Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Harinama in a Baltic Beach city (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Chanting the holy names on the street with mridangas and kartalas is the o... 
TOVP: New beautiful panoramic video (3 min video)
Ambarisa Das: This is an update to the wonderful video created by the TOVP360 project.
Watch i... (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 09 February 2012, Leicester, England, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.19)
We cannot trace how long we have been in the material world. Life after life, we are changing bodies – the gross body – but the subtle body; which is made up of the mind, intelligence and false ego; is travelling with us. Therefore, the impressions of so many lifetimes are stored in our consciousness. By the arrangement of the Supreme Lord, we have forgotten these previous lives but memories of so many previous lives are stored within the sub-consciousness and are influencing us.
Therefore a cute little child is not totally innocent because there is a whole history that may not be manifest yet but it will come out later and then you think, “How is it possible that my little darling is doing such a thing?” but your little darling has already done these things in unlimited previous lives.
So in this way we are very much influenced by the three modes of material nature which spread out over many lifetimes.
Srila Prabhupada mentioned that we should associate with the mode of goodness. He does not say that we should be in the mode of goodness, he says that we should associate in the mode of goodness, which I think is an interesting point.
To be in the mode of goodness is so not easy. Just by determination and endeavour we cannot really change our heart but by associating with the mode of goodness then one gradually develops the qualities of goodness. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, the transcendental process of devotional service is described. It is said, “By devotional service, automatically the influence of ignorance and passion disappears. Then eventually one becomes fixed in goodness and even in pure goodness!”
Unalloyed goodness is known as viśuddha-sattva, transcendental goodness. Meanwhile we are in the process of purification and the influences of the lower nature are still within and some bad habits may still be there because we were already afflicted with sinful behaviour from previous lives that the tendency is there but by associating with the mode of goodness then gradually one develops good qualities and rises above.
Website: bucsu.krisnavolgy.hu, Facebook, Registration
GBC College (2 min video)
Tamohara das: “I think this is one of the most important projects we’ve done in recent years”
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/Z4GvXi
Ecstatic July 1st Harinam at Jacksonville Beach, Florida, United States (Album with photos)
Every month many Harinams are held at various football games, parades, events and beaches. Jacksonville Beach is one such location. Devotees blissfully sing and dance with the sincere drunks and distribute books in the scorching summer sun - often coming back ten shades darker.
Afterwards, everyone takes prasadam at Mother Vishnupriya and Godruma’s home. Sankirtan yajna ki jaya!
(photos by Narottama)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/fmwwpr
Rathayatra in Barcellona, Spain, 2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: O my Lord! Persons who chant the holy names of your Lordship are far,... Answer Podcast
The post How can we explain tangibly what consciousness is? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post Is our nature never changeable – Hindi? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post If people can’t change their nature, how can they improve – Hindi? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post When facing problems, how can we go beyond blaming others and blaming our own past karma – Hindi? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post Why do we so easily forgive ourselves – Hindi? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post Why don’t people remember past lives in other species? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post How can we decide when to give up one service and take up some other service? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
By ISKCON Sannyasa Ministry Srila Prabhupada on “What is a Sannyasi?” As there are hairs and nails on the body and sometimes we separate these parts from the body similarly when the material energy is separated from the service of the Lord it is inferior energy. Inferior energy is not false but temporary. The same temporary energy when surcharged with Krsna consciousness it transforms into supreme energy by the supreme will. By this will any energy can be transformed into another just like electronic energy in a refrigerator or in a heater, to an ordinary layman, he sees cold and hot but to an electrician he sees electricity. So when one is engaged in the service of the Lord that person is already in the spiritual energy, and a sannyasi is to transform himself from the inferior to the superior, spiritual energy. If your consciousness is absorbed in Krsna you are always a sannyasi." (SPL to Jayananda, 29th September, 1967) Continue reading "ISKCON Sannyasa Ministry Newsletter
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Japa Seminar by His Holiness Candramauli Swami (video)
9 keys for success! Revolutionary technique: chant one maha mantra properly - From Bhurijana Prabhu’s book “Japa”.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/wjHQQg
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The post In past-life memories cases, how do wounds on the previous body manifest as birth marks on the next body? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post When presenting philosophy from one perspective, how can we avoid getting carried away and rejecting other perspectives? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post If devotees are becoming lethargic in professional life, should we encourage them to aim high? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post Does the subconscious mind help us to do whatever we think repeatedly with our conscious mind? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post Should a brahmachari change his ashrama if his astrological chart is unfavorable for renunciation? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post What is the difference between the mind and the modes? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The post We are never too far away from relapse Gita 02.60 appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Chowpatty, Mumbai, India]
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The post Understanding what is mental and what is spiritual appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
[Prerna youth lecture at ISKCON, Nasik, India]
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The post Reincarnation – From Romance to Research appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
The post Daily Darshan: July 10th, 2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Lord Krishna and the austerities of speech.
Vaisesika Dasa: Keeping things simple: To advance in yoga - any kind of yoga - one must first control the tongue. As a rudder is the most critical mechanism for steering a ship, the tongue is one’s most vital organ for defining one’s course in life.
The great Acarya (world teacher) of bhakti yoga, Rupa Goswami, in his essential teachings on bhakti yoga called The Nectar of Instruction, starts with this: “One must first control one’s urge to speak.” If one can control the tongue, he suggests, all the other senses will follow.
Don Miguel Ruiz, the author of The Four Agreements, compares one’s words to seeds that implant themselves in one’s mind and heart.
When one speaks with a motive to injure or to undermine others, or when one speaks whimsically - gossiping, for instance - one’s seed-like words take root and grow into poisonous trees with deadly fruits.
To counteract these anomalies, in the Gita, Lord Krishna suggests the following austerities of speech.
Speak words that are:
1. Truthful
2. Pleasing
3. Beneficial
4. Not agitating to others
&
5. Regularly recite the Vedic literature
Think before you speak. If the words you are about to say don’t fit into one of the categories listed above, don’t let them out.
According to the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu, Krishna reveals Himself to one who practices such control of the tongue.
“No one can understand Krishna as He is by the blunt material senses. But He reveals Himself to the devotees, being pleased with them for their transcendental loving service unto Him, which begins with the tongue.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.234)
Little vaishnavas from China chant Hare Krishna with unexpected emotion, crying for the Lord (1 min video)
Lord Chaitanya’s verse: “My Lord Govinda, because of separation from You, I consider even a moment a great millennium. Tears flow from My eyes like torrents of rain, and I see the entire world as void.”
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/DxfY2u
Devotees bring a Jaladuta boat with the murtis in a Saturday Night Harinam at London (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Authorities who are learned scholars and sages have carefully ascertained that one should atone for the heaviest sins by undergoing a heavy process of atonement and one should atone for lighter sins by undergoing lighter atonement. Chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, however, vanquishes all the effects of sinful activities, regardless of whether heavy or light.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.16)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/hU4RL2
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 March 2017, United Kingdom, Pandava Sena Event – The Real Adventure)
Continued from No compromise on one’s commitment to pure devotional service
Question: The basis of relationships is compromise. In grhasta asrama, if there is no compromise, there is virtually no existence of a relationship. So ideals of higher principles are not to be compromised but in a relationship, compromise is a must. What would you say about that, Maharaj?
I appreciate your logic very much but I think that the basis of a relationship is not compromise. I think that the basis of a relationship is commitment, an unbroken commitment. Then in the course of the relationship, there is compromise. In the day to day dealings, in the external exchanges of the relationship, there is compromise but I think that the foundation of a relationship is commitment.
As devotees, there is no question of a lasting or a real relationship just between two people by themselves. When a man looks his beloved in the eyes, he can say to her, “Darling, you are the most wonderful person in the world – after Krsna.” That is where it stands. Krsna is the third person in every relationship to make it complete.
When mutual commitment is there, where two people are committed to Krsna and stay together, then the relationship has a lasting meaning. Then all the compromise comes on top, you know – in how they speak to each other, how they listen to each other, how they do this and that together, who has to get up and make the tea, you name it! There are many things. I was married for 24 years so I have some experience!
First phase of the Mayapur Institute Campus was inaugurated and offered to Srila Prabhupada on 3rd Jul 2017 in the auspicious presence of Jayapataka Swami and many other senior devotees.
An adult body consists of 60% water. We need to constantly replenish to ensure we’re hydrated and fully-functioning.
Conversation.
By Romapada Swami Question: Srila Prabhupada's translation indicates that "a-brahma-bhuvanal - up to the Brahmaloka plane" The Bhagavatam seems to say that Satya Loka is not subject to birth, death, old age and disease. The Bhagavad Gita seems to say that it is subject to these four states. Can you shed on light on this seeming contradiction? Continue reading "Brahma-loka vs. Vaikuntha-loka
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Sankirtan Weekend Warriors - Wimbledon - a district of southwest London, England - 8.07.2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.” If one practices chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, he is naturally expected to chant Hare Krishna when he meets with some accident. Even without such practice, however, if one somehow or other chants the holy name of the Lord (Hare Krishna) when he meets with an accident and dies, he will be saved from hellish life after death. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.15 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/m5pndy