Planet ISKCON

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The post When the Gita Mahatmaya talks about Gita recitation countering various sinful reactions, is that karma kanda or is it bhakti? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Evening session at ISKCON, Dallas]

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[Evening session at ISKCON, Dallas]

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[Sunday feast class at ISKCON, Dallas]

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Mayapur parikrama with hundreds of devotees from Russia (Album with 293 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If you make your friendship with Krsna, that will never break. If you make your master Krsna, you’ll never be cheated. If you love Krsna as your son, He’ll never die. Similarly, if you love Krsna as your lover or husband, He will be the best husband, the best lover. There will be no divorce. That is Krsna consciousness. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 4.13-14 – New York, August 1, 1966
Find them here: https://goo.gl/E8eL11

Today is the auspicious appearance of Bhakti Tirtha Swami. Please find below an excerpt from H.H. Jayapataka Swami’s class,that he gave at Belpukur. Today is the appearance day of Bhakti Tirtha Swami. We always make a special flower seat and cake for Maharaj’s Vyasa Puja. He was a special devotee and he was very merciful […]

The post Bhakti Tirtha Swami Vyasapuja appeared first on Mayapur.com.

TOVP 2017 is a presentation by TOVP Chairman, His Grace Sriman Ambarisa das, about the current progress of the TOVP construction and...

Nationalism is also enviousness!
Giriraj Swami: Today, listening to Srila Prabhupada’s talks in Juhu, I heard something that struck me as especially timely and relevant. “Krishna says advesta sarva-bhutanam: You should not be envious to any living entity. But the present civilization means to become envious. I do not wish to criticize anyone, but this enviousness is the basis … Nationalism is also enviousness. ‘Why foreigners will come here?’ This is enviousness. Why should they not come? Who is foreigner and who is national? Everyone is son of God. Why should you distinguish? But because there is no Krishna consciousness, this discrimination between man and man, man and animal—so many discriminations. Even from the national point of view, ‘national’ means anyone who is born in that country. But because one happens to be an animal, although he is a national, still, he is sent to the slaughterhouse—because there is no Krishna consciousness.”
The philosophy of Krishna consciousness is timeless—always timely and relevant. And, now perhaps more than ever, much needed.
Hare Krishna.

GBC Minutes 2017 - Sannyasa Waiting List. The following are the candidates for sannyasa along with their respective waiting periods. "During the time of Lord Chaitanya, the influence of Shankaracarya in society was very strong. People thought that one could accept sannyasa only in the disciplic succession of Shankaracarya. Lord Chaitanya could have performed His missionary activities as a householder, but He found householder life an obstruction to His mission. Therefore He decided to accept the renounced order, sannyasa. Continue reading "Sannyasa Waiting List
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On February 26th, under the direct inspiration and guidance of His Holiness Bhakti Caru Maharaja, the TOVP Fundraising Team consisting of Jananivas prabhu, Ambarisa prabhu, Mother Svaha and Vraja Vilas prabhu held a fundraiser at the Kolkata temple and raised an incredible $400,000 in pledges to everyone’s amazement. Led by the Lord in the form of His Padukas and Sitari, the TOVP Team inspired the devotees with the vision of this great world-changing project, bringing not only a sense of unity to all the devotees for the local preaching, but for the worldwide mission of Lord Gauranga’s samkirtan movement. Momentum is building as more and more devotees become enthused to help complete the TOVP construction and see the fulfillment of Srila Prabhupada’s vision. This is due to the fact that it is bringing the members of ISKCON together for a common worldwide cause, above and beyond their local interests, and that this worldwide cause is, in fact, inspiring the local causes to expand and grow. Continue reading "Kolkata Fundraiser Brings Lakshmi to Narayana
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Parikrama is coming to its conclusion. Today we reached Rudradvipa which corresponds to the process of sakhyam, friendship. First we left our camp early morning at 5:30 am to board the very awaited boat ride across the Ganga. Reaching the land we walked about 2 km towards Rukumpur. There we heard about Lord Nityananda's marriage pastime which made the devotees cry in laughter. This Lila was expertly explained by HH Bhakti Nityananda Swami. There is a nice temple of Lord Nityananda along with His son Virachandra. Rudradvipa is named after Lord Shiva who always resides here, specifically Nila Lohita Shiva. When Vishnuswami came here with his disciples to describe the glories of the Lord, Lord Shiva appeared to them. " I am so happy with you. Because you are worshipping my Lord Krishna I want to bless you. Please ask me for a benediction. " Continue reading "Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama- day 6
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Today, listening to Srila Prabhupada’s talks in Juhu, I heard something that struck me as especially timely and relevant. “Krishna says advesta sarva-bhutanam: You should not be envious to any living entity. But the present civilization means to become envious. I do not wish to criticize anyone, but this enviousness is the basis . . . Nationalism is also enviousness. ‘Why foreigners will come here?’ This is enviousness. Why should they not come? Who is foreigner and who is national? Everyone is son of God. Why should you distinguish? But because there is no Krishna consciousness, this discrimination between man and man, man and animal—so many discriminations. Even from the national point of view, national means anyone who is born in that country. But because one happens to be an animal, although he is a national, still, he is sent to the slaughterhouse—because there is no Krishna consciousness.”

The philosophy of Krishna consciousness is timeless—always timely and relevant. And, now perhaps more than ever, much needed.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

Indians Gear Up For The Festival Of Color, And Some Americans, Too.
Caru das said that it had always had good participation of Indian-Americans. “But when westerners started flowing in like a river, the people from India became less visible. “But we still have several hundreds of Indian Americans, if not thousands, along with 50,000 Americans who gather at the temple from Spanish Fork and other neighboring cities like Springville and Provo for the two- day festival. This, in fact, is the largest Holy festival in the United States,” Adhikari said.

To a question, he said he believes that the festival appeals to Americans because in essence there is similarity between the messages of Lord Jesus Christ and Lord Krishna. “In the western culture, Lord Jesus Christ gave two commandments— love God with all your soul, all your heart and your entire mind, and said love your neighbor like you love yourself. Lord Krishna observed the Holi festival as a way of increasing love between himself and his devotees. So, originally it’s about divine love between Radha and Krishna,” he said.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/ueugfz

On the second day of the Christchurch temple festival the devotees welcomed dignitaries, such as the local members of the National and Labour parties, police representatives and the President of the Multicultural Centre.

The guests broke coconuts for auspiciousness, cut the ribbon to the main entrance, listened to kirtan and watched a bharat-natyam dance performance.

Each one gave a speech appreciating the work of the Hare Krsna Movement and were later served sumptuous prasadam. In the afternoon devotees gave their remembrances of ISKCON Christchurch from the beginning to the present day.

Ecstasy in Christchurch, New Zealand, during the first Sunday Feast program after the earthquake (Album with photos)
During the earthquake, back in 2011, in the temple, pujari Sevananda Das had just finished offering midday arati, and several devotees were singing kirtan when intense tremors began shaking the three-foot marble deities of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurachandra violently.
Sevananda held tightly onto Them to protect Them, but Their Lordships were flung off the altar, taking Sevananda with Them. The heavy wooden altar followed, flying through the air and crashing on the ground, barely missing Sevananda.
“Lying there, dazed, I looked around,” Sevananda told ISKCON News back then. “The Deities had completely shattered, and there was an arm lying here, a foot there, a hand there. In the background, I could hear a devotee wailing, just crying out, ‘No!’ It was the most devastating experience ever.”
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Q3pM4s

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[Congregation program at Dallas, USA]

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[Congregation program at Dallas, USA]

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Demystifying Reincarnation 1 - Incredible delusion or credible vision (video) by Chaitanya Charan Dasa.
Guest (4): Prabhupada, is it true that can a human body takes a form of a human body in the next birth?
Prabhupada: No. Krsna doesn’t say. Tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13]. You will get another body, but that does not mean human body. That will depend on your price. Just like if I say, “When your coat is old and torn, you’ll purchase another coat.” So that another coat, what kind of coat, that will depend on your price, as you are able to pay. Similarly, your activities in this life will decide what body you are going to get next life.
Guest (4): Prabhupada, that, perhaps, contradicts with the theory of reincarnation?
Prabhupada: What is that incarnation theory? You are going to get another body. That is reincarnation. Now, what kind of body you are going to get, that will depend on your work. There are 8,400,000 different types and forms of body. So you are at liberty to work. Therefore the direction is there in the Bhagavad-gita, “You work like this. Then you get the body like this.” So this is risky life. Without knowing the law of God, without knowing how nature is working, how the living entity is getting different types of body, without this knowledge, if we simply keep ourself on the business of eating, sleeping, sex and defense like cats and dogs, this is very, very risky life.
So our Krsna consciousness movement is trying to save the human society from this risky life and to understand what is God, how he can go back to home, how he can get eternal life. This is our business.

Bhagavad-gita 4.13 — Johannesburg, October 19, 1975
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/sWFMtm

Lord Krishna The best teacher.
What makes a great teacher? Teaching is one of the most complicated jobs today. It demands broad knowledge of subject matter, curriculum, and standards; enthusiasm, a caring attitude, and a love of learning; knowledge of discipline and classroom management techniques; and a desire to make a difference in the lives of young people. With all these qualities required, it’s no wonder that it’s hard to find great teachers. Lord Krishna is the best teacher the world has ever seen. Today’s teachers, professors must learn some of these qualities from this great teacher.

T teaches by example- Lord didn’t only speak the wisdom but He himself followed that. Lord is not hypocrite, He does whatever he speaks(BG 3.23). He need not to perform any actions but just for sake of teaching the world he does that. Teachers have the great responsibility to walk their talk because they are leaders or role models for innocent kids.

E expert- Lord is so expert that he converted war field into classroom. And addressed Arjuna in the midst of war. Arjuna was asking varieties of questions and without getting bewildered or confused even for a second Lord replied them so perfectly. Today’s most of the teachers lack this skill. Lord gave importance to field knowledge because life situations are not always cozy and comfortable like well furnished and air conditioned classrooms(BG 2.11 onwards).

A acknowledges the real problem- at Kurukshetra apparent problem or issue was the war between Kauravas and Pandavas but lord rather than instructing Arjuna on How to fight he instructed on why to fight. Because he realised that real problem was not a war but tussle going on in the heart of Arjuna(BG 2.3). So rather than complaining that students don’t study, tell them importance of study or try to investigate what’s the real reason?

C concerned- lord is very concerned out of compassion for all beings. Teachers of this world sometimes behave partially towards their students but Lord is impartial. He made this supreme knowledge available to all humanity through Arjuna. Whoever follows that he is promoted to next grade of spiritual level(BG 2.72).

H holistic- lord introduced holistic philosophy which was not only useful for temporary war fighting but also for living a life as a successful person. Good teachers are not only masters of their own subject but they teach student how to live a life. They guide student like Lord guided Arjuna. Arjuna became winner of the war as well as returned to eternal abode of lord after his life in this world(BG 18.78).

E eager- many times teacher gives up the hope for one who fails again and again. But we find that lord is so eager for uplifting the conditioned souls of the world that he himself comes again and again to this world or arranges for prophets or saintly beings or inspires a person from within(BG 4.7).

R ready to repeat- just after whole Gita was spoken Lord asked Arjuna, do you remember everything, are you able to digest it properly, did you get whatever I say or should I repeat the whole knowledge again(BG 18.72). Good teachers rather than getting angry at students who ask them to repeat the subject matter, they repeat it.

By Rupeshgauranga Dasa

Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk.
Bhagavad-gita describes that God is a being who manifests at different levels. Although people are not attracted to the external practice of renunciation, they are attracted to the result of renunciation, peace of mind. There are universal characteristics of God, and in Bhagavad-gita we see the personal identity of God, Krishna, who has these characteristics. In the story of the prodigal son, the word ‘prodigal’ means wasteful. When Europeans went to India, they saw the worship of many gods and assumed it was similar to pre-Christian worship of many gods as in Rome or Greece. The different gods have different responsibilities. But reading the Bhagavad-gita, it is clear there is one Supreme God.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/3Eh5p2

Kalakantha das: Two major challenges in ISKCON: 1. Lack of reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. 2. Lack of qualified leadership Solving lack of reading challenge: 1. Personal vows. 2. Study groups. 3. Bhakti Sastri courses. Lack of qualified leaders: 1. GBC College, which has been going on for three years The initial GBC was 100% American. Now it is 60% American. Of those in the GBC college now, none are Americans, yet they come from all other parts of the world. Continue reading "Insights from insightful classes by Iskcon devotees
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We were at house of Saranga Murari as well as that of Vasudeva Datta. HH Gopal Krishna Maharaja spoke to the devotees about the uncommon character of Saranga Murari by telling the pastime of his first initiated disciple. Saranga Thakur when asked by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to accept disciples ,replied: " But my Lord, I don't see anybody who is qualified for initiation". In answer to this Lord Gauranga said: " When you initiate them they will become qualified" . Thus with firm faith Saranga initiated the first person he met the next morning which happened to be a dead body. He spoke the diksha mantra into his ear and by the grace of Krishna the boy came back to life. Maharaja also revealed to us that Vasudeva Datta is an incarnation of Prahlad Maharaja. Continue reading "Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama- day 5
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