New book: Brahma Samhita translated by Bhanu Swami.
Urmila Devi Dasi: This translation of Brahma Samhita by Bhanu Swami is very easy to read and understand. The book also contains Jiva Goswami’s commentaries and is fully illustrated in a modernized Kerala style.
Here’s where to purchase: http://us.srivaikuntaenterprises.in/index.php…
or visit the website http://www.srivaikuntaenterprises.in/shop/, click on the icon for ONLY INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS on the left corner, and select Brahma Samhita from Bhanu Swami book list.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18881

How beautiful our life would have been if every day would be filled with joy and just joy! When in life there would not be any fear of calamity, no fear of betrayal, no fear of losing our loved ones. Life with full of hope, full of happiness and no anxiety and no uncertainty.

However, in spite of all our wishful thinking this world does not provide us the luxury of being happy every moment because this world is filled with duality where happiness and sadness walk side by side. None in this world, no matter who he or she is, would say that they haven’t experienced any unpleasant moment in his or her life.

But as a sentient being when we suffer adversity then should we not question as why suffering is inevitable in this world? Why can’t the rising sun daily brings us tons of happiness, why can’t every moment of the day is delightful and why can’t every night is extremely satisfying?

But it never happens and Krishna, too, confirms in the Gita that just like summer and winter accompany each other, similarly happiness and distress will always be parts of our life and he asks us to tolerate it (Bhagavad Gita 2.14). But when a doctor informs his patient that his disease would torment him time to time and he just have to live with it then the patient would immediately beg doctor for a permanent cure to his disease.

Similarly, when we are informed that pleasure and pain have equal right on our life we immediately start seeking solution to purge all our present and future pains.  The solution is given in our Vedic literature. The sacred book does a root cause analysis and gives the reason for our suffering - our precarious condition is because we accepted this mortal body which is prone to suffering and this world where we live is an abode of misery. (Bhagavad Gita 8.15).

Lest we not become morose thinking that our quest for everlasting happiness would never be satisfied we are told that we are eternal souls having eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord, we suffer because here we are encaged in this ephemeral body and world and have forgotten our relationship with the Lord.  As soon as we bring God in our life our entire problem will perish.

When a king walks his ministers and servants walk behind him, similarly when the Lord walks in our life, auspiciousness and good fortune – his two companions – follows him. When we associate with the Supreme Lord we also connect ourselves to the perennialpleasure mine making sure that we never remain deprived of happiness in this life.

And when the time come for us to leave this body and this material world we do not become morose, depressed or broken hearted because death reunites us with our family members of the spiritual world where they eagerly wait for us. In the spiritual world there is joy and just joy which we continuously look for, pray for and desire for. 

Source: http://iskconnews.org/journey-to-everlasting-pleasure-mine,5399/

Scriptures are often replete with long lists of names, exalted personalities who most have never heard of, but who are nevertheless immortalised in the pages of history. In the material world people are remembered for what they do – their ground-breaking achievements, their high ranking positions of responsibility, and their impactful influence on others. In spiritual circles, however, people are remembered for who they are. In some cases these outstanding spiritualists also made a visible mark on the world, but in many cases they were quiet, simple, humble souls who went about their daily life with a deep sense of devotion, sensitivity and saintliness, their consciousness merged in transcendence. Unassuming, and often unnoticed. The value system in spiritual circles, you see, is entirely different. Character over capability.

The spotless and exemplary character of these saintly personalities is an unending source of instruction and inspiration. They were never found to be duplicitous or superficial, but ever-preaching the highest ideals of human life and simultaneously walking the talk. A recent survey showed that over 70% of first-time attendants to a spiritual institution never return. Why? Because of the huge gap between the ideals of the philosophy and the behaviour of its adherents. How is that possible? Why might the practitioners of a worldview that’s all about character development, neglect to spend time to improve themselves?

Maybe we think the spiritual regime will automatically clean up our hearts, and that the deliberate effort to imbibe saintly qualities is neither genuine, effective nor sustainable.

Maybe we are so busy with the external activities (material and spiritual) that there is little time left for contemplation on the quality of our interactions and the purity of our dealings.

Maybe we tend to prioritise external achievements over internal purification – after all, that’s what gets the claps and nods from our social circle.

Maybe we’ve surrendered to our defective character, convinced that nothing can change us – “I am who I am, and everyone just has to live with it.”

Maybe we find it too depressing to deal with the internal issues, instead choosing to brush our bad qualities under the carpet and hope nobody will notice.

Maybe something is blocking us from seeing defects that are strikingly obvious to others.

Whatever it may be, the world is in desperate need of kind, generous and broadminded saints. If not us, then who? If not now, then when? Let’s value and encourage character over capability.

Source: http://iskconnews.org/character-or-capability,5398/

By Sajjanasraya dasa

We can do great things, and I heard that if we want to accomplish great things we have to start with apparently small things, look at the details, concentrate on the essential, so we can go deep into the path of Bhakti. We should feel it is the most important thing in our life and put all of our heart and intelligence into developing our love for the Lord and giving it to others. We need to become friendly and compassionate at all levels. Becoming a happy, mature, advanced devotee, filled with compassion for others, is the best way to expand the Krishna consciousness movement. It is the attitude we have that is important and sometimes we can preach nicely even without ‘preaching’.

Some snapshots from life in the temple come to my mind: We are in the temple and this morning is Haridas Thakur appearence day. After Tulasi puja and in few minutes will be japa time. “Some announcement?” “Yes! Today it is a very special day, a great, great devotee appeared for our benefit…this morning let’s try to chant with all our attention, let’s put all our gratitude, love and attention on our japa…”

I have to go to cook, the kitchen is spotlessly clean and neat. We know we have to cook for the Sunday feast and it must be a very, very good feast, nothing ordinary. The head cook also reminds us that we have to try our best to satisfy Krishna, put our skill, our attention in the cooking and be concentrated. The food we cook will go to the spiritual world, Krishna, Sri Radha, the gopis, the cowherds boy will taste our preparations, and then all devotees and guests will taste it, we have to cook with love….. let’s pray, let’s try our best!…

Before harinam we check our dress and our motivation. We are going in the town center so the harinam should be nicely done. The devotees are advised to dress in simple clean and (ironed) dhotis and saris. We give our full attention to the Holy name.

An Istha ghosti is a wonderful opportunity to understand the hearts of the devotee. We express our feelings, and give suggestions to improve our divine service and to increase our sense of belonging in our devotional community.

The essence of everything is serving and doing things for Krishna with love, attention, care, respect, concentration and helping others to know their best friend. If people are ready to listen we can tell them directly about Him. Those who aren’t ready to hear directly about Krishna will be influenced by kindness of the devotees. Our outreach to others can take many forms.

We can feed poor and rich people prasadam, provide medical care, help people out of the ruins of an earthquake or a Tsunami. We can console the sick or help a person after a car crash (even if he is a butcher!). We can open Krishna conscious hospitals or schools up to university level. We can publish magazines and daily newspapers and hold conferences.

Apart from big projects, we can help others with little acts of kindness like giving a warm greeting to someone or helping an old lady cross a street. We can be kind and friendly to our neighbours. All this will help keep our hearts open and loving. Once Bhaktisiddhanta Sarswati Thakura chastised his disciple for not giving some donation to a beggar and said such neglect would make his heart hard. Our loving, giving and compassionate attitude will help us and others will be attracted to our good behaviour. This will allow them to be more open to hear the most important news we have to give them– the words that will help them to be free for ever from all kind suffering and death, words that can help them to go to our real home to be happy for ever. So before telling them the good news, good behaviour must be there. Obviously we can not ‘preach’ and being dishonest, rude, fanatic, indifferent or proud. Behaving in those way we become ridiculous and inefficient. Once in sankirtan a person told me: “You know, sometimes religious people ‘love the universe’, they developed cosmic love, universal love, they say ‘we are all brothers’ but then they fight all day with the neighbour next door…” During a famous meeting made mainly by sankirtan devotees Srila Prabhupada praised them for their service of distributing his books. Then one devotee said: “Srila Prabhupada what pleases you most?” It seemed that the devotee asked that question because he was sure of the answer, he thought that Srila Prabhupada would have said something like ‘that you distribute my books’, but instead Srila Prabhupada said “That you become pure devotees…” Srila Prabhupada also said that “a devotee is a gentleman” So giving others books of knowledge it is important because there people can find so many informations and inspiration, but then people needs living examples of purity to follow- sankirtan, I think, is not only giving others Srila Prabhupada’s books. That it is an aspect of sankirtan, others can be being expert in reading and explaining them, welcoming people at the temple, creating there a friendly and pure atmosphere, taking care of new people, make them pure devotees. 

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18877

Yatra to Inamanamellur.
On the banks of Gundlakamma river, amidst Guava fruit orchards and blessed by Lord ChennaKeshava is the well-known Inamanamellur village. The village was once well known for its rich Sri Vaishnava traditions; therefore the name of the village has Tamil origin. But presently these traditions are followed more so as obligations. The younger generation is totally apathetic to these traditions. Though situated on the banks of a river the villagers are more focused on agribusiness like tobacco and aquaculture,instead of developing agriculture. Paddy is also a prominent crop. Somehow from over a century guava is grown in abundance in addition to other fruits. As seen in most of the opulent villages the younger generation has settled down in towns and cities, while the large houses in villages are mostly inhabited by elderly people. Village has a mix of traditional houses and concrete structures with all modern amenities.
After the pleasant experience in Gollapalem village in the morning hours of January 14, 2016, the Yatra team arrived in Inamanamellur village to witness a contrastive atmosphere. The youth in Gollapalem village had participated very actively in the program, but here we found the youth in a totally different mood. They were gearing up for a volley ball match that was to commence from 5pm and expected to continue till midnight as a part of sankranthi celebrations. Choosing the right spot for the program was a hard task despite the village being big, the people from one street do not usually visit other streets due to caste constraints and political reasons. Finally after lot of consultations with the locals, we decided to hold the program in the main street near the pedestal where Hanumanji’s 20 feet murthi is installed. Inspite of repeated announcements and having performed harinaam in main streets of the village, people did not turn up even until evening 7.30 pm. We decided to play a few videos and only then people started coming and in no time a decent crowd of over 60 people assembled. The program started by Sripathi prabhu introducing Bhagavad-gita and Krishna consciousness. Later Haridas prabhu spoke about the Holy Name and Ramsharan prabhu about the glories of mother cow. Video on Gau-vaibhavam was also screened. After the pledge to protect mother cow, arathi was performed and prasadam was generously distributed. As we were concluding the program, the village temple utsavamurtis were brought in procession as a part of festival celebrations. Devotees felt that the village temple deities came to bless the Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra as a grand finale of the program.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19097

Giriraj Swami discussed Srila Rupa Gosvami’s The Nectar of Instruction.

“Srila Prabhupada said, ‘We have to become conscious before we become Krishna conscious.’ We should not talk about others without reason. In other words, there should be some filtering process between what goes on in our mind and what comes out of our mouth—at least in the beginning. After Krishna went to Mathura, He sent Uddhava to meet the gopisin Vrindavan, and they had so many complaints about Krishna—of course, all on the platform of the highest love. But they had so many complaints about Krishna, not only in His present lifetime but in previous lifetimes as well. They concluded, ‘If Krishna can live without us, we can live without Him—but we cannot live without talking about Him.’ So when our mind is so filled with Krishna that the only thing that can come out of our mouth is Krishna, then we don’t need to worry about filtering. But when we have different things in our mind, we should be conscious and careful before we speak.”

Source: http://www.girirajswami.com/?p=10639

Photo one has Bhurijana Prabhu (founder of the VIHE) and Deena Bandhu Prabhu doing abhiseka of a Govardhana Sila at the Bhumi Puja. Second shows Raghava Pandit dasa (in saffron—in charge of construction), Krishna Ksetra Maharaja, and Prasanta Dasi (VIHE Director)

Bhumi Puja for the VIHE Govardhana Retreat Centre – and Construction Begins

The Govardhana Retreat has been going on since 2000 – the first with only thirty students under the trees surrounding Giriraja (we still remember having to crawl under a barbed wire fence to get to our spot!), the most recent with almost a thousand students, now at a rented ashram.

As the number of students has grown, so too has our desire to serve this ever-expanding community of devotees by building our own centre at Govardhana, along with our awareness that we needed our own place to house and host the devotees, and to give them a quiet place to actually retreat from the busy-ness of their lives.

For us, the bhumi-puja was a monumental event, like a first mango flower finally blossoming on a tree planted twelve long years earlier. We have been patient. We originally procured land near Govardhana Hill in 2004, and added three more small pieces over the next eight years. Finally, two years ago, we added a large two-and-a-half-bigha plot, making the final size of the plot for the Centre five acres. Finally, we had enough land to allow our centre to be uncramped, unbuilt-up, and to possess the natural and simple ambiance we desired.

Then, after another year spent acquiring legal approval from the local council (MVDA), we were ready to build. Interestingly and perhaps even mystically, that approval arrived suddenly while three hundred devotees were chanting Krishna’s holy names in a colorful pandal at Govardhana during an unseasonal rainstorm during the 2015 Holy Name Retreat. And now, on February 3, 2016, at an auspicious moment, two hundred meters from Govardhana Hill, we performed the bhumi-puja and the initial construction of the VIHE Govardhana Retreat Centre officially started.

Sweet that moment was. It reminded me of the sweetness that descends during the Govardhana retreats when all the devotees present are absorbed in hearing and chanting about Krsna. That sweetness, I take it, results from Giriraja Govardhana’s pleasure, for Krsna is being glorified in the association of devotees in Vrndavana.

And that is the essence of our endeavour to construct a retreat centre in this holy land. We wish to make this offering to Srila Prabhupada: May his followers, both individually and in groups, retreat at least for some time from the lands where maya’s influence dominates, and approach the shelter of Giriraja Govardhana to gain deep nourishment by practicing absorbed hearing and chanting about Krsna in Vraja.

As Çréla Prabhupäda said in his purport to Çrémad-Bhägavatam 3.21.17: “Only by drinking the nectar of chanting and hearing the pastimes of the Lord can one forget the intoxication of material existence.” And in a 1972 lecture in Vrindavana: “So we must be inquisitive. We must be very eager. That eagerness should be aroused: ““Where kåñëa-kathä is being taught, let me go there, let me hear.””

We pray that within the protected and serene atmosphere of the Govardhana Retreat Centre, devotees will experience Krsna’s potent presence through hearing and chanting His glories amplified by Giriraja Govardhana’s soothing shelter.

The bhumi-puja was highlighted by the presence of many kind-hearted sannyasis and other senior disciples and followers of Srila Prabhupada. (We also received the distant, recorded well-wishes from a number of others.) Their words highlighted their own hopes for the quick and successful completion of the Centre. We pray that you add your prayers to theirs.

For further information about the VIHE Govardhana Retreat Centre, the Govardhana Retreats, and to see photos of the bhumi-puja, please visit our website: http://www.govardhancenter.com

Your servants,

Sacinandana Swami

Bhurijana dasa

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19071

By Anya Kultyshkina

Kerala is the most materially educated state in India. Almost all local people know English. That is why even those devotees who do not know the local languages of India can go there and preach Krsna consciousness.

There is a need to bring Krsna consciousness to this area, because although the people are materially educated, spiritual knowledge is lacking. Because of contact with Europeans, first with Vasco Da Gama in the 15thcentury and later with the British dominion, many Christian churches were established there and I met Christians at every step.

It was almost impossible to make them aware of what kind of heavy sin they were committing by killing animals for their food. They consider that God created animals for their enjoyment and their churches fully endorse such philosophy. But even among the Christian people, I met some who were quite intelligent and open to dialogue. They were interested in Bhagavad Gita As It Is and they even were taking the books. There were also artists–young creative people such as musicians, architects, painters–kind of seekers interested in spiritual life.

With great joy I shared Krsna consciousness with them. Because they were attracted, I invited them to the Sunday program the devotees were organizing in a house nearby. Joshi, a musician I had met in the street, came to the Sunday program with his friend Abhilash. Abhilash is also a musician and has his own recording studio. He began to come regularly to the devotees’ house and started to chant the holy name. Nobody saw Joshi again. Many times I knocked on the doors of Hindu families and I was always warmly welcomed with kind gestures and friendly glances. First, according to their tradition, they would offer a seat, and then water, sometimes light food such as fruit, and then they were ready to hear about Krsna consciousness.

Once I came into the house of one family and found the family members fully absorbed in Krsna consciousness. I stayed about two hours with them, talking about the philosophy of Krsna consciousness. It was a nice spiritual reciprocation. They had their own sadhana: waking up before sunrise, taking bath, and then going to the Bala-Krsna temple located nearby. One week after our first meeting, I again met the head of the family, Venu Gopal prabhu, in the downtown market. The first thing he told me was, “Krsna wanted us to meet again.” I invited him and his wonderful family for the Sunday program. Once I came into a jewelry shop with the intention of offering the books.

The owner of the shop was there. He told me he already had the Bhagavad-gita and the book Krsna and that he liked ISKCON. I gave him two Back to Godhead magazines and one small book. He was very inspired and decided to give me one beautiful necklace for Srinathji Krsna, the deity worshiped by devotees in whose house I was staying. The last day, right before my departure from Kerala, I was walking in the area where I had been living for one month and found that every person I was passing by was loudly saying “Hare Krsna!” upon seeing me. I could hear only the name of Krsna everywhere. Such is the mercy of Lord Chaitanya!

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19075

By Sri Gauranga Das

On Sunday 14th February 2016, ISKCON Nairobi held its first ever Gita Champions League prize giving ceremony. The Chairman of Hindu Council of Kenya Mr. Nitin Malde graced the occasion and enlivened the audience with his inspiring address. The National Secretary of Hindu Council of Kenya Mr. Kamal Gupta, His Holiness Bhakti Vasudeva Swami a travelling sannyasi, senior members of ISKCON Nairobi – Madhava Das and Rukma Das and Mrs. Mahida headmistress of Nairobi South Nursery, Primary and Seconday School also graced the occasion.

The Gita Champions League (GCL) is a competition based on the teachings of the ancient book of knowledge, the Bhagavad Gita. This contest was a fun, inspiring and motivating way to help everyone to absorb themselves in the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, enrich and refocus their life in the right manner.

GCL was a written test primarily targeting students from Class 5 to 8. The test was limited to the first three chapters of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is written by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder Acharya of ISKCON.

GCL was first organized by ISKCON in India and it was run in Nairobi on a pilot basis. It attracted registrations from over 6 prominent schools in Nairobi without much publicity. There were a total of 14 overall prize winners and the winners expressed their appreciation and joy for having access to this universal knowledge which will help them improve their lives as well as society. Organizers were pleasantly surprised to find that apart from the students their whole families were involved in studying the Gita. Twenty two other participants received prizes for their excellent performance. In addition all participants received a certificate of participation and T-shirts.

Photos can be found here: http://1drv.ms/1R6lhlr

Srila Prabhupada involved in a car accident.
Pusta Krishna das: This photograph was taken in Mauritius in 1975, just after Srila Prabhupada’s South African tour. The President of Mauritius sent a Citroen car and a driver to bring him to visit, but Srila Prabhupada, hearing about a recent decision by the government to support chicken slaughter houses, he decided to merely take a ride and then return to the place where we were all staying.
On getting into the auto, I requested Srila Prabhupad to sit on the left in the back seat because it was safer. He complied. We drove for about a half an hour and stopped at a site overlooking the ocean with an inscribed plaque about a historic event that took place there.
When we went back to the car, Srila Prabhupada said, “that side is safer”, the one which I suggested previously. I was sitting next to the government driver (British style, drives on the left side of the road), with the driver on the right, and me on the left, Srila Prabhupada directly behind me, and Brahmananda Maharaj beside Srila Prabhupada on the right back seat.
We were driving through the sugar cane fields on a two lane road, curving to the left. To my horror, a VW beetle car was coming directly at us head on. It was only visible for about two seconds since the sugar cane fields blocked the wider view. Neither car had any opportunity to slow down. I had been chanting Sri Krishna Chaitanya in my mind when this occurred, but I was horrified that this was taking place with Srila Prabhupada in the vehicle. The two cars came together at full speed, with combined speed about 80 miles per hour. I placed my hands before me to brace on the dashboard, and at impact my head went into the windshield on the forehead and my elbow struck the windshield as well. As I looked to my right I saw the government driver with blood coming from his head as his head went into the windshield leaving the impression of his head in the windshield. As I continued to look right and back over my shoulder, I saw Brahmananda with his left arm around Srila Prabhupada’s shoulder and the look of terror in Brahmananda’s face. Srila Prabhupada remained completely silent and grave. He had been sitting cross-legged in the back seat with his cane between his knees. At the time of the accident, his face, especially his lower lip struck the back of the seat I was sitting in. Fortunately, these are well-padded cars. He developed a blood blister in his thumb and as I recall, some swelling in his lip, with no other injuries amazingly. The female passenger of the VW went through the window and out of the car. The government driver of our car with bloodied head got out to attend to the injured in the VW.
I got out of the car and went to Srila Prabhupada seated behind me. He had multiple pieces of broken glass around his feet, which I removed so that he would not be cut. I asked him if he was alright. He remained completely silent, detached and very grave, as much as I had ever experienced of him.
Brahmananda got out to try to flag a car down to take us back to our bungalow. We remained at the accident site for about 15 minutes. A car stopped and took the three of us, but in the wrong direction. We drove for about 15 minutes and then they turned around and took us back past the accident site, and then back to the bungalow.
When we arrived, Harikesa was there. Srila Prabhupad made up a mixture or poultice to apply to any painful areas we might have. He personally applied it to my forehead and elbow (which I thought might be fractured, but it wasn’t). We had a kirtan at Srila Prabhupada’s request which I led, then Srila Prabhupada asked to hear something from the Chaitanya Charitamrita. Harikesa opened the book and it opened spontaneously to the Disappearance of Haridas Thakur, which he read for some time.
The next morning Srila Prabhupad, Brahmananda Maharaj and myself took a walk on the beach outside the bungalow. Srila Prabhupad never mentioned the accident. He did ask us where we thought he should go to next, since there was some program arranged for Nairobi, Kenya. I suggested that he might be shook up from the car accident and perhaps he might like to return to Bombay to rest. Srila Prabhupada said, “we shall go to preach in Nairobi. I knew at that time that I could not second guess His Divine Grace. This all took place before any temple had been established in Mauritius which came about later, and I believe that Srila Prabhupada made a second trip to Mauritius later. He had flown to Mauritius prior to entering South Africa, and again after leaving South Africa.
Apparently, because Brahmananda could not enter South Africa, I performed the duties of Srila Prabhupad’s secretary during his two-week tour. He liked me and he liked my style as his secretary. In February of 1976 when I arrived in Mayapur with a Mercedes we purchased him in Stuttgart, Germany (at his request), Srila Prabhupad personally asked me to be his permanent secretary. I, like some others before me, lasted until July 1976 throughout his last world tour. Indeed, I have many fond memories and also some regrets. All is in Krishna’s Hands. No further questions about that.
Hoping that you will forgive the detail of this true episode in our lives at that time. Hare Krishna. Pusta Krishna das

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19087

I meditate every day, and have done so for many years. Sometimes I sit, sometimes I walk. It’s a mantra meditation, so I am uttering words quietly.

Meditation always makes me feel better.

My best meditations are in the morning and that’s because the day has not yet kicked in, and my mind is still fairly quiet. Then I get into the rhythm of the chanting and hold my attention to the sound of Krishna’s name.  

It can take up to a half hour of chanting before I feel my mind, my being, slip into a different energy. It’s like the poet Rumi says ‘ out beyond ideas of rightdoing or wrongdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there’.

It’s a liminal space experience. Hard to describe but worth the effort to get there. For me it’s like being in a wide open area – but it’s safe. There is a feeling of freedom. There is also a sense of separation from my body. All is quiet and I listen. Life and mind and body slip away.

With the Krishna mantra meditation I also experience emotion. The Hare Krishna mantra means – “O Lord, or energy of the Lord, please engage me in your service”. I am reciting His name with affection, asking for a relationship, longing to serve, to actively develop my love for the all-attractive One.

Early morning mantras bring a stillness to my life. At that moment I am sincere. I want to know who I am, where I am from. Meditation brings me to these places of eager enquiry.

Sometimes my meditation is light and distracted, other times rich and sweet, and sometimes serious and urgent. Much depends on the state of my mind. The mantra doesn’t control the mind as much as it frees the mind. We have to control the mind to start to do the meditation in the first place .

The Hare Krishna mantra frees the mind from the bodily concept life, which is the source of all misery. This concept is deeply ingrained in us. If we can control the mind and focus on the mantra, the mantra will then loosen these bodily conceptions and create some cracks in our illusion so that the light will begin to shine through. It’s a beautiful thing.

Source: http://iskconofdc.org/meditating-on-meditating/

Narottama Dasa Thakura, one of the acharyas in the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya writes in glorification of the Lord that one will get the soothing moonlight of millions of moons when one takes shelter of Lord Nityananda’s lotus feet. If one really wants to enter into the dancing party of Radha-Krishna, he must firmly catch hold of His lotus feet.

In the age of Kali-yuga, Lord Krishna advents in this material world as Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu along with Balarama appearing as Lord Nityananda. Lord Nityananda is also known as Nitai, Nityananda Prabhu and Nityananda Rama. He took the role of Lord Chaitanya’s principal associate for spreading the chanting of the holy names of Lord Krishna in the form of Harinama-sankirtana. He distributed the mercy of Lord Krishna to all the fallen, materially conditioned souls of this age by performing the congregational chanting of the Lord’s holy names. According to the teachings of the acharyas, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu cannot be approached or understood without taking shelter of Nityananda Prabhu, who is the original guru of all the universes. He serves as an intermediary between Lord Chaitanya and His devotees. He is the second body of the Lord, manifesting as Balarama to Sri Krishna, Lakshmana to Sri Rama and Nityananda Prabhu to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Lord Nityananda’s Appearance and Childhood

Nityananda Prabhu appeared in the year 1473 in Ekachakra, a small village in West Bengal. There is a temple named Garbhasva in commemoration of the place of His appearance. Nityananda Prabhu appeared on the auspicious thirteenth day (trayodashi) of the bright fortnight of the month of Magha as the son of pious brahmana Hadai Pandita and Padmavati. The residents of Ekachakra were completely absorbed in the love of little Nitai. As a child, Nitai loved to constantly enact the pastimes of Sri Krishna and Lord Rama with His boyhood friends. He spent the first twelve years enacting these kinds of pastimes. He has the whitish complexion of Lord Balarama. His voice is deep and melodious.

Pilgrimage of Lord Nityananda Prabhu

In the thirteenth year, a travelling sannyasi came as a guest of the Lord’s parents and requested them to send Nitai with him as a travelling companion. His parents committed to Vedic culture, could not decline his request and reluctantly parted with Nitai. Lord Nityananda toured the holy places in both Northern and Southern India until He arrived in Navadvipa and met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He went to visit the different holy places in order to purify them from the sins left behind by the pilgrims who visit them.

In the course of His pilgrimage, the Lord went to Gaya, Kashi, Prayaga, Mathura, Govardhana, Hastinapura, Dwaraka, Ayodhya, Haridwara and many other holy places. He took bath in many holy rivers on the way. The Lord next went to Badarikashrama and to the ashrama of Srila Vyasadeva and met him. On His pilgrimage tour, He also met Madhavendra Puri, Ishvara Puri, and Brahmananda Puri who were all great devotees of Lord Krishna. He spent many days enjoying the ecstasy of krishna-katha in the association of Madhavendra Puri and his disciples. He then visited other various places such as Setubandha, Danatirtha, Mayapuri, Avanti, Devapari, Trimala, Kurmakshetra etc.

Finally He arrived at Jagannatha Puri, where He took darshana of Lord Jagannatha and drowned in the ocean of bliss upon seeing the Deity of the Lord.  From Jagannatha Puri, He returned again to Mathura.

Meeting Lord Chaitanya and the Distribution of Krishna-prema

Nityananda Prabhu met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in 1506 at the age of 32 years when Lord Chaitanya was 20 years. Lord Nityananda in His role as the original spiritual master played a major role in spreading the yuga dharma of sankirtana all over the Gauda desha (Bengal, Odisha). His mercy was unlimited, and people fortunate to come in contact with Him relished the nectar of His instructions and were inundated with love of Godhead. Raghunatha dasa, one of the six Goswamis, started the celebrated Danda Mahotsava festival of Panihati by the mercy of Lord Nityananda and was thus able to serve Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The festival is still being observed by the devotees to this day. Due to the boundless mercy of Lord Nityananda even the most fallen souls like Jagai and Madhai who were habituated to all kinds of sinful activities were delivered and converted to great Vaishnavas who took to the chanting of the holy names of Lord Krishna. He delivered many fools and fallen sinners by freely distributingKrishna-prema. (Read also Parama Karuna – The Deliverance of Jagai and Madhai – Part 01, Part 02, Part 03, Part 04)

Lord Nityananda’s Pastimes

Lord Nityananda married Jahnava devi and Vasudha, the two daughters of Suryadasa Sarakhel. Suryadasa Sarakhel was the brother of Gauridasa Pandit – an intimate associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the spiritual master of Srila Shyamananda Pandit. Nityananda Prabhu had a son named Virabhadra and a daughter named Gangadevi from Vasudha. Once, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu invited Lord Nityananda to accept lunch at His home. Accepting the invitation, Lord Nityananda went with Lord Chaitanya and was received well at His home.

When both the Lords sat down for lunch, it appeared as though Lord Ramachandra was having lunch with Lakshmana. As mother Shachi happily served Them food, They began to eat with loving exchanges. Then suddenly two plates of food turned into three plates. As the Lords began to smile, mother Shachi returned with more food but to her astonishment, she could find only two attractive little boys in the place of the Lords. One of Them was white and the other was black color. Both of Them were naked and four handed, holding conch, disc, club, lotus, plow and stick. They were also adorned with Srivatsa and Kaustubha gems and wore fish-shaped earrings. Mother Shachi could also see her daughter-in-law within the heart of her son. Then suddenly she could no longer see anything. She fell to the ground with incessant tears of love which wetted her whole body and clothes. As she fell senseless, the rice that she was carrying was strewn all over the room.

Lord Chaitanya immediately got up, washed His hands and calmed her down. Very soon, mother Shachi revived, but just cried inside her room. She was breathing heavily and her body shivered. She was ecstatic with love of God and forgot everything else.

One day when Lord Nityananda was staying in the house of Srivasa Thakura, a crow came there and flew away with a bowl made of bell metal which was used to keep ghee for Lord Krishna. Mother Malini devi, the wife of Srivasa Thakura saw the crow which retuned after leaving the bowl in its nest. Worried about this, she began to cry. Then Lord Nityananda arrived there and learnt the reason of her grief. Assuring her that He would get her the bowl, the Lord turned to the crow and asked him to return the bowl. The crow carried out the order of the Lord and came back with the bowl in his mouth. Malini devi who knew well the glories of Lord Nityananda, fainted in ecstatic love to see this wonderful incident. After recovering, she offered her respectful prayers to the Lord.

On another occasion, the Lord performed a grand kirtana in Panihati with His devotees. After this, He ordered His servants to conduct abhisheka to Him. All the devotees headed by Raghava Pandita made every arrangement and bathed the Lord with the water from the Ganges while everyone sang His glories. After abhisheka they dressed Him with new clothes and applied sandalwood paste to His body. They decorated Him with flower garlands and tulasi. Then the Lord sat on a throne and glanced at everybody showering them with Krishna-prema. Then He ordered Raghava Pandita to make a garland of kadamba flowers saying that He was very fond of those flowers. When Raghava Pandita humbly said that it was not the season for kadamba trees to flower, the Lord asked him to go home and look for them.

When Raghava Pandita reached his home, he was surprised to see beautiful fragrant kadamba flowers blossomed on the lemon tree in his courtyard. Overcome by ecstasy, Raghava Pandita quickly made a garland of them and offered it to the Lord. All the Vaishnavas  thus felt very happy.

In this way, Lord Nityananda exhibited many inconceivable pastimes before His devotees, drowning them in the ocean of transcendental ecstasy.

Lord Nityananda married Jahnava devi and Vasudha, the two daughters of Suryadasa Sarakhel. Suryadasa Sarakhel was the brother of Gauridasa Pandit – an intimate associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the spiritual master of Srila Shyamananda Pandit. Nityananda Prabhu had a son named Virabhadra and a daughter named Gangadevi from Vasudha.

The Lord wound up His earthly pastimes, by entering into the Deity of Bankim Ray (Krishna), situated close to Ekachakra.

Today is Family Day and so the Hare Krishna Temple would like to wish you and your family all the best on this special day.  We actually had to Google the official explanation for Family Day and got the following, "Family Day is observed in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan on the third Monday of February. In British Columbia, Family Day falls on the second Monday of February. This holiday celebrates the importance of families and family life to people and their communities."

So, with that in mind, we would like to thank each and every one of you for also being part of our big Toronto Hare Krishna family!  Expressing appreciation is always a good thing for devotees to do and so even though we don't get too many comments on posts, we would like to encourage devotees to leave a comment on this post with some words of appreciation for the rest of your Hare Krishna family!

Source: http://iskcontoronto.blogspot.in/2016/02/happy-family-day-from-hare-krishna.html

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, November 2015, Vrindavan, India, Video Interview)

We chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra because it is said that by chanting these sixteen syllables all the influence of the Kali will be destroyed. Under the influence of Kali, we are becoming totally degraded. Illicit activities such as meat eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex are rampant in the world. Day-by-day, we become pulled down more and more, and degraded more and more and we sink deeper into the swamp of suffering. But, the chanting of Hare Krsna can liberate us from all this suffering. Therefore we must chant that name of Krsna as recommended in Kali-santarana Upanisad: Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

ource: https://www.kksblog.com/2016/02/chant-for-upliftment/

Sri Rupa Goswami advises us how to think of Krishna (Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 1.2.294)

kṛṣṇaṁ smaran janaṁ cāsya preṣṭhaṁ nija-samīhitam
tat-tat-kathā-rataś cāsau kuryād vāsaṁ vraje sadā

Kṛṣṇaṁ smaran is the first injunction: “think of Krishna.” Next, janam cāsya: “In  thinking of Krishna, also think of his people.” 

It’s phrased this way because kṛṣṇa-smarana is ubiquitous to all bhakti-sādhana (viz. “smartavya-satatam-viṣṇoḥ…”) but the hallmark of rāgānugā-sādhana is that we don’t just think of Krishna, we think of him with “his people.”

Which “people”? Preṣṭham: the people who are in love with him.

And, even more specific, nija-samīhitam: the people who are in love with him in the same way that we want to be in love with him.

When telling us to think of Krishna Sri Rupa advises us that kīrtan/kathā is essential. We will think more of Krishna the more we hear about him. So he says, tat-tat-kathā-rataś cāsau, “Discuss everything about those two, with great delight.”

Who are “those two”? Krishna and his preṣṭha-jana (his beloved) whose type of affection you desire. This implies that there would be one special nija-jana in particular who would perfectly epitomize the love for Krishna you desire. For example, Krishna and Radha. Or Krishna and Yasoda.

And the final line? Kuryād vāsaṁ vraje sadā: “By doing this, may you always reside in Vraja [with them].” Here Rūpa Goswāmī advises us not to think of Krishna and his beloved as a museum piece, or a subject of study. Rather we must think of ourselves as having an active role in the affairs of Krishna and his beloved. We must think of Krishna in a way that causes us to “live with” Krishna.

Sri Rupa Goswami’s instructions are as deep and satisfying as the ocean of nectar itself.

Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com