Websites from the ISKCON Universe
London Rathayatra (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: All glories to the chanting of Hare Krishna mantra or Krishna sankirtana movement. All gl... 
He who has grasped hold of the lotus feet of Radha with great care obtains the lotus feet of Krsna, which are like priceless jewels.
Srila Bhakti... 
DARSHAN OF LORD JAGANNATH AT RATHA-YATRA –His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada addresses the question as to whether *everyone* who sees Jagannath at Ratha-yatra gets liberation.
Devotee: Prabhupada, can you explain a little more about Ratha-yatra? Anyone who takes part in Ratha-yātrā, are they liberated?
Prabhupada: Certainly.
Devotee: Does that mean they will not take birth again?
Prabhupada: Yes. Yes, provided they take it seriously. Otherwise, if they keep their mentality differently, then according to mind, one has to get a body. But… Just like so many boys. They come here in the beginning out of curiosity, but gradually, they get the chance of becoming devotee. Similarly, if they take the chance, then they will be liberated. They come out of curiosity, but if they take it seriously, then they will be liberated. Just like hospital is meant for curing disease. So one should take the treatment. If he simply goes and visits the hospital and thinks “Now I am cured,” how it can be done? Hospital is a… Suppose if I advertise that “Anyone who comes to this hospital, he will be cured of his disease,” that’s a fact. But if he thinks that “I have come here. Now I am going,” then how he will be cured? To see Jagannātha on the Ratha-yātrā, his way for liberation is open, but if he comes back again and entangles himself, then? One goes to the doctor. He gives injection. The disease is cured. But again he comes back and does the same thing so that he develops this disease again. So whose fault it is? This is called hasti-snāna. Hasti-snāna. The elephant takes bath very nicely, and as soon as comes on the bank of the river or the lake, he takes dust and throws it over body again. If we do that, then we shall remains always dirty. You go, take bath, cleanse, but don’t take dirt again. That is not going on. They become immediately mukta, liberated, but they come, again becomes entangled. If it is a fact seeing Jagannātha is mukta, that’s all… He becomes mukta. But if he again comes to māyā, then who can check him? Just like you are all on the path of liberation, but if you again come back to māyā, then where is your liberation? Why Jagannātha in the ratha here? If somebody comes here and sees his path for liberation is open… Now he should protect himself. Just like disease, fever is subsided. Now one should be careful not to relapse the fever. That care is in my hand, everyone’s hands. And if you become prone to be relapsed again, then again the same thing. Just like in Christian church they confess. Of course, that is the injunction. That’s all right. After confessing, the sins are excused. That’s a fact. But if he comes back, again commits the same, then where is the effect? But they are happy in that way. They are… “After one week, I shall go to the church and confess my sins. Then everything will be neutralized.” This is all right. Suppose on Sunday you become free from all contamination of your sinful activities. And Monday you again do the same thing. So you become again contaminated. And, say, on Tuesday if you die, then you are dying with sins. Is it not? Then what is your condition? If the God or Christ excused you of your sinful life, that’s all right. But when you come back, you don’t commit again sin. Then you are all right. But we have taken it as a business that we go to Sunday, neutralize our sins, and come back again and do the same thing. So from logical point of view, suppose you do the same sinful activities, and if you die immediately, then you die with sinful activities, go to hell. What benefit you derive by confessing in the church? This business is going on. “Now I have seen Jagannātha. My liberation is guaranteed. Now I can do anything.” That’s all. This mentality. This mentality will not give you liberation. You have seen Jagannātha, your sinful activities are now neutralized, but don’t commit again. Now make progress. Then your liberation is guaranteed. Is it clear?
——
KK Bindu #402: The Mystery of Jagannath’s Return Ratha-yatra part 2
CONTENTS INCLUDE:
* DARSHAN OF LORD JAGANNATH AT RATHA-YATRA –His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada addresses the question as to whether
*everyone* who sees Jagannath at Ratha-yatra gets liberation.
* DUTIES AT KURUKSHETRA DURING A SOLAR ECLIPSE – Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada describes the deep behaviour of
the Gaudiya Vaishnavas.
* THE FORMS OF JAGANNATH, BALADEV, SUBHADRA –Srila Thakur
Bhaktivinode speaks about an allegorical meaning behind the forms of the
deities in Jagannath Puri.
* LORD JAGANNATH’S RETURN RATHA-YATRA PART 2 – The second and
concluding installment of a two-part series analyzing how we are to
understand Lord Jagannath’s return Ratha-yatra festival, wherein he leaves
the Gundhicha temple and comes back to the Sri Mandir.
This issue can be downloaded at the following link:
Interview with His Grace Sesa Prabhu!! Minister of Education (video)
Srila Prabhupada: This life of material existence is just like hard wood, an... 
‘Hare Krishna’ Surpasses Box Office Expectations!
Hare Krishna: The Mantra, The Movement and The Swami Who Started It All, which focuses on the life of Srila Prabhupada, who in the 1960s tapped the counter-culture in America, igniting the Hare Krishna movement in this country, had an impressive start in a single New York location. The feature grossed $21,473 Friday to Sunday.
Abramorama pointed out Sunday that the feature performed despite not receiving a New York Times review. “It exceeded our projections, indicating that it reached beyond the Hare Krishna community,” explained Abramorama’s Richard Abramowitz Sunday. The title will next head to L.A. on June 23 as well as other cities around the country. Moving forward, the feature will have a mix of one-night screenings and traditional runs.
Panihati Festival in Iskcon New Govardhana, Pot Art Auction - 18 June 2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: One should invite people, chant... 
By Satyaraja Dasa Portions of the Vedic literature are almost like textbooks on sound, informing us about an ancient art in which sound was used as a spiritual tool. The same concept is echoed in other cultures. Chronicles from lands as diverse as Egypt and Ireland tell us of a time when vibrations laying at the foundation of our universe were harnessed by spiritual adepts for the benefit of mankind. Like the Bible, which states, “In the beginning was the Word (John 1.1),” Vaishnava scriptures affirm that the entire cosmic creation began with sound: “By His utterance came the universe.” Continue reading "The Unheard World of Sound
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Bucharest morning program.
“It is only because of Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada that the bhakti movement started in the Western world and spread like wildfire for good all over the world It appears as if it is a miracle, but it is so true. The greatness of bhakti is such, as is the greatness of Lord Krishna and the spirit of Srila Prabhupada.”
– Tridandi Chinna Sriman Narayana Ramanuja Jeear Swami, renowned saint and scholar in Ramanuja Sampradaya.
Kripamoya das: Recently, on a south India train journey from Tirupati to Chennai, a middle-aged man sat down opposite me. His distinctive tilak markings made it obvious which philosophical school he belonged to: the Tenkalai sect of the Sri Vaishnava sampradaya. It wasn’t long before we started a conversation, mainly consisting of me asking questions about one of my favourite subjects of interest: authority and transmission in Vaishnava history, and he answering from the Sri Vaishnava point of view. As we talked, he revealed that he was associated with a sannyasi known as the Chinna Jeeyar Swami. My travelling companion was surprised when I mentioned that the same sannyasi was scheduled to visit the Bhaktivedanta Manor just after I returned to England.
Chinna Jeeyar Swami is becoming well known for his travelling and teaching. He took to the sannyasa order at the tender age of 23 and is continuing the mission of his guru to preach the siddhanta, or philosophical conclusions, of Sri Vaishnavism. Of course, many are doing that in India, but he has taken the unconventional step to travel beyond India.
For us in the Hare Krishna movement the fact that a sannyasi came out of India to preach and start a world movement is the stuff of legend. Srila Prabhupada did it, and thereby set the pattern for all future members of the senior renunciate order in the line of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So we might naturally assume that all sannyasis would also be world travellers. Yet the centuries-old rules for the sannyasa order forbid the crossing of bodies of water, and the majority of orthodox sannyasis still follow this rule. For this reason, many traditionalists in India consider that the spiritual purity of the two or three Vaishnava sannyasis from the Madhva or Ramanuja lineages that have visited America or Europe has been compromised.
But these teachers have responded to the stark facts of modern life: that many young people from Vaishnava families have left India for education or careers in the West yet have not completely abandoned their culture. Who will help them to learn and practise more if not the travelling preachers of Vaishnava siddhanta? Everyone needs help and guidance in order to fully reap the benefits of spiritual life; book knowledge alone is insufficient. But even such book knowledge as this generation has is sometimes inaccessible to them because they cannot read the Tamil or Telugu language, even though they may speak it with their parents. So there are moves within the orthodox Sri Vaishnava community to render the classical texts in the English language for the next generation. With that comes the challenges of making the traditional Vaishnava lifestyle practicable in western cultural settings.
There’s less problem keeping to Vaishnava practises in your own home, before breakfast, especially with a supportive family. You may need advice, ongoing guidance, and a certain amount of willpower but nobody will prevent you from your own religious choices. Outside the home, at university, in the workplace, within your diverse social circle, at the restaurant or at parties – all these situations present a range of extraneous influences and often perplexing choices. Sri Vaishnava teachers now have to concern themselves with helping this generation in situations that never arose in India in more classical times. In this respect the orthodox Vaishnava teachers who now come west have a lot in common with Vaishnava teachers in ISKCON.
Chinna Jeeyar Swami arrived at Bhaktivedanta Manor on a very cold, blustery, wet afternoon. He walked bare-shouldered with two disciples chanting verses behind him. I received him with a small Vedic ceremony involving a kumbha (coconut-pot) and lamp, and invited him to take up his seat in the Manor theatre. The word had got around and the theatre filled up quickly. He spoke on Krishna and the blessings of the great Vaishnavas. Afterwards the Swami said that he would like to return to the Manor on a future date, when he next comes to England. We all wish him well in his western preaching.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 25 April 2017, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam
7.15.68)
The teachings of Srila Prabhupada, his books and his lectures, are like our anchor. We also get more information from the previous acaryas. In this way, we get a general idea of what to do in our lives. In the Eleventh Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam it is said that one must apply knowledge with one’s own intelligence.
Sometimes we judge circumstances, we have our own opinions and we have some doubts about that opinion. We may not immediately buy into some things so we put them on the shelf because we are not against it also. We just put it on the shelf because we are not sure about it. And then in the course of being with other vaisnavas, we get more information on that point or topic and more angles on it, and then we get some vision on how to deal with it.
This is why you should not just deal with things in the mode of passion and as soon you hear something you think is awful, you say, “This is awful. I mean, this is ridiculous! Forget it! I am not going to do that!” This is not the best way to proceed. Best to put it on the shelf, hear from the vaisnavas, absorb more and then proceed carefully and thoughtfully. Every one flies his own plane so you got to figure it out. Good luck and happy flying!
By Karnamrita Das Studying the meaning of words (semantics) whether in Sanskrit, English, or our native language and their deeper implications in our lives is a useful endeavor in our introspection and personal growth, which I see as part of the work of “anartha-nivritti,” or retiring our unwanted, spiritually unhelpful mental and physical habits. Become free from these anarthas is an interim goal, not the end, but it is meant to lead to “artha pravritti,” or the ultimate goal of loving service to Radha and Krishna—but this is a side point to today’s discussion. Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s in the USA the hippies used the moto, peace and love, to express emotionally one of their ideals. While we may laugh at this simple expression, upon a closer and deeper exploration of the word meaning through our Gaudiya Vaishnava lens, we can find a useful application to our spiritual lives—after all the material world is considered an imperfect, distorted reflection of the spiritual world. There are also many universal truths in the world which can be perfected only by connecting them to a Godly world view in our eternal lives in perfection. Continue reading "Peace And Love
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The post Demystifying Reincarnation 2 – Hypnotically induced past life memories and Xenoglossy appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
By Indradyumna Swami ISKCON's annual Ratha Yatra in London on Sunday was a huge success. In perfect weather, a thousand devotees pulled 3 chariots through the center of the city to Trafalgar Square. In that prestigious place many tourists, guests, and devotees enjoyed several hours of transcendental entertainment. Devotees were remembering how Srila Prabhupada himself attended London Ratha Yatra in Trafalgar Square in the early 1970’s. By his grace the event is getting bigger every year. Continue reading "Ratha Yatra in London was a huge success
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The post Daily Darshan: June 19, 2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Here are some remarks people apparently still encounter from senior people in ISKCON when they talk about their intention to deeply study Śāstra and Sanskrit. I will add my brief replies:
“Srila Prabhupada has already translated all the relevant Sastras, so why would anyone need to learn Sanskrit? Just study his translations!”
If his translations are all that’s required, Why did he put the original Sanskrit in the books?
And why was one of his favorite disciples Pradyumna, a Sanskrit scholar?
“If you learn Sanskrit you’ll find mistakes in Srila Prabhupada’s translations – because they are not academic, but from the platform of Bhava.”
It sounds like someone is afraid of being exposed. “Don’t study too much, because then you will find out we are wrong [I mean, we are not really ‘wrong,’ we are just on a higher level].”
If you are really on a higher level, that would be more (not less) obvious to the more educated and discerning eye. If only the uneducated can appreciate your “higher level” it is not really a very high level, it is a fake.
And no, I am not saying Srila Prabhupada was a fake, I am saying that the logic in the quote above is bogus.
“Devotees who learn Sanskrit think they know everything, and lose their faith in Srila Prabhupada and the Parampara – so how can they ever be delivered?”
“People who are smart lose their faith in us, so don’t become smart, because if you lose faith in us you are doomed.”
Cult alert.
The reasonable conclusion is, “People who are smart lose their faith in us, so, probably we are not so great.”
By the way, most of the people who study Sanskrit and Śāstra probably don’t “lose faith in Śrīla Prabhupāda.” They probably lose faith in the cult of ISKCON. And, despite what the cult says, the two are not completely identical.
Scholarship will never take us to Bhakti.
Neither will lack of scholarship.
Sambandha-jñāna (philosophical knowledge) is the foundation of abhidheya (the practices of bhakti), which is the foundation of prayojana (the goal of bhakti, prema.). So, the truth is that very clear comprehension of Vedic, Purānic, and Vaiṣṇava philosophy IS the foundation of what will take us to bhakti.
Vraja
Since the Snana Yatra festival, the devotees at Jagannatha Gauranga temple in Bali are missing the darshan of Their Lordships, Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra.
Their Lordships are resting in a nearby room and being taken care of nicely by the pujaris. In a few weeks time They will be seen again at the Rathayatra in one of the main parks of Denpasar.
Srila 
Prabhupada expressed his appreciation for his father in his dedication to his book Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, “To My Father, Gour Mohan De (1849-1930)”—“A pure devotee of Krsna, who raised me as a Krsna conscious child from the beginning of my life. In my boyhood ages he instructed me how to play the mrdanga. He gave me Radha-Krsna vigraha to worship, and he gave me Jagannatha ratha to duly observe the festival as my childhood play. He was kind to me, and I imbibed from him the ideas later on solidified by my spiritual master, the eternal father.”
As devotees, we try to encourage and facilitate our children’s Krishna consciousness, as Prabhupada’s father did with him—an effort that is solidified when our children find their eternal spiritual masters.
Later, Srila Prabhupada wrote to one of his disciples, “You have accepted me as father, so I have also accepted you as my dear and real son. Relationship of father and son on spiritual platform is real and eternal; on the material platform such relationship is ephemeral and temporary. Although I cannot give you anything as father, still I can pray to Krishna for your more and more advancement in Krishna consciousness. Your sincerity and service mood will always help you in advancing your genuine cause.”
We are indebted to all our fathers, biological and preceptorial. To those still with us, we wish you Happy Father’s Day. To those who have left us, we love you and miss you, and we shall try to act in such a way as will please you—and Krishna, the Supreme Father.
Hare Krishna.
Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami
London Ratha Yatra today (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If we simply place ourselves at the lotus feet of Krishna by taking to Krishna co... 
Their actions follow the appointment of a panel of experts set up by Pope Francis to consider the controversial question.
Southern Baptists reversed course and adopted a statement denouncing “alt-right white supremacy,” calling it “antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Not long ago, someone in our community passed along to me a magazine pitch she’d received in the mail. On the front of the oversize envelope, a headline announced—blue type on a bright green background—”Old Age Isn’t Natural.”
Interview-Agnidev- Laguna Beach Temple Purchase (audio)
Agnidev tells how they got the temple in Laguna Beach even though the whole town was agai... 
This book by Bhurijana Das contains the essence of his years of teaching experience and his study of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions on education. Included are such topics as the importance of the mode of goodness in teachers and students, how to become self-disciplined, principles of organization and management, ideas for setting and achieving objectives, how to lead discussions, ask effective questions, listen, and counsel.
Bucharest talks No 2.
Kalindi and her Boyfriends (5 min video)
Chayadevi: Kalindi was only 3 years old and had produced
23.096 pounds of milk but she couldn’t get pregnant again and her milk production had fallen below 60 pounds a day when the dairy farmer who owned her was about to sell her for meat. ISCOWP members purchased her and saved her from becoming meat on someone’s dinner plate. This video is about her life and the life of 2 of her friends (also saved from slaughter) 2 years later.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/BBxv3w
By Matsyavatara das Modern civilization achieved great results in countless fields, nevertheless it produced a shadow culture inclined to obsessive identification with the body, and the need to acquire richness in order to satisfy ambitions of power and exorcise fear, even knowing that, by definition, richness is like the sea water: the more you drink it the more thirsty you are. The fake myth of an easy life based on sense pleasures is the heaviest of calamities, the most painful and dreadful of all. Richness, aging, youth, beauty do not guarantee happiness, otherwise addictions to drugs, violence, alcohol or tobacco would not be wide spread problems. Continue reading "The ecstatic experience of Love as a key to unseal the treasure of Authentic Happiness
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The Art of Teaching – A Guide for Training Our Children in Krishna Consciousness by His Grace Bhurijana prabhu, is now available as an eBook on Amazon Kindle.
eBook link: http://a.co/acbiOzv
A valuable resource for parents, teachers, preachers, and anyone else who wants to teach. Bhurijana Dasa began his teaching career in 1976, working with students and developing curriculum. This book contains the essence of his years of teaching experience and his study of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions on education. Included are such topics as the importance of the mode of goodness in teachers and students, how to become self-disciplined, principles of organization and management, ideas for setting and achieving objectives, how to lead discussions, ask effective questions, listen, and counsel. Also, contains Srila Prabhupada’s quotes on gurukula and a section on child protection.
Devotees may also avail of the hardback from the same above link.
For bulk orders of the hardback book, please write to info@vihepublications.com
Website: http://www.vihepublications.com
Kalindi was only three years old and had produced 23, 096 pounds of milk but she couldn't get pregnant again and her milk production had fallen below 60 pounds a day when the dairy farmer who owned her was about to sell her for meat. ISCOWP members purchased her and saved her from becoming meat on someone's dinner plate. This video is about her life and the life of two of her friends (also saved from slaughter) two years later.
Harinama in Western Siberia, Altai Krai, Russia (Album with photos)
With every step of Harinama on Earth
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1st Video Contest on the occasion of 46th Kolkata Rathyatra
organized by ISKCON. Answer Podcast
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