, although the restaurant has been serving Thanksgiving dinners since opening its doors in 1992.
“Our current turkey, Curley Sue, has been with us for three years,” says ISKCON Tucson temple president, cook, groundskeeper and all around busiest-person-ever Sandamini Dasi. “She’s from Wilcox, a small nearby farming town, and is very friendly. She just sits out on the patio during the Thanksgiving meal, being fed by a circle of excited, laughing kids.”
Seeing the turkey as a loving living entity, a member of the family, tends to make quite an impression on the 50% of Govinda’s clientele who are non-vegetarian. Often they begin to reflect on where it would be if not for Govinda’s. “We hold a contest every year where we give away a free dinner to those who best answer the question “What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?’” Sandamini says. “People are often moved to write, ‘I’m thankful that the turkey is here alive, and not on someone’s plate.’”

The event also draws the attention of Tucson’s local TV stations, at least one of which will usually feature it on their 6 o’clock news, with a repeat at 10 o’clock. “Come on down to Govinda’s, where there’s a new twist on Thanksgiving – the turkey is the guest of honor,” they’ll report, giving out the restaurant’s address.

“Then they’ll show clips of the turkey running around and gobbling. It’s quite a draw,” Sandamini laughs. “Most city folk don’t even know what a turkey looks like – what to speak of getting a picture sitting at a table with one!”

Govinda’s all-vegan Thanksgiving dinner includes apple-walnut stuffing, mashed potatoes with carrot, cashew gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, green bean almondine, baked acorn squash with maple syrup, pumpkin pie, a full salad bar – and an organic tofu “turkey,” which is really just a farina casserole with crumbled tofu and saitan.

The driver controls the car, but the soul doesn’t directly control the body – can you explain?
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Answer Podcast

The post The driver controls the car, but the soul doesn’t directly control the body – can you explain? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Mayapur Institute’s First Classroom “Kutir” is the Perfect Setting for Study
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On October 15th the Mayapur Institute of ISKCON opened its first classroom kutir, or hut, which creates the perfect atmosphere for study of the Vedic scriptures. Built with natural, environmentally-friendly local materials like bamboo, bricks and thatch, the kutir makes students feel like they have stepped back in time to learn with the sages of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Yoga Teacher Training Course at Bhaktivedanta College
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The Yoga Teacher Training Course, held in the beautiful Ardennes in Belgium, offers a unique opportunity to train with world-renowned teacher Mahayogi Gokulacandra, one of the most advanced practitioners of asanas today. This 4 week course is taught in a serene villa setting surrounded by rolling countryside that offers an escape from the stress of daily life.

bhaktivedantacollege.com/events/yoga-teacher-training-course/

Emotionally intelligent spirituality 1 – Don’t work for or against emotions – work with them for Krishna
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[Seminar at ISKCON, Melbourne Australia]

Podcast

 

Podcast Summary

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How small conflicts become big – Daksha pastime analysis 4 – How impulses are shaped by technology, mentality and spirituality
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[Bhagavatam class on Srimad Bhagavatam 4.4.32 at ISKCON, Melbourne, Australia]

Podcast

 

Podcast Summary

Video:

The post How small conflicts become big – Daksha pastime analysis 4 – How impulses are shaped by technology, mentality and spirituality appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Land for sale adjacent to Saranagati (Album with photos)…
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Land for sale adjacent to Saranagati (Album with photos)
Kripanidhi Das: 165 Acres/66 Hectares - 450K CAD (approximately 353K USD) Excellent realestate investment opportunity
Included is a 1500 acre wood lot license of high value forest timbre.
10 minute drive from Sarangati’s Govardhana Academy school, temple and community centre
Land includes well built house and 5 pieces of heavy equipment to operate Govt licensed wood lot: Back hoe, tractor, grader, caterpillar, front end loader (photos below)
-nestled at the foot of a mountain with 2 pristine streams flowing and plenty of ground water for wells.
-It is mostly forested with high value timbre that can be managed according to Eco-forestry principles. includes all equipment needed to operate. Equipment is older but in perfect condition.
-30 acres cleared and ready for cow protections and/or organic agriculture
-well built small 2 bedroom house ready to live in with potential to expand
-This property has excellent income generating potential
:eco forestry
:organic agriculture
:eco tourism, eco retreats, vaisnava educational
programs etc
This property is critically and strategically important to the Saranagati devotee community. For 35 years we have enjoyed a friendly relationship with the non devotee owners. But now that it is for sale we want to make sure that the new owners are devotees that share our values. With the ownership of this land, the entire valley, it’s water shed, and eco system will be under devotee control, to be managed wholistically according to our vaisnava principles.
We are forming a corporation to purchase the land. The corporation will have 66 shares which corresponds to 66 hectares of land. We propose that interested devotees purchase 1 or multiple shares.
We must act quickly. If non devotees purchase the land, it could be used for cattle ranching & the main source of our community water that feeds our 2 lakes could be blocked.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/qozJ87

Death at any moment… Kadamba Kanana Swami: In many ways,…
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Death at any moment…
Kadamba Kanana Swami: In many ways, old age is a blessing. For a Vaisnava, it is a great blessing. Why is it so? Because then, there is no more distraction. When we are young, we have so much fight. “Oh, I want to enjoy… but I have to be Krsna conscious! I should be Krsna conscious. I really want to be but I want to enjoy also.” When you are old, “Yeah, I want to enjoy but let’s be real. Can I? Can I really?” You can try to squeeze a few more drops out of the old broken machine but it is not very convincing. You may want to eat many things but you cannot, not like before. You just cannot. If you do, you have pay for it. Whatever you do, you have to pay for it – more and more and one day, it might just kill you!
In this way, one can see how people can eat themselves to death or people that are like so addicted to sex. People like the cardinal in France who died in the home of a prostitute. The same cardinal who spoke to Prabhupada, (French accent) “But you know, why can we not take the flesh of the cow to feed the hungry children? It is for the children. There is so much hunger in the world. So what can we do? Let the children starve and not eat the flesh of the cow?” Some logic… but he was found dead in the bed of the prostitute – the cardinal! This is an interesting detail that Krsna exposed. So with time, all facades are broken down. With time, it all becomes real. With time, we can no longer fake it. With time, it will become clear who we really are!

The famous German poet writer, Goethe, who is like the German Shakespeare, wrote many wise things, many interesting wise things. However, his doctor testified that in the last three days before his death, he was suddenly overwhelmed by extreme fear. So it is like that! At the end, whatever is not real will collapse. It all becomes real. It is like you can no longer play. You can no longer ACT like a pure devotee. You have to BE IT. You have to have FAITH in Krsna otherwise, it is over, you will become exposed. Old age is a reminder to us: Krsna is our only shelter and we had better start practicing now.

Prabhupada asked the question, “Who is an old man?” and everyone was looking around the room. You can do this exercise – ask one of the kids at a Sunday feast, “Who is an old man?” Sometimes they point at me and something in me goes, “Me? I don’t look that old, do I?” but Prabhupada pointed at a five-year-old child and said, “He is an old man because he can die at any moment.” Anybody can die at any moment!

We were at a funeral yesterday. Anybody can die at any moment. That is what I learned when my father took me to the cemetery for the first time to visit the grave of his father. I was four but I could read a little and I was reading the tombstones. I was not so shocked by the grave of my grandfather because I did not really have much of a relationship with him but when I saw a tombstone of someone who died that was born after me, then I was shocked. Then I realized, “Oh my god, I can die also. Even now, I can die. It is not only old people that die. Anybody can die.” Therefore, we had better be ready and let go of this life.

HH Devamrita Swami Guides Wellington to True Happiness…
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HH Devamrita Swami Guides Wellington to True Happiness (video)
Devotees from the Wellington Journey of Self Discovery community in New Zealand were fortunate to be graced by the presence of HH Devamrita Swami Maharaj at Lower Hutt City on Friday, the 17th of November. More than sixty devotees who had come into Krishna Consciousness over a period of two years through outreach programs assembled to hear Maharaj’s wisdom on “Hiding in Unnatural Happiness”.
An author of the book on the same topic, Maharaj effortlessly delivered several expert analogies to help devotees understand the ephemeral and fleeting nature of the joys experienced in the material world. We may take pleasure in the warmth and comfort of a coat during winter, but the same coat produces discomfort during the summer and we have to remove it. “The same coat - one day it feels good to put it on, the next day it feels bad so you take it off. Such is the nature of material happiness,” he said. Constantly caught up in the activity of changing ‘coats’ - always seeking temporary relief by changing our material state, we neglect to question the futility of such endeavors. Only when we realize the vanity of material desires through connection with Lord Krishna can we taste the sweeter, eternal, nectarean nature of true spiritual bliss.

HH Devamrita Swami Maharaj’s discourse was followed by pertinent questions from adults and children alike who were eager to know more about the ways in which this knowledge can be interpreted and applied in school, at work and with family. As the discourse concluded and Maharaj took his leave, volunteers set about their services for serving and partaking in Krishna prasadam. But while the prasadam satiated their hunger, their thirst for Krishna bhakti had only increased.

Watch it here: https://goo.gl/NEeSY1

Encounter with conflicting roles
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Hare KrishnaBy Radheshyam Dasa

What should a Sadhaka do while encountering Conflicting roles? Sati faced a tug of war between her desires to go to father’s house V/S Fear of disobeying Lord Siva her husband. Her desire got better off and that impelled her to go ahead, making a bold decision. Srila Prabhupada clearly draws a conclusion that in husband-wife relationship, it is better for wife to co-operate with the husband in a bitter situation than to quit the scene and take shelter of parents seeking a sweet relationship with them. If one considers this matter seriously, one can see that any parent will want to see their daughter happily settled with her husband. But sometimes it is seen that a woman boasts about her great parentage to her husband and picks quarrels seeing his deficiencies, often leading to separation or divorce. Prabhupada calls such attachment to one’s parental home as `womanly weakness’. Desire and Attachment, though can offer instant pleasure, lead to pain in the long run. Obedience and Tolerance, though noble qualities that are difficult to practice, bring long enduring success. In our life, definitely we should put Principle before Pleasure, if we want to experience ultimate success. Continue reading "Encounter with conflicting roles
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Is it better to choose a guru born in a brahmana family?
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Hare KrishnaBy Purushottam Nitai Das

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura met with opposition when he had taken his disciples for braj mandal parikrama because many temple priests of Vrindavan were of the opinion that he should not have given brahminical threads to those who were not born in a brahmana family. But Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura gave reference of various scriptures and proved that one should be considered a brahmana not by birth but by qualities. He quoted verse from Srimad Bhagavatam wherein sage Narada tells Yudhisthir that even if one is born in the family of a sudra but acts like a brahmana he should be accepted as a brahmana and if one is born in the family of a brahmana but acts like a sudra then he should be considered a sudra. “If one shows the symptoms of being a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or sudra, as described above, even if he has appeared in a different class, he should be accepted according to those symptoms of classification.” S.B. 7.11.35. If anyone is living as per the guidelines of the scriptures, is chanting the holy names of the Lord with love and sincerely following the four regulative principles of no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication and no licit sex should be considered a saintly person and he is fit to become a guru. Chaitanya Mahaprabh says “It does not matter whether a person is a vipra [learned scholar in Vedic wisdom], or is born in a lower family, or is in the renounced order of life – if he is a master in the science of Krsna, he is the perfect and bona fide spiritual master.” Continue reading "Is it better to choose a guru born in a brahmana family?
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Death at any moment
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 09 October 2017, Canberra, Australia, Evening Lecture, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.27.27)

In many ways, old age is a blessing. For a vaisnava, it is a great blessing. Why is it so? Because then, there is no more distraction. When we are young, we have so much fight. “Oh, I want to enjoy… but I have to be Krsna conscious! I should be Krsna conscious. I really want to be but I want to enjoy also.” When you are old, “Yeah, I want to enjoy but let’s be real. Can I? Can I really?” You can try to squeeze a few more drops out of the old broken machine but it is not very convincing. You may want to eat many things but you cannot, not like before. You just cannot. If you do, you have pay for it. Whatever you do, you have to pay for it – more and more and one day, it might just kill you!

In this way, one can see how people can eat themselves to death or people that are like so addicted to sex. People like the cardinal in France who died in the home of a prostitute. The same cardinal who spoke to Prabhupada, (French accent) “But you know, why can we not take the flesh of the cow to feed the hungry children? It is for the children. There is so much hunger in the world. So what can we do? Let the children starve and not eat the flesh of the cow?” Some logic… but he was found dead in the bed of the prostitute – the cardinal! This is an interesting detail that Krsna exposed. So with time, all facades are broken down. With time, it all becomes real. With time, we can no longer fake it. With time, it will become clear who we really are!

The famous German poet writer, Goethe, who is like the German Shakespeare, wrote many wise things, many interesting wise things. However, his doctor testified that in the last three days before his death, he was suddenly overwhelmed by extreme fear. So it is like that! At the end, whatever is not real will collapse. It all becomes real. It is like you can no longer play. You can no longer ACT like a pure devotee. You have to BE IT. You have to have FAITH in Krsna otherwise, it is over, you will become exposed. Old age is a reminder to us: Krsna is our only shelter and we had better start practicing now.

Prabhupada asked the question, “Who is an old man?” and everyone was looking around the room. You can do this exercise – ask one of the kids at a Sunday feast, “Who is an old man?” Sometimes they point at me and something in me goes, “Me? I don’t look that old, do I?” but Prabhupada pointed at a five year old child and said, “He is an old man because he can die at any moment.” Anybody can die at any moment!

We were at a funeral yesterday. Anybody can die at any moment. That is what I learned when my father took me to the cemetery for the first time to visit the grave of his father. I was four but I could read a little and I was reading the tombstones. I was not so shocked by the grave of my grandfather because I did not really have much of a relationship with him but when I saw a tombstone of someone who died that was born after me, then I was shocked. Then I realised, “Oh my god, I can die also. Even now, I can die. It is not only old people that die. Anybody can die.” Therefore, we had better be ready and let go of this life.

First Class Dialogue with Scientific and Scholarly community – Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami’s Matchless contribution to the BI mission
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Hare KrishnaBy Subal Shyam Das and Jaganmohini Devi Dasi​

This year (2017), on Nov. 24th, Friday, disciples, servants and well-wishers of H.H. Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami will be celebrating his 80th Vyasa-puja. On this most auspicious occasion, for the pleasure of all Vaishnava community, we recall one of his vital contributions to the BI-scientific mission which was visible since the inception of Bhaktivedanta Institute by the blessings of Srila Prabhupada. Today we would like to emphasize on this aspect, namely, Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaj's unique approach of first class dialogue in dealing with scholarly community. He adopted this even while he was preparing and arranging the first international congress on 'Life comes from Life' before Srila Prabhupada's departure in 1977 at Vrindavan and Srila Prabhupada was indeed very pleased with it. Continue reading "First Class Dialogue with Scientific and Scholarly community – Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami’s Matchless contribution to the BI mission
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