miércoles, 10 de agosto de 2011

Giridhari das, Brasilia, Brazil: Initiations and Nrsimhadeva Festival with Chandramukha Swami in Pandavas Paradise








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  1. H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Friday 27 May 2011--The Supreme Satisfaction--and--Krishna Used Past Life Regression?
  2. ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana
  3. Japa Group: My Day's Realisation About Chanting
  4. Play List de SriCaitanyadas y Organo Musical
  5. 16 Rounds to Samadhi Magazine, LA, USA: Weight Loss: A Fool’s Objective
  6. Mayapuris, USA: East Coast Tour! June 2011!
  7. 16 Rounds to Samadhi Magazine, LA, USA: Osama Bin Laden Wins War on Terror
  8. Giridhari das, Brasilia, Brazil: Initiations and Nrsimhadeva Festival with Chandramukha Swami in Pandavas Paradise
  9. Subhavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: Mr. Adventure ~ Mitra Prabhu shares Shyamasundar's Gems
  10. Akrura das, Gita Coaching: BHAGAVAD GITA – THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS BOOK
  11. David Haslam, UK: Personal reply/thoughts on posting by HH Mahavishnu swami
  12. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): 322–Poem for May 26
  13. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): OLD FRIENDS
  14. Bhakta Ryan, Brisbane, AU: anata over nrsimhadeva
  15. Nitya Navina dd, New Jersey, USA: Nimai-NItai.
  16. Book Distribution News: The Power of the Holy Names and Prabhupada's Books
  17. ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Doors Open Toronto - This Weekend!
  18. ISKCON Toronto, Canada: More Pictures from Victoria Day Harinama!
  19. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  20. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  21. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  22. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  23. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  24. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  25. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  26. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  27. Dandavats.com: Sri Mayapur International School performs in Orissa
  28. Dandavats.com: The Gap Between Pink Slip and Red Lips
  29. H.H. Sivarama Swami: Mayapur Days
  30. Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: RSS Graffiti for Facebook; Publicize for WordPress
  31. ISKCON New York, USA: New York Ratha Yatra Festival Highlights!
  32. ISKCON New York, USA: Sri Jagannath Ratha Yatra 2011
  33. H.H. Sivarama Swami: We could not send anything today as internet down and may be so for a few days
  34. H.H. Sivarama Swami: Conversation with Nrsmha-krsna (Part 1)
  35. H.H. Sivarama Swami: Vyasa-puja book 2011
  36. Ananda Subramanian, Iowa, USA: 21st century River Yamuna
  37. Dandavats.com: Bangalore case coverage
  38. Japa Group: There Is No Other Greater Mantra
  39. Dandavats.com: Job Title: Brahmacari, Location: Bhaktivedanta Manor
  40. Dandavats.com: Beautiful 18 acres with 2300 square foot house just outside of Chapel Hill NC available immediately
  41. Gouranga TV: Lecture – Grantharaj Prabhu – SB 10.2.17 – Meaning of dham
  42. More Recent Articles
  43. Search Planet ISKCON
  44. Prior Mailing Archive

Play List y Organo Musical



Jay Govinda

uploaded by bakaja at youtube.com

Matthias King School Choir Conductor: Kunváriné Okos Ilona

Shree Shree Sad Goswami Ashtaka

uploaded by bakaja at youtube.com

mixed choir clip

Una Oracion por Misericordia

uploaded by juancastaneira at youtube.com

Es una Oración para la Humanidad, se pide una Oración por la Misericordia para el Bien del Mundo. Dadas la situación en que el Ser Humano se encuentra es bueno recordar lo Sagrado. Sri Caitanya

0240 KRISHNA STORY -- NAR NARAYAN AND BIRHT OF URVASHI

uploaded by drsaurabhparikh at youtube.com

The story now is going towards the past when Nar and Narayan go in deep meditation in the Himalayas. Due to their piousness and deep meditation, the throne of Indra is in trouble. Indra wants to break the Samadhi or meditation of them. Hence, he sends his beautiful apsaras to attract towards them and break the meditation. When the meditation is broken, Nar sees the apsaras, he creates one much beautiful and elegant from his thigh. This is how the most beautiful apasara of Lord Indra takes birth. He names her as Urvashi and tells them to take her as his gift to Indra and again goes in meditation. The Nar and Narayan are the future Krishna and Arjun in their next rebirths. See it presented nicely in "Krishna" serial by Ramanand Sagar.

0133 KRISHNA STORY -- MOHINI DISTRIBUTES AMRIT

uploaded by drsaurabhparikh at youtube.com

See the story of Samudramanthan and Mohini of Lord Vishna in Ramanand Sagar's serial "Krishna"

Sita's svayamvara

uploaded by SaadjeGeetaDevi at youtube.com

Sri Rama is present at Sita mata's svayamvara in Mithila. Vishwamitra gives Rama his consent to break the bow of Shiva. After Rama has broken the bow, Sita comes down to garland Sri Rama.


Haz Musica o Escucha el sonido

Posted: 22 Jan 2011 07:01 PM PST

REFERENCIAS:sembeo.com


H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Friday 27 May 2011--The Supreme Satisfaction--and--Krishna Used Past Life Regression?

A daily broadcast of the Ultimate Self Realization Course Friday 27 May 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: The Supreme Satisfaction Uploaded from London, UK There is only one way to be happy. That way is simply to be Krishna conscious. Nothing more. Nothing less. Krishna consciousness does not require to be enhanced or upgraded. Simple pure Krishna conscious is the supreme satisfaction. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Sri Sri Radha Londonisvara--The Deities of London http://www.backtohome.com/images/Krishna/Radha-Londonisvara.JPG Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Krishna Used Past Life Regression? Did Krishna use past life regression therapy techniques when He spoke the Bhagavad-gita? P.G. Answer: He Automatically Knows Everything Krishna does not require to utilize any so-called past life regression techniques to see the past. Since time is simply one of His multifarious energies, He automatically has perfect knowledge of everything: past, present, and future. 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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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana

27/05/2011

"Seeing the attractive form of Lord Visvambhara, Lord Nityananda breathed heavily. Sometimes he would laugh loudly and sometimes He clapped His hands, and sometimes He jumped forcefully..."

(Sri Nityananda Caritamrita, Madhya Lila, Chp 2)

Here is the darsana of the Those blissful Lords who are eternally present by each others' sides.

 
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Japa Group: My Day's Realisation About Chanting


Here is my day's realisation about chanting - whatever situation we find ourselves in, whether that is dangerous or difficult (also when things are going well and smoothly) - we need to always chant the Holy names of Krsna and surrender to Him and think about Him in all these times.


How do we think of Krsna in very materially stressful or intense times? By chanting His Holy names and asking the Lord to help us and asking the Lord to allow us to remember Him in these times (and also in the very good times when there is no stress).

Today was a very difficult day - my phone needed repairing but instead of fixing it, the repairman swapped faulty internal parts to make it worst and changed the brand new battery for an old and useless one. When I confronted him with the facts he denied everything and wanted to charge me even more. Instead of getting angry and upset, I just relaxed inside and firmly told him to fix the phone properly but he refused.

After praying inside for the Lord to help and asking Krsna to allow me to remember Him in these intense hardships - the man must have realised his bad way and refunded all the money, including the money for the battery.

It taught me once again, that we need to avoid the lower modes of nature in these times and simply chant the Hare Krsna mantra always then we will be truly happy - when we chant very good Japa in the morning, the Lord will give us this rememberance.

Hare Krsna!

 
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16 Rounds to Samadhi Magazine, LA, USA: Weight Loss: A Fool’s Objective

Why is everyone trying to lose weight? Flip on the television and watch the endless slew of infomercials glorifying diet pills, exercise equipment, and surgery to peel bacon off the backs of Americans. After all, why not? We’ve gotto be the fattest country in the world, between the processed, toxic, nutrient-poor, fast foods we inhale compounded by a sedentary lifestyle.  Our dietary choices almost guarantee that we will end up with some chronic disease like diabetes or the top two killers annually, cancer and heart disease. “Do more exercise,” is the popular mantra of our government and medical community and count calories. A slew up misinformation preys on our ignorance. Don’t eat those nasty carbs! Fat Free! Low Fat! Calorie Free! These all fail because they ignore the sad truth: most of what we eat isn’t really food. What? You mean, Gogurt, Potato Chips, Frosted Flakes aren’t food? Look at ingredients; do you even know what you’re eating? Well it must be safe if everyone does it, Right? The fact is that most Americans have 5th grade understanding of nutrition and only 6% of medical doctors have any training in regards to the effect of food on the body, according to the documentary Food Matters (2008).

Nutritious organic foods are the simple solution to both the American health and Fat Crisis. Could it really be that simple? If we all ate fresh organically grown foods instead of chemically processed foods “we just might have an epidemic of health,” says Dr. Andrew Saul a nutritional specialist in natural healing and assistant editor to the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. The Hippocratic Oath medical doctors take pledges them to, “Do no harm,” but ignores the second part the father of medicine said; “Let your food be thy medicine.” The foundation of keeping healthy is in to eat healthy. This is where the medical profession and consequently this country have lost their way.

As I mentioned before, most American has a child’s understanding of nutrition and its importance for leading a healthy life. We’d rather enjoy our deep fried ice-cream and soda and reap the whirlwind later in life. Never have human beings been this fat, unhealthy and not six feet under.  All this stressing on losing weight has clearly failed in its effect because we are not solving the real issue. Obscenity and horrific chronic diseases like cancer are directly related to the daily ingestion of processed, inorganic foods. According to the Gerson Therapy, disease is caused by Toxicity and Deficiency. If you eat food lased with chemical additives that are toxic to your body combined with foods inadequate in their vitamins, minerals and nutrient content, your body is stripped of its ability to protect itself against disease. Dr. Dan Rogers a medical doctor who implements the principles of Gerson protocol likens the human body to a building. “How do you expect your building to last for 100 years if you build it with garbage?”

Because our government and medical community has failed us miserably in their duty to protect us from hazardous food substances, either due to ignorance or the Pharmaceutical and Medical Industries’ thirst for your patronage, the responsibility of being healthy falls to you.  Abandon the misbegotten objective of weight loss and instead strive to be healthy. Take this from a man who was 290 lbs at 17 and has battled weight up until recently. The easiest way to apply this to your life is to only eat organic foods. You can find quality foods at your local farmers market. I’ve found the Gerson Therapy works best for me. Although it has been proven to rapidly cure most diseases known to mankind especially cancer, and has an outstanding success record astronomically higher than radiation and chemo therapy, it also functions as a powerful platform to lead a healthy life. Read, Healing: The Gerson Way by Charlotte Gerson with Beata Bishop 2010, a masterpiece that if applied will, in my words, guarantees boundless happiness, health and well being. Get a real nutritional education by watching eye-openers like The Gerson Miracle (2004), Food Matters (2008), Food, Inc (2008), and Killer at Large (2008). All these movies can be streamed on Netflix account. You will find the truth about the American Health Crisis, and a simple pathway to healthy lifestyle. It’s your life, make spectacular.

What do you think? Comment or contact me through www.peterbrinkmann.com

 
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Mayapuris, USA: East Coast Tour! June 2011!

We are headed up the East Coast next week! We will be making stops all along the way in June and part of July - from South Carolina to Maine! If we are in your neck of the woods, please come out…we would love to see you!

June 2nd: Yogi Veda in Bluffton, SC

June 4-5: Panihati Festival in Atlanta, GA

June 6th: West Asheville Yoga in Asheville, NC

June 8th: Yoga Garden in Apex, NC

June 10th: Pure Yoga in New York, NY

June 11th: Festival of India in New York, NY

June 15th: India Cultural Center in Vestal, NY

June 16th: Workshop and Kirtan at CNY Yoga Center in Syracuse, NY

June 17th: Sadhana Center for Yoga and Meditation in Hudson, NY

June 18th: Boston Chant Fest

June 19th: Bhava Yoga School in Portland, ME

June 24-25th: Wanderlust Festival in Bondville, VT

June 28th: Yogamaya One Year Anniversary Party in New York, NY

And More!

 
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16 Rounds to Samadhi Magazine, LA, USA: Osama Bin Laden Wins War on Terror

“OMG! WE GOT THE BASTARD! USA! USA! USA!”

Ladies and Gentlemen we got him! Osama bin Laden is dead! USA! USA! USA! But being the stinker that I am, I feel a strange empty buyer’s remorse in my pocket. Flag waving aside; let’s add some critical perspective to this drama. Did we win? Because it really doesn’t feel like a victory. According to the 2008 article in Time Magazine The $1 Trillion Bill for Bush’s War on Terror if we withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan by 2018 we’ll have spent between $1.3-1.7 of tax payer dollars. Let’s do a little cost benefit analysis of the War on Terror.

If you want to believe Osama Bin Laden planned 9/11 and spent a couple hundred thousand dollars to load planes with Jihadists and demolish the twin towers, you’ve gotta marvel at his astronomical return on investment. One “evil-genius,” scraps together less than 1 million dollars, cheaper than the cost of sending a soldier to Afghanistan for a year, and kills three thousand American civilians and we spend over a trillion and counting. WOW! Those corporate criminals down on Wall Street could learn a thing or two on how to get more bang for your buck from this guy. Oh yes! Bush and Dick had a Black Friday spending spree using our nation’s Chinese credit card to give diamond-encrusted blowjobs to defense contractors like Halliburton and Black Water.  Equally astonishing is this caveman eluded the most expensive, sophisticated military in the history of the world for a decade. We should have at least interrogated him on how he got away with it for so long and make it into Harvard business school lecture, titled How to Bleed a Super Power’s Economy pushing them Closer to Collapse.

Why are we really in Iraq and Afghanistan? Is it really because we care about Democracy and want to save poor countries thousands of miles away from the ravages of terrorism? Well if we gave a shit about people suffering from terror, we’d send troops to Juarez Mexico, where the police and civilians alike live in constant fear of getting executed on camera, or getting their heads cut off and hung naked from traffic lights, by the cartels that make millions supplying  “illegal” drugs to America. Well then its gotta be the oil. According to the CIA World Factbook the U.S consumes about 20 million barrels per day, multiplied 365 times  equals 7.3 billion barrels annually. God damn we’re thirsty. Iraq has about 112 billion barrels according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Let’s crunch some basic math:  112/7.3 = 15. 3 years. So if things remain constant, and this information isn’t exaggerated to keep us from demanding efficient sustainable alternatives, our Muslim colony should keep us quenched for the next 15 years.  Great, that gives us a fix to procrastinate the inevitable peak oil crisis, dig ourselves deeper into a financial hole, and explain to our children how we gambled their future on a War that exclusively fed oil and defense giants, under the false banner of  national security. USA! USA! USA! We are currently $14.3 trillion in debt with each of the estimated 310 million people owing $46,174.25.

So on May 2 2011, if you raised a beer to the television, triumphantly rallied at the White House, or cathartically sobbed tears of joy at ground zero chanting USA! USA! Just remember who actually won the War On Terror. Open your empty wallets, take a long hard look at your maxed out credit cards, and then look in the mirror and tell yourself it was worth it. Yes, Osama Bin Laden is laughing down us from heaven surrounded by his 72 virgins, or up at us from hell where he burns for all eternity depending on which religious fantasy you subscribe, all the while waiting for his enablers Bush and Cheney.

Let me know your thoughts. or contact me through  www.peterbrinkmann.com

 
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Giridhari das, Brasilia, Brazil: Initiations and Nrsimhadeva Festival with Chandramukha Swami in Pandavas Paradise

Chandramukha Swami returned to Pandavas Paradise to celebrate with us the appearance day of Sri Nrsimhadeva and perform initiations. Our retreat was from the 13-15th of May, with the festival for the initiations and Nrsimhadeva happening on Saturday the 14th. We had a full house with 22 guests spending the weekend here, mostly congregation members from Brasilia (capital of Brazil, some 250km from us), plus nearly 60 locals from Alto Paraíso (the small town nearest to the farm) coming for the festival.

We had our morning aratiks and japa sessions, with beautiful sunrises. A group of 7 people had their first experience of japa meditation.

Chandramukha Maharaja arrived full of energy and enthusiasm. He’s well known for his easygoing style, making our philosophy easily comprehensible to any and all.

 On Saturday morning we went on a hike to one of our waterfalls. Maharaja stayed in his room working and resting.

The major focus of the retreat was the Nrsimhadeva Festival on Saturday night. We started with an hour-long kirtan to “warm up” the guests who were arriving from Alto Paraíso.

After the kirtan, Chandramukha Maharaja spoke at length about various aspects of Krishna consciousness and the vows followed by initiated devotees.


Then it was the turn for Roseleile (Bn. Rukmini) from Brasilia to make her vows and get initiated! She received the spiritual name Rasa-lila Devi Dasi. Rasa-lila is an intelligent retired Ministry of Education worker and journalist. She brought family members from far away to witness her initiation, including her daughter and granddaughter!


Taking advantage of the event, two disciples of Srila Hridayananda Das Goswami Acharyadeva received 2nd initiation: Raghu-vira Das from Brasilia and Rasanandi Devi Dasi from Rio de Janeiro.  Chandramukha Swami is a disciple of Srila Acharyadeva.

Then began the agni-hotra (fire sacrifice) to consecrate the initiations and the festival.

Maharaja ended the agni-hotra and immediately started an ecstatic kirtan! Driven by the enthusiasm of the crowd, Maharaja couldn’t be stopped! We had to begin serving the prasad outside the temple, while the kirtan was still rolling to make sure no one walked away without prasad.

The delicious prasad for the retreat and the festival was prepared by Carana Renu and was greatly appreciated by all.

Bk. Raphael from Brasília commented: “Saturday was one of the most amazing days of my life.”

Others talked about how much they loved the weekend, the festival, the prasad, the association of the devotees, etc. It was a very inspiring and blissful weekend.

See more photos of the retreat here!


 
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Subhavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: Mr. Adventure ~ Mitra Prabhu shares Shyamasundar's Gems

Every so often we get an email full of nectar from Mitra Prabhu at Prabhupada Village. The latest email had some wonderful memories from Shyamasundara Prabhu, a pioneer within ISKCON who rendered so much service to Srila Prabhupada.

It is one thing to have heard pieces of these stories and another thing to hear it straight from Prabhu's mouth.

Mita Prabhu graciously provided an audio recording of the lecture which is full of this  nectar.  So we asked Mitra Prabhu to share this nectar with all of you so as many devotees as possible can relish these early pastimes with Srila Prabhupada!

(The audio recording is below the brief write up).
Also, given Prabhu's name it is very nice to have Shyamasundara Prabhu's recollections on
www.RadhaShyamasundar.com :-) 

All glories to Srila Prabhupada and his devotees.
Picture
Shyamasundar Prabhu with Shivananda Prabhu and his wife Madan Mohan Mahini Mataji in Prabhupada Village
Mr. Adventure !

Our little village was visited by a devotee named Shyamasundar two weeks ago.
He was instrumental in pioneering the Hare Krishna movement in San Francisco 1967, Europe 1969, India and Africa. He traveled extensively with Srila Prabhupada to many other countries.
Fortunately,  we were able to record his captivating presentation.
A link is provided below.
Here are a few highlights from his talk;
 
-The “Mantra Rock Dance” in San Francisco 1967. “We didn’t think it would be possible to get all these top name groups to perform as a charity for the Radha Krishna Temple. It was worth a try.”  Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and Moby Grape all played for the minimum wage of $250 per band. As Srila Prabhupad  led the crowd in a kirtan of  Hare Krishna Mantra the groups tastefully joined in with their instruments.

-When we met Srila Prabhupada, we thought, 'Here is Mr. Adventure!". Shyamasundar felt that anything he would attempt to do for Prabhupad would be successful. There were no limits.

-“After the Mantra Rock adventure, we were looking for something even more far out. We considered going to England to meet the Beatles. “  Shyamasundar with his wife Malati and two other couples soon left for England after training under Srila Prabhupada.

Within a few months they had become friends with George Harrison and made a recording of the Hare Krishna Chant on the Beatles record label.

When Prabhupada came to England he given a VIP reception at the airport, then chauffeured in John Lennon’s Rolls Royce to John's estate in the country. Their fast selling record had been released only a couple weeks before . They were treated as celebrities on par with the Beatles after enduring months of hardship and poverty.

-A year later, Prabhupada was discussing his itinerary,”Shyamasundar, we have invitations to NY, LA, England and Nairobi, what is your opinion?”

“Well SP, you haven’t been to Africa yet…”

“I was thinking the same thing”, and off they went, to initiate the first public kirtan in Nairobi.

-In 1971 an interview with a Russian Professor was arranged. Somehow Shyamasundar was able to accompany Prabhupada across the ‘Iron Curtain” into Russia.

This was practically impossible for a US citizen at that time. He smuggled a tape recorder under his dhoti to capture the interview.

While wandering the streets of Moscow, searching for food to bring back to the hotel room, (the shelves of stores were mostly empty, even in June, the growing season), he was approached by some Russian youth, “Do you have Beatles Music or blue jeans?”

These “illegal” items were highly sought after in Russia.

“No, I dress like this “, pointing to his dhoti. “But I am friends with George Harrison, and his guru is here in Moscow. Would you like to meet him?”

For the 2 remaining days of their stay, Prabhupada taught Anatoli as much as he could absorb. Shayamasundar gave him his personal copy of BG.

Anatoli made several thousand copies of that book, giving them to friends, launching an underground revolution in his country.

Attached is a photo of Shyamasundar with our local hero, Shivananda. At age 19, Shivananda singlehandedly started a temple in Germany one year before Shyamasundar's team arrived in London.

This was their first time meeting face to face, 42 years later. (Photo-left to right- Shyamasundar, Shivananda and his wife Madan Mohan Mohini)

There are still many more adventures to be had in this world. The key is to find 'Mr. (or Mrs.) Adventure' and assist them in any way possible. By this service, you will be inspired to create your own adventure in a quest to improve the world situation.

Mitra

Listen below:

Picture
Thanks for sharing the nectar. A face to the name. Mitra Prabhu. Obviously on the left :-)
 
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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: BHAGAVAD GITA – THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS BOOK



Ljubljana, Slovenia

Here I would like to show you how Bhagavad Gita can help you attain success in all important areas of your life.

LION

I will start with a little story about a lion - the king of a jungle. Once a lion was walking in the forest and he came across a monkey.

He asked the monkey, “Monkey, who is the king of the jungle?”

The monkey said, “You are sir.”

“That’s right - and you never forget it!” Then he continued, and came across the snake.

“Snake! Who is the king of the jungle?!”

“You are sir.”

“That’s right - and you never forget it!”

Then he came across the elephant, “Elephant, who is the king of the jungle?” - and the elephant just walked by.

The lion got upset. “Elephant, who is the king of the jungle?!”

Elephant just ignored him. And then third time when he asked, the lion got so angry that he actually bit the elephant, and the elephant got angry himself, and took him with his trunk and smashed him several times and threw him against the trunk of a tree.

Then the lion said, “Wait, wait! You don't have to get so angry with me just because you don't know the right answer.”

The moral of the story is that there is always someone higher than me.

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

When you look at your life, what would you consider a success? What is success?

Do you want to be successful on the path devotional service, in spiritual life? Is this the only thing you want to be successful in? Or is there something else? Would like to have a financial success?
Think about it.

Although we are practicing spiritual life we need money to survive. And money, if not misused, is not bad. That's also one area in which you need to be successful in order to function.

Of course if you want to take to spiritual life you don't need so much money and even if you are poor you can practice spiritual life successfully and effectively. But one reason why we need more money is also because we want to spread Krishna consciousness. We want to print more books, we want to open more centres and in that way facilitate people's spiritual life.

So some people want to be successful in relationships, some people want all these areas. I would say success for us is being successful in all these areas. Being successful in relationships with other people, being successful financially, and being healthy. If you neglect one of these areas, it affects other areas. There has to be a balance. This is a big thing now in the professional/business world: work-life balance.

You are working 12 hours a day, you come home very much irritated. Your wife/husband says something and there is a clash. Then you suffer mentally or emotionally; you get a heart attack. So there must be a balance. And for a balance there must be knowledge how to balance, there must be determination to do it and patience. One needs so many things in order to have this balance.

THE BHAGAVAD GITA

The Bhagavad Gita transformed my life and the lives of hundreds of people I know all over the world, my friends and acquaintances. In order to benefit from this book and what is in it, we at least have to give it a chance and be a little open. Of course most of you are devotees, most of you are practising very seriously and you are open but are you getting the most out of this book?

Some of you have seen small books in a market. Nowadays they try to make it very practical, very short, because people do not have so much time to read. They also give you instructions how to get the most out of the book. We should also have a leaflet and give people instructions about how to get the most out of the Bhagavad Gita.

This could inspire them to you it for their own benefit. In order to benefit from this book we first have to be open to it. You may say, “Well I already read it,” but are you really open? So how many of you are ready to be open to the Bhagavad Gita?

This book deals with very important questions in our life. What are the important questions in your life? What would you say?

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

"How can I be happy by giving a contribution? How can I be happy by giving?"

That's nice.

What other questions are important to you?

We could say that for every one of us, the question that is important is: how can I get what I want? If we get more specific then you can say how can I get this, how can I get that? But that is a very important question to ask.

In order to be able to ask this question, you have to ask yourself another question first.

What is the question before the question "how can I get what I want"?

"What do I want?"

That's a great question in our lives! What is it that I really want? If you clarify what you want then there is a probability or likelihood that you will start working on it and maybe ultimately get it.

How many of you know what you want in life? What is it that you want the most? What is it that you want in general, what is it that you want long-term, what is it that you want short-term?

The beginning of success is to decide what you want.

HOW TO BENEFIT FROM THE BHAGAVAD GITA

Do you want to benefit from this book? Do you want to learn what is in it? Do you want to use it? It is up to you.

If you do not want it, even if you read it, it will not help you. There are two people sitting in the audience listening to maybe some inspirational class who are very wise, who have a very nice wisdom and they react differently to it. One person takes the principles and tools that he or she learns and makes a huge success of his or her life and another does nothing, does not use it. So you can decide in which category you want to be in. Do you want to use things that are given to you for your success or you want to remain indifferent? It is up to you. This book is not very useful if you do not use it.

Sometimes I send free e-books to people. If you want me to send you a free e-book, I have very good books with very good principles. You just e-mail me. But if send you the Gita, you will get a note from me that says: “This book is useless if you do not read it!”

Morever, this book is even more useless if you do not use it, if you do not apply it. And this is where we need assistance: how to apply the principles of the Gita. So that is why we need the help of devotees. They help us to apply the Bhagavad Gita in our lives.

ATTITUDE

Do you know what are the three most dangerous words in English?

"I know everything."

Yes! Fantastic! "I know everything" or "I know that".

You come to a class and somebody like me is giving a boring class and you are saying, “Yeah Yeah I've heard this already and I know that we are not this body and when is prasadam …”

If you think "I know that"’, you will never learn anything.

Just a few hours ago a devotee came to our center and we asked him, “Why you are coming here?” and he said, “I came here to learn something.”

So if we think "I know that," we will never learn anything. Better attitude is, "I have no idea, I do not know anything." The most knowledgeable and the wisest people of this planet will say that they know very little.

Now, how will you know if you know something? Practically. What will be the proof that you know something?

You know something only if you live it. Not only if you say it, or if you have heard it, or if you agree with it, or if you believe it.

So if we know the Bhagavad Gita but we do not live it, then we do not know it! And the worst thing of all is that we do not benefit from it. That is the worst thing.

It takes a lot of repetition to learn things. Some people learn more quickly than others but we need to be very patient in repeating things and repeating the activities, until it becomes unconscious competence - where you do things perfectly and automatically.

So for this one requires a lot of practice. If you learn a principle from here, try to apply it, then you have a practice. As it is said, practice makes perfect. We attempt to become good at something and then we give up after a few attempts. Some people give up after one attempt, some people even before they have attempted they say, “I can't do it.”

HOW SOON YOU GIVE UP?

So how will they be successful if they give up even before they have tried? Have you had an experience of giving up even before you have even tried?

Let us say I ask some of you, “Tomorrow you are going to give a lecture in public at Dublin University.” What would you say about Krishna?

I can imagine some would say - no way! Why? You think you cannot do it?

“Maybe I can do it but my English is not so perfect, if they ask me some provocative questions my face will go red so I can't do it.”

So they did not even try, they did not even give themselves a chance to try. So similarly if I say can you chant one round a day and you say, “I can't do it.” Immediately giving up. So these are the principles of failure. Opposite of this is success: when you are ready to try.

I teach people, “You come to me and tell me that something does not work, only when you have tried it 108 times first.” and they say, “Wow, I never thought like this.”

Do you know about Edison and his attempts to try to invent the light bulb?

Before Edison invented the right one he discovered 10,000 ways that did not work. When he was on the 5,000 attempt a journalist interviewed him and said, “Mr Edison why are you wasting time, you are wasting people’s time and national resources?” And he said “Young man, you do not understand how things work. I have not failed 5,000 times, I have just discovered 5,000 ways that do not work and I am going to succeed.” And he succeeded. That is called persistence.

So if you are maybe not too successful in your spiritual life, do not give up. Do not give up. Just keep on trying. There is a famous saying, "If at first you do not succeed try again."

That is the common one but I have another one: if at first you do not succeed, ask yourself why. That can help because you can find the causes for not succeeding. Not just like a bull trying to go through the wall! “Okay I will be persistent like anything.” Be more intelligent about the way you are going about being persistent.

When your mind tells you "I know that," you can tell your mind, “Thank you for sharing,” and then you move on to learn something. Be open to learning. This is the principle of success.

HIGH CHARACTER

I wanted to teach you some more principles and elements of success. As they say there are inner laws of success and they are described in the Bhagavad Gita. One of these laws is that it is not enough to be in the right place at the right time, you also have to be the right person, to be in the right place at the right time, in order to be successful. So this means that one has to have the right character, the right attitude. That is described in the Bhagavad Gita.

Am I doing what successful people do? Successful people are self-disciplined and unsuccessful people are not self-disciplined. They say, “Well I would also like to be rich,”

But are you ready to do what this rich person does?

“Well, I don't know, it's too hard.”

How many of you want to be successful? (Many would say "I".)

Now the difficult question comes: how many of you are ready to pay the price for success?

Many people want to be successful but they are not ready to pay the price for success. So in order to start our road to success, helped with the Bhagavad Gita, we have to ask ourselves some basic questions.

Who are you? What are your beliefs? What are your values? What do you stand for? What are you ready to die for? What are you ready to sacrifice for? Are you ready to act in spite of fear? Are you ready to act in spite of doubt? Are you ready act in spite of anxiety or worry? Are you ready to persist?

If we analyse the lives of those who are successful whether spiritually or materially, we can see that there are some character traits that they have. They are very determined, they are usually moral people, they like to give, they like to help others. These are universal laws of success also given in the Bhagavad Gita. If we follow in the footsteps of those who are successful, we can become successful and it is up to us, it is our choice if we want to do it.

How many of you believe that your inner character will make a big difference in your life and bring you to success?

Bhagavad Gita helps us develop our character. Prabhupada was always proudly speaking about what we are doing for society - we are actually training people of high character. He would always say: they do not eat meat, they do not take intoxication, they do not gamble, they do not have illicit sex. These are the basic principles for a good character and human life but there are other things also.

Study of the Gita is not meant for the recreation of armchair speculators, but for the formation of character.

If you want your life to get better, YOU have to get better. You cannot remain the same or continue doing the same things and expect different results. That is just the law of nature or law of God.

So Bhagavad Gita is giving us very basic principles about how we should develop ourselves, how we should grow. Without growing our life will not be very productive.

ROOTS AND FRUITS

Now just imagine, you have a tree here and there are different fruits. Here is a trunk, branches and roots. So usually when people look at a tree what do they look at?

Fruits. Like nice apples, bananas, guavas. In order to get these fruits what do you have to do with the tree? Water the roots.

So this is what is in the Bhagavad Gita: how to water the roots and ensure you get fruits. But if you do not water the roots there will be no fruits. This is just the law of nature. This is what Bhagavad Gita is teaching us: how to create conditions for your success. And there is a law that if you know it and if you follow it, there will be no failure, you cannot fail.

So this is a very important principle to understand, that if I want to be successful in any area, I have to learn how to do it. Sometimes people come to me and say they want to achieve something. I say do you know how to do it? No.

So what is the next natural question? How to do it! But even before this, the question is: are you willing to learn?

You can learn almost anything if you decide to, how to do things and how to achieve success but are you willing to learn? Are you willing to learn how to become a first-class devotee? Are you willing to learn how to become a successful businessman?

In London we had a meeting amongst our temple leaders, they are mainly managers and our president was teaching us principles of success. He says he was studying turnaround experts. When you come to a company that is in crisis and you analyse what is wrong and how to turn round the whole financial crisis, the common thing they notice is that somewhere at the top there is conflict. There are strained relationships and it shows up in lack of profits. It is a practical consequence.

If you want to have a good relationship with other people, communicate with them, do not avoid them. How can you have a good relationship by not communicating? It is impossible. By not communicating that you care about people, that you value their opinion, you cannot develop a good relationship.

Successful paople do certain things that unsuccessful people do not do. Look at devotees: who is a successful devotee for you and what do they do? You can learn from them.

If you look at the tree, the roots are actually below the ground level, you do not see them. So many people are unsuccessful because they are unconscious. They just deal with what they see. But they do not deal with what is unseen. For example you cannot always see motives of people. Like somebody has a hidden agenda or hidden motives, only later on it becomes obvious that they had a very dubious motive.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

If somebody is curious: what will actually make them successful, what will be the cause of the good effect that I want? We live in a world of cause and effect. Action and reaction. Law of karma. So what are the things that will be the causes of good results? There is a law behind it.

We may say that my life is a product of luck, or of of destiny. That is not true. You mainly can create your own life. You can influence your destiny. To some extent it is true but you can affect it positively. Like if you started to chant Hare Krishna, your karma decreases. Large parts are wiped out. Everybody would like this, especially if the karma is bad.

What are the unseen forces, unseen laws, unseen causes of the visible, tangible effects? That is also explained in the Bhagavad Gita. What are these rules that will bring these wonderful fruits? Would like to have a financial success? In the physical world we see something manifested but what is behind it?

EGG

imagine there is a newspaper article, which says, "A great breakthrough – the chicken has come out of the egg." It has broken out of the shell and it is so amazing. And someone might think it is wonderful, but what happened before that, you tell me? What happened before the chicken has come out of the egg?

There is one thing that we know. That the chicken really endeavours to get out of the egg. You see only the end result that this is so wonderful, but there was hard work before that. Similarly, there is one very famous teacher who analysed the best companies in the world but you would be shocked that these companies are not so famous. He analysed their success over the period of thirty years and they are still successful, like Gillette. They measured profits, turnover. They analysed how they have become successful and they said that they have become successful between the period 1960 and 1990. Over 30 years they are working extremely hard to build up this company, every part of this; the management and leadership.

The thing that we can learn from this is that success does not come overnight. One has to work over a period of time and one has to be patient also. The fruits we see in the physical world but the roots are actually in the spiritual area and the emotional area, what is in the mind.

WHERE THE SUCCESS STARTS?

In the London fitness club there is a sign on the wall which says, "The extra mile is between your ears." The way you think affects the results you have in your life. So if you change your thinking, if you change your consciousness, your life will change and your results will change.

One thing that unsuccessful people do is - they make excuses. So my question to you is: do you want to have excuses or results in your life?

You can become expert in making excuses. Maybe you are already an expert. What are your top ten excuses or top one excuse for why you are not the best you can be, or why you are not achieving better results?

"I do not have enough time."

Nice, that is a classic one.

"It is too hard."

"I am not good enough."

"My parents were very incompetent so the genes and environment is not conducive to my growth."

So many things you can say, but if you think deeply, you can see that all these are actually excuses.

What else do unsuccessful people do? They blame others.

Are you good in blaming others?

Another one is justification. Are you good in justifying your own imperfections?

So Bhagavad Gita is teaching us to stop making excuses, stop blaming others and take full responsibility for our lives.

THREE MAGIC WORDS

Three magic words, three secret words for success are: I am responsible.

Who is actually responsible for our conflict? I am responsible. Maybe you are also responsible because you are responsible person but for anything that happens to us, we are responsible. That is according to the laws of nature. We do not get what we do not deserve, according to the Bhagavad Gita.

So once you do this, your road to success starts. As long as you are blaming others and justifying, Blaming your grandparents, your parents, politicians, leaders, teachers, saying that they are wrong and self-centred, you obstruct your own success and happiness.

We can blame the whole universe because it does not make us happy. "Why is everyone not dedicated to making me happy?" That is the question some pople ask. "Why are you people not dedicated to making me happy? Why are you not worshipping me? Why are you not offering the fire and water and incense? Why?"

If one is thinking like this, by default, by the law of nature, one cannot succeed. So if you change the way you think and see things, then there is the likelihood of becoming successful and changing your life.

Do you believe that? Try to see things according to higher knowledge.

YOU ARE NOT THE MIND

Do you know that you can affect the way you think, feel and will and desire - consciously? It is very difficult to accept that. "I do not want to think nonsense but it just comes." Where is it coming from? From the mind.

Well, I can see the thought. Who is it that is seeing these thoughts? Just now I am thinking, "I would like to eat five kilos of prasadam." My mind is saying this but my stomach is saying no, you are torturing me, I cannot digest this much prasadam. So I am well aware of this dialogue going on.

More food, five kilos, my stomach is saying no. So who is observing this? Who is seeing this?

Or how do I feel at the moment? I feel a bit let down by all of you because somehow I am trying to get you very much fired up but you are very quiet!

The problem is that we identify with the mind? We think that we are the mind. But actually we are not, we are spirit soul.

A "CHICKEN"

A little story. Once there was a chicken farmer who was also a very a very passionate mountain climber. One day he was climbing the mountain and he came across a nest with three large eggs and the eggs were beautiful, so he was thinking: shall I take one?

He had a henhouse and he was thinking that maybe I can put it there and the chicken can hatch it. But he knew it is illegal, it is unethical and it is not ecological. He was in doubt whether he should do it or not but still he did it. Put in the bag, climbed up to the top and when he came back down to the village he put it in his henhouse.

The chicken enthusiastically laid on it and after some time a creature came out and the chicken was very proud because it was different from other chicken. And this little creature looked at the other chicken and started living with them and identifying with these chicken, thinking that he is a chicken. It was doing what other chickens do, pecking around a courtyard, sometimes trying to fly a few metres like chickens do. They do not fly very much.

For many years this bird lived with the chicken, like a chicken, doing things like them. But one day this bird saw something in the sky and was so impressed, and asked the sister chicken, "What is this? It is so wonderful. It is like poetry in motion."

And the chicken said, "This is an eagle, it is the king of the sky, the king of the birds. And we are not part of his life. We are just meant to do what we are doing here. He can fly so elegantly and so high."

But something was touched in him at that moment. Why? Because he was not a chicken. He was an eagle. So he looked and he was thinking, oh okay, and he continued living for years like a chicken, doing what chickens do. And this eagle - he lived and died as a chicken because it is all he thought he was. A sad story.

So you tell me, what do you find in this story? Is there any message that you are getting?

"He did not try to find out his real identity."

"We develop desire and consciousness according to the association we get."

"He based his life on the false belief that he is a chicken."

"You do not get what you expect and if you identify with a set of restrictions then you will not be able to surpass them."

So it's our choice. If we want to remain where we are, if we are happy with what we have, we can continue as we do. But if we want to soar we can do that to, by learning and applying the timeless success principles given in the Gita.

This book gives even deeper success principles than you can find in other books, because this book is spiritual. So if you use these principles, and get assistance on how to apply them from devotees, then you will highly increase the likelihood of your success.

The opportunity is available so please take it and be happy.

 
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David Haslam, UK: Personal reply/thoughts on posting by HH Mahavishnu swami

Hare Krishna Please Accept My Humble Obeisances All Glories to Srila Prabhupada Dear Mahavishnu Swami, Since you have been somewhat concerned about the future of ISKCON in Africa and written about the situation there I felt that may be there has been a small opportunity missed, taking in the wider ISKCON community, expansion of Srila [...]

 
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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): 322–Poem for May 26

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4:46 A.M.

A Writer of Pieces

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

Poem for May 26th

I had trouble keeping
my eyes open but plowed
ahead chanting japa quickly
and watching the clock and the count.
It was not the best but it was
dispatched alertly and enunciated.

Yesterday at lunch we had
Dhanurdhara Swami and Kaulini Mataji
and a Mexican tortilla meal.
Dhanurdhara told of a six hour course
on bhakti he taught intellectually
but then outright preaching Krishna
for three hours, then they did
prayerful reading from
Beyond Birth
and Death,
and freewriting and
broke into groups and discussed it.
He gave out prasadam from the
Doughnut Plant. Kaulini has
been attending the baseball games
where eight-year old Laksman performs
well at first base and pitching and
batting and Saci-suta umpires and
coaches. She also watched the
website of Sivarama Swami where
he did a mass initiation at New
Vraja Dham. It is beautiful
there and everyone is in the
same mindset following their
guru maharaja.

Now Narayana is in the house.
Arrived late last night after a
long day of travel. I look
forward to seeing him when he
gets up. It was warm yesterday
on our walk over the freshly-
mown grass. Keli and Saci
came in and out of the house
but didn’t say hello to us. They
were too busy in their
own affairs.

I want to write as in
my prayers to my dear
Lord Krishna when I addressed
Him as ‘You’ and asked
to come close in words.
Please let me be with
You by speaking to You
my mind, I want to
feel Your presence
and intimacy by speaking
sincerely in a
break-through way.

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

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From Niti-Sastras: Sayings of Canakya and Hitopadesa as Quoted by Srila Prabhupada


“Translation: Even persons who are born in a high family and who are endowed with youth and beauty do not appear splendid if they are devoid of knowledge, just as the beautiful flowers of the kimsuka tree are not very splendid if they are devoid of fragrance.


“Commentary:
There are frequent references in the Niti-sastra to the importance of learning. We may therefore ask, ‘What is meant by learning?’
Srila Prabhupada explained the distinction between culture and education to Dr. Patel and others on a morning walk in Bombay:

“Prabhupada: ‘Just like Canakya Pandit says, matravat para daresu. This is culture, to see every woman as mother . . . the modern meaning of education is rubbish, to learn A-B-C-D. This is not education. Without culture, what is the meaning of education?’

“Dr. Patel: ‘So culture is the background for all these things?’

“Prabhupada: ‘Yes, education is required to help culture. Not that you take degrees from university and remain a dog. That is not education. Education is as Canakya Pandit says, matravat para daresu . . . Here is a description of pandita: first of all, learn how to see other women as your mother. There the culture begins. And they, from the beginning of school and college life, are learning how to entice a girl. This is education.’

“A truly learned person is exemplary in his behavior. His knowledge is not merely academic. Even scholarship in the Vedic literature will not make one cultured unless one is actually following the tenets of brahminical culture, starting with sense control, cleanliness, austerity, religiousness and so on.

“Good qualities must be accompanied by transcendental knowledge acted out in one’s life. Lord Krishna exemplified this in His pastimes:

“‘Sri means beauty. He is so beautiful. Therefore His name is Krishna. On account of His beauty He attracts everyone. No one can be more beautiful than Krishna. Aisvaryasya yasasah sriyah and jnana. Not only He is beautiful . . . just like a flower, very beautiful to see, but if it has no good smell or aroma, it is useless. So Krishna is not only beautiful, but He is the most wise. He spoke Bhagavad-gita. Five thousand years ago He spoke. He spoke, and still big, big scholars, religionists, and philosophers are studying. That is called jnana.’ (Lecture in Nairobi, October 27, 1975)

“Prabhupada was aware that his Western devotees did not have any cultural training. He encouraged his leading GBC managers to go to India and learn culture. I remember hearing this and discussing it with a Godbrother at the time. We were both appreciative that there was something called ‘culture.’ What passes for culture in the West has more to do with art and music appreciation than with moral standards or etiquette. We realized that we hadn’t yet assimilated it. Despite our hard work, our distributing books and running temples, we hadn’t fully learned what Prabhupada (and Canakya) describe as culture.

Sometimes devotees wonder whether going to India to learn culture has any real value. They say that India is spiritually dead now and the Vedic culture is gone. Prabhupada responded to that by comparing India to an elephant. Even if the elephant is dead, its tusks and hide are still worth something. A spiritually dead India is still better than the West in terms of culture. Of course, we don’t become cultured by going to India and dealing with taxi-wallas. India is being overcome by the modes of nature and the influences of Kali-yuga. Sill, culture can be found in Vrndavana and in the way people behave, and in almost any Indian family where piety is important.

“We can also learn culture by reading and assimilating what Srila Prabhupada taught us. The Srimad Bhagavatam and other Vedic literatures are full of culture. By reading, we can learn about ksatriya codes and brahminical tolerance, and we can learn how to practice Vedic etiquette. We may sometimes appear to practice only the external trappings of Vedic culture, but real Vedic culture is Krishna consciousness and the process by which a heart is softened and improved and brought to the human standard. That is not external.

“Prabhupada defined culture as matravat para daresu—seeing every woman except one’s wife as mother. A cultured person also has other qualities. For example, a cultured person is nonviolent. Prabhupada appreciated that his disciples, seeing some ants on a table, didn’t kill them but carefully removed them. Prabhupada said, ‘Formerly, you would have killed them, now you are purified.’

“Another quality: cleanliness in every aspect of life—this has to be learned either through our upbringing or later when we join the Krishna consciousness movement. Worshiping the Deity is also culture. Deity worship is incomprehensible to the nondevotee. He sees it as idol worship, but it is a practice that cultures spirituality. It also cultures qualities such as physical and mental cleanliness, punctuality and selflessness. Honoring Vaisnavas is also a form of culture.  Honoring the guru is unknown in the West, but it is of great importance in Vaisnava life.

“When we examine the standard of ISKCON devotees, we will realize that we now take many of these cultural items for granted. By Prabhupada’s grace, we have assimilated many of these items. Being cultured means giving up sense gratification in favor of offering everything to Krishna.

“Another way we can learn culture is to examine Srila Prabhupada’s dealings with us. Everything Srila Prabhupada did was cultured, even down to how he drank water. Prabhupada was such an aristocrat and gentlemen. He honored elderly people even if they were nondevotees. He honored the devotees’ parents. He was respectful to people in high positions. He did not accept anything for himself but lived like a mendicant. He didn’t take advantage of being the guru of wealthy disciples. He was a cultured sannyasa mendicant, living under the care of his disciples. In return he gave them Krishna consciousness.

“The ultimate culture is transcendental knowledge and to remain immersed always in Krishna consciousness. Prabhupada encouraged the disciples to help people obtain this culture by using ‘cultural weapons’ as a means of conquest. In that sense, he meant art and literature and beautiful ways to present Krishna consciousness. He was even willing what passes for culture in the West and use it in Krishna’s service.

“Developing Vaisnava relationships is part of culture. We see examples of devotees apparently surpassing the rules of culture in books like Caitanya- caritamrta. These devotees are on the spontaneous stage of devotion. When Lord Caitanya’s devotees came to Jagannatha Puri, Maharaja Prataparudra observed them from the roof of the palace. He noticed that they didn’t shave their heads or go first to the temple. They didn’t fast, but they went straight to Lord Caitanya and took prasadam from His hand. Because the devotees appear to be breaking the etiquette for visiting a holy place, Gopinatha Acarya explained to the king that these devotees were on the spontaneous platform. When the Lord is giving them prasadam directly from His own hands, who would hesitate in favor of the rules?

“This doesn’t mean, however, that these devotees did not practice culture. They observed the proper etiquette towards women and related among themselves according to their status as seniors or juniors or peers. They were all pakka devotees, even if they could abandon the rules and regulations and act in spontaneous love for Lord Caitanya. Jagadananda Pandita is an example of this. He had taken a vow to remain a ksetra sannyasi, and to always stay in one place. When Lord Caitanya left Puri, Jagadananda broke his vow and followed the Lord. Lord Caitanya expressed His disappointment that, ‘out of sense gratification to live with Me,’ Jagadananda had broken his vow. Jagadananda replied, ‘To hell with my vow.’

“No one can say that these devotees didn’t behave cultured, but there is the higher standard based on the fact that all culture is meant to direct us to love of God. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya was sitting in bed one morning when Lord Caitanya came and gave him prasadam. He had not yet washed his hands or chanted his morning mantras. Lord Caitanya was pleased to see him break the rules and honor the prasadam. This doesn’t mean that Sarvabhauma would always have breakfast in bed, but when the Lord knocks on the door, who will say, ‘Sorry, I haven’t washed my hands yet, come back later’?

“What about us simple devotees? We can learn to love Krishna with our simplicity. We may not know so many slokas, and we may not be so well-versed in the scriptures, but we can still know Krishna. Lord Caitanya sometimes played as if He was not a great scholar. When the proud Vallabha Acarya approached Him and asked Him to hear his list of Krishna’s names, Lord Caitanya said,

‘I do not accept many different meanings for the holy name of Krishna. I only know that Lord Krishna is Syamasundara and Yasoda-nandana. That’s all I know. The only purport of the holy name of Krishna is that He is dark blue like a tamala tree and is the son of Mother Yasoda. This is the conclusion of all the revealed scriptures. I conclusively know these two names, Syamasundara and Yasoda-nandana. I do not understand any other meanings, nor do I have the capacity to understand them.’

“Lord Caitanya’s names were full of rasa, and He indicated that this is all anyone needs to know—a few sweet names of Krishna, known with devotion. He also indicated that Vallabha Acarya was being proud of his knowledge.

“Real knowledge means to serve and love Krishna. If a simple devotee has actually captured that, then he is very dear to Krishna. Prabhupada recommended that his disciples read his books because in this age people are prone to argument and atheism. We should be knowledgeable enough to defeat them. He also said that if we couldn’t read his books, if we weren’t learned enough to understand the philosophy, we could simply chant Hare Krishna.

“A devotee can be simple, but he has to chant Hare Krishna. Otherwise he is not practicing Krishna consciousness. Even if we look around the world and find a pious nation, we can see that piety is easily overcome by Kali. Without piety, the people in such nations would be merely stupid; there’s nothing attractive about ignorant people. Rather, ignorance is dangerous. Simplicity, or lack of sophistication, has to be coupled with God-consciousness in order for it to be meaningful, and that is the meaning of establishing Vedic culture in the world.”

 
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Bhakta Ryan, Brisbane, AU: anata over nrsimhadeva

anata over nrsimhadeva by Jiva arts
anata over nrsimhadeva, a photo by Jiva arts on Flickr.

 
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Nitya Navina dd, New Jersey, USA: Nimai-NItai.

Little Nimai Nitai after a month's stay. Our Nitai Our Nimai Little Nimai-Nitai, when They came home. As I open the guest altar two smily faces affront me. The gleaming spring sun casts its rays through a parting in the window, this makes the already shiny faces glisten like the morning dew. Whenever i see the little Nimai-Nitai  deities as i call Them, visions of

 
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Book Distribution News: The Power of the Holy Names and Prabhupada's Books

Another day of sankirtan in Lisbon, Portugal's capital:

I was talking to a lady who was somewhat undecided about the books; she told me that she was already practicing yoga and didn't need the books because she already knew everything.

In the middle of the conversation, another lady came closer to us and exclaimed "Hare Krishna!!" with so much enthusiasm that she shocked both me and the lady I was talking to.

Looking at me with big eyes and a huge smile, she looked at the books and asked, "Are these books for sale?"

I still hadn't mentioned to the first lady that we ask for a contribution in exchange for each bookÑshe was undecided and had three book in her hands. I didn't want to miss any opportunities, so I told the fired-up lady, "Look, as I said to this lady, we're students of yoga . . . "

The enthusiastic lady interrupted me and said with her wallet in her hand: "I know that. Can I give you something?"

"Yes," I said, "everyone gives a donation."

"Great!" she exclaimed, and then she took two books, gave me a nice donation, and left (I thought).

When I turned back to the first lady, the yoga practitioner, she was waiting for me with lakshmi to take the three books she had in her hands. I think she was inspired by the enthusiastic lady. Enthusiasm rubs off.

When I finished with the yoga lady, I saw the enthusiastic lady's brother waiting for me, eager to take some books. Then I heard the enthusiastic lady chanting the maha-mantra to her brother and explaining it to him. She had been chanting for some months, it seems.

I went toward her and started talking, but she interrupted me again and began telling me the sad story of her daughter. "My daughter likes hard core music and is involved in witchcraft and many other bad things. I've tried to get her to chant Hare Krishna, because a long time ago I visited a Hare Krishna temple and since then the mantra has stayed with me. I constantly chant the mantra, and I wanted my daughter to chant to take away the bad things in her life and feel the happiness that I feel. But she says that the chanting is an invention and that I'm crazy to be singing it all the time."

A week later I ran into the daughter in downtown Lisbon. I offered her a book, but she had no money and said that she would therefore not be able to take the book. So I gave her an invitation to the temple, on which was printed the maha-mantra. When she read the mantra, she couldn't believe her eyes. She returned home and showed the invitation to her mother, who was very happy to hear what had happened. Later when the enthusiastic lady came to the temple, she said that she was grateful to me and that that day was the happiest day of her life because her daughter had found the maha-mantra.

She then asked me to tell her brother the story of Ganesha, because he was very interested in that story. I told a quick version, and in the end she said, looking over the books, "Give more books to my brother and for me also, because now that my daughter has found you, I'm sure she will read them and chant the maha-mantra. When she saw you a few days ago, she had an immense desire to have your books, but she had no money. So I'll get some for her also."

This was an amazing experienceÑto see that woman, even without contact with the devotees, develop such faith in the holy names of Krishna and Prabhupada's books. Her enthusiasm encouraged the yoga lady, who was not interested, to take books, as well as her brother and daughter.

We must have strong faith in the holy name. Everything is contained in the names of Krishna, and when we sing His names, we can always be happy and achieve everything we need. Krishna reveals Himself to those who sing His names and distribute knowledge about Him.

Your servant,

Kripalu Ramananda Das (JPS)

 
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ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Doors Open Toronto - This Weekend!

This weekend the Hare Krishna Centre is participating In Doors Open Toronto. Annually, 150 buildings of architectural, historic, cultural and social significance open their doors to the public for a city-wide celebration. While Toronto's Hare Krishna Temple is open, free of charge, to the public year-round, Doors Open presents an opportunity for the public to learn about the architectural and historical story of our amazing building!

Guided Tours will take place from 10am-5pm on Saturday May 28th and Sunday May 29th. Guided tours of the building highlight the architectural, historical and spiritual history of the building. There are also visual displays of media news clippings and interesting publications related to the building. free snacks, a book lounge and free refreshments are provided to the public!

Additionally, the regular Sunday programme (Sunday Feast) is open to the public 6:00-8:30pm, including a Free Vegetarian feast served at 7:30pm.

For more information, check out the Official Doors Open Toronto website.
 
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ISKCON Toronto, Canada: More Pictures from Victoria Day Harinama!

Long weekends in the summer are always a welcome opportunity for Toronto's Hare Krishna community to come together, put on our most beautiful and colourful outfits and hit the streets with drums, cymbals and enthusiastic voices! This past Monday, close to 30 spiritualists gathered to hit the streets for a grand "harinama" (outdoor chanting and dancing) and it was a huge success! Check out the photos!











 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1966 May 26: "Saptami: Today Paul showed his crazy mind but he was sorry later on for his breaking the keertan performaces in the morning service. Today I went to Dr. Mishra to dine with him."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1966

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1969 May 26: "I am sure our program will be very successful because you are all sincere workers. In our Krishna Consciousness Movement, anyone who has got full blessings and confidence of the bona fide Spiritual Master, and therefore Krishna, his success is sure."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1969 May 26: "We don't require anyone who is very musically talented. Here they have organized very nice kirtana party chanting thrice daily very, very nicely. So if you think you are all deficient, I can send you a tape recording of playing techniques and you may learn from this."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1972 May 26: "Now I want that my GBC representatives shall travel extensively without stopping, to give encouragement to the devotees in their zone and to see that the spiritual standard is maintained very high. Organize one traveling party and go all over your zone opening new centers wherever possible."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1974 may 26: "We must be very careful on recommending gayatri initiation. They do not have to be brahmana if they are not inclined to the brahminical standards. Now that we are more and more trying to implement the varnasrama divisions of society, we should not think that everyone has to become a brahmana."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1974 may 26: "Even though you experienced difficulty you are remaining pure in Krsna Consciousness and keeping faith in Krishna and the Spiritual Master. This faithfulness has pleased me very much."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1975 May 26: "There is no need for this type of poetry. There are so many poems written by our great acaryas. Why concoct something? It is not in our line. If you desire to write poetry, read one chapter of Krsna Book very carefully then put it into poetry. If you do this, it will be appreciated nicely."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

 
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1975 May 26: "The Deity worship must be done very gorgeously. LA standard is good, but still you should have a better standard. Please continue all as I have given you and send me a weekly report of how things are going on. The twenty-four hour chanting is very encouraging."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

 
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Dandavats.com: Sri Mayapur International School performs in Orissa

By Gunacuda dasi

Recently , 35 students from Sri Mayapur International School performed a pandal program for the pleasure of Sri Sri Krishna Balarama at the Chandan yatra festival at Sri Sri Krishna Balarama Mandir, ISKCON Bhubaneswar

 
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Dandavats.com: The Gap Between Pink Slip and Red Lips

By Vrndavanlila Devi Dasi

We had just got down from Faluknama Express and ran frenziedly to enquire about the next train taking us to Mayapur. It was a passenger train which took us to Nabadwip Station. By the time we reached there it was pretty late at night and no boats were available to ferry us across to Sridham Mayapur. We decided to spend the night at Station Retiring room

 
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H.H. Sivarama Swami: Mayapur Days


SRS: Devotees can keep in touch with our home, Mayapura-dhama on this blog. http://bit.ly/lyXuHa

 
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Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: RSS Graffiti for Facebook; Publicize for WordPress

I use WordPress.com for my blog because it is fast, easy and free.  Plus they are always updating it.

The feed of my blog to its Fan page on Face Book stopped working. I tried a fix that had worked in the past but not this time.

Going to the Feed Validator provided by Facebook my blog feed was valid but it showed some problems in the CSS coding for the theme I am using.  This was out of my league so I forwarded that info to WordPress help and they responded thusly:

“If you want to use it at your Facebook Fanpage, I recommend this Facebook Application: https://www.facebook.com/RSS.Graffiti

“Feel free to take a look at our Publicize feature: http://en.support.wordpress.com/publicize/

The Publicize feature is on the WordPress side where you can set it up in a minute  or so that anything you post on your blog automatically appears on your Facebook page or any number of other places, Twitter included. It seemed to only work on personal page, I couldn’t figure out how to make it post to a Fan page.

The RSS Graffiti is  a Facebook App (or plugin as they would call it if you installed WordPress on your own server). It was another simple install that takes post from your blog or any other blog and posts it on your Fan page Wall automatically.  It may work for personal pages but I didn’t try it there.

It didn’t update immediately upon installation but I waited for a while and sure enough it works.

The default Import Blog feature on a Fan page only allows one blog, your own. RSS Graffiti appears to give you the option to do more than one blog.

 
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ISKCON New York, USA: New York Ratha Yatra Festival Highlights!

Lord Jagannath’s Ratha Yatra Parade
Saturday June 11 starting 11:30am
at 5th Ave. & 45th St. Manhattan, New York City.
Parade proceeds down Fifth Ave to Washington Square Park

Festival of India at Washington Square Park
from 2pm – 7pm.

Wonderful blissful Hare Krishna kirtans and
bhajans with Friends and devotees of Lord Krishna.

Drama- “Age of Kali” performed by
the Vaikuntha Players

Bharata-Natyam and Odissi Dance performances

Multimedia 3D Presentation on Bhagavad Gita

Bhajans on stage by “As Kindred Spirits” 

A Delicious mouth watering 7 course Krsna-prasadam Free Lunch
(world famous quality vegetarian food)


Part 2 of Ratha yatra Festival Weekend:

Part 2 of Ratha yatra Festival Weekend

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tCn2ZtaeYgY

Maha Sunday Kirtan and special 80 minute epic Dramatic performance of ” Lord Nrsimhadeva Slays the King of the Demons” from Srimad Bhagavatam
plus a wonderful 10 course Free Vegetarian Feast
with thousands of Friends of Lord Krishna on Sunday June 12, 2011 starting 4pm-10pm at Radha Govinda Mandir 305 Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn, New York 11217


 
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ISKCON New York, USA: Sri Jagannath Ratha Yatra 2011

Dear Devotees and Friends,

Sri Jagannath Swami Ki Jai!

Sri Jagannath Ratha Yatra Ki Jai!

This year, Lord Jagannath’s Ratha-Yatra Festival will be celebrated on Saturday June 11,2011, starting at 12pm from 45th Street and 5th Avenue, and will proceed down 5th Avenue to Washington Square Park.

Please invite all of your friends, family members, associates, and relatives to spend a wonderful day with  Lord Jagannath (Krishna) and his devotees in the heart of New York City.

for more information on the parade route, and how you can assist and volunteer for this festival, and if you would like to help sponsor this glorious festival, please visit the festival’s website @

www . radhagovinda108 . com

(click on the ‘Ratha Yatra’ tab on the menu on the right of the webpage)

For further information please contact us at (718) 875-6127 or (347) 249-4064.

Your servants,

New York ISKCON

www . radhagovinda . net

www . radhagovinda108 . com

Kirtans down 5th Avenue


 
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H.H. Sivarama Swami: We could not send anything today as internet down and may be so for a few days

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


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

Sivarama Swami



May 26th, 2011
Questions and Answers.
[ 9:05 ]

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



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H.H. Sivarama Swami: Vyasa-puja book 2011


H. H. Sivarama Swami: Vyasa-puja book 2011

Sivarama Swami
May 26th, 2011

PDF

H. H. Sivarama Swami: Vyasa-puja book 2011

 
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Ananda Subramanian, Iowa, USA: 21st century River Yamuna

River Yamuna is one of the most sacred rivers in India. The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Himself performed many pastimes in this holy river in the land of Vrindavan. Unfortunately this river has been exploited to such an extent that even before it enters the land of Vrindavan, all the water is taken up by the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and what enters Vrindavan is just the sewage and chemical pollutants from Delhi and nearby areas- so much so, that it has been officially declared as a dead river after Delhi. Like you more than 8 crore pilgrims visit Vrindavan every year and take a bath and sip water from what they think is River Yamuna, but land up becoming sick or even die drinking this polluted water.

Issues:

  1. At Hathini Kund Barrage, out of the 82 cumecs of original natural water flow, only 2.7 cumecs is left to flow on Yamuna bed.
  2. Before Delhi, whatever little mixed flow of water remains is then totally taken away by the city and hence the river ceases to exist.
  3. The Yamuna bed in Delhi stretch is used as a sewage canal to carry its waste water upto Agra canal at Okhla Barrage.
  4. The dry bed beyond Okhla barrage is fed with shahdara canal sewage and polluted water of Hindon river.
  5. What reaches Vrindavan-Gokul-Mathura is a cocktail of various polluted waters.
Hare Krishna

 
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Dandavats.com: Bangalore case coverage

By Legal Office

Below are some excerpts from the High Court of Karnataka’s judgment against Madhu Pandit Dasa by Their Honors Nagamohan Das and Arali Nagaraj. Following which is a link to the High Court of Karnataka’s website where you can down load the whole judgment for yourself

 
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Japa Group: There Is No Other Greater Mantra


You have asked some specific mantra; there is no other greater mantra than Hare Krsna. Srila Bhaktivinode says, "When I chant Radha Krsna or Hare Krsna all my dangers are gone immediately." So which other mantra can be more effective than Hare Krsna?

Letter to Upendra - Monday, 25 May, 1970
 
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Dandavats.com: Job Title: Brahmacari, Location: Bhaktivedanta Manor

Brijlata Naysmith: Job Description: Preaching to our congregation (going to homes, programme halls, temple etc), creating/attracting new members (going out door to door, approaching people on the street, public congregational chanting) etc. Mandatory attendance of the full morning programme. Deity worship

 
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Dandavats.com: Beautiful 18 acres with 2300 square foot house just outside of Chapel Hill NC available immediately

Udayananda das: Beautiful 18 acres with 2300 square foot custom built house just outside of Chapel Hill NC. Rent appraisal was $1600 for the home, desire a devotee who follows the regulative principles and will adjust rent down to $500.00/month, utilities not inlcudedHare KrishnaBy

 
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Gouranga TV: Lecture – Grantharaj Prabhu – SB 10.2.17 – Meaning of dham



Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UbzgxqvhoSI

Subido por rupagopi el 21/05/2011

Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 10, Chapter 2, Text 17 titled "Meaning of dham" given by Madhavendra Puri Prabhu.
This series of lectures was given during the 2011 TP/GBC Meetings held here in Dallas.

Lecture – Grantharaj Prabhu – SB 10.2.17 – Meaning of dham

SB 10.2.17: While carrying the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within the core of his heart, Vasudeva bore the Lord's transcendentally illuminating effulgence, and thus he became as bright as the sun. He was therefore very difficult to see or approach through sensory perception. Indeed, he was unapproachable and unperceivable even for such formidable men as Kaḿsa, and not only for Kaḿsa but for all living entities.

SB 10.2.17: Con la forma de la Suprema Personalidad de Dios en lo más profundo del corazón, Vasudeva portaba también la luminosa refulgencia trascendental del Señor, y por ello brillaba tanto como el Sol. Como consecuencia, era muy difícil verle o entrar en contacto con él por medio de la percepción de los sentidos. En verdad, era inasequible e imperceptible incluso para alguien tan poderoso como Kaḿsa, y no sólo para Kaḿsa, sino para todas las entidades vivientes.


 
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