Planet ISKCON

The purpose of Radha Mohan Das' presentations is to ultimately explore the Srimad Bhagavatam’s paradigm of a universe teeming with life, as well as discuss works such as the Vaimanika Sastra and the Samaranga Sutradhara. Within Alien Identities, he draws parallels between modern UFO related phenomena and the ancient world - -  Presenting the astronomical and anthropological aspects of scriptures in the Vedic tradition,  in an accessible way that can be appreciated by Krishna devotees and also enthusiasts on the related subjects.

Without giving attention to and genuinely caring about relationships, situations and aspirations, how can we achieve any real traction in life? Where the attention goes, energy flows, and results invariably show.

Salvador was rescued from a dairy farm in Chile by the Equality Sanctuary Interspecies. Now six months later, he's enjoying life and loves the affection he receives from the caregivers who saved him.

Divya’s Kitchen, New York City’s first authentic Ayurvedic restaurant, cares not just about your taste buds – although it rewards them very well – but also about your health and wellbeing. Whether you’re a New Yorker or an ISKCON devotee, as soon as you walk into the East Village eatery, with its homey amber lighting, pure cedar wood furniture and live plants, you’ll know you’re in for a new kind of casual fine dining experience.

The post Daily Darshan: Jan 13,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Snow Deity :) in Russia, Omsk Oblast.
“Oh, Lord, the ocean of compassion and nectar! You are the dwelling place that is attractive for all. I offer You my respectful obeisances again and again. You - the only one who frees the fallen souls of this world. But how do you do it, very few people can understand. O ocean of mercy! Again and again I bow before You. ”
“Oh, Lord Jagannatha! Please save me. Oh, fallen friend, I again and again bow before You. Please deliver me from this terrible ocean of material suffering. After gaining Your lotus feet, I can find the greatest happiness. ”

On the occassion of Pushya abhisheka Purnima, every year, our community devotees come together, to blissfully stay awake the till dawn, to make the flower outfits for Sri Radha-Madhava and Asta Sakhis. This year, with bright red roses on the foreground, Sri Radha-Madhava blessed us with Their darshan. In the evening, baskets and baskets of […]

The post Sri Radha-Madhava flower outfits darshan! appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Supersoul, Freewill, Predetermination.
Q. 1. Since free will is operating with every soul’s choices, how is Paramatma’s guidance operative in relationship to this free will?
Q. 2. Another dimension is this: Sri Isopanisad says every other choice other than Krishna’s will, is degrading. So how can we exercise a free will choice that is within the realm of non-maya, or the spiritual realm – that may not be a predetermined choice?
Romapada Swami: Krishna dynamically responds to the free will choices of living entities. As Srila Prabhupada states, ‘matter is static but spirit is dynamic’. Our relationship and service to the Lord is forever dynamic. Krishna is reciprocally respondent to the mood of surrender and intensity of devotion of the devotees, as well as to the specific disposition of His devotees. *ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.* [BG 4.11]
For example, it is not pre-determined as soon as one joins a vaishnava-sanga that this devotee should become a cook and that devotee should become a book keeper, and so on. Rather, based on one’s natural inclinations and qualifications, based on the interest one shows in a particular activity and the initiative one takes, individuals are encouraged accordingly. Someone may be naturally attracted to cooking for or worshiping the Deities, someone may have strong capacity for studying and understanding scriptures, and so on. All these choices are within the devotional domain, outside the realm of maya, and the Lord is equally happy through whichever way we choose to serve Him. He reciprocates by giving us more and more facilities and guidance how to advance spiritually through that devotional choice.
Krishna’s overall plan for living entities in the material world is to take us back to Godhead, to 'revive our original consciousness’ – this is His very purpose of creation. Therefore, based on the living entities free will, the Lord orchestrates events in the devotee’s life towards this grand plan. Suppose one approaches Krishna, begins rendering devotional service and abides by His instructions, but still retains strong material desires in the heart. Such a mixed devotee is also acting subordinate to the Lord’s plan to some degree because he is taking shelter of the devotees and the scriptures. But because they are not yet purified, the Lord responds according to the condition of their heart — He may satisfy that desire in order to make the devotee more attached to Him. Or, if someone is very sincere to achieve Krishna but is struggling to give up some attachment, Krishna may block the fulfillment of their plans and orchestrate events in their life to purify those attachments, which is also His special mercy. The individual again has a choice — they could be satisfied with the fulfillment of desire and carry on with their life, or they could become disappointed by the reversals in their life and leave Krishna. Or they could take the Lord’s reciprocation as an impetus to become more serious in Krishna consciousness. And when one simply wants to serve the Lord without any other motive, the Lord again reciprocates accordingly by giving them all necessary facilities.
Thus Krishna’s plan for us is a function of our own disposition towards Him, how much we want to act within our relationship with Him, and that can change from moment to moment!
In the case of the battle between Indra and Vritrasura, Indra was in one sense acting according to the plan of the Lord, under the direct instruction of Lord Vishnu! Lord Vishnu had personally instructed him how to obtain the thunderbolt and defeat Vritrasura. But because Indra’s mind was on his personal victory rather than pure devotional service, the Lord directed him accordingly, whereas Vritrasura who was absorbed in a mood of pure devotion achieved a transcendental result.
In another situation, Lord Caitanya initially refused to meet King Prataparudra, but the more the king became eager to achieve His mercy and the more devotees pleaded on his behalf, the Lord changed His plan and gave His association to the King.
The point is that at every moment the living entity has a choice, and that choice is not so much 'what’ we do but how much we are looking towards Krishna’s satisfaction or away from Krishna.
Krishna may also change His plans by His own sweet-will, simply because He is a dynamic person! For instance, Priyavrata had renounced the world with all due blessings from his father and his guru, but later on he was requested by them to rule the world. In the spiritual realm, everyone is ever-ready to act according to Krishna’s will. Although they express their choices, they are also ever-dependent and ever-ready to keep aside their preference to satisfy Krishna however He directs. In other words, following Krishna’s plan ultimately means surrendering our false sense of independence and choosing to satisfy Krishna.
To try to understand 'what’ is the Lord’s will or desire is but natural. A loving servant is naturally looking for indications from the master how to best serve him. But it is not possible for us to try to “discern” Krishna’s plans as you have indicated in the first question. As Bhismadev confirms, even great philosophers fail to understand Krishna’s plan and are bewildered even after exhaustive inquiry. Krishna can be known only by His confidential devotees (See SB 1.9.16-19)
Thus we can know the Lord’s desire through the transparent medium of the spiritual master. In the beginning stages, due to prolonged misuse of free will, even if one wants to serve Krishna, one is not so adept at making right spiritual choices or understand Krishna’s desires. One may not even be sure if their own inclinations are really in a mood of service or born out of personal likes & dislikes in the bodily conception. Therefore one should consult the expert spiritual master and by operating within the boundaries of the instructions of the spiritual master. Initially, there are very elaborate and detailed guidelines. By staying within these guidelines, one can stay out of maya. For example, the spiritual master gives a regulated program of service and might even suggest very specific services based on one’s nature and inclinations; and even within that there are detailed guidelines – for instance in Deity worship, the time for making the offering and the procedure for making the offering is fixed, even the items nd ingredients are fairly standard. But within that service, one has freedom – one could either make rasagulla or sandesh, for instance, and express their individual devotion in multifarious ways within their prescribed realm of devotional activity.
As one becomes more experienced in devotional service by training, the devotee becomes capable of taking wider initiatives in serving Krishna and learns how to exercise spiritual choices all for Krishna’s pleasure that may not at all be what you are calling “predetermined choices”.
Consider the example of Srila Prabhupada. Of course, unlike conditioned souls, such empowered pure devotees are sent to this world by the Lord with a definite mission. But, although in a broad sense it was foretold that he would cross the seas, open temples and preach the Bhagavatam, still things were not all mapped out for him. Even after receiving the order of his spiritual master, Prabhupada was not quite sure how he was going to accomplish it. But he was completely fixed on the two instructions he received from his spiritual master as his mission in life: “Preach in English, and if you ever get money, print books.” Within those instructions, he took unlimited initiative and left no stone unturned, in spite of so many obstacles, setbacks and lack of support. Initially Prabhupada planned to increase his business to fund his preaching, he started Back-to-Godhead, then he tried the League of Devotees in Jhansi, he tried working under his godbrothers, he tried going to Japan…. But one by one all his plans apparently failed. Did that mean he was acting outside of Krishna’s plan? Not at all. On the contrary, because he was fixed on the direction received from his guru, he was confident that all his initiatives were part of the unfolding of Krishna’s will. Prabhupada was always tuned in to indications from Krishna; for example, as soon as he heard from a Mathura businessman that his son was in America, he saw it as an opportunity given by Krishna and took advantage of it. It was not all predetermined. Prabhupada had to make choices – to stay uptown or move to the Bowery, for instance. Whichever choice he made would have been in Krishna’s interest and therefore outside maya.
Just as he was actively planning for Krishna, Krishna was also planning for His pure devotee and was dynamically arranging events around Prabhupada to bring him closer and closer to the fulfillment of his desired mission.
Furthermore, Prabhupada set a perfect example in that he never planned something outside or independent of the instructions he received. Even years later, after attaining great success and fame, he continuously recalled his spiritual master’s instruction to print books, and had made a policy to set aside 50% of all income for printing books. Even when other kinds of preaching opportunities and demands for money presented themselves, he never compromised on keeping 50% exclusively for book-printing based on the words of his spiritual master. But within the framework of that plan given to him, he taxed his brain, took many risks and made many choices how to serve Lord Caitanya’s mission most gloriously.
In summary, when we align all our desires, our intelligence and plans to fulfill the mission indicated to us by a bona fide spiritual master, then we are acting in accordance with Krishna’s plan. Within the boundaries of those instructions, we can exercise our utmost freedom of initiative to serve Krishna, and all those choices will be outside the realm of maya.

56 KM PADAYATRA IN TOGO, WEST AFRICA: from tear gas to tears of love (Album with photos)
By Bhakti Carudesna Swami
A party of 50 devotees assembled at the ISKCON Lomé temple
On December 17th 2016, ISKCON devotees of Lomé, a small town in a small country (Togo has about 6 million people), held a small but ecstatic padayatra for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. Several devotees from three other West African countries had joined the 45 devotee Togo team: three from Ghana (Yuga Prabhu, chairman of the West African Executive Council Board, Bhaktin Emma and Bhakta Abraham), one from the Republic of Benin (Bhakta Guillaume) and myself from Ivory Coast.

We started the walk in Aflao, at the border with Ghana, and ended it at Hilaconji, at the border with the Republic of Benin. Since Togo is a French speaking country, we had made a large banner indicating that this “Marche pour la Paix” (Peace walk) was done to celebrate ISKCON’ 5Oth anniversary.

Our procession consisted of two vehicles and two motocycles. We walked through the villages of devotees (except the driver) with our large banner. One vehicle was carrying devotees and the prasadam and the other one devotees, books and the mrdangas; the two motorcycles were carrying the rest of the devotees. For our procession, since it was our first padayatra in the country, we started in a small way, just to avoid too many complications with getting police permissions in different cities. Public processions are not banned in Togo- we don’t need permissions for harinama- but it depends on the political situation. It would have taken too much time to get permission for a program like padayatra and sometimes the police even refuses the permission, especially when it involves people from different countries, which was our case. We started in front of the Lomé temple with the blessings of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Govinda Madhava, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Sri Jaganath Baladev and Subhadra.

A bitter beginning

All the devotees gathered in Aflao at 11 am in front of a fuel station. Someone took a group picture with the banner and the kirtana began to warm up. Quickly people started gathering around us; it was not new for them as they are used to our harinamas in that area. But after only 5 or 10 minutes of chanting, a police vehicle came to park near us. Suddenly, the policemen started shooting tear gas in the air from their guns. Panic everywhere! The kirtana immediately stopped. Nobody had time to find out what was going on. Children were crying and running to their mothers. We all quickly managed to enter our vehicles and moved far from that area. Later on we came to know that the shooting of tear gas was not for us; the police was chasing an illicit seller of gasoline. “Ok, no problem! But what to do next?” we asked ourselves. After a small discussion, when we saw that the children were not panicking or afraid any longer, we decided to drive a bit far from the area of the incident to start our padayatra.

A joyful festival of chanting, dancing and book distribution

When we got to some village or town, everybody got down from the vehicles, except the drivers of course, and we walked for harinama and book distribution without stopping. We thus crossed many villages, and we could say that we walked half the distance , about 28kms.

We thus arrived at Baguida, the port area, around 12.30 pm. While the brahmanas were chanting their gayatri, the women were busy giving some prasadam to children and the devotees. This was followed by an energetic kirtana, which left everyone satisfied, happy and confident.“Togo Padayatra ki!!!! Jaya !!! “, we all shouted with great enthusiasm. On the way people were greeting the devotees, some in their cars stopped to see what was going on. On many occasions a good number of people came to join us to dance in the kirtana. There was no special media coverage of the event. We distributed a lot of bread and juice prasadam. This padayatra was a festival of book distribution: 246 big books, 38 medium books and 20 small books. We thus crossed 12 villages and a few big towns, among which were Avepozo, Yesuvito, and Agbadrafor.

One gentleman we will never forget

After walking while doing harinama through one village, when we almost got to the end of it, we all entered our vehicles to move to the next village. From a distance one gentleman had seen us distributing books, and he was expecting us to stop at the place he was sitting with some friends under a big tree. As we did not stop, he started to ran after us, shouting, “Please, who are you? Where do come from? What are you doing? What books do you have in your hands?” We reluctantly stopped because we were late for the next town. But after we listened to that gentleman, we all realized that he was really a very sincere soul. He was looking for people like us and the types of books we had. He bought many books and chanted the Hare Krishna maha mantra with us without any difficulty. We did not regret for having stopped for him, he really was a nice gentleman.

A joyful end with an unexpected and blissful reception

We finally arrived at Hilaconji around 6h30 pm. A tumultuous and dynamic kirtana brought joy to the devotees and the people in the area. Some custom officers joined the chanting and dancing and some police officers bought books. We were happy to have made it. We forgot the tear gas, it was now time for tears of love. Before leaving the Benin border and going back to the Lomé temple Bhakta Godson, the best book distributor of the party, organized an emergency reception at his nearby house and treated the party to coconut water, fruits and soft drinks.

Enthused by this first experience, we are planning to organize a padayatra every year, and a bigger one also.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/15UiQJ

Music by Gadabhrit Das (Gabor Gaspar), song performed by Anjavati Dasi

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WASHINGTON, DC–Last week Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) celebrated her re-election to US House of Representatives and was sworn into session. She took her oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita once again. After the ceremony, family, friends, and supporters gathered together and visited Rep. Gabbard and congratulated her. “Tulsi shared how the Bhagavad Gita continues to serve as an inspiration in her life, and how grateful she is to the people of Hawaii for allowing her to continue to serve in Congress,” said a statement from her office. Separately, sealing a historic breakthrough for Indian-Americans, five were sworn-in on earlier this month as members of the US Congress — one of them, Kamala Harris, becoming the first to become a Senator. Ami Bera, who was the only Indian-American in the 435-member House of Representatives and re-elected in the November elections, was joined by the four others, increasing the Indian-American contingent to five members in the Congress. All five are Democrats and three of them — Harris, Bera and Representative Ro Khanna — are from California. The other two Representatives are Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois and Pramila Jayapal from Washington state. Continue reading "Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard Sworn With the Bhagavad Gita Once Again
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ISKCON NZ Auckland. Friday night Harinam. (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: This is Krsna consciousness. You have to act by the desires of Krsna. That is the proper use of your senses. You cannot use for your purpose. Anything… Just like you are working in some establishment. Anything in that establishment, you can use for the proprietor’s business. You cannot use it. Just like in hospital there are blankets. It is written there, “Hospital Property.” So long you are in the hospital, you can use it. But you cannot take it outside. Then you are criminal. Similarly, everything… Isavasyam idam sarvam [Iso mantra 1]. Everything belongs to God, and you can use it for the service of God. Tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam. This is the instruction, Vedic instruction. You can use it as prasadam, but everything should be offered to the Supreme. Yajnarthe karmanah loko ‘yam karma-bandhanah [Bg. 3.9]. If you do not do that, if you engage yourself always in good activities, as the karmis they do, and earn money and use it for your own sense gratification, that is papa. yajna-sistasinah santo mucyante sarva-kilbisaih bhunjate te tv agham papa ye pacanty atma-karanat [Bg. 3.13] Those who are cooking in the kitchen very palatable dishes for satisfying the tongue, they are simply eating sinful things. Ye pacanty atma-karanat. So therefore, if we become sinful every moment, how we can become happy? It is not possible. If you want to become happy, you have to become pious. And the standard of piety is to become Krsna conscious, devotee of Krsna. That is the highest perfection of life. Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.28 – January 5, 1975, Bombay
Find them here: https://goo.gl/n19gRx

A Time When Gainesville Airport Was Puskar Prabhu’s Art Museum (2000)
Srila Prabhupada: The best policy to control the mind is to desire how to spread Krsna consciousness. This is the best. Kamah krsna-karmarpane. Narottama dasa Thakura has said that you cannot be free from desire. That is not possible. This is useless attempt. They say that “You become desireless.” No, that is not possible. How can I…? If I become desireless, I become dead. So long I am living entity, I must desire. I cannot check it. Therefore kama means desire. So at the present moment, we are desiring how to become happy in this material world, how to acquire so much money, how to acquire this, how to acquire this, how to get this, how to get that. This is kama. So this brain taxation, if you engage in Krsna’s service – how to spread Krsna consciousness, how to convince people about Krsna, how to take them to the Krsna’s desire, sarva-dharman parityajya [Bg. 18.66] – and in this way, if you go on making plan for spreading Krsna consciousness, then your mind is controlled. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.27 – January 4, 1975, Bombay

The story of Swami Prabhupada is so interesting and inspirational.. he started Hare Krishna movement and founded ISKCON and he is regarded as Guru Prabhupada worldwide. As Nag said to have impressed with the script he showed interest to play the role Prabhupada. The highlight of the whole episode is that ISKCON people are said to be showing interest to produce the film if Nagarjuna plays the lead role. If everything goes well, Nag will come up with another devotional film soon. Continue reading "Indian Actor Nagarjuna may be seen in a film on ISKCON founder Swami Prabhupada
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Alien Identities in the Vedic Hindu scriptures (22 min video)
Radha Mohan Das: The purpose of the presentations is to ultimately explore the Srimad Bhagavatam’s paradigm of a universe teeming with life, as well as discuss works such as the Vaimanika Sastra and the Samaranga Sutradhara.
Within Alien Identities, I draw parallels between modern UFO related phenomena and the ancient world - - Presenting the astronomical and anthropological aspects of scriptures in the Vedic tradition, in an accessible way that can be appreciated by devotees and also enthusiasts on the related subjects.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/IjffaO

Ambarisa das: 2016 was a challenging year for the TOVP. However, we have come through unscathed and stronger than before. Construction continues unabated, and fundraising is branching out into newer areas all the time. Significant challenges remain, including the recent currency upheaval in India. The TOVP is more than ever depending on the friends and supporters of Srila Prabhupada’s TOVP to finish this project for the glory of Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada. Continue reading "TOVP Chairman’s 2016 Year End Report
→ Dandavats"

Answer Podcast

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The post As sadhus, should we focus on internal change through sadhana or social change through activism? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Bhagavatam class at Radha Gopinath Mandir, Chowpatty, Mumbai]

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The post Strengthen relationships by tolerating others’ indiscretions appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

QUESTION: I totally see where you are coming from with the notion that “love is the spontaneous reaction to beauty.” But how do you discern beauty — Is it in the object or in the subject? 

Beauty is neither in the object nor in the subject. It is in their combination. Beauty is the link between the object and the subject.

Love causes the link to form, and beauty is the experience of the link. In technical Sanskrit, love is called भक्ति (bhakti), and the experience of beauty is रस (rasa), which is the essence of अानन्द (ānanda).  Bhakti is the cause of forming a link between two entities. Rasa, which produces Ānanda is the experience of that link.

QUESTION: Is it instantaneous?

As soon as the link between lover and beloved is established, love instantaneously manifests.

QUESTION: Does it require varying perspective?

Yes, it does require distinct perspectives. There must be a lover and beloved (in Sanskrit: āśraya and viṣaya).

QUESTION: How does time affect it?

Time increases it.

Lust and love are different ways of reacting to beauty. Lust diminishes, because it is exhausting. So lust for a person or object diminishes markedly after experiencing that it does not actually fulfill our needs as well as we hoped. Love, however, always increases.

QUESTION: Beauty seems to be a great mystery. Like love, we all think we know it, but we struggle to explain it. Science can’t qantify it. Philosophy doesn’t clearly define it. And, like love, it is deeply subjective. The two seem deeply connected.

Yes, love and beauty are inseparable.

Śrī Viśvanātha, a bhakti-yoga master from a few centuries ago, explained that love disappears when you try to dissect it, but it also disappears if you do not try your best to explore and discover it. Only those who are in awe of love can “explore” it without “dissecting” it. Those who revere love and think of themselves as her servant, they alone can understand love, for love fully reveals her secrets only to them.

QUESTION: Can attractiveness disguising itself as beauty?

Attractiveness comes from a combination of factors, including beauty.

Or, it comes from how much you feel that an object or person will fulfill your needs. If you see someone or something that you feel will really fulfill your needs, you immediately feel attracted to it. 

So, different people find different things attractive, depending on how (and how well) they recognize and understand their true needs.

QUESTION: I would say that attraction of the senses results in spontaneous desire.

Krishna says this explicitly in Gītā. “When the senses contact an object, desire arises.”

Beauty on the other hand is an appreciation that something is pleasing because it is has a benifical essence to it and it is worthy of our respect/devotion.

This shows the difference in our attitude towards beauty. One attitude is “I want to consume it.” This is called “lust.” The other attitude is “I want to worship it.” This is called “love.”

Lust is the desire for the beauty to become an object of our pleasure. Love is the desire to become annexed to the beauty, to augment, amplify, facilitate, and encourage it; to “serve” it.

So, we can see that there are two ways of interacting with beauty. One (love) is flawless and produces happiness. The other (lust) is a flawed way of interacting with beauty, and it produces hunger, which is stressful and leads to suffering. So, it is not guaranteed that beauty produces love. If the perceiver is flawed, it will not produce love, it will produce lust. If it produces love, it will produce pleasure and happiness. If it produces lust, it will produce pain and unhappiness.

So you can see that not only are beauty and love inseparable, happiness is also inseparable. So it is actually a trio: love, beauty, and happiness are all three facets of one single experience.

So the perceiver has to do some work (sādhana) to improve their perception (get rid of avidyā, ignorance) before they can really perceive beauty.

Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com

Tagged: love and beauty, love and lust

Gita verse-by-verse Podcast

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 31 August 2010, Zagreb, Croatia, Lecture)

How can we face things all alone in this world!? But one who is with Krsna is never alone. When we are in a relationship with Krsna, when we are actively trying to please Krsna then we are never alone because Krsna reciprocates. It is not that we are just working hard in devotional service and hopefully there will be a reward at the end. For a whole life you have to slave day and night for Krsna – get up at an impossible time, live a really austere lifestyle and if you do it very well then at the end of your life, you get the reward, “Welcome, you can now return to the spiritual world!”

No, that is not Krsna Consciousness. In Krsna Consciousness there is reciprocation now – there is reward now and there is reward at the end, simultaneously. Krsna is reciprocating with us now! Krsna is actually with us all the time and Krsna is making arrangements in our life in different ways.

Have you also had those kinds of experiences where Krsna is clearly interfering – some divine intervention happens? I think everyone has had it at some point. When you open up a book and it just lands on a page and the topic describes just what you were talking about ten minutes ago; it is just right there – those things happen!

King Sagara performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice to declare his sovereignty over the neighbouring kingdoms. The 60,000 sons of Sagara were following the horse when they saw it enter a cavern where the sage Kapila was meditating. Not seeing the horse, they presumed that Kapila had hidden it.

They did not kill Kapila as he was a sage but they started disturbing his meditation. Annoyed at being disturbed, Kapila, with a curse burnt the 60,000 sons of Sagara. Time passed and later Bhagiratha, the great grandson of Sagara, chanced to come across the bones of his dead ancestors. He wanted to perform the shraddha of his ancestors but there was no water available for the ceremony.

Bhagiratha prayed to Brahma who asked him to pray to Vishnu, to allow the heavenly Ganga to come down to earth. Lord Vishnu asked him to request Shiva, to allow the torrential rain to fall on his head before it came to the earth as the river was very forceful and if allowed to come down unchecked, her fall would split the earth.

Shiva agreed to take the gigantic weight of the cascading Ganga on the matted hair piled high on his head. This ensnared and delayed the progress of the river which, in meandering through the labyrinth of his hair, lost its force and then gently descended to the Himalayas from whence it flowed to the plains bestowing its waters on the parched earth.

Once again, my heartfelt thanks goes out to all the devotees worldwide who contributed their might to support the construction of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in 2016. Without you this immense project would simply not be possible. Together we are all endeavoring to develop ISKCON’s World Headquarters and especially its centerpiece temple which will preach to the world the glories of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the yuga dharma.

2016 was a challenging year for the TOVP. However, we have come through unscathed and stronger than before. Construction continues unabated, and fundraising is branching out into newer areas all the time. Significant challenges remain, including the recent currency upheaval in India. The TOVP is more than ever depending on the friends and supporters of Srila Prabhupada’s TOVP to finish this project for the glory of Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada.

Here are some highlights from 2016:

Fundraising Highlights

•  Total income was $5 million (U.S.).
• On Thursday, April 14th, in conjunction with the auspicious appearance day of Lord Ramachandra, the new U.S. TOVP office celebrated its Grand Opening in Gainesville, Florida. The celebration also coincided with the formation of the new U.S. non-profit, TOVP Foundation, Inc..
• To date over $1.7 million has been given by the BBT/BBTI to the TOVP project.
• The TOVP Fundraising Team consisting of Their Graces Jananivas, Ambarisa, Vraja Vilas and Svaha prabhus, and led by the holy Padukas (shoes) of Lord Nityananda and Satari (helmet) of Lord Nrsimhadeva, toured South Africa for ten days raising over $2 million in pledges, matching the results from the first tour there in 2014.
• Our second year fundraising event at His Holiness Gopal Krishna Maharaja’s Vyasa Puja celebration raised over $350,000 in pledges, much coming from devotees who had already pledged last year when we raised $2.4 million.
• The ISKCON Leadership Sanga (ILS) seminar during Gaur Purnima raised $250,000 in pledges from attendees.

Construction Highlights

• External concreting of the three main Domes and eight Chatris was completed.
• The main Dome Kalashes, Chatri Kalashes and three Chakras being manufactured in Russia are almost complete with the first shipment expected to arrive in February, 2017.
• 72 GRC (Glass Reinforced Concrete) Dome brackets for Kalashes are in production at the GRC factory on location in Mayapur.
• Titanium Nitrate ribbons were installed on the Chatris and blue tile laying commenced.
• Chatri marble cladding, pillar placement and ornamental peacock installation commenced.
• A CNC router was purchased to create custom molding patterns for GRC molds.
• Artisan work and marble cladding on the inner staircase walls commenced.
• Rainwater piping installation on the exterior walls and underground continues.
• Metal casting of various fences and railings commenced.
• Waterproofing, electrical work and brick laying is ongoing.

Other News Highlights

• On October 17th His Grace Sri Nathji prabhu (Dr. N.D. Desai), one of the original supporters of the TOVP, passed from this world.
• His Grace Ravindra Svarupa prabhu published his remarkable new essay, Revealing the Heart of ISKCON, in which the esoteric as well as external purposes of the TOVP are explained with great insight.
• The TOVP phone App went live.
• Lightning Arrester installation began at over 40 locations atop the TOVP.
• A Vishwakarma Puja was performed on September, 17th in service to Radha Madhava to obtain blessings for the successful construction of the TOVP.
• The TOVP Mayapur office creates a Communication Team to stay in touch with devotees worldwide by phone.
• A Sudarshana /Harinama Yajna performed on May 19th brought rain and the blessings of the Lord to the TOVP project.

As many of you are aware, the demonetization of the Rupee has taken its toll on fundraising in India in general. It has greatly affected the flow of monthly pledge payments and new donations from India sources to the TOVP. To counter-balance the demonetization problem we are now planning tours to other parts of the world such as Malaysia, Australia, China, etc. to increase outside sources of income. Our tours to North America, South Africa, the Middle East, etc, in previous years were very successful and we pray to the Lord for good results from the planned tours in 2017.

Please pray for the continued success of the TOVP project. Your support and love has been pivotal in the ongoing progress for the satisfaction of Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga.

To make a contribution to the TOVP please go to https://tovp.org/donate/seva-opportunities/

Your servant,
Ambarisa das
TOVP Chairman

The post TOVP Chairman’s 2016 Year End Report appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Resolutions are like a pod of seeds. They’ll grow.

It’s still not too late for a New Year’s resolution. You can do it. Whatever it is, rallying your determination now can make all the difference to the rest of the year.

For those of us walking the spiritual path, January is a great time for looking at the year ahead and fixing our determination to reach a target. Yes, even the spiritual life has targets, and spiritually-motivated development of mental strength is an essential prerequisite. Visualising your goal comes first, then verbalising it as an affirmation. A determined resolution is known as a sankalpa, and expressed as a verbal commitment becomes a vrata.

It’s much easier to reach any goal when you have friends who share the same path, and especially when one of them gives you encouragement and occasional guidance. Such a person can be a patha-pradipika guru for you, someone who ‘keeps the path illuminated.’

A coach is someone who helps you reach your goals, often in sport. He or she will listen carefully as you describe what sort of physique you wish to have, the level of stamina you want, and the lap times you’d like to reach. The coach will then suggest exercises and a fitness regime that will suit you. In spiritual life it’s just the same. We all need someone who’ll listen to the goals we’d like to reach and offer us guidance to get there.

You may already have such a person in your life, or you may be looking for one. Finding one, trusting them, and being honest when you don’t make your chosen target is a key element in keeping your resolutions and becoming an improved version of yourself.

“Tulsi shared how the Bhagavad Gita continues to serve as an inspiration in her life, and how grateful she is to the people of Hawaii for allowing her to continue to serve in Congress,” said a statement from her office.

“Krishna is My life. Now My life has gone out. I cannot see Krishna, I cannot find Krishna.” He cried piteously when Haridas Thakur disappeared. “Krishna is so merciful. He gave Me the association of such a dear devotee who was always with Krishna. But now he disappeared, so I cannot feel the presence of Krishna who is My life. I am without life, I am without life.” That is how one should cry. Continue reading "After the Disappearance of Sri Guru
→ Dandavats"