"Planet ISKCON" - 44 new articles
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Krishna Lila Bhajana BandThanks to the effort and determination of Bhakta Prabhu, the Melbourne Temple now has an official bhajana band. ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Yuga DharmaCome and assist us in spreading the holy names of Sri Sri Radha Ballabha. ISKCON News.com: ISKCON Remains Prominent at 40th Glastonbury, UK
ISKCON News.com: Fourth Annual BBT Art Seminar Now Open For Registration
ISKCON News.com: Annual Pilgrimage to Puri
ISKCON News.com: A British View of Ratha Yatra
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Gangesvara PrabhuSrimad Bhagavatam 11.22.8 - Krsna- the Supreme Brahman, the resting place for everything- has His own transcendental personality. ISKCON News.com: Trees, Images, and ISKCON
Devadeva Mirel, Alachua, USA: Are You Freaking Kidding Me? Seriously? So, our remodel is costing a relatively large sum of money for us. We knew it would. We are remodeling the kitchen/dining space, after all–and it is a full third of the space of our house. Plus, we replaced all the windows and light fixtures throughout. Major, major improvements for our quality of life and for our house. Or so we thought. Due to our home’s location in a “declining market,” we were not able to get the full amount of equity out of the house. Yes, we wanted all the equity. So we got some. But we needed more money. What to speak of money to pay off the loan. The plan really was hinged on the fact that I am awesome and was going to get a full time teaching position for next school year. Little old me was going to pay for the entire kitchen all by her lonesome. Plus have some spare cash to spend on kids’ extracurriculars and the occasional shopping spree at Ross Dress for Less. And I got a job offer. In April. Totally ahead of schedule. And then one week later I took a test and there were two pink lines. Talk about perfect timing. So, on to Plan B. Refinancing our HELOC after the kitchen was completed. Our loan lady at Sunstate Federal Credit Union said we could *definately* do this. This was one month ago. My husband called yesterday to schedule the appointment for the appraiser to come out. Of course, we were not expecting the appraisal to increase in correlation to the amount of money we spent. We spent the money knowing that if we had to sell, no one would appreciate the awesomeness of our kitchen. But still, the remodel should increase the value of our house at least a fraction of what we spent. Shouldn’t it? Ummm, that’s what we thought. But the loan lady is now telling us something else. Since we did not increase the square footage of our house, we did not increase the value. We merely did “beautification.” Really? It’s not like we just painted the freaking old, falling off the walls, doorless cabinets. The housing market is a total mess and I understand lenders are cautious, but sticking to some whacked formula based solely on square footage to determine equity value…I just never heard of such a thing.       Rupa Madhurya das, TX, USA: Kirtan - Anish - Noon Arati @ Kap and Kalindi's Engagement
Anish and other devotees singing kirtan at the noon arati during Kapil and Kalindi's engagement ceremony. Dallas, TX Download: 2010-05-15 - 4 - Kap and Kalindi Engagement Ceremony - Kirtan.mp3 H.H. Prahladananda Swami: Checkmate – a story from former lifeHis Holiness Prahladananda Swami when speaking to young Arjun, son of Ananta, about Arjun’s interest in Chess, told him that he was the captain of the Chess team that they had in Manhattan. He said he started when he was five and when he was in his chess club he defeated his teacher so many [...] Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: petty and miserable atheists of Kali-yugaO King, in the age of Kali people's intelligence will be diverted by atheism, and they will almost never offer sacrifice to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme spiritual master of the universe. Although the great personalities who control the three worlds all bow down to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, the petty and miserable human beings of this age will not do so. Terrified, about to die, a man collapses on his bed. Although his voice is faltering and he is hardly conscious of what he is saying, if he utters the holy name of the Supreme Lord he can be freed from the reaction of his fruitive work and achieve the supreme destination. But still people in the age of Kali will not worship the Supreme Lord. SB 12.3.43-44 Yoga of Ecology, Bhakta Chris, USA: Is The Universe Merely A Statistical Accident?
Where scientists such as Weinberg, Monod and Dennett see pointlessness and despair in science, as we have seen, other scientists see pattern, direction and meaning. For example, the eminent physicist John Archibald Wheeler said: "Science ... at first sight seems to have no special platform for man, mind or meaning. Man? Pure biochemistry! Mind? Memory modelable by electronic circuitry! Meaning? Why ask after that puzzling and intangible commodity? What is man that the universe should be mindful of him? ... [I]s not man an unimportant bit of dust on an unimportant planet in an unimportant galaxy in an unimportant region somewhere in the vastness of space? No! The philosopher of old was right! Meaning is important, even central." (1) "The origin of life on Earth ... could well have been the result of a stupendous chemical fluke. [However,] ... computing the raw odds quickly shows that even the simplest known cell is so unlikely to form by accident it wouldn't happen twice in the entire observable universe. Or in a trillion similar universes ... Perhaps life's origin wasn't a freak event after all, but the automatic outcome of inherently bio-friendly laws of nature." (2) In his book The Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life, (3) Davies finds in the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears a potent metaphor for expressing the weird fit between the universe and life. The Three Bears story first appeared when the English poet Robert Southey composed it for his 1837 book The Doctor. (4) In the story, a family of three bears -- mother, father, baby -- live in a house in the forest. One day, having cooked porridge and waiting for it to cool, they go for a stroll in the woods. Goldilocks finds the house, enters, and meddles with things -- chairs, beds, and porridge. She finds the adult bears' beds and chairs "too hard" or "too soft," their porridge "too hot" or "too cold." But the baby bear's bed, chair and porridge are "just right." The bears return and discover that Goldilocks is asleep in the baby bear's bed, after having eaten all the baby's porridge. The parallels are telling, says Davies. The conditions that life encountered in the universe proved "just right." If the known natural laws had been a greater or lesser value than what they are, the universe, like the porridge, would literally be either too hot or too cold to accommodate life as we know it. The stars would burn too brightly or not at all; or they would have collapsed rather than exploded, thus failing to scatter the chemical detritus across the universe that ultimately supported life. If the difference in mass between a proton and neutron were not exactly what it is, life-sustaining chemistry would not have been possible. If all these just-right characteristics were not present on Earth 3.5 billion years ago, we would not be here to reflect on them. (5) The distinguished physicist Freeman Dyson suggests that life is so improbable, and the physical characteristics of the universe are so finely tuned to accommodate it, that in some sense the universe "knew we were coming." (6) As a consequence of this cosmic foreknowledge, by the time life arose, conditions in the cosmos were ready for it. The table was set -- all life had to do was show up. Sir Fred Hoyle, one of the twentieth century's most respected cosmologists, seems to agree with the idea that the universe knew life was on its way. Reflecting on the fine-tuning of the conditions necessary for the universe to bring forth life, he suggested that the universe looks like a "put-up job," as if someone had been "monkeying" with the laws of physics, getting ready in advance for the appearance of life. (7,8) Forfeiting Consciousness There's an even drearier little secret that veteran scientists never let kids in on -- that if they enter science, they have to check their minds at the door. The reason is that mind, as most people think about it, does not exist in conventional science, because the expressions of consciousness, such as choice, will, emotions, and even logic are said to be brain in disguise. As astronomer Carl Sagan put it, "[The brain's] workings -- what we sometimes call mind -- are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology, and nothing more." (10) Nobelist Francis Crick in his 1995 book The Astonishing Hypothesis was equally explicit, saying, "'You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. As Lewis Carroll's Alice might have phrased it: 'You're nothing but a pack of neurons.'" (11) Or, as Marvin Minsky, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology cognitive scientist and artificial intelligence expert, put it more crudely, "The brain is just a computer made of meat." (12) Crick went further. In his subsequent book Of Molecules and Men, he wrote, "The ultimate aim of the modern movement in biology is to explain all biology in terms of physics and chemistry" (13) -- to analyze, in other words, the meat. And lest there be no doubt about where he stands, philosopher Dennett says, "We're all zombies. Nobody is conscious." (14) Try selling that to a teenager contemplating a career in science and see what happens. This morose, meaningless side of science is never openly presented to young students contemplating a lifetime in science. They usually sniff it out later on, after a career choice has been made. I know of no studies that assess the impact of these dark views on young scientists when they encounter them. Are they negatively affected? Do they adopt a chin-up attitude and soldier on, having traveled too far on the science path to turn around? Or -- most commonly, I believe -- do they schizophrenically partition their psychological, spiritual and scientific lives into separate domains in a desperate attempt to find balance, silently suffering the jagged contradictions the rest of their life? Purists insist that science is neutral on matters of meaning; the world is what it is. Whatever meaning we find in the world comes from us, not the world itself. We read meaning into the world, not from it. This sword cuts two ways; if meaning should not be imputed to the universe, neither should meaninglessness. It is a plain fact that scientists in general, peering into the same universe and aware of the same set of facts, see meaning in different ways, ways that are not part of science itself. No scientist has ever possessed a meaning meter. Therefore the proper approach, it would seem, would be to declare questions of meaning beyond the purview of science, and to cease imposing one's personal view as the official way the universe should be interpreted. This would give students and young scientists a fighting chance to find their own path where meaning and purpose are concerned, and not be bullied by senior scientists who ought to know better.  David Haslam, UK: Childhood questions; a lifetime search for answersAs a young child I remember asking some of the members at the Kingdom Hall we went to what happened to the animals when they die; if as humans we can either go to heaven or eternal death then what happens to them. Well they die came the answer, you see god put them here for [...] Japa Group: Good Bhajana Kutir
Chanting Hare Krishna in the Bhajan Belt. Mybhajana is mostly solitary but shared with my friends. I try to give the good news of a person success fully chanting his rounds. My mood is separation and I ease it with Nama Prabhu. This is my new home and it seems suitable for chanting and writing the daily web. I thank Krishna and my friends for providing me another good bhajana kutir From Bhajan #1  Gaura Vani, USA: The Bhakti Brothers' New England Tour – Starting July 9th
H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: USA Retreat 2010 – final day 6These are the recordings of the USA retreat 2010 which is being held in Vraj, Pennsylvania. Kindly provided by Candrasekhara Acharya Prabhu. H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: USA Retreat 2010 – day 5These are the recordings of the USA retreat 2010 which is being held in Vraj, Pennsylvania. Kindly provided by Candrasekhara Acharya Prabhu. H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: USA Retreat 2010 – day 4These are the recordings of the USA retreat 2010 which is being held in Vraj, Pennsylvania. Kindly provided by Candrasekhara Acharya Prabhu. H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: USA Retreat 2010 – day 3These are the recordings of the USA retreat 2010 which is being held in Vraj, Pennsylvania. Kindly provided by Candrasekhara Acharya Prabhu. H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: USA Retreat 2010 – day 2These are the recordings of the USA retreat 2010 which is being held in Vraj, Pennsylvania. Kindly provided by Candrasekhara Acharya Prabhu. H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: USA Retreat 2010 – cont. day 1These are the recordings of the USA retreat 2010 which is being held in Vraj, Pennsylvania. Kindly provided by Candrasekhara Acharya Prabhu. Srila Prabhupada's Letters1953 July 7: "Sir--With reference to the letter published in your columns. It is wrong to interpret that Vedic religion is not proselytistic. The proselytising method of Bhagavad-gita is to turn the face of all mundaners towards the transcendental service of the Absolute Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna."  Srila Prabhupada's Letters1958 July 7: "The Leaders of India have carefully set aside the treasure house of India's spiritual assets and they are imitating the Western material way of life constantly engaged in acts of error of judgment, misgivings, imperfectness and duplicity."  Srila Prabhupada's Letters1966 July 7:  Srila Prabhupada's Letters1968 July 7: "I read your letter describing very emotionally the nice success of our Rathayatra festival. Now you can understand the specimen of transcendental pleasure in which the human society as a whole can take part and realize transcendental bliss."  Srila Prabhupada's Letters1969 July 7: "But this is all tapasya. The whole world is full of fanatics. Without tapasya, nobody can approach Krishna and Krishna takes note of such tapasya and the devotee is recognized by Him."  Srila Prabhupada's Letters1970 July 7: "As our devotees become more devotional, the non-devotees will come to hear. To become advanced means to acquire spiritual strength, and this spiritual strength is for impressing devotional service into the hearts of the fallen souls."  Srila Prabhupada's Letters1974 July 7: "My Dear Sridhara Maharaja: I am so much thankful for your appreciating my preaching work in the Western countries. So I think there is some plot to check up this fast growing movement. We are trying our best to counteract this opposing element but everything will rest upon Krishna."  Srila Prabhupada's Letters1975 July 7: "Sripada Sridhara Maharaja said Caitanya Mahaprabhu's prediction would remain a dream only, but I have done it practically. I do not know how things are going on automatically by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, because I have no other assets except his causeless mercy."  H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 23:42 A.M.I woke up at midnight and couldn't sleep much after that. I got up from bed at 2 A.M. without a headache and began chanting. My japa was good this morning. I entered the sound of the holy names and stayed attentive on the syllables. My mind was clear and undistracted, and I felt some depth of meaning in uttering Hare Krishna mantras. They were distinct, and as I chanted I thought of Nama Prabhu and His potency. I've chanted 12 rounds, and I am not sleepy. My Prabhupada murti is now out on the shelf on his vyasasana, and I chant to him as well as Radha-Govinda. The shelves have been built into the room, and soon my books will be here. It is becoming more of a nice bhajana kutir, and gradually all the boxes will be unpacked and the atmosphere will be nicer. The room is protective H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Main InspirationPrabhupada Smaranam
Srila Prabhupada is the main inspiration and direction for all activities in the Krishna consciousness movement. In Visnu-aradhanam's car there was a picture of Prabhupada taped to the dashboard, and Visnu-aradhanam wore a t-shirt with a big picture of Srila Prabhupada on the back and front. We remember his years with us over 30 years ago, and continuing from the present to future, we try to follow his instructions and maintain his society of devotees. It is nice to see him gesturing on his walk. You can meditate on it and cultivate feelings of separation. You can also hear the recordings of his morning walk and lectures and be in tune with his preaching presence. You can read his books and refresh yourself with his personal presentation of the classics, Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya-caritamrta, and his other books. By associating with his followers, you can remain in his camp. I was fortunate to meet Srila Prabhupada from his very beginnings in New York City in 1966, when he was so accessible and personable. His personality and role expanded as the movement grew, and he became world acarya for thousands of devotees, and a manager of complex institutional affairs. But he always maintained his intimate touch with many persons wherever he visited. As a mahatma, or great soul, he was able to give love to everyone he met, and encourage them to take up devotional service in their lives. Someone referred to the "Vraja-bubble" that Prabhupada lived within, and how, when you came into his presence, you left the material world and entered the Vraja-bubble with him. Traveler's Aid, an insurance company, advertises that they "take the scariness out of life" by their insurance protection. Similarly, Prabhupada takes the scariness out of life, when we come close to him, take shelter under his transcendental umbrella, and follow his instructions. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Viraha BhavanIn the green-painted
Yadunandana Maharaja continues
On a trick, the Gopala Deity
I do feel my separation
So I will try to elevate H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Real BeautyFree Write
Here is an intricate sculpture with an ornate frame. The main figure is a skull or frightening ogre mask. The more one looks at the pieces within this sculpture, one is impressed with how many figures there are and how intricate it is. They also give off a ghoulish effect, as they contain disembodied pairs of legs, half-human half-animal forms, and a bric-a-brac collection of madness, like a nightmare. It is a disquieting arrangement in the mode of madness, a waste of time and talent.
By contrast, the picture of Radha and Krishna is one of harmony and blissfulness. It comes not from the speculative mood of a mad artist, but from scriptural descriptions of the Supreme Lord and His eternal Consort. They are all-spiritual forms, and They embody the topmost form of love. Krishna is so enchanting to all living beings that He is called Madana-mohana, the enchanter of love personified (Cupid). But Krishna is Himself captivated by the beauty of Radharani. Therefore She is called Madana-mohana-mohini, the enchanter of the enchanter of Cupid. Together they are the Divine Couple and are worshiped by the Vaisnavas as the highest object of devotion. Bhakti, or devotional service, means to render acts pleasing to Radha and Krishna. They are both addressed by Their names: Hare (O Radha) and Krishna (O Krishna) in the syllables of the maha-mantra, the easiest and most-recommended process for serving Radha-Krishna in this age. How much more satisfying it is to look upon the forms of the Divine Couple than to bewilder yourself trying to make sense of the grotesque sculpture which has no conclusion or meaning. Mayapur Online: Welcome Home, HH Jayapataka Swami
It was a day we have waited for, to welcome back HH Jayapataka Swami in Mayapur. Earlier, we got the news that Maharaja may come for Gaura purnima, but then he could n't due to his therapies. After that, we were looking forward for his visit for Nrsimha Caturdasi,which couldn’t manifest. But yesterday, the patience of the devotees as well as Maharaja, who expressed that it was very difficult for him to remain far away from Mayapur and devotees for a long period, came to an end. For the past two days, children, young,old and the entire community become so alive just thinking & planning of the ways to increase the ecstasy of welcoming home their beloved spiritual master. Welcome -Picture gallery here. H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Saturday, July 3rd, 2010Festival at the Susquehanna River  Gauranga Kishore das,USA: Srimad Bhagavatam is the post graduate Study of the Bhagavad Gita A little while ago after the Bhagavatam class here in Gainesville I had a discussion with the speaker, the concern I raised with him was about some of the statements encouraging renunciation could be misunderstood or misapplied and how they may not be appropriate for people who are just beginning to practice spiritual life. We talked about it for sometime but didn't really come to any conclusion. Of course it was agreed that Krishna consciousness needs to be presented and applied in a balanced and mature way but exactly what that means is more difficult. This is something I've been thinking about for a while and a little later that afternoon I remembered something Srila Prabhupada often said. He would often remark how the Srimad Bhagavatam is the post graduate study of the Bhagavad Gita but until now I hadn't taken that as seriously as maybe I should've. I think that I always thought it just meant they were about the same thing but that the Bhagavatam just contains more information than the Gita. But I think we should consider taking that statement a little more seriously meaning that maybe we shouldn't study the Bhagavatam until we fully understand and realized the Bhagavad Gita. Or at least the Bhagavatam needs to be understood in context of the Gita. If the Bhagavatam isn't understood in the context of the Gita, with a firm basis in performing our duties for the pleasure of the Lord we may prematurely renounce them. I think it is important to keep in mind that the Bhagavatam was spoken to Maharaja Pariksit who only had seven day left to live, and begins with the question "What is the duty of a person who is about to die?" The Bhagavatam is the ripened fruit of the desire tree of the Vedic literature, which means that it is the ultimate purpose of the Vedas but from another perspective it also means that the rest of the tree is also valuable because it is necessary to produce the fruit. Or to use the post graduate example quoted earlier, graduate level studies may be more advanced than undergraduate studies but it doesn't mean we can skip over the undergraduate level studies. The Bhagavatam over and over again encourages renunciation whereas in the Gita Krishna does not encourage Arjuna to renounce his familial and societal obligations but only encourages him to renounce the desire for the fruits of his action. Rather Krishna very explicity forbids Arjuna to renounce his duties exposing his desire to renounce as a shallow form of laziness, the opposite of true spirituality.  Phanisvara das, Mayapura, IN: testing...hare krsna ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Ceto Darpana Marjanam
Dandavats.com: Vrindavan fully furnished flat for saleRadhacharan das: A very nice fully furnished flat located in the well reputated building Ananda Krishna Van ,near ISKCON ,near krsna balram tree is available for sale. Mayapur Online: SMIS School &Srila Prabhupada Ashram Admission going on…
Srila Prabhupada ashram, the boys' residential campus of Sri Mayapur International School, invites applications from worldwide devotees for admission of their children to the ashram. Provide your child a holistic and balanced training in spiritual and material education, in a eco friendly and peaceful environment of Sri Mayapur dhama. H.H. Sivarama Swami: Why the sacred cow is sacred and how we as devotees may be neglecting our duty by not protecting sacred cows
Gouranga TV: Kishori Yatra Part 3Kishori Yatra Part 3 Japa Group: Not Worrying About Contingencies
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Answering questions by Vishal Merai on cow-protection.
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