BY SIMHESVARA DASA PHOTOS BY DEENA DHAYAL KLANG – Kalidascharan prabhu and his family have always been serving ISKCON Malaysia so wonderfully. I met Kalidascharan prabhu, a disciple of HH Srila Jayapataka Swami Maharaj, in the very early 80′s (I … Continue reading →

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On January 29, Sunday (midnight UK time, 7pm New York time on January 28), Wikipedia features on its front page under the "On this day" section the 45th anniversary of the Mantra-Rock Dance event in San Francisco.

THE FOLLOWING LECTURE ON SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM, CANTO 3, CHAPTER 1, QUESTIONS BY VIDURA, TEXT 31, WAS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CHARU SWAMI ON 10 APRIL 2008 IN ISKCON UJJAIN, INDIA. Transcription : Her Grace Ranga Radhika Dasi Editing : Ramananda Raya Dasa Audio reference: click here Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om [...]

Purushatraya Swami – Chaitanya Charitamrita – ISKCON Lisboa – 6-12-2011

A daily broadcast of the Ultimate Self Realization Course Saturday 28 January 2012 The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and His eternal consort, Srimati Radharani are enjoying transcendental pastimes in the topmost planet of the spiritual world, Sri Goloka Vrindavan. They are beckoning us to rejoin them. (Click on photo to see a larger image.) Our Mission: To help everyone awaken their original Krishna consciousness, which is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Such a global awakening will, in one stroke, solve all the problems of the world society bringing in a new era of unprecedented peace and prosperity for all. May that day, which the world so desperately needs, come very soon. We request you to participate in this mission by reviving your dormant Krishna consciousness and assisting us in spreading this science all over the world. Dedicated with love to ISKCON Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, our beloved spiritual master, and to you, our dear readers. For Transcendental Association Connect With Other Members of this Course. Join this Conference: http://groups.google.com/group/sda_students Help Popularize Our Message By Liking Today's Thought on Facebook: Today's Thought: We've Been Waiting Since Time Immemorial uploaded from Bhaktivedanta Ashram--Austin, Texas USA Since time immemorial we have been caught up in the cycle of birth and death repeatedly suffering unbearable miseries lifetime after lifetime. Deep within our hearts we have been desperately awaiting that day when someone will come and liberate us from this hopeless quagmire. But because our nature is to enjoy and because the suffering has been intolerable, we fool ourselves into thinking we are enjoying when actually we are in the most miserable of all situations. This is called maya-sukhaya or illusory happiness. But now by the causeless mercy of Lord Krishna, the greatest saintly teacher has descended from the spiritual world to save us. His name is His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He has given us many volumes of the most practical enlightening books ever written in the history of the world and has started a movement know as the Krishna consciousness movement for those who want to take advantage of his teachings. If we will read his books and participate in his movement, we will become liberated from the cycle of birth and death, and we will regain our original transcendental identities in that supremely wonderful, sublime, and eternal abode known as the para-vyoma or the spiritual sky. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Srila Prabhupada in Los Angeles http://www.backtohome.com/images/Prabhupada/SP_in_LA.jpg Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Why Do Muslims Eat Meat? If the purpose of all the religion is same, to love God, why do Muslims consume non-vegetarian food? On the festival of Id-ul-Fitr they eat male goats in the name of Islam. Please clear my doubt since this act of the Muslims produces hatred towards them. Your humble servant, Akhil G. Answer: They Do Not Know the Meaning of Religion. Nowadays most people in all faiths who claim to be religious are actually irreligious. They simply use their religious designation as a mask to hide their sinfulness. Although they profess religion, they are not truly religious. Hence they engage in all kinds of sinful activities, even in the name of religion. If you love someone, you will not kill and eat his children. Therefore, meat eaters cannot be genuine lovers of God. We should not hate anyone because of their ignorance. Most people are actually good. Simply they have been grossly misguided. Therefore we should manifest love for them by enlightening them in the transcendental process of Krishna consciousness. In this way they can become true lovers of God. Lord Caitanya has ordered us to tell everyone we meet about Krishna. Therefore we should make everyone in the world Krishna conscious. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Transcendental Resources: Receive the Special Blessings of Krishna Now you too can render the greatest service to the suffering humanity and attract the all-auspicious blessings of Lord Sri Krishna upon yourself and your family by assisting our mission. Lectures and Kirtans in Audio and Video: Link to High Definition Videos Link to Over 1,000 Lecture Audios Lecture-Travel Schedule for 2012-2013 http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/schedule Have Questions or Need Further Guidance? Check out the resources at: http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com or write Sankarshan Das Adhikari at: sda@backtohome.com Get your copy today of the world's greatest self-realization guide book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is available at:http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/store Know someone who could benefit from this? Forward it to them. Searchable archives of all of course material: http://www.sda-archives.com Receive Thought for the Day as an RSS feed: http://www.backtohome.com/rss.htm Unsubscribe or change your email address Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Daily_Thought Thought for the Day on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Ultimate.Self.Realization Copyright 2005-2012 by Ultimate Self Realization.Com Distribution of this material is encouraged. Simply we request you to acknowledge where it is coming from with a link to our sign up page: http://www.backtohome.com Our records indicate that at requested to be enrolled to receive e-mails from the Ultimate Self Realization Course at: This request was made on: From the following IP address: {contact_address

The library catalog of the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre (BRC) in Kolkata, India—which opened in June 2009 and aims to be an easily accessible resource of all Gaudiya Vaishnava literature—has expanded from 3,500 titles in October 2010 to an amazing 15,000 works today.

Renowned masters from various Yoga schools—including ISKCON’s Yadunandana Swami and Radhanath Swami—met for an international Yoga conference this past December 4th and 5th at the headquarters of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation in Bangalore, India to agree on a date for a special World Yoga Day.

At the recent 2012 North American Governing Body and Temple President meetings in Dallas, Texas on January 13th, Book Distribution Minister Vaisesika Dasa had some exciting news for the more than sixty leaders from across the US and Canada in attendance.

Srila Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Site sdgonline.org:
	4:34 A.M. Then Lalita laughs and says to Sri Radhika, “O Radhe! This ‘decoration’ that has come is indeed glorious! Your husband who carried it on his head is also glorious; Sri Yasoda who affectionately sent it is glorious; and her message to you, “O Radhe, may You become decorated by that which I am sending” is glorious!… Continue reading â�� (More by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami ->)

Srila Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Site sdgonline.org:
	Autobiography  The autobiography is a work-in-progress. I have written my pre-Krishna conscious life and my career in ISKCON, and I continue to do so. Now I am writing about the books I have written over the thirty-five years. Because the writing is so important to me it is a crucial part of my life-story.… Continue reading â�� (More by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami ->)

Sent By His Grace Dvarkadish Prabhu TODAY IS THE GLORIOUS APPEARANCE DAY OF SRIMATI VISNUPRIYA DEVI: When Caitanya Mahāprabhu took sannyāsa, His wife, Viṣṇupriyādevī, although only sixteen years old, also took the vow of austerity due to her husband’s leaving home. She chanted on her beads, and after finishing one round, she collected one grain [...]

The Bhagavad-gita (2.29) indicates that wise people, on coming to know about the soul, look upon it as amazing. Their amazement is largely due to recognizing that much of what they were searching at the level of the body was always their own at the level of the soul.

They wanted to look beautiful at the level of the body – a desire that was sabotaged for many people by the looks they are born with and was sabotaged for everyone by the passage of time and the setting in of age. Yet all along as souls, they had always been beautiful.

They wanted to attract the love of others at the level of the body – a desire that was sabotaged by the rejection of some, the neglect of others and the departure of the few who fulfilled that desire temporarily. Yet all along as souls, they had always attracted the love of the most loving and lovable person, Krishna.

Their amazement is because they understand that they themselves had sabotaged their longing for beauty and love by looking for it in the wrong place: in the body instead of the soul.

When they understand that they are souls, not bodies, they are charmed by the simplicity and the profundity of life’s amazing secret: the path to happiness is not acquisition, but realization.

Hare Krishna

It has been decided to cancel this weeks Sunday Feast program (29th January 2012) due to flooding and expected bad weather. 

The Sunday Feast program will resume 5th February 2012 unless otherwise notified. 

Thank you

1968 January 26: "Mistakes there may be in our life, but if we stick to Krsna Consciousness, Krsna will surely put us on the right path. I love you at my heart and therefore I gave you the name Krsna devi dasi. Don't forget Krsna even for a single moment."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1966 January 26:
"One set books sold at the Universalist Church, Central Park West. Three letters dispatched. Went to see the Tape-recorder. Found no good. Meeting at the Church at 4 West 76th St at 7 pm."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1966

1969 January 26: "The six couples have been working very hard and they have been very much appreciated by the people there, and their character, behavior, and devotion are attracting sincere people to our movement. I want similar thousands of couples for my disciples to propagate our movement throughout the world."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 January 26: "Krsna is giving you good chance for presenting Krsna Consciousness Movement in the circle of educated people. Do it to the best of your ability. Scarcity of language on your part will be fulfilled by Krsna by the process of your eagerness to serve Him."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1973 January 26: "It does not matter that you are not so expert at Sanskrit. If by your presence the devotees become enlivened - that is the sign of successful preaching. It is not very difficult. Just read from my books and try and explain the meaning in your own words."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1974 January 26: "If you sincerely preach everything will become smooth, and our preaching work will become smoother and smoother. Let us work cooperatively all over the world. It is a great task. Let us be cognizant of our responsibility."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1974 January 26: "You have dedicated yourself therefore you are always glorious. I'm very much indebted that you have gone so far away from your comfortable country. Please go on preaching like that and you will be blessed."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1974 January 26: "I think Krsna wants to see you all work independently of me. I'm getting old and cannot move, so if you all my students work ten times more than me that will be great pleasure for me."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

Hare Krsna my dear devotees, I hope your week of chanting has been blessed and you are able to concentrate. We are now at the end of January and I presume you are still sticking to your resolutions for this year, remember that resolutions are not only something you wish but something you act on every day. You need to create momentum and make your new dreams your everyday life.

If you had some resolutions about improving your spiritual practices, that was a great choice and the main thing is to choose a specific time during the day to dedicate to this area of your life and stick to it, maybe reading the scriptures, or chanting early in the morning or doing some service to the Deities. Keep on doing it and remember progress is important if you do not progress you won`t see the meaning of it, and chanting is progress everyday in life. So if you chant with your heart in it, you will see your life improving in all areas and you will change completely. 

Make chanting your number one priority and remember to put your heart into it, every single day.

your servant,

Aruna devi

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Radhadesh, Belgium, January 2012) Lecture: SB. 5.9.4

Jaḍa Bharata himself, who indeed had a fear of the material energy. This fear of the material energy, is described in the Bhagavad Gita,

‘sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
trāyate mahato bhayāt’ (Bg2.40)

It is described as the greatest type of fear, and the greatest danger – to basically fall back down into the material world. There maybe so many dangers considered, but this is the one danger – that a devotee must be really alert of. Sometime ago I was contemplating on the world, and so many times I have been in traffic…..and suddenly an ambulance appeared with flashing lights….and all the cars sort of squeeze to the side as the ambulance flies by. Because it is a matter of life and death! A matter of life and death – that’s like a crucial point. The crucial point in this world (in the view of the materialist) is the matter of life and death. But the truth of the matter is that it’s not at all the crucial point.

To Srila Prabhupada, death means that you are going to sleep for seven months, and then you wake up again….in the long term to resume your activity. Or Prabhupada would say to Dr Durckheim in Germany:

“The body is just made of dead matter. It was never alive in the first place! Where is the question of death? It is the soul that is alive…the soul that cannot be destroyed.

‘nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi’ (Bg2.23)

And it is the soul that moves that dead matter around in some way and it makes it act as though it was alive. But it is as dead as can be, all along.”

It’s a fact, that actually fear of death (and at the matter of life and death) is the essential crux of life, then it gets really serious – well that is not serious at all! But falling back down into the material energy, is when it gets very serious! Because then it is a matter of unlimited birth in the material world!

Source

The Dangers of the Additive Brominated Vegetable Oil in Drinks

I can almost thank my lucky stars, that I’ve never been much of a soda drinker, in fact, I haven’t consumed any in years. First, I find them way too sickeningly sweet, for the regular types. I also never cared for the diet type as I just didn’t care for the taste, and in consideration that there are now warnings about the health hazards of the added artificial sweetener, aspartame, I would think anyone would steer clear of diet drinks in general.

Now I’ve come across information, of yet another dangerous additive that is found in the citrus flavored type sodas or drinks, such as Mountain Dew, Fresca, Fanta, and is even found in the power drinks, such as the familiar Gatorade, and that is the additive of Brominated Vegetable Oil or BVO. The real kicker in all this is that BVO has actually been banned in over 100 countries, and even the FDA considers this additive as unsafe, yet, so far, no measures have been taken to ban it’s usage here in this country.

Brominated Vegetable Oil, has as it’s composition the element of bromine in which, believe it or not, the vapors of bromine are considered both corrosive and toxic…in other words can outrightly be considered a poisonous chemical. The chemical bromine is used for a number of products, from one of the chemicals that treat surfaces for light-sensitive photographic printing papers, as an additive for gasoline, to agricultural fumigants. At one time, bromine was even used to make sedatives, but then the FDA banned its usage around 1975, as it was found to trigger a whole host of psychiatric disorders.

Just why is BVO used in certain drinks? Supposedly, the reason Brominated Vegetable Oil used in citrus type drinks, is to stabilize the citrus oils to prevent them from separating, giving them a more unified appearance. One can always tell that Brominated Vegetable Oil has been added even if one doesn’t read the ingredient label, as such drinks will have a rather murky, cloudy look to them, rather than clear. And believe it or not, many drinks containing BVO, do not include it on their labels!

Now of course, the FDA claims that BVO is used in acceptable levels that would do no harm, however, it has been proven that BVO, when consumed is stored in a person’s fat cells, thus over time can accumulate. With time, if the average person consumes enough of these beverages that contain BVO, you can just bet, its toxic side effects will start to show up. And what are the side effects? Do you really want to know? Yes, they are that bad.

I’ve taken the liberty to include the list of the effects of BVO are from the Natural Thyroid Choices Website This websites primarily discusses about the soda Mountain Dew, but it can pertain to any of the drinks that contain BVO in them.

Abdominal cramps
Anxiety
Anorexia
Blurred vision
Coma
Constricted pupils
Convulsions
Cyanosis (skin blueness)
Diarrhea
Dizziness
Heart beat malfunction
Headache
Weakness
Tremors of the tongue and eyelids
Muscular cramps
Nausea
Respiritory difficulty
Salivation
Slow pulse
Sweating
Tearing
Vomiting (1)

Other possible side effects I found listed in other sources also includes birth defects, growth problems, memory loss and fatigue (2) & (3)

It actual makes me shudder to think that people are consuming beverages that contain such an additive with so many dangerous side affects. Think for instance, how many people, including children, will drink Gatorade, especially after strenuous physical or sports activity and are under the impression that this is a “wonder” drink to rehydrate and replenish one’s body of vitally needed fluids, instead what they are getting is a dose of a toxic chemical.

Thankfully, I just never cared for the taste of Mountain Dew, and only once tried Gatorade and completely hated the taste. I’d much rather drink pure juices or even just plain water. I’m hoping that enough people will put pressure on the FDA to completely ban the use of BVO in any beverage, just as it’s been banned in over 100 countries. Isn’t our health worth it?

Information About Brominated Vegetable Oil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brominated_vegetable_oil

http://fooddemocracy.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/the-dirty-dozen-12-foodsfood-additives-to-avoid-and-why/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromine

Filed under: Health

In our Krishna Conscious philosophy, we talk so much about the body, soul, this material world, its miseries, karma etc. This we do to inspire one to question the status quo of materialism. When all said and done, mere philosophy does not attract Krishna or does not give us entrance into higher dimensions. Srila Prabhupada once replied to a question by a reporter that the way to identify a Krishna devotee is that he or she will be a gentleman. In other words, a devotee of Krishna will possess good character.

 So without character development, practicing Krishna conscious philosophy is a waste of time. We have to cultivate good character. In this day and world where cynicism, sarcasm, extempore display of chivalry (more like bravado), and other machoistic tendencies are attractive, the desire to cultivate character of high nature is not a priority. Developing young students do not seek role models who are humble and meek but who are dominating and passionate in their respective fields.

In Krishna conscious philosophy if we want to transcend the material problems of birth and death, then it is most important to come to the platform of goodness which is prevailed by qualities such as humility, compassion and tolerance. Once we reach this platform only is it possible to elevate our consciousness to the supramundane platform. So let us see or rather list the qualities of good character. If we do not possess such good character then it is our utmost duty to cultivate them. Below is a short list.

• Truthfulness 
• Cleanliness 
• Intolerance of other’s happiness 
• The power to control anger 
• Self-satisfaction 
• Straightforwardness 
• Steadiness of mind 
• Control of the sense organs
• Responsibility 
• Equality 
• Tolerance
• Equanimity 
• Faithfulness 
• Knowledge 
• Absence of sense enjoyment 
• Leadership 
• Chivalry
• The discharge of proper duty 
• Serenity 
• Kindheartedness 
• Gentility 
• Magnanimity 
• Determination 
• Fidelity 
• Pridelessness 

There are no prices for guessing, these qualities were few of the qualities glorified by His Devotee about Krishna (SB 1.16-26-30). Indeed these qualities cannot be possessed if one is not spiritual and Krishna conscious. One may find similar qualities purely on the material platform but that will be tainted by self-centered desires. The qualities mentioned above, however, spring from the spiritual platform and motivated by selflessness.

Possessing these qualities is an indication that Krishna has entered our hearts for when He enters He brings along with Him these qualities. So it is when Krishna or God enters only can we cultivate good character. There is no good character without Krishna or God. Good character, practicing spiritual life and devotional service to God all are synonymous with one another; one cannot exist without the other.

Hare Krishna

From: panca pandava das:

what is your opinion about Aliens, are they really existed or just a movie fake?

To hear the answer, please click here

 

 

From: Amarnath V.A

Only Hindu religion says God has a form and worships forms in the form of deity. Is it a sin to worship forms or deities as pointed out by other religions?

To hear the answer, please click here

To read the article "Can the unlimited have a form", please click here

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: There is no need to learn Bengali. I do not encourage learning any new skills. Whatever material abilities one has when he comes to Krsna consciousness, let him learn to engage these in Krsna's service: that is sufficient. There is no need of learning new skills now. That will simply be a waste of time. (Letter to: Dasanudasa -- Hrsikesa 13 May, 1977)

Morning class at the Manor, Jan 17th.

BY JANANANDA GOSVAMI PHOTOS BY HARI VENGAT RAO I feel so sad that I was unable to post the following – I wrote it on the 20th but could not get online for  3 days. I will miss Kalidascharan so much - … Continue reading →

BY JANANANDA GOSVAMI

PHOTOS BY HARI VENGAT RAO

I feel so sad that I was unable to post the following - I wrote it on the 20th but could not get online for  3 days. I will miss Kalidascharan so much - we spent lots of time together. Please send my best wishes and condolensces to his family.

Please pass on


Dear Kalidascharan prabhu

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I have just heard you are in serious health condition again. Really speaking we are always in danger. Sometimes we realize it sometimes not. For sure you have had warning for quite some time now and I know you are seriously
preparing. I am confident that despite the fact we are sad to hear of your condition, at the the same time confident of your future. I will never forget the countless times we went together preaching in the Klang district, and the programmes in the little Krishna Temple in Port Klang. 

I am sure the innumerable fruits of your years of selfless service will secure your path back to Godhead. I am praying for your welfare and especially that you remember Krsna at this difficult time. Thanking you and your family for your very kind association

Hare Krishna
I hope this finds you well.

Your servant
Janananda Gosvami

The holy name of Shri Krishna emits nectarean rays which cause the white lily (kumudini) of supreme fortune to bloom. As the moon, by its rays, causes the white lilies to blossom and become very fragrant, the holy name, by the transmission of its potency, causes all kinds of good fortune to arise for the jivas. The following verse from the Skanda Purana has been cited as evidence of this in the Hari-bhakti-vilasa (Hari-bhakti-vilasa 11.234):

madhura-madhuram-etan mangalam mangalanam
sakala-nigamavalli-satphalam citsvarupam
sakridapi parigitam shraddhaya helaya va
bhriguvara nara-matram tarayet krishna-nama

"Of all that is auspicious, the holy name of Shri Krishna stands supreme. Of all that is sweet, the holy name is sweeter still. It is the eternal, fully-spiritual fruit of the wish-fulfilling tree of the entire Vedas. O best of the Bhrigus! If anyone even once chants the holy name of Lord Krishna, either with faith or indifferently-but free from any offense-the holy name immediately delivers him from the ocean of material existence."

Trivikrama Swami – Kirtan – 6.01.2012 Warszawa

www.richardslavin.com

If the selection above is hosted by YouTube then after the video plays there will be several links presented to other videos. ISKCON News Weekly has no control over the selections presented and is not responsible for their contents.

If the selection above is hosted by YouTube then after the video plays there will be several links presented to other videos. ISKCON News Weekly has no control over the selections presented and is not responsible for their contents.

We are now in the process of making a new ToVP video showing the newest images and renderings. This video will be ready at the end of the month for when the GBC come to Mayapur. In the video you will get to witness up-to-date information about what we have done and what we have yet to do. Deva Gauri Hari, our talented Acoustics and Lighting Engineering, is taking many hours filming and recording the video. We have brought in a professional camera to interview devotees from Mayapur that speak a plethora of different languages, such as; German, Latin, Arabic, and Hindi. All angles of this magnificent temple will be covered in this inspiring film and we hope that you look forward to seeing it!

The 320 page book by Director of Food for Life Global, Paul Rodney Turner (Priyavrata das) is the result of many years of research and crafting while teaching the art and science of food yoga around the world at vegetarian conferences.

Companion planting is the ancient technique of planting different crops in close proximity that can provide benefits to each other. In a garden, parsley excels at repelling harmful insects and attracting beneficial ones.

A daily broadcast of the Ultimate Self Realization Course Friday 27 January 2012 The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and His eternal consort, Srimati Radharani are enjoying transcendental pastimes in the topmost planet of the spiritual world, Sri Goloka Vrindavan. They are beckoning us to rejoin them. (Click on photo to see a larger image.) Our Mission: To help everyone awaken their original Krishna consciousness, which is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Such a global awakening will, in one stroke, solve all the problems of the world society bringing in a new era of unprecedented peace and prosperity for all. May that day, which the world so desperately needs, come very soon. We request you to participate in this mission by reviving your dormant Krishna consciousness and assisting us in spreading this science all over the world. Dedicated with love to ISKCON Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, our beloved spiritual master, and to you, our dear readers. For Transcendental Association Connect With Other Members of this Course. Join this Conference: http://groups.google.com/group/sda_students Help Popularize Our Message By Liking Today's Thought on Facebook: Today's Thought: The Perfection of Healing uploaded from Bhaktivedanta Ashram--Austin, Texas USA Healing practitioners are everywhere, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, acupuncturists, herbalists, chiropractors, etc. But out of these thousands and millions of healers all over the world hardly anyone knows what is perfection of healing, bringing the self back into a state of perfect harmony with the Supreme Self. Therefore in spite of millions and billions of dollars being spent every year on health care we are still a global community of people afflicted with deluge of health problems. Of course just as death cannot be eliminated, disease also cannot be eliminated. Both death and disease are inseparable factors of the material nature. But through Krishna consciousness, the ultimate healing system, one can regain one's original transcendental body which is not subject to birth, death, old age, and disease. When the spiritual body is reactivated, its covering, the material body, naturally lives longer in a much healthier condition. So if you want to be healthy, the first thing you need to do to create the best possible foundation for excellent health. You need to realize that you are not your body, that you are the eternal spirit-soul servant of God. Reconnect with Krishna today through the transcendental process of meditating on His sound incarnation: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. I described the perfection of healing on Radio Station KOOP in Austin, Texas on 23 January 2012. That hour long show is now online. You can hear it right now through the player available through this link: Hear the Radio Show The host, Teresa Maijala, was very appreciative of the Krishna consciousness movement. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Revealing the Perfection of Healing With Host Teresa Maijala on Radio Station KOOP Austin, Texas-23 January 2012 http://www.backtohome.com/images/Austin_2011/Radio_Show2_23Jan.jpg Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Chanting Japa While Listening to Music? Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada Is it correct for a person to chant rounds on japa mala beads while listening to and in tune with a Kirtan playing on an audio CD player? Regards, Sunil Answer: Krishna's Sweet Name Does Not Need Music to Be Sweet If you were going for a job interview at a company where you really wanted to get a position, would you be listening to some music on an audio CD player during the interview? Of course not. You would be 100% tuned into the person who was interviewing you, trying to make the best impression on him so that you could be offered a position in the company. Similarly when you chant Hare Krishna you are personally meeting with Krishna in the form of your japa trying to convince Him by your sincere chanting that you are a worthy candidate for being admitted into His transcendental abode. If you can't even absorb your mind fully in your japa, needing to prop up your meditation with some music, you are not in the proper consciousness to surrender to Krishna. Therefore if you serious about going back to Godhead, you must also become serious about fully absorbing your consciousness in Krishna in the form of His holy name as it is manifested in your japa. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Transcendental Resources: Receive the Special Blessings of Krishna Now you too can render the greatest service to the suffering humanity and attract the all-auspicious blessings of Lord Sri Krishna upon yourself and your family by assisting our mission. Lectures and Kirtans in Audio and Video: Link to High Definition Videos Link to Over 1,000 Lecture Audios Lecture-Travel Schedule for 2012-2013 http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/schedule Have Questions or Need Further Guidance? Check out the resources at: http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com or write Sankarshan Das Adhikari at: sda@backtohome.com Get your copy today of the world's greatest self-realization guide book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is available at:http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/store Know someone who could benefit from this? Forward it to them. Searchable archives of all of course material: http://www.sda-archives.com Receive Thought for the Day as an RSS feed: http://www.backtohome.com/rss.htm Unsubscribe or change your email address Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Daily_Thought Thought for the Day on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Ultimate.Self.Realization Copyright 2005-2012 by Ultimate Self Realization.Com Distribution of this material is encouraged. Simply we request you to acknowledge where it is coming from with a link to our sign up page: http://www.backtohome.com Our records indicate that at requested to be enrolled to receive e-mails from the Ultimate Self Realization Course at: This request was made on: From the following IP address: {contact_address

Undeterred by a Siberian court's rejection of their plea seeking a ban on a translated version of the Bhagvad Gita, Russian prosecutors are planning to file an appeal against the verdict on the holy book dubbed by them as "extremist literature".

Click to view slideshow.

On the 24th of January, the US-based Odyssey Networks` second town hall meeting brought together multi-religious scholars and leaders in the world of faith media for a dynamic two hour event in New York, which was also followed by many in the US and other countries through live-streaming.

Last night was the mens opportunity to cook the Sayana Bhoga offering for Radha-Madhava, Nrsimhadeva, and Panca-tattva.

Click to view slideshow.

From: SNS.Ravindranath:

is association of devotees relates to mind or personal association is required?

How can a person who is not in access with devotees can cope with this situation

 

To hear the answer, please click here

 

From: n surya prakash:

How to convince people that meat eating is not meant for human beings & it will drag us down to lower forms of life ?

To hear the answer, please click here

From: Hari B Kurup:
Why emphasize on chanting N rounds of 108 beads? Will a person who chants less rounds (or takes his name only once per day, kindly refer to story in link below) become less favourite to God?

To hear the answer, please click here

From: Raghottama Dasa
Why "Sri Bhagavan uvaca" in Bhagavad Gita is translated as "The BLESSED Lord said"
Who is Blessed?
Please help me to understand this prabhu.

To hear the answer, please click here

 

From: Krishnakumar:
kindly enlighten whether there is any source as to :
" which is the oldest religion in the world"!

To hear the answer, please click here

 

The Bhagavad-gita (15.15) states that Krishna personally resides in the hearts of all living beings. This revelation of Krishna’s immanence comes at the end of a series of verses (15.12-14) that demonstrate his love for all of us. By giving examples that range from the external cosmological realm to the internal physiological realm, these verses indicate that Krishna, out of love for us, maintains the entire material realm to facilitate our existence. Krishna’s love for us is so great that he is not satisfied just by arranging for our material existence; he also arranges for our spiritual welfare by making himself available to us in our own hearts -  not so much as a witness or a judge as a friend and a mentor.

When life hands out difficulties to us, the Vedic philosophical vision can help us make sense of those difficulties: we are, after all, suffering the just results of our own past misdeeds. But the Gita’s devotional vision goes further to give us solace and strength: “Krishna is not just somewhere out there, impassively watching us get our due. No, he is right here with us in our own hearts, actively and lovingly helping us to tolerate and transcend our due suffering, and to grow and go toward the spiritual realm that is beyond all suffering.”

Srila Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Site sdgonline.org:
	Woke up just before the alarm and tied a knot in my sikha with a new kind of gel. I proceeded to the mantras efficiently and controlling my mind from errant thoughts. The mind was fixed on the syllables of “Hare,” “Krishna,” and “Rama,” and I uttered them rapidly completing twelve rounds by 2:35 A.M. It was not the (More by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami ->)

Srila Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Site sdgonline.org:
	“11:15 A.M. “We just finished reading the pastime of Varuna arresting Nanda Maharaja. After going to the palace of Varuna to find His father, Krishna showed the residents of Vrndavana their spiritual destinations by reflecting the spiritual world in the smooth surface of the water.… Continue reading â�� (More by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami ->)

Eye opening documentary offers free screening to spread awareness of the real food movement

Giriraj Swami arranged for Nanda Kumar Prabhu to speak on his service to Srila Prabhupada as his cook and personal servant. 

Some highlights: Landing in Cairo and Giriraj Swami and other devotees doing harinam to the soldiers guarding the plane. Preaching in India.  Last days with Srila Prabhupada.  Plus many other jewels.

Dallas, TX
2010-05-27

Download: 2011-05-27 - Nanda Kumar Prabhu - Prabhupada Memories.mp3

For many of the delightful members of our Toronto Hare Krishna community, a drive or stroll down Roxoborough Street is a regular occurrence.

When coming to the temple from the east, it is normal to turn on to Roxborough from Yonge Street.  This would often translate to some white knuckles on the steering wheel when making that left turn - yikes!  Of course, for pedestrians walking to nearby Rosedale station, crossing the street to the east side of Yonge would be a nightmare.

Well, worry no more!

The City of Toronto has installed new traffic lights at Yonge and Roxborough and they look like they will be functional very soon.  This should help everyone be safer when visiting the temple.  Hooray!

And for those of you wondering, yes... this does indeed qualify as newsworthy material for our lovable Toronto Hare Krishna Blog! :o)

 Gratitude is a funny thing.  I tend to feel grateful when I am happy, and life is going great.  I also tend to be grateful for things in hindsight.  And though there are always basic things to feel grateful for, it is not always easy to feel grateful for those things, unless you don't have them.  Water, food, a warm house, a healthy family, these things that I don't really think about, are critical for my life's happiness and well-being.

I'm tired today.  My week has been monotonous, and all day today I was thinking how it is Thankful Thursday for my blog.  I didn't want to have to come up with thankful things.  But being conscious of gratitude is a step in the right direction for me.  I want to be aware of things that I am grateful for, and that is one of the reasons I made this day for blogging about that.  But, what I am looking for is a lifestyle of gratitude.  A deep sense of gratitude in my heart, that enables me to see my world and the gifts in it everyday without trying to.  Gratitude and humility seem to go hand in hand, as well.  When with a humble soul we approach the divine, realizing how finite we are in front of the infinite, the grace we receive is all the more amazing and we cannot but become filled with gratitude. 

I want that.  Over-flowing grace and gratitude.

By Urmila Devi Dasi

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada established ISKCON when it consisted of one rented storefront in New York City. He wrote purposes for his new society—to teach spiritual knowledge, consciousness of our existence as a soul part of the Supreme Godhead Krishna, and a simpler natural way of life

Morning class at the Manor, Jan 17th.

---

We had an intense month with four retreats in Pandavas Paradise. We started with the New Year yoga retreat on the 26th of December and ended with a January yoga retreat on the 22nd of January. In between we had two bhakti retreats.

Our New Year Yoga Retreat was a huge hit: fully booked and a great group of people. We had six days with lots of yoga (Iyengar style), beautiful weather, walks, swimming in the waterfalls and, of course, japa, kirtan and lecutres on Krishna consciousness every day.

A few days later we had another fully booked retreat, our Pandavas Retreat and Festival, celebrating 6 years of retreats. This bhakti retreat is focused on sadhu-sanga. This year we were again blesssed with the presence of the charismatic Chandramukha Swami (HDG), one of the three Brazilian gurus in ISKCON.

The main event of the retreat was the Festival, where we invite residents from the local town to participate. Hours of kirtan, lecture, more kirtan and prasadam! They love it.

Every January we program two bhakti retreats back to back, allowing people to come for a full 9 days of immersion in Krishna consciousness. The second bhakti retreat was a Bhakti-shastri retreat, with some 4-5 hours a day of lectures on the Bhagavad-gita, Sri Isopanisad, Nectar of Instruction and Nectar of Devotion. Of course, also lots of japa, aratiks, kirtan and prasada! One lady who attended this year had previously had no contact at all with Krishna consciousness and is now, after the retreat, chanting sixteen rounds, studying Prabhupada’s Gita and totally enthused.

After only a few days of rest we had our January Yoga Retreat (Ashtanga Yoga style). This group bonded very quickly, despite their very different backgrounds. Many of them reported having felt a deep awakening and a desire to get serious about their spiritual life.

We had some beautiful summer days where they got to enjoy the unique experience of walking in our private nature reserve of over 1000 acres and swimming in our exclusive waterfalls, born from springs within the property.

The diversity of the people who are attracted to our retreats is amazing. In just these four retreats we had: a zen buddhist computer analyst, an eye-brow designer (yes, there is such a carreer!), a whale researcher, a physics professor, an aspiring public prosecutor, an actress, a mathematician who works in artificial intelligence, a samba/soul singer, as well as doctors, government workers, a personal trainer, and a devotee fireman, with ages of the guests ranging between 21 and 72, not including the children who came along.

A nice devotee couple from Salvador, Krishna Yoga and Purushottama, came to help us with these four retreats, since Charana Renu was “too pregnant” to cook. The guests especially loved the typical Bahia food she prepared (as did we!).

Here are links to the photo albums for these retreats:

New Year Yoga Retreat, click here;

Pandavas Festival Retreat, click here;

Bhakti-shastri Retreat, click here;

January Yoga Retreat, click here.

By His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami: Srila Prabhupada mentions that the simple fact that Lord Caitanya accepted sannyasa, means he accepted varnasrama because sannyasa is part of the varnasrama system. So we should not prematurely or wrongly conclude that bhakti replaces varnasrama. No. Bhakti is always the primary, the highest activity and the highest goal. "Krsna bhakti nitya siddha" that is the eternal perfection of the living entity. We can begin developing this eternal activity of bhakti most ideally through the system of varnas and asrama, that's the point.

From Japa Transformation
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

A daily broadcast of the Ultimate Self Realization Course Thursday 26 January 2012 The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and His eternal consort, Srimati Radharani are enjoying transcendental pastimes in the topmost planet of the spiritual world, Sri Goloka Vrindavan. They are beckoning us to rejoin them. (Click on photo to see a larger image.) Our Mission: To help everyone awaken their original Krishna consciousness, which is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Such a global awakening will, in one stroke, solve all the problems of the world society bringing in a new era of unprecedented peace and prosperity for all. May that day, which the world so desperately needs, come very soon. We request you to participate in this mission by reviving your dormant Krishna consciousness and assisting us in spreading this science all over the world. Dedicated with love to ISKCON Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, our beloved spiritual master, and to you, our dear readers. For Transcendental Association Connect With Other Members of this Course. Join this Conference: http://groups.google.com/group/sda_students Help Popularize Our Message By Liking Today's Thought on Facebook: Today's Thought: If We Are Ever Going to Have World Peace uploaded from Bhaktivedanta Ashram--Austin, Texas USA If we are ever going to have a peaceful war-free, terror-free world, we must stop terrorizing the animals. As long as we torture and terrorize these innocent creatures we must accept the karmic reaction of ourselves being tortured and terrorized. Therefore it is absolutely required for world peace that every government throughout the world must now criminalize the slaughterhouses. The heinous, atrocious murder of the poor animals must immediately be stopped. If this is not done, what lies ahead for the sinful cow-killing civilization is indeed very dark and inauspicious. Therefore out of kindness upon our fellow human beings we must convince them to stop murdering the innocent animals. Sankarshan Das Adhikari The Cows Are Very to Lord Sri Krishna http://www.backtohome.com/images/Krishna/Gopal_Krishna2.jpg Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Should a Devotee Aspire for Samadhi? Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Guru and Gauranga. Should a devotee aspire for the samadhi stage as mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita? Are pure devotees like you in samadhi stage? Regards, Vikram M. Answer: Absolutely Srila Prabhupada describes samadhi as follows: "When the mind is fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness, it is said to be in samadhi, or trance. This is absolutely something that a devotee should aspire for, to always have his mind fixed in Krishna consciousness. Even though the spiritual master is absorbed 24 hours daily in Krishna consciousness, he humbly thinks himself as someone who is not Krishna conscious. We see an example of this wonderful humility in Srila Prabhupada in these words that he wrote when he first arrived in the USA in 1965: I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Krishna. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, and now, if You like, You can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Transcendental Resources: Receive the Special Blessings of Krishna Now you too can render the greatest service to the suffering humanity and attract the all-auspicious blessings of Lord Sri Krishna upon yourself and your family by assisting our mission. Lectures and Kirtans in Audio and Video: Link to High Definition Videos Link to Over 1,000 Lecture Audios Lecture-Travel Schedule for 2012-2013 http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/schedule Have Questions or Need Further Guidance? Check out the resources at: http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com or write Sankarshan Das Adhikari at: sda@backtohome.com Get your copy today of the world's greatest self-realization guide book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is available at:http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/store Know someone who could benefit from this? Forward it to them. Searchable archives of all of course material: http://www.sda-archives.com Receive Thought for the Day as an RSS feed: http://www.backtohome.com/rss.htm Unsubscribe or change your email address Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Daily_Thought Thought for the Day on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Ultimate.Self.Realization Copyright 2005-2012 by Ultimate Self Realization.Com Distribution of this material is encouraged. Simply we request you to acknowledge where it is coming from with a link to our sign up page: http://www.backtohome.com Our records indicate that at requested to be enrolled to receive e-mails from the Ultimate Self Realization Course at: This request was made on: From the following IP address: {contact_address

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple in Ujjain has moved one step forward in using modern information technology as well as natural energy sources for the benefit of pilgrims.

One of our monks recently made a transition back into the ‘real world’. He recently went for an interview. It was his big break. Frustrated, he came back and complained “in this world it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.”

This temple is coming up on a piece of land that was earmarked for a mechanized slaughter house, but the government had to back track due to the perseverant opposition from the local leaders and citizens.

BY GOLOKA CANDRA DASA PHOTOS BY DEENA DHAYAL, VINODH PILLAI KUALA LUMPUR – From the early eighties, when he became a practising devotee and started distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, until his health failed him recently, Kalidascaran prabhu was an indefatigable preacher of Krishna … Continue reading →

The North America Temple Presidents meeting was held  in Dallas, TX on the weekend of Jan. 13 to 15 this year.

(New Vrindaban Temple President Jaya Krishna das and New Vrindaban GBC member Tamohara das)

An overall very positive and uplifting mood prevailed last weekend at the North America Temple Presidents’ meeting in Dallas.  There were more than fifty leaders from Canada and the U. S. present. Some of the young Dallas school children opened the weekend with kirtan and prayers.

(On the left, New Vrindaban GBC Malati dd)

The seminars then began with Srila Prabhupada disciples relating some  instructions that Prabhupada had personally given them regarding management and preaching.  One devotee said that Prabhupada told him “a temple president is blessed to be given the honor to serve the devotees. On the other hand, if anything goes wrong in his/her temple, then it is the president’s fault!”

One reason for the positive spirit at the meetings is that the Youth Fund settlement case that had been hanging over all of ISKCON for many years has come to a close.  Devotees can now move on in a big way to fulfill their goals for preaching and serving.  As a matter of fact, the movement is gearing up for ISKCON’s 50^th anniversary in 2016.

Many “bhakti vriksha” groups have been established throughout the country. These are outreach programs organized in people’s homes so that small groups can come together and learn about and discuss topics about Krishna as well as chant together. New Vrindavan’s traveling preacher, Yugal Kisora Prabhu has organized fourteen such bhakti vriksha groups throughout many states.

Some new officers in our movement have been appointed, such as the child protection officer who is Lilasuka dasi from Alachua, FL, and the Divisional Director of Accounting and Regulatory Compliance officer, who is New Vrindavan’s Kuladri das. The new North American Communications Director is Kesava Prabhu, a very fired-up devotee from Toronto, where the average age of the congregation members has interestingly changed over the last few years from 50 years old to 25 years old.

There are many college outreach programs running successfully in Gainesville, Toronto and L.A. to name a few. It was brought up that such youth-oriented activities are important for creating the future leaders of our movement.

The distribution of Srila Prabhupada’s books is increasing all over the country.

The care of devotees is very important and there were discussions about the most effective ways to do this.

A highlight of the weekend was a drama headed by Bhaktimarga Swami about Jagannatha Lila.  Maharaja had 3 new actors in his small troup and they did a fantastic job.

The weekend closed with a short memorial for Yamuna Dasi, who continues to inspire us to carry on our service to Srila Prabhupada in a sincere way.

By Rayaramananda Das

Devotee serving at Sahyadri Sri Krishna Balarama Ksetra (SSKBK) in South Karnataka, the rural base for the ISKCON Daiva Varmasrama Ministry (IDVM) conducted the long awaited opening at their new goshala today, January 24, 2012, naming it SAHYADRI SURABHI GOSHALA

Priyavrata das: The YOGA of EATING - becoming a FOOD YOGI is now available as an eBook and softcover from LULU. The 320 page book by Director of Food for Life Global, Paul Rodney Turner (Priyavrata das) is the result of many years of research and crafting while teaching the art and science of food yoga around the world at vegetarian conferences

Image taken from a post on Living Next Door to Alice.  (Find John Prine lyrics there.)

” Because Krsna’s feet is compared as lotus — “lotus feet,” we say — so where there is lotus, there is hamsa, swan. Swan, you’ll find. That is the difference between the crows and the swan. Crows gather in a place, filthy place, where all rotten things are kept. The crows come there. Where all rotten things are there, all the crows will come. But when there is lotus, the crows will not go there; the hamsa, swan, they’ll go there.”

Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.18 — Mayapur, February 25, 1976

Filed under: News, Ramblings or Whatever

BY GOLOKA CANDRA DASA

PHOTOS BY DEENA DHAYAL, VINODH PILLAI

 

KUALA LUMPUR - From the early eighties, when he became a practising devotee and started distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, until his health failed him recently, Kalidascaran prabhu was an indefatigable preacher of Krishna consciousness.


In fact, he is one of the unsung pioneer devotees who was already preaching Lord Caitanya's mission in the Klang Valley even before ISKCON Malaysia was formally registered and a centre opened up in Kuala Lumpur.

All those of us who were fortunate to have had his association were invariably touched by his humility and staunchness of faith. He was genuinely concerned about the well-being of everybody. Which made him a good and caring leader in ISKCON. He served as the branch chairman of ISKCON Klang for some years, but more than that, he was like a father figure to all the younger devotees.

His loyalty to ISKCON surpassed some crises caused by splinter groups.Once when called upon to make his offering in a Srila Prabhupada Vyasa-puja program held in the presence of his guru, His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, he narrated that he had a vision of the founder-acharya appearing in his dream and instructing him not to ever 
leave ISKCON.

Despite being bogged down by kidney failure and poor health in recent years, he continued to preach vigorously and serve the ISKCON Klang yatra. Poor health could not stop him from travelling to attend Krishna-conscious festivals elsewhere too. Just earlier this month, he went to Melaka to participate in their New Year Ratha Yatra festival. That was to be his last Ratha Yatra.


When his health finally broke down terminally after suffering a stroke last week, he calmly prepared himself to face death. For three days he fasted, chanted the Hare Krishna mahamantra and immersed himself in 
hearing the Holy Names of the Lord.

The day before he quit his body, he gave his last instructions in full consciousness to his good wife, son and daughter, who are all initiated devotees performing regular service in ISKCON Klang.

He also requested that his body be cremated on a wooden pyre, his ashes sprinkled in the Ganga at Sridham Mayapur and a cow donated in his memory in Vrndavana.

On Sunday 22JAN2012 evening, Kalidascaran prabhu quit his body while surrounded by his family members and devotees chanting the Holy Names of the Lord and clutching his beloved Lord Giriraja sila tightly to his chest.

Lord Krishna promised in the Bhagavad-gita 8.5 that "whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt."

By all indications, Kalidascaran prabhu seems to have passed the final test of life with flying colours. May the Blessed Lord guide him back home, back to Godhead.

Kalidascaran prabhu Ki Jai! He has set a glorious example to inspire all of us.

Note: You are invited to attend a Smriti Sabha ceremony for Kalidascaran prabhu on Sunday 29JAN2012 starting at 10am at Sri Jagannatha Mandir in Kuala Lumpur.

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The two most visible environmental issues today, climate change and agriculture, are about as different as they could be. Taken together, though, they give some reminders. Environmental consciousness is very young. Its challenge to some of the ways we live is deep. And it can be a great source of cultural and political creativity and renewal.

Climate change is huge and diffuse. It works on a literally planetary scale. No one can say for sure that it is the cause behind any particular event, like a drought or storm. Part of the challenge to doing anything about it is that it is hard to imagine, easy to ignore, impossible to touch. Even as the scientific warnings around climate change grow clearer and louder, fewer Americans believe in or care about it, and national action on it is dead for now.

Food has been on everyone's mind for most of a decade -- where it comes from, what it does to us, how it affects the rest of the natural world. It doesn't require global vision or national action. Where I live, in central North Carolina, and all over the country, a new generation of kids is scrounging farmland and experimenting in making a living from the land. What they're after is as local and concrete as it gets. By sticking their hands in the dirt, eating what they or a neighbor planted, they are turning a network of ignorance -- the anonymous, placeless food of industrial agriculture, with all its invisible polluting side-effects -- into a circuit of knowledge: here I planted it, here it grew, and here it will turn back into soil when it's done.

That is the purest version, to be sure, and not all that much food comes from these purists, but I'd argue that the tens of millions of eaters with a new interest in the environmental, ethical, and health quality of their food are after versions of the same thing: taming an opaque tangle of simple calories and complicated harm by drawing some clearer lines from the field to the table.

Personal action, even ordinary collective action, is frustratingly ineffective against climate change. Greenhouse gases emitted in one place are equally diffused through the global atmosphere a year later. Self-restraint, even by fair-sized countries, gets swamped by everyone else's self-indulgence.

By contrast, a person can draw the circuit of eating close enough to make a real difference in her own health and, if she coordinates with growers, in the health of a piece of land. Community springs up naturally around growing, selling, preparing, and eating food, where every step of the process makes a difference. There isn't much community around climate change because it so thoroughly frustrates the personal and shared acts that form a community practice.

This comparison raises a distressing thought. It's often said about eating disorders that people who feel their lives are out of their control focus great acts of will on the small area they can control, their own eating. A cynic could see the food-conscious United States as frantically engaged in a symbolic environmental micro-practice that we can understand and control, while an all-pervading macro-problem broods and prepares to wreck large parts of the world we know. Maybe there is something to this.

But there's another way of looking at the two issues that is more hopeful. For all their practical differences, climate and food are both cardinal examples of the ecological insight that made environmentalism possible: everything is connected, so what we drop into rivers, winds, or soil ends up in our bloodstreams. Flashes of this thought appeared in the nineteenth century and much earlier, but as a guiding principle it really dates from after World War Two. Widespread appreciation of it goes back no further than Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, published fifty years ago, which detailed the silent, terrible, invisible journey of pesticides through the capillaries of a poisoned world.

In big ways, the modern food movement goes back to an eccentric, powerful, and often beautiful book by Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America. Writing in 1977, as the first popular wave of environmental awareness and activism crested, Berry tied ecological destruction to the American food economy. In the move from diversified, small-scale agricultural to industrial production, he saw a larger decline in miniature: from integrated organic fertility to systems that import artificial fertilizer to the farm and discard rich manure as a pollutant, breaking (in Berry's phrase) one solution into two problems; from intimate knowledge of a piece of land and its species to the tunnel-vision ignorance of the industrially enabled, public subsidized ignorance of someone who produces of one thing, whether corn, wheat, or pork, in a radically simplified system; from respect for the hard but sometimes good work of farming to dislike, even contempt, of labor, which came with a willingness to make agricultural labor, in industrial poultry plants and slaughterhouses, as degrading as it has ever been.

Berry argued that the two approaches to food had different ethics at their core. One was oriented to caretaking, sustainability, and good work: qualitative values that set limits to the willingness to exploit a place for present convenience. The other turned its face to maximization: maximum calorie production as government policy, maximum profit for agribusiness, and the same industrial ideal for the small farmer caught between the two. These quantitative values would set no limit to human actions as long as production and profit continued. In fact, they would tend to overrun any limits on profitable production. And, because complex and long-distance systems tended to hide from eaters all the harm their food had done along the way, this system involved us all in damaging nature and our own bodies and made that damage hard to see and harder to trace.

So the food system, viewed in 1977, had a certain amount in common with climate change today. It was -- and still is, in good part -- a scheme of ignorance, convenience, and destruction that turned our everyday activity into a small weapon against environmental health and, ultimately, our own well-being.

There were technical reasons to doubt that it could get better, but it wasn't only a technical problem. It was also a cultural problem. Then two-plus generations of idealists and eccentrics got busy on the cultural problem. Journalists like Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) made the environmental and human harms of industrial agriculture indelibly visible. Farmers rediscovered and pioneered integrated techniques, but they also rediscovered, and drew others into, the idea that responsible, productive, knowledgeable work is good work, and that getting to do that work is a gift, not (just) a burden. The young people starting farms, and lining up to work on other people's, aren't doing it for the profit margins, the hourly wage, or the vacation. And those who like to buy from these farms, or from responsible larger producers, have realized that knowledge of your food is a gain, ignorance a loss, and are trying to make up some of our huge cultural loss.

The new farming movement turns the ecological perspective from a way of diagnosing problems to a way of imagining a good life: taking part in ecological processes with as little harm, as much knowledge, and as much pleasure as possible. That people are making this happen, even as a series of experiments, strikes me as powerful evidence that a culture can heal some of its self-inflicted wounds. Wendell Berry's book, which was a jeremiad, now looks like a friendlier kind of prophecy, thanks to its readers.

Maybe our next question is whether climate change is also a cultural problem as well as a technical one, and, if so, what a cultural response would look like. There's no doubt that climate change arises directly from how we live: like people who treasure convenience, power, and speed, who disperse around the world as we collapse distance and time, and who have learned to treat waiting -- for anything -- as an affront. All of that takes power, that is, energy. Energy-wise, we are the most powerful generation of the most powerful species this planet has carried on its groaning back. For this to change, either our energy will have to become much less environmentally damaging, or our lives will have to do the same. Considering that energy efficiency and total greenhouse-gas emissions have skyrocketed together for centuries now, these are probably false alternatives. The real question is whether both changes together could be enough.

The cultural experiments so far are nibbling around the edges. A few individuals and organizations buy carbon offsets. A few more, genuinely hard-core, live with zero or near-zero net carbon emissions in their own lives. Communities commit to reducing their emissions, regardless of what the rest of the country or the world is doing, and start planning together for major climate change -- a prudent thing to do, for sure, but also a community-building exercise of imagination.

What more, if anything, can we do? The history of environmental politics shows that people act most effectively when they have something to fear, but, while averting the threat, also find something to love. Americans saved their national forests and parks because they were afraid of running out of timber and healthy open spaces, but also because they had learned to find joy in wild lands that had once frightened them. They passed the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act because Rachel Carson and others had taught them to fear industrial poison, but also because they were coming to revere the idea of ecological harmony and prize swimmable streams and clear, visible air. (That's not to say we have enough of these, but the ideals, as well as the threats, helped to motivate these laws.)

Maybe climate change will prove too diffuse and global to get our minds around, and show once and for all that we are too selfish and parochial to be running a whole planet. Maybe the food movement will turn out to be what some have always called it, an elitist fad.

But maybe we learn something about climate from the last forty years of food culture. We could use ways of imagining, and caring for, the planet's atmospheric system as acutely as we do national parks and our own neighborhoods. We need ways to find beauty in its balances, take awe from its power, and feel what it means when the whole planet's metabolism changes. And we would be awfully indebted to anyone who could help us to live in more knowledgeable ways that did less harm, and be more fulfilled with that.

It sounds utopian, for sure. But we don't live only on the energy reserves of the planet's history. We also live on the unacknowledged utopian imagination of our ancestors, who envisioned seemingly impossible forms of freedom and satisfaction that we treat as if they were natural.

We should unlock our own utopian imagination to think about living well for the future on the planet we have made, and are remaking faster every year. The cultural change around food is a modest but important reminder that we can.

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Bhajan – Nitai das – Toronto Ashtaprahar 24hr Kirtan

Yes The Loft will stay open for both long weekends! On both Sunday Soulfeast and for Monday yoga. (we missed you too much over the summer break!) So see you soon

The world is in search of an economic system that works for the people and the Planet. And this search has been going on for the last one hundred years without much success. We may like it or not, but our time and options are running out. Our present economic paradigms are leading us fast on the path of self-annihilation.

If ISKCON were still to be defined as those living on ISKCON property under GBC authority, ISKCON would have become a very small organization indeed, and barely able to accomplish any of the founder’s mission. However, ISKCON’s mission is increasingly being realized and self-identifying membership is growing.

Native to Jaipur, India, Krishna Priya dasi has prepared thousands of sweets for offering to Krishna. Sharing her experience and expertise, the author, a gifted and celebrated confectioner, shows us how to make 56 of her favorite traditional Indian sweets.

An exceptionally talented mother and daughter team have created one of the most beautiful children’s and young adult’s versions of the Ramayana. Readers will be fascinated by Annapurna’s captivating illustrations and Vrinda’s mesmerizing narration.

1974 January 25: "A photographic exhibit is an important part of our Caitanya Festival in Mayapur. Please arrange for this. I have got good reports of your working on the dioramas. I will be pleased to see your work when I come to Mayapur."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

Featuring Bramacaris from UK traveling to Hungary and visiting New Vraja Dham.

If the selection above is hosted by YouTube then after the video plays there will be several links presented to other videos. ISKCON News Weekly has no control over the selections presented and is not responsible for their contents.

1966 January 25:
"Lectures delivered in the studio on the test of spiritual realization. People appreciated. Decided to purchase one Martel Tape Recorder from the advertisement in the New York Times."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1966

1967 January 25: "Let me know if there is any possibility of publishing my commentary on the Bhagavad-gita in USA. I shall now begin Caitanya Caritamrta Essays & Text. If I am assisted by one expert typewriter we can publish every three months a book. And the more we have books, the more we become respectable."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967

1969 January 25: "You say the Londoners are very anxious to meet me, so I am also very anxious to meet you and the Londoners. If the Beatles come forward, you can take the risk. Therefore the five-story house you mention may be immediately occupied."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 January 25: "The conclusions we have tried to explain are the same conclusions as Arjuna. Press two leaves and if the taste is the same you can understand that both leaves are from the same tree. The taste is the conclusion."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 January 25: "I wish that all manuscripts, before finally going to the press, must be thoroughly edited so that there may not be any mistakes especially of spelling and grammar or of the Sanskrit names."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 January 25: "Ideally husband and wife live separately in the temple. It is best to do the most ideal thing but whatever mode of living you chose the most important thing is to always remain one hundred percent in service of Radha-Krishna."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 January 25: "You may adopt this principle, that whatever conditions increases your facility to preach this Krishna Consciousness Movement should be accepted. If we accept this all of these discouragements etc. will disappear."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972