Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Alumni 24.0 presents Transformers - Transformation, Motivation, and Live a meaningful life. From Mayfair, London, UK. (video)
Gaur Gopal Das shar... In 1517, Shri Rupa Goswami and Shri Sanatana Goswami, his elder brother, came to Vrindavana to fulfill four orders of Lord Chaitanya’s: (1) Uncover Shri Krishna’s lost pastime places. (2) Install Deities, start puja. (3) Write bhakti-shastras. (4) Propagate the rules of bhakti-yoga. Wearing only kaupina (loincloth) and kantha (patchwork quilt), Shri Rupa Goswami lived […]
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Jhulan Yatra is one of most spectacular festival celebrated in Mayapur for the pleasure of Sri Radha-Madhava and Vaishnavas. Starting from the Ekadasi day, the festival continues for 5 days till Balaram Purnima. Presence of HH Jayapataka Swami for festivals in Mayapur is always special for Mayapur devotees and we are very fortunate to have Maharaj […]
The post Jhulan Yatra 2017 begins: Day 1 photo gallery appeared first on Mayapur.com.
The Christian-Vaishnava dialogue is the marquee achievement of the ISKCON Communications ministry and Anuttama P, who has been its insightful pioneer and my thought-provoking guide. He had invited, indeed insisted, that I be present for at least part of the conference.
As I participated in the conversations, I was intrigued to see the level of candor among the participants coming from two different faith-traditions. They had found common ground in their humanity and, putting aside their differences, had focused on the generic human issues that face religions in today’s post-modern world. Coming from India where Christianity draws a lot of flak from concerned Hindu circles because of its overt and covert conversion agendas, it was refreshing to meet Christians who had genuine interest in conversation, not conversion.
Thus, I realized a point that I have spoken often in my classes: we need to see people not by the designation of their religion, but by the level of their consciousness. Every religion has people in the three modes, and moderates, who are usually in the mode of goodness, can cut through the barriers of differing, even conflicting traditions, to establish authentic connections and conversations.
Living Spiritually in Today’s World – QA session at Bhakti Center, New York
Jai Giridhari P, a certified yoga teacher and the vice-president of the Bhakti Center, had invited me to speak at his Sunday afternoon called Recharge for yoga practitioners who want to go deeper into the yoga tradition. He had arranged the format of the program to be a QA session named – Ask. All the participants were Westerners and they asked many thoughtful questions. While addressing the overall theme of Living Spiritually in Today’s World, I highlighted the theme of positivity in spirituality, stressing how “What we are is God’s gift to us and what we become is our gift to God.”
These articles are part of a series of articles about the recent Western tour. Full article can be read here
The post Beyond Conversion to Conversation – Christian-Vaishnava inter-faith meet at Washington DC: appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
The post Latest Transcriptions – 07 appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Srila Prabhupada very much encouraged the observance of Jhulan Yatra – the swing festival of Radha and Krsna.
He said, “During these five days of Jhulan Yatra, the deities’ clothes should be changed daily, a nice prasad (food offering) be distributed, and samkirtan (group singing) should be performed.
A throne may be constructed on which the deities (Radha & Krishna) can be placed, and swayed gently with accompanying music.”
Ananda Vrndavana Campu describes the swing festival as “the perfect object of meditation for those desiring a taste of devotion.”
I was in Adelaide for Jhulan Yatra and many devotees came morning and night to swing Their Lordships.
By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications
Neither Filippo Paonessa nor his wife-to-be Sukhayanti Dasi had any previous experience in cow protection or agriculture when they met at the Toronto ISKCON temple. But they found that they were both inspired by Srila Prabhupada’s words on simple living and shared a desire to follow them practically.
Sukhayanti had grown up in Israel and traveled the world in her twenties, meeting devotees at a Rainbow Gathering in Germany in 2005. Attracted by their authenticity, she visited the farm temple of Simhachalam in the Bavarian forest and decided she wanted to join ISKCON.
Over the next few years, she became a whirlwind of service around the world: She hotfooted it across Germany organizing Rathayatras; led women’s book distribution parties in Heidelberg and London, England; organized Harinama Sankirtana weekends in Brazil, and took the Bhakti Sastri program in Mayapur.
Meanwhile in Toronto, Canada, Filippo was doing physiotherapy after sustaining an injury from his construction job, when a friend suggested he try yoga. Immediately Fil sensed that there was something more beyond the postures, and when yoga studios couldn’t give him the answers he was looking for, he decided to try the Hare Krishna temple. Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is won him over, and he never turned back.
At the time, in 2011, Sukhayanti also happened to be living at the Toronto temple, and the two started a relationship and were married. Among many things, they connected deeply on their shared understanding of what Srila Prabhupada wanted – particularly in the area of simple living.
“We had some good talks together, and we decided that the nicest way to raise a family and live a Krishna conscious life would be in a simple setting like a farm,” says Fil.
An action-oriented couple, they didn’t waste time, and began plans to purchase their own farm and protect cows right away. But first, they needed expert training. For this, they turned to Balabhadra Das of ISCOWP, which was based in New Vrindaban at the time.
“It was great – Balabhadra Prabhu is wonderful,” Fil says. “He’s very quiet, but he really works you hard. He doesn’t hold back because he wants you to experience the work as it is, and make sure you can actually handle it. When I passed the test, I didn’t just prove to him that I could do it – I also proved to myself that this is what I wanted to do with my life.”
While Fil learned how to take care of cows, train oxen and maintain a garden, Sukhayanti assisted Balabhadra’s wife Chayadevi, learning how to maintain and promote a non-profit organization, how to keep in touch with donors and how to run a newsletter.
“It was particularly special because they taught us not only how to take care of cows and oxen, but also the mood and philosophy behind such care,” Sukhayanti says.
After six months training with Balabhadra, Fil and Sukhayanti purchased a fifty-acre farm in Hastings, Ontario. There, they maintained themselves by growing and selling a wide variety of different vegetables. They also rescued six cows and two bulls from neighboring dairy farmers, eventually resulting in a herd of thirteen animals whom they provided sanctuary to.
Their efforts were successful and garnered much support from devotees in the Greater Toronto Area who donated to their Adopt-A-Cow program and purchased their organic vegetables. Yet with devotees unwilling to move from the city to create a community with them, the lack of association became difficult.
“We felt a deep desire to be part of a bigger community, to work with other devotees,” Sukhayanti says. “And we wanted our one-year-old twin daughters, Rangadevi and Sudevi, to grow up with devotee friends too.”
New Vrindaban, with which they had already developed a bond, seemed ideal, especially with its opportunities for service and ability to take on their herd.
So recently Fil, Sukhayanti and their girls moved to the West Virginia community, taking their seven cows and six oxen with them.
Their animals increase New Vrindaban’s herd to about eighty. Two of their oxen are almost fully trained and two are familiar with voice commands, adding more value to the New Vrindaban ox program.
Meanwhile Fil and Sukhayanti themselves bring a lot of skill to the community. Fil is putting his experience to work as a general farmhand for ECO-Vrindaban – milking cows, maintaining buildings, cutting hay, putting up fence posts, and efficiently working through a list of projects.
“For my first, I am building a bull pen for one of the young bulls who is set to breed with the cows to expand the milking herd,” he says. “What’s nice is that ECO-V’s general manager Ranaka Prabhu lets me know the priority level on projects, and then lets me take it from there – because he trusts me based on my work in Ontario.”
Sukhayanti has her hands full caring for their two young daughters, but says she likes to do service, so she has been asking for whatever volunteer work she can.
One exciting project she is putting her organizational skills to is reviving an effort maintained by the late head cowherd Amburish Das, who kept meticulous records of all the cows’ activities, births, deaths, names, parents, locations and milk production amounts in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Compiling scattered data about the cows and interviewing long-time New Vrindaban residents to fill in missing information, Sukhayanti is creating new bios for the eighty-plus herd to create a more personal connection with them. She’s also helping to fundraise for the cows’ care.
Fil, 42, and Sukhayanti, 34, are bringing some younger energy to New Vrindaban, inspiring long-time residents like Ranaka, who feel it will soon be time to pass the torch to the next generation.
The couple also encourages other younger families to consider becoming a part of Srila Prabhupada’s first farm community.
“The facilities are here,” says Sukhayanti. “New Vrindaban is one of the few communities in ISKCON that has the ability to some extent to offer jobs to devotees. They have some housing and are planning to build more. They have a school and preschool for the children – and as the mother of two young girls, it’s super important for me that they will be able to have friends. And it’s great to have a Govinda’s restaurant right onsite for when you don’t feel like cooking!”
She continues, “We love being able to attend the morning program at the temple every day, and there are always devotees at the program here. There are also many senior devotees like Malati Devi, who remind us more of Srila Prabhupada. And the festivals like 24 hour kirtan that draw so many people are enlivening for us.”
“I think all these things are a big incentive for families who want to work with devotees, in a devotee environment – to surround themselves with devotees the whole day!” Sukhayanti enthuses. “Hopefully more and more families move here, and we can create a really young and vibrant community.”
For Fil, the possibility of doing that with Srila Prabhupada’s first farm community — “his original baby” – is exciting.
“I see the New Vrindaban community really trying to push towards fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s vision,” he says. “And that inspires us to totally give ourselves to that vision too. We just feel very privileged and grateful to be here, and to be able to contribute.”
Griffith University Gold Coast, Australia, Prasadam Distribution.
Radharani Priya devi dasi Tuesday nights at the Griffith University Student Village are ‘Krishna Supper Night’, where we serve out free, hot nutritious vegetarian meals and have kirtana. This project was started through the University Chaplaincy department. The Cardamom Pod Restaurant sponsors the prasadam, and well-known cook Garuda dasa also brings an equal amount of prasadam from New Govardhana.
The Village houses 500 students, who are mainly from interstate and overseas. The students line up for pasta, kicheri, halava and a drink, while listening to the soothing kirtana melodies of Kalyani devi dasi and Garuda. Another valuable member of the team is Rajnesh, a Griffith student. He comes to help serve out every Tuesday and often brings some of his uni friends to assist. The project has been running successfully for two semesters, and the Village management is very happy about the Krishna Supper Night.
The devotee who “kidnapped” the deities from his own wife!
Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari’s Installation Anniversary.
Ajita dasa: The New Govardhana farm, Australia, was purchased in May 1977 for $80,000. A year later the temple construction began with its three altars. The middle altar was to become the residence of Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari, the transcendental lifter of the hill that fulfills all desires. The devotees decided to install the Deity form of Radha Govardhanadhari as soon as the temple could receive Them. Unfortunately, to design, carve and ship such a wondrous form of God required a lot of time. Imagine India and communications in 1977 … Hari Sauri dasa decided to fly to Jaipur where the professional Deity sculptors (sthapatis) design and carve such forms of Krishna. He arrived at a sthapati’s workshop to place his order for New Govardhana. He saw a beautiful form of Radha and Krishna, who he felt would be perfect for Australia. “Bad news”, says the sthapati with transcendental pride. “They have been pre-ordered, paid for and are ready for shipping to New Mayapur, France.” Hari Sauri wanted the same Deities for New Govardhana, but time was running out. After much haggling, discussions, and bribes the sthapati finally released the already carved Divine Couple to him. He finalized the payment and shipping on the spot. Meanwhile, the sthapati frantically began a replica of the exact same set for the original customer. History confirms that this ‘client’ was not happy upon seeing the slightly modified version. July 1979 was the time for the two installations of the Radha Krishna Deities for New Mayapur, France, and New Govardhana, Australia. Many devotees attended the festival held at the newly constructed temple in Australia. Strawberry halava was one of the many preparations offered to Their Lordships on 15 July 1979 as a welcome feast. (Since then, more than half a million such preparations have been offered to Radha Govardhanadhari.) The other installation took place in New Mayapur, France. Sri Sri Radha Govinda Madhava were installed and also received halava with Their first offering. Now it’s 2004, during our Deities 25 th anniversary, and Hari Sauri is telling the assembled devotees about Their installation but, unknown to him, the ‘customer’ is also among the assembled devotees. Suddenly, the form of Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari flashes in her mind – 25 years ago in Jaipur, waiting to be shipped, to France. All hell breaks loose – Hari Sauri and the ‘customer’ together on the same day, same time, same Deities, same temple, same story – but now the customer is his very own wife, Sitala devi dasi!
Hari Sauri had ‘kidnapped’ the Deities who were ready for France and only 25 years later the truth came out on Their anniversary day. Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari had previously arranged, some 20 years ago, for the thief and the designer to marry. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor? Another little-known fact is that Govardhanadhari temporarily had conch shell eyes. Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari are very special Deities. Krishna is the lifter of the hill that fulfills all desires and He does indeed fulfill all desires of His dear servants, but He does so with a twist – as we have learned. So please somehow serve Their Lordships and see how kind They are. Just beware of what you desire …
Sri Krishna Haveli Project Update (Bhaktivedanta Manor, UK)
After many months of looking at tenders from over 6 different companies, we are now working with Vascroft Construction Ltd on valued engineering with a view to signing a contract soon. Vascroft contractors have over 40 years experience in the construction industry and have built many luxury hotels, private homes and restaurants delivering them on time and budget.
What happening now:
• The Pre-School has been relocated for the construction period.
• The construction of the interim facilities for the Manor School is ongoing.
• The pre-works to secure the site and provide amenities to construction crew have begun.
• Value engineering to make sure the costs stay within budget are being carried out before the full work commences after Janmashtami.
• The roads leading into the car parks are currently being constructed.
More info: http://haveli.bhaktivedantamanor.co.uk/
Volunteers unwind at uplifting mountain retreat in UK.
The Volunteer Care Council at Bhaktivedanta Manor annually organizes a spiritual retreat at Buckland Hall in the heart of the beautiful rural Brecon Beacons mountains of Wales. This year’s edition in late March saw a record number of attendees, including the management team and residents. There was a total of 170 attendees who were all enthusiastic to immerse themselves in topics about Krishna for the weekend. The theme was ‘Looking back, to move forward’, centered around our meditation for 2017, namely, how to afford godly hospitality to guests. During the retreat, visiting guest speakers delivered thought-provoking seminars. Vraja Bihari das, a monk from Mumbai, emphasized the importance for us to all stop, pause and take time to reflect on our past actions. We can thus learn lessons on how to move forward positively rather than lament about the past. Gaur Gopal das continued the theme of insightful learning, conveying the message of ‘Experience over Convenience’; the process of tolerating inconveniences to concentrate on improving our consciousness. Sutapa das explained how life is like a jigsaw puzzle: to solve it, we first need to put down the corners (understand the overall picture). The children had a fun time going on an organized treasure hunt, as well as taking part in many other activities especially arranged for them. There was also an incredibly heart touching drama based on the history of Lord Ramachandra and His wonderful devotees. Buckland Hall director Akhandadhi das said, “The whole weekend had a wonderful atmosphere where Srila Prabhupada’s Krishna consciousness family came together to support one another and learn in harmony, sharing the same goals in reviving our relationship with Krishna.” Harish Baldi said, “The experience was excellent!” Haridasvarya Das and Sundari Gopika devi said: “We feel spiritually charged. It was a great opportunity to walk in beautiful country surroundings.”
Harinam Sankirtan in Time Square station, Wednesday, August 2nd (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja used to si... And Vignesh asks “Why are sexual agitations there even though placing oneself under strong sadhu sanga?”
Coming soon – Chantnow.com
Pancharatna Das: We have exciting news to report from ISKCON Online. In just about one month from now, with the mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga, we will have the beta launch of our first outreach project – Chantnow.com. And with it we’ll be opening up some wonderful opportunities for online seva.
From the mouth of Narada (video)
SB class by H.G.Panca Gauda Prabhu in Vrindavana.
Our duty is to take shelter of the Supreme Lord and thus becom... 
Kirtan of Shyamananda Das with Vrindavan Darshan. Vrindavan is a holy land where Lord Krishna spent his childhood days. The village hosts many temples dedicated to the worship of Radha and Krishna and is considered sacred by Vaishnavism.
The festival program along the Baltic Sea in Poland is a step into Vrindavan, the spiritual world. Three hundred devotees put on 48 festivals in 2 months in various towns and villages along the coast. Tens of thousands of people enjoy the cultural programs. A video by Ananta Vrindavan.
By Madhava Smullen Neither Filippo Paonessa nor his wife-to-be Sukhayanti Dasi had any previous experience in cow protection or agriculture when they met at the Toronto ISKCON temple. But they found that they were both inspired by Srila Prabhupada’s words on simple living and shared a desire to follow them practically. Sukhayanti had grown up in Israel and traveled the world in her twenties, meeting devotees at a Rainbow Gathering in Germany in 2005. Attracted by their authenticity, she visited the farm temple of Simhachalam in the Bavarian forest and decided she wanted to join ISKCON. Continue reading "Canadian Family’s Journey in Simple Living Takes Them to New Vrindaban
→ Dandavats"
By Vijaya das Among Small Temples, ISKCON Silicon Valley was again No. 1, with a whopping 522% increase and 27,102 book points, making it the No. 1 temple in the USA. The leader, Vaisesika Prabhu, is now extending his time at other temples worldwide to increase people's knowledge of Krsna, which Prabhupada said "is the great need for society at large." Among Maha-Small Temples, Sofia increased the most (285%), reporting 4,090 book points. Stanu Prabhu and his merry team of transcendental book distributors continue year after year traveling around the country giving Krsna consciousness to the people in Bulgaria. Continue reading "WSN June 2017 – World Sankirtan Newsletter
→ Dandavats"
By Sunanda Das 15 days, 11 temples and $1 million U.S. in pledges! This was the amazing result of the first tour to the small temples of the Maharashtra region of Western India. Inspired by the amazing success of his recent Vyasa Puja TOVP fundraising event which also raised $1 million U.S., His Holiness Lokanath Maharaja, Chairman of the Western India District Council, personally orchestrated the recent first leg of the Maharashtra tour, calling temple leaders on the phone every day and creating a transcendental competition to give more to the TOVP. Every single devotee enthusiastically responded to this ‘Call to Action’. Even devotees who had given at his Vyasa Puja celebration upgraded their pledges, being overwhelmed by the ecstatic mood of the competition and festival of kirtan and abhisheka for Lord Nityananda’s Padukas and Lord Nrsimha’s Sitari. Continue reading "Maharashtra TOVP Tour an Amazing Success
→ Dandavats"
Dear Devotees and Friends,
You may have noticed that during the last few months whenever we post lectures, we have been trying to post lecture summaries as separate audios. Now, we will also be trying to post transcripts of those summaries.
Currently, the transcripts of the following lectures have been posted.
The post Posting transcripts of lecture summaries along with lectures appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Answer Podcast
The post What role does our nature play in our taking shelter of Krishna? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Answer Podcast
The post Why is impersonalism condemned in Gita 9.12 and appreciated in Gita 9.15? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Chowpatty, Mumbai]
Podcast
Podcast Summary
The post Krishna is the trans-personal shelter of all the things that shelter us appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
The post Jhulan Yatra 2017: Day1 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
My most attended program for a Western audience was at the Ohio State University. Naveen Krishna Prabhu, along with an inspired team, has been conducting a weekly vegetarian cooking class, which has over the years blossomed into a full-fledged program. Over one hundred and fifty students attended the program where I spoke on “Focus on conscious intention, not circumstantial emotion.” I explained how our intentions are often sabotaged by our emotions, and how we can subordinate our emotions to our intentions using spiritual wisdom and meditational practice.
After the class, a Chinese girl asked, “How can we conquer all our fears?” I answered that fear is an essential psychological defense mechanism that alerts us to danger, just as pain alerts us to physical danger. Fear is not the problem; fearfulness is. When fear continues to be present even when there is no danger, then fear morphs into fearfulness. The way to overcome it is by filling ourselves with positive, protective, purposeful thoughts – and the most efficacious of such thoughts are thoughts about our spiritual core and the whole to which we belong.
This article is part of a series of articles about the recent Western tour. Full article can be read here
The post Beyond emotion to intention – Talk at Ohio State University appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, September 2013, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.20.12)
Many artists are only recognised for their greatness once they are dead but Beethoven was famous during his life but then, he went deaf. Can you imagine that!? It was practically the worse thing that could have affected him. For a musician, the ear is essential. People who cannot sing, it is not that they cannot sing – they cannot listen! Music begins with listening. It is all about the ear, really!
Beethoven, with the perfect ears, who he could perfectly hear different tones and notes, went deaf. It was a setup, he became bigger and bigger, he was the greatest and then he went deaf, lost it! He had to go through the agony of everything being taken away!
In spiritual life, it is also like this. In spiritual life, in the course of our service we may get recognition; we may get so many facilities and so on, many external attributes. Over the years, you collect a library of your books, your fancy chadaars and everything. But in a spiritual crisis, all that we have is the Krsna consciousness within! Therefore, we have to make commitments within. Internally, we have to say, “Yes Krsna, I will put you first. I will put you before my senses. I will put you before my mind. Yes, whatever you say.”
The ISKCON Brooklyn Temple President has refused to comply with the GBC's recent notice for his removal and has locked the Brooklyn Temple and removed the "ISKCON" sign from the face of the building
After viewing the installed Kalashes and Chakras, Sadbhuja and Rangavati prabhus have decided that the Dome brackets which hold the Kalashes in place need a color adjustment to match the gold color of the titanium nitrate Kalashes and Chakras. They have created a new design which includes painting sections of the Dome brackets gold.
To fulfill the need for a durable, weather-resistant and long-lasting paint they have turned to a German based company named Keim known for its high quality paints. Their paint is very unique because it is a ready-to-use mineral based silicate paint whose pigments and minerals are engineered to meet the challenges of extreme climatic conditions and is renowned for its proven durability to last for over one hundred years. It is water-repellent, offers high vapor permeability and forms an insoluble, chemical bond with the mineral substrate. There is evidence of this in Germany, Austria and other European countries where Keim’s paint has been used on royal mansions and other important structures and buildings that are over one hundred years old.
They have further plans to use Keim’s paint on other outside areas of the structure as well as inside in the coffered pillars and on the pillars.
The post Painting the Dome Brackets appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
Three devotees hit by car in critical condition. Prayers required.
They were performing sankirtan in the street promoting their program.
A car we... 
Who are the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas?
Devotees of Viṣṇu are called Vaiṣṇavas, devotees of Kṛṣṇa are called Kārṣṇas, and the devotees of Śrī Rādhā (Gaurī) are called Gauḍīyas (Gaurīyas).
Lord Gaurāṅga’s devotees, who are under the shelter of parakīya-mādhurya-rati and who follow Śrī Rūpa, are called Gauḍīyas. The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas follow Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, the incarnation of Lalitā. Therefore they can be defined as followers of Śrī Svarūpa and Śrī Rūpa. Therefore Mahāprabhu commented to Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Prabhu, “This is the behavior of your Gauḍīya devotees.”
The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas are interested in mañjarī-bhāva, and Śrī Rādhā-Govinda, Śrī Rādhā-Gopīnātha, and Śrī Rādhā-Madana-mohana are their worshipable Deities.[…]
Generally, Lord Gaurāṅga’s devotees are known as Gauḍīyas (Gaurīyas), and the devotees in Gauḍadeśa (Bengal) are also called Gauḍīyas, just as the devotees in Utkala (Oḍissa) are called Oḍiyās.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura
Amṛta Vāṇī - Nectar of Instructions for Immortality
***Phonemes [r] and [ḍ] are both retroflex and sound almost similarly. Gaurīyas and Gauḍīyas are homonyms
The Beginning (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Two full days before Woodstock begins we are out in force with harinam, prasadam distributi...