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By: Romapada Das

Major newspapers and TV channels across four continents covered the 50th anniversary of ISKCON’s incorporation on 13th July with positive stories that reached out to millions of people around the world.

The BBC UK, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Chicago Tribune, the Times of India and India’s government-owned DD National TV gave extensive coverage to the history of ISKCON, the achievements of Srila Prabhupada and local events happening in their area.

BBC London broadcast a two-minute clip about the 50th anniversary on a prime-time news slot. Titled ‘Hare Krishna celebrates 50 years in London’, the news story covered devotees handing out 5000 cupcakes, showed harinama processions on Oxford Street, and featured interviews with devotees who live professional lives while practicing bhakti-yoga at home. It concluded with positive comments from several passers-by.

The report featured an interview with Bijal Majithia, a member of the congregation who works in a top accounting firm. She explained that many Hare Krishna devotees lead normal and professional lives, but were committed to their spiritual practices.

A suited man working in the city said, “It’s absolutely fine, they (the Hare Krishnas) are a pleasure to be around, and I love their little marches.”

The news-reporter concluded by saying, “I hope they will be a part of London for the next fifty years.”

A video-clip of the telecast and the story about the event on BBC can be viewed by clicking here.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) report introduced Srila Prabhupada, his journey to the West and the current expansion of ISKCON’s preaching mission.  The report said that ISKCON ‘belongs to the Vedic or Hindu culture with its philosophies based on the Sanskrit texts the Bhagavad-gita, Bhagavat Purana and Srimad Bhagavatam. Devotees practice bhakti yoga and worship Lord Krishna.’

The ABC report introduced the activities of the New Govardhana community and featured interviews with several devotees whom they called ‘everyday Hare Krishnas’. The ABC report can be read by clicking here.

"India’s largest nationally circulated newspape, the Times of India, did a full-page featured editorial in the Speaking Tree." Titled ’50 years of Krishna Consciousness’, the story discusses Prabhupada’s epic journey to the West, his beginnings in New York, his encounter with the Beatles, and traces how the movement expanded rapidly.

The editorial concludes by saying, “Eventually, the worldwide message of warmth and love that the Hare Krishna movement has been striving to disseminate has overcome any setbacks of earlier years, paving the way for a new era of universal love and peace.”

To read the Times of India editorial in the Speaking Tree supplement, please click here.

India’s government-owned TV channel, Doordarshan National aired a one-hour programme about ISKCON on July 13th, featuring a studio interview with Keshava Murari Das, President of ISKCON Rohini (New Delhi), interspersed with several video clips about different activities of ISKCON. He explained how Srila Prabhupada started the movement and continued to speak about the achievements of ISKCON today such as the movement’s expansion into 650 centres, distribution of 300 million plates of free prasadam and 50 million books. The programme showed several clips such as the youth festival in Pune attended by 20,000 young people and the recent visit of the then Prime Minister David Cameron to Bhaktivedanta Manor in London to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

The Chicago Tribune featured a story on the ‘Walking Monk’ with a tagline that said, ‘Swami embarks on transnational walk to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hare Krishna tradition’. The story profiled Bhakti Marga Swami’s walk of 3,000 miles across the United States from New York City to San Francisco to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of ISKCON’s arrival in the West and to promote a green style of living in America.

The story said, “Traveling on foot is a common practice in various spiritual traditions, and the walking monk believes that it's an effective way to reach out and communicate the importance of morality and ethical priorities.”

To read the Walking Monk story from the Chicago Tribune, please click here.

A key theme behind most of the stories was that they profiled the Hare Krishna movement of being made up of ‘normal’ people living in society who were practising spirituality while leading professional lives. 

Beyond the Incorporation day, there are several other major events being planned in America, UK, Europe, Australia, India and other countries, which are also expected to receive media attention and coverage.

Source : http://iskconnews.org/mainstream-media-across-four-continents-cover-incorporation-day-stories-in-a-big-way,5697/

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By: Zayani Bhatt

As a part of Incorporation Day celebrations, the Bhaktivedanta Manor hosted esteemed members of various religious organisations for a discussion about devotion (bhakti) in Vaishnavism and Christianity. 

On Thursday 14th July, individuals from BAPS Swaminarayan, the Interfaith Network UK, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and various churches from around the region, gathered at Srila Prabhupada theatre to hear guest speakers Rev Kumar Rajagopalan, from the London Baptist Association and Saunaka Rsi Das from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. The event was co-chaired by the Bishop of Bedford, Richard Atkinson and Nitin Palan of Hindu Matters in Britain.

Reverend Kumar spoke in depth about his journey into Christianity from a devoid Hindu background. He elaborated on the life experiences that led to his identification with the church and Jesus Christ. Reverent Kumar also shared the lessons he had learned from the Bible and the manner in which his devotion to God had progressed from a simple “transactional” relationship, in which he prayed for certain material benedictions and God delivered them, to a desire to abandon himself to God and be “consumed” by God.

Saunaka Rsi Das too spoke about the desire to become fully immersed in love of Godhead, or Bhakti and the path by which one develops this, as detailed in the Srimad Bhagvatam. He informed attendees about the basis of Vaishnava philosophy, which is to accept that true happiness and satisfaction can only be achieved, by giving up material happiness and devoting ourselves to God, in order to realise that each of us has a unique, blissful and intimate relationship with Lord Shri Krishna. 

An important aspect of the Reverend’s talk, was about how he has often been told he has forgone his Indian culture and heritage, and sometimes finds himself wrestling to unite his Asian background with his Christianity. Saunaka Rsi Das addressed the issue by sharing his experience of coming from a Caucasian, Christian background to identify with Krishna Consciousness. He said his pursuit of perfection in Christianity had led him to Vaishnavism. 

In the question-answer session that followed, guests asked the speakers where they stood on matters such as the importance of the body in spiritual life and whether they believed their God’s were ultimately one and the same.

In the words of David Hampshire, the leader of the Interfaith Network UK; “events such as this are important, especially given current world events, because religious people can create a space for dialogue that gives others hope. It is important that we stand up for each other especially when the number of people in each faith, increases today.” 

The event concluded with a wonderful vegetarian feast and lots of personal sharing about the shining lamp of devotion in our lives. 

Source : http://iskconnews.org/bhakti-in-the-christian-and-vaishnava-traditions-a-50-anniversary-event-at-the-uk,5698/

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By: Madhava Smullen 

During its ISKCON 50 festivities this month, Indonesia added some rich local culture to proceedings as its over 5,000 devotees focused on uniting together to serve Srila Prabhupada.

Celebrations included a brahmachari sankirtan party touring with a Prabhupada murti through the thirty-two ISKCON temples, centers and Namahattas on the island nation; and a youth camp bringing together youth from across the island of Bali.

The highlight, however, was the International Leadership Sanga (ILS) and the Bhakti Festival and Rathayatra from July 5th through 10th.

Both events were held in Denpasar, the provincial capital of Bali. As a predominantly Hindu Island – with its own regional brand of Hinduism – in an 86% Muslim country, Bali is the natural headquarters of ISKCON Indonesia.

Around forty temple presidents, leaders and senior devotees attended the International Leadership Sanga from July 5th to 8th at a local Denpasar hotel, for the first ILS ever held outside of Mayapur, West Bengal (where the idea originated).

Leaders hailed from the Indonesian islands of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and even far away Papua, marking the first such gathering in the history of ISKCON Indonesia.

Each day of the ILS was packed with seminars from the morning program through to dinner, given by experts in their subjects.

Each spoke on multiple topics. Kaunteya Das from Mayapur, a key member of the GBC Strategic Planning Team, talked about organizational development and strategic planning; how to improve Sunday programs; and why the growth and stability of our movement depends on unity in diversity.

Kaunteya’s wife Sri Radha Govinda Dasi, Director of Bhakti Marriages online premarital courses, spoke about how to build relations among devotees through appreciation, listening and speaking skills.

Another husband-and-wife team, Bhakta Das and Bhakti Dasi of ISKCON Communications Australia, taught participants practical communications skills to deal with the media, VIPs and other external audiences.

Separately, Bhakti spoke about how to practically add Krishna to our daily lives; while Bhakta talked about how to make a better community by applying compassion in our personal dealings with devotees, and how to effectively communicate with people of different religions. He also gave Srila Prabhupada: The Greatest Communication, a seminar on how Prabhupada applied communication skills in his dealings with multiple key audiences.

Meanwhile Melbourne temple president Aniruddha Das explained what the ISKCON Disciple Course is all about, discussed what Srila Prabhupada wanted for ISKCON’s management, and talked about how to raise money for temple programs through prasadam distribution – something he has lots of successful personal experience in.

The ILS was a very bonding experience, with devotees also taking three prasadam meals a day together, residing together in the hotel (half of which had been booked for the event), and doing kirtan together.

On July 8th, the leaders, along with GBCs Ramai Swami and Kavicandra Swami, also held the first ever Annual General Meeting of ISKCON Indonesia’s National Council, just created in October 2015.

“With this event we really focused on building unity in diversity within our own community,” says Indonesian communications director Ravinjay. “When you have devotees in the same country trying to achieve the same goal, but remaining disconnected from one another, it’s pretty difficult. So we throught ISKCON’s 50th was a perfect time to make sure that we go forward for the next fifty years as family, together, with the same mindset. It was the first time we had ever had all the Indonesian temples represented, talking about how we can actually work together as one unit to serve Srila Prabhupada.”

Following the ILS on July 9th and 10th was the Bhakti Festival, which shared its theme, “Celebrating the Joy of Devotion,” with ISKCON 50, and was the first attempt at opening up ISKCON Bali’s Rathayatra to the general public.

Held at the Bajrasandhi Monument park in Denpasar, the festival drew about 3,000 devotees and 1,000 members of the public.

A gala prasadam dinner on the 9th welcomed representatives from the provincial government of Bali and the Indonesian Hindu Dharma Council, along with a representative who read a statement by the Director General of Hindu Dharma from the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs.

“Seeing this movement of Bhakti, now presented as a festival, I would like to say how important this event is in accommodating the Hindu community to positively contribute [to the society],” the statement by Director General I Ketut Widnya read.

Widnya also said that the Bhakti Festival displayed “the harmony, unity and boundless fraternity of the ISKCON members in Indonesia.”

After the dinner there was a showing of the 20-minute ISKCON 50 film “Fifty Years of Joy and Service,” and several performances that showcased the wonderful devotional Balinese culture. The Gopi-Bhakti Dance mixed Bharatanatyam with Balinese dance, the Pancha Tattva Bhakti Dance saw devotees portraying Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates but dressed in Balinese costumes, and the hour-long Ramayana musical utilized both full Balinese outfits and music.

“Ramayana and Mahabharata are very intrinsic to the entire Indonesian culture, especially in Java and in Bali, where still to the present day every single person, even if they’re Muslim, knows the characters,” says Ravinjay.

The next day, there was a morning program on site at the park, as well as yoga and a seminar on the glories of cow protection. These were followed by a reading of Bhagavad-gita verses by local high school children, and a Balinese-style kirtan utilizing traditional instruments such as the gamelan, an Indonesian xylophone.

Huge two-meter tall Jagannath Deities, carved in Indonesia, were then taken out on a five-kilometer Rathayatra parade past the governor’s office, government buildings, and through the main streets of Denpasar.

Performances afterwards included a “mantra jazz” acoustic set of Jaya Radha Madhava, Nrsimha prayers and other chants, and a Balinese musical version with full traditional outfits of Krishna defeating Kamsa.

Meanwhile a full prasadam meal blending Indonesian, Balinese and Indian cuisines was served out to 4,000 people.

Next up for ISKCON 50, ISKCON of Indonesia is holding an appreciation night to thank devotees for services they’ve rendered.

“ISKCON 50 for us is definitely more about strengthening our community from the inside,” says Ravinjay. “Historically, we’ve had a lot of splinter groups and miscommunication. And so ISKCON 50 is really an opportunity to bring the country back together, reunite all the devotees, and figure out how in the future we can make better and happier devotees.”

 Source : http://iskconnews.org/indonesia-adds-local-flavor-to-iskcon-50-festivities,5688/

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By: Romapada Das, International Coordinator, ISKCON 50 for ISKCON News on July 15, 2016

13th July 2016, is the the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of ISKCON.

Over  fifty years ago in September 1965, an elderly Indian monk stepped off the piers of New York harbour wearing orange Indian robes and sporting a dignified vaishnava tilak mark on his forehead. He was carrying just seven dollars, a few sets of clothes and two trunk-loads of books.  The aristocratic looking monk was A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who had been sent by his spiritual master from India to preach the message of the Bhagavad-gita to the western world. 

In just ten short years, Srila Prabhupada, who came to America almost penniless, established a worldwide community of devotees practising India’s ancient science of bhakti-yoga, wrote 75 books, and established over 108 centres across five continents, that made ‘Hare Krishna’ a household name all over the globe.

The legacy

Behind Srila Prabhupada’s success lay a spiritual tradition that traced its origins to a disciplic succession which had originated more than 5000 years ago.  Srila Prabhupada carried with him the essential message of Lord Krishna as given in the Bhagavad-gita: all souls are eternal, and real happiness is found by awakening our loving relationship with the all-attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Srila Prabhupada was a spiritual master in the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the 16th century saint and avatar, who taught that the best way to awaken our joyful spiritual identity is to chant the names of God, especially the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.  

The succession

Sri Chaitanya’s tradition continued through a series of spiritual masters to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, a prominent thinker of Bengali Renaissance, and a leading philosopher, savant and spiritual reformer.

He single-handedly revived the teachings of Lord Chaitanya in India in late 19th and early 20th century.  Srila Bhaktivinoda was hailed by contemporary scholars as the most influential Gaudiya Vaishnava leader of his time.

His son, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura carried on the legacy of his father by establishing the Gaudiya Math. It grew to sixty-four branches across India and had three centres abroad.

The mission initiated by Srila Bhaktivinoda and developed by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta emerged as 'the most powerful reformist movement' of Vaishnavism in Bengal of the 19th and early 20th century.

Srila Prabhupada met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati in 1922, and accepted  him as his guru.

The Mission

Srila Prabhupada accepted formal initiation into Gaudiya Vaishnavism from Srla Bhaktisddhanta Saraswati in 1933.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati picked out Srila Prabhupada and instructed him to spread the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in English to the Western world.  Once, he requested Srila Prabhupada: “If you ever get money, print books’.

Srila Prabhupada took both of these instructions as his life’s mission. Soon, he started a magazine called Back to Godhead in 1944. He singlehandedly  typed, proofread, published and distributed the magazine on the streets of India.

In 1956, he moved to reside in the holy town of Vrindavan, and in 1959, he accepted the renounced order of life, or sannyasa.

Srila Prabhupada set sail for the USA on 13 August 1965, on board the steamship, Jaladuta.

After two heart attacks, illness and sickness, Srila Prabhupada arrived in America on 17 September 1965.

While the ship was docked in Boston Harbour, Srila Prabhupada wrote two poems in which he revealed his prayerful dependence on Lord Krishna for the success of his mission. 

In one of his compositions, he appealed to Lord Krishna:  "How will I make them (the American public) understand this message of Krishna consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified and most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own."

The Beginning

Srila Prabhupada initially stayed in Butler, and later moved to New York in 1966. Many ‘hippies’ flocked to hear his teachings.

He finally set up a store-front centre at 26, Second Avenue.  On 13 July 1966, he incorporated the ‘International Society for Krishna Consciousness’ (ISKCON). In August 1966, Srila Prabhupada led the first public chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.

In 1966, Srila Prabhupada established the ISKCON Press to publish Gaudiya Vaishnava literature. In 1967, he travelled to San Francisco where the Hare Krishna mantra was sung at the Mantra Rock Dance

He also organised the first ever Jagannatha Ratha Yatra in San Franciso. In 1968, Macmillan published Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita commentary.

In the same year, Srila Prabhupada sent three married couples to London, where they met the Beatles in 1969.

Apple Records released the Hare Krishna mantra, which sold 70,000 copies on the first day, and appeared onTop of the Pops. Srila Prabhupada visited London in 1969, and stayed at John Lennon’s estate.

The expansion

By 1970, Srila Prabhupada had established temples in USA, UK, India, parts of Asia, South America and Australia. In 1970, Srila Prabhupada returned to India with his Western disciples.

Srtila Prabhupada had elaborate plans for India upon his return. He established several centres in India including major  temples in Mumbai, Vrindavan and Mayapur.

In 1971, Srila Prabhupada visited Russia and initiated a young man as his disciple.

Later Srila Prabhupada established the Governing Body Commission to manage the affairs of ISKCON.

Srila Prabhupadaleft this world in November 1977. By then he had:

  • Established over a hundred temples and farm communities
  • Travelled the world seven times
  • Initiated over five thousand disciples
  • Written over 80 books
  • Founded the world’s largest publishing and distributing house for Vedic literature
  • Started the world’s largest vegetarian food relief programme
  • Introduced Indian festivals and culture such as Ratha Yatra to scores of Western cities around the world
  • Initiated the concept of ‘simple living and high thinking’ through several farm communities around the world

It was Srila Prabhupada who fulfilled a prediction made by Lord Chaitanya 500 years ago that ‘in every town and village’ the holy name of Krishna will be heard.

The explosion

Srila Prabhupada’s disciples carried on the Founder’s vision by continuing to expand his movement under the guidance and instructions he had left behind.

In the fifty years since 1966, ISKCON has achieved many milestones, as given below:

  • 650 – the number of ISKCON centres, temples and schools worldwide
  • 520 million – the number of books and magazines published by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and distributed by ISKCON devotees worldwide
  • 3 billion – the number of free plates of sanctified vegetarian meals distributed worldwide since 1966
  • 18 million – the number of people who worship in ISKCON temples around the world, every year
  • 1.2 million – the number of meals distributed every day to needy school children in India by ISKCON Food Relief Foundation, also known as ‘Annamrita’ as part of the Government’s mid-day meal programme
  • 340,000 – the number of patients treated by ISKCON hospitals such as Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mira Road, the Bhaktivedanta Hospice in Vrindavan, mobile clinics and eye camps
  • 260,000 – 2.6 million devotees walked 260,000 kms visiting 52,000 towns and villages in 170 countries as part of the worldwide padayatra to bring the holy name to every town and village around the world
  • 100,000 – since 1966 over 100,000 devotees around the world have taken spiritual initiation into the Gaudiya tradition
  • 6000 – there are more than 6000 Hare Krishna festivals held every year around the world
  • 3600 – the number of home study groups (Bhakti Vriksha groups) around the world
  • 110 – the number of Hare Krishna restaurants around the world
  • 65 – the number of eco-friendly farms run by ISKCON to practice ‘simple living and high thinking’

The books

In the 1970s, Srila Prabhupada translated almost sixty volumes of books including:

  • Bhagavad-gita
  • SrimadBhagavatam
  • Chaitanya Charitamrita
  • Nectar of Devotion
  • Nectar of Instruction
  • Sri Ishopanishad

ISKCON temples and inspired members began selling them at temples, mobile travelling parties and public venues.  In 1972, Srila Prabhupada established the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT). BBT is now the world’s largest publisher of books in Indian and Vedic religion and philosophy.

Srila Prabhupada’s books have been translated into more than eighty languages and are studied in university courses. His books have won praise for from professors at universities including Harvard, Oxford and Edinburgh.

The most important contribution of Srila Prabhupada’s books is that they have transformed the lives of millions, who lead a life based on the principles of ‘devotion to God and service to all’.

The temples

ISKCON’s 650 temples are hubs of devotional activity and spiritual rejuvenation. People from different backgrounds, cultures and nationalities unite together in these spiritual oases.  Life in ISKCON communities revolves around the worship of Deities in the temples.

Activities in ISKCON temples are very varied and include community development, devotional counselling, formal training, development of cultural expressions, dramatics, dance and music, fine arts, writing, costume design and others.

One of ISKCON’s most ambitious temple projects is the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. Located inMayapur, West Bengal at the birth place of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, this temple will have a central dome, which at 113 metres, will be taller than St. Paul’s in London and the Taj Mahal. It will host the world’s largest chandelier which will double as a 3-D rotating model of the universe, and have a Vedic Planetarium showcasing cosmology according to the Srimad Bhagavatam.

The chanting

ISKCON devotees can be found singing the Hare Krishna mahamantra on the streets of most cities of the world. This is a tradition that was founded by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who brought the congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra from people’s homes out to the streets, where people could benefit spritually by hearing the Lord’s holy names.

Singing the holy names of God has been a spiritual practice in India for thousands of years. Following in Lord Chaitanya’s footsteps, Srila Prabhupada made the Hare Krishna maha-mantra a worldwide phenomenon.

Devotees chant the mantra in two ways:

  • Japa: a private meditation for personal spiritual upliftment
  • Kirtana: public congregational singing and dancing

The festivals

Srila Prabhupada carried on the ancient Vedic tradition of celebrating many major festivals that bring devotees and the general public together in a spirit of joy and service.

ISKCON devotees celebrate many festivals in a mood of offering the best of everything to God, and sharing it with others:

  • Janmashtami commemorates the appearance of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
  • Gaura Purnima or the advent of Lord Chaitanya, is one of ISKCON’s primary annual festivals
  • Radhashtami, or the birthday of SrimatiRadharani, is celebrated by decorating the Deities with clothing made entirely of flowers. Many temples organise an elaborate evening festival to celebrate Radhashtami where the Deities are paraded in a boat to the accompaniment of devotional singing and dancing
  • At the Govardhan Puja festival, devotees walk, dance and sing around a symbolic hill of grains and sweets
  • Ratha Yatra, the festival of chariots, commemorates the pulling of God back into our hearts and to Vrindavana

The food

Srila Prabhupada trained his disciples in the art of cooking delectable vegetarian meals offered to Lord Krishna. Known as prasadam, or the mercy of the Lord, it attracts many people to Krishna temples and restaurants. Today, ISKCON provides millions of sanctified vegetarian meals all over the world.

Hare Krishna food is available at temples, Krishna restaurants, catering venues and free food outlets for the poor and homeless. Many people wonder what makes Krishna food so tasty. Hare Krishna food is is carefully prepared as an offering of love to Krishna or God with the best ingredients and cooking, while meditating on pleasing Krishna. This spiritual potency that becomes extraordinarily appealing and allows one to practically experience the  mercy of God. 

The farms

Srila Prabhupada stressed the basics of a simple and sustainable life in harmony with the self, nature and God.

In 1969, he started ISKCON’s first farm community in West Virginia, USA, called ‘New Vrindavan’. ISKCON now has 65 farm communities around the world based on the principles of ‘simple living and high thinking’.

ISKCON farms have many features such as:

  • Cow protection and animal welfare
  • Organic agriculture
  • Slaughter-free dairy farming
  • Efficient water and waste management
  • Development of local communities surrounding the farm
  • Rain water harvesting
  • Sustainable energy deployment
  • Child and adult education

The community

ISKCON performs many social activities for the communities that it serves.  The founding principles for ISKCON’s social programmes are to check the imbalance of values in life,  achieve real unity and peace, and to promote a simpler and more natural way of life.

In 1974, Srila Prabhupada witnessed two poor orphans fighting with dogs over scraps of discarded food. Overcome with compassion and moved by this sight, Srila Prabhupada declared, “No one within ten miles of our temples should go hungry’.

This vision of Srila Prabhupada helped to establish the Hare Krishna Food for Life project, which with its affiliates, is the world’s largest food relief programme, with over 3 billion meals served worldwide.

ISKCON’s ‘Annamrita’ project distributes nourishing meals to more than 1.2 million underprivileged students across 6000 schools of India.

ISKCON runs several schools and educational institutions around the world including those for deprived communities.

Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mumbai is famous for combining professional medical services in a spiritual setting. ISKCON organises eye camps and mobile clinics in remote rural areas.

ISKCON has provided emergency aid and disaster relief after calamities such as earthquakes and floods.

Devotees serve every living being, while recognising them as a part and parce of the Supreme Lord. The spirit of compassion not only relieves them of matrial miseries, but goes beyond that to bring them closer to the Supreme Lord Krishna, which is the final remedy for all miseries of material life.

This spirit of compassion was exemplified by Lord Chaitanya in his instruction to Sri Sanatana Goswami, where he said:

jive-doya name-ruci vaisnava-sevana  / iha chara dharma nahi suna sanatana

“Listen O Sanatana, there is no other religious obligation or duty greater than compassion for all living beings, taste for the holy name of the Lord, and serving the devotees of the Lord." 

The academia

Recognising the importance of engaging with the academic and scientific world in their language, Srila Prabhupada founded theBhaktivedanta Institute (BI) in 1976 with his disciples.

The Institute aims to advance the study of the nature and origin of life, utilising Vedic insights into consciousness, the self, and the origin of the universe.

BI has organized four international conferences, hundreds of panel discussions and talks, and published over thirty books. Many of its research papers are taught in renowned universities in America and Europe.

In 1993, ISKCON’s intellectual mouthpiece, the ISKCON Communications Journal was started. It featured papers by many famous scholars and academics.

In 1997, ISKCON devotees set up the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, the world’s first academy of its kind for the study of Hindu culture. Since its inception the Centre, which is a Recognised Independent Centre of Oxford University, has attracted world-class scholars and students, launched pioneering educational projects, and opened up the field of Hindu Studies for an international audience.

The ‘Heart of Hinduism’ a study resource published by ISKCON Educational Services in the UK was used as a recognised Religious Education toolkit for use in schools across the UK for teaching Hinduism.

ISKCON has organised several academic conferences in collaboration with universities such as Harvard and Bath, where scholars have presented papers of a high academic standard..

The appreciations

ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada have received many commendations and appreciations from political and business leaders, academics, and the media.

In 1995, the New York Times said that ISKCON’s reputation is “like the one Mother Teresa has in Calcutta” while reporting on Hare Krishna Food for Life efforts during the Chechyan war.

In 1998, India’s former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee appreciated the contribution of Srila Prabhupada by saying:“The voyage of Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada to the United States in 1965 and the spectacular popularity his movement gained in a very short spell of twelve years must be regarded as one of the greatest spiritual events of the century….The ISKCON movement has few parallels in the world in terms of its rapid global spread, its trans-national, trans-ethnic, and trans-professional appeal, its outward simplicity, and the devotional energy of its followers.”

Nelson Mandela who attended a Hare Krishna Food for Life festival in Durban once said, “"I extend our warmest thanks on behalf of all of us here today for the kindness and dedication that you (Hare Krishna Food for Life) have shown by bringing us all together. Your goal of a hunger-free South Africa is one that is shared by the government and the ANC.  Your efforts are making a practical contribution to this most urgent task." 

An editorial in the Times of India in 2006, praised the cultural contribution of ISKCON to India’s reputation in foreign countries when it said,“Guess again if you think Bollywood, or Indian writing in English, is the country’s biggest cultural export. You may not come across any of these if you visit Cochabamba in Bolivia or Gaborone in Botswana; what you will find instead is a centre of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.” Editorial in The Times of India, 2006.

In 2010, CNN listed Srila Prabhupada among 10 “Famous folks who launched careers after 50”.

At the inauguration of ISKCON’s Vedic cultural centre in Pune in 2013, President of India, Pranab Mukherjee said, “Swami Srila Prabhupada’s greatest legacy was that he was an exemplary ambassador of India’s timeless values. In the years that he spent spreading his simple message, Swami Srila Prabhupada convinced hundreds of thousands of Indians and westerners about the profound value of his philosophy which they embraced along with a Vedic lifestyle.”

In 2016, Britain’s the Prime Minister while attending a 50th anniversary celebration at Bhaktivedanta Manor in London said, "I look at what you (the Hare Krishnas) have done in the past fifty years and I think how much more you can achieve in the next fifty."

ISKCON has achieved many significant milestones and created a spiritual revolution that has transformed the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world. The ancient wisdom of Bhagavad-gita that was taught by Lord Krishna, exemplified by Lord Chaitanya’s sankirtana movement, codiefied by His disciples such as Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatana Goswami, and revived by  preceptors such as Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, finally exploded into every corner of the world because of the compassion  of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktisiddanta Swami Prabhupada.

As pointed out by Bredan O’ Connor in an article he wrote in the UK for the Independent, “We are all Hare Krishnas now, and … the movement’s influence on the world we live in now is enormous.”

Source : http://iskconnews.org/50-years-of-iskcon-the-joy-of-devotion,5689/

 

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Srila Prabhupada: Our centers are like the oasis in a vast desert. In the desert there is no water, but occasionally if one is fortunate he may come in contact with an oasis and he is saved. Similarly in this material world we are drying up due to a lack of spiritual knowledge. Our ISKCON centers are meant to give relief to the dried up conditioned souls who are searching after the nectar of joyful life. Letter to Bhagavan, December 18, 1970. 

Source : http://m.dandavats.com/?p=22783

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ISKCON 50 cake art by Anuradha Devi Dasi of the Manor. The seven purposes. In 1965, a 69 year-old spiritual teacher from India arrives in the West and settles among the hippies of New York’s Lower East Side. From a tiny storefront, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami starts a revolution of consciousness influencing tens of thousands in the US and worldwide. But what happens to his spiritual movement , the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), after their charismatic leader’s passing? Will it survive? Will it change? Can an ancient Eastern religious tradition be relevant in the modern 21st century?

Source : http://m.dandavats.com/?p=22775

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"Pupils of Hindu ethnicity in Netherlands are primarily from Surinam. Surinamese Hindus in general are better educated and are in better paid jobs than Turks and Moroccans."
 
"Pupils in Islamic schools have parents either from Morocco or Turkey."
 
"Moroccan and Turks immigrated to the Netherlands as (unskilled) guest workers, while many of the Surinamese already had received an education in Surinam and immigrated in order to pursue higher education in the Netherlands. But the number of people attending such schools (Hindu or Islamic) is very small indeed."
 
"The vast majority of children who attend Dutch Hindu schools have a Surinamese background, many also have parents with lower Socio-Economic-Status (SES)".
 
"Dutch Hindus appear not only to perform, on average, better than other minority groups in schools (Van Niekerk, 2004), they also appear to integrate at a faster rate than other 'non-Western' immigrant groups. Partly this is because of shared characteristics with Dutch society, but also social aspirations among Dutch Hindus are consistently high, and in general their orientation is towards the mainstream culture."
 
"Dutch Hindus hold that one has to adapt to the country where one lives, actively participate in its social and political life, and abide by the
laws of the country."
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50 Years Of Krishna Consciousness

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness — the bhakti movement led by Swami Prabhupada — that introduced the spiritual science of devotional service to Krishna in the west turns fifty this year. REENA SINGH reports

Turning fifty this year, the International Society for Krishna C o n s c i o u s n e s s (Iskcon) started by the then 70-year-old Swami Prabhupada has lost none of its youthful vim and vigour. Swamiji made his way to the US from West Bengal to spread the message of Sri Krishna in the western world. He reached there in 1965 and a year later, established the first temple of Iskcon at New York. Soon after, he sent off three couples to the UK who, like wandering minstrels, would sing the Hare Krishna mantra, in their famous kirtana style.They were walking down Soho when they bumped into Beatles George Harrison and John Lennon. Harrison accosted them: “Hare Krishna, where have you been? I have been waiting to meet you.”

The two Beatles had been to Rishikesh and were no strangers to eastern philosophy.

So taken in was Harrison by the movement that he helped devotees launch their first Radha Krishna temple album that quickly made Iskcon a household name in the west. Reportedly, Harrison wanted to join the movement, but Swami Prabhupada advised him to continue singing — ‘Do what you do best and remember Krishna,’ he told the Beatle. Soon, George Harrison released his big single chart-topper, My Sweet Lord, dedicated to Krishna.The simple, lilting melody was set to hauntingly melodious music: My sweet lord Hm, my lord Hm, my lord I really want to see you Really want to be with you Really want to see you lord But it takes so long, my lord Swami Prabhupada took Krishna’s message of bhakti and love across the globe and in a short span of a decade, established 108 temples, 32 farming communities, schools and institutions spread across the globe in the Americas, Africa, India, Europe and Australia. Iskcon’s presence is marked by huge temples, goshalas, eco villages, and vegetarianism. Swami Prabhupada’s contextual and logical translation and commentary of the philosophy of the Gita in his book, Bhagwad Gita As It Is, made the scripture accessible to millions across the globe. Prabhupada’s commentary on the Gita published by Iskcon is sold most widely in India. And it isn’t only because devotees can be seen at airports and traffic intersections selling copies.The version describes Krishna’s philosophy in simple, everyday language and is widely used in courses that teach Hinduism in institutes worldwide.

“The year-long celebration programme marking 50 years has been underway since early this year, when a Ratha Yatra was flagged off from the Mumbai Iskcon temple at Juhu. Just last month, on June 10,David Cameron attended the 50- year celebrations at the Bhaktivedanta Manor, the house that George Harrison donated to Iskcon several decades ago.The ex-PM garlanded the deity of Srila Prabhupada and remarked: “If only he had lived to see what the Manor has become; a mock Tudor country house donated by a Beatle, serving as a hub of worship, celebration and selflessness!” In the US, Iskcon’s famous ‘Walking Monk’, Bhaktimarga Swami is trekking from New York to San Francisco, following the path the movement took when it spread out from the East Coast to the West Coast of the US, 50 years ago. Along the way, the monk is visiting Iskcon centres and yoga institutes spreading the Hare Krishna message as he walks along. An academic conference was held at Harvard on Iskcon’s 50 years and coming up next month is a spectacular show at the Sydney Opera House, a theatrical, musical and multimedia extravaganza showcasing the extraordinary journey of Swami Prabhupada that has transformed the lives of millions. The Australian PM is expected to attend the event that will show how the cultural roots of the Hare Krishna movement have spread in 50 years. There will be renditions of how disciples bumped into the Beatles, had skirmishes with the Russian KGB back in the communist era when people of the Soviet Union were warned to stay away from western culture, pop music and the Hare Krishnas, besides other landmarks in Prabhupada’s life. “Every temple and institute has their own events lined up as well and this year, they will celebrate Janmashtami on a grand scale.

“Delhi will host the global finale to the celebrations in November where 15,000 devotees from 65 countries will take part at a function at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium,” adds Yudhistir Govinda Das, deputy director and national coordinator, India Communications for Iskcon. There will also be a ‘Clean Vrindaban Campaign’ in which 10,000 devotees are expected to take part,” he says. “We have over 10 million devotees worldwide,” he says, beaming with pride at what the movement that spreads compassion and love among society has achieved. And it is this abiding message of love that has taken Iskcon members to where they are today, notwithstanding the controversies that they have had to wade through — of paedophilia incidents,of accusations that funds are being taken to the west,of the erstwhile Russian regime banning sales of the Gita. Eventually,the worldwide message of warmth and love that the Hare Krishna movement has been striving to disseminate has overcome any setbacks of earlier years, paving the way for a new era of universal love and peace.

Source: http://www.speakingtree.in/article/50-years-of-krishna-consciousness

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Georgetown, Guyana:


Wait is over !!!!

Dreams coming true and the multi storey Grand HARE KRISHNA STUDY CENTRE (HKSC) is finally opening amidst joy and happiness.

Located at a prime location next to the University of Guyana, this Temple will be officially opened on exact date July 13, 2016, commemorating with the 50th Anniversary of ISKCON incorporation.

The temple opening will be coordinated with a 5 day event starting from 13th July to 17th July 2016.

Program includes
--------------------
13th July 2016: Grand inauguration by Government delegates & Senior ISKCON leaders from all over the world.

14th July 2016: Shravanam and Kirtanam festival.

15th July 2016: Srila Prabhupada Thanks giving day - Prabhupad katha and appreciation day.

16th July 2016, Saturday: Grand Rathyatra parade and Hare Krishna festival.

17th July 2016, Sunday  : Kirtan mela and Maha Darshan for General public.


Many Senior Prabhupada disciples, ISKCON Gurus, Temple Presidents, Senior ISKCON leaders and Well known Kirtaniyas have confirmed their presence.


Devotees from all over the world have started arriving for attending the 5 day festival.  So far more than 100 international devotees from USA, Brazil, India, Suriname, Venezuela, Barbados, Trinidad, Panama, West Africa etc. have arrived.

Free accommodation and prasadam has been arranged for all visitors.

Kindly join in the festivities and write about your arrival to
prabhupadadeva@gmail.com / girikd.npsc@gmail.com

This Mega project is being funded by generous donations from well-wishers all over the world.

This Temple, Hare Krishna Study Centre HKSC, will in fact be more than just a place of worship for people of Guyanese.

Here the facilities included will be:-

Ground floor of the building will house the Only vegetarian restaurant in the country, a gift shop, bhaktivedanta cultural hall and a State of art facility for Mega kitchen.

The first floor will have a spacious temple hall for more than 300 devotees to congregate and a beautiful altar for the presiding deities their lordships Parama karuna Sri Sri Nitai Gaurachandra.

The 2nd floor will house Conference room, Vedic library, deluxe guest rooms, a Brahmachari Ashram & student's dormitory.


The structure will be 140 by 36 feet, making it the tallest temple structure in whole of Guyana and also tallest iskcon center in all of South America.

Since there is a great decline in morality and God consciousness in the population at large, the mission of the center would be to assist all Guyanese in their spiritual training cum development and to enhance the society through the promotion of spiritual education, high moral values and strong personal development.

The temple will provide free access to all Vedic literatures, free access to a wide variety of academic resources; provide facilities where religious conferences and meetings can be held, present the rich Vedic heritage of ancient India, and much more.

The dormitory facilities on top floor will be for students who wish to be trained in practice of meditation and God consciousness while pursuing or continuing their University studies at the University of Guyana.

In a nutshell, the vision is the create a complete Vedic cultural and spiritual house under one roof with workshops, philosophy, lectures, chanting, yoga, meditation, art, music, cuisine, ancient spiritual traditions, personality development, character building, counseling and most of all God consciousness.

Please join us in these mega celebrations and help us make it a Grandsuccess.


Your servants

Prabhupad dev Das
Giri Krishna Gopal Das

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There are devotees who live in the temple and relate to the world, and there are devotees who live out in the world and relate to the temple. Both these situations are acceptable but in both cases one must devote their life cent percent to Krsna!

It is not just a matter of determination; we cannot just say, ‘From this day on, I will be cent percent Krsna conscious…’ It does not work like that! It is not just a decision but it is a matter of cultivation. It is a matter of serious cultivation. One can decide, ‘From this day on, I will get more serious about cultivating my Krsna consciousness!’
 
This we can do. We can make more arrangements to remind ourselves of Krsna – to hear more about the descriptions of Krsna, to sing more and to chant more! We can do many things to remember Krsna according to our taste and according to the prescribed rules. 
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 It’s really the same sort of thing as meditation, but I think it has a quicker effect. I mean, even if you put your beads down, you can still say the mantra or sing it without actually keeping track on your beads. One of the main differences between silent meditation and chanting is that silent meditation is rather dependent on concentration, but when you chant, it’s more of a direct connection with God.

 

The Hare Krishna Mantra by George Harrison and London Radha-Krishna Temple devotees was featured four times on England’s most popular television program, Top of the Pops, after rising to the Top 10 throughout England, Europe, and parts of Asia.

If you open up your heart
You will know what I mean
We’ve been polluted so long
But here’s a way for you to get clean

By chanting the names of the Lord and you’ll be free
The Lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see.

–“Awaiting On You All”
from the album All things Must Pass

In the summer of 1969, before the dissolution of the Beatles, the most popular music group of all time, George Harrison produced a hit single, The Hare Krishna Mantra, performed by George and the devotees of the London Radha-Krishna Temple. Soon after rising to the Top 10 or Top 20 best-selling record charts throughout England, Europe, and parts of Asia, the Hare Krishna chant became a household word–especially in England, where the BBC had featured the Hare Krishna Chanters, as they were then called, four times on the country’s most popular television program, Top of the Pops.

At about the same time, five thousand miles away, several shaven-headed, saffron-robed men and sari-clad women sang along with John Lennon and Yoko Ono as they recorded the hit song “Give Peace a Chance” in their room at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel:

“John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper, Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. All we are saying is give peace a chance.”

The Hare Krishna devotees had been visiting with the Lennons for several days, discussing world peace and self-realization. Because of this and other widespread exposure, people all over the world soon began to identify the chanting Hare Krishna devotees as harbingers of a more simple, joyful, peaceful way of life.

George Harrison was the impetus for the Beatles’spiritual quest of the sixties, and today, nearly fifteen years later, the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra–Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare–still plays a key role in the former Beatle’s life.

In this conversation, taped at George’s home in England on September 4, 1982, George reveals some memorable experiences he has had chanting Hare Krishna and describes in detail his deep personal realizations about the chanting. He reveals what factors led him to produce “The Hare Krishna Mantra” record, “My Sweet Lord,” and the LPs All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World, which were all influenced to a great extent by the Hare Krishna chanting and philosophy. He speaks lovingly and openly about his association with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acarya (spiritual master) of the Hare Krishna movement. In the following interview George speaks frankly about his personal philosophy regarding the Hare Krishna movement, music, yoga, reincarnation, karma, the soul, God, and Christianity. The conversation concludes with his fond remembrances of a visit to the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Vrndavana, India, home of the Hare Krishna mantra, and with George discussing some of his celebrity friends’ involvement with the mantra now heard and chanted around the world.

Mukunda Goswami: Oftentimes you speak of yourself as a plainclothes devotee, a closet yogi or “closet Krishna,” and millions of people all over the world have been introduced to the chanting by your songs. But what about you? How did you first come in contact with Krishna?

George Harrison: Through my visits to India. So by the time the Hare Krishna movement first came to England in 1969, John and I had already gotten ahold of Prabhupada’s first album, Krishna Consciousness.(SIDE A / SIDE B) We had played it a lot and liked it. That was the first time I’d ever heard the chanting of the maha-mantra.

Mukunda: Even though you and John Lennon played Srila Prabhupada’s record a lot and had chanted quite a bit on your own, you’d never really met any of the devotees. Yet when Gurudasa, Syamasundara, and I [the first Hare Krishna devotees sent from America, to open a temple in London] first came to England, you co-signed the lease on our first temple in central London, bought the Manoryoga-aSrama* for us, which has provided a place for literally hundreds of thousands of people to learn about Krishna consciousness, and financed the first printing of the book Krishna. You hadn’t really known us for a very long time at all. Wasn’t this a kind of sudden change for you?

George: Not really, for I always felt at home with Krishna. You see it was already a part of me. I think it’s something that’s been with me from my previous birth. Your coming to England and all that was just like another piece of a jigsaw puzzle that was coming together to make a complete picture. It had been slowly fitting together. That’s why I responded to you all the way I did when you first came to London. Let’s face it. If you’re going to have to stand up and be counted, I figured, “I would rather be with these guys than with those other guys over there.” It’s like that. I mean I’d rather be one of the devotees of God than one of the straight, so-called sane or normal people who just don’t understand that man is a spiritual being, that he has a soul. And I felt comfortable with you all, too, kind of like we’d known each other before. It was a pretty natural thing, really.

Mukunda: George, you were a member of the Beatles, undoubtedly the greatest single pop group in music hisiory, one that influenced not only music, but whole generations of young people as well. After the dissolution of the group, you went on to emerge as a solo superstar with albums like All Things Must Pass, the country’s top selling album for seven weeks in a row, and its hit single “My Sweet Lord,” which was number one in America for two months. That was followed by Living in the Material World, number one on Billboard for five weeks and a million-selling LP. One song on that album, “Give Me Love,” was a smash hit for six straight weeks. The concert for Bangladesh with Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, and Billy Preston was a phenomenal success and, once the LP and concert film were released, would become the single most successful rock benefit project ever. So, you had material success. You’d been everywhere, done everything, yet at the same time you were on a spiritual quest. What was it that really got you started on your spiritual journey?

George: It wasn’t until the experience of the sixties really hit. You know, having been successful and meeting everybody we thought worth meeting and finding out they weren’t worth meeting, and having had more hit records than everybody else and having done it bigger than everybody else. It was like reaching the top of a wall and then looking over and seeing that there’s so much more on the other side. So I felt it was part of my duty to say, “Oh, okay, maybe you are thinking this is all you need-to be rich and famous–but actually it isn’t.”

Mukunda: George, in your recently published autobiography, I, Me, Mine, you said your song “Awaiting on You All” is about japa-yoga, or chanting mantras on beads. You explained that a mantra is “mystical energy encased in a sound structure,” and that “each mantra contains within its vibrations a certain power.” But of all mantras, you stated that “the maha-mantra [the Hare Krishna mantra] has been prescribed as the easiest and surest way for attaining God Realization in this present age.” As a practitioner of japa-yoga, what realizations have you experienced from chanting?

George: Prabhupada, acarya (spiritual master) of the Hare Krishna movement, told me once that we should just keep chanting all the time, or as much as possible. Once you do that, you realize the benefit. The response that comes from chanting is in the form of bliss, or spiritual happiness, which is a much higher taste than any happiness found here in the material world. That’s why I say that the more you do it, the more you don’t want to stop, because it feels so nice and peaceful.

Mukunda: What is it about the mantra that brings about this feeling of peace and happiness?

George: The word Hare is the word that calls upon the energy that’s around the Lord. If you say the mantra enough, you build up an identification with God. God’s all happiness, all bliss, and by chanting His names we connect with Him. So it’s really a process of actually having a realization of God, which all becomes clear with the expanded state of consciousness that develops when you chant. Like I said in the introduction I wrote for Prabhupada’s Krsna book some years ago, “If there’s a God, I want to see Him. It’s pointless to believe in something without proof, and Krishna consciousness and meditation are methods where you can actually obtain God perception.”

Mukunda: Is it an instantaneous process, or gradual?

George: You don’t get it in five minutes. It’s something that takes time, but it works because it’s a direct process of attaining God and will help us to have pure consciousness and good perception that is above the normal, everyday state of consciousness.

Mukunda: How do you feel after chanting for a long time?

George: In the life I lead, I find that I sometimes have opportunities when I can really get going at it, and the more I do it, I find the harder it is to stop, and I don’t want to lose the feeling it gives me.

For example, once I chanted the Hare Krishna mantra all the way from France to Portugal, nonstop. I drove for about twenty-three hours and chanted all the way. It gets you feeling a bit invincible. The funny thing was that I didn’t even know where I was going. I mean I had bought a map, and I knew basically which way I was aiming, but I couldn’t speak French, Spanish, or Portuguese. But none of that seemed to matter. You know, once you get chanting, then things start to happen transcendentally.

Mukunda: The Vedas inform us that because God is absolute, there is no difference between God the person and His holy name; the name is God. When you first started chanting, could you perceive that?

George: It takes a certain amount of time and faith to accept or to realize that there is no difference between Him and His name, to get to the point where you’re no longer mystified by where He is. You know, like, “Is He around here?” You realize after some time, “Here He is–right here!” It’s a matter of practice. So when I say that “l see God,” I don’t necessarily mean to say that when I chant I’m seeing Krishna in His original form when He came five thousand years ago, dancing across the water, playing His flute. Of course, that would also be nice, and it’s quite possible too. When you become real pure by chanting, you can actually see God like that, I mean personally. But no doubt you can feel His presence and know that He’s there when you’re chanting.

Mukunda: Can you think of any incident where you felt God’s presence very strongly through chanting?

George: Once I was on an airplane that was in an electric storm. It was hit by lightning three times, and a Boeing 707 went over the top of us, missing by inches. I thought the back end of the plane had blown off. I was on my way from Los Angeles to New York to organize the Bangladesh concert. As soon as the plane began bouncing around, I started chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. The whole thing went on for about an hour and a half or two hours, the plane dropping hundreds of feet and bouncing all over in the storm, all the lights out and all these explosions, and everybody terrified. I ended up with my feet pressed against the seat in front, my seat belt as tight as it could be, gripping on the thing, and yelling Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare at the top of my voice. I know for me, the difference between making it and not making it was actually chanting the mantra. Peter Sellers also swore that chanting Hare* Krishna saved him from a plane crash once.

John Lennon and Hare Krishna

Mukunda: Did any of the other Beatles chant?

George: Before meeting Prabhupada and all of you, I had bought that album Prabhupada did in New York .(SIDE A / SIDE B) , and John and I listened to it. I remember we sang it for days, John and I, with ukulele banjos, sailing through the Greek Islands chanting Hare Krishna. Like six hours we sang, because we couldn’t stop once we got going. As soon as we stopped, it was like the lights went out. It went on to the point where our jaws were aching, singing the mantra over and over and over and over and over. We felt exalted; it was a very happy time for us.

Mukunda: You know, I saw a video the other day sent to us from Canada, showing John and Yoko Ono recording their hit song “Give Peace a Chance,” and about five or six of the devotees were there in John’s room at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, singing along and playing cymbals and drums. You know, John and Yoko chanted Hare Krishna on that song. That was in May of ’69, and just three months later, Srila Prabhupada was John and Yoko’s house guest for one month at their estate outside London.

While Prabhupada was there, you, John, and Yoko came to his room one afternoon for a few hours. I think that was the first time you all met him.

George: That’s right.

Mukunda: At that point John was a spiritual seeker, and Prabhupada explained the true path to peace and liberation. He talked about the eternality of the soul, karma, and reincarnation, which are all elaborately dealt with in the Vedicliteratures.Vedas, predating the Bible and covering all aspects of spiritual knowledge from the nature of the self, or individual soul, to the Supreme Soul (Sri Krishna) and His kingdom in the spiritual world. Although John never made Hare Krishna a big part of his life, he echoed the philosophy of Krishna consciousness in a hit song he wrote just about a year after that conversation, “Instant Karma.”

Now what’s the difference between chanting Hare Krishna and meditation?

George: It’s really the same sort of thing as meditation, but I think it has a quicker effect. I mean, even if you put your beads down, you can still say the mantra or sing it without actually keeping track on your beads. One of the main differences between silent meditation and chanting is that silent meditation is rather dependent on concentration, but when you chant, it’s more of a direct connection with God.

Practical Meditation

Mukunda: The maha-mantra was prescribed for modern times because of the fast-paced nature of things today. Even when people do get into a little quiet place, it’s very difficult to calm the mind for very long.

George: That’s right. Chanting Hare Krishna is a type of meditation that can be practiced even if the mind is in turbulence. You can even be doing it and other things at the same time. That’s what’s so nice. In my life there’s been many times the mantra brought things around. It keeps me in tune with reality, and the more you sit in one place and chant, the more incense you offer to Krishna in the same room, the more you purify the vibration, the more you can achieve what you’re trying to do, which is just trying to remember God, God, God, God, God, as often as possible. And if you’re talking to Him with the mantra, it certainly helps.

Mukunda: What else helps you to fix your mind on God?

George: Well, just having as many things around me that will remind me of Him, like incense and pictures. Just the other day I was looking at a small picture on the wall of my studio of you, Gurudasa, and Syamasundara, and just seeing all the old devotees made me think of Krishna. I guess that’s the business of devotees–to make you think of God.

Mukunda: How often do you chant?

George:Whenever I get a chance.

Mukunda: Once you asked Srila Prabhupada about a particular verse he quoted from the Vedas, in which it’s said that when one chants the holy name of Krishna, Krishna dances on the tongue and one wishes one had thousands of ears and thousands of mouths with which to better appreciate the holy names of God.

George:Yes. I think he was talking about the realization that there is no difference between Him standing before you and His being present in His name. That’s the real beauty of chanting–you directly connect with God. I have no doubt that by saying Krishna over and over again, He can come and dance on the tongue. The main thing, though, is to keep in touch with God.

Mukunda: So your habit is generally to use the beads when you chant?

George: Oh, yeah. I have my beads. I remember when I first got them, they were just big knobby globs of wood, but now I’m very glad to say that they’re smooth from chanting a lot.

Mukunda: Do you generally keep them in the bag when you chant?

George: Yes. I find it’s very good to be touching them. It keeps another one of the senses fixed on God. Beads really help in that respect. You know, the frustrating thing about it was in the beginning there was a period when I was heavy into chanting and I had my hand in my bead bag all the time. And I got so tired of people asking me, “Did you hurt your hand, break it or something?” In the end I used to say, “Yeah. Yeah. I had an accident,” because it was easier than explaining everything. Using the beads also helps me to release a lot of nervous energy.

Mukunda: Some people say that if everyone on the planet chanted Hare Krishna, they wouldn’t be able to keep their minds on what they were doing. In other words, if everyone started chanting, some people ask if the whole world wouldn’t just grind to a halt. They wonder if people would stop working in factories, for example.

George: No. Chanting doesn’t stop you from being creative or productive. It actually helps you concentrate. I think this would make a great sketch for television: imagine all the workers on the Ford assembly line in Detroit, all of them chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna while bolting on the wheels. Now that would be wonderful. It might help out the auto industry, and probably there would be more decent cars too.

Experiencing God Through the Senses

Mukunda: We’ve talked a lot about japa, or personalized chanting, which most chanters engage in. But there’s another type, called kirtana, when one chants congregationally, in a temple or on the streets with a group of devotees. Kirtana generally gives a more supercharged effect, like recharging one’s spiritual batteries, and it gives others a chance to hear the holy names and become purified.

Actually, I was with Srila Prabhupada when he first began the group chanting in Tompkins Square Park on New York’s Lower East Side in 1966. The poet Allen Ginsberg would come and chant with us a lot and would play on his harmonium. A lot of people would come to hear the chanting, then Prabhupada would give lectures on Bhagavad-gita back at the temple.

George: Yes, going to a temple or chanting with a group of other people–the vibration is that much stronger. Of course, for some people it’s easy just to start chanting on their beads in the middle of a crowd, while other people are more comfortable chanting in the temple. But part of Krishna consciousness is trying to tune in all the senses of all the people: to experience God through all the senses, not just by experiencing Him on Sunday, through your knees by kneeling on some hard wooden kneeler in the church. But if you visit a temple, you can see pictures of God, you can see the Deity form of the Lord, and you can just hear Him by listening to yourself and others say the mantra. It’s just a way of realizing that all the senses can be applied toward perceiving God, and it makes it that much more appealing, seeing the pictures, hearing the mantra, smelling the incense, flowers, and so on. That’s the nice thing about your movement. It incorporates everything–chanting, dancing, philosophy, and prasadam. The music and dancing is a serious part of the process too. It’s not just something to burn off excess energy.

Mukunda: We’ve always seen that when we chant in the streets, people are eager to crowd around and listen. A lot of them tap their feet or dance along.

George: It’s great, the sound of the karatalas [cymbals]. When I hear them from a few blocks away, it’s like some magical thing that awakens something in me. Without their really being aware of what’s happening, people are being awakened spiritually. Of course, in another sense, in a higher sense, the kirtana is always going on, whether we’re hearing it or not.

Now, all over the place in Western cities, the sankirtana party has become a common sight. I love to see these sankirtana parties, because I love the whole idea of the devotees mixing it up with everybody, giving everybody a chance to remember. I wrote in the Krsna book introduction, “Everybody is looking for Krishna. Some don’t realize that they are, but they are. Krishna is God … and by chanting His Holy Names, the devotee quickly develops God-consciousness.”

Mukunda: You know, Srila Prabhupada often said that after a large number of temples were established, most people would simply begin to take up the chanting of Hare Krishna within their own homes, and we’re seeing more and more that this is what’s happening. Our worldwide congregation is very large–in the millions. The chanting on the streets, the books, and the temples are there to give people a start, to introduce them to the process.

George: I think it’s better that it is spreading into the homes now. There are a lot of “closet Krishnas,” you know. There’s a lot of people out there who are just waiting, and if it’s not today, it will be tomorrow or next week or next year.

Back in the sixties, whatever we were all getting into, we tended to broadcast it as loud as we could. I had had certain realizations and went through a period where I was so thrilled about my discoveries and realizations that I wanted to shout and tell it to everybody. But there’s a time to shout it out and a time not to shout it out. A lot of people went underground with their spiritual life in the seventies, but they’re out there in little nooks and crannies and in the countryside, people who look and dress straight, insurance salesmen types, but they’re really meditators and chanters, closet devotees.

Prabhupada’s movement is doing pretty well. It’s growing like wildfire really. How long it will take until we get to a Golden Age where everybody’s perfectly in tune with God’s will, I don’t know; but because of Prabhupada, Krishna consciousness has certainly spread more in the last sixteen years than it has since the sixteenth century, since the time of Lord Caitanya. The mantra has spread more quickly and the movement’s gotten bigger and bigger. It would be great if everyone chanted. Everybody would benefit by doing it. No matter how much money you’ve got, it doesn’t necessarily make you happy. You have to find your happiness with the problems you have, not worry too much about them, and chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.

The Hare Krishna Record

Mukunda: In 1969 you produced a single called “The Hare Krishna Mantra,” which eventually became a hit in many countries. That tune later became a cut on the Radha-Krishna Temple album, which you also produced on the Apple label and was distributed in America by Capitol Records. A lot of people in the recording business were surprised by this, your producing songs for and singing with the Hare Krishnas. Why did you do it?

George: Well, it’s just all a part of service, isn’t it? Spiritual service, in order to try to spread the mantra all over the world. Also, to try and give the devotees a wider base and a bigger foothold in England and everywhere else.

Mukunda: How did the success of this record of Hare Krishna devotees chanting compare with some of the rock musicians you were producing at the time like Jackie Lomax, Splinter, and Billy Preston?

George: It was a different thing. Nothing to do with that really. There was much more reason to do it. There was less commercial potential in it, but it was much more satisfying to do, knowing the possibilities that it was going to create, the connotations it would have just by doing a three-and-a-half-minute mantra. That was more fun really than trying to make a pop hit record. It was the feeling of trying to utilize your skills or job to make it into some spiritual service to Krishna.

Mukunda: What effect do you think that tune, “The Hare Krishna Mantra,” having reached millions and millions of people, has had on the cosmic consciousness of the world?

George: I’d like to think it had some effect. After all, the sound is God.

Mukunda: When Apple, the recording company, called a press conference to promote the record, the media seemed to be shocked to hear you speak about the soul and God being so important.

George: I felt it was important to try and be precise, to tell them and let them know. You know, to come out of the closet and really tell them. Because once you realize something, then you can’t pretend you don’t know it any more.

I figured this is the space age, with airplanes and everything. If everyone can go around the world on their holidays, there’s no reason why a mantra can’t go a few miles as well. So the idea was to try to spiritually infiltrate society, so to speak. After I got Apple Records committed to you and the record released, and after our big promotion, we saw it was going to become a hit. And one of the greatest things, one of the greatest thrills of my life, actually, was seeing you all on BBC’s Top of the Pops. I couldn’t believe it. It’s pretty hard to get on that program, because they only put you on if you come into the Top 20. It was just like a breath of fresh air. My strategy was to keep it to a three-and-a-half-minute version of the mantra so they’d play it on the radio, and it worked. I did the harmonium and guitar track for that record at Abbey Road studios before one of the Beatles’ sessions and then overdubbed a bass part. I remember Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, arrived at the studio and enjoyed the mantra.

Mukunda: Paul’s quite favorable now, you know.

George: That’s good. It still sounds like quite a good recording, even after all these years. It was the greatest fun of all, really, to see Krishna on Top of the Pops.

Mukunda: Shortly after its release, John Lennon told me that they played it at the intermission right before Bob Dylan did the Isle of Wight concert with Jimi Hendrix, the Moody Blues, and Joe Cocker in the summer of ’69.

George: They played it while they were getting the stage set up for Bob. It was great. Besides, it was a catchy tune, and the people didn’t have to know what it meant in order to enjoy it. I felt very good when I first heard it was doing well.

Mukunda: How did you feel about the record technically, the voices?

George: Yamuna, the lead singer, has a naturally good voice. I liked the way she sang with conviction, and she sang like she’d been singing it a lot before. It didn’t sound like the first tune she’d ever sung.

You know, I used to sing the mantra long before I met any of the devotees or long before I met Prabhupada, because I had his first record then for at least two years. When you’re open to something it’s like being a beacon, and you attract it. From the first time I heard the chanting, it was like a door opened somewhere in my subconscious, maybe from some previous life.

Mukunda: In the Iyrics to that song “Awaiting on You All,” from the All Things Must Pass album, you come right out front and tell people that they can be free from living in the material world by chanting the names of God. What made you do it? What kind of feedback did you get?

George: At that time, nobody was committed to that type of music in the pop world. There was, I felt, a real need for that, so rather than sitting and waiting for somebody else, I decided to do it myself. A lot of times we think, “Well, I agree with you, but I’m not going to actually stand up and be counted. Too risky.” Everybody is always trying to keep themselves covered, stay commercial, so I thought, just do it. Nobody else is, and I’m sick of all these young people just boogeying around, wasting their lives, you know. Also, I felt that there were a lot of people out there who would be reached. I still get letters from people saying, “I have been in the Krishna temple for three years, and I would have never known about Krishna unless you recorded the All Things Must Pass album.” So I know, by the Lord’s grace, I am a small part in the cosmic play.

Mukunda: What about the other Beatles? What did they think about your taking up Krishna consciousness? What was their reaction? You’d all been to India by then and were pretty much searching for something spiritual. Syamasundara said that once, when he ate lunch with you and the other Beatles, they were all quite respectful.

George: Oh, yeah, well, if the Fab Four didn’t get it, that is, if they couldn’t deal with shaven-headed Hare Krishnas, then there would have been no hope! [Laughter.] And the devotees just came to be associated with me, so people stopped thinking, “Hey, what’s this?” you know, if somebody in orange, with a shaved head, would appear. They’d say, “Oh, yeah, they’re with George.”

Mukunda: From the very start, you always felt comfortable around the devotees?

George: The first time I met Syamasundara, I liked him. He was my pal. I’d read about Prabhupada coming from India to Boston on the back of his record, and I knew that Syamasundara and all of you were in my age group, and that the only difference, really, was that you’d already joined and I hadn’t. I was in a rock band, but I didn’t have any fear, because I had seen dhotis, your robes, and the saffron color and shaved heads in India. Krishna consciousness was especially good for me because I didn’t get the feeling that I’d have to shave my head, move into a temple, and do it full time. So it was a spiritual thing that just fit in with my life-style. I could still be a musician, but I just changed my consciousness, that’s all.

Mukunda: You know, the Tudor mansion and estate that you gave us outside London has become one of our largest international centers. How do you feel about the Bhaktivedanta Manor’s success in spreading Krishna consciousness?

George: Oh, it’s great. And it also relates to making the Hare Krishna record or whatever my involvements were. Actually, it gives me pleasure, the idea that I was fortunate enough to be able to help at that time. All those songs with spiritual themes were like little plugs–“My Sweet Lord” and the others. And now I know that people are much more respectful and accepting when it comes to seeing the devotees in the streets and all that. It’s no longer like something that’s coming from left field.

And I’ve given a lot of Prabhupada’s books to many people, and whether I ever hear from them again or not, it’s good to know that they’ve gotten them, and if they read them, their lives may be changed.

Mukunda: When you come across people who are spiritually inclined but don’t have much knowledge, what kind of advice do you give them?

George: I try to tell them my little bit, what my experience is, and give them a choice of things to read and a choice of places to go–like you know, “Go to the temple, try chanting.”

Mukunda: In the “Ballad of John and Yoko,” John and Yoko rapped the media for the way it can foster a false image of you and perpetuate it. It’s taken a lot of time and effort to get them to understand that we are a genuine religion, with scriptures that predate the New Testament by three thousand years. Gradually, though, more people, scholars, philosophers, and theologians, have come around, and today they have a great deal of respect for the ancient Vaisnava tradition, where the modern-day Krishna consciousness movement has its roots

George: The media is to blame for everything, for all the misconceptions about the movement, but in a sense it didn’t really matter if they said something good or bad, because Krishna consciousness always seemed to transcend that barrier anyway The fact that the media was letting people know about Krishna was good in itself.

Mukunda: Srila Prabhupada always trained us to stick to our principles. He said that the worst thing we could ever do would be to make some sort of compromise or to dilute the philosophy for the sake of cheap popularity. Although many swamis and yogis had come from India to the West, Prabhupada was the only one with the purity and devotion to establish India’s ancient Krishna conscious philosophy around the world on its own terms-not watered down, but as it is.

George: That’s right. He was a perfect example of what he preached.

Mukunda: How did you feel about financing the first printing of the Krsna book and writing the introduction?

George: I just felt like it was part of my job, you know. Wherever I go in the world, when I see devotees, I always say “Hare Krishna!” to them, and they’re always pleased to see me. It’s a nice relationship. Whether they really know me personally or not, they feel they know me. And they do, really.

Mukunda: When you did the Material World album, you used a photo insert taken from the cover of Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita showing Krishna and His friend and disciple, Arjuna. Why?

George: Oh, yeah. It said on the album, “From the cover of Bhagavad-gita As It Is by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.” It was a promo for you, of course. I wanted to give them all a chance to see Krishna, to know about Him. I mean that’s the whole idea, isn’t it?

Spiritual Food

Mukunda: At lunch today we spoke a little about prasadam, vegetarian foods that have been spiritualized by being offered to Krishna. A lot of people have come to Krishna consciousness through prasadam.I mean, this process is the only kind of yoga that you can actually practice by eating.

George: Well, we should try to see God in everything, so it helps so much having the food to taste. Let’s face it, if God is in everything, why shouldn’t you taste Him when you eat? I think that prasadam is a very important thing. Krishna is God, so He’s absolute: His name, His form, prasadam, it’s all Him. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so if you can get to a man’s spirit soul by eating, and it works, why not do it? There’s nothing better than having been chanting and dancing, or just sitting and talking philosophy, and then suddenly the devotees bring out the prasadam. It’s a blessing from Krishna, and it’s spiritually important. The idea is that prasadam is the sacrament the Christians talk about, only instead of being just a wafer, it’s a whole feast, really, and the taste is so nice–it’s out of this world. And prasadam’s a good little hook in this age of commercialism. When people want something extra, or they need to have something special, prasadam will hook them in there. It’s undoubtedly done a great deal toward getting a lot more people involved in spiritual life. It breaks down preju dices, too. Because they think, “Oh, well, yes, I wouldn’t mind a drink of whatever or a bite of that.” Then they ask, “What’s this?” and “Oh, well, it’s prasadam.” And they get to learn another aspect of Krishna consciousness. Then they say, “It actually tastes quite nice. Have you got another plateful?” I’ve seen that happen with lots of people, especially older people I’ve seen at your temples. Maybe they were a little prejudiced, but the next thing you know, they’re in love with prasadam, and eventually they walk out of the temple thinking, “They’re not so bad after all.”

Mukunda: The Vedic literatures reveal that prasadam conveys spiritual realization, just as chanting does, but in a less obvious or conspicuous way. You make spiritual advancement just by eating it.

George: I’d say from my experience that it definitely works. I’ve always enjoyed prasadam much more when I’ve been at the temple, or when I’ve actually been sitting with Prabhupada, than when somebody’s brought it to me. Sometimes you can sit there with prasadam and find that three or four hours have gone by and you didn’t even know it. Prasadam really helped me a lot, because you start to realize “Now I’m tasting Krishna.” You’re conscious suddenly of another aspect of God, understanding that He’s this little samosa.* It’s all just a matter of tuning into the spiritual, and prasadam’s a very real part of it all.

Mukunda: You know, a lot of rock groups like Grateful Dead and Police get prasadam backstage before their concerts. They love it. It’s a long-standing tradition with us. I remember one time sending prasadam to one of the Beatles’ recording sessions. And your sister was telling me today that while you were doing the Bangladesh concert, Syamasundara used to bring you all prasadam at the rehearsals.

George: Yes, he’s even got a credit on the album sleeve.

Mukunda: What are your favorite kinds of prasadam, George?

George: I really like those deep-fried cauliflower things–pakoras?*

Mukunda: Yes.

George: And one thing I always liked was rasamalai [a milk sweet]. And there’s a lot of good drinks as well, fruit juices and lassi, the yogurt drinks mixed with fruit, and sometimes with rose water.

Mukunda:You’ve been a vegetarian for years, George. Have you had any difficulties maintaining it?

George: No. Actually, I wised up and made sure I had dal bean soup or something every day. Actually, lentils are one of the cheapest things, but they give you A-l protein. People are simply screwing up when they go out and buy beef steak, which is killing them with cancer and heart troubles. The stuff costs a fortune too. You could feed a thousand people with lentil soup for the cost of half a dozen filets. Does that make sense?

Mukunda: One of the things that really has a profound effect on people when they visit the temples or read our books is the paintings and sculptures done by our devotee artists of scenes from Krishna’s pastimes when He appeared on earth five thousand years ago. Prabhupada once said that these paintings were “windows to the spiritual world,” and he organized an art academy, training his disciples in the techniques for creating transcendental art. Now, tens of thousands of people have these paintings hanging in their homes, either the originals, lithographs, canvas prints, or posters. You’ve been to our multimedia Bhagavad-gita museum in Los Angeles. What kind of an effect did it have on you?

George: I thought it was great–better than Disneyland, really. I mean, it’s as valuable as that or the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. The sculpted dioramas look great, and the music is nice. It gives people a real feel for what the kingdom of God must be like, and much more basic than that, it shows in a way that’s easy for even a child to understand exactly how the body is different from the soul, and how the soul’s the important thing. I always have pictures around like the one of Krishna on the chariot that I put in the Material World album, and I have the sculpted Siva fountain Bhagavad-gita museum, George asked if the artists and sculptors who had produced the museum could sculpt a life-sized fountain of Lord Siva, one of the principal Hindu demigods and a great devotee of Lord Krishna. Lord Siva, in a meditative pose, complete with a stream of water spouting from his head, now resides in the gardens of George’s estate, heralded as among the most beautiful in all of England. the devotees made for me in my garden. Pictures are helpful when I’m chanting. You know that painting in the Bhagavad-gita of the Supersoul in the heart of the dog, the cow, the elephant, the poor man, and the priest? That’s very good to help you realize that Krishna is dwelling in the hearts of everybody. It doesn’t matter what kind of body you’ve got, the Lord’s there with you. We’re all the same really.

Meeting Srila Prabhupada

Mukunda: George, you and John Lennon met Srila Prabhupada together when he stayed at John’s home, in September of 1969.

George: Yes, but when I met him at first, I underestimated him. I didn’t realize it then, but I see now that because of him, the mantra has spread so far in the last sixteen years, more than it had in the last five centuries. Now that’s pretty amazing, because he was getting older and older, yet he was writing his books all the time. I realized later on that he was much more incredible than what you could see on the surface.

Mukunda: What about him stands out the most in your mind?

George: The thing that always stays is his saying, “I am the servant of the servant of the servant.” I like that. A lot of people say, “I’m it. I’m the divine incarnation. I’m here and let me hip you.” You know what I mean? But Prabhupada was never like that. I liked Prabhupada’s humbleness. I always liked his humility and his simplicity The servant of the servant of the servant is really what it is, you know. None of us are God–just His servants. He just made me feel so comfortable. I always felt very relaxed with him, and I felt more like a friend. I felt that he was a good friend. Even though he was at the time seventy-nine years old, working practically all through the night, day after day, with very little sleep, he still didn’t come through to me as though he was a very highly educated intellectual being, because he had a sort of childlike simplicity. Which is great, fantastic. Even though he was the greatest Sanskrit scholar and a saint, I appreciated the fact that he never made me feel uncomfortable. In fact, he always went out of his way to make me feel comfortable. I always thought of him as sort of a lovely friend, really, and now he’s still a lovely friend.

Mukunda: In one of his books, Prabhupada said that your sincere service was better than some people who had delved more deeply into Krishna consciousness but could not maintain that level of commitment. How did you feel about this?

George: Very wonderful, really. I mean it really gave me hope, because as they say, even one moment in the company of a divine person, Krishna’s pure devotee, can help a tremendous amount.

And I think Prabhupada was really pleased at the idea that somebody from outside of the temple was helping to get the album made. Just the fact that he was pleased was encouraging to me. I knew he liked “The Hare Krishna Mantra” record, and he asked the devotees to play that song “Govinda.” They still play it, don’t they?

Mukunda: Every temple has a recording of it, and we play it each morning when the devotees assemble before the altar, before kirtana. It’s an ISKCON institution, you might say.

George: And if I didn’t get feedback from Prabhupada on my songs about Krishna or the philosophy, I’d get it from the devotees. That’s all the encouragement I needed really. It just seemed that anything spiritual I did, either through songs, or helping with publishing the books, or whatever, really pleased him. The song I wrote, “Living in the Material World,” as I wrote in I, Me, Mine, was influenced by Srila Prabhupada. He’s the one who explained to me how we’re not these physical bodies. We just happen to be in them.

Like I said in the song, this place’s not really what’s happening. We don’t belong here, but in the spiritual sky:

As l’m fated for the material world
Get frustrated in the material world
Senses never gratified
Only swelling like a tide
That could drown me in the material world

The whole point to being here, really, is to figure a way to get out.

That was the thing about Prabhupada, you see. He didn’t just talk about loving Krishna and getting out of this place, but he was the perfect example. He talked about always chanting, and he was always chanting. I think that that in itself was perhaps the most encouraging thing for me. It was enough to make me try harder, to be just a little bit better. He was a perfect example of everything he preached.

Mukunda: How would you describe Srila Prabhupada’s achievements?

George: I think Prabhupada’s accomplishments are very significant; they’re huge. Even compared to someone like William Shakespeare, the amount of literature Prabhupada produced is truly amazing. It boggles the mind. He sometimes went for days with only a few hours sleep. I mean even a youthful, athletic young person couldn’t keep the pace he kept himself at seventy-nine years of age.

Srila Prabhupada has already had an amazing effect on the world. There’s no way of measuring it. One day I just realized, “God, this man is amazing!” He would sit up all night translating Sanskrit into English, putting in glossaries to make sure everyone understands it, and yet he never came off as someone above you. He always had that childlike simplicity, and what’s most amazing is the fact that he did all this translating in such a relatively short time–just a few years. And without having anything more than his own Krishna consciousness, he rounded up all these thousands of devotees, set the whole movement in motion, which became something so strong that it went on even after he left. And it’s still escalating even now at an incredible rate. It will go on and on from the knowledge he gave. It can only grow and grow. The more people wake up spiritually, the more they’ll begin to realize the depth of what Prabhupada was saying–how much he gave.

Mukunda: Did you know that complete sets of Prabhupada’s books are in all the major colleges and universities in the world, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, and the Sorbonne?

George: They should be! One of the greatest things I noticed about Prabhupada was the way he would be talking to you in English, and then all of a sudden he would say it to you in Sanskrit and then translate it back into English. It was clear that he really knew it well. His contribution has obviously been enormous from the literary point of view, because he’s brought the Supreme Person, Krishna, more into focus. A lot of scholars and writers know the Gita, but only on an intellectual level. Even when they write “Krishna said…,” they don’t do it with the bhakti or love required. That’s the secret, you know–Krishna is actually a person who is the Lord and who will also appear there in that book when there is that love, that bhakti. You can’t understand the first thing about God unless you love Him. These big so-called Vedic scholars–they don’t necessarily love Krishna, so they can’t understand Him and give Him to us. But Prabhupada was different.

Mukunda: The Vedic literatures predicted that after the advent of Lord Caitanya five hundred years ago, there would be a Golden Age of ten thousand years, when the chanting of the holy names of God would completely nullify all the degradations of the modern age, and real spiritual peace would come to this planet.

George: Well, Prabhupada’s definitely affected the world in an absolute way. What he was giving us was the highest literature, the highest knowledge. I mean there just isn’t anything higher.

Mukunda: You write in your autobiography that “No matter how good you are, you still need grace to get out of the material world. You can be a yogi or a monk or a nun, but without God’s grace you still can’t make it.” And at the end of the song “Living in the Material World,” the Iyrics say, “Got to get out of this place by the Lord Sri Krishna’s grace, my salvation from the material world.” If we’re dependent on the grace of God, what does the expression “God helps those who help themselves” mean?

George: It’s flexible, I think. In one way, I’m never going to get out of here unless it’s by His grace but then again, His grace is relative to the amount of desire I can manifest in myself. The amount of grace I would expect from God should be equal to the amount of grace I can gather or earn. I get out what I put in. Like in the song I wrote about Prabhupada:

The Lord loves the one that loves the Lord
And the law says if you don’t give,
then you don’t get loving
Now the Lord helps those that help themselves
And the law says whatever you do
It comes right back on you

–“The Lord Loves the One that Loves the Lord”
from Living in the Material World
Apple LP

Have you heard that song “That Which I Have Lost” from my new album, Somewhere in England? It’s right out of the Bhagavad-gita. In it I talk about fighting the forces of darkness, limitations, falsehood, and mortality.

God Is a Person

Mukunda: Yes, I like it. If people can understand the Lord’s message in Bhagavad-gita, they can become truly happy.

A lot of people, when they just get started in spiritual life, worship God as impersonal. What’s the difference between worshiping Krishna, or God, in His personal form and worshiping His impersonal nature as energy or light?

George: It’s like the difference between hanging out with a computer or hanging out with a person. Like I said earlier, “If there is a God, I want to see Him,” not only His energy or His light, but Him.

Mukunda: What do you think is the goal of human life?

George: Each individual has to burn out his own karma and escape from the chains of maya (illusion), reincarnation, and all that. The best thing anyone can give to humanity is God consciousness. Then you can really give them something. But first you have to concentrate on your own spiritual advancement; so in a sense we have to become selfish to become selfless.

Mukunda: What about trying to solve the problems of life without employing the spiritual process?

George: Life is like a piece of string with a lot of knots tied in it. The knots are the karma you’re born with from all your past lives, and the object of human life is to try and undo all those knots. That’s what chanting and meditation in God consciousness can do. Otherwise you simply tie another ten knots each time you try to undo one knot. That’s how karma works. I mean, we’re now the results of our past actions, and in the future we’ll be the results of the actions we’re performing now. A little understanding of “As you sow, so shall you reap” is important, because then you can’t blame the condition you’re in on anyone else. You know that it’s by your own actions you’re able to get more in a mess or out of one. It’s your own actions that relieve or bind you.

Mukunda: In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the crest jewel of all the Vedic literatures, it’s described how those pure souls who live in the spiritual world with God have different types of rasas, or relationships, with Him. Is there any special way you like to think of Krishna?

George: I like the idea of seeing Krishna as a baby, the way He’s often depicted in India. And also Govinda, the cowherd boy. I like the idea that you can have Krishna as a baby and feel protective to Him, or as your friend, or as the guru or master–type figure.

“My Sweet Lord”

Mukunda: I don’t think it’s possible to calculate just how many people were turned on to Krishna consciousness by your song “My Sweet Lord.” But you went through quite a personal thing before you decided to do that song. In your book you said, “I thought a lot about whether to do ‘My Sweet Lord’ or not because I would be committing myself publicly … Many people fear the words Lord and God … I was sticking my neck out on the chopping block … but at the same time I thought ‘Nobody’s saying it … why should I be untrue to myself?’ I came to believe in the importance that if you feel something strong enough, then you should say it.

“I wanted to show that Hallelujah and Hare Krishna are quite the same thing. I did the voices singing ‘Hallelujah’ and then the change to ‘Hare Krishna’ so that people would be chanting the maha-mantra-before they knew what was going on! I had been chanting Hare Krishna for a long time, and this song was a simple idea of how to do a Western pop equivalent of a mantra which repeats over and over again the holy names. I don’t feel guilty or bad about it; in fact it saved many a heroin addict’s life.”

Why did you feel you wanted to put Hare Krishna on the album at all? Wouldn’t “Hallelujah” alone have been good enough?

George: Well, first of all “Hallelujah” is a joyous expression the Christians have, but “Hare Krishna” has a mystical side to it. It’s more than just glorifying God; it’s asking to become His servant. And because of the way the mantra is put together, with the mystic spiritual energy contained in those syllables, it’s much closer to God than the way Christianity currently seems to be representing Him. Although Christ in my mind is an absolute yogi, I think many Christian teachers today are misrepresenting Christ. They’re supposed to be representing Jesus, but they’re not doing it very well. They’re letting him down very badly, and that’s a big turn off.

My idea in “My Sweet Lord,” because it sounded like a “pop song,” was to sneak up on them a bit. The point was to have the people not offended by “Hallelujah,” and by the time it gets to “Hare Krishna,” they’re already hooked, and their foot’s tapping, and they’re already singing along “Hallelujah,” to kind of lull them into a sense of false security. And then suddenly it turns into “Hare Krishna,” and they will all be singing that before they know what’s happened, and they will think, “Hey, I thought I wasn’t supposed to like Hare Krishna!”

People write to me even now asking what style that was. Ten years later they’re still trying to figure out what the words mean. It was just a little trick really. And it didn’t offend. For some reason I never got any offensive feedback from Christians who said “We like it up to a point, but what’s all this about Hare Krishna?”

Hallelujah may have originally been some mantric thing that got watered down, but I’m not sure what it really means. The Greek word for Christ is Kristos, which is, let’s face it, Krishna, and Kristos is the same name actually.

Mukunda: What would you say is the difference between the Christian view of God, and Krishna as represented in the Bhagavad-gita?

George: When I first came to this house, it was occupied by nuns. I brought in this poster of Visnu [a four-armed form of Krishna]. You just see His head and shoulders and His four arms holding a conchshell and various other symbols, and it has a big om. This transcendental syllable, which represents Krishna, has been chanted by many persons throughout history for spiritual perfection.* written above it. He has a nice aura around Him. I left it by the fireplace and went out into the garden. When we came back in thc house, they all pounced on me, saying, “Who is that? What is it?” as if it were some pagan god. So I said, “Well, if God is unlimited, then He can appear in any form, whichever way He likes to appear. That’s one way. He’s called Visnu.” It sort of freaked them out a bit, but the point is, why should God be limited? Even if you get Him as Krishna, He is not limited to that picture of Krishna. He can be the baby form, He can be Govinda and manifest in so many other well-known forms. You can see Krishna as a little boy, which is how I like to see Krishna. It’s a joyful relationship. But there’s this morbid side to the way many represent Christianity today, where you don’t smile, because it’s too serious, and you can’t expect to see God–that kind of stuff. If there is God, we must see Him, and I don’t believe in the idea you find in most churches, where they say, “No, you’re not going to see Him. He’s way up above you. Just believe what we tell you and shut up.”

I mean, the knowledge that’s given in Prabhupada’s books–the Vedic stuff–that’s the world’s oldest scriptures. They say that man can become purified, and with divine vision he can see God. You get pure by chanting, then you see Him. And Sanskrit, the language they’re written in, is the world’s first recorded language. Devanagari [the alphabet of the Sanskrit language] actually means “language of the gods.”

Mukunda: Anyone who is sincere about making spiritual advancement, whatever one’s religion may be, can usually see the value of chanting. I mean if that person was really trying to be God conscious and trying to chant sincerely.

George: That’s right. It’s a matter of being open. Anyone who’s open can do it. You just have to be open and not prejudiced. You just have to try it. There’s no loss, you know. But the “intellectuals” will always have problems, because they always need to “know.” They’re often the most spiritually bankrupt people, because they never let go; they don’t understand the meaning of “to transcend” the intellect. But an ordinary person’s more willing to say, “Okay. Let me try it and see if it works.” Chanting Hare Krishna can make a person a better Christian, too.

Karma and Reincarnation

Mukunda: In I, Me, Mine, you speak about karma and reincarnation, and how the only way to get out of the cycle is to take up a bona fide spiritual process. You said at one point, “Everybody is worried about dying, but the cause of death is birth, so if you don’t want to die, you don’t get born!” Did any of the other Beatles believe in reincarnation?

George: I’m sure John does! And I wouldn’t want to underestimate Paul and Ringo. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re hoping it’s true, you know what I mean? For all I know, Ringo might be a yogi disguised as a drummer!

Mukunda: Paul has our latest book, Coming Back: The Science of Reincarnation. Where do you think John’s soul is now?

George: I should hope that he’s in a good place. He had the understanding, though, that each soul reincarnates until it becomes completely pure, and that each soul finds its own level, designated by reactions to its actions in this and previous lives.

Mukunda: Bob Dylan did a lot of chanting at one time. He used to come to the Los Angeles temple and came to the Denver and Chicago temples as well. In fact he drove across the United States with two devotees once and wrote several songs about Krishna. They spent a lot of time chanting.

George: That’s right. He said he enjoyed the chanting and being with them. Also Stevie Wonder had you on one of his records, you know. And it was great the song he put the chanting in–“Pastimes Paradise.”

Mukunda: When you were in Vrndavana, India, where Lord Krishna appeared, and you saw thousands of people chanting Hare Krishna, did it strengthen your faith in the idea of chanting to see a whole city living Hare Krishna?

George: Yeah, it fortifies you. It definitely helps. It’s fantastic to be in a place where the whole town is doing it. And I also had the idea that they were all knocked out at the idea of seeing some white person chanting on beads. Vrndavana is one of the holiest cities in India. Everyone, everywhere, chants Hare Krishna. It was my most fantastic experience.

Mukunda: You wrote in your book: “Most of the world is fooling about, especially the people who think they control the world and the community. The presidents, the politicians, the military, etc., are all jerking about, acting as if they are Lord over their own domains. That’s basically Problem One on the planet.”

George: That’s right. Unless you’re doing some kind of God conscious thing and you know that He’s the one who’s really in charge, you’re just building up a lot of karma and not really helping yourself or anybody else. There’s a point in me where it’s beyond sad, seeing the state of the world today. It’s so screwed up. It’s terrible, and it will be getting worse and worse. More concrete everywhere, more pollution, more radioactivity. There’s no wilderness left, no pure air. They’re chopping the forests down. They’re polluting all the oceans. In one sense, I’m pessimistic about the future of the planet. These big guys don’t realize for everything they do, there’s a reaction. You have to pay. That’s karma.

Mukunda: Do you think there’s any hope?

George: Yes. One by one, everybody’s got to escape maya. Everybody has to burn out his karma and escape reincarnation and all that. Stop thinking that if Britain or America or Russia or the West or whatever becomes superior, then we’ll beat them, and then we’ll all have a rest and live happily ever after. That doesn’t work. The best thing you can give is God consciousness. Manifest your own divinity first. The truth is there. It’s right within us all. Understand what you are. If people would just wake up to what’s real, there would be no misery in the world. I guess chanting’s a pretty good place to start.

Mukunda: Thanks so much, George.

George: All right. Hare Krishna!

Source : https://theharekrishnamovement.org/2016/07/14/george-harrison-interview-hare-krishna-mantra-theres-nothing-higher-1982/

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“Who’s the Girl with Krishna?”

“Who’s the Girl with Krishna?”
Yesterday Parama Karuna, Mathuradhis and I were at a mall in San Jose reading about Radharani in the Nectar of Devotion. Srila Prabhupada (and Srila Rupa Goswami) was talking about how devotional service is greater than Krsna because it attracts Him and that the symbol of devotional service in the highest degree is Radharani.
So when we were about to distribute books again Parama turned to me and said, “Isn’t it amazing that no one here has heard of Srimati Radharani?!” Around us was the mayhem and madness of last minute shoppers bustling and jostling for last minute Christmas presents in their last minute nightmare before the clock struck twelve and the gifts they forgot to get turn them into pumpkins. It was obvious that the Hladini Shakti was not foremost on their minds.
But then Mathuradhis met a couple who were more thoughtful. They bought a book from him and went on their way. I saw them walk past me with the book in their hands and mused that I had wanted to stop them a few minutes before they met Mathura. Somehow I had missed the opportunity but Krsna hadn’t.
I guess this couple wanted to know more because moments later they were standing next to me discussing between themselves the pictures in that book. So I poked my head into their conversation and asked if they understood those pictures. A conversation ensued.
We covered the usual topics of karma and reincarnation and what Christmas means to a monk but then the girl asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks. The book they had only had pictures like changing bodies, karma and such. There were no pictures of the Spiritual World but our conversation had led me past the demigods to the real Boss, the real CEO in the sky, Krsna and His eternal abode of Goloka Vrndavana. And this lady, Sally, suddenly asked me out of the blue, “Who’s the Girl [with Krsna]?”
It seems like the secret is out. Is it really that no one knows about the real CEO in Vrndavana, Radharani? Where did Sally find out?
We may think that our efforts to give some knowledge in this world are in vein that no one really reads the books let alone understands them. We may pacify ourselves by reading the Nectar of Devotion and learning that the devotional service we are performing is attracting Krsna and therefore any other result is irrelevant. But it seems that there is some tangible result as one person yesterday inquired into Someone that even we the ones who have the most faith in trying to preach to a forgetful society may not have realized was out there preaching with us.

Source : http://www.dandavats.com/?p=29520

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By Nrtya Kisori Dasi

The Phoenix is a cyclically regenerated bird: it obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor; sometimes decomposing leads to rebirth. TKG Academy may be one such example.

Srila Prabhupada desired good education and training for ISKCON’s children. He thus established Gurukulas, beginning with the Dallas Gurukula in 1972. He gave instructions for the proper care of the children, their practices and the contents of their studies.

Unfortunately, imperfections in the execution of those instructions by some immature followers, to say the least, led to the failure of the program and its closure. Many lives have been negatively affected.

However, visionary leaders in our society rose from those “ashes”. Gurukula education isn’t all evil. Past mistakes should be used as learning experiences and ailments should be amended. Taking the essence of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and applying them according to time, place and circumstances can lead to wonderful outcomes.

TKG Academy strives for such success. With qualified and experienced teachers, dedicated to the educational goals set by Srila Prabhupada, we promote academic excellence as a way to facilitate the children’s future stability while maneuvering the responsibilities of life in this material world. Our students are expected to become respectable citizens, leaders of society. Spiritual philosophy and practices are woven in all subjects and form the basis of the educational vision.

The day-school is now thriving. Srila Prabhupada’s mood and mission are the guiding principles and all decisions are aligned accordingly. Its foundations are well rooted in the ancient wisdom of Vedic knowledge as taught by him, while keeping the pace of the demands of living in today’s society. This current manifestation, which struggled to grow out of the burnt past, is expected to be long-lived, just like the Phoenix.

Not only is it surviving, it’s expanding! Our enrollment has doubled within the past few years and we have outgrown our current facility. By the grace and arrangement of Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji, a building nearby became available for our purchase; a building which the devotees have been “eyeing” for years and working to persuade its owner to sale for almost a decade! Finally, just when the need for additional space for our school became acute, Krsna arranged for him to have a change of heart and become more detached. He agreed to sell and we are now in the process of acquiring the building and making all the necessary renovations for both buildings. By His mercy and according to His will, the building is expected to be ready before the upcoming school year. We feel excited and enlivened to make such an offering to Srila Prabhupada on his 120th Vyasa Puja and ISKCON’s 50th anniversary!

We herein beg the devotees for their mercy and blessings that we can complete this project and please Sri Guru, Sri Gauranga and Their devotees!

Thank you very much.

For more information, please visit our website: http://www.tkgacademy.com/giving/ or our Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/TKG.Academy/

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=29513

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Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law last week a measure punishing any kind of religious evangelization outside of churches, which some observers have called one of the most restrictive move in “post-Soviet history.”

“This new situation resembles the Soviet Union in 1929. At that time confession of faith was permitted only in church,” Hannu Haukka, president of Great Commission Media Ministries, told National Religious Broadcasters, according to Breitbart News. “Practically speaking, we are back in the same situation. These anti-terrorist laws are some of the most restrictive laws in post-Soviet history.”

The law, which is supposed to be aimed against the spread of terrorism and extremism, has also been approved by the Russian Parliament’s upper chamber. The move blocks the sharing of faith in any place that is not a government-sanctioned house of worship.

Charisma News reported that thousands of churches in Russia are coming together in prayer and fasting against the move, based on information shared by Haukka.

“The church is appalled at the news of the new law. About 7,000 evangelical/protestant churches are in fasting and prayer at the moment over the news,” Haukka said.

The Christian Post reported earlier this month that several Christian groups in Russia have already spoken out against the draconian measures, with the Seventh-day Adventist’s Moscow-based Euro-Asia Division stating that it is nearly “impossible” for religious believers to comply with the requirements.

“If this legislation is approved, the religious situation in the country will grow considerably more complicated and many believers will find themselves in exile and subjected to reprisals because of our faith,” the group said before Putin’s signature.

Under the new law, foreign missionaries will not be allowed to speak at churches unless that have a work permit from Russian authorities; any kind of discussion about God with non-believers would be considered missionary activity and punishable by law; and religious activities even in private homes will not be allowed.

What is more, anyone from the age of 14 found to be preaching will be subject to prosecution, and every citizen is required to report religious activity to the authorities, or face punishment him or herself.

Haukka asked Christians around the world to join in prayer with the Russian churches as they face uncertain times.

“Russia is closing down in an awful way. The new law is in total conflict with the purpose and the task given to the church by the Lord. The law will send the church back into Soviet era Communist persecution,” he asked.

NRB President Jerry A. Johnson further called on the United States government to pressure Russia to repeal what he described as an “unjust law.”

“Let’s pray this new iron curtain of Christian persecution in Russia will be lifted quickly and without harm to our brothers and sisters in Christ,” Johnson said.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/thousands-fasting-after-russian-president-putin-signs-law-banning-evangelism-outside-of-churches-166345/#xaDd6OKRRGeST6SI.99

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=29475

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Srila Prabhupada is attributed to have said the above - playing on a famous poem by Byron.

ISKCON turns 50 today. And I would like to acknowledge that significant milestone by expressing my gratitude towards this "framework" established by Srila Prabhupada, without which, I and millions of others would not have had access to Krsna consciousness.

That ISKCON, an organisation operating within the material world (but, according to Srila Prabhupada, not exclusively - there is a Goloka/Navadvip branch) to have faults should not be a surprise, nor a legitimate basis for withdrawing one's support, participation or appreciation.

Just as a material body - even one inhabited by a sincere devotee - is not immune to pathogens or disease, an organisational vehicle operating within the material world, is susceptible to all of the issues that can plague any organisation. For us to become disillusioned or cynical because of these very real challenges suggests a naive idealism or perhaps a "consumer/enjoying mentality." ISKCON is a gift bequeathed to us by Srila Prabhupada - a framework for associating and cooperating with other devotees in pursuance of offering Lord Caitanya's benediction to the masses.

Should we be surprised or dismayed that there are some very real challenges in operating such a Society at this current time (Kali Yuga) and in dealing with the exponential growth which continues to typify ISKCON throughout the world, dealing with matters for which we have had precious little training or historical precedents?

Based on the above quotation, Srila Prabhupada was more than aware of the various issues and potential issues that the Society's members would have to deal with. Apparently, he didn't see them as a legitimate basis for withdrawing support, participation and appreciation. Serving the spiritual master's order is not meant to involve comfort and convenience necessarily. Serving cooperatively - in a prevailing environment of discord, division, scandal, intrigue, etc - is tapasya. Putting aside one's own preferences to serve a higher cause - in this case, the pleasure of the spiritual master.

Much has been published over the years about the Society's flaws - perhaps an expression of love gone awry - and such focus may serve to distort people's impressions of what the Society is.

While I am not in any illusion about the very real challenges that the Society still faces, I would like to offer my appreciation for this wonderful gift that Srila Prabhupada has bestowed on me and others and gratitude both to him and to all the devotees who continue to steadfastly serve its purposes for the benefit of the millions who benefit from its work in the world.

- to the heroic souls who joined in the pioneering days and endured various hardships to help Srila Prabhupada get things started 
- to those who have taken responsibility to staff and run the temples - places where we can congregate, hear and chant, take darsana and prasadam
- those who take all kinds of risks and inconvenience to introduce the innocent to Krsna consciousness 
- to those who take responsibility and risk to help others connect to the parampara
- to those who continue to make Srila Prabhupada's writings and other media accessible to all peoples

I am deeply grateful and appreciative.

I feel blessed to have come into contact with Srila Prabhupada's teachings through the agency of ISKCON and its devotees.

And to feel sustained by such sanga and facilities - seeing that gift extended to successive generations of my family.

I feel so grateful to feel welcomed and supported at my local temples.

Long may the Society prosper and become increasingly effective at serving the purposes that Srila Prabhupada intended

Source:https://www.facebook.com/damodara.dasa/posts/10205166133987934

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The Beauty of the Lord

This morning I was just reflecting on how hot the weather has been, and how much all the plants are in need of water. Then, as I was reading the following verses from the Srimad Bhagavatam and I was thinking that we are all in need of Krsna, who is like the rain, and who’s beauty is compared to the dark clouds in the sky.

…After the scorching heat of the summer season, it is very pleasing to see dark clouds in the sky. The Lord wears a peacock feather in His hair, and His bodily complexion is just like a blackish cloud.

…The Lord’s beauty is compared to rainfall because when the rain falls in the rainy season, it becomes more and more pleasing to the people. After the scorching heat of the summer season, the people enjoy the rainy season very much. Indeed, they even come out of their doors in the villages and enjoy the rainfall directly. Thus the Lord’s bodily features are compared to the clouds of the rainy season.

…No one can say that the body of the Lord is wanting in beautiful parts. It is completely pūrṇam. Everything is complete: God’s creation, God’s beauty and God’s bodily features. All these are so complete that all one’s desires can become fully satisfied when one sees the beauty of the Lord. Both materialists and spiritualists can enjoy the beauty of the Lord. Because the Supreme Lord attracts everyone, including demons and devotees, materialists and spiritualists, He is called Kṛṣṇa. (from purport to SB 4.24.45-46)

Full text and purport

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Canto Four, Chapter 24, Text 45-46

snigdha-prāvṛḍ-ghana-śyāmaṁ
sarva-saundarya-saṅgraham
cārv-āyata-catur-bāhu
sujāta-rucirānanam
padma-kośa-palāśākṣaṁ
sundara-bhru sunāsikam
sudvijaṁ sukapolāsyaṁ
sama-karṇa-vibhūṣaṇam

snigdha—glistening; prāvṛṭ—rainy season; ghana-śyāmam—densely cloudy; sarva—all; saundarya—beauty; saṅgraham—collection; cāru—beautiful; āyata—bodily feature; catuḥ-bāhu—unto the four-armed; su-jāta—ultimately beautiful; rucira—very pleasing; ānanam—face; padma-kośa—the whorl of the lotus flower; palāśa—petals; akṣam—eyes; sundara—beautiful; bhru—eyebrows; su-nāsikam—raised nose; su-dvijam—beautiful teeth; su-kapola—beautiful forehead; āsyam—face; sama-karṇa—equally beautiful ears; vibhūṣaṇam—fully decorated.

TRANSLATION

The Lord’s beauty resembles a dark cloud during the rainy season. As the rainfall glistens, His bodily features also glisten. Indeed, He is the sum total of all beauty. The Lord has four arms and an exquisitely beautiful face with eyes like lotus petals, a beautiful highly raised nose, a mind-attracting smile, a beautiful forehead and equally beautiful and fully decorated ears.

PURPORT

After the scorching heat of the summer season, it is very pleasing to see dark clouds in the sky. As confirmed in Brahma-saṁhitā: barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. The Lord wears a peacock feather in His hair, and His bodily complexion is just like a blackish cloud. The word sundara, or snigdha, means “very pleasing.” Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya. Kṛṣṇa’s beauty is so pleasing that not even millions upon millions of Cupids can compare to it. The Lord’s form as Viṣṇu is decorated in all opulence; therefore Lord Śiva is trying to see that most opulent form of Nārāyaṇa, or Viṣṇu. Generally the worship of the Lord begins with the worship of Nārāyaṇa, or Viṣṇu, whereas the worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā is most confidential. Lord Nārāyaṇa is worshipable by the pāñcarātrika-vidhi, or regulative principles, whereas Lord Kṛṣṇa is worshipable by the bhāgavata-vidhi. No one can worship the Lord in the bhāgavata-vidhi without going through the regulations of the pāñcarātrika-vidhi. Actually, neophyte devotees worship the Lord according to the pāñcarātrika-vidhi, or the regulative principles enjoined in the Nārada-pañcarātra. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa cannot be approached by the neophyte devotees; therefore temple worship according to regulative principles is offered to Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Although there may be a Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa vigraha, or form, the worship of the neophyte devotees is acceptable as Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa worship. Worship according to the pāñcarātrika-vidhi is called vidhi-mārga, and worship according to the bhāgavata-vidhi principles is called rāga-mārga. The principles of rāga-mārga are especially meant for devotees who are elevated to the Vṛndāvana platform.

The inhabitants of Vṛndāvana—the gopīs, mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja, the cowherd boys, the cows and everyone else—are actually on the rāga-mārga or bhāgavata-mārga platform. They participate in five basic rasas—dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, mādhurya and śānta. But although these five rasas are found in the bhāgavata-mārga, the bhāgavata-mārga is especially meant for vātsalya and mādhurya, or paternal and conjugal relationships. Yet there is the vipralambha-sakhya, the higher fraternal worship of the Lord especially enjoyed by the cowherd boys. Although there is friendship between Kṛṣṇa and the cowherd boys, this friendship is different from the aiśvarya friendship between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. When Arjuna saw the viśva-rūpa, the gigantic universal form of the Lord, he was afraid for having treated Kṛṣṇa as an ordinary friend; therefore he begged Kṛṣṇa’s pardon. However, the cowherd boys who are friends of Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana sometimes ride on the shoulders of Kṛṣṇa. They treat Kṛṣṇa equally, just as they treat one another, and they are never afraid of Him, nor do they ever beg His pardon. Thus the rāga-mārga, or bhāgavata-mārga, friendship exists on a higher platform with Kṛṣṇa, namely the platform of vipralambha friendship. Paternal friendship, paternal service and conjugal service are visible in the Vṛndāvana rāga-mārga relationships.

Without serving Kṛṣṇa according to the vidhi-mārga regulative principles of the pāñcarātrika-vidhi, unscrupulous persons want to jump immediately to the rāga-mārga principles. Such persons are called sahajiyā. There are also demons who enjoy depicting Kṛṣṇa and His pastimes with the gopīs, taking advantage of Kṛṣṇa by their licentious character. These demons who print books and write lyrics on the rāga-mārga principles are surely on the way to hell. Unfortunately, they lead others down with them. Devotees in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be very careful to avoid such demons. One should strictly follow the vidhi-mārga regulative principles in the worship of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, although the Lord is present in the temple as Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa includes Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa; therefore when one worships the Lord according to the regulative principles, the Lord accepts the service in the role of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. In The Nectar of Devotion full instructions are given about the vidhi-mārga worship of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, or Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Although there are sixty-four kinds of offenses one can commit in vidhi-mārga worship, in rāga-mārga worship there is no consideration of such offenses because the devotees on that platform are very much elevated, and there is no question of offense. But if we do not follow the regulative principles on the vidhi-mārga platform and keep our eyes trained to spot offenses, we will not make progress.

In his description of Kṛṣṇa’s beauty, Lord Śiva uses the words cārvāyata-catur-bāhu sujāta-rucirānanam, indicating the beautiful four-armed form of Nārāyaṇa, or Viṣṇu. Those who worship Lord Kṛṣṇa describe Him as sujāta-rucirānanam. In the viṣṇu-tattva there are hundreds and thousands and millions of forms of the Supreme Lord, but of all these forms, the form of Kṛṣṇa is the most beautiful. Thus for those who worship Kṛṣṇa, the word sujāta-rucirānanam is used.

The four arms of Lord Viṣṇu have different purposes. The hands holding a lotus flower and conchshell are meant for the devotees, whereas the other two hands, holding a disc and mace, or club, are meant for the demons. Actually all of the Lord’s arms are auspicious, whether they are holding conchshells and flowers or clubs and discs. The demons killed by Lord Viṣṇu’s cakra disc and club are elevated to the spiritual world, just like the devotees who are protected by the hands holding the lotus flower and conchshell. However, the demons who are elevated to the spiritual world are situated in the impersonal Brahman effulgence, whereas the devotees are allowed to enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Those who are devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa are immediately elevated to the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet.

The Lord’s beauty is compared to rainfall because when the rain falls in the rainy season, it becomes more and more pleasing to the people. After the scorching heat of the summer season, the people enjoy the rainy season very much. Indeed, they even come out of their doors in the villages and enjoy the rainfall directly. Thus the Lord’s bodily features are compared to the clouds of the rainy season. The devotees enjoy the Lord’s beauty because it is a collection of all kinds of beauties. Therefore the word sarva-saundarya-saṅgraham is used. No one can say that the body of the Lord is wanting in beautiful parts. It is completely pūrṇam. Everything is complete: God’s creation, God’s beauty and God’s bodily features. All these are so complete that all one’s desires can become fully satisfied when one sees the beauty of the Lord. The word sarva-saundarya indicates that there are different types of beauties in the material and spiritual worlds and that the Lord contains all of them. Both materialists and spiritualists can enjoy the beauty of the Lord. Because the Supreme Lord attracts everyone, including demons and devotees, materialists and spiritualists, He is called Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, His devotees also attract everyone. As mentioned in the Sad-gosvāmī-stotra: dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau—the Gosvāmīs are equally dear to the dhīra (devotees) and adhīra (demons). Lord Kṛṣṇa was not very pleasing to the demons when He was present in Vṛndāvana, but the six Gosvāmīs were pleasing to the demons when they were present in Vṛndāvana. That is the beauty of the Lord’s dealings with His devotees; sometimes the Lord gives more credit to His devotees than He takes for Himself. For instance, on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, Lord Kṛṣṇa fought simply by giving directions. Yet it was Arjuna who took the credit for fighting. Nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savyasācin: “You, O Savyasācī [Arjuna], can be but an instrument in the fight.” (Bg. 11.33) Everything was arranged by the Lord, but the credit of victory was given to Arjuna. Similarly, in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, everything is happening according to the predictions of Lord Caitanya, but the credit goes to Lord Caitanya’s sincere servants. Thus the Lord is described herein as sarva-saundarya-saṅgraham.

Source:https://theharekrishnamovement.org/2016/07/13/the-beauty-of-the-lord-2/

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ISKCON 50

Today marks a half century for ISKCON. It is predicted to progress for 100 centuries. From that perspective, ISKCON is pretty much in its infancy. But from where we are standing, 50 years seems a long journey since its official inception July 13 1966.

I have been privileged to be a part of this esteemed institution. I have had the opportunity to meet many like minded souls and very pure souls. I cannot say I can find any other place in this entire planet earth where brilliant minds and pure souls gather in all in one place. I have made many friends in part due to this institution. For that, I am very grateful.

Initially, the incorporated ISKCON was simply a band of lose devotees in one building under an effulgent leader. Who knew, after 50 years, it would truly become a global organization that it is today. This also means global challenges. When we have devotees from diverse backgrounds gathering in one place, there is bound to be difference of opinion perhaps not in ideology but in execution of ideology. Therefore, it is necessary to have leaders who have sound management skills who can manage resources and people efficiently. As for ideological differences if any, we must go back to the books and tapes of Srila Prabhupada.

As long as ISKCON puts its Founder Acharya always in the center by following his instructions’ strictly, then I believe nothing can stop ISKCON for the next 100 centuries. I want to thank all the devotees’ who tirelessly work as a cohesive unit, despite differences, to serve the different instructions’ of Srila Prabhupada, a beacon of light for this dark age of quarrel and hypocrisy.

My humble obeisances and heartfelt gratitude to the Founder Acharya of ISKCON His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami to have the vision to establish a spiritual movement that is a receptacle for genuine seekers of truth!

Source:http://servantoftheservant-ananda.blogspot.in/2016/07/iskcon-50.html

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The ISKCON 50 Global office launched the Inspiration Series videos on July 13th, the exact day that ISKCON was incorporated as a legal entity fifty years ago in 1966. 

The Inspiration Series is a set of over 16 short videos that feature ISKCON leaders explaining the importance of the 50th anniversary of ISKCON and encouraging devotees to participate enthusiastically all over the world. 

They can be viewed on the YouTube channels of ISKCON 50 and ISKCON Desire Tree.

The series which was produced by ISKCON 50 and filmed by ISKCON Desire Tree features ISKCON leaders such as Radhanatha Swami, Gopal Krishna Goswami, Bhakticharu Swami, Bhakti Purushottam Swami, Anuttama Das, Devakinandan Das, Rameshvara Das and several others. 

“We want as many people as possible to participate enthusiastically in the 50th anniversary,” explained Romapada Das, the producer of the series who is the International Coordinator for the 50th anniversary. “Devotees naturally draw personal inspiration from many of our stalwart leaders. Therefore, we hope that by watching the clips where our leaders talk about the 50th anniversary, more and more devotees will feel encouraged to participate locally in the celebrations.”

The Global Office plans to release two to three videos every week from 13th July.

“The first videos we are releasing are those of Radhanatha Swami and Anuttama Das,” said Parampara Vani Das from ISKCON Desire Tree who headed the filming team. “These can immediately be viewed on our YouTube channels. We hope to release all the films in six weeks.” 

“The 50th anniversary is one of the most important milestones in this lifetime for many of us,” explained Anuttama Das, GBC Minister for Communications and a member of the International Executive Committee of ISKCON 50. “The Inspiration Series is therefore an important tool for helping our worldwide devotee community understand the importance of the 50th, and motivate them to play an active part in it.”

 # # #

The Inspiration Series video with Radhanatha Swam can be viewed on the ISKCON 50 YouTube channel by clicking here, and on the ISKCON Desire Tree channel by clicking here

The Inspiration Series video with Anuttama Dasa can be viewed on the ISKCON 50 YouTube channel by clicking here, and on the ISKCON Desire Tree channel by clicking here

For more information, please contact the Global Coordinator, ISKCON 50 at: romapada@iskcon50.org   

Source:http://iskconnews.org/iskcon-50-inspiration-series-videos-launched-on-incorporation-day,5685/

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Among their many plans for ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, ISKCON Mumbai’s four temples – Juhu, Mira Road, Khargar and Chowpatty – have launched a website that allows devotees to submit their written offerings to Srila Prabhupada in the shape of e-cards.

With the project they aim to collect 108,000 e-card offerings from devotees worldwide, which would shatter the previous Guiness World Record of 65,000 e-cards submitted.

The deadline to offer your e-cards at http://offeringstosp.com/ is July 28th, the Vaishnava calendar date for ISKCON’s 1966 Incorporation by Srila Prabhupada in New York.

On that day the Mumbai temples will offer a beautiful printed card to their Srila Prabhupada murtis from his society, citing the number of devotees from each country or city who have written their e-offerings to him. Temples around the world will also be encouraged to print out cards and do the same.

Currently at just 1,700 offerings, the project has a very long way to go to reach its goal in a very short time. However organizer and ISKCON Chowpatty communications director Leela Radha Dasi is hopeful that the word will get out and devotees will see the value of making their offering.

Even if the offerings only reach a few thousand, though, she feels it will still be worth it. “The World Record is not so important,” she says. “The important part is that devotees come together to give their offerings to Srila Prabhupada. And we will offer the card to his murti on July 28th whatever the number is.”

 Of course, there are many devotees and temples all around the world putting on different events and making different efforts for Srila Prabhupada, whether it’s distributing 50 books each in the year, or doing 50 Harinamas, or telling government leaders about Prabhupada’s achievements at a VIP dinner.

So why is the e-card offering important? Leela Radha feels it’s a chance for all those different devotees in their different temples to participate in one group activity for ISKCON 50.

“Srila Prabhupada faced so many struggles and worked so selflessly to bring us closer to Krishna,” she says. “From one small center on 26 2nd Avenue, 650 temples have grown, and from just a few devotees in that center he has given us a worldwide family.”

So, just as a family all comes together to write in a card for the birthday or anniversary of their parents, Leela Radha explains, we can make a similar offering to our spiritual father.

“When my son comes together with all his brothers and sisters and gives me something, it is all the more touching,” she says. “So in the same way we can please our spiritual master by showing our unity and the the bond amongst us. As he expressed many times, seeing all the devotees cooperating together is most pleasing to Srila Prabhupada.”

The e-offerings are also an opportunity for devotees to put in writing their personal feelings of gratitude to Srila Prabhupada. There’s no word limit, and the website software keeps them confidential, hidden even from those working on the project.

“You can write anything – something about what you have done for him for ISKCON 50, prayers to guide you in your spiritual life, or just how thankful you are,” Leela Radha says. “Srila Prabhupada may not be physically present, but he is with us, and I am sure he will accept our offerings. So let’s all come together and present something special to him.”

Source:http://iskconnews.org/e-card-offering-for-50th-aims-to-break-world-record,5686/

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