By Bhakta George PrattAugust 14, 2019 - On Sri Balaram Jayanti Mahotsava (the Appearance Day of Lord Balaram), ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission (“GBC”) and the Board of Directors of Bharati Center, Inci. (“Brooklyn Temple” or “Temple") won a notable victory in the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court (“Appellate Court”). A four-judge panel of the Appellate Court denied a motion brought by the Temple’s former directors (“Former Directors”) for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Temple’s current directors and officers from undertaking “any conduct . . . ...
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- 25 Aug 2019
By Yasoda-dulal DasFriday: There were kirtans, three talks on Krishna (three!!) during the evening, a play, bathing of the Deities, and grand darshans. A new concept they tried out was a block party outside the temple from 4 to 9 pm, even while the festivities happened inside. It was complete with stage and sound system for kirtans, and tents for distribution of Prabhupada's books and prasad, as well as one for painting gopi dots on passersby. The block party was universally acknowledged to be a hit, with lots of curious passersby and devotees impacted by it favorably.
...- 25 Aug 2019
By Brahma Muhurta DasEach year, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes a limited number of copies of a Vyasa-puja book—a collection of homages to Srila Prabhupada from devotees and temples all over the world. Srila Prabhupada's unique position as the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is significant in numerous ways. Essentially, he is the instructing spiritual master for everyone within ISKCON. These books are available below, as .pdf documents for free download. When available, the books are divided into chapters to help you find the section you want faster....
- 24 Aug 2019
By Chaitanya Charan das"Let others, fearing material existence, worship the Vedas, the Vedic supplementary Puranas and the Mahabharata, but I shall worship Nanda Maharaja, in whose courtyard the Supreme Brahman is crawling."
...- 24 Aug 2019
By Gour Govinda SwamiIt is the causeless mercy of Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga that I came here to meet you all, I am very happy at such causeless mercy of Guru and Gauranga. Unless one gets such mercy, how can one cross over this dreadful ocean of material existence and go deep into the other part, the other shore? That means beyond the material ocean, material world, there is the abode of Lord and that is our eternal home. Now the question is how can we go there? The only way to go there is to offer prayer at the lotus feet of that Guru who is an expert navigator, who can ferry us across t...
- 24 Aug 2019
By Indradyumna SwamiI bow down to the beautiful lotus feet of my spiritual master, by whose causeless mercy I have obtained the supreme holy name, the divine mantra, the service of the son of Sacimata, the association of Srila Svarupa Damodara, Rupa Goswami and his older brother Sanatana Goswami, the supreme abode of Mathura, the blissful abode of Vrindavan, the divine Radha Kunda and Govardhan Hill and the desire within my heart for the loving service of Sri Radhika and Madhava in Vrindavan
...- 24 Aug 2019
By Mayapur Sasi dasaFor the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following North American results of book distribution for the month of July 2019. 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
...- 23 Aug 2019
By Giriraj SwamiMany residents of Mathura believe that Lord Krishna appeared in Mathura, but the residents of Vrindavan know that He was born in Vraja, in Gokula. Yet Srimad-Bhagavatam states that Lord Krishna appeared in the prison house of Kamsa in Mathura as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki and thereafter was carried by Vasudeva to Gokula to be taken as their son by Nanda and Yasoda, in exchange for Yasoda’s newborn daughter, Yogamaya. So, how to solve this mystery?
...- 23 Aug 2019
By Purushottam Nitai Das“Anyone and everyone can become God.” This philosophy is propagated by certain so called spiritual preachers. In order to mislead the gullible people they assert that by chanting certain mantras or doing certain types of meditation one becomes God. But Krishna did not chant any mantra nor he did any sort of meditation to become God. He was always God. And the moment he appeared in this world he had all the qualities of God. All the Vedic books very clearly tell that Krishna is the Supr...
- 22 Aug 2019
By Chandan Yatra DasThe picturesque state of Jammu and Kashmir is in the northern most part of India. By the mercy of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and the Vaishnavas, there are four centers in Kashmir: ISKCON Udhampur, which is the biggest center, ISKCON Jammu, ISKCON Srinagar and ISKCON Katra. A great Vaishnava acarya, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura once visited Kashmir and foretold that in the future a grand Sri Sri Gaur Radha Krish...
- 22 Aug 2019
By Sacinandana SwamiLord Krishna says, "Under My protection My devotee reaches My eternal abode." Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to this verse: "To a devotee who is engaged in Krishna consciousness, the Lord is very, very kind. In spite of all difficulties, he is eventually placed in the transcendental abode, or Krishnaloka." And two verses later, Krishna emphatically declares: "If you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all obstacles of conditioned life by My grace." Please note: It is not by our own strength that we can conquer the darkness that surrounds us but by the strength of Krishna...
- 19 Aug 2019
By Shri Narendra ModiThe celebration of the auspicious festival of Janmashtami is a blessed occasion for the innumerable devotees of Shri Krishna. ISKCON has been making a remarkable contribution in spreading the divine philosophy, wisdom and message of Shri Krishna. Its members have been serving the humanity through its numerous philanthropic missions underlining the non-duality of service to God and humanity. The relevance of Shri Krishna's message of peace, unbounded spiritual love and bliss is timeless and universal in its appeal. His sublime instruction to humanity to perform duty without attachment...
- 18 Aug 2019
By AdminA very analytical and detailed description of the ontological position of Lord Balarama by HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami. Authorized and refined theology presented in a language everyone can understand. Nice section of questions and answers.
...- 15 Aug 2019
By Indradyumna Swami“I bow down to the beautiful lotus feet of my spiritual master, by whose causeless mercy I have obtained the supreme holy name, the divine mantra, the service of the son of Sacimata, the association of Srila Svarupa Damodara, Rupa Goswami and his older brother Sanatan Goswami, the supreme abode of Mathura, the blissful abode of Vrindavan, the divine Radha Kunda and Govardhan Hill and the desire within my heart for the loving service of Sri Radhika and Madhava in Vrindavan.”
...- 15 Aug 2019
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupadaSri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, "The Vedic literatures composed by the omniscient Mahamuni Vyasadeva are evidence of all spiritual existence. Only through these revealed scriptures can all conditioned souls attain knowledge." We should always think that we are in the mode of ignorance. We are just trying to make progress from ignorance to goodness and then transcend. This is the process of spiritual realization. We should not thin...
- 12 Aug 2019
By Srimati DasiThe present Krsna consciousness movement is based on the authority of Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada. We are therefore generally known as rupanugas, or followers in the footsteps of Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada. It is only for our guidance that Srila Rupa Gosvami prepared his book Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, which is now presented in the form of The Nectar of Devotion. Persons engaged in the Krsna consciousness movement may take advantage of this great literature and be very solidly situated in Krsna consciousness
...- 11 Aug 2019
By The Vanipedia TeamIn June of 2019, the Bhaktivedanta Archives completed the release of all of Srila Prabhupada’s audio files. It is now confirmed, there are over 2,400 hours of audio in 3,804 files to be listened to attentively. This is a great victory for his devotees! Indeed, the devotees want to hear Srila Prabhupada! Everyday we sing in joy “My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth.” Srila Prabhupada’s tape ministry in the 1980’s had only 700 hours of audio. The Archives expanded the tape ministry in the 1990’s with another 300 hours. ...
- 11 Aug 2019
By Karma-jna DasWe were already sitting behind our coffee-table… but this KGB fellow was just speaking about ISKCON and was becoming more and more agitated. And I couldn’t figure out why. This man bit his teeth together and shook his finger in disgust: “Those hooligans! They are such HOOLIGANS! They are shaking the whole basis of our system. So clever! Those people are so sharp! Everywhere they sneak in with their books. We check the boats that come from Germany for example. And Scandinavia. The boo...
- 11 Aug 2019
By Kalakantha DasWhy do many rich people end up giving their money to charity? Because they find that just piling up money and stuff gets old. Deeper, lasting happiness only comes from pleasing others. People who never learn this seem sad and pathetic. For a sustainably happy life, the Gita advises sacrifice for others at every stage of life, culminating in sacrifice for the Supreme. Though we belong with God, because we have become separated from Him we live in an uncongenial place w...
- 11 Aug 2019
By TOVP staffWe are most pleased to report the great success of the recently completed Phase 1 of the TOVP South India Tour from July 13 – 21. Over $3 million in pledges was raised from hundreds of enthusiastic devotees as well as from commitments by the temples themselves, many of which sponsored Kirtanam Pillars of Devotion. We give all the credit to His Holiness Jayapataka Maharaja who is the inspiration and driving force behind these temples which he helped to establish.
...- 6 Aug 2019
By Nandini Radha devi dasiMurari Gupta continued narrating the story to Damodara Pandita. Murari said, "After hearing Rukmini Devi's wonderful words, Krishna's heart danced in ecstasy. His lotus eyes, reddish like the rising sun, filled with tears of compassion. Sitting on His throne, Lord Krishna gently placed Rukmini on His lap and consoled her. He held Rukmini's chin with His right hand and lovingly looked at her. Waves of nectar overflowed from the ocean of prema within their hearts.
...- 6 Aug 2019
By Vijaya dasVaisesika Prabhu says that the initials ISV, which stand for ISKCON of Silicon Valley, also stand for "individual, spontaneous and voluntary service." These devotees were, in colloquial language, "fired up" in June. They did 47,082 book points, which means they were the No. 2 temple in the world and No. 1 in North America. I once asked Vaisesika whether he had had an exchange with Srila Prabhupada. He said he did. Prabhupada said to him, "Read my books." He took that instruction to heart and expanded on it by encouraging hundreds of other devotees to read the books. And on top of that, he insp...
- 1 Aug 2019
By Kesava Krsna DasaSometimes our fixation on who’s “junior” and who is “senior” within our ranks, can inhibit proper devotee relationships. And introducing corporate ideas for managing our devotees can hinder, rather than promote healthy interactions between ourselves
...- 1 Aug 2019
By Mayapur Sasi dasaFor the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following North American results of book distribution for the month of June 2019. 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
...- 31 Jul 2019
