"Dandavats" - 1 new article
Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir! HG Urmila Mataji
My dear Lord, although personally You have nothing to do, You have distributed Your energies in the interactions of the material modes of nature, and for that reason the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the cosmic manifestation take place |
"Planet ISKCON" - 37 new articles
Aisvarya dasa: the ism of monotheismMy tendency has been to emphasize "monotheism" whenever i explain KC to anyone new to or ignorant of Vaisnava culture and philosophy. I'm not saying that this is wrong but i do wonder whether my use of the word is due to my being overly influenced by my Christian roots and Christianity's absolute abhorrence of anything other than that particular ism. So i checked the Vedabase and noticed that "monotheism", "monotheistic", "monotheist" and "monotheists" only have 7 hits in SP's writings, lectures, conversations, and letters.... • Email to a friend • Related •  •ISKCON New York, USA: Sri Gaura Purnima Celebration @ Radha Govinda Mandir!Dear Devotees. Please join us with your family and friends, on Sunday February 28, 2010 for an all day celebration of Gaura Purnima – The Appearance Day of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu! Starting with Mangala Arati at 4:30 am, take part in all of the different daily ceremonies, activities of the day, temple services, hearing and chanting the glories and pastimes of Lord Caitanya, and of course culminating with the evening celebration which begins at 4:00pm. —————————- *Gaura Purnima – Morning Program* 4:30am – 9:00am: Mangala Arati,Tulasi Puja, Japa Meditation, Sringara Arati (Deity Greetings), Guru Puja and Lecture on Pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Please make sure to visit the temple by 7:15am to have darshan of Sri Sri Radha Govinda-deva and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in a brand new stunning dress, decorated with many beautiful jewels and intoxicating and fragrant flowers. —————————- * Gaura Purnima – Celebration through service * From 9am onwards we welcome all devotees who would like to stay and volunteer their time to serve by assisting the devotees in the kitchen, cleaning the temple, decorations, or by taking part in kirtans and readings from the Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta all day. Also, there will be a harinam sankirtan procession leaving from the temple @ 10am to chant in the streets of Brooklyn. ——————– ——– * Gaura Purnima – Evening Celebration * 4:00pm – 9:00pm: Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir Join us to celebrate the festival of Gaura Purnima with Bhajans, Kirtans, Abhiseka ceremony of Lord Caitanya, Arati, a drama on the Lord’s Pastimes, a lecture on the teachings of Lord Caitanya, culminating with a wonderful prasadam feast. At 6:00pm Sri Sri Radha Govinda will be revealed in another stunning flower dress made of fragrant gardenia flowers. For those devotees eager to render some service or offer some sponsorship of any of the different parts of the festival, please contact the temple @ (718) 875-6127 or (347) 249-4064 Your servants, NY ISKCON www . radhagovinda . net www . radhagovinda108 . com –
“All devotees should hear about Sri Caitanya Mahäprabhu’s pastimes with faith and love. By the grace of the Lord, one can thus attain shelter at His lotus feet”. – CC Mad.25.269       • Email to a friend • Related • •
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 • Email to a friend • Related • •Kurma dasa, AU: Blog Re-run: Clean GreensMadan Mohan Mohini Dasi from Sandy Ridge, North Carolina, USA writes: 'I was reading through one of your cookbooks and came upon a recipe with spinach. I just thought I'd let you in on an old secret about cleaning greens.
You fill your (kitchen-size) sink with water and add salt (maybe a handful or so) and clean your greens in that. (I suppose if you were to use a much larger sink, you would use more salt.) Anyway, it takes all the dirt off. I do this all the time - even with muddy spinach right out of the garden. You don't even have to do a second rinsing; however, just to play safe I do a second rinsing in clean water (without salt). This really works well and saves a lot of time.' • Email to a friend • Related • •ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Gaura Purnima & Holi Festivities This Sunday!
Holi, one of the most popular festivals in India, marks the beginning of spring. Although there will be no throwing of coloured powders during the festival, it will certainly be a festive and colourful event. For Hare Krishnas, this day not only marks Holi, but also Gaura Purnima, the appearance anniversary of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Gaura Purnima, one of the largest festivals at Toronto's Hare Krishna temple, is the celebration of the appearance of Lord Caitanya, who is none other than Lord Krishna Himself. Over 500 years ago, in a special appearance, Lord Krishna personally came as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and acted as His own devotee by propagating the chanting of the Holy names of the Lord in every town and village! The festivities will be punctuated by some special surprise features that you will definitely not want to miss! The schedule of the evening will be as follows (subject to change): 6:00 pm - 6:30 pm: Arati 6:30 pm - 6:40 pm: Welcome & Announcements 6:45 pm - 7:15 pm: Class by Krsnadas Kaviraj Das 7:20 pm - 7:40 pm: Childrens' Drama 7:40 pm - 8:00 pm: Abhisheka (bathing ceremony of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai) 8:00 pm - 8:30 pm: Arati 8:30pm: Free Vegetarian Feast (Prasadam)  • Email to a friend • Related • •David Haslam, UK: Welsh Valleys Joined by the Brazil DevoteesA rush home with one hour to produce some prasadam ready for a lovely evening of devotee association; we were joined by Carana Renu DD and her husband from Brazil so it was nice to see a friendly face from the past. Some video problems so only a short clip which can be found here And a [...] • Email to a friend • Related • •Sutapa das, BV Manor, UK: Multi-Level Spirituality
People commonly misunderstand Hinduism to be a polytheistic tradition. This became quite apparent when I recently facilitated a discussion at Leicester University entitled 'Misconceptions of Hinduism'. Ironically, the word Hindu is itself a misnomer. It's not mentioned anywhere in the Bhagavad-gita (the principle scripture for Hindu's) or any other Vedic scripture for that matter. For conventional usage (vyavaharika) we may employ the term, but in the ultimate sense (paramarthika) followers of the Bhagavad-gita would not use such an identifier.  • Email to a friend • Related • •ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Devamrita SwamiSrimad Bhagavatam 11.17.54 • Email to a friend • Related • •HH. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 3574:04 A.M.I slept well last night waking up only briefly during the middle of the night. Baladeva came and woke me at two minutes after three. He was quiet. I hope he is alright. I hope he is not hurt by that "citation" I write about him in the journal. He's a very good devotee and loyal to me. I began my chanting alright in the usual manner, chanting in my mind chanting quickly and alert. But somehow I got mentally confused in the count. I chanted more rounds than I counted myself for, and I'm a little uncertain now whether I've chanted twelve rounds or eight rounds. I'm giving myself credit for twelve rounds. I really can't calculate how good my rounds are. They say that baseball players are haunted by having to measure themselves against the greatest players that ever played the game. If I compare myself to the greatest chanters then I will be haunted by my inferiority. It is better that I just chant according to the best I can do and not measure it according to Rupa Gosvami or Haridas Thakura. Try to be true to Prabhupada and "just hear." Do your daily yajna with your best effort, and if you have to lament then what can be done? Lamenting is part of dainya, or feelings of unworthiness and is a centerpiece of humble Krishna consciousness. I can't remove the dainya, but I should not be overwhelmed by feelings of inferiority and let myself get materially depressed. Chant your rounds everyday in a grateful spirit, thanking Krishna for the gift and keep on truckin'. Count on Krishna's leniency and His understanding that you have a scrambled Kali-yuga mind. I still do things that distract myself, and I don't help myself in the best way. I should try to improve myself in this regard. There are contemporary godbrothers of mine who are doing better than me, and I should hold them as my models and try to follow them. Chanting is too important to neglect. And I owe it to my friends to set a good example. You don't whip yourself
Prabhupada Smaranam
These pictures show Prabhupada with Purusottam as Purusottam das brahmacari who was his personal secretary around 1969. Purusottama left Prabhupada's personal service and Krishna consciousness over doubts that rose in his mind that Prabhupada said that US landing on moon was a hoax. The landing was televised when Prabhupada was in England and he told the devotees "the moon land was a hoax, for they cannot go to the moon. The moon planet, Chandraloka, is a residence of the demigods, higher beings than these drunkards and cow-eating slaughterers who are trying to inhabit it. You cannot think this travel is allowed—like when I migrated from India to the US. The moon planet can not be visited so quickly. It is not possible. (Srila Prabhupada-lilamrita, first edition, "Only He Could Lead Them," p. 58). Prabhupada detected Purusottamas' dubious mentality and he would often joke lightly in Purusottama's presence. Someone would ask a question—"Where is Janaki?" And Prabhupada would reply, "Oh, Janaki has gone to the moon." Then everyone, except Purusottam would laugh. Although Purusottama went on with his duties he became sullen, and Prabhupada noted his lack of enthusiasm. He stopped shaving his face and wore the same orange sweater he had slept in. One day the stove caught on fire, and Purusottama managed to put it out but become covered with soot along with Yamuna. Janaka saw the mess in the kitchen and ran up to Prabhupada's room where Yamuna and Purusottama were covered with soot. "What has happened here?" Janaki burst out. Prabhupada looked at her soberly and said, "Today Purusottama has gone to the moon." Purusottama was aghast. He decided he wanted to leave and told Prabhupada. Prabhupada was hurt, but lent him the travel fare. Here are Purusottama's words in reminiscing about the affair: "He was very gracious about the whole thing. Actually I could see that he had a very special loving way of looking at the world. I felt that sometimes I could see things in a loving way, like he did, and I realized that I got that view point from him—You know, that little loving spirit. He had that, and I kind of caught some of that from him. And that's one of the things I'll always remember about him. And I know that through his movement I came to believe in God. Before I met him, I didn't believe in God. " (Srila Prabhupada-lilamrita, first edition, "Only He Could Lead Them," p. 86) Purusottama gave up his spiritual name and became a Christian radio evangelist. There was a rumor that he said that he was an incarnation of Saint Paul or something like that. Routine Vaidhi
Krishna, the word, the person,
Krishna is the god of gods.
His gentle form is Krishna to His
I know so many colleagues who
Krishna is my Lord too, I have
But actually we didn't do
We spent a quiet weekend
Baladeva asked me what I
Your eyes get tired as you
Free write
According to Vedic literature an eclipse of the sun or the moon takes place when the evil planet Rahu covers the sun or the moon. In this picture we see an eclipse taking place. It is not an auspicious moment except that in order to counteract its effects, all the Vedic followers emerged themselves in the holy river and chant the Hare Krishna mantra. The Supreme Lord arranged that when he advented as Lord Caitanya a full lunar eclipse took place and all the inhabitants of Navadvipa and other places were vibrating the all purifying holy names of God. Thus Caitanya Mahaprabnu induced the populous to chant the holy names at the inauguration of his mission in the world. He then continued this process as a baby by always crying unless the household ladies chanted the holy names. When they chanted he stopped crying, and when they stopped chanting he would commence crying. The great laws of the Cosmos by which the planets move in orbit, are all under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So he was free to move the planets into auspicious alignments at the times of His appearances as Lord Krishna and Lord Caitanya. Therefore the astrological horoscopes on those occasions reveal that a great personality was born.
Not only was His birth occasion marvelous, but His actions were marvelous. Therefore when only an infant, He killed the gigantic demoness who took the form of a beautiful woman, Putana. When Krishna sucked out her life after her attempts to poison him with her nipples, she transformed into a huge witch twelve miles long and crashed onto Vrndavana country side. When He was only a young boy, Krishna saved the residents of Vrndavana by subduing the hundred-headed Kaliya serpent who had poisoned the Yamuna River with his venom. Krishna punished him in a fascinating way by artistically dancing on his many hoods, causing them to bleed and break. The serpent almost died before he accepted Krishna's supremacy and agreed to leave the Yamuna along with his wives and children. • Email to a friend • Related • •Japa Group: Spiritual Life Rests On Chanting
You must think of chanting in terms of serving the spiritual master, not just as your own sadhana. I am thinking Srila Prabhupada has given me different responsibilities, and if I don't carry them out he will be displeased with me. Spiritual life rests on chanting. That's the main teaching. Chant Hare Krsna, chant sixteen rounds. So how can that not be thought of as service to the spiritual master?  • Email to a friend • Related • •Ekendra das, Alachua, USA: The Mass Mouse Mess "I don't eat sweets." At least that's what I protest when they’re offered. "No, thanks, I'm too sinful." Partly a precaution against certain psycho-physical symptoms (feeling hung-over, lusty, spaced-out, depressed, sleepy), partly an attempt to give up what I can, for bona-fide spiritual health reasons, and perhaps partly a cheap badge of honor.  Is this your notepaper? So when someone in the office offered me a homemade piece of burfi (for the uninitiated, a highly desirable milk fudge) off a black Styrofoam tomato tray, with a macadamia wedged in the center, what did I do? I gratefully accepted. Why? On the plea that I'll give it to my wife (who's trying to avoid sweets also). I tore a pink 'WHILE YOU WERE OUT" note off the stack and used it as a napkin for my fudge, which I placed on the second tier of my particle board computer workstation. A couple times that day I wondered how I would carry it home. Then I forgot about it. Our office is home to one brahmachari and untold hordes of mice. Every single day at least one is spotted, if not trapped). The house is so full of mice that there's a new cache of mouse crap in the kitchen drawers every day. They probably lick the lingering aroma of sacred gourmet vegetarian cuisine off all the spoons. They're certainly not shy about pissing and crapping all over them. I once left my lunchbox at the office overnight. The next day it was full of mouse crap. Every day brings another mouse sighting, another opportunity to either keep working on whatever project, or make an all-out attempt to corner and trap a rodent hiding in a closet. Hours after I’d left for the day, I remembered the burfi, and the mice. I knew without a doubt those mice would be all over that burfi like . . .mice on burfi. I thought to immediately call the lone brahmachari there and, begging his pardon for the trouble, could he kindly put the fudge in the fridge. Then I forgot to call him. Until the next morning. At some point, as I was beginning to get deeply into the day's japa meditation, the part of my mind in charge of remembering worst case scenarios shocked me back into consciousness of the mouse and burfi drama. I began to imagine the potential consequences in gross detail. I had been sitting still, meditating on the mantras going in my ears and the breaths going in my nose. Now I began to perspire and pace the floor. There was nothing I could do. The office was miles away, the building's only resident human was at the temple. I imagined dozens of mice crowded around the chunk of milk fudge, dancing in jubilation, shredding the precious delicacy in an intoxicated ecstasy, excitedly passing urine and stool all over the desk and floor. I imagined the scene as I was arriving to work, having to vacuum up all the mouse crap and clean the mouse urine off the desktop, off all my papers, off the external hard drive, off all my computer cables. I sweated some more, the perspiration of an acutely guilty conscience. Why didn't I put it in the fridge as soon as I got it? Why did Mr. No Sweets accept it in the first place? What a waste of milk and macadamias and charity and labor and kindness. I prayed to Krishna that, even though it would be most reasonable for me to find the burfi chewed, digested, and shat by an army of hungry mice, the office sprayed with droppings and shredded milk fudge, on the off chance that He would allow me to get away with the dull headed offense of leaving the equivalent of a brick of cheese unguarded in a mouse infested house, I would be so grateful that I would immediately give that burfi in charity to the nearest qualified recipient, and send a donation to my spiritual master. Why hadn't I made the endeavor to call as soon as I thought of it? Was I too ashamed of being known as a sloppy slacker that I was willing to go through the anxiety of causing a mouse crap melee that would require real man hours to properly clean up after? Why hadn't I just put the burfi in the fridge immediately? What an idiot! Why didn't I at least cover the burfi with a stainless steel cup? Anyway, there was nothing I could do but wait and prepare myself to accept the inevitable. If the burfi was there, I would give it away. I would make a donation to my guru. If the burfi was shredded and piles of mouse stool were everywhere, as I fully expected to find, I'd just have to clean up the mess, and I would still give the donation. In that morning's Bhagavatam class, B.V. Madhava Maharaja was saying how if you don't give charity to the brahmanas and Vaishnavas, then Durga will steal what you've got. I thought of the burfi.  Now You're In Trouble! After class, I walked to the office, resigned to accept whatever reaction was coming. The scene on my desktop did not match my imagination. The burfi was sitting there, untouched. The only evidence it had been left there all night was a slowly spreading grease stain on the WHILE YOU WERE OUT note. It looked a little dried out, but fine. I said a prayer of thanks to Krishna, threw out the notepaper, put the burfi in a little stainless steel katori, and gave it to a friend who recently had kindly given me a series of lifts home on days when my wife needed the car.       • Email to a friend • Related • •Krishna Dharma dasa, UK: Suddha bhakataVerse One The dust from the feet of pure devotees, Verse Two Ekadashi and Janmashtami, Verse Three In the company of pure devotees, Verse Four My mind always hankers to hear the beat, Verse Five Beholding the forms of Radha Krishna, Verse Six While worshiping Krishna my home is blessed, Verse Seven Simply by seeing Srimati Tulsi, Verse Eight Thus every day does Bhaktivinode, • Email to a friend • Related • •Dandavats.com: Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir! HG Urmila Mataji
My dear Lord, although personally You have nothing to do, You have distributed Your energies in the interactions of the material modes of nature, and for that reason the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the cosmic manifestation take place |
By Urmila Devi Dasi
