HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja speaking about the “Hare Krishna” movie on the famous Russian radio station “Moscow FM” (audio interview in English translated into Russian)
Cinema halls in Moscow were full and a lot of people had an opportunity to watch the movie and know more about Srila Prabhupada and the movement.
Listen to it here: https://goo.gl/HmKPNU

Kingston, UK, prepares to get colorful with the Hare Krishna festival.
Members of the Hare Krishna movement are teaming up to get the public in Kingston all spiritual for a different type of festival next month.
Well known all over the world for their shaven heads, bright saffron robes and their famous mantra the International Society for Krishna Consciousness are inviting residents to join in the Hare Krishna festivities, on September 7, at the Mayo Centre, Eden Street.A free day filled with meditative music, spiritual dance, a free vegetarian meal and an insight into the philosophy and culture associated with the movement.

Giridhari Das, a Hare Krishna monk who heads up the UK festival team, said: ““Probably best known from the Glastonbury Music Festival or for singing in the streets of central London, as the Hare Krishna Festival team we tend to appear all over the place.

“Whether local carnivals, theatres or town halls we like to be with the people.”

The Hare Krishna movement became popular in the 1960’s when its message was brought to western countries by A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada – an Indian guru, aged 70, who left Vrindavan, India, and set sail for the United States in 1965 with just a few dollars in his pocket.

The movement follows ancient teachings of devotional yoga with roots in the Vedic culture of India, dating back over 5,000 years.

Within a year of the Indian’s arrival he set up ISKCON and today the movement has more than 700 temples and centres worldwide, including 60 farm communities, 50 schools and 90 restaurants.

Last year, the movement celebrated the 50th anniversary since its inauguration in New York by Srila Prabhupada in 1966.

Thanks to The Beatles and in particular George Harrison’s involvement, ‘Hare Krishna’ has become a household name.

Narada Das, who looks after PR & Communications at ISKCON Festivals, added:

“Our philosophy is very rich and attractive to many people.

“In a world that’s becoming increasingly competitive, and has people believing they’ll only be happy through material gain, we’re showing a deeply positive alternative.

The Krishna Consciousness message is for everyone - a universal, non-sectarian message of love, simple living, service and above all – connecting the self with the original spiritual source, Krishna.”
Source: https://goo.gl/zp12n2

A plot in the Community Garden. For less than One Euro a day, one can rent a plot and grow their own food. (Album with photos)
H. G. Lalitanath Prabhu and H. G. Tejas Krishna Prabhu lead a fantastic initiative at ISKCON Stockholm!!! They are setting a great example for urban temples. Distributing books, preaching, distributing prasadam and producing food. With two plots of 200m² in a community garden, the temple grows their organic vegetables and are able to offer the best to Krishna and His devotees. Check it out: https://goo.gl/1FWoyH

The post Daily Darshan: August 26,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Lord Jagannatha’s Rathayatra cart was brought up from the Gold Coast to Cairns to enter the Multicultural Parade that goes around the streets of the city.

On the way it stopped at Townsville where local devotees organised a Rathayatra in that city’s multicultural event.

The parade started around 5.30 pm and went for a couple of hours. Tens of thousands of people lined the footpaths to catch a glimpse of the floats and, of course, they were fortunate to have darshan of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra devi, riding majestically on Their Ratha cart.

Bhakti Shastra Group in Mayapur (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: A girl is married to a husband. She’s hankering after a child. If she thinks, “Now I am married, I must have immediately a child.” Is it possible? Just have patience. Become a faithful wife, serve your husband and let your love grow up, and because you are husband and wife, it is sure you’ll have children. But don’t be impatient. Similarly, when you are in Krishna Consciousness, your perfection is guaranteed. But have patience, determination. “I must execute. I should not be impatient.” That impatience is due to loss of determination. And how that loss determination is there? Due to excessive sex life. Los Angeles, February 17, 1969
Find them here: https://goo.gl/RA7Q6B

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[Congregation program at Longmont, USA]

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[Chaitanya Charitamrita class on Madhya 8.1 at ISKCON, Denver, USA]

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Today ( 26 Aug) is the appearance day of Sri Advaita prabhu’s divine consort Srimati Sita Thakurani. Sita Thakurani is to be worshiped just as much as Sachidevi herself, as the mother of the universe.  She is the eternal wife of Shri Advaita Acharya. She was the daughter of Shri Nrishinga Baduri. She was married to […]

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After more than ten years of planning, fundraising and execution, a major milestone has now been achieved for the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. The first Chakra has been installed on the West wing Planetarium dome!!.

A Short Film on ISKCON Secunderabad's Janmastami Festival 2017 by Sandip Solleti.

In mid-August, Lord Jaganatha accompanied with Baladheva and Subhadra at colorfully decorated chariot passed again through the streets of Zagreb, being followed by many of Their devotees. This was for the second time that the Ratha yatra took place in the capital of and the biggest city  in Croatia.

This is a small offering made by ISKCON Pune Devotees as a homage to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami on his 121st Birth Anniversary and on completing 51st Anniversary of ISKCON. Vyasa-puja is an annual celebration by devotees of Krishna to offer homage to their guru, or spiritual teacher. A video by ISKCON Desire Tree.

A short inspirational video by Pandava Sena Alumni to get into the deeper mood to surrender to Krishna and get closer to him.

Renowned comic book artist Dheeraj Verma, who has worked with Dark Horse Comics and Marvel Comics in the US on titles such as Night of the Living Dead, Transformers, Dracula and Iron Man is now set to release a graphic novel about the Mahabharat hero Abhimanyu.

Lalita Devi is considered to be the guru of all gopis. This year, Lalita devi’s appearance day fell on August 27^th. Just prior to the annual Gaura Purnima festival of 1986, the Deity of Srimati Lalita devi, along with three other principle sakhis, was installed in the Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir and joined Sri Sri Radha Madhava on the altar. She stands directly next to Sri Madhava.

All India Padayatra In Kannur, Kerala.
Acarya Dasa: Our pada-yatra party reached Kannur city on August 7th. Kannur, also known as Cannanore, is located in the district of Kannur and is the administrative headquarters of the area.
Nitai Gaurasundar calls Mr. Haradev from Muscat: It had been raining for the past few days and getting accommodation was a little difficult at times. So, before traveling to Kannur I called a good friend of pāda-yātrā, Mr. Haradev. This was his hometown; I was hoping he could help us. Mr. Haradev currently lives outside of India in Muscat, Oman. We called and told him that we would be visiting Kannur and asked whether he could help us arrange accommodation there since he has a house in the city. He said he could not help us this time because he was busy. We wondered what to do, but we had to continue with our schedule. Due to heavy rains we arrived in Kannur a day later than planned. That night I received a message from Mr. Haradev; he and his family would be coming to India after all! I was so happy.

We traveled to his home to meet him and he welcomed us with ārati and garlands. He also made all the necessary arrangements for our accommodation, prasadam, and food for the bulls. He attended all the programs we had around the city, performing saṅkīrtana and distributing books in different areas. Mr. Haradev also kindly gave a donation to our pāda-yātrā. Later, I asked him how his plans had suddenly changed so he could come to India? He replied, “I thought, ‘The Lord is coming to my home town and the ratha (cart) will cross the road in front of my house. How can I not go?’ So, I asked my boss for leave but it was denied. I thought ‘Oh! All gone, now I can’t go.’ I still had a strong desire to go so, I prayed to the Lord to please help me. Then I got news that you will arrive in the city a day late. I was glad. I again went to my boss and by the Lord’s mercy, he agreed. I booked flights and I came with my family to take darśana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar.”

Therefore, if you have a strong desire the Lord will definitely help you. Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar pulled Mr.Haradev to Them. He spent about a lakh ($1,498.37) on airplane tickets and he also gave his time to serve the pāda-yātris.

Jai Nitai Gaurasundar!

The Hare Krishna Movement’s Unknown Soldier!
Sesa Dasa: Although I was born the eldest son to a career US Army officer who served during two wars, and attended a well known military academy with over two centuries of tradition, I never really understood all the pomp and circumstance evoked by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That is until now.
The theory is explained on Wikipedia: “The anonymity of the entombed soldier is key to the symbolism of the monument: since his or her identity is unknown, it could theoretically be the tomb of anyone who fell in service of the nation in question, and therefore serves as a monument to all of their sacrifices.”
Okay, but who’s into symbolism? Theories don’t explain the emotions stirred, even in world leaders, when people visit one of the 44 such monuments in 42 countries around the world. It may sound somewhat contradictory, but my conclusion is that the real key is to know an unknown soldier. Then you can understand the emotions. I understand now because I got to know an unknown soldier of the Krishna Consciousness Movement this week.

On April 16, 2009 Shyama Priya Devi Dasi, a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada passed away at the age of 60. Didn’t know her, don’t recognize the name, that’s not surprising. I really didn’t know her either, even though we lived in the same devotee community for years. But know for certain that just as the unidentified soldiers lying in those tombs are sometimes identified on stone inscriptions as “known but to God,” Shyama Priya Devi Dasi was not only known to Lord Krishna but to a host of others, others that we collectively would rather leave unknown.

Shyama Priya Devi Dasi put the movement in the Hare Krishna Movement. She moved hearts and changed lives, most notably the hardened hearts of those gone errant ways and now dwelling in the physical prisons of this material world. For the last twenty years of her life Mama Shyama mothered for lost souls through the ISKCON Prison Ministry.

“She had 500 sons,” exclaimed Chandrasekhar Dasa, Mama Shyama’s longtime partner in the ISKCON Prison Ministry, as he began to describe how she worked tirelessly to get Srila Prabhupada’s books, tulasi beads, japa beads, kartalas, and even deities into prisons throughout the United States. She would regularly dedicate herself to correspondence with hundreds of prisoners simultaneously. Hand written correspondence, not e-mail. Her natural born son Nimai told of the Mother’s Day card she received last year signed by 21 prisoners from OSP, Oregon State Penitentiary. She was successful in this service because she was completely non-judgmental.

Bhakti Lata Dasi knew Shyama Priya, “She taught me important life lessons while she was alive, as she was dying, and even after she died. Although pancreatic cancer is most painful, Shyama Priya never complained; it was easy to forget she was sick at all.

One day I was at her house looking for 2 books she had kept for a prisoner. I could only find one of them. Shyama Priya then got up and started looking herself. I urged her to go back to bed, but only when her physical strength gave way did she finally lie back down. That was 10 days before she passed away. She taught me how to serve till the end.”

Again, the theory is that an unknown soldier cannot be too special as he or she must be representative of all. But, the fact is that such unknown soldiers are special and this exactly why they are immortalized. If we could know an unknown soldier he or she would probably be a lot like Ira Hayes, the Native American Marine who was amongst the warriors raising the US flag on Iwo Jima Island, immortalized in the US Marine Corps War Memorial monument. There are both parallels and differences between the lives of Ira Hayes and Shyama Priya.

Of Hayes a Wikipedia articles describes, “In 1954, after a ceremony where he was lauded by President Eisenhower as a hero, a reporter rushed up to him and asked him, “How do you like the pomp and circumstance?” Hayes hung his head and said, “I don’t.”

Similarly, Shyama Priya was comfortable with the fact that she was more likely to have cooked or served the Maha Prasadam given to a devotee as a reward for service than to be the recipient of such a reward.

Part of the mystic of the unknown soldier is this type of contradiction in their lives. On the one hand their actions are outstanding, and on the other hand they are disarmingly modest when fame is thrust upon them. Indeed, their lives are often marked by tribulation as a result of fame.

In his work, The Outsider, author William Bradford Huie describes that after the war Ira Hayes was arrested numerous times and finally died a neglected drunken death back on the “Indian Reservation.”

Shyama Priya also had to face tribulations in her life including, being a single mom and enduring a period of homelessness while raising her children. But as death approached her Shyama Priya manifested the difference in her life. Something Ira Hayes didn’t have, but something that Shyama Priya both had and gave to hundreds like him. That difference was Krishna Consciousness.

This is the second lesson Bhakti Lata learned from Shyama Priya, “In the last week, Shyama Priya, by then very weak, would greet her visitors by taking their hands for a long time, smiling at them with much love. She taught me that when you die, the only thing you have is your love for others and others’ love for you.”

In one sense the definition of a hero is one who goes far above and beyond the call of duty. Indeed, some of the extremes that result in heroism may be questionable. Was Shyama Priya tempted by such extremes in executing her service? Nimai tells of how she once truly hesitated when, with little money on hand, she had to choose between food for the family and books for the prisoners. Bhakti Lata’s third lesson gives us some insight into how Shyama Priya, through faith and dedication, may have been calculating the risks, “Helping with the fundraiser to assist Shyama Priya’s family after her departure, I witnessed with awe donations pouring from all over the States, in a spontaneous demonstration of the devotees’ love and appreciation for this saintly devotee. Even after her death, she taught me that when you devote your life to Lord Chaitanya’s service, Lord Chaitanya will always take care of you.”

One final question, a question that has never been asked to an unknown soldier, yet a question which clinches the designation, was mused by Shyama Priya. Bhakti Lata tells of Shyama Priya’s self-reflection, “Would she have done anything differently if she had known she would die so soon? That is exactly the question she was asking herself one month before she left. After reflection, Shyama Priya concluded, ‘I would continue my service; what else would I do?’”

Syamapriya Devi Dasi is the Hare Krishna Movement’s Unknown Soldier. At present she may be known, but over the course of time, as all of our names and personal characteristics are lost in oblivion, may this designation, being based upon her factual sacrifices, remain to serve as an ideal example and emotional inspiration for all. In the words of Candramauli Swami, “Congratulations for a life well spent.”

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