Planet ISKCON

Answer Podcast

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Answer Podcast

The post Should we be simply attached to the principle of service or to specific services according to our nature? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Reflection at Krishna House, Gainesville, USA]

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[Bhagavatam class at Bhakti House, Jacksonville, USA]

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[Bhakti Shastri Class at Krishna House, Gainesville, USA]

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[Talk at North Florida University]

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[Bhagavatam class on 1.2.28-29 at Krishna House, Gainesville, USA]

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The post Is Krishna-bhakti universal when it is so specific? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Kartika Begins! (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Today on the first day of Kartika we visited Ram Tal, an ancient holy p...

By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications

 

 

Born to a devotee family in New Vrindaban, West Virginia in 1977, Bhagavan Bauer lived and attended gurukula there until the age of eighteen.

While he developed great friendships with the other gurukula students and has good memories of fun times with them, he also endured the kind of traumatic abuse and neglect that was unfortunately all too common in many of ISKCON’s ashram-based gurukulas at the time.

So it was no surprise that he left in 1995 to create a new life for himself. During his twenty years away, Bhagavan gained a well of experience. He worked in New York City at several different jobs, including fitness trainer, construction worker and electrician. He married his wife Ananga Manjari, and they had two sons, Nava Kishor and Nitya, now 14 and 12.

As a father, still healing from his own negative childhood experiences and looking to give his children a more wholesome upbringing, Bhagavan studied parenting techniques. To pass on his knowledge, he then became a parenting coach and educator himself – a service he still offers.

More recently, after suffering the loss of several relatives, he and his wife sought more stability in their lives. And they felt that New Vrindaban, where Bhagavan’s mother Sukhavaha lives, was the place to find that.

In August 2015, Bhagavan and his family moved back to a very different New Vrindaban – one with a revitalized focus on Srila Prabhupada’s vision, improved devotee care, and increased infrastructure maintenance. He also found dramatically better treatment of children at the local Gopal’s Garden school, where his sons now study and his wife teaches.

When he first returned to New Vrindaban, Bhagavan struggled with what he described as an unhealthy sense of entitlement towards the community due to the trauma he had previously experienced there.

“But I decided to work through it and learn to love New Vrindaban while here,” he explains. “And that, I felt, would help me heal.”

Bhagavan says he is now reconnecting with the community he grew up in – and is at the forefront of efforts to transform it and pioneer the next wave.

Since moving back two years ago, he has been serving as the construction and maintenance manager for ISKCON New Vrindaban, overseeing a team of seven. Together they are assisting the effort to physically revitalize key parts of New Vrindaban, much of which had received little maintenance over the previous thirty years.

In his two years there so far Bhagavan and his team have already done an impressive number of upgrades.

They have upgraded all the floors in the temple prasadam room and hallways with vinyl plank flooring; put in a new sink and cabinets for dishes in the prasadam room; and upgraded the guest kitchen.

The team also helped Gopisa Das finish a host of new apartments for resident devotees near the New Vrindaban Community Gardens. They built the brand newYoga Shala in a record time of four months – a 2,000 square-foot building with a sloped cathedral ceiling, windows on three sides, and a beautiful view of the swan lake. And they built the wittily named “Vishnu Maintenance Workshop” to consolidate all their own tools and make their work more efficient.

Meaningfully to Bhagavan, they also transformed the Palace Lodge ground floor rooms – which had been gurukula ashrams in the 1980s – into comfortable, modern motel rooms.

“Demolishing the old ashram was a cathartic process for me,” he says.

Currently, Bhagavan is redoing the siding on the guest lodge and upgrading the chattras and walkways around the swan lake.

Next, he and his team plan to renovate the old farmhouse at Vrindaban, where the community was originally centered, and where Srila Prabhupada stayed in 1969 – restoring a wonderful piece of history.

After receiving feedback from community members on the details, Bhagavan is also eager to help make a big improvement – upgrading the entire outside of Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra’s temple to give it a fresh, more attractive look.

The challenge in working for the New Vrindaban construction department, according to Bhagavan, is that one doesn’t have the luxury to specialize but has to be able to do everything. So tasks can have a learning curve.

“But I like that we have a dynamic team who work together cooperatively; that we’re constantly upgrading and making New Vrindaban more beautiful; and that I get to help create nice relationships with the devotees,” says Bhagavan, who is well-respected by his team.

As the name of the department’s new workshop suggests, Bhagavan is a big believer in the “Vishnu principle” of maintenance. “The Brahma and Shiva phases might be more fun – but it takes more energy and effort to maintain, which is why Vishnu is the Supreme Being,” he says. “We want to maintain everything nicely so that the beauty of New Vrindaban can be there for years to come, and attract new generations.”

In this vein Bhagavan is also a member of New Vrindaban’s recently elected Village Council, which is working to develop a more appealing environment for families and individuals by providing community members with a stronger voice in running their community.

“New Vrindaban is ever-growing and developing, and we’re working on shifting towards a focus of how to care best for the community member,” he says. “We hope this will encourage younger generations of families to move here and help New Vrindaban grow towards fulfilling Prabhupada’s mission.”

Commemoration of Krishna Lunch and the renewal of the University of Florida plaza. Founded by Srila Prabhupada and serving students ...

Request for blessings…
Rajesvari Seva Devi Dasi: Today I’m deeply grateful for my Spiritual Master Indradyumna Swami. He is my hero, my savior, my inspiration, my hope and my leader. Many years ago he gave me a wonderful gift of initiation and The Holy Name. Today I feel very ashamed and humiliated by the fact that I wasn’t able to stay truthful to my promise to chant 16 rounds of Maha Mantra every day. Since my son Vraj was born most of the time I was alone taking care of him. At that point, I started loosing it and today I stand with no sadhana whatsoever. I chant but not regularly and my spiritual life is based on sentiment and kindness of devotees. Today on this first day of Kartik I would like to take a vow to chant 8 rounds every day for the whole month. It will be my step towards creating a habit and proper time management allowing me to get back to my 16 rounds. I truly want that out of respect for my Gurudeva, for the sake of being a person of my word, for the sake of not wasting my life. There is nothing more valuable and sure in this world than God. Please, dear Devotees and friends, give me your blessings so I can develop deep love and attachment to the Holy Name and to be bound to It as Little Damodar was to a grinding mortar.

Beautiful Iskcon temple in Ujjain (Album with photos)
Bhakti Caitanya Swami: We are now at the ISKCON temple in Ujjain, in Indi...

Many international religious and political leaders honored the founder International Society for Krishna Consciousness A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s achievements and contributions at a special ISKCON 50th Anniversary Gala Event in Washington D.C. on September 13th, 2016. The event took place in the Presidential Ballroom at the Capital Hilton Hotel. Three blocks from the White House, the Ballroom has hosted every president since Harry S. Truman and features a permanent eight-foot presidential seal on its wall. Over 300 people attended the Gala event, seventy-five of them special invitees including religious leaders, religious liberty experts, members of the media, government representatives and political leaders. A video by Karuna Productions.

According to a report received by the GBC Brooklyn Temple Sale Committee, it appears that the New York State Office of the Attorney General has declined to approve the pending sale of the Hare Krishna temple property in Brooklyn.

Our "Paramahamster" comic strip follows an enthusiastic devotee as he navigates a 9 - 5 work day in the corporate world. Please check back weekly for new episodes!

By Vaikunthanath das

It is a miracle of good fortune that Srila Prabhupada’s disciple, Saradiya dasi, should leave her physical body on the very day of the Sri Krsna Saradiya Rasa-yatra (October 5, 2017). She left at 6:15 a.m. San Diego time. The time zone in India is twelve and a half hours ahead of California, so it was 6:45 p.m. in Vrindaban at that moment. The moon rose at 6:03 p.m. in Vrindaban. So Saradiya left her body just as the moon was rising above the horizon in Sri Vrindaban Dham. Continue reading "Saradiya is at Srila Prabhupada’s Lotus-feet
→ Dandavats"

The post Daily Darshan: October 06,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Journey From Anxiety To Happiness (video)
HH Devamrita Swami’s lecture in the Hare Krishna temple of Melbourne.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/B5PWKb

Today we begin the beautiful month of Damodara. The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 4, says, “There is a statement in Padma Purana describing the ritualistic function during the month of Karttika (October–November). During this month, in Vrndavana it is the regulative principle to pray daily to Lord Krsna in His Damodara form. The Damodara form refers to Krsna in His childhood when He was tied up with rope by His mother, Yasoda. Dama means ‘ropes,’ and udara means ‘the abdomen.’ So Mother Yasoda, being very disturbed by naughty Krsna, bound Him round the abdomen with a rope, and thus Krsna is named Damodara. During the month of Karttika, Damodara is prayed to as follows: ‘My dear Lord, You are the Lord of all, the giver of all benedictions.’ There are many demigods, like Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, who sometimes offer benedictions to their respective devotees. For example, Ravana was blessed with many benedictions by Lord Siva, and Hiranyakasipu was blessed by Lord Brahma. But even Lord Siva and Lord Brahma depend upon the benedictions of Lord Krsna, and therefore Krsna is addressed as the Lord of all benefactors. As such, Lord Krsna can offer His devotees anything they want, but still, the devotee’s prayer continues, ‘I do not ask You for liberation or any material facility up to the point of liberation. What I want as Your favor is that I may always think of Your form in which I see You now, as Damodara. You are so beautiful and attractive that my mind does not want anything besides this wonderful form.’ In this same prayer, there is another passage, in which it is said, ‘My dear Lord Damodara, once when You were playing as a naughty boy in the house of Nanda Maharaja, You broke the box containing yogurt, and because of that, Mother Yasoda considered You an offender and tied You with rope to the household grinding mortar. At that time You delivered two sons of Kuvera, Nalakuvara and Manigriva, who were staying there as two arjuna trees in the yard of Nanda Maharaja. My only request is that by Your merciful pastimes You may similarly deliver me.’ ”

May Lord Damodara attract and deliver us all.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

 

Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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“In a temple of Lord Visnu, there lived a mouse that daily ate the ghee from the extinguished ghee lamps, which had been offered to the Lord. One day when the mouse felt hungry, she tried to eat the ghee from a lamp that was not yet extinguished. While nibbling at the lamp, the cotton wick got stuck in her teeth. Since the ghee wick was still ablaze, the mouse, feeling the heat, started jumping up and down on the altar in front of the Deity; soon afterwards she died from the fire.

The all-merciful Lord Sri Visnu seeing the mouse jumping before Him with a lamp, assumed that she was offering Him aratik. Out of gratitude, He rewarded her with and exalted human birth in her next life from which she made further progress and then went back to Godhead.”

So, who will neglect the great opportunity to make progress in spiritual life, when even an insignificant mouse becamethe recipient of the Lord’s mercy by inadvertently offering a flaming ghee wick to the Lord?

During the month of Kartik, observed from October 5th to the 3rd of November, anyone who invests a few moments of their valuable time to worship Lord Krishna by simply offering a ghee lamp, becomes the recipient of tremendous blessing.

Please consider this auspicious time for making a sacrifice towards the ongoing construction of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Sridhama Mayapur, the most important of all ISKCON projects. Consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sponsor one or both of the Chakra abhisheka’s during Their installation ceremony on February 7th, 2018. Read more here.

In the Skanda Purana, it is said :

“Text 99 ~ “When one offers a lamp during the month of Karttika, his sins in many thousands and millions of births perish in half an eye blink.”

Text 100 ~ It is further said : “Please hear the glories of offering a lamp during Kartika which is pleasing to Lord Kesava. O King of brahmanas, a person who offers a lamp in this way will not take birth again in this world.”

Text 101 ~ “By offering a lamp during the month of Karttika one attains a pious result ten million times greater than the result obtained by bathing at Kuruksetra during a solar eclipse or by bathing in the River Narmada during a lunar eclipse.”

Text 102 ~ “O Tiger of sages, for a person who thus offers a lamp burning with ghee or sesame oil, what is the use of performing an asvamedha yajna?”

Text 103 ~ “Even if there are no mantras, no pious deeds, and no purity, everything becomes perfect when a person offers a lamp during the month of Karttika.”

Text 104 ~ “A person who during the month of Karttika offers a lamp to Lord Kesava has already performed all yajnas and bathing in all holy rivers.”

Text 107 ~ The ancestors say : “When someone in our family pleases Lord Kesava by offering to Him a lamp during the month of Karttika, then, by the mercy of the Lord who holds the Sudarsana Cakra in His Hand, we will all attain liberation. Narada, no sin exists anywhere in the three worlds that will not be purified by offering a lamp to Lord Kesava during Karttika.”

Text 108 ~ It is further said : “By offering a lamp during the month of Karttika one burns a way a collection of sins as big as Mount Meru or Mount Mandara. Of this there is no doubt.”

Text 111 ~ “A person who offers a lamp during the month of Karttika attains a result that cannot be obtained with even a one hundred yajnas or one hundred pilgrimages.”

Text 112 ~ “Even a person addicted to all sins and averse to all pious deeds who somehow offers a lamp during Karttika becomes purified. Of this there is no doubt.”

Text 114 ~ “A person who offers a lamp to Lord Krishna during Karttika attains the eternal spiritual world where there is no suffering.”

Text 120 ~ “As fire is present in all wood and may be extracted by friction, so piety is always present in the offering of a lamp during the month of Karttika. Of this there is no doubt.”

Text 121 ~ It is further said : “O King of brahmanas, when someone offers Him a lamp on the full moon day of the month of Karttika, Lord Krishna, finding that He does not have sufficient money to repay that gift, gives Himself in exchange for that lamp.”

In the Padma Purana it is said :

“One who offers a steady lamp to Lord Hari during the month of Karttika enjoys pastimes in Lord Hari’s splendid spiritual world.” In the month of Karttika, one should worship Lord Damodara and daily recite the prayer known as Damodarastaka, which has been spoken by the sage Satyavrata Muni and which attracts Lord Damodara.”

Sri Hari Bhakti Vilasa 02.16.198

And don’t forget to always chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

The post Happy Kartika: Even A Mouse Get’s Mercy appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Many devotees are asking about the comparative size of the Radha Madhava (Main) Dome Chakra to the smaller Nrsimhadeva and Planetarium Dome Chakras. Here is a scale image comparing them.

The smaller dome Chakras are 3.5m (11.5 feet) and the main dome Chakra is 7m (23 feet). As already clear from the one installed Chakra, the three Chakras along with the titanium nitrate Kalashes all together will look spectacular with their glaring, golden effulgence lighting up the Mayapur sky, heralding the “adbhuta mandir” and the glories of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

To sponsor an abhisheka for one or both Chakras during Their installation on February 7th, click on the link below:

https://tovp.org/fundraising/tovp-announces-lifetime-chakra-abhisheka-seva-opportunity/

The post Chakra Size Comparison appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

A video by Kevin Wu.

Here's a short video of the CNC machine in action, making a 800cm long by 12mm thick peacock model from PVC for one of TOVP designs

Chanting (mantra) is an ancient technology that, as modern science reveals, connects us in a very real way to the farthest reaches of the universe.

In this world, we have to rub shoulders daily with people devoid of devotion to God. This is normal. So instead of criticizing their lack of devotion, we can learn from them. Now you may ask what can we possibly learn from them? After all, they are devoid of good character. Actually, that is not true. In the pursuit of their selfish goals, materialistic people have a passion and drive. They work hard and practice principles of cooperation to achieve their goals. They set targets, create plans, allocate resources and have implementation strategies. All of this requires discipline. We do not have to be like them but we can learn from them – this art of discipline. There is a general criticism that spiritual life means – to give up material life. Therefore, in fear, generally speaking, people shy away from spiritual life at least in the younger phases of their life. They wait until they retire to take to spiritual life. However, this notion of giving up material life is incorrect.

Arjuna was young and strong and was ready to fight a war. It takes mental and physical strength and discipline to wage a war for eighteen days straight. Imagine fighting from sunrise to sunset (some days they fought into the wee hours of the night) continuously for eighteen days straight with heavy armor. Arjuna was a maharathi, which means he engaged in battle with many people simultaneously. If Arjuna had a slight lapse in concentration, certainly he would die. That was the condition for eighteen days. Therefore, the only way he could fight successfully was if he had the strength and discipline to fight an arduous battle. Yet he was the greatest Vaishnav there is. He is famed and glorified as the friend of the Lotus Eyed One Pundarikaksha for all of eternity in all of the universes combined. We can only conclude that Arjuna possessed the extraordinary power to excel above his peers and had the discipline to become an expert in his art of warfare. In the Mahabharat, we learn that Arjuna was the best student in the Dronacharya school of Martial Arts. Whatever lesson he learnt during the day from his teacher, he practiced it to perfection at night and the next day displayed his perfection. None of the other brothers’ excelled as him.

Non-devotees in the pursuit to exploit have a similar eagle eye for perfection and pursuit of ruthlessness. Certainly, we can learn this art from them. However, we do so with compassion and tolerance – always careful not to step on others and hurt others. We practice a higher road to the top and not use the under-hand ways normally materialistic people do. Arjuna after all the humiliation to Draupadi and his mother and brothers decided to not fight the war. Despite being humiliated multiple times, he was willing to relinquish it for a higher cause of compassion. This was his inner mood. Similarly, as practicing devotees we also learn from our spiritual masters and scriptures to practice detachment internally and practice compassion/tolerance externally. This will help to take failure in our stride and not let success to our head.

We will remain in this world but not of this world. “In this world” part we learn from non-devotees, “not of this world” part we learn from saintly people.

Indeed, this world is like a classroom, life is our teacher, and I the student.

Hare Krishna

A few years back a brand expert was asked about ISKCON UK’s presence on social media. His response was simple and to the point: ‘the good news is that you are not scary anymore, you are just confusing’. Though temples and devotees do have a solid presence on social media, the big question remains, how effective is that presence?

Raval and Varsana, the two places associated with Srimati Radharani’s appearance and pastimes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada, the revealer of the holy dhama! (16 min video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/Ssnq9m

Mother Yashoda’s love is unmatched in purity and is unlike any other that even the infinite Lord who pervades the entire creation is bound by her love.

HH Bhakti-Chaitanya Swami’s Srimad-Bhagavatam class from the Iskcon Ujjain Temple during the ongoing GBC Midterm meetings (video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/gdKrCh

Urgent and important!
Kadamba Kanana Swami: I would say that in our Hare Krsna Movement, one of the great causes of devotees becoming dry in their spiritual practices is because they do not get absorbed in reading. You see, chanting is something you do because we measure it – sixteen rounds; it is very clear. But we do not vow to do one hour of reading. We just do not make that vow so we do not give it the same urgency but it should have the same urgency. Reading of scripture is very important; very, very important. If we are not reading, I guarantee you that everything will become stale.

4th Oct 2017, The Economic Times, the world’s second-most widely read English-language business newspaper, did a post-event coverage of PMNC17, where Gaur Gopal das spoke on ‘Conscious Leadership for a Gracious Future.’