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Nietzsche’s Desirer of desire – Wisdom on Wisdom 2
Emerson’s Thought-stealing Ancients – Wisdom on Wisdom 1

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Most people take their holidays between Christmas and New Year’s and like to go down town for shopping or go to the beach and other areas.

Hare Krishna devotees take advantage of this opportunity to increase Harinama Samkirtan and book distribution.

Govindas Asrama devotees in Sydney went out a number of times during this period and especially on New Year’s Eve they had a Maha Harinama to the delight of ten’s of thousands of spectators.

I was fortunate enough to be able to join them.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 12 November 2016, Vrindavan, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 6.18.1-8)
Just before I came to present this class, I met Gurukripa Prabhu who said, “I am going to listen in on the radio,” to sort of put some pressure on me which I appreciated. When Srila Prabhupada wanted to build this Krsna-Balarama temple then Gurukripa Prabhu said, “Do not worry Prabhupada, I will get you the money.” In those days, it was not so easy to raise funds to because there was no fame to the Hare Krsna Movement. There weren’t lots of people in India who knew about this Movement, who accepted this Movement and who were ready to give. It was hard work to collect that money for this temple and now we sit here so nicely by the mercy of Gurukripa who did that service because he wanted guru-kṛpā (mercy and blessings of the guru), he always was very eager for guru-kṛpā. So this is why this temple is here. Somehow or other, we need to become inspired to serve Srila Prabhupada with great enthusiasm.

New Vrindaban Elects Its First Village Council

By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications

On Saturday November 12^th, New Vrindaban’s first elected Village Council introduced itself to the community, inaugurating a new more democratic method of community governance.

Advaitacarya Das and Mukunda Das, members of the Steering Committee that guided the Council’s formation, began by giving a historical overview of how it came to be.

The effort is inspired by Srila Prabhupada’s 1973 instruction to the leaders of New Vrindaban to “establish a local self-governing village” that would “show all the world a practical example of spiritual life.”

 It also comes from a longtime desire of New Vrindaban residents to have more influence on how their community is run.

The recent effort began with a group of New Vrindaban residents forming an “Advocacy Sanga” in December 2013. For a year-and-a-half, they worked informally, exploring options for better representation.

From their discussions, it became more and more clear that some kind of formal governance structure was needed.

It was also obvious after many years that trying to channel all community decisions through ISKCON New Vrindaban, and its religious non-profit management structure, did not work.

At a Community Dialog in Spring 2015, the ISKCON New Vrindaban and ECO-Vrindaban boards, and the Advocacy Sanga agreed that they would work on establishing a Village Council. The idea was to give community members more say in running their own community, and to have ISKCON New Vrindaban serve as a temple within the village – to become more of a spiritual rather than a managerial center.

From that Dialog, a Steering Committee consisting of ISKCON New Vrindaban, ECO-Vrindaban, and long term community members was formed to help develop the Village Council.

Over the next year-and-a-half, they met with different devotees to crystallize the concept and form a “New Vrindaban Village Association” made up of community members who would elect their chosen representatives to the Village Council.

It was decided that membership of the Village Association would be broad, comprising any devotees, friends, or spiritual aspirants living in the Tri-State area who wanted to be involved.

On October 28^th, 2016, over 130 Village Association members voted in an election for their Village Council representatives. There were seventeen candidates for the seven council member seats, who each got a chance to speak for five minutes about their platform before voting officially began. Steering Committee members volunteered not to put themselves forth as Village Council candidates to keep the process transparent.

On November 5^th, the election results were announced. The elected members were Bhagavan Das, Gaura Bhakta Das, Gaura Shakti Das, Giridhari Das, Lokadristi Dasi, Nityananda Dasi and Vrindavana Das.

On November 12^th, during a community dialog, Mukunda Das of the Steering Committee introduced each member of the Council to the community.

“The Council is a nice representation of men and women, pioneer generation and next generation,” comments Council chair Bhagavan. “We each bring a variety of skills and knowledge to the table, and all are willing to work together for the benefit of the Village Association.”

Bhagavan then made a presentation about the Village Association and the Village Council, explaining their roles and workings.

The Village Association, he explained, will bring a diverse group of devotees together and encourage members to get involved in smaller, focused groups. These will include men’s groups, women’s groups, youth groups, book reading clubs, and various other interests. They also hope to have monthly meetings for everyone, switching between fun social gatherings that build relationships – for instance, this month’s Secret Santa gift exchange – and productive discussions about challenges community members are facing.

Meanwhile the Village Council is the smaller elected group that will represent the Village Association in their interactions with ISKCON New Vrindaban and ECO-Vrindaban.

Bhagavan emphasized that the Council will not be the be-all and end-all solution to all problems, but will help residents to come up with their own solutions. “We anticipate the most effective changes to happen at a small group level,” he said.

He also explained that the Council initially plans to have a rotating chair every month, so that everybody gets a chance to experience a leadership role. Internal Village Council decisions will aim for either a unanimous vote or at least a majority of 80 to 90 per cent, so that differing views are really taken into account. And new Council members will be elected every two years.

Many questions were asked by community members during the presentation, about how the Council will govern, how people will be able to interact with it, when meetings will start and how often they’ll be.

Bhagavan and other Council members answered many of these, and also requested community members to be patient with them, as the Village Council is just beginning to organize itself and define what its role will – and won’t – be in New Vrindaban.

The overall mood as the presentation concluded was upbeat and positive. The audience indicated that it was willing to allow the Village Council the time it needed, and Council members were eager to begin work. It was also evident that New Vrindaban residents are beginning to feel like they have representation in the broader community.

“A lot of people came up to me after the presentation and said they were excited to see what will come next,” Bhagavan says. “Personally, I feel enthusiastic about making a difference and helping everybody get connected rather than feeling like they’re on the outskirts. I’m glad that New Vrindaban is focusing on the resident devotees, and that we’re moving away from a hierarchy towards more of a partnership that allows everyone to be seen and heard.”

“I think if it’s successful, and we’re able to have a thriving community that everyone’s excited to be a part of again, it could be beneficial for other communities to take on too,” Bhagavan adds. “Ultimately, this is all about creating loving relationships between devotees – and that’s what we hope to see.”

Reconnection, a film about Vrindavan.
BB Govinda Swami: Recently you have seen promotional activity regarding our movie about Sri Vrindavan Dham, Reconnection.
It’s a story about a person who transcends trials in his life … through the transformative experience of visiting Vrindavan.
Let me give you a little background … because the story of Reconnection actually did not start in Vrindavan.

The post Daily Darshan: Jan 02,2017 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following results of book distribution for the month of November 2016 from the whole planet. World Totals, Monthly Congregation and Weekend Warriors, Monthly Continents, Monthly Top Ten Temples by Size, Monthly Top Ten Temples by Continent, Monthly Top Teams and Individuals, Monthly All Countries, Monthly All Temples, Monthly All Prabhupada Disciples, Cumulative Top Ten Countries, Cumulative Top Ten Temples, Cumulative Top 50 Individuals Worldwide Continue reading "WSN November 2016 – World Sankirtan Newsletter
→ Dandavats"

Balancing Feelings Of Unworthiness
Mahatma das: It’s common for devotees to feel unqualified or unworthy to serve guru and Krsna. This is helpful when it is a natural symptom of spiritual advancement. But it is detrimental when, out of an unhealthy psychology, we either feel unworthy of receiving Krsna’s grace, or feel unworthy of being loved by Krsna. Spiritual unworthiness and material unworthiness are not the same. One is a by-product of a high level of Krsna consciousness and the other is a symptom of an unhealthy mental or emotional state. Is it possible for conditioned souls to develop healthy feeling of unworthiness? If so, what would this look like? And how do we know when those feelings are not Krsna conscious but signs of an emotional weakness or problem?
Isn’t It Artificial?
It is an elementary understanding of Krsna consciousness that this world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual world. We learn that qualities and characteristics that are undesirable (such as jealousy, anger, sulking, envy, etc.) have their pure “all-good” spiritual counterparts. What may look like a material defect, or even a mental or emotional illness, can be a symptom of an elevated state of Krsna consciousness. Thus, we sometimes see advanced devotees exhibiting extreme lamentation, self-denigration or hopelessness as aspects of their Krsna consciousness.

How are we to relate to this? Can we follow in their footsteps? Is there a kind of lamentation, self-denigration, and hopelessness that’s suitable to our level of Krsna consciousness? If there is, how can we not become discouraged by such feelings?

Feelings of unworthiness have their place in our lives, and can inspire us if these feelings are genuine and appropriate to our level of Krsna consciousness. To come to a level of feeling genuine spiritual unworthiness, we first need to overcome our material feelings of unworthiness. Why? Because these material feelings are not healthy for our bhakti.

Let us first look at feelings of unworthiness that are detrimental to our advancement.

Who Is Worthy To Get Krsna?
Devotees often feel unworthy to receive Krsna’s mercy, kindness, and love, feeling that Krsna is throwing pearls to a swine. More often than not, such feelings are mixed with, or result from, a material sense of unworthiness (I am bad, I am dirty, I am foolish, I am…). So let’s first understand that the Lord doesn’t exactly see us as we may see ourselves.

Everybody, by Mahaprabhu’s mercy, is worthy of Krsna’s love and thus worthy to become Krsna conscious. How did we all become worthy? What did we do?

Actually, we didn’t do anything. All we did was exist. By being a spirit soul (which obviously doesn’t take any doing on our part), we are qualified for the Lord’s mercy. Mahaprabhu’s love is so great that every living being is an object of His affection. Indeed, it is not possible for Him to not love us.

Now, you might say, “Why would Krsna care about me? I am insignificant. Besides, I don’t even like Krsna that much. I try to imitate Him, I neglect Him, I take things from Him, I criticize His devotees, and I always think about my own enjoyment.”

Despite all this, Krsna always cares about us. How do we know? If He didn’t care about us, then why would He empower His holy name with prema (i.e. why does he give away prema through his holy Name)? If Krsna didn’t want a relationship with us, why did He send so many of His eternal associates to come to this world to bring us back to Him, despite our faults and disqualifications to engage in His service? If Krsna didn’t love us, why did He send Srila Prabhupada to go out of his way to save us from our material lives and offer us a one-way ticket to the spiritual world?

This is just a fragment of the evidence that shows how much Krsna cares about every one of us. There is nothing we can do, aside from continued blasphemy of, or willing disobedience to Krsna’s pure devotees that would make us unworthy of Krsna’s love. Still, even if we believe we are truly unworthy, this makes us even more qualified to receive His mercy. Just as being poor qualifies one to receive welfare from the government, disqualification is the very cause of being worthy of the Lord’s mercy. If Mahaprabhu were selling love of Krsna for the price of qualification, He would have closed His shop long ago having gone out of business for lack of customers.

Krsna Cares For Every Soul
Abnormal feelings of unworthiness can be caused by being (or feeling) unloved or denigrated by others, or by personal failures in life. In this unhealthy state, we can feel ourselves so low, impure, unintelligent, or unqualified, that even God couldn’t find a reason to love us.

A devotee once asked Srila Prabhupada, “Why would Krsna care about me? He has so many devotees. He has the gopis, the cowherd boys, His mother and father and so many servants.”

We might feel this way as well. After all, we know we are not perfect and not always Krsna conscious. So we can easily think, “Why would Krsna care about me? Krsna has so many loving devotees and I don’t even have a drop of love for Him. Why would He even want to associate with such a lowly person as I?”

Prabhupada explained that if you cut your finger, you try to save it. You don’t say to the doctor, “Just let my finger fall off, I have nine other fingers.” Similarly, Krsna doesn’t think, “I have so many other devotees, so who cares about you?” He doesn’t think like this because everyone is dear to Krsna.

We Give Krsna Unique Pleasure
Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura describes that every living entity has a unique relationship with Krsna, and thus Krsna experiences unique pleasure from every individual relationship. In other words, Krsna relishes a unique taste from His relationship with every one of us. This means He is anxious to taste that specific rasa with each of us. Not only that, He has a unique way of reciprocating with each one of us; a unique taste that He offers to each and every relationship.

So it’s not that Krsna is ambivalent about us. He very much wants a relationship with us, so much so that He is actively trying to get us back into that relationship. The problem is not that Krsna doesn’t care about the relationship; the difficulty only comes when we don’t care enough about the relationship. This means the problem is not that Krsna feels we are unworthy of a relationship; the problem is we don’t feel worthy of the relationship.

(This may also mean that feelings of unworthiness are sometimes excuses we make to ourselves to avoid properly working on our relationship with Krsna.)

We Are Misunderstanding Krsna’s Affection
If somebody gives us a gift, we might feel unworthy of accepting it, but out of respect, and to reciprocate affection, we accept the gift nonetheless. After all, it would be rude not to accept someone’s expression of love for us because we feel unworthy of it. Similarly, Krsna gives us the gift of Himself in His holy name, in the spiritual master, in the sanga of devotees, in His temples, through his arca murti – in so many ways – and it is a rejection of His affection to say, “No, I am not going to accept these gifts because I am not worthy of them.” If we did say that, Krsna would reply, “It doesn’t matter that you are not qualified. I am giving you Myself. Being worthy isn’t My criteria. I give Myself to you, not because you are worthy, but because I love you. “So it’s not a question of whether or not we are worthy. It comes down to receiving Krsna’s love.

Krsna is called Rasaraja, the king of relationships. Krsna thrives on relationships, and if Krsna wants a relationship with us, we can’t deny Him by saying, “No, just don’t expect much reciprocation from me because I’m not worthy of a relationship with You. ”Are we so foolish as to say to Krsna, “I am unavailable to you?”

Stop Putzing Around
There is an expression in Yiddish called “putzing.” If someone is “putzing around” it means they are being busy doing a lot of useless activities that amount to nothing. “Putzing around” basically means, as Bob Dylan sang, “Being busy doing nothing.”

We are all very busy in the material world doing millions of things that ultimately amount to nothing more than preparing our next birth. In other words, we tend to be expert at “putzing around.” Have you ever been in a rush to make an appointment and you call for one of your family members to get in the car, but they are holding you up by being busy doing nothing of much consequence? In the same way Krsna is calling us to leave this world because we are “putzing around” here, doing a million unimportant things that amount only to holding Him up.
Krsna is saying, “I’ve got a place for you in My home. Your spiritual body is ready for you; your service is ready for you; all arrangements are there for your eternal stay. Stop ‘putzing around’ and come back home!”

Krsna Is Waiting For Us
In Mayapur, Jananivasa Prabhu said in a class that it seems awkward that Madhava (Maypura’s Deity) is playing His flute because Krsna plays His flute to call Radharani and the gopis. Since Radharani and the gopis are already there (on the altar in Mayapur), Krsna doesn’t need to play the flute. So why is He playing it? He’s playing His flute to call us. His flute sings a song that goes something like this: “Come home. I am waiting for you. Stop “putzing around.” What are you doing that’s so important?”

At the end of a class I gave at a college in India earlier this year, the Dean of the college expressed his feelings thusly. “What’s the problem if I stay in the material world life after life if I am happy; I do good karma, serve others, and don’t hurt anybody?”

I told him, “Krsna wants you to come back to Him. He’s waiting for you.” I could sense that he appreciated this answer. Later that evening he enthusiastically told me, “You made me realize that Krsna is waiting for me.”

This is how we should also think. Thoughts of being worthy or not are simply getting in the way of the real fact that Krsna is waiting for us.

Do You Want To Dance With Krsna?
Dance WIth KrsnaSrila Prabhupada would often end his lectures with encouraging words. Sometimes he would say that one day you will see Krsna face to face just like we are seeing one another. At other times he would say that someday you will dance with Krsna. When Srila Prabhupada makes promises like this, we shouldn’t say, “Yeah but not me. I am too useless. I am not worthy or qualified.” That translates into, “Nah, I’ll just be staying down here putzing around. That’s all I am good for.”

Krsna is waiting to dance with us. What fools we are to make excuses not to join the dance?

The All-Attractive Tries To Attract Us
Krsna didn’t have to come to the material world. Yet He came and performed His lilas to attract us back to Him. In fact, everything that Krsna does is ultimately done for this purpose. In other words, He only acts to help us re-establish our relationship with Him. He creates the material world to give us a chance to reform ourselves and He performs His pastimes to attract our mind and heart to Him. This means He performs His pastimes to awaken our love for Him. Try to feel this affection when you hear His lilas and try to feel Him calling you into a relationship with Him. When you read between the lines of the Srimad Bhagavatam you can hear Krsna saying, “Please accept My love. Please join Me in My eternal lila.”

Krsna Attracts Us Through His Devotees
Similarly, when reading Srila Prabhupada’s purports, behind the words you can feel Prabhupada showering love and compassion. Of course, the message of the purport is there, but behind the message allow yourself to feel the love that Srila Prabhupada has for you and me, and all conditioned souls.

Prabhupada’s love for us is further evidence of Krsna’s love for us. Prabhupada is a messenger of Krsna’s love, and thus he loves us all without discrimination. Prabhupada loves everyone to such a degree that he never rejects anyone, no matter how fallen, who is willing to serve Krsna.

Positive Unworthiness
Still, as stated earlier, there are proper feelings of unworthiness appropriate to our level of advancement. These feelings are both natural and helpful for bhakti. So what are these natural feelings for neophyte devotees and how do they manifest?

Feelings of unworthiness manifest in two prominent ways in the stage of vaidhi sadhana bhakti: appreciation and humility. Appreciation manifests in gratitude that Krsna accepts us and our service despite our past sins and present faults as long as we simply make a sincere effort to serve Him and Srila Prabhupada. Even though unqualified, Krsna mercifully gives us lots of service. As we meditate on how Krsna allows us, even though unqualified, to be engaged in His service, our appreciation for Him and the service He gives us grows. Thus, feelings of unworthiness help us see our service as a precious gift that we are blessed to have.

Feeling unworthy also makes us feel helpless. Taken in the correct way, helplessness is a manifestation of humility in accordance with our present level of Krsna consciousness. It manifests as a total dependence on Krsna for guidance, intelligence, and ability to do our service well – or sometimes even to do our service at all. It is through this kind of humility that we advance rapidly in Krsna consciousness. Thus, feelings of unworthiness, when exhibited in a Krsna conscious sense, become one of our greatest allies in sadhana bhakti, because humility is integral to advancing in Krsna consciousness.

The Bottom Line
So yes, we should feel unworthy. We don’t deserve Krsna’s love. We are not qualified to even be a devotee. We have turned our back on Krsna, we have competed with Him, we have disobeyed Him, and we have even tried to become like Him.

Still, Krsna overlooks all of this and forgives us. His desire for a relationship with us is so strong that He will not allow any of this to get in the way. As Krsna will not allow our own disqualifications to get in the way, we should also never allow our own disqualifications to get in our way. Rather, we should allow our feelings of unworthiness to bring us closer and closer to Krsna. This is what Krsna wants us to do.

In the Brihad-bhagavatamrita, when Gopakumar arrives in the spiritual world and first meets Krsna, the Lord tells him, “Why did you take so long? Why did you make me wait so long for you? I missed you so much.”

Yes, Krsna does miss us. Let’s stop putzing around. Krsna is waiting for us.

Identifying the Deity as Bhagavan.
Question: Kindly inform me on what basis we identify Krishna/Bhagavan Vigraha, which is sat chit ananda, with deity/archa which is made up of matter. I want to know the Gaudiya logic and appropriate scriptural backing.
Romapada Swami: The Personality of Godhead is the source of all energies, both material and spiritual. Because He is full of inconceivable potencies, God can convert His different potencies according to His own will, much as an expert electrician can employ the same electric energy for both heating as well as cooling purposes. For the Lord there is no difference between material and spiritual energies; that He can transform His energies as He wills is Srila Vyasadeva’s sublime teaching of shakti-parinamavada. He is the controller of both energies, and He cannot come under their influence at any time, as we do. A fundamental and axiomatic principle in spiritual science is that unless one accepts this inconceivable nature of God’s potencies, there is no way of understanding Him. The conclusion is that Krishna, being omnipotent, can transform matter into spirit and spirit into matter as He desires, and He can accept our service through any sort of medium.
The Supreme Lord is called ‘adhoksaja’, which means One Who is beyond the reach of our mundane, imperfect senses. It is also stated that we can approach the Lord only by engaging our senses in His service. How are we to serve and learn to appreciate Him who cannot be perceived? Therefore, out of causeless compassion for the conditioned souls, Krishna appears in a so-called material form, just to become visible to and accept His devotees’ service.
Just as the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts various incarnations, similarly He takes on forms made out of clay, wood, metal and jewels, which according to shastra is known as archa-vigraha. By doing so this does not mean that His sac-cid-ananda form has been touched by material influence. The archa-vigraha is not fashioned from an artist’s whimsical imagination but is the eternal form of the Lord, confirming in exacting detail to scriptural injunctions. The Lord Himself personally descends in the archa-murti at the request of the acharyas, and invests all His spiritual potencies within the Deity. Thus the devotees get an opportunity to easily approach Him and serve Him even with their present material senses, thereby purifying and spiritualizing their senses.
As Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita, He is not visible to all (BG 7.25), but reciprocates according to a devotee’s degree of surrender to Him (BG 4.11). Thus, to the degree of one’s faith and devotion, one is able to perceive the presence of the Supreme Lord in His Deity form. There are many historical instances wherein the Deities have personal exchanges with the worshiper, talk to them and accept their offerings. But for one who considers Him to be merely stone or wood, He continues to remains so.
Therefore scriptures warn us to carefully avoid such mundane perception of the archa-vigraha. (Isopanishad Mantras 5,8 purports, Padma purana, quoted in Cc Madhya 5.95-97, etc)

Raval - Gokula in Vrindavana (Album with photos)
Deena Bandhu Das: On Christmas Day, we did parikrama of Radharani’s Birthplace Raval, and some very beautiful places in Gokula! We even took a boat ride on the Yamuna! At the end, we visited the Samadhi of Ras Khan, a Muslim who became a Vaishnava and wrote enchanting Braja Poetry. His place is like the forest that we always imagined Vrindavan would be! Pics thanks to Vittalrukmini Das!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/2idvsj

Govardhana Parikrama with Italian devotees (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: My Guru Maharaja used to say, prana ache yara sei hetu pracara. A person can become a preacher if he has got life. A dead man cannot become a preacher. So you must be very enthusiastic that “I shall preach the glories of the Lord to my best capacity.” It is not that one has to become very learned scholar to become a preacher. Simply it requires enthusiasm, “My Lord is so great, so kind, so beautiful, so wonderful. So I must speak something about my Lord.” This is the qualification, enthusiasm. >>> Ref. VedaBase => The Nectar of Devotion – Vrndavana, October 20, 1972
Find them here: https://goo.gl/27hfMV

Acharya Theatrical Distribution (3 min video)
The big news is, we have a distributor who wants to represent our film for distribution in movie theaters in the US and Canada. The company is Abramorama in NYC and recently represented Eight Days a Week, a film on the Beatles by director Ron Howard. Abramorama’s CEO wrote me this after seeing our latest edit:
I watched your film. I think it’s terrific: consistently smart and interesting. I’m certain there’s an audience for it even beyond the core.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/q63Hb7

First, devotees need to understand there is no way to manipulate natural resources for sense gratification without being a burden to the Earth. Srila Prabhupada wrote: According to Vedic understanding, men are transformed into thieves when they plan economic development for sense gratification (SB 4, 18.7) The earth became overburdened due to dharma-glani, or irregular discharge of the Lord's desire. The Lord appeared on the earth to curb the increase in miscreants, and not the increase in population, as is wrongly put forward by the mundane economist (SB 3.3.13) Continue reading "Critique of Environmentalism
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His Holiness Vrajendra nandan Swami went to England from Malaysia to study Engineering. He was living in Birmingham at a YMCA. He met ISKCON members there while they were distributing Srila Prabhupada literatures. He was induced to take the books, he liked the books and finally he took the books. He was studying there and he started coming gradually to the Birmingham temple at Hemsworth where he again met the devotees and he took more books. From then on also took the devotees to the Universities, local colleges and Indians to distribute Srila Prabhupada books and literatures. Later on he joined the Bury place temple, a very simple and humble temple where he would do humble service like cutting vegetable and other menial services. He was initiated in London and was working very hard to distribute Prabhupada books. He was once given a bus to lead a travelling sankirtan party. He was a very good book distributor. Continue reading "Reminiscences of His Holiness Bhakti Vrajendranandan Swami
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Nathdwara On New Years Eve (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Nathdwara is a town in India’s western state of Rajasthan. It is located in the Aravalli hills, on the banks of the Banas River in Rajsamand District. It is most famous as the home of the Sri Nathji deity. Sri Nathji was discovered at Govardhan Hill in Vrindavan by Sri Madhavendra Puri. He is dearly loved by devotees all over the world. New Years Eve was like any other day in Nathdwara – everyone was rushing to the temple to Sri Nathji. We also rushed to see the Lord and prayed for His blessings in the coming year!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/rqjs69

ECO-Vrindaban Board Meeting Minutes 12/16/2016

Mission Statement: ECO-Vrindaban promotes simple living, cow protection, engaging oxen, local agriculture, and above all, loving Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

Participating Directors: Anuttama, Bhima (Chair), Chaitanya Mangala, Kripamaya, Ranaka and Sri Tulasi Manjari

Participating Advisors: Jaya Krsna, Vraja

Participating Managers: Nitaicandra

Recording Secretary: Jamuna Jivani

1. ECO-V’s Cow Protection Endowment

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to establish a board designated endowment fund for the continued support of cow protection in New Vrindaban.

RESOLVED: That ECO-Vrindaban establishes an endowed Fund to protect cows.

The endowment shall be initially funded by ECO-V with the $655K Promissory Note dated November 13th, 2015 from ISKCON New Vrindaban.

The endowment will be called the “ECO-Vrindaban Cow Protection Fund” and ECO-V may solicit donations specifically for the Fund.

Until the board decides otherwise, the Fund will grant funds only to other 501(c)(3) organizations.

The Fund will establish its own bank account at a bank of Ranaka’s choosing and the authorized signers are to be Douglas Fintel, John Sherwood and Christopher Walker. Any checks over the amount of $5,000 must be executed with two signatures.

Allocation of funds and interest income from this endowment shall be determined by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.

A Special Note: The ECO-Vrindaban members acknowledge Madhava Gosh Prabhu’s significant contributions to the development of this cow care endowment. Nearly one year since his passing, fellow board members are pleased to establish this Fund in his memory.

2. January Meetings

There will be an annual board members only meeting on 1/22/17 and regular monthly meeting on 1/29/17.

3. Internal Funding Request: $2K for March 2017 T-shirts & Appreciation Plaques

WHEREAS: The ECO-V Board wishes to acknowledge the dedication of long time community members, as well as offer a token of appreciation to the INV and ECO-V staff and  volunteers.

RESOLVED: The Board approves up to $2,000 as a budget for plaques and t-shirts to distribute during the March 2017 meeting weekend.

4. Ranaka’s Monthly Report

Ananda Vidya and Lalita Gopi

• Currently milking six cows and Laxmi is bagging up at Nandagram – estimated to come fresh in January.
• Producing 20 gallons of milk per day. Due to less demand for fluid milk this time of year, larger quantities butter and ghee are being produced for the Deities.
• They are very happy with barn improvements that were made over the summer: insulation, new walls, new sliding cow entrance door, and a new higher BTU heater generously donated by Vasudeva Clayton.

Ranaka

• During the winter, Ray’s work is mostly indoors in an effort to keep him out of the harsh weather as much as possible. He is doing remodeling work at the ghee plant, feeding and checking water fountains and lines. Also, Ray is working on an electrical upgrade at the temple barn.
• Ranaka will meet with Bhagavan and Ray next week if the weather clears for the Valley Barn well electrical upgrade project.
• Finalizing 2016 and developing 2017 operating budgets.
• He is working with attorneys to develop a sexual harassment policy for ECO-V staff.

5. Nitaicandra’s Monthly Report

• Nandagram greenhouse earthwork has been mulched.
• The greenhouse frame has been started, but was put on hold due to the cold weather.
• Materials for the Deity flower gardens have been picked up from the Amish country.
• Feed aisle at the Nandagram barn has been reinforced.
• The calves’ barn at Nandagram has been cleaned out and new bedding applied.
• The two houses at Nandagram have been winterized.
• Nitaicandra met with Bhagavan at the temple goshala to schedule Ray to finish up electrical rough work. Once finished, Bhagavan and his crew will complete the upgrade.
• Vyasasan has been asked to winterize the Bahulaban barn water system.

For regular updates, visit the ECO-Vrindaban Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/ECOVrindaban

BY HH JANANANDA GOSWAMI

HH Bhakti Vrajendranandana Maharaja was born in Malaysia. He came to the UK to study where he joined ISKCON in 1971 in Birmingham. He was around 33 years old at the time of joining. Subhag, now swami, was his inspiration at that time and remained so throughout his life. It was there in Birmingham that I first saw him. We were both visiting the small temple at the same time and on the first occasion were the only present except Subhag swami.

He then moved to Bury Place temple in early 1972 and served selflessly there for several years – he was known as the simple hard working, surrendered brahmacari who would never miss anything. We were initiated at the same time in July 1972 from Srila Prabhupada on Trafalgar Square. He received the name Vrajendra Kumar. For years we travelled throughout the UK distributing books – our sankirtan party consisted of Prabhavisnu, Mahavisnu, Vrajendra Kumar, myself and Deva Dharma. For several years I had the privilege of his association both in Bury Place and at the Bhaktivedanta Manor until In 1975 he moved to India where he took up the responsibility of temple commander in Vrndavana. He would occasionally return to Europe for sankirtan and raising funds for India.

In 1979 along with Ramasarana prabhu and his wife from the UK – Janaki dasi, he returned to his home country and they established the Malaysian yatra on firm grounds. I came to Malaysia in January 1984 and we worked together for years on end.

In 1983 he accepted sannyasa from HH Jayapataka Swami. From then on he continued to serve in Malaysia, preaching extensively. He would regularly visit India traveling and preaching and other neighbouring countries. In the late 1990’s his health deteriorated developing serious heart problems. The doctors gave him 6 months to live. For some time he went to India and miraculously gained strength. Back and forth to Malaysia he reassumed his preaching and traveling. Around 2011 again his health dipped and he became hospitalized for some time with a failing liver. He pushed on enthusiastically serving in whatever way he could. He faced regular health crises and several time survived against all odds. Over the past few months his kidneys failed and he has had to undergo dialysis.

Around 3 weeks past he went into a coma and although coming back to consciousness his health was ailing to the point the doctors made it clear there was nothing more they could do and in discussion with the devotees – many of whom are themselves doctors – decided to take Maharaja back to the temple where he remained for 12 hours till his glorious departure returning to his eternal position at Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet.

All devotees who knew him will attest to the fact that he was truly a great vaisnava free from malice, envy, lust and greed. Non-duplicitous – the symbol of genuine simplicity, straightforwardness and chastity to Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON. Not for a moment did he ever think of leaving ISKCON. He always considered himself a little assistant to the actual preacher Srila Prabhupada. A cent per cent sold out soldier in Srila Prabhupada’s great sankirtan army. We have lost the association of a wonderful soul but his example will stand as a beacon for many to come.

BY SHYAMA RASIKA DASA

It was during 2006. Guru Maharaj got ready for Mangala Arati and came out of his room, and he said, "Today is a very special day." And we rushed to Mangala Arati. Guru Maharaj entered into Narasimha Dev Altar and did Arati to Lord Narasimha dev. After arati Guru Maharaj got some Tulasi leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord and started to distribute to devotees as usual and gave some to His Holiness Bhakti Vrajendranandana Swami Maharaj and invites him to join Guru Maharaj in his morning walk. And went in front of Srila Prabhupada and started to chant his Gayathri (Standing). Then along with the devotees Guru Maharaj chanted his 4 rounds in front of Panca Tattva. Then started his morning walk along with His Holiness and devotees.

First we went to Gosala and Guru Maharaj had his fresh Cow urine to drink, and asked Gaura Hari Prabhu (Gosala) to provide one cup for His Holiness Bhakti Vrajendranandan Swami Maharaj and enjoyed his company a lot.

Then the morning walk went through the backside pathway to the International school, and grihastha housing area. And finally reached Sulabh kitchen for Guru Puja.

His Holiness Bhakti Vrajendranandan Swami Maharaj wanted to go and attend Darshan Arati and Srila Prabhupada Puja. But, Guru Maharaj requested, "Maharaj, please take part in Guru Puja and bless devotees and then we will go to Darshan." Maharaj agreed with Guru Maharaj.

Then, Guru Maharaj and Maharaj entered Sulabh Kitchen from the back door. But devotees were already crowded inside the hall.

There were three Vyasa asana. And when Guru Maharaj entered into the Hall, Kirtan started "Jaya Guru deva! Jaya Guru deva!" but Guru Maharaj intervened the Kirtan party, and took over and started singing, "Jaya Bhakti Vrajendra nandan Swami Maharaj! Jaya Bhakti Vrajendranandan Swami Maharaj!" Maharaj was really astonished.

Then Guru Maharaj grabbed Maharaj's hand. And made him sit in the middle Vyasa Asana. And Guru Maharaj sat on his left and Subhag swami Maharaj sat on his right. 

Maharaj was still in shock what is going on. Then Guru Maharaj gave a sound call. Then a cake came. And Guru Maharaj announced "Today is a very special day! today is my beloved God-brother Sri Sri Bhakti Vrajendra Nandana Swami Maharaj's Vyasa Puja!"

Then  Guru Maharaj requested Maharaj to cut the cake. But, Maharaj was in so much happiness and ecstasy, was hugging Guru Maharaj and Subhal Swami Maharaj. And Maharaj requested both of them to join him in cutting this cake. Then three swamis were holding the knife and started to cut the cake. And the whole hall was reverbing "Jaya Bhakti Vrajendranandan Swami Maharaj! Jaya Bhakti Vrajendranandan Swami Maharaj!" And Maharaj took a first piece and fed Guru Maharaj, and Subhag Maharaj and Guru Maharaj took a piece and fed Maharaj and they were posing for the pictures also. Then whatever garland that devotees wanted to offer Guru Maharaj, Guru Maharaj directed to Maharaj. And everyone offered flowers at Maharaj's lotus feet, and three swamis blessed everyone. It was a memorable day. I still able to visualize it.

Whenever Maharaj see me, he asked me in Tamil, "Eppadi irukka?" "How are you?" We will really miss you Maharaj. Seeking his blessings

BY AJAMILA DASA

During the glorification in light of the passing of HH Bhakti Vrajendranandana Swami Maharaja please convey to the assembled devotees my prostrated obeisances at their feet and at his lotus feet.

His Holiness has served Srila Prabhupada unswervingly year after year on the preaching front line in Malaysia.

Because of such preaching consciousness Maharaja was always in Vrindavana and thus he left his body in Vrindavana and without any shadow of a doubt he has gone back to Godhead to be with Lord Sri Krishna in Vrindavana.

We certainly lament losing his association but we also joyfully celebrate his successful departure from this mortal world to the land of unending bliss and eternality in Sri Vrindavana Dham.

Hoping this meets you well. Hare Krishna!

A most unworthy and insignificant servant

I’ve made this video to give you an inside look into my course on Śāstra and Bhakti, “The Role of Sacred Text in Gauḍīya Bhakti.”

There are four different ways you can take the course: by self-study, guided-study, group-classes, or private classes.

All four include PDF notes for each session. These notes are also shown in-class and in the recorded videos, but I give them to you as separate PDFs as well, because they are much more easily studied and referenced in that format.

Each session also includes homework questions, to ensure you are correctly grasping the key points.

I also provide you with my own personal answers to the homework questions. If you are taking the course by self-study, you can check your answers against these. If you are taking the course by another method, I personally check and correct your answers, and am available for questions by email and in the dedicated class discussion forums.

Now I will show you selected excerpts from the pre-recorded classes. Thank you for watching. I hope to see you in class soon!

Find out more, and ENROLL NOW at: http://vrajakishor.com/c-veda

Tagged: Bhagavata Purana, Guru Sadhu Sastra, Sastra, shastra

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