Sankirtan Movement

October, 1966, Tompkins Sq. Park

Question: When We’re out on Sankirtana, Chanting, What would be the Best Way for Us to Engage the Crowd to Become Participants in the Chant With Us?………

Prabhupada: Best way, you go on chanting. Your business is not to satisfy the crowd. Your business is satisfy Krsna, and then crowd will be automatically satisfied. We are not going to please the crowd. We are going to give them something: Krsna. So you should be very much careful whether you are delivering Krsna in the right way. Then they’ll be satisfied.Your only business should be to satisfy Krsna. Then everything will be satisfied. If Krsna is satisfied, then whole world is satisfied. If you pour water on the root, then it is automatically distributed in every parts of the tree. So Krsna is the root of the big tree, and you take to watering Krsna, chant Hare Krsna and follow the rules and regulation, everything will be all right.

Srila Prabhupada Chants Hare Krishna

click to listen the the Krishna Consciousness Happening Album

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

“This Transcendental Sound Vibration is called Bhakti yoga, or the Yoga of Ecstacy. It is easy and can be practiced by anyone. Simply sit down, RELAX, and LISTEN! Listen carefully and gradually you will begin to feel like singing too. SING! As you sing, you will feel like dancing. Dance! Do the ‘Dance of Ecstacy.’ Anyone can. There is no question of learning it. You already know it! Simply raise your arms over your head and dance. RELAX, SING, DANCE. A new life of bliss and Cosmic Consciousness await you on the other side of the mirror of the mind. This life is lived in love and can most easily be reached by SINGING and DANCING. This is Bhaktiyoga, the yoga for a New Age. Try it!” (Happening Album, back cover liner notes)

“Before meeting Prabhupada and all of you, I had bought that album Prabhupada did in New York, and John and I listened to it. I remember we sang it for days, John and I, with ukulele banjos, sailing through the Greek islands chanting Hare Krishna. Like six hours we sang, because we couldn’t stop once we got going. As soon as we stopped, it was like the lights went out. It went on to the point where our jaws were aching, singing the mantra over and over and over and over and over. We felt exalted; it was a very happy time for us.” (George Harrison, Chant and Be Happy)

“It brings a state of ecstasy.” (Allen Ginsberg, New York Times)

What is Krsna Consciousness?

The following interview with freelance reporter Sandy Nixon took place in July 1975, in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s quarters at the Kṛṣṇa center in Philadelphia. This discussion serves as a superb introduction to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and covers such basic topics as the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the relationship between the spiritual master and God, the difference between genuine and fake gurus, the role of women in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the Indian caste system, and the relationship between Christ consciousness and Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

What is Krsna Consciousness?

Ms. Nixon: My first question is very basic. What is Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Śrīla Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa means God. We are all intimately connected with Him because He is our original father. But we have forgotten this connection. When we become interested in knowing, “What is my connection with God? What is the aim of life?” then we are called Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Ms. Nixon: How does Kṛṣṇa consciousness develop in the practitioner?

Śrīla Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa consciousness is already there in the core of everyone’s heart. But because of our materially conditioned life, we have forgotten it. The process of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—revives the Kṛṣṇa consciousness we already have. For example, a few months ago these American and European boys and girls did not know about Kṛṣṇa, but just yesterday we saw how they were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and dancing in ecstasy throughout the whole Ratha-yātrā procession [an annual festival sponsored by the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in cities around the world]. Do you think that was artificial? No. Artificially, nobody can chant and dance for hours together. They have actually awakened their Kṛṣṇa consciousness by following a bona fide process. This is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22. 107)

More

Lord Sri Krishna

Lord Sri Krsna by Muralidhara dasa

George Harrision and the Devotees

george harrison with devotees

 

This is a classic photo from the early days of the Hare Krishna Movement in England.

Senapati Bhakta Srila Prabhupada

Today as we are celebrating the appearance day of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu we are further reminded of the great senapati bhakta Srila Prabhupada who Lord Caitanya foretold would take the sankirtana movement everywhere.

…Lord Caitanya foretold the coming of an empowered devotee who would take the sankirtana process everywhere: “I want to flood the whole world with the chanting of the holy names. I will personally preach and flood India with harinama sankirtana, chanting of the holy names. And My senapati bhakta (great devotee commander) will come, preach in different countries and flood the world with the chanting of Hare Krishna.” This means that, though Sri Caitanya came to establish and spread the process of congregational chanting of Krishna’s names in India, there would be one great devotee who would appear and spread it throughout the world.

Today we honor not only Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu but his empowered devotee as well with this nice biography written by Stephen Knapp (Sri Nandananda dasa).

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

by Stephen Knapp (Sri Nandanandana dasa)

In the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, in a conversation with Ganga Devi, Lord Krishna describes that after 5,000 years of Kali-yuga have passed, His mantra upasaka, the great sage and worshiper of Krishna’s holy names, will appear and spread the chanting of Krishna’s names (in the form of the Hare Krishna mantra) not only in India but throughout the world. Lord Krishna explains that by the chanting of His holy names the world will become spiritualized and everyone will be hari-bhaktas, engaged in the process of devotion to the Supreme. The purified devotees will visit the holy places and holy rivers of India and will purify them. They will also purify those with whom they come in contact. Thus, Sri Krishna predicted the appearance of a powerful devotee who would spread the chanting of His names worldwide.

More

The Sankirtana Movement is the Pastime of Lord Caitanya

pancha-tattva

click on image to enlarge

…The saṅkīrtana movement inaugurated by Lord Caitanya is a transcendental pastime of the Lord. “By it I live simultaneously to preach and popularize this movement in the material world.” In that saṅkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya, Nityānanda and Advaita are His expansions, and Gadādhara and Śrīvāsa are His internal and marginal potencies. The living entities are also called marginal potency because they have, potentially, two attitudes-namely the tendency to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa and the tendency to become independent of Him. Due to the propensity for material enjoyment, the living entity becomes contaminated by the material world. When a living entity is dominated by a desire for material enjoyment and becomes entangled in material life, he is subjected to the threefold miseries of material existence. He is just like a seed sown in the earth. If a seed is overpowered by too much water, there is no possibility of its fructifying. Similarly, if a man is captivated by material enjoyment, and even if the seed of such enjoyment is within the heart of the conditioned soul, he can be overpowered by a flood of transcendental activities performed in love of God. In this way his potential seed cannot fructify into a conditional life of material existence. The conditioned living entities in the material world, especially in the present age of Kali, are overpowered by the flood of love of God inaugurated by Lord Caitanya and His associates. (from Teachings of Lord Caitanya Chapter 17)

More

Krishna Temples

vcm-architectural-florish

“This is Krishna conscious vision: ‘Oh, there are so many skyscrapers. Why not construct a nice skyscraper temple of Krishna?’ This is Krishna consciousness.”
– Srila Prabhupada

As long as I can remember, I have taken and interest in Architecture. Perhaps this was because I grew up in the city of Chicago, where the skyline was an ever changing array of looming Skyscrapers. I studied Architectural drafting & design in college, and for some time, thought that was my calling. Although I never became an Architect, I did in fact become a builder/carpenter/woodworker and my interest in Buildings, especially large monumental construction projects has always remained. Two project I have been keeping my eye on, are the two large temple projects being undertaken by devotees in India. Namely the Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir, and the Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir. Today we are posting some images and information on both projects with some links for you to follow for more information.


Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

More

Open for Everyone

Srila Prabhupada looking regal

My friend Padmapani Prabhu (the webmaster for Prabhupada Connect has been coming out with so many beautiful posts of late…we share another one with you here. Please visit his site if you get the chance.

“This Krishna consciousness movement is not something new, something that we have introduced or manufactured. It is authorized on the Vedic principles, authorized by acaryas like Caitanya Mahaprabhu and others. And the method is very simple; there is no loss. We are not charging anything, we are not asking for fees and giving the people some secret mantra and promising them that they will become God. No. This is open for everyone — children, women, girls, boys, old people — everyone can chant and see the results.” (Science of Self-Realization, Chapter 5)

Full Chapter More

ISKCON Incorporated in New York City, 1966

Srila Prabhupada in New York (early days)

Incorporation of ISKCON

Today marks the auspicious 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s incorporation of ISKCON New York, in 1966. To honor this special day we have re-posted a very nice article which appeared yesterday on the Sampradaya Sun entitled “Incorporation of ISKCON”, we have posted the “Certificate on Incorporation”, as well as a very timely verse and purport from the Srimad Bhagavatam. Some of the purport follows…

…A devotee is equipoised. He sees everyone on the same transcendental platform. A devotee knows that although a conditioned soul has a particular type of body according to his past fruitive activities, factually everyone is part of the Supreme Lord. A devotee sees all living entities with spiritual vision and does not discriminate on the platform of the bodily concept of life. Such qualities develop only in the association of devotees. Without the association of devotees, one cannot advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore, we have established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Factually, whoever lives in this society automatically develops Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Devotees are dear to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is only dear to devotees. On this platform only can one make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Persons in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or devotees of the Lord, can please everyone, as is evident in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. (from purport SB 4.12.37)

More

Krishna Has Descended in the Form of the Krishna Consciousness Movement

Battlefield of Kurukshetra

I was reminded while reading the Srimad Bhagavatam today, that this is an election year.

…rogues and thieves in the guise of protectors arrange for a voting system, and in the name of democracy they come to power by hook or crook and exploit the citizens. Even long, long ago, asuras, persons devoid of God consciousness, became the heads of state, and now this is happening again. The various states of the world are preoccupied with arranging for military strength. Sometimes they spend sixty-five percent of the government’s revenue for this purpose. But why should people’s hard-earned money be spent in this way? Because of the present world situation, Kṛṣṇa has descended in the form of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. This is quite natural, for without the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement the world cannot be peaceful and happy.
( from purport to SB 10.1.17)

Full test and purport More

The Vaisnava Journal Free PDF Download

The Vaisnava Journal

Recently my good friend Padmapani Prabhu, sent me this link to his page Prabhupada Connect where he has just posted the Vaisnava Journal in a pdf format. We will be posting all five issues here as well, for our readers, so you can download and save to your computer or just read online. Today we are posting Vol. 1, No. 2 as a free pdf download.

click on link to veiw or save; Vaisnava Journal Vol 1, No. 2

The Vaisnava Journal
by Padmapani das

The Vaisnava Journal was created to help devotees work through our differences in a respectful and co-operative manner with the aim of preserving the loving mood in our spiritual family after the physical departure of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Although only five issues were printed and distributed over the next two-and-a-half years, the magazine was popular and well received by many leaders, members and friends of ISKCON.

More

The Spiritual Master of The Hare Krishna Movement

The Hare Krishna Movement

Spiritual Knowledge Through Kṛṣṇa

The Urgent need for Krsna Consciousness

click on image to enlarge

Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, The Matchless Gift
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Chapter One

Spiritual Knowledge Through Kṛṣṇa

The aim of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to bring all living entities back to their original consciousness. All living entities within the material world are, to varying degrees, afflicted with a type of madness. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement aims at curing man of his material disease and reestablishing his original consciousness. In a Bengali poem a great Vaiṣṇava poet has written, “When a man is haunted by ghosts, he can only speak nonsense. Similarly, anyone who is under the influence of material nature should be considered haunted, and whatever he speaks should be considered nonsense.” One may be considered a great philosopher or great scientist, but if he is haunted by the ghost of māyā, illusion, whatever he theorizes and whatever he speaks is more or less nonsensical. Today we are given the example of a psychiatrist who, when requested to examine a murderer, proclaimed that since all the patients with whom he had come in contact were more or less crazy, the court could excuse the murderer on those grounds if it so desired. The point is that in the material world it is very difficult to find a sane living entity. The prevailing atmosphere of insanity in this world is all caused by the infection of material consciousness.

More

Deity Installation Ceremony of Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar & Grand Opening of theTemple & Cultural Center

Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar 256

Deity Installation Ceremony of Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar & Grand Opening of the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple & Cultrual Center

It was my good fortune and privilege to be in attendance at the Grand Opening of Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple & Cultural Center and witness the Deity Installation Ceremony of Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar. The three day event took place August 28 – 30th. The new center is located at 1020 W 7th St., Plainfield, New Jersey in a residential neighborhood, and is very easy to find. I would encourage everyone to make it a point to visit there and have darshan with the beautiful Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar.

Picture slide show More

Incorporation of ISKCON

Srila Prabhupada at Tomkins Park

We have been away from our computer for a few days so we did not get a chance to do a post on the Incorporation of ISKCON. However when we returned from our trip we did notice this nice ariticle posted on the Sampradaya Sun which we thought we would share with you in case you missed it. We have also included the CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, INC. for your reading pleasure.

Incorporation of ISKCON New York
by the (SUN STAFF)

August 7th is the observance day of the auspicious anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s incorporation of ISKCON New York, in 1966.

In 1966, Srila Prabhupada began chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra under a tree in New York’s Tompkins Square Park, thereby inaugurating the western advance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s glorious Sankirtana movement. On July 13th, 1966 Srila Prabhupada incorporated ISKCON New York, and in Autumn of 1966 he established the ISKCON Press, which clearly demonstrated his emphasis on the importance of publishing and distributing his authorized books. Since that time, many millions of his books have been distributed throughout the world, translated into many different languages.

“We shall call our society I.S.K.C.O.N.”, Srila Prabhupada said with great pleasure when he first coined the acronym for the International Society of Krishna Consciousness. ‘Krishna Consciousness’ was Srila Prabhupada’s rendering of a phrase from Srila Rupa Goswami’s Padyavali:

More

Hare Krishna Festivals with Tribhuvanatha Prabhu A Short Film

Hare Krishna Festivals with Tribhuvanatha Prabhu A Short Film

My friend Padmapani Prabhu sent me this very inspiring You Tube, that we thought we should share with all of you. I felt very moved by this short film…it reminded me of the mood of The Hare Krishna Movement in the early days.

Lord Caitanya & The Hare Krishna Maha Mantra

Lord Caitanya Kirtan

Who is Lord Chaitanya?

Krishna appeared as Lord Chaitanya 500 years ago in India to bring the medicine for the diseased human society in the form of this movement. He brought the chanting of Hare Krishna.

More

Whatever Happened to the Revolution?


Krishna Consciousness

 

My dear friend from the Prabhupada Connection, Padmpani Prabhu, sent me the following post in my mail box the other day and gave me his permission to post it. So with great pleasure we are posting it here..  Please, if you havn’t already, check out his famous site The Prabhupada Connection

 

Whatever Happened to the Revolution?

For many of us who came of age in the Sixties and Seventies, the counterculture and its promise of an alternative society based on love and peace was an important part of our lives. Art, music, poetry, philosophy, ecology and human rights were just a few of the buzzwords floating through the collective psyche of the Sixties generation. Revolution was in the air. “The establishment” was doomed and soon to be replaced with a kinder, gentler society. Peace would reign supreme and all peoples of the world would unite and be free from the chains of oppression. Or so we thought.

At the time, it appeared that massive cultural changes were about to sweep away the capitalist system (or the “military industrial complex,” as we used to call it). Every day there was a new victory for change. Underground newspapers proliferated, broadcasting the latest progress reports: the sit-ins, the love-ins, the be-ins, the antiwar and civil rights demonstrations, the Democratic National Convention of 1968, the Chicago Seven Trial, Woodstock, etc. Something was happening here, and it was big.

 

More

Hare Krishna FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ

Hare Krishna FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

Some years ago I happened across this interesting internet page called “Hare Krishna FAQ”. The page was located at; http://www.harekrsna.de/artikel/faq.htm I quickly read through it and copied it to my files to re-read at a later time. I read it again this evening and found it very interesting and at times amusing. We share it with our readers here at The Hare Krishna Movement.

Hare krishna FAQ

• About “Hare Krishna”
• About Srila Prabhupada
• About ISKCON
• About Gaudiya-math
• About regulative principles
• About the Vedas
• About India
• About devotional service (bhakti)
• About initiation (diksa)
• About the disciplic succession (parampara)

What is the meaning of Hare Krishna?

It is the short form of the maha-mantra, the great spiritual sound of final liberation:
 
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

“By vibrating this transcendental sound, the meaning of everything, both material and spiritual, is revealed. This Hare Krishna is nondifferent from the Personality of Godhead.” (from Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada Commentary, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.24.40)

More

Previous Older Entries

108 Imporant Slokas from the 1972 Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Click on image to go to Post

Click on image to go to Post

The Hare Krishna Cookbook

Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas

Bhagavad-gita As It Is 1972 Edition “Online”

click on image

click on image to visit site

Srimad Bhagavatam Online

click on image

Raja-Vidya the King of Knowledge

click on image

click on image

Blog Stats

  • 3,987,894 hits

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,913 other subscribers

Important Slokas from the Brahma-samhita

click on image

click on image

Slokas from the Sri Isopanisad

click on image

click on image

Prayers By Queen Kunti (Slokas)

click on image

Gajendra’s Prayers of Surrender (Slokas)

click on image

A Short Statement of the Philosophy of Krishna Consciousness

click on image

click on image

July 9th Letter

click on image

click on image

The Hare Krishna Explosion

Reference Material/Study Guide

click on image

click on image