lei·sure: : freedom provided by the cessation of activities; especially: time free from work or duties
I have been missing this little noun for eons now. Finally I've caught a hold of this elusive little thing today - today being a holiday for Eid. This is such an interesting definition of leisure. Are we ever free from activity? The very nature of the soul is to be active so where do you draw the line between activities that count as work and activities that count as pleasure? When we engage i
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A devotee once told me,
" We offer so many services to Krishna......we offer him garlands, we make prasad and offer it, we offer our kirtans, our bhajans yet in the process of offering him all these services, we forget to offer him ourselves! "
Krishna accepts anything offered with love but all he is really looking for is YOU. And that is the hardest thing to offer. The false ego of me, mine never lets us actually do this. Every activity we do, each and every step and action we take in our lives
We took a morning walk along Lake Ontario and these were some thoughts running through my head...
I like beaches, fresh ocean, well, lake air, Wine Bottle from a dark nights rendezvous, McDonald's bags, 1, 2 few, many- all over. Cigarette butts, tissues, newspapers, coffee cups, other things monks shouldn't mention by name, etc.
"This is a place of Pilgrimage you know, Srila Prabhupada walked here in the Summer of 75 when he visited Toronto."
How advanced we've become, few years later. If t
Many people I meet express their most difficult problem- too little time to actually relish, or absorb themselves in life. When you wake up the rush starts- class, work, cram!
Here's a small experience that I relish here in India and hope to really inspire people with in the near future. Do few things diligently, consciously and properly.
An example of my schedule in the last few months:
3:00 am wake up (shower, dress, chant japa, mangala arati, class.)
9:00 am wash laundry, eat.
10:30 bhakti
A City Bigger than Athens? Sandeep Mishra, Aug 7, 2010,
Just outside Bhubaneswar, around 2,000 years ago, stood one of old India’s biggest cities. When they chanced upon Sisupalgarh, excavators could only gape in astonishment at its modern ways Sisupalgarh sounds like a happening settlement by historic standards: a sprawling urban settlement that housed 20,000-25,000 people, street-linking gateways, pillared meeting halls, water storage systems and disposable vessels for daily use.
In one of th
By Ananda Vidya das
Hare Krsna Prabhus. I distribute books in the United States, mainly traveling in a van. I am from New Vrindavan. There is not so much in that direct area, and so we travel a lot. During the school year, we go to college campuses. During the summer we follow the rock concert tours. That is a very ecstatic experience. Vijay Prabhu is one of my inspirations for doing these concert tours. I think he might have been the one who gave me my first book at one of those concerts in th
It was Tuesday October 30th 1973 when the Washington Post ran this headline, “Lord Krishna Lives on Q Street”. The article went on to describe the installation ceremony of the Deities of Radha Madan Mohan in small rented house on Q street.
How many people have loved and served these divine forms over the last 40 years? How many have risen early to open the temple, how many have chanted Krishna’s name, how many have made garlands and offered incense. How many have cooked sweets, cleaned pots, mo
When I arrived at the Temple at 4am, I found a single almond placed before each altar. I wondered at the context of the offering, the thoughts of who offered it and how they came to place a single almond there. Everything has a story.
It also reminded me of how my mother would have me peel the almonds that she had soaking all night. I loved that job of removing the skin to reveal the white beauty beneath. The practice of bhakti is a similar thing – it’s to reveal the nature and beauty of the s
I was so grateful this week to receive my first delivery of ahimsa milk. As I watched the pure white liquid beauty come to a boil I reflected how we in the line of Bhakti are so pained by the wholesale slaughter of cows and other animals for food. That so much violence is inflicted on innocent creatures is an indication of the low level of consciousness in society at large. Ahimsa means “non-violence”; the cows are not sent to slaughter after they stop giving milk. They are loved, cared for and
Incorporation of ISKCON
Today marks the auspicious 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s incorporation of ISKCON New York, in 1966. To honor this special day we have re-posted a very nice article which appeared yesterday on the Sampradaya Sun entitled “Incorporation of ISKCON”, we have posted the “Certificate on Incorporation”, as well as a very timely verse and purport from the Srimad Bhagavatam. Some of the purport follows…
…A devotee is equipoised. He sees everyone on the same transcendenta
Lecture on Rath Yatra by Bhakti Purshottam Swami 19 July 2016 at ISKCON Alachua
(His Holiness Bhakti Purusottama Swami travels to many other parts of the globe encouraging others in their spiritual life.)
To Listen and Download - click here
Lecture on The Benefit derived from Hearing about the Forest of Sense Enjoyment by HH Niranjana Swami on 14 July 2016 at Kiev
(His Holiness Niranjana Swami was born on December 10, 1952, in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. In 1972, his spiritual search took a turning point when he saw a Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, on the counter of a bookshop in Washington, DC.)
To Listen and Download - click here
Villa Vrindavan, in Italy, almost looks too old to have a future, but the humble devotees there are confident it will. ISKCON’s oldest building probably, the villa is four centuries old. Naturally, not everything works. A sunken semicircular fountain does not spout. The front roof nobly displays a stopped clock; the bell over it no longer chimes times. When devotees moved in with Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, putting their faith in the Lord’s names and graces they named the hundr
Lecture on Real Education according to Srila Prabhupada by HH Bhakti Vikas Swami on 18 May 2016 at Mayapur
(HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami appeared in this world in 1957 in England. He joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in London in 1975 and was initiated in that year with the name Ilapati dasa by ISKCON’s founder-acarya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. )
To Listen and Download - click here
Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto-11, Chapter-02, Text-02 by HG Akuti Mataji on 13 Jul 2016 at ISKCON Alachua
(HG Akuti Mataji is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and the spearhead behind the new Krishna Lunch program at Santa Fe Community College. )
To Listen and Download - click here
Sunday Feast-50th Anniversay of ISKCON by HG Sesa Prabhu at ISKCON Alachua on 10 Jul 2016
(Sesa Dasa was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1974 while he was traveling as a member of the initial Bhaktivedanta Book Trust library party. Sesa Dasa has a portfolio of two ministries: Minister of Educational Development and Minister of Justice, under which ISKCON Resolve works.)
To Listen and Download - click here
By Kalasamvara Das
Dignitaries and well-wishers spent the afternoon at the local hare Krsna temple as part of the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON movement receiving the mercy of the Deities, placing Garlands and performing the abhiseka of Srila Prabhupada.
They all spoke with great Enthusiasm about being in the Association of devotees and expressed how we have something very special, something they don’t find at other programs they attend.
They appreciated the spiritual cont
1 book distributor in North America hits a record!
Jaya Chaitanya Das distributes over 9,000 pieces of literature last month (June 2016) with a 72% increase! Here are the final scores and figures:
book points: 6399.00* +72%
maha-big:1258*
big:1976*
medium: 1440*
small: 4664*
magazines: 210
All glories to Srila Prabhupada’s mission to distribute these books to the masses and awaken Spiritual consciousness throughout the world! All glories to the Sankirtan army!
Source : http://www.dandavats.com/
From the News Tribune an article appeared, authored by Ben Hohenstatt in the city of La Salle, Illinois.
He’s a Trip Monk
If you saw a man with a shaved head in orange robes in the Illinois Valley Thursday that wasn’t an oddly dressed flagger.
A walking journey from New York to San Francisco took Bhaktimarga Swami “The Walking Monk”, a Hare Krishna monk originally from Canada, through Ottawa, Peru and La Salle Friday.
“I’ve been to Chicago, but I’ve never been here,” he said. “We’ve met a lot o
Swarup das (ACBSP): This story is from my memoirs (that I’ve been trying to consolidate into a book for the past few years).
I met Usika at the Henry Street, Brooklyn temple in ‘71. At the time his name was Ezekiel. He was initiated and given the name Usika in July of that year when Srila Prabhupada came to Brooklyn. Unlike just about all of us who were in our 20’s .. Usika was either just south or north of 50. He was crotchety, moody, cynical and impatient when it came to his dealings with “yo
