Planet ISKCON

By Bhakti Gauravani Goswami

Srila Prabhupada spoke about this in 1977. This is exactly 40 years ago in Bhubaneshwar, right? He spoke about Varaha’s appearance. He said “Ramadi murti su kala niyamena.” Krishna, the original adi pursua, is taking various forms. Ramadi murtisu, especially three Ramas, Parasuram, Balaram and Dasarathi Rama. Rama means enjoyment. Krishna’s enjoyment does not mean that when Krishna appeared as a boar he was suffering. Everything is “Anada- cinmaya-rasa- pratibhavitabhih,” every second is imbued and permeated with ever blissful spiritual rasa. Srila Prabhupada gives an example which we have heard, I think more than one time, about a big man becoming a horse, remember that? He talks about the British Prime Minister Gladstone, a pretty serious man. You don’t imagine that he may become a horse. Continue reading "Varahadeva’s Appearance Day
→ Dandavats"

TOVP update.
Sadbhuja Das: You have been following the photos from Russia regarding the Kalash and Chakras.
There are 2 Ch...

In Memoriam

Dear Gopinatha Acarya,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

It was with great sadness that I learned of your sudden departure the day before yesterday. Though we never served together, we had a number of nice exchanges over the years whenever I would visit Australia and New Govardhana in particular.

In your long career as a devotee, two contributions stand out in my mind. The first is your dedication to book distribution in the early days of the Australian yatra, and the second is your service to Lord Krsna’s cows over many years. In these two valuable services you acted as a proper brahmana: you distributed transcendental knowledge and you gave great pleasure to the Lord by protecting and maintaining his dear-most cows. Through such service you exemplified what is most dear to the Lord as explained in the following verse from the Visnu Purana:

namo brahmanya-devaya
go-brahmana-hitaya ca
jagad-dhitaya krsnaya
govindaya namo namah

“My Lord, You are the well-wisher of the cows and the brahmanas, and You are the benefactor of the entire human society.” ( Visnu Purana 1.19.65 )

In this connection, Srila Prabhupada writes:

“Without protection of cows, brahminical culture cannot be maintained, and without brahminical culture the aim of life cannot be fulfilled.”

[ Srimad-Bhagavatam 8.24.5 Purport ]

Thank you for being the perfect example of fulfilling this purport written by our spiritual master.

As a vaisnava, you illuminated this world of darkness by sharing transcendental knowledge and rendering service to the sacred cow. Thus, unbeknownst to most people, the world became a little darker the day before yesterday because the light of your seva was extinguished.

But our loss was others’ gain, for upon your demise you were no doubt greeted by joyful devotees eager to have your association on your next assignment in service to our beloved lord and master, Srila Prabhupada, be it in this world or the world of transcendence. Either way, you are blessed. When our godbrother Visnujana Maharaja passed away early in his devotional life, HH Tamal Krsna Goswami asked Srila Prabhupada where he was and how he was doing. Srila Prabhupada sat back and smiled. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he is doing very nicely.”

The many devotees who loved and appreciated you may lament they didn’t have the opportunity to be with you at the time of your death. Leaving this body is never easy and can be a great challenge. But as devotees we have no need to worry. Once Ramanujacarya asked the famous Ranganatha deity, “My Lord, what happens if Your devotee cannot remember You at the moment of death?”

Lord Ranganatha replied, “If My devotee cannot remember Me at the moment of death then I shall remember My devotee!”.

No doubt the Lord remembered you, surrounded as you were by so many cows. And we will also remember you. You were a pioneer in the history of the Australian yatra. We should remember and discuss your sustained service for many years to come, lest we forget.

Though you are no longer amongst us I know this message will reach you through the transcendental medium of our guru parampara. We wish you well on your path back to the spiritual world. And if you have attained that goal please look down lovingly upon those of us who remain behind. In reality we are the ones to be lamented, for we remain within this world of birth and death, whereas you are now safely on the other shore by the side of Srila Prabhupada, serving him to your heart’s content.

Your servant,
Indradyumna Swami

Gita verse-by-verse Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post Gita 12.17 Conserve your emotional energy by focus on service appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Lord Nityananda is the eternal associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rarely is the name Nimai (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu) taken without that of Nitai (Lord Nityananda).

Mahaprabhu cannot be approached or understood without the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, who is the guru of all the universes and serves as an intermediary between Mahaprabhu and His Devotees.

He is the Lord’s active principle in both creation and lila. He is the second body of the Lord, manifesting as Balarama to Sri Krsna, Laksman to Sri Rama and Nityananda Prabhu to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. All other forms and expansions of the Lord emanate from this second body.

Harinam Sankirtan in Melbourne, Australia (Album with photos)
Told by Hari Sauri Dasa From a 1991 BTG In February 1976. Srila Prabhupada was in Mayapur, having arrived a few weeks prior to the Gaura Purnima festival. As per his usual schedule, every day he took his massage in the late morning on the balcony outside his room. One morning, as he sat on a straw mat on the sunlit veranda ready to begin, he drew my attention to some sparrows making a nest. The site they had chosen was a hole in the wall behind the electrical circuit box just outside Srila Prabhupada’s sitting-room window. He said they had been disturbing him at night while he was translating his books. So before the birds could build a complete nest and settle in, I removed the bits of straw they had gathered. But as I began the massage, one of the birds returned and began to rebuild, flying back and forth with small pieces of straw. I crumpled some paper and stuffed it into the hole to block it. So when the sparrow came back and found its access barred, it pecked, undaunted, at the paper for almost half an hour, trying to open the hole to continue its home-making. When the bird found this too difficult, it flew off and returned with its mate, and together they worked hard to remove the paper. Eventually they succeeded. By pecking and tugging in unison, they removed the paper and began to build again. All the while, Srila Prabhupada watched without comment. When the birds flew away to get more straw, I again filled the hole with the paper, forcing it in tight so that the sparrows couldn’t remove it. Again the sparrows spent a long time trying, but this time they were unsuccessful. Eventually they accepted defeat, gave up, and left. Srila Prabhupada then drew an interesting parallel. Even though the birds had eyes, he told me, they could not see. They were trying so hard to build their house, but they couldn’t see that the person who had prevented them stood nearby watching. So they continued on in ignorance, trying to make adjustments and struggling against the superior arrangement. In the same way, he said, materialistic persons, though having eyes, could not see how maya, the material energy, was supervising all their efforts. They simply struggled on, making adjustments, hoping to improve their life and secure their place in the material world, not understanding that maya was watching their every move and defeating them at every step.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Rs99bq

To kick off the World Holy Name Week, ISKCON of Houston, Texas, USA, has announced the launch of Kirtan Fest 2017 this upcoming Labor Day weekend (Sat-Mon Sept. 2^nd - 4^th) at ISKCON’s fabulous new state-of-the-art Houston, Texas temple. This inaugural festival will kick off what will be an exciting, on-going flagship event every year.

New Vrindaban is set to host the second annual ISKCON North America Farm Conference from October 13^th to 15^th this year. The GBC Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture, which organized conferences on simple living in four continents last year, is behind the event. The conference, themed “Back to the Basics,” will be facilitated by ECO-Vrindaban and ISKCON New Vrindaban. Representatives from thirty farming efforts all over the U.S., Canada and Mexico will be invited.

Win - Win Situation (Distributing Foreign Books) (Album with photos)
Satyanarayan Das, Trustee for BBT Far East / Middle East: This foreign book distribution adventure is exciting and profoundly blissful – from beginning to end!
It begins with these beautiful books being displayed and distributed in a most wonderfully attractive way.
A divine combination of (1) a book table with a Yoga/Meditation sign that attracts people from 200 feet away, (2) transcendental books with amazing culturally-focused designs, (3) proven and super-successful selling methods developed and demonstrated here by Jaya Chaitanya Prabhu, North America’s #1 book distributor, and (4) with all of this happening in the absolute perfect venues which packed with the ripest fruit: at the universities, tourist places and on Harinama parties.

And it ends with 100’s upon hundreds of blissful foreign students, tourists and foreign communities taking multiple foreign language books Plus local language books on the spot… and THEN taking those same books back home with them to their own home countries in the Middle East and Far East!

Helping to change the consciousness of the most difficult parts of this planet – as one little side benefit!

Maharajas… Prabhus… Matajis… What could possibly be more Win-Win-Win than this?!?

You’ve got to join in and experience this incredible bliss with us. It’s all here. These divine books, this very special training, the precise methods and the exact places to experience this same ecstasy have all been described, and further, we are here to help you with everything…

Come on everyone… Just jump in! The water’s fine!!! :))
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Ez0Xf9

Nityananda Trayodasi celebration at ISKCON Salem (Album with photos)
Tamala Krsna Goswami: If someone wants to understand what Srila Prabhupad was like, he should read about Krsna’s intimate devotees and associates in transcendental books like Nectar of Devotion and Krsna. Actually, Srila Prabhupad manifested all the qualities of the eternal associates of Krsna. His humor was completely sublime, his compassion was sublime and transcendental. Courage, competitiveness–all the qualities we read about in Krsna and Nectar of Devotion were manifested in Srila Prabhupad. He was the living embodiment of Krsna-Krsna’s representative. We learned about Krsna by seeing Srila Prabhupad. And we learned to believe in Krsna by seeing Prabhupada, because we could see that here was a person who had actually come from the spiritual world to be among us. So “beautiful devotee” means that he was a pure devotee of Lord Krsna, with all transcendental, beautiful qualities. Srila Prabhupad called a chapter of one of his books “Wonderful Krsna.” And Srila Prabhupad was Krsna’s representative–so, “wonderful Prabhupada.” Everything he did was wonderful. Everything. All the qualities possessed by the greatest personalities were present in Srila Prabhupad to a wonderful degree. From a 1978 BTG
Find them here: https://goo.gl/3ATFwF

By Yogeshvara Dasa

As visitors to India travel north by car from Kolkata, the landscape gradually shifts from urban sprawl to pastoral farmland. High-rise housing and industrial construction sites give way to a flat horizon of villages and rice paddies. Four hours and eighty miles later, visitors enter the district of Mayapur on the banks of the Ganges River, at the point of its confluence with the Jalangi. Here at Mayapur, in the early sixteenth century, Lord Krishna in His form as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu popularized the public chanting of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare as the means for achieving realization of God in the current age. Continue reading "The Unseen Universe
→ Dandavats"

By Srutadeva das

The kirtana was uproarious as Prabhupada entered the airport with the devotees. He was leaving New York after their first, wonderful Ratha-yatra (July 1976). The kirtana grew more intense as he went through the security check. Hari Sauri, Guru dasa, and I followed behind. In the waiting lounge, Srila Prabhupada took a seat and kindly motioned for Guru dasa to sit next to him. A well-dressed man seated on Prabhupada's other side, noticing that there were others with Srila Prabhupada, very politely moved to another seat. Prabhupada again very kindly offered us a seat, this time motioning toward me and Hari Sauri. I gently nudged Hari Sauri toward the seat. He graciously offered it back to me. After all, he was Prabhupada's personal servant; I nudged him again. He very kindly again offered it back to me. I couldn't resist. I sat down next to Srila Prabhupada. He looked very grave, almost sad. Perhaps he knew that this had been his last trip to America. His eyes were overflowing with tears of ecstatic love as he sat silently absorbed in his own transcendental thoughts. Continue reading "A remembrance
→ Dandavats"

By Sri Radharamana dasa

If money is the means, then what is the goal? Over 2,300 people around the world tuned in Live where 200 selected local industrialists and leaders gathered in the heart of Cape Town to hear from an ISKCON Swami and celebrity banker on this topic. With admission by invite-only, individuals considered cream-of-the-crop in the South African white community made up 80% of the gathering. The Provincial Minister of Economic Opportunities in the Cape Town government, Mr Alan Winde, joined the assembly along with his wife. His Excellency Mr Puneet Kundal, the High Commissioner of India in Cape Town also graced the occasion. Continue reading "ISKCON Introduces Corporate Spirituality in Cape Town
→ Dandavats"

Anwser Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post If we are working wholeheartedly in our material life, but can’t work similarly in our spiritual life, what can we do – Hindi? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Anwser Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post If someone is connected with another organization, how can we get them to the Krishna consciousness movement? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Anwser Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post Why do leaders of religious organisations sometimes form sects and fight with each other – Hindi? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Anwser Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post If people treat us based on their past negative impressions about us even after we have improved, what can we do – Hindi? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Anwser Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post If we don’t see others’ faults, how can we guide them to improve – Hindi? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Anwser Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post Can someone say that my nature is to talk insensitively – Hindi? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Nityananda Trayodashi class at ISKCON, Nasik]

Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post Nityananda Trayodashi – How Nityananda Prabhu glorifies Lord Chaitanya – Hindi appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Gitamrita class at ISKCON, Nasik]

Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post Sensitivity means to balance enlightenment with encouragement – Gita 17.15 – Hindi appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

“Nityananda Prabhu approached Jagai and Madhai at the risk of being personally injured and still He definitely delivered them. The world is full of Jagai’s and Madhai’s; namely drunkards, women-hunters, meat eaters, and gamblers, and we will have to approach them at the risk of insult, injury, and similar other rewards. To face such reverse conditions of life and to suffer thereby the results of actions is considered as the greatest penance and austerity in the matter of spiritual advancement of life.”

[ Srila Prabhupada letter, January 27, 1970 ]

 

“Невзирая на риск быть оскорбленным, Нитьянанда Прабху приблизился к Джагаю и Мадхаю и конечно же освободил их. Мир полон Джагаями и Мадхаями – пьяницами, охотниками за женщинами, мясоедами и картежниками – и мы должны будем приближаться к ним, рискуя получить в награду оскорбление, травму или еще что-нибудь эдакое. Сталкиваться с превратностями жизни и терпеть результаты действий считается величайшей аскезой, епитимьей в деле духовного продвижения общества”.

[ письмо Шрилы Прабхупады от 27 января 1970 ]

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208384018661011&set=a.3707173840886.2134384.1321748113&type=3&theater

Gita verse-by-verse Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post Gita 12.16 Complement spiritual devotion with material dispassion appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 20 February 2016, Durban, South Africa, Nityananda’s Appearance Day Lecture)

Caitanya Caritamrta describes how the happiness of Lord Nityananda is so overwhelming and so intoxicating that he becomes drunk. He is drunk by that happiness, and one knows well that a drunk man cannot see clearly. So in this case, Lord Nityananda does not see clearly who is fallen and who is not fallen! It is too complicated. He gives mercy to everyone. He does not select anymore. It is Lord Nityananda who does not select, who just gives out the mercy regardless, due to his intoxicated state of ecstasy. Therefore Lord Nityananda is the most merciful.

Radhadesh (Belgium): Nityananda Trayodasi & 40 Years Installation of Sri Radha Gopinath (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/IEZp2t

By Vijaya Dasa

After losing the No. 1 position to Mayapur for a couple of years, New Delhi again is the No. 1 temple worldwide, with 1,050,559 book points in 2016. There is always a close transcendental competition between Russia and the USA. Well, in 2016 the USA finally conquered Russia after a decade of close competitions. 2016 was particularly close: the USA won by just 1,526 book points. The USA did 752,972 points; Russia 751,446. Nepal did really well for the year, with a 19% increase: 97,503 book points. We're raising donations for a new bus to hold the many sankirtan devotees in Kathmandu. They're inspired to give the Nepalese mercy in the form of Srila Prabhupada's books. If you want to help, please contact me. Continue reading "WSN December 2016 – World Sankirtan Newsletter – Delhi the No. 1 temple worldwide. USA conquers Russia after a decade
→ Dandavats"

A video and music by Dr. Sahadeva Dasa.

A video by Vrishabhanu das.

A video by Ananta Vrindavan.

Chant Anyway!

Your mind is wandering all over the universe when you chant. Chant anyway! Your mind is wandering to the past and future when you chant. Chant anyway! You are not able to concentrate on Krishnas names while you chant. Chant anyway! You have no taste for chanting. Chant anyway! You have lusty desires. Chant anyway! You are making offenses in chanting. Chant anyway! You are not praying to Krishna to help you chant better. Chant anyway! You often chant late at night. Chant anyway! So WHY? Why should you chant despite all the above obstacles? This is why: There is no vow like chanting the holy name, no knowledge superior to it, no meditation which comes anywhere near it, and it gives the highest result. No penance is equal to it, and nothing is as potent or powerful as the holy name. Chanting is the greatest act of piety and the supreme refuge. Even the words of the Vedas do not possess sufficient power to describe its magnitude. Chanting is the highest path to liberation, peace and eternal life. Its the pinnacle of devotion, the hearts joyous proclivity and attraction and the best form of remembrance of the Supreme Lord. The holy name has appeared solely for the benefit of the living entities as their lord and master, their supreme worshipful object and their spiritual guide and mentor. Whoever continuously chants Lord Krishnas holy name, even in his sleep, can easily realize that the name is a direct manifestation of Krishna Himself, in spite of the influences of Kali-yuga. Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Saranagati (quoted from Adi Purana) From the Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 13, No. 1 By Krishna-kripa das Read more: https://goo.gl/o8MwhM

From a seminar of Bhagavata Purana prabhu on karatalas:
Six important things are to understand about karatalas.
1. Direction
2. Pitch
3. Volume
4. Speed
5. Open and closed beats
6. Upbeat and downbeat
In the Prabhupada beat the final beat is half open and half closed.
The thumb is supposed to be fixed on the strap so you do not lose control of your instrument. Use your fingers not the thumb to dampen the sound.
The singer and the mrdanga player work as a team, and everyone else follows the mrdanga player.

The mrdanga is half as loud as the voice, and the other instruments should be half as loud as the mrdanga.

Srila Prabhupada would complain about karatalas clanging [playing all open beats].

Never put a microphone to record a kirtana next to the karatalas. The best place is near the large end of the drum because it is important to hear the bass.

Srila Prabhupada said that karatala and mrdanga is sufficient. The harmonium is not a Vedic instrument, but Srila Prabhupada said there is a small harmonium in the spiritual world. Lord Caitanya said if you do not have karatalas and mrdangas you can just clap your hands.

The whompers should be played open and sweetly. They are not a crash instrument.

Aindra Prabhu once sang for nine hours straight, from after Bhagavatam class to six in the evening. People did not even leave to use the bathroom.

Aindra Prabhu had a dream of Prabhupada in which Srila Prabhupada said, “Why is no one cleaning my toilets?” Thus Aindra Prabhu took up the service of cleaning the toilets.

Aindra Prabhu’s room was 50% mud and 50% cow dung.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 14 February 2003)
The lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are essential. Without the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, one cannot ever get the mercy of Radha and Krsna. In other words, one cannot ever be an eligible candidate to go back to the spiritual world therefore we need the mercy of Lord Nityananda.

Giriraj Swami gave this talk on February 12, 2014 in New Dvaraka, Los Angeles.

“We think of Srila Prabhupada staying in the Bowery with that young man, David Allen, who was taking the New York version of strong liquor—LSD. David just went mad. He could have done anything to Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada went running down the stairs onto the street, not knowing where he would go. It was like Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura running for their life from the drunken brothers Jagai and Madhai. I cannot imagine anyone since Nityananda Prabhu and His associates who has taken up that mission of approaching anyone and everyone without discrimination and giving them the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as Srila Prabhupada did. And he is doing that through all of you; you are also doing the same thing. You are approaching people without discrimination and giving them the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the form of Srila Prabhupada’s books, or through or the hari-nama sankirtana party, which also carries books and magazines. By that activity we will get the mercy of Lord Nityanada and Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.”

Nityananda-trayodasi

Gita verse-by-verse Podcast

Download by “right-click and save content”

The post Gita 12.15 Avoid agitation coming from the social and the mental appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

In the next few weeks the first shipment of the small dome Kalashes will arrive, they are on the way now in containers on boat.

These are completed and we will commence erecting them in late February.

Please see photos of the 2 Chakras that are almost completed that will be placed on top of the Kalashes. They will also be sent very soon.

We are very happy to see that the Chakras are made to the fine details that we specified in drawings and we are very happy with the results.

The post Update on Chakras appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Today is Varaha-dvadasi, Lord Varaha’s appearance day. Srila Prabhupada spoke on this occasion in Los Angeles on February 18, 1970:

“Today is the incarnation day of Lord Krishna’s appearing as the Boar. He lifted the world when it was submerged within the water of Garbhodaka Ocean. The universe which we are seeing, it is only half. The other half is filled with water, and in that water Garbhodakasayi Visnu is lying.

“So, one demon, Hiranyaksa, pushed this earthly planet within that water, and Lord Krishna delivered this earthly planet from water in the shape of a boar. So, that auspicious day is today, Varaha-dvadasi. On this day [we] sing,

vasati dasana-sikhare dharani tava lagna
sasini kalanka-kaleva nimagna
kesava dhrta-sukara-rupa jaya jagadisa hare
jaya jagadisa hare, jaya jagadisa hare

‘O Kesava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of a boar! All glories to You! The earth, which had become immersed in the Garbhodaka Ocean at the bottom of the universe, sits fixed upon the tip of Your tusk like a spot upon the moon.’ (Dasavatara-stotra, 3)

“This Varaha, boar, or hog, delivered this earthly planet by the tusk, and He kept the whole world on His tusk. We can just imagine how big He appeared. And the world at that time appeared just like the moon disc with some marks on it. So kesava dhrta-varaha-sarira. The poet says, ‘My dear Lord, You have appeared as the great boar. So let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You.’ ”

May Lord Varaha bless us and uplift us.

Hare Krishna.

—Giriraj Swami