By ISKCON DevoteeCareThe Devotee Care Committee, has been researching and working on creating awareness about embedding care in our communities, projects and yatras. After years of consultation and the study of the diverse needs of the various sections of the community, the committee had engaged HG Rasamandala prabhu to work on structured courses to systematically educate care givers and leaders. With his great expertise in curriculum writing and help from other committee members, the Committee has developed two courses and is piloting them to further enhance the quality and practical appli...
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- 10 Nov 2016
By Mahavaraha DasOn the evening of the 27th of Oct 2016, Bollywood fashion designer Rohit Verma invited HH Jayapataka Swami to have a Damodar program at his fashion studio in Mumbai. It was a short and well organized program for which Rohit Verma had invited about 50 of his close friends. Maharaja described the Damodar lila to the audience. He stressed in the fact that Srila Prabhupada , ISKCON'S Founder Acharya wrote him a letter that the Karthik month was a special opportunity like a discount offer for those people who are otherwise busy at work. "It brings all auspiciousness by doing a...
- 9 Nov 2016
By Vaishnava dasLets face it: we are tiny tiny organisms on a speck of dust we call the Earth which floats in the unimaginatively vast realms of space. Can we really work it all out on our own? In cosmic terms, are we not like ants?...And, can an insignificant insect ever be able to comprehend human politics? So how can humankind be absolutely sure there is no cosmic hierarchy, beyond what our tiny brains are able to perceive, or our eyes, telescopes and microscopes can see? But to be fair science doesn’t claim it has Absolute Knowledge. Rather it is a process…BUT that process focuses...
- 8 Nov 2016
By Indradyumna Swami“Just as the Ganges is the greatest of all rivers, Lord Acyuta the supreme among deities and Lord Shambhu (Siva) the greatest of Vaisnavas, so Srimad-Bhagavatam is the greatest of all Puranas.” [ Srimad Bhagavatam 12.13.16 ] Mount Kailash, 22,000 feet (6,705 meters) above sea level, is a special and sacred dhama because it is there that Siva meditates deeply on Lord Krishna and meets with great sages like Narada. It was at Mount Kailash that the Ganges descended with great force from the spiritual world to the material world and was caught by Lord Siva in his matte...
- 8 Nov 2016
By ISKCON-DelhiAfter offering pushpanjali to Srila Prabhupada and an arati to Their Lordships, he was taken on a guided tour of the museum by HH Gopal Krishna Maharaja. The Ambassador was very keen on knowing the full story of Srila Prabhupada and how he established ISKCON. He appreciated the work of ISKCON and the Food For Life program while recalling his visit to New Vrindavan in the early 80's. During the friendly and informal conversation Maharaja briefed the Ambassador on ISKCON's history, its activities and stressed the need for people to genuinely become God-conscious. As a token o...
- 8 Nov 2016
By ISKCON’s Congregational Development MinistryYouth Engagement- Interview with Daru Brahman Das (Social Worker, Care and Assistance, Mayapur) The thing about young people teenagers, in my experience, they won't go anywhere they don't feel wanted so we have to somehow convey that we really want and value young people. And has to be real because they can suss. You know, they are going through so many changes in their bodies, in their minds, relationships, their roles, their thinking, they need a place where they can just be and be real and be accepted. We really need to convey that to the...
- 7 Nov 2016
By Sri Radharamana dasaThe day before the start of a three day festival native to India, Clifford Chance LLP hosted their very first employee Diwali celebration; probably the first across any global Law firm. Over 75 top lawyers and business services staff congregated at the Headquarters in Canary Wharf, London on 27th October to understand and extract spiritual wisdom from the pastimes of Lord Rama. Clifford Chance LLP is a multinational law firm headquartered in London, and a member of the "Magic Circle" of leading British law firms. It is one of the ten largest law firms in the world m...
- 7 Nov 2016
By Madhavananda dasMahattama (“especially great person”) — A mahattama sees whatever good qualities others have and magnifies them, not seeing even the smallest fault. Viswanath describes their attitude, “This person has stolen my cloth because he is cold, and though he has a weapon, he doesn’t attack me because he is merciful. He is virtuous.” Ati-mahattama (“extremely great person”) — An ati-mahattama sees good qualities in others even where there are none. Their attitude is, “In this world there are no bad people. Everyone is good.”
...- 6 Nov 2016
By Giriraj SwamiAt the time that Srila Prabhupada and his disciples acquired New Dvaraka, I was in Boston, and there we heard the news that Srila Prabhupada had gotten a wonderful property that had been a church. Srila Prabhupada made New Dvaraka his Western world headquarters and spent months on end here--at one stage he stayed for eight months--and established it as the model center. And he personally trained the devotees. A devotee named Silavati was the head pujari, and under Prabhupada's guidance she and others devotees established an exemplary standard of Deity worship. Then if any temple wanted to lear...
- 6 Nov 2016
By Sri Radharamana dasaThe central question explored at the event revolved around what wisdom from the Vedic philosophical tradition can be used to provoke thought in the workplace to positively impact the life of millions. In doing so, the event focused on the topic ‘Being At Our Best.’ While lamps are used in the festival to encourage one on a journey of darkness to light, ‘Being At Your Best’ is central to achieving this virtue. The story of Diwali illustrates the need to be inwardly and outwardly balanced to enable satisfaction of the self. While Diwali is an epic of trials and ...
- 5 Nov 2016
By the GBC Nominations CommitteeSrila Prabhupada said that a GBC member could have “thousands of secretaries,” and in keeping with this principle the Governing Body has designed new posts for senior devotees to be engaged in assisting the GBC expand the oversight of the Society’s development. One such post is that of Global Duty Officers (GDO), who help the Governing Body and its members by taking up important services giving support and leadership in fields such as preaching initiatives, educational programs, administration and legal matters. They can assist and serve in special proj...
- 5 Nov 2016
By Sakshi Mohan DasISKCON Youth Forum (IYF) is the youth wing of Sri Sri Radha Govind Temple, a branch of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). IYF is aimed towards nourishing the hearts of today's youth with the sublime message of the scriptures and helping them flourish in their lives in a wholesome manner. Happiness and the true fulfillment of the soul and unending success have been the goals of humanity from eternity. The purpose of life is a life of purpose and what makes a life valuable is the perfect blend of knowledge, skills and values. Most of us simply go...
- 4 Nov 2016
By Sri Radharamana dasaBhakti Charu Swami travelled in from India to present the keynote speech. His Holiness began by reflecting on his privilege in being present at a historical place of British Parliament where many significant decisions had been made throughout history that affected the entire world. His Holiness described the objective behind ISKCON and the many sacrifices made by Srila Prabhupada in its establishment. In detailing the prediction of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, His Holiness demonstrated how Srila Prabhupada inundated the entire world with a spiritual revolution that place...
- 3 Nov 2016
By Sri Radharamana dasaThe ‘Call of Dharma’ marks the evening of a daylong celebration across the firm which included Diwali prashadam sweets distributed to all UK and Ireland EY offices along with festive cards and animated media wall messages. In the spirit of the festival, EY hosted a 'dress colourful' day across UK and a lunchtime Bharat Natyam performance at the UK Headquarters. With over 100 professionals in attendance at the evening event, His Holiness explained how one can take lessons from the story of Diwali and reflect them in our professional lives. Due to huge demands, the ...
- 3 Nov 2016
By Vaisesika DasThe jiva is a an appreciator and Krishna is the Supreme appreciated and that's our job, that's all we have to do, to appreciate Krishna and all Krishna has to do is be Krishna because He's completely appreciable. Every living entity has an appreciating capacity. Some living entity's appreciating capacity is very small, but when we come to the human form of life we can expand our appreciating capacity unlimitedly. What blocks it? Matsarya, envy! Matsarya means the inability to tolerate the eminence of another. But devotees have freedom from matsarya and the ability to apprec...
- 2 Nov 2016
By non Iskcon mediaThese videos, most probably never seen before, are from the time when the media firstly became aware of the Hare Krishna movement and started covering several Krishna conscious events like the arrival of Srila Prabhupada in Geneva, Switzerland, the devotees in France and one of the first Harinamas in Tompkins Square Park, lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. You may recognize many well known devotees in their youth and see how the movement was in its beginning. Don't mind about the language spoken, except for the devotees' interviews they mostly speak about new cu...
- 2 Nov 2016
By the cdm officeFor 10 days devotees from different parts of the world attended the pilot course on "Vaisnava Life Counseling: A practical framework to support individuals and communities in ISKCON". An assorted group of devotees, interested in developing further their counseling skills and gaining a deeper understanding on how to help devotees, gathered in Sridhama Mayapur for a "hands-on" training in counseling. For over a year the CDM, in partnership with the Mayapur Institute (Atul Krsna Prabhu), has been working in the development of this course seeing the need for providing info...
- 2 Nov 2016
By Hari Narayana DasThe annual Bandung Light festival to commemorate the anniversary of Bandung city this year was celebrated on October 09, 2016. The grand festival was attended by most people in Bandung. This public festival was a chance for the devotees to introduce the Hare Krishna movement in Bandung. As Srila Prabhupada mention in his letter that “The time is fast approaching when we will have to perform such public kirtana in all the important cities of the world. Here also, in the Expo, they have performed kirtana for two days, and it is wonderfully successful." (SPL to Yamunä, ...
- 2 Nov 2016
By the TOVP teamThe entire TOVP Team wishes to publicly take this opportunity to recognize and thank the managers and devotees of the worldwide BBT/BBTI for their cooperation and service to the TOVP project since its beginnings in 2009. To date over $1.7 million has been given by the BBT/BBTI to the project, a most significant amount. Many devotees are unaware of the financial commitment made by the BBT/BBTI to fund the construction of the TOVP. This is in accordance with Srila Prabhupada’s instructions that the BBT utilize the profits from the sales of his books to fund temple construct...
- 2 Nov 2016
By Theresa May"I am delighted to send my very best wishes to everyone celebrating Diwali, a festival which holds such significance for so many people. Indeed, right across the world, lights decorate the streets, flowers adorn homes, treats are served and presents exchanged – all marking the triumph of light over darkness. But the festival of lights isn’t just relevant for Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists. It is relevant to all of us, those of all faiths and none. We can all learn from the example set by Lord Rama, whose return from exile is marked by t...
- 1 Nov 2016
By Indian expressA Diwali stamp was launched here by the US postal service, capping seven-year-long efforts by Indian-Americans and influential American lawmakers to commemorate the festival of lights. The stamp was unveiled at the Indian Consulate at an elaborate “first-day-of-issue” dedication ceremony on Wednesday. The US Postal Service (USPS) commemorated the Hindu festival of Diwali by dedicating the Diwali Forever stamp. The stamp shows a photo of a traditional ‘diya’ lit against a sparkling gold background and the words ‘Forever USA 2016’ written below. The ceremony was ...
- 1 Nov 2016
By Barack ObamaTo all who are celebrating the festival of lights across America and around the world, happy Diwali. As Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists light the diya, share in prayers, decorate their homes, and open their doors to host and feast with loved ones, we recognize that this holiday rejoices in the triumph of good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. It also speaks to a broader truth about our shared American experience. It's a reminder of what's possible when we see beyond the differences that t...
- 1 Nov 2016
By Daksina Devi DasiAs an offering to Srila Prabhupada for ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, Bhaktivedanta Manor, the Global Headquarters for ISKCON Child Protection, hosted a child protection training seminar for more than 20 leaders, GBC members, temple presidents and ISKCON charity trustees from across the UK. The training was delivered by Paul and Derek from RWA Child Protection Services and the Manor Child Protection Team. Ray Wyre Child Protection Services are an independent child protection specialist organizat...
- 1 Nov 2016
By Shatakshi GoyalAs we drove back to Keshi Ghat, I recalled a conversation with Shivarama Swami. Yamuna Devi is always flowing in Vraja in aprakata, or unmanifested, form, he said, but her disappearance in drishtva form, or that which we can see, shows that she is offended by how Vrindavan is being exploited – dirt and filth everywhere, rampant corruption, lack of building codes. Shivarama Swami reminded us that our Save Yamuna Campaign is not just about moving politicians, courts, and policy makers; it's also...
- 31 Oct 2016