Planet ISKCON

Harinam, Prasadam and book distribution (Album with photos)
@Taman Kota, Singaraja (Singaraja’ is a port town in northern Bali, Indonesia) 21.5.2017
Srila Prabhupada: The devotees of the Lord, while delivering speeches and describing the transcendental attributes of the Lord, do not think that they can do anything independently. They think that they can speak only what they are induced to speak by the Supreme Lord, the master of the senses… No one is free to act freely and independently, and as such, one should always seek the permission of the Lord to act or eat or speak, and by the blessing of the Lord, everything done by a devotee is beyond the principles of the four defects typical of the conditioned soul. SB 2.4.11 purp.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/aH6XDz

1st Ratha Yatra in Sampit, Indonesia (Album with photos)
Nila Kamal das: Sampit ‎ is a town and a timber port on the Sampit River in the Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, Indonesia. It is the seat of East Kotawaringin Regency. Sampit is the biggest timber port in all of Indonesia.
Sampit town became known worldwide following inter-ethnic violent communal clashes between the Dayaks and the Madurese during the Sampit conflict which broke out on February 17, 2001 and lasted for 10 days. In just two weeks 469 were reported to have been killed, of which 456 of them were Madurese. Virtually the entire Madurese people fled and “ethnic cleansing” has taken place in Sampit and surrounding areas, despite the Madurese previously forming about 60% of the population. However, according to a BBC report, the overall picture of the conflict caused 500 deaths, with over 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.
On the 19th of May 2017 the first Ratha Yatra festival was held in Sampit. Presently there are no devotees staying in Sampit but devotees from Palanka Raya (the capital of Central Kalimantan) helped in organizing the Ratha Yatra festival. HG Ananda Maya das (disciple of HH Bhakti Raghava Swami) requested the local Government in Sampit if it was possible for the devotees to join in the annual city parade. After a long and anxious wait the devotees got permission in April and started making preparations.
“This is very good proposal. Make the Ratha-yatra festival very great success. This will be a great introduction in your city and people will appreciate it” (SPL to Syamasundara, 4th May, 1967)
The chariot itself came from Palanka Raya as this has been the fourth Ratha Yatra that has been held in the Central Kalimantan area, the first being in Palanka Raya itself with HH Subhag Swami and HH Bhakti Raghava Swami being personally present.
Devotees arrived the day before the event with many of them staying up the entire night to attend last minute services. The next morning HG Shyamasundarananda das (Mayapur) delivered a lecture to inspire all the devotees present for the upcoming festival. Around 2pm, the devotees departed to the town centre to begin the festival. Along with Lord Jagannath and His Ratha were many wonderful chariots present. From local tribals to a team promoting organic chocolate, you could find it all at the parade!
Just before the parade was about to start it began to drizzle. After ten minutes however the light drizzle turned into heavy rain! Devotees quickly took shelter under waterproof plastic sheets. Half an hour passed but still the rain was coming down strong but the show had to go on. The devotees as well as the other participants in the parade began pulling their respective chariots in the rain. Although the microphones could not be used the kirtan kept going with devotees joyfully dancing the entire way.
Orange prasad was distributed throughout the journey as well as many books. HG Gopal das (Spain) was the top scorer with thirty books been distributed in an hour. During the course of the parade devotees had the opportunity to gift copies of the Bhagavad Gita to various VIPs including Sampit’s chief minister’s secretary. At the end of the event the devotees returned to their base and took prasad. The devotees received some good news the following day that they were awarded the second prize in the parade.

“These public festivals have proven very effective in spreading knowledge about Krsna consciousness to all the citizens”. SPL to Galim dasa, November 20th, 1971
We hope that in the future we can expand our preaching efforts in Sampit as well as other less well known places around Indonesia in trying to assist in Mahaprabhu’s desire to have the holy name spread in every town and village,
Our ever grateful obeisances are due to HH Kavichandra Swami and HH Ramai Swami, the GBCs of Indonesia, for their support and guidance to always look for new avenues for sankirtan.
We thank HH Bhakti Raghava Swami for his efforts to preach in the Kalimantan area and inspiring the devotees there.
Our humble obeisances to HH Subhag Swami for always reminding us of the importance of the Sankirtan movement of Mahaprabu and inspiring us with the dedication of Sriman Jayananda Prabhu, for bringing us closer to Srila Prabhupada and keeping us united in family of ISKCON.
Jay Jagannatha…Jay Baladeva…Jay Subadra devi ….
Jay Srila Prabhupada…..
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By Chaitanya Charan Das

Before we can understand whether God is male or female, we need to clearly understand that we ourselves are neither male nor female. We are at core spiritual beings, souls, whereas our gender refers only to our shell, our physical bodies. Our spiritual identity is eternal, our gender is transient. According to the law of last thought described in the Bhagavad-gita ( 8.5), we attain in our next life a body as per the thought that predominates our consciousness at the last moment of this life. So a male in this life may become a female in the next life, if the person dearest to him happens to be a female and vice versa. Hence both male chauvinism and feminism are two sides of the counterfeit coin of physical misidentification. Only when we distance ourselves from our temporary physical gender will be freed from the ideological preconceptions that are inevitably dragged into discussion on the gender of God. So in the conventional sense of the words 'male' and 'female' where these refer to bodily gender, God is neither. Continue reading "Is God Male or Female?
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By Udayananda dasa

I was doing some work at my home, and I was listening to some Srimad Bhagavatam lectures giving by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada told a humorous story about a rabbit that killed a lion. It was so transcendentally pleasing that I thought I would share this nectar with all the assembled devotees on this world wide web site. Continue reading "The Rabbit that killed the Lion
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By Jaganmohini Devi Dasi

I will have to tell you that today science education- people are taking it as very important. Scientific civilization, or scientific knowledge or scientific education, people are becoming engineers, doctors, telecommunication engineers, IT’s. It is important–the material education. But unless those fields of knowledge are applied in the understanding of higher or deeper dimension of knowledge it becomes a total material waste. In other words if one is not able to understand what the most important duty of the life is, it becomes useless. Continue reading "Purpose of education: Reviving our spiritual identity
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ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 04/30/2017

Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes simple living, cow protection, engaging oxen, local agriculture, and above all, loving Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

Participating Directors: Chaitanya Mangala, Ranaka, Sri Tulasi Manjari and Vraja.

Participating Managers: Nitaicandra

Recording Secretary: Jamuna Jivani

1. Ranaka’s Monthly Report

• 6 cows  are being milked at the Temple Barn; now with a significant increase in milk production (25 gallons per day) due to the cows being on fresh green grass.
• Three heifers are still residing at the Temple Barn. Vamsaka the calf is being weaned.
• Manjari the cow had been moved to the Temple Barn from the Valley Barn last month. She has been diagnosed by the veterinarian as having a stillborn calf inside of her. He said that due to her condition she is likely to have another stillborn if bred again, so she is being retired from the milking herd.
• Anjali the cow is scheduled to be moved from Nandagram to Valley Barn for breeding by Dharma the Bull. Shreya is residing with the young bull Madu at Nandagram.
• Jatendra, the volunteer, has returned to Pittsburgh. Ananda Vidya expressed appreciation for his service. There are other volunteers from the temple who help on occasion.
• Ray has been working on getting the farm equipment ready for the season.
• All of the potato seeds have been cut and are ready to plant. The field has been disked twice, but due to a very wet spring, Ray has not been able to do the final field preparation that would allow us to plant the potatoes.
• Ranaka and Nitaicandra have been discussing vegetable planting strategies for the year and the necessary equipment.
• Gandhari the cow’s eye cancer has become very aggressive and she appears to be totally blind now. Brikasanga prepared a separate area for her. The best that can be done now is to keep the eye clean and apply a face mask to keep the flies off.
• Due to ECO-V’s stellar accident-free work record, our Workers Compensation rate has dropped from $5.09 to $3.08 per hundred dollars of gross pay. This will save ECO-V a few thousand dollars per year.
• Fil and Sukhayanti’s 13 cows arrived from Canada last Monday and are happily grazing in the Bahulaban pasture. The couple is scheduled to arrive in New Vrindaban this coming week.

2. Nitaicandra’s Monthly Report

• In the flower gardens, the beds have been composted and mulched, the fences have been repaired and starters are being transplanted.
• In the vegetable gardens, the starters are sprouting, the beds have been composted, and vegetable-based biodegradable plastic sheet mulch will be used, which will allow for the labor energy to be spent on increased planting and production instead of mulching and weeding.
• Ray spread manure at Nandagram in preparation for planting corn and winter squash.
• Caitanya Bhagavat has been working on fencing at Bahulaban and Nandagram.

3. 2017 Farm Conference Update

Sri Tulasi Manjari reported on recent updates for the upcoming Farm Conference:

• The promotional flyer is finished
• The website is nearly completed
• There is a meeting with ECO-V, Gita Nagari and Kalakantha scheduled for May
• A meeting with the Farm Conference Committee is also scheduled for May
• The presenters are still being finalized
• There are plans for Ananta Vrndavan to make a promotional video during the Festival of Inspiration

4. Spring 2017 Onsite Weekend Review

Some of the weekend highlights included:

• The announcement of the New Vrindaban Community Center proposal
• A tour of the new Yoga Shala and renovated Gopal’s Garden schoolhouse
• The Service Appreciation Ceremony honoring Kelly Howard Carter, Tejomaya and Kelly, and Advaitacarya and Madri
• Meeting with Fil, as well as the three Board Advisory candidates

Overall, the Board Members felt the weekend was productive and went well.

5. ECO-V Board Advisors (Olivia, Makara & Venkata)

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to maintain a team of advisors.

RESOLVED: The Board invites Olivia Snyder, Makara dasi, & Venkatachalapati das to participate as Advisors from May 2017 to the January 2018 Annual Meeting.

6. New Vrindaban Community Center

Ananga Manjari, an INV Board Member, proposed the idea of INV and ECO-V contributing a portion of the funds they receive from the Rover Pipeline to build a Community Center. Both Boards and the Village Council generally agreed with the concept. This proposal was publicly announced at the Community Dialog during the March weekend meetings. As requested, ECO-V will appoint two of its members to participate in the Center’s planning committee.

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, April 2011, Durban, South Africa, Lecture)

In the association of vaisnavas, especially advanced vaisnavas, we become uplifted beyond our normal limitations of holding onto material security. We hesitate about jumping forward in spiritual life, that Krsna will catch us, that Krsna will provide, that Krsna always protects his devotee.

But some devotees die and not in good ways. Where was Krsna then? Was he not protecting? Does he protect some devotees and not others? Does it depend on the degree of one’s Krsna consciousness? Does Krsna only protect only the very advanced devotees?

In Bhagavad-gita 9.31, Krsna says, “Na me bhaktah pranasyati.” That my devotee will never perish! But what does it mean? It means exactly what Krsna says, “My devotee will never perish!” There is no doubt about it as long as we understand in the broader sense what it means. It means that the body, Krsna may or may not protect but the destination of the soul, Krsna will surely protect. Without a doubt! That is very certain!

If somehow or other, our time or our mission in this world is not yet fulfilled, Krsna may protect our body. I myself have slipped out of extremely dangerous situations many times and there was no doubt that Krsna had interfered. It is not possible that by any other means I would have survived.

But that is not ultimately the meaning of na me bhaktah pranasyati.  It means that a devotee will come closer and closer to Krsna, and once we have made steps in Krsna’s direction, Krsna will surely protect our devotional service. Krsna will protect our devotional service!  Therefore, there is no fear.  We just take shelter of devotional service and other things will come and go. Some hardships may come and may go but it will not really faze us.  Our devotional service will continue and continue and in the association of devotees, we become uplifted again and again.

 

Harinama Sankirtana in Israel (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The mind is restless, always desiring something, desiring something. So the best policy to control the mind is to desire how to spread Krsna consciousness. This is the best. Kamah krsna-karmarpane. Narottama dasa Thakura has said that you cannot be free from desire. That is not possible. This is useless attempt. They say that “You become desireless.” No, that is not possible. How can I? If I become desireless, I become dead. So long I am living entity, I must desire. I cannot check it. Therefore kama means desire. So at the present moment, we are desiring how to become happy in this material world, how to acquire so much money, how to acquire this, how to acquire this, how to get this, how to get that. This is kama. So this brain taxation, if you engage in Krsna’s service – how to spread Krsna consciousness, how to convince people about Krsna, how to take them to the Krsna’s desire, sarva-dharman parityajya [Bg. 18.66] – and in this way, if you go on making plan for spreading Krsna consciousness, then your mind is controlled. From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.27 – January 4, 1975, Bombay
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By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications

The sixth New Vrindaban Service Appreciation Ceremony, held on Sunday March 26^th during the ISKCON New Vrindaban and ECO-Vrindaban Spring 2017 weekend gathering, reached an impressive benchmark.

Including Sunday’s event, the ceremony, launched by board members in November 2014, has now honored 25 of Srila Prabhupada’s ‘jewels’ with an astounding 1,000 years of service between them.

MC Chaitanya Mangala Das opened the event with a moving quote from “A Life of Unalloyed Devotion,” the biography of celebrated ISKCON devotee Yamuna Devi.

“Yamuna always retained a deep and abiding respect for the often unheralded devotees of New Vrindaban,” the quote read in part, “Who served Srila Prabhupada’s mission under extremely austere and trying circumstances.”

Five more of these special souls – whose stories often interweaved — were honored and given commemorative plaques by INV and ECO-V.

Kelly Howard Carter receiving award from Chaitanya Mangala Das

The first was Kelly Howard Carter, a teacher at Hilltop elementary in Moundsville who never ‘joined’ ISKCON, but who has been an intrinsic part of the community since she moved to McCreary’s Ridge at one year old in 1968 – making her one of New Vrindaban’s earliest pioneers.

As a child, Kelly could see the original Vrindaban farm from her yard. Her first memories of devotees were of them being a little odd – asking to pick flowers in her field to fry and eat, and refusing to say “hi” back to her, insisting instead on ‘Haribol.’

In 1974, when Kelly was about seven years old, she saw devotees carrying Srila Prabhupada in a procession, and waved at him. He waved back and smiled at her, and she was struck by how kind and compassionate he seemed compared to the average devotee she had met up until that point.

Soon after, Kelly did make friends with many of the devotees, and by her young teens was a familiar face in the community. She learned how to make garlands and helped build Prabhupada’s Palace, assisting Narendra Das with stained glass and Jala-kolahali with gold leaf.

Growing up, Kelly’s whole life was interconnected with New Vrindaban. A photo of her ready to go to prom shows Sankirtan Dasa’s house in the background. She got her first job in New Vrindaban, working in the Palace restaurant; and also served in the Palace gardens.

Now with her own grown-up children, Kelly feels that her experience meeting people from all over the world in New Vrindaban helped make her the broadminded woman she is today. She is also passionate about connecting the devotee and local communities, saying that she is glad to see both dropping their prejudices and working together more in recent years.

After the presentation, New Vrindaban residents shared their appreciation of Kelly’s friendship and exemplary service attitude. Many appreciated how she had raised her children Brayden, Parker and Jaimie to also be very open-minded and good friends with the devotee kids.

Kelly continues to care for New Vrindaban children to this day, bringing Murahari Das, her young student from Hilltop elementary, along to the ceremony as her ‘date.’

“I really appreciate the friendships I made here,” she said, addressing the assembled devotees. “I can’t imagine what my life would be like without New Vrindaban and all of you.”

Next, Tejomaya Das, who has been serving at New Vrindaban for 43 years, and his wife Kelly were honored.

Tejo grew up in the Bronx. In 1973, he joined ISKCON in New Vrindaban with his friend Manonatha, after they read an article about the community in Mother Earth magazine.

From the very beginning, Tejomaya braved many austerities. He and Manonatha worked with Madhava Gosh in the garden, and would get badly suburnt after a whole day in the sun. By night, they would mix and carry cement used to build Prabhupada’s Palace.

In October 1974, the two friends were initiated by Srila Prabhupada. Tejo was transferred full-time to the Palace construction crew, and became integral to the team of whom Prabhupada said, “These devotees are my jewels.”

In 1979, he moved back to New York City, where he ran his own plumbing business and met his wife Kelly, who had grown up in Queens with several New Vrindaban devotees. The couple had two children, Gopala and Haridas, and served at the New Vrindaban outpost in Brooklyn.

In the 1990s, they moved back to New Vrindaban, and Tejomaya took over the service of maintenance and plumbing from Jaya Murari, which he continues to do to this day.

When everyone was invited to share their appreciations, several called Tejomaya the most hard-working devotee in the history of New Vrindaban to date.

Many shared stories of how he would drop whatever he was doing at any time of the day or night to help a devotee with plumbing problems – there were tales of him coming over at 3:00am, and even fixing a busted pipe on his way out for the evening in his finest suit.

Out of shyness, Tejo and Kelly were not present at the appreciation ceremony, but Tejo did send a letter which was read out loud. In it, he praised his wife, who raised their children, put herself through college, maintained a full-time job as a nurse for decades and always supported him.

“Just try to imagine waking up for thirty-five years and the first person you see is Tejo. I bet that is beyond everyone’s imagination,” he wrote, sending the audience into peals of laughter.

Tejo, known for being a New York tough guy with a heart of gold, moved many with his last paragraph. “I thank Prabhupada every day for giving me such a beautiful family that also includes all you guys,” he wrote. “I pray that all the newcomers can experience what Prabhupada has given us.”

Advaitacarya Das and his wife Madri Dasi  with Chaitanya Mangala

Finally, Advaitacarya Das and his wife Madri Dasi were honored. Interestingly, Advaita and Madri’s paths often interweaved with the other honorees of the evening – for instance, they gave Kelly Carter her first job at the Palace Restaurant. Tejomaya met his wife Kelly through Madri, who was friends with her in New York. And Advaita was the first devotee Tejomaya met when he arrived in New Vrindaban.

Like Tejomaya, Advaita grew up in a rough part of New York – Brooklyn. After seeing devotees chant in Washington Square Park in 1968, and then reading a Back to Godhead magazine, he began visiting the New York temple in 1972. In 1974, he visited New Vrindaban, immediately felt a connection, and moved there. Later that year, he was initiated by Srila Prabhupada.

Madri, who had moved in the same circles as Advaita in New York and gone to the same school, saw him introduce all their friends to Krishna consciousness, but was initially skeptical. Later, however, as she heard more about New Vrindaban from Advaita and Tejo, she moved there and joined ISKCON in 1978.

In the 1970s, Advaita’s services in New Vrindaban included driving teams of horses and assisting Sudhanu with festival cooking. He also managed the Bahulaban devotee kitchen, the Palace restaurant, and the Pittsburgh restaurant Simply Wonderful.

In the mid 1980s, he and Madri moved back to New York, where they started the New Vrindaban outpost in Brooklyn that Tejo was also part of. They ran many outreach efforts including a dinner program for people with AIDS, and sold fruit and vegetables to earn a living. In the early 90s, they moved back to New Vrindaban and have been there ever since, with Advaita running his own business and helping in community building efforts like the Village Association.

For her part, Madri served in the front office in New Vrindaban in the early days, worked at the Palace Restaurant with Advaita in the early 1980s, and later cooked the Sunday Feasts at the Brooklyn outpost. She also cared for their six sons and two daughters, and cooked offerings for Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra — to this day, her four o’clock offering of cheesecake is one of the most sought-after pieces of maha-prasadam around.

With the audience well warmed up by this time, the sharing of appreciations for Advaita and Madri lasted the longest. Many praised Madri’s steadiness and determination, as well as her kindness for all. One devotee told a story of how, when she was at the front desk at ISKCON New Vrindaban, she would take calls from a devotee in a mental institution that no one else wanted to talk to. Not only did she spend time speaking with him, but for many years she would personally cook prasadam for him which Advaita would personally deliver to him in Pittsburgh.

Many of the couple’s adult children and seven grandchildren were present, and expressed their gratitude for such kind and loving parents. “You taught us how to be good people,” they told their mom. Their father was also recognized for being such a dedicated advocate for devotee care over the years.

In one particularly sweet (pun intentional) moment, pujari Venkatachalapati Das shared how he had lived in New Vrindaban for the past four years, but had never met Madri before – only learning of her steady, quiet devotion through her incredible cheesecake offerings. He also called Advaita’s sweet rice the best he had ever tasted, and confessed to stealing a gallon so he could drink a cup every day.

In response, Advaita laughed, “I’m glad some New Vrindaban traditions are being carried on! There is hope for the future!”

The service appreciation ceremony ended with everyone chatting, sharing more memories and tucking into Lakshman Ishvara’s banana-nut cake inscribed with the names of the five honorees.

It was another heartwarming and enlivening event that embodied the ceremony’s mission, encapsulated in a quote from Bhaktivinode Thakura’s song Suddha Bhakata Charana Renu, which Chaitanya Mangala shared: “Service to the devotees is itself the Supreme Perfection and the root of the tender creeper of Divine Love.”

 

Special darshan of Shri Banke Bihari bed in His Temple of Vrindavan.
Srila Prabhupada: My Guru Maharaja never compromised in His preaching, nor will I nor should any of my students. We are firmly convinced that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all other are His part and parcel servants. This we must declare boldly to the whole world, that they should not foolishly dream of world peace unless they are prepared to surrender fully to Krishna as Supreme Lord. From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Giriraja, 30 December 1971

Lucy Logan Green: PiTV takes a look at Hare Krishna's free lunch.

By Urmila Devi Dasi

He will think, "I don't like pain, so why should I give pain to an animal just so I can eat?" He’ll be honest: “I don't like to be cheated, so why should I cheat others?” And he'll always speak beneficially: “I like to hear the truth, I don’t like to be insulted, and I want to hear what is useful to me. Let me speak to others that way.” A truly educated person, therefore, will try not to hurt anyone, even by his words. Continue reading "Real education
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By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

So this dog’s philosophy will not help you, that “I have got this body, and how to enjoy the bodily sex life.” This is dog philosophy. A dog knows all these things. Your philosophy should be how to refrain from sex life. That is knowledge. Tapo divyam [SB 5.5.1]. Tapasya. This human life is meant for tapasya, to refrain from sense gratification. That is knowledge. Not that how to enjoy sex life or sense gratification. This is known to cats and dogs without any education, without any philosophy. The philosophy, pravrttih esam bhutanam nivrtes tu maha-phalam.(?) Pravrtti, every living entity has got this pravrtti, means propensity. What is that? Sense enjoyment. Loke vyavaya ‘misa mada-seva nityas tu jantuh.(?) Jantuh means living being. Nitya, always, he has got the propensity, vyavaya amisa mada-seva. Vyavaya. Vyavaya means sex life and amisa means meat-eating. Vyavaya amisa, mada-seva, and intoxication. These are natural instincts of all living entities, even amongst the ants these propensities are there. Those who have studied… The ants are very much fond of being intoxicated. Therefore, they find out sweet, sugar. Sweet is intoxication. Perhaps you know, all. The liquor is made from sugar. Sugar is fermented with acid, sulphuric acid, and then it is distilled. That is liquor. Therefore too much sweet eating is prohibited. Continue reading "Dogs And Cats Don’t Need Freud
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Carmarthen Rathayatra in UK - 20th May 2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: This human form of life is meant for saving time to develop our Krsna consciousness. It is not meant for wasting unnecessarily because we do not know when the next death is coming. And if we do not prepare ourself for the next life, then at any moment we can die, and we have to accept a body offered by the material nature. Therefore I wish that all of you who have come to join this Krsna consciousness movement live very carefully so that maya may not snatch you from the hand of Krsna. We can keep ourself very steady simply by following the regulative principles and chanting, minimum, sixteen rounds. Then we are safe. So you have got some information about the perfection of life. Don’t misuse it. Try to keep it very steadily, and your life will be successful. This movement does not stop anything for comfortable life, but it makes regulated. So if we follow the regulative principles and chant sixteen rounds, that is our safe position. I think this instruction you will follow. That is my desire. Srila Prabhupada; Departure Lecture – February 18, 1975, Mexico City
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Krishna conscious function in Mumbai (Album with photos)
On the 2/05/17, Gaur Gopal Das spoke at a function with veteran Bollyw...

[Bhagavatam class on 10.39.31 at Bhaktivedanta Manor, London, UK]

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A new Hare Krishna temple in Novokuznetsk (Album with photos)
Bhakti Caitanya Swami: Some days ago we were in Novokuznetsk, a small town in Siberia, Russia. The devotees have built a wonderful temple there.

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By Dhameshvara Mahaprabhu Dasa

In this article, I begin with a confession of what I experience as a common experience for men with an addiction to pornography, based on my life and deep empathetic conversations with others. I will share what I believe to be the way to overcome this addiction in Krishna consciousness. This includes the necessity of an environment with minimal temptations, knowing of the science of overcoming anarthas, and the value of being genuine in relationship with others. I will take the liberty of writing on these topics as a commentary to the Shrimad-Bhagavatam, 1.2.16-22, in literal English verse, which describes the progression of Krishna consciousness from beginning to consummation. Continue reading "Overcoming Pornography Addiction
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Answer Podcast

The post Why does our inspiration for service rise on hearing and fall when material responsibilities come up? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post Pingala got realization despite having no spiritual environment – why don’t we get realization despite having spiritual environment? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.