Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Renewed look of the deities personally carved and worshiped by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu residing in Srirangam under the care by HG Murali Bhatta... 
Iskcon of Silicon Valley: Vedic Academy Sunday school annual day & Graduation (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Our relationship with Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is eternal. Nitya-siddha Krishna-prema. The pure souls are eternally in love with Krishna. Simply by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra one revives his original relationship with God and thus becomes so happy that he does not want anything material. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 7.7.39 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/HMZYCA
“HARE KRISHNA!” A New Documentary Tells the Story of the Swami Who Started It All.
What first comes to mind when you hear the word “yoga”? A sun salute? Your favorite flow class? For bhakti-yoga practitioners, it’s so much more than a way to sweat off the day—it’s a way of life. And they have Srila Prabhupada to thank for their practice.
The new documentary HARE KRISHNA!, directed by John Griesser with Jean Griesser and Lauren Ross, is an in-depth look at the man who brought the now worldwide spiritual phenomenon known as the Hare Krishna movement to America. A 70-year-old Indian Swami when he came to the U.S. in the 1960s, Prabhupada offered the world what it needed the most: a revolution of consciousness.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/FNbiCM
By Haripriya Devi Dasi "My alarm clock rings. It is 5:00 a.m. on a summer morning in Saranagati Village, and it's almost time for mangal arati. After getting ready, I step outside into a crisp and quiet morning. Picking a flower from our garden for Their Lordships, I jog up the hill on the way to my favorite place, Banabehari Mandir. Once at the top, I look down towards the ashram and see dim yellow lights shining through the early morning mist. Coming up to the beautiful stained-glass tilak door, I lightly knock—and almost immediately, my favorite voice answers, 'Haribol! Come in!' Slowly opening the door and stepping in, I say, 'Haribol!' From the kitchen I hear, 'Oh, choti Haripriya! I'm so happy you are here! I've been thinking of you!' Yamuna walks around the corner with a warm smile. She wraps me up in a tight embrace, and I squeeze my eyes shut and hug her, cherishing every moment in her arms. After a few seconds, Yamuna takes me by the hand and leads me towards the temple room. Before entering, she taps the hanging chimes, which ring in a high, sweet pitch. Wafts of incense mixed with the fragrance of flowers meet my nose. I hear Dina behind the Deity curtain, humming beautiful tunes as she prepares for arati. On this and every time I come to Banabehari Mandir, I think, 'This is what the spiritual world must be like. I am home.' Continue reading "Banabehari Mandir
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Bucharest public program.
Snana Yatra & Panihati with 2.000 Devotees!
ISKCON Sri Jagannath Mandir Bangalore: This year, The Devotees of ISKCON Seshadripuram celebrated the annual Festival of Sri Jagannath Snana Yatra along with Panihati Cida Dahi Mahotsav Festival at Dodda Gosai Ghat, Srirangapatna. More than two thousand devotees thronged from all over the state to receive the mercy of the Lord.
Volunteers arrived the previous day and arranged a makeshift altar along with a tent and kitchen next to the holy river, Cauvery to facilitate the devotees and the Lord.
The Festival began with a Drama by our Youth forum continued by Abhiseka to the Deities Sri Sri Jagannath, Baladeva, Devi Subhadra and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. Followed by which Sri Sri Gaura Nitai were taken for a dip in Mother Cauvery. There was excitement in the air as the deities were taken for a dip in the Cauvery river. All of us jostled for space to get a glimpse of the Lords while in the waters of the Cauvery and to receive their merciful blessings as they came out. Then came our turn to take a dip in the cool waters of the river touched by the lotus feet of the deities. It was time for some fun and splashing around. However one could see devotees paying obeisances before entering the waters, sprinkling some water on their heads before carefully stepping into the river.
Soon afterward, His Holiness Bhakti Madhurya Govinda Goswami Maharaja (ACBSP) spoke on the most wonderful pastimes of Lord Jagannath and the Festival had concluded with Hathi/ Gaja Vesh Darshan of Lord Jagannath and a delicious Prasadam feast comprising of Cakes, Cida-Dahi, Sweets, Pulao, Sabzi and Roti.
Everyone felt truly blessed. Being in the association of so many devotees is something we all yearn for. Why can’t such festivals just go on and on. Why can’t there be a festival everyday where every word is a song and every step is a dance?
Your Servants
ISKCON Seshadripuram Communications
http://iskconbangalore.co.in/
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 13 May 2012, Sydney, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.11.14)
I remember when the Australian devotees used to come to Vrindavan. I used to be in charge of allocating rooms in the ashram. For the Australian brahmacaris, I used to give them a whole room for themselves which was pretty good and they had somewhere to sleep. In India, basically you have a room with a cement floor and they said to me, “Is this our room? Where is the carpet? It’s just a bare floor! But okay, let’s go and get some maha! Where are the pizzas?”
In Australia, you know, you have… but that really is a waste of time because spiritual life is about the spiritual world. If you have to choose between a pizza and a chapatti, then most people would choose the pizza, even in India they would go for the pizza. Hridayananda Maharaj told us this happens because a pizza is a self-realised chapatti!
That goes deep if you think about it but still, you know, even pizza at one point just does not do it. Spiritual life is about the spiritual world so let us remember that because in the spiritual world there is no birth, death, old age and disease.
And more major medical groups are endorsing a diet heavier in plants.
The Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA) in Radhadesh, Belgium, is exhibiting the works of famous Indian mandala painter Om Prakash Sharma, whose meeting with Srila Prabhupada left an impact on him. Now 85 years old, Om Prakash has had a long and productive career including serving as Dean at the Delhi College of Art for over a decade. He met Srila Prabhupada at Dr. Mishra’s yoga studio in New York in 1965.
Elaborating on the verse 2.70 from the Bhagavad-gita Anuttama Dasa explains what ancient wisdom suggests about how to defeat stress, one of the most common diseases of the modern world. A video by Karuna Productions.
After several weeks of assembling the titanium nitrate kalashes, they have finally reached the final stage of commencing their installation on top of the TOVP Domes and Chatris. A video by ToVPInfo.
Harinama in Florence, Italy (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Narada Muni is very expert in delivering all the conditioned souls back home, b... 
By Mayapur Sasi dasa For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following North American results of book distribution for the month of May, 2017. North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors. Monthly Top 100 Individuals, Monthly Top 5, Cumulative Countries, Cumulative Temples, Cumulative Top 100 Individuals, Cumulative Top 5 Continue reading "NASN May 2017 – North American Sankirtan Newsletter
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By Audrey Dwyer It takes about three pairs of shoes to walk across the United States. At least that’s according to Bhaktimarga Swami, a 63-year-old Canadian born monk (formerly John Peter Vis) who has embarked on a transnational marathon walk of 3,000 miles across the United States from New York City to San Francisco on the Old Lincoln Highway. Met with incredulous stares from passersby, this man, who follows the monastic lifestyle of the Hare Krishna order, dresses in an orange robe and he typically walks up to 20 miles or more each day on roads that range from heavy traffic to remote lands. All the while, he walks with a purpose. Continue reading "The Walking Monk passes through Steamboat Springs on his journey across the U.S.
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These are the five videos produced by the famous Canadian movie star Marie Avgeropolous for the purpose of fund raising in favor of helping young... 
Jagannath Snan Yatra festival at ISKCON Mira Road (6 min video)
The is a bathing festival celebrated on the Purnima (full moon day) of the Hindu ... Answer Podcast
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“Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four?" - PAUL MC CARTNEY; JOHN LENNON
When I was 64, I first published this blog. Today, June 22, is my 67th birthday, and I find the message I share here even more important, as over the last year and a half I have had to literally stare death in the face. Growing up in the 1960s I naturally remember the Beetle’s song, “When I’m Sixty-Four.” Yeah, after 47 years of bhakti practice those old songs (and ad jingles!) are still floating around in my subconscious mind. This Beetle’s ballad is a love song about staying together despite aging that Paul McCartney wrote at the advanced age of 16. As a person involved in marital and premarital education this is an important topic for me (and my wife of 24 years). When I was 16 I couldn’t even imagine being 25, what to speak of 64! I was an only child with very limited experience with older persons. After living in Berkeley, California for a few years and then moving into the temple, when we went to San Francisco for street sankirtan (group chanting), I was taken back seeing all the old people! Berkeley is a college town and I was hanging out with only the young, and when I moved into the temple, the oldest person was 23
In any case, on my birthday, I thought the subject of aging, suffering, and being 64--and now 67--would be a good blog topic. Of course, most anything can be grist for the writer’s mill (we usually notice those things we are focused on), but this one was a natural candidate. Thus I wanted to find the words to the Beetle’s song, but before I began my Internet search, my dear friend, Dulal-Chandra Prabhu, sent me the lyrics and wished me a happy birthday. I wished him a happy birthday back, since his birthday is the same as mine—with THE SAME YEAR! How interesting and rare is that—especially among close friends! In 2010 we celebrated our 60th birthday together, and amidst fun and games, we went around the room to compile a list of shared personality traits and devotional histories. Though we have a number of differences, our wives and friends found an amazing amount of shared traits and experiences.
My general thoughts when writing are to share what I am going through, experiencing, thinking about, or inspired by, in a way that I pray may have relevance to you, my readers. Birth, disease, old age, and death, being shared by all embodied beings, are very rich and important topics. Called the four-fold, or four, miseries of material life, they are listed in the Bhagavad-gita verses (8-12) from the 13th chapter, as part of understanding the process of spiritual knowledge.
Since the soul is eternal and is never born or dies, speaking of these four miseries isn’t considered by devotees to be morbid or a topic to avoid in polite conversation.
The post Daily Darshan: June 22nd, 2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Devotees at Radha Gopinatha Mandir and Radha Rasesvara Mandir have been buying land near the temple and building their family homes.
This is like many temples in India, especially temples like Sri Rangam, where the whole town is built around the temple in the centre.
Of course, it allows devotees to regularly attend temple functions and render valuable service.
Yesterday, on Ekadasi, Aditya dasi left her body in Sri Vrindavan dhama. She was a pure, devoted soul who sincerely served Srila Prabhupada and his Lords for the last forty-five years. She was our secretary in Juhu, and after Prabhupada’s 
departure she did wonderful service in his quarters. To assist me with the preaching, she even visited Pakistan, where she was much appreciated and loved by the local ladies. Later, when I was kept out of India because of visa problems, she moved to Vrindavan to serve Prabhupada there. She was ill these last days and wanted to leave her body on Ekadasi, and Prabhupada fulfilled her desire. We feel her separation, but we take solace in knowing that she has gone to continue her service to him and his Lords in a better situation. I am praying for her. And I am reminded of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta’s description of Haridasa Thakura’s funeral ceremony: “Thereafter, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu bade farewell to all the devotees, and He Himself, with mixed feelings of happiness and distress, took rest.”
Hare Krishna.
In humble service,
Giriraj Swami
Should the most important message in the world [not] have the best delivery service? 
An exclusive look at the World Theatrical Premiere of HARE KRISHNA! (2 min video)
The film that took place on June 16th in New York City at the V... 
TOVP: The first Chatri Kalash was put in place! (Album with photos)
Ambarisa Das: Dear Devotees,
The first Chatri Kalash was officially fixed!
La... 
Ratha Yatra Firenze, Italy, 17-6-17 (15 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: One is understood to be an eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of God... 
Russian GBC college, Sochi 2017
Srila Prabhupada: Because you have given your life to Krishna, you are already perfect. But it is just like the o... 
Please join us in prayers for our dear Godsister Aditya Devi Dasi, who left this world here in Vrindavan on Ekadasi evening!
Giriraj Swami: Aditya Dasi was a pure, devoted soul who sincerely served Srila Prabhupada and his Lords for the last forty-five years. She was our secretary in Juhu, and after Prabhupada’s departure she did wonderful service in his quarters, and then she went to Vrindavan to serve him. She was ill these last days and wanted to leave her body on Ekadasi, and Prabhupada fulfilled her desire. We feel her separation, but we take solace in knowing that she has gone to continue her service to him and his Lords in a better situation. Nonetheless, I am praying for her. And I am reminded of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta’s description of Haridasa Thakura’s funeral ceremony: “Thereafter, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu bade farewell to all the devotees, and He Himself, with mixed feelings of happiness and distress, took rest.”
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 June 2012, Cape Town, South Africa, Bhagavad-gita Lecture)
The 5th Chapter of Bhagavad-gita gives us a metaphor of the lotus flower that sits on water but yet is not affected by the water. The water just runs off and the lotus is blossoming in that condition.
In this analogy of the lotus in water, the water represents the struggle for existence that everyone is facing and the lotus is a symbol of one who is not affected by that struggle for existence. A lot of people are under the weather, a lot of people have a story to tell about how tough it is.
But here, we see a lotus – a symbol of beauty and a symbol of being the best while the conditions are difficult. The lotus is representing a self-realised soul, a person who is in this world but at the same time not in this world – who may be physically here but who internally lives in another reality, in another dimension.
The personal and dear servant of Srila Prabhupada, Srutakirti Prabhu, recovering after suffering a seizure.
Vishakha Fiorentino: My husband was discharged from the hospital. Cat scans for head and stomach didn’t show anything that could trigger seizures. All of his vitals are normal. He has bad pain in the middle of his back and it’s difficult for him to breathe if he is standing up or sitting straight.
Thank you all for all your love, care and prayers.
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We were happily celebrating my husband’s birthday with our family and friends on the Big Island. My husband was talking about Srila Prabhupada and his mother. Suddenly he got quiet and started shaking in seizure. Thankfully there were 2 registered nurses. They took control of the situation. I will not tell you all the sad and shocking details. Later on, he regained consciousness. We are in the hospital now. He is going through checkup. Will update when we will hear anything from the doctors. Big thanks to Debra , Radhana Rupini, Mayapur and Campakalata and all the devotees for the help and prayers.
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Urmila Devi Dasi: He was speaking at his birthday party about Prabhupada, and then said, “I need to go now” and then went into a grand mal seizure for a long time. He seems to be mostly ok now and is recovering at his son’s home. After many tests at the hospital, the doctors were not able to discover the cause. Prayers are welcome.
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Further updates: https://goo.gl/JSgzKk
By Sukadev Das It was our great honour to receive the visit by Crown Prince of Udaipur Rajasthan His Highness Prince Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar who comes in the lineage of great king of Mewar (Rajasthan – capital is Udaipur) Maharana Pratapa and great devotee Meera Bai. I had the opportunity to receive him to our temple, took him around our temple area including our Tulasi house, he was very impressed with how Tulasai Maharani was well cared and looked after in Melbourne (cold place). As we were walking from Tulasi house to our new kitchen I asked the Prince in a quest to find out how much he knows about ISKCON, in a response he said by pointing out to rose flower bush ‘who doesn’t know ISKCON, just like everyone knows rose flower similarly ISKCON is well known to all’. I also gave him the tour our new kitchen along with Darpan, Nitin from Victorian Parliament who were accompanying the Prince. Darpan and Nitin who were highly instrumental to organise the grant of $500k from Victorian Government for our new kitchen. They were all extremely impressed with our new kitchen. Prince (owns 5 star hotel in India) commented ‘this is far better than any of our hotel kitchens, temple of Lord Krishna deserve such a nice kitchen to distribute Krishna Prasad to everyone’. They all had darshan of our Deities, took them to Srila Prabhupada house, naively I asked him to sit on the floor of Srila Prabhupada house he happily sat and listen to the glories of Srila Prabhupada for about 15 min, during our discussion he commented generally ‘Brahmanas are by birth’, at the end of our discussion he agreed that Brahmana is by action (characteristics and qualities) not just by birth. Finally they all honoured fruits and juice from 4pm offering and left happily. Continue reading "Crown Prince of Udaipur Rajasthan His Highness Prince Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar visits Melbourne Temple
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By Rachael LeValley Some time back I was offered a gift - Caitanya Caritamrta, a multi-volume set of books which cradle eternal knowledge in biography format... the biography and philosophy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu who lived from 1486 to 1533 as a Vaisnava Saint; He founded the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya. Because of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Russell Brand chants the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra in 2017; Because of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, food is distributed for free every Sunday at temples around the United States of America (a program created by one of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's grand-disciples - Srila Prabhupada - and which is maintained still by Prabhupada's disciples). Continue reading "A magic book
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By Madhava Smullen “We never thought a spiritual event could be so much fun – we would love to come again!” wrote one family after attending the Children’s Summer Camp in New Vrindaban last year. “Wonderful event – we can’t wait till next year,” wrote another. “Our son says he will miss New Vrindaban very badly.” These families are in luck. After the very well-received first New Vrindaban Children’s Summer Camp drew around 25 families from up and down the East Coast, organizers Sundari Dasi and Mercy of Gopal’s Garden Preschool are turning it into an annual event. Continue reading "New Vrindaban Kids’ Camp Makes Spirituality Fun
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Understanding Kirtan With Kripamoya Das (5 min video)
Our family business: The Holy Name, Books, and Prasadam. Doing the chanting right is import... Answer Podcast
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