martes, 2 de noviembre de 2010

Ekendra das, Alachua, USA: All The Day-Glo Freaks Who Used To Paint Their Face Have Joined The Human Race



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  1. Ekendra das, Alachua, USA: All The Day-Glo Freaks Who Used To Paint Their Face Have Joined The Human Race
  2. H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Tuesday 2 November 2010--My Birthday--and--How to Fully Absorb Mind in Krishna's Name?
  3. Deva Gaura Hari, AU: Is guilt good or bad?
  4. Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: thirty key verses -- more
  5. Sutapa das, BV Manor, UK: Soft, cozy beds
  6. Japa Group: Executing Our Spiritual Duties
  7. Kurma dasa, AU: Steak and Chips
  8. Dandavats.com: Invitation for New Orleans Rath Yatra festival
  9. David Haslam, UK: Form R1
  10. Akrura das, Gita Coaching: THEY SHOULD
  11. Subhvavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: Krishna, please accept my humble service. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān.
  12. Vrndavana Vinodini dd, Toronto, Canada: Purity in the Moment
  13. Akrura das, Gita Coaching: "I FORGIVE YOU"
  14. Hari Sauri das, Mayapura, IN: BRC boon
  15. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  16. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  17. Akrura das, Gita Coaching: BHAGAVAD GITA - FREE AUDIOBOOK
  18. Mayapur Online: In appreciation of Devaki Mayi dd
  19. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 119
  20. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: One Hundred Prabhupada Poems
  21. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Beyond Cynicism
  22. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: His Own
  23. Akrura das, Gita Coaching: THE CHOICE MAP
  24. H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Saturday, October 30th 2010
  25. H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Friday, October 29 th, 2010
  26. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  27. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  28. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  29. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  30. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  31. ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Deity Darshan: Sunday, October 31, 2010
  32. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  33. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  34. H.H. Sivarama Swami: Syama Dulali dd and Bn Eleanora ask why there are demons and demigods in Vaikuntha
  35. H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Here is the 2010 Vyas Puja Homage Book for His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Sankarshan Das Adhikari ...
  36. Hari Sauri das, Mayapura, IN: GBC Strategic Planning meetings Day 2
  37. ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily class - Gopa-vrndesa Prabhu
  38. Japa Group: Prepare Your Heart For Krsna
  39. Gouranga TV: Holy name festival 2010 New Vraja-dhama
  40. Dandavats.com: Guru Kripa Prabhu’s Fake profile on Face Book
  41. More Recent Articles
  42. Search Planet ISKCON
  43. Prior Mailing Archive

Ekendra das, Alachua, USA: All The Day-Glo Freaks Who Used To Paint Their Face Have Joined The Human Race

We recently spent a few nights at a hotel in my “hometown”—a concept which first seemed weird to me, because I grew up there but I have absolutely no actual home there. Our stay there coincided with a “Record and CD Fair” being held in the hotel ballroom. Record fairs are where fifty-somethings go to find 45 rpm vinyl discs with large holes in the middle. It’s kind of like a horse and buggy festival, except horses and buggies are perpetually useful.
At first I thought, “Oh, boy! Record and CD fair! Record and CD fair!” but after a couple deep breaths, I realized I had all the music I wanted, plus I’m going to India so I can’t carry anything anyway. But it occurred to me that any Record and CD Fair in my hometown would likely attract some of my old record-collecting music freak friends.
I poked my nose into the Fair early Sunday morning, after the hotel’s treadmill started spewing smoke while I was walking on it. The ballroom was filled with folding tables covered with boxes of old, musty vinyl albums and singles. A selection of t-shirts with vintage-looking old record labels printed on them (such as “Sinful Women” by Elmore James) caught my eye. At each booth was a fiftysomething guy with gray hair, either reading a newspaper or talking very animatedly to a potential customer about the latest Roger Waters tour.
Around the maze paced a horde of fifty-and-sixty somethings in leather jackets—die-hard rock and rollers frantically looking for That Special Limited Edition Release They Couldn’t Afford To Pay Eleven Dollars For Thirty Years Ago But For Which Now Will Pay Two Hundred. At one end of the Fair was a PA system blaring some vague, twangy rockabilly music. Occasionally a D.J. would make some announcements about some Exclusive or Rare Find available at Booth X.
I scanned the room, looking for faces that matched my age-progressed description of anyone I might have known thirty years ago. I noticed one codger with long white hair and a beard in a leather jacket, going through a bin of $2 LPs, and recognized the manager of the record store where I myself used to sell records twenty-four years ago. The last time I saw him, his long hair and beard were brown. Many walls of his house were dedicated to floor-to-ceiling record shelving units.
I held out my hand and introduced myself. He had a lot to say about the state of the music business. He gave up on retail when he saw everything going digital and online, and he got into the landscaping business. “There’s no record stores anymore. Any seventeen year old girl these days can go on Google and instantly find out anything about any song off album by any band that it took me thirty-two years to find out the hard way, and buy it online.”
The Record Fair DJ interrupted our conversation, “If anyone finds a walking cane, please bring it to the DJ area. Again, someone has dropped their walking cane, so if anyone finds it, please bring it to the DJ area.”
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H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Tuesday 2 November 2010--My Birthday--and--How to Fully Absorb Mind in Krishna's Name?

====================================================
Thought for the Day--Tuesday 2 November 2010 ====================================================
Dedicated with love to ISKCON Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and to you, our treasured readers. Our purpose is to help everyone awaken their...
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Deva Gaura Hari, AU: Is guilt good or bad?

Most agree that guilt is a negative emotion, and modern therapists would mostly agree that one should try and feel good about oneself and give up guilt. Krishna Consciousness takes a different approach to these so-called negative emotions.
"Rupa Gosvami says that as long as we are in this material world we have to act; we cannot cease acting. Therefore if actions are performed and the fruits are given to Krishna, then that is called yukta-vairagya." - B.g. 9.28p
From the relative viewpoint of material consciousness, guilt seems bad, but if we can step back and analyse the fruit of this consciousness we can properly classify it. If the guilt leads us towards Krishna, it is good. If it leads us into material consciousness it is bad.
For example, if we feel guilty about not chanting attentive rounds yesterday, and that leads us to chant attentively today, then that guilt helped us in Krishna consciousness and we are grateful. On the other hand, if guilt makes us want to withdraw from the association of devotees and take shelter in material pursuits, then that guilt is bad, and we don't take any notice of it.
In the Caitanya Caritamrita it is said that Rupa and Sanatana Goswamis felt guilty for being in the materialistic government, and this made them want to humbly surrender to the Lord's service. This is an example of guilty feelings leading to higher consciousness.
By using such seemingly negative emotions in the Lord's service one actually becomes cured of them, because they don't "disappear", but they become spiritualised. If we try to just negate such emotions, as some would suggest, they will continue to be there in an impure form, because it is the nature of our soul to have all these emotions in one form or another - the only choice we have is whether to have them in their pure or impure state.
Guilt - from Nectar of Devotion 29
When a person blames himself for committing an inappropriate action, his feeling is called guilt.
One day Srimati Radharani was churning yogurt for Krishna. At that time the jeweled bangles on Her hands were circling around, and She was also chanting the holy name of Krishna. All of a sudden She thought, "I am chanting the holy name of Krishna, and My superiors—My mother-in-law and My sister-in-law—may hear Me!" By this thought Radharani became overanxious. This is an instance of feeling guilty because of devotion to Krishna.
One day the beautiful-eyed Srimati Radharani entered into the forest to collect some flowers to prepare a garland for Krishna. While collecting the flowers, She became afraid that someone might see Her, and She felt some fatigue and weakness. This is an instance of guilty feelings caused by labor for Krishna.
There is a statement in Rasa-sudhakara that after passing the night with Krishna, Radharani became so weak that She was unable to get up from bed. When Krishna took Her hand to help Her, Radharani felt guilty about having passed the night with Him.
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Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: thirty key verses -- more

>From "Life With The Perfect Master" by SDG
One morning in Bombay, while I was sitting chanting silent japa in Prabhupada's back room and Srila Prabhupada was reading one of his books in the front room, his disciple Pancadravida Swami came to visit him. Pancadravida Maharaja had been preaching in South India, and after visiting Prabhupada for a few days, he was about to set off again on another tour to the South. Prabhupada gave him encouraging words and blessings. He told him that the mission of the Krsna conscious movement is to turn a section of the population into ideal men. Prabhupada said we cannot expect everyone to join. "If by this way or that way," said Prabhupada, "you can bring one person to Krsna, He is very pleased to have one of His sons returned." Pancadravida Maharaja asked how he could prepare himself to preach against South Indian panditas who knew the sastras thoroughly. Prabhupada replied that if he could just memorize thirty of the key verses of Bhagavad-gita, he would be able to defeat Mayavadi arguments. Prabhupada also emphasized that Pancadravida Maharaja should preach on the basis of the varnasrama-dharma, explaining that in order for society to be sane it should be organized according to four orders and classes.
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Sutapa das, BV Manor, UK: Soft, cozy beds



My alarm went off at 3.45am this morning. It was cold… I was tired… and I had a hard decision to make. Luckily there are no soft cozy beds in our monastery, just simple mats on floors. I finally decided to jump out of my sleeping bag and scramble into the shower. As usual, I felt fine 20 minutes later. Bad habits, they say, are just like soft cozy beds - very easy to get into, but extremely difficult to get out of. Good habits, on the other hand, are extremely difficult to form but very easy to lose.

This month is all about developing good habits. In the ancient spiritual culture of the Vedas, this period around October/November was earmarked as a particularly powerful and sacred time. Any spiritual activity performed in this “month of Kartik” renders extra benefit and reward. Just as Christmas sales coax old customers back and simultaneously attract new buyers to jump on board, this month could also be entitled a ‘spiritual sale’. Practitioners make vows to immerse themselves and make extra commitments in their spiritual endeavours. It’s a month in which we break out of the routine, and try to do something extra.

Modern self help gurus talk about the “30 day trial”. This is the idea that if you change something in your life, and continue it through for 30 days, it actually becomes a habit. The ancient sages also had this insight. Maybe it’s not just about what we can spiritually obtain from this month, but rather the changes we can make this month that will carry us forward for the next year. As humans, change is something we don’t always handle very well. Slowly but surely, however, we have to chip away at all those bad habits and develop saintly character, culture and lifestyle. Spiritual practice then becomes easy and natural.
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Japa Group: Executing Our Spiritual Duties



From this we can understand how we have to be very cautious in executing our spiritual duties by observing the rules and regulations and regularly chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. If we neglect doing this, we will eventually fall down.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.8.8
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Kurma dasa, AU: Steak and Chips

steak and chips:
Attention all vegetarians: Don't panic!
The photo above is from 'Cooking with Kurma', my second cookbook. The 'steak' is made from fresh panir cheese.
S from Malaysia wrote and suggested I shouldn't call them 'steaks', but rather 'patties'. I guess the name 'steak' conjured negative emotions for him. Sorry S, but 'patties' just doesn't 'cut the mustard' with me. You're not going to convince a meat-eating bloke to 'have a pattie'.
Why convince a meat-eating bloke at all, you say?
In fact my Spiritual Master, Srila Prabhupada instructed us in Melbourne of 1974 during an impromptu cookery class, that fried panir cheese is ideal for converting the meat-eaters. He suggested that a dish made with fried panir cheese would be 'a meat eater's delight'.
Subsequently fried panir chunks and fried potatoes in a spicy whey-based gravy became a classic Australian Hare Krishna Temple Sunday Feast item, and became lovingly known as 'Meat Eaters Delight' or MED.
So I will continue to call them 'Panir Steaks' with a clear conscience. And here's the recipe for the photo above.
Panir Cheese Steaks with Chips and Salad
Curd cheese, or panir, is rich in protein and extremely versatile. It can be deep-fried and used in vegetable dishes, crumbled into salads, made into sweets, stuffed inside breads and pastries, and creamed into dips.
Curd cheese is the simplest kind of unripened cheese and is made by adding an acid or other curdling agent to hot milk. The solid milk protein coagulates to form the soft curd cheese, the liquid whey is separated, and the cheese is drained, pressed, and then used as required. Because curd cheese is not commonly available in shops, and the home-made product is vastly superior, I have included the simple recipe for making your own.
The quality and freshness of the milk will determine the quality of the curd cheese. The higher the fat-content of the milk, the richer the curd cheese. Different curdling agents will produce different types of curd. The most common curdling agents are strained, fresh lemon juice, citric acid crystals dissolved in water, yogurt, cultured buttermilk, or sour whey from a previous batch of curd cheese.
Panir Galore: Here's a gigantic block of fresh panir cheese that we made at Drysdale Tafe.
5 litres fresh milk, 3-4 cups yogurt or 6-8 tablespoons lemon juice, oil for pan-frying, ½ teaspoon yellow asafetida powder, tamari or soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, crusty bread, salad greens and chips for serving.
Heat the milk to boiling point in a heavy-based saucepan.
Stir in three-quarters of the yogurt or lemon juice. The milk should separate into chunky curds, leaving a greenish liquid residue called whey. If not completely separated, add a little more yogurt or lemon juice. Drape a double thickness of cheesecloth over a colander sitting in the sink.
Scoop out the curds with a slotted spoon and place them in the cheesecloth. Pour the whey and whatever curds that remain in the saucepan into the cheesecloth. Gather the ends of the cloth together and hold the bag of curd cheese under cold running water for 30 seconds. Twist the bag tightly to squeeze out extra whey, return it to the colander.
Press under a heavy weight for 10-15 minutes. Carefully remove the curd cheese from the cloth. Your panir is ready. Slice the panir into steaks.
sizzlin':
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan placed over fairly high heat. Sprinkle in the yellow asafetida powder and saute momentarily.
Carefully transfer the panir cheese into the hot pan and cook on both sides, turning when required with a fork or tongs, until golden brown and crusty.
Splash on the tamari or soy sauce, toss the pan or turn the panir, then pour on the sweet chili sauce and repeat until the sauces combine to a thick glaze.
Quickly remove the panir and serve immediately with hot chips and salad.
I also present panir cheese on a bed of sweet potato mash with tangy dressed rocket leaves like so:
panir steak on sweet potato mash and rocket salad:
In Govinda's restaurant in Dublin, the most popular dish on the menu is bowlfuls of fried panir cheese fried to golden brown and simmered in a rich tomato gravy. Two thousand litres of the local creamy fresh farm milk is made into panir cheese every week.
panir unlimited:
You can also simmer fried chunks of panir cheese with peas and spicy tomato sauce for the classic Indian dish 'matar panir'
matar panir:
Subliminal advertising session is over. You will now immediately go to the kitchen and make panir. Go on, off you go...

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Dandavats.com: Invitation for New Orleans Rath Yatra festival

Rohininandan das: On behalf of ISKCON New Orleans, we would like to extend an invitation to all devotees and guests to join us in our annual Rath Yatra festival
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David Haslam, UK: Form R1

After the events here in my little valley community it has been decided they need to know a bit more about me and so I have been sent away with the form R; although saddened in some respect that despite serving at The Manor for over four years a question mark is hanging over my [...]
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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: THEY SHOULD

I hear people saying "they should". "They" refers to various people: leaders, politicians, parents, children.

To me, it is a waste of time. Why should we think what others should do?

Better to think "I will".

What should I do to make a difference?
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Subhvavilasa das ACBSP, Toronto, CA: Krishna, please accept my humble service. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān.

Picture
A very nice quote from Srila Prabhupada during a lecture reffering to a question I asked Srila Prabhupada earlier after going to see other temples in Vrindavan.     
Vṛndāvana, September 24, 1976
Just like immediately our Śubhavilāsa Prabhu was asking me that “We have seen so many temples. Why they are so neglected?” Is it not your question? And why they should not neglect it? The, mostly, the temples, they have become the means of livelihood. That is the defect. Temple is not meant for means of livelihood. Then it will deteriorate. How long you can falsely worship Deity and make show of ārati? You cannot go on very long time. That is not possible. You’ll be disgusted. Unless there is feeling, bhāva, that “Here is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has very kindly come here to receive, to take, accept my humble service. He’s so great that He cannot be approached by a person like me.” Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān.
~ His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada through you I pray that Krishna, please accept my humble service.  
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Vrndavana Vinodini dd, Toronto, Canada: Purity in the Moment

Mesmerized. I was trapped. Nay, I was ensconced in the maha mantra. Framed by two sweet girls, a mere eight years in age, I was rendered speechless. The sound of the holy names emanating from their lips reverberated through the ignorance and materialistic cavern that I call my heart. Completely untainted. Their voices unhurriedly chanting Krsna's names. The purity of their heart, uncluttered with screaming desires pierced the ether. Just for a fraction of a moment I could feel it. The potency. The strength. The love.
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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: "I FORGIVE YOU"

To me, "I forgive you" is a proud statement.

Who am I to forgive?

Forgive what?

If I really understand that whatever happens to me is deserved than there is no need to get angry at the first place.

And there is no need to forgive.
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Hari Sauri das, Mayapura, IN: BRC boon

November 1 2010
An added bonus from my visit to Mumbai was meeting a good friend of ISKCON, Srimati Srilekha Bose. Mrs. Bose is the sister of Sri Tarun Kanti Ghosh, who was a big government minister in W. Bengal during the 1970s. He was a strong supporter of ISKCON, and the chief guest of our 1977 Gaura Purnima festival. He had several darshans of Srila Prabhupada as seen here on Gaura Purnima day 1977:


But the connection goes much further back to the late 1800′s. The grandfather of Tarun Kanti and Srilekha was a well known Vaisnava, Mahatma Shisir Kumar Ghose.

The Ghosh family owned several prominent newspapers — Amrit Bazaar Patrika, Jugantar, Jugantar Press and had tremendous influence not just in W. Bengal but in India.
Shisir Kumar Ghose was a prominent author as well as newspaper baron and he was a personal friend of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

It was he who named Bhaktivinoda Thakura the “Seventh Goswami”. This is mentioned in Rupa Vilasa dasa’s book of the same name:
“The Thakura’s association with the famous Sisir Kumar Ghosh has been documented by Paramananda Vidyaratna and in a scholarly book called Vaisnavism in Bengal by Dr. Ramakanta Chakravarti. Sisir Kumar Ghosh (1840-1911) was a famous journalist, the founder and editor of the Amrita BazarPatrika and formerly a Brahmo (a follower of Rammohan Ray). He had great respect and reverence for Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, having read some of his books, such as Sri Krsna-samhita. Being very attracted to the purity of the Thakura, he initiated a correspondence with him. He came to consider the Thakura to be on the level of the Six Gosvamis, and in fact, he once wrote to him: “I have not seen the Six Gosvamis of Vrndavana, but I consider you to be the seventh Gosvami.” He published a book about the life of Lord Caitanya in English called Lord Gauranga or Salvation for All in 1897, being inspired by the Thakura’s book Shree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu-His Life and Precepts. He wrote biographies of Lord Caitanya’s followers and published an edition of the Caitanya-bhagavata. He also preached the glories of the holy name in the Calcutta area and many villages in Bengal, being inspired again by the Thakura’s example. His Vaisnava journal, Sri Visnu Priya O Ananda Bazar Patrika was published under the editorship of the Thakura on a fortnightly basis starting in 1890. Later it became a monthly.”
[SG 23: Preaching and Publishing Until the Last]
Shisir Kumar Ghose also wrote the famous news article describing and supporting the Thakura’s attempts to collect funds for the building of a temple at the newly discovered birth site of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu:

“On December 6, 1894, an article appeared in the Amrta Bazar Patrika that describes how, just after the Thakura’s retirement from government service, he began going from door to door in Calcutta, begging donations for Lord Caitanya’s Temple in Mayapura in a spirit of perfect humility: “Babu Kedar Nath Dutt, the distinguished Deputy Magistrate, who has just retired from the service, is one of the most active members. Indeed, Babu Kedar Nath has been deputed by the committee to raise subscription in Calcutta and elsewhere and is determined to go from house to house, if necessary, and beg a rupee from each Hindu gentleman for the noble purpose. If Babu Kedar Nath Dutt, therefore, really sticks to his resolution of going round with a bag in hand, we hope, no Hindu gentleman, whose house may be honoured by the presence of such a devout bhakta as Babu Kedar Nath, will send him away without contributing his mite, however humble it may be, to the Gaur Vishnupriya Temple Fund.”
[SG 21: Retirement and Expansion of Preaching]
Srila Prabhupada referred to this connection between Shisir Kumar and Bhaktivinoda Thakura in a letter to Tarun Kanti Babu on March 11 1974:
“Since I attended the meeting last night I am feeling a new enthusiasm, over how potential the Krishna Consciousness movement is, based on the teaching of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Your good family has very great interest in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and especially your grandfather Mahatma Sisir Kumar Ghose was a great friend of Bhaktivinode Thakura. So we are coming down in disciplic succession from Bhaktivinode Thakura and you are coming in family succession from Mahatma Sisir Kumar Ghose, so if we combine together in preaching the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it will be a great benediction to human society for mitigation of all kinds of problems of material existence.”
With this background it was with great pleasure then that we met Mrs. Bose in Kolkata early this year. At the behest of her nephew Tamal Kanti Ghosh, the son of Tarun Kanti, she came to visit the BRC.

Srilekha Bose, niece Rita Datta, nephew Tamal Kanti Ghosh
She was very impressed with our efforts and promised to look for literatures to donate to the BRC from their extensive family library. Since the passing of her brother in 1996, the family estate has become scattered and the library has been broken up so she wasn’t sure what she could find.
True to her word though she rang me several months ago to say she had found several books written by her grandfather which were now rare and out of print. Since she lives in Mumbai she told me to visit whenever I was over that side and she would donate them to the library.
So on Saturday Oct. 31 I went to her home and today she visited Hare Krsna Land. She handed me copies of several titles by Shisir Kumar Ghose, including a third edition printed in 1923 of the two volume book mentioned above, Lord Gauranga or Salvation for All. It was their personal family copy but she is entrusting it to the BRC because of the high quality of our library. As it happened HH Bhakti Charu Swami, a major donor of the BRC, was on hand to meet Mrs. Bose along with BBT manager Bhima prabhu and Hare Krishna Land temple president Braj Hari prabhu:

HH Bhakti Charu Swami, BBT in  chief Bhima prabhu, temple president Braj Hari prabhu and Smt. Srilekha Bose with a rare copy of Lord Gauranga or Salvation for All.
Mrs. Bose has promised to put us in touch with her niece Rita in Kolkata who knows the whereabouts of the rest of the family library. Our hope of course is to find some rare treasures for the BRC. Considering the decade long publishing collaboration between Mahatma Shisir Kumar Ghose and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura we may find more than just books to add to our archive.
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1958 November 1: "My dear Brother, please excuse me if I have offended you by calling you my dear Brother. Actually you are my dear brother and when you know me you shall be pleased that I have called you as such."Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1968 November 1 : "The wife is the shareholder of the husband's pious activities. Actually he cannot check you in the matter of your service either to Krishna or to me, but we must take care by following the ordinary rules."Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: BHAGAVAD GITA - FREE AUDIOBOOK

Click on the title to listen to the jewel of Eastern wisdom Bhagavad-gita As It Is online - for free.

WHAT GREAT MEN SAY ABOUT BHAGAVAD GITA

"When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous." ~ Albert Einstein

"The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by its devotion to God which is manifested by actions." ~ Dr. Albert Schweizer

"The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity." ~ Aldous Huxley

"The idea that man is like unto an inverted tree seems to have been current in bygone ages. The link with Vedic conceptions is provided by Plato in his Timaeus in which it states..." behold we are not an earthly but a heavenly plant." ~ Carl Jung

"In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial." ~ Henry David Thoreau

"The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life's wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion." ~ Herman Hesse

"When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

"I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The Bhagavad-Gita is an empire of thought and in its philosophical teachings Krishna has all the attributes of the full-fledged monotheistic deity and at the same time the attributes of the Upanisadic absolute." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Mayapur Online: In appreciation of Devaki Mayi dd

We humbly request worldwide devotees to pray for HG Ekanatha Gaura prabhu and HG Devaki Mayi mataji (Ekanatha prabhu’s wife) and HG Sarva Sakti mataji’s quick recovery. They had met with a very bad car accident in Guayaquil,Ecuador. HG Devaki Mayi mataji is in intensive care unit. Ekanath Gaura prabhu is a long time traveling secretary/servant of HH Jayapataka Swami.
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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: 119

3:44 A.M.
Namamrta by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:
‘Results of giving up chanting’
“[Sukadeva Gosvami to King Pariksit]…Being attached to raising a deer, Maharaja Bharata forgot the rules and regulations for the advancement of spiritual life, and he gradually forgot to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After a few days he forgot everything about his spiritual advancement.
“From this we can understand how we have to very cautious in executing our spiritual duties by observing the rules and regulations and regularly chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. If we neglect doing this, we will eventually fall down. We must rise early in the morning, bath, attend mangala-arati, worship the Deities, chant the Hare Krishna mantra, study the Vedic literatures and follow all the rules prescribed by the acaryas and the spiritual master. If we deviate from this process we may fall down, even though we may be very highly advanced…Even if one is in the renounced order, he should never give up the regulative principles.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.8.8)
If one cannot complete the fixed number of rounds he’s assigned he should be considered to be in a diseased condition of spiritual life. Krishna sends a sincere person a bona fide spiritual master and the combination of Krishna and the spiritual master is the cause of one’s receiving the seed of Krishna consciousness. If you have a seed of any nice plant it is your duty to not lock it up in a safety valve at the bank. Your duty is to sow it in the ground. You should sow it within yourself, and after sowing the seed you have to pour water on it, and the water is chanting and hearing. The process should not be stopped by the thought that because one is initiated there is no need of hearing and chanting. It should go on continuously. If you stop pouring water on a plant it will dry up; it will not produce any fruit. Similarly, even if you are highly elevated in Krishna consciousness, you cannot stop this process of hearing and chanting because maya is so strong, so powerful that as soon as she sees, “Ah, here is an opportunity,” at once she will dry up. In the Nectar of Instruction, text 5, Prabhupada writes, “We have witnessed that some of our contemporaries who are supposed to be great preachers have gradually fallen into the material conception of life because they have failed to chant the holy name of the Lord. The impersonalist may ask why one should bother chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra continually for so many years instead of stopping and trying for kaivalya, liberation, or merging into the existence of the Lord. In answer to this Maharaja Prthu maintains that the attraction of this chanting is so great that one cannot give up the process unless he is an animal.
I woke up after a night’s sleep about 1 A.M. But for some reason my chanting went very slowly. By 3:30 I have only chanted eight rounds. My chanting was not very alert, and I found myself pushing to gain the accumulation of rounds towards the quota. A quota should accumulate naturally, without great effort, by a consistent and pleasurable chanting of the holy names. I think I was feeling tired and that was the reason I could not chant so quickly.
Only an animal will
stop his practice of chanting
the Hare Krishna mantra. It is
never given up in favor of
attaining impersonal liberation.
If one neglects to chant
he will fall down from
spiritual life. Today
my chanting was slow
and unconscious, as if
I was too tired to keep
up the pace. This is
another form of neglect.
Chanting must be done
with alert concentration
in order to get the
desired effect—
attraction to more chanting.
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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: One Hundred Prabhupada Poems

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# 76

Prabhupada wishes me well in any honest
venture to be Krishna conscious.
I say “preach” and “spread Krishna consciousness” so many times!
I get sick of it inside when
I say it only because you are supposed to.
But I actually want to.
My spiritual master writes
“Spread Krishna consciousness” in his books,
and when he says it
it doesn’t rub me the wrong way.
He explains why
a compassionate person wants to help others.
If you see someone about to fall off a roof,
you call out to them even if
they become annoyed that you stopped their fun.
Prabhupada did it and said
“Do as I am doing.”
It’s the best way to worship.
Krishna did it Himself in the form
of Lord Caitanya, traveled six years continually
distributing fruits of love of Godhead.
He said, “How many arms do I have to
give out all these fruits? Come, please
help Me taste them and give them away.”
In any photo of Prabhupada, he is actually
preaching. At a festival in
Balboa Park, on a chair in a householders’
flat in Calcutta,
in someone’s business office,
sitting outdoors beside a Citroen
eating a lunch on a cardboard box
en route to go see an old castle for sale—
he is always preaching and worshiping
in this world and the next.
Want to be with him?
Take up his order, tell whoever you meet
please chant Hare Krishna,
Lord Krishna is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.
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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: Beyond Cynicism

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God is worshipped as adi-sukara,
the first boar. He is not abominable
like a hog or pig of this world
but is bowed down to by the demigods
like Lord Brahma. Yet I cannot
worship Him. I worship Radha
and Krishna and Gauranga and Nityananda.
They are the most beautiful and
transcendental forms of the Godhead.
My old college friend does not like
Krishna. He thinks the Lord’s order to Arjuna
to kill his relatives was violent tribal advice and
should have been ignored by Arjuna.
I have no problem with the
Lord’s order to kill the Kurus.
I know the background of the
Mahabharata and how the Kauravas
tortured the Pandavas—attempted
to strip Draupadi, tried to burn
the whole family alive in a house
of lac. Fed Bhima a poisoned cake,
rigged a dice game which banished
the Pandavas for fourteen years and then
reneged on the beg and said they would
not give the warriors even a village to rule,
”not as much land as can fit under a pin.”
Krishna went to talk peace
with them, and they tried to kidnapped
Him. Aside from all this,
Bhagavad-gita was an arrangement
where Sri Bhagavan could teach
the world through Arjuna the
science of transmigration,
how no one ever dies but
has to take another body
according to their karma.
He used the battlefield as a
classroom to give the lessons
every conditioned soul needs to
know, the nature of the self
and the Supreme, the need to
work for Krishna and surrender
to Him giving up all sorts
of speculative religion.
I have no problem with
the violence in Bhagavad-gita.
The Kurus were evil men;
and they didn’t even die but gained a higher birth
and even liberation because they
saw the face of Krishna as
they fell.
I know I cannot convince my old
college friend because he declares
himself a cynic, “both in
the colloquial sense and in
the philosophical sense—I belong
to the school of Diogenes
the Cynic.” He believes
humanity is a failed species
and the only religion is
a buddhistic loving kindness,
compassion toward the mortal being.
That is a poor excuse for
philosophy or religion. As
Krishna teaches Arjuna, the
soul is the real self and
the body is only a covering.
As we change in this lifetime,
from boyhood, to youth, to
old age, so at death we change
again to a new body. As a man
wears a set of clothes
and changes them when they
wear out so we take
on a new body when this
one wears out (comfortably at
home or on the warfield).
Human life is meant
for self realization.
True compassion is expressed
in telling others of their
eternal nature. And the
highest self realization
is love of God—the
God who came most recently
as Lord Caitanya and
taught the easiest method
to reach Him.
I like my college buddy
because he is a good poet
and encourages me in my writing.
(I sent him Sanatorium and
Under Dark Stars). Maybe
some day by keeping in touch with
him I may soften the cynic in him—
and in the meantime we can
share the creative urge,
which is a gift from Krishna.
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H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami: His Own

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Free Write

I turned at random to Canto 3, Chapter 19, text 31. “Sri Maitreya continued: After thus killing the most formidable demon Hiranyaksa, the Supreme Lord Hari, the origin of the boar species, returned to His own abode, where there is always an uninterrupted festival. The Lord was praised by all the demigods, headed by Brahma.”
In this situation the Lord assumed the form of a boar to kill the demon Hiranyaksa and pick up the earth from the Garbha ocean. Thus He became adi-sukara, the original boar. In the material world a boar or pig is considered most abominable but the adi-sukara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead was not treated like an ordinary boar. Even Lord Brahma and the other demigods praised the Lord’s form as a boar.
The verse confirms that the Lord appears from His own abode just to kill the demons and miscreants. The statement that the Lord returned to His own abode indicates that He has His own particular residence. Although the Lord has His particular abode He is all-pervasive. The impersonalists accepts the all-pervasive aspect, but they cannot understand His localized situation in His transcendental abode where He is always engaged in transcendental pastimes. Utsava means “pleasure”. Utsava, the expression of complete happiness is always present in Vaikuntha-loka, the abode of the Lord, who is worshipable by demigods like Brahma, to say nothing of other less important entities such as human beings.
Indra approached Krishna stealthily because he was afraid and repentant after what he had done in Vrndavana. With Indra came his elephant and a surabhi cow. Indra bowed down his head at Krishna’s feet and although Indra’s helmet was shiny, he touched it to the ground. He pleaded to Krishna, after all I am a demigod, one of Your servants who always fights against the demons. So won’t you please forgive me? (Brahma prayed the same way after Krishna humbled him when Brahma stole the boys and calves.) Fools like me, Indra said, fail to recognize You are the Supreme Lord of the universe. He carried on at some length, berating himself and asking to be spared. Krishna said, “I spare you but just don’t forget who is the supreme master.” The surabhi cow then came forward and thanked Krishna for His protection. “You are our Indra,” she said and she sprayed Krishna with an abhiseka of milk. Indra also received an abhiseka from the trunk of his elephant. So the disturbing affair was settled, and Indra was humble without being punished.
I’m going to have Saci and the evening reader go back to the beginning of the Govardhana-lila and read it to me again so I’ll have it memorized for the lecture I’ll give on Govardhana-puja in a week. They specifically want the speaker to tell the story of Govardhana. I’ll be relaxed and sure of what to say, then I can make it a little colloquial. I’ll try not to speak too long, a half hour at the most. Kaulini Mataji will offer arati to her Govardhana-sila, and the devotees will circumambulate around a mound of prasadam. Don’t forget to say the huge separate form of Krishna who ate the feast kept saying “Aniyora!” More! More! and the Vrajavasis kept bringing more rice, dahl, capatis, subji and sweets. That will relate to the fact that after the speech and arati we will be feasting, aniyora, aniyora.
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Akrura das, Gita Coaching: THE CHOICE MAP

Click on a title to get your free copy of a Choice Map - a wonderful personal success tool.

Our life can be summarized in two words:

Challenge – Response

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In this space lies our freedom to choose our response. In these choices lie our growth and our happiness."

The Choice Map will help you make better choices in your life.
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H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Saturday, October 30th 2010

Begin Now!

Mumbai, India

Because it is Saturday night and it is Juhu Beach you find many couples locked in each others arms standing by as soft wave after soft wave of ocean water spill over the hard packed sand. There are so many wannabe lovers as well. And there are those who have been there and done that.

According to eastern psychology we are all in love. As I walked along the evening’s draw for people, namely this Arabian sea in Mumbai, I simply began to appreciate that all of us who have hit the sand this evening and all those who happened to not be present to enjoy the sea breeze are in love. It’s a different kind of love from the flighty romance of youth.

If we can just grasp the concept that we are spirits full of eternity, full of cognition and full of bliss, and that we have this divine connection with the divine, then we can begin to come to terms with the real love between the two. There’s the soul and the superior soul and the warm involvement between the two. That’s solid love.

As I walk by singles and groups of people and in particular couples, I became aware of the before and after the Saturday night romantic embrace. There is much endeavor on the part of an individual to meet with another one. And after the hug there is the struggle to keep the fuel of love boiling or even to hold it on simmer. Cupid’s visit s are short, he is evasive and moves from person to person. The arrow’s potency is fleeting.

One couple became a little embarrassed upon seeing me in the robes. Perhaps they would admit that while there friendship between the two is important they believe that there is a Divine love that is superior.

It would be to everyone’s benefit to realize the ultimate relationship. If you haven’t started to develop it then begin now.

5 KM
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H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami: Friday, October 29 th, 2010

Never Bleak

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

You practically lose a day flying east, as I have on Etihad Airway. At take off time the individual screen in front of your seat promotes the life and culture at Abu Dhabi followed by a prayer from the Koran in Arabic. The flight was long but any day spent in the consciousness of Krishna can never be bleak.

One can always busy himself in chanting and hearing which is what I do on a plane. Reading, writing and I won’t lie, peaking at a classic film with historic content. As a dramatist I take some justification behind this. I have found it generates ideas for future productions, but I never go out of my way to see a film.

From my reading from Bhagavatam I noted the message from a section on canto 10 where the personified Vedas pray “Dear Lord it is imperative that the living entities be engaged in Krishna Consciousness, always rendering devotional service by such prescribed methods as hearing and chanting and executing your orders”. Chanting for me is life, without it I consider what we do in this world as a vacuum.

The Bhagavatam further on explains that the breath of life bears significance when the spiritual element is implemented. Otherwise such breathing is likened to the air moving within the bellows of a blacksmith shop. And in an earlier segment of the Bhagavatam comparisons are drawn saying the head ornamented with a head dress or helmet is only a heavy burden unless that head bows down to divinity. Similarly the legs, although in motion, when not used for pilgrimage purpose, becomes like immobile trunks of trees.

The Vedas recommend that all our faculty powers, our senses, our limbs were meant for the purpose of higher engagement. The message is “engage always with a divine purpose”.

0 KM
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1968 November 1 : "I am getting gradually older, therefore even if I remain in your country, I shall restrain my moving and my main business will be henceforward to train you all my disciples for preaching work. I think you will approve of my program."Prabhupada Letters :: 1968
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1970 November 1 : "He is actually surrendered soul, but Maya is so strong. The poison is personal ambition. Our duty is to be very, very careful. Doubts may come about, but one should be firmly fixed up."Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1971 November 1 : "It was a great shock for me to hear about the death of Jananivasa and Will, so untimely. In such case we should hold special condolence meeting and pray for his being taken to Krishna Loka."Prabhupada Letters :: 1971
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1972 November 1 : "It appears you have been poisoned by some rascals who cannot do anything to push on the mission of Lord Caitanya but can put hindrances in the path of spreading Krishna Consciousness all over the world."Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1972 November 1 : "I am very sorry that you have fallen a victim of such poisonous serpents. Because such easy going rascals are unable to assume the position of 'Prabhupada' or unfit for the post, they are so envious and you are talking on their behalf."Prabhupada Letters :: 1972
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ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Deity Darshan: Sunday, October 31, 2010
Photos taken by Rishi Kumar
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1973 November 1 : "In the beginning we must treat the Lord with awe and veneration. Later on when we are perfectly on the spiritual platform, we treat Krsna more intimately. But in the beginning, we never imitate the Brijbasis as do the sahajiyas."Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
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Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1973 November 1 : "I have been hearing about your successful preaching. Stick to this work allotted to you by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Always pray to Caitanya Mahaprabhu for strength and go on with your preaching."Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
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H.H. Sivarama Swami: Syama Dulali dd and Bn Eleanora ask why there are demons and demigods in Vaikuntha

Why Yamaraja did not go back to Godhead and should Vaisnavas be always forgiving. Why there are demons and demigods in Vaikuntha.
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H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Here is the 2010 Vyas Puja Homage Book for His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Sankarshan Das Adhikari ...

Dear Devotees, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. Today, 1 November 2010, is Vyasa Puja, the divine appearance day of my spiritual master and the spiritual master of many of the readers of "Thought for the Day", His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Sankarshan Das Adhikari Gurudeva. For his appearance day...
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Hari Sauri das, Mayapura, IN: GBC Strategic Planning meetings Day 2

November 1 2010 Here’s a few more shots of some of the participants in the Strategic Planning meetings here in Mumbai:
Who’s this saffron clad photographer?
I am sure everyone recognises this smiling ever-youthful Swami.
Badrinarayan prabhu addresses the body
Narayana kavaca prabhu,  two devotees whom I don’t know the names of (sign of the times-we are getting so big I don’t even know some of the GBC deputies anymore), Bhaktarupa prabhu
Bhakti Rasamrta Swami (formerly Devamrta prabhu)
Ajita prabhu, Prabhavisnu Swami, Virabahu prabhu
Basu Ghosh prabhu
My left foot (I have no idea how this occurred, it was entirely by chance — the photo that is, not my foot, to which I am quite attached)
Tirtharaj prabhu, Haridas prabhu, Bhakti Raghava Swami
GBC secretary Ananda Tirtha prabhu
Aniruddha prabhu, Akrura prabhu
Bhima prabhu, Bhaktivinoda Swami
Kaishori dd, Laxmimoni dd
Kaunteya prabhu
Sivarama Swami addresses the body about his Hungarian farm project
Hrdaya Caitanya prabhu, Bhanu Swami, Tamohara prabhu
At least here’s one man who is not bored with the meetings
Ramai Swami, Harivilasa prabhu, (in the background Sura prabhu and Ganga prabhu)
Bhakti Bhusana Maharaja is sharing a room with me. This is his first attendance at a mid-year GBC meeting.
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ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily class - Gopa-vrndesa Prabhu

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.26.15-16 - Lower propensities for material sense enjoyment are removed neither by repression nor expression, rather by experiencing a higher spiritual taste. For example, in the Damodarastakam prayer.
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Japa Group: Prepare Your Heart For Krsna


Hare Krsna dear devotees. The Lord is always eager to receive our service and bless us, sometimes we can't see His blessings, but He is always protecting us in any situation - especially His dear devotees....the ones that chant the His holy names and follow spiritual by the guidance of a genuine spiritual master. Here is a good example that we can see the Lord.
"Govinda in your heart if you prepare yourself properly. This is stated in the Brahma-samhita [5.38]: premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti [Bs. 5.38]. There is a television within your heart; it is not that you have to purchase the television set—it is there in your heart. And God is also there. You can see Him, you can hear Him, you can talk with Him, provided you repair the machine. And this repairing process is Krishna consciousness."

Srila Prabhupada Quest for Enlightenment

How can we prepare ourselves to, our hearts to see the Lord, one of the processes is by chanting and hearing the holy names, you chant and hear and little by little your heart you be prepared to see Krsna.

May this week be blessed.

your servant,

Aruna devi
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Gouranga TV: Holy name festival 2010 New Vraja-dhama

Holy name festival 2010 New Vraja-dhama
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Dandavats.com: Guru Kripa Prabhu’s Fake profile on Face Book

Guru Kripa Das: Recently somebody has created a fake profile of mine on the social networking site, Facebook and has been using it to send highly offensive and improper messages to the devotees. I wish to inform all the devotees that I have NO connection with the profile or the content going through it and I DON'T HAVE an account on Facebook
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