By Krishna-kripa dasAudrey, a new resident of Krishna House, whose spiritual search culminated in Krishna consciousness, knew many alternative people from Orlando, where she grew up. Some of them were organizers of the Zen Awakening Festival, and thus she was able to secure a place for us to perform for two hours on one of the stages at the festival. We took a van full of devotees. We found the stage was not set up with microphones and amplifiers, so we put out our blankets and chanted in front of it. We decided ...
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- 10 Dec 2015
By Kesava Krsna DasaSometimes devotees think that by working hard for Krishna, on the order of the spiritual master, even if there is some neglect of personal sadhana, hearing and chanting, success in spiritual life is assured come what may. Is this empty optimism? Or does the order of the spiritual master supersede all other considerations? It is tempting to assure oneself that being engaged in all nine angas of Bhakti to lesser or greater degrees trying to please the guru, the assiduous, intense performance ...
- 9 Dec 2015
By KeshavOn Friday, December 4, 2015, members of the ISKCON Toronto Temple Council were invited to attend an official "Meet-and-Greet" with the Toronto Police. Aimed at bringing together members of the Toronto Police with leaders from the South and West Asian communities, the event was held at the beautiful headquarters of the Toronto Police, located at 40 College Street, right in the heart of downtown Toronto. The event saw close to 100 attendees from all different communities and organizations. The highlight...
- 9 Dec 2015
By Nanda Priya Nivedita Devi DasiLike the rest of the city, ISKCON Chennai is also waking out of the shock and reaching out to the people with nourishment, medical aid and personal needs. ISKCON Chennai volunteers are tirelessly trying to help all the affected places. Over 6000 plates of Prasadam are being distributed everyday. Besides distributing in public shelter houses, the volunteers are moving even into streets still knee deep in water and giving the Prasad door to door. A total of 30,000 plates of Prasadam...
- 8 Dec 2015
By Ambarisa DasWhile the pink stone was arriving to Mayapur, Sadbhuja Prabhu was returning from Bolivia. He had to travel to pick the best quality blue marble from our Bolivian vendors. Bolivian blue marble is a very prestigious marble, only an expert can select a good batch. This splendid blue marble will be used for the altars of Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Panchatattva and Guru Parampara. This is our last purchase of the Blue Marble from Bolivia. The art team has also been very busy. Led by Bhaskara Prabhu, they c...
- 7 Dec 2015
By Shyamasundara DasaThis exchange between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and a reporter took place in Philadelphia during July of 1975. Reporter: The Krsna consciousness movement has been what some would consider sexist, because certain propensities for women have been defined, by the devotees or the Vedic scriptures -- I'm not sure which -- and I wondered if you would comment on that. The allegation is not necessarily that the movement is against women, but that it defines inferior roles f...
- 7 Dec 2015
By Padmapani dasFor those of us old enough to remember, these recent events may conjure up memories of the Great Northeast Blackout in 1965. As a resident of Canada, I remember it well. Although quite young at the time, I distinctly recall the sense of fear and vulnerability that arose in my heart. I realized for the first time that our civilization wasn't as strong and secure as we had been led to believe. "At 5:27 p.m., November 9, 1965, the entire Northeast area of the United States and large parts of Canada...
- 7 Dec 2015
By Iskcon ChennaiFlooded With a population of 4.6 million affected due to floods caused by heavy rainfall, the city of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu has been declared a National disaster zone by the Indian Government. With no power, food or water supply, life in Chennai has become close to impossible. ISKCON Chennai has suffered immensely. Devotees have been shifted out of the temple with three devotees left in the temple campus to serve the presiding Radha Krishna deities. Temple vehicles, the Sankirtan shop, G...
- 6 Dec 2015
By Ekanatha DasaThe Bhaktivedanta Archives is pleased to offer two new releases: the VedaBase™ 2015.1 update and the original unedited audio of Śrīla Prabhupada for the year 1972. While we at the Bhaktivedanta Archives make every endeavor to release an accurate rendering of Srila Prabhupada’s legacy, we also know that when dealing with numerous poorly recorded, unlabeled and miss-labeled audio recordings there are in fact major challenges. Based on the above we apologize for any inaccuracies that may have...
- 5 Dec 2015
By Nirmala Krishna DasBhaktivedanta Gurukula & International School has been ranked 13th all over India in the “Boys Residential School” category and rated No.1 in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the same category by the Education world, India school rankings 2015. For the past seven years Education World has been publishing the annual Education World India School Rankings with C fore — the well-known Delhi-based market research and opinion polls agency. It rates and ranks over 800 of India’s most high-profile sc...
- 5 Dec 2015
By Vrajendranandan DasDr Hamid Ansari, the Honorable Vice President of India paid floral tributes to Dr Rajendra Prasad the First President of India on the occasion of his 131st Birth Anniversary at the Parliament Annexe New Delhi on 3rd December 2015. This function organized by the Rajendra Chintan Samiti and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). We were also a part of the function. This was a really great opportunity for us (ISKCON) to meet and build relationships with the many important personalities pr...
- 5 Dec 2015
By the TOVPAfter a lot of work and research, the production of the GRC has finally started in our temporary workshop. As the new workshop is almost ready, we will be able to make the total of 1.2 ton of jersey here in house. Here we can also see immense wood mold. This is the mold to create the Kalash bracket. 15 feet (4.5M) tall, brackets like this will support the Kalash and Chakra that are standing at the very top of the main dome. Also: Message from Radha Jivana, International Fundraising Director ...
- 5 Dec 2015
By radhanathswami.comRadhanath Swami shared the message that it is imperative in business to earn with integrity and spend with compassion. He said that as a child raised in United States he saw so much wealth and luxury. “But all these technologies, power and road systems, seemed so shallow to so many people in my generation. Because greed can never satisfy the heart.” He further explained that poverty in society is simply an extension of the inner poverty of the human heart. “When there is a poverty of c...
- 4 Dec 2015
By Hari Narayana dasBandung is a small island in Indonesia. The annual ‘Light Festival’ commemorates the anniversary of Bandung city. This year the festival fell on the 8th of November. The festival includes a parade throughout the island with a variety of acts and performances. Many departments under Bandung’s Government participated. Taking advantage of this golden opportunity, devotees organized a grand Ratha Yatra festival and joined the parade. They were granted permission from the Governmen...
- 4 Dec 2015
By Phalini Devi DasiBecause the Petersburg Facility does not allow prasadam distribution, the inmates bought candies and after offering them to Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai, happily distributed them to all. Many of the men had requested to have their pictures taken with us. Unfortunately, the photographer arrived late, so many participants had already left before the camera was able to capture them. After much picture-taking with those who were still present, we said our good-byes, feeling very grateful to Lord Caitanya...
- 3 Dec 2015
By Bhakti Niskama ShantaThe archaeological record is very limited and its analysis has been contentious. Hence, molecular biologists have shifted their attention to molecular dating techniques. Recently on April 2013, the prestigious Cell Press Journal Current Biology published an article (Fu et al. 2013) entitled “A Revised Timescale for Human Evolution Based on Ancient Mitochondrial Genomes”. This paper has twenty authors and they are researchers from the world’s top institutes like Max Planck Institute, ...
- 3 Dec 2015
By Govinda prema dasThe students are very inspired by the teaching of the Vedic culture, the graduation ceremony was attended by HH Bhakti Narasimha Swami , HG Umapati prabhu, HG Manasi Ganga mataji and other senior devotees. We also established a training centre which enables the students to come and live in a contemporary ashram, where they pay a minimum rent.Every morning and evening the students attend a sanga class and a japa meditation workshop. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada in 6months 30 students have ...
- 3 Dec 2015
By Mina SharmaDavid Cameron also met and shook hands the children from Krishna Avanti, a flagship Conservative free school, and sat with them in the VIP area, which was an unforgettable moment for them. Srutidharma Das spoke to Narendra Modi in Gujarati about ISKCON's 50th anniversary next year, for which he offered heartfelt congratulations. Modi also spoke about his visit to Bhaktivedanta Manor in 2005. Upon meeting Srutidharma Das, David Cameron said "We meet again!" as Prabhu had only recited Diwali prayers...
- 3 Dec 2015
By Radha Bhakti devi dasiAs you may have heard, we are creating a display at the ISKCON Leadership Sanga in Mayapur, taking place on February 24 - March 2, 2016. The display will feature highlights of the centres around the world from the last 50 years. It will consist of photos and text showcasing different yatras' temples, programs, and devotees. In particular, devotees have submitted such things as: - When their temple was built - When deities were installed - When Srila Prabhupada visited - Significant succ...
- 2 Dec 2015
By Kumari SherreittIt’s a momentous year for ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) all over the world for it is 50 years since Founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada came to West and started the movement, and especially in its ever-growing community in the UK. ISKCON-London Radha-Krishna temple, was the UK’s first temple, and has just celebrated its 46th anniversary of the Deities Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara’s installation. Although the Deities were first installed at anot...
- 2 Dec 2015
By Yasoda devi dasiThe bus drove everyone to the temple area. The teachers had sent me a document of 18 questions prior to the day of the excursion. I answered these as a group, as it is a requirement that the students were to discuss and record the answers for an assignment that they will complete back at school after their visit to us. The questions are quite varied and some of the topics include Hare Krsna key beliefs, sense of identity, lifestyle features, history and the like. It was now time for the midday...
- 2 Dec 2015
By Madhavendra Puri dasa“I have been thinking of Mukunda Goswami constantly and praying for him intensely” said Giriraja Swami. Mukunda Goswami’s brother, Tom Grant (an established jazz musician), also asked for prayers on the night of Maharaja’s first surgery, pulling together thousands of correspondents in prayerful thoughts. Niranjana Swami posted: “Please continue with prayers for Mukunda Goswami and as much as possible have kirtanas for him.” Devotees organised kirtanas in New Govardhana, and ...
- 2 Dec 2015
By Sutapa dasEvery December the entire ISKCON world focuses all attention on distribution of transcendental literature, something we all know was so close to Srila Prabhupada’s heart. He was incredibly eager to hear the figures of how many books were being distributed. Indeed, he said it gave him life. When a new book was printed, Prabhupada felt as though he had conquered an empire. He told one disciple – “the best of me is in my books.” At this special time in ISKCON’s history, Bhaktivedanta Manor wo...
- 2 Dec 2015
By Basu Ghosh DasAfter years of struggles of various types, including having to overcome a number of legal hurdles, ISKCON has inaugurated the beginning of a grand project at Jagannath Puri by performing the bhumi puja and installation of Ananta Shesha on the 18 acre ISKCON project land in a grand ceremony that was attended by thousands of devotees who participate in an annual three day Puri Parikrama (circumambulation of Jagannath Puri) organized by Bhakti Purushottam Swami, ISKCON’s Governing Body Commissione...
- 2 Dec 2015