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Black Sea festival #7. Questions and Answers.

A Vaishnava derives joy by glorifying devotees. Devotees are the reservoir of good qualities. If out of hundreds of good qualities, someone displays one bad quality, it should not be magnified. Make it a point to create a very nice atmosphere by glorifying others. That is what Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted. Desiring no respect, glorification, adoration for ourselves, we should offer all respect, glorification and adoration to the Vaishnavas: “See how wonderfully he is rendering his service. He has offered himself to Srila Prabhupada.” That is how we should see every Vaishnava, what to speak of a very senior devotee. Continue reading "Vaishnavas are like swans
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mukam karoti vacalam pangum langhayate girim yat-krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam By the mercy of the guru, even a dumb man can become the greatest orator, and even a lame man can cross mountains.-  Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya Lila, chapter 17 text 80 At Srila Prabhupada’s birth, it was predicted that when he reached […]

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We continue with travel stories by Sesa Das from July and August after Kadamba Kanana Swami’s visit to New York.

A few more days in Radhadesh

What would you do after an 8 hour flight from USA to Europe (18 July)? With your body clock set to being 6 hours behind European timing? Most would take a day off, sleep, relax, etc… But not our Dearest Kadamba Kanana Maharaj. Maharaj arrived in Brussels and after unloading & unpacking he was active with the devotees in Radhadesh. We all gathered outside his room at 6pm, somewhat anticipating that there wouldn’t be an evening walk. Due to the slope I can imagine some may have been thinking maybe today will be an easier walk… Maharaj came out and within minutes was walking ahead in full pace, as if there hadn’t been a flight from USA or time change at all. My body was energized and present, however my mind was completely in another time zone which I realized when I was thinking to call one devotee in the UK & thought it’s 6pm here so it must be 11pm there, they will be asleep. After a while of laughing about it with Maharaj it began to sink in that we are back in Europe.

The following few mornings, in full force Maharaj gave a series of classes on Gajendra’s prayers & return to the spiritual world, from the 8^th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. And what an amazing series it was! You must listen to them! Maharaj spoke about the life of Narada Muni, the opulence of Rajasthan & Jaipur, how Gajendra became fully surrendered, and much more!

One devotee asked Maharaj: Have you ever felt lonely? And how to cope with loneliness?

Maharaj essentially answered: when people are lonely, some get married! In material life things are very lonely, many problematic & painful relationships which lead to loneliness. Otherwise if we have pleasant relations then even if we are alone we don’t feel lonely. Then Maharaj explained that yes at one point early in his youthful times he felt lonely. Then he realized that from this one can go into depression or think let me get out & have a better quality of life.

Loneliness disappears when we are positive to everyone, because then we are always with friends.

I will leave you with this, as I don’t want to spoil the classes, but if you want a good solid dose of spiritual bliss, & elevation via guidance you must hear these classes which were given on the 19^th & 20^th July in Radhadesh.

Sadhu sangha in the Swiss Alps

After a brief one day stopover in the UK, where Maharaj gave a morning Caitanya-caritamrta class & evening program at Krsna Kirtan prabhu’s house, Maharaj proceeded to the Swiss Alps for a retreat with roughly 100 devotees. This is an annual retreat with special guest speakers such as HH Sacinandana Swami, HH Niranjana Swami, HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, HG Trai prabhu, HG Mandakini Mata ji, HG Adi Purusa prabhu & many more! & this year they had specially organized HH Subhag Swami to come for the final few days.

Having hire out a retreat centre, which by the looks of it is a healing health spa centre, the devotees as we always do turned the whole place into a temple for the upcoming week. The main room was transformed into such a transcendental temple room! In the morning everyone would take their deities and do puja & then bring their deities back and place them on a big altar. & it was quite an amazing altar! The set up was inspired many years ago by HH Sacinandana Maharaj & you must see the pictures! Kadamba Kanana Maharaj commented to me several times how much he liked it.

Each of the special guests would give seminars on a special selected topic. HH Sacinandana Swami was enlivening us with talks about how to relish the Srimad Bhagavatam & then went on to speak about the dynamics of the Vrtasura vs Indra pastime.

HH Kadamba Kanana Maharaj wanted to speak about Gaura Lila and did so by beginning from the Srimad Bhagavatam paribhasha sutra (1.3.28) and establishing how Lord Caitanya came to this world by Advaita Acarya’s sincere prayers for His advent. The later seminars Maharaj did reading various biographies of Lord Caitanya’s life such as Caitanya Mangala, Caitanya caritamrta and various other sources.

The final seminar Maharaj carried on with Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement and returned back to the Srimad Bhagavatam’s final chapter (12.13.21), which speaks about Srimad Bhagavatam giving the essence of transcendental knowledge and at the core of Lord Caitanya’s mission. Maharaj expanded by stating that without this transcendental book we can’t think properly, the mind is made of a stream of thoughts & is not under our influence. And it’s the nature of the soul to flow spontaneously towards the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. At the start we need to stream & guide our thoughts otherwise they go everywhere & won’t make it back to Krsna, however reading Srimad Bhagavatam we get uplifted to the transcendental platform as it first touches our heart & creates faith. Maharaj finishes the seminar by emphasizing the point of systematically studying the Bhagavatam. Although, yes, Srila Prabhupada said the Srimad Bhagavatam is sugar doll like sweet anywhere you bite it. But for us to dive deep and really relish Srimad Bhagavatam there’s a need for systematic study.

The final day Maharaj was at the retreat was a 12 hour kirtan day, from 10am in the morning into the evening. His Grace Madhava prabhu came for this day and in the evening played mrdanga for HH Niranjana Swami and then lead beautiful kirtans for several hours at the end. The recordings of these are also available on the blog. Although the Swiss Alps are very beautiful, a scene like no other & we all had amazing walks with Maharaj. Maharaj took us through the valleys, up rocky hills, over the river bridges. Although being in such a tranquil heavenly environment surrounded by nature’s finest beauty the day of kirtan had such a strong spiritual atmosphere & guidance from the sadhu sangha took us way way beyond the heavenly atmosphere and into the transcendental realms.

The next few days Kadamba Kanana Maharaj spent in Leipzig, Germany at Jaya Sacinandana prabhu & Nitya Manjari mata ji’s house. A nice cosy apartment where Maharaj was able to get some peace & quite to recoup a little & was really expertly taken care of by Nitya Manjari mata ji. Instead of going for a walk Maharaj went cycling through the town centre. A hobby that he loved to do from a young age, being from Amsterdam one of the cycling centres of the world.

Saturday 29^th July marked the Berlin Rathyatra which was an ecstatic day as many gathered for the procession. HH Sacinandana Swami, HH Indradyumna Swami, HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, HG Vaiyasaki prabhu, Harinama Ruci & hundreds of devotees got together. What a day it was as everyone danced and sang with so much bliss through the main street of Berlin.

At the end Maharaj led a kirtan on the stage, getting many dancing and singing & without any break he had to shoot off to the airport for his flight back to Radhadesh.

Another few more days in Radhadesh

Maharaj came back to his apartment in Radhadesh for a few days before he flew into Slovakia for a week. Maharaj carried on with his series of seminars on Gajendra’s prayers & return to the spiritual world. I honestly thought the previous few classes he gave were the best I’ve heard. Maharaj shows us that yes he has a humorous side but way beyond that he has a deeply grace, reflective and practical side. So many highly deep topics are there in the Srimad Bhagavatam and when he presents them he enables us to engage our life with the pastimes and imbibe such depth to enhance our life. So this time he took the classes to a whole other level. On the 31^st July, then 1^st & 2^nd of August Maharaj spoke from Canto 8.3.33 to 8.4.6.

Again no amount of descriptions from me would even be near to giving glory to these classes so please hear them! But just to give you a little glimmer, here’s a snippet from one of the classes:

Maharaj began the first of these classes speaking about how in previous yugas (ages) people would get reactions just for their thoughts! Imagine if that was so now, when we can’t control our flow of thoughts, he stated. So we see in previous ages the high calibre of these special sages. We see they are deeply committed and highly advanced through their level of control and purity of thought, which is something very rare to find. Only in the disciplic succession do we find such alignment of purity in actions and thoughts. So for us there’s a great need of commitment to the pure process given, and we are thankful there’s no reaction for the bad thoughts that come in Kali yuga!

Keep tuned in for the week ahead in Slovakia, where some incredible preaching occurred!

“Do have a look at a big animal from the Zoo-gardens!”
“Assuming Responsibility of Being Guru”
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Maharaja: We have taken upon ourselves the responsibility of welcoming this grave charge. All the audience have accepted ordinary seats, I alone have been provided with a lofty seat. All are being told in effect - “Do have a look at a big animal from the Zoo-gardens. What arrogance! So foolish! So wicked! Have you ever seen such a big brute? Garlands of flowers have been put round his neck! What laudations! What bombastic long-drawn, and hyperbolic adjectives! And how complacently too he is listening to the praise of his own achievements, how intently, and with his own ears! He also evidently feels delighted in mind! Is he not acting in plain violation of the teaching of Mahaprabhu? Can such a big brute, so selfish and insolent, be ever reclaimed from brutishness? ”
I happen to be one of the greatest of fools. No one offers me good advice on account of my arrogance. Inasmuch as nobody condescends to instruct me I placed my case before Mahaprabhu Himself. The thought occurred to me that I would make over the charge of myself to Him and see what He would advise me to do. Then Shri Chaitanyadeva said to me:
“Whom-so-ever thou meet'st, instruct him regarding Krishna, By My command being Guru deliver this land; In this thou wilt not be obstructed by the current of the world; Thou wilt have My company once again at this place.”
In these verses is to be found the proper explanation of the apparent inconsistency noticed above.
He whose only teaching is humility greater than that of a blade of grass, said- “By My command being Guru save this land!” - In this instance Mahaprabhu Himself has given the command. His command being “Perform the duty of the Guru, even as I do it Myself. Also convey this command to whom-so-ever you chance to meet.” Chaitanyadeva says, “Tell them these very words, viz. By My command being Guru save this land Deliver the people from their foolishness.” Now who-so-ever happens to hear these words would naturally protest with palms joined - “But I am really a great sinner, how can I be Guru? You are Godhead Himself, the Teacher of the world. You can be Guru.” To this Mahaprabhu replies:
“Do not practice the craft of a Guru for the purpose of injuring others through malice. Do not adopt the trade of a Guru in order to get immersed in the slough of this world. But if you can, indeed, be My guileless servant you will be endowed with My power–then you need not fear.
I have no fear. My Gurudeva has heard this from his Gurudeva. And it is for this reason that my Gurudeva has accepted even such a great sinner as myself and has told me. "By My command being Guru save this land.” It is only those who have never heard these words of Gaursundar who say “How odd! to listen to one’s own praise!” While the Guru is instructing his disciple in the eleventh Skandha of the Bhagavatam what a great sin, in their opinion, is he not perpetuating! What is the Acharya to do when he has to explain the Shloka Acharya Mam Vijaniyat: “Never disregard the Acharya; never entertain the idea that the Acharya is your equal in any sense.” These are the words of Shri Krishna Himself by which the jiva is to be benefited. Is the Guru to take himself off, to desert his seat–the seat of the Acharya–from which these words are to be explained? That office his Gurudeva has conferred on him. If he does not act up to its requirements he is doomed to perdition by reason of his offense against the holy Name in the shape of disrespect towards the Guru. He has to do it in spite of the fact that such procedure is apparently open to the charge of egoism. When the Guru imparts the mantram to the disciple should he not tell him by this mantram to worship the Guru? Should he say instead, “Give the Guru a few strokes of the shoe or the horse-whip?” The Guru is never to be decried. The Guru is the abode of all the gods. Should the Gurudeva abstain from communicating these words to his disciple while reading the Bhagavatam to him? “To him alone who possesses guileless spiritual devotion, similar to the transcendental devotion that is due to Krishna Himself, to the Gurudeva, the holy mysteries are manifested.” Is the Gurudeva not to tell these things to his disciples? “Athau Gurupuja: the worship of the Guru has precedence over all others.” The Guru is to be served just as Krishna is served. The Guru is to be worshiped in a particular way. Is the Guru to desert his seat without telling all these things to the disciple? In the angle there is always the defect in the shape of absence of the fullness, the evenness of level, of 180 degrees or of 360 degrees. But in the plain surface, in 360 degrees, there is no such defect. That in the emancipated state no defect is possible, this simple truth ordinary foolish people entirely fail to grasp.
As the saying goes, “having started on the dance it is no use to draw close the veil.” I am doing the duty of the Guru, but if I preach that no one should shout “Jai” to me, that is to say, if I say in a round about way, “sing Jai to me,” it would be nothing short of duplicity. Our Gurudeva has not taught us such insincerity. Mahaprabhu has not taught such insincerity. I have to serve God in the straightforward way. The word of God has come down to the Gurudeva; I have to obey it in all sincerity. I will not disrespect the Guru at the instance of any foolish or malicious sectarians. Especially as Shri Gurudeva has directed me saying, “By My command being Guru save this land.” This command has my Gurudeva preached. My Gurudeva in his turn has conveyed the command to me. I will not be guilty of any insincerity in carrying out that command. In this matter I will not accept the ideal of ignorant, insincere, pseudo-ascetic sectarianism. I will not learn insincerity. The worldly-minded, the malicious, the pseudo- renunciationists, the selfish cannot understand how the devotees of God, spurning at everything of this world by command of God, never, not even for a second, deviate from the service of God through all the twenty-four hours.
Hypocritical sectarians, pseudo-Vaishnava sects, those sects that cherish internally the longing for earthly fame, naturally enough think “what a shame it is for one to listen to the eulogies of disciples occupying the seat of the Guru.” But every Vaishnava regards everyone of the Vaishnavas as the object of his veneration. When Thakur Haridas exhibits the attitude of humility Mahaprabhu says - “You are the greatest of the world, the crestjewel of the world. Be agreeable, let us have our meal together.” He carried in His arms the body of Thakur Haridas which is eternally existent, self-conscious and full of spiritual bliss. In the community that follows Srila Rupa, the qualities of desiring no honor for oneself and of readiness to duly honor others are fully present. Those who detect any disparity are, like the owl, blind while the sun shines. They commit an offense by such conduct.
If I disobey the law which has come down to me through the chain of preceptorial succession, the offense due to omission to carry out the command of the Guru will sever me from the lotus-feet of Shri Gurudeva. If in order to carry out the command of the Vaishnava Guru I have to be arrogant, to be brutish, to suffer eternal perdition, I am prepared to welcome such eternal damnation and even sign a pact to that effect. I will not listen to the words of other malicious persons in lieu of the command of the Gurudeva. I will dissipate with indomitable courage and conviction the currents of thought of all the rest of the world, relying on the strength derived from the lotus feet of Shri Gurudeva. I confess to this arrogance. By sprinkling a particle of the pollen of the lotus-feet of my Preceptor crores of people like you will be saved. There is no such learning in this world, no such sound reasoning in all the fourteen worlds, in no man-gods, that can weigh more than a solitary particle of the dust of the lotus-feet of my Gurudeva. Gurudeva in whom I have implicit trust can never spite me. I am by no means prepared to listen to the words of any one who wants to hurt me or to accept such a malicious person as my preceptor.

Bringing the Temple to the Street.
Kripamoya Dasa: In a small temple near Jagannatha Puri is this small piece of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s blanket. The lid of the box holds a garlanded painting of the Lord.
I gave class this morning at the temple. The subject was the ninth chapter of the Antya-lila portion of the Caitanya Caritamrita, the life and teachings of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. We study it every weekend. The ninth chapter is all about an incident that took place while the Lord was living in Jagannatha Puri, the seaside pilgrimage place in the present state of Orissa, east India. In those days the region was known as the kingdom of Utkal.

A man had five sons and two of them had become great devotees of Krishna. The other, a tax collector named Gopinath, was squandering his life - and the taxes - on parties and going to see dancing girls. He’d run up a huge debt and now the king wanted his money back. Unable to pay immediately, he offered twelve horses in lieu of payment. The king’s eldest son came to value the horses. The prince had a nervous tic, which caused him to twitch his head up to the sky every so often. When the prince underestimated the value of the horses the tax collector angrily said: “You should have given me a much better price, at least the horses don’t twitch their heads all the time.”

This was too much for the prince and he arrested Gopinath and prepared to have him executed the following morning. A huge, noisy crowd gathered outside Chaitanya’s rooms. They explained what had happened and he was reluctant to intervene.

Eventually, by a process of diplomacy involving several messengers, a more than peaceful solution was reached. Gopinath was forgiven, restored to his position, and the king was able to render some indirect service to Chaitanya. Everyone concerned fully understood that even though he’d taken no direct action, by the compassion of Chaitanya all things had become possible.

After class, and hoping for my own personal blessings from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, I went to Ilford in east London to try to sell a few books. The support team could not have been better.

At the side of the pedestrian walkway was a full altar set up, with colourful displays of leaflets, books and sweets for the public to look at and taste. Next to that, a group of Vaishnavas, sitting down on blankets singing the Hare Krishna mantra to the accompaniment of hand cymbals, clay drum and harmonium. There must have been around ten devotees - some of whom had only done this sort of thing a few times. The atmosphere was just like a temple - outdoors.

Although it was bitterly cold we managed a few hours and passers-by took a fair number of books on the subject of Krishna consciousness. At least enough to make our efforts worthwhile!

Feeling that warm glow that always happens when you distribute books for Krishna, we were all taken a few levels higher when we looked up the street and heard the unmistakable sound of a sankirtan party coming towards us through the crowded street. Dressed in bright yellow scarves with the maha-mantra written in red Sanskrit writing they looked as if they’d just stepped out of mediaeval Jagannatha Puri themselves. They sang, danced, smiled and played the accordion and drums. People gathered round, clapped their hands, took the sweets from the table, bought more books, and generally warmed to the Hare Krishnas for bringing something bright and happy to cold streets of Ilford.

Black Sea festival #4

Black Sea festival #3

The beautiful Iskcon Temple in Helsinki, Finland’s southern capital (Album with photos)
Bhakti Caitanya Swami: Here are some more photos from our ISKCON Temple in Helsinki, Finland. It’s a beautiful large manor house which the devotees managed to acquire from the city administration for an extremely reasonable price. It’s actually an amazing facility, in beautiful grounds and surroundings. Ideal for a Krishna conscious center. I’m sure Srila Prabhupada is very happy with them for getting this.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/yBPYPW

Historical video: Hare Krishna in Czestochowa Poland 1976.
(Memories by Gurudas Prabhu)
Suchandra, Avensh, and myself met a young man named Kasmerichek in his apartment late at night.
He was anxious, and we had to whisper, no kirtan. He told us he could arrange some programs for us.
The next night we were in a private apartment with about 6 people, besides our selves.
We explained Krishna consciousness basics, and we chanted together.
We went to a campground and later met Kasmerichek again who arranged a very nice program at a museum in Swednica. Many people came.
We were in a large room with high ceilings and surrounded by many swords and shields, and paintings of famous and courageous people.
I spoke and a man named Roman translated.
The people kept turning the lights down and lit candles. Suchhandra led the kirtan.
They asked sincere questions like do you need God with Yoga?
I explained that Yoga means Link to God not gymnastics. Etc.
Everyone expressed their appreciations and bought all the books we had. I kept some books back so we would have enough for each event. I was told that 100 people shared one book, each book.
A nightclub was our next venue that was officially closed.
We opened it secretly.
Ten people enjoyed the kirtan, listened politely but asked no questions. Like every place in Poland they all bought our smuggled books of Srila Prabhupad.
We slept in a campground at night.
The next day we were taken to the famous cathedral of Chestahova, Jasna Gora wherein foreign invaders hit the Madonna deity. Blood flowed from her wounds and the enemies fled.
We arrived at the large cathedral to a flurry of excitement, on one side young people on the sprawling grass lawn, playing guitars and laying about on another side of the Hugh church were dressed pilgrims circumambulating the building with large images of Lord Jesus jutting twenty feet high out of the forest.
People preparing for death were on cots in the wall surrounding the area.
This reminded me of bhajan ashram in Vrindavan where also many pilgrims live simply preparing for the transmigration of our souls. We saw the opportunity to spread the holy names and Krishna Consciousness.
The next day we went in the middle of the young people, pulled up the van that had a kitchen and cooked prasadam and invited people and chanted and invited people for a love feast the next day, and asked them to invite their friends, and please bring offerings.
The next day many people showed up with flowers fruit, vegetables grains and friends. We also went to markets and bought a lot of bhoga necessities rice, lentils, boxes of potatoes and veggies, however everyone brought other foodstuffs, which we added to the love feast.
The whole side of a hill was filled with people. And I spoke with translator. At the end of my talk I raised my hand in the form of a Vee and yelled out Vishnu Vishnu.
The chanting was especially nice. We left as the sun went down.
On the way to Warsaw, many young people recognized and waved us the sign of the Vishna or Vee.
We picked up some hitchhikers and preached to them. Years later I am pleased how nicely the seeds planted have grown into full-bloomed Krishna Consciousness.
Prabhupad is pleased as he always encouraged the idea of Krishna Consciousness in “The Communist countries”
The people of Poland were the friendliest that I encountered in that part of the world.
Rercently I met a Sridhar Swami who is from Poland and came to Krishna from that event. He said there were others also.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/4TQZgU

Beautiful rendition of Lord Nrsimhadeva’s mantra from the younger generation of devotees of ISKCON Kiev, Ukraine (7 min video)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/GGa6UV

Like many ISKCON programs today, the University of Southern California’s Bhakti Club drew mainly people with an Indian background who were already familiar with the tennets of Krishna consciousness. But a new rebranding and a broader vision based on building relationships has seen a flood of Western students who can’t get enough.

Regal Cinemas will show the documentary film Hare Krishna!, about the life and teachings of ISKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada, as a one-off event screening in over eighty cities across the United States. The screening will be held at 7pm in all time zones on Sept 21^st, the International Day of Peace. It’s apt timing, considering Srila Prabhupada’s message: “When we understand that we are not these bodies but are spirit souls, then there will be peace.”

Bhakti Sangam Ukraine 2017 (Album with photos)
5 days of festival packed with seminars and Kirtan in Ukraine on the coast of Black Sea near Odessa … what an experience in all aspects! The best prasadam, the best vegetables I have ever seen, the most serving humble devotees … everyone is hungry for Krishna Consciousness like I have never seen before. 8000 devotees turned this small coastal village into a “second Mayapur” for a week.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/qygTsy

A few days ago the clay form of the next murti for the Guru Parampara altar was completed. This is the murti of His Divine Grace Srila Gaura Kishore Das Babaji, the spiritual master of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. He will sit on the front line of the altar between the murtis of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati.

The clay mold of Srila Gaura Kishore was readied for further processing through the manufacture of a fiberglass mold from which the permanent murti will be cast in brass.

On the Guru Parampara altar fifteen acharya murtis will be installed. Thirteen of them have already been completed. The remaining two are, Srila Jagannatha Das Babaji and Srila Prabhupada.

Guru Parampara ki jaya!

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[Bhakti Vriksha Program at Edison, USA]

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The post Cultists, Fanatics and Spiritual Shoppers – Making sense of the world’s religious scenario appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Although Bhaktivinoda Thakura is especially recognised for re-discovering the birth place of Lord Caitanya, he in fact re-discovered and re-established Lord Caitanya’s movement. 

People often want to rise to the top in their fields and delight in being high above everyone else. Even if they attain a lofty position like that of a king on a throne, that majesty often makes them lonely.

Sochi, Moscow, summer 2017. GBC College steps out of India. It is the first time ever when GBC College was held outside of India, this time in Sochi, in the south of Russia. The Regional secretaries and the next generation of future leaders came together from all over Russia as well as some neighbouring countries such as Kazakhstan, Belorussia and Turkmenistan to get inspiration and experience from the current GBC members and other senior devotees. The residential involved 12 days of training in the area of the leadership development. The GBC College is focused on providing training to the leaders in order to introduce Zonal Supervisors across the globe. More than 40 participants attended the residential program. It was a unique opportunity to embrace the atmosphere of learning from the senior vaisnavas and to share extensive experience with the others, who came there from the various regions. Continue reading "GBC College in Russia
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ISKCON Hosts Interfaith Day of Prayer for Harvey Victims.
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey’s unprecedented flooding and devastation, Texas Governor Greg Abbott proclaimed Sunday, Sept 3rd as a Day of Prayer in Texas—which happened to coincide with the birth anniversary of Bhaktivinoda Thakur, a 19th century Vaishnava Hindu saint and theologian who envisioned people from all nations coming together harmoniously through the blissful chanting of the holy names of God.
Prior to Harvey, ISKCON of Houston had planned Kirtanfest, a weekend of kirtan or devotional call-and-response prayerful chanting, over Labor Day weekend. After nearly canceling the event due to safety concerns, ISKCON decided it was vital to carry on with Kirtanfest in a shortened format, dedicating it for the healing and recovery of the people of Texas. In addition, to make it all-inclusive, they added an interfaith prayer segment in the spirit of Bhaktivinoda, who wrote in his Shri Chaitanya Shikshamritam 8-9:
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/RtsjDA

Black Sea Festival #2.

Black Sea Festival #1

Bhagavad-gita, the Song of God!
Srila Prabhupada: More one reads Bhagavad-gītā the more he gets the appetite to read and understand it, and each time he gets new enlightenment. That is the nature of the transcendental message. Similarly, we find that transcendental happiness in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The more we hear and chant the glories of the Lord, the more we become happy.
SB 3.25.2, Translation and Purport: Śaunaka continued: There is no one who knows more than the Lord Himself. No one is more worshipable or more mature a yogī than He. He is therefore the master of the Vedas, and to hear about Him always is the actual pleasure of the senses.
Teachings of Lord Kapila, the Son of Devahūti, Verse 2
In Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that no one can be equal to or greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in the Vedas also: eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. He is the supreme living entity and is supplying the necessities of all other living entities. Thus all other living entities, both viṣṇu-tattva and jīva-tattva, are subordinate to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The same concept is confirmed here. Na hy asya varṣmaṇaḥ puṁsām: amongst the living entities, no one can surpass the Supreme Person because no one is richer, more famous, stronger, more beautiful, wiser or more renounced than He. These qualifications make Him the Supreme Godhead, the cause of all causes. Yogīs are very proud of performing wonderful feats, but no one can compare to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Anyone who is associated with the Supreme Lord is accepted as a first-class yogī. Devotees may not be as powerful as the Supreme Lord, but by constant association with the Lord they become as good as the Lord Himself. Sometimes the devotees act more powerfully than the Lord. Of course, that is the Lord’s concession.
Also used here is the word varimṇaḥ, meaning “the most worshipful of all yogīs.” To hear from Kṛṣṇa is the real pleasure of the senses; therefore He is known as Govinda, for by His words, by His teachings, by His instruction—by everything connected with Him—He enlivens the senses. Whatever He instructs is from the transcendental platform, and His instructions, being absolute, are nondifferent from Him. Hearing from Kṛṣṇa or His expansion or plenary expansion like Kapila is very pleasing to the senses. Bhagavad-gītā can be read or heard many times, but because it gives great pleasure, the more one reads Bhagavad-gītā the more he gets the appetite to read and understand it, and each time he gets new enlightenment. That is the nature of the transcendental message. Similarly, we find that transcendental happiness in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The more we hear and chant the glories of the Lord, the more we become happy.