
Govardhana Puja 2017, New Govardhana San Diego (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues ar...
Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Govardhana Puja 2017, New Govardhana San Diego (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues ar...
The Best Of All Activities (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Govardhan Puja in Vrindavan. What more can be said? The righ…
2nd Rama Vijayotsava/ Dussehra in Bloomington, IL.
The 2nd Rama Vijayotsava / Dussehra was celebrated with much fan and fare on...
Bogota Go Puja & Govardhana Puja (Album with photos)
Dharmatma Das ACBSP: What a Day! Sweet morning program, found and worshiped local cows, Pizza lunch and Govardhana Puja program along with Indrani Dasi’s first initiation. Warm and friendly Columbian style atmosphere, old and young dancing and chanting ecstatically and delicious Prasadam to top it off…
Find them here: https://goo.gl/qUrpAG
His Grace Udayananda Prabhu recalls Srila Prabhupada’s final days: “One day Prabhupada said, ‘I’ve given you this big ISKCON movement. If you can, please expand it.’ He said, ‘At least maintain it. Don’t let this decrease.’ Then he said, ‘Please cooperate,’ as he said so many times before. And then Prabhupada started to cry. Everyone in the room started crying. That was probably the most painful moment of my life, to see Prabhupada cry. So we have this movement. It’s Prabhupada’s movement. We have the good, we have the bad, and we have the ugly. But we just have to be determined to never leave the ISKCON movement. We just have to always try to push it forward. If there’s a problem, push it forward. Because when you leave ISKCON, you make Prabhupada cry. So let’s make Prabhupada happy and push on Krishna consciousness to every town and village”. Continue reading "Carrying Forth Our Inherited Legacy
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I dread the thought of leaving this world with anything less than shouting the Holy Names - or, at least, having someone doing that to me. I cannot allow myself to think that 70 is old, or limiting, or time to wind down - not when Srila Prabhupada showed that it was a benchmark to pick up the pace like a runner sprinting to the finish. Retirement is a dirty word in my personal dictionary; it spells boredom, inertness, and doldrums. Continue reading "Musings on Reaching the Big 7-0
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By the blessings of Srila Prabhupada and after constant follow ups from our end, HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja, Governing Body Commissioner, ISKCON and the undersigned had the privilege of a very special audience with Shri. Ramnath Kovind, the Honorable President of India, today -20th October, 2017. The President received Maharaja and me very respectfully and warmly. He was completely familiar with ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada. He praised ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada for preaching the message of Bhagavad Gita across the world. He mentioned that we are doing a "bada karya" or great work. Continue reading "Memorable meeting with the President of India
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A view of the Govardhan parikrama from above (10 min video)
Beautiful, high-resolution recording of the sacred Govardhan Hill.<...
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[Reflection at Gainesville, USA]
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[Diwali talk at Krishna House, Gainesville, USA]
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11.00 – 11.15 Tulsi Puja
11.15 – 11.30 Guru Puja
11:30 – 11:55 Aarti & Kirtan
11.55 – 12.00 Sri Nrsingadeva Prayers
12.00 – 1: 00 Vedic discourse
1.00 – 1.30 Closing Kirtan
1.30 – 2.00 Sanctified Free Vegetarian Feast
COMING UP AHEAD
Every fortnight, we observe Ekadasi, a day of prayer and meditation. On this day we fast (or simplify our meals and abstain from grains and beans), and spend extra time reading the scriptures and chanting the auspicious Hare Krishna mantra.By constantly ‘exercising’ our minds through regular japa we can train our senses to push the threshold of contentment.
Next date is to be announced shortly!
The chanting is a spiritual call for the Lord and His Energy to give protection to the conditioned soul.japa, when performed with focus and attention, can subdue the agitating effects of one’s mind and senses. The senses, of which the mind is also one, are constantly being stimulated by the external world – by gross and subtle matter.
If you have not chanted before, and would like to participate in this program, we will be very happy to show how you can do this.
All welcome. We’ll loan you a set of Beads!
Sunday School
Was Shatrughna’s act righteous?
Question: Apparently one version of Ramayana indicates Mantara being severely admonished or even beaten by Shatrughna when he found out from a Minister that she was behind the intrigue of Ram’s banishment. Bharata stopped this. Can you verify?
Answer by Romapada Swami: Yes, this is covered in Sarga 78 of Ayodhya Kanda in Valmiki Ramayana. The relevant section is given below:
As Bharata was thinking about taking a trip to see Rama, Shatrughna, said the following: “How strange that Rama, who is the shelter of all beings in distress and even of Myself, has been banished to the forest by a woman! What a pity that even Lakshmana, who is strong and valiant, did not save Rama by restraining Our father. In fact, considering what is just and unjust, the king, who had gone astray by coming under the control of a woman, should have been constrained even before this happened.”
While Shatrughna was speaking in this way, the hunchback Manthara appeared, wearing all kinds of jewelery, at the eastern entrance. Her limbs were smeared with sandalwood paste and she was wearing royal clothes; she was decorated with many different kinds of jewelery. Because of the girdle, belt and other fine ornaments, she looked like a female monkey bound with many ropes. When the door guard saw the hunchback who was responsible for this great sin, he grabbed her heartlessly and said to Shatrughna: “Here is the sinful wretch
responsible for the banishment of Rama and the death of Your father! Deal with her as You wish!”
Thinking about what the guard said, the morose Shatrughna said to those present in the palace chambers: “Let this hardhearted creature reap the fruit of her activity which caused extreme distress to My brothers and father.” All at once He forcefully seized the hunchback who was surrounded by her friends and made the chamber resound with her shrieks. Incensed with rage, Shatrughna, then dragged the wailing hunchback across the floor. While Manthara was being dragged about in this way, her beautiful ornaments were smashed to pieces on the floor. Strewn with those ornaments, the splendid royal palace shone even more, like the bright autumn night filled with stars. Strongly holding on to Manthara, he rebuked Kaikeyi, who had come to help Manthara, with harsh words. Greatly pained by His harsh and unpleasant words, Kaikeyi, out of fear of Shatrughna, ran to her son Bharata for protection.
Seeing Shatrughna so angry, Bharata said to Him: “Women should not be killed by anyone. Forgive her. I would have killed this sinful and evil-acting Kaikeyi Myself, if it were not for the fact that the righteous Rama would be angry with Me for killing My mother. If Rama knows that this hunchback has been killed, He will surely neither speak with You, nor with Me.”
After hearing Bharata’s advice, Shatrughna desisted from that crime and released the unconscious hunchback.
—-
(In the painting Kaikeyi And Her Humpbacked Female Slave Manthara In Court)
Deepavali Festival at Sri Lankan President House (Album with photos)
On 19th October 2017, Deepavali was celebrated at the Pres...
Pishima – the sister of Srila Prabhupada.
Ananga Manjari: At the last stages of Pishima’s (Prabhupada’s sister) life, I took it upon myself to care for her.
She had deteriorated so much so that when I woke up one morning, I went around Prabhupada’s samadhi and I prayed,
“What can I do for her? Take her because she only wants to be with you. I can’t stop her suffering anymore. I can’t make her comfortable anymore. I can’t even make her laugh anymore. Please take her. Even if this is offensive I just want relief for her.”
Afterwards, I went to her room and she was unconscious.
She wasn’t responding at all.
There were a couple of Bengalis in there testing her heart and trying to give her some Horlicks and milk but she wasn’t responding.
When I came in the room they just shook their heads, crying and they left, leaving me all alone with her.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed slumped over and I was rubbing her back a little bit and chanting japa with the other hand trying to figure out what to do.
As I started chanting I noticed her fingers move as if she was chanting japa.
Then I knew she could hear me.
I asked her in my broken Bengali, “Pishima, do you need to go to the bathroom? Do you need water or milk? Can I do anything for you?” No answer.
But I knew she could hear me, so I put on Prabhupada’s recording of “Nitai-pada-kamala” because that was our relationship.
I went up to her and asked, “Pishima, you hear Prabhupada?” Pishima grunted, “Ha”.
Then I knew that’s all she wanted.
I propped her up with lots of pillows trying to make her as comfortable as I could.
I put the mosquito net around and I kept playing Prabhupada’s music.
Every once in a while I’d go up to her and ask if she needed anything and got no answer.
Then again I asked if she wanted to hear Prabhupada and again I got the same response, “Ha”, every time.
In the evening, the Bengali devotees had called her relatives since they knew this was going to be her last days.
They all came in the room and someone brought all the gurukulis into the room.
They were singing a loud kirtan jumping up and down and others were howling and crying.
It was such an extreme from Prabhupada’s singing all day to this raucous carnival.
I got the feeling this wasn’t what she wanted.
I felt she needed peace and calm.
I ran outside trying to look for someone to help and ran into Nitai Chand who was a big sannyasi everyone was afraid of.
In my passion I just blurted out to him,
“You have to go to Prabhupada’s room and you have to tell everyone to sit down and be quiet. They can play kirtan but it has to be subdued.”
With a surprised look he said, “Okay”, and he ran to the room.
I thought, “Woah, I didn’t expect that.”
He went into the room and commanded everyone to sit and be quiet which they did.
The kirtan then went on nicely as I held her hand on one side and her youngest son held her hand on the other side quietly sobbing.
Then Pishima’s eyes started fluttering and her mouth started moving.
I thought maybe she was going to say something or that she needed something.
I went very close to her face and she whispered, “Hare, Hare, Hare, Ha”, and that was it.
I just stood there in stillness and thought, “Oh, my God. That was her last breath.”
Right away in my mind’s eye, I saw this vision of her actually moving up, her subtle body, just like you see in films where you see the ethereal see-through body.
The physical body is still lying there, but the ethereal body rises up.
Then her eyes started to open.
She was looking up at the ceiling of the room and she started raising her hand.
I had to actually move out of her way.
I was still holding the other hand as she was looking up at the corner of the room with her hand reaching out and Prabhupada came down with a big smile on his face.
His hand was held out in the same way as her hand was reaching out and they held hands.
Prabhupada was also ethereal but it was Prabhupada as we know him.
He came down with a smile on his face, she looked at him, and I could see their backs as they started floating up to the corner of the room.
I remember my eyes were moving and they both turned around smiling and gave me a nod and a look as if to say, “Everyone’s coming. Come on. We’re all going to go.”
And then they disappeared. The first thing I thought was,
“They left me here. They left me here.”
I wanted to go with them.
I looked down and I realized that I was still holding her hand but she wasn’t there anymore.
I could feel the difference of energy because while she was still in her body, I was praying,
“Whatever youthful energy I have, whatever strength I have, whatever goodness or piety or anything I have, let her have it now. Give it to her. Give her this strength and comfort.”
I was giving her everything I had in my heart and when it stopped, I realized that energy was coming back to me.
She was giving me so much and she was now with Prabhupada where she wanted to be.
A little later on, after putting a fresh sari and tilak on Pishima, everyone came back to have another darshan with her by putting flower petals around her and offering prayers.
I was standing there looking at her body thinking, “She looks effulgent.”
Earlier she was looking like a dried up prune just withering away.
But now there was light coming from her body and I said to myself, “She’s glowing!”
Normally as devotees we don’t use the word “glowing”.
We’d say “effulgent” or “bright faced”.
I thought I was hallucinating because there were so many emotional things going on.
As soon as I thought that, two pujaris walked into the room and one said to the other pujari, “She’s glowing”.
Immediately I thought Krishna had let me hear that for a reason because I doubted what I saw.
I thought it was my imagination.
But when they used the same word, “glowing”, I knew it was true.
It was all true.
Krishna, Prabhupada and Pishima allowed me to see that and that is another experience that has kept me going as a devotee.
I have great enthusiasm that at the time of our death, for everyone who tries to do something for Prabhupada, he’ll come and take us by the hand; anyone who’s been touched by him.
Later on I had experiences with my father and mother who weren’t too fond of the devotees.
My father deep in his heart was a devotee but my mother was against the devotees.
But when my mother was about to pass, she said, “Is Krishna going to help me?”
Then she said, “Krishna is here now. I am going to go and have a picnic with him.”
She left with the devotees chanting.
This is the amazing mercy and it’s all coming from Srila Prabhupada.
We’re all taking part in his movement and these stories that devotees have of him, glorifying him, their emotions with him, their instructions from him, are going down in history through these tapes, videos and books and I am very grateful for that.
I believe this is the Caitanya-caritamrita and Bhagavatam being expanded.
And thank you.
—Ananga Manjari
Most charming and mysterious place in the universe: Govardhana Hill in Vraja Mandala!
Vaisesika Dasa: There’s not a more charming or mysterious place in the universe than Govardhana Hill in Vraja Mandala. Apparently, the word is spreading because nowadays, during Karttika season, millions of pilgrims come here to perform parikrama.*
[*Literally, “parikrama” means “walking around.”]
Only by the mercy of the Vaisnavas have I been allowed to stay for a while here in this magical place under the shelter of the Bhaktivedanta Ashrama, nestled at the base of Govardhana Hill, presided over by HH Keshava Bharati Das Goswami.
For my own purification, I’ve been making some notes. Today’s are as follows:
The precious powder clinging to the feet of the pilgrims who walk around Govardhana Hill is Cintamani dust. One particle of this dust is more valuable than all the wealth in the material world.
See the varieties of pilgrims who come to walk around Govardhana!
Staunch and silent, a swift sadhu wrapped in saffron cloth flies by, his gaze fixed forward. Making this journey daily he knows every pebble, tree, and cow, having passed them hundreds of times before.
Three women, two young and one venerable, have banded together and sing songs to Giriraja as they go; they seem to float around the hill, carried by the divine sound of their own voices.
A householder with dark brown skin, wearing brown pants, a smudged white shirt and slick, jet-black hair, walks proudly along the marg with his wife and kids in tow. The kids march, taking two steps to every one of their father’s, looking noble as they keep up the pace. Their sari-clad mother dutifully carries a bag brimming with water bottle and biscuits and probably some other refreshments.
A sadhu on the path, wearing only a saffron lungi, kneels next to a pile of smooth stones and then suddenly lunges forward, his lean back muscles rippling as he places one stone at a time on a pile of stones that lies before a simple shrine of Radha and Krsna. An incense stick stuck in the ground below the shrine billows fragrant smoke. He will throw 108 stones, one at a time, landing face down in the dust with each toss. After advancing his full pile of 108 stones he’ll move his entire operation forward one body length, only to start the ritual again. Nine months later, this sadhu will complete his parikrama of Giriraja and will probably begin again.
To a man rushing to work on a freeway far away from this place, these pilgrims might seem to be mad. (After all, they are going in circles around a hill.) But, the freeway monger runs his circuit too.
Every soul in the universe wants wealth and happiness and has been wearily searching for it behind every corner. But, “Alas!” says Prahlada Maharaja, “People are searching in vain, running after a mirage.” Every promise for happiness has been broken.
But at Govardhana, all these pilgrims have the same gleam in their eyes. They are connected to a spiritual current that runs through the marg — they feel solace in it.
As a cook laboring to grind fresh spices soon relishes their scent and flavor, similarly the pilgrims here feel Govardhana’s sweetness entering their souls with each step. It shoots up through the soles of their feet and into their hearts as they walk barefoot along this path. They become greedy for more of this ambrosia and so they walk in circles around the Hill.
These souls are fortunate, for they have discovered the secret of life: The happiness that we have been so feverishly searching for — all over the universe — is hidden, like a treasure, within our own hearts.
To find this treasure is the Raja vidya, the king of all sciences. But the amazing fact is, this science is an open secret!
Let those who have ears hear:
Lord Krsna reveals in the Bhagavad-gita 4.30 that by performing yajna, sacrifice to the Lord, we will taste eternal happiness and will go back to Godhead:
“All these performers who know the meaning of sacrifice become cleansed of sinful reactions, and, having tasted the nectar of the results of sacrifices, they advance toward the supreme eternal atmosphere.”
In Kali yuga, Lord Caitanya has brought the supreme dharma of the age, Sankirtana Yajna. Yajna is the wellspring of happiness. Drink there by performing Sankirtana on the order of Lord Caitanya, following the footprints of the Six Goswamis. Please Srila Prabhupada by distributing his books throughout this short lifetime. Focus on this and try to increase it all over the world as Srila Prabhupada did, and even the Supreme abode of the Lord, Vrndavana, the ultimate abode of all happiness, will open to us by the mercy of the Lord.
Sankirtana Yajna is life.
Govardhana parikrama, ki Jaya!
Sri Rasikananda Deva appeared in this world in 1590 A.D. (Sakabda 1512), on the first day of the bright fortnight of the month of Kartik. His father was Sri Achyuta Deva, the king of Rohini. The village of Rohini was situated within the country known as Mallabhumi, encompassed on one side by the Suvarnarekha River. In the village of Royni, Rasikananda Deva was dearly beloved by the people. He was also known as Murari. At a very young age he became quite proficient in all of the scriptures. He was very devoted to his parents, especially his mother, whose name was Bhavani. His father married him at a very young age. Murari's wife Syamadasi was of good character who hailed from the village of Ghonta Sila, not far from Royni where the Pandavas had lived in exile long ago. Continue reading "Sri Rasikananda deva Goswami
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BB 1, Ch 6.
Abigail where she can find descrirpions of Vrndavana forest, Istvan about why we encourage donation with increased returns and Yogesh Bhatt about controling the mind.
Marcus Graham, Australian Actor, saw HARE KRISHNA! the movie and he reckons you should see it too! (1 min video)
Watch it here:...
H.H Gopal Krishna Goswami meets the Hon’ble President of India, Sh. Ram Nath Kovind ji yesterday at New Delhi. (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/QyYmJA
The entrusted given by the tourism department was followed up by Trivikram das, one of H.H Subhag Swami Maharaj who live in Malang and always search for the opportunity to present the Hare Krishna Movement in public in Malang by invited the devotees in all over in Indonesia to participate on the Ratha yatra. Continue reading "Jagannath Ratha Yatra on Jatim Specta Night Carnival
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A visit to Vrinda Kund (8 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Vrinda Kund is the eternal abode of Vrindadevi, Krsna’s Lila potency. Early every morning she, Purnamasi and Nandimukhi meet at this kund to arrange Radha and Krsna’s pastimes. By Her grace, we were fortunate to spend the day there with our parikrama party to hear and chant her glories and beg for her divine mercy.
Vṛnde! Namas Te Caraṇāravindam!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/rGKxj5
Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast
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[Talk at “Krishna and Peace” program at Krishna House, Gainesville, USA to counteract white supremacist rally at Florida University]
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[Govardhana Puja class at Krishna House, Gainesville, USA]
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Kartik (Damodar) is the best, the purest of purifiers, and most glorious of all months. Kartik month is particularly dear to Lord Sri Krishna. This month is full of bhakta vatsalya. Any vrata, even the smallest, will yield huge results.
The effect of performing a Kartik Vrata lasts for one hundred lifetimes, Kartik or the festival of offering lamps to Lord Krishna, glorifies Lord Krishna’s pastime of being bound with ropes by Mother Yashoda.
Every night at ISKCON Ujjain, thousands of visitors came to the temple to pray and offer lamps to Their Lordships.
Govardhana Puja in Durban (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Krishna is the root of everything. IF He is pleased, everyone ...