Planet ISKCON

The post Daily Darshan:September 04,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Seattle Rathayatra Festival (Album with photos)
Ramai Swami: The devotees at Seattle temple organized a two-day festival at Bellevue Crossroads Park to celebrate Lord Jagannatha’s Rathayatra.
On the first day, activities were going on in various tents and performers in the main tent entertained with dance, kirtan and drama. Of course, the devotees at the free prasadam tent were busy serving a delicious feast all day.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/HC1wqf

By ISKCON Communicatios INDIA

This year, Sri Krishna Janmastami 2017 will be remembered for various reasons all across India & its capital, though Krishna Janmastami is a mega event of this country. The day of Janmastami is one of a pious occasion for Vaishnavas community that coincided with Indian Independence Day (15th August 1947) on this year. The occasion is well estimated for gathering of thousands of Krishna Devotees all across the ISKCON temples of India. ISKCON Communications India coordinates the Indian Government officials included Ministers, Judicial, bureaucrats and Dignitaries that representing Indian Government to help in catering the need for strengthening Krishna conscious movement within the government network. The presence of dignitaries from various leading organizations included as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), Prime Minister Office (PMO), Delhi Police, Central Bureau of India (CBI), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Border Security Force (BSF) and Indian Judiciary. Continue reading "A Report: ‘Indian Government conveys their Best wishes on Sri Krishna Janmastami 2017’
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Harinam Sankirtan in Union Square park with HH Radhanath Swami (Album with photos) Srila Prabhupada: A devotee, either in danger or in happiness,...

Kulim Ratha Yatra 2017 by ISKCON Malaysia (Album with photos) Srila Prabhupada: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given us a nice weapon for this age. ...

Iskcon devotees from Brno, Czech Republic, harvest their home grown grains and they turn them into chapatis prasadam (Album with photos) Find the...

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Answer Podcast

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[Retreat at Fort Clinch State Park, Amelia Islands, USA]

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[Retreat at Fort Clinch State Park, Amelia Islands, USA]

Podcast

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By His Divine Grace A.C.B. Swami Prabhupada

If one hears about the uncommon activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His various incarnations, he is certainly elevated to the higher planetary system or even brought back home, back to Godhead. These narrations are transmitted by exalted personalities, and they eradicate all sinful reactions. Whoever hears these narrations attains all good fortune. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the dearmost objective of all auspicious benedictions. A human being who sings this song sung by me can please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a devotee, being fixed in the Lord's devotional service, can acquire whatever he wants from the Supreme Lord. Continue reading "Benefits one gets when reading and hearing Srimad Bhagavatam
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Book distribution by a dedicated Prabhupada disciple on her 70th Birthday (2 min video)
Gauragopala Dasa: This is a wonderful video on Srimati Mohanasini’s Facebook page of her on her 70th Birthday on the streets distributing Srila Prabhupada’s Books.
It is so inspiring, reminds me of how Srila Prabhupada never even began his preaching in the West until he was 70 years of age and look what he achieved!
This amazing preaching by his dedicated disciple, one of the first in the early years, now 70 years old, is telling us all that our preaching can increase many-fold in our older years and give us eternal life!
In here, along with book distribution, she is also sharing news of the Hare Krishna! Film with visitors in New Orleans.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/oHYNEK

The post Prabhupada life-story (03) appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

By Hari Narayana Das

Lord Jagannath’s chariot closed the parade where Thousands of citizens both the surrounding community, domestic and foreign tourists packed along Malioboro Street until Zero Kilometer Point, August 26, 2017. They enjoy various performances on the parade to commemorate the Independence Day was that attended by thousands of participants from various quarters. Continue reading "Lord Jagannath Ratha Yatra in Indonesian Independence day celebration
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REDEFINING HAPPINESS Seminar by HH DEVAMRITA SWAMI, Sep 2, 2017 (video) Watch it here: https://goo.gl/DWm3hv

By Mayapur Communication Office

“Oh, for that day when the fortunate English, French, Russian, German and American people will take up banners, mrdangas and karatalas and raise kirtana through their streets and towns. When will that day come? Oh, for the day when the fair-skinned men from their side will raise up the chanting of 'jaya sacinandana, jaya sacinandana ki jaya' and join with the Bengali devotees. When will that day be? On such a day they will say, 'Our dear Brothers, we have taken shelter of the ocean of Lord Caitanya's Love; kindly embrace us.' When will that day come? That day will witness the holy transcendental ecstasy of the Vaisnava-dharma to be the only dharma, and all the sects and religions will flow like rivers into the ocean of Vaisnava -dharma. When will that day come?" -Bhaktivinoda Thakura Continue reading "Bhaktivinoda Thakura – The Seventh Goswami
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Today marks the anniversary of the birth—the appearance—of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, “the pioneer of the program for benedicting the entire world with Krishna consciousness.” To honor the occasion, I share with you a short piece I wrote about Srila Bhaktivinoda and Srila Prabhupada. We pray for their continued guidance and mercy.

“Dedicated to the sacred service of Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who initiated the teachings of Lord Chaitanya in the Western world (McGill University, Canada) in 1896, the year of my birth.” These words are Srila Prabhupada’s dedication to Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, the first book he published after coming to America. They also apply to Prabhupada’s life, which was dedicated to the sacred service of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and his own spiritual master—Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s son—Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

Srila Prabhupada furthered many of Thakura Bhaktivinoda’s projects: engaging householders in local preaching initiatives (nama-hatta); establishing the principle that Vaishnavas, even not born brahmans, are greater than brahmans (and are brahmans too); translating, explaining, and publishing important Vaishnava scriptures for the understanding of the contemporary audience; implementing the vision of a wonderful temple and spiritual city in Mayapur; and, perhaps most significant, fulfilling the desire and prediction that the holy names and teachings of Sri Krishna Chaitanya—Krishna consciousness—be propagated all over the world.

In 1885, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote,

“Lord Chaitanya did not advent Himself to liberate only a few men in India. Rather, His main objective was to emancipate all living entities of all countries throughout the entire universe and preach the eternal dharma. Lord Chaitanya states in Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, ‘In every town, country, and village My name will be sung.’ There is no doubt that this unquestionable order will come to pass. . . . Although there is still no pure society of Vaishnavas, Lord Chaitanya’s prophetic words will in a few days come true . . .

“Very soon the unparalleled path of hari-nama-sankirtana will be propagated all over the world. . . . Oh, for that day when the fortunate English, French, Russian, German, and American people will take up banners, mridangas, and karatalas and raise kirtan through their streets and towns. When will that day come? Oh, for the day when the Western fair-skinned men, from one side, while chanting ‘Jaya Sacinandana ki jaya!’ will extend their arms and, embracing the devotees of our country coming from another side, treat us with brotherly feelings. When will that day be?”

In the caption to Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s photo in Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, Srila Prabhupada described him as “the pioneer of the program for benedicting the entire world with Krishna consciousness,” and he saw himself as the Thakura’s humble servant in that effort, fully dependent on his mercy.

In a conversation in Mayapur in March 1974, Srila Prabhupada, hearing a kirtan party in the background, commented that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had desired “that ‘Europeans and Americans will come, and they will dance here with the chanting, “Jaya Sacinandana, Jaya Sacinandana!” ’ So that is being done. . . .

When they chant and dance, I simply remember Bhaktivinoda Thakura. That’s all. I pray to Bhaktivinoda Thakura, ‘Now they have come to your shelter. Give them protection.’ That’s all. What can I do more? I cannot do anything more.”

So it is by the mercy of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, coming through parampara, through Srila Prabhupada, that we have been engaged in devotional service to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, His devotees, His holy names, His teachings, and His divine dhama—Mayapur.

In 1971, as a young devotee in Calcutta, I approached Srila Prabhupada and offered, “I have been trying to understand what your desire is. And two things seem to please you most: distributing your books and building the big temple in Mayapur.”

Prabhupada’s face lit up, his eyes opened wide, and he smiled. “Yes, you have understood.”

I did not know it then, but that desire for a big temple in Mayapur (and even for profuse book distribution) came from Thakura Bhaktivinoda. He had a vision of an effulgent city with a wonderful temple at its center, in Mayapur. And he wrote,

eka adbhuta mandira ei haibe prakasa
gaurangera nitya-seva haibe vikasa

“An astounding temple will appear and will engage the entire world in the eternal service of Lord Chaitanya.” (Sri Navadvipa-Mahatmya, Parikrama Khanda, Chapter 4)

After my exchange with Srila Prabhupada, he spent several months in Europe and America and then returned to Calcutta with a design for the big temple. And in the meantime, Tamal Krishna Goswami had fulfilled Prabhupada’s longstanding, ardent desire to acquire some land in Mayapur. But there had been flooding in Mayapur, and the flooding there can be very severe. Therefore—although Prabhupada was so enthusiastic about the project, and had struggled so hard to get the land in Mayapur, and had personally brought the plans for the first building there—still, right when we were at the peak of our enthusiasm, he raised the question: “What will happen if the Ganges floods? What will happen to the temple, to the project?”

He suggested that we not build the temple in Mayapur but at Birnagar, Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s birthplace—another indication of Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s importance to Prabhupada and for the world. And eventually he brought us back to the conclusion that we should proceed with the project in Mayapur. “If you all build this temple,” he declared, “Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura will personally come and take you all back to Godhead.”

Through his empowered service, Srila Prabhupada has made Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s shelter available to all of us, and now we are also “dedicated to the sacred service of Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura.” We beg and pray for pure devotional service under their lotus feet and depend fully on their mercy.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

The devotees at Seattle temple organised a two day festival at Bellevue Crossroads Park to celebrate Lord Jagannatha’s Rathayatra.

On the first day activities were going on in various tents and performers in the main tent entertained with dance, kirtan and drama. Of course, the devotees at the free prasadam tent were busy serving a delicious feast all day.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 31 August 2017, Durban, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.10.26)

Once Brahmananda Prabhu was speaking to Srila Prabhupada about his university days. Brahmananda had written in an essay that everyone in this world inherently has a spiritual inclination, an innate drive to connect with the Supreme Lord, and his Professor totally disagreed and said that the innate drive is towards sex life. Brahmananda was telling the story to Srila Prabhupada to expose how foolish the Professor was but Prabhupada said that the Professor was right! This point is made in the Srimad Bhagavatam; the Bhagavatam says that the entire material world is a backdrop for sexual activity. This is why we became embodied; this is ultimately why we are in the material world – because of lusty desires.

In human society, sexual activities are regulated within marriage which imposes certain restrictions. Prabhupada spoke about the hogs who have no discrimination – sexual activities happen even with family members – animal life, no control! But in human life, there is meant to be control therefore culturally and traditionally, marriage occurred and limited one’s sexuality.

However, these principles have been transgressed always; it is not just in modern times, now, that these things have been abandoned. There was always illicit sex. In this regard, Srimad Bhagavatam is not shy and describes all types of illicit sex – it is something we would not expect from the Srimad Bhagavatam but oral sex is described and also the reactions of oral sex are described!

Illicit sex binds us in suffering. Nowadays, illicit sex has become part of society and labelled as normal and acceptable. In the Vedic culture, illicit sex existed but it was condemned and those who engaged in illicit sex knew that they were engaging in a condemned activity. Nowadays, it is considered perfectly fine and natural. It is unnatural to stress these things. So this Hare Krsna movement is in direct opposition to Freudian philosophy where it is emphasised that when sexuality is oppressed, it causes problems in a person. Sigmund Freud presented the model of a pressure cooker that when there are many desires and it is not released, then there will be an explosion.

In Krsna Consciousness, we have other ways of diminishing the pressure in the pressure cooker. There is no doubt that Freud is right that there is such a thing as pressure building up in the consciousness and when desires are not fulfilled there is frustration and this becomes a problem. Freud’s only solution is to let out the steam.

Our solution is to chant Hare Krsna and engage in devotional service to diminish material desires, aprarabdha-phalam papam kutam bijam phalonmukham, kramenaiva praliyeta vishnu-bhakti-ratatmanam (Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.1.23). In the Visnu Purana, there is a description of aprarabdha karma, karma that is within our heart which gives rise to desires but there are no actions coming from it – it is unmanifest. It is said that devotional service diminishes this karma, devotional service takes away the stock of desires, it minimises the desires in the heart and also the fruits of this karma.

Let us just say that in our previous life we engaged in illicit sex then in this life, there is a stock of desires and sinful reactions in the heart which causes more desires to arise and we may engage in such activities and then, more bad karma is incurred and the desires become even stronger in the heart. It is a vicious cycle connecting the two – sinful activity and sinful desire! However, this vicious cycle is broken by devotional service. Devotional service diminishes the stock of aprarabdha karma in the heart, therefore desires decrease thus the pressure in the pressure cooker diminishes and thus it can be possible to say, “No!” and give sexuality the place where it belongs, within a marital relationship!

 

The post Daily Darshan: Sep 03,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Lord Vamanadeva: The Transcendental Trickster!
Gurukula Milestone: 100th student enrolled!
Who is Mr 24/7?
The gurukula now has more than 100 students and on Monday, 31 July celebrated its success by a special assembly and a delicious cake Dhritigopi devi dasi baked. Mukunda Maharaja also graced the occasion as the VIP guest. Principal Vinod Bihari das said he was honored that many parents were relocating to the Tweed in order for their children to attend the school. As the school expands, preparations are underway for more classrooms to facilitate the 120 students enrolled for the 2018 school year, including 20 HSC students enrolled for Years 11 and 12. In a 31 July Tweed Daily News article, Vinod Bihari is quoted as saying: “This phase includes two classroom buildings, a full-size basketball court, pathways and gardens to preserve the natural beauty of our school’s surroundings.”
Read it all in the latest newsletter of the New Govardhana Hare Krishna Community in Australia: https://goo.gl/87KD8R

I am very much stressing at this point that all of my students shall be very much conversant with the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness, and that they should read our books very diligently.
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[Retreat at Fort Clinch State Park, Amelia Islands, USA]

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Drama Festival On Radhashtami Day 2017 in Vrindavana (Album with photos) Srila Prabhupada: If one somehow or other chants the Hare Krishna mantra...

Our propaganda is to make people Krishna Conscious!
Srila Prabhupada: Regarding propaganda against animal slaughter in BTG. Please do not print any picture showing how a cow is being murdered in our BTG. This will pollute the whole atmosphere. We are not meant for moving anyone’s sentiment against animal slaughter, we are neither Buddhists or Jains, whose main propaganda is against animal slaughter. Even the so-called vegetarians who do not take Krishna prasadam are as much sinful as the non-vegetarians. Our propaganda is different, to make people Krishna Conscious, which automatically makes them sympathetic against any kind of animal slaughter. According to Srimad-Bhagavatam, one living entity subsists on the life of other living entities, either vegetarian or non-vegetarian. But we are neither of them. We are not vegetarian nor non-vegetarian. We are transcendental. We are concerned with Krishna Prasadam. Try to popularize Krishna Prasadam as you have already done. People will naturally become vegetarian without any ghastly propaganda. The pictures of a mahajana or similar pictures for propagating the Bhagavata conclusion should be our objective. Other pictures, there are so many subject matters, just like we follow 4 principles, say for example, illicit sex life, we can publish so many pictures of illicit sex life, but that will not advance our cause. Similarly we may make propaganda against animal slaughter, but that will not advance our real cause. KC is based on pure understanding, not by any sentimental provocation. People must be intelligent enough to catch up this KC movement without being carried away by any sentimental wave. We should always remember that we do not belong to any group like the karmis, jnanis, or yogis. We belong to pure devotional service group, following the footprints of great mahajanas. Our purpose should be that we are in one side and all others they are on the other side. We deprecate everyone, even one who is against animal slaughter. In the Caitanya-caritamrta, it is clearly said that there are two classes of activities. Pious and impious. We do not favor any one of them. Neither we favor any philosophical speculation, we simply stick to Krishna, and wish to render loving transcendental service unto Him. That should be our main objective, and the policy of BTG must be pursued on this line of action. I hope you will understand me rightly. Everyone who is not a KC person is a butcher. Even the so-called pious man, who is not in KC, he is also a butcher. Because he is killing his own self. So in our view, everyone is butcher, and everyone is thief also, because he is enjoying Krishna’s property. So how we can discriminate who is honest and dishonest and butcher and not butcher? Our only test is how one is taking to KC: Even a so-called butcher comes we welcome to chant Hare Krishna.
Hoping you are well.
Your ever well wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
To read the entire letter: https://goo.gl/CHVU2U

Harinama in Argentina (Album with photos) Srila Prabhupada: Fire will act, regardless of whether handled by an innocent child or by someone well...

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is an eternal associ­ate of Lord Caitanya and his eternal spiritual form is Kamala Manjari. He was born into a wealthy family on 2nd September 1838 in a vil­lage named Ulagrama, in the area of Gaura­mandala. His name was Kedamatha Datta.
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By Manu dasa

He was always charitable to brahmanas and equally befriended other castes. He never showed pride, and his amiable disposition was a characteristic feature of his life. He never accepted gifts from anyone; he even declined all honors and titles offered by the government to him on the grounds that they might stand against his holy mission of life. He was very strict in moral principles, and avoided the luxurious life; he would not even chew betel. He disliked theaters because they were frequented by "public women." He spoke Bengali, Sanskrit, English, Latin, Urdu, Persian, and Oriya. He started writing books at age 12, and continued turning out a profuse number of volumes up until his departure from this world. Continue reading "The Life of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur
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