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ISKCON Brooklyn Rebuilds

Activism
 
By Madhava Smullen

Many ISKCON devotees around the world are now aware of the conflict and court cases that took place over the past few years regarding managerial authority of the Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir in Brooklyn, New York City.

The conflict arose when the former board and temple president attempted to sell the property without consulting the congregation and ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission, and against their wishes. (Read more: https://iskconnews.org/gbc-opposes-brooklyn-temple

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Fun Under No Sun

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By Bhaktimarga Swami
 
The temple in Durban has a rather elaborate book display, which on its own merit demonstrates the great wisdom presented on Vedic culture.   https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwnt-fwAD3H/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=xis41sh4hyn8 I took personal note of this as I was preparing to leave for, of all things, a picnic with the volunteer actors whom I worked with.  We drove to an old quarry where a benevolent owner had turned the place into a fun outdoor park with trails and ob
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Relax Your Way Through Life

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By Achyut Gopal Das
 
We all have problems in life, that's given but the question is - how do we deal with them? Generally when faced with difficulties, we panic and stress out, but this doesn't solve the problem rather aggravates it. The best way to deal with our problems is by being calm. How can one remain calm amidst problems? That's a question of practice. The point is unless we are calm we will not be able to see the problem for what it is, what to speak of solving it. Just like if
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By Achyut Gopal Das
 
If we recollect our school days and think about the one instruction that was repeated literally a 'n' number of times, it is this - "Pay attention, Be present". Probably we were fed up of hearing it again and again, but little did we know that, in this simple instruction lies the key to living life to its fullest. We may have thought this instruction to be applicable to us only when we were school children sitting in a classroom but this instruction is all the more
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Much Rain Much Fun

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By Bhaktimarga Swami

The Chariot Festival wasn't a total  disaster despite ongoing rain.  Sufficient tents for shelter offered a space for bhakti. In fact in the Bhakti Cloud tent, it was like a live wire as usual.  Billed as Dance Master, at 3:30 p.m. people were curious for my session of a half hour.  I engaged people in using a part of the body so underused when it comes to dance.  We started with a clapping session over the djembe, then introduced the maha-mantra.  I then encouraged rhythm
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By James Cooper

In 1786 Sir William Jones, a Welsh philologist and judge of the supreme court of Bengal, sent shock waves throughout Europe with the following speech he gave in his address to the Asiatic society of Bengal.

“The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than c

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If a devotee child grows up to be a non-devotee, is this evidence that the parents mood at the time of conception was anything but Krishna conscious? Are the parents to be blamed, or are there other factors that determine this outcome?

Is it possible that in spite of the parents best interest and loving Krishna conscious attention given to their children, that such children can turn their backs altogether, to pursue life, as they desire most? Would there have to be a major problem for this to o

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We Always Have a Choice

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By HH Sacinandana Swami

A gift that the Lord has given to everyone is the opportunity to choose, and especially to make enlightened choices that bring us out of the dark periods of our lives back to a life of enthusiastic Krsna consciousness. It is never appropriate to say “I am a victim of circumstances.” I have seen in my life: no matter the circumstance we can always take shelter in Krsna. You may not always find relief, but you can always find shelter. What do I mean by that? When we are ti

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Events
 
By Madhava Smullen

A group of forty devotees have completed the first one-year GBC College Course in Latin America, which included online classes and two residential courses, preparing them to become ISKCON’s future leaders.

The program began in April last year, and the second residential course, lasting fourteen days, just concluded on April 27th.

The men and women participating ranged in age from twenty-five years old up to their mid-fifties, and hailed from Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Chile,

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The Minister of Home Affairs for South Africa, spent two hours with us at the Festival of Chariots.  Honourable Siyabonga Cwele and I bonded in a certain kind of way, as he was the person who saw to it I could enter South Africa. The day I landed at the airport, I was rejected for a relatively full passport, about which Cwele told a handful of us, "I travel a lot and have a full book where officials manage to stamp somewhere."

In any event I was three feet away from the plane departing with
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Born Intelligent

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By Achyut Gopal Das
 
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein

One time a young man approached a psychologist and told him that he considers himself unintelligent and foolish. The psychologist asked him the reason for him feeling so. He replied "It's because I don't have anything to say when my colleagues in office discuss sports. I feel like a total fool in front of them." The p
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Sri Radha Nila Madhava Satsang
ISKCON – Trivandrum
14th Annual Rathyatra was celebrated with pomp and splendor in the state capital. Hundreds of devotees pulled Sri Jagannath Rath with loudly reverberating Holy names. Sri Vimal, Asst DGP inaugurated the Rath. Inaugural ceremonies took place in SFI union building, which is a landmark. HG Vaishnava seva prabhu (ISKCON Rajkot TP) and HG Kalachakra prabhu inaugurated the ceremony. 
Hundreds of Srila Prabhupada’s books were distributed during the pr

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In this presentation, Hari-dhama dasa discusses an important social issue for the Society: that of providing care for the terminally ill in the movement. Since Vaisnava hold very dear the hope of dying in the association of devotees and at a place of pilgrimage, ISKCON faces a challenging task in providing this facility and care for its members. The author argues that both spiritual care and medical care should be available to patients, be they in a secular hospice or in a religious institution

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The Six Waves of Time – Part 3

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By Kadamba Kanana Swami

The development of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness is very interesting. Srila Prabhupada at an old age was very mature and brought everything – the perfection of spiritual life, the maturity of age and his vision and experience. All his followers were in their twenties with an exceptional one in his thirties. By the time Prabhupada left there were a number in their thirties, but basically there was a fifty year gap. We are looking at a fifty year gap, a

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Godly Delights by Bhaktimarga Swami

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There was this incredible nature's light show last evening, the likes of which none of us had ever seen before.  I'm talking about extraordinary cloud formations in the night, lit up by constant flashes of light, thunder bolts, all in the presence of the moon.  We were enroute to the festival site, the old Durban Drive-In Theatre, and it became astounding to see, and was the talk of the town.  Upon reaching our destination, the extravaganza continued.  It looked like the gods at war, execute
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The Seriously Funny World

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By Achyut Gopal Das
 
Someone is born, Someone dies. 
Someone is hired, Someone is fired. 
Someone is married, Someone gets divorced. 
Someone gets rich, Someone gets poor. 
Someone is praised, Someone is criticised. 
Someone is a success, Someone is a failure.

What kind of world is this? Is this a serious place or a funny one? I would say - this is a seriously funny place. 

THE SERIOUS SIDE
In the Bible, Jesus Christ tells his follower the story of Prodigal son - of a son who wanted t
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Popcorn

By Srutakirti dasa

October 7, 1972, Berkeley, California

One evening, Srila Prabhupada spoke at the University of California in Berkeley, the heart of the hippie capital. The San Francisco devotees enthusiastically received him and relished his lecture. They prepared barrels of popcorn and distributed it following Srila Prabhupada’s lecture.

“What is that?” His Divine Grace asked.

“Popcorn, Srila Prabhupada,” Jayananda explained. “Would you like some?”

“Yes, give me some,” Srila Prabhupada said

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A talk by Giriraj Swami, September 5, 2010, Sri Vrindavan Dham, Kazakhstan.

Hearing His Holiness Niranjana Swami’s wonderful talk, I felt we were being elevated to the spiritual world. He quoted from Vishnujana Maharaja. Vishnujana had a program in which he went by boat along the Ganges River, in Bengal, and chanted the holy names all day, stopping at villages along the way and chanting and speaking and distributing books about Krishna. Once, when I was in Los Angeles recovering from being sick

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Zestfulness by Bhaktimarga Swami

My day started with zestful walking in the temple of Radha Radhanath.  I did circle motions within the room while other chanters paced back and forth, and others still just sat while fingering their beads and simultaneously moving lips to chant.  Occasionally, I would stop to talk to a maharaja, a senior monk, or to acknowledge someone I've known, and who had just arrived in town for the festival.  I noticed two new fellows.  They were from Cape Town.  I stopped to talk.
 
"How are you guys?  Ho
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When Master Becomes A Servant

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By Achyut Gopal Das
 
"If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go for a picnic. If you want happiness for a month, get married. If you want happiness for a lifetime, serve others." - Chinese Proverb

When and where have we seen a master take the role of a servant? Probably never or if at all, very rarely. Here, I would like to briefly touch upon a few touching stories from the life of Lord Krishna, who even though is The Supreme Master of everything and
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