Devotees Vaishnavas: January 28 2011 - Planet ISKCON

jueves, 20 de mayo de 2010

January 28 2011 - Planet ISKCON - 21 new articles

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"Planet ISKCON" - 21 new articles
Vraja Kishor, JP: Why So Many Religions?
H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Thursday 27 January 2011--Don't Lose Your Cool--and--How to Measure One's Purity?
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Srutakirti Prabhu
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Prahladananda Swami
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Evening Class - Srutakirti Prabhu
Book Distribution News: Thank you, thank you, yes, yes, I'll read this......
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana
ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Class from HH Bhakti Brhat Bhagavat Swami in Mayapur - Dec 28, 2010
Japa Group: Regards From Sri Mayapur
H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 203
New Vrndavan, USA: Kartik 24 Hour Kirtan In New Vrindaban
Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Prabhupada’s Effulgence
Sutapa das, BV Manor, UK: Bhagavad-gita in A.C.R.O.N.Y.M
Giridhari das, Brasilia, Brazil: Two Bhakti-yoga Retreats in Pandavas Paradise
Toronto Sankirtan Team, CA: First MSF of 2011 - This Saturday!!!
H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Corrected--Thursday 27 January 2011--Deep Sea Diving for the Ultimate Pearl--and--Who Pleases Lord Krishna the Most?
H.H. Sivarama Swami: Varsana dd asks why taking up chanting may be more difficult for devotees who had stopped doing so at some time
H.H. Sivarama Swami: Last kirtana in the UK at Swansea temple on Jan 26rd
H.H. Sivarama Swami: The Govinda’s food factory in Wales that provides prasadam to the likes of sainsbury’s and Waitrose
Subhavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: Jai Santhoshi Mata! The difference between hodge-podge & Vaishnava scriptural teachings
Gouranga TV: Gopinath Bhajan – Trivikrama Swami Orlando 01/15/11
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Vraja Kishor, JP: Why So Many Religions?
These countless paths can be grouped into three major categories: paths of doing, paths of knowing, paths of feeling. In Sanskrit these are called karma, jñāna, and bhakti paths, respectively.
These paths are cumulative. That is, the soul follows a definite progression from one set of spiritual paths to the next as s/he evolves through them. First come the paths of doing. The main result of perfecting these paths is that one loses the vast majority of ego-selfishness as a result of dedicating one’s actions to actively supporting and caring for and maintaining other people and other beings.
Ego distorts our ability to objectively understand reality. It makes everything subjective. So, when Ego dissipates by the paths of doing we can graduate to the paths of knowing. These paths are very intellectually active in understanding reality through objective philosophy and science. The final result of these paths is to directly understand that one depends upon the Supreme Being at every step and in all ways.
Thus one develops great and deep spiritual feelings for the care bestowed to us by the Supreme Being. One thus sets out into the paths of feeling – the third category of spiritual paths. These paths nourish, cultivate and expand our feelings of gratitude, respect, and love for the supreme. The very culmination of this set of paths is extremely intimate relationship with the Supreme, where we feel the absolute bliss of giving back supreme love to the supreme, in unimpeded and unterminating forms of expression.

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H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Thursday 27 January 2011--Don't Lose Your Cool--and--How to Measure One's Purity?
A daily broadcast of the Ultimate Self Realization Course(TM) Thursday 27 January 2011 The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and His eternal consort, Srimati Radharani are enjoying transcendental pastimes in the topmost planet of the spiritual world, Sri Goloka Vrindavan. They are beckoning us to rejoin them. Our Mission: To help everyone awaken their original Krishna consciousness, which is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Such a global awakening will, in one stroke, solve all the problems of the world society bringing in a new era of unprecedented peace and prosperity for all. May that day, which the world so desperately needs, come very soon. We request you to participate in this mission by reviving your dormant Krishna consciousness and assisting us in spreading this science all over the world. Dedicated with love to ISKCON Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, our beloved spiritual master, and to you, our dear readers. Today's Thought: Don't Lose Your Cool Uploaded from Bhaktivedanta Ashram--Austin, Texas USA A Krishna conscious person always remains cool-headed or equipoised in all circumstances. He is not carried away by victory or defeat, or by gain and loss. In this way his mind is always peaceful, and he is always able to take shelter of Krishna and therefore experience the ultimate happiness, no matter what may be going on around him here in this material world. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Measure One's Purity? I have been practicing Krishna consciousness for two years now, chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra on japa beads every day and following the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat eating, and no gambling. I see a huge change in myself. Most of the time I am not distracted by material desires. My query is how to check to one's purity? And how to find out how more pure we have become? What are the symptoms of 100% purity? Vikram Answer: Detachment from Sense Gratification One's purity can be seen by how much he is detached from all forms of material sense gratification including the desire to be recognized. You mention that most of time you are not distracted by material desires. This means that you have made nice progress. But it also means that you are sometimes distracted by material desires, which means that you still have a way to go yet before you are 100% pure, completely free from all material desires. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Transcendental Resources: Receive the Special Blessings of Krishna Now you too can render the greatest service to the suffering humanity and attract the all-auspicious blessings of Lord Sri Krishna upon yourself and your family by assisting our mission. Lectures and Kirtans in Audio and Video: Link to High Definition Videos Link to Over 1,000 Lecture Audios Lecture-Travel Schedule for 2011 http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/schedule Have Questions or Need Further Guidance? Check out the resources at:http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com or write Sankarshan Das Adhikari at: sda@backtohome.com Get your copy today of the world's greatest self-realization guide book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is available at: http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/store Know someone who could benefit from this? Forward it to them. Searchable archives of all of course material: http://www.sda-archives.com Receive Thought for the Day as an RSS feed:http://www.backtohome.com/rss.htm Unsubscribe or change your email address Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Daily_Thought Copyright 2005-2011 by Ultimate Self Realization.Com Distribution of this material is encouraged. Simply we request you to acknowledge where it is coming from with a link to our sign up page: http://www.backtohome.com Our records indicate that at requested to be enrolled to receive e-mails from the Ultimate Self Realization Course at: This request was made on: From the following IP address:

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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Srutakirti Prabhu
Pastimes related to passing away of Srutakirti Prabhu's wife Amekhala Mataji on 23rd April, 2010.

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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Prahladananda Swami
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.29.32 - Everyone is our guru. From those who are following Krsna's instructions we learn how to do bhakti & from those who are not following Krsna's instructions, we learn what happens when you disobey Krsna.

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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Evening Class - Srutakirti Prabhu
Evening class given on Thursday, 27th January 2011.

Srila Prabhupada's Pastimes - Part 2

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Book Distribution News: Thank you, thank you, yes, yes, I'll read this......
This is the story of Yohan. He is from New Zealand and was born into a satanic cult.
He is the only one from his family that now worships the Lord. Previously, he escaped to Germany, then Italy. In Italy he went to the police for help but they didn't help him because they were not familiar with satanic cults and didn't understand how it was that he needed protection from his own family. Soon after, he was caught then tortured by his family. Later, he again escaped, this time to Canada. When he took the Bhagavad-Gita he held it in his hands like a new born infant and said: "Thank you, thank you, yes, yes, I'll read this, I'll read this." Upon leaving, he said he was glad to have met someone preaching the glories of the Lord.
This man, this spirit soul, is risking his whole life to worship the Lord and now he is being rewarded with the Absolute Truth. I am so happy for him and still praying for his protection from the demons.
your servant, Banke Bihari Dasi

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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana
The Omkara-Blue set is on!

Once again Bhakta Prabhu did an excellent job on Sri Sri Gaura Nitai;
Acintya Rupa Mataji knows how to bring out the majesty of Sri Sri Radha Ballabha, isn't it?;
Kamaleshwari Gopi beautifully served Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra Mayi.

We had Aditi and Sri Murti Matajis dressing chota Deities, Gaura Nitai and Sri Sri Radha Krishna respectively, who are as equally potent as Their bigger representatives.

Here's the darsana of Their Lordships;
big or small They never fail to make our day...everyday!

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ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Class from HH Bhakti Brhat Bhagavat Swami in Mayapur - Dec 28, 2010

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Japa Group: Regards From Sri Mayapur

We are some weeks here in the holy land of Mayapur and tried to do extra effort for chanting japa. Along with chanting studied different scriptures dealing with chanting. We have also taken as a daily practice to chant some of the bhajans from Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Gitavali - Bhajan No. 3 starts as follows:

1) If your mind is always absorbed in chanting the glories of Lord Krsna with great care, then by that process of Sri-krsna-kirtana you will attain transcendental qualification.

2) You should give up all false pride and always consider yourself to be worthless, destitute, lower and more humble than a blade of grass.

3) You should practice forgiveness like that of a tree, and giving up violence toward other living beings, you should protect and maintain them.

http://kksongs.org/songs/s/srikrsnasankirtane.html

Process is effective but it takes surrender, like the first verse says: by the mercy of the holy name we will attain the good qualities required for good chanting, but we need to chant constantly with great care. Chanting constantly doesn't necessarily mean chanting japa constantly, but we should constantly serve the holy name in one way or another. If we chant only a little bit with very little care, we don't get so much out from our chanting and the progress is likely to be slow.

Srila Prabhupada and previous acaryas have given all that is needed, and for example these bhajans tell in very detailed way, how to do progress. Unfortunately under the material energy we don't have enough enthusiasm to really strat serious chanting.

Muniraja dasa

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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 203
www.sdgonline.org.
11:18 A.M.
I am offering up food for the hungry. I am cooking in the oven. The snow is piled in heaps in the yards. I’ve decided to have a peanut butter sandwich and tomato soup for lunch. I’m breathing shallow. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati said he was never a guru and would never become a guru. He was the epitome of humility. He was also a Nsrimha-guru and knocked down the Mayavadis. Our Prabhupada was much like him. He had many Western disciples, and that made it a little different. You have to keep writing and not stop. You have to keep breathing and heart-beating. Things will work out. “We can work it out.” They used to have a yearly Miss Rheingold contest. In the grocery stores and delicatessens they would have pictures up of the girls, and their names. They were all “American beauties,” no Afro-Americans or Latinos. Their hair was all fluffy, they had lovely smiles. You voted for one by checking her name off and placing it in the ballot box. Even pre-puberty kids could vote. I think Rheingold beer has gone out of business. That was the 1950s.
I wanted to own a 1948 MG sports car like an older kid in our neighborhood had. Then I wanted a white Jaguar sports car. I never in my whole life owned a car or learned how to drive one. My father took me out for some lessons, but I got too nervous when I had to yield for cars coming in from the left and right in heavy traffic. Besides, in New York City there were always trains, subways and buses.
Then I joined the Boy Scouts, then I joined the Naval Reserve, then I joined ISKCON at age 25, and that was the last organization I joined for the rest of my life. ISKCON provided everything. O Lord, please let me stay in ISKCON until the end of my life. You don’t have to “retire,” even if you get old and are not so active anymore.
I traveled to many parts of the world and lectured on Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. Now my service is mainly writing. I write with a V-7 Pilot pen. My words are worried and happy and sad and glad. They are tired now in winter after an illness. You can drive a car in another life, but I prefer not to. I’d rather ride in a Vaikuntha carrier or travel with my own body like Narada Muni. But if Prabhupada wants me to travel in this world I may have to come back and drive a car.
I would like to go to Krishna’s abode and not have short breath. I would like to serve Him and play with Him. There are many ways you can play with Krishna. Sometimes He plays “separation” and breaks your heart and increases your love for Him. The intimate devotees don’t like to see Him as the Lord of all Hosts, as God Almighty, although they are completely dependent on Him in case of any danger. They like to be His mother or father or pal, or they like to be His lover. That is the perfection of relationship. They like to be Caitanya-dasa, a special kind of servant of the sankirtana leader of Navadvipa, and the king of of sannyasis in Jagannatha-puri. I am an imperfect devotee, but I am a disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada—that makes me very fortunate. I have stumbled sometimes. I must be very careful to keep my fortune.
You have an obsession to be a writer. So you have to give it time. You can’t avoid or you will develop other, bad obsessions. I use my obsession to be Krishna conscious, writing about Krishna to purify myself and to preach to others. I make sure there is Krishna consciousness in my writing because that’s the highest goal of life, Krishna consciousness. But I do it within my obsession of writing. I have very few other obsessions. I do have an obsession to chant my japa. It’s a sense of duty, but it is so strong it is an obsession, something I have to do.
Read aloud and let your body sing. What does my voice sound like? I am writing physically. I am writing willingly and by force. This is my “army of five” taking on an army of 88 armed Germans who are occupying an island. It is going to get better. We told them there were 600 of us and six cruisers lying off the coast, and so they should surrender to us. They believed our one messenger carrying a white flag, and we put them all in jail. Now they are starting to protest and saying they don’t believe we have six hundred men. We are waiting for the assigned destroyer and full crew to come and give us their support. This is a true war story. One of the best examples in the Bhaktivedanta purports is the one where Prabhupada talks about proof. He says we believe what the newspapers say when they describe that the Sputnik has gone to the other side of the moon and told us what it is like. But we don’t believe in the Vedic authority when it says that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We have no proof of what it is actually like on the other side of the moon, we have not gone there and we have not seen it. But we take it on the authority of the scientists. So it is a case of believing in one authority and disbelieving in another authority. People have been mistrained into not believing in the Vedic authority and to believing in the scientists’ authority. The scientists are actually by personal character decadent men, ordinary persons, whereas the authorities of the Vedas are great sages who gave up all material pursuits and went to live in the forests and practice great austerities. It’s called sruti because they heard from Krishna the Vedic message. When I first read this example as a young devotee for the first time, I was very impressed. How simple and how direct. We believe in one authority, and we don’t believe in another authority. It is not that the scientists have proof and the Vedics have no proof. There is ultimately no proof for either assertion. There is, rather, faith, in either the Vedic authority or the scientific authority for things that are beyond our mental and our sensual perception. Another good, simple example is that the mother is your authority for who your father is. We have accepted Prabhupada’s authority. He is not naïve, dogmatic, and he is not cheating us. He has accepted the line of acaryas, who are all faithful and learned in the questions of the absolute truth. If you are submissive and accept the words of the mahajanas, it is very easy to understand things beyond the mind and senses of a conditioned being.
I said japa was an obsession of mine. It is also a promise. I accepted vows at initiation and agreed to chant sixteen rounds daily. So I am bound to my promise, as well as the promise to avoid illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling. If I allowed myself to go down the wrong path, I could develop obsessions to do those wrong things, but I am bound by my vows. Vows are a little different than obsessions. But they become strong obsessions by the virtue of the practiced vow and the strength that Krishna gives you to carry it out. Krishna is empowering me, and I am chanting under my own will; both are true.
The quality of my japa is questionable. It is not suddha-nama, or chanting without offenses. But I sincerely complete my quota. I put my heart into the syllables and the getting-done of the quota. Pleasing, praising and serving Radha-Krishna is the goal. Where am I in relation to the goal?
Spiritual Poem
You can wait forever
and a poem won’t come
but if you begin one you’re
on the run, make it a Christmas
present to Jesus, Krishna, Buddha
lying in the manger but
with a future of three years terrific
preaching and then a horrible
weekend in which he was
crucified. But we believe he
died for the sins of others.
Krishna never suffers like
that. He is always beyond painful
matter even when He comes
to the world. They didn’t all
love Him but those who opposed
Him He cut in two with His sudarsana-
cakra–by doing that He
delivered them to the spiritual
atmosphere because even to be
touched by Him is
liberation.
A poem to holy spirits is well-
intentioned to remind
you who is Lord. Buddha
came to stop the slaughter
of the animals, but He did
it by denying the Vedas and so
He is considered a pasandi,
but He is worshiped in
form in temples and
looked up to as an avatara.
Krishna poems are best
if you can tell a lila
or philosophy without
changing the meaning and
with a simple heart
and full faith
urging others to
recognize Him as
the isvara-parama.
He is a cowherd boy
beloved to the topmost
devotees.
END

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New Vrndavan, USA: Kartik 24 Hour Kirtan In New Vrindaban
Click here to hear the complete 24 hour kirtan held in New Vrindaban during Kartik 2010.

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Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Prabhupada’s Effulgence
‘Only an empowered personality can distribute the holy name of the Lord and enjoin all fallen souls to worship Krsna. By distributing the holy name of the Lord, he cleanses the hearts of the most fallen people; therefore he extinguishes the blazing fire of the material world. Not only that, he broadcasts the shining brightness of Krsna’s effulgence throughout the world. “
Chaitanya Charitamrta, Madhya 25.9
This is a real photo, no Photoshopping or any digital manipulation whatsoever. I saw this last summer and grabbed my camera and snapped it. It was actually happening just like this.
While my first inclination was to take it as a miraculous thing, and maybe it was, I know my level of realization isn’t such that I would be treated to that sort of thing so I went over to the kitchen door and saw what caused it.
There in the garden was a window used for the top of a cold frame which had been removed and was leaning against it. The time of the year, with the sun in its position relative to North, the time of the day, the angle of the leaning window, the position of the movable cold frame in the garden so the reflected ray would pass through the kitchen door window, that it was sunny and not cloudy at the time of alignment, the angle the reflected light hit the hanging photo to be re-reflected off the ceiling — everything had to be so precise that if I had wanted to do this I would never have been able to and will never be able to duplicate it.
That I happened to be in the house during the minute or two that everything lined up to get this shot, again, what were the odds?
I can say that it does represent what my sentimental side feels about Srila Prabhupada and I felt really blessed to have experienced such an external manifestation of that.
Who’s to say what is a miracle, even if it can be explained scientifically?

Filed under: News, Ramblings or Whatever

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Sutapa das, BV Manor, UK: Bhagavad-gita in A.C.R.O.N.Y.M
Eminent scholars, scientists and philosophers have recognised the profound wisdom and insight that the Bhagavad-gita offers. 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.”

What follows is a humble attempt to present a chapter-by-chapter acronym overview of the Bhagavad-gita. My aim was not to draw out every single philosophical point, but rather to highlight key concepts in each chapter. Hopefully this overview will assist readers in understanding the flow, context and practical application of these timeless spiritual teachings. This ancient conversation is one of the most logical and comprehensive philosophical presentations I have ever come across, and I would encourage readers to invest some time in scrutinizing the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

This overview may also assist teachers of the Bhagavad-gita in their attempts to share this wisdom with others. Above all, I undertook this exercise for my own spiritual development with the sincere hope that someday I will genuinely live these teachings.

The overview can be accessed at:

http://sutapamonk.blogspot.com/p/bhagavad-gita.html

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Giridhari das, Brasilia, Brazil: Two Bhakti-yoga Retreats in Pandavas Paradise
We’ve had two devotee bhakti-yoga retreats in Pandavas Paradise this January.
The first was the 5th Pandavas Retreat and Festival, held from the 7-9th. The focus of this retreat is to give devotees a chance to get together to celebrate another year of Pandavas Paradise.
The high point was the Pandavas Festival, held Saturday night. As always we invited the folks of the local town, Alto Paraíso and about 60 of them came.
We chanted for hours on end!
Karuna, from Switzerland, was in charge of the cooking for the festival. Her husband (on the left above), helped her out all day.
The other retreat we had was our firt Bhakti-shastri Retreat, held from 9-16th of January. This is a seven day retreat dedicated to studying Sri Isopanishad, Nectar of Instruction, Nectar of Devotion and Bhagavad-gita.
We had a guest teacher, Dhavali Prabhu, who also teaches at the Brazilian Bhakti-shastri Seminary. He took care of the Sri Isopanishad and Nectar of Instruction.
I taught Nectar of Devotion and Bhagavad-gita.
Carana Renu Dasi taught Sanskrit pronounciation, the importance of memorizing the Sanskrit verses and their translations, as well as techniques for memorization.
The prasadam for both retreats was made by Manjari Devi Dasi, from Russia.
Though it rained a lot, we managed to include some nice trail walks and swimming at the waterfalls.
One of points we insisted on was of the importance of very attentive japa chanting. We would all chant together in the temple, before the classes.
The devotees really enjoyed the opportunity to spend so many days, in such a beautiful ashram, in the company of devotees, focused on Krishna and His teachings!
We recorded this video with testimonials of some of our participants of the Bhakti-shastri retreat (in Portuguese).
Click here to see lots of pictures of the Pandavas Retreat and Festival!
Click here to see pictures of the Bhakti-shastri retreat!

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Toronto Sankirtan Team, CA: First MSF of 2011 - This Saturday!!!
This Saturday, Jan 29th marks Toronto's 20th consecutive Monthly Sankirtan Festival (MSF) and the first MSF of 2011!!! It is also the most auspicious day of Ekadasi! These group sankirtan endeavours allow us to participate in the most joyful process of sharing Krsna Consciousness with the people in Toronto.

As you know, our goal for 2011 is to distribute 35,000 books, of which at least 3,000 books are targeted through MSFs. On this Ekadasi special MSF we are targeting to get at least 25 devotees and distribute at least 100 books. This is only possible if more and more devotees participate. Every single bit helps. There is as much service as you like, help out with packing prasad or books, driving devotees, counting laxmi, join the harinam party, distribute prasad or hand out books - there is something for everyone.

Please RSVP to help us plan better, and dress WARMER than you think you'll need to (gloves, caps, shoes and multiple layers).

January 29th, Saturday MSF Schedule
4:30-7:30am Mangal Arti, Japa, deity greetings, Guru puja
7:45-9:00am Bhagavatam Class
9:00-10:00am Breakfast in association of devotees
10-10:45am Training - building the right mood
11:00am-2:00pm Street Sankirtan
2:00-2:30pm Maha-Harinama
2:30pm Lunch Prasad at the temple

Here is some more inspiration from Vaisesika prabhu:
"Human life is not for working hard for bodily maintenance, but for reawakening our eternal relationship with the Lord and then going back to Godhead. All this can be achieved by acts of divine sacrifice. The best sacrifice is to please the pure devotee. Fortunately for us, we¹ve been given that chance. Srila Prabhupada has left us with as much service as we like if we like. It is entirely up to us. Let us be bold in his service. Think big. Don't hold back. Go Go Go!"

We look forward to a Sankirtan-filled 2011 in your association.

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H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Corrected--Thursday 27 January 2011--Deep Sea Diving for the Ultimate Pearl--and--Who Pleases Lord Krishna the Most?
A daily broadcast of the Ultimate Self Realization Course(tm) Thursday 27 January 2011 The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and His eternal consort, Srimati Radharani are enjoying transcendental pastimes in the topmost planet of the spiritual world, Sri Goloka Vrindavan. They are beckoning us to rejoin them. Our Mission: To help everyone awaken their original Krishna consciousness, which is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Such a global awakening will, in one stroke, solve all the problems of the world society bringing in a new era of unprecedented peace and prosperity for all. May that day, which the world so desperately needs, come very soon. We request you to participate in this mission by reviving your dormant Krishna consciousness and assisting us in spreading this science all over the world. Dedicated with love to ISKCON Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, our beloved spiritual master, and to you, our dear readers. Today's Thought: Deep Sea Diving for the Ultimate Pearl Uploaded from Bhaktivedanta Ashram--Austin, Texas USA What could be more ecstatic than diving deeply every day in the ocean of bhakti for the ultimate pearl of Krishna prema (pure love of Krishna)? The real purpose of our existence is to become more and more realized in our eternal loving relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the source of everything. We are not meant to remain selfish egotists forever battling it out in this material world on the conveyor belt of birth, death, old age, and disease. We are meant instead to be pure lovers of the Personality of Godhead relishing ever-increasingly ambrosial nectar in His ever-enlivening divine association. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Who Pleases Lord Krishna the Most? Our total existence consists of soul-spirit, intellect, mind (conscious and sub-conscious mind) and body. We also have money and materials. Let us see five types of mutually exclusive devotees as under: 1. He chants at least 64 rounds of mahamantra, which is basically a spiritual activity. 2. He does Bhagavad-gita preaching, after intense study. This is obviously an intellectual activity. 3. He manages the temple finance and accounts, which is primarily a mental activity. 4. He develops and maintains the temple garden, which is mainly a physical activity. 5. He offers a major donation for an upcoming temple, which is only a financial activity. These persons are either not interested or capable to do any other activity than the said activity. Who pleases Lord Krishna the most of these five persons? Mukesh Doshi Answer: Whoever Loves Krishna the Most? Whoever has more love for Krishna will please the Lord the most. In other words, it is the quality of one's service that is important, not the particular type of service. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Transcendental Resources: Receive the Special Blessings of Krishna Now you too can render the greatest service to the suffering humanity and attract the all-auspicious blessings of Lord Sri Krishna upon yourself and your family by assisting our mission. Lectures and Kirtans in Audio and Video: Link to High Definition Videos Link to Over 1,000 Lecture Audios Lecture-Travel Schedule for 2011 http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/schedule Have Questions or Need Further Guidance? Check out the resources at: http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com or write Sankarshan Das Adhikari at: sda@backtohome.com Get your copy today of the world's greatest self-realization guide book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is available at: http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/store Know someone who could benefit from this? Forward it to them. Searchable archives of all of course material: http://www.sda-archives.com Receive Thought for the Day as an RSS feed: http://www.backtohome.com/rss.htm Unsubscribe or change your email address Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Daily_Thought Copyright 2005-2011 by Ultimate Self Realization.Com Distribution of this material is encouraged. Simply we request you to acknowledge where it is coming from with a link to our sign up page: http://www.backtohome.com Our records indicate that at requested to be enrolled to receive e-mails from the Ultimate Self Realization Course at: This request was made on: From the following IP address:

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H.H. Sivarama Swami: Varsana dd asks why taking up chanting may be more difficult for devotees who had stopped doing so at some time

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H.H. Sivarama Swami: Last kirtana in the UK at Swansea temple on Jan 26rd

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H.H. Sivarama Swami: The Govinda’s food factory in Wales that provides prasadam to the likes of sainsbury’s and Waitrose

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Subhavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: Jai Santhoshi Mata! The difference between hodge-podge & Vaishnava scriptural teachings
What Srila Prabhupada has given us is a treasure box of Krishna Consciousness which is based on scripture passed through an authorized parampara link which is not only factual but logical and scientific.

Sometimes there is a pull to move towards quasi-Hinduism. However, we use the words "hodge-podge" Hinduism quite a bit and in discussions with Hindu friends, we love to use the example of Santhoshi Mata. So if you are looking for an example of "hodge-podge" hinduism, read about the "Goddess" created in the 60s and promoted by a Bollywood movie that has spawned her own set of deities, temples, songs and fasts without any scriptural back up.

The following is a small Wiki excerpt that sumarized the invention of this new goddess:

Santoshi Mata (Hindi: संतोषी माता) or Santoshi Maa (संतोषी माँ) is a relatively new goddess in the Hindu pantheon. She is venerated as "the Mother of Satisfaction",the meaning of her name. Santoshi Mata is particularly worshipped by women of North India. A vrata (ritual fast) called the Santoshi Maa vrata performed by women on 16 consecutive Fridays is believed to win the goddess' favour.

Santoshi Mata emerged as the goddess in the early 1960's. Her cult initially spread through word of mouth, vrata-pamphlet literature, and poster art. Her vrata was gaining popularity with North Indian women. However, it was the 1975 Bollywood film Jai Santoshi Maa ("Hail to Santoshi Maa")—narrating the story of the goddess and her ardent devotee Satyavati—which propelled this then little-known "new" goddess to the heights of devotional fervour. With the rising popularity of the film, Santoshi Mata entered the pan-Indian Hindu pantheon and her images and shrines were incorporated in Hindu temples. The film portrayed the goddess to be the daughter of the popular Hindu god Ganesha and related her to the Raksha Bandhan festival, however, it had no basis in Hindu scriptures.

So when you are asked if we are "Hindus", tell them we prefer to be called Vaishnavas or better yet Gaudiya-Vaishnavas or Hare Krishnas.

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Gouranga TV: Gopinath Bhajan – Trivikrama Swami Orlando 01/15/11
Gopinath Bhajan – Trivikrama Swami Orlando 01/15/11

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