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ISKCON Turin, Italy, Opens New Center

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By Abhirama Das 

On the 5th of November ISKCON Turin, Italy, celebrated the opening of a new Temple situated near the city’s downtown.

In the previous months, in the old center some neighbors regularly disturbed the   programs in many different ways, devotees could not have kirtans, and there were other obstacles that discouraged guests from visiting the temple.

Finally Temple President Prabhu Das suggeested the community to find another place in which they could properly glorify Sri Krishna lo

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By Madhava Smullen

Srila Prabhupada disciple and popular Venezuelan musician Havi Das (Ilan Chester) delivered a deep and powerful Krishna conscious message while receiving a Latin Grammy award recently.

The speech and its message of substance, amidst more typical award acceptance fare, was well received by the audience.

Havi was being presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at a special awards event in the Four Seasons hotel in Las Vegas, during the 18th annual Latin Grammys on November 15

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After successful organization of the Bhagavad Gita contest for school children in 2014-15, wherein more than 3,000 students participated, Shikshashtakam Das (Chief, ISKCON Nashik, Maharastra, India), immediately had a thought to do it for the teachers next time.

This year, a team of devotees made a booklet based on the Bhagavad Gita As It Is in just two months, in order to facilitate teachers in their study. It consisted of selected topics from all the eighteen chapters of Bhagavad Gita, import

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Odana-sasthi – The First Day of Winter

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“At the beginning of winter, there is a ceremony known as the Odana-sasthi. This ceremony indicates that from that day forward, a winter covering should be given to Lord Jagannatha.” -  Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya-lila16.79, purport 

Once, Srila Pundarika Vidyanidhi and Srila Svarupa Damodara came to Jagannatha Puri and saw the festival of odana-sasthi. On this day, the Lord is offered new cloth, and from that day forth, the Lord should be offered winter clothing. This cloth that was offe

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By Madhava Smullen

On October 15th the Mayapur Institute of ISKCON opened its first classroom kutir, or hut, which creates the perfect atmosphere for study of the Vedic scriptures.

Built with natural, environmentally-friendly local materials like bamboo, bricks and thatch, the kutir makes students feel like they have stepped back in time to learn with the sages of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

But the hut doesn’t eschew modern facilities either – electricity inside provides power for ceiling fans and

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By Bhadra Balaram das

While the opposition parties in India are recklessly engaged in criticizing the Modi-led BJP government on the issues of its GDP growth and allegedly weakening economy, the same government has been acknowledged by the World Economic Forum to be the third most-trusted government in the world.

At the same time, a few days back the Moody’s Investors Service, a USA based reputed financial analysis provider has upgraded India’s rating after some 14 long years.

Do the Indians h

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Death at any moment

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By Kadamba Kanana Swami

In many ways, old age is a blessing. For a Vaisnava, it is a great blessing. Why is it so? Because then, there is no more distraction. When we are young, we have so much fight. “Oh, I want to enjoy… but I have to be Krsna conscious! I should be Krsna conscious. I really want to be but I want to enjoy also.” When you are old, “Yeah, I want to enjoy but let’s be real. Can I? Can I really?” You can try to squeeze a few more drops out of the old broken machine but it is not

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Follow in the footsteps

By Kadamba Kanana Swami

We have to take inspiration from our previous acaryas. Advaita Acarya was around 85 years old when he was given the role as one of the main dancers in Lord Caitanya’s Harinama Sankirtan party and Haridas Thakur was in his 70s and he was another one of the main dancers. They danced in ecstasy, out of taste and spiritual strength. Vakreshwar Pandit would dance for 72 hours.

Then we have the six Goswamis. When people would just see Sanatana Goswami, they would become ecstati

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By Subal Shyam Das and Jaganmohini Devi Dasi​

This year (2017), on Nov. 24th, Friday, disciples, servants and well-wishers of H.H. Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami will be celebrating his 80th vyasa-puja.

On this most auspicious occasion, for the pleasure of all vaishanava community, we recall one of his vital contributions to the BI-scientific mission which was visible since the inception of Bhaktivedanta Institute by the blessings of Srila Prabhupada. Today we would like to emphasize on this aspe

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By Purushottam Nitai Das

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura met with opposition when he had taken his disciples for braj mandal parikrama because many temple priests of Vrindavan were of the opinion that he should not have given brahminical threads to those who were not born in a brahmana family.

But Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura gave reference of various scriptures and proved that one should be considered a brahmana not by birth but by qualities. He quoted verse from Srimad Bhag

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ToVP fund raising in Sydney

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By Ramai Swami 

After visiting Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne temples, the ToVP team went to Sydney. The function was held at the North Ryde School of Arts hall, which the temple management use to fund raise for their new temple out west.

The event went well with Ambarish Prabhu and and his wife Svaha Devi Dasi giving speeches about the need to help finish the Temple of Vedic Planetarium. Braja Vilasa Prabhu asked every to donate generously and took pledges from the nearly 100 devotees who atten

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By Bhaktimarga Swami

I had no time to walk the streets today. I arrived by plane and there was greeted by Markendaya, who drove me through an ocean of cars. A warm homecoming took place in the form of kirtan, at Ciudad de la Paz 394, the Hare Krishna Centre. This is one of my homes.

I realized I hadn’t much time to assemble the play of my choice, a play called “Many Mothers, Many Fathers.” There’s not enough actors, or leading men and women, to carry a good show for the weekend’s “Chariot Fe
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Please join us for a special Tuesday Sanga Seminar on Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at 6:30pm - 8:30pm on the False Ego: Our Constant Companion and Trouble Maker. This seminar will be given by our special guest, Hayagriva das. Some topics that will be addressed in this seminar:

  • The more we give up our false ego and identify as true servant, the more we will feel relieved from anxiety and find peace
  • Most subtle part of the subtle body is carried with us for many lifetimes
  • Feeding the false ego vs.
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The Networking Tree of Lord Caitanya

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Countless people come to ISKCON Mayapur from all over India and the world, and ISKCON Mayapur has a number of preaching endeavors to attract these people to Mayapur and to preach the science of Krishna consciousness to them. ISKCON Mayapur’s preaching targets all people, both those from far away lands and those who reside within and near Mahaprabhu’s own land.

One of these preaching programs is the Mayapur Bhakti Vriksha program. Bhakti Vriksha preaching is a method derived from Srila Bhaktivin

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By Anand Caitanya das

Every year the Aqua Foundation Group organizes the World Aqua Congress (WAC) on a theme related to environment and invites excerpts of papers from speakers from all over India. During the XI World Aqua Congress, this year, ISKCON Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV) was awarded with the prestigious Aqua Excellence Award in the category of ‘Green Housing – Social Sector’. Jadu Thakur Das, Head – CSR, GEV received this award from Dr. Vandana Shiva, the famous author, activist, pioneer

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By Amarendra Das

Gayatri dd and I joined Krishna consciousness when Gargamuni Prabhu [then a sannyasi] came to Gainesville, FL in November, 1970. We were living together in a small duplex a couple of blocks from the University of Florida campus, where we were going to school. A short time after meeting Gargamuni, we invited him to move in with us.

By mid-January, 1971, over 100 students a day were coming to the original “Krishna House” for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. About ten students soon m

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Grammy Academy Award for Havi das

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Havi das (Ilan Chester), a disciple of Srila Prabhupada received recently a Grammy Award in Las Vegas for his extraordinary musical career as a musician, singer and composer. Millions of people attended or watched the ceremony while Havi das took the opportunity to include Krishna conscious messages in his speech of acceptance, translated into English in this report.

Havi das: Good morning to you all, many thanks to the directors of the Grammy Academy for this recognition.

Because time is limit

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By Bhakta Mukesh

HG Chaitanya Charan Prabhu needs no introduction. From Australia to America he has given talks on spiritual subjects at universities like Princeton and Cambridge and companies like Intel and Microsoft. This time, it was New Zealand’s fortune to welcome this spiritual scholar of ISKCON’s leading intellectual body to the capital city of Wellington. The highlight of this visit was his intriguing seminars to the Wellington’s Journey of Self Discovery (JOSD) and Bhakti Sastri studen

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Saved from the Clutches of Maya

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From Back to Godhead

By Danavira Goswami

“My father and the coach at UCLA were pleased with my volleyball successes, and my mother was satisfied with my academic work. But I wondered if Krishna was pleased.”

I was born in Los Angeles in 1949. My parents were avid volleyball players. My father had been one of America’s best, and my mother had been a third-team All-American. I started playing volleyball when I was four. I passed through school easily. Sports dominated my free hours, and generally

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By Visnupriya devi dasi

On November 3 and November 10, 2017 the United Kingdom radio station Source FM (96.1), which broadcasts in the Falmouth/Penryn area, presented Lord Sri Krishna’s peace formula, from Bhagavad-gita 5.29, to its listening audience via both FM and the internet. This wonderful sharing was done by radio host Sophie Sweatman on her weekly show, “Sophie’s Springboard Show”, which airs every Friday from 2pm to 3:30pm UK time.

Krishna’s peace formula was presented in the form of a

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