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By Bhakta Gurmann Saini

During this year of anniversary of 35 years, ISKCON Finland is not only preparing for Srila Prabhupada Book Distribution Marathon, but also trying to secure the future of the Krishna temple and our headquarters in Malmi, Helsinki (Vanha Helsingintie 14, 00700 Helsinki, Finland).

The City of Helsinki has promised to sell to ISKCON the land where the present temple building lies. The size of the land is 0.6 hectares, and the price is 300 000 €. The price is much lower f

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Meeting Anita by Bhaktimarga Swami

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Anita Sharma was just a little girl when she and her parents and two brothers started coming around.  Her dad and mum came from the Punjab, and the family is now in their third generation here.

Successful?  Yes!  When she mentioned she has a nephew who's now a doctor, I was quite surprised how fast everything evolves with the generations. 
 
Does she have her own family?  I asked her and she smiled and said something about "updating."  Anyway, she's married to her career as an anchor/reporte
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One year on Gita Jayanti, the day on which Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna, I heard a talk in which Srila Prabhupada spoke about the perfection of reading the Gita.

“When Lord Chaitanya was traveling in South India, in a big temple, Ranganatha temple, He went to see the Deity, and He saw one brahmana was reading Bhagavad-gita. And people were joking with him, ‘Oh, Mr. Brahmana, how you are reading Bhagavad-gita?’ Because they were neighbors, they knew that this brahmana was illit

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Don’t we just delight in books and movies wherein destruction wreaks havoc in one form or other, be it by nuclear bombs, disease, twisters, volcanic eruptions, giant creatures or alien invaders. If you do, then you’ll love The World Without Us, authored by Alan Weisman. Reviewed by Janet Maslin in The Arts section of the August 13th NYT, the book is a “what if” account of what would happen to the world if mankind would suddenly disappear.

How long would our cities and achievements last without

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Sankirtan- The Prime benediction!

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Why is Sankirtan the prime benediction of this age?
Every day morning, after Mangla Arthi, Srila Prabhupada quote will be read! Being book marathon month, to inspire and motivate devotees to push the book distribution, we read Srila Prabhupada quote on book distribution.

Today’s quote is a beautiful letter to German disciples in the month of May 1977, where Srila Prabhupada explains how much blessings is showered even when one simply touches and sees it, what to speak of reading, distributing a

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Tomorrow is the eightieth birthday of Sripada Satsvarupa dasa Goswami Maharaja. He was my first temple president, and he has been my inspiration in writing, especially about Srila Prabhupada, which has been my main service. 

My dear Satsvarupa das Goswami Maharaja,

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

As you know, you are my mentor, exemplar, and inspiration for writing about Srila Prabhupada, which has been my main focus for the last several years, and so I have

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It's All New for Him by Bhaktimarga Swami

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This morning was a time to look forward to, for the seven of us - Nicholas, Pariksit, David, Oksana plus her two kids, and myself.  It was the first visit for most of us to Vishal's farm.  What a treat!  Vishal was generous with kisses to the young bull (I forget his name).  He walked us to the foundation of his barn.  To follow will be a house and greenhouse.  Who knows what more?
 
Part two of our day's anticipation was a seven kilometre walk on the Great Trail.  The most excited among us was
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Just turn the pages of the history of India and you will come across the life stories of scores of eminent men and women who had all the means to enjoy their material life, but they willingly gave it up to pursue their spiritual goals. They weren’t satisfied just to satisfy the demands of their mind, senses and body. Animals do the same thing. Their conscience would constantly nudge them to look something which was not material and not ephemeral. They were searching for happiness which was not

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We walked during a drizzle of rain - Jaya, Raymond and myself.  We made a commitment to keep our fingers on our japa beads and utter the mantras so well known to us Hare Krishna.  By the time we got to the crossroads of Bloor and Spadina, one of those companions confessed, "Maharaja, I've been doing terribly with my rounds.”  (meaning a lack of focus on the sacred sound)
 
This remark expresses a common enough concern by chanters of japa.  I indicated that he should make use of prayer, which ca
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Once, the late Madhudvisa Prabhu asked Srila Prabhupada, “What pleases you the most? Book distribution pleases you. Deity worship pleases you. What really pleases you?”

Srila Prabhupada replied, “By struggling for Krishna…,” that was pleasing. This was related to us by HH Giriraja Maharaja.

Many things pleased Srila Prabhupada, like doing book distribution, looking after our children, doing deity worship and so on, but to “struggle” for Krishna has a wider concern, because it affects each and e

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17th Annual Vrinda Kunda Festival

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6th February, Varaha Dvadasi, will be 17 years since the opening of our Vrinda Kunda Temple! To celebrate, we will do special parikramas to the Holy Places of Braja with buses leaving every morning from Krishna Balarama Mandir and returning for lunch. The program will culminate on Sunday 16 February with our famous Kalash Yatra, an ecstatic Sankirtan Procession with the ladies carrying waterpots with coconuts on their heads.

Plan your trip to Mayapur Gaura Purnima Festival by coming to Vrindava

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The Trail I Walked by Bhaktimarga Swami

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Well I walked a minor trail today

My version of how I get some play

Been in a plane, been in a car

Don't really get you anywhere far

The trail makes time stretch so nice

A place where there's little or no vice

In my opinion it's how to go

Whether dry, wet or with some snow

I moved along in so much bliss

It feels like mother nature's kiss

Dog sitters and runners I did meet

It's so awesome movin' on my feet

The smells were so fragrantly fine

My nose took in all but the sweet pine

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By Vikas Beniwal

Bhaktivedanta Vidyapeet Research Centre (BVRC) in affiliation with the Mumbai University recently conducted a Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Diploma Course. The course was delivered by renowned speaker, Gauranga Das, the Director of BVRC. He gave inspiring and empowering series of lectures on Sri Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, amounting up to 100+ hours of discourses. More than 120 keen participants from across the globe attended all the course modules which consisted of three sessions,

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By Giriraj Swami

We have again reached December, that most auspicious time of year when the book-distribution marathon takes place. In honor of the occasion, I quote two verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam that embody the devotee’s mood in distributing Krishna consciousness.

naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaranyas
  tvad-virya-gayana-mahamrta-magna-cittah
soce tato vimukha-cetasa indriyartha-
  maya-sukhaya bharam udvahato vimudhan

“O best of the great personalities, I am not at all afraid of material

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A number of us were regrouping at the Buenos Aires Airport when a Chinese gentleman, who had just visited Antarctica to see the penguins in action, stopped in his tracks to look at me.  I guess I was his next penguin.  Our eyes met.  I offered my pranams(palms together). He smiled "Who are you?" 
 
I read his eyes and responded with lips and tongue delivering my name and identity: "I'm a monk, a Krishna monk.”
 
Somehow, he had some reference to the ‘Krishna thing’ and the India connection.  
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Who’s To Blame? By Mahatma das

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From the beginning of Prabhupada’s preaching in New York he spoke about the development of an international society, but his new followers couldn’t imagine Krsna consciousness going beyond the walls of the little storefront on 26 Second Avenue.

Fortunately Prabhupada didn’t share their vision. He had such a deep faith in Lord Caitanya’s prediction and the instructions of his Guru Maharaja that he said the Krsna consciousness would someday go down in history for changing the world in its darkest

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The United Nations' (UN) Universal Children's Day, which was established in 1954, is celebrated on November 20 each year to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide. On this day, the newly established ‘King of Braj’ a music band consisting of Hungarian devotees — musicians, teachers, social activists, marketing specialists from Eger and Budapest — in collaboration with Krishna- sympathizer and well-known hip-hop and reggae artists released its firs album entitl

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Odana-sasthi and Pundarika Vidyanidhi

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By Giriraj Swami

Today is Odana-sasthi, the date on which Lord Jagannatha is given a winter shawl. One year, when Lord Chaitanya and His associates celebrated this festival in Puri, Pundarika Vidyanidhi, who is Vrsabhanu Maharaja, Srimati Radharani’s father, in krsna-lila, received some special mercy. His experience is instructive for us all.

Srila Prabhupada explains, “At the beginning of winter, there is a ceremony known as the Odana-sasthi. This ceremony indicates that from that day forward,

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Farewell by Bhaktimarga Swami

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We had a farewell walk… Does that make any sense?  It's been my tenth year here.  I'll be making it back for the fest next year, so how can it be a legitimate good-bye?

The farewell walk to Regatas Lake was a spontaneous stroll, more exclusively for our drama team. Like all the components that made up the festival, the work was hard. But at least I could see that while everyone else around the temple took time to relax, our actors and crew pushed it a little harder and made this walk under a b
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