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The post Daily Darshan: May 19,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

A calf just saved from being dehorned and branded is in the trailer entering the International Society for Cow Protection (also known as ISCOWP) Florida farm. Her name is Draupadi Amba. Another calf saved from the same fate and from the same breeder is already at the ISCOWP farm. Her name is Sri Vasanti and Draupadi is about to be reunited with her.

The Ratha Yatra procession starts at 4pm on 9 th of July in Largo do Intendente towards the final destination in Ribeira das Naus, where starting at 7 pm a festival will conclude in a form of various activities, music, dance and in distribution of delicious vegetarian food.

Ratha Yatras are always amazing and wonderful events, but I was trying to pinpoint why this venue felt more auspicious than usual to me. I did not realize the answer until the next day when Shranti devi informed me that Their Lordships Radha Damodar had presided at the exact same venue, Pier 60, when Vishnujana Swami and the traveling party brought Then there over forty years ago!

Over the past two decades, ISKCON has grown rapidly into an organization with well established temples and large congregations in the south of India. This short video shows some of the festivals that took place early this year when devotees from all over the world visited ISKCON temples and many holy places in that area. A video by ISKCON Congregational Ministry.  (www.iskconcongregation.com)

A film by Aeyaz.

Spiritual world: Please consider yourself invited!
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was called ‘a vaikuntha man’. He loved the spiritual world, and sternly cautioned all thoughtful men to NOT accept the pale worldly reflection to be the Reality. His examples in this excerpt below are vivid, his application of the principles which these examples expose is forceful, and his compelling conclusions are NOT how ordinary pious souls view the world. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura insisted on exposing illusion, simply for the sake of inviting others to consider and experience the Reality. The message is “there is an alternative to illusion.” Please consider yourself invited!

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Bhaktivedanta Manor: Oliver Dowden CBE was delighted to receive blessings at Bhaktivedanta Manor recently. He always attends our fes...

While in Minsk, Belarus, I was going around distributing books with Vaninatha Vasu Prabhu. I asked him how he joined. He was a doctor in Minsk, a cardiologist. One day, walking down the sidewalk, he saw a devotee at a book table. He stopped and asked about the books. The book distributor said, "They're about you, what you are, and what you aren't. You're not the body, you're the soul within." He had never heard such a thing before, said with such conviction. Impressed by the young man's response, he asked him, "How old are you?" "I'm eternal. If you want to know how old my body is, it's 22." The doctor was again impressed, so he bought a Gita and took it home. He read it and was even more impressed. Eventually he visited the temple, which impressed him still more. Shortly afterward he gave up the medical profession and joined the temple. He's been distributing books for the past 27 years.

By Nartaka Gopala dasi

Saturday, May 6, 2017: A group of four of us drove the 168 miles from Alachua, Florida to Clearwater Beach, Florida. It was very beautiful as we drove for miles across Old Tampa Bay with the ocean on both sides of the road. As we neared the venue I saw Clearwater Beach Mayor George Cretekos walking down the street with a huge maha flower garland around his neck, and looking happy. Narayani devi dasi later told me that when he spoke at the Ratha Yatra opening ceremony a few minutes earlier, he had thanked the devotees for coming every year and purifying the negative elements at Clearwater Beach. Arriving at the venue, Pier 60, we had to wait 20 minutes for a parking spot, but we could see that this was one of the best locations for a Ratha Yatra in the state of Florida, due to the crowds of people drawn to this particular beach every weekend. Continue reading "Clearwater Beach Festival of Chariots and Ratha Yatra 2017
→ Dandavats"

By Bhagavan Dasa

Many works of art with sacred themes have been painted under the inspiration of ISKCON-founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. These paintings were originally intended to illustrate books by Prabhupada, author of many original writings and translations, and were also meant to decorate temples and houses of devotees of Krishna. The world, however, moves on, and today we have something that probably was not predicted by those artists of the last century: their paintings are given many other purposes, such as becoming wallpapers on smartphones and highlights of Krishna-conscious Power Point presentations. Continue reading "Light of the Bhagavata Illuminates Shopping Center in Brazil
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By Bhakti Niskama Shanta, Ph.D.

The orthodox tradition does not allow scientists to build their views on the basis of any divine revelation (scriptures) and thus scientific studies do not include any topics on soul, God and the eternal constitutional relationship between souls and God (devotion). On the other hand, all bonafide religions are based on divine revelation (Scriptures) and Scriptures reveal that both material (things or events within material space and time) and spiritual (reality beyond material space and time) realms exist. We observe the greatest incongruity between the religion and modern science because being influenced by orthodox tradition scientists embrace empiricist foundationalism and thus in science the divine revelation (Scriptures) is plainly rejected as mere fantasy. Continue reading "Science is not Sacrosanct and Science Takes Place Within an Orthodox Tradition
→ Dandavats"

Srila Prabhupada about prasadam.
01. All to be served should be invited to sit on the floor, and prasadam should be served by qualified devotees.
02. Those who are served should be very clean, peaceful, and satisfied. They should eat before serving, if necessary. They should try not to speak while serving.
03. Serve just the right amount so that nothing is wasted.

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 28 April 2017, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.15.50)

Question (paraphrased): We did not grow up in a culture of free mixing of men and women, the way that maybe it should have been. Now I am thinking of my children. Even if we put our children in the Krsna schools, it is not always ideal and sometimes even wilder than in the outside world so what should we do?

You have children and you are very idealistic. You have this dream that you want to give them the very best and then after a while, you realise that you cannot. You cannot! They may be your children but their lives are not under your control. They are in this material world with their own karma and they are also part of a greater society and there is nothing you can do. Nothing you can do…

Like for example, in Norway, if your kid behaves bad and if you give a slap to that kid, the kid can turn you in to the police. You can get arrested and get put into jail. Yeah, imagine! In some countries, it is different. You know, my mother used to have a table tennis bat. I was always kicking my little brother under the table and she knew it. So then you know… I survived it. It was okay. I never needed a psychologist. I still like table tennis (laughter). It is okay. So, it is alright. There is nothing wrong with giving a loving slap.

But after a while, you realise that you cannot give your children an ideal education. You are not even sure if your “little Cintamini” (fictive name), who was like just straight from the heavenly planets would even chant Hare Krsna. Oh yes, she even had her own deities as a child but you cannot even be sure if little Cintamini is going to be a devotee when she is twenty-one!

This is how it is. I have seen fathers sitting there saying, “My little Cintamani!” She came to daddy and said, “Daddy, I am not going to be a Hare Krsna but I the need support for my studies.” And daddy forked it up. I know devotee fathers who would faithfully, every day drive their non-devotee children to the school and pick them up as well. That is a lot of purification. I wish you well. Maybe in this way, some men will say, “I will take sannyasa,” and then they have to preach.

Yeah, so that is how it is. All you can do is give blessings. Try to bless your children as much as you can. You cannot change their lives so much – a little maybe – but give them as many blessings as you can. That is what you do as a parent. It is also what you do as a spiritual master. Like I have many disciples and I have no grip on their life. I cannot control their life. I can only give blessings and I try. And for the rest, good luck!

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[Bhagavatam class at Bhaktivedanta Manor, London, UK]

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[Bhagavatam class at Bhaktivedanta Manor, London, UK]

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Five hundred years ago in the district of Puri, in the village of Bentapur adjacent to Brahmagiri Alalnath, there lived a great devotee named Bhavananda Raya.

Bhavananda had five sons, the eldest of which was Ramananda.
It is said that Lord Caitanya visited the birth-place of Ramananda in Alalnath every year.

Ramananda was the Governor of East and West Godavari and a minister of King Prataparudra. A great statesman of that period, Ramananda was also a poet and a scholar.

When Bhavananda met Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord embraced him and said, “Formerly you appeared as Pandu, and your five sons appeared as the five Pandavas.”
The five sons of Bhavananda Raya were Ramananda Raya, Pattanayaka Gopinatha, Kalanidhi, Sudhanidhi and Nayaka Vaninatha.

The Gauraganoddesadipika (120-124) states that Ramananda Raya was Arjuna in his past incarnation. He is also considered to have been an incarnation of the gopi Lalita, although in the opinion of others he was an incarnation of Visakha devi. He was a most confidential devotee of Lord Caitanya.

Devotees at the only ISKCON center in Munich have been given six months to leave. They have been renting the center for twenty-one years since 1996. But now the landlord plans to demolish the building and turn it into new flats, and has given them until October 30^th to get out.

The third quality of surrender is ananyagatitvam, meaning exclusiveness or singular devotion. Earlier we talked about saralata and akinchanatvam. A symptom of surrender is to proclaim loyalty to one master. Lord Hanuman is a classic example of this. He was undeterred in His service to His master Lord Ramachandra.

I heard this story but cannot recall the exact Puranic source. The story goes something like this that illustrates Lord Hanuman's singular devotion. Once, Lord Krishna had an audience with the eternal traveling spaceman Sage Narada. During their conversation, Lord Krishna requested Narada to seek audience with Lord Hanuman. Narada muni immediately traveled to the caves where Lord Hanuman is eternally reciting Ramayan. Narada meets Hanumanji and conveys the message Krishna would like to meet Him. Hanumanji replied that He is busy studying Ramayana. Once He is done, He will come. Narada muni was besides himself. He traveled to Dwaraka and conveyed the message to Krishna. Krishna smilingly acknowledged the expected response. Krishna knew Hanumanji will not come. Then again, Krishna said "this time tell that Lord Ram wants to see Him". So Narada went back to the cave where Hanumanji was meditating and again conveyed the message. Hearing that Lord Rama is awaiting His audience, immediately just as He jumped to Lanka, He jumped to Dwaraka and there His beloved Lord Ramachandra was standing to see Him. Hanumanji immediately prostrated and paid His dandavat pranams. Krishna manifested Himself as Rama and gave darshan to Hanumanji just to please Hanumanji.

The story goes to show how Lord Hanuman was so focused and fixed on His devotion to Lord Rama that even Krishna is not His object of service. Although there is no difference between Rama and Krishna, still the inner mood of seva and love can and should be expressed only to the master one is loyal to. Lord Hanuman was loyal and His unconditional love was only to His eternal master Lord Rama. Likewise, the Lord also is singularly attached to His devotee in the mood He reciprocates. Such is the kindness and love of Krishna or in this case Rama.

From this story, we can learn that in order to surrender (saranagati), one has to be loyal to His master despite all obstacles and constantly meditate on His beloved master as his life and soul. Therefore, ananyagatitvam or singular devotion is a significant symptom of surrender or saranagati.

Hare Krishna.

New updated picture of TOVP from the space (demigod perspective:))
Abhinandana Nitai das: Google maps this year updated West Be...