Planet ISKCON

Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk.
Krishna-kripa Das: I share some fascinating material on Hare Krishna devotees surviving the war in the former Yugoslavia by Vrsabha Prabhu of Croatia.
Vrsabha Prabhu: Material opulence can never give us satisfaction. There was one beautiful opera singer who was very fat and voluntarily ate a tape worm, hoping that would help her become more shapely. It worked, but unfortunately the worm did not leave enough to nourish her, and she ultimately died. Other people who were rich and famous, not being satisfied, turned to drugs and ruined their lives. So many examples are there, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monoe, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, etc.

Many people received Srila Prabhupada’s books in Yugoslavia, but most did not take them seriously. When the war began, however, people began to take the books off the shelves and read them.

Sarajevo is a city in valley, and Serbian soldiers surrounded it. Only a one-kilometer tunnel the residents had dug could take people out of the city. One man, who read the books and heard there were devotees in Sarajevo, wanted to go inside the city. No one could believe it. He did and found the devotees and became one.

The UN donated two truck loads of ingredients to devotees distributing food in Sarajevo.

The devotees in Sarajevo were so enthusiastic to hear about Krishna, they would walk across the city at the risk of being shot by Serbian snipers, either coming or going to the Sunday feast. One invalid devotee had a friend who would bring him and his wheelchair, one at a time, down 14 flights of stairs and push him 7 kilometers to the Sunday feast.

There is one Croatian devotee Madhavananda who was captured by the Serbians, who put him to work in a death camp. He refused to eat meat, and said, “You can kill me but I will not eat meat.” They needed him to dig ditches, so they gave him vegetarian food. He would preach Bhagavad-gita to people in the camp, whether they were Croatians or Muslims. Serbian army people noticed that the people who heard his preaching were easier to control, so they told him to give classes twice a day and gave him an office to prepare for them. Previously before being captured, he had organized a gurukula in one city because the men were engaged in the war and the city was filled with women and children who were unengaged. He taught them verses and bhajanas and the chanting of Hare Krishna. Even so many years later, he still gets messages on Facebook or by email from kids who were there, thanking him for taking care of them.

One woman who came to Hare Krishna in Sarvejo during the war, considered, “When I was chanting Hare Krishna in a mood of helplessness and praying to God, I was in bliss, I complete forgot about my identification with the material body. That was best time of my life.”

One person who later became a devotee but was an atheist at the time, when he saw a line of Serbian tanks approaching him, addressed the Lord, “Dear God, if you really exist, get me out of this situation.” Dark clouds appeared, lightning struck his machine gun, which exploded and blew off his boots and left him unconscious. He was moved off the battlefield and was saved. Many of his friends were killed.

Sometimes war causes people to take shelter of God. Many people in Bosnia, and also in Croatia, became devotees because of the war. Not a single devotee in Bosnia died or was injured.

Just one virus, so small you cannot see it, can reduce a body builder, who has worked out for years, to a skin-and-bones guy like me.

God does not need money from us. He is the richest person in the world.

God demands us to give up only that which is not good for us anyway, sinful activities.

Comments by Bhakti Rasa Prabhu:

One of the consequences of misusing of our independence is that we come to this world. You can say “if things are so nice in the spiritual world, how could anyone one leave?” but by eliminating the possibility of one leaving, you eliminate their free will.

It is comforting to reflect, “Our karma is temporary, but we are eternal and Krishna is eternal.”

Comment by Caitanya Vallabha Prabhu: Suppose after 45 years of marriage to your wife, you find out the only the reason she married you was someone put a gun to her head, how would you feel? In the same way, Krishna is looking for freely given love.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/rKxqvI

Holy Cow!
Another early morning at the Krishna Village. Walking towards the paddock amidst the dew and early morning light, a group of around twenty cows becomes visible, calves and their mothers huddled around the milking shed. A mixture of black and white friesians and light brown and white Indian gyrs, they are waiting patiently to be herded after the daily 5am milking, an activity that can be joined by any Krishna Village guest who wishes to attend.
Claire, one of their main custodians, explains how despite being vegan she drinks this milk because it is ‘ahimsa’ milk - obtained in a non violent way. Unlike the cows at mainstream dairies, these cows are milked by hand, leaving them with more than enough milk for their calves, who are free to stay with their mothers from birth. Visible most times of day in the paddocks eating grass or frolicking with their friends, the cows are an integral part of the Krishna Farm, considered sacred by Hare Krishnas and loved by everyone in the community.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/IPkfXo

The Spiritual Master and Krishna are two parallel lines. The train, on two tracks, moves forward. The Spiritual Master and Krishna are like these two tracks, they must be served simultaneously. Krishna helps one to find bona fide Spiritual Master, and bona fide Spiritual Master helps one to understand Krishna. If one does not get bona fide Spiritual Master, then how he can ever understand Krishna? You cannot serve Krishna without Spiritual Master, or serve Spiritual Master without serving Krishna. They must be served simultaneously. Letter to Mahapurusa, February 12, 1968

By Krsnā devi dasi

The participants of “Unraveling the Mysteries of the Sacred Universe Level 1” were asking themselves this very question while attending this informative workshop co- sponsored by the Bhaktivedanta Institute of Gainesville and the Krishna Institute in Alachua on May 20-21. How we view the universe impacts our understanding of ourselves. Additionally, the more we push the boundaries of knowledge, the more knowledge expands before us. In the Vedic literature it is said, sa-tattvato 'nyatha-buddhir vikara ity udahr?tah? from one fact another fact is generated. For example, a father is one fact, and a son generated from the father is a second fact. Thus both of them are truths, although one is generated from the other. Continue reading "How can a frog in a well understand the vastness of the ocean?
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By Bhakti-lata Dasi

For many years I have wondered why it is so difficult to find devotees who are inspired to not only correspond with inmates but to do so steadily as well. It’s been quite a bottleneck since there are far more inmates who write than there are volunteers to reply to them. It seems that often the devotees who volunteer with IPM have an unrealistic, romantic view of what this service is and they get discouraged when reality turns out to be different. I am wondering if, in some way, this IPM NEWS itself contributes to this misconception. Why? Continue reading "Prison Ministry: Romanticism versus Realism
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By ISKCON Wellington

What began as a wet and cloudy Friday evening marked by long traffic jams quickly opened up into a pleasant, spiritually charged morning as devotees trickled in for Mangala Arati. After Tulsi Arati, the enchanting voice of Srila Prabhupada accompanied the devotees in the chanting of 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Devotees from all walks of life and age groups took part in the programs – from toddlers and teenagers to adults – all gracefully dressed in Vaishnava attire. While the parents and young adults attended the presentation and group activities, the children were engaged in storytelling, games, art and craft to teach them the values of patience and gratitude. Continue reading "Wellington Retreat connects Hearts and Souls
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 25 April 2017, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.15.68)

Srila Prabhupada explained that this material world is just a tiny little corner of the spiritual sky and that tiny little corner of the spiritual sky is covered by a cloud, therefore we feel disconnected from the sunshine of the spiritual world. But the effulgence of Krsna, the brahma-jyotir, is pervading in all directions and then there is this little corner of the spiritual sky which is covered by a cloud of illusion, thus we think that we are separated from Krsna and that Krsna is far away and that we are alone.

We think therefore we struggling because we are abandoned. We think that we have to cope with things that we cannot cope with, ‘How can all these things happen? How do I deal with this? This is too much. Krsna, come on! You know, give me a break!’

But Krsna has given us a million breaks, a million chances! He gave us like not one, not two but unlimited breaks – all the time. And we just cause so much trouble, but do we see how much mercy there was every time along with it? How when something happened, we survived! Krsna is completely in control even of this little corner of the spiritual sky which is covered by a cloud.

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
sūyate sa-carācaram, (Bhagavad-gita, 9.10)

Every moment, not just sometimes, Krsna manifests his mercy. Krsna is manifesting his mercy all the time. Never is there a moment when Krsna withdraws his mercy. Krsna is known as the ‘avyakta-mūrtinā,’ (Bhagavad-gita 9.4) or the unmanifested form in the universe.

Regardless the politicians' agenda or the prevailing public opinion, in democracy, everyone has the freedom to follow their OWN moral compasses. A short film about aid workers of different spiritual backrounds, who, despite the hostile public environment, provided help to hundreds of thousands of refugees crossing Hungary in 2015.

A hiphop track about the power of malas and Tulasi! (2 min video)
Gauranga Simha: the lyrics as requested:
There’s power in this string of sacred beads that I carry
they help me understand the kind of person that I can be
by steady meditation realize that I am free … realize that I am me you are you and I worship the sun and the moon as the eyes of the most high witness the beauty of the soul and almost cry choose the light every time and let the ghost die
chant the mantra get high and let my soul fly
Lord is in my heart so you know he’s always close by
These beads give me guidance beads give me hope
when the world gets dark these beads help me cope
wanna wash away your karma these beads are the soap
you can string them on silver string them on rope
these beads keep me high I don’t need no dope
I keep my malas real close to me just the way a lover supposed to be
they’re way more than beads on a string you see and the highest of the high is Tulasi Maharani
now mala thats a fact meditate activate love attract wear a mala round your neck to keep love in tact raise your malas in the air we on a love attack let the people of the world know love is back
let the people of the world know god is black, blue, yellow, green and sometimes white when you get to know the truth then the sun shines bright when my hearts’ in the lyrics then I rhyme tight and lead the people of the world to the sublime light
I can reach up touch the stars when I speak up spit fake nonsense boy you can’t keep up I’m a hurricane you’re a storm in a teacup
I don’t watch that material accumulation I’m all about that spiritual illumination check my progress everyday when I’m in meditation every second celebrate coz life’s a celebration use my mala to accelerate my elevation through the school of transcendental higher education
These beads give me guidance beads give me hope
when the world gets dark these beads help me cope
wanna wash away your karma these beads are the soap
you can string them on silver string them on rope
these beads keep me high I don’t need no dope…
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/skKoRs

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By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications

On the afternoon of March 25^th—after hearing inspiring news from ISKCON New Vrindaban and ECO-Vrindaban’s various department heads—Board members and Village Association members settled in for a lively community dialog on some important topics.

Village Association Foundational Document

The first was the presentation of a foundational document for the New Vrindaban Village Association. The Association defines itself as “A loving family of Krishna devotees, spiritual aspirants and friends” whose aim is “to empower and assist devotees to happily live in, or contribute to New Vrindaban.”

The Association also votes to elect members of a Village Council, through which New Vrindaban residents can participate in the governance of their community. The first vote, which elected the first Council, was carried out in November 2016.

Council member Gaura Bhakta Das presented the foundational document. It consisted primarily of rights Village Association members are entitled to, and matching responsibilities that create a good balance of reciprocation between the individual member and the group.

These included the right to spiritual guidance / responsibility to provide spiritual guidance; right to contribute freely / responsibility to focus on what we want; right of respectful disagreement / responsibility to speak up; right of involvement / responsibility to be informed; and others.

The essence of the Village Association was also boiled down to three recommendations: aim in good faith to be spiritually conscious; be a contributing community member; and be aware of Srila Prabhupada’s intents and purposes for New Vrindaban.

After Gaura Bhakta’s presentation, there was some discussion on the meaning and implications of the rights and responsibilities. Some expressed concerns that the document may be too idealistic. Gaura Bhakta responded that the Village Association needed to develop a starting point – however the document is a living one, which can evolve with community feedback.

Success in Re-Routing Rover Pipeline

Next, Gopisa Das reported on the recent legal struggles with the Rover Pipeline and success in getting it re-routed to avoid specific sacred places in New Vrindaban.

The Rover Pipeline is a 713-mile long multi-state project, starting in West Virginia and travelling through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan before ending in Canada. It will deliver gas for distribution throughout the Midwest, Northeast, East Coast, and Gulf Coast.

Rover first contacted New Vrindaban residents two years ago saying that they were seeking eminent domain – a federal right to use private property for public use – to run one of their tributary pipelines through the community.

The route they wanted to take would have passed close to Prabhupada’s Palace and directly across Madhuban hill, where previously there was a Jagannath temple and a house Srila Prabhupada stayed in during his 1972 visit. It would have then cut right through the yard of the original Vrindaban farmhouse, where Prabhupada stayed for one month during his first visit to New Vrindaban in 1969.

Devotees met with Rover over the next couple of years but could not convince them to consider re-routing the pipeline. In February 2017, with no warning, the company announced that it had acquired eminent domain from the Federal Government, and that devotees were summoned for a federal district court hearing.

That meant ISKCON New Vrindaban and ECO-Vrindaban had just days to put together a full case against the $4.2 billion dollar project. To make matters even more daunting, Rover turned out to actually be Energy Transfer Partner (ETP), the same company that ran the Dakota Pipeline through sacred Native American land.

On the morning of the hearing, devotees organized a Harinama Sankirtana protest outside the court house in Wheeling, which was filmed by Channel 7 and Channel 9 News. Vrindavan Das also gave interviews to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Wheeling News Register.

Gopisa and INV President Jaya Krsna Das first testified, explaining that the specific areas ETP wanted to build through were sacrosanct to Vaishnavas because of Prabhupada’s presence there. They were then directed by the judge to work out an agreement with ETP’s lawyers.

The result was that ETP agreed to re-route the pipeline away from the designated sacred spots despite having full federal support and approval. Gopisa credited this to the power of chanting the Holy Name outside the courthouse, and said it was likely that ETP did not want to face more of the kind of negative media attention that they received with the Dakota pipeline.

During Gopisa’s report, a proposal – first suggested by INV Board Director Ananga Manjari –  was made that a portion of the funds INV and ECO-V receive from ETP could be used to construct a new Community Center. A majority of those participating in the discussion warmly embraced the proposal; and a decision was made to form a Community Center planning committee consisting of Village Association, INV & ECO-V members.

“We also negotiated an agreement with ETP that they would deliver to us all the trees they cut for use in building the Community Center, as well as fixing the old Vrindaban farmhouse,” Gopisa added.

Work on the pipeline is likely to start this spring.

NV 50 Plans and New Jagannath Altar

Rounding off the afternoon, Jaya Krsna Das presented plans for New Vrindaban’s 50^th anniversary next year.

NV 50 themes will be integrated into every festival throughout 2018, and there will be a major celebration at the end of September 2018. There will also be a VIP event, and an Open House day for neighbors and the local community.

Meanwhile Sankirtan Das is interviewing many New Vrindaban devotees for an oral history project so that their experiences, challenges, successes and realizations can be secured for the benefit of future generations. There are plans to create both a video and book from these interviews, along with a shorter souvenier booklet with lots of photos.

Another major offering for the 50^th anniversary will be that of a new altar for Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra at the front of the temple room next year. The reasoning was that devotees currently do not get darshan of Lord Jagannath when facing the main altar during aratis, and show their backs to the Lord during gurupuja.

The move was decided based on a straw vote by residents and support from the ISKCON New Vrindaban board, GBC and ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry. The new altar will be in the spot the six Goswamis currently occupy, and will be an ornate wooden affair covered with gold and silver leaf.

Previously, Jaya Krsna promised devotees they would receive news of the move during this Spring’s weekend gathering, and the announcement was an auspicious and uplifting way to wrap up the Community Dialog.

 

Philosophy means the love of wisdom, the ability to separate truth from error, reality from illusion, and the subsequent discernment as to correct action. Professional philosophers use the word in specific ways according to which type of reality and illusion they are talking about.

Conversation with Bh. Rahul.

Mohanasini Devi Dasi: My husband said something so sweet this week...I just have to share it with you....He said, "This album you post every week is your garland that you offer to Srila Prabhupada...every book distributed is a flower in that garland!" Book totals for this weekend: 11 Perfection of Yoga, 20 Chant and Be Happy, 76 Higher Taste cookbooks, 4 Science of Self Realization, 129 Bhagavad Gitas, and 4 Srimad Bhagavatams 1.1 Total: 244 books.

Srila Prabhupada – Sri Caitanya’s Compassion Personified (video)
HH Radhanath Swami’s lecture in New Dwarka, Los Angeles - 5-28-17
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/ZebKBf

Debriefing the Mysteries of the Sacred Universe Workshop.
Raga devi dasi : It’s my pleasure to offer this account of the “Unravelling the Mysteries of the Sacred Universe” workshop sponsored by the Krishna Institute and the Bhaktivedanta Institute of Gainesville held at the Alachua Learning Academy on the May 21-22. It included an all-star cast: Janmastami das did a stellar job of organizing the program, bringing in guest speakers His Holiness Bhakti Caru Swami (by internet), Brahmatirtha das in person, and key presenter, Murli Gopal das, who came in from the NYC Bhakti Center, toting an excellent PowerPoint presentation and many large charts and exhibits mounted around the room. Nandini Kishori devi dasi and her friendly helper, Vegavati devi dasi, facilitated online participation.

We began with the premise that the Srimad Bhagavatam’s Fifth Canto can be bewildering, and were quite relieved when Murli Gopal prabhu announced that we were welcome to consider our own appreciation of the information presented and need not conform to a definitive consensus. He cleverly avoided over-thinking complex topics by including two entertaining small group sessions exploring the 5th Canto’s cosmography. Throughout the workshop he presented fascinating Vaishnava pastimes involving this cosmography. We went to the Santa Fe College Planetarium to view “Passport to the Universe,” narrated by Academy Award winner Tom Hanks. It offered a dazzling tour of the modern scientific conception of the cosmos, which Murali Gopal prabhu skillfully contrasted to the Vedic version analyzed in the book Mysteries of the Sacred Universe by Sadaputa das (PhD in Mathematics from Cornell). Following in his footsteps, Murli Gopal prabhu has studied both science (Ph.D. in Physics from Ohio University) and Sanskrit (Columbia University), as well as Vedic cosmography and astronomy (and he has a 5th degree black belt in Karate!) He brought these impressive credentials to his well-organized talks, along with his deep loving respect for Sadaputa prabhu, plus a humorous, progressive outlook that allowed him to blend cartoons illustrating central concepts along with fascinating sophisticated graphics. The 48 participants (along with 20 more interacting online) appeared to be extremely satisfied with the spectacular presentations. Rucira devi dasi seemed to sum up the prevailing mood with her comment “I have no words to say how grateful I am to acquire this new knowledge.”

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