In the Bhagavad-gita, what is the significance of the word Bhagavan?
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“Embedding Care In Kc Communities – Devotee Care Course Two
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Hare KrishnaBy ISKCON DevoteeCare

The Devotee Care Committee, has been researching and working on creating awareness about embedding care in our communities, projects and yatras. After years of consultation and the study of the diverse needs of the various sections of the community, the committee had engaged HG Rasamandala prabhu to work on structured courses to systematically educate care givers and leaders. With his great expertise in curriculum writing and help from other committee members, the Committee has developed two courses and is piloting them to further enhance the quality and practical application of the course. It was piloted at GEV, Wada in the last week of October and from 2nd to 5th Nov 2016, at ISKCON Tirupati. We would like to thank ISKCON Tirupati and specially HG Revati Raman Prabhu for hosting the four day Course (DCC 2) for South Indian leaders and managers at Tirupati. Continue reading "“Embedding Care In Kc Communities – Devotee Care Course Two
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Love vs. Lust
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, August 2010, Croatia, Lecture)

noidaQuestion: Can you define lust?

If we serve our own senses, then it is called lust but if we serve the senses of Krsna, then it is called love. So love is about giving and satisfying others and lust is about satisfying ourselves.

So, when we are the centre in every situation… we are the centre of the universe… we are the main person here and everybody must be pleasing to us and if somebody is not pleasing to us causes a disturbance – that is all lust.

But if we are trying to be pleasing to others – if others are more important and we are trying to act in such a way that they will become pleased and happy, then we are free from lust. As soon as we think that others are there to please us then we are LUSTY. And from one level of lust comes intense lust and then we want to enjoy on the bodily platform. Therefore, we have to serve the senses of Krsna and his devotees. Everyone is a devotee of Krsna, only some know it and others do not.

I was entering a big office building when I was suddenly stopped by a security guard…
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In Forlì, Italy, as I was entering a big office building, I was suddenly stopped by a security guard who inquired boldly:
“Who are you? Where are you going?”
She was a young lady, and she seemed quite severe and determined to not let me enter. When I presented myself and explained in a few words about our mission she changed positively and asked:
“Don’t you need a security guard for your community? I’m tired of working for these people.”
I replied, “There is an ancient proverb, rakhe krsna mare khe mare krsna rakhe khe.” “If Lord Krishna protects a person, who can kill him? And if Krishna desires to kill someone, who can protect him?”
After that she smiled and became even more enlightened. Then, when I asked permission to go to the director, she became serious again and said, “You cannot go if you don’t show me those books you are carrying.”

On self-mastery: Fight the archer, not the arrow
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jaḍās tapobhiḥ śamayanti dehaṁ           budhā manaś cāpi vikāra-hetum

śvā muktam astraṁ daśatīti kopāt         kṣeptāram uddiśya hinasti siṁhaḥ

jaḍāḥ — fools; tapobhiḥ — through austerities; śamayanti — try to pacify; deham — the body and senses; budhāḥ — the intelligent; manaḥ — the mind; ca — and; api — also; vikāra-hetum — the original cause; śvā — dog; muktam — thrown; astram — arrow; daśati — bites; iti — thus; kopāt — out of anger; kṣeptāram — hunter; uddiśya — tracing out; hinasti — kills; siṁhaḥ — lion;

“Fools try to pacify the senses by subjecting the body to austerity, but the wise focus on dealing with the mind, which is the source of desire and distress. Dogs angrily bite the arrow that has been hurled at them, but lions search out the arrow’s source, the hunter, and finish him off.” (Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra, Vicāraḥ, Verse 238)

This Subhashita illustrates the futility of seeking self-mastery solely through sense mastery. It uses artistic license to represent someone foolish through a dog and someone intelligent through a lion. A foolish animal may bite the arrow that has pierced it, imagining that it is thus getting back at whatever is hurting it. But a wiser animal searches for and deals with the source of the arrow, the hunter.

Our lower desires are like arrows that pierce our consciousness. By inducing within us a tormenting sense of deprivation, they goad us towards indulgence. Frequently, we give in to those desires, not so much to get pleasure as to get relief from torment.

If we become wiser, we recognize that indulgence doesn’t mitigate the torment but aggravates it. Indulgence reinforces the desire, which then goads us with greater intensity. By our indulgence, we unwittingly sharpen the arrow that is then used to torment us further.

When we understand the folly of indulgence, we strive for resistance, for saying no to desire. However, if we are not discerning, we presume the senses to be the source of desire and try to starve them through rigid self-abnegation. Some world-rejecting paths take this presumption to extreme degrees. Seekers on those paths sometimes become masochists – they whiplash their bodies, hoping to thereby kill the desires of the flesh. Such self-torment may weaken desire temporarily, but can’t eliminate it permanently. Why? Because the body is not the source of desire; it is merely the channel for desire. Srimad-Bhagavatam (6.1.13-14) compares such self-abnegation to the burning of weeds – as the roots remain underground and unharmed, the weeds re-appear in due course of time. Similarly, the desire that seems to have disappeared during self-abnegation re-appears, sooner or later. As masochistic self-abnegation entails self-inflicted misery, it can be compared to a dog’s biting the arrow that has pierced it.

Wiser people seek to know the source of the arrow of desire. Significantly, this Subhashita indicates that the shooter of the arrow is the mind, not the sense object we desire. Consider alcoholics, for example. The desire for alcohol doesn’t come from the alcohol bottle; after all, seeing it doesn’t induce desire in non-alcoholics. Alcoholics feel desirous on seeing it because the desire is already present in their own mind – the bottle merely triggers that desire. The bottle is not the source of the desire; the mind is.

That the senses are not the source of desire doesn’t mean that controlling them is unimportant. Just as alcoholics need to stay away as much as possible from stimuli that trigger their desire for alcohol, we too need to avoid as much as possible those sensory stimuli that trigger desire within us. Sense control is important, essential even. The mistake is to consider sense control as the sole solution, and tormenting the body as the way to sense control is a blunder.

Just as a lion focuses on getting rid of the hunter who is shooting the arrow, we need to focus on getting rid of the mind, or more specifically, the lower desires present in the mind. The best way to get rid of those desires is to crowd them out by filling our consciousness with something higher, something much more meaningful, something far more fulfilling. The highest, most meaningful and most fulfilling object is the supreme spiritual reality, God, Krishna, who is the reservoir of unlimited happiness.

Bhakti-yoga enables us to connect with Krishna not just through contemplation, but also through practical engagements of the senses such as chanting, honoring sanctified food and taking darshan of the Deities.

When we diligently practice bhakti-yoga, focusing on saying yes to Krishna through service and remembrance, we gradually get a profound inner fulfillment that enables us to say no to sensuality automatically, firmly and permanently.

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Kartik Navadvip Mandal Parikrama 2016 (Album with photos)…
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Kartik Navadvip Mandal Parikrama 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Vedic civilization is very strict. Because the whole aim was how to go back to home, back to Godhead, not sense gratification, eat, drink, be merry, enjoy. That is not the aim of human life. So everything was planned with that aim. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 2.3 – London, August 4, 1973
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How do we differentiate between which desire to accept and which to reject?
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What makes Vedic knowledge infallible and human knowledge fallible?
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Does existence alone go from one life to another without carrying any karma from the past?
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Which is superior: fate or one’s own exertion and effort?
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Hare KrishnaBy Bhayahari Dasa

Satyavrata Muni is raising the perennial philosophical conundrum of predestination versus free will. In reply, Lord Matsya explains that three elements—fate, effort, and time—conjointly affect the course of one’s life. He gives the example of a farmer, whose crop depends on three factors: planting, rain, and time. Planting represents effort, and rain represents fate. If the farmer plants but there’s no rain, he’ll have no crop. And if it rains but he hasn’t planted, he’ll have no crop. Both fate and effort are required, as is time. If we act properly and perform pious activities, we are awarded good fortune, and if we act sinfully, we have to suffer. Over time, good fate manifests as situations favorable to our endeavor and bad fate as unfavorable situations. Destiny may even give us enjoyment or suffering without much endeavor. Winning a lottery, being born in a rich family, or diseased body are examples of this. Continue reading "Which is superior: fate or one’s own exertion and effort?
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ISKCON Moscow Lights Up Devotees’ Hearts at Diwali (Album with…
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ISKCON Moscow Lights Up Devotees’ Hearts at Diwali (Album with photos)
One thousand Russian devotees, friends of Krishna and Indian community members gathered to celebrate Diwali in spectacular style in Moscow on Saturday, October 29th. The crowd packed out a rented auditorium in ISKCON Moscow’s Kuusinena Street building, just ten minutes’ drive from the Kremlin.

Radha Kunda Seva: October 2016 Photos and Updates (Album with…
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Radha Kunda Seva: October 2016 Photos and Updates (Album with photos)
We pray that this update finds you all experiencing a very propitious and auspicious Kartika, dear friends. We began the month of October with a painting marathon in anticipation of the *millions* of pilgrims who would soon be inundating Radha Kunda to honor Srimati Radharani’s special Kartika month also known as the month of Damodara. As we hoped, construction on the kitchen has begun! Despite half the building crew coming down with chikungunya (similar to dengue fever only worse), they managed to start the work with several deliveries of earth in order to raise the ground at the kitchen site. This is a very important first step since otherwise, the low-lying area would be flood prone during the rainy season. We are so grateful to you, our family of supporters – those of you have newly joined our efforts and those who have so generously increased your donations - for stepping forward to sponsor our widows’ daily meals! We are up to 78 sponsored out the 80 we are presently feeding! We are feeling optimistic that with your help we will be able to reach even more ladies in need. The enthusiasm of the visiting pilgrims and sadhus inspired and enlivened our crew this month. So many festivals! So much color and celebration! Yes, the cleaning work quadruples, but joy is in the air and it’s an honor to serve the Vaishnavas in this way – cleaning and serving prasadam. Jai Sri Radhe! Shyam! Thank you for being part of the team! Please browse our latest photos and join our efforts by visiting www.radharani.com. Your servants, Campakalata Devi dasi, Padma Gopi Devi dasi, Urmila Devi Dasi, and Mayapurcandra dasa.
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Lord Damodar with his wooden mortar enters Bollywood!
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Hare KrishnaBy Mahavaraha Das

On the evening of the 27th of Oct 2016, Bollywood fashion designer Rohit Verma invited HH Jayapataka Swami to have a Damodar program at his fashion studio in Mumbai. It was a short and well organized program for which Rohit Verma had invited about 50 of his close friends. Maharaja described the Damodar lila to the audience. He stressed in the fact that Srila Prabhupada , ISKCON'S Founder Acharya wrote him a letter that the Karthik month was a special opportunity like a discount offer for those people who are otherwise busy at work. "It brings all auspiciousness by doing a little devotional activity of offering lamps to Lord Damodar in this month.",he said. The point was noted and well received by the guests in attendance. This was followed by a melodious singing of Damodarastakam. Maharaja gave out Damodar kits to each of the attendees along with a small book of Srila Prabhupada and a box full of delicious Prasadam snacks from ISKCON Juhu's Govindas. The guests spent more than an hour interacting with Maharaja and were asking him various questions and seeking his blessings. They said that the whole evening was very enlivening for all of them. Rohit Verma's sister Anuragini Radha dd and her mother Rajasri Gopi who are both disciples of Maharaja played an important role in organizing this program and making it successful. The Janmashtami dress of Sri Sri Radha Rasavihari, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, and Sri Sri Sita Ram Lakshman Hanuman this year was both designed and gifted to Their Lordships by Rohit Verma. Continue reading "Lord Damodar with his wooden mortar enters Bollywood!
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How can we strengthen our faith, especially while going through mood swings?
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Can the soul experience anything other than what is displayed on the mind’s screen?
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Does the level of consciousness indicate the strength of the soul?
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How can we know if our intelligence is misleading us through rationalization?
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