NASN May 2017 – North American Sankirtan Newsletter
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Hare KrishnaBy 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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The Walking Monk passes through Steamboat Springs on his journey across the U.S.
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Hare KrishnaBy 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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Demystifying Reincarnation 5 – Astonishing birth marks and birth defects
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When I’m Sixty-Four: Aging Gracefully with a Spiritual Purpose–or Not
→ Karnamrita's blog

Author: 
Karnamrita Das

(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player is needed; works best with Firefox or Explorer; if you are using Google Chrome it will automatically play, so if you don't want to listen, mute your speakers.)

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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.
Marital tips at a wedding reception photo 10441172_1428386277445084_436423200_zps91fa99eb.jpg
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.

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The Lord’s devotees
→ Ramai Swami

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.

An elephant to the rescue
→ Servant of the Servant



People say animals do not have soul, or feelings or the ability to think. This video proves otherwise.

Anyone with an ounce of intelligence will understand that animals of all species have desire, intelligence, mind and feelings (thus consciousness) to emote at times of happiness or despair. It is just that the emotions fit the body of that living being. Animals have the same rights as humans to live out their lives per their life style habits. In my opinion, humans who support animal slaughter have feelings less than an animal since they cannot appreciate the consciousness (thinking, feeling and desiring) of the animal.

In this video, two elephants are trying hard to prevent the baby elephant from dying. You can see that they show urgency which means they understand the elephant is drowning and will die if we do not save it immediately (like any human). Since elephants are evolved beings, their consciousness is evolved to the point they can understand when someone is drowning. Then they use their intelligence and mental capacity to save the drowning elephant.

Hare Krishna

Appreciating Mother Aditya
Giriraj Swami

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 Mother Aditya in Vrindavandeparture 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

 

Tuesday June 20, 2017
→ The Walking Monk

Massadona, Colorado

Dry Day

All three of us like the early morning treks. Millions of stars adorn the sky up above. I asked the boys, Hayagriva and Marshall, if they were familiar with the Classical Music “The Planets” by Gustav Holst. They had never heard it. So I played “Venus, The Bringer of Peace” from the album on my phone.

How soothing and appropriate it was to have that playing while we looked up at the heavenly bodies and chanted our japa (mantras) over top of the music. We had the road to ourselves. We were kings of the road. The area west of Elk Springs is so desolate. Even rush hour makes you wonder how it could be so calm at the usual hectic hours between 7 and 9:00 a.m.

Once the sun arises, it is not long before it becomes merciless. That then draws black flies and mosquitoes. They have a circus and they come in numbers as plentiful as the stars had been up above. The further west I go, as the boys settle in the van for their reading sessions, the more dry as a bone the land becomes.

Wildlife is rare to see now. They are attracted to green but here it’s sage plants. Even hawks and crows are hard to come by. This is a desert for sure. There’s even some resemblance, in spots, to the Grand Canyon.

Fortunately, with my phone, while I walk, I am able to call anywhere in North America and get office work done at the same time. You just have to watch your step. Rarely does traffic interfere. There is so little of it. There are no billboards which is great.

Our meals comprise of snacks in the form of trail mix, wraps at noon and a cooked kitchari, a rice and moong lentil with vegetables, in the evening. By 10:30 a.m. I did my quota of twenty miles.

All is good!


May the Source be with you!

20 miles

Please join us in prayers for our dear Godsister Aditya Devi…
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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.”

The self-realised soul
→ KKSBlog

(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…
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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.

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.

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.

Further updates: https://goo.gl/JSgzKk

Crown Prince of Udaipur Rajasthan His Highness Prince Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar visits Melbourne Temple
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Hare KrishnaBy 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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A magic book
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Hare KrishnaBy 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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New Vrindaban Kids’ Camp Makes Spirituality Fun
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Hare KrishnaBy 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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Demystifying Reincarnation 4 – Past life memories – Guesses or Hyperboles?
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Answer Podcast

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ISKCON Disciples Course – July 28 – 31, 2017
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

A few years ago, the leadership of our international Hare Krishna movement instituted the "ISKCON Disciples Course", which is a great overview about several important aspects in one's spiritual life within our Hare Krishna family. This foundational course covers important topics like:


The importance of accepting initiation in a disciplic succession
Srila Prabhupada's special position
How to select a spiritual master
Relationships in a multi-guru environment
Parallel lines of authority and more

Laxmimoni Devi Dasi is visiting Toronto for a few weeks this summer and she will be facilitating the ISKCON Disciples Course from July 28th - 31st.

Course Schedule:
Friday July 28th:  6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Saturday July 29th: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday July 30th: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Monday July 31st:  6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

To register and to find out more information about this important course, please click here.

Isn’t it better to read Prabhupada books instead of wasting time on social media?
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Transformation is inevitable – positive transformational has to be intentional
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Podcast

 

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To traverse the path to self-improvement, balance aspiration with awareness
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Podcast

 

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Metaphorical Meditations on the Holy Name 1 – The Holy Name grounds consciousness in the source of its source
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Podcast

 

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Social Media Analysis 3 – Greater accessibility brings greater responsibility
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Podcast

 

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