Planet ISKCON

[Talk at Yale Medical College, Connecticut, USA]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

The post Science, Spirituality & Self-improvement appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

I accompanied a small but enthusiastic band of devotees from Govinda’s Asrama on harinama to Newtown.

This inner suburb of Sydney is famous for students and alternative lifestyle residents. The shopping strip has about 8 vegetarian/vegan restaurants and some years ago we had a centre there too.

People enjoyed the kirtan with many waving and clapping from the cafes and bars.

Installation of the new deities of Vijay Gauranga Nityananda Rama and Harinam Sankirtan in Panama City (Album with photos)
Sril...

A glimpse of the Second South American Farm Conference, in Nova Gokula, Brazil (Album with photos)

How to stop the unstoppable! (Album with photos)
Mohanasini Devi Dasi: That was the challenge this weekend….people just so passionate to get to their sense gratification! Fortunately there were enough special souls who were interested in Srila Prabhupada’s books and it turned out to be a great weekend! Please click on the pics for the whole story!
Book Distribution weekend of Sept 28 - Oct 1, 2017.

Thousands Celebrate Dussehra at Hare Krishna Temple in Washington.
Potomac, Maryland, September 30, 2017 — Thousands of people clad in colorful Indian attire thronged to the Hare Krishna Temple in the Washington area on a picture-perfect day in early Fall to celebrate ‘Dussehra’, a Hindu festival signifying the triumph of good over evil. The event is now in its 36th year at the temple, also known as ISKCON of DC, and draws some 3,000 people, making it the third largest celebration following ‘Holi’, the festival of colors (4,000) and ‘Janmashtami’, the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna (5,000). “Today we are celebrating Dussehra which is the day when Lord Ram rescues his wife Sita and kills the demon, Ravana”, Ananda Devi, President of the Hare Krishna Temple, said. “It’s a great part of our Hindu, Vaishnava tradition to celebrate this festival symbolizing that good always win. If you do the right thing and if you really care about people, then good will always triumph over evil”. On a deeper level, she told us, “It is a time to remember our connection with God. The idea is that when we spend time nurturing our spiritual relationship with Krishna, we get a deeper sense of happiness in life. This festival is all about awakening our pure, spiritual love for Krishna and for each other”.
Read more: https://goo.gl/D92TTM

Tom Petty: “I need you all to say: Hare Krishna!”
Legendary rock and roll star Tom Petty, a close friend of George Harrison, in this short video is asking everyone to chant Hare Krishna.

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Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day.
Giriraj Swami: Today is Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day. “Raghunatha Bhattacarya, or Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, one of the Six Gosvamis, was the son of Tapana Misra. Born in approximately 1425 Sakabda (A.D. 1503), he was expert in reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam, and in Antya-lila, Chapter Thirteen, it is stated that he was also expert in cooking; whatever he cooked would be nectarean. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was greatly pleased to accept the food that he cooked, and Raghunatha Bhatta used to take the remnants of food left by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Raghunatha Bhattacarya lived for eight months in Jagannatha Puri, after which Lord Caitanya ordered him to go to Vrndavana to join Sri Rupa Gosvami. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked Raghunatha Bhattacarya not to marry but to remain a brahmacari, and He also ordered him to read Srimad-Bhagavatam constantly. Thus he went to Vrndavana, where he engaged in reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam to Srila Rupa Gosvami. He was so expert in reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam that he would recite each and every verse in three melodious tunes. While Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami was living with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord blessed him by offering him betel nuts offered to the Jagannatha Deity and a garland of tulasi said to be as long as fourteen cubits. Under Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami’s order, one of his disciples constructed the Govinda temple. Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami supplied all the ornaments of the Govinda Deity. He never talked of nonsense or worldly matters but always engaged in hearing about Krsna twenty-four hours a day. He never cared to hear blasphemy of a Vaisnava. Even when there were points to be criticized, he used to say that since all the Vaisnavas were engaged in the service of the Lord, he did not mind their faults. Later Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami lived by Radha-kunda in a small cottage. In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (185) it is said that Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami was formerly the gopi named Raga-manjari.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi 10.158 purport)

Hare Krishna.

The post Daily Darshan: October03,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Morning Class, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.2.31 - Agnidev prabhu - 1 October 2017, ISKCON Melbourne (video)
The Vedas give the eternal regulative principles for auspicious advancement in human civilization which have been rigidly followed in the past. The strong evidence of this principle is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is called Janārdana, the well-wisher of all living entities.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/4bS8b2

Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

The post Gita 14.11 Illumination of knowledge regulates the input and output through the doorways of the senses appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

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Answer Podcast

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Answer Podcast

The post Might our desire for eternal life come from our experience of an external long-living object, not from an eternal soul? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Sunday feast class at ISKCON, Connecticut, USA]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

The post Simplify, Clarify, Purify – Three principles for a fulfilling life appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Talk at University of Massachusetts, USA]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

PPT:

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Sri Damodara-janani is the latest book from Sivarama Swami and the fourth volume of the Krishna in Vrndavana series, a unique retelling of the damodara-lila that weaves a captivating tale of the glories of Mother Yasoda. No other person has ever received the unique mercy that Krishna showed His own mother, teaching devotees for all time that the binding force of love for Him is more powerful than even His own supreme will.

Turkish Sadhu-sanga.

Festival of Fiji 2017 (Album with photos)
The best way to spend an Ekadasi!
Kalasamvara Das: Today we went to one of the larger school in Fiji in a small town called Navua with about 2500 student and distributed over 4000 plates of prasadam at the school and in the town.
Performed Harinam, and distribution Srila Prabhupada’s books and ended the day with a picnic/lunch and swimming in one of the many beautiful beaches in Fiji.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/KR6u97

Social Media
Facebook	£650.00	52 videos at £12 promotion each. Promotion is needed to push the videos, especially when they are not as appealing to the common person so we need paid promotions to get the video more widely distributed to build a following.
Twitter	£500.00	Twitter allows us to pay to promote tweets and the profile to get followers. As Twitter messages are quite direct, we need to promote the tweets a bit more to reach out to the wider audience to capture those who would be interested in these topics. Once we get a larger following the popularity should snowball. This is a small amount requested at present but should help. At present we have nearly 300 twitter followers. Aim is 1000+.
Websites
SRS.Media
Flickr	£40.00	$50/year – this will eventually be the central place for all photos on SRS Media.
Dropbox	£660.00	4 users at approx Eur15 a month for a year – This is crucial for the media archive which is being built up as many files will be being shared to replace the tape ministry
Wetransfer subscription	£120.00	Eur120/year to allow large files/recordings to be distributed by Guru Maharaja to the website team
SRS.com	£150.00	$79 – the7 theme, $99 gallery plugin
SRS books	£100.00	An estimated cost for the future redevelopment of the website
Vlog production
Camera	£2,000.00	This amount ranges from £1500-2000 for a new camera for filming of the Vlogs at a high standard
Ball head	£465.00	$600 – equipment for camera
Gimbal	£1,200.00	Approx $1500 – equipment for camera – this allows more flexibility of shots especially moving shots
Lighting	£450.00	$300-500+ – This can add to the professionalism of the videos in areas of low light and when filming longer items such as courses
Microphone	£500.00	http://cvp.com/index.php?t=product/sennheiser_ew-112-p-g3 – this is required to Guru Maharaja does not need to have a clip on mic and sound can be accurately picked up from the camera’s microphone
Small prompter	£250.00	Glide Gear TP – A prompter is very important for Gur Maharaja to follow his notes for each video
Total	£7,085

Prajalpa (gossip).

Radhanath Swami: People like to hear about other people’s problems. It’s fun for some. That’s the reason why some of the most popular magazines in the world just focus on scandals. Recently, a champion golfer got into some scandal. It’s like a rule in this world—that such news must be known to everyone, that such news must be the event on every television and news channel. That scandal was all that the people were talking about, for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. Ironically, nobody cared that much when he won a golf game. But when he did something really scandalous, all of a sudden everybody becomes really ‘concerned.’ Now, is it necessary to bother about all these things? But we have this inclination to gossip, which the scriptures call Prajalpa.

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Departure of Srila Prabhupada’s daughter.
My dear Maharaj ji’s and prabhu ji’s!
Please accept my most humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
The daughter of Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktilata Dey left her body yesterday (Ekadashi) at 4 am. Her younger brother Vrindavan Chandra Dey performed her last rites. She was unmarried and was staying with her brother.
your servant
Radharaman Das

All India Padayatra Hosts Special Program For School Children | Kumbla, Kerala (Album with photos)
Acarya Dasa: When we visited Kumbla on September 16th, we performed saṅkīrtana in the town and the news of pāda-yātrā spread everywhere. There is a ‘Nityananda Swami Matha’ in the area which also has a school. Nityananda Swami invited us to hold a program for the school children; we agreed and all the teachers were informed. The children were called out on the school grounds where we had a grand saṅkīrtana and they danced to the Holy Names. Afterward, we gave a small talk on the glories of chanting, followed by book distribution and maha-prasādam. Nityananda Swami was very happy that pāda-yātrā had come to his town and he was especially happy that we inspired the school children. Before we left he took a Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam set from us.

If every school principal has such an attitude and wants the children in his institution to be exposed to the Holy Names, then every school will be a Gurukula with seeds of bhakti being sown in every heart.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/eKu1K9

Dusshera at Bhaktivedanta Manor (2 min video)
Yesterday, we celebrated Dusshera at Bhaktivedanta Manor with an amazing performance of the Ramayana from ISKCON Pandava Sena followed by the burning of Ravana.
The burning of the 10 headed demon, Ravana reminds us to eradicate the demons inside of us and to continue in the path of Bhakti.
If you weren’t able to join us, watch the video here: https://goo.gl/s4Sa7R

ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 08/27/2017

Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes simple living, cow protection, engaging oxen, local agriculture, and above all, loving Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

Participating Directors: Anuttama (partial attendance), Chaitanya Mangala (chair), Kripamaya, Ranaka, and Vraja.

Participating Advisors: Bhima, Jaya Krsna, Kalakantha, Makara, and Olivia (partial attendance)

Recording Secretary: Jamuna Jivani

1. Ranaka’s Monthly Report

• The Temple Barn crew has been milking five cows. Milk production is at 18-20 gallons per day.
• Sita gave birth to a heifer calf this week, which will bring the milking herd up to six.
• Malati is due in October. Sriya and Anjali are both due in February.
• There are two heifers residing at the Temple Barn (an 18-month-old and an eight-month-old).
• The heifer, Subhadra, was moved from the Temple Barn to Nandagram for breeding with the bull Madhu.
• The milk cow, Usha, was moved from the Temple Barn to the Valley Barn for breeding with the bull Dharma.
• Ananda Vidya is producing 10-12 lbs. of butter and 15 gallons of yogurt each week for the temple kitchens.
• Hay harvest: We have 460 new first cutting, and 85 new second cutting bales in addition to the approximately 250 bales from last year. 80-100 more first cutting bales are expected along with additional second and third cutting hay.
• Ray is pressure washing and painting the valley board fences on the days he is not in the fields.
• Ray has begun work on Dharma the bull’s outside pen expansion project at the Valley Barn. Fill dirt has been added at the end of the cement apron on the side of the barn, and old fence has been taken down to recoup welded wire panels and posts for the new fence installation.
• Fil has been starting each day working with the oxen.
• While Ananda Vidya was out of town, Fil covered the morning and evening milking for three days.
• Fil has been doing grounds maintenance and mowing at Nandagram and the flower garden, as well as feeding, cleaning, and herd maintenance at Bahulaban.
• Ananta Gauranga, one of Fil’s cows from Canada, died unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago and Ray buried him. The cause of death is uncertain, though it is likely from “hardware disease,” ingesting a foreign object.
• Fil has been working on the mold problem in both houses at Nandagram by bleaching, removing, and repairing walls and ceilings when necessary.
• Fil and Tejo are making repairs and doing maintenance on the Nandagram water system.
• There is a problem with the electrical feed to the Nandagram pasture cabin. It will be revisited once Fil returns from his initiation in Hungary this coming Wednesday.
• Robert has been delivering summer vegetables to the temple kitchen and green beans to the Valley Barn processing room. He also picks flowers and makes vases for the temple.
• ECO-V purchased a new 15-cubic ft chest freezer for green bean and tomato storage. Dharmakala processed 26 one-gallon freezer bags of green beans.
• Suchandra and Lila have been picking and delivering 500-600 flowers each day to the temple. 6,000 marigolds were delivered over a three-day period for Janmastami. 2,000 flowers are expected to be picked for Radhashtami this week.

2. Farm Conference Update

Jamuna Jivani reported on the previous month’s projects:

• Madhava Smullen interviewed Jamuna Jivani for a Dandavats article about the conference. It will be published the week of 9/4/17.
• Sukhayanti and Jamuna Jivani have been calling all the temples and farm communities in North America to personally speak with them about and invite them to the conference.
• Posters have been sent out to many temples and farm, as well as the Facebook event page.
• A program at Prabhupada’s Palace has been confirmed for the evening of Friday 10/13/17 with kirtan, dipa dana, and a slideshow presentation by Sankirtana dasa.
• The organizers have confirmed a panel discussion on the topic of ahimsa dairy featuring some of the conference speakers.
• A special discounted price of $20 is being offered to New Vrindaban residents.

3. Sri Tulasi Manjari’s Resignation

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to acknowledge the contributions made by one of its directors.

RESOLVED: The Board reluctantly accepts Sri Tulasi Manjari’s resignation as both a board member and board chairperson.

The Board members expressed their deep appreciation for Sri Tulasi’s service and sacrifice over the past couple of years.

4. Partnership with IMCPA

Kalakantha proposed a three-year partnership between the ISKCON Ministry of Cow Protection and Agriculture and ECO-V. He proposed the relationship that IMCPA envisions with the two organizations working together on specific projects. ECO-V will consider this proposal and vote on it at a later date.

5. Community Center Update

The community center topic was discussed at the Village Association meeting on 8/3/17. It was concluded that a sub-committee will inquire as to the needs of the Village Association members, consider the current buildings that could potentially be used as a community center, and examine places a new building could be erected. They will develop a proposal based on these considerations.

6. Prabhupada’s Palace Restoration Grant Update

Over the past few years, ECO-V allocated grants totaling $375,000 for the Palace restoration, which have since been transferred to INV in full. This funding went toward the restoration of the main stairs, the rain water control on the middle level, and the outer wall, as well as a number of smaller repairs. At the same time, INV committed matching funds totaling $425,000, of which approximately $10,000 remains.

7. Prabhupada’s Palace Fundraising Grant Update

The $50K matching grant committed by ECO-V for the purposes of fundraising for Prabhupada’s Palace renovation is yet to be requested. INV is currently planning a campaign.

8. Talavan Housing Sites Update

Members of the Village Association are the process of creating a subgroup to research the proposed housing site at Talavan. They intend to have a defined plan by the biannual meeting in early November.

9. Jamuna Jivani as a Board Advisor

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to maintain a team of advisors.

RESOLVED: The ECO-V Board invites Jamuna Jivani devi dasi to act as an advisor from September 1, 2017 through the January 2018 annual meeting.

For regular updates please visit and like the ECO-V Facebook page.

The post Daily Darshan: October 02,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Value-based leadership in changing and challenging environments (video)
A seminar by Bhakti Rasamrita Swami in Melbourne.
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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

The post Gita 14.10 The modes are neither in segregation nor in integration but are in competition appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Sixty devotees, from 14 different countries around the world, performed almost daily in many of the prestigious universities on the east coast of the United States. Professors, students, and various dignitaries gave resounding applause devotees' performances which were centered around the pastimes of the Lord recounted in the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Ramayana. Other performances included bhajans, the Sankhya dance company from Mumbai, a talk on the wisdom of Bhagavad Gita and more. Everything was presented in a professional, and most important, devotional way. A video by Ananta Vrindavan.