During the last three days of the Annual General Meeting of ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission, GBC members gave presentations on new publications and the status of various projects.
Anuttama Prabhu, representing the GBC’s Guru Services Committee, reported on the Guru Seminars and Guru Retreats program. These programs allow devotees who are serving as initiating or instructing gurus to associate with one another and share their experiences serving Srila Prabhupada in the role of guru. The Guru Seminars and Retreats also aim to enhance skills in counseling disciples and caring for one’s own physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
Members of the GBC, including Bhakti Marga Swami, Bhakti Chaitanya Swami, Prahladananda Swami, and Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, who attended the Guru Retreat in Ujjain last October related their experiences. They all expressed enthusiasm and thanks for having such a wonderful retreat last year and strongly urged others to attend future Guru Seminars or Retreats. A Guru Seminar and Retreat will be held in Tirupati next October before the GBC meetings in Juhu, Bombay.
The Guru Services Committee also presented the progress made on developing a seminar for disciples. The idea of such a course is to educate devotees before they receive initiation on the theological, institutional, and practical issues pertaining to discipleship. Some topics include the special position Srila Prabhupada plays in ISKCON as the Founder-Acarya, a theological understanding of Guru-tattva, issues of etiquette between guru and disciple, understanding the initiation ceremony, and the qualifications of a disciple and a guru. Over the course of this year a committee will continue to develop curriculum for this course.
Following the Guru Services Committee, ISKCON’s Minister of Education, Sesa Prabhu, updated the GBC Body on the current educational institutions within ISKCON. He reported that the Bhaktivedanta College in Budapest currently has 200 students and offers two Bachelor Degree programs. Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh is also growing with 30 full-time students and is looking toward offering degrees in management as well as theology.
Sesa Prabhu also presented to the GBC Body profiles of various religious educational institutions that maintain lifestyle values similar to those of ISKCON. He pointed out that Amrita University, founded by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math in 1994, now has over 13,000 students and 13 university departments. Likewise, Maharishi University of Management in Iowa started off slow, but now has 1,200 students. Maharishi University has seen a 125% student growth rate in the last five years. Moreover, Brigham Young University, a successful Mormon university in Utah has an enrollment of more than 30,000 students. Brigham Young University lists “purity” as a requirement for graduation and funds 70% of student tuition through church tithing.
After presenting these examples, Sesa Prabhu urged that ISKCON look toward the future and put additional energy into further developing our own educational programs. Everyone was in agreement. A directional straw vote was taken, and unanimously the GBC decided to place strong emphasis on the development of education within ISKCON.
Kaunteya Prabhu on behalf of ISKCON’s Congregational Development Ministry presented two new publications to the GBC. The first book, Holy Jail, is a compilation by Candramauli Swami on the activities and stories of ISKCON’s Prison Ministry. In the thirty years that the ISKCON Prison Ministry has been in operation, hundred of lives of inmates have changed due to the practice of Krishna consciousness and the support received by devotees. For more information on the ISKCON Prison Ministry, please visit www. ipm. bbnow. org.
The second title presented by Kaunteya Prabhu is an English translation of Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s Sri Godruma Kalpatavi (The Desire-tree Grove of Godruma.) Sri Godruma Kalpatavi was originally a newsletter produced in Bengal 120 years ago by Bhaktivinoda Thakura to guide leaders and members in his preaching movement. The topics discussed are very practical issues often faced by those with families and careers who also want to fully engage in practicing and preaching Krishna consciousness. Jayapataka Swami felt the Godruma Kalpatavi to be so relevant to lives of devotee today that he translated the text and inspired the current publication. For more information on the Godruma Kalpatavi, please visit www. namahatta. org.
The GBC meetings concluded with words of praise and a standing ovation for this year’s GBC Chairman, Romapada Maharaja. Several GBC members expressed their gratitude toward Romapada Maharaja for putting so much time, effort, and care into chairing the GBC. Over the course of the year, he addressed many difficult issues and diligently offered support to ISKCON programs and leaders throughout the world. Many GBC members felt that Romapada Maharaja raised the bar and set a new standard for the position of GBC Chairman.
The GBC Body also welcomed the new GBC Chairman, Madhusevita Prabhu, as well as Hrdaya Caitanya Prabhu and Bhakti Caitanya Swami as members of the incoming GBC Executive Committee.
After twelve days of meetings, members of the GBC appeared satisfied with the amount of work accomplished during the 2010 Annual General Meeting. The GBC will meet again next October at the ISKCON Juhu temple in Bombay.
“Some topics include the special position Srila Prabhupada plays in ISKCON as the Founder-Acarya, a theological understanding of Guru-tattva, issues of etiquette between guru and disciple, understanding the initiation ceremony, and the qualifications of a disciple and a guru. Over the course of this year a committee will continue to develop curriculum for this course.”
These seminars sound interesting and I wonder if they could be made available (in some modified form?) for the general devotees, perhaps in the VIHE or MIHE programs or also in some of the other educational programs we have.
At ISV a couple weeks ago we had some mini-courses on Vaisnava etiquette, temple etiquette, Vaisnava dancing, cooking and better japa. These specialized classes are useful, separate and apart from the regular Bhagavatam and Gita classes. They remind me more of the “bhakta program” idea of providing devotees with basic skills and training in addition to the daily dose of Krishna-katha medicine injected in the ears during regular temple functions.
Particularly these issues about the theology of guru-tattva, etiquette between guru and disciple, the initiation ceremony, and qualifications of guru and disciple are important foundational topics for our training.
Having a more solid foundation in these aspects of our philosophy and practices might have helped us better to avoid some of the political frictions and fractions (or factions) that arose after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance. We should get a firm understanding of these issues through a broader, deeper study of Srila Prabhupada’s books and the insights of advanced devotees on these subjects.
I think as a society we may have at times displayed an over-dependence on the qualifications and “personality” of the initiating gurus, rather than on the process by which the qualified disciples, obeying the pure instructions of the initiating and instructing gurus, progress through bhajana-kriya and anartha-nivrtti to become steady, serious, pure vaisnavas.
Sometimes Srila Prabhupada made strong statements against accepting a guru as a “fashion” without actually doing the work required to be transformed into a twice-born, spiritual person, and I think this is partly what he was talking about.
ISKCON is a society for spreading the bona-fide instructions through parampara by which people can be factually transformed into pure devotees.
Modern day occupations connected with factory, industry and all kinds of recently invented hard technologies, have deviated mankind from his more natural occupations connected with land, cows, nature, and God.
I woke up at 10 P.M. last night with a dream and a headache. I dreamt evil forces were against good forces. I was among the good forces, and we were trying to fight them off. Everyday I hear so much about the miseries of the material world. I was agitated hearing about the 700 people who died in the earthquake in Chile. And on the weather station they showed recent hurricanes in the US in which hundreds of people had their homes blown apart and many drowned in rivers and mud slides. Mud slides are taking place in Peru and dozens of people are dying. And on the fictional TV shows they show crimes of horrendous proportions. The material world is not a fit place for a gentleman or lady. It's full of suffering. I took medicine at ten o' clock and went back to sleep. I woke up at 2:30 and began my chanting. But after about eight rounds a slight twinge began in my right eye and distracted me. I have not been able to chant so well because of this. It doesn't enable me to chant freely and smoothly. Nevertheless I continue to chant rapidly in my mind and accumulate the numerical strength. If the sensation in my right eye increases it will further interrupt my chanting, and I will have to take medicine. I don't know what to do. I wish I could chant Hare Krishna in a peaceful state of mind without bodily pain or mental disruption. It is hard to go on when you're not in a fit state.
Trying to chant
in a pinched state
in a trouble world,
"darkness around, all
untrace, the only hope,
Your Divine Grace."
Helpless we are,
paying karma's tolls…
You wait for it to get
worse but hope it
won't. You keep repeating
the mantras as the
flood rivers rise.
Krishna has given us
His names for shelter,
but we have to transcend
our material condition
by praying out to Him
with a cool brain.
I can do it if I
just calm down
and don't make it worse
by anxious panic.
Prabhupada Smaranam
Here is Prabhupada, around 1971, taking a tour of the newly located facility of ISKCON Press near the Brooklyn temple on Henry Street. The printing manager wearing work clothes whom Prabhupada is talking to is named Advaita das. The press was located in an old warehouse and wasn't really state of the art. In his early years Prabhupada wanted a printing press, but it didn't turn out to be very practical. The devotees weren't expert, and they couldn't afford expensive equipment. But at this point Prabhupada was encouraging Advaita and his co-workers to print pamphlets and small books. Some of the books they printed had faulty bindings and fell apart. Within a couple of years from when this picture was taken Prabhupada moved the press to Los Angeles, formed the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and had the actual book printing done by professional printers, Dai Nippon in Japan. They produced The Nectar of Devotion, the Krishna book, and eventually Prabhupada was also using commercial printers in the USA. The BBT continued to do the preprinting work, editing, composing, layout and illustrations.
Advaita was enthusiastic for press work but not for personal sadhana. When Prabhupada learned that Advaita was not attending mangala-arati, he wrote him a letter to either attend or "close the press."
Prabhupada was very serious about getting his writings printed and distributed. When book distribution was going strong in the airports, the BBT once did a printing run of one hundred thousand copies of Bhagavad- gita As It Is, and it was delivered in several train containers on the railroad. His spiritual master had told him, "If you ever get money, print books," and Prabhupada followed that instruction "blindly" (to use his own word). Once the BBT fell far behind in keeping up with Prabhupada in his printing of Sri Caitanya-caritamrita and he asked them to print seventeen full volumes in two months. When the BBT manager Ramesvara Maharaja said that that rate of production was "impossible", Prabhupada replied that, "Impossible was a word in the foo’ls dictionary". Ramesvara submitted to Prabhupada and after an all-out marathon of book production the BBT produced seventeen books in two months. The printing and distributing of Prabhupada's books continues to be one of the highest priorities of the Krishna consciousness movement. "Books are the basis."
Krishna Never Leaves Vrndavana
1.
Yesterday at the Winter Olympics
in Vancouver, Canada beat
the USA in ice hockey and
won the gold medal.
But it's
nothing to be upset about
because Krishna still killed
Vyomasura and thrust
His hot poker fist down
Aristasura's throat.
Here is what happened in
Mathura: Krishna killed Kamsa
and on the same day He installed
Ugrasena as king in a big
celebration. Then the Yadus
gathered around Krishna and treated
Him very nicely and tried to
convince Him that He was the
son of Vasudeva and Devaki and
that Nanda and Yasoda were
not His real parents and that
He should remain in Mathura.
Meanwhile, Nanda was encamped
in the garden outside of Mathura and
he was crying. Krishna and Balarama went to him and said
the Yadus are trying to convince us
that you are not our real
father, but we don't believe them.
A person likes to live
with people who love him best.
Nanda and Yasoda love
Krishna many times more than
Vasudeva and Devaki.
According to Srimad-Bhagavatam
Krishna stayed in Mathura.
But Visvanatha Cakravarti
explains in his commentary
that prema has two chambers.
One is when the
manifest
pastimes are performed and
one is where the unmanifest lilas are performed. In prakata-lila Krishna and
Balarama did not return
to Vrndavana whereas in aprakata-lila They returned.
It is stated in the sastras, vrndavanam parityajya
padam ekam na gacchati –
"Krishna never sets a foot
outside of Vrndavana, not a
single footstep." In aprakata-lila He always
stays with those who
love Him the best.
2.
So Krishna lived in Vrndavana, and
we live on earth. If we are lucky
we may hear of His pastimes and
aspire to go there. It is not
easy, but the lilas are pleasant
to hear and can overcome your
miseries and tedium.
Let’s open the book and keep
reading about Krishna and the gopis and how they interacted.
They speak with different
meanings understandable only
to the pure heart.
Krishna seems to give the gopis pain, but they only want Him
to be happy and He only wants
to bring them pleasure. Sometimes
even when they are directly with
Him they feel intense separation.
(This is called prema vaicittra)
Krishna thinks "if this gives
them so much loving madness, let
me leave Vrndavana, and they can
feel it even better." And the gopis think, yes let Him go and enjoy in the other
places. On one level it gives
them so much pain they'd
die except they don't want to
give Krishna distress at their
death. And He doesn't want to
die and cause them sorrow.
So He actually stays with
them in Vraja. And yet
they think He is gone away.
Who can understand these
dealings? Only the gopis themselves and
their pure followers.
We are advised to study
their mental states and
behavior and learn
the highest love in
all the worlds.
It must be done
with sobriety and in parampara.
Free write
In Jagannatha Puri, the face and body of Lord Jagannatha, the lord of the universe, is seen everywhere. He resides with Baladeva and Subhadra in the main mandir. There are other murtis in temples. His eyes are painted on police car windshields. Versions of His face are seen on motor rickshaws and manual rickshaws. His face is painted on houses with sometimes the word "welcome". His eyes and his smile are astonishing.
Peoples' eyes meet, and it is called eye contact. When you have eye contact with Jagannatha you are looking at God in a very unusual form. He is Krishna carved that way by a sculptor who was interrupted in his work. The king accepted the form of the Lord as He was. He was attracted to the big black pupils and the surrounding saucer-like whites of the eyes and to His simple smile. And to His form without full arms and to His colorful stripes. There is an alternative esoteric version that Krishna and Balarama and Subhadra took these contorted forms of ecstasy when They overheard Their confidential pastimes being described. I have a Prabhupada story about that esoteric version. In 1973 in Mayapur, Rukmini Dasi gave me a two page typed account of the confidential description of how it came to be that this ecstatic form of Jagannatha was manifest. She asked me to show it to Prabhupada and ask if it was accurate. I asked Prabhupada if it were true and he answered with one word, "Maybe." Then he said "we should simply worship Him." Because he answered "maybe" I personally don't tell the esoteric version of how Lord Jagannatha assumed His contorted forms. We can accept Him and worship Him with His big eyes and His simple smile and His flat head and His stumps of arms. The sculptor was interrupted in his work and refused to work more at it. The king accepted it as it was.
A very senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada said Ratha-yatras are out of style now and ISKCON should not hold them. He said they belonged to a different era and culture and they are not acceptable now. But I think Prabhupada wants the Ratha-yatras to continue. They may seem strange to people who see them as idolatry. But they are an established festival, and they feature harinama. Lord Caitanya celebrated them. ISKCON will continue to hold Ratha-yatras and the Lords will ride in the chariots down the streets of the cities. He will smile and His big eyes will shine like polished gems. Many people will not understand, but the devotees will gather and parade. It will continue.
On the "featured in Mayapura" theme - Namahatta.org have put together an online compilation of analyses of debates that I did. It features an overview and analysis of five of my favorite debates - four of them involving Richard Dawkins, one with Bill O'Reilly.
KulimeLA 2009: Bhajan Kutir – Volume 1 CD is now available on cdbaby, iTunes and Amazon!
Heartfelt Kirtans lead by Kishori Mohan, Gaura Mani, Ananta Vrindavan, Vijay Krsna & Rasika Dasi. Click on the links above to hear previews of all the tracks and to purchase a copy today!
In ancient Sanskrit, Kirtan is the sacred, joyful, and spontaneous congregational singing and dancing for the glorification of the Divine. “Kuli” refers to a member of a “Community.” “Mela” means “Festive Gathering.” Combined, “Kuli Mela” tranforms into “A Celebration of Community.” These Kirtans were recorded live in the KulimeLA 2009 Bhajan Kutir at the New Dwarka Temple in Los Angeles California.
The Kuli Mela Association is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to serving an international community by supporting and encouraging its members to come together as friends in service, association and empowerment. All proceeds from the sale of this album go directly to Kuli Mela Association and help facilitate future gatherings and recordings. Please support KMA by purchasing this album!
Daily Class - H. H. Kadamba Kanana Swami - Srimad Bhagavatam 11.18.13
SB 11.18.13: Having worshiped Me according to scriptural injunctions and having given all one's property to the sacrificial priest, one should place the fire sacrifice within oneself. Thus, with the mind completely detached, one should enter the sannyāsa order of life.
SB 11.18.13: Adorándome según las prescripciones de las Escrituras y dando todas las propiedades características al sacerdote sacrificador, uno debe poner el fuego del sacrificio dentro de uno mismo. Así, con la mente separada totalmente, uno debe acogerse a la orden de vida de sannyāsa.
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.18.13 - The sannyasa order is a nice niche for serving Krsna.
16.2MB
Posted by Tirthapada Dasa at 4/3/10; 8:39:27 AM to the Daily Class dept
Rhiannon (Carana Renu) tagged me a photo on facebook. I took a look at it, and was a pull-up banner outside a seminar in Mayapur, West Bengal, India called "Happy Families Happy Communities". I wondered why she had tagged me in it, until I looked at the image at the bottom:
I remember taking that photo - I'd just returned from a business trip to the United States a couple of years ago, and we were all happy to see each other again. We took that photo on the deck at Red Hill.
I published it on my blog under a Creative Commons license.
1966 March 3:
"Today Ekadasi observed. In the evening two visitors came. There were some topics on the meditation yoga. Dr. Mishra wanted my kirtan in his meetings. I am considering the proposal. The situation is adverse. Let me first of all see how they receive it in the Ananda." 1966 March 3
1968 March 3: "I am pleased you have begun practicing for the Kirtana party. Yes, you can arrange for costumes and wig; one boy dressed as Lord Caitanya, another as Nityananda, as well as Gadadhara, Advaita with white beard and Srivasa with shaven head. Blowing of the conch shell and horns is very nice." Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
1968 March 3: "My mission of one God, one scripture, and one mantra, it is authoritative statement. In Life Magazine you will find there how nicely the American boys and girls are chanting the Holy Name. Now a very nice Sankirtana party can be organized to travel all over the world." Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
1968 March 3: "Ultimately you want to merge in the formless, or you want some material facilities, or you want to serve Krishna as His personal associate. Never mind, whatever you want, you worship one God, Krishna. The ultimate gain can be achieved as one desires." Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
1968 March 3: "The Indian transcendentalists who are very serious about spreading the message of Bhagavad-gita may join us and backed by the Sankirtana movement, it will be great success. And there is every possibility of oneness all over the world, without any communal differences." Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
1970 March 3: "Organization of the European centers and World Sankirtana Party - for these reasons I called you. You are all tested devotees, remain engaged in Krsna's service, then there will be no misunderstanding. See that the French and German BTGs are nicely done - that is my ambition." Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
1974 March 3: "We will present our program exactly in the line of Lord Caitanya, by kirtana, prasadam distribution and speaking from Bhagavad-gita. We cannot deviate even an inch in order to attract the followers of the ecology philosophy or any other materialistic, utopian movement." Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
1974 March 3: "What is the use of knowing a number of influential leaders, since you yourself found them deficient? Our ideal will attract on its own merit, and we shall be glad to attract everyone who comes without compromising." Prabhupada Letters :: 1974
"So, the confirmed date for the installation of Sri Krishna Balaram is... May 30th!" Mukhya dasi, the temple president of Alachua, announces.
Silence.
"This will be the most amazing installation ceremony North America has ever seen!"
I want to jump from the floor and do a jig. At last. After seven years of dreaming and planning, and the more recent fundraising with sweat and blood, the temple of New Raman Reti dham has set a date to welcome Sri Krishna Balarama. Like our namesake of Raman Reti in Sri Vrindavan dham, the deities of Gaura Nitai, Radha Shyamasundar, and Krishna Balarama will finally all reside here.
And the news is greeted with scattered applause??!?
And I realize, with a laugh to myself, that this community has set over a dozen dates to install Krishna Balarama. We've been in doubt for the past seven years, so I empathize with the silence of disbelief. But something in Mukhya's tone tells me that this is it. This is it.
You see, the hitch has been that the only way Sri Krishna Balarama could be installed was if a new kitchen was built. A very big, very expensive new kitchen. There was simply no way the current kitchen and pujari facilities could facilitate the growth of this community if we welcomed new deities. To cook festival feasts for two or three thousand in the current kitchen is pretty excruciating as it is.
Then Mukhya dasi took the reins of the management here about a year ago and the tide began to turn, the dream to become solid. She pushed for the fundraising drive, and I believe we were all still suspended in disbelief that it was actually happening.
But this community has raised nearly a third of a million dollars.
And so at last, over a month later after Mukhya's announcement, the kitchen is nearly finished and the reality is sinking in, Sri Krishna Balaram are coming, and the anticipation and excitement is spreading like a deep, intense fire all over the world. People from every corner of the world will be flying, driving, and walking in to welcome Sri Krishna Balarama.
Being always ecstatic in Krishna consciousness boils down to one simple principle: Always remember and never forget Krishna. Of course, due to material conditioning this is easier said than done. But if we diligently endeavor to always follow this principle and sincerely beg for Lord Krishna's help, we will find that it becomes amazingly easy. When...
Modern day occupations connected with factory, industry and all kinds of recently invented hard technologies, have deviated mankind from his more natural occupations connected with land, cows, nature, and God.
By Bhakti Raghava Swami
Comments • [comment feed]
“Some topics include the special position Srila Prabhupada plays in ISKCON as the Founder-Acarya, a theological understanding of Guru-tattva, issues of etiquette between guru and disciple, understanding the initiation ceremony, and the qualifications of a disciple and a guru. Over the course of this year a committee will continue to develop curriculum for this course.”
These seminars sound interesting and I wonder if they could be made available (in some modified form?) for the general devotees, perhaps in the VIHE or MIHE programs or also in some of the other educational programs we have.
At ISV a couple weeks ago we had some mini-courses on Vaisnava etiquette, temple etiquette, Vaisnava dancing, cooking and better japa. These specialized classes are useful, separate and apart from the regular Bhagavatam and Gita classes. They remind me more of the “bhakta program” idea of providing devotees with basic skills and training in addition to the daily dose of Krishna-katha medicine injected in the ears during regular temple functions.
Particularly these issues about the theology of guru-tattva, etiquette between guru and disciple, the initiation ceremony, and qualifications of guru and disciple are important foundational topics for our training.
Having a more solid foundation in these aspects of our philosophy and practices might have helped us better to avoid some of the political frictions and fractions (or factions) that arose after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance. We should get a firm understanding of these issues through a broader, deeper study of Srila Prabhupada’s books and the insights of advanced devotees on these subjects.
I think as a society we may have at times displayed an over-dependence on the qualifications and “personality” of the initiating gurus, rather than on the process by which the qualified disciples, obeying the pure instructions of the initiating and instructing gurus, progress through bhajana-kriya and anartha-nivrtti to become steady, serious, pure vaisnavas.
Sometimes Srila Prabhupada made strong statements against accepting a guru as a “fashion” without actually doing the work required to be transformed into a twice-born, spiritual person, and I think this is partly what he was talking about.
ISKCON is a society for spreading the bona-fide instructions through parampara by which people can be factually transformed into pure devotees.