By Murari Sevaka dasa

On Friday March 21 the Murari Sevaka Farm devotees honored the appearance of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu with a beautiful fire sacrifice immediately following Mangal Arotik.

By Mahatma das

If the world is not Krsna conscious, we need to look at ourselves. Whenever devotees made excuses and told Prabhupada that people were not receptive or that they were difficult to preach to, Prabhupada always said that the problem was not with the people they were preaching to; the problem was with us.

I just found this little video (slideshow) with Nina Hagen singing the Hare Krishna mantra. It's calm and sweet - very different from the image she had as a punk queen. I once chanted this mantra with her and her fans--looooong time ago. It was fun.

By Sudevi Sundari devi dasi

On Saturday evening over a hundred devotees gathered in Srila Prabhupada’s room at Bhaktivedanta Manor for an evening of prayers and kirtan for Gurudeva’s health. His Grace Pranabandhu prabhu began by highlighting that as long as we have this material body we have to expect material sufferings to the body, but the point is that a pure devotee shows us how to face these difficulties. By taking full shelter of the lord, the Holy name and using every experience as a preaching tool, the pure devotee is not affected.

His Holiness Candramauli Swami explained that the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam gives three reasons why a pure devotee has to face difficulties with the material body.

1. It is the Lords arrangement to show how the pure devotee remains fixed in his/her desire to serve the lord, even though he/she has to endure bodily suffering.

2. It gives the disciples an opportunity to render personal service to the spiritual master

3. Because the disciples are not following the principles strictly, the spiritual master takes the karma and as a consequence may have to face certain difficulties with the body.

The main point that was being stressed was that every one of us can contribute to the well being of our spiritual master, by being strict in our spiritual practices and chanting the Holy Name purely.
The evening continued with more kirtan and a prayer which was recited from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1st canto chapter 7, verse 22, by His Grace Krishna Priya Prabhu.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.7.22

arjuna uvāca
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa mahā-bāho
bhaktānām abhayańkara
tvam eko dahyamānānām
apavargo ’si saḿsṛteḥ

TRANSLATION
Arjuna said: O my Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, You are the almighty Personality of Godhead. There is no limit to Your different energies. Therefore only You are competent to instill fearlessness in the hearts of Your devotees. Everyone in the flames of material miseries can find the path of liberation in You only.

1966 April 5 :
"Pratipada. The whole day I was at Paul's place. He is a nice boy. I prepared Paratha he was pleased to have it. He is anxious to follow the principles of Vaishnavism. I shall help him to my best. In the evening we held kirtan together. He is hopeful."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1966

1969 April 5 : "I understand that you feel you are not doing nicely, but this is not a fact. Your efforts are especially nice and pleasing to me."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 April 5 : "Sankirtana party is our main business. Even you do not find a temple it is not cause for any disturbance. Continue Sankirtana Party - you will come out fully successful."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 April 5 : "You need not become scholar. You require simply to understand Sastra. As soon as we try to be scholar, our devotional line will be slackened."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1970 April 5 : "Always remember that our aim is spiritual realization, so in the beginning of class there must be Kirtana and at the end also."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 April 5 : "My plan is to establish a unique Training Center where hundreds from abroad may be educated in the Vedic way of life, while Indian boys and girls may be trained up for pracara work in foreign countries."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1974 April 5: "If our Godbrother becomes ill it is our duty to help him get proper medicine and treatment so that he can recover. There is no question of ill treatmeant nor should you allow such neglect to go on."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1975 April 5: "You are giving your forefather's hard-earned money and I don't want to see it spoiled in any way. You are sincerely trying to please Krishna, and therefore He is giving you all intelligence how to do it."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

My peer-coach gave a nice definition of spiritual confidence.

Confidence is having firm faith that Krsna (God) will arrange or allow what 's best for me, both spiritually and materially. So there's nothing to fear.

Last year for Janmastami the Alachua youth got together and created a beautiful "Village of Vrindavan." Raghunath was one of the team members that made this happen and his mother, Mitravinda, and wife Yamuna were two of the main artists who made it happen.


Taking care of Radha Syamsundara was Mother Mitravinda's life and soul, here is a little darshan slide show of Radhe Syam.

Mit jelent a magabiztosság a könyvosztásban? Hogyan növelhetjük a hitünket?

Beszélgetés utazó könyvosztókkal 2007. nov. 8-án, Skype-n keresztül.

Maharaja is in Delhi today and leaving for Hungary tomorrow, so podcasts won’t be live until the 8th.
Maharaja ma Delhiben van, holnap indul Magyarországra, ezért nem lesznek friss hangfelvételek március 8.-ig.

• Dear devotees,
• We are currently working on a portable Bhagavad gita, one self contained downloadable html file fully searchable and compatible with any browser.The next action we are doing is to put “tags” in all the verses of BG, so that is fully and easily searched by themes and keywords (tags).
• See the current work in progress here:http://www.iskcontech.com/portablegita
• if you wish to help at your own time and easily from home, please tell us.The edition is easy, just from your browser, no need of email communication for changes. It is wiki style. As easy as click ”edit” and “save” in your browser to make the changes appear real time.
• Thanking you in advance,

• Contact:iskcontech@gmail.com

  

 

By Friends of the BBT

Bhrigupati Dasa has spent thirty of his thirty-four years in ISKCON selling Srila Prabhupada's works. He's distributed 200,000 books, collected over $500,000, and has been the top distributor in North America four times.

In early March, I boarded a flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta, where I would catch an onward flight to Santiago, Chile. It had been three years since my last visit to the Chilean yatra, and I was excited about seeing the devotees there again.

read more

In response to a request from Phani I have included Krishna-kirti prabhu's blog feed on Planet ISKCON.

For some time I've struggled with what to do about including his feed. I personally read it regularly via RSS. Krishna-kirti and I have dialogs in different venues, including on his blog, via email, and on ISKCON Constitution.com. At the same time it doesn't exactly fit the policy that I set for Planet ISKCON, about a mix of what you are doing and what you are thinking.

However, I am not a dictator and Planet ISKCON is not simply "my site". Community is an organic thing, and rules are there as guidelines to promote civilized behavior, which we hope becomes innate and makes the rules redundant. Ultimately it's about the people, not the rules. And in spiritual life, it's all about who you know.

Q: Does Krishna-kirti joining Planet ISKCON in this way represent some kind of "liberalization" of the policy, or an example of the infiltration of democracy into ISKCON?

Scientists are beginning to uncover evidence that meditation has a tangible effect on the brain. Skeptics argue that it is not a practical way to try to deal with the stresses of modern life. But the long years when adherents were unable to point to hard science to support their belief in the technique may finally be coming to an end.

read more

ISKCON’s Prison Ministry traces its roots all the way back to 1962, when Srila Prabhupada visited Tihar Prison in New Delhi. “If you give me the chance to speak to all the members of the Jail,” he wrote to superintendent Sri Puri, “It is quite possible for me to turn them into ideal characters.”

read more

A self-realized soul although personally tasting great transcendental happiness at every minute is not oblivious to the pains and suffering of the general world population. In fact he is greatly disturbed to see humanity in such an unfortunate situation. Therefore armed with the most powerful weapon of transcendental knowledge he stands boldly in...

100,000 cheer on the Hare Krishna devotees as we Parade down Greenville Ave. Our 3 year participation in Dallas’ annual St. Patrick’s day parade was fantastic. The amount of devotees participating had multiplied each year. This year by the grace of the Lord and many of his dear devotees, such as Chaitanya Chandra Prabhu every one was graced with a beautiful float of Lord Jagannatha.



All the youth headed by GopiKrishna’s crew baked up together about 4000 cookies to be distributed along with Gaura Purnima Flyers.
She also purchased 7000 Krishna.com St. Patrick’s Day magnets for distribution.

Here we see Gopal Prabhu with Mathuranatha carrying one the buckets of prasadam candy to be packaged and passed out.
As you can see Mathuranatha Prabhu is a real “Texas Krishna”


Meanwhile Dharma Prabhu fuels up for afternoon's event,

Dharma Prabhu every year organizes the devotees participation in this annual city parade.
Bhaktine Angela, Radha Kunda, and GopiKrishna along with many other ladies prepare their baskets of prasadam to be passed out.

and Sakshi Gopal warms up on his mridanga
Our party consists of 2 cars, our brand new rental truck which was decorated with an elephant by Bhaktine Heather Simpson.


which is to pull Caitanya Candra cart Followed by another truck and trailer, Ragava Caitanya Prabhu's, full of prasadam candy, Krishna.com magnets, and Gaura Purnima flyers.

But as per the theme of the morning class, Jagannatha is in control and if he likes, he sometimes makes it so that the cart will not budge.

Our new rental truck that has practically no milage on it would not start. This major problem for the parade was already on the move and we may not be even able to participate. Help comes as some other paraders drive over to give us a jump start, but no success. Caitanya Chandra Prabhu immediately organizes the removal of the truck and brings his van, attaches the float, and all are ready to go. Everyone saw that this turn of events only took place at the arrival of our two sanyassi guests, His Holiness Gunagrahi Das Goswami, and His Holiness Giriraja Swami.

Krishna would not allow the float to move without their arrival. We then quickly zoomed across the Sam's parking lot in our float. The crowd is great and early into the parade our elephante headed truck returns on the scene after getting TWO battery changes. We a very impressive party with 3 cars. Rupa with all the gurukulis of Dallas along with the gurukulis of Houston share a wonderful kirtan sung by His Grace Urjasvat and Edhani Prabhus, Then new and upcoming famous bhajaneer from Houston, Anish, lead some amazing bhajans (who by the way just came out a new CD with all the Dallas and Houston Kulis) followed by the standard ecstasy given His Holiness Gunagrahi Das Goswami.




As seen the video, the crowd chanted Hare Krishna along with the devotees, many whom were already familiar with the timeless mantra and while other who chanted "Jesus Christ" were enthusiastically surprised to be accompanied in their chanting with the devotees chanting "Jesus Christ" as well. His Holiness Giriraja Swami walked and danced most the way. At the end of the parade the kirtan did not stop for quite some time. Devotees were immersed in the ecstasy holy name and further enthused by the thousands of flyers, magnets, and cookies that were distributed

Tuesday 25th March 2008

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.83.11 - Krsna's inconceivably extraordinary arrangements for love.

Thursday, 03rd April 2008

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.84.2-5 - How to respect the Vaishnavas

High-flying drama from Indradyumna Swami…

In early March, I boarded a flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta, where I would catch an onward flight to Santiago, Chile. It had been three years since my last visit to the Chilean yatra, and I was excited about seeing the devotees there again.

When the flight landed in Atlanta, I went to the boarding gate for Santiago. The boarding area was crowded, and the only seat available was in front of a television screen showing a news report about a woman who had become ill on a recent flight across the United States.

When the woman asked a flight attendant for oxygen, she was apparently refused. Minutes later the woman asked again, and seeing her desperate condition, the stewardess tried to administer oxygen, but the oxygen bottle malfunctioned. Shortly afterwards the woman died.

The broadcast continued to say that the airline was defending its actions, but it seemed obvious that there was negligence on the part of the cabin crew. The report concluded with advice on what to do should a passenger fall ill in a similar situation. “Call the flight attendant, administer oxygen, and try to keep the patient calm,” said a special guest on the show.

“It’s awful,” I thought. “I can only imagine how horrific such an incident would be during a flight.”

I didn’t have to wait long to find out.

I boarded the plane and took my seat, chanting quietly on my beads. I had been upgraded from economy to business class because of my frequent-flyer points. The passengers seated around me all appeared affluent and had paid thousands of dollars for the flight.

I could sense that my presence made several of them uncomfortable. Nearby, a woman who was filing her nails looked at me suspiciously. When the man seated next to her, who was reading the Wall Street Journal, glanced up at me, he shook his head disapprovingly. The lady next to me didn’t reply when I asked if this was her first flight to Santiago.

So as not to attract more attention, I put my beads aside and took out a book to read. As the last remaining passengers boarded the plane, the cabin crew went about their final duties before closing the cabin door. I smiled politely as several stewardesses from our cabin passed by to attend to something in the rear of the plane.

Suddenly, the man seated across the aisle from me started shaking uncontrollably. His eyes rolled back and he started foaming at the mouth. My first thought was that he was having either a stroke or a heart attack. I quickly looked around to see if there were any cabin attendants present, but they had all gone to the back of the aircraft.

The passengers around me sat frozen in shock. The woman filing her nails held the file motionless above one finger. The man reading the newspaper stared in horror as the sick man started to fall out of his seat.

I remembered the advice given on the television report. I jumped up and grabbed the man and carefully laid him down in the aisle, straddling him. I tried to calm him, but he was quickly losing consciousness. I looked around at the other passengers, who continued to stare in shock, their comfortable reality having been shaken by the ugly scene before them.

“Somebody call a flight attendant!” I shouted.

The woman who had been sitting next me just closed her eyes in fear. Others turned their heads away and looked out the windows.

I looked at the man’s wife who was crying uncontrollably.

“Is he epileptic?” I asked.

“No! No!” she said frantically. “He’s not.”

“Is he on some kind of medication?” I asked.

“No! No!” she said, shaking her head.

“Does he have a history of heart problems?” I said.

“Please save him!” she screamed.

Her husband began gasping for breath. I tried to position him so he could breathe easier. I also began to chant, softly at first but louder and louder as it appeared he might die.

I looked up at the nearby passengers, who were still sitting motionless and staring. “Oxygen!” I yelled.

No one moved.

I had to do something to get their help.

“For Christ’s sake!” I screamed. “Somebody get a Goddamn oxygen bottle or this man is going to die!”

It worked. Two men jumped up and ran towards the galley. Seconds later they returned with an oxygen bottle. As all three of us struggled to get it working, I put the mask on the man’s face. Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I saw several flight attendants racing down the aisle.

Within moments they arrived and took control of the situation, administering the oxygen and calling for medical assistance on their cell phones. The captain arrived and called for a defibrillator, a device used in emergency treatment of heart attacks.

Because of the cramped space, I was unable to move out of the way and sat pinned in the middle of the frantic scene. The man continued shaking, flailing his arms and grimacing in pain. Unable to offer any more practical help, I continued chanting clearly so he could hear every syllable of the holy names. At one point he briefly came to consciousness and our eyes met.

I wanted to tell him that everything was going to be all right, but I sensed this wasn’t the case. I leaned forward and chanted even louder hoping that, should he leave his body, he would be fortunate enough to hear the names of the Lord.

I continued chanting while the flight attendants tried to help him. I kept wondering when a medical team would arrive. Periodically, the flight attendants moved the man into different positions to try to make him more comfortable. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a medical team arrived.

I stood up and then sat in the man’s seat while the rescue team put him on a stretcher and quickly took him away. His wife followed. By that time he was almost motionless. “He may not make it,” I overheard one of the attendants say.

I returned to my seat and started chanting on my beads again. My heart was still beating strongly, and my adrenaline was surging. A stewardess came and offered me a glass of water.

After I had calmed down, I looked around the cabin. The woman who had been filing her nails smiled at me gently as if to indicate she was grateful for what I had done. When I glanced at the man with the newspaper, he nodded his head in approval. The lady sitting next to me finally spoke up. “Thank you,” she said.

Soon the cabin door closed. I was exhausted from the ordeal and soon fell asleep. By the time I woke up we were well on our way and most of the passengers around me were sleeping.

I sat up in the dark and thought about the incident. “We never know,” I thought. “We never know when such a thing will happen to us. Generally we only see situations like this on the news, and we always assume it only happens to others. I pray that when my time comes, there will be somebody to chant the holy names for me as well.”

The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that because I often travel alone, I may very well be by myself or with a group of strangers when I leave this world. The thought was unsettling.

“What if I suddenly passed away from a heart attack on an airplane 37,000 feet up in the air?” I thought. “Or in bed at night alone in some far-off country? But even the most well-planned departure, surrounded by loving devotees, can be an embarrassing affair. Death is difficult for everyone. When that day comes, I hope I’ll be remembered for my service and not for the way I died.”

I thought about a story I had heard recently. A person was asked how his friend had passed away. “Don’t ask me how he died,” he answered. “Ask me how he lived.”

Nine hours later our flight landed in Santiago. As the passengers disembarked, the head purser approached me in my seat and asked if I could remain behind for a few minutes. I sat patiently, and when all the other passengers had left, she returned with several other flight attendants.

“We wanted to thank you for your quick action in helping that man,” she said. “You may have saved his life.”

“I’m happy I could help,” I replied, “although I didn’t do that much. It was all of you who gave him the medical attention he needed.”

“What we really appreciated,” said another stewardess, “was the calming effect you had on everyone. When you were singing, it felt like everything was going to be all right.”

“Yes,” said another stewardess. “It was very special, so comforting.”

“What exactly were you singing?” asked another stewardess.

“I was singing the names of God,” I replied. “I follow a faith from India where God is called Krishna. India’s ancient scriptures say that wherever God’s Name is chanted there’s nothing to fear.”

“Well, we certainly understand that now, don’t we, ladies?” the head purser said.

“Yes, we do,” they replied.

“And we have you to thank for that,” a stewardess said to me.

“It wasn’t me,” I said with a smile. “It was the Lord’s Holy Names. So the next time something terrible happens, remember to sing Hare Krishna.”

“Can you write the song down for us?” said another stewardess.

“Yes, of course,” I said.

After giving them the paper with the mahamantra on it, I reached for my carry-on items. But the attendants picked them up first and then escorted me to the door. While going through immigration and walking to the baggage area, I couldn’t help but marvel at the pastimes of the holy names.

Srimad Bhagavatam states:

tasmat sankirtanam visnor jagan-mangalam amhasam mahatam api kauravya viddhy aikantika-niskrtam

“Sukadeva Gosvami continued: My dear king, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the sankirtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will take it seriously.”

[Srimad Bhagavatam 6.3.31]

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

– Jimi Hendrix

Srimad Bhagavatam class on the last day in Mayapur:

• We have a perception of reality that is a reflection, because our consciousness is material.
• The importance of this lila is described at its conclusion: that by reading this pastime a certain effect will be take place, that one becomes freed from all sins, even the sin of killing a brahmana.
• Along with the creation of the mind of the conditioned living entity comes the six enemies: lust, anger, greed, illusion, envy, pride (sometimes translated as madness).
• These six anarthas are represented by the threefold incarnations of Jaya and Vijaya.
• Hiranyaksa is the first demon, then Hiranyakasipu; then Ravana and Kumbhakarna, then Sisupala and Dantavakra (then Jagai and Madhai).
• The Lord’s killing of these demons corresponds to the unwanted things in our hearts.
• Sabda is the sound representation of the Absolute Truth: from real sabda, one becomes liberated.
• Different sounds focus on different pastimes, which have different effects on the unwanted things in the heart.

Scientists are beginning to uncover evidence that meditation has a tangible effect on the brain.

Sceptics argue that it is not a practical way to try to deal with the stresses of modern life. But the long years when adherents were unable to point to hard science to support their belief in the technique may finally be coming to an end.

When Carol Cattley’s husband died it triggered a relapse of the depression which had not plagued her since she was a teenager. “I instantly felt as if I wanted to die,” she said. “I couldn’t think of what else to do.”

Carol sought medical help and managed to control her depression with a combination of medication and a psychological treatment called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

However, she believes that a new, increasingly popular course called Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) - which primarily consists of meditation - brought about her full recovery. It is currently available in every county across the UK, and can be prescribed on the NHS.

One of the pioneers of MBCT is Professor Mark Williams, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. He helps to lead group courses which take place over a period of eight weeks. He describes the approach as 80% meditation, 20% cognitive therapy.

New perspective

He said: “It teaches a way of looking at problems, observing them clearly but not necessarily trying to fix them or solve them. It suggests to people that they begin to see all their thoughts as just thoughts, whether they are positive, negative or neutral.”

MBCT is recommended for people who are not currently depressed, but who have had three or more bouts of depression in their lives. Trials suggest that the course reduces the likelihood of another attack of depression by over 50%.

Professor Williams believes that more research is still needed. He said: “It is becoming enormously popular quite quickly and in many ways we now need to collect the evidence to check that it really is being effective.”

However, in the meantime, meditation is being taken seriously as a means of tackling difficult and very modern challenges. Scientists are beginning to investigate how else meditation could be used, particularly for those at risk of suicide and people struggling with the effects of substance abuse.

What is meditation?

Meditation is difficult to define because it has so many different forms. Broadly, it can be described as a mental practice in which you focus your attention on a particular subject or object. It has historically been associated with religion, but it can also be secular, and exactly what you focus your attention on is largely a matter of personal choice. It may be a mantra (repeated word or phrase), breathing patterns, or simply an awareness of being alive.

Some of the more common forms of meditative practices include Buddhist Meditation, Mindfulness Meditation, Transcendental Meditation, and Zen Meditation.

The claims made for meditation range from increasing immunity, improving asthma and increasing fertility through to reducing the effects of aging.

Limited research

Research into the health claims made for meditation has limitations and few conclusions can be reached, partly because meditation is rarely isolated - it is often practised alongside other lifestyle changes such as diet, or exercise, or as part of group therapy.

So should we dismiss it as quackery? Studies from the field of neuroscience suggest not. It is a new area of research, but indications are intriguing and suggest that meditation may have a measurable impact on the brain.

In Boston, Massachusetts, Dr Sara Lazar has used a technique called MRI scanning to analyse the brains of people who have been meditating for several years. She compared the brains of these experienced practitioners with people who had never meditated and found that there were differences in the thickness of certain areas of the brain’s cortex, including areas involved in the processing of emotion.

She is continuing research, but she believes that meditation had caused the brain to change physical shape.

Buddhist monks

In Madison, Wisconsin, Dr Richard Davidson has been carrying out studies on Buddhist monks for several years. His personal belief is that “by meditating, you can become happier, you can concentrate more effectively and you can change your brain in ways that support that.”

In one study he observed the brains of a group of office workers before and after they undertook a course of meditation combined with stress reduction techniques. At the end of the course the participants’ brains seemed to have altered in the way they functioned. They showed greater activity in the left-hand side - a characteristic which Davidson has previously linked to happiness and enthusiasm.

This idea that meditation could improve the wellbeing of everyone, even those not struggling with mental illness, is something that is exciting researchers. Professor Williams believes it has huge potential. “It involves dealing with expectations, with constantly judging ourselves - feeling we’re not good enough,” he said. “And, that is something which is so widespread in our communities.

“All of these things are just thoughts. And, they will come up in meditation and learning to recognize what they are as thoughts, and let them go, can be enormously empowering for anybody.”

There is, of course, a distinct possibility that this research will come to nothing and that interest in meditation will turn out to be a passing fad, but for now this ancient discipline is being taken seriously by scientists as a tool with potential to make each one of us happier and more content.

By Nityananda Chandra Das

100,000 cheer on the Hare Krishna devotees as we Parade down Greenville Ave. Our 3 year participation in Dallas' annual St. Patrick's day parade was fantastic. The amount of devotees participating had multiplied each year.

We participated in an enlivening Sri Vrindavan festival - senior devotees like H.H. Mahanidhi Swami and H.H. Janananda Gosvami had many nice sayings concerning the Holy name:

"If you want to love the Lord of play, you must chant your days away"

"The more you chant, the more Krsna likes you to chant"

"Everything in this material world will go off, but this Holy name will
always go on"

"Even once in your life, for one round, be so absorbed that you don't notice anything that happens around you, even if someone asks you for prasadam"

"The more attentive we are towards the Holy name, the more attentive the Holy name becomes towards us"

ys

Mrd

ITV Announces New DVD Series: Memories of Memories of Srila Prabhupada

After 54 volumes of the well-received Memories of Srila Prabhupada series, ITV Productions has announced that it will immediately begin production on Memories of Memories of Srila Prabhupada, a new DVD series to preserve the memories of devotees as they recall their first viewings of the Memories of Srila Prabhupada series.

“We basically ran out of devotees to interview,” said Visnupriya devi dasi, spokesperson for ITV. “The first generation of Srila Prabhupada disciples have told their story. Now it’s time for the first generation of viewers to tell theirs.”

Click here to read on…

It is always a strange feeling coming back to Alachua. In so many ways it feels like home, there is something about the Spanish moss that tells me I am home, not to mention all the friends who I grew up with.

But this trip brings with it something else, it brings a stark reminder that this place is not our home, that our eternal home lies beyond this temporary miserable existence.

Yesterday I spent sometime with Mother Mitravinda and her family. Although this is naturally a difficult time they are all very Krishna consciousness.

I'll being going back today and spending most of my time there from now onwards.

This is a class given 2 April 2008 in Ujjain.

To download the lecture, right click the download link and choose either “Save link as” or “Save target as”

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.1.20 - Chapter 1: Questions by Vidura

This is a class given 2 April 2008 in Ujjain. To download the lecture, right click the download link and choose either ldquo;Save link asrdquo; or ldquo;Save target asrdquo; Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.1.20 - Chapter 1: Questions by Vidura

This is a class given 30 March 2008 in Ujjain.

To download the lecture, right click the download link and choose either “Save link as” or “Save target as”

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.1.19 - Chapter 1: Questions by Vidura

This is a class given 30 March 2008 in Ujjain. To download the lecture, right click the download link and choose either ldquo;Save link asrdquo; or ldquo;Save target asrdquo; Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.1.19 - Chapter 1: Questions by Vidura

By Deenanath das

I was fortunate to be with Srila Prabhupada in 1975 when Prabhupada was here in Mayapur for Gaura-purnima in March. I am going to try to give just a little bit of an idea of being with Prabhupada and some of the things that Srila Prabhupada was seeing.

1966 April 4:
"Poornima. Today I have replied the letter of State Department regarding visit to the President. I went to see Mr. Bogart. His publisher Mr. Laughton interested in publishing Srimad Bhagwatam. Then I came to Paul's place. There was meeting and Kirtan, Hari Katha."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1966

1971 April 4 : "When you were chanting in the temple I enjoyed so nicely that I thought myself immediately carried to Vaikuntha. When I return I may call you back just to hear your chanting."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1971 April 4 : "I wish to always live under your care. In India I had one father who raised me but in America I have got many fathers."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1971 April 4 : "That is better than sannyasa - accept the best source of monetary income and use it for Krishna. He is not a karmi; he is a devotee in all circumstances."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1971 April 4 : "Though you received no Gayatri, still you are more than brahmana. I am so proud that you have gone there to preach the mission of Lord Caitanya. Now you are fulfilling my desire."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1972 April 4 : "Immediately there should be no change. Simply by agreement you have changed everything, so what is this? I do not think we shall change anything except as I direct."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1974 April 4 : "So inspect and give a joint report. Kindly send me an exact site plan. The road and access plan may be hand-drawn showing the length and breadth, the surrounding neighborhood etc."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

Continued talks with Niranjana Swami…

• Serving other Vaisnavas should not obstruct service to the spiritual master.
• Srila Prabhupada restricted association with his godbrothers for institutional reasons.
• If the spiritual master is not pleased, then no one can protect you.
• Srila Prabhupada said everything in his books.
• Just because the guru isn’t a maha-bhagavata doesn’t mean he should stay like that.
• If the guru is in need, how can he deliver his dependents.

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Harinam Information for Saturday 5th April, 2008
Meeting point: Corner of Curd St and Holland St, Greenslopes
Time: 1 pm

Please note the time is back to 1 pm this week. Since we are doing the Krishnafest program in the afternoon at 5 pm we need to make sure we have enough time to do the harinam and then get to Atma to set up.

If the world population knew the science of bhakti, this entire planet would become transformed into a paradise. Peace and happiness would predominate. All forms of material distress would be greatly reduced. The climatic conditions would become pleasing. There would abundant supplies of fresh water and sumptuous foodstuffs. The political leaders...

In Western myth March was going out like a Lion, in Eastern tradition it was time to spatter paint each other. An estimated 10,000 people gathered at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple Saturday for the Holi Festival, or Festival of Colors. After a colorless, dull winter, Spring is celebrated, in part, by people tossing powdered colors on each other and in the air.

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Brahmacaris are celibate students who officially represent the monastic order in ISKCON. They are not independent but are under an ISKCON authority who is responsible for their behaviour, and to whom they are accountable.

As such, ISKCON brahmacaris who wish their blog feed to be included on Planet ISKCON must approach their temple authority who should provide a letter covering the following:

a) The brahmacari has permission to write a blog
b) The authority has read the blog
c) The authority approves the content
d) The authority would like the content syndicated to Planet ISKCON

Any concerns that may arise about the content of the blog can then be directed to this authority, who sponsors the brahmacari and accepts accountability for their behaviour.

Existing blog feeds from ISKCON brahmacaris as of April 2008 are exempted from this policy, although if you are a brahmacari you might want to check with your authority.

Corey, it's not that there are people called "liberals" in ISKCON who think that everyone is equal. If you read Srila Prabhupada's books you'll find out that these people are called "impersonalists". They are the kind of people who think that there is no difference between, say, a new bhakta and a twice-initiated brahmana.

Personalists, on the other hand, understand that "maintenance of Vaisnava etiquette is the jewel of the Vaisnava" (Caitanya-caritamrita Antya 4.129).

That's because etiquette is the essence of personalism. All kinds of devotees can live together in the house that Srila Prabhupada built, as long as they don't have bad manners.

Of course, preaching in the impersonalist West, as we are in ISKCON, we get a lot of people bringing their impersonal conceptions in with them, something that you talk about a lot.

Many anomalies are arising in our society from this impersonalism, not from equally mundane American political conservativism and American political liberalism.

In the chapter 19 of the fourth canto of the Bhagavatam, in relation to Indra's falsely adopting the dress of a renunciant, Srila Prabhupada explains that this is what causes many people to lose their faith in religion.

As you have pointed out at length and with great delight there are now ISKCON brahmacaris with their own bank accounts, brahmacaris who sleep in till all hours; and there are now even, shock horror, brahmacaris with their own blogs where they carry on their sex life with explicit talk of gross sexual indecencies (a forbidden topic for brahmacaris) and criticism of other sadhakas, which is nothing but subtle sex life. The yajna held by by Daksa Prajapati ("expert in sex life") has become synonymous with unrestrained criticism of Vaisnavas and brahmanas.

Your blog was not carried on Planet ISKCON because you have some inalienable right to be there. It was not carried because of the quality of your writing. It was carried because Vaisnavas are liberal. That means that they give people the benefit of the doubt, that they ascribe to them the best possible interpretation of their motives, that they give them the opportunity to participate in the society of devotees and reform themselves.

Your blog was carried on Planet ISKCON by the mercy of the devotees.

Diversity of perspective can be accommodated, but bad manners cannot be tolerated.

Further to this, because I do not approve of inappropriate and philosophically incorrect behavior posing as adherence to Srila Prabhupada's standards for ISKCON, and I don't want to be a party to creating or encouraging indiscipline in the ranks, I am officially changing the Planet ISKCON policy in relation to ISKCON brahmacaris, who are under an ISKCON authority and are not to have any independence.

I will put that in another post, however, just so that you can understand that it's nothing personal.

I know this is a simple concept and everyone who reads this Japa Group website knows this, but I was just realizing (further and deeper) this and wanted to write about it. Forgive me please if it's too simple or basic for anyone.
I was thinking about association and how important association is to our spiritual advancement. So we make a lot of effort to seek out association that will help us progress in Krishna consciousness. We also make a lot of effort to avoid association that drags us down or hinders our progress.
However, chanting Japa is associating directly with Krishna every single day. We don't have to make any extra endeavors to get this association, it's given to us freely as a Golden Opportunity. Here we have about 2 1/2 hours every single day where we can directly associate with Krishna Himself.
So I was realizing this (again) and really appreciating the incredible mercy contained in this aspect of chanting Japa. For me this totally removes the "chore" mentality when I'm aware and realizing this, because we are not devotees for any other reason than to be able to associate with Krishna (ultimately). So with Japa we don't have to be totally pure, yet we are already being given this amazing and causeless blessing of being able to directly associate with Krishna in the form of His Holy Name.

Lord Chaitanya distributed Love Of God freely to everyone without qualification, without distinction through this chanting of the Maha Mantra.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Navasi

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.84.10 - The importance of sadhu sanga.