Hare Krishna Festivals UK: Swindon Festival - 10th March 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: There is a need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Srimad-Bhagavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society. Delhi, December 15, 1962
Find them here: https://goo.gl/TtO718

Avoiding improper behavior while residing in a holy place.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has listed ten offenses against the holy dhama that we must carefully avoid in order to be fully benefitted from our visit to or residence in the holy dhama.
To disrespect one’s spiritual master who reveals the dhama to the disciple
To think that the holy dhama is temporary.
To commit violence towards any of the residents of the holy dhama or to any of the pilgrims who come there, or to think that they are ordinary people. Srila Prabhupada writes: “All the inhabitants of Vrindavana are Vaisnavas. They are all auspicious because somehow or other they always chant the holy name of Krishna” (C.C.Adi 5.232, purport).
To perform mundane activities while living in the holy dhama.
To utilize the dhama for personal economic development by commercializing deity worship and sankirtana in the holy dhama.
To think that the holy dhama belongs to a mundane country or province, such as Bengal; to think that the Lord’s dhama is equal to a place connected with some demigod, or to attempt to measure the area of the holy dhama.
To commit sinful acts while residing in the holy dhama
To consider Vrindavana-dhama as different from Navadvipa-dhama.
To blaspheme the sastras that assert the glorious position of the holy dhama.
To be faithless and think that the glories of the dhama are imaginary.
Srila Prabhupada explained that the results of all devotional activities performed in the holy dhama are magnified a thousand times. Therefore, one can make rapid advancement if one lives offenselessly in the holy dhama. But if we commit offenses, the results of those offenses are also magnified one thousand times. Therefore, one is advised to carefully avoid committing any offenses in the holy dhama.

Navadwip Mandal Parikrama: Day two (Album with photos)
Holy paces visited: 1. Gauradaha. 2. Svananda Sukhada Kunja: Gaura Gadadhara Temple, residence and Samadhi of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. 3. Bhajan Kutir of Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. 4. Samadhi Mandir of Krsna Dasa Babaji. (Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s dear servant) 5. Surabhi Kunja: Lord Indra came with Surabhi and worshiped Lord Caitanya to seek pardon for his offense (it happened in Dvapara Yuga). Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura started the head office of the Nama-hatta preaching program here. 6. ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Arogya Asrama with deities of Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra and Sri Gaura Nitai.
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From Back to Godhead

By Sureswara Dasa

Bir Krishna the calf loves coconut fudge, and Sita the teamstress knows it. Her pockets bulge with the sweet as she and Bir walk to the training ring. Today the calf will learn his first call: “Get up!”

The earth is soft from the recent rain. Sita carries a lash and leads Bir with a rope tied to a blue halter. The calf bounds through a cluster of gnats, then slows as they come to the ring. What’s this?

The gate opens, and Bir walks in to explore. He treads the edge and sniffs the white hardwood boards. The ring is twenty- four feet in diameter. Hoofprints stud the grass and mud, the signatures of oxen training. The calf’s eyes blink and widen at his new surroundings. Sita wants to reassure her charge. She strokes his head behind the ears. “Good boy, Bir.”

Time to teach the call. Sita walks to the center of the ring and lets the rope slacken. She raises the lash and taps Bir on the rump (“Get up!”), goading him forward. She follows him closely, indicating with her body he should keep going. When he stops, another tap. “Get up!”

A few times and Bir has made the connection between the tap and the call. “Good boy, Bir. Come here …” The calf walks over to Sita, who kneels and holds up a piece of fudge. A crumb falls on the kerchief crowning her hair, flaxen from the sun. A flick and a lick and Bir has it, his lotus eyes beaming. They are making a pact, animal and human, sealed in mud and trust.

At three months, Bir is the youngest calf at Gita-nagari, the Hare Krishna farm community in central Pennsylvania. Unlike his brethren in modern “factory farms,” Bir will never suffer the “veal-crate fate.” Every year, more than one million male calves are born into darkness, and kept there, chained round the neck in a stall so tiny they can neither stand up nor turn around. To keep their flesh pale and tender, they are denied sunlight, exercise, and even solid food. Their liquid diet of growth stimulators, antibiotics, powdered skim milk, and mold inhibitors gives them an iron deficiency that satisfies the consumer’s demand for light meat, sold as “premium” or “milk- fed” veal.

After three months of living in diarrhea, at an age when they could be trained to work, they are butchered.

Bir is learning remarkably fast. Sita doesn’t have to follow him so closely anymore. Just the call and a tap and he moves forward. Has he learned his lesson well enough to move without the lash?

Sita looks Bir in the eyes and raises the lash. “Bir … get up!”

The calf takes a few steps forward, then stops.

“Get up!”

A swat on the rump and off he goes at the end of the rope, now circling behind her. Out of eye contact, he starts to slow, then speeds up again at the sound of the call. Sita beams. “Broke to the word” on the first lesson! Out comes the rest of the fudge. “Good boy, Bir. Very good boy.”

To the modern farmer, Sita and Bir are an anachronism, a picture in a history book. The caption reads: “Here’s how our farmers used to raise bulls—for work!”

But has it been a good deal, the ox for the tractor? His muscle for the engines that roar and pollute and suck up gasoline at soaring prices? His legs for the giant wheels that crush and compact? His enriching manure for chemical fertilizers that exhaust the earth and contaminate the water table? His labor for his meat, whose industry signals the decline of our health? Such is the progress of science without religion.

Factory farming finds its antithesis in the animal liberation movement. Disgusted by man’s exploitative domin-ion over animals, many animal rights advocates hold that animals should not have to work for humans and that humans have no right to use animal products.

The genuine advocate is often a vegan. Appalled by the dairy industry’s collusion with the slaughterhouse, he shuns the cow’s milk as well as her meat. There is an irony here. A cow produces an average of ten times more milk than a calf can consume. To deny humanity her milk is really to deny that she is our mother. And hence the possibility that we might treat her as such.

The same with the bull. To deprive humanity of his labor is to obscure his natural relation to us as a father, who tills the ground to provide food. This is the grave error of religion without science, for as soon as man stops working the ox, he wants to kill him. It is no accident that the technology that produced the tractor also produced the slaughterhouse.

The vegan rightly challenges exploitation and murderous abuse. Yet decades, even centuries, of abuse do not preclude the possibility of kindly use. And that is what Krishna’s cowherds have to offer.

In a field near Sita and Bir, Rasala Dasa, Sita’s husband, works a team of oxen tedding hay. After hay is cut, it is tedded, or fluffed up, so air can circulate through it for faster drying. Frequent rains have made the cutting especially thick. The oxen pull a long-fingered device that grabs the hay and throws it up in the air. Rasala walks on their left side, calling commands so they go straight over the rows. Rasala rests the oxen periodically as the sun nears the meridian. They will finish the field before it sets.

Sure a tractor can do more—more harm than good! In a couple of years Bir will join the oxen, spared the veal crate and the steer market. To work him in devotional service is to synthesize science and religion.

“The Vedic way is to farm with the ox,” writes ISKCON farm historian Hare Krishna Dasi, “as humanity has done for thousands of years, and as much of the world is still doing—small-scale, personal, noncapitalistic, nonexploitive farming. We don’t have to ruin the world to produce food. We can live a simple, sweet agricultural life, as Krishna Himself demonstrated.

“This doesn’t mean we have to be primitive, either. There is a large role for developing appropriate technology—like ox-powered energy generators and methane digesters—beyond strictly agricultural applications.”

Granted, the golden calf of historical progress is a tough idol to topple. Yet listen to the Vedic view of the earth when Krishna visited some fifty centuries ago. “The clouds showered all the water that people needed, and the earth produced all the necessities of man in profusion. Due to its fatty milk bag and cheerful attitude, the cow used to moisten the grazing ground with milk” (Srimad- Bhagavatam 1.10.4).

“The years like great black oxen tread the world,” wrote the poet W. B. Yeats, “And God the herdsman goads them on behind.” Time will tell if our modern world can recover the good life Krishna gave us. But doers like Rasala and Sita can’t wait for the world. Working oxen is too rewarding.

“There’s a new moon coming,” says Sita with a twinkle. “Get up!”

Presentation of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition at a meeting with graduates of the Master of Sretensky Theological Seminary in the temple of Krishna (Moscow) March 11, 2016 (Album with photos)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/SLNum2

March 13. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Faith in Prabhupada’s Instructions.
Srila Prabhupada is the topmost acarya, the representative of Krishna capable of delivering all conditioned souls. His disciples and followers seek release from the material world through bhakti yoga, engagement in Krishna’s service. If we accept Prabhupada’s instructions with faith, we can become fully Krishna conscious and go back to Godhead.
Unfortunately, a disciple doesn’t always measure up to the guru’s demands due to a heavily conditioned nature, and this may lead to doubts in his relationship with his spiritual master. Prabhupada is not unreasonable in his requests; he wants us to be perfect, to render pure, unmotivated service to guru and Krishna. He knows that bhakti must be unconditional, and his duty is to train us to perform that unconditional service. Whatever doubts we may still have in Krishna consciousness should not be about Prabhupada’s spiritual calibre, or about his disposition toward us. We doubt only our ability to respond to him. In other words, we doubt ourselves. Srila Prabhupada once said that even if we have the most expert guru, we may still fail unless we help ourselves.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=6

India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, offers his homages to Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu during a recent religious gathering. If only other world leaders could follow his example there would surely be peace and prosperity for all nations of the world!
Srila Prabhupada: The Lord inaugurated this system of mass sankirtana, and leaders of all countries can take advantage of this spiritual movement in order to keep the mass of people in a pure state of peace and friendship with one another. This is now the demand of the present human society all over the world.
Read more: http://goo.gl/x5TTdn

By Visakha Dasi

In each of its twelve cantos, Srimad-Bhagavatam, the “flawless ripened fruit of all Vedic scriptures,” tells of miracles and mysticism, of the esoteric and extraterrestrial. We hear a cow, bull, elephant, monkey, and bird speaking deep philosophy. We learn of the four-headed creator who sits atop a lotus flower, of a magnificent aerial mansion, and of a five-year-old who pushes down half the earth with his toe and makes demigods suffocate. We learn of people giving birth to tens of thousands of children, of people with a thousand heads or arms, of an ocean of milk that is churned by demigods and demons using a snake for a rope. We are also given detailed information about this extraordinary universe we live in. For example, from the Fifth Canto (16.16–17):

“On the lower slopes of Mandara Mountain is a mango tree named Devacuta. It is 1,100 yojanas [8,800 feet] high. Mangoes as big as mountain peaks and as sweet as nectar fall from the top of this tree for the enjoyment of the denizens of heaven. When all those solid fruits fall from such a height, they break, and the sweet, fragrant juice within them flows out and becomes increasingly more fragrant as it mixes with other scents. That juice cascades from the mountain in waterfalls and becomes a river called Arunoda, which flows pleasantly through the eastern side of Ilavrta.”

What is a pragmatic, logical, scientific mind to do with such information? Shall we see the whole body of work as mythology? Or glean its essential spiritual truths and leave aside the fantastic aspects as entertainment used to convey those truths? Or shall we suspend our disbelief and accept all the texts of Bhagavatam as they are?

None of these options are in the spirit of the Srimad-Bhagavatam itself—that is, the spirit of unalloyed submission and devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna. This spirit is not the suspension of disbelief but the suspension of pride, for without pridelessness the Srimad-Bhagavatam, as well as all the Vedas, will remain a great mystery. In other words, readers who enter the spirit of the Srimad-Bhagavatam do not suspect any aspect of its message; rather, they question their own qualification and ability to receive that message purely.

Besides being genuinely humble, mature students of the Srimad-Bhagavatam are detached from this alluring material world and know their spiritual identity, their purpose in life, and the limitations the material body and mind may impose on spirit. Rather than “naive,” these saints are highly evolved human beings with unrivaled critical and analytical insights. Srila Prabhupada writes, “The bestial civilization of eating, sleeping, fearing, and sense-gratifying has misled modern man into forgetting how powerful a soul he has. As we have already described, the soul is a spiritual spark many, many times more illuminating, dazzling, and powerful than the sun, moon, or electricity. Human life is spoiled when man does not realize his real identity with his soul.” (Cc., Adi 1.5.22, purport)

But what of the Bhagavatam’s amazing descriptions and pastimes? Continuing the above purport Srila Prabhupada explains: “…Each and every planet has its particular atmosphere, and if one wants to travel to any particular planet within the material universe, one has to adapt his material body to the climatic condition of that planet. For instance, if one wants to go from India to Europe, where the climatic condition is different, one has to change his dress accordingly. Similarly, a complete change of body is necessary if one wants to go to the transcendental planets of Vaikuntha. However, if one wants to go to the higher material planets, he can keep his finer dress of mind, intelligence, and ego, but has to leave his gross dress (body) made of earth, water, fire, etc.”

Devoted readers of the Srimad-Bhagavatam are not literalists in the sense that they expect to taste the mango juice waters of the Arunoda River, at least not in their present state. They take it that this place exists as it is described, but it is on a platform that they cannot directly experience; the text is explicit—not figurative—but it describes a dimension unknown to us.

What we can presently perceive is limited by the nature of our body. Since our body is made of gross material elements (earth, water, air, and so on) we directly perceive only gross material sense objects. However, in other parts of the material creation only subtle energies (mind, intelligence, etc.), which are imperceptible to us, exist. On that plane one could uproot trees and use them to bridge a river or one could leap across an ocean just for fun.

If we allow it, Srimad-Bhagavatam will transport us beyond the limits of the tiny part of the creation we inhabit. It will revive our sense of wonder, of mystery and of discovery because the Supreme Person revealed in its texts is a sportive, imaginative youth who can pulverize preconceptions. Krishna is adhoksaja, beyond the measurement of our senses. He is atarka, beyond the reach of logic and argument. He is avan manasa gocara, beyond the range of the mundane mind, words and imagination. He is acintya, beyond our estimation. In a word, He is inconceivable. And He is inconceivably attractive and funny and adventurous (He says vyavasayo ’smi—“I am adventure,” Bhagavad-gita 10.36). He can do anything—and what He does is described in Srimad-Bhagavatam. For example, “Lord Krishna, who is Vishnu Himself, picked up Govardhana Hill with one hand and held it aloft just as easily as a child holds up a mushroom.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.25.19)

Krishna’s miracles are also all around us, from the precise workings of living cells to the movements of the galaxies. But because in this dark age of quarrel and hypocrisy our strength, duration of life, memory, intelligence, and imagination are as depleted as the earth we inhabit and the food that it produces, we view the descriptions of Srimad-Bhagavatam as “mythology” and those who are devoted to and enlivened by them as “naive literalists.” As a result this unparalleled scripture remains inaccessible.

“Srimad-Bhagavatam is the spotless Purana. It is most dear to the Vaishnavas because it describes the pure and supreme knowledge of the paramahamsas. This Bhagavatam reveals the means for becoming free from all material work, together with the processes of transcendental knowledge, renunciation, and devotion. Anyone who seriously tries to understand Srimad-Bhagavatam, who properly hears and chants it with devotion, becomes completely liberated.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 12.13.18)

Source: http://goo.gl/p3puLQ

Krsna’s dedication to His friend Arjuna.
Aniruddha Dasa: We have a very mature crowd of devotees attending the Disciple Course in ISKCON Dwarka (Delhi) this weekend. It is a pleasure to teach.
I spoke on SB 1.15.17 this morning to an appreciative crowd of local devotees. The class was translated by Amogha Lila Prabhu.
A couple of things struck me in the purport and verse. Krsna’s dedication to His friend Arjuna, exemplified in His becoming His friend’s chariot driver. Arjuna’s humility in regretting he allowed Krsna to be his servant. Even though Arjuna is Krsna’s dearest friend he felt he had overstepped the mark in accepting service from the Lord. “…it was due to my lack of esteem for my Lord that I dared engage Him as my chariot driver, for He is worshiped and offered services by the best men to attain salvation.”
Krsna is perfect in all His dealings with His devotees and His pure devotees’ dealings with Him are not flawed. In his meditation on Krsna as the Supreme, Arjuna felt His familiarity lacked respect and proper recognition of Krsna’s position. It is exactly that intimate quality of friendship, devoid of awe and reverence, which is attractive to the devotees and which Krsna loves to reciprocate with His dearest friend.
The idea of service being the most attractive position is intriguing. Even Krsna, the Supreme Controller likes to serve. Everyone is a servant. No one, except Krsna, is fully independent. Ekale isvara krsna, ara saba bhrtya. Lord Krsna alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His servants. CC Adi 5.142 Yet, the mood of service is also within Krsna. Yes, He is the Supreme Controller but He is also the Supreme Servant.
In that sense His dealings with His intimate devotees is so attractive because He gives up the position of Superior and becomes the servant of the servant.

Dates: 12th and 13th March 2016

Venue: Shivaji Park Dadar

Program Highlights:

12th March 2016

3.00 pm : Maha Aarti

3.30 pm : Rath Yatra Begins

6.00 pm : Guiness Record

6.45 pm : GCL Awards

7.00 pm : Chhapan Bhoga offering to Lord

7.15 pm : Dusavatar Dance

7.30 pm : Lecture by HH Radhanath Swami

8.00 pm : Maha Prasad (Dinner Prasadam)

13th March 2016

8.00 am : Jagannath Darshan & Aarti

7.00 pm : Sandhya Aarti

7.15 pm : Dance & Drama

7.30 pm : Lecture

8.00 pm : Maha Prasad

Th Route of Yatra

Shivaji Park ——> Sena Bhavan —————> Plaza —————> Maruti Mandir ————> Portuguese Church —————> Gokhale Road ————> Khed Galli —————> Silver Apartment —————> Gokhale Road —————> Back to Shivaji Park

A new sannyasi for Iskcon: HH Bhakti Rasayana Sagara Swami!
Shaktyavesha Avatara Dasa: HG Utama Sloka Prabhu has just received a sannyasi initiation from HH Indradyumana Swami in the presence of numerous elevated Vaishnavas and guests. (And his new name is) HH Bhakti Rasayana Sagara Maharaja ki Jaya!
Thank you, dear Uttama Sloka, for guiding, helping and supporting over the years! Wish you complete success with your ‘Spiritual Untied Nations’ project and service to Srila Prabhupada!
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/ml0EZl

By Nitya Kishora devi dasi

Parikrama first day plus adhivas in Yoga Pita

After 4 days of wonderful Sravana Utsava festival, blisfull and an amazing 5 days of Kirtan Mela, the devotees finally left the temple room and the boundaries of ISKCON Mayapur campus. For what? To make connections with the old Kalpa Vrikshas trees, the birds, the land, the dhamvasis, having prasada in a open air and sharing the holy name around in the most sacred land of Sri Navadvipa Dham.

Sri Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama is an unique experience and the chance to get closer to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s lotus feet. A great opportunity to serve and chant! Hari bol!

Despite of many sannyasis left Mayapur early this year we are having just the right people to give katha like the powerful Bhakti Dhira Damodara Maharaj, the steady Bhakti Vijana Vinas Narasimha, Rajendranandana prabhu, Pancharatna prabhu and others. HH Jayapataka Maharaja came, as he comes EVERY SINGLE YEAR, and gave an amazing speech at Nrisimha Palli. Pancharatna prabhu put a drama on Nrsimhadeva lila, and one devotee recited a very powerful prayer to the Lord Nrisimhadev. The devotees loved.

In the morning we crossed the Jalangi river very peacefully. Sulocana prabhu is doing an amazing service, he is always following vaishnava etiquette and take care of the kirtan very nicely, enganging those who are senior and qualified to lead kirtan.

In Parikrama if we can put Katha and Kirtan as the main activities it completely enhances the spiritual experience of the pilgrim devotees.

We visited Amgatha, Panchanatala, Nrsimhapally with its wonderful Mandakini lake and we ended in Hari Hara Ksetra with Hari Hara dev beautiful deity.

To see the photos: http://www.navadvipaparikrama.com/parikrama-first-day-plus-adhivas-in-yoga-pita/

Parikrama 2016 (day 2)

In a very nice and beautiful morning the devotees left the campsite at Hari Hara Ksetra and headed to Gauradaha.

Gauradaha is a very special place and the pastime which took place there is described by Jagadananda Pandita in his book Prema Vivarta. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda prabhu, Jagadananda Pandita and other associates of the Lord were peforming Harinama sankirtan in this place, where there is a lake. Daha means lake. In this lake a crocodile was living and it was delivered by Gauranga Mahaprabhu. The crocodile had been cursed by Durvasa Muni to live as a crocodile in that lake for 4 yugas. Anyone who hears this pastime becomes free from brahma-sapa, the curse of a Brahmana.

HH Jayapataka Swami joined International group also in Gaura daha, his speech made everybody chant the name of Gauranga many times and very loudly, we see in the face of the devotees that they were begging for Gauranga’s mercy.

HH Bhakti Dhira Damodara Maharaja was explaining how it is important to chant japa without any distraction, he said “Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura affirmed that those who chant japa without full attention like talking, checking emails, having meetings, managing etc are influenced by pramada, or madness”. Maharaj said “We are known as the Hare Krsnas, because we chant Hare Krsna, but the day has 24 hours and how many hours are we supposed to chant? Only 2 hours and the rest of the time what do we do?”. The devotees were listening to him with full attention. We are very fortunate to have HH Bhakti Dhira Damodar Maharaj on Parikram because he always sets a very serious and deep mood for chanting in the devotees minds, and everybody becomes happy when he is present, everybody becomes powerful, with the mind under control.

After an ecstatic gurupuja and a delicious breakfast we continued walking towards Surabhi Kunja, the first namahatta in Bengal, inaugurated by “Koda Nitai” the magnanimous Nitai. We had drama, Katha, and bhajan sang by HG Sulocana prabhu, our kitan party leader.

Not so far from Surabhi Kunja is the house of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and another ISKCON Jagannath Temple, very well taken care by Srila Prabhupada’s nephew Sankarshan prabhu.

To see the photos: http://www.navadvipaparikrama.com/parikrama-2016-day-2/

Visiting the holy places of India (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “When one becomes Krishna conscious, he loves everyone. If you chant loudly Hare Krishna, even the ants and insect who is hearing, he’ll be delivered, because it is spiritual vibration.” Bombay, January 4, 1973.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/1s9LU5

Iskcon Russia: From modelling and beauty pageantry stages to Krishna devotees, distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: We must be fixed up in our own rupa (form), svarupa, swarupa-siddhi. Svarupa-siddhi means to be engaged in the service of Lord. That is real mukti. Bombay, January 9, 1973.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/qcH0UA
Find them here while they are distributing books: https://goo.gl/rwLfrb

Amazing aerial views from the 3rd day of Navadvipa Parikrama (Album with photos)
Today’s pics from the Navadwip Mandala Parikrama. Hamsa Vahana, Naimisaranya, Pancaveni, Maha Harinam through the streets of Navadwip, Bhajan Kutir of Srila Jagannath dasa Babaji, Sri Dhamesvara Mahaprabhu (where His consort, Srimati Visnupriya Devi worshipped His Deity form.)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/IRhG1I

March 14. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Real Love for Srila Prabhupada.
If we are to love Prabhupada, we have to actually care about his interests as much as we care about our own. What does he want? He wants us to become Krishna conscious. He wants us to cooperate with his other disciples, to maintain his movement and expand it by preaching. Loving Srila Prabhupada means carrying out these aims, even at the expense of some of our more personal aims. There is room for us to develop our interests in serving him. But our own aims should not be separate from his expressed desires; they have to fall within the parameters of his teachings.
This is, at least, a working definition of love for Srila Prabhupada. One will be ready to forgo one’s own conveniences, to invest one’s own time, and even to risk one’s own security to promote the desires of Srila Prabhupada. Our love is not just a feeling, but feeling translated into action. Feelings are fickle. Sometimes they are deep, and at other times, they are distracted. It is the constant sacrifice for the sake of love that makes those feelings profound and steady.
It is impossible to love all the different people in our lives with equal intensity. The spiritual master has a special place, and he is given special love. Srila Prabhupada said, “To be everyone’s servant means that you are no one’s servant.” We give him more respect, more credence, more attention than anyone else we may have love for. And by loving Srila Prabhupada, Krishna consciousness gets distributed and the love is spread around to all living entities. That is the special quality of loving a pure devotee – the love gets spread around: people can eternally benefit just by our loving Srila Prabhupada.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=6

Vraja-Katha in Mumbai (Album with 180 photos)
Deena Bandhu Das: In January 2016 we were invited to do Braja Katha at the newly opened Sri Sri Radha Giridhariji Mandir at Mira Rd. We also gave class one morning in ISKCON Chowpatty and visited the Kanheri Caves and the famous Elephanta Caves. Enjoy these pics of Arjun Bhattacharyya!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/D6QTHn

Maha Harinam in Mayapur by Russian devotees (6 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is described as maha-vadanya, the most munificent of charitable persons, because He gives Krishna so easily that one can attain Krishna simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.3.38 Purport)
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/QpgXU8

Bhakti Rasayana Sagara Maharaja’s sannyasa initiation (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Yesterday we performed the sannyasa initiation for Uttama Sloka das, who became Bhakti Rasayana Sagara Maharaja. The ceremony was held here in Sridham Mayapura in the association of many wonderful devotees. May Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya bless Maharaja to be successful in his preaching all over the world!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/uljMyC

By Caitanya Caran das

Imagine a person working on a computer that has viruses. He is busy typing, but the computer is hung. A computer expert informs him, “Sir, you need to install an anti-virus.” He responds curtly, “Don’t disturb me; I am busy.” The expert points out, “But Sir, your computer is not working; so all your work will be fruitless without the anti-virus” He retorts, “I will not be affected by your pessimism.”

Could we be like this thoughtlessly busy person? The Vedic texts explain that we are spiritual beings; our physical body is like the hardware and the mind the software. Often our mind gets infected by the viruses of irritation, depression, frustration, worry, hatred, envy, anger. When these negative thoughts take control of our mind, they make our system practically dysfunctional. Just as viruses prevent the user from accessing his own computer, these emotions block us from accessing our own intelligence. Just as a virus-infected computer produces hardly any worthwhile result, no matter how much the user types on it, a negatively infected mind can hardly do any clear thinking and effective functioning, no matter how much the person works.

These mental viruses infect us when we let ourselves become overwhelmed by excessive material desires for either the gross pleasures like smoking and drinking or the subtle gratifications of the ego. When we forget our spiritual identity and glory as beloved children of the Supreme Lord, we start thinking of such unnecessary material desires as necessary, resulting in a variety of negative emotions. All negative emotions are just permutations and combinations of six primal negative drives, namely lust, anger, greed, envy, pride and illusion. In Sanskrit, these are called as anarthas. An means not and artha means value or meaning. So anartha refers to that which is valueless and meaningless.

This definition of anartha is significant for it indicates a major difference between computer viruses and mental viruses. We quickly recognize computer viruses as undesirable and want to get rid of them as soon as possible. But we are often slow to recognize the mental viruses as undesirable; we mistake them to be pleasurable and so hold on to them as long as possible. Worse still, many people even increase them in the hope of getting more pleasure; the popularity of porn websites is a sad fact. But the passionate pleasure that the anarthas offer are like delicious poisons, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (18.37). They offer momentary titillation which seems like nectar, but they eventually lead to anxiety, frustration and anger, which are like poison.

How do we remove the mental viruses? Due to our mistaken internal fondness for these viruses, installing the anti-virus package necessitates an internal change of consciousness. We need to discover happiness within ourselves, by which we will be able to reject as superfluous the external pleasures offered by the anarthas.

Therefore installing the anti-virus program means reviving our awareness that we as spiritual beings, souls, can be self-satisfied, unaffected by material changes. This spiritual awareness is a natural result of meditation on the divine. Real meditation goes beyond physical postures and beyond mental adjustments. The essence of meditation is to take our consciousness off the changing and fix it on the changeless, to focus our attention on God instead of on material things. Vedic texts recommend that the easiest and best way to perform meditation in this age of Kali is mantra meditation, chanting the holy names like the Hare Krishna mantra.

Just as the sun dissipates darkness, the luminous presence of God invoked by meditation on his holy name dissipates all the dark negative emotions in our hearts. So next time, the spiritual expert – the guru or his representative – reminds us of the need for an anti-virus – a break for our spiritual rejuvenation, lets not dub it as pessimism and sentence ourselves to needless frustration by responding, “No time.”