Devotees Vaishnavas: January 10, 2011 - Planet ISKCON

miércoles, 26 de mayo de 2010

January 10, 2011 - Planet ISKCON - 19 new articles

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"Planet ISKCON" - 19 new articles
H.H. Sivarama Swami
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: February-May FOLK News Online
ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Toronto's Srila Prabhupada Marathon 2010
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana
Japa Group: We Have To Very Cautious
Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: Why there are so many ghostly people in the world today
Devadeva Mirel, Alachua, USA: My Tiny Vegan Birthday Party
Dandavats.com: Message from ISKCON Minister for Health and Welfare
Kurma dasa, AU: The Wanderings of the Living Entities
H.H. Sivarama Swami: From Istanbul
H.H. Prahladananda Swami: Vol 16 of “Hope This Meets You In Good Health” Magazine
Subhavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: New Vrindavan, WV - Sattva-gunna, the mode of goodness is characterized by maintenance
Gauranga Kishore das,USA: In The End
Rupa Madhurya das, TX, USA: Janmastami Bhajan - Amala Kirtan das - Hare Krishna
Tirtharaj dasa, AU: The future
Akrura das, Gita Coaching: FREE LOVERS
Japa Group: Japa Workshop #4 of 6
Japa Group: Removes Sufferings From Everyone
Gouranga TV: New Year’s Eve Bhajan 2
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H.H. Sivarama Swami
When a Krishna Conscious person is elevated to a responsible position, he never becomes puffed up. Just like a tree when overladen with fruits becomes humble and lower down; similarly, a great soul in Krishna Consciousness becomes humbler than the grass and bowed down like the fruitful trees because a Krishna Conscious person acts as the agent of Krishna, therefore he discharges his duty with great responsibility.
- Srila Prabhupada
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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: February-May FOLK News Online
Your February-May edition of FOLK news will arrive in your letterbox this week. Here is your online edition.

The next four months are jammed with exciting events. The highlight is a grand Festival of The Chariots on Sunday February the 13th. (in collaboration with the St. Kilda Festival). Our huge wheeled-Ratha parade starts at 12 noon from the corner of Jackson and Fitzroy Streets. From 10am. till 8:30pm. we will establish a Vedic Village in Catani Gardens.

A couple of special events lead up to Lord Chaitanya's Appearance on Sunday March the 20th. - the Appearance of Advaita Acharya on Thursday the 10th. of February and the Appearance of Lord Nityananda on Wednesday the 16th. of February.

Then on Wednesday April the 13th., we'll celebrate Lord Ramachandra's Appearance, followed by Lord Narasimha's Appearance on Sunday May the 16th.

Finally, some special visitors to Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir from February to May are: Prahladanandana Swami (January-February, perhaps including a farm Yoga Retreat); Kadamba Kanana Swami (February); Bhakti Rasamrita Swami (April-May); Narayani Dasi (date unconfirmed).
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ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Toronto's Srila Prabhupada Marathon 2010
December, 2010 saw Toronto's vibrant Hare Krishna community join hundreds of Hare Krishna centres around the world in the annual "Srila Prabhupada Marathon". During the last month of the year, temples around the world make a focused effort to share (distribute) as many books of ancient, spiritual wisdom with the public!

With continued inspiration from HG Vaisesika das, the goal this year was to distribute 5,000 books (that's twice the amount of last year's marathon goal). Were the devotees successful in their efforts? Watch this video to find out!

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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana

The description of Sri Nityananda-Balarama in the Sri Nityananda Caritamrita is quite befitting today:

"He decorated His head with a turban made of colourful cloths.
He wore beautiful earrings, and His brightly shining face defeated the beauty of the moon.

He had bracelets on His hands and rings on His fingers...
His head resembled that of a lion, and His shoulders those of an elephant...

His golden limbs exuded prema..."

Here's the darsana of the expansions of the Lord of the universe as Srila Vrndavana Dasa Thakura would see it through divine revelation.
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Japa Group: We Have To Very Cautious
From this we can understand how we have to very cautious in executing our spiritual duties by observing the rules and regulations and regularly chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.8.8
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Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: Why there are so many ghostly people in the world today
Lord Siva, being very kind to the ghosts, sees that although they are condemned, they get physical bodies. He places them into the wombs of women who indulge in sexual intercourse regardless of the restrictions on time and circumstance.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 3.14.24
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Devadeva Mirel, Alachua, USA: My Tiny Vegan Birthday Party
While Babu and I cooked, Bindu gazed out the window. Well, as much as her newborn eyes can gaze.

We only invited two guests, but one brought four kids and the other brought one. I wanted to be sure we would have enough cake on hand. These cupcakes were the only non-vegan food at the party. Because none of the kids are vegan.

We went the easy route when menu planning. My husband made these delicious tofu kebabs in a spicy peanut sauce.

I made tofu kebabs in a barbecue sauce. Bindu was in the Bjorn, so Babu put them in the oven for me.

Vegan organic chocolate cake from Amaradha. My favorite!

My husband's first venture into American Cuisine: vegan Rice Krispie treats.

Salad + dressing, brown rice and tofu/eggplant/chickpea/spinach sabji rounded out the menu.

Best birthday ever...complete with Baby Bindu!

Clean Up

Art left by one of our small guests.

The next day, off to another party....

Tagged: brunch, dessert, food, tofu, vegan, vegetarian
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Dandavats.com: Message from ISKCON Minister for Health and Welfare
By Prahlada- nanda Swami
In 1967, Srila Prabhupada wrote to a disciple: "Be careful about your health frst. Tis information is not only for you but all my noble sons. I am an old man. I may live or die it does not matter. But you must live for long time to push on this Krishna Consciousness movement."
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Kurma dasa, AU: The Wanderings of the Living Entities
Since we're talking history, I thought I'd re-publish this blog I wrote last year.
"My sister absent-mindedly googled our mother's 'maiden name' the other day and was directed to the Australian War Memorial Archives. One link led to another, and she found this photo.

It was captioned "Miss Mclean conducts children singing a song she composed on the voyage". The voyage was a ship full of children being evacuated during World War Two. Children from London were being re-located to places like Australia, Canada and South Africa to protect their lives during the war. The date of this photo was 1940. My mother is in the front row, her right arm around the girl in the white floppy hat.
Between 1939 - 1945 there were three major evacuations in preparation for the German Luftwaffe bombing of Britain. The first official evacuations began on 1 September 1939, two days before the declaration of war. By January 1940 almost 60% had returned to their homes. A second evacuation effort was started after the Germans had taken over most of France. From 13 June to 18 June 1940, around 100,000 children were evacuated (in many cases re-evacuated).

When the Blitz began on 7 September 1940, children who had returned home or had not been evacuated were evacuated. From June 1944, the Germans attacked again by firing V1 rockets on Britain, followed later by also V2 rockets. One million women, children, elderly and disabled people were evacuated from London.
Some of these boatloads of children did not make it to their destination. The City Line steamship, The City of Benares, sailed from her home port, Liverpool, on Friday September 13th 1940, an inauspicious day. On board she carried a very special cargo, children, 90 city kids whom their parents deemed would be safer overseas than facing the bombing at home. The ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat. 248 of the 406 people on board were lost, including more than 70 of the children.
My mother's ship made it safely to Australia, where she stayed with relatives until the war was over. She then returned to London, met my father, married and gave birth to me and my sisters.
Later, in 1964, on the recommendation of my mother who had fond memories of her time in the big Southern Land, our whole family emigrated to Australia.
During my last year of High School, a Hare Krishna devotee (Upananda) walked into the Indian handicrafts boutique where my mother worked, and purchased from her a set of brass vases for the first Hare Krishna Temple in the Sydney suburb of Potts Point, and she related to me the story. Later I met the Hare Krishna devotees, then in 1971 I met my Spiritual Master. This was a great turning point in my life.
Such are the wanderings of the living entities."
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H.H. Sivarama Swami: From Istanbul
Anonymous asks: When is appropriate to protect oneself (not other vaisnavas) if at risk of physical attack and when is it not?
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H.H. Prahladananda Swami: Vol 16 of “Hope This Meets You In Good Health” Magazine
available here.
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Subhavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: New Vrindavan, WV - Sattva-gunna, the mode of goodness is characterized by maintenance
[Note: Please see yesterday's post to make sense of this one. Also, as a disclaimer the next few days of blog posts are written by Subhavilasa's son, Indresh.]

The morning of the next day we packed up from the hotel and loaded up the van and kids and through the dark curvy roads made our way to Palace Road. Of course over the last many  years we have made trip to New Vrindavan a few times but this would be the first time we have gone to a morning program or during the winter since the 80's.

As I drove over the dark, icy and curvy roads, the memories are bitter sweet. The sweet memories of when we attened the Palace opening in '79 and my sis getting 2nd initation at the time at the Palace. The sweet memory of me leading kirtan as a kid on the bus from Chicago and as we got closer the dancing and chanting reaching a crescendo. The sweet memory of taking multiple buses over many summers from Toronto full of devotees, Indians and once whole group of university students that made for an impressive convoy. The memory of me in a saffron dhoti dancing in the front at mangala artik. Even when Radhanath Swami, Kuladri Prabhu, and so many NV devotees came to stay at our home in Toronto...

Unfortunately, those memories are mixed with some bitter memories as well. Most of which is history that does not need to be explained to ISKCONers reading this blog. I remember my dad flying into Piitsburgh to be picked up to go to NV for some meetings and this coincidentally happened during the "pipe in the head" incident and a trip that was supposed to be for a couple of days got extended as he helped out. I remember during the "off limits period", me, my dad and sis heading to the Prabhupada Centennial and ISKCON foundation meetings in Potomac and us deciding to take a detour to see Sri Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra. At that time we felt Sri Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra were crying and shook our head at the Budha like enormous statue of Srila Prabhupada and thought that perhaps that was the last visit.  But with Srila Prabhupada's and Sri Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra's mercy all of this changed.

So it was with some of these memories playing in my head that I drove to what was expected to be a quiet morning program in the hills of West Virginia. As we entered Srila Prabhupada sat there in traquility. Then of course came darshan of Sri Sri Vrindavan Chandra and all you can do is soak up their effulgence. Of course they are not crying, but rather They are happy, smiling and twinkling.

As expected the temple was not bustling with hoards of devotees like I remember it during Christmas holiday visits in the 80s. During Guru-puja I realized that this is not important. The temple was bustling with sincerity. Nityodita das (president) was chanting to Srila Prabhupada the same as he would on  a festival day with a packed  house. There were 4 pujaris doing service, one for Jaganatha's altar, one for the main Sri Vrindavan Chandra's altar, one for Lord Narshimadeva and another for Srila Prabhupada.

I was reminded about the 3 modes of nature. Destruction is in the mode of darkness (Tamo-gunna), building up is done is done in the mode of passion (Rajo-guna) but maintenance is in the mode of goodness (Sattva-guna). I realized this was the case here and thus the title of the article.

So in the hills of West Virginia on a cold December morning we were immersed in Sattva-guna and could see why Srila Prabhupada was so tranquil and Sri Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra was smiling. Sincere devotees were carrying on Srila Prabhupada's movement, through thick and thin. This sincerity will ensure the fulfillment of Srila Prabhupada's instructions and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's precepts shall take place.

With humility and honor, Nityodita Prabhu and the devotees of New Vrindavan had my dad give morning class and also share in some memories of Srila Prabhupada. During a time of gift giving over the holidays, what better way to remember the person who gave us the greatest gift of all, Srila Prabhupada.

One devotee gave garlands to all the kids and they were thrilled. And then we had huge dosas for breakfast prasadam which would fuel us for rest of the day's travels.

Of course, with the kids in tow, the trip would not be complete without seeing Prabhupada's Palace of Gold.  Of course the Palace remains remarkable and Srila Prabhupada is in his rightful place inside a nice warm temple room. However, outside the main temple room the rest of the Palace was freezing cold to the point that after about 5 or 10 minutes the kids wanted to run and get back in the warm van. However, what stood out was the lone devotee doing her duty and service. This Mataji will be there for hours ready to give a warm greeting to all thouse who want to take Srila Prabhupada's darshan and see what devotion to one's guru can build. So Krishna sees this sincerity and like my mom often reminds me, devotional service is like bank and many have made deposits and many continue to make deposits.

dasanudas,
Indresh
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Gauranga Kishore das,USA: In The End

I'm not sure if anyone out there is still following this blog but for those that are:

Well, it is a new year, and one of the things I'd like to do is get back into blogging and personal writing. Realistically it is not very likely but I'm going to give it a shot.

So, here it goes, my first blog post of the new year and in quite a while.

I wanted to blog this quote from Mother Teresa. I first came across it in a chain mail email spam thing and thought it was a nice quote, and I recently came across it again and it was attributed to Mother Teresa, so here it is.

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.  
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
-Mother Teresa
This is such a powerful way of viewing relationships because it allows one to be conscious of God at all times, in all relationships. And it does wonders for one's relationships because it allows one to offer love unconditionally without expecting anything in return.

And for those that haven't realized this yet, expectations can cause a lot of problems in relationships. Of course most people realize this, but putting it into practice without a deep spiritual foundation is impossible.
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Rupa Madhurya das, TX, USA: Janmastami Bhajan - Amala Kirtan das - Hare Krishna
Amala Kirtan das along with Karnamrita singing a Hare Krishna bhajan at Janmastami.
Amala Kirtan (lead vocals), Karnamrita (backup vocals), Gopi Gita (backup vocals), Kapil (drum), Kalindi (drum), Bhakta Alan (Violin), Achyutananda das (guitar), Arpita (Kartals)
Dallas, TX
2010-09-01

Download: 2010-09-01 - 6 - Janmastami - Amala Kirtan das - Hare Krishna.mp3

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Tirtharaj dasa, AU: The future
Here in Brisbane the rain has just been non stop. In a few days I go to Hawaii for a conference and then back to Brisbane for a few weeks. Then it's off to India for a month and then to the Middle Kingdom. Stay tuned!
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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: FREE LOVERS
Those who are eternally free, liberated, they are godly. They are always ready to serve the Lord with love and devotion. And they are fully satisfied by that.

Just like a mother. She is satisfied simply by loving child, or friend is satisfied simply by loving a friend. Of course, that sort of pure love is very rare in this material world, but at least we can get an idea from these worldly examples how it is on a spiritual platform.

The eternally liberated souls, they are satisfied simply by loving Krsna.

Everyone wants to love. That is natural propensity. When there is no loving object, then in this world we get cats and dogs, because we must love somebody. If we don't find any suitable human being to love, we turn our love to some animal.

So our love for Krsna is dormant. It is within us, but because we have no information of Krsna, we are focusing our love on something which creates frustration. Here in this material world, love is 99.9% frustration, because the love is not reposed to the proper place.

The proper place is Krsna. If we love Krsna, then we can love everyone. Just like if we pour water on the root of the tree then the other parts of the tree, leaves and flowers and fruits and branches, automatically become nourished. So if we learn to love Krsna, then we can perfectly love others.

Those who are eternally liberated, they love Krsna. Therefore they are perfect in the spiritual world. The Supreme Lord is person, and His innumerable lovers, living entities, they are also individual persons. Love means there is person, individual.

Without individual person, there is no question of love. When the word "love" is used, there must be two lovers. Then the word love is applicable. If there is no person, love cannot be with the air. There must be person. So the Supreme Lord is person, and the lovers, the living entities, they are also persons.

We have a mundane experience of love affairs and we like it, so just imagine when that love is pure and true, how much pleasure there is. That thing is there in the spiritual world, pure love. And object is Krsna. Therefore those who love Krsna, His pure devotees, are always so much in bliss.
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Japa Group: Japa Workshop #4 of 6
In this session of the Japa Workshop, participants share their realizations and describe the progress that they have made.

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Japa Group: Removes Sufferings From Everyone

Hare Krsna dear devotees, I hope your year has been with very happy moments in spiritual life and that you are able to experience Krsna through chanting.
I was reading yesterday how important is the chanting of the holy names in this Age, sometimes we tend to forget the power of harinama sakirtan, but we should always be reminded of how merciful was Srila Prabhupada by giving us this process. Below is a verse from Namastakam:
O Harinama, who are sung by the sages! O You who have assumed the form of transcendental syllables that bring great happiness to all people! Even if You are spoken only once, and even if You are spoken disrespectfully or in jest, You at once remove the many terrible sufferings of everyone.
Srila Rupa Gosvamipada Verse 2
May you have a blessed week!

your servant,

Aruna devi
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Gouranga TV: New Year’s Eve Bhajan 2
New Year’s Eve Bhajan 2 His Holiness Sivarama Maharaja

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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana

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Janmastami Bhajan - Karnamrita - Krishna Jinika Namahe - 5/7
Janmastami Dance - Wo Kisna He - 7/7

Amala Kirtan das along with Karnamrita singing a Hare Krishna bhajan at Janmastami.

Amala Kirtan (lead vocals), Karnamrita (backup vocals), Gopi Gita (backup vocals), Kapil (drum), Kalindi (drum), Bhakta Alan (Violin), Achyutananda das (guitar), Arpita (Kartals)

Dallas, TX
2010-09-01

Download: 2010-09-01 - 6 - Janmastami - Amala Kirtan das - Hare Krishna.mp3

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