ISKCON Desire Tree's Posts (19468)

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“Devotees are infused with bhakti-sakti, and Krishna consciousness comes out through every pore in their body. Just as someone can get a person’s disease by eating the remnants of his or her food, because devotees are infected by Krishna consciousness, by coming in touch with them—through the dust of their feet, the water that has washed their feet, or the remnants of their food—one can get that infection. And we want that infection.

bhakta-pada-dhuli ara bhakta-pada-jala
bhakta-bhukta-avasesa—tina maha-bala

‘The dust of the feet of a devotee, the water that has washed the feet of a devotee, and the remnants of food left by a devotee are three very powerful substances.’ (Cc Antya 16.60)

“It is by the association of devotees that one comes to Krishna consciousness. And even after developing love for Krishna, the association of devotees is still most essential.

krsna-bhakti-janma-mula haya ‘sadhu-sanga’
krsna-prema janme, tenho punah mukhya anga

‘The root cause of devotional service to Lord Krsna is association with advanced devotees. Even when one’s dormant love for Krsna awakens, association with devotees is still most essential.’ (Cc Madhya 22.84)”

—Giriraj Swami

Source: http://www.girirajswami.com/?p=10727

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HOW CAN WE USE OUR SORROW, PAIN OR GREAT LIFE REVERSES TO INVOKE GOD'S GRACE THAT IS HIDDEN BEHIND IT: To be human is to experience pain, betrayal, disappointment, and various kinds of suffering. We may ask, "Why me?" To which I would reply, "Why not you?" We all have our litany lists of wrongs done to us or to those we love. What do we do with this list?

One natural tendency is that we would rather avoid pain than to experience happiness, so in the face of pain, violence, or loss, we tend to either repress it or be angry or resentful about it. I have experienced both of these reactions to life situations. Unfortunately, such reactions are only helpful in the short term, but do little to help us grow as a person, and self-improvement, and ultimately spiritual awakening are, to me, the purpose of life. Otherwise, we have a pointless dog eat dog world, with death being the end of everything.

Could there be some benefit, even great benefit in these experiences? Some will be angry just at my asking this question, and yet, if we don't ask it, we can remain ever in reaction to the past, and keep playing it out in relationship to others.

We also find that even what everyone else thinks is good fortune or an ideal situation can be interpreted by the person in the middle of it as a terrible or awful experience. So while we have all heard this before, the simple yet powerful truth is that our attitude is really what gives meaning to the events of our lives or a statement we hear. This means that we can change our feelings about an experience by changing the meaning we give it, or by using it as a way to improve our lives.
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Even more deeply than this is that whatever has occurred in our life is actually a gift to be unpacked, and is meant for our highest good--but, and it can be a big but--we have to believe this, and look for the good which is often hidden in our pain. As I have often shared, we tend to find what we are looking for. Again, our attitude colors our vision and becomes a lens by which we see, or really evaluate what we see. Whether something is good or bad is really a value judgement based on our attitude.

Think about some great calamity or difficulty in your life, and if you haven't already done so, ask yourself with faith, "What was or is the benefit in this,--or--what COULD be the benefit? Stay with that until you find the benefit or benefits. Honestly, we really can change our lens and the meaning we give to life events. This simple attitude is life affirming and life changing, and more than anything else can bring you peace and happiness, and what to speak of having a spiritual practice where you cultivate a relationship with that beneficent force that wants the best for you, and is only a prayer or mantra away. When we bring the light of God into our lives that brings our life meaning and purpose.

To my best ability this is how I live, though I can tell you, it took many years to come to this point in my life. If I stumble in the mud of pity or complaining, I remember this fact and my history applying it. This is one perspective that I most frequently share.
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OUR LOSES, REVERSES, AND PAIN, CAN REVEAL WHAT WE MOST NEED, WHAT WE CHERISH, WHAT WE VALUE THE MOST, AND OUR HIDDEN STRENGTHS: Much of our attempts at being happy is trying to avoid the negative and to seek comfort or facilities to make our life easier. We do more to avoid potential pain than we do to seek pleasure, and yet, without experiencing what we don’t want to, or feeling emotional or physical pain, we often don’t grow as a person or have much depth of character. These situations are opportunities for personal and spiritual growth in disguise as difficulties or even catastrophes. They challenge us to become more.

Great people are great because they have gone through trials, tribulations, life tests, intense challenges, or persons who hurt or hindered them without becoming broken or permanently damaged. Instead great persons have used difficulties or calamities as stepping stones to make helpful contributions to the world. They teach us what is possible. We celebrate anyone who overcomes tremendous odds to obtain success, and yet the greater message is that we too must rise above difficulties and our lower nature.
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Think of the challenges of Shrila Prabhupada in trying to come to America, or his first year on the Lower East Side of NYC. We celebrate his overcoming what appeared to be impediments. If he had just easily flown by plane to the US and easily set up ISKCON, his success wouldn’t have been as glorious. Who would have heard of Prahlad Maharaja, without the intrigues of his father? Where would Jesus be without the betrayal of Judas, or not giving in to the temptations of the devil? To rise above mediocrity or in just existing, we require to successfully deal with our personal challenges.

I have recently written that I don’t recommend we pray for difficulties or problems since they will come anyway of their own accord. At the same time our life would be flat and lifeless without them. In a sense, our response to our personal challenges determines our character and who we really are as a person. Thus, I recommend that we pray to have the strengthen, faith, and positive character traits necessary to deal with our life reverses; that we become personally enriched and rise to the occasion by discovering our greater strength by connecting to our soul and God. Thus we’ll gain new courage and power to deal with any situation. Many of us came to spiritual life as a result of intense suffering and disillusion with the material world. Without such suffering we would have had no necessity to search out beyond the conventional materialistic offerings of the world.
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Appreciation is at the root of our spiritual journey. Often it takes the loss of something we take for granted, some means of support, facility, or person in our lives, to teach us what we really need and value. The loss of a loved one can teach us to the importance of regularly expressing our love and appreciation for them. A life threatening illness can teach us the value of each moment and in realizing what we most need to do and learn in life. Suffering from a lack of meaning and spirituality can lead us on the search for God.

My guru, Shrila Prabhupada, taught that spiritual, or Krishna, consciousness, among many things, means to become conscious, or we could say, showing up to life as fully as possible. You might take some time to write out how your personal difficulties, loses, or life reverses, have helped you be a better person, or how they could if you thought about them beyond appearances. As I often share, whatever happens to us has many purposes, the most important of which is to facilitate our highest good or potential and to help us find our spiritual shelter beyond the ephemeral world.
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Source: http://www.krishna.com/blog/2016/03/28/great-life-reverses-can-reveal-gods-grace-and-show-what-we-most-need-what-we-cherish

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Why Did Rama Abandon Sita?

QUESTION: Why did Lord Rama abandon Maa Sita?

This is not my specialty, I am a devotee of Krishna, who, I’ve heard, was Rāma in a previous life. :) Nonetheless, I will try to share with you whatever I know about this heartbreaking topic.

Why did Rāma abandon Sītā?

The answer is simply this: Rāma’s reason-for-being is not prema, it isdharma. Specifically, Rāma’s reason-for-being was to illustrate rāja-dharma, the moral duty of kings.

If you are a king, duty to your citizens supersedes your duty to anyone else, even including family. This is why, for the sake of the citizens, some of whom did not approve of our beloved Sītā, Rāma had to abandon her.

Personally, I would rather have seen such citizens decapitated, but then that is probably why I would not make the best king. As Rāma showed, a king must be willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of his subjects. Sītā Jī came with him in this avatāra of her own accord, knowing what would happen. She sacrificed herself to assist him. This is prema. She is always the emblem of Prema, for she is Sri Radha.

In Rāma līlā, the better character for us is Sītā, not Rāma, I think.

Sincerely,
Vraja Kishor
www.vrajakishor.coma2fc2196fc360e07148266aef050a333


IFrame

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Gaura Purnima @ ISKCON ,Ludhiana

 

Appearance day of Sri Sri Chaitanya   Mahaprabhu
(Gaura Purnima) festival was celebrated by Iskcon, Ludhiana.A large number
of people enthusiastically participated in the festival. Deities Sri Sri
Jagannatha, Baldeva and Subhadra and Sri Sri Gaur Nitai was looking  very
beautiful in their colorful dress. There was Aarti of their Lordship and
Panchamrit abhishek of Sri Gaur Nitai..

Harinam sankirtan was recited by HG Rammurti dasa, HG Kanahiya Dasa and
other temple devotees.HG Narottamanand Das, Temple President gave lecture on
past time of Sri Sri Chaitanya mahaprabhu.People were seen dancing on
mahamantra and there was also Pushp Holi (Flower Holi) More than twenty five
thousand people participated in this mega festival.

Chhapan Bhoga  was offered to Their Lordship. People were seen in queues for
Darshan of Their Lordship. Then fasting prashadam was distributed to the
people. For more picture please visit www.iskconludhiana.com or follow link
https://picasaweb.google.com/115668040485111901122/GauraPurnima2016

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Launch of Monks in Manhattan—the Novel.
Rupa-vilasa dasa: Jnanagamya Dasa (John J. Partin) is/was my oldest friend. He was an artist and writer of immense creativity, enthusiasm, and talent. Monks in Manhattan started out as a screenplay and went through a number of incarnations as such. In the final year or two before his departure, he turned the screenplay into an entertaining novel about a somewhat fanatical devotee who falls in love with an heiress. This extraordinary novel is filled with humor, romance, and philosophy. Jnanagamya would not object (if he were still with us) to my saying that this book is bizarre, preachy, original, funny, and strange. It is, by turns, unusual, hysterical, wonderful, and highly entertaining. Very few novels have been produced by contemporary members of the Hare Krishna devotee community, and certainly none with the ambition, scope, humor, and philosophical depth of this one. Only he would even consider writing what is essentially a Krishna conscious romantic comedy. It is being brought out as an e-novel, available through Amazon.com. Please purchase a copy at the very reasonable price of $2.99 and be entertained and enlightened by a devotee sold out to Srila Prabhupada. This was the final effort by the eccentric and kind artist/designer/builder/writer before he passed away in Mayapura, India, on February 17, 2015. He is sorely missed by all who loved him and whose lives were touched by him.
(Jnanagamya Prabhu’s birth, April 2, 1947)
Read more: http://monksinmanhattan.com/

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By Madhava Smullen

It’s hard to beat Festival of Inspiration for sheer variety.

This year’s ISKCON 50 special edition of the Appalachian spiritual retreat in New Vrindaban, West Virginia will overflow with the best Krishna consciousness has to offer: seminars, kirtans, entertainment, and the tastiest prasadam this side of the spiritual world.

Hundreds of devotees from all over the East Coast of the United States and Canada are expected to pour in for the May 6th to 8th weekend.

Each day of the festival will begin with an extended themed Srimad Bhagavatam class. Author Yogesvara Das will speak about his new biography of Srila Prabhupada for a mainstream audience, entitled “Swami in a Strange Land.” And the class on Sunday – Mother’s Day – will focus on the importance of honoring mothers in the Vaishnava tradition.

The centerpiece of the seminars, meanwhile, will be two special panel discussions to commemorate ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary.

“In the first, entitled ‘ISKCON 50 Years Ago,’ early Prabhupada disciples like Malati Devi, Shyamasundar Prabhu, and Yogesvara Prabhu will talk about their struggles and victories in expanding the movement, and how Prabhupada encouraged and enthused everyone,” says organizer Vrindavan Das. “They’ll be joined by Sally Agarwal, who sponsored Prabhupada when he first arrived in the U.S.”

The second panel, ISKCON’s Future in North America, will be facilitated by Gainesville Krishna House Director Kalakanatha Das and feature Varshana Swami, Vaisesika Das, educator Urmila Dasi, and more. They’ll discuss how to learn from the mistakes of the past to improve the future, how to care for the needs of current devotees, and how to reach out to more new people.

And that’s just the beginning. New Vrindaban’s own Sankirtan Das will present his Powerpoint on Prabhupada coming to America, which has been very well-received in colleges. He’ll also facilitate an open discussion on developing strategies for presenting Prabhupada to the public.

Urmila Dasi will offer practical and clear instructions for overcoming obstacles in spiritual life, setting our “compass” to the right direction, and finding the ultimate spiritual attainment.

Kalakantha Das, who has spoken out in favor of women gurus in ISKCON, will talk about the role of women in the society, and about Krishna conscious marriage.

Veteran book distributor Vaisesika Das is likely to speak about his new book, Our Family Business, in which he shares key principles and techniques of book distribution.

And ISKCON pioneer Shyamasundara Das will tell amazing stories from his upcoming book Chasing Rhinos with the Swami about ISKCON’s early days in San Francisco and London, as well as about his travels in India and Russia with Prabhupada.

As usual, parents will be able to attend these and the many other seminars on offer while their children have fun at a supervised kids’ camp with face painting, clowns and more.

At mealtimes, devotees will sit at picnic tables on the sunny lawn and socialize as they tuck into a tasty blend of Eastern and Western prasadam. There’ll be lots of healthy options such as salad and soup, as well as traditional Indian dishes and comfort food like macaroni; while many of the dairy dishes will be made with the milk of protected New Vrindaban cows.

In the evenings, everyone will focus on singing the Lord’s praises. Friday will see the continuation of a bhajan program that became an instant hit when it was introduced last year.

“Devotees rarely get to sing bhajans, because at most kirtan festivals they only chant the Hare Krishna mantra,” says Vrindavan. “So they’ll appreciate the chance to sing traditional songs of the Vaishnava Acharyas with some of the best bhajan singers in ISKCON like Agnideva Prabhu, Havi Prabhu and Ekendra Prabhu.”

Participants will get to immerse themselves in the Maha-mantra too, however, with a Nama-Yajna on Saturday evening.

The grande finale will follow on Sunday, with the hugely popular Transcendental Entertainment show at midday. Ekendra Das will lampoon both ISKCON and material life through song as his comedic alter ego Yama Niyama Das Brahmachari, Bhaktimarga Swami and his team will bring one of their epic dramas, and more top performers are yet to be announced.

After the show, a traditional Sunday Feast of rice, dahl, subjis, pakoras, chutney, puris, sweet rice, and gulabjamuns will be served. Devotees will return to their homes satisfied, relaxed, and yes, inspired.

“This year’s festival is a great way to celebrate ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, with so many excellent speakers covering the achievements of the last 50 years and motivating us about what we can do in the next 50,” says Vrindavan.

“It’s also a wonderful opportunity for participants to get inspired in Krishna consciousness and then return to their communities and enthuse others in devotional service.”

To register, please visit http://www.festivalofinspiration.net/registration/

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New Service in the Community of Raman Reti, Iskcon Alachua.
Mukhya Devi dasi: Daily Check-in by Phone for Those Living Alone. 
We are starting a new program for anyone living alone who would like a daily check in by phone. Bhaktin Julia, who has been a member of our community for the last seven years, will be making the calls. She will call you each morning between 8 am and 10 am, and see how you are, if you have any needs today or this week. It will be a brief check in and she can refer you on if you do have particular needs. Please call or email the Temple office to get on the phone list.

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Question: You have said that we are on our own and it is up to us to go back home, back to Godhead. What are we supposed to do?

Take devotional service very serious. Take it very serious! That is what we are supposed to do. Really, all I can say is: Be serious about serious things.

We can have lots of fun. Everyone wants some fun – so we can joke, we can play, we can feast and so on, but let’s be serious about serious things! Serious about chanting sixteen rounds, serious about following four regulative principles, serious about reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, serious about devotional service, serious about our ashram. Let’s be serious about serious things and then we will find that gradually we have become very focused and that we have become very serious about going back to Godhead.

Source: https://www.kksblog.com/2016/03/42864/

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Rob a Bank for Krishna

QUESTION: In his purport on the 10th Mantra of Īśopaniṣad, Śrīla Prabhupāda writes that everything is related to the Supreme Brahman or Kṛṣṇa, and thus everything belongs to Him only.” So, can I go rob a bank or be a drug dealer with the consciousness that I will use it for Krsna – like, I will build temples, print books, take care of devotees etc.? 

Prabhupada refers here to the 1st mantra in the book, the īśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ mantra, which says, “Everything belongs to a master, and all of us should only take what is set aside for us.” 

The second part is quite important. It’s not, “Everything belongs to Krishna, so I can take whatever I want so long as I somehow describe it or think of it as being for his sake.” The second part — tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam — forbids this, by saying “Everything belongs to a master, we should only take what is allotted to us, and should never try to take what is allotted to others.”

Even if you want to serve that master, Krishna, you have to do it with what has been allotted to you.

Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com

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Easter, Jesus and Prabhupada

Posted by Ramai Swami

 The resurrection of Jesus is the Christian religious belief that, after being put to death, Jesus rose again from the dead. It is the central tenet of Christian Theology and part of the Nicene Creed: “On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures.”

Srila Prabhupada said: “Yes, just look at Jesus Christ—crucified. What was his fault? He was simply teaching God consciousness. Of course, he was not killed. Nobody can kill the Lord’s pure devotee.”

“Such a great personality, the son of God. He wanted to deliver God consciousness. And in return, he was crucified. We don’t take Jesus Christ as insignificant. We give him all honour. He is a pure representative of God. “

Source: http://www.ramaiswami.com/easter-jesus-and-prabhupada/

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Why Our Sangas Fall Short

In ISKCON and many other modern attempts to implement Krishna bhakti, one of the biggest mistakes classically made is to focus primarily on anartha-nivṛtti rather than artha-pravṛtti –trying to annihilate “bad” things rather than on proliferating “good” things. This approach is doomed. Removing the bad (a) is too difficult, and (b) does not necessarily bring in anything good. But bringing in the good (a) is much more pleasant, and (b) automatically gets rid of the bad. This is why there is no need for any karma (religion), prayaścitta (pennance), etc for a bhakta – thebhakti itself is the most powerful purifier. 

This is a point Rūpa Goswāmī repeatedly makes explicit in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu. It is also a main point Krishna makes several times, often with very strong language, in Bhagavad Gītā. Śrīla Prabhupāda himself, ISKCON’s founder, taught it as simply as possible by explaining that a child cannot be stopped from mischief, but if you give the child something non-mischievous to enjoy, he or she will easily and naturally stop their misbehavior. 

I don’t know why we couldn’t embrace this. Perhaps because we are more interested in criticism, and criticism goes with negativity and annihilation? Anyhow, for whatever reason, a hopeless tug of war with genitalia very often becomes more of a focus than Śrī Krishna nāma, rūpa, guṇa and līlā – and everything in that sanga becomes strange, negative, distasteful, perverted and sad. This can all change simply by paying far more attention to the beauty and wonder of Krishna’s name, form, qualities and pastimes, and not paying so much explicit attention to the very insignificant affairs of sticks and cavities.

Vraja Kishor

www.vrajakishor.com

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By Amala Prema devi dasi

The Bhakti Tree in Newcastle, NSW, Australia, the hub of loving exchanges, delicious food and transcendental sound vibrations celebrated its 1st anniversary and ISKCON’s 50th year anniversary on Friday, 18th of March. World-renowned international kirtaniya, His Grace Madhava Naidoo led the evening. More than 150 people attended the evening and enjoyed delicious prasadam. The Bhakti Tree has become a steadily growing community center, which gathered all its well-wishers, community members, volunteers, kirtan and yoga enthusiasts under the same roof on this special evening. The Bhakti Tree hosts, His Grace Abhay Charan dasa and Her Grace Jayanti devi dasi certainly made everyone feel welcomed and cared for as many expressed their heartfelt thanks to them for nurturing the seed of the Bhakti Tree and turning it into a peaceful space for all.

His Grace Madhava Prabhu relentlessly and humbly represents the cult of bhakti as introduced by our ISKCON founder-acarya His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada 50 years ago, all around the world. As Madhava Prabhu epitomized the kirtan mood in the evening, we have been fortunate to experience kirtan which is not an artistic performance but a sincere call to the Divine energy by which we try to open our hearts more and more to bring in real love into our lives, and share it with others. Madhava Prabhu eased us into chanting of several mantras ending with the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra. He got the Bhakti Tree all ears and as the crowd imbibed the transcendental sound vibration of the holy names, the kirtan built up into a mood of ecstasy where everyone participated enthusiastically in dancing, clapping and chanting their hearts out.

The Bhakti Tree, the city arm for New Gokula Farm and Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda temple, Millfield, in the Hunter Valley operates as a Café/Restaurant serving vegetarian lunches Tuesdays through to Saturdays between 11:30am and 2pm, and is also an attractive destination teaching spiritual traditions and culture. It holds two main weekly programmes; yoga class followed by prasadam on Wednesday evenings at 6pm, and kirtan followed by prasadam on Friday evenings again at 6pm. The Bhakti Tree serves about 700 lunches a week at the University of Newcastle on a recommended donation basis. The Bhakti Tree is actively spreading the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu through chanting, dancing and feasting.

Please cherish some of the photos from the evening, and feel inspired to take the opportunity to come and meet all the wonderful people at the Bhakti Tree if you are in this area. You may visit The Bhakti Tree Facebook page,https://www.facebook.com/thebhaktitree for more photos from the evening, and join their page if you have not done so yet, in order to stay informed about all the upcoming events and updates at the Bhakti Tree.

your servant,

Amala Prema devi dasi

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=20104

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New Raman Reti’s new Krishna Institute

Are you completely satisfied and happy with your life? If your honest answer is no, the Krishna Institute may be able to help you.

The Krishna Institute (KI) launches its service to the Vaishnava Community on May 21, 2016, at ISKCON of Alachua with Sacinandana Swami and Madhava Dasa. The inaugural event is the two-day interactive Dharma Workshop: Discover Your Mission in Life.

Recognizing the significant contribution the KI will make to Srila Prabhupada’s mission in the USA, the International Coordinating Committee for ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations has scheduled KI’s inauguration as a National Event.

Offered in a newly developed retreat facility surrounded by nature’s beauty in a secluded area of the temple property, the Dharma Workshop will benefit attendees of all ages regardless of how many years they have been ISKCON members. Even a senior devotee can “get a new lease on life” or a renewed and revitalized outlook, as well as potentially discover a deeply satisfying “second career (service)” by participating in this workshop and accessing the wealth of knowledge and realization coming in our Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.

To know more of what to expect, please visit our website for details and take a minute to read testimonials from participants in the Dharma Workshop offered by Sacinandana Swami at the Bhaktivedanta Manor in February of 2015. This workshop was the ripened fruit of Maharaja’s fourteen years of research into the best way to discover one’s mission in life.

After the Dharma Workshop the Krishna Institute (KI) will offer many other workshops, along with retreats, seminars, and courses, that will systematically equip each participant with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to fulfill their unique mission. On May 23 Madhava Dasa and Radhika-devi Dasi will offer The Qualities and Mood of a Kirtaniya: Realizations from Six Years of Kirtan with Aindra Prabhu, and from May 24 to 26 Sacinandana Swami and Madhava Dasa will lead The Holy Name Retreat.

Both events will offer deeply satisfying experiences and are included in Kirtan – From Your Heart to the World(May 23 to June 27), a traveling kirtan experience that will go from Alachua via the Youth Ministry bus to the Sadhu Sanga Retreat, NY Ratha-yatra, and New Vrindavan’s Kulimela and 24-hour Kirtan (both events are open for all, not just for those on the bus tour).

Based upon the association and facilitation of devotees such as Amala Harinama Dasa, Bada Haridas Dasa, BB Govinda Swami, Bhakti Charu Swami, Gauravani Dasa, Giriraja Swami, Indradyumna Swami, Madhava Dasa, Manorama Dasa, Nadia Mani-devi Dasi, Radhanatha Swami, Sacinandana Swami, and Vaisesika Dasa, Kirtan – From Your Heart to the World will inspire chanting from the heart and provide the skills and mood to share the pure name with the world.

Here’s our schedule subsequent to these initial offerings:

July 2 – 4 | Temple Worship Workshop, with Jayananda Dasa and Raghunatha Dasa

September 18 | Start of a two-year Bhakti-sastri Course. Workshops (English & Spanish) will be held just before the Sunday program. Part-time English-medium facilitators include Dhruva Maharaja Dasa, Hari Parayana Dasa, Janmastami Dasa, Nagaraja Dasa, Nanda-devi Dasi, Nitai-lila-devi Dasi, Prana Govinda Dasa, Rucira-devi Dasi, Sukhada-devi Dasi, and Svaha-devi Dasi. Part-time Spanish-medium facilitators include Bhakti Prabhupada-vrata Damodara Swami, Nanda-devi Dasi, and Krisodari-devi Dasi.

November 4 – 6 | ISKCON Leadership and Management Workshop, with Anuttama Dasa and Tamohara Dasa

November 20 | Start of the Grihastha Training Workshops (twelve 3-hour sessions one Sunday a month for a year), with Tamohara Dasa and Mantrini-devi Dasi

AnchorKI’s educational offerings evoke the mood of Srila Prabhupada’s Seven Purposes of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness when he incorporated ISKCON fifty years ago. ISKCON temples that have imbibed Prabhupada’s mood of education and training have become vibrant success stories, with many full-time devotees and enthusiastic congregations to inspire Vaishnavas for generations to come.

With this vision the GBC has asked our team to launch the Krishna Institute. We pray that our efforts will spark steady growth in Srila Prabhupada’s movement nationwide.

Please go to our website for more information, or feel free to write us at contact us if you have any questions.

Hare Krishna!

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=20102

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Gaura Purnima Festival 2016 in Mayapur

aura Purnima Festival has been very busy and ecstatic this year.

It all started with the festival inauguration March 5th and blissfully went on until Gaura Purnima day. Let’s not forget Jaganath Misra’s feast on 24th and 25th of March which provided a sumptuous feast for thousands of devotees and pilgrims who left completely satisfied.

For almost one month, Sri Mayapur Dham was flooded, but this time not by Mother Ganga but by Thousands and Thousands of spirit souls hoping to get some Mercy from the Lord. Ratha Yatra, Boat festival, Kirtan Mela, Mini Market, Huge International presentation displaying devotional activities done by devotees in their own country around the world, stage performances, daily feasts, and of course Parikrama and Lord Gauranga’s Abhishek. You can have a look of seven days of parikrama by clicking the following links : (Day-1)(Day-2)(Day-3)(Day-4)(Day-5)(Day-6)(Day-7)

There was so much to do, it was a daily dilemma to choose which activities to attend every day.

We also had most ecstatic Siva Ratri celebrated at in our ISKCON Rajapur Jaganath temple, elephant procession, Daily evening Kirtan , amazing inspiring lectures by our beloved gurus and so much more…

It seemed like a year of spiritual activities were compressed in one month!
Have a glance for Gaura Purnima Adhivas (Click Here)

Click here for more photos of Gaura Purnima Abhushek (Click Here)

Click here for more photos of Gaura Purnima Darshan (Click Here)

Our gratitude & appreciation to all our donors who have helped us to put up a grand Gaura Purnima festival.

Nitai Charan Das Ganesan Sankaran Achyuta Naam Das
Nityananda Das Swathi Warrier Sridevi Gaurangi Devi Dasi
Narendra Krishan Das Jitesh Agrawal Sachin Mahajan
Sudhir Chaitanya Das Mohan Kumar Piyush Khurana
Sudhir Chaitanya Das Rengarajan Veerasamy Gunarnava Sitaram Das
Srivallabha Das Pranesvara Nityananda Das Nila Radhe Devi Dasi
Udara Kirti Das Sajit Nair Suvarna Madhava Das & Family
Tamaldyuti Das Ayshwarya Manoharan Vrinda Devi
Bahurupa Narasimha Das Madhan & Keli Vijaya Pullagura
Nitya Krishna Das Lindsay Sookraj Narendra Krishna
Viswamangal Das Mr. Naresh Soken Rupinni Radha Devi Dasi
Vaidehi Mutyala Indra Krsna Das Chandrasekhar Basu
Namita Basu Amrita Vilasini Devi Dasi (Late)Mayadhar Das
Satya Tirtha Das Balakrishna Permalloo Ratikala Devi Dasi
(Late)Shova Rani Das Damana Krishna Das HG Gaurangi Devi Dasi
Jay Nitai Das Partha Sarathi Das Hladini Devi Dasi
Aravindaksha Govinda Das Chetan Hazaree Sankalpa Chaitanya Dasa
Nateswara Govinda das Visakha Devi Dasi Jayanti Radhika Devi Dasi
Radhikapati das Suvarna Madhava das & family Satya Venkata
Prabir Banik Nihal Sing and Family Varaha Kishore
Daksha Mistry Bhandiravan Bihari Das Kumar Seela
Ekeswar Govinda das Bandhu Baladeva das and family Vikart Lakshmi Narayanan
Dr. Uma Maheswari Rengarajan Veerasamy Jayanti Radhika Devi Dasi
Bhandirvan Bihari das & family Shyamacandra Das Krsna Vrajaranjan Das

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Sacred Sound Kirtan Retreat (7 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Video coverage of the blissful Sacred Sound Kirtan Retreat at New Govardhan in Australia. Devotees came from all over the country to chant and dance together in one of ISKCON’s largest communities nestled in the beautiful green rolling hills of New South Wales.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/P52ZLw

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Vaisnava honesty by Kadamba Kanana Swami

The reputation of Krsna’s devotee is essential. A devotee is naturally honest and detached. Dishonesty is a sign of material attachment, it is a sign where we think that we have to be controllers, ‘This situation is getting out of hands! I am not getting what I need in this world of dharma and this honesty is simply blocking the way. Now, only a lie can save me!’  This means that we want to be controllers, it means that we want to bring this situation into our grip so that WE get the advantage. It means that we have a fruitive intent and we are calculating for our gain, and we think, ‘I am the controller of this universe and I need to make arrangements to put everything in the right place so that everything is comfortable for me!’  

This shows a lack of reliance on the Supreme Lord, a lack of knowing that Krsna will provide and Krsna will take care. Therefore, a vaisnava will naturally take shelter of honesty. He does not take shelter of manipulation, lying and scheming. No, it is all selfless for Krsna. A vaisnava knows, ‘I am not a controller, I simply try and Krsna will make all the arrangements.’  Therefore, honesty is natural for devotees. It is a quality of goodness, of saintliness, of being trustworthy and of being transparent.

Vaisnava honesty is important because if we are not honest, who will take this message of Krsna consciousness, who will trust us!? And if people do not trust us, they will not trust what we have to say either. Therefore, this honesty is essential for a devotee who is simple and has nothing to hide. If one takes this position that there is nothing to hide, then there can be no sinful activities, no skeletons in the closet. How simple and nice is life then – with no facade, no mask, just be as you are!

Source: https://www.kksblog.com/2016/03/vaisnava-honesty/

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By Baldev das

On 12th March 2016, ISKCON Chowpatty staged its annual Rathyatra on the famous grounds of Shivaji Park at Dadar. This Rathyatra has been one of the highlights of ISKCON chowpatty’s Preaching outreach. Along with Rathyatra this year, a special event was also launched. The launching of the entire Srimad Bhagavatam in Marathi language.

A team of dedicated devotees consisting of Bhagawan pr, Shyamananda pr, Rohinikumar pr, Raghupati pr, Rajgopal pr & others had been working hard tirelessly for 12 long years to translate Srila Prabhupada’s entire Srimad Bhagavatam in the local Marathi Language. The Wait was now over for all Marathi readers and the hard work of the translators bore fruit when the Bhaktivedanta Book trust team got all the books printed beautifully in time for the ocassion. And what else could be an apt setting for its launch – Dadar’s Shivaji Park ground. Besides being a venue for gatherings of freedom fighters, Shivaji Park is the focal point of pride for Marathi people. It was here that on 12th march 2016, HH Radhanath Swami Maharaja launched the Marathi Srimad bhagavatam set overlooking a crowd of tens of thousands in the massive pandal.

After the launch, H.H Radhanath swami decided to sign all the sets for all those who agreed to buy them on the very day. There was huge Queue to buy the set as many were eagerly awaiting for this priceless gift of Srila Prabhupada being now received through the hands of Radhanath swami. Final count was 180 Bhagavatam sets distributed on that day. This is first time in the history of Marathi literature that this Mahapurana is available with devotional purports in the local Marathi language. 


One week later on 19th march, Marathi SB set was again launched in Pune at the ISKCON Nigdi centre, by the hands of HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami Maharaja.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=20087

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All glories…
Let’s show our gratitude to the devotees who were worshipping the deities when we visited the temple, for those who were keeping it very clean and burning incense, let’s show our gratitude for those who cooked that delicious prasada that we put in our mouths for the first time.
Let’s show our gratitude to those who gave us Srila Prabhupada’s ‘transformational’ books.
Society means people together working with a purpose, and that is ISKCON; our home.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Hare Krsna!

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=20009

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Tribhuvanatha Prabhu (holding Arabic Gita) and Padmapani das, Bombay, 1978.
In early 1978, Tribhuvanatha Prabhu gathered together a small group of devotees with the aim of spreading Krishna consciousness in the Middle East for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. The group traveled overland from London to Beirut where 5,000 Arabic Bhagavad-gitas and thousands of Arabic SriIsopanisads were distributed in the midst of civil war. Some devotees were imprisoned -- risking life and limb -- but were eventually released unharmed.
Over the next four-and-a-half years, books were distributed and programs were held in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman. Eventually a preaching center was established in Cairo (see photos below), where a dedicated congregation was gradually cultivated over the years. Some prominent members of Egyptian society -- including a well-known journalist, yoga teacher and movie star -- attended classes regularly, and a core group of serious followers took up the chanting of Hare Krishna on a daily basis.
A number of devotees came and went over the years, and the program met with both success and failure. Nonetheless, Srila Prabhupada's books were distributed in the thousands and many Muslims received prasadam and chanted the holy names of Krishna. Despite the risks involved, devotees there took great comfort in remembering Srila Prabhupada's prophetic words from a lecture at London's Conway Hall in 1969:
"Since we have started this movement in the Western countries, Europeans, Americans, Africans, Egyptians, and Japanese are all chanting. There is no difficulty. They are chanting very gladly and they are getting the results.  What is the difficulty?"
Distributing prasadam at the American University in Cairo (student newspaper photo).
Kirtan at the Pyramids.
Egypt was the first country in which Srila Prabhupada set foot outside India en route to America. He stopped in Port Said in 1965 and visited the town for a day with the captain of the Jaladuta steamship. Therefore it was Srila Prabhupada himself who first initiated the preaching of Krishna consciousness in Egypt and the Middle East.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

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A photo of Phalguni Radhika dasi during her wedding ceremony to Deva Madhava das.

By Sri Nandanandana dasa

Based on an
Interview with Felicity O’rourke
(Excerpt from “Mysteries of the Ancient Vedic Empire”)

If we do a comparative study, we can recognize numerous aspects of the Vedic culture, Krishna consciousness, in many of the Native American traditions. In order to show this, I conducted an interview with Felicity O’rourke who is a member of the Anishnaabi Native American tribe. She is now a practicing Vaishnava and disciple of Jayapataka Swami with the initiated name of Phalguni Radhika dasi. This describes many of the similarities she recognizes between Vedic culture and her native American traditions.

She explains: My family did not have a very strong Native American upbringing because my mother’s grandmother was the one who had a lot of the old ancient teachings and the knowledge, which she then taught to my grandfather or my Mom’s father. But she taught it to him in a way that was more of a lifestyle, not like a spiritual practice. And she wouldn’t let him or anyone else in the family know specifics of her native culture because she was ashamed. This was when so many Native Americans were going into boarding schools, or being taken away from their family members. So they, my particular family, hid from that. So there’s actually no physical documentation of my family at all in regards to them being native.

She would say, “You’re native and that’s all you need to know, and I won’t tell you anything else.” And that was it. That’s how my grandfather grew up and how my Mom grew up. So even when they had questions and wanted to ask about the culture, there was nothing, she would not share it. So it was just lost through the family line.
It was decades of my Mom’s searching for who she was, what was her tribe, what were the teachings, all of it she had to research on her own. She found it was most likely we are Anishnaabi. This is an umbrella term for a lot of native people or smaller tribes of natives, and we have not exactly pinpointed from which tribe we came. But it is primarily people who are woodland and lake natives, particularly along the great lakes of Michigan.
What my Mom learned, just from what her father taught her, is just to act as a human being with these traditional native practices. But she had no idea that it was a part of a Native American culture. She just thought is was what her Dad valued as a person, not necessarily in a cultural context.

SACRED FOOD
A lot of her spiritual practices have to do with food, which really struck me when I started to associate with Krishna devotees in Ann Arbor, when I was learning about the process of honoring prasadam, because I had already done most of these things growing up within the native practices. And it started first with every living entity as a spirit soul. This includes plants, which most spiritual practices do not overtly express. At least in most religious organizations, living souls being in plant bodies is not often stated. But this is something we very much value, so much so that we would take a plant and offer a prayer to the plant saying what is my intention, why I am using you, and “I am going to offer you to God first. Then I am going to take you for substance so I can live and continue praying and enlivening my experiences with others. So please accept that I have to take you so we can continue this.”
Then they would take a small shovel, or if they were going to clip the plant, they would tap the plant three times, or tap the shovel to the ground three times, to let the plant know this is it, so be ready. And then they would scoop it or cut it and take the plant or grain and prepare it, and then offer it on a spirit plate.
The spirit plate is the understanding of Wakantanka, a Lokota word. Wakan means all that is great, the highest being, and Tankashala is the spiritual entities. This also translates as Grandfather, or that which is never born and never dies. Wakan is the highest of the spiritual entities–the Great Spirit or God. It is also known as the Great Mystery because many natives no longer see God as an individual person. Although if you read any of the ancient stories, He often is recognized as a man. Some people say it is because of the influence of the black robes (Catholics), and others say it was before them, although it is hard to say due to our history.
Anyway, you take this plate of what you have offered as your food, and you first give it to Wakantanka, and you pray over it. Then you take this sweet grass, which smells very fragrant, and you burn some incense over it, so it is part of an offering. So you are specifically making an environment of spiritual potencies to say, “Please accept this.” Then you take that. And that happens for every meal. Sweet grass is also an invitation or offering to bring the elders. (Also there is the Vedic concept of making an offering to the elders.)
So when I had that experience [in the Native American tradition], I said, “Oh, this is like honoring prasadam. First you offer it to Krishna and then you take it.” I had already done that. So it was really easy for me to step into that place of being appreciative of offering to Krishna and accept Wakantanka as Krishna. This is really great. The whole understanding is that even a blade of grass is a living entity, and every living entity should be honored and respected.

REINCARNATION
Also understood is this cycle of repeated birth and death in my Native American tradition. Reincarnation is definitely there in Native American spirituality. This is why some may have a particular affiliation with certain animal spirit guides because they accept an ancestor became an animal, so now that animal is with you, or following you, or having some sort of relationship with that animal. So then they are helping you through your [life] process. You also, in this way, help other living entities through their process of getting out of this plane [of existence].
A key part of native spirituality is understanding that there are multiple realms. You are in one realm and you are on earth, so that means something, but this is not your permanent location. This is not it. This is why Native American burial grounds and things like that were so important because they understood they wanted to do their proper rituals and ceremonies so the soul could travel peacefully, instead of getting caught or stuck in the material world.

DEATH
Another element, especially for death rites, is that once a person has left their body, then you are not supposed to speak their name for a year. The reason is so they do not feel a desire to come back or stay as a ghost or a subtle living being still attached to their relationships to the people here, or to their own body. So you don’t speak their name for a year so they can make that process all the way through [to the next realm].
That is another understanding of reincarnation, leaving the body, and there are definitely opportunities for a living entity to stay and linger around in a subtle form, which you do not want them to do. You want them to move on to the next or higher position.

THE AGES
In Native American spirituality there is also this understanding of the ages being cyclical. There are similarities with Dvapara-yuga, Kali Yuga, and time keeps going back through a cycle. And there is a color that is designated for those ages. Colors, the symbolic understanding of them, was another big thing that was interesting to me. The ages reflect these moods: White–north, elder; Black–west, middle age; Red–south, youth; Yellow–east, child.

MEDICINE WHEEL
There is also the medicine circle whereas everything happens in a wheel or circle. So there are different ages that are represented by the different colors. So with Krishna appearing in a blackish form or in a reddish form, and these sorts of things are also very similar to Native American spirituality. A cyclical understanding is pretty basic through all the Native American tribes, not just the Anishnaabi or Lokota tribes, though there are some exceptions. But most understand reincarnation, and offering your food, having death rites, etc.

CREMATION
Cremation is also an important factor for most Native American people, to make sure the body is burnt so they [the deceased] can move on, and let the body go back to the land. Though there is a lot of Native American burial grounds, that happened not by the desire of the native people. So that is why there is a lot of curses that happened associated with burial grounds. Most often it was during when there was a lot of slaughter of the people and they were just laid where they dropped. So there were ceremonies performed over those areas. But that can differ depending on the tribe.

CREATION STORIES
Another interesting topic is the creation stories, which are many. But the one I’m most familiar with is where they speak of the different incarnations [of God]. For example, one of the main creation stories is about a turtle, which is like Kurma. I have spoken with my step-Dad, he is a Cherokee native, so he was really surprised by Kurma being an incarnation of Krishna, because that is part of our Native American creation story. There is a cyclical understanding of the earth going in the water and coming back out, and things will happen to the earth and start over again.
So with Kurma and the churning of the milk ocean, that corresponds to when the earth fell and was surrounded by water. So there is a whole story related to that with the significance being on this turtle who brought life back.

DEMIGOD WORSHIP
Almost all Native American practices are based on some sort of demigod worship, like worshiping the moon, and having an understanding that you are worshiping entities on the moon, and the moon is said to be a heavenly planet [Vedically speaking], so there is a similarity to that in Native American spirituality.
Also, different planets have different healing properties. So if you were praying to the sun, there are specific reasons why you pray to the sun in regards to healing. That is more like the Lakota tradition and why they do the Sun Dance ceremony. This is when they dance for four days around an outdoor arena, while taking no food or water. And they pray to the sun, and a tree which is in the center of the arena. Then there is a massive ceremony. But it is essentially prayers and sacrifice for healing of themselves and those they are representing. There is a lot to this.
There is also the women’s moon ceremony. Women are more inclined to worship the moon. So every month they will make prayer ties, or these little bundles, and they will tie it with yellow string and offer it with their hands to the moon, and they will pray to be rejuvenated or revitalized. And they’ll have these little pots of water to see the reflection of the moon.

MYSTIC PRACTICES
There is also a lot of mystic yoga sort of things that happen in Native American spirituality. A lot of it is this understanding of traveling to other planets. Around four or five in the morning, like first dawn, when you can see the north star, they will pray to it, around the same time as mangala arati [in the Vedic culture], and you chant these prayers in this song. By doing that you can travel to other realms or other planets. So they do that pretty regularly, depending on the spiritual practice. I know my Mom has done that on multiple occasions.
Sweat lodge ceremonies are also designed to do that sort of thing. The sweat lodge is considered to work like a space ship wherein you can travel to other realms using your subtle body. Then you can have different kinds of spiritual or physical experiences and bring them back to the people, like visions, etc.
So these are all similar to or part of the Vedic traditions in that they serve similar purposes. There is so much that is nearly identical to the Vedic teachings.
There are also different kinds of plants that are used for specific ceremonies, and there is a living entity who presides over that plant that you are dedicating time and attention to, or prayers for healing or for guidance. This is similar to the Vedic respect for, and our relationship with the tulasi plant. So there is this sort of understanding about plants in Native American spirituality, especially with tobacco, which most Native Americans do not use like an intoxicant, but as a way of offering prayers. In some cases they do smoke tobacco by holding it in their mouth and then releasing it. So they are not utilizing it to get high. There’s this understanding that tobacco is a sacred entity. So instead of using or manipulating it for their own benefit, through prayers they are asking tobacco to help them.
They do the same thing with red willow. Cedar is another plant that they use as very special, like in the fire, or in ceremonies, or for putting around holy places because cedar is a holy plant.
When something serious is happening to the tribe, like a famine or something, someone will go out and give a symbol of sacrifice, like an important possession and offer it into the sacrificial fire, which is huge in Native American spirituality. In a big ceremony, like a Vedic yajna, it is necessary to have a fire and offer things into the fire. Often they will offer valuable possessions into the fire, or maybe their only possessions, knowing it is for the benefit of everyone, or like a reciprocation that they will receive teachings in return. This is why there is a fire in every ceremony. If there is not a fire, then the ceremony cannot happen, or it is incomplete [such as if rainy weather puts out the fire].
So when my family came to my Vedic wedding ceremony, they loved the fire yajna because it is so familiar to them. That is what they do, they offer things into the fire, they have prayer, they have songs, and it is crucial to the ceremony. They loved it because it is not outside Native American culture.
I cannot think of a single thing that does not have some Vedic influence.
Once I was going to go on a vision quest out in the woods to fast for four days. And to do that you also make a string of ties, which are little bits of tobacco you pray into and wrap it in a little cloth and tie it with string, and then make 104 of them for every direction. Then you connect all of them with a string. You make it in a mood of meditation. It is the closest thing in Native American spirituality to a japa mala [meditation beads], but it is a string of prayers tied together. Then you surround yourself with them, or put them around you in a sacred space, or around your neck. Then when you are done, at the end of four days, you take all of them and offer them into the fire.
For the fire they dig out a little pit, and they have a mound on the other side of it. Then they cover the surrounding area [around the fire] with cedar [wood pieces]. Then they offer prayers and song, prayers to the wood and prayers of gratitude, songs of calling the elders or ancient ones from all four directions. It is calling the spirit guides, calling Wakantanka to come. So it is all through this fire, like a mouth of spiritual life. Then there is all kinds of rituals and ceremonies related to the fire itself. Then there are prayers to the rocks you put into the fire, prayers to the earth, prayers to every element in nature because it is understood they have a direct relationship to you and also to the fire. The fire is the start and end of the ceremony. And the fire has to continue throughout the whole ceremony. If the fire goes out, the ceremony must be finished, even if it is not fully completed because it is only through the fire that the ceremony is offered. So even if it is thunder storming they will do everything they can to keep the fire going since it is the life of the ceremony.
So most Native American practices we simply do not do anymore because we are so covered by the government, like we are just not allowed. Like the Ghost Dance, it is illegal to do that dance. So most Native Americans are very cautious in regards to what they share in their mystic yoga practice. A lot of this is written in step-by-step instructions, but a lot is just verbal, passed down to those who show sincerity.
Another mystic aspect of Native American spirituality is the Ghost Dance. When they do this ceremony they paint their faces white, they sing the song and kick up dirt, and it is terrifying. It is a very scary practice, but also very beautiful. What they are doing is a very yogic practice of honoring the dead, but also honoring life. So there is this connection in doing these songs and chants for perfection, and there is this tone of acquiring blessings.
They would also do this practice when they were being forced to move by the white people. The white people came in and they were moving [the Native American] people so much that many people died, and they would do the last rites of the people they had lost. This was something that was happening up until recent days. The American government was so petrified by this practice that they eventually forced the Native Americans to stop it entirely.
For example, when I was out doing Sun Dance, which is like another super scary practice if you do not know what it is. It is for healing but it is very intense. We had helicopters from the government circling us, making sure that we were kosher, because they are terrified of what Native Americans can do. These are like ancient, mystic yogic practices, if the Native Americans can remember them to actually do them properly. It has very tangible and physical results. It is definitely mystic yoga stuff, and the government hates it. So we are constantly being watched. They make it known that they are watching and they will stop you if you do anything they do not like, or that they are afraid of or do not understand.

ORIGINS
Most Native Americans say they are not from Earth, but are from other planets and that they came to Earth. There are almost none who say that we are from Earth, except the Hopis who say they came out of the Earth. Hopis say they were underground for thousands of years and then they came out of the ground. But most other Native Americans say they came from the Pleiades. They will say, “We are from these particular stars in the Pleiades, this is our planet and we had to come to Earth. But we are not from here, we are from the Pleiades.”
Some Native Americans say some people came from the Pleiades and taught others how to be spiritual, and how to pray, and how to worship and how to live their lives so every action is with spiritual consciousness and not a material one. How to always walk in spiritual consciousness to keep ourselves from being bound to this place. Most Native Americans do not feel they are from here, or that we are going to stay here. They feel like we are here for a little while, but we have to get out. This is not where we belong. And a lot of them feel that they belong in the spiritual plane or that they came from the heavenly planets, such as the Pleiades, definitely. And that is in a lot of Native American practices.

LANGUAGE
The spirituality in the Anishnaabi tradition is embedded in the language. So their language tells you how to be spiritual. Just by knowing the language, then you know how to be spiritual. So if you lose the language, you have lost all spirituality. So the language is the book. How that works is that the meaning of the words is telling you how to act in the word itself. So like the word “to teach” does not mean merely teaching, it means to look out at everything around you and learn from it because your surroundings are what is showing you how to live, and that is what it means “to teach.” So by observing your surroundings, which is the Earth and the teachings of the Earth, then you know how to get out and move beyond it. And that is what it means to teach.
Another one, to speak the truth literally means your words, like your breath, are coming from your mouth and down to your heart, and then coming back out. So if you are speaking from your heart, then it must be the truth. So it tells you how to do things in the words.
In this way, [similar to the use of Sanskrit] the word is a phrase that you connect to other phrases to build off of to form your spiritual consciousness. So you are looking at the world through spiritual eyes by having the proper consciousness by the words that you use. And if all of the words that you use are teaching you how to be spiritual, then you can only have spiritual vision. This is the understanding of the Anishnaabi, that language is the book in how to be spiritual because most things are taught verbally.
So the conclusion is that when I first came in touch with Vedic culture, Krishna consciousness, I was just seeing how it was so similar to Native American spirituality. I was only adding to what I already knew.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=20019

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