Ratha Yatra at Brisbane - 06 May 2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: So especially you must encourage the students to read our books throughout the day as much as possible, and give them all good advice how to understand the books, and inspire them to study the things from every point of view. Better to boil the milk very vigorously and make it thick and sweet–that is the best progress. So let us concentrate on training our devotees very thoroughly in the knowledge of Krsna consciousness from our books, from tapes, by discussing always, and in so many ways instruct them in the right propositions. (From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Hamsaduta, June 22, 1972)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/YhQUjT

German airport offers travelers prayer booth. It features 300 prayers in 65 languages.
Feeling nervous before Your flight? Travelers at one German airport can now receive spiritual solace by entering a booth and listening to a prayer of their choice before boarding the plane. The prayer booth at Stuttgart Airport’s Terminal 3 features 300 prayers from various religions in 65 different languages. Designed by Berlin artist Oliver Stunts, the photo booth-sized cabin offers a vast variety, including the Christian Lord’s Prayer, the Jewish Shma Israel and the Islamic muezzin’s call to prayer.
The Hindu Hare Krishna chant and a funeral- ceremony from the Solomon Islands are also available. An airport spokeswoman said yesterday the ‘Gebetomat’ prayer booth which was first designed by Sturm in 2008, was installed on Thursday and its use is free. -OP
In the photo: A man stands in front of the 'prayomat’ installed at an airport in Stuttgart, Germany.

"Too Busy to practise Bhakti" "Six Generations from now" "Discipline vs Regret " "Face Your Demons" "You Teach your kids by your marriage" "Unhealthy Possessiveness" "Krsna knows everyone's heart" "Promise of Vaikuntha" "Envy affects your Japa" "Pushing Your Growth Buttons" "Sincerity will keep you in Krsna Consciousness" "Realizations are Special Gifts" "Chanting produces more chanting" "Forgiveness brings you closer to Krsna" "A Vow is an Offering" Continue reading "Video for the day
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Back In The USSR - “Destination St. Petersburg” (7 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: The artistic grandeur of St. Petersburg, undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, formed an appropriate backdrop for the blissful chanting, dancing and Krsna katha that took place during our visit with devotees there. Our programs, blended with impressions of Russia’s “Venice of the North” will long be ingrained in our memories.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/ZzJPBk

Digvijay Gunjaria: Mr C K Shah, father of Vaishnava Seva dasa (Iskcon Desire Tree) is in his last phase of his life. Requesting devotees to pray to Lord Krishna to shower His mercy on his soul.
Mr C K Shah had attended Srila Prabhupada’s Cross maidan pandal program for three days, the same program that Radhanth Swami attended.
Although coming from a jain family background, he was inspired by the foreigners joining sanatana dharma. He became a life member and made 33 friends and his contacts life members in those early days to support ISKCON.

He had a daily habit if going on morning walk on Juhu beach and had from distance seen Srila Prabhupada many times.

However when his son joined ISKCON, his attitude changed. He is one of the few parents who have fought with Radhanath swami on this issue.

When he underwent his first cardiac bypass surgery in 1996, devotees donated blood. He was very moved by this. When prominent senior devotees came to see him while he was in hospital, he was touched. His heart transformed. He gave up his anti ISKCON attitude. He started hearing Hare Krishna kirtans all the time during his recovery in the hospital. Soon he arranged a big program for Radhanath Swami on his building’s terrace and called hundreds of people from the society building and his friends.

He helped Bhaktivedanta hospital. He convinced his friend Mr Damji Anchorwala to donate the entire ICU of the hospital. Since he was from pharmaceutical background, he use to visit the hospital in initial days to help them develop policies at pharmacy.

At times when he would go abroad, he would try to visit nearby ISKCON temples. Once he went to New Vrindavan to meet Radhanath Swami and had a memorable interactions with him.

Last two years he gradually developed dementia and moved from his Andheri residence to his son’s house in Mira road which also happens to be office of ISKCON desire tree. The devotee staff interacted with him mercifully and nicely and he enjoyed their company. At times he use to listen to Srila Prabhupada’s and other lectures and enjoy kirtans which use to play on the speaker system. Devotee staff would serve him nicely and he treated them as their friends.

Two months back he developed left side paralysis.

Radhanath Swami visited him last year and again visited him after he developed paralysis.

He completed 83 years on 27 th April. He is now in his last few hours of his life in this body.

His son, Vaishnava seva dasa requests devotees to kindly pray for his soul.

Vaishnava seva dasa feels that if it was not for the mercy of Guru and devotees and also his father who pushed him to study and become a doctor and earn, he would not have been able to run ISKCONdesiretree.

A collection of videos, lectures, photos, stories, prayers, posters, coloring books and more. In the purport of 7.8.51 of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada writes, “The Supreme Personality of Godhead in His transcendental form of Lord Narsimhadev is always ready to kill the demons who always create disturbances in the minds of honest devotees. To spread the Krishna consciousness movement, devotees have to face many dangers and impediments all over the world, but a faithful servant who preaches with great devotion to the Lord must know that Lord Narsimhadev is always his protector”. Lord Narsimhadev is therefore worshiped by the devotees as their Supreme Protector and they also pray that He vanquishes all obstacles they may face on the path of devotional service. So it is with much enthusiasm that the devotees come to together to worship the Lord on this day of His appearance in the material world. Continue reading "Resources for Lord Nrisimhadeva’s Appearance Day
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So today, appearance day of Lord Nrisimhadeva. Lord Nrisimhadeva appeared on this Nrisimha Caturdasi on account of His devotee, Prahlada. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata, abhyutthanam adharmasya [Bg. 4.7]. Paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca dushkritam, sambhavami yuge yuge [Bg. 4.8]. The Lord appears with two purposes. Paritranaya sadhunam: just to give protection and rescue the devotees, and to kill the demons, vinasaya ca dushkritam. So Prahlada Maharaja, five-years-old boy, his only fault was that he was Krishna conscious. He was devotee of Krishna. That was his only fault. And the father was so unkind to a child, even five years old. He could not excuse, “Oh, let this boy do whatever, chanting Hare Krishna.” No. The demons are so much against God consciousness that even at his home he would not allow his own child to become God conscious. This is demoniac civili... So you’ll find many critics, many enemies, because you are making progress in Krishna consciousness. So the demons are always against this Krishna consciousness movement. That is the whole history. Just like Lord Jesus Christ, he was crucified. What was his fault? He was preaching God consciousness, that’s all. This society is so cruel. So Prahlada Maharaja was tortured in so many ways. The torturing methods, I think you will find as you will see in today’s picture, how Prahlada Maharaja was tortured. Continue reading "Lord Nrisimhadeva’s Appearance Day
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This section of the Hari-bhakti-vilasa 14.418-441,(the glories of Nrsimha-caturdasi) quoting from Brhan Nrsimha Purana, describes who Prahlada Maharaja was in his previous life and how he became a Narasimha Bhakta. Continue reading "How Prahlada became a devotee of Nrsimhadeva
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The pending sale of ISKCON’s Radha Govinda Mandir has been a matter of interest, concern and even controversy among temple board members, congregational members, devotees and interested persons in the New York metropolitan area and elsewhere, especially in light of the GBC Body’s stated opposition to this sale transaction. In order to foster openness, inclusivity and greater awareness of the current state of affairs as well as to dispel confusion and misconceptions, last year’s GBC Executive Committee will host an ISKCON Informational Town Hall Meeting.

Millions of years ago to please his dear devotee Prahlada and to kill the wicked demon Hiranyakashipu, Lord Nrsimhadeva appeared from a pillar. The great protector appeared with lions face and claws and the human torso. He is ferocious and terrifying for those who do not believe in Him but fiercely protects His devotees from any obstacles and harm that come their way. Unmatched and supreme He is present on earth and heaven and everywhere in between. Continue reading "Narsingha Chaturdashi Address 2017
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World champion athlete from Russia becomes a devotee (Album with photos)
Olga Yaremenko (now Kamalekkha Priya Devi Dasi) is an ...

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Transcription :

Transcriber: Suresh Gupta

Question: If someone puts in the same efforts as me but gets better results, how to avoid envy?

Answer: All of us are on a multi life-time journey where actions and results are not simply a linear connection. We see that a particular action done by us leads to a particular result and when someone else does the same action, it produces different result. Although causes and effects are connected, the connection between cause and effects is not simply linear or a one-to-one correspondence. For example, two farmers living in different part of the country may individually do the same action of sowing seeds, ploughing their land but if it rains only in one part of the country and not in the other part then the place where it rained, the farmer will get lots of harvest and the other place where it did not rain, the farmer may not get any harvest.
In Sanskrit, all these factors are described as karma (action), daiva (destiny), kaala (time) and phalah (fruit). We perform karma (action) to produce phalah (fruit) but actually there are two more factors involved: daiva and kaala. So, the entire equation is karma + daiva + kaala together lead to phalah. In this case, the karma is the farmer ploughing the land, sowing the seeds; daiva is the rains coming; kaala is the passage of time until the harvesting season and finally it leads to phalah.

Whenever we do any action, we need to understand that they alone do not determine the results. Our actions do play an important role – the farmer has to plough the land, sow the seeds but that alone does not bring the result. Sometimes, we may go through a phase when the daiva or the destiny is not favourable and because of that, even after doing the work, result does not come. If we look back at our life, we will remember situations where although we had put in small efforts, still we got a good result. Along with our hard work, many things would have fell right in place (e.g. we might have found the right contact, a particular thing happened on time etc.). The results achieved require not just our good performance but also other things. Thus, daiva is an accumulated sum total of the karma that we have done in the past.

When we do not get the results, it means that karma is not leading to phalah because daiva is not favourable. Daiva is like weather – sometimes cold, sometimes hot. It is not that daiva will always be unfavourable. One must learn to tolerate such events and be patient. There is no need to be envious of others because everybody has done a mix of good and bad karmas. With this understanding, we would not deem ourselves as failure for not producing a result.

Ultimately, nothing is gained by envy. Therefore, we should instead focus on doing our best then even when the results do not come, we are at least becoming better at what we are doing. We are growing internally. Einstein said, ‘’Strive to become a man of values, not a man of wealth”. Values are enduring and wealth is fleeting but if we develop the culture of discipline, dedication and values, then that will bring results in due course of time.

End of transcription.

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Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk.
Garuda Prabhu: Often when yoga is there in the verse, Srila Prabhupada puts devotional service in the translation. Some object to this. As far as I am concerned he has every right to. This is because Srila Prabhupada knows goal of yoga is bhakti. As I scholar, I cannot do that.
Houston Smith, who liked many of my books, said the mystics are the impatient ones. They do not want to wait until the end of life.
Union implies two. That means uniting the individual soul with the Supreme Soul.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras are the Bible of yoga. In them, there are innumerable references to bhakti, more than I imagined.
In four or five places Patanjali speaks of isvara-pranidhana.
That word has three parts:
pra - moving
ni - deeply
dhana - into the core of our being

Isvara to be means the divine center of all reality. It is Bhagavan and Brahman with us in between.

Yama – ethical disciplines
Niyama – essential practices

Isvara-pranidhana is an essential practice.

Patanjali says samadhi siddhi isvara-pranidhanat. Isvara-pranidhana is the perfection of the perfection. Thus isvara-pranidhana is the beginning and the end.

In the Gita Krishna teaches self-realization and then self-abandonment. We nourish ourselves so we can get ourselves out of the way.

At raganuga every act is part of your service.

Patanjali does not identify isvara but advises one must seek out isvara. The word ista-devata comes from the Yoga Sutras.

Krishna is beautiful, delightful, and playful.

Nirvikalpa samadhi is complete absorption in Krishna.

Bhakti yoga is entering Krishna’s world, the big picture. Our little pictures are sometimes distressing but not the big picture.

Srila Prabhupada calls yoga “devotional service” because it is the union of the individual self and the Supreme Self.

Bhagavan-kripa, the mercy of the Lord, is there in the Yoga Sutras, but people do not know it.

In my book, my thesis is that the Yoga Sutras do not make any sense if we do not understand Krishna bhakti.

Yale was started by disgrunted Harvard professors.

Krishna embraces us as much as we want to be embraced.

Krishna does not force, coerce, and manipulate souls to love Him. He waits for an eternity for souls.

We have one great kirtaniya here. Not you, Gauravani, Srila Prabhupada!

The more love we have for Krishna the more desperate we are when we are separated from Him.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/YjMTmL

[Home program at Colon, Panama]

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Brisbane Rathayatra (Album with photos)
Ramai Swami: Lord Jagannatha’s Brisbane Rathayatra took place with around one thousand devotees attending. Their Lordships rode majestically through the streets of Brisbane with kirtan led by his grace Sri Prahlada.
At the end, the Ratha Cart was pulled into St George Square and placed in front of the Town Hall. There were performances on the main stage and thousands of plates of prasadam distributed. Lord Jagannatha ki jaya!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/zeSW98

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada gave the following Kavacha for the protection of sannyasis he had send to the west:
Sri Nrisimha Kavacha of the Trailokya Vijaya in the Samhita of Brahma

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Hare Krishna Festivals UK (Album with photos)
Fantastic festival at the Doddridge Centre in Northampton last night.
A ful...

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written five beautiful prayers in “Sri Navadvipa Bhava Taranga” for receiving the mercy of Lord Narasimha. These prayers are certainly assurance to all sincere devotees that the worship of Lord Narasimha is purely in the line of aspiring love and devotion to Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. Continue reading "Five Prayers to Lord Narasimha
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These prayers are from the 47th chapter of the Harivamsa Purana which narrates the story of Lord Ramacandra's visit to the holy place of Ahobalam to see the Deity of Nrisimha, where Lord Nrisimha appeared and saved His devotee Prahlada. Continue reading "Lord Ramacandra’s Nrisimha-Panchamrita
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Lord Jagannatha’s Brisbane Rathayatra took place with around one thousand devotees attending. Their Lordships rode majestically through the streets of Brisbane with kirtan led by his grace Sri Prahlada.

At the end, the Ratha Cart was pulled into St George Square and placed in front of the Town Hall. There were performances on the main stage and thousands of plates of prasadam distributed. Lord Jagannatha ki jaya!

The post Daily Darshan: May 06,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Volume One of Shyamasundar’s long-awaited memoir is now available. This is a most intimate, detailed, and exciting account of Bhaktivedanta Swami’s amazing adventures in the dawn of the Hare Krishna movement. Volume One describes the Swami’s halcyon days in San Francisco and London, 1967–1970, and describes the real story of Lord Jagannath’s advent in the Western world, meeting the Beatles and, with them, broadcasting the Mahamantra around the globe. These, and a hundred more never-heard-before stories, along with 128 rare photos, will transport you into those magic days: Chasing “rhinos” with the Swami.
“There have been other memoirs involving His Divine Grace, to be sure, but the attention to detail and visceral manifestation of time and place found in Shyamasundar’s book is something new. It has never before been accomplished in quite this way. His street savvy, intelligence, common sense, and love for Prabhupada all come through with a tangible freshness, allowing readers entrance into the narrative in a very real way. . . . A must-read for all students of philosophy, the ’60s counterculture, cosmic consciousness, Eastern thought, and life itself.”

—Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa), author of 30 books on Eastern spirituality

With its fast pace and novelistic style, Volume One of Chasing Rhinos With The Swami has become a runaway best-seller for all audiences and, with only a limited number of books remaining in this first edition, NOW is the time to enjoy this book while it’s still available from the <chasingrhinos.com> website.

Better yet, take advantage of special BULK ORDER prices and stock enough books for your boutiques, sankirtan parties, extended congregations—for everyone you know or meet. Chasing Rhinos is a book to delight the whole world!
“This book is masterfully written and is truly unique—a must-read for devotees, their families, and friends.”
—Radhanath Swami

“I just received a copy of Chasing Rhinos with the Swami Volume 1, and I am ecstatic. Just looking at the photos, and glancing at the text, filled me with such great joy that I couldn’t contain myself and had to write you immediately. Thank you for taking up this tremendous service!”
—Giriraj Swami

At the 2017 Religion Communicators Council (RCC) annual DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards ceremony in Chicago, Illinois on March 30^th, ISKCON Communications won several awards for excellence in religion communications, including a Best of Class award for “The Joy of Devotion” film. “The Hare Krishnas: Celebrating 50 Years” magazine also won an award for excellence in overall design and a merit award for single-issue periodicals.

MC Yogi Forward Video filmed by Amanda Giacomini and MC Yogi. Edited by Amanda Giacomini. Music by MC Yogi and Robin Livingston.

“Hare Krishna! The Mantra, The Movement and the Swami Who Started It All,” a ninety-minute documentary film about the life and achievements of ISKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada, will start its nationwide roll-out in the U.S. this June. The ambitious film, originally titled “Acharya” and directed by John Griesser (Yadubara Das), has been much-awaited by ISKCON devotees and congregation everywhere.

BGIS Newsletter 2017.
Bhaktivedanta Gurukul & International School Vrindavan.
Dear Well Wishers,
Thank you for your support towards the BGIS Projects. Year after Year we strive to be more efficient at building a “Better World with Better People”. In this newsletter, we are sharing with you the recent happenings and activities at our school. We hope that you enjoy reading and share it with your friends and family.
Read more: https://goo.gl/9mYDEr