Planet ISKCON

BBT represented at the American Academy of Religion Conference 2016.
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world’s largest association of scholars in the field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association, serving as a professional and learned society for scholars involved in the academic study of religion. It has some 10,000 members worldwide, with the largest concentration being in the United States and Canada. AAR members are university and college professors, independent scholars, secondary teachers, clergy, seminarians, students, and interested lay-people.

The Annual conference was held this year in San Antonio, Texas. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust was represented by several Iskcon devotees such as HH Jayadvaita Swami, Dr. Graham M. Schweig (Garuda Das), Stuart Kadetz (Sura Das), Dr. Ravi M. Gupta (Radhika Ramana Dasa), Jaya Chaitanya Das and others.

AAR hosts an Annual Meeting each year in November. The AAR Annual Meeting is the world’s largest meeting for religious studies scholars. Over 400 events, including meetings, receptions, and academic sessions, occur on the AAR program alone; hundreds more, hosted by affiliated societies and institutions, occur over the course of the meeting. Some 10,000 people attend the AAR Annual Meeting; the location of the meeting changes each year. The AAR Annual Meeting program is developed entirely by volunteers involved in program units representing disciplines and sub-disciplines within the field.

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Photo credits: Gour Mohan das and Kalindi Nivasini dd

Historic archive of photos from Iskcon Brasil (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Don’t think preaching is so easy going – eating, sleeping, and sometimes chanting “Haribol,” that’s all. [laughs] That is not preaching. We must be ready to implant Krsna consciousness ideas throughout the whole world. Just like these people, either in India or here, they remain simply Churchianity, going to the church without any understanding. Therefore it is failing. Now churches are being closed. Similarly, if you do not keep yourself fit to preach, then your temples will all be closed in due course of time. Without preaching, you’ll not feel enthused to continue the temple worship. And without temple worship, you cannot keep yourself pure and clean. The two things must go on, parallel. Then there is success. In modern time, either Hindus, Muslim or Christian, because in these places there is no teaching of philosophy, therefore they are closing, either mosque or temple or church. They will close. Therefore we are writing so many books. Unless we take care of the books and preach and read ourself, understand the philosophy, this Hare Krsna will be finished within few years. Because there will be no life. How long one can artificially go on, “Hare Krsna! Haribol!” That will be artificial. No life. ———————————— From Srila Prabhupada’s Morning Walk – December 12, 1973, Los Angeles
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Hare Krishna Festivals UK: Hemel Hempstead Festival - 18th Nov 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The chanting process is that you chant with your tongue Hare Krsna and hear. That’s all. Then you are saved. Hare Krsna must be chanted by the use of tongue, and you hear it, that’s all. Where is the difficulty? Everything may come, but this is the process. This is the process. Chant Hare Krsna and become happy. Nothing is difficult in Krsna consciousness movement. One has to execute it very seriously and sincerely. Then it will come. Nothing is difficult, not at all. harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha Chant Hare Krsna and hear, and everything will come. Krsna’s… By chanting purely, without any offense this Hare Krsna mantra, then you will understand Krsna’s form, Krsna’s qualities, Krsna’s pastimes, Krsna’s entourage -everything. ———————————— From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Bhagavad-gita 4.4 – February 12, 1974, Vrndavana
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Huge Ratha Yatra Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Simply our prayer should be, “My dear Krishna, please remind me to always chant Your holy name, please do not put me into forgetfulness. You are sitting within me as the Supersoul, so You can put me into forgetfulness or into remembering You. So please do not put me into forgetfulness. Please always remind me to chant, even You send me to hell, it doesn’t matter, just so long as I can always chant Hare Krishna.” [Srila Prabhupada; letter to Devananda, Los Angeles, 23 November, 1968]
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“Let me offer my obeisances unto Lord Nrisimhadeva who is always enlightening Prahlada Maharaja within his heart and who always kills the nescience that attacks the devotees. His mercy is distributed like the moonshine, and His face is like that of a lion. Let me offer my obeisances unto Him again and again.”

[ Painting by Mahaveer Swami ]

Prabhupada’s “Aroma of Sweetness” Conquers Ginsberg

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 06 September 2016, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.9.26)

In this purport, we read about the brahmanas and the kshatriyas, and Srila Prabhupada put the emphasis, especially for the brahminical class of men, on controlling the senses. He said, “For the intelligent men, controlling the senses is the essence,” and then he expands on that, “… sex indulgence even with the legitimate wife must also be controlled and therefore family control will automatically be followed.” So this is intelligence and it is a different definition than the modern definition of intelligence in that conduct is also considered. It is not that one just knows standards or better ways of life but one must also embody it. If one does not embody the intelligent conclusions then one is not intelligent at all. Therefore intelligence must translate into a higher moral standard of life otherwise, as Prabhupada said, it is misused and this is the result of modern education which does not offer morality.

This Movement is particularly for intelligent people because it is not so simple to understand how to act. The other day, I addressed the topic of fundamentalism and how it is a form of reductionism where we try to reduce everything to very simple principles that apply at all times and where we just switch off the intelligence – no need to judge any circumstances, no shades of grey, just all black and white, no need to apply a principle and see how to fits in the circumstances and find an appropriate solution.

An example that comes to mind is that of Ashwathama and Arjuna. Ashwathama was the son of Dronacharya, a brahmana, but he had misbehaved because he had revenged the death of his father by killing the sleeping sons of Draupadi. So it was outright murder, a most heinous act and at that stage Ashwathama lost his brahminical status. Arjuna pursued him, defeated him, captured him and brought him back bound-up. This was very shocking, to see a brahmana bound up like an animal. Draupadi found this very difficult to see as Ashwathama was the son of their teacher.

Then a whole discussion unfolded where the Pandavas and Krsna were all divided. Krsna asked what will be done – Ashwathama was the killer of man therefore he should be killed. Bhima agreed that he should be killed immediately but then Draupadi said, “No, he is the son of our teacher and a brahmana. How can we kill him? And I don’t want his mother to go through what I am going through so he should be spared.” Yudhishthir also said they should consider that throughout his life, Ashwathama was a brahmana of high qualification and even though he had committed a heinous act, he should not be considered an ordinary man, therefore he should not be killed.

Then Krsna asked Arjuna, “So, what will you do now?” Then Arjuna had a difficult task and he figured it out with intelligence. He cut off the jewel on Ashwathama’s head. This jewel was the symbol of Ashwathama’s brahminical qualities and in this way, he killed him but he also did not kill him. Arjuna killed Ashwathama’s identify as a brahmana but he did not take his life. In this way, Krsna was very satisfied. So just see, it was not all fundamentalism – just kill him – it was about intelligence!

Despite the chilling cold and rainy weather of Nairobi, a large group of more than 250 devotees assembled at the Sri Sri Radha Banke Bihari Mandir to commemorate the ISKCON’s golden jubilee. Amongst them were Bhakti Narasimha Swami (South Africa), Akhandadhi Das (UK), ISKCON Nairobi Vice President Rukuma Das, Manasi Ganga Dasi, and 90 jubilant students who celebrated attaining a Certificate of Ethics and Morality after a year-long course on Vaishnava philosophy. The program is run by the Hare Krishna Training Center, part of ISKCON Nairobi. 

Lord Caitanya says: one should offer ALL respect to others and should not demand or seek respect for himself. When your peers do better than you, are you happy? Do you appreciate what they’ve done or do you feel concerned or upset that you are not getting as much attention as they are? Do you sometimes not even acknowledge that they have, in fact, been successful (“Anyone could have done that. It’s no big deal”)? Do you seek more to be appreciated than to appreciate? Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that grass doesn’t resist when it is walked on or thrown around. It doesn’t complain or scream out, “How dare you step on me or throw me here and there?!” As we say in California, “It goes with the flow.” Dale Carnegie said the desire to be appreciated is one of our greatest needs. It seems to me like it’s right up there with eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Tell someone how great they are and even if they know you are exaggerating, they’ll still eat it up. We are hungry for appreciation and respect. Continue reading "Humility Means No Resistance
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In an unprecedented event, Santiago's main street, Avenida Libertador Bernado O'Higgins, was used exclusively by the majestic chariot that carried the Lord of the Universe and the people who pulled its ropes, filling the streets of Santiago with joy and colors like never before. 

In a parking lot in Budapest…
I approached a middle-aged lady. She was favorable, and I offered her the Krishna book, but she didn’t want to accept it. She started to explain why.
“You know, when I was seventeen, I read the Bhagavad Gita, and while reading it, I was constantly crying, because it was what I was always looking for. I directly felt Krishna’s presence.
“When I was a little girl, I always felt that this world is not my home. I told my parents many times: ‘You are not my parents. I want to go home!’
The last fifteen years I have lived a mundane life with my husband and children, but I have always desired Krishna’s association. I meditate every day, and I read the Gita, but I feel that in this world everything is gray and empty, and I desire to go to Krishna’s home to be with Him. He is like my secret lover.”
Finally she bought the Krishna book and said that at first she didn’t want to, because if she would read more about Krishna, then she would cry a lot again. She actually cried several times during our conversation.
She also said that she regularly visits people in the hospital who have cancer and preaches to them, because the last part of human life is the most important.
And she told me that it’s very difficult for her to try to become Krishna conscious alone, so she was happy that I invited her to the temple and to join our community.
She came to the temple for the Sunday program with her husband, and they liked it very much.
Your servant,
Mohana Dasa

By Radhanath Swami.

The sharp growth in online video consumption suggests the people of the world are becoming more enraptured by visual content than anything else. But for teachers of the ancient Vedic tradition, sound is seen as capable of having a much deeper transformational effect on a human being.

Vaishnava wedding in Mayapur.
The wedding of 2nd gen Sahki Caran and 3rd gen Madhavi Lata in Mayapur 20/11/16.

Krishna-kshetra Swami: I am happy to report that Prof. Ravi M. Gupta, Radhika Ramana Prabhu, my longtime colleague who teaches at Utah State University, has received the annual DANAM Best Book 2016 for his edited volume, Caitanya Vaisnava Philosophy: Tradition, Reason, and Devotion (Ashgate, 2014). (DANAM = Dharma Association of North America, a practitioner-friendly academic initiative with an annual conference linked to the annual American Academy of Religion meeting). Ravi’s book contains five essays (including an introductory essay by yours truly) and five short translations (more details at amazon’s ‘look inside’: https://goo.gl/BP2mGE).

"In the course of time, the transcendental news of Krsna's pastimes in Vrndavana, was almost lost. To enunciate explicitly those transcendental pastimes, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, at Prayaga, empowered Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatana Goswami with the nectar of His mercy to carry out this work in Vrndavana. From the very beginning Rupa Goswami was deeply attracted by the transcendental qualities of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus he was permanently relieved from family life. Srila Rupa Goswami and his younger brother Vallabha were blessed by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Although the Lord was transcendentally situated in His transcendental eternal form at Prayaga He told Rupa Goswami about transcendental ecstatic love of Krsna. The Lord then embraced him very firmly and bestowed all His mercy upon him." Continue reading "Summary study of Srila Rupa Goswami’s ‘Bhakti Rasamrta-sindhu’
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Sadbhuj prabhu, the TOVP Managing Director, safely arrived in Moscow, Russia and the trip has been a great success!

He has gone to visit the Production Company where all of the TOVP’s Kalashes and Charkras are being manufactured. He will also preach about the magnificence of the TOVP to the Russian devotees.

Despite the extremity of the temperature being a chilling 1 degree Celsius /33 degree Fahrenheit, Sadbhuj prabhu is fully satisfied with his visit to the manufacturer’s workshop. The factory production results are excellent and we are delighted to be working with this company. The manufactures are making the 3 Chakras, the 3 Dome Kalashes, and all 8 of the Chatri Kalashes for the TOVP.

The first container of finished products will be dispatched from Moscow and sent to Mayapur in the middle of December 2016. The container is scheduled to arrive in Mayapur in February 2017.

When it arrives we can then begin to assemble the first Kalash. Once assembled nicely, it will then be installed on the top of TOVP to crown our temple with the effulgence of victory and triumph.

The post Adventures In Russia appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Despite the chilling cold and rainy weather of Nairobi, a large group of more than 250 devotees assembled at the Sri Sri Radha Banke Bihari Mandir to commemorate the ISKCON’s golden jubilee. Amongst them were HH Bhakti Narasimha Swami(South Africa), HG Akhandadhi Prabhu(UK), ISKCON Nairobi Vice President Rukuma Prabhu,HG Manasi Ganga Mataji, and 90 jubilant students that celebrated attaining a Certificate of Ethics and Morality after a year-long course on Vaishnava philosophy. The programme is run by the Hare Krishna Training Center, part of ISKCON Nairobi. The goal is to introduce students to the ageless wisdom of Vedic philosophy and practice of Krishna Consciousness. The centre seeks to further A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada’s mission of preaching to all people around the world. The centre also seeks to establish a large pool of devotees by targeting mostly young students from local universities who have an interest in understanding their purpose in life. By offering character building courses, students are not only introduced to the need to live an ethically astute and morally sound life as young adults, but are also introduced to the unwavering practice of Krishna Consciousness that is a much needed weapon against the vagaries of society in an increasingly volatile East African region struggling with poverty, Islamic fundamentalism, corruption, and ethnically motivated conflict and violence. Perhaps the pure love for Krishna and the peace that comes with it could not have come in handy. It is akin to the 60s when Prabhupada gave the hippies the Krishna Conscious “drug” for self-realization. Continue reading "Iskcon 50 celebrations at Iskcon Nairobi
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What subjects have I subjected myself to today?
The word, subject, is both a noun and a verb.

14th Annual Vrinda Kunda Festival.
This coming February will be the auspicious 14th Anniversary of Vrinda Kunda Temple opening! To celebrate we are organizing special parikramas to the Holy Places of Braja. The Festival will culminate with our famous Kalash Yatra, an ecstatic Sankirtan procession with the ladies carrying water pots with coconuts on their heads. Parikramas will be taken out from 8 Feb - 21 Feb with the main festival day on Sunday 19 Feb. Even after that there will still be some parikramas.

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Members of the Rotary club help Iskcon Food for Life Nepal (Album with photos)
(Rotary International is an international servic...

Bhajans in the Balboa Park, San Diego - Nov. 19, 2016 (Album with photos)
Yesterday, Syamali and I had the great privilege to take part in ISKCON San Diego’s weekly “Bhajans in the Park”, at Balboa Park. Srila Prabhupada spoke and walked this 100+ year old park several times, and this chanting endeavor has been going on since the early days of our San Diego yatra.
Harinam Sankirtan Yajna KI JAYA!
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