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21 June 2019 – Interactive Panel Discussion. 2019 Theme: Yoga for Climate Action. The fifth annual International Day of Yoga was celebrated at the United Nations on Thursday, 20 June 2019, with “Yoga with Gurus,” followed by a panel discussion on 21 June.
International days are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity. The existence of international days pre

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I had a great picnic with Parama, Rukmini and their young 19-month-old darling who was totally mesmerized by people, the dogs and the trees. It’s not that she hasn’t been to a park before. This one, Ramsden, according to her parents, is new and full of activity; something different.

The heat was on. That may account for the smaller than usual turn-out of people. Attendance did pick up in the evening, which was my second visit to the green space. At this point Nimai and Vishal joined me on the g

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On the full-moon day, sixteen days before Ratha-yatra, Lord Jagannath is bathed. He becomes sick and is confined to rest for fourteen days. He is then offered special care until He comes out for Ratha-yatra.

A special bath of Jagannath takes place on the Purnima of Jyestha month, to commemorate the appearance day of Lord Jagannath. According to Skanda Purana when Raja Indradyumna installed the wooden deities he arranged this bathing ceremony. This day considered to be the appearance day of Lord

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What a treat it was on a Zoom call with 45 colleagues who are influential bhakti yoga instructors from different parts of the globe. It was a planned, three-hour seminar for gurus in the diksha category. Presenters such as Bhaktivaibhava Swami from Germany, Atmanivedana Swami from India and Ravindra Svarup from America, spoke marvelously on the topic of challenges for a guru.

There was a Q&A session and a portion of time given to breakout groups. I was asked to facilitate. I’m bashful with thes

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Dear devotees,
ISKCON India Youth Council (IIYC) is organizing an ONLINE MEGA YOUTH Webinar in commemoration of the 125th Birth Anniversary of our beloved Founder Acharya of ISKCON - His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
 
This FREE ONLINE mega webinar entitled "Business Yoga from Bhagavad Gita" will be held on 
Date: 20th June 2021, Sunday 
Time: 12pm to 2pm.
 
ISKCON INDIA is also attempting a HISTORICAL GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for Maximum Youth Participants with this FREE ONL
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TEXT 14

yaḥ samutpatitaṁ deha
ākāśān manyum ulbaṇam
ātma-jijñāsayā yacchet
sa guṇān ativartate

SYNONYMS

yaḥ—anyone who; samutpatitam—suddenly awakened; dehe—in the body; ākāśāt—from the sky; manyum—anger; ulbaṇam—powerful; ātma-jijñāsayā—by inquiry into spiritual realization or self-realization; yacchet—subdues; saḥ—that person; guṇān—the modes of material nature; ativartate—transcends.

TRANSLATION

One who inquires into self-realization and thus subdues his powerful anger—which awakens sudden

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If we are at all aware of how dependent we are on God—for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and our very ability to eat and drink and breathe, to think and feel and will, and to walk, talk, and sense—we will feel grateful and want to reciprocate God’s kindness. We will want to do something for He (or She or They) who has done, and continues to do, so much for us.

We often take things for granted until we lose them. I use my right hand to chant on meditation beads, and one

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The Covid pandemic has affected ISKCON’s operations around the world, especially in regard to international travel. The New Govardhana devotee community usually has the Sacred Sounds festival in April every year, which devotees from around the world attend. However, the last couple of times a smaller local festival has been organised.

Nevertheless, around 500 devotees registered to come over the Queens Birthday long weekend and everyone was blissfully engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lo

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Bayahari Das' story

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I was a junior in high school and had one more year to go before I could be free of all my bad association, but the Laguna temple president Rsabhadeva recommended me to Prabhupada for initiation, so a letter went off to him.
So what did Krishna do while the letter went to Srila Prabhupada? My parents put me in the Santa Ana Psychiatric Center as a way of deprogramming me.
All of a sudden I wasn't coming to the temple, so Ratnanabha, who worked for the phone company, tapped my parents' phone and

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By Madhava Smullen 

New paperback editions of Srimad-Bhagavatam: A Comprehensive Guide for Young Readers Cantos 1, 2, and 3 are now available on Amazon.com, along with the just completed Canto 4. The first three cantos in the series, compiled by Aruddha Dasi, were originally each released in two parts starting in 2016. However the new editions, redesigned by Raghu Consbruck, and featuring new illustrations by a variety of artists, have been revised into a single volume per Canto, making them mo

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So Happy by Bhaktimarga Swami

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I was so happy to receive another submission from a godsister in Los Angeles. She had given her story of the early days in the movement in Canada, to add to the compilation of our upcoming book Krishna in the Maple Leaf. Her spiritual journey began at the young age of fifteen, when she heard about the Bhagavat philosophy. Interesting it is that the guidance counselor at her school encouraged her in her spiritual pursuit.

For myself it was just a pleasure to deliver two classes virtually for two

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9093972899?profile=RESIZE_584xBy Madhava Smullen

ISKCON New Vrindaban has started its festival season, which runs from May to September, and draws pilgrims, gives inspiration and association to visiting devotees, helps to maintain the temple, and provides engagement and financial support for devotee staff.

During the pandemic, New Vrindaban, with its 2,200 acres, spacious temple room and strict following of Covid protocols, has been a popular destination for devotees looking to safely experience the deity darshan and temple

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8545864075?profile=RESIZE_584xFrom doing things for Krsna to looking after people who were doing things for Krsna to looking after people for Krsna, all these things come up in devotional service. The mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu offers us a golden opportunity that if somehow or other, we can take advantage in the service we do for this mission and in our personal behaviour and in our dealings with the vaisnavas, then surely we can go back to Godhead. As I said, in my youth, I was sometime careless in my dealings with ot

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This photo, digitally enhanced, shows Srila Prabhupada as a young gentleman. 
 
After receiving spiritual initiation in 1932, Srila Prabhupada (then Abhay Charan De) sought to expand his pharmaceutical business both to support his family and to contribute to his spiritual master’s preaching mission. Even more important to him, however, were the rare occasions when he could meet with his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s affectionate dealings with
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Prabhupāda: So the devotees are protected by the Viṣṇudūtas always, constantly. They are invisibly wandering all over the universe. We may see or not see, because we cannot see spiritual body with these material eyes. So even we do not see, the Viṣṇudūta is always protecting the devotees from the enemies.

As I have explained yesterday, devotees will have enemies. Kṛṣṇa had enemies. This world is such: envious. Ordinarily, they are envious. The whole world is full of enviousness. Even the greate

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The Highest Realization!

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"So I am so much pleased upon all of the boys and girls in Los Angeles and all over the world who are understanding and appreciating this unique quality of our transcendental literature and voluntarily they are going out to distribute despite all circumstances of difficulty. By this effort alone they are assured to go back to home, back to Godhead. In order to change this materialistic society and prevent them from gliding to hell, first thing is to educate them. All decent men want to give ser

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The sun is always shining, always existing, but we can’t always see it—it’s dark half the time. There's night and day. The sun does rise on schedule, though, so we’re not condemned to live without sunlight. You can predict when it will rise.

Krishna is the same way. He always exists. He also has a regular schedule for appearing in this world, which is mentioned in the Vedas.

Just as biological life depends on sunlight, our existence depends on the Absolute Truth, Who is ultimately a Person, the

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New York Ratha Yatra Returns

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By Madhava Smullen 

Lord Jagannatha is coming.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was the first year without a New York Ratha Yatra parade in 45 years – instead, Lord Jagannatha was driven down Fifth Avenue in a minivan, along with a virtual online celebration.

This summer, things are beginning to look different. The number of new coronavirus cases in the US has plummeted from a seven-day average of more than 250,000 a day in early January, to a daily average of less than 14,380 during the past

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