miércoles, 12 de mayo de 2010

Planet ISKCON - 41 new articles

 

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"Planet ISKCON" - 41 new articles

  1. H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Wednesday 12 May 2010--Flying High in the Spiritual Sky--and--Which Author Keeps the Vedas Intact?
  2. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  3. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  4. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  5. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  6. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  7. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  8. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  9. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  10. ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Bhakta Prabhu
  11. Kurma dasa, AU: The Express Train of Life
  12. H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Monday, May 10th, 2010
  13. H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Sunday, May 9th, 2010
  14. Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: Sleeping is very dangerous
  15. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: '433' from The Yellow Submarine
  16. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 'On a Morning Walk' from The Yellow Submarine
  17. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 'The Songs of a Hare Krishna Man' from The Yellow Submarine
  18. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 'Little Drops of Nectar: Mrdanga' from The Yellow Submarine
  19. Rupa Madhurya das, TX, USA: Bhajan - New Year's Eve 2010 - Hari das - 13/22
  20. Sutapa das, BV Manor, UK: Bhagavad-gita: Uncommon Sense
  21. H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Tuesday 11 May 2010--Don't Try to Be the Enjoyer--and--Avatars and Fragmental Souls
  22. Dandavats.com: There, But Not There
  23. Dandavats.com: My Journey with Amekhala Devi
  24. Dandavats.com: Offering To Amekhala Devi
  25. Dandavats.com: A tribute to Amekhala devi dasi
  26. Dandavats.com: Kirtan at the Camp-fire
  27. Dandavats.com: Bhagvat Katha Saptah in Phoenix
  28. Namahatta.org: BUILDING VIBRANT VAISNAVA COMMUNITIES
  29. Dandavats.com: THE EIGHT PETALS (Purshottam Mas) Released
  30. Dandavats.com: Deity & Devotee Dresses
  31. ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Sunday Feast Recording - May 9, 2010
  32. Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Endings
  33. H.H. Sivarama Swami: Remembering the early days in Krsna Valley
  34. H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Saturday, May 8th, 2010
  35. H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Friday, May 7th, 2010
  36. H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Thursday, May 6th, 2010
  37. Japa Group: Chant Krsna's Names With Awareness
  38. Kurma dasa, AU: I Know What You Did Last Saturday...
  39. Yoga of Ecology, Bhakta Chris, USA: Cows On Drugs
  40. H.H. Sivarama Swami
  41. Gouranga TV: Indradyumna Swami kirtan – Vrindavan kartik 2009 – Part 1/5
  42. More Recent Articles
  43. Search Planet ISKCON

H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Wednesday 12 May 2010--Flying High in the Spiritual Sky--and--Which Author Keeps the Vedas Intact?

Tuesday 11 May 2010--As I write these words we are flying high above the clouds traveling from Austin to Detroit on the first leg of our journey to London to resume our around-the-world lecture tour. Instead of being covered by the clouds as are the people below us, we are situated far above those white fluffy balls enjoying the sunshine, which is not...

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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1966 May 11:
"Saptami. In the evening there was meeting, nine or ten ladies & gentlemen attending. Discussed with Carl about L.S.D. He is convinced about my arguments that there is no necessity of it for spiritual revelation."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1966

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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1970 May 11: "Organize the new center even at personal inconvenience - that is real service. Maya is very strong, and we are liable to fall down at any moment. We have to gather our strength by chanting the beads sixteen rounds regularly and praying to Krishna for guidance. Kindly follow my instructions and forget if there is any disagreement."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1972 May 11: "What are your plans for Bangladesh? There is great opportunity, and when Americans speak it will be very convincing and the Muslims in Bangladesh will agree to hear. Convince them - this is the only means to unify the whole world."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1972 May 11: "Regarding second initiation, I approve and you hold a fire yajna and give them all threads. The tape of me reciting Gayatri mantra, this can be heard through the right ear by earphones during the yajna. There is another request for 2nd initiation but I have not received any recommendation from temple president or sannyasi."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1973 May 11: "This man is playing some trick so we shall also play some trick. We shall not vacate any of the rooms upstairs or downstairs; this should be our policy. We shall take them to court and pray to the court to settle the matter. In this way we have to deal with these men."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1974 May 11: "The status quo is threatened as I do not think the boys can manage the buildings and land which we own here. It requires strong management. I am fearful what will happen here in my absence. So consider my proposal seriously. I am coming to Paris by the 9th of June."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1975 May 11: "I was training you to take up the charge of Vrndavana center very expertly. Unfortunately, both of you are fallen from service. Anyway, the Vrndavana opening ceremony was performed very gorgeously. Your husband was present, but his business was different."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1975 May 11: "He has sold so many of our properties through the Mukutwalla. He is collecting money like anything and is not contributing anything to the society. His only business is to acquire money. I did not say anything to him. I am simply praying to Krishna for his welfare."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Bhakta Prabhu

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.20.22 - Live a luxurious life. Surrender to Krishna.

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Kurma dasa, AU: The Express Train of Life

life speeding by:

Things have been hectic, and I've dropped behind in my blogging. Specifically I mean I haven't published journals of cookery weekends that have now slipped by like station platforms flashing past an express train window.

My life seems to be accelerating, and years are racing by in ever-increasing velocity. I'm constantly reminded of this, like when I spoke to my old friend Dusta Mohan last weekend in Canberra. 'How long has it been since we last met?', we mused. 5 years, 10 years...? No it was 1996, almost 14 years ago! To my teenage son, himself almost 14, those years are a huge lifetime. To me, a few blinks of an eye.

John Lennon sung "Life is what happens to you / While you're busy making other plans". In other words, he was saying that since we can't see the big picture, why worry and obsess over things we have no control. I understand his 'train of thought' - excuse the play on words - but I don't entirely agree. In actuality, life is meant for undertstanding what that big picture really is. We must never lose sight of the big picture, and who we really are, else what is the point of our sojourn, and where are we going?

We're on a journey, to be sure, but the real passenger is looking out of these eyes, just like 'we' look out of the train window. We are not these bodies.

My Spiritual Master Srila Prabhupada stated (way back in 1973): "The soul already has a spiritual body, which the material body covers. My material body grows upon me - my spiritual body – but my material body is unnatural. The real body is spiritual. I am accepting various bodies that are unnatural to my constitution. My real, constitutional position is to be the servant of Krishna."

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H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Monday, May 10th, 2010

Outside & Inside

Toronto, Ontario

I was determined to meet the air, wind and sun on this new day. A younger monk, Karuna Sindhu, 28, and I made it a point to do just that. It's easy to become an indoor addict even with service to God. There's God within and God without. So out we went at an hour of opportunity. Only it became an extra hour ordeal. It's just how it happened.

It was Pat, a woman at 50, a neighbour from Rosedale that lengthened our anticipated trekking time. I hadn't seen her for 14 years. She saw Karuna and I walking through the park as she was walking her two dogs. "Are you the walking monk?" she asked. I didn't recognize her in the way that she did notice me, at least in the beginning. It's the robes that always makes it easier for others. She continued, "I met you…"

"Of course, I saw you in Saskatchewan on my first walk (in '96). You were with your husband who drove a truck," I recalled.

From there we spoke a bit of necessary trivia. She expressed her love for nature, for travel, for India, and respect for what we do as monks. I wondered what Karuna was thinking about all this light conversation and why it didn't perhaps reach deeper channels.

Pat like millions of people are willing to have as their friend a monk but not so willing to commit to a particular spiritual practice. But the time may come when she will have her moment of introspection when there will be a need to reach deeper.

I hope that day will come. It's something we all should do – to reach deeper.

I was pleased to see her and hopefully our paths will cross again. I know her place of residence. "Come on over anytime!" she beckoned.

"I will," I thought, but only if her hubby is there. I say this because I am a monk.

In the evening Andreas, a student from Equador came to the temple. He asked about seminars in order to learn. (There are millions of people who want to go deeper.) It was so convenient for me to say to him, "Yes, in fact there is a visiting monk from India who is about to start in a few minutes." I think you can learn something. Andreas entered the main temple room, sat down with a smile and began to listen.

7 KM

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H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Sunday, May 9th, 2010

By the Pond

Moundsville, West Virginia

I had trekked around that peaceful pond at New Vrindavan and came to a patch of grass at the water's edge. It wasn't just the soft green that drew me but the sight of the sleeping swan that did. His agile neck was relaxed on his white downed body. He was resting for sure as I was chanting while gently rolling and fingering my japa beads. At one point the handsome guy lifted his head for reasons I'm not sure. Perhaps like one of us on a short nap we make a slight toss or turn. He spotted me but wasn't phased by my presence. He remained relaxed.

I pondered on all the things I heard our guru (Srila Prabhupada) say about swans - swans versus crows; swans extracting cream out of milk; swans entangling necks in submerged vines. Then Vayu came (the wind). He imposed himself on me, or so I took it. He came forcefully while the swan took no offence to the gutsy gust. That sudden powerful wave of air picked up one small feather off the body of the bird and tossed it in the air. It whirled and whirled like a soul thrown by karma. After a lengthy and lofty journey the feather firstly made the smoothest wet landing on that most placid pond.

There was not even a splash but a mild touch of contact of the feather to the water was my queue to leave that grassy spot next to my snow white friend. It was time for more walking. I did move on to the peacock edge of the pond. Those flaunting boys were fawning their plumage with a pride that I cannot describe.

Many things happened on this special day, Mother's Day, which began with one of my godsisters, Akuti, leading the morning chant. I had warm exchanges with many brothers and sisters this day. And our dear troupe performed well on the stage with an intense version of 'Lonely People.' But the one major warm spot lingered in my mind when I chanted beside my sleeping friend at the pond.

2 KM

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Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: Sleeping is very dangerous

Therefore Rupa Gosvami says, utsaha. We shall be always enthusiastic. But we cannot become enthusiastic artificially. There must be bhagavad-bhakti-yoga. Just like these visitors in the temple, see how much enthusiastic they are. They are rising early in the morning, going to take bath in the Yamuna, and they are visiting so many temples, especially this Damodara temple, because it is Damodara month. And from five o'clock or before that, three o'clock, they are enthusiastic. They are not sleeping very nicely. That means lack of bhagavad-bhakti-yoga. It is maya. So you must be very careful. Test. If we cannot rise early in the morning, that means we are under the clutches of maya. This is the test.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore says,

jiv jago jiv jago gauracanda bole kota nidra jao maya-pisacira kole

Sleeping is very dangerous. It is to be understood that I am under the clutches of maya, the more we sleep, because the symptom of tamo-guna is laziness and sleep. This is the symptom of tamo-guna, laziness and sleeping.

Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.20 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1972

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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: '433' from The Yellow Submarine

www.sdgonline.org. SDGonline Daily updates

3:58 A.M.

I had a headache during the night but subdued it and slept for most of the night. I got out of bed at 2:00 A.M. As I began my chanting, it felt intimate and cozy. It was like sitting near the fire in a fireplace in a chilly room. But eventually my eyes began to burn. I turned to concentrating on rapid chanting to build up the quota. I kept very careful attention of the syllables, but my main focus was on the numerical count. I watched the clock and ran through the rounds. I kept it up steadily without any drowsiness, and I have chanted my complete sixteen rounds. It was more like a horserace than a contemplation. But it was very concentrated and so I don't want to put it down as poor chanting. It was the chanting of a racer. I was attentive on a superficial level but not on a deeper level. My mind did not wander into other subjects of consciousness and so that is good. It was all building up the rounds to reach sixteen.

Numbers of mantras
was my japa today.
Keeping away from
all sleepiness and moving
quickly from one mantra
to the next. That's how
I describe it. A race
to the finish of the
minimum quota, sixteen
rounds. You did not
pray but you paid
attention to enunciation,
rushing to not be
late, to reach the
finish line like a
long distance sprinter
of the holy names. It
was a marathon,
and not the best
but not the worst.

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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 'On a Morning Walk' from The Yellow Submarine

www.sdgonline.org. SDGonline Daily updates

Prabhupada Smaranam

We are crowded around him. At least three microphones are placed near his mouth. He does not mind it because he knows what he says is important, and all those devotees around the world who are not present can get a chance to hear what he said. Even the devotees who are with him will forget what he said unless it is recorded. The tape recorder is serving as one of the most valuable instruments in the world.

He has stopped walking in order to concentrate and emphasize a point. He is exacting and cool headed and gentle.

The devotees are eager to hear what he says. He is explaining Krishna consciousness in his inimitable way. They are all very young and are soaking in his talk. It is Germany in 1974. He wants them to be learned and strong. He is speaking in parampara, but with his own realizations.

Prabhupada placed great importance on recording of his speeches, and in 1965 he recorded in New York City even when no one was present. Forty years previously Swami Bon had little success in Germany, changing to western clothes and speaking only to learned scholars. Prabhupada spoke not only to the head but the heart, and he had great success among the youth of Germany. Thus Prabhupada satisfied the desire of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati for the Gaudiya Vaisnava mission in Europe. In three years in Germany Swami Bon managed to convert two German gentlemen whereas Prabhupada converted hundreds with his uncompromising deliverance of Krishna consciousness. Even Prabhupada's disciples where able to break through in Germany. He gave the prize winning formula, kirtana, prasadam,book distribution and lecturing as prescribed by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 'The Songs of a Hare Krishna Man' from The Yellow Submarine

www.sdgonline.org. SDGonline Daily updates

I'm reading Songs of a
Hare Krishna Man
and looking
to pick up on their freedom
and rhythm, their reaching
out to whatever occurs to the
mind and bringing it back to
Krishna.

I would like to write like that
again, memories and vagaries
and words leading you into
goldmines and coal mines
and remembering Prabhupada.

Nowadays I speak more sastric
and work the same themes,
how the Lord is best in His
humanlike size, and people
who don't understand are
doomed to hell. "When I
appear in My original form…"

Your poems can be freer
association like your phone
call yesterday with Narayana
which kept getting cut off.
He advised I try to stop
the migraine chain by
taking medicine even before
pain comes, and he told
me work on the house in
New York is going at a
regular pace, I should
not be anxious about
it. He said life there
was friendly and relaxed,
and I'll like it.

I read from sections of
the Bhagavad-gita and enjoyed
them, favorite sections
where the bhakti is
strongest. I turned the
pages at random and read
until my eyes became
tired.

Watching the Phillies and
Celtics on TV may have
brought on the headache,
but I turned to it for
t.p. ("time passing")
when my day's writing
is done.

The headache may be caused
by strain of writing. I
try to get it all done in the
morning. Are we running out
of pictures? Haridasa suggested
I could write the journal every
other day to give myself
a break, but I'm locked
into daily writing. A journal
means every day.

You can expect you'll write
the same things about Krishna.
He does the same things every
day in Vraja. He rises from
bed at His mother's call, and
His cowherd friends come
into the room and say, "Why
are You sleeping so late?
The cows are waiting for
You to milk them." He
goes out into the goshala
and affectionately treats each
cow, calling them by name
and milking their udders
with His tender hands.

Everything he does is the
same but varied in subtle
ways, and the Vrajavasis
are never bored with the
routine of activities.

I also like to repeat His
lilas and tell of my
attraction to Radha-Krishna.
I confess my weaknesses
and misbehavior, but
I'm hopeful that I
can write poems that
will catch the reader's
attention with a different
twist, a way of saying
something new for the
day after Mother's Day,
and my sturdy heart beats—I will visit
a cardiologist later
in the week, and he
will tell me. I'm
mortal, but I still
have time for new
poems with bounce
like "Songs of a Hare Krishna Man."

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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 'Little Drops of Nectar: Mrdanga' from The Yellow Submarine

www.sdgonline.org. SDGonline Daily updates

Free write

partial views of two persons playing mdranga

Prabhupada at first had no mrdanga in America, and he played in rousing kirtanas for six months with a one-headed bongo drum. He managed unique mrdanga–like beats with his two hands on the one head and played it in the temple and at Tompkins Square Park. There is a recording of kirtana with this one-headed drum and it sounds very sweet and strongly rhythmic. Finally, he was sent karatalas and mrdangas from India, and he played mrdanga himself and let his students learn also. Someone suggested that he bring a professional mrdanga player to the west to teach his disciples. But Prabhupada said they could learn to play by regular practice and learning while playing during kirtana. By this method some of them became proficiently self-taught, and they practiced too in kirtanas.

When his western devotees went to India in 1971, they began to learn from mrdanga players in India and eventually mastered the instrument. There are now many expert mrdanga players.

Second generation devotees such as ex–gurukulis are often held to Krishna consciousness through the kirtana. Prabhupada taught everything—music, dance, mrdanga and it is being passed down through family tradition or disciplic succession. Here a boy and girl seem to be finding a healthy outlet for teenage passion in the beats of the mrdangas.

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Rupa Madhurya das, TX, USA: Bhajan - New Year's Eve 2010 - Hari das - 13/22

Hari das singing a Hare Krishna bhajan during the New Year's Eve 12hr bhajan.  (Video is cut short, audio is full length).

Dallas, TX
2010-01-01 


Download: 2010-01-01 - New Year Eve Bhajans - 13 - Hari das.mp3
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Sutapa das, BV Manor, UK: Bhagavad-gita: Uncommon Sense

I have a little campaign going on in my life. "Read 2 verses of the Bhagavad-gita everyday" I propose "and you will have read the entire book in 1 year!" Eminent scholars, scientists and philosophers have recognised the profound wisdom and insight that this great text has to offer. Henry David Thoreau once commented, "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and insignificant."

In forthcoming blog postings I will attempt to give a short acronym overview of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Hopefully it will assist readers in understanding the flow, context and practical application of the spiritual teachings that Krishna offers. The Bhagavad-gita is one of the most logical presentations I have ever come across.

Chapter one sets the scene. Arjuna is a warrior preparing himself for battle. As the armies ready themselves for duel, Arjuna decides to make an analysis of the situation. He requests his chariot driver Krishna to steer towards the middle of the battlefield so he can examine the armies. As he looks around, the imminent suffering and death that is inseparable from combat dawns on him. His compassion for all the participants is awakened. 'Should I really fight?' Arjuna ponders. Beyond those surface doubts, however, are much deeper existential confusions. What is the root cause of suffering? What happens after death? What is the most progressive way to live? Where is real happiness to be found? What is the real duty and purpose in life? Arjuna's dilemma provokes Krishna to reveal essential spiritual truths. In chapter two, Krishna begins unravelling that 'uncommon sense'...

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H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Tuesday 11 May 2010--Don't Try to Be the Enjoyer--and--Avatars and Fragmental Souls

Tuesday 11 May 2010--Don't Try to Be the Enjoyer--and--Avatars and Fragmental Souls If we tell someone that they should not try to be the enjoyer, they may object to this because the natural tendency of all living beings is to enjoy. So how can advise that one should not try to be the enjoyer? The answer is simple. The way to actually enjoy is to serve...

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Dandavats.com: There, But Not There

By Kesava Krsna Dasa

How many of us are fortunate to have not just good friends, but close friends with whom we can phone at any time, and for no particular reason, than to simply share a Krishna conscious realization?

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Dandavats.com: My Journey with Amekhala Devi

By Jamuna Devi Dasi (BCS)

How can one really express their short and special journey; traveling with Amekhala during her final months, on the planet, the last and most important journey of her lifetime, the final test?

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Dandavats.com: Offering To Amekhala Devi

By Srutirupa devi

Amekhala and I begun our friendship while I was living at Bhaktivendanta Manor over 20 years ago. Amekhala stood out to me for she was one the 'special 'ones..

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Dandavats.com: A tribute to Amekhala devi dasi

By Srutakirti das

It has been two weeks since my wife left this world under the protection of Srila Prabhuapda. I have wanted to write my offering, my homage to her, but I haven't been able to do it. I haven't been able to think very clearly.

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Dandavats.com: Kirtan at the Camp-fire

Haridev Das: This year we celebrate the 8th annual "Kirtan at the Camp-fire" festival. Held on the beautiful beaches of east-coast South Africa, this exclusive festival for ISKCON devotees attracts some 800 Hare Krishnas.

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Dandavats.com: Bhagvat Katha Saptah in Phoenix

Dr Prayag Narayan Misra: Ram Swaroop Shastri (Krishna Swaroop Das), initiated in 1992 in Mayapur, West Bengal and later second initiation in 1999 in Alachua, Florida - a disciple of Hrdayanand Goswami Maharaj- concluded a weeklong Srimad Bhagvad Katha in Hindi language in Phoenix, Arizona

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Namahatta.org: BUILDING VIBRANT VAISNAVA COMMUNITIES

-Kasya das

ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry course given by HG. Kaunteya Prabhu

Siligury, May 6 – 9, 2010

Four day seminar took place in peaceful Siligury ISKCON temple Sri Sri Radha Madhava Sundar Mandir. 35 devotee leaders and preachers from different parts of North-east India ISKCON centers attended.

read more

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Dandavats.com: THE EIGHT PETALS (Purshottam Mas) Released

Vrndavanlila dd: I would like to make the announcement of release of eighth issue of the Varnasrama Newsletter. Please review it at your earliest convenience.

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Dandavats.com: Deity & Devotee Dresses

Bhaktin Rama: We have started a new service from New Delhi,India for providing/supplying Deity and Devotee dresses and paraphernalia.

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ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Sunday Feast Recording - May 9, 2010

The recording for this week's Sunday Feast can be viewed by clicking the image below. As a reminder, the recordings from our weekly live web broadcasts are stored on our ISKCON Toronto Video Archive Blog.

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Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Endings


Filed under: Jokes
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H.H. Sivarama Swami: Remembering the early days in Krsna Valley

I think about how much we value Vaisnava festivals today and what role they play in our lives?

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H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Saturday, May 8th, 2010

Moundsville, West Virginia

New Vrindavan is a spiritual oasis in the hills of West Virginia. It becomes a retreat for many pilgrims throughout the year. It also becomes the place for festivities and seminars annually on Mother's Day Weekend. The program is called FOI standing for Festival of Inspiration.

It is also every year that one particular motivational speaker shares his experience. Some highlights of his talk come right now:

1) Prayers of appreciation are superior to prayers of demand
2) Faith isn't everything but it rates right up there with oxygen
3) Life is an echo. What you send out comes back.
4) Complacency is the enemy of success.
5) Kindness is one of the highest forms of intelligence
6) Quoting author Jim Collins "The right people don't think they have jobs. They have responsibilities."
7) Quoting Ralph W Emerson "The most important gift is to give a portion of yourself"
8) Quoting Rabindranath Tagore "Service is joy"
9) In regards to inconvenience in life, "The brook will lose its' song when you remove the rocks"

And every year the speaker makes remarks about negative people. This year he pointed out a weakness in pejorative characters by saying, "Many people have a concern about the swine flu but the real issue is the whine flu."

This latter flu can become epidemical, if not, it already is. We need to raise our consciousness.

5 KM

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H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Friday, May 7th, 2010

A Mother Passes Away

Upstate New York

An extensive car ride restricted my walking. We're headed for West Virginia. It's always an issue at customs. North Americans are not accustomed to producing passports at the border line between the U.S. and Canada but recently it has become a reality. Legislation changed that for good. One thing we have learned, perhaps the hard way (from our youthful endeavours) is to always go on the principle of truth. Just tell the truth. "We are going on a spiritual retreat to West Virginia. We will return on Sunday afternoon." Everything was cool with the customs man asking us questions.

Once we arrived (myself and our little theatre troupe for performing 'Lonely People') and settled in we took to rehearsing a skit in one of New Vrindavan's lodge rooms when a young monk burst into the room. He announced, "One of the cows is leaving her body. Come to the barn!" So we did. There we saw a group of passionate cow lovers chanting by her side. Some of the cow keepers (men) moved her massive body to a dry area with hay laden over the cold floor.

The poor thing had been suffering from some viral problem within the intestines. There she was lying panting away. Emotions prevailed. It did look to me like she had some hours ahead of her. At approximately 11 pm she passed away with loving kindness all around her in the presence of the maha mantra. Her passing was auspicious in all respects. She had given of her service to the world. This once healthy Holstein donated large sums of her good organic milk. Her service will continue into the next life in some form. Her future is likely not to be grim.

The cow, one of the Vedas' seven mothers moved on.

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H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Prisoners Get a Break

Toronto, Ontario

I had a chance to read excerpts from the new book 'Holy Jail' by Candramauli Swami. Heading up the prison ministry within ISKCON is a sensitive and compassionate fellow from the U.S. who describes himself as a vanaprastha, meaning one who is grooming himself for the life of a monk. His service is invaluable. For the persons, men and women, who have made a bad decision in life, who acted at one point impulsively and for that found themselves behind bars, they now have a chance to reform amicably. This excellent book includes artwork, poetry, and prose from some of the inmates. It's impressive how these people who hit some misfortune can express themselves.

One person wrote how we are all in Durgadham, the prison of the material world and how we all are trapped in a cell, this body. Who isn't a criminal? To a large extent we all are criminals who foul up repeatedly in our surges of lust, anger, and greed.

My adrenalin was rising anticipating tomorrow's journey to a West Virginian Spiritual Retreat. I tried to offset the resulting alertness by reading 'Holy Jail'. Instead I was moved to emotion reading about the great work that volunteers do for this prison ministry worldwide. It takes a great amount of patience to deal with prisoners who need extra care. Basically inmates are usually persons who are easily distracted from acts of dharma, duty and obligation. Those who come forward to give guidance and friendship to this oftentimes dismissed sector of society put me to shame.

I have to ask myself, "What am I doing? Whatever it is it's so trivial compared to the labour of love demonstrated by the prison pastoral workers.

7 KM

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Japa Group: Chant Krsna's Names With Awareness


I have to learn to give myself plenty of time to chant and then go within myself and chant Krishna's names with awareness that I am with Krishna Himself in the sound vibration. It's not just a counting time but a time to be with the most wonderful person in all the universes.

From Bhajan Kutir #432
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Kurma dasa, AU: I Know What You Did Last Saturday...

...I taught a class at Cooking Co-ordinates in Belconnen Markets, Canberra (but you already knew that). Afterwards I spent 23 very happy minutes at a 9-hour kirtan. (Kirtan = ecstatic call-and-response chanting of Sanskrit mantras, to music).

Canberra Meditations:

Why only 23 minutes, you ask? Well, I wasn't finished at the cookery school until after 4pm, and I had a 6pm bus back to Sydney. Add up all the drive times and 23 minutes is all I had. But it was quality time.

I was also fortunate to meet an old friend/godbrother of mine who I had not seen since our last Hare Krishna 'pioneers' reunion, in 1996. His name is Dusta Mohan. Dusta, if you're reading this, drop me a line with your phone number, we're having another Big Reunion in 2011.

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Yoga of Ecology, Bhakta Chris, USA: Cows On Drugs

Stanford, Calif.

NOW that Congress has pushed through its complicated legislation to reform the health insurance system, it could take one more simple step to protect the health of all Americans. This one wouldn't raise any taxes or make any further changes to our health insurance system, so it could be quickly passed by Congress with an outpouring of bipartisan support. Or could it?

More than 30 years ago, when I was commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration, we proposed eliminating the use of penicillin and two other antibiotics to promote growth in animals raised for food. When agribusiness interests persuaded Congress not to approve that regulation, we saw firsthand how strong politics can trump wise policy and good science.

Even back then, this nontherapeutic use of antibiotics was being linked to the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria that infect humans. To the leading microbiologists on the F.D.A.'s advisory committee, it was clearly a very bad idea to fatten animals with the same antibiotics used to treat people. But the American Meat Institute and its lobbyists in Washington blocked the F.D.A. proposal.

In 2005, one class of antibiotics, fluoroquinolones, was banned in the production of poultry in the United States. But the total number of antibiotics used in agriculture is continuing to grow. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 70 percent of this use is in animals that are healthy but are vulnerable to transmissible diseases because they live in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

In testimony to Congress last summer, Joshua Sharfstein, the principal deputy commissioner of the F.D.A., estimated that 90,000 Americans die each year from bacterial infections they acquire in hospitals. About 70 percent of those infections are caused by bacteria that are resistant to at least one powerful antibiotic.

That's why the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Pharmacists Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Public Health Association and the National Association of County and City Health Officials are urging Congress to phase out the nontherapeutic use in livestock of antibiotics that are important to humans.

Antibiotic resistance is an expensive problem. A person who cannot be treated with ordinary antibiotics is at risk of having a large number of bacterial infections, and of needing to be treated in the hospital for weeks or even months. The extra costs to the American health care system are as much as $26 billion a year, according to estimates by Cook County Hospital in Chicago and the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, a health policy advocacy group.

Agribusiness argues — as it has for 30 years — that livestock need to be given antibiotics to help them grow properly and keep them free of disease. But consider what has happened in Denmark since the late 1990s, when that country banned the use of antibiotics in farm animals except for therapeutic purposes. The reservoir of resistant bacteria in Danish livestock shrank considerably, a World Health Organization report found. And although some animals lost weight, and some developed infections that needed to be treated with antimicrobial drugs, the benefits of the rule exceeded those costs.

It's 30 years late, but Congress should now pass the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, which would ban industrial farms from using seven classes of antibiotics that are important to human health unless animals or herds are ill, or pharmaceutical companies can prove the drugs' use in livestock does not harm human health.

The pharmaceutical industry and agribusiness face the difficult challenge of developing antimicrobials that work specifically against animal infections without undermining the fight against bacteria that cause disease in humans. But we don't have the luxury of waiting any longer to protect those at risk of increasing antibiotic resistance.

Donald Kennedy, a former commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration, is a professor emeritus of environmental science at Stanford.

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H.H. Sivarama Swami

You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.

-C.S. Lewis

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Gouranga TV: Indradyumna Swami kirtan – Vrindavan kartik 2009 – Part 1/5

Indradyumna Swami kirtan – Vrindavan kartik 2009 – Part 1/5

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