Planet ISKCON

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 June 2013, Vrindavan, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.16.34)

Ultimately, the mercy of Mahaprabhu is what we are hoping for but only after we have given our everything – NOT BEFORE and NOT while lying on our back saying, “Oh, I really hope for the mercy of Mahaprabhu.” Not like that but instead, after we have given our everything and we have reached our limits by trying hard and when we reached our limit, that is when we start praying! When we have tried everything to conquer the unconquerable Krsna then miracles can happen by mercy.

When Alexander the Great lead his men through the Gedrosian Desert, the loss of life was colossal. He sent phalanxes of his army in search of water. After many hours they came back with just enough to fill a helmet. The parched army handed over the precious liquid to their commander. He clasped the helmet in both hands and to the dismay of his troops, poured its contents onto the sand. Alexander proclaimed, “If the men don't drink, then I don't drink”. This selfless act forever forged an impenetrable bond between the commander-in-chief and his men. He inspired them to live and die for him, not by what he said, rather, by what he did. Continue reading "Leaders Like Salt
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Emese about the “eternally conditioned going to Vaikuntha and Atmarama about how to plan for living in a farm community.

In the book The Seventh Goswami, a biography of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura , it is stated that Thakura Bhaktivinoda prayerfully invoked the Lord, and expressed his heartfelt desire, “When will that day come when the fair-skinned foreigners will come to Sri Mayapur-dhama and join with the Bengali Vaisnavas to chant ‘Jaya Sacinandana, Jaya Sacinandana!’ … Very soon the chanting of Harinama sankirtana will be spread all over the world. Oh, when will that day come when people from America, England, France, Germany, Russia will take up kartals and mrdangas and chant Hare Krsna in their towns?” Interestingly enough, just one-hundred years after Thakura Bhaktivinoda predicted this, three-thousand devotees form America, England, France, Germany, Russia and fifty other countries gathered at ISKCON Mayapur, joined together with one-thousand Bengali Vaisnavas, and chanted and danced together, chanting “Jaya Sacinandana, Jaya Sacinandana, Jaya Sacinandana Gaura Hari!” Continue reading "Russia Comes to Mayapur
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The intelligent Queen Kunti here points out that even though Lord Krsna is dealing with her affectionately as a relative, He is not compromising His position as the well-wishing Soul of the universe. In other words, the Lord doesn’t play favorites. As He says in the Bhagavad-gita (9.29), samo ‘ham sarva-bhutesu, “I am equal to everyone.” So while the Lord reciprocates with all souls, it is natural that those who love Him intensely receive His special attention, for they want Him and nothing else. Continue reading "“Us” and “Them”
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Hare Krishna Festivals UK (Album with photos)
More than 120 teenagers at Chipping Sodbury School in South Gloucestershire were presented with a copy of Bhagavad Gita As it Is today.
Hare Krishna Festivals U.K. were invited along to chant, dance and share Srila Prabhupada’s teachings.
Teachers were given a copy of ‘Vedas’, and one even asked for a complete 12-volume collection of Srimad Bhagavatam!
Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/PEQDK1

Our Family Business: The Great Art of Distributing Srila Prabhupada’s Books! (2 min video)
Vaisesika Dasa: In Our Family Business, I emphasize empowerment over bureaucracy and encouragement over coercion.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/J36vX4

This year’s Denpasar Rathayatra festival was attended by around 4,000 devotees, with some coming from other parts of Indonesia like Java, Sulawesi and Lombok.

The day started early with kirtan and free prasadam for many people in the park. That was followed by speeches from dignitaries and performances of dance and kirtan on the main stage.

Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra Devi’s carts headed out onto the streets around 4.30 pm and the parade went for about 2 hours. It was incredible to see such a huge procession going around the streets of Denpasar, a city of about 5 million people.

JAPA — Our Time to be with Krishna.
Question: Dear Bada Haridas, I’ve been reading your blog posts and I really enjoy the question and answers format and content.

The Supersoul does it again!
Recently I was distributing books door to door in Gisborne, New Zealand. I knocked on one door and had the great fortune to meet Caleb, a very pleasant middle-aged gentleman and committed Christian. As a successful musician, one of the ways he serves is to glorify God through music at Christian gatherings all around the world. Still, I could understand from his respectful and friendly demeanor that he was open to receiving one of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Utilizing the clever presentation HG Vijaya Prabhu kindly shared with us (that Prabhupada’s books provide strong arguments with which to defeat atheism and are therefore relevant to all theists) I confidently showed him Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1. Fortunately, Caleb deeply appreciated the truth and beauty of SB and was very eager to take a copy. When I asked him for a donation, a wry smile came to his face. Popping back into his house, he returned a moment later with a nice donation. Then he explained: “Normally I never keep cash. However, when I was driving back home earlier today, I felt compelled to stop at an ATM to withdraw this money. At the time I did not know what the money would be used for, but I could understand that God was directing me and that the reason would become apparent in due course. So when you asked for a donation everything made sense.” As Krishna explains in Bhagavad Gita, 18.14, the Supersoul is the ultimate factor of action. By participating in Lord Caitanya’s Sankirtan movement we can perceive this and increase our faith in Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Your aspiring servant, Caitanya Vihara das

“Invitation to The Hare Krishna Convention Malaysia 2017”
The best time is always now! Yes it’s now! Therefore, “Reach Out” before it’s too late. We’re extremely delighted to be hosting the Hare Krishna Convention once again this year for the eleventh time. The Temple of Devotion and Understanding (TODU), Seberang Jaya is ready to open their doors to welcome you on the 31st of Aug before we send you back home on the 3rd of Sept. The #HKC11 will be taking place for four consecutive days again this year but definitely with lots of improvements and surprises to fulfill all your needs and expectations. Yes, this time with more roaring yet melodious Kirtans, more delicious and finger-licking good Maha Prasad, more beneficial and knowledgeable seminars and not to be forgotten the best of entertaining and fun-filled Krishna conscious activities for all. Yes, that includes your children and kids who’re within the age range of 4 - 12 years old too. Worry not because we’re here to look after your kids throughout the convention. That’s definitely sigh of relief, isn’t it? So aren’t you excited?

But that’s not all yet. If you ever wanted to meet all the spiritual leaders under one roof, here’s the chance. To name a few of our main guests, we have HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj, HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj, HH Swami Bhakti Vigna Vinasa Narasimha Maharaj, HH Bhakti Vinode Swami Maharaj, HH Bhakti Mukunda Swami Maharaj and many others. As we say the Golden Opportunity only knocks the door once, grab this chance to receive our gurus’ endless mercy and blessings. Due to the huge success of last year’s #HKC10, this year we’re looking forward to have at least a minimum of 1500 devotees and well wishers joining us. So what are you waiting for? Block your dates now and book your accommodations as soon as possible because “Reach out, The Best Time is Always Now”!

For more details , kindly click on the link (www.malaysianhkc.com) or you may write to us at info.nationalconvention@gmail.com. We will be happy to assist you anytime to ease your journey for the convention. Keep your excitements rising till we see you soon.

Your servants,
The HKC11 Organizing Committee

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja recently visited Russia there he gave two very wonderful classes in Sochi along with Russian Translations. `

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When an instructional point is conveyed in a straightforward way, people frequently dismiss it as, “Same old moralizing.” But when that point is made using humor or sarcasm, it registers far more strongly, deeply and possibly transformationally.

This Subhashita uses sarcasm to convey the futility of the miserly mentality. Misers don’t want to give up even a fraction of their possessions to anyone. And yet at their death, they will have to give up not just a fraction, but the entirety of their possessions. Few things frustrate us as much as when things turn out the exact opposite of the way we wanted them to turn out. By highlighting how this frustrating fate is sure to befall misers, this text jolts them out of their stupor of self-congratulatory self-aggrandizement.

What if misers console themselves by thinking that their possessions are going to their family members? That is often a hollow consolation because their relatives don’t care for them as much as they care for their money – indeed, their relatives frequently care for them only because of their money. And for their self-seeking mentality, those relatives alone can’t be blamed – they may well have got that mentality from the misers themselves.

What if misers console themselves by thinking that they will get the credit for having given so much charity at death? Such thinking is typical of the distorted reasoning that characterizes misers. We get credit for charity when we give voluntarily. But when we give up involuntarily as happens at death, we get no such credit – we simply get the karma for having held on to those things for so long.

Why do misers hold on to things so irrationally? Because they believe that their self-worth is determined by what they have. Actually however, our self-worth is determined by what we do with what we have. If we use our money constructively, then we can increase it by, say, investing it wisely. Or better still, we can earn good karma by giving it in charity. And best of all, we can use for the service of the Lord by seeing it as a manifestation of the Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu, who is most pleased when she is engaged in his service.

Srimad-Bhagavatam, eleventh canto, describes the story of the Avanti Brahmana who was a super-miser and who alienated everyone around him by his tight-fistedness. Through a series of vicissitudes, he lost everything. Impoverished and homeless, he was derided by the people whom he had neglected earlier. At that time, by the grace of the Lord, he got a life-changing epiphany. He understood that his mind was the primary cause of his distress – the mind had made him madly attached to money and rabidly suspicious of everyone and that very mind was now making him feel sorry for himself. Energized by this insight, he resolved to offer that mind to Krishna through the diligent practice of bhakti-yoga. By such resolute practice, he transcended the devilish distortions of the mind and attained the Lord’s ever-joyful lotus feet.

Significantly, bhakti-yoga enables us to become charitable while also channeling our tendency to hold on to things. Bhakti wisdom helps us understand that the only thing that will stay with us is our consciousness – and the only person who will always stay with us is our Lord who is present with us in his indwelling manifestation as the Supersoul. So, the only thing worth holding on to is the connection of our consciousness with Krishna. Bhagavatam (11.2.53) declares that great devotees are not ready to give up their connection with the Lord for even half a moment in exchange for the wealth of the entire universe. They understand that the universe’s wealth will not last, but their Krishna consciousness will. By holding on to Krishna, they exhibit the summit of enlightened self-interestedness. Pertinently, Bhagavatam declares Vishnu to be our enlightened self-interest (7.5.31).

When we thus realize service to the Lord to be our svartha (self-interest), we progress firmly towards our paramartha – the supreme wealth of eternal ecstatic devotion.

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