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"Dandavats" - 8 new articles
Will you help them continue to study in Mayapur?Ramkirtana dasa: Therefore I kindly ask anybody who has the possibility to sponsor my children to please let them continue to study in Mayapur, otherwise we will be obliged to send them to the local school. Varnasrama…The Mission Impossible
There used to be a television series in North America called MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. As kids we would watch it religiously and with rapt attention. The introduction in each series centered on describing to the would-be hero (should he choose to accept the impossible assignment) a series of endless complicated scenarios, all filled with what seemed like insurmountable obstacles.  Varnasrama…The Mission ImpossibleVarnasrama...The Mission Impossible
There used to be a television series in North America called MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. As kids we would watch it religiously and with rapt attention. The introduction in each series centered on describing to the would-be hero (should he choose to accept the impossible assignment) a series of endless complicated scenarios, all filled with what seemed like insurmountable obstacles. The drama would then begin to unfold with our hero performing superhuman feats and manoeuvres, crossing over overbearing hurdles and somehow battling through these intense and challenging situations which all appeared a truly lost cause, very much impossible to overcome… yet every single time, without fail and to everyone’s amazement (and that was our attraction to and the beauty of the series), what appeared initially as an impossible mission would end up becoming very much feasible. Impossible is Possible In many ways, the present varnasrama mission is like this. To turn the tide from the present global disastrous scenario we find ourselves in is indeed a mission impossible, if taken at face value. The odds for the world leadership becoming responsible Vaisnavas and ruling their citizens based on principle of dharma seem incredibly remote. The chances for people reverting to a more simplified life style, of becoming localized and depending on production from the land, of abandoning the conveniences of tractors and similar modern machineries but using more traditional and natural technologies all appear like something from a fairy tale. The odds for governments closing down slaughter houses, liquor and brewery stores, lotteries and gambling casinos also seem totally unfathomable. The odds of stopping the ever increasing list of promiscuity and hedonistic behaviour in society appear too incredible. And the likelihood for people to again take up a God conscious way of life based on the four principles of truthfulness, compassion, austerity, and cleanliness also appears unreal. But we, the devotees of Krishna, know better… nothing is impossible. We must maintain this great hope. The story of that little mother sparrow who had lost her eggs and threatened to ocean to drink her up should serve as a reminder. Seeing such determination on the part of that sparrow, Lord Vishnu’s huge bird carrier, Garuda, had come to the rescue. Where is Garuda now one may ask? We have yet to show the determination of that mother sparrow. Planning and Organization As often pointed out by Srila Prabhupada, planning and organization remain the two most important aspects, the key factors, for any organization or movement to succeed, besides of course the integrity and purity of its leaders. Planning remains the domain largely of the more intellectual class, the brahmanas, while organization remains largely the domain of the more administrative class, the ksatriyas. These two classes of men are needed to make things move. They are meant to go hand in hand. At present we lack especially in ksatriya trained manpower. The varnasrama colleges, so much wanted by Srila Prabhupada, are meant to bring about the needed changes to give individuals an opportunity to take up these highly important posts. Simultaneously, we also need to cultivate present existing individuals holding such managerial positions in society although they may not yet be devotees. We need to work from both sides so that our planning and organization becomes balanced and harmonized. Leadership Awakening There are many positive signs taking place within ISKCON in this regards and it will help us keep a proper focus by knowing about these. In February this year, the GBC passed two significant resolutions pointing towards acknowledging and supporting the varnasrama mission. These have already been widely published on various devotee sites. Some will surely say it is not enough and they certainly have a point. However, we should see it as something positive. In April this year, the leadership of India, the India Regional Governing Body (IRGB), formulated a series of resolutions to establish a national ministry for Varnasrama-based Rural Development, thus recognizing its importance and necessity. Those efforts are gradually unfolding. Later in the month August, the leadership in Malaysia held their National Council meeting where the establishment of a national varnasrama committee was on the agenda. Some encouraging news on this should be available by the next issue of this newsletter. Looking on the Western side, the Canadian leadership have also slated varnasrama on their agenda for their up-coming national meetings in early October. Last but not least, later on this year, in mid-November, the leadership of W. Africa plans its annual festival and varnasrama will also be discussed. There are many other developments taking place. Promoting Varnasrama Research Teams (VRTs) I was very happy to hear how some of our varnasrama preachers in India, in particular Sriman Bharat Chandra prabhu, National Coordinator for the varnasrama mission, are forging ahead to establish Varnasrama Supporting Teams (VRT). This is a simple yet most effective way to help bring the much needed awareness and thus begin the process of self-education and training as to what the varnasrama mission entails… and it entails a lot. We need to have these set up wherever we detect even a small interest in the varnasrama mission. We should actually have such units wherever there is an ISKCON center and especially in all large cities even there may not be a center yet. There will soon be a brochure available which will make it easier for devotees to become involved in this way. Establishing VRT units in different countries will pave the way to consciousness building, thus underlining the urgency for bringing about the varnasrama changes so much needed. Every responsible devotee reading our varnasrama newsletter should make an effort to become somehow or other involved in establishing or participating in such units of VRT. It will be largely be within such gatherings of VRT members that deeper realizations of varnasrama will become revealed. Promoting National Varnasrama Ministries Another yet important level to develop is at the national levels. As the VRT units will provide opportunities to develop local and regional efforts promoting the varnasrama mission, the importance and urgency to establish national ministries for varnasrama will become more obvious. There will be a direct relationship with the establishment of VRT units and the creation of varnasrama ministries in different countries. Devotees in leadership positions around the world can take advantage of the various pieces of information now available to help make this happen. Having such varnasrama ministries established will be like helping manifest the ksatriya aspect of the varnasrama mission. The more both these elements can work nicely together, the planning of the brahmanas and the administration of the ksatriyas, the more we can begin to effect changes within our own society and society at large. Krsne matir astu Helping iskcon manila food for lifeNam Sankirtan: Many years ago in the Brooklyn temple , Tamal Krishna maharaja and Maha Sringa Prabhu were visiting the temple, Mahasringa asked Tamal Krishna Maharaj , " Nam is from manila , maybe we can ask him to go there, Maharaja looked at him and at me , and shrugged it off . Chopping Wood and Carrying Water at GitagradDhanesvara Das: "Chop Wood, Carry Water" -- a book about simple living by Rick Fields was published in 1984. The book's subtitle: "A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life," tells more about the contents of the book. Chopping Wood and Carrying Water at GitagradChopping Wood and Carrying Water at Gitagrad
I never read the book. By the time it was published I had been a member of the Hare Krishna Movement for more than 11 years. The principles of the book however, very much apply to living the ideals of Krishna Consciousness. Our founder-acharya, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, constantly spoke to his disciples and followers about what he called “simple living and high thinking.”
ISKCON’s founder-acharya, Srila Prabhupada, wanted his followers to establish village communities that exemplified this principle. He taught: “Whatever your occupation may be, that doesn’t matter. But if you worship the Supreme Lord by your occupation, then you are successful. Serve the Supreme Lord by your occupational duty.” He was also very critical of modern society that focuses exclusively on sense gratification devoid of spiritual understanding. He encouraged us: “Don’t waste time for bodily comforts. You have got this body. You have to eat something. You have to cover yourself. So produce your own food and produce your own cloth. Don’t waste time for luxury, and chant Hare Krishna. This is success of life. In this way organize as far as possible, either in Ceylon or in Czechoslovakia, wherever… Save time. Chant Hare Krishna. Don’t be allured by the machine civilization. . . .This is soul-killing civilization, this kind way of life, especially European countries.”
Our community features self-sufficiency as far as possible, no fruitive work, no cash dealings between the members following the principles of spiritual economics, and the introduction of varna social orders — possibly a first in ISKCON. The idea is to take a regular ISKCON temple and expand it to the size of a village. The village arrangement provides opportunities to solve the economic problem of food, shelter and clothing directly from the land, without having to depend so much on the artificial money economy, and it allows for a wider variety of activity. Like any other temple, we also aim to make Gitagrad a preaching project, to draw people here to show them how to be happy living a simple life of Krishna consciousness. Our agricultural activities have begun with the planting of two hectares of winter wheat. Ukraine is uniquely different from most Western countries in that a reasonably strong village culture still exists. In the thousands of villages throughout the country most houses are built with local materials on one to two acres of land. Typically the villagers plant large gardens from which they eat almost year around, and many of the villagers have at least one cow. Simple living here is not nearly so difficult as it might be in the countries of Europe or in America where they have abandoned such ideas long ago. Indeed, the locals can teach us a good deal about how to live simply as they still live that way. Joining in their simple living I stay in a simple house, made from brick, clay and straw, that was constructed perhaps 50 years ago. It has no heating system other than the kitchen’s wood stove, which must be fed chopped wood. There is no running water - that has to be carried from the well that is about 30 meters from the house. There is no gas for making hot water. For that we must also chop wood. There is also no bathroom, just an outdoor privy, and for bathing I have been taking bucket showers outdoors. As the temperature cools I will use a small tub indoors to catch the water. This is the simple life. Very simple.
In my own visits to Indian villages I have confirmed Schumacher’s observation - the villagers have nothing but time. Time for each other, time for their children, time for worship of the Lord. Time for all of the important things in life - something that modern city people do not have. In America people actually spend more time shopping than they do with their children. Talk about misplaced values! Rather than misplaced values, the fact is that modern society is wrongly organized. It’s a misdirected culture. And it is this that we seek to correct at Gitagrad. We want to realize the benefits of simple living in the form of time. What we plan to do with that time is to use it for developing our relationship with God in direct ways of reading and hearing about His pastimes, and chanting His holy names with the mahamantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Winter will soon be upon us, and with that a reduction in the amount of activity that can be done. Then our bhajan will begin in earnest. I’ll be writing more about bhakti yoga and our practice of it here at Gitagrad in the weeks and months to come. If you like you can find out more on my blog at gitagrad.blogspot.com Halloween Block Party Maha Harinam Kirtan 2009Nityananda Chandra Das: About 100,000 people every year attend this event in Oak Lawn, the gay & lesbian district of Dallas Texas. Each year thousands upon thousands of Martians, animals, zombies, presidents, popes, cartoon characters, seasons, babies, and so on joined in singing and dancing in the kirtan. My Offering to Gurudeva Srila PrabhupadaOmkara devi dasi: Oftentimes in the past I used to read the Vyasa Puja offerings, and each year could not wait for the new Vyasa Puja book to come out. I would love to look at pictures of Srila Prabhupada and read glorification and rememberances of Srila Prabhupada. Discover the Virtues of Raw MilkJagadvira das: Here's another report from the Health Ranger about raw milk - an important topic for devotees of Lord Krishna the cowherd boy ISKCON GBC Representatives Meet With B.V. Narayana MaharajaBy Anuttama dasa, ISKCON Minister of Communications and Jalakara dasa, BHAKTI Trust Public Affairs Director Vrindavana, India - On October 17, five representatives of Governing Body Commission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), founder-acarya His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, forming an official delegation, met with Srila B. V. Narayana Maharaja, founder-acarya of the BHAKTI Trust Mission, near the pilgrimage site of Govardhana Hill, just a few miles from Vrindavana, India. The meeting, which had been planned for several months, was held at Narayana Maharaja's Sri Sri Gauranga Radha Giridhari temple at Giridhari Gaudiya Math ISKCON GBC Representatives Meet With B.V. Narayana MaharajaISKCON GBC Representatives Meet With B.V. Narayana Maharaja A Joint Statement of: The BHAKTI Trust Public Affairs Office and the ISKCON Communications Ministry October 24, 2009 Vrindavana, India - On October 17, five representatives of Governing Body Commission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), founder-acarya His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, forming an official delegation, met with Srila B. V. Narayana Maharaja, founder-acarya of the BHAKTI Trust Mission, near the pilgrimage site of Govardhana Hill, just a few miles from Vrindavana, India. The meeting, which had been planned for several months, was held at Narayana Maharaja’s Sri Sri Gauranga Radha Giridhari temple at Giridhari Gaudiya Math. The ISKCON leaders in attendance were His Holiness Gopal Krishna Maharaja, His Holiness Lokanath Maharaja, Ravindra Svarupa dasa, Badrinarayan dasa, and Anuttama dasa. Besides Narayana Maharaja himself, BHAKTI Trust leaders present were Sripad B. V. Madhava Maharaja, Brajanath dasa and Jalakara dasa. The meeting lasted for more than thirty minutes. It was described by both sides as “respectful and cordial.” Upon arrival at the temple, the ISKCON leaders had a brief darshan of the temple Deities. Afterward, they were escorted to Narayana Maharaja’s quarters. There, the participants were introduced to each other and there was an exchange of gifts and garlands. Narayana Maharaja opened the meeting by expressing his appreciation for Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON’s founder-acarya, and for Prabhupada’s achievements in promoting Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission around the world. Narayana Maharaja reminded those present of the assistance he had offered to Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON in the early days of Prabhupada’s mission, and after Prabhupada’s passing in 1977. Anuttama dasa, ISKCON’s Communications Minister, speaking on behalf of the GBC, offered a formal apology to Narayana Maharaja for “the GBC’s failure to communicate properly and in a timely personal manner,” to Narayana Maharaja regarding ISKCON policies that were established in 1995. Although the GBC decided at that time the policies were necessary, Anuttama dasa regretted that they had not communicated them properly and the lapse had contributed to further misunderstandings. Anuttama dasa also shared the GBC’s mandate from Srila Prabhupada that the GBC guide and manage his ISKCON institution. Narayana Maharaja made several proposals how to improve the relationship between ISKCON and himself and his followers. The ISKCON delegation said it would convey those suggestions to the full GBC Body. Narayana Maharaja and the ISKCON leaders expressed their shared desire that the two Vaishnava organizations would like to see cordial relations between them based on mutual respect and understanding. As the session drew to a close, both sides expressed gratitude to each other for the meeting and its pleasant tone. As the ISKCON emissaries prepared to leave, a delegation of senior devotees serving in the BHAKTI Trust (Jalakara dasa, B. V. Sajjan Maharaja and Jadurani (Syamarani) dasi) formally asked the GBC representatives to accept their apologies for all mistakes and offenses they had committed in their past relations with ISKCON. Obeisances were then exchanged all around. Issued by: Anuttama dasa, ISKCON Minister of Communications Jalakara dasa, BHAKTI Trust Public Affairs Director More Recent Articles |
By Bhakti Raghava Swami
By HH Bhakti Raghava Swami
Dhanesvara Das: “Chop Wood, Carry Water” — a book about simple living by Rick Fields was published in 1984. The book’s subtitle: “A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life,” tells more about the contents of the book. It’s chapters focus on subjects such as: learning; relationships; sex; family; work; money; play; the earth; social action, etc. The idea of Chop Wood Carry Water comes from a Chinese Zen Master who spoke of the spiritual aspect of everyday things.
In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna states that every person can become perfect by proper performance of their work. The entire Gita leads one to the conclusion that we all should work according to our nature, but with the consciousness of pleasing the Supreme Lord. Working in this way the activity becomes a process of linking oneself to the Supreme, or bhakti yoga, the linking process of devotional service. In the practice of bhakti yoga we do not seek to find satisfaction in everyday affairs by themselves. Actually it is not possible to find satisfaction in material activities alone. Genuine satisfaction can only be found when the person is engaged in their constitutional activity of devotional service to the Supreme Lord. When one is chopping wood and carrying water with a consciousness of devotion, then those activities are actually spiritual activity, which by its nature is satisfying to the heart.
So here we are in Ryabuino, a small village outside of the city of Kharkov in eastern Ukraine. This is where we are beginning our community “Gitagrad”– the place where we live according to the Lord’s instructions in the Bhagavad-gita. Our intention here is to develop the Krishna culture including Daivi-varnashrama, the transcendental varnashrama culture. Just beginning, we are only seven in number, soon to be ten, living in three houses. Interest is high and devotees visit often to inquire about participation.
But the simple life has its advantages. Maverick economist E. F. Schumacher spent some time in India, and he witnessed the simple life of the villagers there, which stood in sharp contrast to the city life of England where he otherwise lived. From this experience he made a startling observation. He wrote that the amount of free time that a culture has is inversely proportional to the number of labor-saving devices that they employ. Such irony. But it is true.
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