KIRTAN MELA – 2017, MOUNTAIN ALTAY Russia (Album with photos) …
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KIRTAN MELA - 2017, MOUNTAIN ALTAY Russia (Album with photos)
Another Kirtan Mela rumbled, already the fifth! Again, it was a tremendous feast of the celebration of the Holy Name and the magnificent feast of bhakti. Sweet kirtan Aditi duhkha hee Prabhu, Vaishnava prana Maladhary, Mukunda, Vishnu-tattva, Krishna creeps, Abhay Chaitanya, Rasa-lila gets carried away beyond the material creation, far, far away, in a wonderful country where the holiday never ends Where the inhabitants do not know about the separation, Where the inhabitants are unaware of sadness, Where music is not divided into sounds, Where there is no time, and no pity. Rupa Goswami says that the path of love is tortuous, and the closer we are to Krishna, the more we feel separation from Him, the stronger becomes this unbearable feeling that is causing us tears of love. Kirtan Mela on even the stoniest heart can melt, I say this from my own experience :)) raga nectar that poured from the heart kirtan and Vaishnava caught up by friendly chorus took on unprecedented power to change the heart. Weather contributed to this - the bright and hot sun quickly gives way to a dark leaden clouds, and our little Vrindavan flooded with torrents of rain, as if in Govardhan lila, and we found shelter at the Govardhan - altar with beautiful Deities and the Holy Name, which was the main deity in this Festival. And there was more nectar delicious variety of prasadam, which is under the guidance of Krishna Prabhu creeps prepared team of chefs - Chef - Bhagavan and his aides Audarya Radhika and Roma, Andrew and Nama priya, Roma Koltakov and others. Unearthly tastes! And there were master classes on playing the mrdanga, karatalah, harmonium and the basics and etiquette of kirtana and harinama. It was very lively fun and interesting. And also 2 wonderful seminars Aditi duhkha-hi and Vishnu tattva prabhu, where they revealed the innermost essence and meaning of chanting the holy name, and also that preliminary and necessary conditions for correct repetition are very important. Bathing in cold refreshing Katun, fun children’s programs, football with our guests, delicious prasadam by Abhay Chaitanya, pizza from Roma Kripakova, nectar service in the kitchen, a lot of nectar to communicate with friends, which can only be seen at the festival, dance till you drop a kirtan Aditi And many good things that words can not convey, but you can only experience yourself, so I invite you all to the next “Kirtan Mela”! Many thanks to all the organizers and especially Krishna Prabhu.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/y3bdGy

Even after practicing bhakti, we explode at people who irritate us – what can we do?
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If we feel guilty because of having exploded at someone, how can we overcome that guilt?
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When the Bhagavatam contains so many stories involving sex, is it appropriate for children?
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Is being emotionally invested in Krishna different from being emotionally invested in services to Krishna?
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Spiritualizing our relationships 4 – Accept yourself to relate better with others
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[Phone talk to everydaychant.com online sanga]

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Leicester sees huge Hare Krishna chariot pulled through streets
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Hare KrishnaBy the BBC

Hundreds of festival-goers have joined a procession in which a 40ft (12.1m) chariot was pulled through Leicester city centre. The Hare Krishna Festival of Chariots began in Granby Street with a welcome ceremony and ended at Cossington Park, in Belgrave, on Sunday afternoon. Leicester hosts one of the largest celebrations of its type in Europe, organisers said. The chariot carried deities of the Lord Jagannatha and his sister Subhadra. The vibrant procession was accompanied with music, singing and dancing as it made its way through the city. Continue reading "Leicester sees huge Hare Krishna chariot pulled through streets
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That Special Song
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Hare KrishnaBy Indradyumna Swami

“I just wanted to thank you for your talk. It literally saved my life.” “Saved your life?” I said, thinking that perhaps she was speaking metaphorically. “Yes,” she said. “Two years ago my only child, my 16 year old son, was killed in a head-on car collision. I was devastated and as a result my relationship with my husband deteriorated quickly. We began quarreling and fighting and eventually separated. Six months ago we divorced. Because I was so distraught I couldn’t focus at work, and several months ago I lost my job. My friends were unable to cope with me, and one by one they abandoned me. I couldn’t make sense of it all. I kept asking, ‘why is all this happening to me?’” She paused and then said: “There seemed to be no reason to keep living. So I came up here to the coast last week with the intention of ending my life.” Continue reading "That Special Song
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A lifetime in preparation
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 June 2012, Leicester, England, Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya-Lila 7.21)

I remember the very first social development conference in ISKCON, which was very interesting because all the ashrams got to speak about their lives. I remember there was a gṛhasta who said, “I’m tired of being considered a second class citizen. Everyone is looking upon me like I’m fallen.” This was in the days when there were more brahmacaris than gṛhastas.

Then his wife spoke and she said, “Do you know what it’s like to chant outside the temple room? We always have to go out with the kids when the Swamis come.”

Then the brahmacari came and he said, “I feel unprotected since every time I say that I want to be a brahmacari then someone will say that the statistics are against me.”

It was a very entertaining morning then finally we got a vanaprashta and he said, “You know what, I have an identity crisis. Yes, I have an identity crisis, I don’t exist!”

Sometimes hearing about vanaprashta sounds intense because it sounds like an attack on your life! Like, at age fifty, they are going to pull out the rug from under your feet. But scripture recommends vanaprashta so our question is how does one do it?

Gṛhasta means that we work for this life. You are young and just married. Life is serious. No more time to play around, you got to build up something. So it goes on and you move into a bigger house and have two kids and you are so happy and you have a big garden… So this is the middle of life – the gṛhasta life, hard work!

Then you make a plan to get out of work by age fifty. So that is the first step – a plan to get out of entanglement early; a plan to get out of the rat race; a plan to get out of wanting and expanding. It is about simplifying because that is what retirement is about. So that is the principle – SIMPLIFY AND MAKE TIME FOR SPIRITUAL THINGS. It does not sound like the end of the world!?

The hot potato question is – should husband and wife separate? And the answer is that there is no injunction that at age fifty the husband and wife should separate. However, in some cases, they cannot wait until they are fifty! I know some cases where it is the wife who wants to take vanaprashta! But it is not necessary that husband and wife separate!

So organise life in a way where one can take up devotional service and vanaprashta is actually something good. Now the question is what do you do with your life?

Vanaprashta is not something you think about when you are fifty, it is something you think about when you are twenty-five. So, let us think about what we can do to spiritualise our life in future. Vanaprashta is an internal adjustment; it is a change of heart which has to take place on how to increase spirituality in our lives. Whatever detachment we have to practice in life will help us to prepare for the ultimate detachment. Some preparation is needed to deal with the ultimate detachment which is needed at the end of life.

Sunday, July 16th, 2017
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Toronto, Ontario

Nice Bananas

Nine bananas went into the fire.  The reason for that figure could have some connection with ‘Cloud Nine’ which usually refers to cumulonimbus, those fluffy, white, heavenly clouds that can rise to ten kilometres up in the air and denote happiness.

It was actually nine happy people who stepped forward this morning for initiation into the bhakti culture.  The largest contingent of the group was from our Brampton community—three couples in fact.  Along with the commitment each member makes, they also agree to vows of dharmawhich are no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication and pre-family planning.  The positive injunction is to practise chanting every day.

In fact, I emphasized in my talk at the havan (fire ceremony) that initiates are expected to share three things with the public—wisdom, sacred sound and sacred food.  The Vedas of India have so much to offer for our wellness, what to speak of mantrasfor purging a polluted ether, and the radical change to healthy devotional food.

Three single women also came forward—Anne Lisa of Toronto, now Amala Purana, Mylene of Montreal, now Madri, and also from Quebec was Priya Radha, who sat at the fire on behalf of her guru, Gopal Krsna Goswami.

The elderly couple from Brampton, Satish and Prem Lata, are now Shyam Das and Prithvi. Manish is Murali Manohar Das.  His wife, Deepa is now Dhrti.  Finally Umesh is now Ugresh.  His life partner, Usha is now Urvi.  These three last female names are celebrated ways of addressing the goddess Earth.  In total, nine people gave nine bananas to the fire which represents God’s tongue.

May the Source be with you!

7 km 

All India Padayatra Visits Guruvayur, Kerala and Celebrates Chida-dahi Mahotsava In Chemmanur
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Hare KrishnaBy Acarya Dasa

It is believed that the deity of Guruvayurappan was once worshipped by Vasudeva and Devaki, Lord Krishna’s parents, and represents the Maha Vishnu form as revealed to them when Krishna appeared. The deity was also later worshipped by Krishna Himself. Carved from ‘Patala Anjanam’ stone or black bismuth and in a standing pose the deity is a four-armed form of Vishnu carrying the conch Panchajanya, the discus Sudarshana Chakra, the mace Kaumodaki, the lotus and adorned with a divine Tulsi garland. The deity faces east and is four feet tall. Despite the size of the deity devotees consider Him to be little Krishna. He is worshipped according to pooja regulations stipulated by Adi Sankaracharya and later formally recorded in the Tantras by Chennas Narayanan Namboodiri (born in 1427). Continue reading "All India Padayatra Visits Guruvayur, Kerala and Celebrates Chida-dahi Mahotsava In Chemmanur
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The Miracle Garland! Acarya Dasa: Our pada-yatra party was…
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The Miracle Garland!
Acarya Dasa: Our pada-yatra party was passing through the village of Talugudi on June 14th. Rupa Ragunath Maharaj was about to leave for Argentina after having spent some time with us. He said to me that day, “We should dress Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar very nicely with beautiful garlands.” We usually make simple garlands but I agreed that having nice garlands for Their Lordships would attract more people to take Their darsana too. After walking for some time I came across a garland shop where I saw a pair of fresh and beautiful garlands. I rushed over to the shopkeeper and asked him about the garlands. He said that the garlands had been ordered by a marriage ceremony and was priced at 1800 rupees. I thought about how beautiful the garlands would’ve looked on Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar and was saddened that I could not get them.

No coincidences!

While I was thinking like this a local namahatta devotee came to pay obeisances to the Lord. He wanted to offer something to the Lord so he went to the very same garland shop and bought the very same garlands I was looking at. When he approached me with the garlands I was so happy I immediately offered them to the Lordships. They looked very beautiful. Afterward, I asked the devotee, how he obtained the garlands since they were ordered for a marriage ceremony? He said that the couple had canceled their order and took some other garlands.

This was no coincidence! It is all part of the Lord’s lila. He must have inspired the namahatta devotee to bring the garlands for Him. Everything is possible for the Lord. He can read the hearts of His devotees and the devotees have no desire except to please the Lord.

Such are the glories of our Sri Sri Nitai Guarsundar.
In the photo Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar wearing the garlands.

Pada yatra 2017 in Tapolca and Keszthely, Hungary (Album with…
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Páda yátra 2017 in Tapolca and Keszthely, Hungary (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: As far as possible, therefore, the devotees in the Krishna consciousness movement gather to chant the holy name of Krishna in public so that both the chanters and the listeners may benefit. (Sri-Caitanya-Caritamrta, Antya-lila 1.101)
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The relief of turning away from the social mirror
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How pleasant is the day when we give up striving to be young – or slender.

 –  William James

While navigating through life’s inevitable challenges, we often increase our burdens by uncritically accepting prevailing definitions of success as our life’s goals. One incessantly glamorized success-definer is an ideal figure, which nowadays means a young, slender figure.

Of course, we need to be healthy, and we would like to look good. But when looking good becomes an obsession, we subject ourselves to unnecessary torment. We adopt dubious dieting fads, swallow ‘fat-cutting’ magic pills and potions or undergo extreme exercise routines. Our mood goes up and down in inverse proportion to the reading on our weighing machine. Obsession with the ideal figure sentences us to hours and years of agitation and dissatisfaction.

To prevent such torment, we need to protect our self-conception from becoming distorted by the social mirror. After all, the social mirror is fickle – what figure is considered ideal varies according to cultural and historical conceptions of beauty. Not many generations ago, several parts of the world considered a moderately plump figure attractive, for it indicated prosperity; a thin figure indicated poverty and was considered not so-attractive.

Someone may argue, “But today’s social mirror is what matters for me.” Yes, and we can work to improve our figure as needed. But we needn’t let it become an obsession. We need the confidence that we are at our core far better than the reflection shown by the social mirror.

Such confidence comes naturally when we cultivate spiritual knowledge. Wisdom-texts such as the Bhagavad-gita explain that we are eternal souls, different from our physical bodies. As we are eternal parts of the all-attractive whole, God, Krishna, we partake of the attractiveness of the whole. Presently, we can seek to increase our attractiveness in two ways – by working outwards to improve our looks or by working inwards to excavate our soul’s attractiveness. Working outwards gives at best ephemeral results. Bodily looks come with an expiry date, which can’t be extended much. In a materialistic culture, old people are frequently considered unattractive, unwelcome and unworthy. Hence, the fervent attempts of many senior citizens to look younger using hair-dyes and face-lifts. But it doesn’t work – even with the best of technology, the body’s degeneration remains unstoppable.

In contrast, working inwards to manifest our soul’s attractiveness yields enduring results. Recognizing that we are souls and that our bodies are our vehicles, we focus less on how the vehicle looks and more on where we are going with the vehicle. When we live with spiritual purpose, we find inner contentment through our fulfilling inner connection with Krishna. Whatever our looks or age, spiritual knowledge paves our way to inner security and satisfaction. Thus breaking free from the compulsion to look good in the social mirror, we feel liberated – liberated to be ourselves. The Bhagavad-gita (13.10) indicates that knowledgeable people refuse to get carried away by the opinions of the masses.

When we accept ourselves for what we are, we get enormous relief. We stop wasting our mental energy obsessing over our looks – not that we become negligent about how we look, but that we become confident about who we are.

Our spiritual self-confidence manifests in our conduct; we radiate the natural comfort and joy that comes from self-acceptance. Such comfort and joy, even if not glamorous or eye-catching, carry a charm that attracts the hearts of those who come close to us. And because this charm is not a show, but expresses our substance, it is sustainable. Naturally, relationships formed on the basis of our substance, not our appearance, are more real, more enduring and more fulfilling.

 

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Iskcon Zagreb’s sankirtan festival (Album with photos)…
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Iskcon Zagreb’s sankirtan festival (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The Hare Krishna movement is present in every millennium of Lord Brahma’s life, and the holy name is chanted in all the higher planetary systems, including Brahmaloka and Candraloka, not to speak of Gandharvaloka and Apsaroloka. The sankirtana movement that was started in this world five hundred years ago by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is therefore not a new movement. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 2.7.15 Purport)
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Is it easier to go from aversion to renunciation than from attachment to renunciation?
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For preaching, is it enough to simply hear classes of senior devotees and repeat?
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As science fiction movies show robots with emotions, can’t scientific progress imbue robots with consciousness?
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The Gopis: An Ambrosial Dance Crew or Something More?
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Hare KrishnaBy Venu Gopal Das

The consciousness of the gopis is exemplary.The entire day they think of how to serve Krishna. Their minds are not focused on material desires or selfish delusions. When they meet amongst each other, instead of going on about themselves, they constantly glorify the Lord and teach His message without discrimination. These are indicators of those who have surrendered themselves to God. Their actions, thoughts and words are never independent of the Lord. Continue reading "The Gopis: An Ambrosial Dance Crew or Something More?
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