I, Mahat-tattva Dasa, took this picture in a tattoo parlor in San Diego. I went there to place Srila Prabhupada’s books in the shop’s lobby when I ran into a fellow who said had an image from one of our books tattooed across his back. He took me to a back room to show his tattoo and let me take a picture of it. He said he found a copy of “Beyond Illusion and Doubt”, a book by Srila Prabhupada, in his girlfriend’s house. The image that’s now tattooed on his back was in the book. He liked the book, the image, and their message.

An interesting term used recently to explain education and exam systems in the Uk was that it was SatNav learning, initially a little confusing won’t you say? Any way the comparison is this, a recent survey showed that a vast majority of individuals who used SatNav to make a journey could not recall or make the [...]

Srila Prabhupada criticized Western civilization for ruination of human living. They are thinking there is no time for self-realization. Not only must they work eight hours a day, but they try to save time for spending at naked dancing, vacations, intoxication. Our movement is fighting this. It is not religious sentiment, but trying to save humanity from ruin.

From “ISKCON in the ’70s” by His Holiness Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami

( as taken fron the original Hare Krishna Cookbook )

1 Cup raw white rice

1/2 Cup urad or mung dhal (split)

1/2 Cup yogurt

Water

2 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Teaspoon cayenne

Soak the dhal and rice overnight. Drain and blend in an electric blender, adding salt and cayenne, with just enough water to help the blwnding process. Pour into a bowl and add the yogurt. Mix well. The batter shoild be like any pancke batter. Lightly grease a skillet. Pour batter into nice circles. The bottom is done while the top is still bubbling. Turn over and brown the other side. This may be served plain, or best, with tender fried potatoes in spices with a little water. It can be served with potatoes and cabbages.

Today’s new kirtan uploads are by Ramananda Das (Sandy Ridge, NC), Ramadas Das (Washington DC), Kalindi Dasi (Chicago/Dallas) and Ankit Das.

Listen to the entire Kirtan!

To listen, click on the links below then press play. To download, Right Click on the word “Download” and select “Save As…” from the menu. Having trouble downloading? Read our Help Section.

• 01 Visvambhar Das - Hare Krishna (1833)
• 02 Jagannath Kirtan Das - Hare Krishna (813)
• 03 Gaura Vani Das - Hare Krishna (977)
• 04 Akincana Krishna Das - Hare Krishna (917)
• 05 Nama Rasa Das - Hare Krishna (647)
• 06 Keshavacarya Das - Hare Krishna (513)
• 07 Gopal Das - Hare Krishna (535)
• 08 Kalindi Dasi - Hare Krishna (731)
• 09 Manu Das - Hare Krishna (442)
• 10 Hari Kirtan Das - Hare Krishna (391)
• 11 Uttam Bhakta Das - Hare Krishna (542)
• 12 Gaura Dasi - Hare Krishna (443)
• 13 Uttam Bhakta Das - Hare Krishna (423)
• 14 Thakur Das - Hare Krishna (393)
• 15 Rupa Das - Hare Krishna (375)
• 16 Hari Dham Das - Hare Krishna (388)
• 17 Krishna Balaram Das - Hare Krishna (70)
• 18 Dhira Lalita Das - Hare Krishna (246)
• 19 Gopi Gita Dasi - Hare Krishna (295)
• 20 Hari Das - Hare Krishna (293)
• 21 Madhava Das - Hare Krishna (674)
• 22 Agnideva Das - Hare Krishna (354)
• 23 HH Radhanath Swami - Hare Krishna (347)
• 24 Acyuta Gopi Dasi - Hare Krishna (376)
• 25 Ananta Govinda Das - Hare Krishna (328)
• 26 Abhay Das - Hare Krishna (193)
• 27 Ajamil Das - Hare Krishna (229)
• 28 Caitanyananda Das - Hare Krishna (213)
• 29 Gopika Dasi - Hare Krishna (229)
• 30 Bhakta Kevin - Hare Krishna (125)
• 31 Nitilam Dasi - Hare Krishna (136)
• 32 Tirthapada Das - Hare Krishna (138)
• 33 Priya Das - Hare Krishna (123)
• 34 Ramananda Das - Hare Krishna (31)
• 35 Ramdas Das - Hare Krishna (30)
• 36 Kalindi Dasi - Hare Krishna (44)
• 37 Ankit Das - Hare Krishna (33)

Satsvarupa dasa Goswami -

10:00 A.M.

Free write

I was with Srila Prabhupada a number of times in 1975 and 1976, seeing him at temples he visited and at the annual GBC meetings and festivals in Mayapur and Vrndavana. He was very busy completing the construction of his Indian temples, and he gave much attention to his moneymaking managers. I felt a little distant from him compared to 1966 and 1974, but the library party attracted his attention. He was always enthusiastic to hear the latest results of book distribution and read the letters of praise the professors wrote. One time in Manhattan, there were so many important managers and secretaries present that I couldn’t fit into the car with him to go on his morning walk. And when he took his trip to Gita-nagarai in a Radha-Damodara Greyhound bus, I decided not to go because I felt he would be surrounded by managers and sannyasis and I wouldn’t get any attention. I stayed back in the Brooklyn temple and spent the day reading Srimad-Bhagavatam. But he had one private meeting with the library party in Chicago, and in Manhattan, we met with him and told him we had finished the libraries in America and wanted to to go Europe. His eyes opened wide and he gave a big smile and said we should go. I didn’t accompany the party to Europe but went on a concentrated lecture tour of colleges in the USA, which he approved.

I spent a solid month with Srila Prabhupada from January to February, 1977, in Bhubanesvara, Jagannatha Puri, and Mayapur. I went on the tour as his GBC secretary. I took dictation and typed his letters. I joined him in Bhubanesvara. He was living in a small hut. I shared the other side of the hut with a few devotees. Other visiting devotees lived in tents. There was as yet no construction of the temple. Gour Govinda Swami was in charge. He was responsible for eventually building a temple when he could raise funds. From our side of the hut, we could hear Prabhupada talking on his side of the hut because there was an open beam on the ceiling separating the two rooms. Once I saw a rat walking on that beam. Prabhupada gave lectures in the morning and evening in an improvised pandal, and outsiders visited. He distributed lots of prasadam to the visitors. He said some of them were very poor and were attending just to get the kitri. He went on a morning walk in a local zoo, which had flimsy cages for the big animals like a lion. Guru-krpa Swami teased the lion, and Prabhupada told him to stop. He said, “After all, he is a lion.” When I first arrived, Prabhupada had me read the latest letters from professors praising his books, and he was very enthusiastic. He loved those letters. Yogesvara and his wife came all the way from France just to see Prabhupada and get his permission to produce Krishna conscious books for children. It was a big endeavor for them to come to that deserted piece of land in Orissa, but that’s how things were done in those days. If you wanted to see Prabhupada and get his personal approval, and not merely through a letter but explaining yourself face to face, you’d be willing to travel anywhere on earth to catch up to him. He gave them permission, and they were very happy.

While in Bhubanesvar, Prabhupada decided to visit Jagannatha Puri, which was only one and a half hours away by car. He rented a beach-side hotel room. The few devotees who traveled with him slept in their van or outdoors on the veranda outside his room. I wrote in detail about the visit in Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta. Prabhupada bathed in the ocean, visited some Gaudiya Math temples, and attended a function where he gave a lecture strongly criticizing the policy of the Jagannatha Puri temple of not allowing ISKCON devotees to enter the mandir and receive darsana of Lord Jagannatha. While walking up the stairs at a temple, Prabhupada suddenly collapsed and had to be caught from behind by his servant, Hari Sauri. Hari Sauri noted in his diary that this was another side of Prabhupada’s rapidly declining health. While at Bhubanesvara, Prabhupada began dictating the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. He’d begin at 1:00 A.M. in his hut, and we could hear him through the walls. It was a thrill to hear him beginning the all-important Tenth Canto, and we were all very happy, not knowing that he would not live long enough to complete more than thirteen chapters.

I stayed with Prabhupada for two weeks at Bhubanesvara, and then he took a train to Calcutta. He stayed there three days and then went to Mayapur shortly before the annual meetings. I got to spend two more weeks as his secretary in Mayapur. It was blissful service, typing his letters and being present for personal talks in his room. Jananivasa used to come by in the evening with incense burning in coals, filling the room with smoke to keep the mosquitos down.

I visited Prabhupada several times in Vrndavana in 1977, answering calls that his health was in a crisis. I was finally there for the last few days, ending in his disappearance on November 14, 1977.

from #121→

Friday - Kirtan at Fusion Hot Yoga

Jolie and I teach yoga at hot yoga studio across town. We did a kirtan there on Friday night.

Jolie's kirtan was grooving. I played guitar.

Arjuna rocked the tablas, and Sridhar laid down some awesome flute and sax.

Krishnapada lead a great kirtan, and I laid down some bass.

Janna did a version of Moods of Kirtan (Sri Siksastakam) from Gaura Vani's new album.

My version of "Devakinandana Gopala" pulled through. I'm getting some interesting realizations about doing half-time vocals over double-time beats.

Param Satya made ekadashi prasadam. These are some coconut macaroons filled with caramelized condensed milk and strawberries. On Saturday night she disappeared with a bunch of stuff like this to go to her tabla teacher's school concert. She and Prahlad are playing at the next one.

Here's a picture of them practising together:

Saturday - Kirtan at Red Hill

I played some bass, and we tested out the 800W active sub that I rented for the Sunday Feast. It shook the house.

Guruttama played some drums.

Things got a little wild when Vraj lead.

We streamed this kirtan live to the web for the first time. 30 people watched it on line. We get between 20 and 30 people to this kirtan each week, so this week 60 people took part!

I rented the sub from IJS Sound and Hire. We rented a whole PA system from them for the Atma End of Year party that features on the 2006 album, Sacred Chant. Vraj noticed something about their logo that time when he put down a case lid upside down. I took a photo and flipped it upside down so you can see it:

Ever since we noticed that those guys have been in my good books. The fact that they give you great gear at a good price doesn't hurt either. $55 for the sub from Saturday midday to Monday morning.

Here's a nice photo that Krishnapada took on Saturday night:

It's a nice photo to round out Saturday night with....

Sunday - ISKCON Sunday Feast

...and it makes a good segue to the funky yellow of the new Govinda's paint job.

I did sound for the night, with the new "more manly" cable I picked up - it's a 30m multicore. 600m of cabling in total. Rocks.

I got up at 3am and plotted the wiring for the evening. I've been thinking about it each day for the past week while I take a shower.

I took a break from behind the desk at the end of the night, to lay down some funky bass lines for my homeboy DJ Vraj.

What can you do when you get 800 funky watts in the bottom - you just gotta get up and dance!

We had 1300W in total: 500W on the top, and 800W for anything below 80Hz. That's what you need to rock the house at Govindas.

I fully recorded the kirtans at the Sunday Feast. I'll mix them in the next couple of days and upload them.

I've rolled up a heck of a lot of cables over the past three days, I can tell you that!

Here's a cool photo I took with my phone, to finish off:

Nityananda Mahajana ki jay!

All kirtan photos courtesy of Krishnapada

"Japa is a workout. It’s like working on a punching bag, exercising your faculties and getting good exercise in the holy names. You move through them quickly and try to remember to pray, but you don’t always do it. Praying means calling on Radha and Krishna to reveal Themselves in the holy name and to reciprocate with you. You have to cry out to them and not just go through the “calisthenics.” Chant the syllables on time, emotional and spiritual content is needed. If you can’t give your all in this way, the chanting has some offense in it. You’re chanting without full devotion."

From Bhajan Kutir #120

In many parts of the world, the line between two religions as different as Christianity and Hinduism would be marked by violence. In Utah the line is blurred by a rainbow of colored paint and by the sound of enthusiastic chanting. There is profound meaning in the celebration and performance of kirtan at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna temple in Spanish Fork, Utah, where members of a community marked by distinctive faiths come together to embrace each other in an exuberant shared experience.

On this cool, beautiful morning, I sit on the grass on the top of the hill that overlooks Vrindavan. The temple of Radha Madan Mohan rises above me in all of its glory, glowing in the rising sun. The sounds of birds fill the air, and the breeze brushes past me in waves, up here where time stands still.

Kurma Rupa dasa: Dear Friends, Jai Govinda! Our July 2009 Care for Cows Newsletter has been posted. Please review it at your earliest convenience

Legyen hasznos és izgalmas az üzenőfal! Részletek: http://webmania.cc/iwiw-uzenofal-kialtvany/

Monday, 15 June 2009. I awoke in my usual way and headed to the park. I did aimless circuits around as I chanted my rounds. I checked on some chapatti dough in the fridge. It was now good to make pan cakes with so I went with this alternative, having desired pancakes for many days. I packed out the pancakes with my random sweet mix, which I was just carving onto the top as a spread. I juiced out the energy from my crazy speculative breakfast to go through some old business cards I received on book distribution. This was some long neglected follow up work and I was very glad to have it all done. I was going over all my final tasks, knowing I would be leaving the country this following day. I had a sweet fest in the town on a bench by myself and then continued the session at home. When Jaggi returned he insisted we “do something” and so it was that we cracked open ginger bears and viewed Japanese impersonalist anime films. I couldn’t help but philosophise on them at the end to Jaggi. It wasn’t worth it unless I could connect it to Krsna some how (even if I had to stretch a little). I was imagining if we could push some of our many ancient stories from the Puranas and Upanisads in such a light. Surely this would be more entertaining than what the masses are fed today. Someone merely just make a decent presentation of Mahabharata, genuine to the book and everyone will turn in awe. Just as it was starting to ripen to a good sleeping time Sanatan came down with my bag. The bag seemed to have most of what I needed but I learned later that it was missing a few items (ie my pants). Lucky all the essentials were there because I was heading out the next morning. I tired quickly, knowing I was to face a day of travelling very soon and so I crashed to sleep in the middle of the whole social escapade. It wasn’t the best way to say goodbye but it was my only standing option. Tuesday, 16 June 2009. I awoke to my last morning in the house. I had to get around a bathroom with no working sink for some last minute fun. I ventured for my last trip in the messy kitchen to consume what was left of my snacks, inventive creations and some yogurt (which I now found I could have been purchasing for 2/3 the price). I packed the last minute things and hung some clothes to dry, which I was probably renouncing for good. Jaggi and I walked down to the centre of Watford together, one last time, and we said our goodbyes. I hurled my luggage down the street, toward Watford Junction, which seemed to be a lot further than I remembered. I arrived in just the knick of time for my train. I went to purchase my ticket but the official recommended I take the 321 bus instead, to save me a lot of hassle. I was happy because this was my original plan but I couldn’t find sufficient information on the service prior to this. I confirmed it would get me to the airport on time with the official and then stepped outside to wait in the bus terminals. I started to chant some rounds. I was so absorbed in the japa that I didn’t see the bus pull up two stops ahead of the correct terminal. Ok…maybe not the japa. Maybe I was just spaced out. By Krsna’s arrangement I turned at the last second and scattered up to the door. I sat next to a lovely old lady who was trying to go out of her way to help me to a seat. It was a bit of a reverse of rolls. I prayed she made some spiritual benefits, she could milk my sankirtana credits or something. I arrived early for my check in but the desks were open anyway so I slotted in my luggage. I registered at 20.8kilo luggage and unlimited weight carry on (ie I maxed it out!). I finished some rounds, picked up a hot milk for a pound and consumed liquorice while writing on my laptop. After this I had some time to feel the memories dissolve. Every new destination was like a tiny reincarnation. The old habits became irrelevant and many of the characters would fade to memory or email until our next meeting. I would then becoming fresh to adopt a new location, culture and crowd. I felt strangely connected to my soul in its journey from one life to the next while contemplating this situation (spooky). The flight was quick. It was a typical musical chair situation every time I rose from my window seat and shuffled through two strangers next to me. I finished off some Bhagavatam study in the plane too, trusting that when I arrived in Berlin I would be whisked off to some celebration. I arrived in Berlin in the early afternoon. No one was there to great me?! I sat and waited for five minutes remembering that I once had to wait five hours in Mumbai to find any signs of a lift. Govinda arrived at the end of those five minutes. It was a great reunion. It had been little under a year since we had met last. I was glad to see him. We quickly opted to go straight to a program rather than the temple. I quickly rejected the idea of rest for the concept of Sacinandana Swami and a festive late night program! My stay in Berlin was short so I had to make the most of it. We arrived shortly at Vedanta Academy. I marvelled at the prestigious, upper class looking facility. This place was definitely for the cultivation of the elitists, scientists and academics. There were mountains of books stacked on the shelves and elegant furniture. We were early so we took some time to relax and settle in. I was starting to accustom myself to being the minority language speaker once again as people rattled off in German. This was a training for Polish tour. Most Germans can speak English but obviously choose not too. Within a short time HH Sacinandana Swami arrived and the program was on it’s way. We had a blissfully loud kirtana. After this I was ecstatic to find out that the event would be spoken in English! Last year I had the excitement of seeing Sacinandana Swami in Berlin for the first time but was downed when he was speaking in another language. I had been listening to a preaching lecture of his every second day, in English, as I travelled down to Uni so I was eager to hear more. The lecture was in English for the benefit of HG Caitanya Candra Prabhu, a disciple of HH Gaur Govinda Maharaja, who was also a special guest for this event. They both blissfully talked about pastimes of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. First HH Sacinandana spoke. He read straight from the Caitanya Bhagavata, with a couple little comments and spontaneous kirtana breaking throughout the whole speech. His voice was like a flow of nectar. Next HG Caitanya Candra spoke. He was reading verses from the Caitanya Caritamritta, singing the verses with an awesome tune, which was accompanied by an awesome rhythmic clap from the audience which seemed ever so practiced. I had never experienced such a class before in my life! After the class we had the standard program of prasadam. After prasadam and some devotee katha, we all squashed in a car and headed for the temple. Everyone was excited to see me, a new face, and so there was plentiful conversation. I had the opportunity again and again to praise Australia and many of our preaching activities as well as ask the devotees about the activities in Berlin. We arrived at the temple very late. I cleaned myself up and hit a midnight sweet with the boys. I was happy to be back in Berlin, full of sweet devotees and sweets in general. This was one of my favourite little yatras. It is a small temple, set up in an apartment, decked out with German efficiency and a sizable brahmacari ashrama. The temple was a sankirtana factory, aimed for book distribution with an amazing Jagannatha carved from the same wood from the Jagannatha deities in Jagannatha Puri! I felt safe sleeping under their protection. Wednesday, 17 June 2009. I waited till I could see no more bodies sleeping next to me and then I rose up. I was tired from the travelling and spontaneous late night programs. It seemed the morning program was being held late today because everyone had stayed up late for the program the night before. Our mission today was to pick up Madhava from the airport. The only problem is I had no emails from him explaining what flight he was on and the number he had been sending all his information too wasn’t mine! He had the wrong number. This was difficult because there were a few airports in Berlin also. I texted Prahlad in the UK but he assured me Madhava had left!? I texted again for some more information. He replied saying Madhava had stayed at Caitanya’s house the night before. I rushed onto the internet. I found Caitanya online on skype and called him with fingers crossed. By now I had googled flights from London Heathrow to Berlin and had come up with a list of 22 flights for the day! Caitanya could only remember the last three digits of the flight number. This was enough information to bring it down to one. We located the flight and had plenty of time to spare. Me and Govinda casually made our way to the appropriate airport. We arrived just as Madhava exited the terminal. We took Madhava back to Berlin temple for some lunch. After this we rushed back to the Vedanta Academy to show Madhava the facility and also to pick up something Govinda had left the night before. We had our own evening program and exchanged the evening bhagavad gita class for a bhajan. After this we hit the hay. Thursday, 18 June 2009. I awoke for Mangala arati. I gently pushed Madhava who had asked to be woken, warning that he was hard to wake up. He proved his theory wrong as he virtually jumped right out of bed. There were only three people awake in Berlin temple for Mangala arati that morning (most were out on travelling sankirtana) and those three were the gurukuli boys! This was a nice time to bust out some stuff and do our own youth morning program. Govinda was our pujari and master of ceremonies; Madhava lead Nrsimha prayers and tulsi arati; and I played my part by leading Gurv-astaka. Later I was asked to lead gurupuja and I gave a short class on the third canto, movements of the living entity. It wasn’t the best class I ever gave but the questions and comments was some nectar discussion. After all the ceremonies we helped a bit in the kitchen. We banned together and made dosas for Jagannatha. I bailed out in the middle to read through something like 60 b’day emails. Breakfast was packed with sweets, and included our dosas and coconut chutney. I pushed the boys to eat more and more sweets because we had a mountain. After a long lingering breakfast discussion we hit the town of Berlin. There was more to see than most cities it seemed (I’ve never been much of a sight seeing type). We were heckled by gypsies on the way. When I tried to pretend that I was Spanish they just fluently talked in Spanish. The only escape was to walk away. We tried to search for “Gauranga” who was a living statue of Lord Caitanya. Gauranga was played by a devotee from Berlin. We were unable to locate him in the end, to our disappointment. After a few more sights it was time to get some supplies. I was looking for a specific bank where I could receive free transactions. I couldn’t find this bank anywhere. Finally after some serious searching I found the bank! The only problem was that there were thousands of angry young people waging a protest against the banks and corporations and they had picked my bank as their first target?! Go figure? Later finding another branch of my bank we went to some shops for supplies. We visited Aldi in honour of the Australian Tour. In Australia it was some what of a new store for cheap junk food but here it was part of their nation. After a short visit to Aldi we collected the last of the supplies and headed off. We caught many, many trains and made our way to a home program in one of the suburbs. The program was supposed to be a nice lecture kirtana by HH Kadamba Karnana Swami. We eventually arrived to the building. We had to hammer the buzzer as the devotees were absorbed in a loud kirtana on the top level. We were buzzed in finally and took the elevator to the top. As we entered the room full of devotees Kadamba Karnana Maharaja was there looking directly at us. “You made it just in time for prasadam” he said to us with a bit of mixed tone of humour and disappointment. We sat for some nrsimha prayers feeling guilty and then prasadam. I wasn’t sure if it was the sun or the sheer guilt that glared down on me for those five minutes of prayers but I felt a little uncomfortable. It was all good when prasadam came. The boys served and I slipped in a back room to acquaint with some devotees. The program was sweet. One young boy, who’s family was hosting the whole event was pleased to see some other young people in his house. We hit him up to come on Polish tour and he sounded pretty confident that he would come for some part. We sent off home in the sankirtana van with two of the brahmacaris that had been on travelling sankirtana for the last few days. While in the van I was sharing some sankirtana stories with the boys. It was lovely to exchange realisations with some boys fresh from the sankirtana fire. It made me a little home sick. I scoped out their van a little on a first sight basis. They had a stove and lots of other cool dozits. We pulled out in front of the temple just as HH Kadamba Karnana Swami did. The boys unloaded some of their stuff from the days of sankirtana for us to carry up. We dwindled around a bit to see in Kadamba Karnana Swami. He strode over and asked me for an introduction. I briefed my name and my country and gestured over to Madhava insisting “he is a Vrindavan Gurukuli”. Maharaja talked very intimately and in the end I felt a little foolish just flipping the small chat with him. It was a very sweet exchange and I was glad he could just tolerate my silly talking. Kadamba Karnana Swami settled in and I decided to scope out some trains for tomorrow. Tomorrow was our venture to the final destination; tomorrow we headed off to Poland. It was a trip consisting of: two trains in Germany and one train through Poland. We snuggled off to bed as quick as we could manage and tried to rest up for the upcoming day. Bring on the nectar!

It has become somewhat fashionable for some so-called Srila Prabhupada followers to think they should emulate the gopis, that that is the MOST ADVANCED form of Krishna consciousness. This mistake is offset by many Srila Prabhupada statements, some of which will follow in future TFDs. Here's one:

read more

June 30 2009

Well, after 5 months of hard work in the heat and humidity of Kolkata, today we saw the auspicious inauguration of the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre (BRC) library. Taking advantage of the presence of both HH Jayapataka Swami and Bhakti Charu Swami in Kolkata for the Rathayatra festival, we conducted a successful opening ceremony of the library.

[please note that some of the photos in this report are incorrectly dated as 02/14/2008 due to a wrong setting on the camera]

The day started with the transcendental chanting of the young brahmanas from the Mayapur Bhaktivedanta Academy, led by Bhagisar prabhu.

From 7.30 AM to 8.30 AM these young trainee priests expertly chanted ancient and modern mantras, filling the air with purifying smoke and sound vibrations in praise of the Lord and His devotees.

With the scene thus perfectly set, we gladly received HH Bhakti Charu Swami at 1.00 PM. Sri Madan Chanda Shamsukha, our donor, along with his wife Geeta mataji, came to the entrance to offer Maharaja garlands and thanks for blessing this inaugural event.

Maharaja was then taken on a tour of the building.

When he came on April 2, not much of the renovation was evident. However, this time he was able to see the completed library plus several rooms of the new guest house.

Although we were not able to demonstrate the computer system yet, which still needs one or two key components, Maharaja was very happy with the progress and inspired enough that he offered a donation of Rs. 5 lakhs (about $10,800 at today’s rate) in September, which should cover the remaining renovations for the 7 guest rooms. We are very grateful for his generous support and his sharing our vision for the project.

We took a brief respite in the VIP flat on the fifth floor, where Advaita Candra prabhu, the owner of Torchlight Publishers showed him some of their publications, including new title Where’s Hanuman? due to be released shortly.

Soon enough it was time to go down to the front entrance to receive HH Jayapataka Swami. Once again Mr. Shamsukha and his wife along with Bhakti Charu Maharaja were delighted to form the reception committee to receive him with fragrant garlands and deep appreciation.

Jayapataka Maharaja is the living epitome of the drdha-vrata mahatma. His determination to go on with his preaching despite multiple bodily failures caused by his stroke, leave the onlooker in awe and deep respect.

(more…)

The soul's designation, the mind, is the cause of all tribulations in the material world. As long as this fact is unknown to the conditioned living entity, he has to accept the miserable condition of the material body and wander within this universe in different positions. Because the mind is affected by disease, lamentation, illusion, attachment, greed and enmity, it creates bondage and a false sense of intimacy within this material world.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 11 Verse 16

• In State College. We need to have harinam and books sankirtan here next year. #
• http://twitpic.com/9chu6. Fireworks @ State college. #
• Got a late start on japa today, but finished with 20 rounds. That’s over 34,560 holy names chanted today. 8^) Good for me. Hare Krishna. #

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Amala Kirtan das singing bhajans on stage at Rathayatra. Dallas, TX 2009-04-25

thes are my friends

this is my Bhagavad-gita verse

This year, once again we would like to collect homages from the Brisbane devotees for Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja online offering. Please take advantage of this occasion to honor His Divine Grace. We will also print a hard copies for whoever wants one.

Please send your offerings to vrajadhama@gmail.com

Please send before 31th of July to ensure inclusion in the hard copy version.

Offerings to Srila Prabhupada for the online version will be accepted up until the last minute for those who are inclined

Thank you to everyone who participated last year
and the year before.

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.10.13 - Cleansing of the heart.

On Sunday 28th June London’s Ratha-yatra returned to the streets of the British capital. London was illuminated by the wonderful colours and sounds of the festival, a vibrant celebration of Vaishnava culture and spirituality in the city.

Today’s world isn’t just hectic and stressful for adults. Youth must juggle school or college, home studying, exams, and part-time jobs while holding on to some semblance of a social life. No surprise that every so often, it’s time for a much needed break. But while some choose drinking, partying and dogged pursuit of casual sex, ISKCON’s Pandava Sena youth group are looking for a true break away from it all this summer: a sample of the simple life.

For decades now ISKCON devotees have also been part of the Glastonbury experience. Despite the fact that the festival coincided with London Rathayatra this year, a dedicated team of 20 devotees went down to make a spiritual contribution to the event. “For years the organizers have given us free tickets and a good spot for putting up our tent,” explains team leader Giridhari Dasa, “So we reciprocate by giving people a helping hand and genuine festive experience.”

A new biography of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, a highly influential teacher of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and the guru of ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada, has been completed this June. Prabhupada disciple Bhakti Vikasa Swami spent over twenty years researching the book, titled Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, and at three volumes and 1,500 pages, it’s clear his efforts have paid off.

Twenty-one students successfully completed another academic year at Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh, Belgium, and a graduation ceremony took place on June sixteenth. The room was crowded when the tired but satisfied undergraduates and staff were joined by cheering temple devotees, friends, supporting members, and a few proud parents.

ISKCON devotees in Jalandhar, Punjab made the news on Sunday June 28 when they announced plans to hold a 12-hour chanting marathon in hopes that Lord Krishna would be pleased and send rain. India is currently dealing with a rain deficit 85 per cent below normal, with monsoons being delayed as much as one month. This means no livelihood for the roughly 600 million Indians supporting themselves off of the land, especially since irrigation is a luxury for most farmers.

Summer grilling season is in full swing - but while many are flipping burgers and steaks, one local community is firm in its dedication to keep mankind's bovine companions from harm. The New Vrindaban community of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as the Hare Krishnas, near Moundsville has operated a cow sanctuary since the community's inception in 1968 - the first of its kind in the United States.

3:30 P.M.

My Dear Lord Krishna...

I am writing to You and asking You to read what I write. Please pay attention to my case. Help me to work through my difficulties and become a more successful devotee. I do not chant the Hare Krishna mantra with full attention. I do not reach out enough to help the conditioned souls. I do not hear the scriptures regularly enough and with submissive aural reception. I don’t take part in kirtana enough. I don’t tolerate my pains bravely enough. I don’t love the association of devotees and participate enough in their company. I don’t serve You fervently enough. I don’t control my mind and senses completely. I don’t practice tapasya strictly enough or follow the regulations strictly enough. I am too much of an ease-lover. I worry too much and put myself into too much anxiety. I don’t write at as high a standard as I’d like to. I’m not serious enough in preparing for death. I’m not joyful, as one in contact with You should be. I’m not enthusiastic and patient, as advised by Rupa Goswami. He says these are the first two favorable items in devotional service.

I have so many shortcomings and faults. I cannot overcome them by myself. I need Your karunya-sakti, Your potency of mercy to help me. How can I gain this? I think the answer is to try to work at my shortcomings, and then You will be inclined to help me. But some of my faults are so deeply ingrained that I can’t seem to improve them. So I ask for Your causeless mercy.

This may seem like an unworthy proposal, to simply ask for Your help. But I’ve been trying so long to improve at the mentioned faults and those faults of mine that I haven’t mentioned here, and yet the faults remain. In one sense, I simply have to accept myself as I am, “warts and all,” and not give up hope that I can improve by my own endeavors. I do think this way. I do try to improve, and I also accept myself as I am. But in addition, I ask for Your help.

My asking for help may seem like a kind of bargaining with You, which does not sound right. You are already giving me full mercy and full opportunity to improve. And You are accepting me as I am. But I want to please You more. I don’t want to be mediocre. I want to be a better devotee.

And I should also mention that I am satisfied. I like the peaceful isolation I enjoy. It goes deep. I’m pretty satisfied and fixed at staying at home and writing the journal. It fits in with my headaches. My writing turns to You, especially the prayer. Like the free writing, it’s a demanding task. I think my poems are a bit dogmatic. I introduce You clumsily, but it’s Krishna conscious, so it’s good for that. I want to improve them and make them as free as my older poems. I’m just saying I’m absorbed in the writing, and it’s a satisfying life. I’m not completely absorbed in my shortcomings.

But if You could help me to become a staunch devotee, that would be nice. On my own, it’s “hope against hope.” I cannot see how I will reach the higher realms of Krishna consciousness, though I would like to. Can You please give me some of Your karunya-sakti so that I can be more pleasing to You? And from my side, although it sounds like bargaining, I will try to do my best, stay in the phalanx, and even improve my efforts.

from #121→

4:15 P.M.

My Dear Lord Krishna...

I’m writing to You to thank You for all that You have done for me. You have given me the human form of life and put me in contact with Srila Prabhupada, a pure devotee spiritual master. By Your grace, he accepted me as a disciple and initiated me into the Hare Krishna mantra. He gave me second initiation into the gayatri mantras, and he awarded me sannyasa, the renounced order of life. He has given me much service unto You in the Krishna consciousness movement. He has planted the bhakti-lata-bijia—the seed of devotional service to You—in my heart.

You have let me live considerably long so far, with many opportunities to serve You. You have given me life and tolerable health. You have always given me a place to live and food to eat. I’ve had to endure some oppression in serving in ISKCON, but You have always given me the resources to tolerate it and the attitude to see the bright side and remain loyal to ISKCON. I have had to deal with some difficult persons, but You have enabled me to survive my relationships with them without intolerable stress. You have given me strength in difficult times.

You have forgiven me my trespasses, as I have forgiven those who trespassed against me.

You have given me a growing taste for chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. You have enabled me to write many books in Your service, and You have given me appreciative readers.

You have allowed me to travel to Mayapura and Vrndavana and live there, although I have encountered difficulties, and You will give me more chances to visit the holy dhamas.

You have given me knowledge of You, appreciation of Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, and Caitanya-caritamrta, and the ability to grasp the knowledge in these books. And You have given me faith in You and Your pure devotees. I am especially grateful for the faith I have in You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I love to hear accounts of Your lilas and descriptions of knowledge about You—scientific knowledge of the Vedic literatures.

I thank You for implanting hope in me that some day I will go back to Godhead and live with You with a spiritual form in eternity, bliss and knowledge. I repeat: I thank You for giving me Srila Prabhupada as my spiritual master, because he is the hope that I can go back to Godhead. It will be by his mercy, by his recommendation to You.

I thank You for my friends who serve me and whom I try to serve.

I thank You for being the most beautiful person in existence, and I thank you for loving Srimati Radharani, who is also the most beautiful person in existence.

I thank You for being kind to me in my imperfectness. Please always let gratitude pour from me to You for all the wonderful things You are and all the wonderful things You do for me and for all living entities.

from #120→

1949 July 5 : "Mahatmaji started another spiritual movement known as the temple entry movement irrespective of caste distinction. He himself installed the deity of Sri Radha Krishna at Noakhali when he was there and that is very significant."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64

1949 July 5 : "People should be given chance to become harijana with equal facilities for all. The Gandhi Memorial Fund should be utilized mainly for this purpose. Myself with a batch of sincere workers are ready to take up this work."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64

1969 July 5 : "I marked it in your person and I prayed to Krishna that this good soul may be aware of the importance of Krishna Consciousness. With my blessings I am sending herewith your beads, duly chanted upon by me."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 5 : "So in the spiritual world, the same Maya works auspiciously, and in the material world the same Maya works inauspiciously. This auspiciousness and inauspiciousness is our own choice."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 5 : "You should attract new devotees from your quarters. Instead of importing devotees, it is better to attract devotees from your own area. And the basic principle for doing this is Sankirtana Party."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969:

1971 July 5 : "We want good preachers. Preaching shouldn't depend on me only. My disciples should all become good preachers, and that depends on studying the books nicely so that you can arrive at the right conclusion."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1975 July 5: "I think he has given you good, sane advice. You should not think of relinquishing your job without meeting me and discussing the matter deeply. Don't do anything out of sentiment."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 July 5: "I very much like these bus programs. They are greatly increasing the scope of our book distribution and many new men are being attracted. So hand over the management of your temple affairs and come here immediately."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1968 July 4 : "If we can change the materialistic nature of the tongue, by changing of taste and vibration, then automatically the other senses become purified. As such we should try to chant and eat Krishna prasadam as much as possible."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 July 4 : "I know there are many Sanskrit scholars in Germany, unfortunately I have no practice to speak in Sanskrit. But I am not going to Germany as a Sanskrit scholar - but to deliver the message of Krishna Consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1975 July 4: "The money sent to you is on loan basis. All money is BBT money and must be paid back by you to the BBT account. You can pay back conveniently. We shall help you - but you must pay back."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1971 July 4 : "Here things are going on very nicely and just this week forty new devotees were initiated. So the stock of japa beads I brought with me has been depleted. I would like that more beads be sent immediately by air."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1973 July 4 : "This is very welcome news, that all obstacles are cleared in the way of building our temple at Vrindaban. Similarly in Bombay we have been victorious and gained overwhelming new popular support."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1975 July 4: "So, you begin the work, and money will come to you by the grace of God. Don't worry, just finish the buildings as soon as possible and somehow or other money will come."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 July 4: "You should be able to sell at least four lakhs of Rupees worth of books per month. You must also keep proper account. Not a single farthing should be wasted. I will see the accounts personally when I return."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1970 July 4 : "My principle is that where my other Godbrothers cannot preach I shall go there. On my behalf you should follow this principle, also. Now combined together do some real service to the cause of Lord Caitanya."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1949 July 5 : "Mahatmaji started another spiritual movement known as the temple entry movement irrespective of caste distinction. He himself installed the deity of Sri Radha Krishna at Noakhali when he was there and that is very significant."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64

1949 July 5 : "People should be given chance to become harijana with equal facilities for all. The Gandhi Memorial Fund should be utilized mainly for this purpose. Myself with a batch of sincere workers are ready to take up this work."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64

1969 July 5 : "I marked it in your person and I prayed to Krishna that this good soul may be aware of the importance of Krishna Consciousness. With my blessings I am sending herewith your beads, duly chanted upon by me."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 5 : "So in the spiritual world, the same Maya works auspiciously, and in the material world the same Maya works inauspiciously. This auspiciousness and inauspiciousness is our own choice."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1969 July 5 : "You should attract new devotees from your quarters. Instead of importing devotees, it is better to attract devotees from your own area. And the basic principle for doing this is Sankirtana Party."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969:

1971 July 5 : "We want good preachers. Preaching shouldn't depend on me only. My disciples should all become good preachers, and that depends on studying the books nicely so that you can arrive at the right conclusion."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1975 July 5: "I think he has given you good, sane advice. You should not think of relinquishing your job without meeting me and discussing the matter deeply. Don't do anything out of sentiment."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 July 5: "I very much like these bus programs. They are greatly increasing the scope of our book distribution and many new men are being attracted. So hand over the management of your temple affairs and come here immediately."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1968 July 4 : "If we can change the materialistic nature of the tongue, by changing of taste and vibration, then automatically the other senses become purified. As such we should try to chant and eat Krishna prasadam as much as possible."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 July 4 : "I know there are many Sanskrit scholars in Germany, unfortunately I have no practice to speak in Sanskrit. But I am not going to Germany as a Sanskrit scholar - but to deliver the message of Krishna Consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 July 4 : "My principle is that where my other Godbrothers cannot preach I shall go there. On my behalf you should follow this principle, also. Now combined together do some real service to the cause of Lord Caitanya."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1971 July 4 : "Here things are going on very nicely and just this week forty new devotees were initiated. So the stock of japa beads I brought with me has been depleted. I would like that more beads be sent immediately by air."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1973 July 4 : "This is very welcome news, that all obstacles are cleared in the way of building our temple at Vrindaban. Similarly in Bombay we have been victorious and gained overwhelming new popular support."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1975 July 4: "So, you begin the work, and money will come to you by the grace of God. Don't worry, just finish the buildings as soon as possible and somehow or other money will come."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 July 4: "You should be able to sell at least four lakhs of Rupees worth of books per month. You must also keep proper account. Not a single farthing should be wasted. I will see the accounts personally when I return."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 July 4: "The money sent to you is on loan basis. All money is BBT money and must be paid back by you to the BBT account. You can pay back conveniently. We shall help you - but you must pay back."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

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My old friend Jamuna devi dasi (not Govindam adi purusam Jamuna but our Soho St Jamuna, initiated by Bhakti Caru Swami) is back in U.K. at the same time as us. This is great for me as she is a qualified naturopath and iridologist and is fixing me up with a great de-tox after all the horrible antibiotics and other nasties I had to take for my bacterial infection. We go back to Soho St where the family spirit bonded us all together. Jamuna was a cracking cook and baker from the start and I could wager a bet that Radha Londoniswara just loved the delicious cream horns she used to make what to speak of the birthday cakes with professional icing decorations.

Well now Jamuna has some new professional qualifications. In 1999 she became a certified iridologist, in 2003 she graduated with a diploma in naturopathy and herbal medicine and finally she completed her Bachelor of Health Science - Complementary Medicine in 2004. Wow! She really worked hard at this but it is her natural gift, I’d say. In the mid nineties, Jamuna had health challenges herself and met a well respected woman in the field of natural healing, Kitty Campion. It was a great opportunity for personal training with a highly experienced practitioner and Kitty’s influence on Jamuna has been profound. Her own experience of the efficacy of iridology as a diagnostic tool and the healing power of herbs along with significant lifestyle changes convinced her of the value of such practices for health recovery and better quality of life.

So I’m very happy that she’s here and actually sitting in my tiny temporary living room right now. She’s just given me a great recipe for de-tox and building up my body to fight infection so I’m going to obey her every command plus spend a few quid at Neil’s Yard on herbal tinctures.

Jamuna was practising in Australia, in Sydney for some time, then in a top notch health resort in Thailand last year and now she’s just about to take up a post as the naturopath and iridologist consultant at a very prestigious health retreat or destination spa, as they are now called, in Tring. It’s called Champneys and has had an excellent reputation for a long time. In fact, my grandma and aunty used to go there for treatment so you can imagine how long it’s been going for. Jamuna tells me it was opened in the 1920’s by a naturopath so they are keen to have her there to offer this service.

I just thought I’d pass this on for any devotees in U.K. who are looking for help with their health and can highly recommend Jamuna as a skilful and compassionate devotee practitioner. I don’t have a picture of her at the moment but maybe that’s just as well as she’s very pretty and I’m recommending her medical skills rather than anything else! Don’t mind me - I’m protective of my women friends!

If you are interested in contacting Jamuna, drop me a line or send a comment with your email address and I’ll forward you her email. Unfortunately Jamuna just does not have time with her current work commitments to give online advice to lots of people but if you are serious about seeing her for an appointment, do get in touch. It can really make a difference when you’re not getting all the help that’s actually possible and it’s so nice to see a devotee with such a wealth of knowledge.

An astute reader of my previous post noted that it seemed rushed and that it lacked my personality. I was impressed by their ability to detect that it was indeed a rushed post. I had really wanted to post that comic strip, but also needed to be somewhere, so I cut and pasted a bunch of sastric (scriptural) quotes and at the end threw up a link for further reading. Now don't get me wrong: the quotes and link are definitely pertinent and relevant to the discussion, but it was evident that I had thrown it all together without much personal commentary or thoughts on the topic. So in this post I wanted to come back to it with a little more personality.

First off, I was surprised by "Hare Krishna Diary"'s comment on the previous post. In all of the feedback I've been getting they were the only one to feel that I was portraying brahmacari's in a mocking way or saying that ALL brahmacaris are sexual deviants. Obviously that wasn't the intention of the comic strip. The intention was that there are sometimes individual persons in the brahmacari ashram that are struggling with sexual thoughts or reflections. And the problem is: well what do we do with those desires? And how do we stop them? And of course the feeling of hopelessness and frustration that comes along with being unable to stop the powerful pushing of sex desire.

I believe it's just part of the human experience. If it wasn't such an important topic then it wouldn't appear so much in the Srimad Bhagavatam and other Vedic scriptures. My Guru Maharaja, H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami, was outspoken on the topic and delineated many important points on this issue in his book "Spiritual Warrior 2: Transforming Lust into Love".

When I was going through my crisis and doubts about being a brahmacari and had expressed to him that perhaps I should put on white cloth, he said to me reassuringly (paraphrasing), "One never really, completely gets rid of sex desire. It's just a matter of learning how to channel (transform) that energy." His point was that as long as we're in a material body, we'll experience such urges and pushes from the senses and mind. Part of the spiritual, devotional process is learning how to focus that energy towards Krishna and devotional service.

In my seven years as a brahmacari I had genuine experiences of being so absorbed in devotional service that thoughts of sex were completely non-existent in my mind. It really all comes down to the mind and what it's focusing and reflecting on. As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita, our mind can be our greatest friend or our greatest enemy. When it's uncontrolled it's our enemy and conversely when it's controlled it's our friend.

Controlling the mind is such a paradox, because it's within our power to control it. In other words, the mind is nothing more than a tool or instrument being used by the soul. The individual soul has the freewill and the power to decide how to use the mind. We can control what it's thinking about and reflecting on.

So why does Arjuna say to Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita that controlling the mind seems more difficult than controlling the wind? (Bhagavad-gita 6.34) Because the fact is that even though we are in control of the mind, the mind is sometimes so fickle and obstinate that it overrides our intelligence. We may know the right thing to do, but still our mind urges us towards something improper. Krishna agrees and acknowledges the difficulty of controlling the mind, but says that it's possible with "constant practice and detachment" (Bhagavad-gita 6.35). And Srila Prabhupada, in his purport, says that the most important step in controlling the mind is hearing about Krishna and transcendental topics.

When the mind is engaged in attentively hearing about Krishna (sravanam), then naturally it also becomes absorbed in thoughts of Him (smaranam). That is the secret of controlling the mind. And as we become more attached to Krishna and the process of devotional service, then we become more and more detached from the material world and sense gratification. But again, it takes constant practice. We have to devote the time for hearing and chanting and remembering Krishna. It's not like we just hear one Bhagavad-gita verse and all of a sudden we're pure devotees.

The attraction to sex life is one of those things that we've been conditioned into accepting as the highest pleasure in material existence. We become like Pavlov's dog that every time it heard a bell ring it would begin to salivate, because it had been conditioned to receive a treat every time it heard a bell. So every time we see some stimulus for sex, like the attractive forms of the opposite sex, then our minds think, "Oh, here is pleasure" and we begin to reflect on enjoying sexual pleasures. No doubt there is some pleasure in the experience of orgasm, but it's a temporary, momentary chemical stimulation in the brain. But just as with any addiction, we find ourselves needing more and more of the "drug" just to feel a tiny glimmer of what we once felt in the beginning. Such a downward spiral leads to depression, despair and emptiness.

The fact is, sexual pleasure is just one more weapon in the arsenal of the Lord's illusory energy. Actually, it can be considered the main, chief weapon of maya. It's a force so powerful that it completely binds us to a materialistic, bodily conception of life. Is it impossible to over come? Of course not. Is it difficult to over come? Of course.

The main problem is not having enough desire to become completely Krishna Conscious. We still have desires separate from Krishna and pleasing Krishna's senses. Our devotion is still so mixed with desires for personal benefit and gain. We want Krishna, but we also want sense gratification. Unfortunately this is like trying to mix oil and water. They're just not compatible. As long as we desire our personal sense gratification over desiring Krishna, then to that degree we will remain in illusion and suffering.

Srila Prabhupada explains further in his purport to the Bhagavad-gita verse 6.35 that just by hearing about Krishna we become more attached to Him. We just have to follow the nine-fold process of devotional service and we'll make progress towards Krishna. I think back to some of my best days in Krishna Consciousness and it was when I was fully absorbed in the process. Now I'm lucky if I chant one round a day or read a verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam. If we're not following the process then how can we say, "This process doesn't work!" If the doctor gives us some medicine to take, but we decide not to take it, then how can we complain when our disease or suffering becomes worse? When we find ourselves being harassed and victimized by our mind and senses we have to stop and ask ourselves, "What is the quality of my sadhana (daily devotional practice)? What is the quality of my chanting and hearing?" There's almost no doubt that our suffering and misery are a reflection of our poor (or in some cases non-existent) sadhana.

Today’s kirtans are by Bhakta Kevin (New Jersey), Nitilam Dasi, Priya Dasi (Montreal), Tirthapada Das.

Listen to the entire Kirtan!

To listen, click on the links below then press play. To download, Right Click on the word “Download” and select “Save As…” from the menu. Having trouble downloading? Read our Help Section.

• 01 Visvambhar Das - Hare Krishna (1833)
• 02 Jagannath Kirtan Das - Hare Krishna (813)
• 03 Gaura Vani Das - Hare Krishna (977)
• 04 Akincana Krishna Das - Hare Krishna (917)
• 05 Nama Rasa Das - Hare Krishna (647)
• 06 Keshavacarya Das - Hare Krishna (513)
• 07 Gopal Das - Hare Krishna (535)
• 08 Kalindi Dasi - Hare Krishna (731)
• 09 Manu Das - Hare Krishna (442)
• 10 Hari Kirtan Das - Hare Krishna (391)
• 11 Uttam Bhakta Das - Hare Krishna (542)
• 12 Gaura Dasi - Hare Krishna (443)
• 13 Uttam Bhakta Das - Hare Krishna (423)
• 14 Thakur Das - Hare Krishna (393)
• 15 Rupa Das - Hare Krishna (375)
• 16 Hari Dham Das - Hare Krishna (388)
• 17 Krishna Balaram Das - Hare Krishna (70)
• 18 Dhira Lalita Das - Hare Krishna (246)
• 19 Gopi Gita Dasi - Hare Krishna (295)
• 20 Hari Das - Hare Krishna (293)
• 21 Madhava Das - Hare Krishna (674)
• 22 Agnideva Das - Hare Krishna (354)
• 23 HH Radhanath Swami - Hare Krishna (347)
• 24 Acyuta Gopi Dasi - Hare Krishna (376)
• 25 Ananta Govinda Das - Hare Krishna (328)
• 26 Abhay Das - Hare Krishna (193)
• 27 Ajamil Das - Hare Krishna (229)
• 28 Caitanyananda Das - Hare Krishna (213)
• 29 Gopika Dasi - Hare Krishna (229)
• 30 Bhakta Kevin - Hare Krishna (125)
• 31 Nitilam Dasi - Hare Krishna (136)
• 32 Tirthapada Das - Hare Krishna (138)
• 33 Priya Das - Hare Krishna (123)
• 34 Ramananda Das - Hare Krishna (31)
• 35 Ramdas Das - Hare Krishna (30)
• 36 Kalindi Dasi - Hare Krishna (44)
• 37 Ankit Das - Hare Krishna (33)

Character matters, especially in a world where surety is fast becoming a thing of the past, in a communication age where according to Marshall McLuhan, “the medium is the message,” and philosophers of language are still pondering the question, "What is meaning?"

In the 1960s, psychologist Walter Mischel and others started a revealing study of four year old children at a preschool on the Stanford University campus. The four-year-olds were offered a proposal involving getting a marshmallow (a kind of sweet candy). If they could wait for about twenty minutes till the person giving the candy returned after doing a small task, they would get two candies. If they couldn’t wait till then, they would get only one candy – but they would get it instantly.

These days many places in India are going through a heavy drought, with monsoons late as much as a month. Power cuts are getting longer and longer (almost 15 hours a day in North India ). This means no business, no fruits and vegetables, and very hard to go on even with daily routine things for many.

Hare Krishna devotees in Jalandhar, Punjab planned an idea to have a 12 hours Hare Krishna kirtan singing marathon in the temple, with a hope to be able to please Lord Sri Krishna, and maybe He can give the rains.

June, devotees at ISKCON, Jalandhar went from 7am to 7pm starting from Srila Prabhupad’s guru puja. Roaring kirtan went on with about 200-300 constant participants in the Kirtan and about 2000 visited throughout the day. This unique event received great media coverage in many of the renowned Newspapers: Danik Jagran, Punjab Kesri, Danik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala, as well as TV media. Prabhupada Gurupuja was aired on Aajtak, ZeeNews, New24, IBN7, PTC News, and few others. TV media said that unlike other methods (some people had staged riots at Electricity offices), this was the correct method - to please God through loudly singing His Holy names!

The better part is yet to come. On Monday evening it began to rain. It was amazing! The devotees at ISKCON, Jalandhar were contacted by TV media. They will be playing the clips of gurupuja and kirtan again. They will also be showing some interviews they took of the devotees about how Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had prescribed this method of chanting in the Kaliyuga, and that this was a good way to please the Lord. They want to show to all how the method of chanting the holy name has removed this great drought.

All glories to the all powerful Holy Name of the Lord!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare

and make your life sublime

I hope your weekend is blessed by the Lord with nice realisations and the effects of chanting makes you more and more devotional and determined in japa.

your servant,

Aruna devi

New Remuna Dhama, ISKCON Toronto, would like to extend a warm invitation to devotees around the world to experience our 37th Annual Festival of India (Ratha-Yatra) on July 18-19, 2009! Toronto’s Ratha-Yatra has the unique distinction of being accredited by Madhuha das, the organizer of the traveling Festival of India tour, as being the largest Ratha-Yatra in North America with close to 40,000 people in attendance along with a plethora of Srila Prabhupada’s books sold each year!

The Sri Mayapur International School's holistic approach to education engages the body, mind, intelligence and words of devotee children from all over the world. It prepares them to fulfill their life's purpose spiritually, at the same time providing internationally accepted skills, training and academic education.

If you come to the Radha-Ramana temple in Vrindavana, India late in the evening, you may be fortunate to hear the flute playing during His last public audience [darshan]. One of the Goswamis of the temple plays it.

Video courtesy of Bhakti Bringha Govinda Swami

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If the selection above is hosted by YouTube then after the video plays there will be several links presented to other videos. ISKCON News Weekly has no control over the selections presented and is not responsible for their contents.

Contact the host, Akrura dasa:
Email: akrura@pamho.com
Skype: akrurad
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Website: http://vedicilluminations.com/gitacoaching
Blog: http://gitacoaching.blogspot.com

If the selection above is hosted by YouTube then after the video plays there will be several links presented to other videos. ISKCON News Weekly has no control over the selections presented and is not responsible for their contents.

Danakeli dasi: On Monday, June 29, 2009 the Chicago Hare Krishna community experienced the loss of one of its young members. Krishna das, son of Vaishnava Sevananda das and Kirtida Kanyaka devi dasi, passed away peacefully in his home while the Hare Krishna mantra was being chanted.

Rita Gupta: What happens to my right to make medical decisions if I am too sick to decide? In an emergency, the law presumes consent. In all other instances, someone else must make decisions for you. The best way to ensure that decisions are made the way you would want, and by the person you want, is to do an advance directive for health care before you become incapacitated.

By Parsada devi dasi

The aims and objectives of this program are to identify, enthuse and unite our ISKCON children all over the world, through the in-depth study of Srila Prabhupada's books.

Devotees are happy to welcome HH Jayapataka Swami in Mayapur. He arrived at Mayaour on 2nd of July and will be here in Mayapur for few weeks. Please listen Live to classes by Maharaja, everyday evening from 7.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. at Sri Radha Madhava temple at www.jpsoffice.com or www.mayapur.tv On July 3rd, Maharaja gave a brief account of his travels since he left Mayapur after Vyasa puja. He announced that from today, he will give a question and answer session for 30 minutes, followed by class for another 30 minutes.

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Udupi, Jun 29: The Indian epics are replete with stories about Lord Vishnu's love for the double-leafed twigs of the holy basil plant and how He can be appeased by offering the holy basil twigs coupled with the chanting of hymns. Lord Vishnu's incarnations too exhibited His love for this plant.

Following the tragic accident met by two of our Mayapur Community devotees, Jahnudvipa das and Brajasevaki mataji ( in the month of March 2009), we are very happy to see both of them miraculously recovering from the injuries sustained. Brajasevaki mataji feels that their recoveries have been expedited by all the love and prayers by devotees. We are pleased to hear Jahnu prabhu today giving Srimad Bhagavatham class, first time after the accident.

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By Patita Pavana das

One evening back in ’69 at Boston’s ISKCON Press, about a dozen of us devotees were honoring lunchtime left-overs of dal and chapattis in the prasadam room. Discussion naturally centered upon the most outstanding personality any of us would ever meet, Shrila Prabhupada.

WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation on Friday intended to address global warming and transform the way the nation produces and uses energy. The vote was the first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change. The legislation, which passed despite deep divisions among Democrats, could lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction.

One animal in NSW [New South Wales, Australia] is killed every hour during testing for new medicines and cosmetic products. The Daily Telegraph has revealed 8813 animals - including birds, guinea pigs and endangered marsupials - were killed during 12 months of trials.

Saturday, 13 June 2009. I awoke after a late night. I started on my usual morning session, a couple hours later than I normally would. I sat at a bench in the park for some of my rounds. A man on a bike cycled past. “Hare Krsna!” he said. I looked up startled. “Hare Krsna” I replied.” I still looked in a bit of shock. “Gauranga” he said and he disappeared off into the distance. I was amazed to find Krsna everywhere like this. While I was inattentively chanting, making a show of chasing Krsna, Krsna was coming to me through the mouths of the devotees and showing his all pervasiveness. This little incident called for a celebration of some more chapatti pizzas (basically anything called for a celebration of chapatti pizzas). I had figured out how to use my newly acquired skills of basic Indian cooking to make Italian food again so I presumed now that my ambitions of learning to cook had come to a close. If I could cook my own grains, it seemed, then I would be satisfied just to eat how I always had throughout my life. By the middle of the day though I had changed my mind and was not satisfied with the few dishes I had mastered. I wanted to make something more…I wanted to make some more sweets! I had some left over flour from the chapattis and I had a lot of extra fatty butter that I filtered out of the ghee. I wanted to combine these with some sugar to make something tasty and unhealthy. It was a bit of a speculation, following some lessons my dad had sent me on how to make ladu and improvising the rest. I cooked and stirred and cooked and stirred and then let it set, returning to mix the batch and inspect it from time to time. It was going to take some time to take form so I decided to move onto other things. I went down to the corner store to buy some lassie. Because of all the corner store options, I had not used this store before but realized very quickly that it was a massive booze store. I was a little startled in the beginning but I was even more startled when the man at the booze counter said “Hare Krsna” to me. He wasn’t a congregational member (as far as I knew) but he was favourable it seemed. I returned the gesture. As I left the store he started to sing out the whole maha mantra! I was a little blessed out by this incident but a little concerned if any of our “not so strict” friends had been using this store to pick up a “different sort of lassie” than I had because this man could obviously recognise a devotee (mind you I am shaven bald and my sika tufts up in such a way that you can see it from the front so it‘s a dead give away). I accompanied some Kulis down to the centre Watford. Luke, our house mate and Dhruva (another friendly Kuli I had met last year) were in a band and they were playing in the town. I was there to see Luke because he had invited me and he seemed like a cool character. He was probably reading the Gita more than some of the Vaisnava counterparts he lived with and so I felt the need to suss out the scene. It was very much mixed modes of passion and ignorance, as the derelicts danced to the side and the music blasted out, all the while some people mildly intoxicated themselves. I could see now why Krsna never arranged for my music skills to take me anywhere. After seeing that Luke was doing well on stage I headed off. I wasn’t just not feeling the scene there in Watford central but I was also anxious to do something else. I was on the Vedabase and I was nearing the end of Canto 5 of Srimad Bhagavatam. I sat down for the day’s final reading session and finished it off. It ended with an extended section of imports of Bhaktisidhanta Saraswati’s which were full of depth on the incarnation of Rsabhadeva. It was amazing to see what spiritual depth and clarity our param para was capable of and this furthered my conviction of their absolute authority over all other spiritual teachers. I also had a sweet speculation to check on (almost equally as important). I was there hoping to finish the night in some sort of spiritual mood until I received a call from Jaggi. Concerned for my spiritual innocence Jaggi was calling me up to warn me that there was going to be a party arranged at the share house and that I should try call Sanatan for an escape route. I attempted to contact Sanatan but to no avail. I texted Jaggi back and he some how got a hold of him. The party was starting to establish itself as I was waiting out Sanatan’s arrival. I was impressed to see Jaggi telling some of the guests how he was disassociated with drugs and drinking. He spoke like a true Sadhu. Sanatan arrived like a knight in shinny armour (well he had a shinny coat on at least). We mounted his mighty stead (motorbike) and rode off into the night. Another reason why it was good for me to go with Sanatan was because Snananyatra was tomorrow and his whole family was going. This way I could make it in for certain and be there on time. We had to wake up early to drive there tomorrow so like responsible adults we stayed up as late as possible. Sunday, 14 June 2009. We awoke with a little struggle. I knew we had little time to be ready so I went like lightning. It seemed like moments later that I was dressed in dohti, kurta and tilak. We hit the road. We parked in an unfamiliar area to myself. I started to walk around to assimilate where exactly I was. All of a sudden I was at Soho st temple?! I had only ever came to the temple from the subway but it seemed we were practically parked next to it without my dull witted self catching on. I caught up on some reading while the whole festival got underway. When I was done I looked to see a massive line to bath Jagannatha, trailing out the door of the temple and leading upstairs. I had enough rounds to keep me busy for the wait but I decided to take the back way up and see if someone could hook me up with a line cut. I found myself at the temple exit posted with security. I spotted Sanatan’s father, who was organising much of the event. I caught his glance and hinted him to let us through. He paused for a moment and then demanded the security let me through because I had some “service”. I shot across the temple room to the very front of the bathing line. This was my only “service” here. At the front of the line, a little to the side, was Bhagavat Asraya Prabhu, seemingly monitoring the line for cutters and other mishaps (or he might just have had a nice spot). I said haribol and asked him how he was going. After some light conversation I was given a conch shell and I bathed the lordships with some unknown mix of liquids. I was very much satisfied at my devious spot of service to Jagannatha. After the whole bathing incident I found myself behind the empty counter of Govindas catching up with Arjuna, a Kuli I bumped into last trip. Last time he was hitting me up to go to Chowpatty to receive intensive brahmacari training. He didn’t hit me up again so I presumed the idea wasn’t still on the drawing board. From my vantage point, behind the counter, I mocked the Kulis in the line to bath the Lordships, threatening them that it was a 45 minute wait. I strayed outside and some how, by Krsna’s arrangement, met up with and befriended some bhaktas and other devotees. I found out that the bhaktas were originally from New Zealand. They were uncertain of the devotees reign in NZ and so I reassured them of the amazing projects of HH Devamritta Swami, talked also about Aussie preaching and finally slipped in some words of my upcoming projects. They seemed to feel their Krsna conscious bubble would survive now in the desolate lands of the Down Unders. After making some new friends and recruitments for our local spiritual army I noticed some commotion on the side walk. The gurukulis had started a bhajan on the other side of the street. The temple was lacking the space to facilitate this spontaneous expression of ecstasy and so the Kulis were taking it to the street. People were dancing all over the not-so-busy Soho st and the mood was rather jubilant. I jumped in the squad for a little taste and then made my way inside. I rushed back up to the temple for darsana (which was pretty hectic on its own). After that it was time to hit the prasadam. I found myself with a container, a plate and two cups filled with Jagannatha prasadam. Me and Lori, one of the NZ bhaktas I had just met, headed down to the park. We gulped down our sumptuous prasadam and talked some things. I found out Lori was only 17 years old. I am always refreshed to meet young and fresh bhaktas. At the end of the feast I realized it was time to hit my next lunch date. I mentally waved goodbye to Jagannatha and marched out into London to find the subway. I scoped out an easy route back to Watford and was on my way. It was all a bit anxious with train changes, tube strikes and overground connections. Eventually I found myself at the other end, paying the ticket inspectors something extra because my original station was closed mysteriously. I was back in Watford Junction, where I had been almost two weeks earlier coming in from Australia. Gaura Hari shortly after came to pick me up in his new chariot. It was time to have the catch up we had been planning since days before. He drove me shortly down to his place where Balesvari was steaming up a storm in the kitchen. We sat in his living room, next to his MASSIVE Jagannatha deities, talking until the rest of the guests arrived. Eventually his sister with her husband and daughter arrived, who I had never met. The crowd grew and we chatted away while Gaura’s niece was stealing strawberries from the kitchen. Finally Gopa and his wife, Balesvari’s sister, arrived and we chowed down. It was two feasts in a single day so I had to monitor myself so I wouldn’t explode. After we were spilling out of our sides Gaura Hari took us all down to the park to jog it off with a ball and a boomerang. Gaura and HH Indradyumna Swami had each received boomerangs on our visit to a wildlife sanctuary, on the Brisbane leg of our previous Australian tour. Each had been competing to see who’s boomerang was bigger at the time. Now we were hurling around Gaura’s massive throwing stick in the large green field. We made a game out of trying to kill Gaura’s soccer ball (foot ball) with the ancient aboriginal weapon. Finally though Gaura Hari’s precious boomerang met it’s untimely death, when it collided with the fence of a neighbouring mosque. It was a tragic, tragic death. All tragedy on it. Eventually it was late so I asked Gaura to take me back to Sanatan’s, where most of my imminent travel supplies were located (ie carry on bag filled with laptop, sucih kit, etc). We speculated our way there, using my supposed sense of direction based on my walking there through the park. It was like re-enacting our antics in the Australian tour in which my navigational skills always seemed to find us hopelessly lost. Eventually we drove past Sanatan on his bike! We turned around and tried to tail him. Finally I asked Gaura to drop us off and I would call Sanatan. I could see it was too much of an over endeavour to locate Sanatan at this time and it would only be a short trip for Sanatan to pick me up so why inconvenience Gaura anymore? We said our sweet goodbyes as I dived out his side door. It was hard to get hold of Sanatan but I eventually reached him on his mobile. He wasn’t home and was miles away!? It seemed, based on a text I had sent earlier, he presumed I wasn’t coming back and he had made other plans in another geographical location. Fortunately I was just next to the park I normally ventured too for walks so I just paced my way back home, decked out in my Hari gear from the festival. I rolled into Jaggi’s house just as everyone else departed. I watched them walk away with their backs turned, not noticing the stealthy decked out Hare Krsna coming up to their doorstep. I was alone to contemplate the events of the day. I had bather the all merciful Lord Jagannatha, made some new friends and found some candidates for the preaching work of the southern hemisphere. The whole day was a pretty decent adventure but now I was starting to think of the next adventure. On Tuesday I was heading to Germany and eventually Polish tour. I was also missing half of my stuff because it was still at Sanatan’s house and we had to make sure I got it all back in one piece before tomorrow night. Jaggi wasn’t back yet so I kicked back for a peaceful evening all alone thinking of the many adventures yet to come.

After Their sweet stay in Sundrachala (Mayapur) for seven days, Sri Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadradevi went back to Nilachala (Rajapur). This year Ulta Ratha festival in Mayapur was a grand ceremony with many celebrities attending the occasion. Ms.Malathi Mukherjee, Uttam Kumar and few silver screen stars of Bengali film industry graced the occasion. HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami spoke on the significance of Ratha Yatra and performing service to the Lord when the Lord is at Sundrachala.
There was a colorful parade of different band groups, dioramas depicting various lilas, girls dancing and three kirtan parties in front of each chariots. Matajis led the kirtan in front of Subhadra’s chariot.

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When the living entity's mind becomes absorbed in the sense gratification of the material world, it brings about his conditioned life and suffering within the material situation. However, when the mind becomes unattached to material enjoyment, it becomes the cause of liberation. When the flame in a lamp burns the wick improperly, the lamp is blackened, but when the lamp is filled with ghee and is burning properly, there is bright illumination. Similarly, when the mind is absorbed in material sense gratification, it causes suffering, and when detached from material sense gratification, it brings about the original brightness of Krishna consciousness.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 11 Verse 8

We’ve been back in England for six weeks and still I’ve been catching up on elsewhere for too long. I’ll let that go now as we’ve missed out on so much………….always backtracking……but finally, I have to say how much we love being in U.K. again. The warmth of old friends that know us well and give us some encouragement (nice word - give us courage to go forward). Isn’t it a fact that when you’ve really seen each other’s sincere desire to serve, there’s a faith in each other despite the inevitable weaknesses and even the odd disaster! There’s a saying that there are accidents even on the royal road.

So a quick commentary……………………Bhaktivedanta Manor is absolutely beautiful in the summer (yes, I will take some pics today if the sun keeps shining.) The gardens are really well maintained now as well as being creatively planted - lots of variety and gorgeous colours, especially around the actual temple building. I don’t know the names of all the devotees doing this service but Gandharvika seems to be heading it up and has done a great job. I’ve also seen Terry hard at it - he has been doing service at the Manor for many years. Cornflowers, chrysanths and marigolds are grown in plastic tunnels for the Deity garlands besides the recently re-bedded (all healthy new earth brought in) rose garden which has always been known as ‘Prabhupada’s rose garden’. If you’ve ever served at the Manor, just imagine all this on an English summer’s day. Nostalgia can evoke that smell of English roses and time is captured in stillness for a long luxuriant moment ……………..walking around the Lake, watching the ducks with their family of little ducklings waddling behind them………..the memories of Srila Prabhupada sitting on the lawn in the afternoon…………the old fragrant magnolia tree with massive creamy white flowers that wound itself up the wall to the verandah outside Prabhupada’s bedroom……………perhaps some of you treasure these things. Of course, I don’t have a clue who might read this but even if I’m waffling on to myself, it’s doing me good! I value a reflective practice - it puts you in touch with yourself as well as others.

There is a memorial garden for George Harrison as a sign of gratitude for his gift of the Manor for Krishna’s service, as well as to appropriately honour his love of gardening. Sri Pati is helping to plan this and Olivia Harrison has also given her input. The last time that I remember George being at the Manor was at a “thankyou dinner” given for him and his wife. Amekhala and I were a little embarassed that so many photos were being taken of him with various prominent devotees or sannyasis as we didn’t want George to feel exploited. We mentioned our feelings to his wife, Olivia and she was pretty cool about it, saying he was used to it and didn’t mind as it was all in a good cause.

When I was a kid, I snuck off with some of my friends from school - we were about sixteen and it was the first time that the Beatles had played in Manchester since they had their hit records. “She loves you” had just come out and was, of course, a mega big hit. We forged notes for our teachers saying we had dentist’s appointments ( we were all in different classes) and luckily we had a brainwave that worked - my friend’s dad had a fancy goods warehouse and we persuaded him to let us have a giant toy panda to present to the Beatles. We had to do something special to get in to see them as there were thousands of people queuing up to see them. Early in the day we had asked the manager if we could give the panda to the Beatles personally but he never came to get us. Finally we spoke to a reporter who thought he could get a story out of it and he told the manager to let us in or he’d report the disappointing broken promise that had been made. I do have a copy of the photograph of myself with my two best friends with the Beatles and funnily enough, I am standing next to George Harrison who later became the person from whom I first heard the Hare Krishna mantra on “My Sweet Lord.” He really did some wonderful service by introducing the chanting of Hare Krishna to the world in such a sweet and creative way, as well as financing the publication of the first Krishna Book. So I was happy to see that the Manor is showing appreciation for George Harrison’s service. It is fascinating how Krishna connects us all. By the way, we didn’t get in trouble when the picture of us with the Beatles appeared in the Manchester newspaper as everyone was too excited about it to blame us. We were pretty popular the next day at school.

Srila Prabhupada was extremely fond of George and vice versa - he had deep respect and affection for Prabhupada. I was also touched to learn that it was Sri Pati who was working in conjunction with George’s wife and the architect who is involved in some of the installations for the garden. That is because Sri Pati himself is such a creative soul and a person who brought much of value to the culture of the English yatra. He must have been the best actor we ever had at the Manor and contributed something special to the association of devotees by his gentlemanly manners and dry humour.

I also just read some interesting conversations between George Harrison and Srila Prabhupada I didn’t know of before in Ranchor’s new book about the history of Srila Prabhupada in the English yatra. My husband is just doing a bit of final proof reading of it so I got a preview too. Hopefully it will be out by the 40th Anniversary of the installation of Sri Sri Radha Londoniswara in November this year. Look out for it - it is a fantastic story and so poetically written by Ranchor. Those who know him will vouch for how emotive his voice is - he really has an unusual kind of priestly artist aura about him……………no offence, it’s captivating. Well you can really hear that voice in his writing and I feel that Ranchor’s presence as the writer of the book moves you as well as the actual content which is fantastic. Bhagavat can’t put the copy he’s proof reading down, except to grab a tissue to wipe his eyes.

More about London tomorrow or Monday. Gotta chant now!

Inspired by the "Nectar of Devotion" lecture series given by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada from October 20-November 13, 1972 at the Radha-Damodara Temple in Vrndavana, India

All of these lectures are available for download at ISKCON Desire Tree.

Lectures #2 and #3
10-21-72 and 10-23-72

It was a great gift of Prabhupada's transcendental timing that his arrival in the West came during a day in which a wholesale abandoning of contemporary values by the youth of the day was catching fire.

No longer were the visions and lifestyles of good ol' ma and pa something that would give satisfaction to these driven and daring seekers-through the help of a very flavorful cosmic soup, they had begun to see through the illusions of a mass-production, mass-consumption society that had little heart to offer.

The "Leave It To Beaver" aesthetic did not compute to many of these young men and women-some of whom would become Prabhupada's dear followers. They had the inkling of a realization about the real nature of the "reality" that faced them.

In his purport to verses 11-12 from the chapter "Departure of Lord Krsna to Dvaraka" from the First Canto of the Bhagavatam, Prabhupada writes:

"Material society, friendship and love are all different phases of lust. Home, country, family, society, wealth and all sorts of corollaries are all causes of bondage in the material world, where the threefold miseries of life are concomitant factors. By associating with pure devotees and by hearing them submissively, attachment for material enjoyment becomes slackened, and attraction for hearing about the transcendental activities of the Lord becomes prominent."

Speaking to his students this evening in Vrndavana, Prabhupada is giving the sastric weight to their frustrations and revolt against the values of contemporary society. He is confirming their frustration and, more importantly, telling them how to find the real peace and happiness that will end this frustration.

How to do so is by linking up with the merciful process of devotional service, with the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by answering the plea of Lord Nityananda as he rolls in the dust before in you, straw in his mouth, begging you to become absorbed in the Holy Name.

In the preface to the Nectar of Devotion, Prabhupada writes:

"When the purified senses are employed in the service of the Lord, one becomes situated in bhakti-rasa life, and any action performed for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa in this transcendental bhakti-rasa stage of life can be relished perpetually. When one is thus engaged in devotional service, all varieties of rasas, or mellows, turn into eternity. In the beginning one is trained according to the principles of regulation under the guidance of the ācārya, or spiritual master, and gradually, when one is elevated, devotional service becomes automatic and spontaneous eagerness to serve Kṛṣṇa."

Clinging to the lotus feet of our spiritual master, and of all those who take it upon themselves in their mercy to guide our fragile journey into spiritual life, is the only valid ticket to the "automatic and spontaneous eagerness to serve Krsna" that is our truest birthright and most natural condition of the soul.

Saksad-dharitivena samasta sastre...The spiritual master is as good as the Supreme Person. Because he is the most humble, the most merciful representative of the Lord. He is completely qualified and completely able to give the Lord's mercy to the conditioned souls.

Prabhupada says in his lecture: "He does not think himself as spiritual master. He thinks himself their servant. Because they have to be trained. Krsna has appointed him to train them. Therefore he thinks himself as servant of the disciples. This is the position."

Prabhupada's position, his service in teaching the practical application of the Absolute Truth to his young students, was to help them understand their frustrations with the "status quo" had a deeper taste to them.

They did not want to identify with the designations of a hypocritical society based on greed and hatred. It is a craziness that the sanity of their heart's calling prevents them from giving into, and Prabhupada confirms this when he says:

"But in my opinion, every man is a crazy man." So this is a fact. This is a fact. Anyone who is under the control of the material energy, he's a crazy man. He's thinking "I am this, I am that, I am this," "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am a Muslim," "I am so on, so on, so many things." But he's nothing of all this. These are all creation of mäyä."

Real self-realization means a personal identification beyond these mere material designations. Going beyond these unhealthy identifications means going beyond hankering and lamenting, and it also means going beyond harmful conflict, destroying the very source, the ahankara, of all war and conflict.

We can share in Prabhupada's service by our eagerness to share the message of Krsna Consciousness. Our eagerness to share is the fee for the valid ticket of attachment to the lotus feet of Guru and Gauranga mentioned above. Prabhupada says in his lecture:

"A devotee should not only give respect to the devotees, but he should try to make others a devotee. That means preaching. What is the meaning of this preaching. People are engaged in material activities, and the preacher should approach them that 'You are spoiling your time, my dear sir. You become devotee of Krsna.' This is preaching. 'You are simply spoiling. You have got this human form of life, but you are utilizing like animals—eating, sleeping, mating and defending.'"

Ultimately, it is about love. It was love, after all, that the heady youth of the sixties were after in all their perverted guises and methods. It is, in fact, what we are always after in our words and deeds, but we tragically have little clue how to find the real, everlasting love of legend, fable, and fame.

Here again is where Prabhupada swoops in with the straight dope. In the preface to the NOD, he writes:

The basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love someone. No one can live without loving someone else. This propensity is present in every living being. Even an animal like a tiger has this loving propensity, at least in a dormant stage, and it is certainly present in the human beings.

The missing point, however, is where to repose our love so that everyone can become happy. At the present moment, the human society teaches one to love his country or family or his personal self, but there is no information where to repose the loving propensity so that everyone can become happy.

That missing point is Krsna, and the Nectar of Devotion teaches us how to stimulate our original love for Krsna and how to be situated in that position where we can enjoy our blissful life."
It is a pure love, the nectar of our hearts, covered over by our moldy, rotten conditioning, that is to be uncovered by our fealty, our devotion to Prabhupada and to Krsna. By our love, our commitment in this duty, then it is the service of the acaryas to help us to uncover this original pure love in our hearts.

What is the substance of this pure love? Prabhupada says:

"In the material world field, we love somebody for getting something in return. That is not love, pure love. Pure love is different. Pure love, as it is described by Lord Caitanya, in the, in His mood of Rädhärani unto Krsna:

aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam
adarsanan marma-hatam karotu va
yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato
mat-prana-nathas tu sa eva naparah

This is love, Rädhärani''s, that 'You either embrace Me or trample Me down under your feet, neglect Me, or make Me broken-hearted, not being present at any time throughout My life, life after life, it does not matter. Still I love you unconditionally.'That is real love. And that love is existing in everyone's heart."

We can reawaken this love by following in the footsteps of the great acaryas, in the methods prescribed to us by Rupa Goswami.

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.10.13 - Qualification of an expert preacher and listener.

Sometimes we think the 16 qualities come automatically. This appears to be well supported by the well-known Srimad Bhagavatam verse:

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akicana,
sarvair guuis tatra samasate sura,
harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna,
manorathenasati dhavato bahi (Srimad Bhagavatam 5.18.12).

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