By Tattvavit DasaToday's agenda: morning presentations about Kazakhstan, the Child Protection Office (CPO), and Mayapur. The new temple will fit on the ISKCON trust land. There will be triple the park-and-garden space we have now. Srila Prabhupada wanted the main dome to resemble the Capitol in Washington, D.C. or the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, and it does.
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- 12 Feb 2007
By Tattvavit DasaTwo initiatives are being undertaken: The "six-month initiative" will focus on the first six months of new devotees in ISKCON, when they accept Srila Prabhupada as their siksa guru. A curriculum will be produced that helps new devotees establish a solid siksa relationship that continues throughout their lives. The team also proposed a "hearing from Srila Prabhupada initiative," to teach new devotees how to listen to and hear from Srila Prabhupada.
...- 11 Feb 2007
By Tattvavit DasaThe main agenda item for the next three days is planning ISKCON’s future. If you have a vague idea of what strategic planning is, you will better understand it after reading this report. At the morning session today, the GBC discussed strategic planning for two and a half hours. Gopala Bhatta Prabhu enthusiastically facilitated the discussion and helped the GBC members open their hearts and focus on the issues.
...- 9 Feb 2007
By Tattvavit DasaBhaktivaibhava Swami (GBC chairman) began the meeting by advising the GBC members that they need to direct their comments and discussions more carefully in order to be more effective as a body. Offering an example, he said that during a discussion of a proposal, if a member withholds criticism until the last minute before a vote, this undermines the GBC's ability to build on constructive criticism or can obstruct progress. Thus he asked a deputy to provide guidelines for the day's straw-voting process.
...- 7 Feb 2007
By Tattvavit DasaThe GBC chairman, Bhaktivaibhava Swami, opened the well-attended meeting. Only a few members were absent this year, some because of illness. The day’s agenda: a summary of the autumn GBC meetings in Italy and a discussion of book distribution. The chairman first presented an overview of the GBC’s work in 2006.
...- 6 Feb 2007
By Praghosa dasaGoing back to the original question - does sport have any place in the life of a devotee? We can fairly confidently conclude that sport of the professional, competitive and passionate variety does not, and clearly falls into the category of what Srila Prabhupada termed 'unnecessary sports'. Yet if we remove those elements, the argument could be made that engaging in sports like tennis, basketball or squash etc., might be okay for devotees. Perhaps not young full time temple devotees who have the opportunity to spend hours either dancing in kir...
- 15 Jan 2007
By the GBC Executive CommitteeGiven the above, the GBC finds no reasons to take these allegations seriously. The GBC recommends that any person in possession of newly discovered evidence regarding the New Vrindavana events present such information to the U.S. Attorney's Office or other appropriate legal agency. If any subsequent investigation might ensue, the GBC will fully cooperate with it.
...- 10 Jan 2007
By the GBC task force team membersIn a recent positive development, ISKCON’s GBC has constituted a task force charged with identifying and rectifying abuse of women. Domestic violence, sexual assault and other atrocities may take place in any organization, so following on their bold approach of openly addressing past problems of child abuse, ISKCON’s leaders have taken a step toward healing rather than hiding injuries to ISKCON’s female members. Srila Prabhupada reminded his followers that we are not this body. Based on the intricacies of karmic reaction...
- 26 Dec 2006
From the GBCThis extra meeting was called by the GBC Chairman, AC Bhaktivaibhava Swami. He, along with the other Executive Committee members felt that the GBC needed to focus on ISKCON’s future, trying to ensure that the ISKCON they are passing on to the next generation of devotees is something Srila Prabhupada would be pleased with. He recognized that there were many improvements needed before such a ideal would be reached. In the three day meeting, problem solving of current day-to-day issues were set aside, and only key topics related to ...
- 13 Oct 2006
By Praghosa dasa As ISKCON celebrates it's 40th birthday we have much to reflect on. From it's humble beginnings when Srila Prabhupada was more or less alone in a foreign land, to it's early days when devotees began to join, to it's explosion in the 70's and 80's. Later in the 80's and on up to the present day ISKCON's record is more mixed, actually many would say that ISKCON's record has always been mixed. If that is true then we can probably agree that the difference now is that ISKCON's mixed fortunes are more highlighted, as opposed to the halcyon days w...
- 8 Oct 2006
By the GBC Chairman AC Bhaktivaibhava Swami We the members and servants of the Governing Body Commission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, express our profound bereavement on the passing of our dear Godbrother and fellow Governing Body Commissioner Sri Srimad Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Maharaja, the beloved disciple of ISKCON Founder-Acarya His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
...- 2 Oct 2006
By Praghosa dasaOne of the purposes of the Dandavats website was to provide a medium where devotees could express their Krsna conscious realisations, so please don't be shy in sending them to us. An automatic benefit of sending your realisations, given the nature of the medium, is that they will reach the eyes of many many souls. As websites are available for everyone to read, who knows who might read and be inspired by your words?
...- 27 Sep 2006
By Praghosa dasaSo giving names, having names and using names are all essential for increasing the personal touch.. Of course as devotees we receive even more mercy when we are given names related to Krsna and His devotees at the time of initiation. These names not only serve as a way of identifying us but they also remind us of the supreme Lord and His devotees and can award us unlimited spiritual benefit, as in the case of Ajamila.
...- 14 Sep 2006
By Praghosa dasaWhile reading this passage of the Bhagavatam it struck me that the propensity to defend is just as strong, if not stronger, than the propensity to eat, sleep and mate. For whatever reason I had subconsciously concluded that eating and sleeping were top of the list (things that could more or less only be 'overcome' by death) and then the attraction for sex life (mating) was naturally more difficult to overcome than the need to defend oneself. Studying this passage tended to change my perspective, as I could never imagine myself responding in such ...
- 26 Aug 2006
By Praghosa dasWhen we arrived in Dublin the first alarm bell was that our luggage didn't arrive with us even, though it was checked in three hours beforehand. We were then told it would arrive on the next flight later in the afternoon. Eventually when our luggage did arrive both bags were there but my laptop and mobile phone were not inside. Initially my mind went into a tailspin and was registering, at a rate of knots, all the inconveniences that now awaited me.
...- 14 Aug 2006
By Praghosa dasThe main aim of Dandavats is to be a resource for krsna katha so that all readers can receive some spiritual benefit every time they visit the site. As we know the mind is difficult to control and needs no assistance to be attracted to those subject matters that do not benefit us spiritually. Dandavats wants to humbly try to help all those who are desirous to achieve ‘krsne matir astu’
...- 3 Aug 2006
By Praghosa dasaDandavats is in the process of evaluating whether to continue with this discussion, in the meantime many devotees are working hard to try to find a solution to this issue, that is in accordance with our vaisnava culture and thus acceptable to the overwhelming body of devotees.
...- 25 Jul 2006
By Praghosa dasaOn the other hand ISKCON is responsible for so many preaching successes. One simple example is that Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita is the most widely published in the world, another is that the Ratha Yatra festival has taken a massive foothold in the west all due to ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada was convinced that Lord Caitanya's movement could be most effectively spread by an organised structure and if carefully analysed that has proven to be true.
...- 18 Jul 2006
By Praghosa dasaIn the last 15 years I’ve spoken with several gurus, sannyasis, and GBCs about the 50% principle for householders. To a man none were interested in lecturing about, or discussing with disciples, the sacrifice of a significant portion of one’s salary. Can you tell me the name of anyone among the GBC or guru community that lectures or advises disciples about giving 50%?
...- 15 Jul 2006
By Praghosa dasaOnce, during Srila Prabhupada's afternoon massage, Rebatinandana Swami entered the room with a problem he thought only his spiritual master could solve. "Srila Prabhupada," he said. "Syamasundara is the GBC and he's making all these decisions. I want to accept his authority, but I had to come to you because he is not chanting his rounds. I know this for a fact. He doesn't chant any rounds. Also, many of the devotees in the temple find it difficult to follow his authority. I wanted to know how we should handle this."
...- 11 Jul 2006
By Praghosa dasaRecently, in Alachua, the local GBC segretary Sesa prabhu had a program for about one month where he sat under a canopy outside the temple each Sunday feast with a sign "Ask a GBC." So the devotees had the chance to approach, ask and discuss different GBC related questions.
...- 3 Jul 2006
By Praghosa dasaAs we know the GBC body is not infallible, just in case anyone is thinking like that! This is one of the reasons why Srila Prabhupada created a body of devotees, as opposed to installing one individual to run ISKCON. It is also of course the example that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja set. The clear advantage of having a body of devotees making decisions is that on balance their collective decision making will be more often right than wrong.
...- 22 Jun 2006
By Praghosa dasaWelcome to Dandavats. I hope that your visit is the first of many and that our relationship will be a long lasting and mutually fruitful one. As we all know the internet is the fastest growing medium for communication available and it is likely to be so long into the future. As a result the outreach and association opportunities for devotees and friends of Lord Krishna are unlimited.
...- 10 Jun 2006
ISKCON GBC SOCIETY Therefore it is resolved that the GBC wishes to encourage all of Srila Prabhupada‘s initiated disciples in good standing to seriously consider taking up the role of spiritual master. Each GBC member should look for and identify disciples of Srila Prabhupada in good standing and urge them to take up the role of spiritual master, even if only in their local areas.
...- 8 Jun 2006