Driving an automobile in the service of the Lord (dasyam) is equal to performing any other service in bhakti-yoga such as sravanam, kirtanam, distributing books, offering arati to the deities, managing a temple, etc. Sri Daruka, Sri Hanuman, Sri Garuda and other devotees are famous for rendering the service of transporting the Lord from one place to another. Srila Prabhupada wanted devotees to drive carefully and he censured careless driving on several occasions. If we ignore his request and the laws governing safe driving, we are spiritually and materially at fault. Continue reading "Driving for Krishna → Dandavats"
Sunday feast lecture in London Iskcon Temple. How to install the Srimad Bhagavatam in your house. Those persons who worship the Vaishnava literature Srimad Bhagavatam in their house are freed from all sins and they become worshipable by even the demigods. In the age of Kali, I become very pleased with those who regularly worship Srimad Bhagavatam in their house and dance without fear. Continue reading "Installing the Srimad Bhagavatam in your house → Dandavats"
The devotees organised a wonderful festival in a central Denpasar park the day before the Rathayatra. There was kirtan, lecture, dance and wonderful prasadam all day.
Indonesians are very fond of going to parks with their families so not only were there thousands of devotees but many who had come just for a day in the park. Needless to say, they took advantage of the devotee festivities as well.
Fireworks exploded in the air to celebrate 150 years since the birth of Canada, as we know it, under that name. The fireworks display and pyrotechnics show in the nation’s capital didn’t faze or excite me as much as the footwork and chanting did. I was very much a part of that.
We calculated our party of chanters moved, in more or less a procession style, for nine kilometres. It sounded not too bad for the distance to and from the ISKCON Centre on Somerset Street. https://instagram.com/p/BWCOfo6FMRV/
Usually our group of bhakti-yogis have a station with a stage to operate from.This year, however, we were discouraged from setting up near the war memorial due to the extra-dense crowds, as well as terrorist threats.Security was very much stepped up this year.
What I saw, though, were happy crowds.People especially lit-up upon seeing and hearing the chanting party, at least those whom we accessed.The demographic make-up of Ottawa is very diverse, like many larger Canadian cities.
Our Indigenous People had a chat with the Prime Minister about the past–what is referred to as a genocide history.Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were out there meeting the public.I would have loved it if the couple could have danced and sung with us.
In one way, Prince Charles is a champion by speaking out against food production techniques of today.He is known to say, “For every pound of beef produced in the industrial system, it takes two thousand gallons of water.”He has also called for people to lower their beef and meat intake.Pretty progressive for a member of the royal family.
Perkumpulan (Indonesian for "Association") ISKCON is a legal body registered with the Indonesian government since September 2015. Perkumpulan ISKCON was founded directly by the ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC) representatives for Indonesia. Executives, Supervisors and Members of the Association forms the National Council of ISKCON for Indonesia. Continue reading "2016-2017 report of the activities of ISKCON’s National Council in Indonesia → Dandavats"
On June 23rd, Indradyumna Swami, kirtan singer Bada Haridas, Sita Charana Dasi from Macedonia and Saci Sundari Dasi from Bulgaria appeared on two prime time television programs in Skopje, Macedonia. One of the programs was in the morning, at breakfast time. The other, TV Macedonia 24, was at lunch time. Both were watched by over one million people.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 March 2017, United Kingdom, Pandava Sena Event – The Real Adventure)
Question: You mentioned that you did not agree with your father who said that life is a compromise. Sometimes it is not always clear what is a compromise and what is not. What is a compromise and what is not a compromise?
Yes, it may not be clear always. But in my talk, I kind of emphasised that the essence is that we should keep on striving for the ideal. It does not mean that in life we just stubbornly go in one direction and nothing can stop us.
Sometimes we may have to make adjustments in our plans but we do not adjust our ideal. Our ideal is still: To be become pure devotees, pure followers of Krsna and Prabhupada. That we will never give up for anything. I had to temporarily leave Vrindavan although I wanted to stay there for the rest of my life. It broke my heart but what to do, I had to!
One may say, “C’mon, you should have not compromised. You should have just relied on Krsna. He would have protected you.” Yeah, but also I had to use my brain and say, “Let things cool down for a while,” which I did. So one should NOT compromise one’s commitment to pure devotional service.
The website, created by developer and second-generation devotee Krishna Kirtan Das, is designed to help devotees search, locate, contact and see the current status of all Srila Prabhupada disciples world-wide. The website is also publishing these disciples’ memories of Srila Prabhupada, encouraging them to share them before they pass away, and to be part of an important historical archive.
Photos and videos from the Sravanam-Kirtanam Festival in Villa-Vrindavana, Florence, Italy.
Srila Prabhupada: The Lord’s holy name is called sravana-mangala. This means that one receives everything auspicious simply by hearing the holy name. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 2.7.15 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/4XFFGs
A two day retreat by HH Bhanu Swami on Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu and the Sandharbhas (Album with photos)
HH Bhanu Swami had visited Govardhan Ecovillage on 2 nd June and had given seminars on Rupa Gosvami’s work, Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu; Madhurya Kadambini of Srila Visvanath Cakravarti Thakur and Tattva-Sandarba of Jiva Gosvami. The 2-day retreat was held in the seminar hall of the Satsang Bhavan and was well attended by the students of Bhativedanta Vidyapitha and the resident monks of Govardhan Ecovillage
The State of the State - your tithing dollars at work! Wow, we are already half way through 2017, so here's a peek at what your tithing dollars are allowing us to do at the Temple. We have spent the past 16 months working on securing development permits for Phase II of our master plan, which includes building guest cottages around the pond. It’s been a long and tedious process, where every department of county regulators comes over to have a look and give opinions on what we want to do. Thank you to all of our donors and tithers, your generous contributions make these projects possible. Please encourage your friends to support our temple; we are here to serve you! Continue reading "Latest developments of Iskcon Alachua community → Dandavats"
Bhagavata Pradipika, a free monthly e-magazine on the Srimad Bhagavatam, is an initiative of the Bhaktivedanta Vidyapitha to share the unparalleled wisdom of the Bhagavatam with the whole world.
2:30am: Wake up
4am – 5:25am: Travel to temple
5:25am – 6:50am: Deity paraphernalia service
6:50-7am: Gobble down maha-sweets as a award to myself for the morning activities
7am-7:10am: Checking out my friends iPad out
7:15am – 8:45am: Deity greeting, Guru Puja, Bhagavatam class
8:45am-9:30am: Massive breakfast prasadam (rice, zucchini curry, puri, coconut chutney, tomato chutney & halva)
9:30am – 10:45am: Bus & train travel to Liverpool where the Ratha Yatra would be held.
As i get out of the train station and look for directions to the carpark where the event would be held, someone touches me on the shoulder and says, “Hari Bol!”
I turned around and its Sri Prabhalad prabhu, the wonderful devotee and kirtaneer. I was so happy to see him there. Every time i see him, i am reminded of my early days of ISKCON where his kirtan would sustain me. Together, we make our way to the venue using Google Maps. We almost got lost before a devotee came looking for him. A short walk and we were at the venue – a car park.
The car park were full of devotees! There was s stage and an altar. Prasad and book distribution counters were being setup. Thick waft of Vrindhavana incense filled the underground park and passed into the street outside. Prabhus in dhotis, others in western wear (me included), matajis in super colourful indian attire and kids running around – the place looked, felt & sounded like a temple!!
Sri Prahalad prabhu got into action right away adorning himself with a harmonium. A prabhu held out a mic for him. Young boys on karatalas and mridangas joined in. Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subadra got into Their carts. The local Council members stood in front with a coconut in their hands, ready to smash them to the ground. They looked amused as they were told they would be doing this! Once that ceremony was done, the cart was signalled to move. Devotees cheered, onlookers gathered by the pavements and kirtan was in full swing.
A devotee came running towards me and said, “Prabhu, come quickly! We need a person to carry their Lordships and Their palanquin!”. I couldn’t believe my luck! I had the same opportunity when the Ratha Yatra was opened at the St. Kilda Festival, some 6-7 years ago! There were 4 boys resting the palanquin on their shoulder but it was slightly slanted because i was short compared to the others! So after some 10 mins of walking, i was replaced by someone with the right height that matched everyone else. Yet, i was happy and thankful for the opportunity. The rest of the trip, I continued to walk with Them lest i might get an opportunity again.
Basically, we went along the streets circling the carpark. Storekeepers and their customers spilled onto the street to watch the procession. Some smiled and some looked confused. It seemed to me that they had no idea what was going on. To them, it looked liked some Hindu festival. I wish many of them were given handouts about the significance of the event, invited to pull the ropes and perhaps ask them to join us for the lunch prasad afterwards.
Speaking about prasad, this was on the menu – big pooris, tomato chutney, green salad, rice, eggplant & paneer subji, water & cordial. It was nice – everyone were hungry! There were some stage shows but i didn’t stay back for them as i was so sleepy by now. Walked back to the bus stand, and took a 1.5 hr trip back home.
I couldn’t help thinking that as Lord Jagannath travels across the streets with the gigantic ropes, a large cart and plenty of devotees, He is actually riding on the road on our hearts. May He continue to give us this privilege year after year!
Although Lord Krsna, being the possessor of infinite powers, is the only cause of the creation, maintenance and destruction of innumerable living beings, He simply did not desire to keep His body in this world any longer. Thus He revealed the destination of those fixed in the self and demonstrated that this mortal world is of no intrinsic value. (SB 11.31.13) Continue reading "Lord Krsna, the possessor of infinite powers → Dandavats"
Rathayatra and book distribution in Surat (Album with photos)
Jagannatha Damodar das: There was arranged the Rathyatra festival on 25 June'17 Sunday, on the auspicious day of Ashadh dwitiya in the city of Surat, Gujarat. Since Surat is one of the major cities of Gujarat, many thousand faithful people took part in it with a great enthusiasm. It was one of the best chance for the devotees to please Srila Prabhupada by distributing his books as Rathyatra is a festival in which totally new beginners who even don’t know the lord, some faithful people, few who do not believe in lord and even the people of different religions and sampradayas take part. As Srila Prabhupada once said in his lecture that “ There is no question of darkness where there is light, and Krishna Consciousness is the light that dispels the darkness of material sense enjoyment.”( Lecture, Ratha-yatra-San Francisco, June 27, 1971 ) and to bring the light of Krsna Consciouness to the conditioned people, under the guidance of the vice president of Surat ISKCON temple H.G. Vrindavan Das, team of around 150 devotees leaded by H.G. Radhesh Das celebrated this festival of Chariot by sacrificing their time totally to book distribution of Srila Prabhupada’s books for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada and in order to bring the Mercy of Lord Jagannatha to every people. The following is the book distribution report:
Maha Big books - 491
Big books - 75
Medium books - 25
Small books - 991
Srimad Bhagwatam full set - 13
Caitanya Caritamrita set - 1
Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhav - 1 Set
Lose BTG - 860
BTG 1 year subscription - 33
Plus some more books which are not counted
Total 2.07 L INR Lakshmi received.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/3eQ4Eq
The following poem was shared by a Navajo woman whom I met this week. I, in turn, wanted to share it with our readers.
In Beauty I Walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again (4x)
Today I will walk out, today everything unnecessary will leave me.
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I will walk with beauty before me. I will walk with beauty behind me.
I will walk with beauty below me. I will walk with beauty above me.
I will walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trial of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful.
And so I was reflecting on this poem, sometimes referred to as “The NavajoWay”, as I walked along Bloor Street, on a vibrant evening in Toronto. Simple words, but powerful and beautiful.
The sad news is that I'm leaving the road for a month. One of the main reasons for this is my annual summer obligation to join a young teen-boys’ bus tour. It will be a time for outdoor events, drama, workshops and just being there for them.
Still, every day that I’m with these young men—and that time will come soon—I’ll continue on with walking a stretch each day, wherever I am, and give a report of what my day is like.I’ll miss the road and I’ll miss the state of Utah, but I’ll be back.Stay tuned with me, please.
So, to relay to you my final exchanges last night with folks on Hwy 191 in Utah for the tail-end of the day, here it is:
A woman pulls over and offers a ride,
“Can I take you down the road?”
“Actually I’m in the middle of a trek to San Francisco from New York.”
“That’s amazing.You know I just came from Cambodia and there’s monks everywhere,” she said.
“True, but I'm a monk from the Hare Krishna tradition.”
“So, it’s alright to ask a monk about a ride?”
“No harm in asking.”
“God bless you!” she offered.
“And you!”
Right behind her car another pulled up.It was three men.
“A ride?”
You readers know the answer.
I delivered my line, mantra cards, and kept walking until Vyenkat and Hitesh drove up from Salt Lake.They love to walk and to talk, and so we did, until the sun was gone.
Hare Krishna! Please accept our humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!
We warmly invite all the devotees with your family members to a very special night of kirtan at ISKCON Scarborough coming Friday.
HG Haribhakti dey, HG Ajamil das and the kirtan group will immerse us in the neatarian ocean of the Holy names.
The program starts at 6.45 pm on July 7th 2017.
Haribhakti Dey
"I was fortunate to be raised by musicians. Both, my father and mother are trained musicians and come from completely different musical and cultural backgrounds. My father was born in West Bengal, India, and was trained in the popular Bengali Folk style. My mother is from Colombia and grew up with Flamenco and South American music. From a very young age, music has been my passion”.
Born in 1982, inspired and taught by his father, Haribhakti developed a deep appreciation and love for devotional art and music. At the age of eight his father sent him to learn from Pt. Pradeep Gosh, a much respected and well known Music teacher in Kolkatta.
Later, Haribhakti Dey moved to Mumbai and continued his learning from Pt. Ajoy Pohankar, one of the most renowned Indian classical vocalists.
This Guru was a strict disciplinarian, and the long and arduous training made Haribhakti Dey a dedicated student and exponent of devotional Indian classical music.
The creative brilliance in Haribhakti Dey lies in his distinctive blend of styles. His pulsating rhythmic play and the cascades of his powerful, lightening-swift “Taans” are thrilling. His virtuosity, sensitivity, light singing, Alaap, slow and fast tempo, and total control of “Sur” and “Taal” have the captivating ability to touch the hearts and souls of his listeners.
Haribhakti Dey has performed numerous concerts throughout India both as a solo artist and in the company of other famous Indian musicians. He has taken Bhajan Sangeet to the world stage, performing sell-out concerts in Canada, USA, England, Australia, Dubai, Brazil, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
Summer Solstice Festival at Stonehenge UK
Each year on the longest day of the year, a great festival takes place at the ancient Stonehenge site. The “English Heritage” invite us to perform the Midnight Rathayatra and to do the mass Prasad distribution. Enjoy the video.
Glastonbury Music Festival .
Following In Tribhuvanath Prabhu’s foot steps, we maintain this dynamic preaching initiative, as when he was physically with us.
Enjoy the video
We would like to humbly invite everyone to join us this year, from July 14th-16th, 2017 for our 45th Annual Ratha-Yatra here in Toronto.
As the whole city has noticed, the Toronto Islands have flooded due to the high amounts of rain this spring and summer. The city has closed the Toronto Islands, including Centre Island, to the public until at least August 1st. For this reason, our festival will now be taking place at a beautiful new park called Sherbourne Common (more information below)!
Festivities will kick off on Friday, July 14th as we celebrate a 12-Hour Kirtan, featuring Madhava Prabhu, Agnideva Dasa, Amala Kirtan Dasa, Jahnavi Jivana Devi Dasi and more (see below)! We will be blowing the roof off New Remuna Dhama (ISKCON Toronto) with this 12-hour kirtan marathon. Once again, the special event is planned for Friday, July 14th from 10:00am to 10:00pm. This kirtan event is not to be missed!
Of course, this precedes the big weekend! Toronto’s Ratha-Yatra is one of the largest Ratha-Yatras in North America with tens of thousands of people in attendance each year!
Some of the unique features of Toronto’s Ratha-Yatra include:
A Parade Right Through Downtown Toronto
A “Bhajan Kutir” with Non-Stop Kirtan
“Yoga Meltdown” – A Mini Yoga Festival
Live Cooking Demonstrations
Arts & Culture Showcase and much more!
Immediately following the parade, festival-goers will be able to attend the two-day festivities at Sherbourne Common, a beautiful new park right at the waterfront and which is a short walk from the end of the parade. The main festival-pavilion will also host a children’s area featuring fun and wholesome, Vedic-themed activities and events. All in all, Toronto's Ratha-Yatra will offer everyone a chance to experience a unique festival promoting simple-living and high-thinking!
Pictures of Sherbourne Common (New Festival Location):
By Danavir Goswami
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Anuttama Prabhu - Interview (13 min video)
Interfaith Dialogue - Be proactive to reach out and build relationships with other organizations to ac...
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Cow care in Mayapur (Album with photos)
We appreciate how the boys at the Bhaktivedanta Academy (Mayapur Gurukul) are taught to love, care for an...
By Mukhya Devi Dasi
Bhagavata Pradipika, a free monthly e-magazine on the Srimad Bhagavatam, is an initiative of the Bhaktivedanta Vidyapitha to share the unparalleled wisdom of the Bhagavatam with the whole world.
By Ravindra Svarupa Das
Glorification of Aditya Mataji (video)
Several elevated vaishnavas talk in Vrindavana about the glories of this dear vaishnavi, disciple of Srila...
