​Evening Bhagavad-gita class at ISKCON, Laguna Beach, USA

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When devotees look at their obstacles to advancement in Krsna consciousness, they sometimes doubt whether they will ever be able to overcome all of them. It is easy to become discouraged and thus feel it may not even be worth praying to overcome obstacles. What is another impetus for change? Prabhupada said that when one has great love for his spiritual master, he will follow all of his instructions. The greater the love, the greater the impetus to follow. The proper attitude is that, “I may not want to do something, but I will do it because my guru asked me.” And we can pray to our guru to give us strength to follow his instructions. Continue reading "Change
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The Gita & Change.
The Gita is a book about change. It’s protagonist, Arjuna, is changing his mind about leading the fight. He is having a ‘reality’ check as he faces his opponents, many of whom he knows. He is also facing the consequences of this war – no matter how important or needed, there will be much loss and disruption.
As Arjuna moves through his crisis, asking questions and seeking guidance, we learn so many things about change – both change that happens to us and change we can make happen. It’s a book to help us navigate life as it presents itself before us. We are not Arjuna, but certainly do have our own battles, and face the challenge of change in many similar ways.
Below are some excerpts from the the translations and purports to Bhagavad-gita As It Is that explore the topic of change. While some of us might be experiencing a boring, soul-killing unchanging life, and others struggling with too much change and complexities, either way the Gita can help us respond to questions or situations we may face, and support us in the decisions and choices we have to make.
May the following excerpts inspire you to dig deeper into this great book of knowledge and access its potential to bring deep and lasting change to your life.
On changing our karma:
“The effects of karma may be very old indeed. We are suffering or enjoying the results of our activities from time immemorial, but we can change the results of our karma, or our activity, and this change depends on the perfection of our knowledge. We are engaged in various activities. Undoubtedly we do not know what sort of activities we should adopt to gain relief from the actions and reactions of all these activities, but this is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita.”
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/xbfCgU

How to receive guests on Sunday: After the announcements are made it very important to focus on newcomers and later one can deal with regular visitors and congregational devotees. Following points should be considered while dealing with newcomers. 1. TEMPLE – PAMPHLET Giving daily pamphlets while giving Welcome pamphlets, explain about Temple timings, Sunday program timings Invite them graciously to attend our programs. Do not insist them if they are not interested. Just encourage them While dealing with them, one should try to fan the spark of interest within them. Daily temple schedule. Sunday festival (GAUR-ARATI, KIRTAN, PRAVACHAN, PRASADAM.) Deities. Festivals (Vaishnav Calendar.) Various Congregational Programs. Gurukul/Orphanage Audio CDs, VCDs, MP3 CDs, Audio tapes/books library. (Refer the topic ‘important documents’ at the end of this manual for ‘Temple pamphlet’.) Continue reading "Receiving Guests/visitors On Regular Basis
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Preaching program in Sudamerica Tour 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If one wants success in practical yoga practic...

Prabhupada, “Give me your son. I will make him an acharya.”
Atma Tattva: I had a Krishna book and on the back cover was a picture of Prabhupada looking at a champak flower he was holding. I showed the man this picture and said, “This is our Guru Maharaj, he has translated these books.”

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Hare Krishna Festivals UK: Big thank you to the Mayor of Elstree and Borehamwood Cllr Clive Butchins, and his family, for coming alo...

TOVP: The Chatri Peacock Work Continues (Album with photos)
Sadbhuja Das: The TOVP has 8 roof top Chatris. Each Chatri will be beautifully ornamented with pillars, cornices, and peacocks. The peacocks have been handcrafted in the Glass fiber Reinforced Concrete (GRC) Factory. Each Chatri will have 12 peacocks installed above the pillars.
The peacock is a symbol of beauty, prosperity, royalty, love, compassion, soul and peace. It is a magnificent bird that displays it’s beautiful plumage for all to see. Its iridescent plumage is remarkable and stunning. Peacocks are pure of heart. They pair with one mate and are loyal and faithful to their partners. To many, they also symbolise eternal love.
Currently, we are decorating our first Chatri with peacocks. This Chatri is located close to Lord Nrsimha’s Dome.
After we finish nicely decorating this Chatri, we will then do the electrical work. All of the pillars will have lights installed, and thus the peacocks will be illuminated to allow their glorious beauty to shine.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/5vjrgc

Program consisted of an elephant procession, “Reliving Prabhupada at Boston(Performance by Gauranga Band)” , “Bigwig in conversation with Srila Prabhupada(Puppet Show)”, Govindam Prayers(Yoga Acrobatics by students from blind school) and Prabhupada Katha by his three senior disciples: HG Pancagauda Pr, HG Hamsrupa Pr & HG RadhaKunda Mj. The program began by carrying the deity of Srila Prabhupada on a decorated elephant accompanied by hundreds of devotees who were joyfully chanting and dancing in a procession from temple to the nearby venue. The stage program was initiated by suitable invocation, lamp lighting and a short address by HG Rukmini Krishna Das(Temple Co-President). Many devotees were mesmerized when students from a blind school put up a Yoga Acrobatics show on different pastimes of Lord Krishna. Gauranaga Rock Band sang the poem composed by Srila Prabhupada on Jalduta a day before arriving at Boston. Continue reading "ISKCON 50: Festival @ ISKCON Punjabi Bagh to mark anniversary of Srila Prabhupada arriving at Boston
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Harinama in New York city, USA (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The demigods are pleased when sacrifices are performed, ju...

The TOVP’s New Hoist (Album with photos)
Sadbhuja Das: Recently we have integrated another new Jaypee Hoist into our construction work. This new hoist can very sufficiently lift workers and an abundance of materials together.
It is assisting us and making our construction quicker and easier. It is creating an easy flow for us to lift up an abundance of materials at anytime constantly, without any stoppages. This new hoist has upgraded our construction logistics, and thus has made TOVP high tech.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/vS0nZ8

Here is a really good question someone kindly sent me recently:

Why should we have to work so hard to get love / bhakti ? So much service and so many rules and still Krishna prema doesn’t come!

I feel at odds with the entire concept that love should require work / sādhana.  Love cannot be earned, or purchased by any amount of work. In this world nobody does sādhana to fall in love, it just happens naturally. Why should we have to work and “earn credits” to be able to fall in love with supreme lover?

The reason I like this question so much is that its so sincere and its also so accurate and realized. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī himself states in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu that love cannot be created by sādhana / work. It is not created or purchased by anything – it simply “manifests.”

nitya-siddhasya-bhāvasya prākaṭyam hṛdi sādhyatā

“Love is eternally perfect. It manifests in the heart. That is the goal.”

(1.2.2)

In the opening chapter of Mādhurya Kādambinī, Śrī Viśvanātha elaborates on the same point, quoting Bhāgavatam extensively to demonstrate that love cannot be created, it manifests by free will, its own free will – yadṛcchayā. Nothing causes love except love: bhaktyā sañjātayā bhaktyā (11.3.31).

Then what is the point of sādhana???

Think about how love works. You meet someone, or see their picture, or hear about them and then all the sudden, bazoom, you are in it… you’re in love. More precicely, love descends upon you like a wave and completely drowns your existence in it.

Why shouldn’t Krishna prema come in the same manner?

It will.

But think about it again, there are at least two very important difference between falling in love with Pamela Anderson and falling in love with Sri Krishna.

For one thing – The nature of the “love” we fall in with Pam isn’t very special. It’s very common, basic – essentially just an intensified form of “liking” something, as in feeling great pleasure from something. But Krishna prema isn’t the same type of love at all. It’s very uncommon because it has absolutely no laxity. It absolutely devours the consciousness, leaving no room at all for anything else to even exist (sandrānanda viśeśātmā, BRS 1.1.38~40). It absolutely incinerates all self-centered concerns and separatist selfishness. So its not the same as the love we fall in everyday. Its like the difference between a penny and a hundred dollar bill. Yes, they are both money, but not quite the same amount of it.

The second difference is the beloved. Pam Anderson exists as an object of the five senses in the external world of bhinna-prakṛti which our mind and senses can easily grasp. However, the subject of Krishna prema, Krishna – although permeating Pam Anderson and every other object and subject in the external field – is not wholly contained in any of those objects that we can readily experience. (See Gita 7.12, for example, “matta eveti tan viddhi, na tv aham tesu te mayi.”). We can hang out on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and maybe run into Ms. Anderson, or at least we can watch a Baywatch episode or whatever – but how will we experience the beauty of Krishna directly? He is the root of the very consciousness which is attempting to find him. His is behind the eyes that are looking outward. Our eyes don’t point in the direction where he exists (we are bahir-mukha, not antar-mukha). How then will we see his beauty, hear the actual sound of his name, smell his fragrance, etc? And if that is not possible, how will we fall in love with him? We cannot fall in love with a person we do not know!

Sādhana, then, doesn’t create prema at all (practice/work doesn’t create love) but it makes the heart a place (a) capable of experiencing the most mysterious entity in existence, the supreme root of it all, Śrī Krishna, and (b) capable of hosting and expressing the most intense, all consuming, sublimely intense and incalculably delightful pure love – which is the soma rasa that Sri Krishna drinks incessantly.

The “work” of sādhana is (a) the effort to make our eyes capable of looking inward, away from exploitable objects and into the realm of pure consciousness (advaya jñāna) where we encounter first brahman, then paramātmā, then bhagavān, and only at the utmost end root, having absorbed the munificent abundance of karuṇa-kṛpā as saṁvit-śakti, can finally directly discover the Absolute Enchanter (“Krishna”) and Enjoyer (“Rāma”), Sri Bhagavān Hari, Krishna.

The “work” of sādhana is (b) to make the rock-hard separatist selfishness that constitutes our current concept of “I” into something meltable, disintegratable, so that the rays of dawning love (bhāva) can melt it and get rid of it, and make the heart capable of experiencing and thus amplifying true prema.

In short, although love happens spontaneously and of its own accord – we have to work to be able to even perceive the viṣaya we want to fall in love with (Krishna, the Supreme Root of Reality, paramāśraya), and we have to work to make our externalized, exploitive, separatist “I”-ness into something that can be blown away and replaced by a type of love whose intensity we cannot even estimate.

Sādhana doesn’t create love, it creates our capacity for love. The rest happens by magic. Love’s magic.

But What IS “Sādhana“?

What is sādhana anyway? It itself is love!

It is the seed form of love, śraddhā (an inclination of the heart, śrad) Therefore, the effort to make our senses capable of internal perception into consciousness itself, where Krishna resides, is itself an act of love. The effort to chip away the hardened shell of separatist, irrelevant, anartha-“I” is an act of love in itself, just as the clearing of a field is also an act of farming. So, it is certainly only love which generates love, bhaktyā sanjātayā bhaktyā.

So, sādhana really shouldn’t feel like “work.”

It is love. If it feels too much like work, we aren’t doing it right.

Sādhana should consist of inquiring from Śrī Guru about Krishna-tattva revealed in the Vedas through Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and consequently hearing directly about the nāma, rūpa, guṇa, parikār, and līlā of Krishna, again revealed through Bhāgavatam; then subsequently remembering all of this by meditation upon the mantra of Krishna (kṛṣṇāya govindāya, etc.) and the mantra containing the sacred rāsa-līlā of his names:

hare krishna hare krishna
krishna krishna hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare

And, very importantly, augmenting this meditation by emotive saṁkīrtan of that nāma-mantra.

This process should feel joyful the majority of the time ( susukhaṁ kartum – Gita 9.2), because it is itself the seed form of the supreme joy, krishna-premānanda. 

If we don’t do the process correctly, it is very difficult and results to not come, and we ask, “why all this work?” But when we fortunately do the process correctly, we progress quickly and Krishna becomes surprisingly more tangible to us, and our hearts feel tangibly more attraction to further sādhana. Then we feel plagued not by the question, “Why do I have to work so hard for Krishna?” Rather the question that consumes us is, “Why can’t I work any harder for him?”

Done right, the sādhana itself also has a magical attraction. It quickly becomes addictive, and doesn’t feel much like “work.”

Jai Śrī Rādhe Śyāma.

Vraja Kishor dās (www.vrajakishor.com)

Harinama in Moscow, Russia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: All glories to the all-blissful holy name of Sri Krishna, whic...

On September 24, 2016, history was created when ISKCON of Suriname held its first Ratha-yatra festival in the capital City of Paramaribo, with the Lord Jagannath cart parading through one of the busiest streets in the city.  The festival was organiszd as part of ISKCON Suriname’s main 50th anniversary initiative.

Last Saturday, on September 24, history was created when ISKCON of Suriname held its first Ratha-yatra festival in the capital City of Paramaribo, with the Lord Jagannath cart parading through one of the busiest streets in the city.  The festival was organized as part of ISKCON Suriname’s main 50th anniversary initiative. The procession began at 5:00 pm sharp with the ribbon cutting done by the Raghoebier family, who, over a decade ago, had kindly provided the facility in Paramaribo that ISKCON utilizes.

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​Talk at Colorada State University, Denver, USA

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​Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Denver

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Harinama in a rainy Auckland, New Zealand (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Chanting the holy name is the chief means of at...

Find and learn about any ISKCON Center in the world in this new interactive website, the new official directory of ISKCON centers.
To find the center you’re looking for on the website, there are many different options. You can simply type, say, “Spain” into the “What are you looking for?” box on the homepage, and find a list of all the centers in that country accessible through attractive thumbnail photos. Or, you can be more specific, and select “Spain” from the “regions” drop-down menu and “farm” from the “categories menu, and find the New Vrajamandala farm. Other search options include the “Browse categories” menu, where you can go straight to, say, all the Namahatta groups or all the restaurants in ISKCON worldwide. Then there’s “Centers by Region,” where you can go straight to all the centers in a major region of the world, like “Latin America” or “Asia-Pacific.” There’s also “Centers of Interest,” which currently has only “farms” in its drop-down menu, and leads you directly to the GBC Ministry of Agriculture and Cow Protection’s official global directory of all ISKCON farms. Future “Centers of Interest” to be added will include a one-click pathway to all major ISKCON schools.
To learn more about the website: https://goo.gl/F26ukn
To visit the website: https://goo.gl/Jhdzva

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One may be compassionate to fulfill his own selfish desire. One may be compassionate to some and not compassionate to others. He has raga and dvesa, liking and disliking. He is not equal to one and all. He cannot be. Unless one sees Krishna how can he be compassionate? He will see, this is Krishna's jiva suffering. His heart bleeds. He cannot sit tight. He will go out and preach Krishna consciousness. And who preaches? Prana ache yara, sei hetu pracara; one who has life? What is life? Jivanam sarva-bhutesu. Krishna says, "I am jivan, I am the life in all living entities." One who sees Krishna everywhere. Who sees Krishna's jiva suffering because of forgetfulness of Krishna, because of a lack of Krishna conscoiusness; he has prana, life. He goes out and preaches. He is completely surrendered to Krishna. Therefore Krishna came as Mahaprabhu, as a bhakta (a devotee), to teach devotion, to teach how to surrender unto Krishna (sikhaya sarangati bhakater prana). Saranagati is the life of the devotee who is completely surrendered.  Continue reading "A Society Without Envy
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One fundamental requirement for active listening is the capacity to suspend the judging-propensity. Resist the temptation to immediately offer words of advice or throw out pat preachy lines. The general rule is to not advice unless you are quite sure the listener wishes to accept your words: “advice only when hired” is a saying used by professional counselors in this connection. Instructing one who is disturbed is usually not effective because the troubled person's turbulent mind will not allow him to hear. It is often better to wait until the person's emotions subside. This often happens quickly and naturally when he feels understood. Active listening is a powerful preaching tool: it warms the relation, it lets you know what “they are at”, it lets you enter their life by them opening up to you (while keeping, in a sense, above). People really appreciate when you want to hear what they have to say: many people go on all their life without experiencing it. Another analogy is “shot-gun” and “laser” preaching: when you know what is going on in someone’s mind your advice becomes more focused, more pointed, you know what to shoot for. Active listening is also useful in book distribution, it can defuse a tense situation in few seconds. Continue reading "Active Listening
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His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj arrived at Sridham Mayapur on 26th September 2016. Maharaj gave Srimad Bhagavatam class on Canto 7, Chapter 7, verse number 29 on 28th September 2016. Please watch the video of the lecture here:  

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Notes of a pilgrim.
Mukhya Devi Dasi (President of Iskcon’s Raman Reti community in Alachua): We’ve spent the past week in the rarefied atmosphere of Sri Vrindavan Dhama, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. ISKCON’s Krishna Balaram Mandir is chock full of life: kirtan, seva and bhakti vibrating from end to end. Just watching the pilgrims stream through during sundara arati and hearing the 24 hour kirtan in full swing begin dancing as they have darshan of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, Sri Sri Krishna Balaram and Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar, is an evening activity for us. There is nothing like it in the three worlds. We are charmed and humbled by their natural devotional feelings. Many classes going on from morning to night, in many languages, with many devotees in attendance. There’s even a class for guests that happens right after mangal arati, in an office within the Temple itself.
The holiest of holy tirthas, for me, is here too, Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi, his resting place. His huge murti form emanates a unique expression of compassion, certainly Krishna was guiding the hands of the artist who created this most extraordinary murti. In one form the pure devotee remains within his Samadhi to give mercy to faithful and sincere devotees, and here one can receive inspiration and enthusiasm in his devotional service. Each day after the morning program we leave for parikrama, visiting one or two temples where we can sit and read and chant, before getting into the market for shopping. Some of where we’ve been:
Gopiswara Mahadeva Temple (this linga was installed 5,000 years ago by Lord Krishna’s grandson Vajaranabha) Here we take permission to enter the holy dhama Vamsi Vata (where Krishna called the gopis to dance with Him)
Govindaji Mandir Even after desecration and deterioration, this huge mandir which was originally seven stories high made of huge red sandstone block, intricately carved domes and lattice work screens, seems like an architectural marvel. Somehow they take us right up onto the altar here, then down a secret stairwell to have darshan of an ancient deity of Yogamaya (Krishna’s sister).
Braja Mohan Temple. The deity of Narottam das Thakura, this lovely well maintained, quiet (and monkey proof) spot is one of our favorites. We sit here a while and chant the songs of Narottam das and feel our good fortune. His Holiness Indradyumna Swami gave a donation here to fix up the temple, and they are very nice and personal with us.
Radha Vinode, Radha Gokulanada, deities of Lokanatha Goswami and Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur. We also visits the Samadhi garden here, chant and circumambulate.
Radha Kunda
We did a half day parikrama of Radha Kund with Dina Bandhu prabhu. The only way to go! We really understood why they say only mad dogs go out in the noon day sun, it was painfully hot for us, but Dina Bandhu was cheerfully carrying on, being respectfully and happily greeted by every baba we met.
64 Samadhis, all the major goswamis and preachers of Vrindavan have either a full or a pushpa, nama, or smrita Samadhi here.
Purnamasi Temple. The mother of Sandipani Muni, everyone considered her on all matters, and she made arrangements with Vrinda devi for Radha Krishna’s pastimes. Situated at a corner of Seva Kunj.
Bath in Yamuna, she was very shallow this week, but cool and refreshing nonetheless.
Radha Damodar Temple. “the center of the spiritual world.” The bhajan place of Rupa Goswami, where he would daily hold discourse on Srimad Bhagavatam with the other goswamis and their close associates. Also here is the Govardhan sila of Srila Sanatana Goswami which has the footprint of Lord Krishna impressed upon it. Srila Prabhupada’s rooms are here, beautifully maintained ‘as they were’. We spend extra time here reading aloud Bhagavad Gita, and chanting bhajan.
We were happy for the chance to visit with His Holiness Gunagrahi Swami, who is absorbing himself in kirtan, nice association, hearing-chanting-remembering. We had a nice chat, sharing realizations and memories. Two more days and we leave for the airport on a very very long trek home. Be it ever so humble…I will be very happy to get there.
Everywhere I go I am praying for all the residents of New Raman Reti, may we always stay engaged in service at Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet.

The handwriting of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself? (Album with photos)
The Bhaktivedanta Research Centre’s Mission for Manuscripts Team visited the Sripata of Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura, Denuda in Bardaman (West Bengal).
On the altar there is a wood and glass box containing a mss that is said to be the original Caitanya Bhagavat by Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura.
We were not allowed to photograph these from the outside of the box because, following an attempt to steal it by a young man disguised as a Hindu sadhu, the box was sealed and even the current pujari can’t open it.
With it there is a thin strip with what the owners claim is the handwriting of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself.