ISKCON Desire Tree's Posts

PM Modi offers arati to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Gaudiya Math

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 24, 2016 at 12:01pm

All glories to Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu! His mercy, flowing through His devotees, brought India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kolkata for the 100th anniversary of Gaudiya math, founded by His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada.

Congratulations to all the Gaudiya math devotees who have worked hard all these years, and by joining hands with ISKCON’s global preaching mission of spreading the divine message of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, have enlightened many thousands in Krishna consciousness.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada is the spiritual master of the founder of today’s worldwide Hare Krishna movement, or ISKCON, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, who is honored with reverence by his disciples and followers as Srila Prabhupada.

(photo credit: http://www.narendramodi.in/pm-inaugurates-centenary-celebrations-of-gaudiya-mission-and-math-414908

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Gaudiya Math in Kolkata – Daily News & Analysis

This is what provides us strength,” the Prime Minister said. West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi, Tripura Governor Tathagatha Roy and West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim were present. Modi later visited the Gaudiya Mission at Baghbazar …Narendra Modi (press release) (blog)India.comNDTV – Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Gaudiya Math in Kolkata – Daily News & Analysis

India’s spiritual consciousness is the reason for its long-standing civilizational ethos: PM – Narendra Modi (press release) (blog)

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today inaugurated the Centenary Celebrations of the Gaudiya Mission and Math in Kolkata. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said India’s spiritual consciousness is the reason for its long-standing … India’s spiritual consciousness is the reason for its long-standing civilizational ethos: PM – Narendra Modi (press release) (blog)

‘Bhakti movement acted as the foundation for freedom struggle’ – The Hitavada

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the Bhakti movement,withitsinherentquality to stand up and fight against evil forces, had acted as the foundation for the country’s freedom struggle. “If we see India’s freedom struggle,many great …MerinewsDeshGujaratBihar Prabha ‘Bhakti movement acted as the foundation for freedom struggle’ – The Hitavada

Source: http://mayapurvoice.com/svagatam/pm-modi-offers-arati-sri-chaitanya-mahaprabhu-gaudiya-math/

The Thunderstorm of Love

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 24, 2016 at 11:47am

It is said that the pastime of ‘Lifting Goverdhana Hill’ is the favorite of Sri Krishna because in this lila, all the different devotees from all the different rasas take part simultaneously. Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda Devi were there, as we’ll as the cowherd boys and the beautiful Vraja gopis. Krishna convinced His father and others that the worship of Goverdhana, the cows and the brahmanas was superior to worshiping Indra. He spoke saying it was not useful to worship the demigods because we would all simply get our karma anyway. Indra did not appreciate this and sent a huge thunderstorm to drown all the residents of Vraja, but Krishna tricked him with ease. He lifted the hill to save his devotees and simultaneously satisfied everyone’s desire to stare at his beautiful face. When Krishna displayed his gigantic shape to consume the bhoga offerings, everyone gazed at that form while the gopis were able to stare at Krishna’s original form to their hearts content. The highest worship of Govardhana (Govardhana-sila) is performed with gunja-mala (small red, white, and black beads). The gunja-mala is the representation of Srimati Radharani. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave Govardhana-sila to Raghunatha Dasa Goswami to worship, He did so with gunja-mala. Dasa Gosvami, our prayojana-acarya, worshiped Govardhana with gunja-mala and thus achieved the highest perfection in love of God. Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila 6.287-307. The devotees of Sri Krishna Balarama Mandir will be celebrating the Lifting of Goverdhana, as well as the worship of the cows and the brahmanas with a class held at the ISKCON Goshala beginning at 8:00 am and an Abishek of Giriraj Sila in the temple at 10:30am on November 12th. You are invited to attend the ceremonies, under the guidance of our dear Srila Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, and pray for the mercy of Sri Nataraji that we may join Him in His eternal pastimes. Various plays and entertainment will be provided for your devotional service to Sri Goverdhana. See you there!

Source: http://www.iskconvrindavan.com/the-thunderstorm-of-love/

New Resource: Deity Photos for Home Altars

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 24, 2016 at 11:34am

Where can I find original or edited Deity photos to print for my home altar?

Go to our new resource page (under the Publications menu): Deity Photos for Home Altars.

The new page includes a selection of edited darshanas uploaded to Flickr. These shots are suitable for home altars and can be downloaded in original-size JPEGs for printing.

Or explore Hare Krishna Melbourne’s Flickr account for the endless variety of all our Daily Darshanas in original size for download.

Source: http://www.harekrishnamelbourne.com.au/new-resource-deity-photos-for-home-altars/

Learning about Dhruva

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 24, 2016 at 11:30am

You might have heard of the name Dhruva – a common name for boys in India. Dhruva is a famous child saint in Indian legend who performed severe austerities to please Lord Narayana at the tender age of 5. Such was his devotion that within six months Lord Narayana personally visited him. The prayers that Dhruva offered to the Lord are immortalized in the Srimad Bhagvatam and studied by scholars and devotees till today. The Lord created a new star for Dhruva which is the brightest star in the sky – the pole star.

We studied about this little boy at Kanhas last week. We read his story from the Vaikuntha enterprises book Dhruva – the star devotee

Dhruva – the star devotee

We did the story over 2 days. Here are a few activities we did along with the story.

Yoga poses like Dhruva – lotus pose and tree pose

Palace craft – Dhruva maharaj was a prince and lived in a palace before going to the forest. We made paper palace cutouts and decorated them with gold and silver “bricks”. It was a great cut and paste activity and children got to learn about palace, architecture, construction etc while practicing their fine motor skills. Some children made patterns so it was a lesson in maths & geometry as well!

Palace designing

Forest collage – We made a really fun forest collage. We added trees, leaves and lots of wild animals. This activity included scissor and crayon skills and also added to the children’s animal vocabulary. It was a great lesson in co-operation and team work as the kids made one large collage and everyone contributed to it. The icing on the cake was adding a picture of Dhruva and Lord Vishnu to the collage and centring the whole activity on the Lord!

Working together to make our forest

Forest small world play – The kids loved making the collage so much that we extended the activity into the third dimension. The kids created 3d forests using rocks, yellow stones etc and added little plastic animals and people figurines. The kids recreated the pastime and meditated on Dhruva while honing their creative skills!

Forest in a box

We really enjoyed learning about Dhruva at Kanhas!

Source: http://kanhasgarden.com.au/learning-about-dhruva/

Bhakti-Vriksha - Caring for ISKCON devotees – the important ratio.

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 24, 2016 at 11:00am

Many, many moons ago, way back in the last century, when the ISKCON movement was just becoming established as ‘a confederation of centres, farms, schools and restaurants’ and anybody who was anybody lived in a temple, the temple president was the natural person to care for the spiritual lives of the devotees.

The president was the appointed head of the community, the spiritual supervisor of standards of worship and practise, and often the chief inspiration behind the preaching too. It was a very responsible position – and it still is. Along with the ‘temple commander’ the president engaged the members of local ISKCON in all the activities necessary to support a spiritual community and to prosper in their own spiritual lives.

Of course, it wasn’t just the temple president who cared for the devotees, but it was he who bore the responsibility to ensure it was done. And you could always get to talk to him if you needed to.

Back then – if my memory of the 1970s serves me correctly – the average size of an ISKCON community was around 15. Older devotees sometimes refer to those days as when ‘the movement had a real family atmosphere.’ The 1-15 ratio – spiritual head to resident members – was actually a very powerful factor in the ‘family atmosphere’ that devotees still talk about.

Those who study group dynamics and the way people behave in groups – and organisations – often talk about the optimum number of members necessary for a group to preserve good communications and balanced and productive relationships. Turns out that 15 is pretty good if you don’t want things to start coming unstuck. (And 8 or 10 is even better)

At Bhaktivedanta Manor we have around 300 initiated and ashram residents, then another 250 seriously committed devotees. The ratio of 1-550 makes it impossible for the temple president to function as the prime spiritual carer for the community members – much as he’d like to.

One natural response to this is for initiated devotees to assume that their own diksha guru will provide – from wherever he happens to be located – all the necessary spiritual care, and at just the right time, for them to prosper in all ways. The result of this high expectation is often disappointment.

Srila Prabhupada did expect the local spiritual leader to provide supervision, guidance, education and practical engagement in devotional service. He said it in many initiation letters. Yet when an ever-decreasing percentage of ISKCON members actually lives in small communities, on whom does that responsibility fall? How do the leaders of ISKCON ensure that initiated devotees maintain their faith and practice throughout a long life?

One solution is to recreate the ‘base community’ of 10-15 devotees who meet regularly under the guidance of an experienced spiritual guide. By forming an appropriate number of these groups within any growing community, a favourable circumstance for the promotion of good relationships can be achieved. What we call ISKCON can thus be the aggregate of such small groups, rather than a ‘confederation’ of temples.

Already this system is working well in various parts of the world, notably South Africa, Malaysia, parts of Eastern Europe and of course in India. The Bhakti-Vriksha group system, or the essentially similar Counsellor Groups system organised from the Chowpatty temple in Mumbai, are fundamentally identical to the pyramid of devotee care established for a short time until his passing by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. His thousands of disciples were each spiritually cared for by the Upadeshaka, who looked after several disciples each. He in his turn was cared for by his Maha-Upadeshaka, who was cared for by a sannyasi. And the sannyasis were directly cared for by the Acharya.

Having the idea to do this in 2008 is one thing, rolling it out and seeing to its implementation is quite another.

Here in England the term mentor seems to be the favoured non-Sanskrit nomenclature for the disciples guide and helper. Our ‘Care’ team members have already seen this system working for two years with some of our youth; and the temple has already requested newly initiated members to have regular meetings with one named member who is senior to them. We’ve also asked all the candidates for initiation to first of all become a member of a local group and to work with such an experienced devotee prior to diksha.

This year will see more devotees trained to take up the responsibility of caring for others, and the creation of a network of small groups based on the ensuing relationships. Please wish us luck!

Source: https://deshika.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/caring-for-iskcon-devotees-the-important-ratio/#comment-9640

ISKCON Pune Plans Ambitious “50th-ized” Year

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 24, 2016 at 10:55am

By: Madhava Smullen for ISKCON News on Feb. 3, 2016

The first of 5 Rathayatras to be held in the Pune area for ISKCON's 50th this year

Can you imagine one city holding 500 Harinamas or distributing 500,000 of Srila Prabhupada’s books in one year?

That’s exactly what ISKCON of Pune in Maharashtra, India is doing as they ambitiously set out to 50th-ize the year 2016. And much, much more besides: the plan is to set higher-than-usual goals for all of Pune’s outreach efforts in multiples of five or fifty.

GBCs Radhanath Swami and Gopal Krishna Goswami, as well as supporter Lokanath Swami, are the inspiration behind the plan. Radheshyam Das – temple president at Pune for the past twenty years – is leading the charge.

Meanwhile ISKCON Pune’s two temples, 200 full-time celibate monks, and 1,000 congregational families will jump into action to make it a memorable year in celebration of ISKCON’s 1966 incorporation.

The numbers begin small enough with 1 Youth Festival on March 20th– however, the event is expected to draw more than 10,000 youthfrom colleges across Maharashtra. The program will feature singers from the Grammy-nominated kirtan album “Bhakti Without Borders,” a Bhagavad-gita dance, inspirational talks by gurus Bhaktimarga Swami, Lokanath Swami, and Gopal Krishna Goswami, and a 3D film about Srila Prabhupada entitled “Spiritual Ambassador.”

It will be organized by Pune’s ISKCON Youth Forum, which helps students at colleges around the city become the best they can be through seminars, workshops, and counseling. The event is meant to highlight ISKCON’s “50 years of dedicated service to humanity.”

Increasing the numbers a little, this year will see 5 Ratha Yatra festivals in and around Pune, the second biggest city in Maharashtra after the state capital, Mumbai.

ISKCON 50 logos decorating the Rathayatra cart

One Ratha Yatra has already been held on January 3rd in the Swargate area of Pune. “Almost 100,000 people witnessed the 5 kilometer procession,” says ISKCON Pune Board Member Revatipati Das. “We had a special Golden Jubilee chariot with banners displaying ISKCON’s achievements over the last fifty years, and an LED screen showing video clips of our efforts.”

Further Ratha Yatras will be held in Pune suburbs in March, April, May and October.

The year 2016 will also see 5 Cow Protection Festivals called Go Vijnana Parishad held in Pune and four neighboring cities – Amanora, Satara, Aurangabad, and Jalna. The events will feature talks by dignitaries, gurus and goshala leaders about the importance of cow protection in Krishna consciousness as well as how important it is to society at large.

At the programs, which are expected to receive major newspaper coverage, devotees will also raise funds for cow protection. Dates for the events have not yet been set.

Next, celebrating Lord Krishna’s appearance day, ISKCON Pune will be organizing not one but 50 Janmashtami celebrations, starting one week before the official date on August 25thand ending two weeks after. The events will be held at ISKCON Pune’s eight extension centers and many private homes where Namahatta congregational groups meet.

Taking the numbers up to the truly impressive, devotees will hold 500 Harinama Sankirtan outings throughout the year, spreading the Holy Names of Krishna far and wide. Temple devotees, congregation members, and new devotees from the Bhakta program will all participate, holding multiple Harinamas a week. During World Holy Name Week, which runs from September 11th to 23rd – the day when Prabhupada arrived in the West – they’ll hold even more.

“As well as that, from July 1st to 15th we’ll also have a “Dindi Yatra,” a type of pilgrimage walk from Dehu to Pandarpur, following the journey of the saint Tukarama,” Revatipati says. “Harinamas will be held every day along the way, and about 300 devotees will participate.”

From Rama Navami on April 15th, till Nrsimha Chaturdasi on May 20th, ISKCON Pune’s brahmacharis and extremely active householder congregation will go door to door and sell5,000 new Back to Godhead magazine subscriptions. At least 500 devotees are expected to distribute 10 subscriptions each to make this happen.

Lokanath Swami, a major supporter of ISKCON Pune's efforts, at the first Rathayatra

They also plan to sell natural cow products from local goshalas to 5,000 people, including soap and medicine made from cow dung, urine and milk.

Back at the temple, a 50,000 square-foot guest house is expected to be opened on Janmastami day. The four-storey building will include a Govinda’s restaurant, four halls for meetings, programs and weddings, and 32 guest rooms.

One of the biggest efforts for ISKCON’s 50th is an activity very close to Srila Prabhupada’s heart – devotees at ISKCON Pune are planning to distribute 500,000 of his booksthroughout the year.

“200,000 of those will be distributed during the December marathon – we want to increase from last year’s 150,000,” says Revatipati. “But we’re also raising awareness all through the year. We’ll distribute many Bhagavad-gitas during our successful Bhagavad-gita exam program at schools. Those will be in July and December, and could reach as many as 100,000 children. We also encourage devotees to distribute books on their birthdays and anniversaries.”

ISKCON Pune also expects to distribute no less than 1 million plates of prasadam at its two temples during daily Prasad distribution to visitors, on festival days, and on the occasional Food For Life serve-out in local areas.

“Our temple receives around 2,000 visitors on any normal day, around 5,000 on Saturdays, and 8,000 on Sundays,” Revatipati says.

Finally, ISKCON Pune plans to raise 5 Crores, or fifty million rupees in funds for the temple’s expenses and outreach efforts.

Other celebration plans include holding kirtans at fifty different non-ISKCON temples throughout Pune; holding five different “katha” events, where sannyasis speak about Srila Prabhupada or other Krishna conscious topics; and five days throughout the year during which devotees will gather at the temple to chant 64 rounds of japa.

The ISKCON Pune temples have also put up large banners at their entrances showing ISKCON’s achievements over fifty years; and are in the process of erecting a 12’ x 20’ hoarding and a huge LED screen showing the same.

“The devotees are very enthusiastic,” says Revatipati. “We are hoping that we’ll be able to please Srila Prabhupada by our attempt to make ISKCON more popular and connect more people to our beloved Founder-Acharya and his society.”

Source: http://iskconnews.org/iskcon-pune-plans-ambitious-50th-ized-year,5370/

Valuing people's talents."

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 24, 2016 at 10:51am

"Valuing people's talents."
It seems perfectly useless to deny and remove the Freudian envy, as it will go on working within the psychic structure and thus reinforced, it would do even worse.
On a practical level it can be purified and transformed by learning to value the talents of others, inspiring people to offer their talents in Krishna consciousness. This propensity will draw us nearer to the qualities of the eternal inhabitants of Vaikuntha so we'll become extremely beneficial to all the living creatures, ourselves included. In this way people can get closer to the Lord beginning to taste this new spiritual relation but how can it become true if they do not even know who is Krishna? Let us help them to put their talents to His service. For example, if someone cooks well, we can suggest a menu and offer the meal to Krishna: "Please, Lord Krishna, accept this food and bless the person who has prepared it."
Although in a first stage such service is indirect as accomplished without awareness, still the person will get a great benefit that will gradually increase in the process of serving. Once the meaning of service is intimately understood, the attraction to serve will be empowered with the taste and thus the person reaches further important step of awareness, up to a higher level when the service is offered not only as an act of one's own will and pleasure, but also consistently and without egoistic motivations. Yet if the person commits offenses, almost always because of residual envy, there is still a risk to crash down to the lower states of consciousness even from this level thus descending to the darker regions of mind. In such a state these people appear like shooting stars that, having made a light path in the sky, become obscured. Even in this case we should not forget the infinite mercy of divine forgiveness, that comes promptly to our rescue when, once repented, we start over following our path towards perfection.

Source: http://matsyavatara.blogspot.in/2016/02/winning-shadow-part-ii.html

They came in through the open window!

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 24, 2016 at 10:49am

They came in through the open window!
Tribhuvannatha Das: A devotee named Jeremy was with us on our Festival tour of East & Central Africa. Jeremy is more of a congregational member of ISKCON and is just starting to understand the commitment that there is in Krsna Consciousness. He caught malaria and had to come back early. Upon his return I spoke to him on the phone. I mentioned how he should be careful not to fall down from the process of KC. Two weeks later he was back to his ‘old ways’ but still a devotee - not as strict as before though.
He’d been out with his girlfriend, and while admiring some waterfalls in the mountains of Wicklow, Ireland, he slipped and fell 60 ft down the side of the mountain - lucky for him he chanted at the top of his voice Krsna! Krsna! as he went tumbling down the side of the mountain, the bushes slowed his pace, but then over the edge… another 160 ft sheer drop to death!
He screamed “Krsna” and suddenly he stopped… 'smack’ he had landed on the only rock jutting out from the side of the mountain. He was damaged - broken pelvis, leg, etc. but still alive. The rock had an unusual inward curve, just the right size to cushion his body. If it had been a normal rock he would have simply bounced off it, to his death! The rescue team said that they could not believe his fortune. Ten others before him had fallen from the same spot, nine died, one crippled. Then in hospital (where he is making a full recovery) in comes Michael who has just fallen off a crane. His head hit a steel girder on the way down (his luck was he had a hard hat on), the whole top of his head, peeled like an orange. Miraculously his heavy coat had got caught on the way down and saved his life. He came over to see Jerry - by this time in his life he has gone from been one of the most debauched personality to almost a saint, even setting up his own alter at the hospital! He had heard that Jerry was a 'Hare Krsna’ and was intrigued to meet him. After some conversation Jerry complained about the 'nightmares’ he was getting. “Nightmares!” says Michael. “I was attacked by five horrible-looking monsters that came in through the window. They said they had come to get me.” (While in intensive care Michael was 'dead’ three times, in the same night). He described them in detail. He was so frightened at their appearance that he threw a chair at the window, four nurses had to restrain him! They had come to get him, he even mentioned that one appeared to have a rope. “They came back again, and said they were coming to get me very soon. "Was it just a nightmare?” asked Jerry. “No!” said Michael, “these guys were as real as you or me… These guys were very real!”

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18872

Evidence of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein found

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 24, 2016 at 10:47am

Every time, the fist question coming to mind when we hear about a “discovery” by modern science is, whether it is really a discovery or recovery. In almost all cases, and it’s ought to be so, the answer is, it is a partial recovery.

Same thing happened when news of gravitational waves came up.

“Long ago, deep in space, two massive black holes—the ultrastrong gravitational fields left behind by gigantic stars that collapsed to infinitesimal points—slowly drew together. The stellar ghosts spiraled ever closer, until, about 1.3 billion years ago, they whirled about each other at half the speed of light and finally merged. The collision sent a shudder through the universe: ripples in the fabric of space and time called gravitational waves. Five months ago, they washed past Earth. And, for the first time, physicists detected the waves, fulfilling a 4-decade quest and opening new eyes on the heavens.

The discovery marks a triumph for the 1000 physicists with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a pair of gigantic instruments in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. Rumors of the detection had circulated for months. Today, at a press conference in Washington, D.C., the LIGO team made it official. “We did it!” says David Reitze, a physicist and LIGO executive director at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. “All the rumors swirling around out there got most of it right.” (Source: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/gravitational-waves-einstein-s-ripples-spacetime-spotted-first-time)

Remembering the infallible science explained in the Vedas, Mr Nair, Chairman ISRO (2003-2009) had earlier said that astronomy experts like Aryabhatta knew about gravitational force much before Issac Newton. He revealed that ISRO’s Chandrayan project used Aryabhatta’s equation. Mr Nair had also shared some interesting insight:

“Some sholkas in one of the Vedas say that there is water on the moon but no one believed it. Through our Chandrayaan mission, we could establish that and we were the first ones to find that out,” Mr Nair said, adding that everything in the Vedas could not be understood as they were in chaste Sanskrit.

“Even for Chandrayaan, the equation of Aryabhatta was used. Even the (knowledge of) gravitational field… Newton found it some 1500 years later… the knowledge existing (in our scriptures),” he added. (http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/indian-scriptures-mention-gravity-1500-years-before-isaac-newton-former-isro-chief-g-madhavan-nair-741360)

Pope Francis reaches out to Mexico indigenous people

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 23, 2016 at 3:04pm

Pope Francis has asked Mexican indigenous people in Chiapas state for forgiveness over they way they have been excluded from society. He made his appeal while celebrating Mass in three native languages after a new Vatican decree approved their use.

The Pope also used the open-air service in San Cristobal de las Casas to warn about threats to the environment. Throughout his five-day trip he has condemned the evils of forced emigration and drugs. He has urged Mexico’s leaders to provide “true justice” to suffering citizens.

But on Monday he drew attention to the suffering of indigenous people in his address in Chiapas state. “On many occasions, in a systematic and organised way, your people have been misunderstood and excluded from society,” the 79-year-old pontiff said after citing Popol Vuh, an ancient Mayan text.

“Some have considered your values, culture and traditions to be inferior. Others, intoxicated by power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands or contaminated them. How sad this is,” he said. (Source http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35584031)

Zika virus – Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 23, 2016 at 3:02pm

According to WHO, Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys through a monitoring network of sylvatic yellow fever. It was subsequently identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

Countries with confirmed Zika virus cases (Image: Tribune News Service)

Although modern medical science says there is no vaccine to prevent or specific medicine to treat Zika infections, Ayurveda talks about both prevention and cure of it. Take a look at it at the bottom of this article.

The following is a guideline for symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. (Sourcehttp://www.cdc.gov/zika/symptoms/index.html)

Symptoms

About 1 in 5 people infected with Zika virus become ill (i.e., develop Zika).
The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis (red eyes). Other common symptoms include muscle pain and headache. The incubation period (the time from exposure to symptoms) for Zika virus disease is not known, but is likely to be a few days to a week.
The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week.
People usually don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika.
Zika virus usually remains in the blood of an infected person for about a week but it can be found longer in some people.

Diagnosis

The symptoms of Zika are similar to those of dengue and chikungunya, diseases spread through the same mosquitoes that transmit Zika.
See your healthcare provider if you develop the symptoms described above and have visited an area where Zika is found.
If you have recently traveled, tell your healthcare provider when and where you traveled.
Your healthcare provider may order specialized blood tests to look for Zika or other similar viruses like dengue or chikungunya.

Treatment

There is no vaccine to prevent or specific medicine to treat Zika infections.
Treat the symptoms:
- Get plenty of rest.
- Drink fluids to prevent dehydration.
- Take medicine such as acetaminophen (Tylenol®) to relieve fever and pain.
- Do not take aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
- If you are taking medicine for another medical condition, talk to your healthcare provider before taking additional medication.
If you have Zika, prevent mosquito bites for the first week of your illness.
- During the first week of infection, Zika virus can be found in the blood and passed from an infected person to a mosquito through mosquito bites.
- An infected mosquito can then spread the virus to other people.

Ayurvedic viewpoint on Zika virus

Zika is a disease caused by Zika virus that is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week.

Home Remedies To Cure Zika Infection Naturally

Kwatha (Decoction): Take 5 Tulasi (basil) leaves, 4 Kali Mirch (whole black pepper) beads, 3 Laung (clove) buds and 1 teaspoonful of fresh grated Adraka (ginger). Mix them in a glass of water and boil the entire mixture until the quantity of water is halved. Filter and add a teaspoonful of honey. Your Ayurvedic decoction is ready. Take this decoction twice daily.
Herbs: Mix 1 teaspoonful of Sitopaladi Churna with 1 teaspoonful of honey and have it twice daily.
Golden Milk: Add a teaspoonful of turmeric powder in a glass of warm milk. Drink it every night. (Source http://www.ayurvedahimachal.com/index.php?page=completearticle&&id=143#sthash.F1f18MyC.dpbs)

When we talk of Ayurveda, we need to keep in mind that being an extended part of the Vedas, ayurveda is a holistic science and as such, those using ayurvedic herbs and plants need to follow the system described in the Vedas. As mentioned in this article, it is important that Tulasi leaves are used only after offering them first to Lord Vishnu.

Source: http://mayapurvoice.com/svagatam/zika-virus-symptoms-diagnosis-and-treatment/

Lord Nityananda Appearance

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 23, 2016 at 2:58pm

Lord Nityananda appeared in the village of Ekachakra, in West Bengal, India, around 1474. In the Caitanya Caritamrita and other scriptures He is declared to be the avatar of Lord Balarama, the direct expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.

Nityananda Prabhu, who is identical with Lord Balarama, the first expansion of Krishna, is considered to be the original guru for all of mankind. Thus, soon after their initial meeting, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tried to honour Nityananda Prabhu with a Vyasa-puja worship ceremony befitting a great spiritual master.

However, Nityananda Prabhu protested and grabbed all of the worship articles from Mahaprabhu and worshiped Him instead.

Source: http://www.ramaiswami.com/lord-nityananda-appearance/

Book Distribution Marathon for Kadamba Kanana Swami

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 23, 2016 at 2:32pm

Dear friends!

The 3-day worldwide book distribution effort is starting today (Monday, 22 February) with an aim to satisfy Srila Prabhupada. We shall combine all individual worldwide efforts into one big offering and we shall place it in front of His Divine Grace on Thursday morning. Then we shall humbly ask Him, if He is satisfied, to please ask Krsna to intervene and remove the health obstacles which currently prevent His dedicated servant Kadamba Kanana Swami from serving in full capacity. Maharaja has been diagnosed with cancer lately, but the state of the crisis is such that with Supreme Lord’s intervention he can possibly recover fully.

Why is such an effort aimed at pleasing Srila Prabhupada and not the Supreme Lord, one may ask?

The reason is that Srila Prabhupada is the most merciful grandfather one can ever have. He is the spiritual grandfather in the Guru-parampara line to Kadamba Kanana Swami. By pleasing Srila Prabhupada with what is most pleasing to him, book distribution, His Divine Grace will surely ask Krsna to intervene and at that moment the less probable, or even impossible, can change its polarity.

Please join the disciples and friends worldwide in this effort! Every book distributed will matter over the next three days, concluding on Wednesday evening. Even one book counts, but time is very short. You can distribute yourself, you can sponsor or you can help your local temple in any other capacity. If you are a full time or part time book distributor, all you have to do is to distribute for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. Then, at the time your scores would normally be offered to your local Deities, you should withhold the offering, and send the results according to the below procedure. Everything shall be offered collectively to Srila Prabhupada on Thursday morning, with individual score readings, of course.

In order to make your offer recognized, please send an email with your scores at the end of each day according to the following zones. That is one mail on Monday, one email on Tuesday and one email on Wednesday evening.

For Europe, please contact Nama-rupa dasi at nama.rupa.kks@gmail.com. For Africa please contact Radhadyuti devi dasi at rdd.kks@icloud.com. For the rest of the world, as well as any other information, please contact Matsya das at matsyadas108@gmail.com.

Our hope is that Jayadvaita Swami will offer the result to Srila Prabhupada on Thursday morning, despite his intense engagements. Jayadvaita Swami expressed his heartfelt support and enthusiasm for this effort:

I encourage you to distribute as many books as possible, with Kadamba Kanana Maharaja’s welfare in mind. This will surely be pleasing to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. And if they so desire, Maharaja may pass this crisis well. We can’t make demands, or expect that Krishna will surely do this or that. Krishna has his own plans and his own reasons. We can only serve and offer our prayers. Everything else is up to Him. I offer you all encouragement. Hare Krsna. Yours in Srila Prabhupada’s service, Jayadvaita Swami

Please forward this message and make as many people aware as you can. Especially, make relevant leaders and devotees in your area aware and preferably inform them by phone or in person, so that valuable time is not lost. The time is very short in this effort to satisfy Krsna, the only person who can make difference in Maharaja’s health crisis.

Matsya Das

Source: https://www.kksblog.com/2016/02/book-distribution-marathon-for-kadamba-kanana-swami/

Srivas Pandit’s mysterious clap.

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 23, 2016 at 2:30pm

Srivas Pandit’s mysterious clap.
Purushottam Nitai Das: Once Lord Chaitanya asked Srivas Pandit, “I do not see you going anywhere to earn livelihood. You have a big family so how you maintain them.” Srivas Pandit replied, “In my heart I do not have any desire to go anywhere. Whatever is destined will come to me anyway.” And then Srivas clapped three times. One. Two. Three.
“What does it mean?” the Lord enquired.
“If three times food does not come to me, I will fast, and then I will tie a waterpot to my neck and drown myself in the Ganges.”
Hearing this extreme vow Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was astonished. The Lord said, “Why should you fast Srivas? Even if Goddess Lakshmi becomes poverty stricken still poverty will not enter your house.”
Srivas Pandit’s vow was not based on some sort of sentiment. He along with his family members used to remain absorbed in chanting the holy names of the Lord entire day and night. Being a pure devotee of the Lord he was well aware that the Supreme Lord is the maintainer of all the living beings of the universe.
And moreover Srivas Pandit’s house although was in this material world but it was in fact a part of the spiritual world because Lord Chaitanya, the Supreme Lord, personally used to come to his house and in his house the holy names of the Lord continuously reverberated. And we know that in the kingdom of the Lord no one has to work hard for their maintenance. In the spiritual abode everyone just serves the Lord and experiences complete satisfaction while doing so.
In B.G. 9.22, Krishna says, ‘To those who always worship me with exclusive devotion, meditating on my transcendental form, to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.’ Lord has promised that he personally takes care of his unalloyed devotees.
Hairidas Thakura was not allowed inside the Jagannath temple but Lord Chaitanya who is none other than Lord Jaganath would personally bring different varieties of delicious mahaprasadam of Jagannath temple for Haridas Thakura and he used to make sure that Haridas Thakura ate it.
Mrugrari, the cruel hunter, got enlightened by the mercy and teachings of Narada Muni. But he was bit worried, he asked Narada Muni, “If I give up hunting then how will I maintain myself and my family.” And the great sage replied, “You don’t worry. Once you take shelter of the Lord then you will not be deprived of any necessities of life.” Mrugrari gave up his sinful profession, became a devotee, and the Lord made sure that his needs are well taken care.
When Durvasa Muni told to the Pandavas that he along with his thousands of followers will come to have food at their house then the Pandavas were in great anxiety. They were living in the forest and had nothing with them to feed their guests at that time. Draupadi had Akshay patra, a divine pot, which could supply unlimited food but once Draupadi finished her food then the supply of food used to stop for that time period. And all of them including Draupadi had finished their meal. It was a great crisis; Draupadi remembered Lord Krishna and he immediately appeared. In that divine pot just a grain of rice was left and the Lord ate it. And as soon as Krishna ate it everyone’s hunger got satiated including that of Durvasa Muni and his thousands of followers.
When Krishna is satisfied everyone is satisfied. As soon as we bring Krishna in our life then we do not remain deprived of anything. In this material world all the necessities which is a must for our survival has been arranged by the Lord: the water which we drink, the air which we breathe, the food which we eat have not been invented by mortal beings but has been given to us by the Supreme Lord.
Extremely pleased by the devotion of Srivas Pandit, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “To anyone who always meditates on me with exclusive devotion, I carry alms for them on my head. Anyone who meditates on me need never leave his door. All perfections will come to him automatically. Piety, wealth, happiness, and liberation will come to him. My servant need not ask for them. They will never leave my servant. My Sudarsana-chakra will always protect My servant. Even when all the universes are destroyed, he will not perish. Whoever remembers my devotee, I will feed and protect. The servant of my servant is very dear to me. Without even trying, he easily attains me. Why should he worry about food? I personally feed my servant. Srivas, you happily stay where you are. I will bring everything to your door.” (Srila Vrindavan Das Thakura’s Chaitanya Bhagavata Antya 5.38-64)

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19201

The Quest

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 23, 2016 at 2:30pm

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19197

The Singing Janitor

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 23, 2016 at 10:05am

Whenever I come to Mumbai I stay at the home of my disciple Narottam Dasa Thakur Das and his wife Manjari Devi Dasi. Today, Narottam had come with me to the hospital for my PET scan, a checkup for any recurrence of the cancerous skin cells I had had surgically removed last year.

“I’m doubly nervous,” I said to Narottam as we sat in the waiting room. “What if the cancer comes back? I’ll have to go through another operation and all the rest.”

“We’re all praying for you,” said Narottam.

“And I’m nervous about the scan,” I said.

“Why?” asked Narottam. “Scans don’t hurt.”

“I know,” I said. “But it gives me the creeps when they lay me out on the table and roll me into that machine. It’s as if they were feeding me into the mouth of some big monster.”

I looked across the room and saw a janitor pushing a broom across the floor. “And just look at that guy over there,” I said. “He’s talking loudly to himself and laughing at his own jokes. It’s annoying, and it makes everything worse.”

“Maybe he’s a little crazy,” said Narottam.

“He’s not crazy,” said the man next to us. “I come here often and always see him. He’s just eccentric.”
The janitor strode past us, his thinnish frame dressed in a khaki-colored uniform, his brown eyes darting here and there. He was pushing his broom in wild motions, seemingly unaware of the patients in the room. I could see that others were disturbed by him too.

“Now he’s singing to himself,” I said to Narottam. “And off key at that.”

The man next to us laughed. “He keeps the place pretty clean, though,” he said. “And he means well.”

The receptionist behind the desk called out to the sweeper. “Mahesh! Deliver this package to Doctor Agarwal. He’s in room sixteen on the fourth floor.”

Mahesh’s broom made a loud clattering sound as he dropped it on the floor and hurried over to the desk. “Yes, Ma’am,” he said. “Right away, Ma’am.” His voice was high-pitched and reedy. As he walked toward the elevator he read out the address on the parcel in a loud voice. “Doctor Agarwal, room sixteen, fourth floor. Wow! A big package of stuff for the doctor!”

As the elevator doors closed, obscuring his grinning face, I breathed a sigh of relief. “Eccentric is an understatement,” I said to Narottam. “Anyway, it’s quiet at last.”

But just ten minutes later the elevator door opened and he was back. “Done!” he shouted. He hurried to pick up his broom and began sweeping again in the same big strokes, all the while singing in his shrill voice. The noise was oppressive, but I managed to doze off for a few minutes till I heard my name being called over the loudspeaker. I walked into the examination room, where I saw several nurses and, to my surprise, Mahesh busily organizing items in a medical cabinet. “Oh no,” I thought. “What’s he doing here?”

“Mahesh,” said one of the nurses over her shoulder, “could you kindly take this bag to Doctor Reynolds in room 404.” Mahesh didn’t say a word as he danced across the room to collect the bag. He opened the door with a theatrical flourish and disappeared down the hallway.

“While we are preparing the solution for your scan,” the nurse said to me, “please put on this hospital gown and then come and sit in this chair.” I went into another room to put on the gown, then came back.

“Ouch!” The nurse was sticking a needle into a vein on my wrist. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Mahesh had come back into the room. Suddenly, my chair began to slip under the pressure of my weight and knocked against the table where the nurse had all her equipment. A glass bottle teetered on the edge, and as she reached out to grab it, she accidentally yanked the needle out of my wrist.

“Mahesh!” she called, “Quick! Help!” Mahesh dashed across the room, caught the bottle and put it back on the table. The nurse picked up the syringe, which was now in my lap. “Mahesh,” she said, “could you please hold this gentleman’s chair while I inject him.”

“Yes,” he said. He gripped the chair with both hands, a serious look on his face.

“Ouch!” The nurse found another vein. Mahesh leaned over and, to my surprise, began to speak in fluent English. “Sir,” he said, “this is a most auspicious day for me. Somehow by dint of my past pious activities, I have the good fortune to serve a sadhu. Such opportunities are rare.”

Then he quoted a verse from the Padma Purana:
aradhananam sarvesam
visnor aradhanam param
tasmat parataram devi
tadiyanam samarcanam

“My dear goddess, of all types of worship, the worship of Lord Vishnu is the best, and even better than the worship of Lord Vishnu is the worship of His devotee, the Vaisnava.”

“What?” I said. “How do you know that verse?”

“I study sastra,” he replied softly, still gripping the chair.

“You’re a devotee of Krsna?” I asked.

“One day,” he said. “One day I hope to become a devotee of the Lord.”

“Are you from a family of Vaisnavas?”

“No,” he said. “I am an orphan. The devotees of the Lord are my family.”

Then he quoted a verse from the Bhagavad Gita:
mac-citta mad-gata-prana bodhayantah parasparam
kathayantas ca mam nityam tusyanti ca ramanti ca
“The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered to Me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me.”

I suddenly realized that I had been so busy criticizing him that I hadn’t noticed his peaceful face and his moist, sparkling eyes.

“Sir,” Mahesh said, smiling slightly, “when I saw you in the reception room earlier, I knew in my heart that the Lord had sent you to give hope to all the unlucky people suffering in this place. Your presence alone brings joy.”

The nurse’s voice brought me back to the present. “The injection is done,” she said. “Please go to the next room to wait for your scan.”

“Sure,” I said. “But first let me ask Mahesh if –––” I turned back to him, but he had gone.

“Where did he go?” I asked the nurse.

“To sweep, probably,” she replied without looking up.

As I waited in the adjoining room, I felt a wave of guilt wash over me. “I misjudged that man,” I thought. “I was ridiculing him in my mind, but he is more of a devotee than I am. I’ve committed a serious offense. I’ll have to beg him to forgive me.”

Suddenly a sign flashed my name. It was my turn for the PET scan. A nurse welcomed me and helped me lie down on the scanning machine. “Stretch your arms over your head,” she said. “You need to lie completely still for a full ten minutes.” Although I had been nervous about the monster, I relaxed and slowly drifted off to sleep. I woke up when I felt someone touch my feet. I heard a voice singing softly: “Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”

I opened my eyes. It was Mahesh. “Mahesh,” I whispered, “I need to talk to you.”

But again he vanished as quickly as he had appeared. The scan ended and the sense of shame came over me again. “I’m just an offender,” I thought as I changed into my clothes. I followed the exit signs until I came to the reception room, now twice as crowded as before. I was signing some papers at the reception desk when I heard the high-pitched voice of Mahesh singing. I looked up and saw him dancing across the back of the room pushing his broom.

I rushed across the room. “Mahesh! Mahesh!” I called out. “I need to speak to you!” But before I could reach him, he had disappeared through a glass door. As he danced down the hallway to another part of the hospital, I fell on my knees and prayed for forgiveness:

vancha-kalpa-tarubhyas ca krpasindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaisnava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees who can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls” [Sri Vaisnava-pranati].

As I stood up, I suddenly remembered that I was in a crowded waiting room. Everyone was staring at me.

“Let them stare,” I thought. “At the worst they’ll think I’m crazy; at the least they’ll think I’m eccentric. But I’ll know I am paying my respects to the wonderful Vaishnava I unexpectedly met today.”

Srila Prabhupada has written:
“Your complaint is that you have met two of my young disciples in California and they appeared to you as having ‘a very negative outlook towards the people they meet.’ Of course, I do not know the case, what are the circumstances, but kindly forgive my beloved disciples for any un-kindness or indiscretions on their part. After all, to give up one’s life completely for serving the Lord is not so easy thing. And maya, or the illusory material energy, she tries especially hard to try to get back and entrap those who have left her service to become devotees. So sometimes in the neophyte stage of devotional service, in order to withstand the attack of maya and remain strong under all conditions of temptation, young or inexperienced devotees will adopt an attitude against those things or persons possibly harmful, threatening to their tender devotional creeper. To come to that platform of understanding things as they are, that is not a very common thing, and therefore such persons who attain to it, they are described as ‘great souls.’”
[Srila Prabhupada letter to Lynne Ludwig, April 30, 1973]

Source: http://www.travelingmonk.com/34897/the-singing-janitor

Shilanayaas Puja @ ISKCON Jalandhar.

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 22, 2016 at 12:14pm

The Devotees of ISKCON Jalandhar celebrated Sri Nityananda Trayodashi in a very special way. On The special morning the devotees had organized the Shilanyaas puja and Yajna for Lord Jagannath’s upcoming Installation Ceremony.
The Yajna was performed by HG Balbhadra Das, and was overseen by Temple President Ramanuja Acharya Das and approx 150 of the Temple devotees.
Special Guests included Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Sh. Vijay Sampla (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet Minister) and Ashwani Gupta (Former Independent Director of State Bank Of Patiala).
Devotees chanted mantras during the Yajna and afterwards placed the sacred pot in the ground where Lord Jagannath will be Sitting)

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19167

Realizing God, February 19, Camarillo, California

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 22, 2016 at 12:12pm

Giriraj Swami addressed devotees, friends, and students from California State University, Channel Islands.

“Somehow or other, come to Krishna, come to God. He is known by different names in different cultures, and they all refer to the same Supreme. But the beauty of Krishna consciousness is there is more information, more detail. Any bona fide religion will say that you should love God and that such love is the goal of life. But if you ask them who is God, they don’t have a clear conception—and how can you really love someone if you don’t know the person? Our study of the Vedic literature begins with the Bhagavad-gita, and then there are other books with even more detail. By reading them, you can learn about how kind, merciful, and loving God is, and you can develop your personal relationship with Him. It is also a service to God to help others come to Him.”

02.19.16, Camarillo, California

Sri Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir – SB Class, 20 Feb. 2016: The appearance day of Lord Nityananda

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 22, 2016 at 12:02pm

Speaker: Bhakti Vigna Vinasa Narasimha Swami
Venue: Sri Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir
Date 20-FEB-2016

Jaya Jaya Sri Caitanya Jaya Nityananda!
Jaya Advaitacandra Jaya Gaurabhakta vrnda!

So today the auspicious day of the appearance day of Lord Nityananda. We will attempt to speak some of the glories of Lord Nityananda for the pleasure of the devotees.

Lord Nityananda appeared in Ekacakra dhama. Just last week we had the opening of the ISKCON branch there in Ekacakra. Lord Nityananda was the son of Hadai Ojha and Padmavati. Hadai Ojha was brahmana. Padmavati was the daughter of a king, Mukuta Roy. I had the opportunity last week of going to some of the places around Ekacakra with HH Bhakti Nityananda Swami. Of course he is Bengali, so he able to research many of the places and he showed me the place actually where Nityananda’s father in law lived. His name was Mukuta Roy. Actually that place today, there is a saw mill there in that place. But for us its the birthplace of one of the family members in the line of Lord Nityananda.

So Mukuta Roy was a king and as a king he had to go and fight wars. His daughter Padmavati was six years old when he left home. And when he returned home it was twelve years later and his daughter had grown up quite a bit. So much so that when he first saw his daughter he did not recognise her. Instead he looked at her as simply as an attractive young woman. And the girl could understand the thinking of her father. And she went and told her mother. The mother came and told her husband, “You foolish man! This is your own daughter. She is eighteen years old now. You’ve been away from home so long, you do not recognise her.”

So Mukuta Roy when he heard these words he vowed, tomorrow morning I will our daughter married to the first man we meet. And that was Hadai Ojha. So Hadai Ojha and Padmavati were married but Hadai Ojha is a brahmana. He was just doing puja in the different temples there, in Ekacakra, there is many Shiva temples there. He said, “I have no money! How can I take care of your daughter? You are a king. She is used to opulence!” But Mukuta Roy said, “Don’t worry, I will provide everything.” And he donated lands, and treasure, all kinds of dowry were given for the marriage to take place.

So Lord Nityananda appeared in that family and He lived with Padmavati and Hadai Ojha for twelve years. The pastimes of Lord Nityananda there in Ekacakra are described in Caitanya Bhagavata. How in the association of the other children there, they reenacted all the pastimes of the Lord in His different incarnations. And even the local people were amazed that how the children know all of these things. Even we don’t know, we are learning from them. But it was all known to Lord Nityananda. He could guide them and inform them how to perform all of these different pastimes.

Lord Nityananda understood that His parents were deeply attached to Him and that He somehow or other had to get free from their attachment. So it was arranged that a sadhu would come and visit their home. And Hadai Ojha being a dutiful brahmana offered this sannyasi to come to his home and take food and offered all kinds of charities – “Whatever I can provide for you, please tell me! Don’t hesitate to ask.”

So then when it came time for the sannyasi to leave then he said, “You just give me your son! That will be the best thing you can do. I am alone, I am travelling alone. I am a sannyasi.” Just like Lord Caitanya as a sannyasi, He was travelling alone. He wanted to travel alone but the devotees told Him, “No, You should have someone with You. Someone can carry Your danda, or carry Your waterpot, when You have to go begging.”

So in this way this sannyasi told Hadai Ojha that “If your son can come with me it will help me a lot in my travels. I am going to visit all the holy places.” So in this way Lord Nityananda went with this sannyasi, visited all the holy places. But it was not a new experience for Lord Nityananda because Lord Nityananda is not different from Lord Balarama. And Lord Balarama had also visited all the holy places. In order to avoid taking part in the Kuruksetra war Lord Balarama had gone off on pilgrimage and visited all the holy places. In the same way Lord Nityananda was desiring to visit all of these holy places again. Just like once we come to Mayapur and Vrindavana we leave our heart here, right? We have to come back, find our heart again. So this is the nature of the holy places that we can never forget them. And in the same way Lord Nityananda was eager to visit all of those holy places which He had seen in His previous incarnation.

So Lord Nityananda after twenty years of travelling came to live in Vrindavana. And it was in Vrindavana that He heard how the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu were beginning. Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His early childhood, in His youth, He had been a scholar, He had been a logician and He had His own school. But after going to Gaya and being initiated by Isvara Puri, then His bhava, His love for the Lord had been aroused. And He had began having regular kirtana with the devotees. So Lord Nityananda being not different from Lord Caitanya could understand that Lord Caitanya was beginning His pastimes, beginning to inaugurate the sankirtana movement.

Lord Nityananda returned to Mayapur. But before He returned to Mayapur Caitanya Mahaprabhu was informing the devotees there in Mayapur, that very soon a great personality is going to come and visit us. He is going to come here. All the devotees were wondering, “Who is this? We don’t know! What’s happening! Who is this person who is going to come?” And then Lord Caitanya after a few days He said, “That personality came in My dream! He is already here in Mayapur! He came in My dream and He told Me, He is My brother. He is not different from Me. He appeared in My dream and in My dream, He came to My house and He was speaking Hindi!” Could you imagine it? In Bengal speaking Hindi? Nowadays of course because of Hindi movies, and Hindi songs and so on Bengalis also know Hindi. But five hundred years ago it was a different situation. So to be in Bengal, to speak Hindi, its like speaking Chinese. Nobody could understand, right!

So in the dream Lord Caitanya said, “I saw this personality and He was speaking in Hindi – ‘Is this the home of Mahaprabhu? Is this the home of Nimai Pandita.’ ?” And He asked ten or twenty times because no one could understand of course. So Lord Caitanya told all the devotees, “This personality has now come to Mayapur. We have to find Him. You have to go and bring Him here.” So He instructed Srivasa Pandita and Haridasa Thakura, His two very intimate associates who were both maha-bhagavata devotees. And He told them, “Go find this person! He is here in Mayapur! You bring me here!”

So Haridasa and Srivasa Pandita left and they went all over Mayapur. They came back after nine hours and they told Lord Caitanya, “We have searched everywhere! We didn’t just go to the grhastha’s homes, we visited the sannyasi’s. We even went to the homes of the atheists. We went to every home we could find. We cannot find this personality anywhere!”

This the mystery of Lord Nityananda. Lord Nityananda is not different from Lord Balarama. And He is the original spiritual master. Without the mercy of Krishna, we cannot contact a spiritual master. In the same way without Lord Caitanya we cannot get connection to Lord Nityananda. We were hearing in the song, we have to have a connection with Lord Nityananda. Lord Nityananda is not different from Lord Balarama. He is the original spiritual master. He is visnu-tattva. He is not different from the Lord but He comes in the mood of the servant of the Lord. He is the servitor personality of Godhead. And He comes to teach all of us the mood of rendering service to the Supreme Lord.

So Srivasa Pandita and Haridasa Thakura, they told Lord Caitanya, “We cannot find this person anywhere.” Lord Caitanya said, “I will take you to Him.” And Lord Caitanya then arose and all the devotees followed Him with kirtana and they proceeded to the home of Nandana Acarya. Nandana Acarya’s house is very near, its the next house you could say, its the next temple down the road, on the way to Jalangi we pass the home of Nandana Acarya. Nandana Acarya is also a maha-bhagavata devotee. It is described in the Caitanya Caritamrta that he is the seventeenth branch of the tree of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And it is noteworthy that in his home, it was in his home that not only Lord Nityananda was hiding but later on Advaita Acharya would hide in his home. And sometimes also Lord Caitanya would also come hide in the home of Nandana Acarya.
Lord Caitanya brought all the devotees to the home of Nandana Acarya and they saw this wonderful effulgent personality. His effulgence was like millions of suns and He was tall, decorated in blue garments and a blue turban on His head and with His lips He was chanting the holy names of Krishna. All of the associates of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu were astonished to see this personality. But for Lord Caitanya it was like meeting an old friend.

Lord Caitanya wanted all of the devotees to understand the position of Lord Nityananda. So He requested Srivasa Pandita, “Please recite some verses from the scriptures!” And Srivasa Pandita began to recite a beautiful verse describing Lord Krishna as He enters the forest of Vrindavana. How His head is decorated with peacock ornament and how His ears are decorated with blue coloured flowers and round His neck is the vijayanti garland. His body is covered with a golden coloured cloth and He appears as a best of all the dancers as He enters into the forest of Vrindavana, decorating the earth of Vrindavana with His footprints, with His beautiful footprints on the soil of Vrindavana. He fills the flute with the nectar from His lips and all the cowherd boy are singing His glories.

So Srivasa Pandita recited this verse. And when Lord Nitayananda heard this verse. Then His love for Krishna was aroused. And He began to exhibit all kinds of ecstatic symptoms. He fell to the ground unconscious. Then His body was trembling. His hairs were standing on end. Tears were flowing, all of His cloth became very wet with the tears from His eyes. Lord Caitanya told Srivasa, “Keep reciting!” And he continued to recite. As he recited Lord Nityananda came more to consciousness and continued exhibiting ecstatic symptoms, rolling on the ground in front of all the devotees. All of the devotees seeing Lord Nityananda display this ecstatic love for Krishna, they could understand His exalted position.

Lord Caitanya took Lord Nityananda in His arms and began to caress His body bringing Him back to external consciousness. Lord Caitanya taking Lord Nityananda into His arms caused, brought a smile on the face of Gadadhara Pandita because Gadhadhara Pandita knew the identity of these two personalities. And he understood that usually the situation is reversed because Lord Nityananda is not different from Lord Balarama, not different from His plenary portion Sesa and on the body of Sesa lies the Supreme Lord Lord Naryana. In the same way Lord Balarama is the servant of Lord Krishna. But here Lord Caitanya is taking Lord Nityananda on His lap and started giving service to Him, just the reverse of how it is in the spiritual world.

Lord Caitanya wanted to bring Lord Nityananda back to external consciousness, He began to speak to him and he asked Him, “Where did you come from?” Lord Nityananda replied that, “I visited many places connected with the pastimes of Lord Krishna and I visited many of the temples of the Lord. But everywhere I was not able to find Lord Krishna. I went to so many places of the Lord’s pastimes. ButI could not find Lord Krishna anywhere. I inquired from some learned persons where is Lord Krishna? And they told me that He has appeared in Navadvipa. And He is performing His pastime in chanting the holy name. He has come to inaugurate the sankirtana movement to deliver everyone in the Kaliyuga.” In this way Lord Nityananda was glorifying Lord Caitanya. He wanted everyone to understand the identity of Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya wants to glorify Lord Nityananda and Lord Nityananda comes to glorify Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

This is the mood of devotional service. We give service to the Lord and the Lord serves the devotees. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda reveal to us the mood of confidential loving service. Lord Nityananda we said, He came here in Mayapur in the home of Nandana Acarya but generally His pastimes would be performed in the home of Srivasa Pandita. Actually Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu also chose the home of Srivasa Pandita to perform His pastimes. Just as Lord Krishna appeared in Mathura but His pastimes were performed in Vrindavana, in Gokula. In the same way Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared at the Yogapitha, but He came to the home of Srivasa Pandita. And similarly Nityananda came from Ekacakra to the home of Srivasa Pandita and there they inaugurated the sankirtana movement.

Lord Nityananda appeared in the home of Srivasa Pandita, just sometimes behaving almost like a child because Srivasa Pandita and his good wife Malini, are in the mood of vatsalya rasa. They see this Lord Nityananda and Lord Caitanya just like their sons. When Lord Nityananda was living there He was just like a child. He behaved just like a child. But Lord Caitanya instructs all the devotees that never doubt the character of Lord Nityananda. That if you worship to Lord Krishna but do not offer respect to Lord Shiva then you will go Yamaraja. In the same way if you worship Lord Caitanya but do not have respect for Lord Nityananda then it is a great offence. You can never get the goal of life.

Lord Nityananda Prabhu’s pastimes are very difficult to understand. We know that in His previous incarnation as Lord Balarama He went to Naimisaranya. And in Naimisaranya He took a kusa grass and pierced the heart of Romaharsana Suta. That same Lord Balarama comes as Lord Nityananda and in Kaliyuga He takes kusa grass between His own teeth and He falls at the feet of Jagai and Madhai and asks them to chant the holy name. This is the difference in Kaliyuga, that Caitanya Mahaprabhu comes to teach all of us the mood of devotional service, to offer all respects to others and not to be anxious to be respected. Sri Nityananda Prabhu personifies this mood of amanina mana dena (Siksastakam). He would go to all the fallen souls and engage them in the service of Lord Krishna. Of course this was His instruction. Caitanya Mahaprabhu had requested Lord Nityananda and Haridasa that they should go door to door to every home and fall at the feet of the people and beg them to chant the holy name of Krishna, to worship Krishna, and to read the books of Krishna.

Lord Nityananda however sometimes He could become a little, He could behave differently in a manner which would sometimes confuse people as to His identity. And we see this, there is one pastime which takes place when Lord Nityananda is going to Jaganath Puri with all the devotees. Now usually the party would be under the care of Sivananda Sen. Sivananda Sen would have to deal with all the different formalities in the course of the journey to Jagannath Puri. So on one occasion they had to pay taxes on the way and Sivananda Sen was delayed. Lord Nityananda and all the devotees were left without any shelter in the hot sun. On that particular day Lord Nityananda felt hunger. He was feeling very hungry and He had to wait for Sivananda Sen for a long time. During this wait Lord Nityananda became angry and He cursed Sivananda Sen that his sons would die. Hearing the curse of Lord Nityananda the wife of Sivananda Sen began to cry because she thought if Lord Nityananda wants my sons to die, certainly they would die. When Sivananda Sen finally came Lord Nityananda showed His anger and kicked Sivananda Sen. And then when Sivananda Sen heard about how Lord Nityananda had cursed his sons to die, Sivananda Sen replied, “If Lord Nityananda wants our sons to die, let them die!” This is the loving dealing between Lord Nityananda and His confidential devotees.

There is one song taken from the Caitanya Mangala, akrodha paramananda nityananda raya, Lord Caitanya (Nityananda) is described as one who never becomes angry. But this is His transcendental anger. He is performing these pastimes behaving like a hungry man, affected by hunger, affected by anger. But actually it is all His transcendental pastime to exhibit the wonderful qualities of His devotees like Sivananda Sen. Some of the family members became confused however. And one of them had gone off on his own to Jagannath Puri. And it is recorded in the Caitanya Caritamrta that in order to heal the misunderstandings of the family of Sivananda Sen, Lord Caitanya personally instructed His servant Govinda that, “All the remnants of My prasadam should be given to the family of Sivananda Sen.” This is the loving exchange. This is how these two Lord’s reciprocated their loving dealings.

Another wonderful pastime between Lord Nityananda, and Advaita and Caitanya Mahaprabhu took place in Shantipur after Lord Caitanya had taken sannyasa. Lord Nityananda tricked Caitanya Mahaprabhu into coming to Shantipur and then bringing mother Saci and all the devotees. So then a big feast was arranged and Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very happy to see that they were offering so many wonderful preparations for the pleasure of Lord Krishna. However Advaita Acarya then instructed that “These plates are for You, one is for You my Lord. I want You to eat.” But Caitanya Mahaprabhu would say, “No, I am a sannyasi. I cannot eat so much.” But Advaita Acarya told Him, “You cannot fool me. I know that in Jagannath Puri everyday You eat 56 offerings, with many big pots at every offering. So why, this is just a mere morsel for You!” In this way Caitanya Mahaprabhu was induced to sit down and along with Lord Nityananda and Advaita Acarya they began to take prasadam.

Lord Nityananda exhibited His joking mood and began to complain to Advaita that, “ I have been fasting for three days. This is not a mere morsel of food for Me.” Actually they had been coming from Navadvipa, all the way from Katwa where Lord Caitanya took sannyasa, all the way down to Shantipur. It would take some time to walk there. Maybe about three days, I don’t know, maybe not that long. But anyway He told jokingly to Advaita, “I have been fasting for three days. This is not a mere morsel food for Me.” And Advaita requested Him, “Please I am a poor brahmana. I know You can eat 4 or 500 kilos of rice every time. I am a poor brahmana. Kindly accept what I am offering to You.”

So they began to eat. At one point Lord Nityananda then rose up and said that “This is not at all satisfying My hunger.” And then He took some rice and He threw it and it hit the leg of Advaita Acarya. And when that rice stuck to the body of Advaita Acarya then Advaita Acarya began to dance. And this dancing, this shows something of the power of the maha prasadam. The remnants from the plate of pure devotee, actually maha maha prasadam. The remnants of Lord Nityananda touching the body of Advaita Acarya caused him to dance.

Advaita Acarya said, “Just see we do not know what is Your caste and I bring You in my home and You behave like a madman throwing the remnants of Your food at me.” Lord Nityananda told Advaita Acarya, “This is Lord Krishna’s own remnants. This is prasadam. You are making an offence by considering this foodstuff to be ordinary. It is Lord Krishna’s own remnants. For your offence you will have to invite a hundred sannyasi’s to your home and feed them all sumptuously.” Advaita Acarya replied, “After You have come to my home I will never bring another sannyasi to my home. I have lost all my smartha principles.” So this was the joking words between Lord Nityananda and Advaita Acarya.

The point is that Lord Nityananda is no ordinary person. And Advaita Acarya by his words, which not everyone could understand, they are meant to instruct us on the exalted position of Lord Nityananda, that He comes, just like we were singing the song about the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda. That lotus feet, Prabhupada explains that whenever we speak of feet, feet means service. And Lord Nityananda comes to teach all of us the glories of service to the Supreme Lord Krishna or Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Nityananda shows by His own example how to serve Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu by going to even the fallen souls like Jagai and Madhai and requesting to chant the holy names of Lord Krishna.

Our movement is founded in the same basis, to follow in the footsteps of Lord Nityananda, to hold tightly to His lotus feet means to hold firmly, to be fixed in this process of devotional service, to continue to preach the message of Krishna everywhere, to everyone, without discrimination. Lord Nityananda does not consider who is qualified and who is unqualified. Wherever He went He would give love of God.

Actually on one occasion I was telling how sometimes Lord Caitanya would go in hiding. One time they were having kirtana and Lord Caitanya stopped the kirtana and said, “I am not feeling any ecstasy today! What is wrong! I am not getting love of God!” and again they started the kirtana but again Lord Caitanya complained, “I am not getting this love for God anymore! Its not coming today!” Advaita Acarya told Lord Caitanya, he said “The problem is You have given everything to that Lord Nityananda. You put Him in charge of the storehouse of love of God. He has given it to everyone. He has given it to even the gardeners, even to the oil grinders. He has given it to all kinds of people.” Lord Caitanya was not very happy to hear these words. It was like a complaint. At that time Lord Caitanya left that place and hid Himself from Advaita Acarya.

Lord Caitanya was very happy to see devotees follow the mood of Lord Nityananda and to assist Him in the preaching mission. Lord Caitanya even instructed Lord Nityananda that “You don’t have to come to Puri every year. You can remain in Navadvipa, You can remain in Bengal.” Because He knew that if He was in Bengal the preaching would be going on and that is the important thing.

Srila Prabhupada also wants all of us to continue the preaching movement. We come here to Mayapur to imbibe something of the mood of Lord Nityananda and then to go back to our preaching places and continue in that mood of Lord Nityananda. So today, on this day we are all praying for the mercy of Lord Nityananda and that mercy is that without any discrimination we will distribute love of God to everyone. Not looking at their designation or their position or the colour of their skin or their language, without consideration. We will try to distribute this message of Krishna and in this way Lord Nityananda will bestow His mercy on us. By the mercy of Lord Nityananda only we can come to get shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and through Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu we can come to understand Radha and Krishna.

Thank you very much! Hare Krishna!

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19174

Book Distribution and follow up

Posted by ISKCON Desire Tree on February 22, 2016 at 11:33am

By Sutapa Das

Srila Prabhupada emphasized distribution of his books and proclaimed that even if 1 percent of the whole world’s population become devotees of Krishna, His mission is accomplished. As Srila Prabhupada rightly mentioned, these books are like time bombs, they show their effect when the right time comes.

My ambition is to spread these books far and wide all over the world so that everyone shall read at least one of our books and that will change his life. If only 1% become devotees, that will change the whole world.
— Correspondence, Tokyo, 2/5/1972

Puttur is a place 50 km away from Mangalore, Karnataka. 20 years ago, one person (now Bhakta Prashanth at ISKCON Mangalore) from Puttur received one book written by Srila Prabhupada from His Grace Madhava Prabhu of ISKCON Mangalore. He was so inspired by the book and the spiritual guidance given by Madhav prabhu that he started preaching in his small town. Over the years that followed, more than 1000 copies of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita As It Is were distributed there.

Recently, ISKCON Mangalore Sri Jagannath Mandir organized a Bhagavad Gita contest across more than 15 schools in Puttur, as an effort to attract the school children and their parents towards devotional service. Around 800 students took part in the contest, and the winners were given awards on Feburary 14th 2016. The program was attended by more than 600 students accompanied by their parents and friends. The chief guest, Sri Radha Krishna Bhakta, one of the many local leaders who appreciate the event, blessed all the children with a bright future. His Grace Srirama Prabhu (President, ISKCON Mangalore) reinforced the message of Krishna Consciousness to the audience in a brief talk. Several parents expressed their desire to attend spiritual programs on a weekly basis.

HG Smitha Krishna Prabhu gave the Vote of Thanks and encouraged all the students to read Bhagavad Gita As It Is everyday and try to apply the knowledge in their lives. A special thanks to His Grace Suvarana Gaura Prabhu and Bhakta Vishal Prabhu for playing key role in Puttur preaching and doing all the ground work for making this mission of Prabhupada a great success in Puttur.
Following the “1 percent” instruction of Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON Mangalore is making efforts to spread the Holy Name and transcendental knowledge in his books around Mangalore. ISKCON Mangalore book distribution scores doubled compared to last year, reaching 2500 big books in December Marathon 2015.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Sutapa Das
Communication Incharge
ISKCON Mangalore

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19182