Garuda Purana: Shiva’s prayer to Lord Narasimhadev
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By Deena das

For the pleasure of the devotees, below is Chapter 231 of the Garuda purana, where Mahadeva Shiva calls on Lord Narasimhadeva. (The Matrgana's mentioned in this story are eight goddesses produced from the bodies of Vishnu, Shiva and six other main deities during the killing of a powerful demon called Andhaka. Their origin is recounted in the Varaha-purana.) Continue reading "Garuda Purana: Shiva’s prayer to Lord Narasimhadev
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Lord Nrsimhadeva’s pastimes with Chand Kazi
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Hare KrishnaBy Chandan Bhatia

Chand Kazi was the Chief Magistrate of Navadwipa. He was a devout & strict Muslim who was well versed in the Koran. As the Chief Magistrate of Navadwipa-Mayapur, he kept law and order for the Hussein Shah and was also the spiritual advisor of the Shah. He was a tyrannical ruler and the Hindus were oppressed in their religious practices. Continue reading "Lord Nrsimhadeva’s pastimes with Chand Kazi
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Bhagavad Gita – As It Is Gifted to District Collector and …
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Bhagavad Gita - As It Is Gifted to District Collector and Musical Genius (Album with photos)
Venudhari Kanhaiya das: Today 2nd may 2017 in a library opening ceremony we gifted Bhagavad-gita and Bhagavad darshan (Tamil BTG) to Viradhunagar (South Tamilnadu)
District Collector Thiru ShivaGhanam and Musical Genius & music director Ilaiyaraaja received Bhagavad-gita and said that he already has Srila Prabhupada Books and referring through and also a set of Srila Prabhupada’s Books gifted to the newly opened library at Thiruchuli near Aruppukottai and hundreds of Library contacts collected for monthly Bhagavad darshan - BTG
delivery.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/XtyUGk

Mother Arca-vigraha’s Disappearance
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Mother Arca-vigraha’s Disappearance Celebration, May 2, Mumbai (Audio recording of a Skype conversation with Giriraj Swami, Narottamananda Prabhu and others)
Giriraj Swami: Today I had a wonderful Skype call with the devotees in Mumbai in celebration of Mother Arca-vigraha’s disappearance day. My godbrother Narottamananda Prabhu’s talk was especially enlivening and enlightening. How sublime that we all could gather to remember and appreciate and glorify a great Vaishnavi.

Gita Essence 1- The transformational power of love – Self-knowledge as the basis of love
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[Talk at Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

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Chandan Yatra-Day5: Vastra-harana
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Vastra-harana Entering the clear waters of the Yamuna to prepare for the incomparable worship of goddess Katyayani, the girls of Vraja left their garments on the shore. Smiling and cleverKrsna stole those garments, climbed a kadamba tree, embarrassed the girls by speaking many splendid joking words, and eventually returned the garments. I take shelter of […]

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Chandan Yatra Day4: Vana -bihari
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Vana-bihari : Frolicking in the Forest! Vrindavana is Krsna’s perfect playground, with mountains, valleys, meadows, forests and rivers. Vrindavana’s topmost opulence is its flowers. Its beauty is enhanced by Krsna’s touch. What can be said of fruits? Krsna uses ropes and stones to fell them from the trees. He savours some with gusto; He and […]

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Sita Devi Appearance
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According to the Ramayana of Valmiki, King Janaka found Sita Devi while ploughing as part of a yajna. Therefore, Sita is described as the daughter of the earth goddess Bhumi and the adopted daughter of King Janaka and Queen Sunaina.

In Her youth, She married Lord Rama, but after some time, She followed Her husband in exile. When Lord Rama killed Ravana, He brought Sita Devi back to Ayodhya.

 

How I Became a Hare Krishna: Bhakti Yoga Dasa
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The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple will be featuring an ongoing series on our website about how active members of our community became practitioners of the Hare Krishna faith.  Written by Krishna Rajesh, a young high school student in our community, this series will share devotees' personal stories of how they became Hare Krishnas!  Please share your encouraging words and feedback with a comment!

An International Story - Bhakti Yoga Dasa
By: Krishna Rajesh

For many devotees, the one question that goes unanswered is: “What can I do to contribute?” Often times, newcomers are surprised by the amount of enthusiasm devotees show towards doing service at the temple. And they are always eager for more. Devotees are also found agonizing over their contribution; thinking that it is not significant enough. Bhakti Yoga Das is an example of a devotee who made the best of all the opportunities he had and incorporated Krishna Consciousness into his life in the best possible way.

Bhakti Yoga Prabhu, formerly known as Bhisham Prasad Mishra, was attracted towards Krishna Consciousness at a very young age. He had a cousin who was already in the movement, and he received guidance to help reach his destination.

He was living in Guyana, South America, when he began what would turn out to be a divine journey in Krishna Consciousness. His cousin, Butadi Prabhu, had previously lived in New York for a while, where he was initiated by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the founder of our Hare Krishna movement. Through association, Bhakti Yoga Prabhu was inevitably pulled towards the temple. And on his first day, he had the opportunity to read the original Krsna book.

“It was a large volume…about twelve inches tall, with a silver jacket, and a picture of Radha and Krishna on the cover.”

That was his first introduction into Krishna Consciousness. And after one taste of the nectarine knowledge, he simply couldn’t get enough. He started going regularly to the temple in Guyana, every day after school, and sometimes he would even stay overnight on the weekends to attend the morning 4 am arati (morning service). He learned how to dress and follow the customs of a Vaishnava, which led to his very first sankirtan outing (outreach through book distribution and kirtan).

In 1980, he immigrated to Canada with his family. He originally lived in Hamilton, Ontario. On weekends and holidays, he would visit the Toronto temple. Eventually, a devotee from the temple used to come visit them. This was the start of a Sunday program in Hamilton.

“Later on, when I finished high school, I moved into the temple and stayed there for a couple of years.”

In June, 1982, while living at the temple, Bhakti Yoga Das met his eventual spiritual master, Gopal Krishna Goswami for the first time. Later on, in September of the same year, he got initiated (was formally as a student of his guru).

As one thing led to another, his thirst for spiritual bliss increased. He became increasingly inclined towards visiting India, and finally, with the blessings of his guru, he went to Vrindavan for the first time in 1985. During the six months that he spent there, Bhakti Yoga Prabhu learned Deity worship; a skill that would come a long way in the future.

“We had a shortage of pujaris (priests) at the time,” he remarks, “and because I wasn’t experienced, I was to tend to the smaller deities.”

After his lengthy stay in Vrindavan, Bhakti Yoga Prabhu returned to Toronto, where he helped in bookkeeping and used his newly acquired knowledge of Deity worship.

In 1989, he returned to Guyana, where he once again was greeted by Butadi Prabhu, who was now his Siksha Guru (spiritual guide). Taking into consideration the fact that he was still young, Butadi Prabhu arranged his marriage with Jahnavi Devi Dasi. After three years, Bhakti Yoga Das and Jhanavi Devi Dasi were married in Canada.

Haridas and Neela Madhava were soon new additions to their family. The couple wanted desperately to find a spiritual school for their sons. They traveled to many North American temples in search of a gurukula (Vedic school). Finally, they found a good gurukula in Mayapur, West Bengal, India. The family moved there, and lived there for about five years.

During their stay there, Bhakti Yoga Prabhu served as a managing director at an NGO called Shri Mayapur Vikas Sangha. They got grants from various countries and organizations for setting up primary schools, clinics, and training sessions for women in the villages near Mayapur.

At the end of five years, the family returned to Canada, where he resumed his service as a Pujari and even conducted a few seminars on Deity worship. He also began assisting a few devotees who wanted to start a temple in Scarborough. When the temple was established, Bhakti Yoga Prabhu was the acting Temple President.

Currently, he is working on establishing a temple in Milton with some enthusiastic devotees who are living there. He says that he hopes to continue spreading the Krishna Conscious movement, “I simply hope to be instrumental helping to make Srila Prabhupada’s vision a reality!"

What are the Vedas?
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rig veda

On October 6th, 1969, in London, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada gave a lecture about the Vedas. He began as follows: “Ladies and gentlemen, today’s subject matter is the teachings of the Vedas. What are the Vedas? The Sanskrit verbal root of veda can be interpreted variously, but the purport is finally one. Veda means knowledge. Any knowledge you accept is veda, for the teachings of the Vedas are the original knowledge…”

The Vedas, Vedangas, Upangas and Upavedas

The Vedas are one body of knowledge divided into four, the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Veda. Each of the four Vedas has several, slightly variant recensions known as sakhas. In each of those sakhas there are three portions: the Samhita, Brahmana, and the Aranyaka.

The Rig Veda contains many Sanskrit hymns of praise directed to many devas or gods, in truth many aspects of the one, single divine. What in later ages became known as slokas, or metrical verses, were originally known as rigs. Each rig is a mantra and a number of such rigs or mantras make up a poem known as a sukta. The Samhita portion of the Rig Veda contains more than ten thousand rigs (10,170 to be precise) grouped into 1028 poems or suktas.

The word Yajur is derived from the word Yaj or worship. The word Yajna, meaning sacrificial worship, is also derived from this stem. The Yajur Veda spells out the ritualistic procedural details of worship whereby all the rigs of the Rig Veda can be employed.

sample

The word Sama means to ‘make peaceful’ and the Sama Veda contains music to make the gods peaceful and pleased with the worshipper. In order to attain the grace of the gods who are being propitiated, the priest sings the rig mantras to the seven notes of the musical scale rather than the strict upward and downward notes of the Rig Veda chanting.

The Atharva Veda draws its name from the rishi named Atharva who revealed it. The mantras in this Veda are for protection.

The Vedangas are the various ‘limbs’ of the Vedas and include texts on pronunciation of the mantras (Siksha) texts on grammar and poetic metre (Vyakaran and Chanda) as well as a dictionary (Nirukti). Since Vedic yajnas or rituals have to be performed in exactly constructed arenas and according to the phases of the moon and stars there are also handbooks for mathematics, astrology and ritual detail (Jyotish and Kalpa)

The Upangas are the ‘subsidiary limbs’ and consist of texts that support the performance of ritual and the comprehension of their importance and intrinsic philosophical basis. They include Mimamsa, the ‘deep analysis of a subject worthy of reverence,’ Nyaya, the system of logical deduction and analysis of evidence; histories or Purana, and the Dharma Shastras, codes of living for civilised people.

The Dharma Shastras describe household duties, personal work, cleanliness, eating, and ceremonies related to life-cycle events such as weddings and funerals. There are 18 such texts, known as smritis, written by 18 rishis such as Manu, Yajnavalkya and Parasara, and the smritis all bear their names.

The Upavedas are texts dealing with corollary subjects important for organizing the various features and essential elements of civilized human society. Ayur-veda explains an elaborate system of medicine; the Artha-shastra describes polity and economics; the Dhanur-veda focuses on ethical warfare and the Gandharva-veda teaches music.


Chandan Yatra Day3- Rajadhiraja!
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The forest King Krsna became completely captivated by the sidelong glances of the forest-queen Srimati Radharani, who was also blossoming with happiness as He decorated Her with many flowers from the king of kadamba trees. I pray that supremely opulent King of kadamba trees may appear before me and grant transcendental happiness to my eyes. […]

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Chandan Yatra day2-Krishna Janma
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At the auspicious time for the appearance of the Lord, the entire universe was surcharged with all the qualities of goodness. The sun, the moon and the other planets were very peaceful. Beautiful stars twinkled in the cloudless sky. The rivers flowed with clear water and in the trees, birds like cuckoos and swarms of […]

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Niagara falls & the flow of life – A meditation
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While I was in Toronto, Anirudha P, one of my Canadian tour organizers, persuaded me to go to Niagara falls. Somehow , the idea of traveling to places just to see them doesn’t inspire me so much. But recently I have been meditating on the experiential genre of writing and speaking. So, I thought of going there not just to see the falls but also to speak and write on it. And just that thought put me in a much more spiritual frame of consciousness while traveling to and viewing the falls.

Seeing the falls triggered several thoughts such as:

1. The beauty and power of natural phenomena point to the beauty and power of their trans-natural source. (Ref Gita 10.41)

2. The flow of water produces spectacular sights sometimes, but the water keeps flowing towards ocean. So too can we aspire for our consciousness to keep flowing towards Krishna even when we are able to do something special. (Ref Bhagavatam 1.8.42)

3. Physical divisions can be transcended by higher common purpose, just as the American and Canadian falls join together after falling. (Ref Gita 18.20)

I spoke these points in the below audio/video.

https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/2017/05/meditation-niagara-falls/

 

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If strong speaking alienates people, should we still speak strongly or speak sensitively?
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Answer Podcast

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If people are born together in a family because of similar karma, why are some family members so different?
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Answer Podcast

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Many scriptural storylines appear to be predestined – do we really have free will?
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Answer Podcast

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What is causeless mercy – how can we qualify for it – can it come without initiation?
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Answer Podcast

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Gita 16.24 – The transition from description to prescription requires discretion
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Podcast

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How free is our free will?
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[Congregation program at Oakville, Toronto, Canada]

Podcast

Podcast Summary

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