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By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

74/06/27 Melbourne, Bhagavad-gita 3.27

(Town Hall)

Srila Prabhupada: (leads chanting of “om namo bhagavate vasudevaya”)

prakrteh kriyamanani
gunaih karmani sarvasah
ahankara-vimudhatma
kartaham iti manyate
[Bg. 3.27]

Krsna says that all these living entities… We are all living entities… Actually, every one of us is spirit soul, living entities. It does not matter whether I am a human being or other than human being, lower animals, birds, b

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By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

Art of Kirtan, launched in May 2024, is an online music school and heritage project. The initiative is headed by Bada Haridas, who has been leading and teaching kirtan for the past 50 years and is a professionally trained musician and composer. His wife, Kosarupa Dasi, manages the project, marketing, and fundraising, with assistance from their two adult children, Sri Gaura Mani and Nitai Sharana.

Bada Haridas and Visvambhar Sheth are the founding teachers of th

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By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

Food for Life Vrindavan (FFLV) has been empowering thousands of girls in Vrindavan and surrounding areas for years. Recently, one of the students, Nandini, won the prestigious “Student of the Year Award.” 

Nandini said, “I’m thrilled to get the Student of the Year award! Thanks to my school and teachers for believing in me and giving me the chance to shine. Receiving this award is like a dream come true for me. It’s not just my success; it’s a victory for ever

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A wedding by Bhaktimarga Swami

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One of the main purposes for being on Vancouver Island is to honour the marriage of a fine couple - Tony and Jennifer. Jennifer has a Sanskrit name that I gave her some years back - Nitai Priya, which means "one who is dear to Nityananda, the saint." I wrote them a poem.

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A Wedding

There is this very sweet wedding
Arranged in a host heavenly setting
Two people both quite special
Stirring up a joy festival
Both decided it's about time
To hear the bells chime
And tie the inevitable knot
To

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Many joyful adventures took place daily while traveling with Srila Prabhupada. So much nectar flowed from the regulated activities of personally serving our glorious Gurudeva. Who could imagine anything more wonderful than cooking, massaging and tending to the needs of His Divine Grace, except for being present when His Divine Grace exhibited ecstatic symptoms? It was the rarest of treasures. These exceptional events invariably took place while Srila Prabhupada sat on his Vyasasana in the templ

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Free will expressed in a "two-way" exchange of loving reciprocation, is the real basis and meaning of personalism and surrender, meant for the individual jiva-souls to be always voluntarily engaged in loving service to Krsna eternally.

On the Vaikuntha planets of Viṣṇu/Narayana, and Krsna’s central Abode of Goloka Vrindavana, personal voluntary contributions (service) expressed through free will, are always encouraged by Krsna to create diversity and a two-way reciprocal relationship of loving ex

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Whether we are neophytes or advanced, association of pure devotees is crucial for our spiritual progress.

The pure devotees of the Lord carry the message of Godhead in order to deliver the fallen souls, and therefore the common man who is bewildered by the influence of the external energy of the Lord should avail himself of their association.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.5.4, purport)

The Science Behind Krishna Consciousness

Srila Prabhupada often referred to bhakti-yoga as “the science of Krishna con

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Loving Krishna means loving everyone because Krsna is in their heart. Conversely, applying that logic backwards, if you don’t love everyone, it means that you are not loving Krsna. Using the root and leaves example, if the leaves are looking healthy, it is to be understood that the root is receiving nourishment.

In SB, eleventh canto, it is explained that only the kanishta or neophyte sees Krsna in the temple, but not in the hearts of all, and fails to respect and develop loving relationships w

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6202104288?profile=RESIZE_400x On the auspicious day of Jagannatha Ratha-yatra in Puri, two of Lord Chaitanya’s most confidential associates, Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami and Srila Sivananda Sena, left this world to return to the supreme abode.

The inner moods of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, especially in Puri, were not easy to understand, and they were unknown to most devotees. Only Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, who was the most intimate associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri, could really understand them, and by his gra

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Today is Ratha-yatra day.

It is a great honor, privilege, and pleasure to be here on the auspicious occasion of Snana-yatra. The first deities of Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra in ISKCON were discovered in San Francisco in 1967. One of Srila Prabhupada’s early disciples, Malati dasi, saw a small figure in an import store, Cost Plus, and brought it to him. When Prabhupada saw the figure, his eyes opened wide. He folded his palms and bowed his head in respect. Then he said, “You have brought

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Ratha means chariot, and yatra means journey or procession. Generally, people are expected to go to the temple to see the Lord. That is the rule, and that is our duty. But on the day of Ratha-yatra, the Lord is so merciful that He comes out of the temple to see the people. In general, the worshiper goes to the temple to receive the Lord's mercy, but on Ratha-yatra the Lord comes out of the temple to give mercy to the people. So He is in an especially benevolent mood in Ratha-yatra. And we can
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There are several interesting episodes about the origin of Rath Yatra stated in Vedic scriptures.

(1) In the Vedic scripture 'Srimad Bhagavatam', it is said that devotees celebrated this day when Shri Krishna and Balram left Gokul for Mathura in a chariot. This was known as Rath Yatra. 

(2) After Lord Krishna delivered the evil Kansa, he gave darshan to devotees in a rath with Balram, in Mathura.

(3) When Lord Krishna was in Dwarka, on the west coast of Saurashtra, he once took his sister,
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Prayers to Lord Jagannath

Hare Krsna

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Srila Sanatan Goswami

 
sri-jagannatha niladri-siro-mukuta-ratna he
daru-brahman ghana-syama prasida purusottama
 
O Lord Jagannath, the crest jewel of the Niladri hill! O supreme Brahman in a wooden form! O dark-hued Lord Shyam! Please be merciful upon me, O Lord Purushottam!
 
praphulla pundarikaksa lavanabdhi-tatamrta
gutikodara mam pahi nana-bhoga-purandara
 
O Lord with full blooming lotus eyes! O nectar of th
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Jagannath Ratha Yatra

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At the height of Indian summer, right at the beginning of the Monsoon, the Lord of Puri goes to his garden palace for the annual summer vacation. Originally the festival has its foundation in the residents of Vrindavan bringing back their Lords, Krishna, Balaram and Lady Subhadra from Kurukshetra.

Today in Puri He, the Lord of the Universe travels in some style from his temple in Puri, to his garden temple, located outside the town centre called Gundicha. Thousands of Hindus flock to see, and

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Happy Ratha Yatra

HH JAYAPATAKA SWAMI,  MERCY ON WHEEL, SRI JAGANNATH E RATHA YATRA ADDRESS, SRI MAYAPUR DHAM, INDIA

Mukam karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim

Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinamc

Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram

I offer my obeisances to His Divine Grace Abhay Caran Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada! Lord Jagannath is a very special deity in Rajapur. Radharani created the Navadvipa dhama for the pleasure of Lord Krsna. And Krsna gave the blessing that all the holy places will

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ISKCON of Harrisburg is gearing up to celebrate its 14th Annual Hare Krishna Festival of India on Saturday, July 20, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at City Island in Harrisburg. Harrisburg is only a short drive from most major cities on the East Coast – 3 hours from New York City and 2 hours from most towns and cities in New Jersey, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.

The festival will start at 11 a.m. with kirtan inaugurating the festival followed by a two-hour procession of beautifully decorated car

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“I request…that everything in the Temple should be kept nice and clean… We should always remember that Krishna is the purest & similarly only the pure can associate with Him. Cleanliness is next to Godliness.”

–  Letter to: Nandarani, Krsna Devi, Subala and Uddhava, Delhi, 3 October, 1967

Srila Prabhupada always emphasised the importance of cleanliness, and said that cleanliness is essential for making advancement in spiritual life: “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” In Sridhama Mayapur, the

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Gundica-marjana by Giriraj Swami

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The observance of Gundica-marjana, the washing and cleansing of the Gundica temple, takes place on the day before Ratha-yatra, in preparation for the arrival of the Lord.

The history of Ratha-yatra goes back thousands of years, to a previous age, but the specific significance of the Ratha-yatra and the cleaning of the Gundica temple for us was shown by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu when He was residing in Jagannatha Puri five hundred years ago. In the transcendental mind of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, t

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Ratha-Yatra Sponsorships

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The annual festival of Jagannath Rath Yatra will be celebrated at the global spiritual headquarter of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Sri Mayapur Dham, Nadia.

Each year the devotees endeavour to raise the bar by adding new dimensions to the celebrations. The deities of Lord Jagannath, Baldev and Subhadra will be seated on three different carts and taken out in a grand procession. The scriptures mention that whoever takes darshan of the gleeful grin of Lord Jagannath se

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Despite this world of utter craziness, I still cannot help but to see some optimism behind it. It doesn't take much to perceive some beauty in it all, whether through the first rays of the sun, a bird in flight, the smell of dawn, a lake with shimmering water backed by a mountain or a human after a fresh bath with a smile.

Gadadhar came to my cabin in Chemainus to check if I was all packed for the ferry to the mainland. Indeed I was, prepared for the two hour playing over the sea, then a drive

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