Planet ISKCON

Sriman Havi Das, a dear disciple of Srila Prabhupada, will receive Grammy Award for Excellence 2017.
Havi das (Ilan Chester) at the age of 19, in 1971 he first met Hare Krishna devotees and two years later he was initiated and given the spiritual name Havi Das by his spiritual master His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Chester has stated on record that ‘Krishna consciousness is and has always been my true source of inspiration. It is the love found in the hearts of the devotees for Krishna that has motivated me to write songs.’ He and his family continue to be active practitioners of the Vaishnava Bhakti tradition.
“I must admit that the phone call I received from The Latin Recording Academy to inform me about the decision to give me a special recognition for my musical trajectory was a complete surprise,” said the Venezuelan musician after hearing the news.
Havi das (Ilan Chester) transformed a deep mystical devotion and his fascination for many different sounds in a long and long career of impressive variety and depth. Chester, a talented singer-songwriter and musician, grew up listening to Venezuelan folklore, Afro-Caribbean dance rhythms, British progressive rock and American R & B, and incorporated them all into his own music. Received a Latin Grammy for Best Folk Music Album for his Treasures of Venezuelan Music of 2010.
The Music Excellence Award is awarded by a vote of the Academy’s Board of Directors to artists who have made creative contributions of great artistic importance in the field of recording during their careers. The Directing Council Award, also granted by a vote of the council, recognizes individuals who have made important contributions in the field of recording, excluding interpretations.
Each year the Latin Recording Academy honors esteemed Latin music makers with their Special Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Trustees Award.

Answer Podcast

The post How can the gopis become proud? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Congregation program on Bhagavatam 10.31.7-13 at Pittsburg, USA]

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The post Gopi Gita 2 – You alone can free us from contamination and tribulation – please return appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Beautiful new Iskcon temple near Krasnodar (a city and the administrative center of Krasnodar Krai, Russia)
New Ekachakra Dham ...

“Discover India” devotees visit New Vrindavan (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Our base for the next few days is beautiful New Vrindavan in West Virginia as we prepare for our next few university programs in the area. We have been told that all seats for tomorrow’s program at West Liberty University are sold out. To keep up our high standard devotees are practicing day in and day out.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/hxcxbZ

By Rachel Norris

Human life is meant for cultivating your spiritual self. Spirituality is not just about doing some yoga, some poses, looking good and wearing tight clothes. It’s more about expressing kindness to everyone and addressing those little demons inside of you: the lust, the anger, the greed. We all know sex is on people’s minds, that’s fine. Krishna says ‘I am sex, which is not promiscuous, but is responsible sex.’ When it comes to greed, we all have wants and needs, but when a need becomes greed, then we know we’re overboard. I believe walking and meditating at the same time helps to calm down the tendency of getting angry, that’s what Krishna consciousness is all about. We all know that we leave this body, make an exit and expire, so is there any preparation for that? Yes, get clean. Clean the heart and work on those little demons inside. Do that, and you can love and you will be loved. If you’re just a bag of emotions, there will always be something wrong Continue reading "Walking With Purpose—Bhaktimarga Swami, known as the Walking Monk, passes through Amador
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Beautiful ceremony in Iskcon Moscow, Russia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Chanting the holy name is the chief means of ...

Krsna-ksetra Maharaja, Bhagavatam class.

Black Sea festival #14

Cow protection conference at NVD #1

By MCO staff

Chanting the holy names is also a way to glorify and honor our savior, Srila Prabhupada, who gave the gift of the holy names to the world. For this purpose, World Holy Name Day was established by the GBC in honor of Srila Prabhupada’s Centennial celebrations in 1996, to honor the anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in the West. World Holy Name Day has since expanded into World Holy Name Week, which every year inspires devotees to please Srila Prabhupada and to purify themselves and the world through the chanting of the holy names throughout the days. Continue reading "Sri Dham Mayapur Celebrates World Holy Name Week
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Krsna’s love for His bhaktas (video)
HH Keshava Bharati Dasa Goswami’s exceptional lecture about how Gopa Kumar visits Narayan in Vaikuntha.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/RNo4bZ

Audio Podcast :

 

Video :

The post Prabhupada life-story 05 – Indian Partition – Transcendence amidst turbulence appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

The post Gita 14.04 The seed-giving father is also the soul-attracting liberator appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

A Meditation

Krishna is the Original Soul. If they were able, all souls could trace their ultimate origin to Krishna, the origin of everyone and everything. Just as the body has a soul within, so the soul also has a soul. The Soul of the soul is known as Atma-atma. But this Soul is never trapped or compromised as the individual soul is. This Soul remains ever free and above all. He is therefore known as the Over Soul or Superior Soul, or Supersoul, the Param-atma.

The individual soul has an innate attraction to the Paramatma and forever struggles to rediscover Him. That struggle spans an entire life. Then the life after that, and the life after that. Thousands of lives are passed searching for the source of the soul. Eventually, Krishna says ‘after many births and deaths,’ the soul comes to know that He, Krishna, is everything, and begins to directly recognise and acknowledge Him; to know and serve Him. This is bhakti, and the beginnings of divine love.

 

British actor Russel Brand credits the Hare Krishna mantra for overcoming addiction.
Russell Brand is said to have turned to chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra to overcome his drug addiction, and even now at the end of a show he says, “Hare Krishna”. He’s a regular visitor to Bhaktivedanta Manor, the Watford estate given to Prabhupada in 1973 by George Harrison.
He has met with the Hare Krishna Guru Radhanath Swami and called him “a beautiful fellow. He’s got the answer. I’m a spiritual gent and increasingly that’s the level I want to vibrate on.” While not claiming he is part of the religion, he has said he is a “well wisher” that has used the chanting as a substitute for narcotic use. He has been sober for 16 years.

Coming to the U.S. for the first time, Indradyumna Swami’s ‘Discover India’ tour began with a resounding success, performing to a receptive audience of over 500 people at the Newburgh Armory Unity Center in New York on September 10^th. The epic show of dance, theater, martial arts and live music has been touring Poland for 28 years under the name Festival of India, putting on forty events every summer and drawing audiences of three to five thousand people each night.

Meet Jonas.
Veera: During the Pandava Sena trip to America last month, SSP managed to spend a few hours with the New York Harinam team who go out to distribute the Holy Name and Srila Prabhupada’s books every day!
Whilst there, I met Jonas - a university student currently doing a course in Music Technology. He was drawn by the kirtan party and wanted to know more so I explained that this is a form of mantra meditation and they do this here in Union Square everyday. To my surprise he commented ‘I can’t think of anything better to do with my day!’
He explained that he has always been interested in non-conventional instruments and was intrigued by the harmonium, mridanga and karatals. I invited him to join the kirtan group for a little while and he happily did so. He got so absorbed in the Holy Name that time flew and before we knew it, more than an hour had passed!
Once he got up from the kirtan party, Jonas looked at the various books spread out on the table. In the end he took a copy of Bhagavad Gita, Science of Self-Realisation and Chant & Be Happy and exchanged contact details with one of the devotees in New York.
Even after acquiring the books Jonas remained with us, taking photos and videos and inquiring more about different aspects of Krishna Consciousness. He mentioned that he will definitely try to visit the Bhakti Centre soon and also wishes to do kirtan with his course mates in university. Soon we had to leave the harinam party in order to get back to the PS program but Jonas remained, even after we left!
It was so incredible to watch the Holy Name work its magic - just a moment’s interaction had such a deep impact on Jonas that he felt inspired to set aside his plans for the day and spend a few hours with the devotees doing kirtan!
Yuga dharma harinam sankirtan yajna ki jaya!!

ISKCON Czech Hare Krishna farm - The Harvest festival 2017 (4 min video)
ISKCON Czech Hare Krishna farm - Krishna’s yard.
We would like to evaluate today’s harvest festival on the farm Krishna’s yard. It was a beautiful event we organized 2nd year with an idea not only to entertain the visitors with the different attractions and the workshops, but also we wanted to evaluate the entire agricultural season. During whole day were prepared a different workshops - the hand milling of flour on a stone mill, a ceramics production on the pottery circle, a blacksmith workshop, a threading beads for children, a women could decorate themselves by a henna painting or they could try out to dress an indian sari, a face painting and many other activities. A few times during a day was organized a guided tour around the farm. The visitors could see our barn, to get acquainted with grinding flour on a stone mill and look around on our filelds. A big attraction was our newly born calf Uttara, which visitors, and especially the children, cuddled. Our small bull “Jay” on a leash walked through the farm, so anybody could approach him, caress him or feed him. It was possible to ride a horse or on a bullock cart. In a yoga and massage stall, Induprabha devi dasi massaged and advised about the healthy lifestyle. In the educational stall a visitors could get acquainted with various branches of Vedic knowledge in the form of educational banners and there was also an offer of books for sale. A delicious meal with lots of Indian specialties was available all day. There were stalls with farm flour, honey, biscuits and other farm products… The whole event was very nice in a very joyful mood. We consider it to be a very successfull. We would like to thank to all our visitors, as well as the organizers and all others, who helped us with this event. We hope, it was a nice experience for everybody and we hope, that it helps to make the general public more aware of these farms and about this lifestyle. It was a great desire of Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-acharya od the Hare Krishna movement to start these farm projects around the world so that people can become more and more acquainted with an idea of “Simple living, high thinking”. So, we hope that today we fullfiled his desire at least a bit. We look forward to further events on the Krishna’s yard. Hare Krishna. Follow us on:
facebook.com/krisnuvdvur
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/pAZRJY

Black Sea festival #13

Black Sea festival #12

Answer Podcast

The post Did Krishna appear in Mathura or in both Mathura and Vrindavan? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Congregation program at Pittsburg, USA]

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Podcast Summary

The post Gopi Gita 1 – Whoever you are – Lord or lover – please come back appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse Podcast

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 March 2013, Vrindavan, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.27.10)

There are letters where Srila Prabhupada writes, “Krsna has sent me many spiritual masters in the form of my disciples.” Is this artificial? No, Srila Prabhupada was never artificial! Srila Prabhupada never said things just to impress people – this was his wonderful quality. He did not try to impress anybody; he was completely genuine therefore this statement must be genuine.

So, how can he genuinely say, “Krsna sent me many spiritual masters.” Well think about it, every devotee is a unique individual and has some unique strength, some unique quality of surrender – they are really surrendering in a way that we would hesitate to. When we see others surrendering in areas and ways that we do not then we should consider them to be our spiritual masters and learn from them.

Srila Prabhupada’s Gift to the World – Sri Dham Mayapur Celebrates World Holy Name Week A Week of Bliss! This year, World Holy Name Week falls between the 9th and 17th of September. At a time when much of the world is experiencing great chaos and distress, what better way can ISKCON devotees help suffering […]

The post Sri Dham Mayapur Celebrates World Holy Name Week appeared first on Mayapur.com.

By His Divine Grace Srila A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The proper method for receiving this transcendental message is to hear it submissively. A challenging attitude cannot help one realize this transcendental message This (Kapila's) instruction should be imparted by the spiritual master to persons who have taken the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be more dear than anything, who are not envious of anyone, who are perfectly cleansed & who have developed detachment Continue reading "When And How To Read, Recite, Chant And Hear Srimad Bhagavatam
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Book distribution “miracles”
I was distributing in Bethlehem, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. In the Countdown Supermarket parking lot I saw a young delivery guy heading toward his van. I approached him and put a Hiding in Unnatural Happiness in his hand. Eru is a nineteen-year-old New Zealander half Maori native.
Enthused about the book and our exchange, he wanted to donate but had no cash, so I pulled out the mobile eftpos PayClip machine. Eru trusted me but had doubts about this device. He expressed that he didn’t want to take the risk.
Just at that moment, a young lady came from behind us and asked what books I had. She saw the Hiding book in Eru’s hand, and glorified it with much enthusiasm and sincerity.
Sheata revealed that this book dramatically changed her life and that she had bought three copies from different devotees and given them to her friends in the last couple of months. Sheata first saw a HIUH in her local hair salon and started reading it each time she had an appointment. She would take photos of the pages so that she could continue reading it when not at the salon – until she met devotees in Auckland and in the Bay Area and bought a copy.
Eru was hearing this testimony and started looking through the copy he was holding.
Sheata asked about the Srimad Bhagavatam that I was holding. I handed it to her, and she took it in her hands as though it was the most precious gift ever given to her. I gave her a brief outline of the Bhagavatam, and she relished every word.
She shared how much impact this knowledge had on her and her friends’ lives. Sheata pulled out her card and wanted to give $10 using the portable eftpos machine. So after the transaction was complete and Sheata left I turned to Eru.
He was moved by what he just witnessed, and he said, “OK, here’s my eftpos card. Can I please purchase a copy? I saw what this book did for her. And your machine is legit, I hope.”
Joking that Sheata should step in on all of my exchanges and help clinch the deal, Eru and I pondered the greater powers at work that day.
Sankirtan yajna, ki jaya!

“Prabhupada’s a genuine holy man.”
[From the time she was 4, Urmila (Dr. Edith Best) was looking for God. If somebody said, “What do you want to do?” she’d say, “I want to be spiritually perfect. I want to find God.” They’d say, “Don’t you want to get married, have kids, have a career?” She’d say, “I just want to find God.”]
Urmila: My first contact with Prabhupada was in ’67 when I was 12 years old.
I would regularly listen to him chanting on the Happening album playing in Alan Kallman’s shop on the Lower East Side.
I’d ask, “What is this record? Who is this?”
My next contact was through the Radha Krishna Temple Album, which I heard on the radio.
Prabhupada’s picture was on the album and my initial response to it was skeptical.
I thought someone who takes the role of guru might think he’s better than others.
When I was 17, I got Prabhupada’s translation of Bhagavad-gita.
After reading it, I decided to move into the temple, but at first I didn’t want to get initiated.
Soon after I moved in I got married; my husband was already second initiated, and in his association I started thinking,
“How am I going to be able to find God and become spiritually perfect without a spiritual master?”
Gradually my relationship with Prabhupada developed and I became his initiated disciple, after he accepted me through the mail.
When I first met Prabhupada in Chicago in the summer of ’74, a little more than a year after I’d moved in.
I was expecting a mystical experience.
Prabhupada was sitting on the vyasasana giving class and I was fanning him.
I was standing very close, to his left, moving the peacock fan, absorbed in every word and gesture.
My experience was, indeed, mystical, but not in the way I expected.
I felt, “Prabhupada has always been here, because playing a recording of Prabhupada lecturing and listening to him lecture in person is exactly the same.”
I was hearing him directly but I felt the same as when I was listening to a recording.
It was satisfying and amazing–I realized that I could associate with Prabhupada even in his physical absence with potency equal to his presence.
Still, I felt incomplete in the experience.
Later that morning, my father, husband, and I met Srila Prabhupada in his room and I got to know him as a person–he was funny, laughing, casual, jovial, and exchanging affectionately with my father.
I understood he cared about me, as an individual, and I felt a loving relationship with him.
At that point there was full satisfaction.
My father asked why we give people prasada, and Prabhupada said,
“Just like if you eat the food of a sick person, you will get their disease. If you eat Krishna’s food, you will get Krishna’s disease.”
My father thought he was only supposed to come to the temple if he was a devotee, so he asked,
“Can I come to the temple just to see my daughter and son-in-law?”
Smiling, Prabhupada said,
“They are loving Krishna. Chanting and dancing are symptoms of loving Krishna. You are loving them and they are loving Krishna, so two things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.”
Prabhupada’s mood was light, but I thought,
“Prabhupada said I love Krishna, so it’s just a matter of time. Someday I’ll love Krishna.”
That meeting changed my life. And it moved my father.
He said, “Prabhupada’s a genuine holy man.”
He enjoyed Prabhupada’s company and became somewhat of a devotee.
—Urmila

In The Heart Of New York (Album with photos) Indradyumna Swami: Our 2nd performance in New York took place in the prestigious Kaufman Music Center in downtown Manhattan. The show sold out with all 486 seats taken. The resounding applause after each ac...

Four Kinds of Pious and Impious People from the Bhagavad-gita (video) Class by HG Vaisesika Dasa, 2017-Sept.-06, Iskcon Silicon Valley. Watch it...

New USC ‘Music Meditation Club” A Huge Draw for Western Students.
The method involves three steps: to chant, focus and repeat. According to a mantra meditation guide Das passed out, the first step is to chant the three names of “Hare,” “Krishna” and “Rama” to create a spiritual sound vibration. Next, the key is to focus on the words of the chant to create a transcendental feeling and to revive one’s consciousness. Finally, students are encouraged to repeat the chant and to make it a regular daily practice to promote relaxation.
https://goo.gl/tCHXYE

800 devotees from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia got to immerse themselves in Krishna consciousness in one of the most gorgeous natural settings in the world this August. They were attending the 17^th annual Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania, which ran from August 4^th to 11^th.

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!

A documentary by Vasudeva Das.

Within the last few days we have begun the preparation work for installing the remaining two Kalashes and Chakras onto both the Main and Nrsimhadeva domes. This consists of mounting the power frames which will hold the Kalashes and Chakras in place.

Nrsimhadeva’s dome is now ready for the Russian engineers to begin working.The stainless steel pipe frame (each has a diameter of 80-140mm/3-6”) has been mounted, along with all 16 GRC (Glass Reinforced Concrete) brackets that will hold the Kalash. The scaffolding has been raised to working level.

For the Main dome, preparation work is underway to mount the same steel pipe frame. All the preparatory work is planned to be completed by mid-October, which will be followed by the mounting of both Kalashes by the Russian engineers.

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