Websites from the ISKCON Universe
Patron’s Dinner (Album with photos)
Ramai Swami: On the Friday night before the Sydney Opera House event, Pratapana and Jayasri hosted a “patrons” dinner for all the devotees who donated generously to help sponsor the function.
Special guests were HH Mukunda Maharaja, HH Bhakti Caru Maharaja, Syamasundara Prabhu and Malati Prabhu. Everyone enjoyed the delicious prasadam prepared by Naresvara Prabhu and his team.
Find them here: http://goo.gl/ZbcbQs
By SPtributes The 2016 Srila Prabhupada Tributes book – “the open Vyasa-puja book” – is now available as a pdf file from www.sptributes.com. Physical books have already been mailed. Each year, all initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada are welcome to write offerings for the book. And any disciple who sends an offering will receive a physical copy of the book.If you were initiated by Srila Prabhupada but didn’t receive an invitation to contribute, please write to sptributes (at) gmail.com in order to be added to the mailing list. Continue reading "2016 Open Vyasa-puja book: pdf now available online
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Iskcon50 celebrations in Philippines (5 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: By once chanting the holy name of the Lord, which consists...
The TOVP Art Team has completed the sculpture of Garuda. It will go in Lord Nrsimhadeva’s Dome.
The post Garuda appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
On this bright and sunny day in Sri Mayapur Dham we took rooftop photos of the TOVP to get a comprehensive view of our progress. Please observe that we are nearly finished with concreting the Main Dome!
The post Comprehensive View of the TOVP appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
We have finished the white marble cladding on the outside of some of the TOVP Chatris. Now, the ornamented peacocks are being installed to decorate the outer walls above the pillars.
The post Chatri Peacocks appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
ISKCON Philadelphia: Gita Nagari Ratha Yatra 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: All glories to the all-blissful holy n...
ISKCON-Delhi: Sri Krishna Janmashtami Cultural Programme : 22-08-2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Chanting the holy ...
By Nimai Devi Dasi ISKCON Leicester has welcomed Sri Sri Radha Madhava from ISKCON Belfast to accept worship in Leicester, UK. A special welcome ceremony took place today (Sunday 21st August) to receive the beautiful brass Deities Who have been worshipped in Belfast, Northern Ireland for the last 35 years. The community offered abhishek to the 2.5 feet tall Deities to welcome Them to Their new home in the heart of Leicester City Centre. Devotees travelled from all over the country to witness the special event, and celebrated the arrival with a yagya, and a full day of kirtana. UK GBC Pragosa Dasa, and Shaunaka Rishi Dasa, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies shared memories of Sri Sri Radha Madhava and blessed the congregation to serve Them wholeheartedly. Praghosa Dasa, GBC for the UK said: “Having known Radha Madhava since 1983, I cannot remember a more auspicious and blissful event in Their association than today in Leicester” Continue reading "Radha Madhava are welcomed to ISKCON Leicester
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* Sanctified Cooking * - and the Power therein -
Vasanta Dasa: Many cultures today have a tradition for offering prayers while preparing a meal. A transformation takes place when seemingly ordinary ingredients are combined, prepared nicely, and then offered with love. The result is known as “prasadam” (Sanskrit) which means “The Lord’s mercy”.
God is very happy to receive offerings like this. It is said that the consciousness of the cook enters the food while s/he is cooking. References to the benefits of conscious food preparation are found in a variety of scriptures - both Eastern & Western - going back thousands of years.
I ran into a clear example of this at Govinda’s Cafe in west LA this afternoon. This small vegetarian cafe close to Culver City offers specialty dishes on Sunday (all maha Deity prasadam).
Today’s stellar dish: a cauliflower & squash curry in yogurt sauce with cumin, curry leaves, a touch of salt & turmeric. Words fail to even begin describing the aura & flavor of this curry. Let’s just say it was outstanding and mood of the chef was ‘spot on’…his heart was definitely in the right place. This dish seemed like it landed from another planet. Such is the power and benediction of sanctified cooking.
Anyone can do this. This is not rocket science. It is a science, but simple to do. The most important ingredient of all: the desire to do so. Benefits? better health, clearer skin, less burden onto the planet, a nice connection with the Lord … the list is long. Also: this approach to cooking does not COST ANY MORE than what most are spending on meal preparation now. Often your cost is less. The taste? You cannot even imagine the different things you can make and prepare consciously. Literally thousands upon thousands.
Now we return to this simple unassuming bowl of yellow curried vegetables. Dive in …..
Opera House performance in Sydney. (Album with photos)
With the participation of many devotees from New-Govardhan community.
Happy Balaram Jayanthi to all the viewers. Balaram Purnima is the auspicious appearance day of Sri Balaram who appeared as Laxmana younger brother of Rama in Treta yuga the elder brother of Sri Krishna in Dvapar yuga, and as most merciful Nityananda in the Kali yuga. In Mayapur this festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm. […]
The post Sri Balaram Jayanthi Celebrations! appeared first on Mayapur.com.
Jhulan Yatra utsava which began on the 14th August, after 5 days celebration ended on the 18th August. Being Purnima the Divine couple were dressed in white flower dress and looked very elegant. The deities came on a palanquin and enjoyed swinging in the beautiful garden and mercifully accepted the offerings by the devotees. After […]
The post Jhulan Yatra Mahotsava Ends! appeared first on Mayapur.com.
The post Jhulan Yatra 2016 – Day 5 appeared first on Mayapur.com.
After the Pandava Sena Retreat in Goloka Dhama, Germany we flew to Madrid on Wednesday (10 August) to participate in the Holy Name Festival at New Vraja Mandala. This place is well-known to Kadamba Kanana Swami as he was in charge here from 2000-2008. When we arrived at the farm, Maharaj spoke to some old friends and gave a class in Spanish. However since he had not spoken the language for quite some time, he needed some help from the audience! In that lecture, Maharaj told the story of the bumblebee (abejórro in Spanish) that circumambulated the divine couple before it was chased away by Madhumangal. Radharani then thought Krsna had left and started crying so much that she could not see him anymore. Seeing her tears, Krsna also started crying and thus Kusum Sarovar came into being!
The next day, more people started to arrive however Maharaj took the whole day off to rest as he was very tired from the past few weeks of travel and events. In the afternoon, he did some yoga and only left the room at 7pm and then led a spirited kirtan. Afterward, Agnidev Prabhu, Ojasvi and others continued…
The highlight of the first day of the festival (Friday) was the 12 hour kirtan where Maharaj sang really mellow as he was the first on the schedule at 11am. Saturday was greatly anticipated. In the morning, there was a program to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of ISKCON but Maharaj didn’t participate as he had to save his energy for the BIG harinama in Madrid which was scheduled to start at 6pm. We went into the city a little earlier by car to buy a few things that we needed. It was Saturday night and the streets were very crowded with all kinds of people and some were doing street performances.
Around 7pm, two buses full of devotees arrived at Plaza Callao, the starting point of the harinama. Yadunandana Swami sang first, followed by Kadamba Kanana Swami. Maharaj led a fired up kirtan for about an hour through the streets of Madrid with only a short bharat natyam dance pause in between. The Spanish people who were already in a festive mood were very favourable toward the devotees.
When Maharaj got tired, Agnidev Prabhu took over the microphone and shortly thereafter, we travelled back to the farm. As we were passing through Brihuega, the last village before the farm, we saw a large crowd of people gathered in the street. We tried to drive through but eventually had to stop when a few young people were kneeling in front of our car paying their obeisances to us with beers in hand! Others started to shake our car. Also, there was a group of men in bunny costumes and women with beards! Later we found out that it was carnival day in Spain!
In the Caitanya Caritamrta class the next morning, Maharaj spoke about the glories of harinama. He mentioned how kirtan isn’t heard only in the material world but throughout all the universes and our activities are being witnessed by various demigods and personalities like the Sun and the Moon. Maharaj, always good at spontaneous ideas in his classes, gave the example of the carnival we had witnessed the previous night. He said that there is a natural inclination towards celebrating festivals since it is done in the spiritual world and this material world is the perverted reflection of it.
Maharaj also explained that the love of God experienced by Caitanya Mahaprabhu (called sudipdha or blazing fire) is the topmost and at that stage, there is no longer any self-control therefore Lord Nityananda had to always take care of Mahaprabhu. For example when he was jumping really high in ecstatic kirtan, Nityananda would catch him to protect the Lord from hurting himself.
On Monday, there was another 12 hour kirtan. Again Maharaj sang in an early slot and as Maharaj explained, the mood is less passionate then so it was mellow. He had the second half of the day free for writing and resting. When the temperature had cooled down, Maharaj showed me around the farmland and told me about its history.
The next morning, we left at 6am for the airport to travel to Split in Croatia. We had a stopover in Zurich and during the second flight, we could see the famous Croatian islands on the way!
Visit Flickr to see more photos!
The post Jhulan Yatra 2016 – Day Four appeared first on Mayapur.com.
For the pleasure of their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Pancatattva, Prahlad Nrisimhadev, H. D.G. Srila Prabhupada and to all the readers, Mayapur Bhakti Vriksha informing with great joy that on the 7th Aug, 2016, Sunday, in occasion of ‘World Harinam Week’ Mayapur Bhakti Vriksha hold a huge colorful Nagar Sankirtan in ISKCON Mayapur Campus […]
The post Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam appeared first on Mayapur.com.
The 2016 Srila Prabhupada Tributes book – “the open Vyasa-puja book” – is now available as a pdf file from www.sptributes.com. Physical books have already been mailed.
Each year, all initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada are welcome to write offerings for the book. And any disciple who sends an offering will receive a physical copy of the book.If you were initiated by Srila Prabhupada but didn’t receive an invitation to contribute, please write to sptributes (at) gmail.com in order to be added to the mailing list.
The post 2016 Open Vyasa-puja book: pdf now online appeared first on Jayadvaita Swami.
Gita verse-by-verse podcast
Download by “right-click and save content”
The post Gita 11.13 – The universal form reconciles the one and the many appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
By Mayapur Sasi dasa For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following North American results of book distribution for the month of July 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 July 2016 – North American Sankirtan Newsletter
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Ratha Yatra festival in Cologne, Germany (Album with photos)
Lord Jagannatha is an ocean of mercy and as beautiful as a row of...
By Vishakha Lila Devi Dasi The scans for this chapter give you much to see. You'll see the extensive first paragraph to 9.26 (patram puspam phalam toyam). This paragraph appeared in the 1968 abridged edition, and devotees often relished and quoted it, especially its memorable line "Who is such a fool that he does not want to be Krsna conscious by this simple method?" In the 1972 edition this paragraph was left out. In the 1983 edition it has been restored. You'll see twenty-six of Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit quotations recovered (seven in the purport to text 2 alone). You'll see several places where the 1972 edition includes Srila Prabhupada’s explanation for a Sanskrit word but leaves out the word he is explaining -- and the second edition restores the missing word. (For example: "avasam" in the purport to text 8, "udasinavat" in text 9, and "vyapasritya" in text 32.) You'll find out about new translations the original editor pasted into the manuscript over Srila Prabhupada's (and see examples). You'll also see the thirteen verses for which the original word-for-word meanings were done by a BBT Sanskrit editor, not by Srila Prabhupada himself. Apart from images for specific changes, the scans for this chapter include thirteen complete sample pages from the original manuscripts, including four pages showing those BBT-supplied word-for-word meanings. Whether you're for "the changes," against them, or neutral, here's another opportunity to see what the changes actually are. Continue reading "IMP Press Release: Gita Changes for Chapter Nine
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Lotus festival 2016 at the Bhakti Center in NYC (Album with photos)
Annual Lotus festival to celebrate Krishna’s appearance day. Sat Aug 20, 2016.
Lots of people came. Beautiful kirtans. Deep talk by Dhanurdhara Swami. Offering of lotus flowers by every guest to Radha Murlidhara.
Gorgeous flower decorations and garlands by Nikunja Lila, Radha Kumari, and a dedicated crew including Lisa Adams, Kate, and others. A most beautiful “kund” or pond built by Narayan Gibbs which held the floating garden of flowers. Great deity decorations and abhishek by Vasudeva and Nimai Sundar prabhus, and other pujaris.
Two short dramas by “Das Anudasa Players”.
Finally, delicious Prasad cooked by Doyal Gauranga and his crew.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/FEHuIV
By Subroto Das The fragrance of incense, variety of beautiful colourful flowers, illumination of glittering lights, melodious chanting of Hare Krishna Mahamantra and glow on the faces of shaved headed tilak borne devotees transformed the auditorium of Prabhupad Samadhi Mandir at ISKCON Mayapur into a transcendental heavenly planet. To mark the Golden Jubilee celebrations( 1996- 2016) of International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the devotees organised the programme- “Homage to Srila Prabhupad” to pay tribute to His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad, founder Acharya of ISKCON. Continue reading "Homage to Srila Prabhupada at ISKCON Mayapur
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A Summer Song (6 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: For over 2 months this summer we chanted and danced throughout the towns and villages of Poland’s Baltic Sea coast. Blissful kirtans resounded in the streets, city parks and along the many beaches crowded with tourists. The highlight of each day was when people spontaneously joined in with us, unable to resist the joy of singing the Lord’s holy names and dancing in ecstasy.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/NKMRX7
50th Anniversary Transcendental Journey, Australia (Album with photos)
Aniruddha Dasa: I took my little camera with me to the Opera House last night not knowing if I’d actually use it. I got a front row seat so I thought I’d see what happens. Given the lighting challenges we managed to capture some reasonable shots.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/FKo8tN
ISKCON 50th years anniversary cultural program with the Mayoress of Santiago-Chile (3 min video)
Krishna Sambandha: We would like to share with you a nice video of an ISKCON 50th years anniversary cultural and preaching program at Santiago-Chile City hall with the presence of the Mayoress and officials. There was music by “Krishna Sambandha”; Srila Prabhupada´s books and prasad distribution for all attendees.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/N8hxMU
Los Angeles temple receives top awards!
Jaya Chaitanya Das and Svavasa Das share 2015 awards for #1 book distributor and temple...
After the Swiss Retreat, Kadamba Kanana Swami spent a few days in London and then travelled to Goloka Dhama, Germany for the Pandava Sena Retreat. Pandava Sena is the congregational youth-group of Bhaktivedanta Manor.
Within minutes of Kadamba Kanana Swami’s arrival at Goloka Dhama on a rainy Wednesday afternoon (03 August), he had attracted a crowd of eager young men, excited to hear about his travels. He sat on the sofa opposite the temple room of Radha Madana Mohana and one by one, boys were pouring in. They each paid their obeisances, sat down in front of the sofa and listened intently. Laughter naturally ensued and we blocked the entrance to the temple room. Whoops! It was the start of a transcendental adventure…
Maharaj gave an awesome evening class and it was amazing to hear him sing Jaya Radha Madhava after so many devotees had been saying how much they love it. Everyone was on their feet and we danced and danced for the pleasure of Pandava Sena’s deities, Dayal Nitai Vijaya Gauranga, who were beautifully dressed as always. Maharaj leading kirtan was the perfect end to a perfect day!
Maharaj ’s second class of the retreat followed the morning after. “Even Radharani can’t take Krsna for granted,” said Maharaj. I guess that woke us all up and shook us hard, or at least it should have!
The Journey Home was a fitting name for the 10-day retreat – as each day progressed, we ventured deeper and deeper into what it means to be in Vrindavan consciousness. Maharaj started off by singing the Sad-Goswamyastakam before his Friday morning class and shared how the Goswamis are the ones that are bringing us to Vrindavan. Maharaj mentioned that the Bhagavatam “will reveal the spiritual world to us” and the price we have to pay is eagerness. It seems like we have to BEG (Bhagavatam, Eagerness, Goswamis) and rightly so!
Maharaj’s kirtans were out of this world and despite telling us that he has to take it easy and can’t take it to sixth gear, he would continue to pump the kirtan faster and faster each night. The next morning, he would say that he has to go mellow yet each night when he would see Pandava Sena dancing with huge smiles on their faces, out of his compassion, he would continue to keep them on their feet. And just when you thought it was over for the night, the mrdanga would sound again and the holy name would take over for another round of dancing. Unforgettable!
Everyone loved the boat festival. Throughout the week, we all helped Vaijayanti Mataji build the most beautiful swan: a “raja-hamsa”. Ornamented with a crown and decorated in a way appropriate only for the king and queen of Vraja, the swan served as a boat for Radha Madana Mohana. It was magical. Sitting on what felt like the banks of the Yamuna, we were all captivated by the wonderfully narrated boat pastimes of Radha and Krsna. After singing Jaya Radhe Jaya Krsna, Sacinandana Swami described how Radha and the gopis found a sleeping boatman (who turned out to be Krsna of course) to take them across the river so that they could sell their milk products in Mathura. Then, Kadamba Kanana Swami continued:
This is Krsna’s greatest pleasure: to somehow or other conquer his devotee. And it is the devotee’s greatest pleasure to somehow or other conquer Krsna. Just as it is described that Srimati Radharani, before going out, her assistants are helping her to bathe and to dress and just something like the tilak can take a long time. Just to make that tilak dot that she wears, there are little designs in it at the edges and so on. It is tilak made to kill so to say. It has only one purpose: to drive the mind of Krsna mad. And so this boat pastime is simply an exchange of the love between Radha and Krsna, where that love is being churned and where one is trying to conquer the other.
Kishan, who led the organizing team, said, “It was incredible to have Maharaj join us! His kirtans were most people’s highlight of the trip. Even with so many health difficulties, the fact that he still committed to coming is something we’re extremely grateful for.”
Throughout the trip, Maharaj was very encouraging to all the devotees, giving us so much of his time, answering our questions and clearing our doubts. He made everyone feel at home and continued to give and give. Maharaj said that when the opportunity is there, don’t miss the boat – a key takeaway for Pandava Sena!
Visit Flickr to see more photos.
Ratha-yatra during the Carnival of the World festival in Reading, UK - 20th Aug ‘16 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Kirtan means sometimes chanting with music, and sometimes speaking. Both of them are kirtan. Kirtayati iti kirtanam. Whenever we glorify the Lord, that is called kirtan. The Srimad-Bhagavatam reading is also kirtan. (Janmashtami, Montreal, August 16, 1968)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/YOhGms
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami: Prayers requested for ailing Krishna devotee, Radha Damodara prabhu.
Kirtiraja das: For those of you who followed the Campaign of The Committee to Free Soviet Hare Krishnas many years ago, Radha Damodara prabhu was then known as Sucharu dasa (Sergei Zuev). Much emphasis was given to his case because he was imprisoned in a Soviet labor camp and endured very harsh treatment there.
Radha Damodara prabhu has given almost forty years of his life in serving Srila Prabhupada’s mission in the Soviet Union and Russia as he was one of the original Moscow devotees.
Radha Damodara prabhu is one of the most sober and serious devotees I’ve ever met AND at the same time he has a jolly streak. Whenever I would experience Radha Damodara prabhu making a joke or a funny comment, he would break into a smile and it made me smile.
He is a wonderful devotee and has done so much extremely valuable service for ISKCON in Russia especially in the area of governmental affairs. Radha Damodara prabhu’s service laid the foundation so Krishna Consciousness in the former Soviet Union could be what it is today.
The world, yes the world, owes a debt of gratitude to Radha Damodara prabhu for the service he’s done.
I specifically say the world because Srila Prabhupada said that the inevitable war between the Soviet Union and America could be avoided if we distributed his books in the Soviet Union. Radha Damodara prabhu was instrumental in making that book distribution possible
Please pray to the Lord and Srila Prabhupada for his safe journey home. Radha Damodara prabhu ki jaya!
By Victoria Arnold, Forum 18 Less than four weeks after Russia's legal amendments restricting sharing beliefs came into force, a Judge acquitted Vadim Sibiryev on 15 August in the first attempted prosecution. Anti-extremism police had charged Hare Krishna devotee Sibiryev for offering religious books on the streets of Cherkessk. A Hare Krishna adherent has become the first person to be charged under Russia's new law restricting sharing beliefs. Anti-extremism police in the North Caucasus republic of Karachai-Cherkessiya arrested 19-year-old Vadim Sibiryev on 28 July on suspicion of violating the Religion Law by handing out religious literature in the street. But a judge acquitted Sibiryev on 15 August, when his lawyer successfully argued that his actions did not fit the law's definition of "missionary" activity. Continue reading "A Hare Krishna adherent has become the first person to be charged under Russia’s new law
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Incredible Prabhupada
The post August 21st, 2016 – Daily Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.
On the Friday night before the Sydney Opera House event, Pratapana and Jayasri hosted a “patrons” dinner for all the devotees who donated generously to help sponsor the function.
Special guests were HH Mukunda Maharaja, HH Bhakti Caru Maharaja, Syamasundara Prabhu and Malati Prabhu. Everyone enjoyed the delicious prasadam prepared by Naresvara Prabhu and his team.
Gita verse-by-verse podcast
Download by “right-click and save content”
The post Gita 11.12 – Human perception and description are inadequate before divine self-revelation appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Balarama Purnima in Moscow, Russia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “For one who wants liberation from the fruitive reactions of material activities, the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, or glorification of the name, fame and pastimes of the Lord, is recommended as the most perfect process of atonement because such chanting eradicates the dirt from one’s heart completely.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 6.2.12).
Find them here: https://goo.gl/rhF3dL
By Nkosinathi Ntuli The International Society of Krishna Consciousness, better known as the Hare Krishna Movement, turned 50, last month. The Rising Sun has therefore decided to take a closer look at its achievements and the impact they have on society. Residents have all seen devotees along the streets wearing a doti, sari, tilaka and chanting Hare Krishna with an assortment of instruments including the mrdanga and kartalas. ISCKON has a sister organisation called Food For Life Global, which over a period of 50 years has distributed over three billion plates of vegetarian food. The food is said to be spiritual or karma-free, nourishing both the body and soul because it is first offered to Krishna (God). This is how the movement makes its contribution to curbing the poverty of the stomach, mind and the soul globally. In Durban alone, more than 10, 000 plates of food are distributed a day in schools, rural communities and to the homeless. Continue reading "ISKCON celebrates 50 years of community service
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