By Navina Nirada Dasa"So you want to become Prabhupada?" These words of a senior devotee rang in my ears, and I started pondering. He had asked me about the purpose of my stay in Mayapur. I told him that I'm attending the Bhaktivedanta Course. Although appreciating his fervor, I have mixed feelings regarding the connotations of his question, some of which I'll address in this thesis. Reflecting on his undertone, I conclude the topic must be worthy to explore, if it stirs up such a reaction. As devotees in ISKCON we often casually use the term "Bhaktivedanta" dozens of times daily. Are we doing this simpl...
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- 1 Mar 2019
By Parasuram dasaFor this project we got 100% support from the police, the Mayor, local politicians, local charities, local businesses, supermarkets, football clubs and one unique aspect of the project is we made solid friendships with some ministers from a Christian church and we are working together as a serious team. The cafe is beautiful, clean and friendly. So many people came for the opening ceremony that many couldn't get through the door. The Mayor loved the taste of so many different preps and remarked that only people who serve out of love can produce such food.
...- 28 Feb 2019
By Jaya Gaursundar DasaThe Lordās Potencies are inconceivable (acintya): That which cannot be thought of, understood, imagined or believed. While taking Kį¹į¹£į¹a and BalarÄma to Mathura, and taking bath in the YamunÄ, what Akrura saw in the water was four-armed Lord VÄsudeva. His complexion was dark blue like a fresh raincloud, He wore yellow garments and He lay on the lap of thousand-hooded Ananta Åeį¹£a. Lord VÄsudeva was receiving the prayers of perfected beings, celestial serpents and demons, and He was encircled by His personal attendants.
...- 28 Feb 2019
By Matsya Avatara DasMarriage is a samskara; one of the ten sacraments that serve to elevate a person's consciousness from the human level to the spiritual experience. Such elevation and transformation of consciousness is the purpose of human life. Samskaras trace and orient the path of a person in the world, from birth to death.
...- 28 Feb 2019
By Karnamrita dasaThe idea that it is better to give than to just receive (to just be "on the take"), is a universal truth understood by people of all religions. In addition people understand that giving is actually getting, or by giving you are nourished and benefited. In a broad sense we can tell people that Krishna consciousness is all about learning how to give, rather then just being an exploiter. So people should be encouraged to begin the process of giving somewhere, somehow, to someone. Ultimately from our vision giving to God and saintly persons ...
- 27 Feb 2019
By Indradyumna SwamiEver since becoming a devotee of Lord Krishna in 1970, I have been fascinated with the Kumbha Mela festival. This year I decided to join millions of other pilgrims in the journey to the Ardha Kumbha Mela where, from January 15th to March 4th, ISKCON devotees were to follow in Srila Prabhupadaās footsteps by bringing his books, the Holy Names and prasadam to the festival. Kumbha Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world. Estimates anticipated that 120 million pilgrimsānearly double the population of England and France combinedāwould visit the Mela over seven weeks. Th...
- 26 Feb 2019
By AdministratorNew Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday boarded a metro train from Khan Market station on way to attend an event at ISKCON temple in south Delhi's East of Kailash, officials said. Modi unveiled a giant Bhagavad Gita, running into 670 pages and weighing 800 kg, at the temple, located near Kailash Colony metro station. Dubbed the 'Astounding Bhagavad Gita', and measuring 2.8 m by 2 m, it is billed as the "largest principle sacred text ever to be printed," according to ISCKON.
...- 26 Feb 2019
By Giriraj DasOne hears so much about renunciation in our movement and many times as grihasthas (householders) we become confused as to what is actual renunciation for us and how can we practically apply it in our daily life. I searched on this topic and found some gems which I am sharing below. We should be aware that as long as we remain attached to material enjoyment we will not be able to remain properly fixed in the process of bhakti yoga. As householders our goal should be progressive renunciation of material enjoyment and not the dry renunciation from family life as practiced by j...
- 26 Feb 2019
By Gautam SahaMost of the times, we are running after money (dhan). Money is what makes the world go round, or so it appears. Many a times, this appears to be true. Money enables us to buy goods and services, food, clothing and other basic necessities of life, possessions, home, car, luxuries, etc; Since Laxmi is the goddess of wealth, we worship her to bless us with her favour and benediction. As we are mostly obsessed with money and its acquisition, we do not realize that Laxmi also benedicts us with beauty (soundarya) , strength...
- 25 Feb 2019
By Dusyanta dasaOne of the main problems with today's modernity is the usage of machinery. And why so many Bulls are slaughtered is because there is no work for them to do. If we can understand the nature of today's farming activities it is apparent that we all follow and support an industrialized farming model. This means we support the use of tractors, the diesel they need to be powered, and we support the use of pharmaceutical artificial fertilizers to grow all the food. Once we have become fully integrated into this agricultural model and system it means as Srila Prabhupada is so eloquently pointing...
- 25 Feb 2019
By Caitanya Carana DasaMaterial desires are like parasites because they almost always subvert, even sabotage, our best interests. When they divert us from our goals, they are the sources of distraction, as explained above. And when they themselves become our goals, their effect is even more deleterious: they become sources of frustration and even devastation. This is the surprising and challenging assertion of the Bhagavad-gita (5.22), which states that the intelligent stay away from material pleasures the goals of material desires because they recognize that such pleasures lead not to hap...
- 24 Feb 2019
By Hari Narayana DasAs one of the participants of the festival devotees prepared the chariot nicely. the preparation was held at parking area in front of stores area. Devotees from Bali came earlier and made flower garland and the chariot team reassembled the chariot. A bus full of devotees from Lampung also participated on the ratha yatra of Lord Jagannath. They also carried Lord Jaganntah, Lord Balaram, and Their beloved sister Subadra devi on long journey from Lamung to Bogor. Devotees from Lampung arrived in Bogor at 01.00 A.m. and directly headed to Sri Sri Radha Govinda temple.
...- 23 Feb 2019
By Jayabhadra Devi DasiThis was the second rathayatra organized by ISKCON Amravati. First one was organized in the year 2017. The New Year in Maharashtra starts with rathayatra. We can say that ISKCON Pune is the opening batman in the series of rathayatra organized all over Maharashtra. They have their rathayatra in the first week of January. Rathayatra is a festival of sharing joy of the holy name and darsana of Their Lordships. The congregation devotees kept on asking to the temple management, will we have rathayatra this year, because after 2017 we did have rathayatra in 2018. So after a small meeting ...
- 22 Feb 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 January 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
...- 21 Feb 2019
By Praghosa dasaBirmingham is the second largest city in the UK with over 2 million jivas residing in human bodies. It is the most multicultural city in the western world, as only half of those human jivas are in white bodies. So it is a wonderful city for delivering the message of Lord Caitanya and now with our new temple in the city centre, next to the university, it gives us a fantastic opportunity to do just that. Great devotees have come from Birmingham in the past such as HH Subagh Swami and HH Bhakti Vrajendranandana Swami
...- 21 Feb 2019
By bhakta AnkitSrila Prabhupada wanted Krishna Consciousness to be preached in Bangladesh. Preaching there is really risky, however, pure devotees take the risk. HH Subhag Swami has been continuously preaching in Bangladesh for the past 45 years. In the early days, Maharaj used to preach wearing a formal dress and take shelter at some Hindu family homes.
...- 19 Feb 2019
By Subroto DasSpread over 700 acre ISKCON has decided to set up a 3000 crore (420 million US dollars) World Heritage centre at Mayapur , Nadia, birth place of Sri Chaitanya MahaPrabhu and spiritual headquarter of the institution. The construction of a 500 crore grand temple , Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) is the first step towards it. The temple is expected to be inaugurated in 2022 On Sunday morning , Mr Jindal along with other industrialists arrived at Mayapur on his private chopper at 11.00 am. They were warmly greeted and welcomed as per the Vedic traditions by senior devotees of ISKCON. <...
- 19 Feb 2019
By Siddhanta DasHawaii's State Senator Mike Gabbard, father to Tulsi Gabbard, presents the Senate Proclamation honoring the 50th Anniversary of Srila Prabhupada's establishment of ISKCON Hawaii.
...- 19 Feb 2019
By Dwaipayan DeThe lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are a shelter where one will get the soothing moonlight not only of one,but of millions of moons. If the world wants to have real peace, it should take shelter of Lord Nityananda.Unless one takes shelter under the shade of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, Lord Nityananda,is none other than Lord Balaram, who advents in this age of Kali, as the most merciful incarnation (Dayara avadhi) to assist His elder brother Sri Krishna in His pastimes. Sri Krishna, however sa...
- 17 Feb 2019
By Govindananda dasCommunication achievements within ISKCON Croatia - such us meeting the country presidents, government officials, city majors and other VIPs - significantly exceed the expectations which initially were put on such a small team of communication devotees we have around the Zagreb temple (Nova Jaladuta) in Croatia. The most recent communication activities were connected to the continuity of keeping good and mutually supporting relations with the Indian embassy after a new ambassador to Croatia was appointed. During last 3 years the relations evolved to such a degree that we have been prese...
- 15 Feb 2019
By ISKCON AhmedabadThe sankirtan fields bloomed brightly in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on Vasanta Panchami, the first day of spring! Why? More than 100 devotees from ISKCON Ahmedabad joined our templeās 4th Monthly Sankirtan Festival. What did they do? Read on to find out. On Saturday, 9th February, HG Vaisesika Prabhu presented the philosophical significance as well as practical techniques of book distribution to the entire team at ISKCON Ahmedabad. Then, late morning on Sunday, Vasanta Panchami, the entire team got onto buses heading out to Bhadrakali ā a busy shopping spot in the city for the practical se...
- 15 Feb 2019
By Karnamrita dasaThe concept that we are not our bodies is considered a preliminary basic understanding for devotees, yet this conception has proved not so easy to put into practice. We can all look within ourself and at our communities and society and contemplate how our failure to realize this truth is the cause of many of our disagreements and heated debates. Lets look at the basics of our embodiment. The soul takes on a material body and mind, with an ego that says, āThis is me.ā The false ego (āfalseā because we have a real spiritual identi...
- 14 Feb 2019
By Hari narayana dasLord Jagannath captured the attention of many thousands of people as they came to attend the 15th Papua and Nusantara Cultural Arts Day in Manokwari. Held on Tuesday (02/06/2019), Lord Jagannath Ratha Yatra started from Percetakan Sanggeng street and commenced at Borarsi Field. This activity was also held to commemorate the 16th Day of West Papua Province Reactivation Day 2019, with the theme "Unite the Knit Determination of Cultural Diversity in the NKRI Frame". A variety of performances were displayed by 52 participants.
...- 13 Feb 2019
By Shaunaka Rsi dasaA lecture, given in Iskcon DC, Potomac. What is Iskcon's position in relation to the democratic system of government? Is it true that the brahmanas adopt anarchy, ksatriyas adopt monarchy, vaisyas apply capitalism and sudras follow communism, all systems simultaneously existing? In modern, secular society religion is sometimes regarded as backward looking and the source of conflict and communalism. In this view, as scientific knowledge and technology develop, religion will fade into the past and people will leave behind a superstitious ...
- 12 Feb 2019