Living in two worlds – the real and the apparent
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Living in two worlds – the real and the apparent.
Sutapa Das: According to the cosmic cycle described in the Vedas, we are living in the most corrupted epoch. Four fundamental principles underpin any functional society, organization, family or group; self-control, cleanliness, compassion, and truthfulness. When individuals wholeheartedly embrace these virtues, success is guaranteed on every level – physically, emotionally, socially, and most importantly, spiritually. The analysis of the sages, however, reveals that three of the four are practically obliterated, and society now delicately hinges on the single principle of truthfulness. The irony – to conceal our frail character and avoid exposing those predictable deficiencies, we end up fabricating lies, lies, and more lies. The tendency towards deceit and dishonesty then, is the proverbial nail in the coffin.

Prabhupada Festival
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Hare Krishna26th Annual Festival Honoring Srila Prabhupada May 27th and 28th, 2017 - Memorial Day Weekend. At ISKCON Los Angeles. If you have never experienced a Prabhupada Festival, we enthusiastically invite you to attend; and if you attended in the past, then you need no convincing! This two-day festival includes special talks and remembrances from senior Srila Prabhupada disciples, enlivening kirtans, six sumptuous feasts, a beautiful boat festival, Maha-Harinam, artistic performances, as well as a variety of Vaishnava vendors. Devotees from many locales join in to honor our beloved Founder Acharya of the International society of Krishna Consciousness.

Surrender With Your Hands Up! Jahnavi: At the end of March, I…
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Surrender With Your Hands Up!
Jahnavi: At the end of March, I did something that I have been contemplating for over a decade. People that know me well, know that even choosing a toothpaste can present a challenge – what to speak of big decisions. So when the opportunity came to make formal vows within the bhakti yoga tradition, even though I had been considering it for so long, I hesitated.
I did ultimately go ahead with it, and the morning after, flew to Australia as planned, for some kirtan programs. I landed first in Melbourne, where on my first morning I met a man at the Hare Krishna temple who said he had watched the ‘initiation’ ceremony on a live stream. Hesitating for a moment he then asked, ‘Well, some of us were talking and saying that we thought you would have already done this years ago…if you don’t mind me asking…what took you so long?’ I gave him a short answer. But here’s a longer one:
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/kNbDX7

Ananda Vrindavaneshwari Devi Dasi – Interview
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Hare KrishnaBy Michael Scherer

On Mother's Day, I spoke with the president of the Hare Krishna temple in the Washington, DC area. Ananda Vrindavaneshwari Devi Dasi is widely respected and has done a lot to develop the local Hare Krishna community. We talked about her early years in Ireland, her travels, and her current work. Continue reading "Ananda Vrindavaneshwari Devi Dasi – Interview
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What if we feel attracted to serving Krishna in our role in this world, but not in the spiritual world as his associate?
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Answer Podcast

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Should society dictate the criteria for when to take legal action and when to forgive?
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Answer Podcast

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Why does Krishna sanction people’s doing bad karma – why doesn’t he just control their free will?
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Answer Podcast

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Is It “All One”?
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Vic DiCara's Astrology

Monism (“Oneness”) is basically a positive outlook on life, because it is aditi – unifying – and therefore results in peace and love. Dualism (“Twoness”) is basically a negative outlook, because it is diti – dividing – and therefore results in competition and violence. What is surprising, though, is that either outlook is very destructive if taken to its extreme and divorced from the other.

Since the late 19th Century (thanks mainly to Swāmī Vivekananda’s speech at the Parliament of World Religions)  when people think of “Indian Philosophy” they actually think, nine times out of ten, of the advaita-vāda of Śankara-ācārya, which ironically is India’s foremost example of Radical Monism taken to its utmost extreme. And so, I’m sure you’ve noticed, when anyone caricatures Indian philosophy they almost always say, “It’s all one. It’s all illusion.”

This school of thought arose out of necessity a few thousand years ago as a successful attempt…

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Auckland Leaders meeting
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The leaders of the New Zealand yatra met in Auckland at our school to tend to ISKCON’s legal requirements, discuss preaching strategies and to hear how the temples and centres were doing.

One of the best parts was the transcendental association and the lectures and kirtans in front of Their Lordships, Sri Radha Giridhari, Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra and Sri Gaura Nitai.

A special initiation ceremony in Radhadesh, May 2017
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On 02 May, Kadamba Kanana Swami did a very special initiation ceremony in Radhadesh where Mariette Mataji received the name Manisha dd which means “servant of prayers”. Manisha dd is from Liege, Belgium and is very sick with advanced cancer. She has come to live in the Radhadesh community since finding out that she is in her final days. She has stopped chemotherapy treatment as it was a very painful experience and decided that since she is in her 80’s, she would like to go peacefully in the association of devotees. Manisha dd felt enlivened that Maharaj visited her, initiated her AND that their conversation took place in French as she is solely French-speaking!

Watch a short video captured by Bhagavati dd by clicking here.

 

Interview- Prabhupada das- 1972 Philadelphia (30min…
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Interview- Prabhupada das- 1972 Philadelphia (30min audio)
“I was a ghetto rat from South Philly. I would harass devotees chanting on the streets. I’d insult them and intimidate them. After four years of this, a devotee approached me. I gave him my usual Junk Yard Dog response and he just blew me off, "You’re just a little punk.” and then he left.
For some reason that really affected me.
I didn’t want to be like that. I looked for him for twenty minutes to apologize.
I got to see Srila Prabhupada five times, to eat from his plate…
It took me forty years to get initiated.“
Listen to it here: https://goo.gl/0jH2aJ

Amazing prasadam distribution with Harinama in Fuchu, Tokyo…
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Amazing prasadam distribution with Harinama in Fuchu, Tokyo (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The holy name of the Lord and the Lord are nondifferent; therefore when a devotee chants Hare Krsna, Krsna and His internal potency are dancing on the tongue of the devotee. (From Srila Prabhupada’s Bg 12.8 purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/TWuqGo

Indradyumna Swami Visits Moscow
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Despite bone chilling weather, Indradyumna Swami and his team's visit to Moscow was blissful due to the warm hearted nature of the devotees who love to chant the holy names and dance in ecstasy. Srila Prabhupada’s visit to Moscow in 1971 planted the seeds of Krsna consciousness which continue to grow in great proportions.

Kirtan Near A Conflict Zone (Album with photos) Indradyumna…
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Kirtan Near A Conflict Zone (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Dnepropetrovsk is only 200 kilometers from where Ukraine troops and rebels are fighting in a conflict that has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since 2014. Despite the turmoil, local devotees have continued preaching and have learned the art of taking shelter of the Lord’s holy names. The kirtans in Dnepropetrovsk were especially deep and focused on the sound incarnation of the Lord. Devotees appeared especially happy and grateful for our visit. Bada Haridas prabhu and Chaturatma das gave their full energy to enlivening all the devotees.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/g9yGkR

Dharma in Business
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Hare KrishnaBy Anand Caitanya das

Over 150 business professionals & entrepreneurs attended this event. By hearing the experiences of esteemed speakers, the attendees were empowered with answers to the questions “What is the dharma of business? And why is connecting with that dharma vital to the future of humanity and the planet?” Amit Chandra, noted businessman and MD, Bain Capital, called upon the audience to get involved in charitable works and learn to give back to the society. “We must spare at least one-third of the time to do social work,” he said. In a country which celebrates its wealth creators, Amit Chandra and his wife are known to be a couple that both give between 50-75% of their time and annual income to social causes. Many business leaders grapple with the issue of when is the right time to start giving, how much should they give, and should they get involved with their time? Sunil Sanghai in the question and answer session with Amit Chandra requested him to help answer this question for the assembled audience. Continue reading "Dharma in Business
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ISKCON’s Govardhan Eco Village (GEV) wins Smart Village Award 2017
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Hare KrishnaBy Gauranga Das

The Smart Cities Award Ceremony was part of the Mega Event organized by the India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) and the Exhibitions India Group. The three-day event hosted over 400 global exhibitors from around 40 countries across 20,000 square-metres of exposition space on the themes of Buildings India, Solar India, Transport India, Smart Cities India and Water India. Along with the expo there was also a three day conference and other key programmes including the CEO Speaks, Mayor’s Conclave, Smart Cities India Awards, Smart Village Conclave and Youth Leadership Summit. GEV also participated as one of the panelists in the Smart Village conclave which was focused on bringing together individuals, institutions, Government, industry/Technocrats, NGOs, etc. to bridge the urban rural divide and provide best practices, learnings or case studies which the other villages can replicate or learn from. Continue reading "ISKCON’s Govardhan Eco Village (GEV) wins Smart Village Award 2017
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Does Surrender Mean to Become Dependent or Independent or …?
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Hare KrishnaBy Atmananda dasa

There is no contradiction. Rather, we become both: simultaneously dependent and independent: independent for Krishna; both surrendered - thinking ourselves fully dependent - and autonomous. By becoming instruments, we act as little Krishnas, manifesting His brilliant and magnetic qualities, as Srila Prabhupada does. He instructs and guides us to become fully qualified - like touchstones – to transform others also, into pure servants of the servants of the Lord. Surrender means that we are willing and able to carry out the apparently impossible mission, the desire of guru and Lord Chaitanya, just as we see Arjuna doing on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Continue reading "Does Surrender Mean to Become Dependent or Independent or …?
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Hear this!
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 October 2012, Sydney, Australia, Bhagavad-gita class)

Srila Prabhupada says that hearing is most important:

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam… (SB 7.5.23-24)

There are nine processes of devotional service and they begin with sravanam, hearing. It is said that when there is hearing about Krsna then the next stage is kirtanam, naturally glorification of Krsna. So, unless one hears about Krsna, how will one be able to glorify him? So, the more we know about Krsna, the more we naturally know how to glorify Krsna! And the more we hear about Krsna, the more attachment to Krsna develops and then automatically chanting comes.

Sravanam, kirtanam and then smaranam, remembrance comes and automatically we will remember Krsna. Obviously, when we remember Krsna then we look at this world in a different manner. Srila Prabhupada, in the introduction to the Caitanya-caritamrta, which is based on five lectures that he gave, describes that Krsna consciousness is like taking off in a plane! He says that as you are going up, then everything down on the ground suddenly becomes very small… houses like match boxes, cars like ants… all very small and immediately their importance diminishes. So, as we are getting more and more involved in Krsna consciousness, in just hearing about Krsna, in just glorifying Krsna and in remembering Krsna, then automatically the importance of material things become less.

How hurt people hurt people 2 – Learning to process our emotions before acting on them
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Podcast

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Gita 12.08 Living in Krishna is a matter of not just relocation, but also of realization
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Podcast

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Gita 02.07 When surface identities lead to conflicting duties, seek the fundamental identity
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Podcast

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