Devotees Vaishnavas: 20 may 2010

jueves, 20 de mayo de 2010

January 24 2011 - Planet ISKCON - 20 new articles

----- Original Message -----
From: FeedBlitz
To:
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 7:52 AM
Subject: Planet ISKCON - 20 new articles

Click here to read this mailing online.

Here are the latest updates for
"Planet ISKCON" - 20 new articles
H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Monday 24 January 2011--Directly Communing with God Every Day--and--How to Accept Krishna as the Supreme?
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Devamrita Swami at Krishna Fest
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana
ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Recording of Kirtan with BB Govinda Swami and Madhava das from Russia!
ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Bhaktimarga Swami Doing Great and on the Road to Recovery!
H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 199
Gauranga Kishore das,USA: Temple President by Manu Dasa
Japa Group: Japa Seminar Chandramauli Swami P3
Mukunda Charan das, SA: Meeting With Radhanath Maharaja At ISKCON Juhu, March 2007
Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Going To Be A Cold Winter
H.H. Sivarama Swami: Talk to a Yoga-kirtan group at the Kirtan-barn in Essex on Jan 19th (Part 2)
Subhavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: Appearance day of Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami
Sita-pati dasa, AU: "No disturbance, just harinam"
Atma Yoga, Brisbane, AU: Atma Closed for Yoga Retreat
H.H. Sivarama Swami: Kirtan at Birmingham temple
ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Woah! Hare Krishna Maha Mantra as a Jeopardy Question!
Book Distribution News: Prabhupada Marathon....
H.H. Sivarama Swami
Gouranga TV: Bhajan – Mukunda Datta das – Jaya Radha Madhava
Japa Group: It’s Hard Work To Control The Mind
More Recent Articles
Search Planet ISKCON
Prior Mailing Archive
H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Monday 24 January 2011--Directly Communing with God Every Day--and--How to Accept Krishna as the Supreme?
A daily broadcast of the Ultimate Self Realization Course(tm) Monday 24 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: Directly Communing with God Every Day Uploaded from New Dwarka--Los Angeles, California, USA Our daily japa meditation, in which we chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra, is the most auspicious opportunity to directly and intimately commune with God every day. If the rounds are uttered sincerely and attentively with love and devotion, the chanting becomes an experience of great spiritual depth and intensity in which one awakens profound feelings of appreciation, connection, and submission to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The chanting of these rounds every day is the most important practical activity for awakening the love of God within one's heart. Therefore when we accept someone as a disciple, the first requirement is that they must vow to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day without fail as a lifetime vow. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Srila Prabhupada Chanting Japa http://www.backtohome.com/images/Prabhupada/sp_chants_japa.jpg Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Accept Krishna as the Supreme? I humbly request your good self to please tell me on what basis one can accept Lord Krishna as Lord or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Your humble servant, Nagireddy Answer: Scientifically Krishna is not blindly accepted as the Supreme. We accept Him as such on the basis of scientific criteria. Krishna is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead because He is the original source of all existence and because no one can equal or excel Him in the possession of power, beauty, renunciation, knowledge, wealth, and fame. 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 2010-2011 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:

• Email to a friend • •

ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Devamrita Swami at Krishna Fest

Here they are at last those pictures:

the blissful Wednesday night with the "Urban Mystic".

Here's the slideshow.

• Email to a friend • •

ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana

Caitanyadeva is so exuberantly restless that His dress doesn't stand still;
part of it has fallen on the side on account of His experiencing ecstatic eruptions of krishna prema.

Constant remembrance of Sri Sri Radha Ballabha will automatically transport one to this platform of eternal bliss.

"...if one acts exclusively for the pleasure of Krishna then one is in Vrindavana;
when one's mind has become Vrindavana Krishna, who naturally has His residence in Vrindavana, will have His residence in our mind..."
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Chowpatty 2010)

Here's the darsana of Krishna that will help our mind become Vrindavana.

• Email to a friend • •

ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Recording of Kirtan with BB Govinda Swami and Madhava das from Russia!
We can't seem to embed the video, but click here to view a recorded broadcast of a kirtan and initiation program with HH B.B. Govinda Swami and Madhava das! We had a chance to send a message through their chat window and Maharaj even typed something back (you can see him reading our message and typing back at the three hour and seventeen minute (3:17:00) mark! Here's what he typed:

Jan 23 2011, 11:56 AM
Toronto (guest): If possible, please let Maharaj know that devotees from Toronto were watching and that we miss him very much! We hope he can come visit Toronto very soon!

Jan 23 2011, 12:04 PM
Vedamedia: Maharaj typed: [20:04:33] Ильяс (Казань): hari bol torontaites ... I will come if you pass my love and obeisances to Subuddhi Mataji

Jan 23 2011, 12:05 PM
Toronto (guest): JAYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jan 23 2011, 12:05 PM
Toronto (guest): WILL DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jan 23 2011, 12:05 PM
Toronto (guest): HARI BOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Email to a friend • •

ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Bhaktimarga Swami Doing Great and on the Road to Recovery!
We're happy to share that Bhaktimarga Swami is recovering very well from his minor surgery that he had to undergo due to a hernia. At the first opportunity, devotees swarmed to visit Maharaj at the hospital and we even heard that, at one point in time, 25 devotees had crammed into Maharaj's room! To the right is a picture from one of the "devotee swarm" visits!

We wish Bhaktimarga Swami a speedy and healthy recovery and we're sure he'll be back to his normal, amazing self very soon!

• Email to a friend • •

H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 199
www.sdgonline.org.
8:48 A.M.
John Steinbeck describes a destroyer as “a lovely ship, probably the nicest fighting ship of all.” Battleships are a little like steel cities or great factories of destruction. Aircraft carriers are floating flying fields. Even cruisers are big pieces of machinery, but a destroyer is all boat. In the beautiful clean lines of her, in her speed and roughness, in her curious gallantry, she is completely a ship, in the old sense.
“For one thing a destroyer is small enough so that her captain knows his whole crew personally, knows all about each one as a person, his first name and his children and the trouble he has been in and is capable of getting into. There is an ease on a destroyer that is good and a good relationship among the men. Then if she has a good captain you have something really worth serving on.”
Steinbeck describes the destroyer as the first ship to get into contact in battle.
“She can get under way at the drop of a hat. The water under fantail boils like a Niagara. She will go rippling along at thirty-five knots with a spray sheeting over her and she will turn and fight and run, drop depth charges, bombard and ram. She is expendable and dangerous. And because she is all these things, a destroyer’s crew is passionately possessive. Every man knows his ship, every inch of it, not just his own station.”
The description of the destroyer reminds me something of a small or medium ISKCON temple. I served aboard a Navy destroyer escort for two weeks at sea. My main impression of it was how when you went outside there was no room to walk on, just rails that you had to hold onto tightly, and the water sluicing over them. It was risky just walking outside. And below decks the ship rocked back and forth. If in the beginning you got seasick, you eventually got over it and got used to the roll and pitch of the ship. It was a constant thing. The ISKCON temple that runs well is not like a huge bureaucratic cathedral with dozens of departments and department leaders and lacking sometimes a single purpose. The general purpose is to maintain Krishna consciousness for guests and for training of devotees. But the duties sometimes get mixed up, and there is bickering and working at cross-purposes. The smaller boat or temple works with a single-mindedness, and whether one is distributing books or cooking in the kitchen or working on the temple altar, he or she believes they are working on the same temple for the same city, serving Prabhupada in that city. Prabhupada has made military comparisons to temples. He said they are like forts from which the soldiers go out to drop bombs of books on the surrounding populace.
Steinbeck writes, “The destroyer is a personal ship and a personality. She is worked quietly. No one ever raises his voice. The captain is soft spoken and so is every one else. Orders are given in the same low tone as request for salt in the ward room.” The small temple is similar. There is no shouting, loud arguing or loud joking. Relationships are quiet and friendly. The temple, like the ship, is not a lazy atmosphere. They are always ready to do their duty when given orders.
Narayana is giving me a new personal schedule. So far the schedule is that I go to bed at 7:15 and try to get to sleep. Lately I’ve had trouble sleeping the night through, so if I wake up at one or three and I’m wide awake then I take sleeping pills. Last night this was effective and I got back to sleep. I woke up at a quarter to six which was our scheduled attempt. In other words Narayana came up to get me at a quarter to six to wake me, but I happened to be already awake. So I get up at a quarter to six and do some chanting as the first part of the day. We both feel that chanting should be done in the brahma-muhurta or at least as early as possible. In my period of recovery from exhaustion I’m not able to get up for brahma-muhurta but at least I’m not going to sleep until seven o’clock anymore. So I chant from a quarter to six until seven and then I take my shower and get ready for breakfast. After breakfast if I’m not too sleepy I do some writing for the journal as I did this morning. This would be the ideal schedule. He says after I get rolling with this much of the schedule he will give me the rest of it. I think I’ll go to see to him now and see what he has to say.
I had two dreams and when I woke up I tried remembering them, but I had a great deal of trouble in doing so and finally they slipped away. Trying to remember them was like trying to catch fish. I almost had them several times, but then they slipped out of my hands. If I could have remembered one dream it would have led me back to the other one.
Prabhupada made many militant statements about the nature of sankirtana and book distribution. In a letter he wrote to the devotees of the Los Angeles temple. He said, “There is no doubt about it, to distribute books is our most important activity. The temple is not a place for eating and sleeping, but as a base from which we send out our soldiers to fight with maya. Fight with maya means to drop thousands and millions of books into the laps of the conditioned souls. Just like during the war time the bombs are raining from the sky like anything.”
When he heard that the temple president in Vancouver had acquired a bus for traveling he wrote, “I think we are becoming like a gigantic guerrilla warfare movement fighting with maya. This traveling in buses is the best means to drive away maya and establish Krishna consciousness all over the world.”
To his editor Jayadvaita he wrote, “These books and magazines are our most important propaganda weapons to defeat the ignorance of maya’s army and the more we produce such literature and sell them profusely all over the world, the more we shall deliver the world from the suicide course.”
In the purport to the Bhagavad-gita 9.30 he wrote, “Devotional service is more or less a declaration of war against the illusory energy.”
The small temple is a fast basketball team. They have a few tall players. All the players run together and run up and down the court. They pass the ball and shoot. X jump shoots and misses but it’s alley-hoop, his team mate tips it into the net. They’re four points ahead, then X guard is fouled and he goes to the free throw line. He’s sweating. He composes himself. He sinks the shot right threw the nets. The second shot he does it again. They are six points ahead. This is how they do it on book distribution, go from one customer to another. They don’t give to everyone a book, but they move across the court and through the traffic. “Excuse me, have you seen one of our magazines?” “Excuse me, have you seen this yoga spiritual magazine?” “Have you seen this book on spiritual exercise?” “Spiritual and yoga wisdom?”
Up and down the court, get the rebound, pass behind the back, have you seen this book? Have you heard of yoga meditation? I mean easy meditation with deep results. Yeah I was telling him it’s not a complicated yoga but a fun and yet deep practice that brings results on the spiritual level fast to release your stress, it’s all in this book…This is an ancient science for modern times.

• Email to a friend • •

Gauranga Kishore das,USA: Temple President by Manu Dasa

I am a Temple President.

Before you congratulate me, so are you.

The great saints and sages explain that this body is a temple of Krishna who resides within as Paramatma, Supersoul. Not only that, but the body is made up of Krishna's material energy in the form of earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego. This concept is just starting to settle in. I'm living in my master's house and am in charge of keeping it clean and fit as a proper residence for Him, cleaning it inside and out.

Externally, I wash this temple with soap and water, then apply sacred tilak decorations. Internally, I apply the cleaning agent of Sri Krishna's Holy Name, who is all pure, all powerful, all cleansing, to sanctify this temple's atmosphere, mind, and heart and make it a suitable sitting place for Sri Sri Radha-Shyamasundara. After engaging this mind, ears and tongue in hearing and chanting, I make the rounds and engage the rest of this body's senses in the service of Krishna... sa vai manah krishna padaravindayor.

I am a temple president. Who would have thought. Yikes!

References: Bhagavad-gita As It Is 9.11, purport:

"A devotee should see that because Krishna is present in everyone's heart as Paramatma, every body is the embodiment or the temple of the Supreme Lord; so as one offers respect to the temple of the Lord, he should similarly properly respect each and every body in which the Paramatma dwells."

As a point of interest, this concept is also taught in The Bible, 1 Cor. 3.16:

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”

And: 1 Cor. 6.19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”

• Email to a friend • •

Japa Group: Japa Seminar Chandramauli Swami P3
Chandramauli Swami talks more about the mind and how to keep focused on the words of the Maha mantra.

• Email to a friend • •

Mukunda Charan das, SA: Meeting With Radhanath Maharaja At ISKCON Juhu, March 2007
ISKCON Juhu, Andheri, Mumbai, March 2007
Radhanath Maharaja greeted me after Radha-Rasabihari’s Morning Darshan. I was talking to his godbrother, Narottama prabhu, whom I had met a couple of days before. While talking to Narottama, Maharaja looked at me and said, ‘He’s a very nice devotee from South Africa’.
Later that morning, I was sitting in the foyer of the Juhu Temple browsing through photos of the previous night’s Rama Navami Festival on my digital camera. Radhanath Maharaja was making his way towards the elevator to the guest-house. Damodar Dulall prabhu, Maharaja’s personal servant, was a few meters ahead of Maharaja, danda in hand. I got up, offered my gurumaharaja dandavats on the cool, marble floor and went back to my chair.
Damodar Dulall exclaimed, ‘Maharaja wants to see you!’ Maharaja beckoned me from the lift with his hand. Startled, I put my camera away and went to the lift. I couldn’t believe my luck! Maharaja was calling for me! Amiya Vilas Swami was also in the lift. He informed Maharaja that he had a hernia. Maharaja said, ‘I had the same five years ago. It is very painful’. Maharaja instructed Damodar Dulall prabhu to find him another room since the newly painted walls were aggravating his asthma. Damodar Dulall prabhu scurried off, and Maharaja ushered me into his room.
I said, ‘Shall I close the door?’ Maharaja replied, ‘Yes’. Then Maharaja said, ‘Come, sit on the bed’. ’Do you mind if I lie down?’ He said, ‘My health hasn’t been so good lately’. Maharaja then spoke to me about second initiation. (Second or brahminical initiation is awarded to Hare Krishna devotees when they demonstrate steadiness in Krishna consciousness or brahminical/priestly qualities). Maharaja said he would give me second initiation before he left for Europe in May.
‘How long do you plan to stay in India?’ he asked. I said that I had a return-ticket to South Africa in November. I told him that I was having a sabbatical. Maharaja asked, ‘And your authorities don’t mind?’ I said, ‘No’. I told him that my uncle had given me an advance inheritance and it was my intention to travel. He ascertained that it was my great uncle, Vernon, who had given me the money. I said that I wanted to pay my last respects to him. He said, ‘You should see your uncle’. I mentioned to him that I would also like to visit the United States. I wanted to see the places of Prabhupada’s pastimes in New York City. Maharaja said I should have some service, that I should join up with Yajna Purusha prabhu when I was there. I mentioned to Maharaja that I would like to join the Festival Of India programme (which goes all over the USA). He replied, ‘I am a little familiar with things in America. Rather stay with Yajna Purusha’. I added that I was not so much into physical activity. Maharaja said, ‘Yes. Yajna Purusha’s programme is more suited to you’.
Maharaja also said that there were some nice brahmacaris (celibate monks) in New Vrindavan. I said, ‘Of course I would like to go there. And Los Angeles too. Maharaja, I come from Cape Town. They have their own interpretation of brahmacharya there’. We then discussed Gopiparanhadana prabhu’s Brihad-Bhagavatamrita, my involvement in a production on Mayapur which had been screened on SA National TV and my role in the management of the Cape Town Temple. I mentioned to Maharaja that I had just completed the Bhakti Sastri Degree (which covers some of the key scriptures of the Hare Krishna Movement). Maharaja laughed as he said, ‘I never got it in thirty-seven years!’ I replied, ‘But, Maharaja, you are super-learned! I had to do the course in order to study the books!’
Maharaja then asked me if I had developed any friendships with the boys at Radha-Gopinath Temple. I replied, ‘Yes’.
I then mentioned to Maharaja some of the problems I had been having with some of the devotees in Cape Town. He told me that I should submit to the Temple President, and support him; or carry on with something else…with the blessings of Bhakti Caitanya Maharaja and Partha Sarathi Goswami Maharaja. I appreciated his openness. I apologised to him, ‘I am sorry if I have disappointed you’. He said that change is part of developing in Krishna Consciousness and that he was not disappointed. It was natural.
I mentioned that on my return to South Africa I would like to take up the challenge of starting something new. He said, ‘That is very difficult’. I said that I felt as though I was ready for it. It was not so much my problem with my President. That had dissipated. I was frustrated by the ethos in Cape Town. I was struggling with brahmacharya there because the couple who were managing the Temple had no previous understanding of ashrama (monastic) life.
Maharaja then said that he was tired and that he was going to take rest. ’Maharaja, will you tell me when you are going to give me second’. He replied, ‘Of course’.

• Email to a friend • •

Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Going To Be A Cold Winter
It’s late fall and the Indians on a remote reservation in South Dakota asked their new chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild.
Since he was a chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky, he couldn’t tell what the winter was going to be like.
Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.
But, being a practical leader, after several days, he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, ‘Is the coming winter going to be cold?’
‘It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold,’ the meteorologist at the weather service responded.
So the chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more firewood in order to be prepared.
A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. ‘Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?’
‘Yes,’ the man at National Weather Service again replied, ‘it’s going to be a very cold winter.’
The chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.
Two weeks later, the chief called the National Weather Service again. ‘Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?’
‘Absolutely,’ the man replied. ‘It’s looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters we’ve ever seen.’
‘How can you be so sure?’ the chief asked.
The weatherman replied, ‘The Indians are collecting a boatload of firewood’

Filed under: Jokes

• Email to a friend • •

H.H. Sivarama Swami: Talk to a Yoga-kirtan group at the Kirtan-barn in Essex on Jan 19th (Part 2)

• Email to a friend • •

Subhavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: Appearance day of Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami
Today marks the appearance day of Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami and is expecially important in our Brahma Madhava Gaudiya Vaishnava Samradaya tradition. Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami is one of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan who wrote extensively and formalized the scriptural understandings and philosophical basis of our Sampradaya tradition.

Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami met Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabu when he was a young boy. When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was about to leave Gopala Bhatta became very disheartened and to pacify him the Lord stayed and gave him and his family direct association for some more time.

Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami had the spirtual realization that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was none other than Krishna Himself and at wanted to go to Vrindavan. However, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told him to stay and first carry out his duties towards his parents.

Eventually Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami did go to Vrindavana where he wrote including assisting Srila Sanatana Goswami with the much celebrated writing of Hari Bhakti Vilasa. Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami established the Sri Radha Raman Temple in Vrindavan and once you see Sri Radha Raman Devji, you truly lose your heart in Vrindavan. A picture and some of the nectar of of Sri Radha Raman Devji's appearance can be found below.

Jaya Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami!
When Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami was visiting the pilgrimage centers of northern India, he found a Shalagram Sila on the banks of the Gandaki River. He took the worshipable stone form and carried it with him wherever he went, attending to it as a Vrajendranandan Krishna Himself.

Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami used to daily worship twelve Shalagrams. He developed a desire to serve the Lord in the form of a deity, thinking that in this way he would be able to worship him in a much better way. The Lord within his heart knew his feelings. Through a rich merchant, he was provided with many beautiful items used in the worship of the deity, such as ornaments and clothes, sent to him. Gopal began to worry that all these beautiful objects would be wasted because there was no way that he could use them unless he had a deity in human form. That night, he put the Shalagrams to rest and in the morning he saw that one of them had been transformed into the Radha Raman deity.

The Shalagram Silas had transformed itself into Radha Raman to fulfill the wish of his devotee. This deity stands alone without any form of Radha standing by His side. Instead, a symbol of Radharani is placed on His left side.

When Rupa and Sanatan heard that Krishna had so mercifully appeared to Gopal Bhatta, they immediately came with the other devotees for darshan, and when they saw him, they were ecstatic with love. To this day Radha Raman is worshipped by his devotees and an unbroken and the descedents of Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami's disciple. The Radha Raman temple is considered one of the most important in Vrindavan and in this temple you cannot only get darshan of Sri Radha Raman but also original artifacts that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent for Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami.

Sri Radha Raman ki jaya!
Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami ki jaya!

Every day we should be thankful to Srila Prabhupada who has given us so much nectar and provided us the link to such an illustrious parampara that connects us to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu glorious sankirtan movement.

• Email to a friend • •

Sita-pati dasa, AU: "No disturbance, just harinam"
While chanting overnight on Ekadasi, as was his custom, Akincana Krishnadas Babaji was approached by devotees who knew that he was expert in kirtan, and who wanted to learn more melodies and mrdanga beats from him. After sitting and chanting japa with him for several hours, one of them ventured: "Maharaja, we have brought mrdanga and cartals. Shall we do kirtan?"
Knowing their intent, Akincana Krishnadas Babaji replied: "No. Tonight no disturbance. Just harinam", and went back to chanting on his beads.
- One of my favorite stories
Sydney just finished an epic 40 hour kirtan. I watched large sections of it via the internet, and am looking forward to getting my hands on the recordings.
Now I am thinking: where do you go from a 40 hour kirtan?
Of course there is true Akhanda-nam "non-stop chanting of the Holy Name", such as is going on in Vrndavan year in and year out. But for communities in the West, embedded in cities and household life: what's next? A 48 hour kirtan? A 72 hour kirtan? The 108 hour kirtan that Nitai das RNS has been promising?
How about a 24 hour continuous kirtan of a single melody, with no one leading it, just continuous singing? I'd be down for that.

• Email to a friend • •

Atma Yoga, Brisbane, AU: Atma Closed for Yoga Retreat
Atma yoga will be closed this Wednesday and Thursday, the 26th and 27th of January due to our annual Yoga and Kirtan Retreat.
We will back in business on Monday the 31st January.

• Email to a friend • •

H.H. Sivarama Swami: Kirtan at Birmingham temple

• Email to a friend • •

ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Woah! Hare Krishna Maha Mantra as a Jeopardy Question!
For those who may not already know, "Jeopardy" is a famous game show known for it's puzzling questions and high level of difficulty! Well, as proof that the Hare Krishna mantra has gone mainstream, check out the video below. Unfortunately, none of the contestants got the right answer, but it's certainly neat to Alex Trebek say parts of the maha mantra! Check it out! For the producers of the show: we'd be happy to offer maha mantra classes to all your contestants that come on the show! ;-)

• Email to a friend • •

Book Distribution News: Prabhupada Marathon....
Hare Krsna Prabhus.
Arriving at Westfield mega mall due to rain moving me on from a carpark, I found Lord Caitanya had people awaiting Prabhupada's books inside the mall. Roy was one of them.
When I put the SB1.1 into his hand he asked me if I was a Hare Krsna, Hare Rama.
Knowing that only Indian's refer to us in this way I asked him if he had an Indian wife.
"Wow how did you know?" he replied, "But no, were divorced!"
He told me his horrific experience of being married at the age 23 to an Indian lady who demanded so much of him, more than he could give. He was high in the corperate world but it wasn't good enough for her, he was working so hard but still not enough money.
Divorcing her he developed a strong distaste for material life, he came to the point where he realized everyone was under the influence of money, therefore trying to escape that reality he literally gave away thousands of dollars to people, he even gave away his bed and would sleep on the floor!
He further expressed his realization about money and relationships, showing distaste. Seemed like he'd never again make such mistakes in life...
He liked hearing about Krsna conscious solutions.
The exchange was flowing nicely when a beautiful Chinese girl appeared at his side.
I thought, "Oh no! Now the exchange will be finished!"
Indeed she took one look at me, Roy and the book and he turned to jelly.
She asked him if he was interested in THAT book, he put it back in my hand.
I gave him a look to say, "Hey you know you are interested...don't forget!"
In response to the look he said, "I want to give you some money for the conversation." He and the girl walked to the ATM a few meters away and were conversing as he pointed in a few directions of the mall.
I was praying that Krsna would kindly sort out the situation so that Roy could take the book as he desired.
Then I saw something I'd never seen before. With determination to finish the exchange nicely, he put his hands on his girlfriend's shoulder and turned her in the opposite direction and she gleefully went away.
Roy returned to our exchange and I mentioned to him that maybe his new girlfriend may lead him down the same track he had just graphically described to me about about his ex wife.
Roy looked shocked and relieved that someone could see through the illusion. He asked if we could stay in contact, I gave him the details to our outreach center in Auckland City.
He gave a donantion and took the SB 1.1 heading in the opposite direction to where his girlfriend had gone to put the book in his car before she saw it.
Sankirtan is like a television into maya's tricks.
Your aspiring servant, Gokula Lila dd

• Email to a friend • •

H.H. Sivarama Swami
Unless one offers respect to others, one’s begging will be fruitless.
- Srila Prabhupada

• Email to a friend • •

Gouranga TV: Bhajan – Mukunda Datta das – Jaya Radha Madhava
Bhajan – Mukunda Datta das – Jaya Radha Madhava

• Email to a friend • •

Japa Group: It’s Hard Work To Control The Mind

We actually like to space out when we chant. It’s easy, it’s easier than concentrating, it’s hard work to control the mind. It is hard work to concentrate. So that’s why you have to develop internal momentum, you get the speed, you get the determination, the sankalpa developed in the mind.

From the Process Of Improving Habits
by Mahanidhi Swami

• Email to a friend • •

More Recent Articles
H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Sunday 23 January 2011--Connecting with the Universal Religion--and--How to See the Reality Beyond Illusion?
Gaura Yoga, NZ: Revivify
Devadeva Mirel, Alachua, USA: Cold Weather Food : Pakora / Chutney / Dal
ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana
Gaura Yoga, NZ: Wellington Anniversary

Click here to safely unsubscribe now from "Planet ISKCON" or change your subscription, view mailing archives or subscribe

Unsubscribe from all current and future newsletters powered by FeedBlitz

Your requested content delivery powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498