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Motivation in Krishna Consciousness

By Rashi Singh

Some suggestions on how to stay inspired.

Somehow, it happens that our motivation in Krishna consciousness may falter. Usually that faltering comes in the form of lacking the desire to do some practical service, associate with devotees, or develop our spiritual practices, such as improving the quality or quantity of our chanting or of our reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Whenever this happens to me or a friend, I realize the urgency and fragility of devotional service and the importance of remaining inspired. How can we proactively and practically manage our own level of motivation in our devotional lives? How can we inspire ourselves and others in moments when our inspiration is lacking? This article humbly attempts to provide practical insights into how to maintain one’s enthusiasm and motivation in Krishna consciousness.

Chant in the Morning

“There never seems to be enough time in the day.”

Quite honestly, besides the Hare Krishna mantra this is my other daily mantra.

Some years ago a devotee whose advice I value told me to “just try” to chant sixteen rounds on my beads every day, and specifically in the morning before leaving home. If I were able to do so, he said, Krishna would clear a path for me: My day would be increasingly efficient, and I would find extra time in the evenings for other devotional activities. I’ve since also discovered that feeling stressed or overwhelmed about daily tasks occupies much more time than we realize. Chanting in the morning helps clear the mind and thus makes us far more focused and productive throughout the day. The same devotee also told me that the material world is one of exploitation and deceit, and chanting in the morning places a protective shield around us that prevents others from hurting us.

Considering the copious amount of time we make for so many people and activities in a given day, why not make some time for the most important person, Lord Krishna, at the onset of our day—to talk to Him, associate with Him, and tell Him we care about Him? Whether for ten minutes or two hours, beginning the day by associating intimately with Krishna is incredibly sublime. Chanting our rounds is the basis for a spiritual day. Committing to a certain amount of chanting each day will help maintain and increase our motivation in Krishna consciousness. If we can try to chant in the morning, we stand an even better chance. While it may sound overly simplistic, chanting is the answer to everything. There’s a reason Srila Prabhupada coined the phrase “Chant and be happy.” And as far as possible, finish those rounds in the morning.

Remember that Krishna Is a Person

Perhaps this too sounds overly simplistic.

When we want to express affection for a friend or family member, we try to cultivate and nourish our relationship by expressing love and service through multiple acts of kindness, affection, and love. At every moment of every day Krishna is expressing His kindness, affection, and love for us. He is the friend who longs for us to associate with Him. He is with us always, willing us to Him. But to love Him is to exercise our free will. He can’t force us to love Him, because it takes the nectar and sweetness out of the relationship.

If you’ve ever put more effort into a relationship than you’ve received, then you know that this is a painful position. When you feel unmotivated, try to think about how much Krishna has blessed you with, and how little He asks for in return. Remember that He is your friend, longing for a loving reciprocal relationship with you. If we just pay some attention to Him daily through chanting and other services, we will feel His reciprocation. One of the best ways to keep the desire to know Krishna better is to serve and associate with His devotees. They provide much inspiration by being naturally happy, devoted, and loving. Srila Prabhupada has provided us with a home within which to take advantage of their association.

Scrub a Floor

Yes. Scrub a floor.

Srila Prabhupada said that cleaning the temple floor will clean the heart. When we feel unenthusiastic in our Krishna consciousness, rendering menial service, particularly in the association of devotees, can have a profound effect.

Before the Rathayatra festival in Jagannatha Puri, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates would clean every nook and corner of the Gundicha temple, where Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra spend a week as part of the festival. With meticulous attention to detail, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates cleaned the temple with deep love and determination.

In the Chaitanya-charitamrita Srila Prabhupada explains how the cleansing of the Gundicha temple is a metaphor for the cleansing of our own hearts:

To give us practical instructions, Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu cleansed the temple twice. His second cleansing was more thorough. The idea was to throw away all the stumbling blocks on the path of devotional service….

By His practical activity, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu informed us how to cleanse our hearts…. The Lord was very pleased with those who could cleanse the temple by taking out undesirable things accumulated within. This is called anartha-nivritti, cleansing the heart of all unwanted things. Thus the cleansing of the Gundicha-mandira was conducted by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to let us know how the heart should be cleansed and soothed to receive Lord Sri Krishna and enable Him to sit within the heart without disturbance.
—Sri Chaitanya Caritamrita, Madhya-lila 12.135, Purport

Menial service has a profound effect. Whether the service is washing dishes, cutting vegetables, or scrubbing the temple floor, it will transform our hearts and minds and thus make us more receptive to the mercy always available to us. And there’s an added benefit: Menial service in the association of devotees strengthens relationships with those devotees in real, perceptible ways that leave us feeling loved. Our inspiration to reciprocate with them and other devotees will keep us protected, motivated, and grounded in our Krishna consciousness.

Share—Any Way, Any How

Sharing what you know about Krishna consciousness is a truly transcendental experience. Share prasada, distribute books, or share whatever you know, no matter how little you think it might be. The knowledge you share will strengthen for you, and you will help others discover their own relationship with Krishna. When that happens you will feel Srila Prabhupada’s and Krishna’s reciprocation immediately. What better way to stay motivated? To share Krishna consciousness, on a small or larger scale, is both inspiring and humbling. Give it a try, and you’ll see your enthusiasm and motivation in Krishna consciousness multiply.

Keep a Journal

Writing can be an extremely effective and powerful tool for reflecting on our realizations and motivation. Many devotees enjoy regularly writing letters to Srila Prabhupada or Krishna. It is a sweet, simple activity that will bolster your relationship with Krishna. Writing honestly and sharing their thoughts on paper is a therapeutic motivational exercise for many devotees.

Maintain an Attitude of Gratitude

A moment’s reflection on what Srila Prabhupada has given us will ensure that we carry out our devotional service with proper gratitude and motivation. Gratitude is a powerful instrument: It breeds sincerity and a concentrated effort to progress in our spiritual life.

Just Try

These are some small but practical methods we can apply in maintaining and increasing our motivation in Krishna consciousness. To feel unmotivated at times is natural. But if we can use those times as opportunities to grow and go deeper in our spiritual life, we will emerge stronger and even more inspired to engage in devotional service. “Just try.” We only have everything to gain.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18492

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Kids Altar In Petersburg Center! 
Srila Prabhupada: The difference between a devotee and a nondevotee is this, just like the bee and the fly: the bee always is attracted by the honey and flies go to the open sores. So the devotee is only attracted by the good qualities in other people and does not see their faults. Letter to Badrinarayana, November 7, 1971.


Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18488

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Workaholic

Work is essential for survival, as the Bhagavad-gita (03.08) acknowledges. Yet the same work that is vital can become vitality-sapping if done excessively. When work becomes the sole definer of our self-identity and self-worth, it degenerates to an indulgence, even an addictive indulgence.

Just as alcohol can become an obsession that devours everything else in an alcoholic’s life, so too can work become an obsession that devours everything else in a workaholic’s life. Whereas alcoholism’s harms – physical deterioration, financial drain and behavioral lapses – are usually hard to hide, workaholism’s harms are often hard to notice. It inebriates us with a heady sense of success while silently sidelining things that make life worth living.

Work driven by illusory conceptions is work in the mode of ignorance (18.25). Discerning workaholism is difficult also because our profession may sometimes genuinely demand long work-hours. But such occupational necessity can become a self-created mania, wherein we work driven by an illusory, uni-dimensional definition of success: “I am my work; the more I work, the bigger I become.” Sadly, many “big” people end up with battered bodies, muddled minds, fragmented families and starved spirits – workaholism has eaten them alive. Gita wisdom explains that we are at our core spiritual beings, parts of God, Krishna. And we need spiritual fulfillment, which becomes accessible when we connect ourselves devotionally with him through yogic practices such as meditation and scriptural study.

Bhakti spirituality is inclusive – it can infuse a mood of devotion into all aspects of our life, including our work (18.46). When we cultivate devotion through regular spiritual practices, we become purified and gain holistic vision. Thus, we can discern and choose work to live – not just live in this mortal world, but also live devotionally with the Lord of our heart in both the here and the hereafter.

Source: http://iskconnews.org/work-to-live-avoid-work-that-eats-you-alive,5346/

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13th Annual Sir J.C.Bose Memorial Award, 2015. 
Indian Science Monitor, a non-profit organization has been working relentlessly for more than two decades in identifying and promoting great achievers. Sir J.C.Bose Memorial Award (previously as ISM Achievement Award) has been constituted 10 years ago and till now more than 40 eminent luminaries have been awarded and their contribution in the field of Science & Technology, Education, Environment Science, Agriculture, Social Sciences have been highlighted to the concerned public and to the Government.
This year award function is being held on 19th January at Bose Institute Main Complex, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata.
January 19, 2016, was a red-letter day for Bhaktivedanta National School The School, which is affiliated to the CBSE, was selected for an Institutional Award by Indian Science Monitor (ISM) for promoting education in the rural areas of Sridham Mayapur.
HG Radhakanta Gopala Das (A. S. Rajagopalan), the Principal received this award for his contribution in bringing up such a school that offers quality education in a spiritual atmosphere, where the students learn the principles of life and the Absolute Truth.
Two children from the School (1) Monidipa Ghosh of class X and (2) Sunay Kumar Panda of class VI received Talent Certificate.
Hon’ble Minister for Science and Technology, Government of West Bengal Dr Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay, graced the occasion and honored all the recipients of the Award.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18498

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Chant for Change is needed now

Chant for Change is needed now

More than ever it seems somehow
Paris and Cali like ringing alarms
We must pull Sita from Ravana’s arms

The voice of the soul lifted in song
With prayerful hearts and intention strong
The names of the Divine upon our lips
Can lift the tide and with it all ships

We need your voice and 5000 more
As we knock on history’s sacred door
From the steps where “the dream” was spoken out loud
Where Martin addressed the American crowd

Yet all ears listened that day, and now
We hear our own voice joining his vow
A simple act gives us each our role
Singing together to heal the soul

We are not young, we are not old
We are not the stories we have been told
Nor social classes, sexes, or economic station
Not from one religion, not from one nation

We are the soul, the conscious spark
That light dispels the fear of dark
And when 5000 souls come to sing their prayers
That sound touches heaven from Lincoln’s stairs

***

Together we shall Chant4Change.
Ocbober 8, 2016. Washington D.C. 
Stay tuned for details.

Source: http://www.gauravani.com/5262-chant4change

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Some interesting facts about cows!


Some interesting facts about cows! 
At first glance, cows might seem to be simple animals, but they’re not! Cows are fascinating animals. For instance did you know that cows can smell something up to 6 miles away, or that cows can produce 125 lbs. of saliva in one day. 
Here’s a list of interesting facts: 
1 Cows are social animals, and they naturally form large herds. And like people, they will make friends and bond to some herd members, while avoiding others. 
2 Cows are red-green colorblind. In a bullfight, its the waving of the cape that attracts the bull not the red color 
3 A cow’s heart beats between 60 and 70 beats per minute. 
4 Cows can hear lower and higher frequencies better than humans. 
5 An average dairy cow weighs about 1,200 pounds. 
6 A cow’s normal body temperature is 101.5°F. 
7 The average cow chews at least 50 times per minute. 
8 The typical cow stands up and sits down about 14 times a day. 9 An average cow has more than 40,000 jaw movements in a day. 
10 Cows actually do not bite grass; instead they curl their tongue around it. 
11 Cows have almost total 360-degree panoramic vision. 
12 Cows have a single stomach, but four different digestive compartments. 
13 Cows are pregnant for 9 months just like people 
14 A dairy cow can produce 125 lbs. of saliva a day 
15 Cows spend 8 hours per day eating, 8 hours chewing her cud (regurgitated, partially digested food), and 8 hours sleeping 
16 You can lead a cow upstairs, but not downstairs. Cows knees can’t bend properly to walk downstairs. 
17 Cows can’t vomit 
18 The average cow drinks 30 to 50 gallons of water each day 19 Cows only have teeth on the bottom. 
20 Cows have a great sense of smell. They can smell something up to 6 miles away. 
21 A Holstein’s spots are like a fingerprint. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of black and white spots. They are all different 
22 The average cow will eat about 100 lbs. of feed per day.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18502

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Growing trend in farming.

As demand for organic produce increases, two companies stress the importance of naturally grown foods

EVERY month, the Kenko Real Organic farm in Lanchang, Pahang, can get up to 10 tonnes of fruits and RM20,000 from their plot of organic jackfruit trees.

Over in Petaling Jaya in the organic garden run by the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia (Cetdem), two angled luffa plants have reported sales of RM1,000 since they started bearing fruit.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

A 2011 report by Business Monitor International has confirmed increasing demand for fresh organic foods.

Based on the then reported worth of the retail food and beverage sector of US$15.69bil (about RM67.5bil). This number is expected to grow to US$21.17bil (about RM91.05bil) in 2015. And organic produce, a recognised emerging market trend, is expected to conquer some 500 million consumers in the Asean region.

A proposed Organic World Congress in 2017 to Malaysia is expected to bring about a positive outcome for local organic produce players.

But the decision to go into organic farming is not all about profit.

In 1986, when Cetdem organic farming project coordinator Tan Siew Luang started her organic farm on a smallish plot of land in Subang New Village, she was spurred by the “eating clean” principle. No synthetic fertilisers. No chemical pesticides. And no genetically modified seeds.

Temptation is never far away.

When Tan (pic) started her organic farm on a small land in Subang New Village, she was spurred by the ‘eating clean’ principle – which means zero usage of synthetic fertiliser, chemical pesticide and genetically modified seeds.
When Tan (pic) started her organic farm on a small land in Subang New Village, she was spurred by the ‘eating clean’ principle – which means zero usage of synthetic fertiliser, chemical pesticide and genetically modified seeds.

Tan recalls the time she had to cycle some 4km to the market when she was still running a farm in Sungai Buloh.

“While passing the other farms, I’d compare the size of my produce with the others. And when yours is smaller, it can be depressing. This is when I’d start thinking why not use just a little bit of chemical?” she recalled.

Organic farming is not just about growing food but for the greater good of health and environment, said Tan. Behind the organic movement is a value system that touches on personal growth and human development.

For one, the consumer is motivated to grow his own vegetables. Ideally, he should also rear livestock, such as chickens for eggs and meat, but in view of restrictions in urban housing areas, it is not advisable.

“Once you grow your own food, you will know not to waste. Do you know how long it takes for a grain of rice to form? Six months. And do you know how much of work goes into planting rice? It is different when you buy food from the supermarket. That is when you have a tendency to cook too much and end up throwing it away because you don’t know how much work the farmer has to do,” said Tan.

At Kenko, which is owned by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskon), food production is secondary activity. The farm is actually a sanctuary for cows said Iskon secretary-general Simheshwara Dasa.

The society’s first initiative started in 1993 in Teluk Intan when it rescued seven cows from a farmer who wanted to sell them for slaughter.

Shaikh Shanaz and Aishah Sinclair with the fish bowl-potted plant combos to propagate the idea of fuss-free aquaponic kits where you can grow edible herbs such as stevia and peppermint.
Shaikh Shanaz and Aishah Sinclair with the fish bowl-potted plant combos to propagate the idea of fuss-free aquaponic kits where you can grow edible herbs such as stevia and peppermint.

The first round of cattle, mostly Friesians and Brahmans, were purchased for RM5,000 per head. Today, there are 60 cattle in the society’s cow protection scheme.

But it must be remembered that in a day, a cow can chow down 15kg of greens, produce up to 12 tonnes of dung and 13.2 litres of urine. How to keep a cow fed and what to do with all that poop and pee?

“That was when we turned to integrated farming as a solution,” said Simheshwara.

The method fulfils one of the standards for organic farming which calls for natural fertilisers and compost where one out of a ratio of three parts, has to be from the protein of either bone meal or animal dung. And cow manure is high in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the very nutrients that make plants thrive.

“The dung and urine is mixed with flour, sugar and earth in 1,000 litre drums and fermented,” said Simheshwara on their fertiliser mix.

The integration method also cuts down the need for the farmer to look at outside sources for compost which require fibre content from tree greens and branches and dung. Though they can be outsourced, due diligence must be done to ensure they too are organic.

But Tan warns that just because organic farming makes use of natural resources, it does not mean that one can throw caution to the wind.

The use of fresh dung for example is not encouraged due to the presence of pathogens. It has to be fermented first. Then, it’s safe.

However, Tan said some conventional farmers were not keen to ferment their animal dung for fear they will lose out on the nitrogen levels – the very thing plants need to look lush.

One also needs to exercise care when it comes to the use of urea which is high in nitrate. Nitrates are converted into nitrites in plants, which according to Cancer Research UK, might cause stomach cancer.

The mission now is to spread awareness on the importance of sticking to what’s natural instead of relying on chemicals when it comes to growing food, stressed Cetdem and Iskon.

“In my time, I remember the school lessons about things like crop integration and rotation. That in a plot one should not just grow chillies alone but a variety of vegetables and herbs. When you practise monoculture, it will attract pests and diseases,” said Tan.

Not many can follow the principles of organic farming, said Tan.

Simheswara readily admits he is able to observe organic standards only for his jackfruit plot.

This is because the organic method requires 30% more labour. In the absence of pesticides, fruits have to be bagged for protection, for example.

At his farm, for the sake of sustainability, furrows are dug around the jackfruit trees so the roots will not be devoid of water. This is filled via gravity feeds from a five million litre water containment uphill.

“But on a long-term basis, it will be worth it, because you are eating actual food. Not chemicals,” said Simheswara.

The focus is now for people to be persuaded to grow their own food, treat it with respect and cringe at wastage.

There might be an answer for the clueless urban condominium dweller.

Just this year PopTani founder Shaikh Shanaz Karim, husband of celebrity Aishah Sinclair, kick-started an online store selling fish bowl-potted plant combos to propagate the idea of fuss-free aquaponic kits where you can grow edible herbs like stevia and peppermint.

No digging, pruning or fending off mosquito bites. Just feed the fish and watch your basil grow. This novel idea cost him RM50,000 to start up. He has sold some 400 units since, some of them customised.

Shaik Shanaz started off with an experimental kit at home with two large fibreglass tanks housing some 30 tilapias.

The fish water fed a bed of convolvulus, spinach and bok choy which in turn fed his family over a period of two years. The inspiration came from his childhood days where padi fields also doubled as fish ponds for catfish and fighting fish.

“The most satisfying outcome from this venture is in seeing my daughter eat the stevia leaves off the pot,” said Shaik Shanaz, who had always wanted to impress on his children that food comes from the soil, not the supermarket.

For now, Shaikh Shanaz kits are more ornamental than anything else. But he reckons it’s a small step in the right direction to get people to start growing their own food.

Those keen on starting their own organic kitchen gardens can call Tan at 03-7875 7767 during office hour or email to of@cetdem.org.my.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/smebiz/news/2016/01/07/growing-trend-in-farming-as-demand-for-organic-produce-increases-two-companies-stress-the-importance/

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Bachannapeta, the Mandal headquarter, was established on 25th May 1985. The mandal is very dry with ground level water at more than 200 ft deep. Cultivation is mainly rainfed. A seed company opened its trial fields in this area with its GMO Bt Cotton. This has not only resulted in easy handing over of farmer’s life line (in the form of seeds) to the company but also destroyed the complete face of farming. Earlier there was lot of crop rotation (multi-cropping) and millets, but now it has been taken over by mono-cropping of cash crop, that too of GMO. Those seeds were available at subsidized rates and were patronised by the organizations at every level. All their rich crops were replaced by Bt cotton. This belt where water has already been sparse, the area was falling in an arid zone with very low rainfall. This had made the situation very grim and more complicated than ever. The Bt cotton crop had destroyed the soil making it barren, decreased crop variety, zipped bio diversity, replaced food production with cash crops of cotton, thus cutting off the food supply, and introduced dependence on seed companies for seeds unlike the earlier situation of saving from the outputitself. Increased vulnerability of monoculture has created a context for debt, suicides and agrarian distress. No wonder, there have been innumerable cases of suicides. This belt has witnessedthe highest number of farmer suicides in the country.The people are generally given to wine and meat consumption besides other debilitating habits.

Bachannapeta appeared on the map of Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra and the Yatra bus reached there in the morning hours at about 10’o clock on December 23, 2015. The place being the mandal headquarter receives good traffic every day with farmers, women coming there for different types of works. Since many years it has also functioned as a trading center where people would get the best of the bulls, cows and cattle. The farmers would also trade with their produce in the weekly market. The devotees had tried to take permission for their program from the village sarpanch, Sri Balakrishna. He being of a Communist background was indifferent to the program but nevertheless had given the permission.

The most frequented and crowded spots in the area were wine shops. The devotees therefore parked the Yatra bus right in the middle of the village where there was a wine shop on one side and chilli pakoda mobile stall on the other! The place was bustling with activity right from the morning hours. It was so much so that the devotees thought of accepting the challenge of maya. They thought they would try their best to ensure that the crowd near their bus should outnumber the one at the wine shop. Thinking thus they prayed to Srila Prabhupada and their Gurudev.

Villages are places where there is not much privacy. People know everything that is happening in the next house. It is all like living in a big family. Seeing a new bus enter the village also could not go unnoticed. Not very later, people began swarming around the bus asking all sorts of questions to the devotees. It was an open opportunity for them to preach and they pounced upon it. Even before the program had begun formally, while speaking about the importance of cows and panchagavya products, complete stock of Nirgudi oil (used for joint pains) was over. More than 60 bottles disappeared in a jiffy. The stock was over, but the demand continued.Taking cue from the condition, the devotees began discussing as to what had caused this surge in diseases. They explained them how their ailments were directly connected to the destruction of soil, change in their food habits, change in cropping methods, change in cultivation, change in the number of livestock… and how have these affected their health, bringing a change for worse.

Farmers who were filled with anger against the large seed companies shared their experiences of working with Bt cotton. They shared how one of the pests had become completely resistant to their pesticides and there was no way to control them. They shared how they had been forced to replace the normal crops with cash crops. The farmers were completely frustrated with these ‘developments’. The adverse results of motivated moves of the seed companies had now begun to surface but they did not know how to address the situation. Unfortunately, the damage was not confined to just this. They had far reaching impact. They had destroyed the soil, fodder availability, self-sufficiency in food and seeds. The situation was so bad that even if they were given free cows to serve, they were scared to keep them fearing unavailability of fodder. Mother Cow who holds key to all kinds of problems had herself turned to a liability for them. The devotees were playing the agony aunt for all of them and tried to give them solutions for these problems. The devotees interacted. They began with the establishment of the importance of the phrase – “Produce what you need, and use only what you produce.” They pointed out they could still revert to the growth of millets – divine crops instead of cash crops. It is not in vain that millet crops are called the divine crops. They were suited for that belt, as they sustained themselves on very less water – blessing for arid zones. Further, the complete plant of millet was useful for different entities. The long roots of the millets helped in fixing the nitrogen and increasing its fertility, its top portion supplied food to men and birds and its tall middle portion offered food to the backbone of any economy – Mother Cow. This solved the fodder issues too. From there they moved on to soil revivification, which was closely connected to cow protection. Still not everything was lost. Cow urine and cow dung could still undo the damage of fertilizers and pesticides. It had attracted everybody there, the crowd swelled in size with every passing moment, outnumbering the one at the wine shop. Incidentally there was a big chemical fertilizer shop right opposite to where the Yatra bus was parked. They had been seeing the developments right from the beginning. Filled with anxiety they closed the shop from inside. While this side, new villagers kept joining the crowd. The devotees were telling how they could resort to traditional method of farming using cows and her progenies and how cow                                                    was very crucial to their real sustainable development. The devotees soon realized that many press people had come there and were covering them. Even electronic media crew was present. In fact, one TV channel kept requesting them for a talk, which they finally gave.

Jananivas prabhu spoke to the media, beginning with the introduction of Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, the golden jubilee celebrations across the world and the role of Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra – offering a balanced growth (both materially and spiritually) to the neglected zones, different villages throughHarinam or chanting and reviving of our traditional culture (farming & cow protection). The local TV channel later telecast this program at the prime time, giving a fillip to the Yatra.

Slowly as the evening began to settle, the farmers who had come to the mandal from far-flung villages began to return. There was lesser number of farmers now. Gour Gopal prabhu and Jananivas prabhu rode a bike, driving through different lanes of the village and began making announcement of their evening program and inviting all of them to participate in it. They were clearly announcing how they should not desist from attending the program just because they have taken meat or wine. They announced how just for their sake they had chosen not to organize the program in the temple but at the central open ground. After making repeated announcements on the bike, they returned to begin the program with the sankirtan. The village was in such a state that there was not a single indigenous breed cow present even for performing puja. In the absence of a desi cow, the devotees simply read out the prayer to mother cow to invoke auspiciousness, then beginning with Shikshastakam they set out. Gour Gopal prabhu was again leading the kirtan and the small group of devotees followed him. Though they were putting in their best sincere effort there was not a single new soul joining them, not even children. Their spirits were not be dampened though. Just a difference of a few hours, the situation was completely different – from being surrounded by a surging crowd to none. However, they had seen many miracles happening during the Yatra. And nevertheless they were able to send the transcendental vibration of the Holy Name to every soul’s ear. Finally, the devotees returned to the open village ground, still there was none. The cold was bitter and the carpets were empty. There was fire in the belly and warmth in the heart, but only of devotees. They could see the villagers standing at a distance watching them keenly but not coming close.

The experience of having reached out to 33 villages had made the Yatra devotees very much experienced. They knew all the tricks of the trade. They began fixing the projector and pretending to check out the movie quality. The villagers watched them wide-eyed. Thereafter, they again made the announcement – “Everybody is welcome to watch the movie. We have not chosen Chenna Keshava (the main temple) temple simply because we want each and every one of you to come and attend the program. Do not hesitate. Let nothing stop you from watching the movie.” In no time, there was a good crowd of about 200 people.

A short and crisp kirtan was carried out by Gour Gopal prabhu. Alcohol helped them to throw all barriers of hesitation to wind. They rejoiced the music and clapped their hands in a spirit of joyous abandonment. Then Jananivas prabhu took over beginning with interesting stories from Mahabharat related to the conversation between Yudhistra and his brother Bheem, just when Kali has made his entry. In the course of narrating, prabhu told them about strange phenomenon that Kali purusa had seen and asked its explanation:

  1. Fencing is eating the crops- what does it mean and why? — leaders
  2. Cow has been seen eating her own calf. Its meaning and why? — abortion
  3. Whole elephant being able to pass through the eye of the needle but his tail getting stuck — Kaliyuga who do big scams will not be caught, but those who pay one small EMI are caught
  4. Pilgrims travelling. One big rock blocking the path. All healthy looking strong looking men are unable to remove it. But one thin man removes it with the help of one thin string. That rock turns to powder whenthrown.— its meaning. This thread is of Harinam in Kali.
  5. A man puts a few glasses of water but when he putsthe same water back it is much lesser instead of being equal – one father will take care of so many children but all the sons will not be able to take care of one father

They pondered hard to think of its explanations, but could not. As prabhu explained them point by point, convinced they laughed heartily. They clapped their hands in agreement and cheered the speaker at every point, encouraging him to speak further. With this narration everyone could relate to the present situation and most of them were in one predicament or other.

One bearded man who was present right from the beginning of the program and who had one rudraksha beads around his neck, appeared sober. He not only heard attentively but also kept raising his hands in the air in the gesture of joining them in their direction. The devotees thought that there was at least one person who was sober and was listening with full attention and conviction. However, later they came to know that he was totally drunk, more than anyone else present – so much so that he could not even move. Connecting the thread of theMahabharata story, Jananivas prabhu requested everybody to chant the Holy Names of Krishna and Rama to overcome the problems of life. He also demonstrated how to chant the Holy Name on the japa beads and requested them to chant at least one round every day, which would take them just 7-8 minutes.

Then Jananivas prabhu moved to the second topic of agriculture and Mother Cow at the center of one’s life. He again began with a story, this time the story of Lakshmi (the Goddess of good fortune and prosperity) pleading to occupy place in Mother Cow’s body and the sacredness of Mother Cow. He elaborated how the worship of one cow implies worship of all 33 crores of demigods in the universe. The villagers clapped and nodded their heads in agreement.

Building from that pastime, Jananivas prabhu explained how Mother Cow is the source of positive economics. But how we like fools are taking the suicidal move of killing our own life line by resorting to cow slaughter instead of cow protection. He gave the statistics of cow slaughter even in free India. The screening of the two documentaries brought the reality of situation right in front of their eyes not leaving much to their imagination. It was hard to believe that the people, who were completely under the influence of alcohol shed tears of repentance on hearing the agony of Mother Cow on being slaughtered. They pledged to save Mother Cow and take to traditional methods of farming, using bull and cow dung.

This was followed by Maha-arati to the Lordships in which everybody participated with zeal and then there was wideprasadam distribution. The devotees were pleased to see the good response. Suddenly they spotted the sarpanch in the crowd. Till then he had been indifferent to the program right from the beginning, but now he was there amidst everybody. It seems he had been present in the program right from the beginning and was totally impressed. Before the program could be concluded he came forward, expressing his desire to address everybody. He openly supported the cause of the Yatra saying– “Mother Cow does not give milk to just one religious sect, but to everybody. She needs to be protected.” He then appreciated the devotees who had taken the pains to come to their village and spread the message of traditional farming. He also elaborated how the growth of Bt cotton had ruined the face and fate of farming and the farmers. Though he was from a Communist background, yet his open support to the cause of Mother Cow and spiritual dimension of the Yatra lifted the spirit of the Yatra devotees. In return, the devotees gifted him with a copy of Bhagavad-gita, the eternal knowledge, which he happily accepted. Srila Prabhupada once said that Krsna consciousness can establish “communism” in true sense. This was proving true here too.

Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!

Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra ki Jai!!

Source: http://www.iskconvarnasrama.com/home/gm-seeds-ruin-sambandha-with-the-two-mothers-gomata-and-bhudevi/

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A Russian expedition to Vrindavana

By Yadunandana das
Translation: Sofiya Perfilyeva
Edited by Visnu Murti das

The first Russian to visit Vrndavana was Emperor Nikolas II, 125 years ago

On Friday, January the 4th in 1891, Hindus who were bathing in the sacred river Yamuna witnessed an amazing scene. A ship with the name of an unknown language approached.

In the morning mist, surrounded by armed soldiers, a young light-skinned man in an officer’s jacket, looking, however, not belligerent came ashore. The stranger was the crown prince Nicholas, soon to be the future last Russian emperor.

The small town of Vrindavan, 80 miles to the south of Delhi, was part of the journey of the crown prince, along with Mumbai, Delhi, Gwalior, Agra, Ellora, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Kolkata and Мadras and Sri Rangam, up to the southern parts of the Indian subcontinent, from where he viewed the outline of Ceylon.

The heir to the Russian throne liked Vrindavan. Nicholas found the town very similar to… Venice. From the travel notes made by Nicholas, one can assume that his familiarity with Vrindavan occurred in the place of Kesi Ghat, on the banks of river Yamuna. The royal guest was shown the temple of Madana Mohana. And one of the “interesting” churches, which he visited, might have been the Jugal Kishore temple. According to some assumptions, while visiting one of the temples, the crown prince received blessings from local elders to rule his kingdom. It rather might be a beautiful legend, though. Anyway, 125 years ago Nicholas II was the first Russian “discoverer” of Vrindavan.

Researcher Esper Ukhtomsky (1861-1921) offered a detailed account of the journey of Nicholas II to the East. Interestingly, he joined the expedition just a few days before the departure. As a diplomat and scholar, Ukhtomsky went to the East many times, especially to Mongolia, and was well versed in the fundamentals of Asian cultures and religions. On board of the frigate “Memory of Azov” was also the artist and ethnographer Nikolai Karazin (1842-1908) and Vasily Mendeleev, the son of the famous author of the “Mendeleyev Table”. Karasin made many beautiful drawings to illustrate his forthcoming book about the journey of the Russian tsar to Egypt, Siam, India and Japan and Mendeleyev made a photo chronicle of the journey. The unique collection of more than 200 images is stored in the National Library of Russia.

Why is Vrindavan considered a “promised land” for all Indians, like Bethlehem for the Christians and Mecca for the Muslims? During the whole year, hundreds of thousands and sometimes even millions of people come to Vrindavan eager to pay their respects to Lord Krishna. It is said that only one step on the ground of Vrindavan is equal to the pilgrimage to any other holy place.

“According to the ingenuous doctrine of flocking here from afar, if pilgrims spend one day at the home land of Krishna, it is more important for the salvation of their souls than spending years in the blissful Benares practicing devotion and prayers”, – writes Ukhtomsky in his book as if confirming this truth.

In Vrindavan one can experience all tastes and spiritual experiences from feeling the joy of meeting with God to feeling unbearable separation from Him. These attitudes overcome the pilgrims not only when they visit temples, but everywhere, anytime of the day or night. No wonder – after all, this is considered to be the earthly reflection of the eternal spiritual planet of Krishna – Goloka Vrindavan, “full of knowledge and unlimited bliss,” as stated in the Hindu scriptures. The secret to understand the transcendental nature of Vrindavan is to go there only with pilgrims who are devotees of Krishna. It is through these pilgrims that one can develop the right mood for the dhama to be inclined to accept someone as her own.

The history of Vrindavan dates back to more than five thousand years ago, when it was a pastoral village among impenetrable forests and meadows with lush grass, on which millions of cows were grazing. Some sages believe that Vrindavan includes the whole province of Vraja which is about 420 sq. km, together with Vrindavan, the sacred hill Govardhana, Gokula, Varsana, the sacred lake Radhakunda and Nandagram. The word “Vraja” means “the place where cows go to pasture”. Vraja also has 137 forests, related to the pastimes of Krishna – there are 12 principal forests. Vrindavan was also a dense forest. It owes its name to Vrinda, a companion of Krishna, who is in control of everything to please Krishna and His friends.

Other sages believe that Vraja is only the surroundings of Vrindavan, thus putting Vrindavan at the center of all the events of the past, present and future. Anyway, the whole of Vraja is associated with Krishna. All Indians are most respectful towards Krishna. The word Krishna means “all-attractive” and His devotees experience him as so.

Philosophically we understand that Krishna is the most personal aspect of God. In no other way the Lord manifests such a limitless range of personal relationships between Himself and His parts and parcels. One can take on the role of dasi (obedient servant), as the famous blind poet Surdas did. Or become sakhi, a friend of Krishna, as the brave warrior Arjuna from “Bhagavad Gita” or beautiful Draupadi from “Mahabharata”. Vatsalah serves Krsna as a parent serves the child, such as Yasoda and many Indian mothers. The believer may be with Krishna in a conjugal relationship, like Vrindavan cowherd girls. All these different kinds of relationship are thoroughly saturated with selfless love and therefore absolute.

Alas, despite his erudition in oriental matters Ukhtomsky did not understand the position and the role of Krishna in the overall palette of avatars. Not all the Brahmans, versed in the Vedic mantras and hymns, are able to clearly understand and accept the supremacy of Krishna, so what to speak of the the first Russians who sailed to Vrindavan with their limited understanding.

Here’s how a companion of the crown prince presents his version of Krishna’s origin and position. He was clearly under the influence of the European Indology but also correctly guessed the subtleties of the incomprehensible nature of Krishna:

“Orientalists still cannot answer very well the question, who is Krishna and what constitutes the core of His complex world? One thing is for sure: A long time ago the pastoral tribes (Yadavаs) came to Yamuna, founded the kingdom, with its capital in Mathura, and because he manifested some extraordinary qualities they deified the prince in their midst, the dark faced Krishna. (It should be noted that Buddha came out of the nation of Scythian origin and being not an aryan was sometimes depicted almost black). The good Yadava deity attracted the surrounding population from a large area. Brahmins, holding to primordial tactics of overpowering of a spiritual enemy by taking him into their own pantheon, too, made up with Krishnaism, which since then has gained even more charm to masses. Worshiping Krishna, “avatar” and incarnation of Vishnu, the faithful people praised the triumph of the good and buoyancy above the despondency and despair, which partly, perhaps, a little too heavily dominated by pessimistic outlook of the Indians. Krishna is happy, naughty, marked by pure human weaknesses and passions, standing up for the weak. What else the crowd looks for?

Gifted with the ability to fill the universe with happiness and joy, the deity of Mathura [Krishna] loved to inspire animals and birds, herdswomen and settlers, even inanimate objects with His mellifluous play on the flute. When everybody and everything gets affected by the thrill of pleasure Orpheus transforms into a strictly thoughtful preacher of morality, in a sort of Buddha, who has comprehended the vanity of the earthly troubles, in the embodiment of dispassion and restraint. In the eyes of Krishna, looking like two marvelous lotuses, just flickered enchantment of love and appeal to the sinful ecstasy. But suddenly from the same overbearingly attracting face something very different breathes, much higher, free from worldly filth and darkness of passions. A mysterious supernatural being, incomprehensible twists of flaming speculation!”

Vrindavan’s revival is owed to Sri Chaitanya, who 500 years ago returned it to its former glory. Chaitanya visited Vrindavan and its surroundings, revealing by his mystic powers a lot of its forgotten sacred places. He sent the brothers Rupa and Sanatana and ordered them to restore Vrindavan as the sacred dham. These two sages were later joined by four other gosvamis.

A modern renaissance began in the late 1960s, when the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada brought his Western disciples to Vrindavana. Seeing the enthusiasm of white sannyasis and brahmanas professing their own religion, Indians experienced a real culture shock. Hundreds of thousands of Indians came to Vrindavan only to look at the “white elephants” as they became known.

Each new day begins in Vrindavan very early. At 2 am the town wakes up and starts to rattle with the altar bells. In the darkness people rush to the temples, greeting each other with: “Radhe, Radhe!” (Radharani is the favorite girl friend of Krishna; in their heart Vrajavasis worship her even more than Krishna). Before dawn many people visit various large sanctuaries and some walk around the whole of Vrindavan.

Vrindavan would not be a holy city if it did not offer lessons of spirituality. First of all Vrindavan is a real model of spiritual simplicity. Vrindavan is permeated of natural peacefulness. Friendliness and non violence towards other living beings reign here. The barrier of mistrust, typical for the Western world, and the rule of “what is mine is mine” dissolve there, although everyone is busy with his own daily occupation. Vrindavan is an example of some kind of healthy democracy. No one blames you for your skin colour and different religion. And if you say “Radhe!”, then you are immediately everyone’s best friend.

Source: http://krishna.ru/news/15-news/4595-125-ii-.html, http://iskconamsterdam.nl/2016/01/9727/

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Krsna Pusya Abhiseka

Krsna Pusya abhiseka is a not very well known ceremony but wonderful nonetheless.

During the morning puja, or worship, the Deity or a salagrama is bathed in pure ghee. Srila Prabhupada once explained the festival this way: “Krishna was just a toy in the hands of the Gopis, so one day the Gopis decided that we shall decorate Him.

Pusyabhisheka means a ceremony to decorate the deity profusely with flowers, ornaments, cloths. After there should be lavish feasting and a procession through the streets, so that all the citizens should see how beautiful Krishna appears.

Source: http://www.ramaiswami.com/krsna-pusya-abhiseka/

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Do you believe?

 

Hare Krsna

Dear Devotee,

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Do you believe in our families supporting each other to advance in our Krsna Consciousness? Do you believe in our youth creating new approaches and new ways of sharing Krsna with others? Do you believe in our children being prepared and mentored by trusted friends? Do you believe in communities and individuals caring for each other and advancing together in Krsna Consciousness?

This is the vision that Srila Prabhupada has for our ISKCON. The Congregation Development Ministry is working towards this. Only with your help will it become a reality.

I have attached a brochure below. The brochure explains what the ministry does as well as the benefits that one receives by subscribing. By subscribing you can help to fulfil Srila Prabhupada’s vision for the Ministry and in facilitating a number of very important ongoing projects such as youth engagement, children programs, vaisnava life counseling care program, premarital courses, translations and publishing of books and many more.

Here is the information for the 4 types of subscriptions:

Silver – $9 per month or $108 a year/ Rs. 551 per month or Rs. 6601 a year

Gold – $19 per month or $228 a year/ Rs. 1151 per month or Rs. 14,001 a year

Platinum – $51 per month or $612 a year/ Rs. 3151 per month or Rs. 38,001 a year

Diamond - $108 per month or $1296 a year/ Rs. 6,701 per month or Rs. 80,001 a year

Please let us know which type of subscription you chose.

Here is the link to subscribe: http://cdm.iskconcongregation.com/subscriptions


Your humble servant,
Gourangi Gandharvika dd

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Dear devotees, Please accept the blessings of Sri Radha-Madhava, Sri Panca-tattva & Sri Narasimhadeva from Sri Mayapur dham.

On behalf of ISKCON Mayapur, I take pleasure in inviting you to take part in a very historic & grand Gaura Purnima festival 2016. This year is the Golden Jubilee year of ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada fifty years back in New York on 1966 founded ISKCON to fulfill his Guru's orders and the words of Mahaprabhu

- Prithvite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama 

"In as many towns and villages as there are on the surface of the earth, My holy name will be preached". Today we can see the manifestation of this prophecy in Mayapur dham during Gaura Purnima festival when thousands of people from over 70 countries congregate to celebrate the appearance of Lord Caitanya.

As an offering to Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON Mayapur shall be celebrating the 50th anniversary of ISKCON in a great vedic manner. Several festivities are organized for Gaura Purnima festival.

The top most special attraction of this festival will be the KANAKA KAMALA ABHISHEKA to Lord Gauranga, following the vedic tradition of offering for 50th Anniversary!

Golden abhisheka to the Golden Avatar on the Golden Jubilee Year of ISKCON! Sounds exciting isn't it!

You can be one among of the fifty fortunate souls to directly take part in this historic abhisheka by sponsoring a golden lotus .

One golden lotus flower sponsorship is Rs.111,111/-

BECOME A PART OF THIS GREAT EVENT BY SPONSORING A LOTUS IN YOUR NAME. BE THE FIRST BEFORE YOU LOSE THE OPPURTUNITY AS WE HAVE ONLY LIMITED LOTUSES.

As a sponsor of this Kanaka kamala, you will be our special guest during the last three days of the Gaura Purnima festival and you will get the golden lotus as Prasad which you can keep on the altar of your home as a most auspicious and memorable souvenir for many generations.

There are a few other opportunities to serve during the upcoming Gaura Purnima festival. We will offer 50 special gold plated silver lamps to Lord Gauranga or sponsor a special golden Kalash for Maha abhisheka.

Golden Lamp Sponsorship : Rs.55,555 ( $900)

Golden Kalash Sponsorship: Rs. 22,222 ( $350)

For more details to book your lotus, visit here: http://www.mayapur.com/2015/gaura-purnima-2016-sponsorships/

Kindly share with all your contacts, post in your facebook & temple bulletin boards and reach this mercy to every one!

For more information, contact <mailto:bps@pamho.net> bps@pamho.net or <mailto:mayapurfestival@mayapur.com> mayapurfestival@mayapur.com

<mailto:bps@pamho.net><mailto:mayapurfestival@mayapur.com>Your servant
Bhakti Purusottama Swami
M - +91 9434 406 434
E mail - bps@ pamho.net

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TOVP Report From Russia

Hare Krishna dear Jayapataka Swami,

Please accept our obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

It is a letter from the Russian team of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium construction project.

We are grateful to you for engaging us in fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s personal desire – construction of the magnificent Temple of the Golden Age! Please accept our efforts as an offering.

For 2015, we collected and transferred to a bank account in Mayapur over USD 160,000. This money was collected by many different ways. Particularly, we invited donors to pay for square feet and bricks. They paid for 300 square feet, 37 Nrisimhadeva bricks, 54 Mahaprabhu bricks, 12 Radha-Madhava bricks and one silver coin. We hold talks about the New Temple at many big festivals, did promotions on the Internet, as well as presentations in different cities.

We are asking for your blessings to be able to collect at least double the amount we did this year, in 2016 for Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure.

Thank you for bestowing upon us such a mercy to participate in this way in the New Temple construction.

Your servants from Russian & CIS ToVP team


Source: http://tovp.org/news/fundraising/tovp-report-from-russia/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tovp-report-from-russia

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Washington, D.C.—1966 was a significant year. Chairman Mao Tse-Tung’s “Little Red Book” was published for the first time. Despite mass protests, the United States began to bomb Hanoi, North Vietnam’s capital. The Soviet Union’s Luna 9 made the first soft landing on the Moon. Actor Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California. Indira Gandhi visited Washington.  Walt Disney died. The Beatles performed their very last concert in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park.

And, on New York City’s lower east side, surrounded by a handful of young followers in a small storefront temple on 2nd Avenue, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada incorporated a fledgling religious society. He named it the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON. On that hot summer day, the 13th of July, the Hare Krishna movement was born.

Few noticed the event. Fewer still would have expected this 70-year old swami and his band of reformed hippies to be more than a blip in the avant-garde history of New York City. But, fifty years later the society Prabhupada created is arguably the largest and most influential of global Vedic (Hindu) organizations, and the 600 plus Hare Krishna temples around the world attract an estimated nine million worshippers per year.

“Besides scholars, few people know the depth of the Krishna movement’s roots in India’s historic Vaishnava tradition, nor ISKCON’s impact as a leading proponent of devotional bhakti yoga around the world,” says Dr. Ravi Gupta, head of Utah State University’s Religious Study Department.

Srila Prabhupada passed away in November 1977. But, the movement he began has proven to be a resilient one. ISKCON today claims not just 600 temples, but 65 eco-farms and 110 vegetarian restaurants. Its affiliated Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is the world’s largest publisher of Vaishnava literature and has distributed 516 million books and magazines.

In addition, ISKCON’s affiliated Annamrita Food Relief program feeds 1.2 million school children every day in India, and ISKCON is the official faith partner with the British government for the Krishna Advanti schools, which oversees multiple schools. ISKCON’s world headquarters in Mayapura, West Bengal India, draws one million pilgrims each year and a new Temple of Vedic Planetarium is under construction that will hold 10,000 people in the main worship hall.

As early as 1975, scholars took note of ISKCON’s growth. Dr. A. L Basham, author of the famed book, “The Glory That Was India,” wrote that “The Hare Krishna movement… is historically very significant, for now, for the first time since the days of the Roman Empire, an Asian religion is being openly practiced by people of western origin in the streets of western cities.”

“ISKCON teaches that every living being is an eternal soul, and that happiness comes from awakening our relationship with God, Sri Krishna, the all-attractive person,” said Anuttama Dasa, ISKCON’s Communication Minister. “People know that a consumer driven life is a dead end; when they experience the joy of bhakti, or devotion, they realize this is what they are looking for.”

ISKCON inaugurates a year of celebrations marking the 50th Anniversary on New Year’s Eve. Throughout the year events will include major Rathayatra (“Giant Chariot”) parades down New York’s 5th Avenue, Washington’s Independence Avenue, Toronto’s Yonge Street, and London’s Trafalgar Square; as well as celebratory festivals and events to coincide with the July 13 anniversary date.

In addition, gala VIP dinners are planned for Sydney, London, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Washington. And, a 64-year old Krishna monk will walk for six months across the entire United States, commemorating Prabhupada’s teachings and ISKCON’s growth across America and the world.

* * *

For more information about ISKCON 50, see: www.iskconnews.orgwww.iskcon50.org

For local temple listings, see www.krishna.com 

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Answer by Romapada Swami: The purpose of marriage is to provide an opportunity for all the members in the family to properly support one another to peacefully practice and grow in their Krishna Consciousness. In Vedic scriptures, the institution of marriage is referred to as an “ashram” or a sacred place of purification. Marriage provides much opportunity for this as it involves rising above one’s own personal attachments/issues and serving the other members of the family with devotion and detachment. This is not easy (many married devotees will attest for this) but it is so by design to help devotees grow and become more pure in their Krsna Consciousness. Thus, marriage, if properly approached, is an amazing opportunity offered to the conditioned soul to shed its false ego and become more advanced in Krsna Consciousness and cultivate devotional qualities like patience, determination, chastity, faith etc. The key to making this all happen is a strong relationship of service and inquiry with a bonafide spiritual master, as well as those who closely guide one’s spiritual life.


Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18457

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Take it Outside

Take it Outside

by Jennifer Scheper Hughes, James Kyung-Jin Lee, Amanda Lucia, and S. Romi Mukherjee

Practicing religion in public

This is an excerpt of an article from Boom Winter 2015, Vol 5, No 4. The full article is available here for subscribers only. Not a subscriber? Click here to change that.

California is experiencing a proliferation of public religious celebrations like never before. Processions spill onto city streets. Altars summoning the spirits of the dead are erected at busy intersections. Bands of pilgrims crisscross the state as they make their sacred journeys to holy lands within our very borders. Images of gods and saints, raised aloft by devotees, now claim the urban skyline as their most natural and obvious backdrop. Mantras, chants, and songs of praise, in a cacophony of languages, summon the sacred into our public space and into our life in common. At these festivals, we pray together after a fashion—an unlikely collection of Californians from different places, different faiths—different backgrounds joined for a fleeting moment by the unity of purpose of a shared ritual. The so-called secular cities and towns of California are made sacred by these multiethnic and multifaith public performances.

The authors of this essay are part of an eclectic group of researchers, students and professors, artists, filmmakers, and journalists. We have spent the better part of three years participating in these public events; we have attended dozens of religious festivals. We have thrown colors at Holi with those who have inherited Hindu traditions and those who have adopted them in the United States. We have processed in the streets of downtown Los Angeles with Peruvian immigrants as they sway to and fro under the heavy weight of their penitential andas. We have wept at altars for the dead on Día de los Muertos. We have joined aging internees on their annual pilgrimage to Manzanar, the Japanese internment camp, where we braced against the harsh winds and dust to chant, dance, and pray for forgiveness for us all.

It’s not just that the spirits cannot be contained in buildings—from tent revivals to solemn masses celebrated in sports stadiums, religious practice has brought the faithful out of doors—but that they prefer to encounter us in town centers, in public parks, open-air settings, and city streets. Across the state, Californians participate in all kinds of public rituals under the sun: rituals of re-enchantment and blessing, rituals of repair, rituals of sober ecstasy. Due in part to their public nature, almost every one of these open-air celebrations is a cross-cultural encounter as we look to each other’s cultures, each other’s religions, especially each other’s gods and spirits to discover our shared identity and our shared future as Californians. Perhaps it is through these experiences that the fears and anxieties generated by the inevitability of a truly multiethnic state are confronted and resolved.

Even as these and many other similar festivals simultaneously represent the irruption and interruption of the sacred in the public sphere, these festivals reflect the multireligious character of immigration. What propels us to put ourselves into these shared religious experiences, to throw ourselves into these festivals of spirits, especially when so often we join to celebrate religious cultures other than our own? The public religious festival has become the central nexus for the celebration of ethnic, cultural, and collective identity—identities that demand representation even in so-called secular public spaces. The festival requires that the participants step outside of their day-to-day lives, and venture into the fields of Radha and Krishna’s love play, the realm of the dead, the remembrance of the past, penance for historical sin, and the ecstasies of devotional singing. When the festival is in the open, in public, the shared act of devotion is what binds, not necessarily the shared belief.

These public rituals say something about the pursuit of belonging in California, and in the United States, within an increasingly diverse and multicultural landscape. Those who participate together as intimate strangers are often seeking only a temporary affiliation, perhaps a place for a moment to engage one another beyond the context of the marketplace. In sharing in these religious and cross-cultural experiences, we become enmeshed in the complicated and vibrant diversity of California, up close and personal, as physical as the bodies we encounter there. These collective public celebrations imagine a new kind of citizenship in a way that can assuage our multiculturalist anxieties. By participating in other religious and cultural realities, we break from the mundane and open up the possibility of enchantment. It is the unknown of the festival that beckons to outsiders—the potential for the experience of the ephemeral, the surreal, the transcendent.

Children throw colors at Holi. Photograph by Mario L. Iñiguez.

The Hindu Festival of Colors: Throwing Colors with Hare Krishnas in Los Angeles

Tens of thousands of young adults, mostly in their teens and twenties, clamor toward the stage at the spring Festival of Colors in Los Angeles. From a panoply of backgrounds and cultures and beliefs (or no belief at all), they gather to celebrate Holi, to reenact the colorful play of Radha and Krishna, the supreme Hindu expressions of divinity and the enchanters of the world. Radha and Krishna’s love play is relived and remembered in the crowd’s joyful “playing of colors.” As they throw brilliant, chalky handfuls of the multicolored Holi powder at each other, attendees become disguised in vibrant colors—differences of age, race, and ethnicity, their previous identities, erased. Play that begins in streaks of rainbow effervescence soon turns everyone a purplish brown blend of the colored powders.

The Festival of Colors in Southern California attracts only small numbers of Indian Hindus. The organizers of the event are Hare Krishnas, affiliated with the various temples of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON. The Hare Krishnas have had a long and fraught history in the American countercultural movement. Once the poster children for 1960s white hippie sojourns into Indian mysticism, the group became enmeshed in scandal in the 1970s and 1980s, and then became a major source of religious engagement for Indian Hindus living in diaspora.

The Festival of Colors is the brainchild of the guru Caru Das, a Hare Krishna devotee and the founder of a large Krishna community in Spanish Fork, Utah. As the organizer and producer of the festival, his purpose is to change the trend—to reach beyond the traditional Indian community and try something new among new audiences. Caru Das has created an event that is popular with teens and promoted as “good clean fun,” but he never forgets that its primary purpose is to introduce new souls to Krishna consciousness.

When asked, the majority of attendees at the Festival of Colors say that they are there for the fun of throwing colors. But there are many ways to enjoy a Saturday afternoon, and sweating colored powder in the hot LA sun is only one of them. In the murky, colored mist of the orchestrated hourly color throws, the audience of largely non-Hindu teens have their first experience of Hindu ritual and belief. In simple terms that a young California audience will understand, the festival introduces Hindu and Buddhist ideas, practices, and worldviews—all laced with universalistic ideals of peace, love, and unity. The Festival of Colors motions to Hindu religious practices as emblematic of indigenous roots and ancient wisdom. These sentiments echo those of Swami Vivekananda, who famously preached to American audiences in 1896: “When the Occident wants to learn about the spirit, about God, about the soul, about the meaning and the mystery of this universe, he must sit at the feet of the Orient to learn.”

Photograph by Mario L. Iñiguez.

Traditional temple Hinduism is not what these eager and open young people are experiencing. The Festival of Colors in Los Angeles is more like an ISKCON-inspired evangelical tent revival than any mainstream Hindu practice. Amidst color throws and playful revelry, the guru Caru Das takes the stage to focus the frenetic and playful energy of the crowd with the mahamantra, the central devotional chant of the Hare Krishnas: “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!” Caru Das actively proselytizes while playing directly to the desires and social proclivities of teens and young adults.

With music, yoga, food, and a playful atmosphere, the Festival of Colors is a brilliant marketing venture that attempts to erase the fraught political history of the Hare Krishnas and bring them back into the mainstream. There, they hope to vie for a position as the representatives par excellence of modern global Hinduism. Under the clever disguise of colored powders, the Festival of Colors represents the new proselytizing successes of ISKCON.

From the stage, Caru Das bellows to the excited crowd:

The Absolute is non-different from His name! So if you spend this day by singing and dancing the various names of the Absolute, you will be associating with the most wise, the most determined power in the universe. And that power will rub off on you and you will make better decisions and you will be in a better place in the future than you would have had you not tapped into this extra power.. . .

To reinforce his point, the guru jubilantly exhorts the crowd to repeat once again: “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.. . . ” Many in the throng are chanting along exuberantly, but others are socializing with their friends and taking selfies of their wildly colorful bodies to post on social media. But to Caru Das, the spiritual impact of the mantra works like fire—it burns whether you believe it will or not.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18463

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Leaders from across the United States and Canada met at the ISKCON temple in Houston Texas for three days of annual meetings.

Many of the more than sixty temple presidents and GBCs attending this year’s ISKCON North American Leaders Meetings called the event “the best ever.”

This was largely owing to the upbeat mood brought about by ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, increasing book distribution successes, and the inspiring association at the meetings.

“It was very, very positive and full of proactive presentations,” says GBC and ISKCON Communications Director Anuttama Das. “The focus was on how so many wonderful things have been accomplished over the past fifty years, and yet there’s so much more to do to try to expand Prabhupada’s movement and fulfill his vision.”

The meetings, which were held from January 14th to 16th and were the first to take place at the newly opened mandir in Houston, Texas, began with a keynote address by academic and author Yogesvara Das (Joshua M. Greene).

Yogesvara spoke about his work in presenting Krishna consciousness to the broader communities of yoga practioners and spiritual seekers. He also introduced his new book “Swami in a Strange Land: How Krishna Came to the West,” a new biography of Srila Prabhupada aimed at a broad general audience and due out on May 23rd this year.

Book Distribution Strategizer Vaisesika Das then spoke about the incredible book distribution success that North America has seen in the past few years. After leaders at a previous meeting, spurred on by Vaisesika, agreed to work towards a collective goal, distributors have smashed their targets every year, increasing 26% in 2012, 28% in 2013, and 11.5% in 2014.

Temple presidents and other leaders gather in small group discussions to learn from each other's experiences and plan 2016 programs for ISKCON in North America.

While devotees fell slightly short of this year’s 10% target, reaching 8% instead, it’s still a giant success, since each year sets goals to increase on bigger and bigger numbers.

Vaisesika commented that while there are still full-time book distributors – who he called “glorious” -- what’s made the difference in recent times has been a much higher number of small temples, communities, and congregational members coming together to distribute Prabhupada’s books on weekends and whenever they can.

Meanwhile during his ISKCON 50 presentation, Anuttama Das inspired leaders to “50th-ize” all their events throughout the year, and reported on the many ISKCON 50 events that have happened and are planned, including Bhaktimarga Swami’s walk retracing the key places of ISKCON’s historical beginnings.

Anuttama also displayed a commemorative full-color magazine entitled “Hare Krishnas Celebrate 50 Years,” which was packed with impressive statistics and information about the Hare Krishna Movement. North American Leaders ordered over 50,000 copies on the spot to distribute to their congregations and the general public.

Speaking on a very hot topic in ISKCON currently, Kalakantha Das of the Gainesville Krishna House in Florida made a presentation in favor of women Diksa gurus in ISKCON. Kalakantha, who heads up a very successful student outreach program, made the case that ISKCON’s efforts are suffering in North America because educated young people like Krishna consciousness but dislike ISKCON because of what they perceive as its demeaning attitude towards women – characterized by the lack of female initiating gurus.

Kalakantha presented some of the arguments by GBC members and godbrothers against having female gurus, and then countered them with pro-arguments. He also showed a video featuring quotes from Srila Prabhupada and comments by Ravindra Svarupa Das, Visakha Dasi, Dr. Abhisekh Gosh, Dr. Larry Shin, and himself.

“It was really, really well presented and powerful – it wasn’t just emotional, but very informational,” says Mukhya Dasi, temple president at ISKCON of Alachua, Florida.

The presentation ended with a straw vote. Out of fifty-five temple presidents and leaders, thirty-nine, or 71% voted in favor of Vaishnavi gurus, nine, or 16%, were neutral, and only seven, or 13%, voted against. The results of the vote will be shown to the GBC’s executive committee.

Another well-received presentation was businessman Gopal Bhatta Dasa’s Friday morning session on marketing and online presence. While ISKCON has wonderful gifts to give like its spiritual knowledge and culture, he said, there is certainly room for improvement in how it presents these to people.   

Gopal Bhatta Das leads a session on marketing and a new ISKCON online initiative.

“He talked about how to speak in such a way that people can appreciate it, and how to design our programs so that they attract diverse enthnicities, genders and age groups,” recalls Anuttama.

Gopal Bhatta also spoke about how ISKCON is somewhat behind the times online, and laid out ideas for putting together a small team with marketing and website design expertise that could help temples improve their Internet presence.

Other topics at the meetings included Deity worship, devotee care, membership, ethics, leader sexual misconduct, and a presentation on “Surving an Active Shooter” by the Houston Police Department. Sharing best practices through these topics was a major benefit for the leaders.

The meetings also included “Sanga sessions” led by Washington D.C. temple president Ananda Vrindavana Dasi, in which leaders got a sense of their shared work together in Krishna consciousness.

“The meetings were definitely inspiring for me,” says Mukhya. “It’s inspiring to hear the successes of other temples, and I like coming away feeling fired up. Sometimes things are just moving along day to day, and we get a bit lackadaisical. But really we should be improving all the time!” 


Source: http://iskconnews.org/best-ever-leaders-meetings-highlight-iskcon-50,5343/?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=twitterfeed

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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto - 09, Chapter - 19, Text - 27 by HG Amal Bhakta Prabhu on 07 Jan 2016 at Los Angeles

(In 1976, wanting to deepen his realization of the Divine, Amal Bhakta Prabhu moved to West Los Angeles to study at the ISKCON temple various aspects of Bhakti yoga (the yoga of love and devotion to God) under the famous spiritual master A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.)

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Lecture on Krishna attracts those who are not attracted to anything by HG Chaitanya Charan Prabhu

(His Grace Caitanya Charan Prabhu is a monk and spiritual teacher in the time honored tradition of bhakti yoga. He is a editor of Back to Godhead, which is the official international magazine of the Hare Krishna movement.)

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Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur

Lecture on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur by HH Candramauli Swami on 29 Dec 2015 at Bhaktivedanta Manor

(In 1986, Candramauli Swami accepted the sannyasa order and began preaching in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. In the early 1990's he became involved with the ISKCON Prison Ministries in America, and began visiting inmates, holding programs, along with writing letters to inmates and sending in Srila Prabhupada's books. )

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