From a seminar of Bhagavata Purana prabhu on karatalas:
Six important things are to understand about karatalas.
1. Direction
2. Pitch
3. Volume
4. Speed
5. Open and closed beats
6. Upbeat and downbeat
In the Prabhupada beat the final beat is half open and half closed.
The thumb is supposed to be fixed on the strap so you do not lose control of your instrument. Use your fingers not the thumb to dampen the sound.
The singer and the mrdanga player work as a team, and everyone else follows the mrdanga pl...

Notes to myself today:
Listen to your japa with rapt* attention. Beware of plateaus* and comfort* zones. Cultivate* humility*. Remember that Krsna is the maintainer* of everything and everyone. Say an encouraging* word to everyone you meet. Drink lots of water, eat healthy* prasadam and get enough* rest. Do the best* you can with what youve got at every moment. *Definition of rapt: 1. Completely fascinated by what one is seeing or hearing. 2. Indicating or characterized by such a state of fascination. 3. Having been carried away bodily or ...

Surrendering the Fruits of one’s Actions.
Question: In Bhagavad-gita 2.47, Lord Krishna says, “…but you are not entitled to the fruits of action.” What does it mean here to be not entitled to the fruits of action? Does it mean that we aren’t the proprietors of the fruits that we get from our work, or does it mean that we don’t have a right to obtain or receive the reactionary fruit itself, good or bad, of anything that we do?
For example, consider that a student has appeared for an exam. Now does it mean that he...

Two disciples of Srila Prabhupada left their bodies.
Kavicandra Swami: Gopinatha Acarya prabhu, (ACBSP) from Australia has left this world,
He was the first devotee to sell full sets of SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM.
He later took to cow and bull protection very seriously.
His body was found in the cow’s place
May he be surrounded by cows.
...

Only a disciplined disciple develops love for Krishna
Purushottam Nitai Das: We are so serious, so enthusiastic and so happy when we are just about to receive the beads from our spiritual master during the initiation ceremony. We promise to ourselves that as soon as we will get the beads we will chant not just 16 rounds but many more rounds with utmost sincerity, will follow the 4 regulative principles not just carefully but with extraordinary determination and with extraordinary zeal will serve the mission of Srila Prabhupada.
And in fact, for few ...

Sadaputa Prabhu’s Books Are Back in Print.
“Now our PhDs must collaborate and study the 5th Canto to make a model for building the Vedic Planetarium” proved a mandate from Srila Prabhupada that entered deep into the heart of his disciple Sadaputa dasa, in 1976. Having received his PhD in Mathematics from Cornell University just two years prior, he would soon be inducted as one of the founding members of Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta Institute. In that capacity, he devoted over 30 years researching Vedic perspectives on cosmolog...

“Simply Wonderfuls for a simply wonderful spiritual master!”
Rupa-vilasa: We were spending a little time with Prabhupada’s God-brother Krsna das Babaji Maharaj with whom he had a very affectionate relationship.
He was telling us the story of Prabhupada’s taking sannyas and he said,
“The ceremony was going on. With Kesava Maharaj overseeing and conducting the initiation, Narayana Maharaj was chanting the mantras and I was doing bhajan. But as is my habit I got a little too loud.
“So Kesava Maharaj was makin...

Increase your spiritual appetite!
In the Srimad-bhagavatam, Kavi Yogendra (a great sage) compares the process of bhakti yoga to eating.
When a famished person eats a good meal, she feels satisfaction, nourishment, and her hunger lessens with each bite.
In a similar way, says sage Kavi, those who worship Krsna through the process of bhakti get devotion, direct experience of the Supreme, and detachment from other things not related to Krsna.
In his remarks about this verse, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, the great Srimad-bhagavatam commentator...

TOVP updates (Album with photos)
Sadbhuja Das: In the next few weeks the first shipment of the small dome Kalashes will arrive,......

Govardhan Parikrama, soon restricted for cars!
The pilgrimage walk around Govardhan Hill has become increasingly dangerous in r......

Flower Festival At Govardhan Eco Village Wada, India (18 min video)
Deities are showered with colorful flower petals. The best flowers are procured from different parts of the country especially for this occasion – Roses from Vrindavan, Jasmines from various parts of India.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/3ZzpuJ

A special gift for devotees all over the world for the 40th anniversary of Jayananda Thakura`s departure (Album with photos)
In this week the construction of the bas-relief on dedicated to the first Saint of ISKCON near to the Samadhi of Sriman Jayananda Thakur, on the wall behind the Samadhi in the temple of Lord Jagannatha, was completed. Three sections of the bas-relief depicted scenes from the life of Jayananda his outstanding contribution to the development of the mission of Lord Caitanya, his spiritual master Srila Prabhupada's love and gratitud...

Harinama Sankirtana in New Zealand (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The best policy to control the mind is to desire how to spread Krsna consciousness. This is the best. Kamah krsna-karmarpane. Narottama dasa Thakura has said that you cannot be free from desire. That is not possible. This is useless attempt. They say that “You become desireless.” No, that is not possible. How can I…? If I become desireless, I become dead. So long I am living entity, I must desire. I cannot check it. Therefore kama means desire. So at the present...

“FORTUNATE SOULS” (Album with photos)
Dharmatma Das: Some of the many people who received Srila Prabhupada’s Books and took part in the Harinam during our tour of Gold Coast and New Zealand. These are to show the unfathomable mercy of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada, by whose grace these people, us and so many more have become, “Fortunate souls.”
Find them here: https://goo.gl/tNgVcL

The Conch - Newsletter of the New Govardhana Community.
EDITORIAL BOARD: Damodara Pandit dasa, Govardhana Seva dasa, Krishnarupa devi dasi (ACBSP), Urvasi devi dasi
(layout and graphic design).
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
Find it here:

Meet Guru Prasad devi dasi an Iskcon pujari, cook and popular myotherapist in Australia.
Mandakini devi dasi: Popular myotherapist and remedial massage healer Guru Prasad devi dasi decided last year to study Occupational Therapy (a specialized, four-year degree) at Southern Cross University.
Occupational therapy is a client-centered health profession concerned with promoting health and well-being through occupation. The primary goal is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Therapists achieve this outcome by working with...

ISKCON-Delhi: Srila Raghunatha Das Goswami Appearance 01-02-2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: If you make your friendship with Krsna, that will never break. If you make your master Krsna, you’ll never be cheated. If you love Krsna as your son, He’ll never die. Similarly, if you love Krsna as your lover or husband, He will be the best husband, the best lover. There will be no divorce. That is Krsna consciousness. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 4.13-14 – New York, August 1, 1966
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Transcendental Street Art (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: For so many countless lifetimes the conditioned souls have been giving all of their service and energy to the service of Maya, and I am requesting all of my disciples that for this one lifetime you give all of your energy and service to Krishna. The spiritual force is eternal, so to give simply one lifetime to Krishna is not a very difficult thing. And yet if we are serious in executing the devotional principles, this one lifetime of service to Krishna will absolute and final solution to a...

Five Principles of Vedic Education (12 min video)
His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami explains about the basic principles of Vedi......

Umang Festival at ISKCON Gaya (Album with photos)
On 29th Sunday evening, Umang Festival was celebrated at Dharmsabha Bhawan, Gaya by ISKCON Youth Forum, Gaya. More than 500 students attended the festival from Gaya Engineering College, Gaya College, Magadh University, Central University and some other educational institutions. The festival started with a movie “Bina PK” (A movie where all the answers are given to the questions asked at PK). After that, a seminar on “Mind Your Mind” was given by Hg IsvarNam Prabhu(Director, IYF, ...

Urmila devi dasi: These are very professionally done videos on recent seminars about Manah siksa. Manah siksa is the step-by-step gu......

No Whites! (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Yesterday I went out with devotees on a Food For Life program in a Zulu township near Durban here in South Africa. As we drove to the township Vrindavan Candra das, who heads up Food For Life in Durban, told me the township was one of the most notorious in the country.
“On average there are 10 murders each weekend”, he said. “The situation is so bad that the police rarely, if ever, enter the township.”
“And we’re going in there?” I asked a little surpris...

Radhadesh Mellows 2017 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The vibration of Krsna’s flute is always prominent in the ears of the gopis. Naturally they cannot hear anything else. Constant remembrance of the holy sound of Krsna’s flute keeps them enlightened and enlivened, and they do not allow any other sound to enter their ears. Since their attention is fixed on Krsna’s flute, they cannot divert their minds to any other subject. In other words, a devotee who has heard the sound of Krsna’s flute forgets to talk or hear of any o...

Maha Harinam Party in Wellington, New Zealand (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: When a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada how to attain perfection after Srila Prabhupada’s departure, Srila Prabhupada replied, “When you chant harinama purely, then the sun of love of Godhead will rise in your heart. You will then see everything clearly, as when the sun rises in the morning sky. You’ll see Krsna and you’ll see yourself and I will be there and will instruct you. Srila Prabhupada Vyasa-puja book 2008 p. 47.
Find them here: