Planet ISKCON

A Russian blogger has been convicted of inciting religious hatred for playing “Pokemon Go” in a church, and given a suspended sentence.

Transcendental book distribution for going back to Godhead by Shastrakrit Das

Shastrakrit Das: Amazing Kirtan by Govinda Swami &Madhava Naidoo Prabhu from New Vraja Dham. Can’t stop listening. Maharaj blew the roof off. So much Bhakti and spontaneity. Madhava Prabhu sings one of my all-time favorite tune.
Listen to it here: https://goo.gl/K1OWsZ

Dartford Festival in UK - 18th May 2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If you think of Krsna twenty-four hours, then you’ll become fully Krsna conscious, and your life is successful. Don’t allow anything. This requires little practice, abhyasa-yoga-yuktena cetasa nanya-gamina [Bg. 8.8]. I should not allow my mind to go, to think of any other subject than Krsna. Now we have got so many books. So whenever you find time… You must find time. There is so much time. So read all these books or chant. But when you are hungry, you take prasadam. When you are sleepy, take a snap. Not very much, just to refresh. And go on, either chanting the beads or reading the books or talking about Krsna. In this way, always remain in Krsna consciousness. Smartavyah satatam visnuh. Krsna consciousness means to remember Visnu always, twenty-four hours. Some way or other. Type for Krsna, write for Krsna, go outside for Krsna, sankirtana party, sell book for Krsna, bring money for Krsna, spend for Krsna. Krsna. That’s all. Everything Krsna. This is Krsna consciousness. From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.14-15 – May 31, 1972, Los Angeles
Find them here: https://goo.gl/olyFtM

Rathayatra near the Dnieper river, Russia, May 2017 (Album with photos)
Pradyumna: “If the ear is not engaged in the service of the Lord by hearing about Him in the Bhagavad-gita or in the Srimad Bhagavatam, certainly the holes of the ear will be filled up with some rubbish.”
Prabhupada: Yes. This is the secret. We have got the ears, and we have got the sound also. Just like we are reading this book. So if we don’t fill up our ears with this transcendental sound, then it will be filled up with some rubbish things. It cannot remain empty. Either you fill up with transcendental message, or you fill up with rubbish nonsense. Two ways. So if you take care that your earholes are always filled up with the transcendental message of Krsna, so there is no scope for rubbish things to enter into it. So, therefore, our attempt should be twenty-four hours hearing. Kirtaniyah sada harih [Cc. Adi 17.31]. Twenty-four hours. As soon as you get time, read books, discuss amongst yourself, [indistinct]. Don’t fill up the ears with rubbish things. Then advance will be choked up. June 17, 1972, Los Angeles
Find them here: https://goo.gl/F9Gbtc

The beauty of the lotus feet of the Lord is compared to the petals of a lotus flower which grows in the autumn season. By nature’s law, in autumn the dirty or muddy waters of rivers and lakes become very clean. At that time the lotus flowers growing in the lakes appear very bright and beautiful. The lotus flower itself is compared to the lotus feet of the Lord, and the petals are compared to the nails of the feet of the Lord.

By Swami B. A. Ashram

For those of us who love Agnideva prabhu and his kirtana, it has been far too long since his last CD. Of course, tracks from his most recent CDs, as well as from his older cassette albums and temple kirtanas from Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, etc., and, more recently, from kirtana festivals around the world, have circulated so widely and for so long that generations of devotees seem to have tunes we identify with him as part of our DNA. We hear the evidence of this in the cheering as Agnideva segues to another “classic Agni tune,” one of those tunes most second-generation devotees grew up with as their parents played them in the kitchen, in the car, and at bedtime, in a kirtana mela. And wherever Agnideva has gone the last few years, devotees have asked about his next CD. And Agni has responded by smilingly assuring them, “We’re working on it.” Continue reading "CD Review: Agnideva dasa’s Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Lord Krishna
→ Dandavats"

By Anand Caitanya das

The conference was organized by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) on the occasion of 10th World Agri Tourism Day, with the main aim to promote Agri Tourism in Maharashtra. Ways to increase employment and investment opportunities in Agro Tourism sector were discussed at the conference. Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra and Pandurang Fundkar, Minister of Agriculture & Horticulture, Government of Maharashtra inaugurated the conference in the presence of Madan Yerawar, Minister of State for Tourism, Government of Maharashtra. On behalf of GEV, Mr. Neeraj Kapoor went and received the award at the hands of Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Tourism Continue reading "Govardhan Eco Village Wins The National Agri-tourism Award
→ Dandavats"

By Romapada Swami

Refining our ways of presenting Krishna consciousness as a movement according to time, place and circumstances, without compromising our principles. Subjects discussed: Equality, women's position, ecology, interfaith discussion, prasadam distribution, protecting cows and children and more. Becoming efficient without loosing our purity. From a talk given in Boston's Iskcon temple. Continue reading "Vyasadeva and “bridge preaching”
→ Dandavats"

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 18 September 2012, Cape Town, South Africa, Lecture)

Every day we remind ourselves of Krsna’s eternal activities because we know that it will capture our mind. At the same time, we try to conquer our mind and we say YES to devotional service, although the mind sometimes wants to say no. This is the nature of the conditioned mind. Whenever there is an opportunity for devotional service the mind is thinking, “How can I get out of it! How can I avoid this? How can I somehow or other find an excuse?”

So we have to conquer the mind and just make it a principle to say YES to devotional service and to just volunteer to do things even when the mind says no. And with all our hearing and chanting, gradually the mind will say, “It’s nice quite actually, this devotional service…”

So little-by-little we become captured and breakthrough in spiritual life. But it is not going to be so easy; it is not going to come automatically and certainly, it will not be that one day in the midst of all our resistance and reluctance, we will just wake up one morning full of taste and say, “Oh I really want to serve Krsna!”

No, it’s a matter of hearing about Krsna, chanting the holy name, serving Krsna & the devotees, conquering the mind and then gradually, service will take over until the emphasis will shift and the priority becomes Krsna!

[Congregation program at London, UK]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

The post Managing stress coming from disorganization, disposition, destiny and decision appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Soho Street, London, UK]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

The post Spiritual perspectives on material beauty – 1 appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Congregation program at London, UK]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

The post Appreciating bhakti as a spiritual science appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post Are pure souls covered by the subtle body? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post Prostitutes were present in Dwarka, the abode of pure devotees – how to understand? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post If we fail in a field, can we infer that field is not our nature? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post How much anxiety should we take up while being ambitious in our professional life? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post Do advanced devotees who know Krishna is in control also feel anxiety? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Answer Podcast

The post How do we deal with the anxiety caused by inability to deliver what we are expected to do? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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!

Read More...

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
→ Dandavats"

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.

Read More...