Planet ISKCON

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The post If we understand that we are souls, do we need to reject the whole life we have built on our bodily identity? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post Who were the vanaras in the Ramayana – what happened to them? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post As devotee-students, do we have to lead two lives? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post Is a woman’s unchaste dressing responsible for a man’s misbehaviour? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post How much of traditional culture needs to be replicated to practice bhakti today? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Talk at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, USA]

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Gaura Purnima is the celebration of most auspicious and adorable advent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu - The Golden Avatara. The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna appeared as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to establish Sankirtana Movement - the yuga dharma for this age of Kali. He appeared on the full moon day in the month of Phalguna in the year 1486 AD at Sridham Mayapura as the son of Sri Jagannath Mishra and Srimati Sachidevi. In the revealed scriptures Lord Krsna was predicted to appear as Golden Avatara(incarnation) as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to propound and propagate the congregational chanting of Holy name of the Lord “ Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare /Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare “ in order to counteract the contaminating influence of this debilitating and despicable age of quarrel and hypocrisy and attain the spiritual perfection. In this age there is an ocean of faults in action which incurs irredeemable reaction. People are excessively and exceedingly engrossed in ameliorating material condition of life by neglecting their spiritual elevation and enrichment. Maya is ruling unchallenged and unthreatened due to forgetfulness of God. Continue reading "Sri Gaura Purnima –Advent of Golden Avatara
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Srila Prabhupada gives the analogy that just like a parent, especially a mother, if they see shoes in the street, they are not very much impressed. Just like when you go outside here, there are so many shoes on the shoe rack. Most of us won't fall over in ecstasy seeing the shoes. Maybe we could trip over them and fall but not out of ecstasy. But if a mother puts the little tiny shoes of her child on one of those racks, when she sees the little shoes her heart will melt. Why? Because she remembers her little tiny child. Her affection for her child is transferred to those shoes. Similarly, when we develop actual knowledge, at least of how everything belongs to Krishna, then our consciousness will not be taken away by the illusory energy. As soon as we forget how everything is Krishna's energy, how everyone and everything belongs to Krishna, then at once Maya takes our consciousness into a different realm of life activity. Continue reading "From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir – Srimad Bhagavatam class, February 26, 2017
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The day which was already overwhelming with bliss became more ecstatic. We visited the house of Kolaveca Sridhara and we heard about his glorious vaishnava qualities. So inspiring! After a delicious feast and rest a little we started our evening program. We had an hour with Agnideva prabhu with bhajans and the meaning of them. Sandhya Arati started and Agni deva prabhu, for the pleasure of Lord Jagannath and Lord Caitanya lead us in an unforgettable, memorable, wonderful Sandhya Arati, everyone was dancing, jumping, spinning around. Agni deva prabhu's association was the top Highlight for Navadvipa Parikrama 2017. The devotees who came to this Parikrama were the most fortunate! Yes, today the Parikrama stayed over at Jagannatha Mandir of Rajapur, literally the King's City. Continue reading "Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama- day 7
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After almost 2 months of medical procedures here in South Africa I am leaving for Vrindavan tomorrow. From Vrindavan I will again assume my preaching responsibilities around the world. I pray for the protection of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to carry out my duties!

śiro me pātu caitanyo bhālaṁ viśvambharaḥ prabhuḥ
nayane śrī-gaura-candraḥ śravaṇe dvija-nandanaḥ

“May Chaitanya protect my head! May Lord Vishwambhar protect my forehead! May Sri Gaurachandra protect my two eyes! May he who is the bestower of pleasure on the twice-born protect
my two ears!”

gaṇḍau śacī-suto nāsāṁ jagannāthātmajo ’vatu
rasanāṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanyas tālu kṛṣṇo ’dharaṁ muhuḥ

“May the son of Sachi protect my cheeks! May
the son of Jagannath Mishra protect my nose! May
Krishna-chaitanya protect my tongue! May he who is
the all attractive one always protect my lower palate!

oṣṭhaṁ viṣṇu-priyā-nātho danta-paṅktiṁ dvijottamaḥ
vācaṁ saṅkīrtanānandaḥ svarūpānanda-vigrahaḥ

“May the master of Vishnupriya protect my lips!
May he who is the topmost among the twice-born
protect my teeth! May he who is the joy of saṅkīrtana
and bliss personified protect my speech!”

cibukaṁ dharaṇī-devo viśvarūpānujo mukham
lakṣmīnāthaḥ kaṇṭha-deśaṁ grīvāṁ bhakta-jana-priyaḥ

“May the Lord of the earth protect my chin!
May the younger brother of Vishwarupa protect my face! May the husband of Lakshmipriya protect my throat! May he who is dear to his devotees protect my neck!”

skandha-yugmaṁ dvija-prāṇo manaḥ pātu śacī-sutaḥ
nāma-sūtra-dharaḥ kukṣiṁ hṛdayaṁ nāma-tat-paraḥ

“May he who is the life of the twice-born protect my shoulders! May the son of Sachi protect my mind! May he who is the holder of the threads of the holy name protect my belly. May he who is dedicated to chanting the holy names protect my heart!”

kumati-dhvaṁsano nābhiṁ kaṭi-deśaṁ karaṅga-dhṛk
dhvajaṁ danḍa-dharaḥ pātu ūru nyāsi-śiromaṇiḥ

“May he who is the destroyer of bad intelligence protect my navel! May the holder of a sannyāsī waterpot protect my hips! May the holder of a sannyāsī rod protect my private parts! May he who is the crest jewel among sannyāsīs protect my thighs!”

jānū kāṣāya-vasano jaṅghe pātu dvijottamaḥ
gulpha-yugmaṁ dvijaḥ pātu pādau bhakta-jana-priyaḥ

“May he who is the wearer of saffron cloth protect my knees! May he who is the best among the twiceborn protect my lower legs! May the Lord who appeared as a brāhmaṇa protect my ankles! May he who is dear to his devotees protect my feet!”

gadādhara-priya-prāṇo dehaṁ pātu ca sarvadā
śayane māṁ sadā pātu nityānandaika-bāndhavaḥ

“May he who is the dear life of Gadadhar Pandit always protect my entire body! May the exclusive dear friend of Nityananda protect me during sleep!”

bhojane pātu māṁ nityam advaitaika-kṛtātmabhuk
pātu māṁ gamane sa śrīc-chāyā-gamana-tatparaḥ

“May he who exclusively made Advaita Acharya self-satisfied
protect me always while I accept food! May he who is eager to attain the shelter of Sri Radha protect me while I am going anywhere!”

śrīmad vīrāsanāsīno māmāsīnaṁ sadāvatu
śrīmad bhāgavatādhyāyī kathane pātu māṁ sadā

“May the Lord who is seated in the vīrāsana pose protect me while seated! May the student of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam protect me always when I am speaking!”

bhagavat-pāda-sevāyāṁ pātu māṁ bhakta-rūpa-dhṛk
guru-pādārcane śikṣā- gurur māṁ pātu nityaśaḥ

“May the Lord who assumed the form of his devotee protect me in my service of the lotus feet of the Lord! May he who is the instructing guru of the world protect me always in the service of my guru!”

sarveśvaro gaura-hariḥ sarvataḥ pātu māṁ sadā
jale sthale cāntarikṣe parvatārohaṇe tathā
durga-vartmani vṛkṣe ca pātu māṁ bhakta-vatsalaḥ

May Gaura-hari, the Lord of all, protect me always in all ways — in water, on earth, in space, while climbing mountains! May he who is extremely affectionate to his devotees protect me on difficult roads and forests!”

Sri Chaitanya-Kavacha, from the Uttara-bhāgavatam, translated by Hari Parshad Das, published in the Gaurāṅga-virudāvalī. Edited and Published by Sri Haridas Shastri, Kalidah, Vrindavan, Gaurabda 498. Printed in Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu #395 under the auspicious direction of Madhavanada dasa.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 19 January 2017, Sydney, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 9.13.4)

We have three categories of liberated souls – one with both feet in the material world, one with one foot in the material world and one foot in the spiritual world, and one with both feet in the spiritual world. The third category, with two feet in the spiritual world, means having a spiritual body. We don’t have many examples of spiritual masters who have spiritual bodies other than Narada Muni. So for all practical purposes, we have two categories of spiritual masters in the material world. When we look at the category of spiritual master who has one foot in the spiritual world and one in the material world, we would place Srila Prabhupada in this category and we would compare him to Sukadev Goswami who was completely transcendental. We remember when Prabhupada went to the Morning Star Ranch and there was a naked man in the garden. Prabhupada arrived in a car and rolled down the window of the car and asked the man, “What are you doing?” and the man replied, “Growing potates!” and Prabhupada said, “No, what are you doing with your life?”

Morning Star Ranch was a commune that was prominent and Prabhupada had gone to America to preach and he didn’t particularly choose that place but he allowed himself to be led. Preaching does not happen by sitting behind a desk, having a meeting, making a strategy and then going out to preach! No, in preaching one just follows the natural developments in the field. We do reach out to people, we don’t just wait for them to come but there are some people who just come forward and those are the ones we work with. This is what Prabhupada did, he went to America and some people came forward and these were the ones he worked with and in the course of that, they were going to this Morning Star Ranch – the path that Krsna was leading was going there, so Prabhupada went there.

From Prabhupada’s perspective, the entire journey to America was a journey of stepping into a world of insanity. He knew that the entire population was in the grip of kali – everyone was degraded; all the various principles of the Bhagavatam, of dharma were broken by society as a whole so from the first moment; Prabhupada was ready to deal with anything. His mood was that nothing could surprise him! You can see that in Prabhupada’s purports. He writes in the fifth canto about the hellish planets and gives detailed descriptions of illicit sex and these are intimate sinful activities. Prabhupada was not someone who was living in a big bubble of Krsna consciousness and was shocked at how sinful people can be. No, he deeply understood how sinful people really were, he was expecting it all, after all he was a Calcutta boy as he would say and had seen it all!

In this way, Prabhupada was ready to deal with anyone, wherever Krsna would lead him. He did not say that we would only accept people in Krsna consciousness who are in a certain category. It does not work like that. That is not the sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya. Whoever comes, without consideration of caste or creed, gets a chance to do devotional service. Now this does not mean that everyone has to be in the same place. Sometimes you have socially-educated cultural people and then you have a bum off the street, you cannot give them the mercy in the same place. Like this, you may need different programmes and that is fine but no-one is exempt from the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. There is no condition by which one can say that this person is too sinful! No, everyone is eligible and entitled to mercy so it is our duty to embrace that spirit!

In pursuance of the great desire of Srila Prabhupada (Founder-Acharya of ISKCON), the new temple will be a center for disseminating the profound message of Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Delivered in a modern context to people irrespective of color, nationality, background or gender, the spiritual teachings are aimed to free mankind from the sufferings of material existence and help people find everlasting peace and happiness in Krishna Consciousness. The new temple will have a beautiful deity alter with Sri Sri Radha Shyamasundar and will also offer seminars, workshops, expanded Sunday school programs for children's education, summer and winter camps for children and young adults, and congregational outreach programs for spiritual education in multiple languages. Continue reading "New Krishna Temple Takes Off in Naperville
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Anwser Podcast

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The post Is all the archaeological evidence wrong – did cavemen not exist? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post Are scripture and evolution contradictory? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Magic in Middle Earth (Album with photos and videos)
Kurma Dasa: Here’s some footage of Saturday’s Sadhu Sanga at the home of Ananda Hari Prabhu and Srimati Pavani devi. A record 40 devotees attended from all over Ireland, some even driving down to Wicklow from the Northern Kingdom, Ireland.
Thank you to everyone for making it such an auspicious and joyful event. The association of great souls, reading from Krishna Book, exuberant kirtan and a spectacular feast - who could ask for anything more?
Find them here: https://goo.gl/vsG768

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The post While understanding scripture according to time-place-circumstance, which factors need to be considered? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post Isn’t ISKCON sectarian that it stops devotees from hearing from other Vaishnava groups? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

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The post The ninth canto contains many stories of shocking debauchery by sages such as Brihaspati – what is their point? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

A new Sannyasi for Iskcon.
Akincana Das is now Bhaktijivana Vrajananda Swami.
On 1st march H.G. Akincana Das took Sannyasa...

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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
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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.
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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