Planet ISKCON

A video by Ananta Vrindavan.

Vrindavan Parikrama during Kartik. The 22nd of October. (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: How can we think mundane thoughts...

We may not realize how our aural organs play a vital role in determining our spiritual destination. The human body is equipped with five senses through which one is connected to the external world. These five knowledge-acquiring organs, known in the Vedas as jnanendriyas (jnana, “knowledge”; indriya, “senses”), are the ears, eyes, tongue, nose, and skin. Through them we receive information about the external world, and based on that information we act and react. Among these senses, the ears are more active than the other four. Srila Prabhupada explained the superior status of the ears: Suppose you are sleeping. Then all your senses are also sleeping. But the ear does not sleep. When a man is sleeping and somebody is coming to kill him, so what do you say? You cry, “Mr. such and such, wake up! Wake up! There is danger.” Otherwise, all the senses are there, but only the ear will help you. The eyes are there, hands are there, legs are there, everything is there—none of these limbs, these parts of your body, will help you. Simply your ear will help you when you are in danger. (Lecture, San Francisco, July 21, 1975) Continue reading "Ear: The Gateway to Liberation
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Many important pastimes take place on Gopastami. One pastime takes place on this day a few years after Krishna first started tending the cows. On this day, Jatila once forbade Srimati Radhika to perform her customary puja at the distant Surya Kunda, concerned that her daughter-in-law was spending too much time outside home. Being restricted to the confinement of her in-laws’ house, Sri Radha felt dejected and began to cry an ocean of tears– of what use was Her life if it was devoid of Her Prananath, Krishna? Continue reading "Krishna, the Supreme Cowherd Boy
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And Pam Bihar whether one who was initiated in a previous life needs initiation again.

Brhad-Bhagavatamrta 1, Chapter 7. and Cc. Antya 14.

Brhad-Bhagavatamrta 1, Chapter 7.

A tour of the Chowpati festival kitchen (Album with photos)
Kavicandra Swami: I took a tour of the Chowpati festival kitchen. ...

News from Badrinatha (Album with photos)
Bhakti Caitanya Swami: We arrived in Badrinatha around midday on the 25th, and moved into our hotels. Badrinatha is famous as previously having been a place of Lord Siva and Parvati, but Lord Visnu, seeing how beautiful it was, is said to have tricked them into letting him have it. He appeared as a small child, apparently abandoned by his mother in this remote place. When Parvati saw Him she immediately felt great compassion, although Siva was suspicious. What was a young child like this doing in a place like this, so totally remote from any civilization? But Parvati was determined to help the child, and took Him to their small dwelling. She and Siva went out again, but when they returned they found the doors and windows locked from the inside.
The child was smiling at them through a window, but when they asked Him to open the door or a window He refused, telling them it was now His house. It was late, and Siva and Parvati had to go somewhere quickly to spend the night, so they move to Kedaranatha, leaving Badrinatha to Lord Visnu.
The first evening we went up to the temple and had some katha behind it while we waited for darsana. The pujaris were very nice, and invited me into the altar area for a while. On the altar here are, from our left, the face of Kuvera, Garuda, Badrinatha, Narada Muni, Uddhava (directly behind Narada) and Nara Narayana, with blackish faces. Unfortunately they don’t allow photography in the temple, so I can’t show you what they look like.
Badrinatha is a Salagrama sila from the Badrinatha area. He is sitting in a padmasana position.
We returned and sang Damodarastakam, and then gathered on the 26th morning for a morning programme in a hall at one of the hotels. At 8am we went to have darsana of Badrinatha again, and the main pujari invited me by the altar. He was a nice man, whose son is an initiated brahmacari in the Kåñëa Balaräma temple in Våndävana.
After that we had a big group photo in front of the temple, and then returned for breakfast. Following that we drove about 3 or 4 kms to a village named Mana, which is meant to be the last village before the border with China.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/7teSyK

Jaipur, the Pink City (10 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Jaipur, known as the Pink City, is rich in the culture and history of I...

Kartik Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama 2017 (Album with photos)
“I bow down and offer my respects to they who know that within or without the material world there is nothing as sweet as Lord Gauranga’s forest.“ – Sri Navadvipa Sataka Every day of parikrama seems to be sweeter than the last, and the fourth day of parikrama was no exception. The morning began with an early morning visit to the house of Nandan Acharya, followed by a boat ride across the Ganga to Navadvipa town where we performed harinam through the streets and visited Parama Tala, the temple of Dhameshvara Mahaprabhu, and the bhajan kutir and samadhi of Srila Jagannatha Das Babaji. We then took darshan of Radha kunda and Shyama kunda, and visited Champahati and Ratu pur. All glories to Sri Navadvipa Dham!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/9R1wAc

Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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[Talk to University of Cincinnati students, USA]

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[Talk at North Florida University, Jacksonville, USA]

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His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada departed from this world on November 14, 1977, in Vrindavan, India, in his rooms at the Krishna-Balarama temple, surrounded by hundreds of his disciples chanting Hare Krsna.

Up until moments before his passing, he was dictating commentaries on the tenth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

During his life he traveled the world spreading the teachings of Lord Caitanya and propagated harinama samkirtan. He translated and gave commentaries to many transcendental literatures. The anniversary of his passing is observed in every ISKCON temple where His legacy continues forever.

Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja, the son of Khandavasi Ciranjiva and Sunanda, was a disciple of Srinivasa Acarya and the most intimate friend of Narottama dasa Thakura, who prayed several times for his association. His youngest brother was Govinda Kaviraja. Srila Jiva Gosvami very much appreciated Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja's great devotion to Lord Krishna and therefore gave him the title Kaviraja. Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja, who was perpetually disinterested in family life, greatly assisted in the preaching work of Srinivasa Acarya and Narottama dasa Thakura. He resided at first in Srikhanda but later in the village of Kumara-nagara on the bank of the Ganges. Continue reading "Sri Srinivasa Acarya – Appearance
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Sri Gadadhara dasa Thakura previously lived at Navadwip. When the Lord went to live at Nilacala Sri Dasa Gadadhara also there to be with Him. Later on Mahaprabhu sent him back with Nityananda Prabhu to preach in Bengal. He first stayed at Eriyadahagram, which is situated on the banks of the Ganges. Then he spent some time in Navadwipa, taking care of Saci Mata and Visnupriya, but after their disappearance, he came to live at Katwa, where Mahaprabhu had accepted sannyasa from Kesava Bharati.

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On this day Lord Sri Krishna became a qualified cowherd. Before this day, he was a keeper of the calves.

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Etiquette is not just a handshake between two generations but a code that unlocks the treasure of blessing.
Vaishnava etiquette is an ornament of a Vaishnava. It may not be appearing so dazzling like gold and silver ornaments which attracts the common people but it attracts other devotees and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Epitome of Vaishnava etiquette by Sages of Naimisaranya.
The great sages offered the speaker of the Bhagavatam an elevated seat of respect called the vyasasana, or the seat of Sri Vyasadeva.
They asked questions to the speaker in order to elicit the clear meaning, and not in a challenging spirit.
Sages submitted questions with a great regard for the speaker and the subject matter.
Sages exhibited submissive aural reception towards transcendental subject matter.
They showed earnest desire to hear Bhagavatam.
Sages didn’t fight amongst themselves to choose a representative who would ask questions on behalf of everyone.
Every sage was aware of his position and the purpose of the assembly.
Their each and every words, actions and thoughts were selfless dedicated for the uplifting of the fallen souls of kali Yuga.
They chose the leader by taking care of qualities like that person should be vastly learned and elderly.

Physical vs. subtle
In a lecture H.G. RadhaGopinath was sharing his personal realization. Once he was sitting on an equal level with the Bhagavatam speaker and he could feel that he wasn’t able to grasp the subject matter. Imagine simply a physical act can hamper our understanding what to speak of subtle things.

Gratitude is essential
Also we have heard that water flows from higher potential to lower potential, similarly the transcendental messages flows from higher sources to lower sources through bonafide parampara. By offering respects to the speaker we open our hearts for the transcendental messages to enter. It is said that a grateful heart is like a fIrtile land where humility takes birth.

Position of Guru
Recently, I witnessed many devotees from a popular religious who came with their Guru to our farm. The guru was supposed to give a discourse to all of them in the evening. I gave the tour and showed them everything. After lunch everyone made their individual plans of going to swimming pool, goshala etc. Their Guru was just sitting and waiting for them till evening but no one came for hearing.
I was shocked. As I reflected I realized that due to ignorance of the value of the spiritual leader nobody was interested in their Guru. They were unaware of the connection which a Guru can establish between them and the Supreme Lord.
I felt grateful towards our Acaryas and how we have been blessed to practice their teaching in today’s day and age.The reason is that they practiced it in their lives and through their actions they taught the whole world.

Cooperation
In the book The Journey Home, HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj mentions an incident of his early days in India. Once, he attended a summit of Yogis and gurus where in the end they all fought together for who will get hold of mike and speak. An opposite or rather ideal behaviour is exhibited by sages of Naimisaranya.
In modern day preaching when we all come together and eagerly hear Kṛṣṇa Katha, that will inspire any people to accept and follow the process. The way existing devotees follow the Vaishnva etiquettes that impacts the future. Etiquette is not just a handshake between two generations but a code that unlocks the treasure of blessing. Let’s stay blessed.

The GBC Executive Committee joins the devotees of ISKCON Fiji in honoring the life of His Grace Vasudeva Prabhu, a pioneer in establishing Krsna consciousness in Fiji.

A new nonprofit company named Inword Publishers has just opened its doors. Authors and production managers will be interested to note that Inword Publishers has a full range of services in editing, design, layout, printing, distribution, and marketing, all under one roof. 

Good communication brings about a healthy relationship, as ISKCON’s Governing Body Comission and ISKCON guru Hridayananda Das Goswami found this month. Hridayananda Maharaja’s Krishna West project began in 2013. But due to ill health, he had not had the chance to meet with the full GBC body about it until this October 15^th and 16^th, during their mid-term meetings in Ujjain, India.

Gopuja in Villa Vrindavana. Florence, Italy (3 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: One has to continue chanting the Hare Krishna mantr...

Sri Gaurachandra Installation Festival in NYC (Album with photos)
On October 4-5, 2017 the Bhakti Center community gathered to...

Brhad-Bhagavatamrta 1, Chapter 7.

A video by Anton Aleksandrov.

The post Daily Darshan: October 25, 2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

QUESTION: I fully agree with what you said (The Truth is in Your Heart???), guru is a necessity. But I would like to ask what has to be the qualities of guru? In our days we can observe commercialization of spirituality. How can we differentiate a false, commercial guru from a genuine guru?

MY ANSWER:

Actually, we don’t have to differentiate. All we have to do is want.

But the truth is that wanting is even more difficult than knowing or differentiating. A genuine guru will do things to our ego and self-concept that frighten and threaten our conditioned mind and emotions. A genuine guru will expose just how infinitely deep our ignorance is. Who really wants that?

If someone does really, truly want a genuine guru, Krishna will make sure they meet one. When we only pretend to want a genuine guru, Krishna makes sure we only meet gurus who pretend to be genuine.

So, the quest for a genuine guru is not really about “guru shopping” or “guru litmus tests.” It is about purifying our own desires and wants.

Gītā gives a summation of the qualities of a genuine guru: Krishna says the guru is tattva-darśi – he or she has darśan of the tattva he or she purports to teach. Darshan means direct experience. It means actually seeing and feeling and experiencing their subject (be it brahman, bhagavan, or drums). The guru is not just a repository of ideas or theories. Books are the repository of ideas and theories. The guru is the one who realizes how the ideas and theories actually work.

This does not mean the guru does not study books! That is one of the biggest shams and farces around these days. How will the guru understand how the ideas of the Vedas actually work, if he or she doesn’t diligently and thoroughly study them and attempt to apply them to the real world!?

The Upanishads make this explicit, giving a more elaborate description of the qualities of a guru. tad-vijñānārtham sa guruṁ evābhigacchet śrotriyam brahma-niṣṭham. “To fully comprehend that [spiritual truth], he must go to guru, who is saturated in the Veda, by hearing it [in paramparā].”

So the main qualification is that Guru must understand the Veda (brahma). They must understand it so well that they can actually see it, and be saturated by it (brahma-niṣṭha). They must themselves have learned it from such a guru (śrotriya).

When we really want a genuine guru, we meet this person. When we want something else we meet others, who rarely even mention the Vedas, or twist it with their own self-serving ideas and interpretations which have no paramparā, and play to our own ego and ignorance for the sake of securing their own rice and dahl at the end of the day.

QUESTION: In each birth does the living entity start from the same point in the spiritual path? Or is spiritual capital somehow accumulated?

Don’t forget the discussion between Krishna and Arjuna at the end of Chapter 6. Krishna explicitly says there that you quickly and rather effortlessly pick up things you have already accomplished in previous lifetimes. This is especially true for adhyātmika things (spiritual things), such as your progress in karma, jñāna or bhakti-yoga.

Everyone starts each life as a baby, not even knowing how to talk, but some people learn guitar in 5 days, others can’t learn it well even after 50 years of trying. The quick learner has aptitude because in previous lives s/he was the slow learner.

Since you are carefully studying Gītā in this life, in your next life, the first time someone mentions “Bhagavad Gītā” you will immediately have a sense of what it is about, and will be drawn to it. Then, as soon as you read just a few words, you will start remembering everything you’ve learned in this class.

If you practice a mantra in this life, in the next life you will quickly find it again, and all the effort you made to understand it in this life will very quickly come back to you in the next.

The “bank” holding this capital is your manas, mental self.

Vic DiCara

Giriraja Swami’s class about Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance - 10-23-17 in Iskcon Los Angeles (video)
Was the decision not to bring SP in parikrama in his last days, as he has asked, the right one?
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/NaFb5L

[Reflection at Gainesville, USA]

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[Bhagavatam class on 11.14-1-3 at ISKCON, Alachua, USA]

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The post Understanding how bhakti fulfills the purpose of scripture – and how we can help appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Agnideva Prabhu’s health update.
An update of Agnideva’s Prabhu’s condition: The following report is not a pleasant one to read. Please keep your donations coming. We have yet to reach our goal of $100,000.
In order to address the issue of Agnideva Prabhu’s cardiac problems, it was necessary to get him breathing on his own without the ventilator. Sedation was reduced slightly to test his neurological reflexes - a prerequisite to removing the respiratory equipment. As a result of the sedation being reduced, he was able to move his eyes from side to side, wiggle his fingers and toes and stick his tongue out. However, he could not move his limbs. This made removing the ventilator too dangerous. The doctors suspect that his autoimmune system has been affected, most likely by a disease called Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a neurological disease caused by bacterial or viral infection. There is no cure. People usually recover but it takes 6 months or more. Again, we humbly request devotees, friends and well-wishers to contribute to his treatment. Thank you!
Your servant,
Indradyumna Swami
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An Asrama On The Yamuna’s Shore (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Deep in the forest not far from Vrindavan is a hermitage of sages on the banks of the river Yamuna. There the sages perform penance and austerities for spiritual advancement. The place was formally known as the asrama of Shaubari Muni, a great mystic yogi. Our parikrama party spent most of the day there in our usual activity of hearing Krsna katha and chanting the holy names.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/F5JKZY