Benefits of offering a lamp during Kartik
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Just as there is no yuga equal to Satya-yuga, no scripture equal to the Vedas, and no place of pilgrimage equal to the Ganges, so there is no month equal to Kartika. Even unserious persons who execute devotional service according to the regulative principles during the month of Karttika, and within the jurisdiction of Mathura (or Vrindavana) in India, are very easily awarded the Lord’s personal service". During the Kartika month millions of devotees worship Damodara Krishna with ghee lamps and devotional bhajans, glorifying His playful childhood pastime of stealing yogurt.


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Bonds of Love: Racitambara Devi Dasi
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Hare KrishnaBy Iskcon Vaishnavi Ministry

In early ’77, when Prabhupada came to Juhu for the last time, I was at the back of the crowd thinking, “Oh, Srila Prabhupada, you have so many disciples. I’m also your disciple, but do you know me?” Srila Prabhupada got out of his car and instead of sweeping into the building as we expected, he stopped, looked over the crowd, and saw me. He looked deep into my eyes, into the soul, gave me a smile as if a million suns had come out at once, and nodded his head. I clearly heard him say, “Of course, I know you. We have an eternal relationship.” Since then I’ve always felt Prabhupada is with me and knows me, for we have an eternal relationship. Continue reading "Bonds of Love: Racitambara Devi Dasi
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Minister of Education-Sri Lanka received the Bhagavad Gita As It Is
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Hare KrishnaBy Sudarshan Cakra dasa

National Institute of Education (NIE) - Sri Lanka celebrated the annual Navaratri festival during the first week of October. Participants were the Minister of Education Mr. Radhakrishnan and all leading educational officers from different districts of the country. On this occasion, ISKCON devotees were invited as guests along with Buddhist head-monks and Christian priest. As ISKCON’s representative, Vasudeva Datta Prabhu spoke in length on the importance of adding the study of Bhagavad Gita As It Is in the religious school curriculum in Sri Lanka. He stressed that the students are the future of the country, so it is great responsibility on the teachers, professors and government officers to give proper spiritual guidance to their pupils. Not only this, they should first teach by their good example - yad yad acarati sresthas tat tad evetaro janah. He explained the word “acharya" and cautioned the esteemed audience not to be like his European teacher who would with a cigarette in his hand say to the students - “It is not good to smoke”. Continue reading "Minister of Education-Sri Lanka received the Bhagavad Gita As It Is
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Distributing Stacks of Srila Prabhupada’s books (Album…
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Distributing Stacks of Srila Prabhupada’s books (Album with photos)
Jaya Chaitanya Das, from Los Angeles, continues to revolutionize the Sankirtan Mission!
Srila Prabhupada: Lord Chaitanya, although Krishna Himself, appealed to His friends and helpers to help Him in His mission and what to speak of me; I am just an ordinary human being. So I need your help. Letter to Yogesvara, June 12, 1971.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/K4YxQh

NASN September 2016 – North American Sankirtan Newsletter
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Hare KrishnaBy Mayapur Sasi dasa

For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following North American results of book distribution for the month of September 2016. North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors. Monthly Top 100 Individuals, Monthly Top 5, Cumulative Countries, Cumulative Temples, Cumulative Top 100 Individuals, Cumulative Top 5 Continue reading "NASN September 2016 – North American Sankirtan Newsletter
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Badrinath In Vrindavan (Album with photos) Indradyumna Swami:…
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Badrinath In Vrindavan (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: It is said that all holy places in India exist in their original forms in Sri Vrindavan Dhama! Yesterday, we visited Badrinath (Badrikasrama) a two-hour drive from Vrindavan town through the countryside. As we approached Badrinath we were surprised to see a small mountain range. Upon arriving we discussed a number of Krsna’s pastimes that took place there, as well as the glories of Gangotri, Yamunortri, Kedarnath and other sacred places that can be found in Vrindavan’s Badrinath. The beauty of the surrounding area was stunning. The local people were simply amazing. Please visit the original Badrinath next time you are in Vrindavan!
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ISKCON GBC Meeting Juhu part 2
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The mid-term GBC meeting usually comprises strategic planning sessions with the leaders discussing a range of topics on how to develop and spread Krsna Consciousness all over the world.

The local devotees, headed by TP Brajahari das, provided all the necessary facilities, such as, accommodation, conference halls, office needs and and wonderful prasadam.

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Remembering Aberfan
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aberfan

On this day in October 1966 I was ten years old and living in a small village in Cornwall. I’d gone out for a walk in the afternoon and wherever I went, people were talking to each other about a terrible thing that had happened that morning in a Welsh village.

I don’t remember hearing about disasters very much when I was young, so this made a deep impression on me. It was as if the whole village felt it. News travelled a little slower back then, but the grainy images on a neighbours black and white television set was showing hundreds of people trying to rescue children from a school that had been covered in an avalanche of mining waste. Thousands of tons of slag, made unstable due to the rain, had slid down a hill and covered houses and an entire primary school. Many children my age had died, I heard.

One neighbour shooed me away, saying to her husband: “He’s too young to listen to this; these are kids his age. He’ll get affected by it.”

Affected I was. For days afterwards we were told harrowing stories of the little children who had been at their lessons when the hill simply slid down on top of their school. The black slag came in through the windows of their classrooms, covering them and everything else. We had bad dreams about it, and wrote letters to ‘The children of Aberfan’ to show our support and solidarity. A collection was taken up, and I brought a threepenny bit from home.

News wasn’t just ‘the news’ then, where you could choose to distant yourself from all the bad things in the world. This was real children who had died, 116 of them within a few minutes, in a small village just like ours, and in a primary school just like ours. We were connected.

Aberfan, 21st October 1966


History of ISKCON Press
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Hare KrishnaBy Swarup Das

Devotees from other centers such as Buffalo, Columbus, New Vrindaban, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. were also coming to Boston to see Srila Prabhupada. On the day he was due to arrive a school bus was rented to transport everyone to the airport from the temple at 38 N. Beacon Street to greet him. The wonderful reception scene was documented in a series of photographs in which can be seen a banner saying “ISKCON New York Welcomes Prabhupada.” I’m holding one end and Rohini Kumar the other. Notice in the photo that “Prabhupada” was spelled wrong. We were still getting used to calling him Prabhupada rather than Swamiji. Continue reading "History of ISKCON Press
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VIHE NEWSLETTER Second Issue (October-November) We gladly…
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VIHE NEWSLETTER Second Issue (October-November)
We gladly present to all of you the first issue of our bi-monthly
Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education’s Newsletter.
You will find herein news, interviews, articles, interesting passages from Srila Prabhupada’s teachings and commentaries of the acharyas, class transcripts, announcements, links to recordings, photos and videos and a place for you to share your own thoughts and updates.
We hope this edition will be useful and interesting to you in many ways.
You can download it from here: https://goo.gl/e3T9m0

Thursday, October 20th, 2016
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Mumbai, India

Today I was asked to read before our global leaders the following excerpt from the preface of the book “Bhagavatam.”  It was how we began the day’s meetings.

“We must know the present need of human society.  And what is that need?  Human society is no longer bounded by geographical limits to particular countries or communities.  Human society is broader than in the Middle Ages, and the world tendency is toward one state or one human society.  The ideals of spiritual communism, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam, are based more or less on the oneness of the entire human society, nay, of the entire energy of living beings.  The need is felt by great thinkers to make this a successful ideology.  Srimad-Bhagavatamwill fill this need in human society.  It begins, therefore, with an aphorism of Vedanta philosophy, janmady asya yatah, to establish the ideal of a common cause.

Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of oblivion.  It has made rapid progress in the fields of material comforts, education and economic development throughout the entire world.  But there is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important issues.  There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause.  Srimad-Bhagavatamwill fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the re-spiritualization of the entire human society.”

(There’s more!)

May the Source be with you!


4 km

​Initially, bhakti doesn’t give as much happiness as sensuality – how to persevere then?
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Wednesday, October 19th, 2016
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Mumbai, India

What Counts!
  
At 7:10 p.m. when I had the chance to see the honourable deities of Sita Rama at the temple (ISKCON) it was difficult to get around.  Many people were doing what I was—trying to receive some mercy from above.  The place was packed.  There were local attendees, and I also saw a dozen or more inquisitive tourists, most likely from Russia.  They observed the elaborate display of the deities.  They also couldn’t help but notice the monks-in-training who were enthusiastically singing and dancing as a way of trying to please the deities.

I made my way to the front of the temple room, close to the deities.  I also participated in the dance and took some lead on the dance steps.  This created a small sensation since the monks are accustomed to more-or-less a robotic type of repetitious movement.  They saw a chance to break out of it.  There was some apprehension initially and then liberation kicked in.

In the course of that, I saw someone approaching for darshan(viewing of the deity) and he was moving rather slowly with the assistance of crutches.  It was my friend from Ahmedabad, Yasomatinandan, who has aged considerably since last I saw him.  He broke into a smile after I tapped him on the shoulder, at which time he recognized me.

This is the same Yasomatinandan whom I see every day in the corridor in the form of a photo, enlarged and framed, on the wall.  He is walking with his guru, Srila Prabhupada, in the photo.  He looks handsome, energetic and young.

That dynamic has changed in Yaso, but I see his consciousness is good and that is what counts.

May the Source be with you!


4 km

​As the spiritual is not visible or quantifiable, how can we know that we are not pursuing something delusional?
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​Why does Krishna in the hearts of terrorists allow them to murder people?
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​Was the Pandavas’ killing Bhishma and Drona according to dharma?
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Damodara 2016 Sastra Dana and Anna Dana in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Hare KrishnaBy Simheswara Dasa

21OCT'16 Hare Krishna. Today we began the DAMODARA 2016 SASTRA DANA & ANNA DANA, one book & one meal program at "SJKT Bangsar" for the KL - KLANG VALLEY zone. We are to reach "20 schools and 15,000 students." A total of 120 students and 16 teachers received books and respected prasadam today. May Lord Sri Krishna bless Sriman Logenthiran and family for sponsoring prasadam meals and books for today's programme and may the Lord also bless today's volunteers for their dedicated services. Continue reading "Damodara 2016 Sastra Dana and Anna Dana in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Sri Harinam Sankirtan Nectar: Sydney 20/10/16 (Album with…
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Sri Harinam Sankirtan Nectar: Sydney 20/10/16 (Album with photos)
Twelve devotees are sharing the names of Radha and Krishna with the people of Sydney.
This month is the very special time of Kartik and very auspicious to distribute the holy names in streets during this period. Any spiritual activity undertaken attracts hundreds of times the normal benefit to everyone involved, the chanter and the hearers.
As the night are warmer more people fill the streets and show their appreciation for the Harinam Party as they pass by.
This week we went along George street to Park Street down to the Pitt Street Mall then back to the home base near Woolies.
Radha Vinoda was on book distribution.
Please accept our invitation to join us whenever you can as every Thursday we are chanting in the streets of Sydney. See you next Thursday.
Sri Harinam Sankirtan ki jaya.
Chant
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
And Be Happy …
Find them here: https://goo.gl/o9Igoi

Prassantama’s cooking class! (Album with photos) Srila…
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Prassantama’s cooking class! (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: In the Vedic conception of grihastha, householder, it is recommended that a householder shall see that even a lizard living in the room or even a snake living in that house should not starve. They should be also given food. And what to speak of others? Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky, June 22, 1971, Moscow.
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Miracles by distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books! Vijaya…
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Miracles by distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books!
Vijaya das: While distributing on the mall in Moscow, Acala Dasa, the regional Sankirtan Minister for Russia, approached a woman and offered her a book. He explained some of the contents, and she enthusiastically took it. Seeing her enthusiasm he invited her to the temple, and a few weeks later she visited. By coincidence, she arrived on the day the devotees were holding a book distribution seminar. Seeing her come as a result of having received a book, Acala Dasa praised her sincerity: “Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita, ‘Out of many thousands of people, one may inquire into the Absolute Truth.’ ” Speaking to the devotees he added, “Here we have this nice woman coming to inquire about the Absolute Truth. She is not ordinary.” The woman was touched by Acala’s kind words and stayed for the entire seminar.
A year later Acala was on a plane to India. He was seated next to a woman who, after a few moments, asked, “Do you remember me?” He looked at her and said, “No, I am sorry, I don’t.”
“You gave me a book in Moscow. I then visited your temple and you spoke some kind words about me. After reading that book and associating with devotees, I myself have become a devotee. I am on my way to the Mayapur festival.” Acala then remembered her and was pleased to know that she had become a devotee.
After the Mayapur festival this same woman was on a train to Vrindavan. There she met another Russian devotee, whose service it was to do book distribution in India. This devotee offered to teach the woman how to distribute books. Because she knew of the importance of book distribution from hearing about it on her first visit to the temple, she accepted some lessons from him. She had such a nice experience on the train distributing Prabhupada’s books that when she returned to Russia she continued to distribute them. She is now a full-time book distributor in Russia.

$3 Krishna lunches hit spot
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Hare KrishnaBy Ortago Daily Times

University of Otago - Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. After moving to Dunedin to retire, Jane Beecroft soon found herself with more on her plate than she first anticipated. "I came here hoping to take it easy. "Then I started teaching vegetarian cooking; soon enough word got out and it turned into the lunches." The numbers • 500,000 meals served since 1997 • 250 The approximate number of students fed daily • 150 samosas handed out daily • 20kg of rice dished out daily This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Hare Krishna vegetarian lunches on campus at the University of Otago, an initiative started by Ms Beecroft in 1997. On a busy day more than 300 students could arrive for a meal in the space of two hours. The $3 main courses are served four days a week, Monday to Thursday, with Wednesday’s fresh bread and soup a favourite. Continue reading "$3 Krishna lunches hit spot
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