miércoles, 1 de junio de 2011

H.H. Sivarama Swami: Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 1, 2, 3)








PLANET ISKCON



 
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"Planet ISKCON" - 30 new articles


  1. H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Wednesday 1 June 2011--Undaunted Determination--and--Formula for Going Back to Godhead
  2. Akrura das, Gita Coaching: HOW IT WOULD BE TO BECOME A GOSWAMINI?
  3. Australian News: Spiritual Tourism: Hare Krishna Valley News
  4. Australian News: Welcome to ISKCON Sydney’s e-newsletter
  5. Japa Group: Avoiding Offenses To Devotees
  6. Australian News: New Gokula Autumn news
  7. Akrura das, Gita Coaching: BHAKTI LIFE
  8. Bhakti Lata, Alachua, USA: My First Birthday
  9. Akrura das, Gita Coaching: GITA COACHING FOR YOUR SUCCESS
  10. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  11. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  12. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): 327—Journal for May 31
  13. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): OLD FRIENDS
  14. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  15. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  16. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  17. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  18. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  19. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  20. Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Spot the morphing face
  21. Bhakta Chris, New York, USA: Spiritual Activism Doc Gives Recipe For Real Change
  22. Akrura das, Gita Coaching: WHAT IS KARMA?
  23. H.H. Sivarama Swami: Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 3)
  24. H.H. Sivarama Swami: The Perfect Source
  25. H.H. Sivarama Swami: La Fuente Perfecta
  26. Australian News: Earth Healing Havan & Kirtan, Sydney
  27. Hari Sauri das, Mayapura, IN: 2011 tour Sydney Reunion Day One cont.
  28. Bhakta Chris, New York, USA: The Humble Musings Of The Manhattan Monk 5/29/11
  29. Japa Group: The Wandering Baby-like Mind
  30. Gouranga TV: Abhishek – Gaura Purnima 2011
  31. Hari Sauri das, Mayapura, IN: 2011 tour Sydney Reunion Day One
  32. Australian News: Kirtan Yoga with Sri Prahlada and the Bhakti Band at Kensington
  33. More Recent Articles
  34. Search Planet ISKCON
  35. Prior Mailing Archive

H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Wednesday 1 June 2011--Undaunted Determination--and--Formula for Going Back to Godhead

A daily broadcast of the Ultimate Self Realization Course Wednesday 1 June 2011 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. Today's Thought: Undaunted Determination Uploaded from Sofa, Bulgaria Since our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, has ordered us to deliver the entire world, we are determined to achieve this goal. Although such a goal is, by reasonable analysis, impossible to attain, we remain undaunted in our determination to successfully carry out the sacred mission which has been mercifully entrusted to us by our beloved Srila Prabhupada. Because we accept Srila Prabhupada's order as our very life and soul, our prayer is that if we are not able to successfully carry out his order in this lifetime, that we may take birth after birth until the entire world has become Krishna conscious. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Prabhupada Ordered Us to Deliver the Entire World http://www.backtohome.com/images/Prabhupada/sp_yellow.jpg Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Formula for Going Back to Godhead When a devotee successfully goes back to Godhead, either Vaikuntha or Goloka Vrindavana, what is the percentage of efforts put in for his deliverance by the Lord, the spiritual master, and the devotee. Thank You. With Regards, M.D. Answer: Ultimate Test Depends 100% on the Devotee There must be a 100% effort from the devotee. This is compared to someone who takes flying lessons. His teacher helps him and guides him at every step of the way. But before he becomes certified as a pilot, he has to make a successful solo flight. So at the time of death we have to make our solo flight. Depending fully on the unlimited mercy of Guru and Krishna, it is 100% up to us to pass the ultimate test of remembering Lord Sri Krishna when we leave our material bodies. Such remembrance will qualify us to immediately enter into the spiritual sky. 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 2011 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 Sankarshan Das Adhikari on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SDASITE Thought for the Day on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Ultimate.Self.Realization Copyright 2005-2011 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:

 
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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: HOW IT WOULD BE TO BECOME A GOSWAMINI?

By Nayana Manjari devi dasi, Temple Manager and Devotee Care ISKCON Zurich

When we speak about any real yoga it always says that we should first
control our mind and senses before achieving any advancement, however, Bhakti Yoga path is a bit different because the goal is same as the path.

Indeed we practice the nine processes of devotional service (sravanam, kirtanam, etc.). If we follow this process with full faith and sincerely, then we purify our senses and mind to attain our goal which is pure sravanam kirtanam, where all our being is fully absorbed in Krsna with no danger to falldown.

In comparaison with other paths we can see that what Srila Prabhupada gave us is just the best. In other processes the mind and senses will be controlled artificially, supressed, and this does not work. The goswami is authentic by acknowledging his urges (vegam) but he just tolerates them.

The senses want to be engaged, so if they are not engaged in transcendantal devotional service, then as soon as an oportunity for sense gratification is available then thefall down is guaranted. To illustrate that we can remember the story of Visvamitra who became completely bewildered by the charm of Menaka.

And on the other side we have an example of Haridasa Thakura who was visited by an attractive woman in the middle of the night. Not only he remained fixed in his meditation, but he made the lady raise to the spiritual or transcendantal platform, where she became a pure devotee.

The senses are compared to snakes but when those senses are engaged in the service of the Lord then they lose their power as a serpent with broken teeth.

Sense gratificfation is the root cause of material existence, so as long as we can't control the urges of the senses and those of the mind there is no chance to progress toward spiritual realisation and make a real progress on the path of bhakti.

Srila Prabhupada used to say that "this process is very simple for the
simple people and very complicate for someone complicated". If we would just follow what Prabhupada gave us then we would have no problems, but the mind always tries to know better. So the first thing is that we should make friendship with our mind.

"For him who has conquered the mind,the mind is the best of friends, but for one who has failed to do so ,his mind remain the greatest enemy. For one who has conquered the mind,the supersoul is already reached, for he has attained tranquillity.To such a man happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same."
(Bhagavad-gita As It Is 6.6-7)

This year in India I had a very powerful realisation during the Navadvipa
Mandala Parikrama: at some point it was so much tapasya beetween the burning sun, the smoke and terrible noise of the boat's motor, the mosquitoes, the paining feets,the thirst,the cough etc...that actually I came to a state where it did not matter ,soudainely I felt not identified with my body and did not care for what was happening to it anymore...
So by that experience I could realise practically how I am not that mind and those senses, because by that tapasya, mind and senses stoped for some moments to have power over me, they were conquered by that tapasya; actually I wish to be in that state all the time.

Akrura Prabhu is preaching that even if you do not feel doing something (like attending a spiritual program) then do it anyway. Some years back for two months I was completely alone in South India, at the holy place of Sri Rangam. I tried this practice and was amazed what it brought me. When I did not feel like doing something I would just do it anyway and each time I got a wonderful life's gift. Once I did not feel like going to take darshan of Ranganath Swami, but I went anyway and I did not know it was Ratha Yatra and it was a most amasing and mystical experience. On a way back I met a brahmana who invited me to his family home for a lunch.

Another time I did not feel like going to the procession in the evening
but I went and there I met one of the highest priests of Lord Ranganatha, a descendant of Gopal Bhatta Goswami, and during my whole stay I would be invited to many events reserved for VIPs and have special darshan behind the altar gate, got special maha like the water squeezed from the Lord's dhoti, etc. I felt a special reciprocation from the Lord Himself. I had a very transcendal time over there, a special connection.

So my realization is that if I would not always follow the mind and senses my life would be much richer and lived 100%, whereas now the mind is still stopping me to really do what I want to do.

I want to stop doing the same mistakes again and again. I want to implement the following personnal daily programm and if I do not manage to do so, I will simply miss the goal of my life ... as simple as that!

My foremost desire is to progress steadily and check myself constantly to avoid lazziness and deviation. Than with the time passing, when Krsna sees that I am becoming more serious, all doors will open. Renunciation will come automatically by loosing the desire for whatever mundane taste remains in my being.

At the end of the journey, free from any regret, and liberated from the many temporary, foggy and sticky material entangelement, I will be ready for my next destination - wherever it is.

 
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Australian News: Spiritual Tourism: Hare Krishna Valley News

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This week at Hare Krishna Valley we hosted a group of employees and volunteers from the Lorne Information Centre, who came to familiarise themselves with our farm. We took them for a tour of our Temple, the market garden and our eco-house, and then gave them a cooking demonstration. They then enjoyed a sumptuous lunch. They were very impressed with our property, and promised to promote it to the tourists who visit the Information Centre.

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On Sunday we catered for the Inner Peace Festival in Geelong, which is the equivalent of the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Melbourne. We also had a book table there, and spent the day promoting Hare Krishna Valley to all of the interested attendees.

We look forward to speaking to you again next week.
Until then, I remain yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada.

Keshava Dasa.

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Australian News: Welcome to ISKCON Sydney’s e-newsletter

Welcome to ISKCON Sydney’s e-newsletter.

Below is a summary of events – please click here to read the whole newsletter.

This weekend we have His Holiness Bhakti-vidya Purna Swami with us In Sydney from June 5th – 16th. During Maharaja’s visit he will hold programs including Philosophy and Culture of Mahabharata from 7:30pm- 9pm on Sunday, 5th of June till Friday, 10th of June, and then 14-16 of June. The Vedic Leadership Seminar Part II will be on Saturday, 11th of June 10-12:30pm & 7:30pm-9pm and Sunday, 12th of June 10-12:30pm & 7:30pm-9pm, the Earth Healing Kirtan and Havan is on the 13th of June at 10am with Havan & Talk by Bhaktividya Purna Swam, 12pm Kirtan by Sri Prahlada and 1:30pm Lunch ($10). This program is by donation for Mayapur Gurukul-school in Mayapur/India run by Bhaktividya Purna Swami. Also Srimad Bhagavatam Lectures are given June: 7th , 9th, 15th, 16th. All programs held at the Temple, 180 Falcon Street, North Sydney – Inquiries: 0404 187 390. Please come and hear from an experienced speaker and practitioner of Vedic culture. Full schedule below.

On Sunday 3rd July 2011, from 10:00am we are celebrating Liverpool Ratha-yatra: Festival of the Chariot from Bigge Park through Liverpool CBD. This is an Open Free invitation to everyone to come and participate in the Ratha Yatra Festival. Festival of Chariot, is one of the oldest street parades in India and is also a becoming popular in other parts of the world since 1967. It has been celebrated in a grand manner showcasing the best of Indian culture – with festival tents, entertainment stages, free-snacks booths, and a variety of cultural displays and exhibits, Dance, Drama, Music, colourful festivities and other fun filled programs. This year’s festival includes a street parade and a cultural show. More details below.

On the weekend of May 21st and 22nd we had a huge celebration of the most auspicious occassion of Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha’s 40th Anniversary. There were many special guests who were around at the time Srila Prabhupada personally spread Krishna consciousness and taught how to serve Their beautiful Lordships, including over 100 initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada who told unforgettable stories of Radha Gopinatha, Srila Prabhupada and the pioneering days of Krishna Consciousness in Australia. The festival spanned over 2 days – the Saturday 21 May program included a Srila Prabhupada Maha Guru-puja, special darshan of Radha Gopinatha plus kirtan by Madhudvisa Prabhu, Maha Harinama Sankirtana with Sri-Prahlada, and an evening festival in temple with special bhajans & presentations, recollections, kirtans and a slideshow by Kurma and many disciples speaking from their personal recollections. A special souvenir magazine was printed for the event with many never seen before photos and rare stories of Radha Gopinatha’s arrival and pastimes in Sydney and distributed freely to all present. The Sunday 22 May program began with a Sydney Harbour Picnic Cruise with kirtans on the boat by Sri-Prahlada, Gitanjali and songs by Yasomati-nandana Prabhu, wonderfully inspiring speeches by many of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, and a sumptuous vegetarian feast. In the evening a special 40th Anniversary Sunday Feast was held which included bhajans & kirtans, a nice slideshow and video presentation by Caru dasa, and Maha-abhisekha of Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha accompanied by more kirtan by Sri-Prahlada. Many, many thanks to everyone involved in organising the festival and in particular Kurma Prabhu and Krishnarupa Mataji, Garuda and team in the kitchen preparing wonderful prasadam feasts, and everyone who contributed in any way to make this huge and important event a resounding success! See just some of the hundreds of photos below.

Last weekend there was a weekend retreat at Govinda Valley with His Holiness Devamrita Swami entitled “Bhakti & Money: Sweeter than Honey?”. Many thanks to the organisers of this event and to the people who participated to hear from a very dynamic and experienced speaker.

We also recently had His Grace Hari-Sauri das with us giving seminars entitled ‘Srila Prabhupada: The Living Bhagavatam’about his experiences with His Divine Grace, and also his project The Bhaktivedanta Archives which helps preserve the legacy of the Vaishnava tradition. Thanks to those who came to hear from him and his personal experiences with Prabhupada.

Recently we celebrated Nrsimha Caturdasi – the divine appearance day of Lord Nrsimhawho is half-man and half-lion. The program began at 5pm with kirtan, followed by class by Sri-Prahlada. The Gaura-arati at 7pm was accompanied by kirtan by Tribuvaneshwara and a special Nrsimhadeva dance by Prakash Subramaniam during the Nrsimha Pranamas sung by Bacchu. Then there was the Nrsimha Pushpa Abhisheka (flower petal bathing) with more kirtan by Sri Prahlada Prabhu, followed by a sumptuous feast. Many thanks to everyone who organised and attended the program this year, there were hundredsof guests in attendance despite the cold Monday evening, and the atmosphere of the temple was very uplifting on this auspicious occassion. Please see below for some nice photos…

Again the Sunday School program in the temple has begun and runs during school term time every fortnight. Please see the details below how to register with organiser Vilasa-manjari and teach your children how to love Krishna and enjoy the fun filled activities each session. Also during the program from 5:00pm Viraja-Krishna will be giving a series of discourses ‘The Science of Self Realisation’ for the adults.

As usual the Sunday Program runs each week from 4.30pm with arati and kirtans, prasadam available from 5.30pm and discourse at 6.15pm.

Below are listed all our donors for last month. Anyone wishing to contribute money can click the PayPal logo to donate online.

Thank you for your support.

Hope to see you all soon!

Click here to see the complete newslette
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Japa Group: Avoiding Offenses To Devotees


Avoiding offenses to devotees of Krsna is the first and one of the most important offenses to avoid. We tend to get familiar with our spiritual associates and may make offenses or with ease criticise this devotee or that. This is due to our bodily concept of life, thinking we are this body and basing our thinking on this. When we chant well....this bodily concept melts and we see each other as a spiritual soul and a servant of the Lord.


In terms of spiritual life, this offense is one of the biggest impediments for achieving the taste for chanting the Holy names. We need this reminder - that somehow or other we have to avoid offenses to devotees and then we can more easily avoid the other offenses by the Lord's grace.

"When a mad elephant enters a garden, it spoils all the fruits and flowers. Similarly, if one offends a Vaisnava, he spoils all his spiritual assets." SB 5.10.17 purport
 
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Australian News: New Gokula Autumn news

From the New Gokula newsletter:

Hare Krishna well-wishers and devotees.

Just relax and I’ll give you the low-down on important happenings.

Anantasesha has been working hard with his hard-yakka son ,Laxman, to create a really impressive looking Tulasi house in a great spot. You’ll definitely need to pay respects there, – it’s opposite the veggie garden patch

now run by African refugees.The Africanas are doing fine incidentally-a bumper crop of Maize and beans ,and now diversifying with sweet potatoes, cabbages and snow peas. The interface with the Catholic nuns chaperoning our African friends is a display of multi-faith co-operation, and looks to hold great promise for a joint effort to help both refugees and New Gokula.

Our intrepid cow lover ,Sriman Pradhana, battered ,but not broken, has returned after an extended 2-decade stay in the big smoke . Seeing the relentess waves of Kali mercilessly pounding city dwellers, Pradhana has retreated to the Hunter to ready the embankments for the fallout, and also to look after New Gokula’s aging bovines ,and maybe knock out a few of etchings. Ask him to introduce you to the farm pet cow ,Rani ,if you haven’t had a formal intro.

Wild Bill is now with us wearing a holster full of hammers ,nails -you name it,and he’s itching for a scrap with rusty hinges,ill-fit doors,blocked pipes,and loose gutters. Actually, Bhakta Bill, with 70 years under his belt, is a match for blokes half his age, and twice his weight. We’re happy to have such a humble ,sincere bhakta setting the mood of service.

Just a mention about Shyam, the man. He’s locked up in the Goshal mostly milking cows .But he’s multi-tasking. This week Bharat and Ram ,our 2 month old bullocks will give Shyam his first lesson in bullock training. Cameras are rolling.

SO ,we’ll be inviting everyone to get in with their boots on- for some not to be missed all-weather- working-beez ,not far down the pipeline. Stay tuned.

Thanks so much to all who’ve lent a hand here with the Gaura -Purnima festival ,weddings of Shakuntala and Ray ,and also Shivani and Martin.. And thanks to the generosity of our cow sponsors for helping support the programs.

We’ll be getting some pictures out to you this week.

your servants at New Gokula Farm

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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: BHAKTI LIFE


Check out the links of my friend Mahatma Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada's disciple from Alachua, Florida, and his wife Mother Jahnava. He leads Bhakti Life courses, Japa Retreats, courses on vows, forgiveness, etc.

www.mahatmadas.com
www.mahatmadas.wordpress.com
www.krsna.com/mahatma
www.yogaofforgiveness.com
www.yogaofforgiveness.blogspot.com
www.bhaktilife.org
www.jahnava.com

When you squeeze an orange, juice comes out of it because that’s what’s inside of it. Similarly, when you are squeezed what comes out of you is what is inside of you. (From the Bhakti Course, Level One)

BHAKTI LIFE - COURSES, WORKSHOPS, RETREATS, COUNSELING

Bhakti Life offers courses, workshops, retreats and counseling that help support the spiritual lives of both devotees and people new to Krishna consciousness.

Our programs are highly interactive, facilitating personal discovery, growth and change. Courses are fun, eye-opening, introspective, and practical, and are aimed at helping participants make permanent improvements in their spiritual lives. We specialize in offering courses that help devotees (and aspiring devotees) in the areas most needed for their continued spiritual growth.

In order to go more deeply into the particular areas of bhakti our courses cover, and in order to have a deeply transformational expe-rience, we find it essential to schedule our courses over a full week-end (or longer). We also find it especially powerful for devotees to focus an entire weekend solely on improving their Krishna con-sciousness. The added benefit of this is the deepening of relation-ships among devotees and strengthening of your community.

Our courses also fill the need of aligning the culture of ISKCON with the philosophy of Krishna consciousness. When our practices are not accompanied by the knowledge and realization necessary to nourish the practice, we find a disconnection between the heart and head. Our courses are aimed to empower devotees to align their practice with their heart and thus make their lives more congruent with the teachings of Krishna consciousness.

We develop our courses through research and testing, applying professional seminar facilitation principles and techniques in delivering them.

 
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Bhakti Lata, Alachua, USA: My First Birthday


In Hawaiian tradition, when a baby reaches its first birthday, the family throws a huge luau and the whole community celebrates. When I lived in Hawaii, I didn't understand why "baby luaus" were so common and such a huge deal - I mean, the baby itself wouldn't even remember the event!

Then one day my mom told me, "Well, for a baby to survive its first year is a big deal. After that, the baby grows and becomes stronger and can contribute to the community. But that first year is crucial."

Suddenly I understood the tradition and culture of Hawaiian blessings.

In Vaishnava tradition, another term for a brahmin is "twice-born." When one receives initiation by a qualified spiritual master, the disciple transcends his or her material birth and takes spiritual birth. Thus, "twice-born."

One year ago, on May 31st, 2010, I received spiritual initiation by His Holiness Radhanath Swami. In many ways, I emerged from my initiation feeling so fragile, so not ready to take on the world and the internal challenges that the year ahead would throw at me.

Upon reflection, I realize that I am that one-year-old baby, so immature and dependent and young.

***

"Bhakti lata devi," Radhanath Swam intones into the microphone. "And also would her parents come forward."

Six or seven initiates have gone before me - my heart has been pounding with anticipation for what feels like forever. I rise from my seat and my parents rise from theirs. I feel numb that after so many years of prayer, this moment has finally come.

I settle before my spiritual master; someone hands me a microphone. I take a deep breath and say, "I vow to chant a minimum of - 16 rounds - " my voice chokes up, and heavy tears sting my eyes. My journey to chanting 16 rounds has spanned many years with many crises of faith in the holy name. Radhanath Swami himself has witnessed this journey every step of the way. I continue, " - of the maha mantra - every single day, for all of my life,"

In the silence, Maharaj gives me a playful smile. He teases, "It's not that hard."

Roars of laughter rise from the hundreds gathered in the templeroom. I begin to laugh too, but there's a part of my heart that sinks - It's not that hard? Are you kidding me?? Chanting 16 rounds not that hard? But - but - what about...? 

When the laughter subsides, Maharaj says lovingly, "Everyone's cheering you on!"

With that, cheers and the thrum of mridangas and kartals sweep through the templeroom. They rise and rise and wash over me in wave upon wave. My feverish heart cools and softens with the blessings of the Vaishnavas.

When the templeroom falls quiet once more, I finish my vows with a strong and clear voice: "I vow to follow the 4 regulative principles of no intoxication, no gambling, no meat eating, and no illicit sex. I vow to imbibe the mood of the servant and be loyal to Srila Prabhupad, Sri Guru, and all of the Vaishnavas."

Radhanath Swami smiles. He turns to my parents and glorifies their talents, their marriage, their devotion, and the way they have raised me. He turns to me. "Bhakti lata is an emerging leader in her community. She loves to sing, loves to serve, loves to dance... loves Krishna." He pauses and smiles. "You were born to love Krishna,"

I feel abashed and humbled.

In the tradition of love and respect, Radhanath Swami requests that I take the dust of the feet of my parents. I touch the feet of my mother and father and embrace each one. They are my original gurus.

When I settle before my spiritual master once more, he pulls out a pair of dark, rough wooden chanting beads. These are the beads that he chanted on this morning, and the beads that I pray to chant on for the rest of my life. "I don't have the heart to change your name, " he says, "So on behalf of Srila Prabhupad and the guru parampara, your name is Bhakti lata devi dasi,"

He holds out my beads, I hold out my palms, and I receive my chanting beads amidst an ocean of cheers and blessings.

Upon the strength of those blessings, I have held to my vows through beautiful pain and beautiful peace. I feel as though I'm throwing myself a "baby luau" in my heart, because somehow, I've made it!

Upon the strength of the guru parampara and the holy name, I've made it! Hallelujah!

I pray to become only stronger and stronger in my vows - yes, even chanting 16 rounds. I vowed to chant a "minimum" of 16 rounds - now I chant beyond that number simply because I want to. 

After all, it's not that hard.


 
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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: GITA COACHING FOR YOUR SUCCESS


What keeps you from achieving your goals and greater success and happiness?

Is it a lack of focus, discipline, money, clients, time or connections?

Is it rejection ... from publishers, prospective clients, prospective life partners, potential employers or other people?

Is it an illness, loss of your home, car problems or some other physical issue?

Is it a mental or emotional challenge ... such as fear of success, rejection or failure ... not feeling worthy ... or an overwhelming need to take care of others?

Or is it spiritual scarcity ... lack of purpose, conscience, intuition or a higher connection?

Regardless of what's stopping you, most probably you'll agree - the list of obstacles you face in your quest for success can be long and varied.

But all obstacles can be overcome ... if you know how. Gita Coaching helps you discover best advice and most practical ideas for overcoming any type of obstacle.

How to re-frame adversity ... so you can grow and benefit from every experience?

How to to handle obstacles? Most people stop when they hit a roadblock. Successful people have proven ways for achieving success despite the obstacles they encounter.

How to maintain a positive attitude even when nothing seems to be going your way?

How to find inspiring examples of successful people who have plowed through the overwhelming obstacles they've faced?

And much more!

For more info and a free sample session contact me on akrura@gmail.com

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1972 May 31: "Now push on with full enthusiasm to save the fallen humanity. This Krsna Consciousness Movement is the only thing that will save them. You yourself become very convinced of this and be very bold in preaching Krsna Consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1969 May 31: "Even Lord Caitanya, His relatives thought of Him as crazy. Hiranyakasipu understood Prahlada as crazy, and he tried to put him in so many forms of Bellevue Hospitals. Therefore I wrote, 'Who Is Crazy?'"
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

 
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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): 327—Journal for May 31

www.sdgonline.org. SDGonline Daily updates

4:21 A.M.

A Writer of Pieces

New format—I will begin with the poem written on the day of its printing. Then I will print random excerpts of books I have published over the last 35 years. I hope this variety will be pleasing.

Poem for May 31

There was enough gas,
enough oil, enough speed,
but it was mechanical missing
the heart for calling out like
a child for its mother. At
least I got them done
in numerical count of
vaidhi bhakti.

I don’t remember the Srimad-
Bhagavatam
we read except
the Lord went alone and sat
under a small banyan tree
(it was a small banyan tree
because this universe is the smallest)
in four-armed form. Placing
His left foot to His right thigh,
He told Uddhava, ‘It is your
good fortune that you have
come to Me just as I am about
to leave.’ Maitreya was also there
although he wasn’t a pure devotee
but by ajnata-sukrti he
chanced to arrive. Although the Lord
was speaking to Uddhava, Maitreya
awakened to personal realization.

The yoga was so difficult
my torso and face were
soaked in perspiration, and
I had to ask T. J. to stop
and give me a break.
Because it’s so warm we will
start walking in the morning.
They had a barbeque of
veggieburgers, corn and
weiners in Saci’s backyard
for Memorial Day, many devotees
gathered impromptu while
Jody attempted another yard
sale day.

Muktavandya is visiting
wearing a Boston Red Sox
cap and tee shirt in honor
of their being in first place.
He had his heart operation
and it feels better, but he
has to be careful not
to eat too much or the
blood gets diverted from
his heart to digestion.

The poem lopes along
in swing time. Soon
spring will turn to summer,
but we don’t have to go
anywhere. You could
start listening to lectures
of Srila Prabhupada, and
put them in your poem.
Poetry is singing, speaking
lines conversationally in
tune to rhythm. It is
Afro-American but
dovetailed to Krishna
Everything can be used
in His service because
it is all His energy
and needn’t be rejected
with a false sense
of dry renunciation.
I am not sad or
dejected and just
want to be accepted
as I am,
looking for
writing work.

 
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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): OLD FRIENDS

www.sdgonline.org. SDGonline Daily updates

From Journal and Poems, Book I (January-June 1985)

“A Little Better

“When you are really in the pits, then there is no doubt or hesitancy. You lie down, try to tolerate, and wait for things to get a little better. But when you are a little improved, then you have surrender more of your will and to restrain yourself. You have to admit it is a quiet time, and you can’t do many things you’d like to do and are supposed to do.

“Since today marks the official end of the intensive ayur-vedic treatment, I made up a schedule of half a dozen exciting events for the morning, including a vigorous morning walk into the woods, reading a book with my own eyes, hearing my manuscripts read to me by others, and receiving news again from the temples in my zone. But my guides here have reminded me why most of these things are still not possible. In order to get through the recent low point, I had to increase medicine. Since I am still taking these medicines, how can I presume to return to a normal level of activity? So again, the quiet life.

“But I did take a short walk. They are planting poles and running the electric fence through the woods. That means soon the retired cows will be let loose to pasture in the woods. But I wasn’t much interested. After an interruption in my regular visits with nature, I find it hard to assume such a close relationship.

“When Sesa dasa was my secretary, he would occasionally have to go away on some travels for a week or so. When he came back, he found the keen intimacy of our relationship had been lost, and that it took a week or more for it to be regained. He said it irritated him to the point that he either didn’t want to travel anymore or he didn’t want to be my secretary. What was the use if the intimacy wasn’t steady? Of course, we are always going through changes, so it takes time to get to know one another again. Anyway, the woods mostly looked like a bunch of insignificant green plants and I hardly listened or looked up to see.

  • Readers inspired by the Krishna conscious volume Journal and Poems, Book I (excerpted above) are encouraged to visit www.amazon.com


From Dear Sky: Letters from a Sannyasi

“Finale Liguri, Italy

“To Preaching Friends:

“Padma Purana was telling me about his preaching here in Finale Liguri. He and his wife (and now their one-year-old child, Nimai) live in a little house. They have invited people from the area into their home over the years and introduced them to Krishna consciousness. Most of their guests are quite materially respectable—doctors, military officers, scientists, architects. These people have money, clean houses, culture, friends. It’s not that they want to come to Krishna consciousness because they don’t have a good meal or need a place to sleep. In fact, they don’t want to appear strange in a world in which they now live.

“Padma Purana told me in a good-humored way how one of his friends confidentially told him, ‘We very much like what you’re doing and we want to help you, but we live in different worlds. I hope you respect our differences.’ Sometimes they indicate to him that they can’t go any further. He has to honor this, be patient, keep setting his jolly, attractive example and engage them in service in other ways. Eventually they come to him and ask for more.

“Gradually Padma Purana has been attracting them by his way of life, by his charm, and mainly by the convincing preaching he does from time to time. He and his wife have even taken one couple with them to India, and now another couple wants to go. They are going to build a temple here. So this is certainly preaching. It’s very important to the Krishna consciousness movement.

“Padma Purana told me he’s inclined to this kind of preaching. That’s why he has come here. He’s no longer inclined to temple life; therefore he’s able to attract people who don’t want to live in the temple. He’s enthusiastic about the particular angle he’s presenting. His contribution is important, demonstrating that doctors, scientists, military officers and other professional people can practice Krishna consciousness and have devotees as friends.

“Because I see that Padma Purana is excited about his service, it immediately strikes a chord within me that I should do what will make me enthusiastic. I should also work to spread Krishna consciousness in whatever way I can. I think this is how we can happily hear each other and celebrate the many contributions that devotees are making. If I’m so convincing in my particular enthusiasm that people want to do the same service I’m doing, then that’s fine, but let me be aware of what I’m speaking, that there are people who can’t exactly do what I am doing, and I shouldn’t hurt them by implying that their service is inferior. Only Krishna is in a position to say whose service pleases Him the most. On an absolute platform, everyone is trying to please Krishna, but this does not mean that Prabhupada and Krishna can only be pleased in one way.

“No follower of Prabhupada can avoid the conclusion that preaching is necessary, some kind of positive response has to be made to Prabhupada’s preaching message. However, the particular application of preaching can be quite personal, depending on our capacity and nature. Successful preaching to devotees enthuses as many as possible to serve Krishna; that is Prabhupada’s preaching spirit. When we are successful, we will make each devotee think to himself, not out of fear, but love, ‘How can I pick up this spirit?’”

  • Readers inspired by the Krishna conscious volume Dear Sky: Letters from a Sannyasi (excerpted above) are encouraged to visit www.amazon.com

From Spiritualized Dictionary

“eudist: From Gene Eudes (17th century). He was a French priest who founded a group named after himself. ‘A member of the Roman Catholic congregation of Jesus and Mary, established in 1643 for Diocesan priests and lay brothers and now devoted chiefly to teaching and missionary work.’ I have to say that the Catholic Church is really well-organized because it can accommodate all these different Orders. When a person joins the church, he can choose an Order and then seriously apply himself to it. Some Orders are missionary-minded, some contemplative. There are the Franciscans, the Cistercians, the Carthusians and the Jesuits. ISKCON actually contains all those moods too, but we maintain an official definition as a preaching movement. Of course, Prabhupada stressed preaching, but we see that we also include farming and rural development, book distribution, scientific preaching, congregational development—and all the loose and tight groups within and around ISKCON. What’s different is that we don’t openly acknowledge that we have these different ‘Orders.’ Rather, we say that we are all preachers and that preaching is our only mission.

“Therefore we haven’t developed into orders of life. The temples are all about the same—emphasizing fund-raising and deity worship, the morning program and book distribution. The temples are all standard. No one breaks off and forms a new Order of ‘Eudists.’ This is not a compliment or judgment because I know devotees are trying to be faithful to Prabhupada. At the same time, it seems that one day we will have to acknowledge all these differences or asides to the traditional definition of our preaching mission.

“At this point we cannot even conceive of people like Jean Eudes emerging from a temple starting a new order of Hare Krishna devotees, and our appreciating it. However, that may happen in the future. We see it already in certain ways. Mukunda Maharaja concentrates on Food for Life and public relations. It’s part of the preaching mission and it is certainly mainstream Krishna consciousness, but at the same time it’s a unique project with its own need for dedication. Many devotees around the world have responded to his emphasis on prasadam distribution and have begun to do it themselves. Similarly, Lokanatha Swami has Padayatra. That’s practically an order in itself, and a whole wave of ISKCON devotees are becoming inspired by it and following behind his bullock cart.

“It’s not a question of these orders being established in the future. Since the preachers preach, they are creating a variety of approaches and moods. It’s more a matter of our recognizing it and acknowledging it as an institution. ISKCON is unity in variety and variety in unity.

“Euler’s formula

“Oh no, another scientific word, they’re practically incomprehensible to me. A large percentage of these words address the range of ordinary speech; the balance are specialized. But ordinary or specialized, until Srila Prabhupada came, the spectrum of expression in the English language has been used only to serve the duskrtinas, mudhas, naradhamas, mayaya-apahrta-jnanas, and asuras. The dictionary, with its imbecilic neutrality and heartless lack of siddhanta, is a repository of ignorance. Euler’s formula may be incomprehensible by those not educated in the field of engineering, but it has been created by one duskrtina for another.

“Euler’s formula: a general engineering formula relating to the strength of a long strut and obtained by mathematical analysis, assuming the strut to be initially very slightly bent, neglecting the . . .’ It goes on to discuss Young’s modulus in technical language—almost too technical for this dictionary—what it is.

“An engineering formula is meant to give information how to build something that won’t collapse. This Euler must have been quite the engineer though, because the dictionary contains a lot of things named after him. There’s Euler’s formula, Euler’s diagram, Euler’s equation. Here’s his name: Leonhard Euler, 1707-83, Swiss mathematician and physicist. He made quite a name for himself.

“What is the purport? That Mr. Euler attained fame by discovering mathematical laws. But he did not create them, and he cannot control them. Physics doesn’t operate by his order but by the order of the Supreme. What can any one of us do but observe the material nature and discover its laws.

“Of course in the Vedic age, no one had to discover mathematical laws. They are all contained in the sastra. Just look at the ancient temples in India and how they are constructed. How is it that the Govindaji temple in Vrndavana was able to have all that open inner space with such few beams? I once read in a British book that the decaying Madana-Mohana temple is also considered a marvelous architectural achievement because of all the unsupported inner space. And of course the temples have aesthetic charm. The builders had to conform to physical laws or their buildings would have collapsed or looked ungainly. They probably even used Euler’s law before he ‘discovered’ it, but they used it to glorify Krishna. We can take inspiration from that fact.”

  • Readers inspired by the imaginative Krishna conscious dictionary entries provided by Spiritualized Dictionary (excerpted above) are encouraged to visit www.amazon.com
 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1968 May 31: "I am going to Montreal and Krishna willing I may be staying for some time to organize the Temple. I have in mind to start two or three branches there, one in Vancouver."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1966 May 31:
"Dwadasi: In the afternoon Mr. Robert Nelson came to see me. I requested him to become a member. He agreed and paid $20.00 for the month of June 1966. This is deposited in the Bank."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1966

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1972 May 31: "Krsna has given you the opportunity to make advancement by becoming very responsible. So take this responsibility to heart and be always jolly and determined. You must be the perfect example for others to follow."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1969 May 31: "Try to keep nice peace with the police. Our method is to be tolerant. We don't mind for so-called prestige. If keeping peaceful we can execute our Krishna Consciousness duties, that is all we want."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1974 May 31: "We may get permission for our men to enter Jagannatha Puri temple. It will be an important achievement for our society. Take these statements from Swami and the Endowment Minister. Try for it in earnest and Krsna will help you."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1975 May 31: "Regarding your sarod playing, I shall hear you play when I come next. Continue doing nice plays for the public. This can be very attractive if it is done very nicely."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

 
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Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Spot the morphing face

Original  article

Thanks to animation tools, a face can be made to morph into another. But a new illusion created by Rob van Lier and Arno Koning from Donders Institute in the Netherlands shows that your eye movement can affect how dramatic the transformation appears to be.

In the video above, follow the moving red dot superimposed on the face. When it stops moving, fix your eyes on the stationary spot. Did the morphing seem to be more pronounced?

According to van Lier, when our eyes are tracking a moving object we are less aware of changes in the scene, in this case moving eyebrows and colour fluctuations. He says:

The processing of incoming retinal information is attenuated. For example, try tracking your eyes when standing in front of a mirror – it’s hardly possible

When focusing on a stationary spot, the morphing effect is much stronger and can even appear to be blown-up. “We chose to use faces because small variations in features can induce completely different facial characteristics,” says van Lier. The team came up with the illusion while trying to combine different visual stimuli.


Filed under: Illusions
 
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Bhakta Chris, New York, USA: Spiritual Activism Doc Gives Recipe For Real Change

By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON News on 21 May 2011
Radha Vallabha Das

With his shaved head and saffron robes, Radha-Vallabha Dasa—a brahmachari monk at New York’s Bhaktivedanta Ashram—isn’t your typical activist. But his new documentary film Today We Have The Power may just have the most powerful, and deceptively simple solution to the problems of capitalism and globalization that have bothered so many protesters for decades.

His story starts back when the one-time Christopher Timm was in his last year of college at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and was developing an avid interest in studying the dark underbelly of capitalism.

“A capitalist economy is based on us being able to cheaply buy the latest new gadgets every couple of years, as many new clothes as we want every season, and plenty of other stuff we don’t need,” he says. “We’re sold the idea that there’s an equal exchange going on—but in order for that system to be sustainable, one group of people are going to be getting the shorter end of the stick.”

That means a dark truth : workers, often children, in China or Bangladesh laboring in a sweatshop under extremely unhealthy conditions to create tennis shoes or cheap clothes for us. Conditions that, despite sometimes providing a slightly better life for the destitute, would still never be condoned by any sane person if they were happening in our own backyard.

And our consumerist culture doesn’t just create systems for the oppression of people. It also destroys the environment.

“Take, for example, facial tissues and toilet paper—two commodities that we use extravagantly in America, and that are actually unnecessary,” Radha-Vallabha says. “People had been using handkerchiefs and cleaning themselves with water for centuries. But now, so that we can very conviently wipe our butts and blow our noses, we’re ravaging forests. Companies go out and clear-cut a forest in South America, where there are none of the environmental protection laws that we have now in the US. Each box of Kleenex or pack of Charmin has a huge, destructive backstory that we never hear about or think about. It’s horrendous. There’s blood on our hands for the lifestyle that we live.”

Some people who made such discoveries might become political activists. Others, like most of us, might be horrified at first, but gradually forget amidst the familiar conveniences of modern life. Christopher Timm did neither. He took the spiritual path, intent on finding the root of the problem.

“I realized that this whole system of exploiting people and resources in other parts of the world was set up to benefit me—the typical white American guy,” he says. “And I was totally miserable. I was living this shallow, middle-class life in Madison, Wisconsin, just hanging out and getting drunk and talking about stuff like the latest episode of the Simpsons. I was a happy little consumer, a cog in the wheel—I was the cause of the problem. And I thought, ‘Man, how do I get out of this?’”

Christopher got out by becoming a Hare Krishna devotee in 1995. He followed a new spiritual path of simplicity, celibacy, devotion to God and cleansing his heart of the selfish desires that stoked the fires of globalization and the capitalist economy. He received the name Radha-Vallabha Dasa from his guru, Radhanath Swami.

And then, in 2001, he co-wrote and co-produced his first documentary film, “The Simple Temple,” about the Radha-Gopinath Mandir in Chowpatty founded by Radhanath Swami. It focused on a different life, a life of selflessness and devotion to God—the answer to the problem.

But what about introducing spiritual activism in a broader way, to those new to the idea? For his next documentary, Radha-Vallabha immediately looked to the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests—widely known as “the Battle in Seattle” that had happened just two years before, in 1999, as a way to explain the problems of globalization and then direct viewers to a spiritual answer.

Since then, life took him in many directions, and the film was a long time coming—it’s expected sometime next year. But today, while there are some changes to the way corporations negotiate trade agreements, the core issues are still as relevant as ever.

“The WTO protests in Seattle were a watershed event where people came to realize on a large scale that there was this whole other side to globalization they had never heard about before,” Radha-Vallabha says.

The World Trade Organization, he explains, holds meetings every couple of years wherein countries come together to negotiate trade agreements—agreements that result in globalization. One of those at stake at the 1999 meetings, for example, was the Global Free Logging agreement, which would have given American corporations access to South American forests.

“Forty thousand people, across a wide spectrum of society, gathered in Seattle to protest this and other environmental, human and animal rights violations that happen as a result of WTO agreements,” says Radha-Vallabha.

Today We Have The Power, Radha-Vallabha’s film, examines these economic and social issues that brought people to Seattle, and tells the story of how their protests turned from a peaceful street theater, singing and dancing-filled “carnival against capitalism” into a violent nightmare of police brutality.

“The story that most people remember is that a peaceful protest was disrupted by a small band of masked anarchists intent on violence and property damage, forcing the police to intervene,” Radha-Vallabha says. “What we know for sure is that for one week in 1999 the sight of Seattle police brutally attacking ordinary American citizens that had come to protest the WTO transfixed the world.”

Today We Have The Power takes a close look at the events of that week, featuring ground-breaking interviews with major players such as the anarchist philosopher behind the property damage, and the Seattle Chief of Police at the time, Norm Stamper.

In fact, according to Stamper, who today regrets his actions, the small band of anarchists were not the impetus for the police violence—rather it was simply a decision to clear the streets of a far larger amount of protestors than had been anticipated.

But it’s the spiritual thread running through all of this that most interests Radha-Vallabha.

“I talked to many people who agreed that everything that happened in Seattle boils down to spiritual issues,” he says. “Mr. Stamper, whom I didn’t even expect to get an interview with, told me, ‘You’re the first person to mention this angle in relation to the Seattle protests,’ and agreed that a lack of spirituality was at the heart of the problem. He said that even being a police chief is fundamentally a spiritual role—a responsibility to protect and care for citizens, to respect and honor life. And he had neglected that responsibility.”

As well as being the cause of the police violence, it was agreed that a lack of spirituality is the cause of the greed and exploitation inherent in the capitalist system and globalization that people were protesting in Seattle.

Activist and author David Korten hits the nail on the head in an interview in Today We Have The Power when he says, “If we want to solve this problem, we have to recognize that capitalism is built on a system of inspiring unlimited material desires and material needs. It instills the idea that happiness means acquiring more and more material things.”

“What we need is a spiritual awakening, where people realize that the way to true happiness is not through material things, but through searching within, and connecting with God,” Radha-Vallabha says. “And as my guru Radhanath Swami says in the film, if we want to change the world, we have to start by changing our own hearts.”

Radha-Vallabha doesn’t address the specific method he discovered for changing his own heart in the film, preferring to leave it up to the individual seeker. He does, however, introduce the idea of a spiritual solution.

“There’s a whole class of Americans out there who are aware of these issues, and are struggling to find answers,” he says. “And I believe this film can help them get closer to some.”

Radha-Vallabha is fundraising for Today We Have The Power himself—a difficult task—but provided he does get the funding he needs, he expects the film to be completed in August. He’ll then submit it to both smaller film festivals interested in human rights, environmental and spiritual issues, and larger events such as Sundance, the Toronto Film Festival, and New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival. If it does well at these, it’s likely to get theatrical distribution at independent theaters around the US, some form of television distribution, and will of course also be available on the Internet.

Radha-Vallabha will begin a cutting edge program on religion and ecology at Yale Divinity school this fall, and hopes to continue connecting with the activist community through writing and teaching, thus offering them his unique view.

“A big issue in activism is that a lot of people feel completely overwhelmed,” he says. “It seems impossible for us to change this gargantuan system backed by multinational corporations that are economies within themselves. But my film shows how through the power of personal spiritual transformation, we can change our world, the world within us, today. And by changing our world, we have the power to change the world.”


To find out more about Today We Have The Power, or to contribute urgently needed finances towards the final stages of its production, please click here:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1047769031/today-we...


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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: WHAT IS KARMA?


From time immemorial we are suffering or enjoying the fruits of our activities.

For example, if I am a businessman and have worked very hard and smart and have earned a great amount of money, then I am an enjoyer.

But if I lose all my money, I am a sufferer.

Similarly, in every field of life we either enjoy or suffer the results of our work.

This is called karma.

Although we are suffering or enjoying the results of our activities, we can change the results, and this change depends on the quality of our knowledge.

We are engaged in various activities but we do not know what sort of activities we should take on in order to gain relief from the reactions of these activities.

These activities can be changed when we are in goodness, when we are in sanity, and understands what sort of activities we should perform.

This is explained in detail in the great book of wisdom, Bhagavad-gita.

 
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H.H. Sivarama Swami: Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 3)


Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 3)

Sivarama Swami


What to we say when people mistake us for Buddhists and is it OK to serve people prasadam when they don’t know what they are eating?
[ 9:19 ]
May 31st, 2011


Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 3)


Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 2)

Sivarama Swami



Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 2)

Veganism, eating frozen foods and what is the message of Bhagavad-gita - [ 10:57 ]Read the rest of this entry »May 27th, 2011
Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 2)

Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 1)

Sivarama Swami



Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 1)

Veganism, eating frozen foods and what is the message of Bhagavad-gita - [ 9:05 ]Read the rest of this entry »May 26th, 2011
Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 1)

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The Perfect Source

April 8th, 2007

Bhakta Shailend submitted the following article for this category, and we are happy he did. Hopefully it will encourage so many others to send in submissions for Share It: photos, essays, memories, sankirtan stories: anything…please send it in. Some of the UK or Hungarian devotees who just spent time in the dhama might like to send in their realizations…

“This Krsna consciousness movement will be written down in history for having saved the world.” Srila Prabhupada

During his quest to find the greatest devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, Devarsri Narada scanned both the spiritual and material worlds. On his journey he came across various great personalities including his father Lord Brahma.

During their conversation exchange, Lord Brahma cited several examples to his son describing the defective nature of a Jivatma. Srila Brahma, himself being a Jiva, narrated the pastimes of Lord Nrsimhadeva to Srila Narada where he granted a boon to the demon Hiranyakashipu which turned out to be detrimental to the whole material creation. Later on after killing Hiranyakashipu, Lord Nrsimhadeva chastised Sri Brahma for his mistake, thus he spoke the following words:

Mairam Vibho suranam te/Pradeyah padma-sambhava/Varah-Krura-nisarganam/Ahinam amrtam yatha

“My dear lord Brahma, O great lord born from the lotus, just as it is dangerous to feed milk to a snake, so it is dangerous to give benedictions to demons, who are by nature ferocious and jealous. I warn you not to give such benedictions to any demon again.” (S.B 7.10.30).

Lord Nrsimhadev was particularly furious to Sri Brahma because his great devotee Sri Prahlad Maharaj was excessively tortured by his demon father Hiranyakashipu. The latter became practically immortal and invincible due to the boon granted to him by Lord Brahma. Later on , although already been chastised by the supreme personality of Godhead himself, Lord Brahma confirmed his imperfection as a Jiva by giving supernatural powers to the evil Ravana. The demon Ravana, in turn, caused great distress to the devotees and offended Lord Ramachandra by kidnapping mother Sita. Thus the topmost Jiva, although born from the navel of the supreme Lord Narayana, is subject to the miseries and defects of this material world, what to speak of us.

The four defects

The Bhagavad-gita mentions four defects that are visible in conditioned soul: Imperfect Senses, The propensity for cheating, Certainty of committing mistakes, and certainty of being illusioned. These four principle defects are the prime factors responsible for conditioned life within the material world. Conditioning means that there is a domination of the different modes of nature over the senses as confirmed by Srila Prabhupada in his purport BG 14.5:

“The living entity, because he is transcendental, has nothing to do with this material nature. Still, because he has become conditioned by the material world, he is acting under the spell of the three modes of material nature. Because living entities have different kinds of bodies, in terms of the different aspects of nature, they are induced to act according to that nature. This is the cause of the varieties of happiness and distress.”

Samsara - Material existence

Thus wandering sometimes from the heavenly planets, sometimes to the earthly planets and sometimes to the lower planets and lower species, the living entity is unable to find his way out of this material world. Encaged in a temporary body and trapped in this prison house he constantly suffers the kicks of Maya’s weapons. Birth, old age, disease, death and various other kinds of sufferings are inevitable for those enduring karmic reactions.

According to the Bhagavad-gita unless one offers his fruits of activities to the supreme Lord Sri Krsna,he will endure karmic reactions.Lord Krsna is also known as adi purusam or the supreme enjoyer.By offering the result of one’s activities such as our prescribed duties,the lord immediately relieved one from the burden of material existence; this is also known as devotional service. In his purport of BG 18.73, Srila Prabhupada revealed the constitutional position of a living entity as stated by Lord Caitanya; to be an eternal servant of the supreme lord. But unfortunately deluded by pride and overcome by illusion, he thinks himself to be the master of this material world, thereby wanting to control it. Thinking himself to be the doer, he becomes proud and arrogant, thus challenging the existence of Krsna or God. But it is simply a waste of time since he cannot avoid death.

Krsna Conciousness, the ultimate remedy

So, Srila Prabhupada said our senses are all imperfect and whatever action one performs , the result will be imperfect. So we have to connect ourselves to something perfect, and that is Krsna Conciousness.This movement is especially meant for conditioned people, for those who are fed up with material sufferings and for those who want to revive their constitutional position with the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna or God as an eternal servant.

The individual living entities, by their free will and desire nature, suffer from material conditioning. When at last our conditioned desires are channeled towards love of God through devotional service, our understanding of the Absolute becomes pure and complete.” ( SB purport 1.8.20)

Srila Prabhupada mentioned in his purport BG 7.14 that another meaning for the word guna means rope; so our present condition is that we are tightly tied by the ropes of illusion and unless we take shelter of someone who is unbound we cannot free ourself. Therefore only Krsna or his bona fide representative,the spiritual master, can release the conditioned soul from the clutches of maya or illusion because they are perfect beings. So, Krsna Consciousness movement or devotional service is the proper medium to revive our long lost relationship with Krsna or God.Srila Prabhupada said that this movement is pure because it is connected to a pure source which is perfect and that perfect source is Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in the conclusion of the Brahma-samhita:

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the non-differentiated Brahman which is mentioned in the Upanisads, and which, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe, appears as the indivisible, infinite, and limitless truth. Millions and millions of universes emanate from that Brahman effulgence, which is infinite, causeless, and unlimited. That Brahman effulgence is simply the light emanating from the brilliant form of the Supreme Lord Govinda. (Brahma-samhita 5.40)

Reference: Conversation between Lord Brahma and Sri Narada : Brihad Bhagavatamrta ““ By Srila Sanatana Goswami

Translated by his HG Gopiparanadhana Prabhu


La Fuente Perfecta

8 de abril de 2007
Sivarama Swami



http://sivaramaswami.com/en/?s=Conversation+with+Nrsimha

Bhakta Shailend sometió el artículo siguiente para esta categoría, y estamos felices de que él lo haya hecho. Esperando que animará a muchos otros para que le envíen en las lotes por parte: fotos, ensayos, memorias, historias sankirtan: cualquier cosa… enviénla por favor. Algunos del Reino Unido o de los devotos húngaros que apenas ahorran tiempo para usarlo en el dhama tuvieron el gusto de enviar sus realizaciones…

“Este movimiento de Conciencia de Kṛṣṇa será anotado en la historia para salvar el mundo. ”  “” Śrīla Prabhupada

Durante su búsqueda para encontrar al devoto más grande de la Suprema Personalidad de Dios, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Devarsri Nārada exploró los mundos espirituales y los mundos materiales. En su viaje él se le apareció a varias grandes personalidades incluyendo su padre, el Señor Brahmā.

Durante su intercambio en la conversación, el Señor Brahmā citó varios ejemplos a su hijo que describía la naturaleza defectuosa de un Jivatma. Śrīla Brahmā, dijo que Él mismo era una Jiva, y comenzó a narrar los pasatiempos de Señor Nṛsiḿhadeva a Śrīla Nārada donde él concedió un don al demonio Hiraṇyakaśipu que resultó ser perjudicial a la creación material entera. Después de matar al demonio Hiraṇyakaśipu, el Señor Śrī Nṛsiḿhadeva regañó al Señor Brahmā por su error, así él habló las palabras siguientes:

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
maivaḿ vibho 'surāṇāḿ te
pradeyaḥ padma-sambhava
varaḥ krūra-nisargāṇām
ahīnām amṛtaḿ yathā

“Mi estimado Señor Brahmā, gran Señor nacido del loto, es pues peligroso alimentar con leche a una serpiente, así que es peligroso dar bendiciones a los demonios, que están de lado de la naturaleza feroz y celosa. Le advierto que no de tales bendiciones a ningún demonio otra vez. ”(S.B 7.10.30).

SB 7.10.30: The Personality of Godhead replied: My dear Lord Brahmā, O great lord born from the lotus flower, just as it is dangerous to feed milk to a snake, so it is dangerous to give benedictions to demons, who are by nature ferocious and jealous. I warn you not to give such benedictions to any demon again.

SB 7.10.30: La Personalidad de Dios contestó: Mi querido Señor Brahmā, ¡oh, gran señor nacido de la flor de loto!, los demonios son feroces y envidiosos por naturaleza, y darles bendiciones es tan peligroso como alimentar con leche a una serpiente. Nunca vuelvas a dar esa clase de bendiciones a un demonio.

SB 7.10.30: Dieu, la Personne Suprême, répondit: O Brahmā, toi le grand seigneur issu de la fleur de lotus, sache qu'il est tout aussi périlleux d'accorder des bénédictions aux asuras, par nature féroces et jaloux, que de donner du lait à un serpent. Je te mets en garde, n'accorde plus de bénédictions à aucun asura.

El Señor Nṛsiḿhadeva estaba particularmente furioso con el Señor Śrī Brahmā porque su padre el demonio Hiraṇyakaśipu torturó excesivamente a su gran devoto Śrī Prahlāda Mahārāja. Estes último llegó a ser prácticamente inmortal e invencible debido al favor que le concedió el Señor Brahmā. Después, aunque regañado ya por la Suprema Personalidad de Dios misma, el Señor Brahmā confirmó su imperfección como Jiva dando energías sobrenaturales al malvado demonio Rāvaṇa. El demonio Rāvaṇa, alternadamente, causó grandes perturbaciones a los devotos y ofendió al Señor Rāmachandra secuestrando a la madre Sita. Así la Jiva superior, aunque había nacido del ombligo del Señor Supremo Narayana, estába sometido también a las miserias y a los defectos de este mundo material, que si hablaramos de nosotros. Los cuatro defectos mencionados en El Bhagavad-gītā que son visibles en las almas condicionadas son: sentidos imperfectos, la propensión a engañar, la certeza de cometer errores y la certeza de estar engañado. Estos cuatro principios sobre los defectos de las almas condicionadas, son los principales factores responsables de vida condicionada dentro del mundo material.

El condicionamiento significa que hay una dominación de los diversos modos de naturaleza sobre los sentidos según lo ha confirmado Śrīla Prabhupada en su significado del BG 14.5: “La entidad viva, porque él es trascendental, no tiene nada hacer con esta naturaleza material. No obstante, porque él se ha condicionado por el mundo material, él está actuando bajo encanto de los tres modos de naturaleza material. Porque las entidades vivas tienen diversas clases de cuerpos, en términos de diversos aspectos de la naturaleza, a les inducen que actúen según esa naturaleza. Ésta es la causa de las variedades de felicidad y de señal de socorro.”

BG 14.5: Material nature consists of three modes — goodness, passion and ignorance. When the eternal living entity comes in contact with nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he becomes conditioned by these modes.

BG 14.5: La nature matérielle est formée des trois gunas: Vertu, Passion et Ignorance. Que l'être distinct, impérissable, touche la nature matérielle, ô toi aux-bras-puissants, et il se trouve conditionné par ces trois gunas.

BG 14.5: La naturaleza material consta de tres modalidades: bondad, pasión e ignorancia. Cuando la eterna entidad viviente se pone en contacto con la naturaleza, ¡oh, Arjuna, el de los poderosos brazos!, queda condicionada por esas modalidades.

Samsara - existencia material

Así vagando a veces por los planetas divinos, a veces por los planetas terrenales y a veces por los planetas más bajos y por las especies más bajas, la entidad viviente no puede encontrar su salida de este mundo material. Envuelto en un cuerpo temporal y atrapado en esta jaula de prisión él sufre constantemente los retrocesos de las armas del maya. El nacimiento, la edad avanzada, la enfermedad, la muerte y las otras clases de sufrimientos son inevitables para ésos que aguantan reacciones kármicas.

Según El Bhagavad-gītā a menos que uno ofrezca los frutos de sus actividades al Señor Supremo Śrī Kṛṣṇa, él aguantará reacciones kármicas. Se conoce al Señor Kṛṣṇa también como adi purusam o el Disfrutador Supremo. Ofreciendo el resultado de sus actividades tales como nuestros deberes prescritos, el señor relevó inmediatamente uno de la carga de la existencia material; esto también se conoce como servicio piadoso. En su significado de BG 18.73, Śrīla Prabhupada reveló la posición constitucional de una entidad viviente según lo indicado por el Señor Caitanya; para ser un sirviente eterno del Señor Supremo. Pero desafortunadamente engañado por el orgullo y superado por la ilusión, él se piensa que es el amo de este mundo material, de tal modo lo quiere controlar. Pensándo que es el autor, él se vuelve orgulloso y arrogante, así desafiando la existencia de Kṛṣṇa o de Dios. Pero es simplemente una pérdida de tiempo puesto que él no puede evitar la muerte.

BG 18.73: Arjuna said: My dear Kṛṣṇa, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy. I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions.

BG 18.73: Arjuna dit: O cher Kṛṣṇa, Toi l'Infaillible, mon illusion s'est maintenant évanouie: j'ai, par Ta grâce, recouvré la mémoire. Me voici ferme, affranchi du doute; je suis prêt à agir selon Ta parole.

BG 18.73: Arjuna dijo: Mi querido Kṛṣṇa, ¡oh, Tú, el Infalible!, ahora mi ilusión se ha disipado. Por Tu misericordia he recobrado la memoria. Ahora estoy firme y libre de dudas, y estoy dispuesto a actuar de conformidad con Tus instrucciones.

Conciencia de Kṛṣṇa, el último remedio

Así pues, Śrīla Prabhupada dijo que nuestros sentidos son todos imperfectos y cualquier acción que uno realiza, el resultado será imperfecto. Tenemos que conectarnos urgentemente con algo perfecto, y ése es el Movimiento Conciencia de Kṛṣṇa. Esto simboliza especialmente para la gente condicionada, para los que se estén hartos y cansados con sufrimientos materiales y para los que quieran restablecer su posición constitucional con el Señor Supremo Śrī Kṛṣṇa o Dios como sirviente eterno."

"Las entidades vivientes individuales, por su libre albedrío y naturaleza del deseo, sufren el condicionamiento material. Cuando el último de nuestros deseos condicionados se canalizan hacia el amor de Dios con servicio piadoso, nuestra comprensión del Absoluto llega a ser pura y completa." (Significado 1.8.20 del S.B.)

S.B.PURPORT 1.8.20: Even the greatest philosophical speculators cannot have access to the region of the Lord. It is said in the Upaniṣads that the Supreme Truth, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is beyond the range of the thinking power of the greatest philosopher. He is unknowable by great learning or by the greatest brain. He is knowable only by one who has His mercy. Others may go on thinking about Him for years together, yet He is unknowable. This very fact is corroborated by the Queen, who is playing the part of an innocent woman. Women in general are unable to speculate like philosophers, but they are blessed by the Lord because they believe at once in the superiority and almightiness of the Lord, and thus they offer obeisances without reservation. The Lord is so kind that He does not show special favor only to one who is a great philosopher. He knows the sincerity of purpose. For this reason only, women generally assemble in great number in any sort of religious function. In every country and in every sect of religion it appears that the women are more interested than the men. This simplicity of acceptance of the Lord's authority is more effective than showy insincere religious fervor.

S.B.Significado 1.8.20: Hasta los más grandes especuladores filosóficos no pueden tener acceso a la región del Señor. En los Upaniads se dice que la Verdad Suprema, la Absoluta Personalidad de Dios, está más allá del alcance de la capacidad de pensamiento del más grande de los filósofos. A Él no se le puede conocer a través de una gran erudición o del cerebro más grande de todos. A Él puede conocerlo únicamente aquel que tiene Su misericordia. Otros puede que continúen pensando en Él por años y años, más, aun así, él es incognoscible. Este mismo hecho lo corrobora la Reina, quien está haciendo el papel de una inocente mujer. Las mujeres son, en general, incapaces de especular como los filósofos, pero el Señor las bendice, porque creen de inmediato en la superioridad y omnipotencia de Él, y, por ello, ofrecen reverencias sin reservas. El Señor es tan bondadoso, que Él no favorece de modo especial sólo a aquel que es un gran filósofo. Él conoce la sinceridad del propósito. Por esta razón únicamente, las mujeres se reúnen por lo general en grandes números en cualquier clase de funciones religiosas. En todos los países y sectas religiosas parece ser que las mujeres están más interesadas que los hombres. Esta sencillez de aceptar la autoridad del Señor es más eficaz que el fervor religioso ostentoso e insincero,

Śrīla Prabhupada mencionado en su purport BG 7.14 que otro significado de la palabra guna significa cuerda; nuestra actual condición es tan que las cuerdas de la ilusión nos atan firmemente y a menos que tomemos abrigo de alguien que está desatado nosotros no podemos liberarnos por nosotros mismos. Por lo tanto solamente Kṛṣṇa o su representante auténtico, el Maestro Espiritual, puede lanzar al alma condicionada de las ataduras del maya o de la ilusión porque son seres perfectos. Así pues, el movimiento de Conciencia de Kṛṣṇa o el servicio piadoso es el medio apropiado para restablecer nuestra relación perdida con Kṛṣṇa o Dios. Śrīla Prabhupada dijo que este movimiento es puro porque está conectado con una fuente pura que sea perfecta y que la fuente perfecta es Śrī Kṛṣṇa, la Suprema Personalidad de Dios. Esto se confirma en la conclusión del Brahma-samhita:

Adoro a Govinda, el Señor Primitivo, cuya brillantez es la fuente del Brahman no manifestado que se menciona en las Upanisads, y que, siendo manifestado de las glorias del infinito del universo mundano, aparece como la verdad indivisible, infinita, e ilimitada. Millones y millones de universos emanan de esa brillantez del Brahman, que es infinita, inmotivada, e ilimitada. Esa brillantez del Brahman es simplemente la luz que emana de la forma brillante del Señor Supremo Govinda. (Brahma-samhita 5.40)

Referencia: Conversación entre El Señor Brahmā y Śrī Nārada: Brihad Bhagavatamrta por Śrīla Sanatana Goswami Traducido por su HG Gopiparanadhana Prabhu

Notas:...Eso se llama seguir los principios de los sastras, o las Escrituras. Los sastras no tienen los cuatro defectos principales que se ven en el alma condicionada: sentidos imperfectos, la propensión a engañar, la certeza de cometer errores y la certeza de estar engañado. Esos cuatro defectos principales de la vida condicionada lo incapacitan a uno para formular reglas y regulaciones. Por consiguiente, las reglas y regulaciones tal como se exponen en los sastras —puesto que están por encima de esos defectos—, las aceptan sin alteración todos los grandes santos, los acaryas y las grandes almas. (BG.16.24 - SIGNIFICADO)


 

Australian News: Earth Healing Havan & Kirtan, Sydney

13 June · 10:00am – 1:30pm

Krishna Temple
180 Falcon St
North Sydney

Havan by Bhaktividya Purna Swami
Kirtan by Sri Prahlada

13th of June- Queen’s Birthday

10am- Havan and talk by Bhaktividya Purna Swami
12pm-Kirtan by Sri Prahlada
1:30pm Lunch – $10

all profits will go to support Gurukul in Mayapur

Click here an check out the facebook event page

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Hari Sauri das, Mayapura, IN: 2011 tour Sydney Reunion Day One cont.

Jagattarini                                                                                     Jayadharma

Jayashila                                                                                       Jnanamurti

Jnansamudra                                                                                    Kalasamvara

Ken Davis (who I met in 1971 and became close friends)                      Kosarupa (visiting with Citralekha)

Krishnarupa                                                                                   Kuntibhoja (on left)

Kurma’s Dad                                                                              Kurma’s sister

Prabhavisnu Swami                                                                  Madhudvisa

‘Captain Mark’ Mahotsa                                                          Mandapa

Mandukini                                                                                      ’Sringi’ Muralidhara

Narahari                                                                                          Narataki

Partha                                                                                               Prahlada Bhakta

Ramasaran                                                                                 Rasanandini

Rasarani                                                                                        Ray (middle)

Rukmavati                                                                                         Sanatana

Sri Prahlada and Gandharvika                                               Sukhla

Surabhi                                                                                          Venugopal and wife Nikunjavasini

Vidyapati and George the Greek ‘Snakeman’             Three Muskateers: Vidyapati, Gary and Harsa

Vidyaranya and wife Maria                                               Vishalini

Vraja Ballabha                                                                              Yamal Arjuna

A special mention of one of my oldest, closest, dearest friends in Krsna consciousness, Yasomatinandana prabhu, seen here with Mahotsa prabhu. Yaso was diagnosed very recently with agressive stomach cancer and was in the middle of a chemo-therapy course but with great determination he attended the reunion. Everyone please pray to Lord Nrsimhadeva for the spiritual welfare and success of His dedicated follower, Yaso prabhu!

There are a few other stalwarts of the early days in Australia who I snapped on the 2nd and 3rd days so their mukhas will appear in due course.

What I will say is that the first night’s dinner had a special flavor. To be back in the company of so many devotees who were fellow pioneers in the establishment of Krsna consciousness in Australia was a truly wonderful relish;  we are all well on the way to our next destinations and everyone is aware that if we have a 50th anniversary and reunion, many of us are only going to be around for it in spirit and memory.

Knowing this gave the whole experience an added dimension of specialness and a realization of how fortunate we small band of brothers and sisters are to have been picked up by Srila Prabhupada and engaged as his agents in the service of the ever beautiful lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha

 
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Bhakta Chris, New York, USA: The Humble Musings Of The Manhattan Monk 5/29/11


We seek the personal blessings of Krsna, in His beauty, His smile, His kindness, and His love. There is no abstraction and no doubt in His personal touch. The embrace of His blessings is the care and core of all of our actual desires, beyond the flickering embers and sparks of the small and fragile joys we stumble upon in this temporary world.

That exchange, which the deep core of our heart longs for
Heart-to-heart, nothing cheap, nothing maudlin
The original dance, falling back into our original rhythm
There is nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

So why must we close our hearts is haste to His embrace?
Why are we so cold? Why are we a wallflower of time immemorial?

We make ourselves open to His personal blessings through our dedication, determination, and joy in the simple, humble, yet dynamic service to the Vaisnavas. We become one who feeds the body-mind-soul continuum of our many-layered, many-colored friends.

We ride the crest of the wave of their mercy upon us, trying to burst through the levees of doubt and falsity. We must be real. We must be practical. We must be eager to to risk facing our fears and illusions to serve with meaning. We must step out the door to be those humble sparks, dancing and dancing, that will ignite all the other dormant sparks.

We turn our gaze towards His gaze
And He has been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting
To give us His affection of His beauty, His smile, His movement
The kindness of His rhythm, the love of His melody
The wash of peace and clarity in His personal touch, His personal dance.

 
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Japa Group: The Wandering Baby-like Mind


We can have a tendancy to get familiar with the process of chanting the Hare Krsna mantra - it's easy to slip into bad Japa habits and therefore cause offenses.


Today this thought was on my mind - it's very easy to allow the mind to wander off, much like a small baby who follows his eyes and mind all over the place - going here and there discovering something new.

The child like mind needs to be brought back the self (soul), like when we call the baby back so that it remains out of danger, we need to call back the mind to the Maha mantra and keep it safe away from the allurement of the material energy.

Let us all engage in this wonderful chanting of Krsna's names....fully absorbing ourselves in the sound of the Holy names, thereby keeping the mind in association of the Lord.
 
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Gouranga TV: Abhishek – Gaura Purnima 2011


Abhishek - Gaura Purnima 2011

Subido por MayapurISKCON el 24/05/2011




Abhishek – Gaura Purnima 2011

 
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Hari Sauri das, Mayapura, IN: 2011 tour Sydney Reunion Day One

May 20th The festivities kicked off with a Friday night dinner and get together which for some old timers like me meant meeting devotees who they hadn’t seen for many, many years – 30+ in some cases. What a wonderful sanga!

To accomodation the 80+ disciples of Srila Prabhupada and scores of other more latter day saints a marquee was erected over the car park

and by 5.30PM devotees started arriving. It didn’t take long for the place to fill

Everyone was allotted a table and for the next few hours we had a great time guessing who was occupying the now distinctly different bodies and catching up on several decades of spent time. Some had left active service, some had found shelter in other organizations and others were still resolutely pushing on the glories of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON. But we all felt the unity and mutal satisfaction of being part of Srila Prabhupada’s family. No matter what the current status we had all etched our names into the permanent list of Srila Prabhupada’s helpers and this was our chance to celebrate that eternal good fortune.

Here’s a few of those fortunate souls (in alphabetical order, mostly) (with a little commentary from moi, on some; but that’s not to say a no comment has any implications) (I am only showing here the Prabhupada disciples and other devotees that were around pre-1977 because of band-width constraints)

Adi Purusha Ajamila, my first temple commander

Alalanatha                                                                                  Ambika and kids

Antaratma and son – I hadn’t seen him since 1974;             Aravinda

Atmarama                                                                                     Atri and Srilekha

Balah                                                                                                    Balaram

Bhutanatha                                                                                    Chamari

Charu, Gauramandalabhumi and Sabhapati                    Cittahari

Dipak and daughter Jahnavi                                               Dusta Mohan

Dvarakanayaka                                                                       Elayne and son

Gandharvika (aka Wendy Saddington)                                  Gaura Keshava

Gopinatha Acarya                                                                    Gunarnava and son

Harsha                                                                                       Hrishikesa and Radha Madhava

top – Hari-sauri, Mahotsa; bottom – Atmarama, Narahari, Jnana-samudra

more mug shots on the next posting!

 
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Australian News: Kirtan Yoga with Sri Prahlada and the Bhakti Band at Kensington

Join us for a delicious vegetarian dinner and then sing, dance, groove and get happy with Sydney’s hottest mantra music band…

Yoga in Daily life

1st Floor, 117-119 Anzac Parade
Kensington
NSW
2033

book ahead and pay only $20. bookings please call us on 0410819996. or pay $25 on door. kids are welcome for free

Check out the Facebook page for the event

Yoga in daily life web site

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