Planet ISKCON

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 28 April 2017, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.15.50)

I had a disciple who was living in a small flat – just a one room studio with a bathroom and kitchenette. In the room, there was a sofa which could turn into a bed. There were chairs and every chair had stuff on it. When you would enter, you sort of have to dig through all the stuff to get a place to sit down. This is called a bachelor’s flat!

So I was in his bachelor’s flat and one day I said to him, “Why don’t you choose an ashram?” I said, “Either be a brahmacari and then you do not need this flat, get rid of it. Or get a better flat and keep the chairs clear and invite someone to come and sit there. Get married. But make a choice because bachelorhood is not an ashram.” Bachelorhood does not offer shelter. It is not taking shelter of the process of becoming purified whereas the ashrams are. So we take these ashrams in a spirit like that – in a spirit that we are dedicating ourselves to it and within it, we are following a certain etiquette and a certain standard.

It is very different from the old type of relationships of like, “Shall we get together?”
“Well, why not?” Giggle, giggle, giggle!

Then you know, move into the same apartment, “Well, let us see what is going to happen.” I know what is going to happen. It is always the same thing that happens. There is a big bed. Both want to be the enjoyer so it becomes a competition between who is the centre of attention – who is the enjoyer and who is the enjoyed; who is the servant and who is the master or mistress. These dynamics come and leads to so much tension and big fights. I mean, marriages make Kuruksetra and the Mahabharat look tame! (laughter) You read about all these heroes sending their astras. You get married and then, my God! The things that go on in marriages – it is inconceivable – you would have never thought you would have to go through.

But there is a positive side where two people support each other and have a certain confidentiality with each other of all the things that exist within marriage. So marriage is fine but we are not varnasrama first:

nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro
nāhaṁ varṇī na ca gṛha-patir no vanastho yatir vā
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrnāmṛtābdher
gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 13.80)

We are not anything of the four varnas or the four asramas – not sannyasis, not grhastas not brahmacaris. We are not these things. Not brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas, sudras. We are vaisnava. That is it! We are vaisnava and vaisnavis. This is our meditation. Then when we are in an ashram, we make something of the ashram. But vaisnava first, otherwise it is not going to work. If vaisnava is put first, even when problems arise, we will overcome them.

So this is really how it is. Vaisnava means, “I am the servant of the vaisnavas.” I am not a vaisnava. I wish I was a vaisnava, if only I was; I am the servant of the vaisnavas. In this way, I hope to become a vaisnava. In this way, we take shelter and in this way, the ashrams start working.

First, we have to take shelter of an ashram and then we have to remember that actually it is only external. Internally we are vaisnava, servant of the vaisnavas. Then everything starts to fall into place. Then it becomes possible, kamo ‘smi bharatarsabha (Bhagavad-gita 7.11), the ideal – sex life which is not contrary to religious principles. Then we can do it, then no more jantur dehopapattaye (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.31.1), no more embodiment.

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Over 200 devotees and congregation packed excitedly into their new temple in Glastonbury, Connecticut on Sunday August 6^th to celebrate its soft opening with the Balarama Jayanti festival. 

“A soul in a Georgia State Prison”
Chandra Myers: A devotee walked up to me today before the swing ceremony for Radha Govinda and said, “I want to tell you something…I just ordered a book from Amazon of Prabhupada Memories and when I opened to the first page there was a letter which said, ‘To whoever gets this book….I am not a member of their faith but I have read this book and it has changed my life…’ and he went on for a few pages glorifying the life and character of Srila Prabhupada and how he had experienced a change of heart and made a connection with Prabhupada in his own way.
It was signed…. "A soul in a Georgia State Prison”

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I can live for two months on a good compliment – Mark Twain

Life can be disheartening. Things go wrong, people do wrong, we ourselves do wrong. Our best laid-plans can be wrecked by one massive upheaval or thwarted by a million tiny bumps. Either way, we end up feeling like giving up. Amidst such discouragement that may come upon us from a hundred directions, a few words of encouragement can be a vital morale-booster.

There are many shortages in the world, and most of them are not immediately in our power to rectify. We can’t do much about Somalia’s food shortage, Siberia’s power shortage or the Sahara’s water shortage. But there’s one shortage we all can rectify: appreciation shortage.

Lack of appreciation can hurt as much as can lack of food. Absence of appreciation can kill people emotionally, making them feel as if they have nothing to live for. And without something worthwhile to live for, they may give up on the will to live. Indeed, people commit suicide not so much because many things go wrong in their life, but because prior to those things going wrong, they felt unloved, unvalued, unappreciated. And when negative events pile on top of their negative feelings, their will to live gets crushed out of their hearts. That’s why appreciation can be literally life-saving. Complimentary words can give those contemplating suicide a reason to live. And if they keep living, they will soon find many more reasons to live.

When someone passes away, at their memorial meeting, their acquaintances speak appreciatively about the deceased person, and often speak so movingly that it brings tears to the hearers’ eyes. And yet those acquaintances don’t speak even a fraction of those appreciative words when that person was alive. If they had appreciated earlier, that person would have felt so much more loved, affirmed, treasured. Why should we appreciate people only after they have passed on? Why not start appreciating right now?

Though compliments can do so much good, we are often miserly in complimenting. Why? We may fear that over-appreciation may breed complacency. If we are always appreciative, people may get too habituated to compliments, may become over-expectant and may take our words and by extension us cheaply. That’s a valid concern. Sociologists refer to the post-World War II generation in the West as the praised generation – these were pampered children who were always complimented, never corrected. They grew up to become arrogant and insecure: too proud to take criticism and too emotionally dependent on praise.

We can and should give others constructive feedback when necessary and appropriate. But why should correction be the only thing we offer? Why can’t we offer both corrections and compliments? Better still, why can’t we offer compliments generously and corrections cautiously?

If we interact with others only to correct them, then our relationship with them becomes unpleasant, and people start avoiding us. And whenever they can’t avoid us, they dread the inevitable interactions, and that dread blocks their capacity to function effectively. We can remove much of this negativity by infusing our interactions with the positive power of appreciation.

The Bhagavad-gita (17.15) recommends that we speak in a non-agitating way that is truthful, pleasing and beneficial. The recommendation that we speak both pleasingly and truthfully implies that we should appreciate, but not flatter. Flatterers usually aim to manipulate, to get the other person to do their bidding. In contrast, appreciators value people for what they are and inspire them to become better.

If we compare the human body to a vehicle, food is its fuel. If we extend the vehicular metaphor to the human heart, encouragement is the fuel for the heart. Whereas the body dies without food, the heart dries without encouragement, making life feel pointless, joyless, worthless. Just as a well-fed body can function energetically, a heart fueled by encouragement can function energetically, infusing life with purpose, verve and joy.

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Trans-gender discomfort

After my hotel program in Panama, a couple of trans-gender devotees talked about the discrimination they faced because of their sexual orientation and asked how they could see it spiritually. I had addressed a similar question when I was in Detroit where after the Sunday feast a Vaishnavi Prabhupada disciple had asked, “How can we help people who feel that they have been born in bodies of the wrong gender?” Rather than getting into the morality of the volatile issue, I focused on the spirituality. Nobody is truly compatible with the soul; everyone feels discontented in some or the other way with the body they have. Rather than making a campaign for or against anything at the bodily level, it’s best to focus on raising our consciousness to the spiritual level and helping others do the same. If someone has fallen in an ocean, they may feel that their part of the ocean is stormier than another part, and may want to go to that calmer part. But in the process, if they neglect the rescue rope being extended from an overhead helicopter, that would be tragic. The process of bhakti-yoga is that rescue rope; which part of the ocean we are in and which part of the ocean we are going towards is not as important as our catching the rope. Rather than making a campaign for or against any kind of bodily change, it’s better to stress spiritual change – the raising of consciousness. I concluded by telling those trans-gender devotees that they could focus on associating with devotees who understood them rather than judged them and in that association strive to grow in bhakti.

Speaking on dharma at Swaminarayan temple

During my second visit to Panama, I came to know that one of my talks had been scheduled at a Swaminarayan center where some of the organizers were receptive and some reserved. Anticipating their concern that their beliefs might be criticized, I used the strategy we use in any inter-faith meet: focus on the common purpose of raising consciousness. Accordingly, I spoke on Select emotions with intelligence focusing on how scriptural knowledge equips us to make the choices that raise our consciousness. Speaking in Hindi to an audience of almost entirely Gujarathi people, and that too in a country outside India, was unusual. And speaking at a forum that required the female audience to sit in another room felt surreal, almost like a throwback to another age.

Missing the point in Gaur Purnima talk?

This year I had the honor of celebrating Gaur Purnima at Phoenix, at nearly the opposite end of the globe from where I had celebrated it last year. In 2016, I had been on my Australia tour and had celebrated Gaur Purnima at Canberra.

Many temples in the US combine the Gaur Purnima celebration with the Holi celebration as they both happen on the same day. A little sprinkling of colors is added to the overall celebration that centers on Lord Chaitanya.

In Phoenix, I spoke on “Lord Chaitanya demonstrates that the heart is higher than the head” I find talks given on appearance days of the Lord challenging because the basic theme remains the same, at least in terms of the rationale for divine descent and the pastime of the descent of that particular avatara. I am not so spiritually advanced that the purity of my krishna-katha will keep the audience engaged. So, whenever I am asked to speak on festivals, I strive to come up with some fresh angle each year. This year on Gaur Purnima, I took the theme of how Lord Chaitanya defeated the topmost scholar of his times, defeating the best contemporary scholars at a prodigiously young age. Having thus attained the summit of scholarship, when he thereafter chose the path of devotion, he demonstrated by his life and choice that bhakti is not for the less intelligent, as is a common allegation. Bhakti is so inclusive as to be practicable even for the less intelligent and so profound as to be appealing even to the most intelligent.

After the class, a Prabhupada disciple told me that I hadn’t spoken anything about Lord Chaitanya being the combined manifestation of Radha-Krishna and his having come to give prema, which no other incarnation had given ever before. I replied that I had considered that point too advanced to be relevant for the largely new audience there. He disagreed, saying that we had a responsibility to make the audience advanced enough to understand it. After some contemplation, I saw the validity of his point – we had time throughout the year to speak basic points relevant to the audience; at least once a year on Lord Chaitanya’s appearance day, we could speak about his exalted mission and mood. I thanked him for his feedback and assured him that I would be more careful to speak in tune with the festival’s essence.

Actually, last year in Canberra, a Prabhupada disciple had given me the opposite feedback. He had told me that my Gaur Purnima Bhagavatam class Lord Chaitanya manifested the three internal reasons for his descent in his Ratha-yatra lila had been too advanced. That feedback might have made me subconsciously veer to the other extreme.

Skype Wednesday feast class for Boston

When I was to fly from Seattle to Boston, I got to the airport slightly late and the queue for checking in the luggage was so long that by the time we got through it, the time for boarding the flight had already passed. I had a Wednesday feast program that evening in Boston, but there was no flight to get me there in time. We re-adjusted the booking to a night flight, so that I could give class for the Boston audience via skype. To preclude any transmission problem, we decided that I could give the class in the temple which had a hi-tech facility for doing both YouTube live and Facebook live. When I gave the class, it was streamed through three channels – Skype, YouTube and Facebook. I found myself in a situation I hadn’t encountered before – speaking on a vyasasana to an almost entirely empty temple hall. I decided to keep the class short and we had a lively QA session not just with the devotees in the Boston temple hall but also several of the devotees from Seattle who too had joined online. (As it was afternoon in Seattle, most of them couldn’t come).

Radio show at Toronto

In Toronto, I did a radio show on “Karma and Reincarnation” where I spoke briefly and then answered questions that came live from the audience. Conducted by Ananda Gauranga P and his team, this was my first radio show and it was interesting to be on the inside of a program format that till now I had only seen as an outsider. I appreciated the innovative effort to spread bhakti wisdom through far-reaching channels and felt grateful to assist in some small way.

These articles are part of a series of articles about the recent Western tour. Full article can be read here.

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1. How does reincarnation matter to me?

2. Are there any scientifically proven cases of reincarnation?

3. If reincarnation is for real, why can’t we all remember our past lives?

4. Does reincarnation mean that we all have our soulmates?

5. Do animals have souls?

6. Can understanding reincarnation help address current world problems such as social discrimination, terrorism and climate change?

The post Chaitanya Charan, author of best-seller Demystifying Reincarnation, on Facebook Live, Fri, Aug 11, 2-3 P.M appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Devotees at New Gokula gathered to celebrate the auspicious appearance day of Lord Balarama, the elder brother of Lord Sri Krsna,  on the full-moon day of Sravana (August). Lord Balarama appeared as the son of Rohini and Vasudeva. He is also known as Baladeva and Sankarshana.

He gives us the required spiritual strength to cross over the hurdles in our journey of self-realization. Devotees fast till noon and pray to Lord Balarama to bestow the spiritual strength needed to practice spiritual life.

“The Life and Teachings of Sri Chaitanya: The Golden Avatara of Divine Love,” by Satyaraja Das, is out this October. It will be published by Lexington Books, a prestigious worldwide academic publisher, which will position it to reach tens of thousands that might otherwise not read a book about Lord Chaitanya. 

Members in New Raman Reti, Florida -- ISKCON's largest community in the Western World -- are launching an ambitious attempt to unlock its full potential.

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments
• Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name
• Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
• So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
• Be in the world, but not of the world
• No one can serve two masters (referring to God and materialism)
• So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God
• Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy.
• Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
• Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
• Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
• Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

We are now in the final phase of the Chakra installation process. We have already done two test-runs to make sure all the fittings and hardware are in place for the Chakras to be permanently mounted.

The final addition is the installation of the Lightning Arresters onto each Kalash and Chakra. These are very important to prevent any damage to the temple from lightning storms during the rainy season. To read more about the Lightning Arresters, click here. We are grateful to the Canadian Yatra who have donated the entire amount to pay for these.

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According to the lunar calendar, today is the most auspicious 52nd anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s departure for the United States of America. On the 13th of August, 1965, just a few days before Janmastami and a few days before his sixty-ninth birthday, Srila Prabhupada boarded the cargo ship Jaladuta with only a small suitcase, an […]

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Written by Sesa Das 

After the Czech Summer Camp, Kadamba Kanana Swami returned to Radhadesh. He took just one day of well-deserved rest (even though he should have taken more), before giving another penetrating, jaw dropping insightful morning Srimad Bhagavatam class on Friday, 07 July, on the 8^th canto, chapter 3, entitled Gajendra’s prayers of surrender, verse 12.

The class began with how we have been in the material world since time immemorial and how we are entangled within it. The 15^th chapter of Bhagavad-gita tells us how we are trying new things yet holding onto our old habits. We just accumulate so many impressions and it remains deep within our subconscious! It is amazing how we keep changing our identity but old habits remain with us. Maybe we were an Italian in a previous life and therefore we still like the food. Makes you think…

Maharaj then went on to introduce the two schools of philosophical thoughts (1) descending & (2) ascending. In the descending process, one gets knowledge from a higher source & then verifies it, whereas in the latter, one starts to ascertain knowledge through logic & sense experience. Maharaj explained that we cannot underwrite or underestimate the jnanis as they have a lot of impact on shaping people’s “reality” but speculative philosophy is very dangerous and so we agree that logic leads to a possibility, but not to the only one! Therefore we take the descending path to attain knowledge because without it, we can get very lost.

Maharaj went on to say that if conclusions are based on the senses then there are flaws. Philosophical speculation based on scriptures are okay. Maharaj gave the following analogy to explain mental speculation, “It’s like working in a dark room with no clue or clarity, and every now and then a glimmer of light comes but no real sense of what to do or where to go.” Srila Prabhupada’s translations give us a real understanding of the context of scriptures. Maharaj ended on a hope-giving note that as Krsna becomes bigger in ones’ life then all the suffering and obstacles become smaller. We are getting to a liberated state by living in temples because then we don’t have to deal with so many things on the outside.

In the days that followed, Maharaj was able to get some writing done & went on his daily walk over the Radhadesh hill on the road leading down to BLS & the temple. A few disciples accompanied him on the scenic route, which due to the steepness left some gasping for breath however Maharaj being fitter than most, having done the 5km walk each day over the last year, was steaming ahead with no sign of tiredness.

On Sunday (09 July), he gave the morning Caitanya Caritamrta class stating that an important aspect to diving deeper into Krsna Consciousness is to read the literature of the Goswamis to really understand the explanations of the sentiments of the interactions of loving devotional service. A few key books to read are the two plays Rupa Goswami has written – Vidagdha Madhava (Krsna’s pastimes within Vraja) & Lalita Madhava (Krsna pastimes outside of Vraja). In the purports, Srila Prabhupada gives a lot of emphasis & encouragement to read these books also. The pastimes in these books are like a hot sugar cane; too hot & very sweet, but the combination makes it taste even better. The separation from Krsna is too hot to handle! And the pastimes with Krsna are too sweet to not have. Maharaj explained also that Rupa Goswami was able to perceive & witness aspects of these pastimes. Maharaj ended on the point that in Srivas Angan some still directly perceive the kirtans & others can do so through the scripture but nonetheless they are still happening and are accessible!

The next journey Maharaj took was to New York City, USA, the first place that Srila Prabhupada penetrated with pure Krsna Consciousness in the West for the masses! Stay tuned…

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[Reprinted from August 5th, 2009] Today, Monday August 7th, is the auspicious appearance of Lord Balarama or Baladeva. As Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Balarama is similarly understood. He is the first expansion of Krishna from which many other expansions emanate, such as the 3 Vishnus and Lord Ananta-sesha. The "tattva" or truth of Balarama is very deep and I will only touch on a little of the ocean of who he is philosophically to give you a taste. In a spontaneous blog such as this I just write about what comes up for me as I think on the subject. In the spirit of "he who hesitates is lost" or "if it is auspicious do it immediately", I wanted to offer something for you now, because if I don't it won't happen, as I am just getting ready to chant my iapa and then worship my Shilas, or sacred stone manifestations of the Lord.

When I grew up there was a science fiction movie, "The Blob" which was some kind of monster which came to the earth from outer space, with a form something like a huge slug though with an undefined shape....so God is not some nebulous form or non-form, he is the supreme consciousness who desires to enjoy himself in various ways. Although God is one--and from one perspective everything is God--he also expanses himself into different aspects to enjoy rasa or enjoyment. Balarama is known affectionately as "Douji" or the elder brother of Krishna, and he has a relationship with him to serve as a friend and parent, or the combined relationships of "sakhya" and "vatsalya". So Krishna and Balarama are identical from the view of being the Supreme Truth, yet Lord Balarama considers himself a servant of Krishna in the above ways and also expanses himself into Krishna's paraphernalia like Krishna's clothes, Brahmin's thread, shoes and all the dhamas or holy places, etc.

read more

[Reprinted from August 5th, 2009] Today, Monday August 7th, is the auspicious appearance of Lord Balarama or Baladeva. As Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Balarama is similarly understood. He is the first expansion of Krishna from which many other expansions emanate, such as the 3 Vishnus and Lord Ananta-sesha. The "tattva" or truth of Balarama is very deep and I will only touch on a little of the ocean of who he is philosophically to give you a taste. In a spontaneous blog such as this I just write about what comes up for me as I think on the subject. In the spirit of "he who hesitates is lost" or "if it is auspicious do it immediately", I wanted to offer something for you now, because if I don't it won't happen, as I am just getting ready to chant my iapa and then worship my Shilas, or sacred stone manifestations of the Lord.

When I grew up there was a science fiction movie, "The Blob" which was some kind of monster which came to the earth from outer space, with a form something like a huge slug though with an undefined shape....so God is not some nebulous form or non-form, he is the supreme consciousness who desires to enjoy himself in various ways. Although God is one--and from one perspective everything is God--he also expanses himself into different aspects to enjoy rasa or enjoyment. Balarama is known affectionately as "Douji" or the elder brother of Krishna, and he has a relationship with him to serve as a friend and parent, or the combined relationships of "sakhya" and "vatsalya". So Krishna and Balarama are identical from the view of being the Supreme Truth, yet Lord Balarama considers himself a servant of Krishna in the above ways and also expanses himself into Krishna's paraphernalia like Krishna's clothes, Brahmin's thread, shoes and all the dhamas or holy places, etc.

read more

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!

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The main reason to be teaching oxen how to do useful work and obey commands is to show their usefulness as an alternative to their slaughter. This video is Part 2 of a series by William E. Dove (president of ISCOWP and also known as Balabhadra das), who is available to answer any questions about the training process (iscowp@gmail.com). More lessons will be coming soon. 

https://youtu.be/fT4v3bdPU5g 

6 Hour Kirtan at Hyde Park on the 30th July 2017. A video by Filmwork Studios.