The 26 Second Avenue Summer of 1966

IMPOSSIBLE DREAM? Some people think that the existence of the soul and God, what to speak of a relationship between them, is delusional and unproductive. Others may doubt that one can have a spiritual practice to understand them, or that the Ultimate Unlimited Absolute is personal in its highest aspect, what to speak of being Krishna. Or those on the path of bhakti for many decades may doubt that they can make much advancement in this lifetime, but hope against hope for a miracle at the time of death. We find in the world so many opinions, some well-reasoned, others full of emotionalism, negative, positive, regretful, or so many combinations that may dissuade one from spiritual practice or the determination to give one’s whole being, heart and soul.

Sometimes well-meaning friends, family, or those brothers and sisters on our bhakti path who are disillusioned with fallen leaders or their guru, can be our worst advisors or critics. Some people never heal from their painful past traumas, betrayal, or disappointments, and remain looking backward, and not to true empowering possibilities. As the saying goes, misery enjoys company. How much such opinions affect us depends on our mind’s orientation to react or respond based on how much spiritual experience or faith in our path we have, or haven’t.

As I have shared before, despite appearances to some, I am one of those devotees who has lived as a casual, or “religious” devotee (which means just doing the basics and not really fully applying oneself to the process both internally and externally), for most of my decades of practice, and in fact I have this as my general default setting—which I would wager is true for many older devotees. I share this as a warning for younger devotees and a possible wake-up call for those devotees in old or pre-old age.

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Seven years ago, the Bali Klungkung area devotees bought some land and constructed a beautiful temple and asrama. Sometime later they installed Sri Gaura Nitai, Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra and Sri Radha Kunjabihari.

I had the privilege of attending the seventh anniversary of that opening, which started in the afternoon and went late into the night. Many hundreds of devotees and guests came for a wonderful celebration.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 25 November 2007, Mayapur, Lecture)
It is one thing to take up devotional service but it is another thing to become absorbed in devotional service. Many people do find some taste, some satisfaction in the philosophy and in principles of moral behaviour but it is not so easy to become absorbed…

We see that somewhere along the line, devotees go an independent course. They start very serious but sooner or later, one gets confronted with oneself.

Sooner or later one must find real happiness in Krsna consciousness. It may not be enough that it offers morality and a secure society. It may not be enough to just get taste out of kirtan. One has to really make Krsna everything. One has to become absorbed. To be absorbed means to make Krsna everything. It cannot be that we ‘like’ Krsna consciousness amongst other things.

We may find Krsna consciousness to be good and inspiring but we may not be completely convinced. It has not captured us to the point where Krsna is everything. Why is that? Because we have not made service everything. As long as we still have personal desire, still wanting to fulfill many personal ambitions, then Krsna consciousness will only partially capture us and then all these other agenda items may grow and one day we take them up again.

Therefore the question is, “What service are we doing?” In the beginning it is natural that we are more concerned with what we are getting – what taste am I getting… what inspiration am I getting!?

But service is the turning point. So in the beginning, it is about what we are getting. We may find someone to be so inspiring but it is not the person who is so inspiring, it is their serviced that is so inspiring. Ultimately it is devotional service that is inspiring because we must become inspired to serve otherwise what is the point!? Inspiration is not a matter of excitement. Inspiration must go deep and bring about seriousness also. Inspiration means that now I will give my life to it. This is needed!

Veda: Secrets from the East.
Published by The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
Review By Byron Kyle: I first met the devotees in 2012 in my first year of study and I couldn’t have been more uncomfortable in their association. “Veda: Secrets from the East” was the first book I received from the devotees and it has been a springboard and an invaluable resource on my journey to discovering Krishna and myself. I had a very staunch Catholic upbringing and so my faith in Catholicism was steadfast and my mind unhinging. I was discerning a vocation to the priesthood at the time but I was beginning to inquire into other faiths before committing my life to my chosen beliefs.
This book has held such great appeal for me because not only does it make a great and easy to digest introduction into the beliefs of Krishna Conscious devotees but it succinctly answers all life’s FAQs like, “Who am I?” and “Why do bad things happen to good people?” My mind has been put at ease since reading this book by immersing myself in the timeless wisdom of the Vedas. This is a book not only for those who are just beginning to awaken their spiritual consciousness, but a book for those who have doubts about the Krishna Consciousness movement. It is a book for seekers and for thinkers, and as a scholar of philosophy, I particularly enjoyed the East-West dialogues of Chapter 7, where Srila Prabhupada (the founder of the movement) engages in conversations about famous Western philosophers like Plato, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx.
This powerful book has forever changed the way I see the world, myself and the Supreme. I recommend that every beginner in the movement read this book and every skeptic outside the movement do the same. Thank you to the devotees who gave me this precious gift and to the readers of this article, may Krishna shower you with manifold blessings. Jay Sri Krishna!

Cultural program in Ponrepo, Prague (Album with photos)
December 1, 2016, cinema Ponrepo, Prague 1. The cultural program on the occasion of this year’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Hare Krishna movement (1966-2016). During the evening, the audience could listen to traditional mantras and bhajans performed by musical groups Venu Gopal, to appreciate the beauty of traditional temple dance Bharata Nátjam performed Rasabihari Devi Dasi, watch the documentary “50 years of enjoyment out of loyalty,” taste the specialties of Indian vegetarian cuisine and take a some of the books the ancient Vedic blueness. The program was attended by more than eighty visitors, including several prominent people from politics and culture. Each guest received a small gift in the form of magazine “50 Years of the Hare Krishna movement” and a large jar of honey from our beekeepers Loka Saranga. Thank you to everyone who participated in the program and helped in the making of this event. Thank you to everyone who actively helping and remain favorably disposed towards the activities of the Hare Krishna movement. We look forward to meeting with you at other events and festivals. Hare Krishna! For the organizers Priya Kirti das —- photo: Kirticandra Dasa Nitya Lila dasi.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/DYAcge

San Diego Hare Krishna Community’s Weekly Newsletter - December 4, 2016.
Newsletter Sections: Upcoming Festivals | Special Events | Weekly Home Gatherings Temple Events Weekly Spotlight | Classifieds
Read more: https://goo.gl/8pbv98

Heritage of the Soul Myth Buster By Ananta Gauranga Das.
Do you have a friend who asks, “How are you, you ok?” In one fell swoop. Or maybe a mother who tires incessantly to hook you up with anything that remotely resembles a spouse (a pulse being the sole requirement). Are you acquainted with a vocabulary littered with the phrase “this thing” coupled with “and all.” Prepare to be astounded by the versatility of “this thing.” “This thing” can be used as a noun, verb, adjective, conjunction and even a person’s name. Should this resonant with you like the gongs of Big Ben, then you have accurately assimilated the social idiosyncrasies of South Africans of Indian decent.

Do I simply enjoy needling colloquial stereotypical prose or do I have a point? Indeed, I do. Every society consists of a complex myriad of psychosomatic dynamics which program individual and group consciousness. This heritage is hilarious bearing in mind such nuances of linguistics and culture are so alien to our true ancestry. Our family tree stems from the spiritual realm and our Father is begging and pleading for us to return home. Isn’t it unfortunate that we turn a blind eye and deaf ear?

It’s 4 :30am and you under covers on a wintery Monday, you close your eyes for 5 minutes and suddenly it’s 7:45am. Yet at 1:30pm at work, you shut your eyes for 5 minutes and it’s 1:31pm. We endure the daily grind not because we want to, rather we have to, for fear of starvation. We slave away for a boss we loath and a company in which we are but a number. I’ll share with you a secret, an open secret, openly spoken by those who know, to those who wish to hear. We have discovered a superior satisfaction, some say, a soothing of the soul. We hold the key to eternal ecstasy, that elusive commodity, which every being from an ant to Angelina Jolie, yearns for. You see, this is the eternal nature of the soul and it yearns for bliss. Spiritual life is the highest form of indulgence because it’s a decadence consummated in conjunction with God.

Please know when you stagger unceremoniously to your place of residence from a club at 4:30am, our party is only getting started and it’s not just on the weekends and or public holidays. We have come to learn that God is a DJ and we dance to His bhakti beat. This thing, dear friends, is ecstasy – the real heritage of the soul. It’s that which can’t be found at the bottom of a Johnnie Walker Blue or being first in line at a 75% off Louis Vuitton sale. The natural tendency of the soul is to crave pleasure. This euphoria is achieved via the medium of a spiritual practice, as it awakens the dormant love for the Supreme.

Bhakti Yoga is the process of reconnection of the soul to it’s Source. Allow me to pierce your perception of pleasure: there’s more to existence than running the rat race of life on the wheel of impermanence, all the while becoming consumed by that which we consume. Don’t be bewitched by the shimmering broken glass. Insanity will be bequeathed to successive generations if we do not shed the falsity of false identification. Let’s examine the alternative. Cultivate your eternally unique relationship with God and realize your birthright. Our true inheritance is a legacy of an eternal loving relationship to the Supreme.

Selfishness is closely related to the inability to hear, as our preoccupation with our self makes us deaf to another's voice. To overcome this, we can learn to consider all matters thoughtfully with due respect to our spouse’s point of view. This honest approach, which avoids manipulation and partiality to one’s own insights, facilitates finding a better conclusion than one person could have attained alone. It is unlikely that the best possible decision will be made if one person imposes his or her will on the other. After all, our will, our deep conviction of what is undoubtedly “right” and Krishna conscious, may actually be the zeal experienced by neophyte devotees, who, in the words of Krishnadas Kaviraja Gosvami are “ expert in arguing though they have no sense of advanced devotional service.” (Cc Madhya 2.93) In other words, without being aware of it, our dearly held opinion may cloak selfishness. Continue reading "Selfishness
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On a Friday, September 23rd our team embarked on a second padayatra in Bolivia in honour of ISKCON’s 50th anniversary. This time our route followed the ancient Inca roads found in the Andes Mountains. We walked for three-days along a road known as ‘El Chorro’ which starts in the mountains and ends in the rainforest 52 kilometres away. This road is between 500 and 1000 years old and was built by the Tiahuanaco (Tiwanku) and sometime after it was improved upon and used by the Incas. Later, the Spanish conquerors used it and even up until recently it was used to connect the Bolivian highlands with the Amazon region. This road formed part of the Inca highway system known as the Qhapaq Nan (the Great Road) that spanned across six South American countries. Today it is recognized as a UNESCO heritage site. The idea for this padayatra was to spread the holy names to the remote mountain villages of this area. Continue reading "Bolivia’s 2nd Padayatra in the Andes Mountains
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Climbing the bhakti ladder.
Question: What if I can only chant Hare Krsna right now, but I can’t do much service?
Answer: Chanting Hare Krsna is service. However, when you are chanting “Hare Krsna,” you are also requesting service. After chanting, don’t be surprised when you are awarded more service.
And then when Krsna gives you service, there may be a question about how much service you should take.
On the one hand, Krsna advises in the Gita (18.66) that we simply surrender to Him. And this is actually the main business of a devotee. On the other hand, Krsna tells Uddhava in the Srimad-bhagavatam, sve sve adhikari ya nistah … “It is a good quality to take service according to one’s adhikari, or current capacity.” (SB 11.21.2)

All ISKCON devotees worldwide are undoubtedly inspired and enthused by the rapid progress of the TOVP construction over the last five years. The temple superstructure is complete, the finished domes and chatris await their kalashes and chakras, external embellishments are being added, assorted murtis are in different stages of production, various artisan work forges ahead, electric and plumbing work continues, marble laying has begun, an elaborate Lightning Arrester system is being installed, and much more is all going on simultaneously.

As we enter the year 2017 internal finishing work will commence and the gigantic altar of our worshipable Lords will see significant progress. This is all due to the mood of cooperation between all ISKCON members and the subsequent blessings of Gaur Nitai, Srila Prabhupada, and all our acharyas as They look down upon our efforts with Their merciful glances.

Overall, we are on budget and on track to realize our common goal of celebrating together the most momentous occasion in Gaudiya Vaishnava history: the Grand Opening of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium on Gaur Purnima, 2022.

To bring 2016 to an auspicious close we would like to make a humble appeal. If you have not yet contributed to the TOVP, please make a donation, large or small, by going to this website address: https://tovp.org/donate/seva-opportunities/. To donors who are making monthly payments towards their pledge, please make a larger payment for your installment this month, or even consider paying off the entire balance. And those donors who have stopped their monthly payments due to personal circumstances or, if you live in India, due to the demonetization of the rupee, please consider restarting your pledge payments this month. The Lord will certainly bless you for your sacrifice to the higher cause of the important missionary work of the sankirtan movement.

Once again, thank you to one and all. We are grateful for your support, financial or otherwise, and look forward to another highly productive and inspiring year ahead. Please keep your TOVP seva in your New Year’s resolutions and we wish you all a happy and Krishna conscious New Year.

“I have named this temple Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir, the Rising Moon of Mayapur. Now make it rise, bigger and bigger until it becomes the full moon. And this moonshine will be spread all over the world. All over India they will come to see. From all over the world they will come.”

Srila Prabhupada; Letter to Ramesvara, 25 October, 1974

The TOVP Team

The post TOVP End of the Year Message appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Iskcon’s Bhaktivedanta Manor and several Hindu temples in UK joined a vegetarian cafe in BANNING new £5 note because it contains animal fat - as singer Morrissey says people who use them should donate their OWN bodies!
Satish Sharma from the National Council of Hindu Temples UK told BBC Asian Network he’s aware of three temples which aren’t allowing the new fivers, including Bhaktivedanta Manor in Aldenham, Hertfordshire.
Rainbow Cafe in Cambridge is also refusing to accept the notes as its owner said they were “repulsive”.
Speaking more about the issue, the outspoken singer Morrissey said: ‘If it had been revealed by the Bank of England that the new British Five Pound note contained slices of cat or dog, the country would be in an uproar.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/wsYGuP

The Time Of The Sages - Bhagavata Purana: India’s Jewel of Wisdom.
“HH Krishna Ksetra Swami (Dr Kenneth R. Valpey) of the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies and a team of professional filmmakers are preparing to embark upon a quest to uncover the secrets of the jewel of Indian transcendental literature, Bhagavata Purana in a feature documentary. HH Krishna Kshetra Swami says that "I would like to make a documentary on this great literature to make it more widely known in the West. The Bhagavata Purana invites us to participate in a nontemporal, ever-expanding reality. It’s an engaging nourishment for the soul. I hope we’ll treasure with others through this film.”

As a Manipuri Vaishnava and a studious scientist student from the prestigious University of California - Irvine, USA, Sripada maharaj won the heart of his spiritual master H.D.G. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in their very first meeting. It was Sripada Maharaj's scientist colleague Ramananda Raya (Dr. Ravindra Rao) who introduced maharaj to Srila Prabhupada. As maharaj recalls, Srila Prabhupada and maharaj looked intently at each other's eyes for a few moments and then Prabhupada spoke. In their first meeting, while appreciating the temples built by the King of Manipur in Nabadwip, Radha-Kund and Vrndavan, Srila Prabhupada asked maharaj "Being born in a Vaishnava family, why did you come here, crossing the ocean?" Continue reading "The Scientist-Saint who sowed the seed for ‘Life comes from Life’ conversations
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Prabhupada, the Life of Our Spiritual Archives

After studying the 14th chapter of Gita someone very feelingly asked, “I see people take to bhakti or other yogas very unnaturally, fanatically, and they wind up extremely depressed and stressed out. How can we follow bhakti or any spiritual path more naturally – not full of repression and artificial stuff?”

What is Natural for Conditioned Souls?

Natural is an adjective from the noun, nature, which is from the root, nat- which means “inherent.” Natural action is not forced. It is an automatic result of what is inherent in us. Natural things exist inherently, they doesn’t have to be manufactured artificially.

Our inherent nature is full of desire to enjoy the external field of perception. So our practices cannot be completely natural; there will have to be effort involved.

The key is to practice at a level we can sustain, and to gradually increase what we can sustain.

Unfortunately,  vidyā and bhakti are just not natural for us. Our inherent nature is full of bhukti – endeavor to enjoy the external field of perception. So our practices cannot be completely natural; there will have to be effort involved. They key, however, is the find a level of effort that our nature can sustain and support. This would be, relatively speaking, “natural practice.”

Bhakti Never Causes Stress or Depression

Rajaḥ, not bhakti, causes stress and tamaḥ, not bhakti, causes depression. But if this is true, why are many spiritual practitioners stressed out and depressed? I see two reasons: (1) they are not practicing as much as they can, (2) they are practicing more than is naturally sustainable for them.

Overzealousness occurs because we treat bhakti-yoga as another external object, trying to aquire more of it as a way to enjoy pleasures like renown, prestige, superiority, etc. These desires are raja-guṇa and cause distress.

In the first case, they are not getting rid of rajaḥ and tamaḥ as quickly as they could be. In the second case, they are brining rajaḥ and tamaḥ into their concept of sādhana. The overzealousness of the second case occurs because we treat bhakti-yoga as another external object, trying to aquire more of it as a way to enjoy pleasures like renown, prestige, superiority, etc. These desires are raja-guṇa and cause distress. And since raja-guṇa inariably invokes tamo-guṇa, that stress invariably leads to depression.

The key, then, is to practice at a level we can sustain, and to gradually increase what we can sustain.

How can we do that?

Upgrade Your Nature

All sādhana is based on śraddhā. The root of that word, śrad, literally refers to our “heart.”Śraddhā is about our nature.  If our sādhana is more intense than what our śraddhā can support, it will fall over like the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa – which falls over because the ground beneath it cannot support its weight.

The weight of our sādhana has to be supported by what we comprehend about life. We cannot expect to sustain something difficult if we don’t really understand the importance and realness of doing it. 

The most important thing is to deepen our comprehension of life. The deeper our comprehension, the more sādhana-weight we can naturally support.

The most important thing is to deepen what we comprehend about life. The deeper our comprehension, the more sādhana-weight we can naturally support. Getting rid of misconceptions about life (anartha-nivṛtti) leads to niṣṭhā – deep and steady practice, which soon brings ruci – very significant positive experiences that radically upgrade the śraddhā. 

Don’t Just “Read” or “Hear” or “Study”… THINK, SEARCH, EXPLORE, DISCOVER!

To deepen our comprehension of life, we should turn to śāstra.

Śāstra is often difficult to comprehend, so it is essential to find someone who, to the best of your estimation, seems to really comprehend it, and ask them to explain it to you. 

In many modern circles of practitioners there is a strong taboo against creative exploration and investigation of the śāstra (“speculation”), but this, sadly, is a huge impediment to spirituality.

Once you have an explanation, you have to really explore it, search the limits of how you understand it. Discover it. Don’t just “believe it” or “have faith in it” or “accept it” or even scholastically “learn it.” See it, taste it, feel it in the real world. In many modern circles of practitioners there is a strong taboo against creative exploration and investigation of the śāstra (“speculation”), but this, sadly, is a huge impediment to spirituality. In other circles śāstra is treated as an object of scholarship. This too falls short of the mark. Explore śāstra with your heart, and with your sādhana, too! Explore it until you understand it as well as you understand how to make toast, and see it as plainly as you see everything else you accept as real. You will probably make lost of mistakes, but that’s what learning is all about. Keep close to the sādhu-guru who really comprehends śāstra so that the flaws in your explorations and the misperceptions in your discoveries can gradually be ironed out. This exploration alone will make śāstra’s vidyā part of your nature, part of your heart, your śraddhā; allowing you to increase your practice in a sattvika manner.

Explore it until you understand it as well as you understand how to make toast, and see it as plainly as you see everything else you accept as real.

Very inquisitive, honest and thorough study of śāstra is absolutely essential. Understand the fundamentals of tattva, explained in summary in Bhagavad Gītā and much more elaborately in Bhāgavata Purāṇa bit by bit, step by step, patiently but thoroughly. Practice to the extent comes naturally as a result of what you have truly understood and can percieve as being true. If you keep this up, you will soon become truly advanced in bhakti-sādhana, and will attain its sublime goals.

Vraja Kishor das

www.vrajakishor.com

SB 07.13.16-17 Our Wonderful Fantastic Pastime In Maya 2016-10-13

Srimad Bhagavatam 7.13.16-17 Our Wonderful Fantastic Pastime In Maya 2016-10-13 Juhu

For some reason best known to my self I chose to live in the material world and be in the best and worst of yuga’s that of the age of Kali
It’s the best for one can return home simply by chanting the Mahamantra
It’s the worst because it’s a time of exploration and suffering, duplicate and hypocrisy

For those who don’t live in the UK you will be unaware that the bank notes issued by The Bank of England are changing the first being changed is the £5, it makes it more hard wearing and harder to counterfeit. And is very similar in nature to those issued in New Zealand and Australia.

It has now been discovered that it contains a trace of tallow, much to the outrage of vegans,vegetarians and some religious groups most notably the one misidentified as the Hindu Faith.

It brings in a quandary as sadly you need money and have little control over its production or value in real terms, so pressure is mounting to sign petitions calling for its withdrawal and that a new bank note be issued not containing tallow

Indeed an honourable cause one most who truly believe in animal welfare and understand the real nature of the spirit soul would agree with.

So a number of Hindu temples have banned and refuse to accept the £5 note within the grounds and especially in the temple room, very honourable.

But let’s make an analysis and note some observations

One of the reasons for the new bank note is that the old ones picked up and carried germs and residue very easily, indeed lab analysis showed that the old bank notes contained traces of drugs and animal fats; the trace of animal fat in the new note is far less; which raises an interesting observation notation if you are enraged by the tallow in the new £5 note than you have to be also enraged that the other notes are also contmimated.

The conclusion is that all notes should be banned

Their is also a duplicity when it comes to ISKCON UK stance we refuse the £5 note in the temple and it’s premises, but our sankirtan devotees are allowed to handle and accept the £5 note

The conclusion this is hypocrisy, you either are against and ban altogether or not make up your minds which one

An outsider observing will also note that given your outraged by this use of animal fat, but looking around one notes leather shoes, and individuals who wear leather belts and get the money out of leather wallets and bags.

Their conclusion is why is wearing of leather in the temple not banned

One interesting argument is that the shoes and accepting of the £5 note outside is alright as it’s outside of the temple and not offered to Sri Krishna, this is duplicity and hypocritical; everything a devotee does should be as an offering to Sri Krishna and of the highest standard the individual can achieve and maintain, we should not have a temple standard and well I’m not in the temple so it doesn’t matter standard.

Our business is the propagation of Krishna Consciousness and to give proper education, proper education is to inform about spirit soul and animal welfare, and show the benefits of a vegetarian diet.

Signing a petition calling for the removal of tallow from the bank note whilst turning a blind eye to the widespread use of leather products when their is many alternatives is disgraceful.

One should be looking at the cause not symptom

The symptom is the use of animal products in everyday items were it’s not needed
The cause is animal slaughter

We should be campaigning for a complete ban on animal slaughter, especially as were aware of the karmic reaction the government officials receive for allowing this, and for all those involved in meat, leather and animal byproduct production.

If you are making a stand against the small amount of animal byproduct in a bank note banning it’s use but then turning a blind eye to the wearing and use of leather which can be avoided this is duplicity and as the inventor of the £5 note stated your stupid

Over the years I’ve convinced 3 restaurants and 2 shops to remove all cow product’s one restaurant removed all meat products, not by petition but by education and by example

Srila Prabhupada said we lead by example

So my conclusion is if we are banning the £5 note we need to ban all leather from entering the temple and as individuals we conduct ourself outside the temple as we would inside

Personally I will continue to use the £5 note as it’s less contaminated than the old £5 note, otherwise no leather products I can avoid this, whilst continuing to educate those I meet on real animal welfare and the spirit soul within.

Whilst campaigning for a closure of all slaughter houses

And on an end note Hindu India has one of the largest cow slaughter programs in the world best ISKCON and the outraged devotees petition the Indian government to close these, one this is achieved I will take the let’s ban the £5 note more seriously.

And accepting the £5 note outside of the temple but not inside frankly is just hypocrisy duplicity and gives entirely the wrong message, one just looks like a fool, and devotees aren’t fools

Dethrone television from the citadel of your daily regiment and replace it with the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is!
Ananta Gauranga Das: As the taxi got closer, I got deafer. The speakers roared, “I like big butts and I cannot lie, all the other brothers can’t deny.” Being a member of the Hare Krishnas, I practice renunciation, whereby nothing is falsely given up but rather everything is used in the Lord’s service. Could I link such vulgarity to spirituality? Then it dawned on me, using the tune still reverberating within my mind, I revised the lyrics to “I like big books and I cannot lie, all the other brothers can’t deny.” If you don’t already know, we certainly do have voluminous books and we are big on their distribution. Big butts are not the theme of this article rather, the devolution of reading. Alas I live in a generation that’s witnessed book worms mutate to “book face,” I mean Facebook. In short it’s not that we are not readers, it’s just the mechanisms of reading have transmuted. It’s kinda similar to the way chipboard looks like oak, but is not. My observation however is that social media is not the problem, rather our misfortunes are sowed from the seeds of a greed driven economy. The manner in which we abuse and are abused by media is the cause of our woes. Humanity is robbed of independence and intelligence due to the addictive nature of television, Instagram, YouTube and tabloid magazines. These weapons of mass distractions are soul sapping, they hijack our creativity and the need for meaningful human interaction. Did you know that the pornographic industry makes 4 billion dollars more than Hollywood every year? Their tentacles permeate cyber space resulting in toxic audio/ visual material at the push of a button. According to Juniper Research, by 2017, a quarter of a billion people are expected to be accessing mobile adult content from their phones or tablets, an increase of more than 30% from 2013. On a cognitive level using these stimuli create the same chemical response within the cytoplasm of the brain as hard narcotics. If you ever had a thorn under your skin, you will know that you can use another to extricate it. So use your kindles, tablets, smart phones and laptops to infuse spiritual knowledge into your daily activities, in so doing, freedom awaits. We are afforded the rare opportunity to see through the eyes of ancient wisdom. So instead of reading the TV guide or another WhatsApp message, grab hold of one of Prabhupada’s books, which are infused with dynamic spiritual energy. Prabhupada has distilled the essence of the Vedas into the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Charitamrita. Arguably his magnum opus is the translation of the Srimad Bhagavatam. The ability to discriminate between truth and the muck of falsity is awakened when one’s mind and senses have been purified through the revealed words of God. One then gains insight to interpret the world via the medium of knowledge generated from saints. In this way we learn to hear and feel the presence of God in everything around us. Here is a friendly challenge, a social experiment if you will. Dethrone television from the citadel of your daily regiment for seven days, replace it with Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. Take a personal inventory as to how this change affects your mood, energy and relationships. I think you will find that plasma screen, which is so close to your eyes is some distance away from your heart. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit,” Aristotle.

Iskcon Durban: 10.000 books already distributed during the first week of the December book distribution marathon.
Dear Friends
As the first week of the 2016 Prabhupada Book Marathon draws to a close, we are happy to announce that we have reached the 10000-book mark. Our goal is 40000 books. Join us in distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, join our family business.
The Jahnava Dasis, headed by Rukmini, have secured book tables in various malls. If you are able to dedicate some time to assist, kindly contact her: 084 579 1080.

Your Week Ahead
Saturday, 3 December
Weekly Marathon Sankirtan Festival
(Note: this Festival continues every Saturday until December 24th.)
Join us for a day of book distribution. All you need to do is register and turn up. Register via temple@iskcondurban.net or 031 403 3328. We will arrange a team for you to join, books, a book spot, and transport. The dress code is comfortable. If you feel confident, you may wear devotional dress. We encourage you to come for the morning program to get the full benefit of the festival.
Sankirtan Festival Line up:
4:30am Morning Programme Begins
7:30am Book Distribution Class
8:15am Breakfast
9:00am Team allocation & selection of book distribution spots
9:30am Leave for Book Distribution (Devotees will be going out in groups)
3:30pm Pack up and return to Temple
4:00pm Lunch and realizations

Sunday, 4 December @ 3pm
Love Feast with His Grace Svetadvipa Das

Bhagavad-gita Maha-yajna
Saturday, 10 December
You are invited to sponsor a verse. A Bhagavad-gita will be donated to a worthy recipient on your behalf.
Contact Bhakti Nilaya Das: nakulananda@gmail.com
For more news from Iskcon Durban: https://goo.gl/LYmtvu

There are many ways to spread Krsna consciousness!
Kadamba Kanana Swami: Preaching will not become successful if we are not endearing ourselves to Krsna. Preaching does not just depend on some techniques otherwise we could all learn hypnosis and with hypnosis, we could take over the world! There are yogis like that who can bring people under their will, “Chant Hare Krsna!” and look into their eyes. This is not the way we want people to chant – by force! We want people to chant voluntarily. We want service to be voluntary.
When Prabhupada invited everyone to come to the Sunday Love Feast, everyone would eat so much, be totally ecstatic and then, they would go home. Prabhupada never asked, he would wait until someone offered to help. If someone wanted to help then he would make them in charge of that particular task. As soon as one extended help, he would take that help but he never forced anyone. In this way, Srila Prabhupada was very expert and captured everyone.

So there are many ways, many fronts in which we can spread Krsna consciousness while dealing with the modes of material nature – battle it out in the soaking rain with a kirtan party or we can stand soaking in the rain with a bag full of books. We can stand in the street with an umbrella and invite people under the umbrella, it was an old system – boys went out in the rain with a big umbrella and then would call someone over and give them a book. Like that, many tricks were employed. Another system was to sit in the car and call people over. They would think that you are lost and you intend asking for the road – people always want to give directions – and then give the books out of the car. Some would stand on the street and knock on the windows of cars.

Anyhow, we have many fronts with which we can deal with people and Prabhupada was broad minded. In this way, this movement is not stereotyped; it is not that there is a particular mould that everyone would have to fit into and that everyone has to be the same. But in one way, everyone must be the same – we have to start taking responsibility for the Krsna consciousness of others. We may do it on our own front, in the area where we are expert, whatever we are good at.

srila-prabhupadaIf we take responsibility for the Krsna consciousness of others, if we keep ourselves preoccupied with that then the mercy will come. If you don’t know what you are good at then we will put you in the book distribution army because that is very powerful.

Prabhupada was good at that. Prabhupada was very good at taking the essence of things from everywhere, from all the teachings of the acharyas, taking it together, taking the spirit and bringing it home to people. The essence which meant surrender to Krsna and if you read Prabhupada’s books, in so many ways, he is telling us to surrender to Krsna. When you read his books, you get hit from so many different angles with the same message: surrender to Krsna.

The real purpose is pure devotional service; the reason is to give up false ego; one should bow down before Krsna, humility means to do everything for Krsna and so on. Finally after you have been reading for a while you think, “Maybe I should surrender to Krsna!” This is what reading does. So in this way, all of us can surrender in our own individual way. That is the one thing we all have in common. We are all very different – some are intellectuals, some are practical – it does not matter!Preaching will not become successful if we are not endearing ourselves to Krsna. Preaching does not just depend on some techniques otherwise we could all learn hypnosis and with hypnosis, we could take over the world! There are yogis like that who can bring people under their will, “Chant Hare Krsna!” and look into their eyes. This is not the way we want people to chant – by force! We want people to chant voluntarily. We want service to be voluntary.

book_distributionWhen Prabhupada invited everyone to come to the Sunday Love Feast, everyone would eat so much, be totally ecstatic and then, they would go home. Prabhupada never asked, he would wait until someone offered to help. If someone wanted to help then he would make them in charge of that particular task. As soon as one extended help, he would take that help but he never forced anyone. In this way, Srila Prabhupada was very expert and captured everyone.

So there are many ways, many fronts in which we can spread Krsna consciousness while dealing with the modes of material nature – battle it out in the soaking rain with a kirtan party or we can stand soaking in the rain with a bag full of books. We can stand in the street with an umbrella and invite people under the umbrella, it was an old system – boys went out in the rain with a big umbrella and then would call someone over and give them a book. Like that, many tricks were employed. Another system was to sit in the car and call people over. They would think that you are lost and you intend asking for the road – people always want to give directions – and then give the books out of the car. Some would stand on the street and knock on the windows of cars.

Anyhow, we have many fronts with which we can deal with people and Prabhupada was broad minded. In this way, this movement is not stereotyped; it is not that there is a particular mould that everyone would have to fit into and that everyone has to be the same. But in one way, everyone must be the same – we have to start taking responsibility for the Krsna consciousness of others. We may do it on our own front, in the area where we are expert, whatever we are good at.

srila-prabhupadaIf we take responsibility for the Krsna consciousness of others, if we keep ourselves preoccupied with that then the mercy will come. If you don’t know what you are good at then we will put you in the book distribution army because that is very powerful.

Prabhupada was good at that. Prabhupada was very good at taking the essence of things from everywhere, from all the teachings of the acharyas, taking it together, taking the spirit and bringing it home to people. The essence which meant surrender to Krsna and if you read Prabhupada’s books, in so many ways, he is telling us to surrender to Krsna. When you read his books, you get hit from so many different angles with the same message: surrender to Krsna.

The real purpose is pure devotional service; the reason is to give up false ego; one should bow down before Krsna, humility means to do everything for Krsna and so on. Finally after you have been reading for a while you think, “Maybe I should surrender to Krsna!” This is what reading does. So in this way, all of us can surrender in our own individual way. That is the one thing we all have in common. We are all very different – some are intellectuals, some are practical – it does not matter!

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Youth Preaching In Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu (Album with photos)
Acarya Dasa: The ‘All India Padayatra’ was still in the city of Thanjavur or sometimes referred to as Tanjore. We were busy as per usual, going out daily and doing sankirtana in and around the city. The last time we were in this city was 15 years ago and during that visit the people were very much inspired by the darsana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar and the programs that were arranged. This time the local newspaper featured an article about padayatra.

In the town of Thirumalaisamudram, in the Thanjavur district there is a university called SASTRA (Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy) University. It is located on the outskirts of the town and is about 10 kilometers away. The university specializes in undergraduate and postgraduate engineering courses, offering courses in engineering, science, education, management and arts. After reading the news that padayatra was in town, the chief of SASTRA University invited us there as guests. He even made arrangements for accommodation, for all of us, in the university guest house. It was so strange that we were on university premises given our vaishnav attire and the fact that we were driving a bullock cart. People who see us often believe that we are not well educated which is why we are going around driving a bullock cart, but the chief of the university was different, he was God’s man. Therefore, he invited us to the university for four days to inspire the students to take up spirituality.

During our stay there we held morning programs, kirtana and gaura arati in the hostel. Akhildhara Dasa gave classes to the students on the importance of spiritual life in modern times. He explained how spirituality can be applied so that one can be happy and prosperous in all fields of life. We also did a question and answer session with them. Afterwards, the students danced with us in sankirtana forgetting all their study-related worries. We were happy that five students started chanting and many took Bhagavad-Gita and other small books.

We had a great experience with the university students and we too felt like we had become students as we danced with them and felt the joy of preaching in our hearts.

All glories to Guru and Gauranga!

Jai Srila Prabhupada!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/k3REZM

All India Padayatra Joins The Vraja Mandala Parikrama (Album with photos)
Every year the ‘All India Padayatra’ joins the Vraja Mandala Parikrama during the auspicious month of kartikka, and this year was no different. Our party joined the parikrama on October 16th. Along with hundreds of other devotees we followed the beloved forms of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar through the streets of Vraja Bhumi. Our team of padayatris, by the mercy of the Lord, was able to do a little service for the parikrama devotees by serving them prasadam and water. We also led kirtanas and held the aratis during the morning programs.
Vraja Mandala, a special treat for padayatris
The month of kartikka is known as urja vrat, urja means power and vrat refers to a vow. So, as the name suggests, we were given the energy and power to keep travelling throughout India to fulfill the preaching mission of Srila Prabhupada. It was a wonderful experience being on the Vraja Mandala Parikrama and receiving mercy from Srimati Radharani, Nitai Gaurasundar and our beloved Lokanath Swami as well as many other senior devotees. When we are on the streets of India on padayatra, we really do miss the association of sannyasis and senior devotees –but on Vraja Mandala it’s a feast for the ears, eyes and tongue. Every day the nectar flowed from the mouths of vaishnavas who described the different lilas of Lord Krishna. Every day on Vraja Mandal Parikrama was a special day, but the most auspicious one was the Govardhan puja celebrations in Varsana Dhama.

Alas it all ended tooquickly and, with heavy hearts, we had to leave Vrindavan Dhama and the parikrama on November 15th. We travelled for two days till we reached Madurai in the southern part of Tamil Nadu on the evening of November17th to rejoin our padayatra party.

Madurai and the kindness of Balaram Dasa

When we arrived in Madurai, Balaram Dasa, a disciple of Jayapataka Swami happily received us. He had a large guest house which he constructed especially for devotees. It was so large it could accommodate a thousand devotees all at once. We stayed there for three days. Balarama also made tasty arrangements for prasadam.

During our stay in Madurai we made all the necessary preparations for our travels on the streets of India. The padayatra cart and trolley required repairs, which we managed to complete in those three days. On November 21st, with all the repairs done, we held a grand harinama sankirtana in Madurai. This was the first sankirtana we did after kartikka. Balaram Dasa had made all the arrangements for the sankirtana, he had even invited the local residents to participate in the procession which included a large elephant! We circumambulated the famous Minakshi Temple while doing kirtana and distributing many books.

When we were about to leave when Balaram Dasa gave us a one lakh rupee donation, about $1643.65, for Prabhupada seva. We thanked him for his generosity and for his wonderful hospitality. So, the ‘All India Padayatra’ is on the move again; this time we are heading towards Rameswaram and hope to reach there by December 15th. Thus, by the mercy of Vraj Dham and Guru and Gauranga, we are back on our mission, preaching on the streets of India with all enthusiasm and spiritual strength.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/mngYbu