This weekend the Scarborough ISKCON team held their Ratha Yatra, starting at 6:30 AM on Saturday and completing near midnight. What I’m hearing from some of the different centres we have is that the Covid approach to this festival may be better than the usual way of doing things. Several items make the event more favorable such as:
1) It reaches more people as a vehicle with Jagannatha inside, goes to the neighborhoods where people get curious
2) Less-to-no permits required
3) Easier to organi
अध्याय एक – कलियुग के पतित वंश (12.1)
1-2 श्रील शुकदेव गोस्वामी ने कहा: हमने इसके पूर्व मागध वंश के जिन भावी शासकों के नाम गिनाए उनमें अन्तरिम राजा पुरञ्जय था, जो बृहद्रथ के वंशज के रूप में जन्म लेगा। पुरञ्जय का मंत्री शुनक राजा की हत्या करके अपने पुत्र प्रद्योत को सिंहासनारूढ़ करेगा। प्रद्योग का पुत्र पालक होगा और उसका पुत्र विशाखयूप होगा जिसका पुत्र राजक होगा।
3 राजक का पुत्र नन्दिवर्धन होगा और प्रद्योतन वंश में पाँच राजा होंगे जो 138 वर्षों तक पृथ्वी का भोग करेंगे।
4 नन्दिवर्धन का शिशुनाग नामक
By Madhava Smullen
The San Francisco Rathayatra, ISKCON’s first, returned on August 14th after missing the year 2020 due to the pandemic, with a bright and colorful celebration for the Lord of the Universe at Golden Gate Park.
With the exception of last year, San Francisco Rathayatra has been held annually since 1967, when Srila Prabhupada sketched a truck with a four-pillared canopy on the back and organized his early disciples in introducing Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra to North Ame
अध्याय इकतीस – भगवान श्रीकृष्ण का अन्तर्धान होना (11.31)
1 श्रील शुकदेव गोस्वामी ने कहा : तब ब्रह्माजी, शिवजी–उनकी प्रेयसी भवानी, मुनियों, प्रजापतियों तथा इन्द्रादि देवताओं सहित, प्रभास आये।
2-3 भगवान का प्रस्थान देखने के लिए चारणों, यक्षों, राक्षसों, किन्नरों, अप्सराओं तथा गरुड़ के सम्बन्धियों को साथ लेकर पितरगण, सिद्ध, गन्धर्व, विद्याधर तथा बड़े बड़े सर्प भी आये। आते समय वे सभी व्यक्ति भगवान शौरी (कृष्ण) के जन्म तथा लीलाओं का कीर्तन और उनकी महिमा का गायन कर रहे थे।
4 हे राजन, उन्होंने आकाश में अपन
अध्याय तीस -- यदुवंश का संहार (11.30)
1 राजा परीक्षित ने कहा : जब महान भक्त उद्धव जंगल चले गये तो समस्त जीवों के रक्षक भगवान ने द्वारका नगरी में क्या किया?
2 ब्राह्मणों के शाप से अपने ही वंश के नष्ट हो जाने के बाद, यदुओं में श्रेष्ठ भगवान ने किस तरह अपना शरीर छोड़ा जो सारे नेत्रों की परमप्रिय वस्तु था।
3 एक बार उनके दिव्य रूप पर अपनी आँखें गड़ा देने पर, स्त्रियाँ उन्हें हटा पाने में असमर्थ होती थीं और यदि वह रूप एक बार मुनियों के हृदयों में प्रवेश कर जाता, तो फिर वह हटाये नहीं हटता था। ख्याति पाने
Today is the appearance day of Lord Balarama, the Personality of Godhead who is the first expansion of Lord Krishna, the original Personality of Godhead. As Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita (4.7):
yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham
“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.” Lord Krishna says, srjamy aham: “I manifest
अध्याय उन्तीस – भक्तियोग (11.29)
1 श्री उद्धव ने कहा: हे भगवान अच्युत, मुझे भय है कि आपके द्वारा वर्णित योग-विधि उस व्यक्ति के लिए अत्यन्त कठिन है, जो अपने मन को वश में नहीं रख सकता । इसलिए आप सरल शब्दों में यह बतायें कि कोई व्यक्ति किस तरह इसे अधिक आसानी से सम्पन्न कर सकता है।
2 हे कमलनयन भगवान, सामान्यतया जो योगीजन मन को स्थिर करने का प्रयास करते हैं, उन्हें समाधि की दशा पूर्ण कर पाने की अपनी अक्षमता के कारण, निराशा का अनुभव करना पड़ता है। इस तरह वे मन को अपने वश में लाने के प्रयास में उकता जाते
WOOOAHHH! That’s it!” I said when I came across the German word sehnsucht (ZEN-zookt). “That sums it all up!”
Sehnsucht means “longing,” “yearning,” or even “craving,” but it also carries implications of “intensely missing,” as when pining for something as if one’s life depended on it. The word hearkens to the need a person feels when addicted to hard drugs, an addiction so intense one’s entire being calls out for it.
The word also indicates the feeling that one’s life is unfinished or imperfec
By Kalyana Giriraja das
On August 10, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Julia Kloeckner chose the ISKCON Bhakti Retreat Center Goloka Dhama in southern Germany as the start of a tour with e-bikes in her ongoing election campaign. The minister is running for the federal elections on September 26, 2021, and Goloka Dhama in the small village of Abentheuer is part of her election district.
Source: https://iskconnews.org/federal-minister-julia-kloeckner-visits-goloka-dhama-germany,7956/
Just one day to go before Balaram Jayanti festival, we beseech you to take full advantage of these opportunities to render service at the Lotus feet of Balaramji!
My third visit for Physio on my left knee went well. Adam, the trainer for today was pleased. According to him there’s still work to be done even though I walked in crutch free. After the visit I walked towards home and was feeling so much appreciation for a medical system that really does care for the individual. That’s how I feel about Adam and Kathy from the week before and also Kevin on the first visit.
And, I guess, I’ll give all the thank-you’s I can when the physician confronts my right
Real shelter means to be sheltered from the mind, which is always disturbed; from the senses, which push us mercilessly; and from the emptiness and the loneliness.
What does real shelter mean? Does it mean to take shelter from the material sufferings, shelter from the dangers of the material world? That is not real shelter. Real shelter means to be sheltered from our mind which is always disturbed. Real shelter also means to be sheltered from the senses which push us mercilessly. Whatever we
अध्याय अट्ठाईस -- ज्ञानयोग (11.28)
1 भगवान ने कहा: प्रकृति तथा भोक्ता आत्मा परम सत्य पर आश्रित हैं। अतः मनुष्य को किसी अन्य व्यक्ति के स्वभाव तथा कर्मों की न तो प्रशंसा न ही आलोचना करनी चाहिए।
2 जो भी व्यक्ति दूसरों के गुणों तथा आचरण की प्रशंसा करता है या आलोचना करता है, वह मायामय द्वैतों में फँसने के कारण – उत्तमोत्तम हित से शीघ्र विपथ हो जाएगा।
3 जिस तरह देहधारी आत्मा की इन्द्रियाँ स्वप्न देखने के भ्रम या मृत्यु जैसी गहरी निद्रावस्था के द्वारा परास्त हो जाती हैं, उसी तरह भौतिक द्वन्द्व का अनुभ
By Sakhi Rangadevi Devi Dasi
The birthplace of Srila Prabhupada at Tollygunge, Kolkata, is now under the ownership of ISKCON. After toiling for several decades, the devotees of ISKCON Kolkata have achieved something commendable to make as an offering to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada on his 125th birth anniversary: August 31st, 2021. A live-streamed festival will take place on that day and all are encouraged to watch and participate.
On the 11th of August, Vice President of ISKCON Kolkata, R
How can we study nonmaterial aspects of reality when we’re living in a world of matter? Modern mechanistic science rests on the premise that reality is ultimately reducible to a simple set of mathematical equations. Such a view fails to account for two important aspects of reality: consciousness, and complex biological form. Here, in the first of a series of articles excerpted from the conclusion of the book, Sadaputa describes how an alternative, nonmechanistic model can be verified through th
Chris from Hamilton had come. “I’m dropping off some kids, including my son, at Wonderland and that gives me some time at the temple. I’m up for service.”
Such a wholesome attitude, is what I thought as I expressed the nature of helpfulness to our maintenance guy from Croatia, Vallabha Hari. Help is always needed around the ashram and the temple. So, Chris came to pitch in, with cleaning mostly. We appreciate his spirit.
The mind is at ease when all is clean and orderly and the spirit is right.
अध्याय सत्ताईस – देवपूजा विषयक श्रीकृष्ण के आदेश (11.27)
1 श्री उद्धव ने कहा : हे प्रभु, हे भक्तों के स्वामी, कृपा करके मुझे आपके अर्चाविग्रह रूप में पूजा की नियत विधि बतायें। अर्चाविग्रह की पूजा करने वाले भक्तों की क्या योग्यताएँ होती हैं? ऐसी पूजा किस आधार पर तय की जाती है? तथा पूजा की विशिष्ट विधि क्या है?
2 सारे मुनि बारम्बार घोषित करते हैं कि ऐसी पूजा से मनुष्य जीवन का बड़े-से-बड़ा सम्भव लाभ मिलता है। नारद मुनि, महान व्यासदेव तथा मेरे गुरु बृहस्पति का यही मत है।
3-4 हे वदान्य प्रभु, अर्चाविग्र
Essay by Annette Murphy
“What I have found to be truly valuable to me was sitting and listening to my senior godsisters tell me of their personal history and past times with Srila Prabhupada. Their stories always revealed his kind and fatherly demenor. His light hearted humor, his endearing personal guidance, how he motivated them to fully utilize and develop their natural talents and abilities in service to Krishna.”i
In the preface to A Bond of love: Srila Prabhupada and his Daughters, Her G
Ones intelligence is often measured by an IQ test which indicates a good material intelligence. Now for devotees there is a fun way to check ones own DQ. With this we can do an occasional self analysis to check our progress in Krishna consciousness. It is a visual tool that can identify where some improvement may be required and encourage development in that particular part of our devotional life.
Click here & download : https://www.mediafire.com/download/v5g8zdcsihqon7s
By Ravi Ramgoolam
"For most of us, the idea of winter means cozy nights, warm blankets & a cup of hot chocolate near the fire, but for those on the streets the drop in temperature becomes a fight for survival," said Svetadvip Das, the main representative of ISKCON Port Elizabeth's Food for Life project.
The ISKCON Port Elizabeth, South Africa, congregation, and Food for Life team moved hearts with the Blanket Drive Initiative. The initiative consists of donating blankets to poor people in the
