New Vrndavan, USA: Upcoming Special Morning Classes Beginning Thursday; Bharat Natyam; Ladies’ Day At the Palace

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Here are the latest updates for you "Planet ISKCON" - 55 new articles ISKCON Melbourne, AU: 12 Hour Kirtana - Pictures ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Astrology Retreat with Bhanu Swami H.H. Prahladananda Swami: Lecture – SB 3.1.14 Croaking For Death H.H. Prahladananda Swami: Lecture – SB 3.24.13 Srila Prabhupada, The Standard Akrura das, Gita Coaching: THE REAL INTEREST Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: "Your children will not be my disciples" H.H. Prahladananda Swami: Lecture – Bhagavad Gita 15.5 Receipt won’t get you there – Video H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 86 H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Prabhupada Smaranam H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Poem from Under Dark Stars H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Free Write Kirtans in Oxford, UK: September's Celestial Kirtan Dandavats.com: Revolt of the Elites Dandavats.com: Srila Prabhupada Memories Dandavats.com: Advanced Civilization Dandavats.com: Vrindavan Kartika Parikrama and Festival Dandavats.com: Vyasa Puja and Other Books on eBay Japa Group: The First Offense Kirtans in Oxford, UK: Kirtan This Sunday New Vrndavan, USA: Upcoming Special Morning Classes Beginning Thursday; Bharat Natyam; Ladies’ Day At the Palace Dandavats.com: New Vrindaban Remembers Hladini devi dasi Dandavats.com: Devotee Bridal events Ad Dandavats.com: New Vrindaban Features at Communal Studies Association Conference Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Bill Clinton Became a Vegan Ananda Subramanian, Iowa, USA: complete knowledge constitutes realization of the self Gaura Vani, USA: Cheb i Sabbah and Friends – October 24, NYC H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: Vyasa Puja Report From Sydney Australian News: Sydney – Harinam – On Video – Don’t miss it (Where’s yours?) Akrura das, Gita Coaching: HOW TO MAKE AN IMPROVEMENT PLAN Akrura das, Gita Coaching: MY PARENTS AND THE HOLY NAME Akrura das, Gita Coaching: CHANT MORE Akrura das, Gita Coaching: SPIRITUAL GIVING Akrura das, Gita Coaching: SINCERITY Akrura das, Gita Coaching: 3 QUICK POWER QUESTIONS Akrura das, Gita Coaching: MOTIVATION Akrura das, Gita Coaching: Five Questions for Superior Performance Akrura das, Gita Coaching: BE MORE CONSCIOUS Akrura das, Gita Coaching: 4 STEPS TO IMPROVE Akrura das, Gita Coaching: THE LAW OF ACCUMULATION Akrura das, Gita Coaching: WHAT IS YOUR "X"? Akrura das, Gita Coaching: INSTANT WISDOM - ZERO LEVEL THINKING Akrura das, Gita Coaching: INSTANT WISDOM - SUMMARY OF SUCCESS Akrura das, Gita Coaching: INSTANT WISDOM - SINGLE SUCCESS FORMULA Akrura das, Gita Coaching: INSTANT WISDOM Mayapur Online: Sri Kshetra Parikrama 2010 H.H. Sivarama Swami: If we have lusty thoughts in the way that Chotta Haridasa did, are we to be condemned by Lord Caitanya as was he? David Haslam, UK: Soho Street temple (my thoughts on my stay) H.H. Sivarama Swami: Conversation with devotees on the chanting of the Panca-tattva mantra H.H. Sivarama Swami: Balaram asks whether we need to take diksa if we remember our initiation from our last life On the Web: Agenda for the 9th ISKCON European Leaders Meeting 2010 ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Who Were You In Your Past Life? Gouranga TV: Kirtan, Shamishtha Devi Dasi ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Kadamba Kanana Swami at Krishna Fest ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Maha Harinama - Saturday 2nd October Japa Group: Power Of the Hare Krsna Mantra More Recent Articles Search Planet ISKCON ISKCON Melbourne, AU: 12 Hour Kirtana - Pictures Here is a slideshow from last Sunday's 12 Hour kirtan; pictures taken by Bhakta Pete. I take this opportunity to remind and invite you all to tonight's Maha-Kirtana from 4.30 to 9.30pm. Below is the roster: 4:30pm - 4:45pm Simon 4:45pm - 5:00pm Kanapathy 5:00pm - 5:30pm Guna Mani Nitai 5:30pm - 6:00pm Jaspal 6:00pm - 6:30pm Ravi 6:30pm - 7:00pm Silvana 7:00pm - 7:30pm Aniruddha 7:30pm - 8:00pm Akash 8:00pm - 8:30pm Bala Gaura 8:30pm - 9:00pm Les 9:00pm - 9:30pm Stoka Krsna   • Email to a friend • • ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Astrology Retreat with Bhanu Swami Bhanu Swami has finally agreed to grace us with his expertise and knowledge on astrology. Maharaja will be conducting a 3-days seminar on the topics of astology and karma down at the Hare Krishna Valley from the 15th to 17th October.   • Email to a friend • • H.H. Prahladananda Swami: Lecture – SB 3.1.14 Croaking For Death SB 03.01.14_Croaking For Death_2005-01 Lecture – SB 3.1.14 Croaking For Death 2005-01 New Govardhan Australia   • Email to a friend • • H.H. Prahladananda Swami: Lecture – SB 3.24.13 Srila Prabhupada, The Standard SB 03.24.13_Srila Prabhupada, The Standard_2003-11-01 Lecture – Srimad Bhagavatam 3.24.13 Srila Prabhupada, The Standard 2003-11-01 Los Angeles (Spiritual Master)   • Email to a friend • • Akrura das, Gita Coaching: THE REAL INTEREST The real interest of the living entity is to get out of the nescience that causes him to endure repeated birth and death. The only remedy is to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead through His representative. Unless one renders devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, one cannot possibly become completely detached from this material world, nor can he possibly manifest real knowledge. SB 4.29.36   • Email to a friend • • Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: "Your children will not be my disciples" One day in Los Angeles, Upendra, who was my husband and Prabhupada's servant, was in Prabhupada's room when Prabhupada handed him a twenty-dollar bill and said, "This is for your children." Immediately Upendra said, "Prabhupada, we can't take this from you." Prabhupada said, "No this is for your children. I'm not their spiritual master, they will have to take their own." Upendra brought the twenty-dollar bill home and we knew that Prabhupada was telling us he wasn't going to be on the planet to initiate our children--they were going to have to seek out their own spiritual master. It wasn't an automatic given that all of our children would be Prabhupada's disciples. Chitralekha dasi, Memories of Srila Prabhupada: Anecdotes of a Modern-Day Saint 3.171.   • Email to a friend • • H.H. Prahladananda Swami: Lecture – Bhagavad Gita 15.5 Receipt won’t get you there – Video Lecture on Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15, Text 5 – “Receipt won’t get you there” Dallas, TX 2010-07-07 Bhagavad-gita As It Is 15.5 nirmana-moha jita-sanga-dosha adhyatma-nitya vinivritta-kamah dvandvair vimuktah sukha-duhkha-samjnair gacchanty amudhah padam avyayam tat TRANSLATION Those who are free from false prestige, illusion and false association, who understand the eternal, who are done with material lust, who are freed from the dualities of happiness and distress, and who, unbewildered, know how to surrender unto the Supreme Person attain to that eternal kingdom. PURPORT The surrendering process is described here very nicely. The first qualification is that one should not be deluded by pride. Because the conditioned soul is puffed up, thinking himself the lord of material nature, it is very difficult for him to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should know by the cultivation of real knowledge that he is not lord of material nature; the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Lord. When one is free from delusion caused by pride, he can begin the process of surrender. For one who is always expecting some honor in this material world, it is not possible to surrender to the Supreme Person. Pride is due to illusion, for although one comes here, stays for a brief time and then goes away, he has the foolish notion that he is the lord of the world. He thus makes all things complicated, and he is always in trouble. The whole world moves under this impression. People are considering the land, this earth, to belong to human society, and they have divided the land under the false impression that they are the proprietors. One has to get out of this false notion that human society is the proprietor of this world. When one is freed from such a false notion, he becomes free from all the false associations caused by familial, social and national affections. These faulty associations bind one to this material world. After this stage, one has to develop spiritual knowledge. One has to cultivate knowledge of what is actually his own and what is actually not his own. And when one has an understanding of things as they are, he becomes free from all dual conceptions such as happiness and distress, pleasure and pain. He becomes full in knowledge; then it is possible for him to surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. BG 15.05_Receipt Won’t Get You There_2010-07-07   • Email to a friend • • H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 86 www.sdgonline.org. 3:31 A.M. Namamrta by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: ‘A The Holy Name Protects the Devotee from Falldown. “Ajamila’s exalted position as a brahmana was vanquished by his association with the prostitute, so much so that he forgot all his brahminical activities. Nevertheless, at the end of his life, by chanting the four syllables of the name Narayana, he was saved from the gravest danger of falling down. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat: even a little devotional service can save one from the greatest danger. Devotional service, which begins with chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is so powerful that even if one falls down from the exalted position of a brahmana through sexual indulgence, he can be saved from all calamities if he somehow or other chants the holy name of the Lord. This is the extraordinary power of the Lord’s holy name. Therefore in Bhagavad-gita it is advised that one not forget the chanting of the holy name even for a moment (satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drdha-vratah). There are so many dangers in this material world that one may fall down from an exalted position at any time. Yet if one keeps himself always pure and steady by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, he will be safe without a doubt.” (S.B. 6.1.63) According to the Vedas, there is a certain regulation that if one falls down from his exalted position, he has to undergo certain ritualistic processes to purify himself. But here there is no such condition because the purifying process is already there in the heart of the devotee, due to his remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead constantly. Therefore, the chanting of Hare Krishna should be continued without stoppage. This will protect a devotee from all accidental fall-downs. He will thus remain perpetually free from all material contaminations. Chanting protects one from the fall-down, but one to separately follow the four rules: no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating, and no gambling, in order to chant properly. Neither can one commit sins and think that he will absolve them by chanting Hare Krishna. Nevertheless if one does fall down he can rectify himself by repentance and taking to the constant chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. Fall-down can occur if one superficially chants but deliberately commits sins. But upon falling down, if one truly feels sorry and is aware of his wrong he can absolve himself from the sins by taking to earnest chanting and by strictly following the rules and regulations. A fall down is the worst thing that can happen to a bhakta on a royal road of devotional service. But he can save himself if he takes to chanting Hare Krishna and stops his sinful action. The chanting must not be merely mechanical but a cry from the heart, begging forgiveness. If one reinstates himself and resolutely engages in devotional service he cannot be considered fallen. Krishna protects him and warns others to accept the erring devotee as a victim of an accident and include him again in the circle of devotees.   • Email to a friend • • H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Prabhupada Smaranam www.sdgonline.org. One Hundred Prabhupada Poems, #43 Each working for our master, now in separation. Where do we find you? Each in his own heart. I find you in those special purports when I am receptive or somehow I see it all clearly and my appreciation deepens as you tell us of Krishna. Right now I have no book, I’m in a rented room, about to leave for sannyasa preaching. I can’t quote you immediately but when I get a hold of your book … you said we should know it by memory not “my knowledge is in the book. I’ll look it up.” Without your books, I think of your books. Without you answering my letters, I write them anyway and imagine your replies. Without love or knowledge of God, I depend on you completely. “That is theist,” you said, faith in Vedas. It is not enough to say “I believe in God.” Disciple of Prabhupada is a tall order, who claims it? Maybe I can say weak disciple. Anyway, disciple. Your cela ever since you took me in the old days. I’ll still be your boy when I’m ancient looking and when I’m spiritual person I will know who I am, and you will give me service.   • Email to a friend • • H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Poem from Under Dark Stars www.sdgonline.org. 1. Starting to tell of the sub-persons in the sanatorium as I later develop in a novel by that name. They are patients in a devotee- hospital. A mention of two modern jazz-man who died very young. A warning to use your time well. 2. Here is the poem: “He said do it your way. Reclusive for meeting people, but what you want, who you are. I’ve got to stay close to the meds and the bed and the caretaker as sweet as Saci. As sweet as you’re, he imitates the birds, what’s wrong with that? read more from SDGonline - daily updates Viraha Bhavan journal   • Email to a friend • • H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Free Write www.sdgonline.org. I turned at random to Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto one, Chapter nine, verse forty-three: “Suta Gosvami said: Thus Bhismadeva merged himself in the Supersoul, Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, with his mind, speech, sight and actions, and thus he became silent, and his breathing stopped.” Bhismadeva merged his self into thinking of the Lord and his mind into remembering his different activities. He chanted the glories of the Lord and by his sight he began to see the Lord personally before him and thus all his activities became concentrated on the Lord without deviation. This is the highest stage of perfection and it is possible for everyone to attain this stage by practice of devotional service. Devotional service consists of nine processes, sravanam, kirtananam, visnu-smaranam … (hearing, chanting, remembering etc.) Any one of these can bring about perfection but they have to be performed persistently under the guidance of the devotee of the Lord. Hearing is the most important and therefore hearing Bhagavad-gita and later Srimad-Bhagavatam must be practiced by anyone who wants to attain the perfection of Bhismadeva at the end of life. Krishna doesn’t have to be personally present for this to take place. His words in the scriptures are identical with the Lord. Prabhupada writes, “Every man or animal must die at a certain stage of life, but one who dies like Bhismadeva attains perfection, and one who dies forced by the laws of nature dies like an animal….The human form of life is especially meant for dying like Bhismadeva.” You look within yourself. First you have an inconvenience of a coming headache but further-in you ask about your spiritual wellbeing. You are inclined to Krishna, you say His names early in the morning. Later you read some of the strokes made by Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s songs and tell some of your feelings towards the Lord. It’s hard to praise yourself, so, again, thinking that you know the strength and the arms of baseball player, like Jason Werth and Luke Scott. Your own arms are not so strong. You are writing unconscious sentences. You start telling Krishna what you want to say but by the time you write the sentence you forget it and something incomprehensible or different comes out. Krishna can be found in the random verses you quote from Srimad-Bhagavatam. It’s mostly the truth and I let myself write freely. I try to make it Krishna conscious. Bala told me of a new problem: Krishna-kripa’s fifty-year-old sister, who is a councilor, is coming for lunch. That means we can not read the Caitanya Bhagavata. We’ll have to engage in small talk. Maybe we can talk something about God or Krishna. Talk about her brother’s passion for travelling around the world and going out in public and chanting the holy name, which he loves to do. Next week ISKCON is officially celebrating Holy Name week. They want to promote special kirtanas at that time. Krishna-kripa wants to go down to New York City and get some devotees to go out with him and chant in Tompkins Square Park. He said he is not a good manager for getting the devotees assembled to go out into the park. Holy Name Week. There will be some extra chanting. I think of a book table with my book, Japa Transformations, and other books on chanting. Some devotees may try the trick of lecturing on yoga and psychology and introducing the maha-mantra as a related subject. Some thought of an anthropology class at a university. All day Haridasa Thakura had to wear his chains in prison. Say, “You are a good devotee which is saying the holy names.” Lord Caitanya said, “Chant Krishna!” You can sing out the holy names on the Holy Name Week. Lord Caitanya said I’m the Lord’s servant and in a good position to chant the Lord’s names. Lord Nityananda chants and dances in ecstasy. It is the yuga-dharma and easy to perform, you can chant along with great kirtana performers. “Hare” is vocative call to the Supreme energy. We rushed to the spot where Prabhupada sang kirtana in 1966. At retreats and temples they have 12 hour and 24 hour kirtanas. I usually chant for about half-an-hour then I get tired. But japa I can do for three hours. It is nice to go on chanting. Sometimes Lord Caitanya would jump in the air and crush to the earth. The demigods would protect his body and Lord Nityananda would also protect him. The brothers shared intimate ecstasy.   • Email to a friend • • Kirtans in Oxford, UK: September's Celestial Kirtan O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’d With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest, And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe, And all the daughters of the year shall dance! Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers. - William Blake Our September kirtan, replete with autumn fruits and flowers, was sung with 'jolly voice'! Although there were several 'new' first-time chanters, everyone joined in with gusto and the result, as one chanter described it, was a 'celestial atmosphere'. Our very newest chanter was little Ananya, whose mother brought her to her first kirtan. She was as good as gold the whole way through and charmed us with her smiles. Her mother, Swetha, covered the cost of the refreshments afterwards, in honour of the event. Thank you Ananya and Swetha! Gaura, brought two friends from Cambridge, and the three of them took turns in leading the chants. Craig and his Croatian wife Dunja are planning to start kirtan programmes in Cambridge - and we hope to join them there sometime, to return the compliment. Gaura hari sings Govinda jaya jaya... Dunja, who has a lovely voice, singing the ancient chant 'om namo bhagavate vasudevaya' We finished up with autumnal mulled apple juice, nut biscuits and coconut sweet balls. We're very grateful to Gaura, Craig, Dunja and friends who travelled so far to bring us a wonderful experience of chanting. Thanks chaps!   • Email to a friend • • Dandavats.com: Revolt of the Elites By Dhanesvara das Christopher Lasch, a well-known American social and cultural critic, argued in his last book that democracy was withering in the hands of professional and managerial elites who lack a sense of social and civic values.