Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 04 Chapter 20 Text 27 Improve your service by HH Indradyumna Swami on 30 Jan 1990 at Sydney

(Indradyumna Swami is a disciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Sannyasi traveling preacher, and a guru or spiritual teacher in the Chaitanya Vaishnava tradition.)

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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 09 Chapter 08 Text 22 by HH Janananda Goswami on 13 Nov 2014 at Bhaktivedanta Manor

(Born in the United Kingdom. His Holiness Janananda Goswami was initiated by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada in 1972. He held various positions in ISKCON and served Srila Prabhupada in various countries notably the United Kingdom, Africa, Malaysia, Europe, Philippines and New Zealand.)

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Hare Krishna
Please accept my humble Pranams
All glories to Srila Prabhupad

Dear devotees,

By the Mercy of Lord Chaitanya, Nityananda, Vaisnav Acharyas, Srila Prabhupad and all Vaisnavs we find ourselves serving in Cambodia very near the world's largest Vishnu temple ever built...."Angkor Wat" the emblem of a once powerful Vaisnav country now 95 percent Buddhist.

For the first time in 800 years the Holy Names of Lord Krishna are once again being sung loudly near Angkor Wat And as a result a new crop of 6 Bhaktas has emerged from the embers of a chaotic recent civil catastrophe.

Now these new boys need "your guidance" to bring them up as strong Vaisnav leaders for the future well being of the country of Cambodia.

Your active participation will create an "Explosion of Devotion" in this land.

Please come and train these boys...we need your help as there are only 2 in- house devotees A young Bramacari from Indonesia and an old man from Canada (me).

A very generous supporter from America is keen to finance your way to Cambodia. We call him Uncle Jerry.

We have no temple president, treasurer, temple commander, Bhakta leader or experienced cook. So you see the door is wide open and Lord Chaitanya is giving you the opportunity to help bring Krishna consciousness back to these very humble and nice people of Cambodia

Please write today and give your support, input, and details of service you can render to the people of Cambodia.

The country lies between Thailand and Vietnam and has millions of international visitors to Angkor Wat where they hear about Lord Krishna and Arjuna from local Buddhist tour guides who know very little of the real history. Come on over and give the people here the real meaning behind the battle of Kurkshetra as Lord Krishna wanted Arjuna to understand it.

Thank you for your time.
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupad in Cambodia
Kala das Vanacari

Home Base: ISKCON Baroda

Dear Devotees,
Namonamaha.  Jaya Prabhupada!

This is to announce the release and availability of HH Bhakti Purushottam Swami's book, "Sri Jagannath", about Lord Jagannath, in Gujarati.

The book is approximately 137 pages, and is the same size (length & breadth) of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is.

The cost to temples is Rs. 60/-, each.

The suggested retail donation would be Rs. 80/-.

A scan of the book cover is attached to this message.

To place your order for this book, contact Ram Das Prabhu (Lok), either at his e-mail address, Basu.Ghosh.ACBSP@pamho.net or telephone him on his mobile:
+91-94260-54306.

Hope this meets you all well.
Basu Ghosh Das

Lecture on Having Good Relationships by HG Charu Prabhu

(Charu Das was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1970. He has been President, variously, of the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Berkeley (USA) temples. He served on the BBT library party in 1976, received Bhakti Shastra in 1979, and was Life Membership Director in Los Angeles for 10 years in the 1980's.)

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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 Chapter 51 Text 30 Become the Greatest Well Wisher of all Creatures by HH Radhanath Swami on 05 Oct 2014 at ISKCON Chowpatty

(Radhanath Swami was born in Chicago in 1950. Radhanath Swami's childhood name was Richard Slavin; Radhanath Swami was given the name Radhanath Swami after he entered the renounced order. In his teenage years, the longing for knowledge about God lead Radhanath Swami)

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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 01 Chapter 17 Text 28 Protecting dependents from the age of Kali by HH Romapada Swami on 28 Oct 2014 at Hyderabad

(HH Romapada Swami Maharaja is a disciple of ISKCON Founder Acarya His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He was first introduced to this movement of Krsna consciousness when he was a college student more than 37 years ago.)

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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 06 Chapter 01 Text 38 Obtaining Realized Knowledge by Submission by HH Niranjana Swami on 30 Nov 2014 at Mayapur

(His Holiness Niranjana Swami was born on December 10, 1952, in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. In 1972, his spiritual search took a turning point when he saw a Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, on the counter of a bookshop in Washington, DC.)

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Lecture on Whether members of ISKCON become entitled at their perfection mostly to Gopi Bhava by HH Sivarama Swami on 29 Nov 2014 at India

(Sivarama Swami was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1949. His family immigrated to Canada where some years later in 1970 he first came in contact with Srila Prabhupada's teachings, via his transcendental books. He became an initiated disciple of His Divine Grace in 1973 and accepted the renounced order of life in 1979.)

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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 01 Chapter 17 Text 24 How Kali Works by HH Romapada Swami on 24 Oct 2014 at Hyderabad

(HH Romapada Swami Maharaja is a disciple of ISKCON Founder Acarya His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He was first introduced to this movement of Krsna consciousness when he was a college student more than 37 years ago.)

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Lecture on Women in Spiritual Culture by HG Devaki Mataji on April 2014 at Germany

(Mother Devaki has served in various capacities for over 20 years and has in later years engaged in creating festivals and various meetings for devotees to listen about and glorify Krsna. She started pioneer preaching in former Soviet Union.)

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Dear Prabhujis and Matajis

Please accept our Humble obeisances unto your lotus feet. All Glories to Srila Prabhupad.

Here we are all ONCE AGAIN for the December book Marathon updates...

We have heard that  'All's  well  THAT ends well'...... but what if IT BEGINS WELL.....

yes it has begun quite well...

Last Sunday H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj gave us his nectarean book distribution association thru VAPU and VANI.... In the morning SB class, HHRM spoke wonderfully about the spirit of book distribution. Here is the link of the small extract of book distribution talk by maharaj. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQO4L4pCpZ0

Later that very day, Maharaj came to visit the book godown. Maharaj spoke with Baldev pr and told him that he had heard fully the sunday feast class on book dist by Shymananda p and Baldev pr.. HHRM even quoted few stories spoken by Baldev pr about our own congregation devotees. HHRM then asked us all how many books we ordered this year. We replied 1 lakh books. Maharaj asked what was last years score. We replied 1,32,000 was last years score. Maharaj asked us why you have ordered less books. we replied that maharaj we will bring later more books. Maharaj immediately asked us what if books get over with BBT and we dont get more books later. We replied due to space constraints in temple we cant get more books. Maharaj told us to get BIG GODOWN on rent every year for marathon. GET all books before....

(actaully fact is we dont get more books as we dont know how all of you in congregation will respond. Its always a shady zone wrt book dist and we do not wish to take risk. Anyways we didnt tell that info to maharaj.)

Then Maharaj finally asked us how much score we are planning this year.We replied MAY BE SAME AS LAST YEAR.... HHRM humbly said TELL ALL TO DO MORE...and then maharaj left...

So we all have the blessings.... this year Maharaj has given us a word of encouragement right from beginning of marathon... and we hope and pray to do our best to realise his blessings.

This year has really begun differently with this advanced blessings. Here is the proof... Congregation devotees have already opened their book accounts and score well before time. Baldev pr has been visiting all counsilers groups and congregation programs all over mumbai and has amazing book dist stories. we will share few on this email series and some he will share on his updates after sunday sb class. kindly tune in for those updates.

Many congregation groups have started their Whatsapp marathon groups... Chembur+Sion+kurla have their whatsapp grp, Vashi has theirs, so do Belapur, Thane, Bhandirvan bace, Talvan bace..... u all can make one too...

request all to share their wonderful stories of this year 2014 book dist marathon to Baldev pr directly or thru some other devotee. BECOS this year we are compiling a book on all your book dist experiences and will gift it to H.H Radhanath maharaj in one of his january sunday sb classes. So pls keep sending-telling your stories to us without fail.

HHRM meets the BUS PARTY DEVOTEES.

Lecture on Progress in Spiritual Life not Material by HG Shikshashtakam Prabhu

(HG Shikshastakam Prabhu has served Indian Air Force for 7 years. During his tenure he was selected as a fighter pilot and also represented Indian Air Force in National Tennis Championship. He is serving ISKCON since 1998 as a fulltime preacher. Being expert at scientific explanation of the Vedic Culture and by his profound knowledge, he has attracted many people mainly youths to this Krishna Conscious movement. )

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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 06 Chapter 01 Text 47-48 by HH Devamrita Swami on 29 Nov 2014 at ISKCON Mayapur

(Devamrita Swami was born on October 16, 1950 in New York City. At the age of seventeen, he received a scholarship to Yale University and graduated in 1972. Upon graduation Devamrita Swami began to study the literary works of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

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Lecture on Srila Prabhupada Crossing the Ocean by HH Kadamba Kanana Swami on 04 Oct 2014 at Sydney

(Kadamba Kanana Swami joined ISKCON in 1978 in Amsterdam. Until 1984 he managed projects in Vrindavana. From 1985 through 1990 he coordinated the construction of Srila Prabhupada’s samadhi in Mayapur.)

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Lecture on Ram Katha by HH Bhakti Purshottam Swami on 24 July 2014 at Chitrakut Dham

(HH BhaktiPurshottam Swami is from India. He is sanyasa disciple of H H Jayapataka Swami. He has been with great dedication serving Mayapur since decades. He extensively travels and preaches in South East Asia, Bangladesh, US and Middle East. He preaches in english, hindi and bengali.)

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ISKCON is ramping up for its mega 50th anniversary celebrations, with events to be held all over the world throughout the year 2016. These will commemorate the day Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada officially registered the society in New York on July 11th, 1966.

But ISKCON will warm up for that by celebrating another 50th in 2015. They’ll commemorate both Prabhupada’s leaving Kolkata on the steamship Jaladuta on August 13th, 1965, and his arriving in Boston, USA on September 17th.

ISKCON India’s Eastern temples have banded together with chairman Sankarshan Nitai Das to organize events centered around the first part of his journey.

Starting in January 2015, they’ll theme all their temple festivals around Prabhupada’s spiritual quest. They’ll distribute thousands of his books, put up billboards that celebrate his achievements and hold public Harinamas at Kolkata locations that were key in his earlier life.

They’ll also organize programs at schools and colleges where they’ll distribute literature on Prabhupada’s life and ISKCON’s history, then give the students quizzes on what they’ve read.

The celebrations will reach their peak in August, when hundreds of devotees will embark on a walking pilgrimage retracing Prabhupada’s journey from Sri Mayapur Dhama to Kolkata’s Khidirpur Dock.

The pilgrimage will begin on August 8th in Mayapur, with devotees visiting the shrine of Prabhupada’s guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, where Prabhupada prayed before leaving for the U.S.

On August 12th it will reach Kolkata, where it will stop at several important places in Prabhupada’s life. These will include the Radha-Madan-Mohan temple his father Gour Mohan De used to visit when Prabhupada was a small boy; Govinda Bhavan, where Prabhupada stayed with his father, mother and sisters; and Scottish Church College, where he received his education as a young man.

Four major programs will follow. On August 13th, various political leaders, government officials and Prabhupada disciples will attend an event at Khidirpur Dock, where Prabhupada boarded the Jaladuta on the same day back in 1965.

On the 14th, ISKCON leaders and key donors will attend a program at Ravindra Sarovara auditorium, near Srila Prabhupada’s birthplace in the Kolkata suburb of Tollygunge, which ISKCON purchased in spring 2013.

On the 15th, a festival for youth from all over India will be held at the prestigious Science City Auditorium.

And finally on August 16th, a grand satsang program will take place at Netaji Indoor Stadium which organizers hope will be attended by 20,000 people, including spiritual and political leaders, namahatta congregational members, and ISKCON leaders from all over Eastern India.

Each of these four programs will feature talks about Srila Prabhupada’s achievements in bringing Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s message of Krishna consciousness to Western shores, along with kirtan, bhajan, Deity worship, Odissi and Bharat Natyam dance, and a short film on Prabhupada in Kolkata.

The Kolkata events will be followed by a program organized by Bhaktivinode Swami in Cochin, South India, the last Indian port the Jaladuta stopped at – to load Srila Prabhupada’s books – before heading off for the U.S.

Celebrations will continue to follow Prabhupada’s path when devotees in Boston – who have always  commemorated the ISKCON Founder’s arrival at Commonwealth Pier – will organize their biggest event yet on September 17th, in honor of the day when he arrived at age 69 with just $7 and a box of books.

After that, GBC Bhaktimarga Swami, famous for his cross-country walks in Canada, will walk from Boston to Butler, Pennsylvania, where Prabhupada stayed with Gopal and Sally Agarwal, and then on to New York where, of course, Prabhupada registered ISKCON.  

All this is expected to drum up suitable excitement for ISKCON’s 50th anniversary in 2016, when devotees and communities all over the world will be planning 50th anniversary events in their own locations.

Ananga Mohan Das, communications director for Eastern India’s events, can’t wait. “There is a great sense of unity amongst devotees in this celebration, and in letting the world know what Srila Prabhupada achieved,” he says. 

Throughout the sastra we will find statements that being in a woman's body is a lower birth. Let us try to understand these statements more deeply.

To begin with, let us remember that this refers to the birth, meaning the material body, which we can compare to a vehicle the eternal soul is driving for this life time. The male and female vehicle have very different qualities and natures in order to fulfill certain roles and functions in this world. Not only do they differ in the gross body, but also on the subtle level of mind, intelligence and false ego. Infact Krsna has built into both vehicles the required qualities and natures, so they can fulfill their roles perfectly. In a nutshell the male vehicle is equipped in order to take charge, protect and provide, and the female vehicle is perfectly designed to bear and raise children and be the auspicious source of energy and inspiration to men (SB.4.21.4.,5.1.29.,4.27.2.,4.26.15.). Thus they complement each other perfectly. However, to consider them to be equal is absurd. The equality is there, but only on the platform of the soul. On the platform of the temporary body they are very different, and to make these distinctions does certainly not mean one is on the bodily platform. It is only intelligent to understand the qualities of the vehicle one is driving. To identify with the vehicle would indicate the bodily platform, but not to clearly distinguish the two vehicles - their qualities and functions.

Since the male vehicle is meant to protect, provide and lead, it is considered to be a superior vehicle. Otherwise he could not fulfill this function. And since a woman is meant to be protected and dependant, her vehicle is an inferior one. So it is simply meant in bodily terms, which does not affect the equality on the level of the soul, nor their qualification for spiritual life.

Srila Prabhupada explains this in a SB lecture on the 3rd of August 1968: "I was student of psychology in my college life. Dr. Urquhart said, I remember still, that the brain substance has been found up to 64 ounce, while brain substance of woman has been found, highest, 34 ounce. Therefore woman class (laughs) is not so intelligent as man. There is no question of competition. It is actual, scientific fact. But one thing I must explain here. So far spiritual life is concerned, it does not depend on the material brain substance. It is different thing. It is spiritual platform. It has nothing to do with this bodily construction. You must remember. We don't make any distinction that a man can be better Krsna conscious than woman. No. A woman can be better Krsna conscious because they are very simple. They can accept any religious system. Generally the women, they accept it because they are very simple. They have no crooked mind. Sometimes they are exploited therefore. So in the spiritual platform there is no such distinction, although in the material... Just like the bodily construction of man is different from woman, similarly, the brain substance may be also different, but that does not disqualify any woman for spiritual advancement in Krsna consciousness....."

The fact that women are less intelligent refers to material intelligence, which is one of the material elements of the subtle body. As a rule men also have bigger feet. We usually don't get agitated hearing this, since we don't identify so much with our feet. It's only the feet. But with our intelligence we identify much more, and we are so proud of being very intelligent. So therefore our ego is protesting when it comes to us women being less intelligent. In order to return back to Godhead we have to dissolve the subtle body of mind, intelligence and false ego. It can almost be considered an advantage to have a smaller subtle body - less work to dissolve it....!

If both men and women play their roles and execute their purifying duties within Krsna consciousness according to the vehicle they are driving, it is the perfect arrangement to make spiritual progress and ultimately qualify oneself to go back to Godhead. It is Krsna's Divine system to give us stability and harmony in this world in order to create a solid foundation for spiritual life.

The word hierarchy comes from Greek and means 'Divine order', with Krsna being on the very top of this order. So Krsna has set up a Divine order, so that everything functions in harmony and peace, and all human beings are perfectly taken care off. Once we understand that Krsna is on the top of the hierarchy, then the terms of 'higher' or 'lower' will not create a competitive mood. The brahmanas are considered to be 'higher' than the sudras, the Sannyasis are considered to be 'higher' than the other ashrams, men are considered to be higher thanwoman. Are they competing with each other? Of course not, because being 'higher' means giving protection, care and shelter  to those who are 'lower'. However, when Krsna is removed from the top of the hierarchy, then somebody else is trying to take His place, and the Divine order easily turns into exploitation and suppression, and of course the aspects of envy and competition enter. So then the terms of 'higher' and 'lower' create the mood of disrespect, competition and abuse.

However, when Krsna is on the top of the hierarchy, and still we women feel inferior to men and compete, then this would indicate that we are on the bodily platform, identifying with the body and forgetting that the equality is there on the level of the soul.

As we all know, in these modern days there has been an increase of violence and aggression towards women. We can understand this to be the direct result of the fact that women don't receive protection any longer. And of course, ladies can only be protected if they desire to receive protection. It also includes that we have to give up our independance - the price to be payed in order to receive protection. The whole idea of equality of men and women makes this difficult, if not to say impossible....

For further information on these topics please see www.therootsofspiritualculture.net

Lecture on Knowledge about Atma by HG Akinchana Krishna Prabhu at ISKCON Vellore

(His Grace Akinchana Krishna Prabhu was born in Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu, in 26th July 1970. He joined the movement at 1992 and was initiated by H.H Bhakti Vikasa Swami and since that he is serving the movement. He is the Temple president of ISKCON Vellore, Tamil Nadu.)

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