06 Apr 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Jayananda Thakur
Tags: A Day in the Life of Jayananda Thakur, Jayananda das, Jayananda Thakur, Lady Subhadra, Rathayathra cart, Rathayathra Festival, Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple, Valentia, Vishoka das
A Day in the Life of Jayananda Thakur
Chapter One
By Sriman Vishoka Prabhu
As promised, we are posting some of the new book on Jayananda Thakur, entitled “A Day in the Life of Jayananda Thakur”, which has yet to be published, and is beautifully written by Vishoka Prabhu. He has kindly offered to let us post some of the new book before it arrives at the printers, and hopefully it will be nearing completion soon. The following is the first part of Chapter One. We will include the rest of the chapter in a later post, so stay tuned for more Jayananda Nectar.
Chapter One
4:00 am, summer of 1975, Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple, Valentia Street, San Francisco.
Jayananda’s dream-
Amidst a kaleidoscope of swirling colors and loud kirtan, Lord Jagannatha’s beautiful face smiles benevolently at His many devotees … as He sits upon His royal throne, situated within the majestic and colorful decor of His opulent carriage. Srila Prabhupada rides upon Lady Subhadra’s cart, while Jayananda dances jubilantly within the grand procession of enthusiastically chanting and dancing devotees.
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03 Apr 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Hayagriva das, The Hare Krishna Explosion
Tags: Avalon Ballroom, chant, Fillmore, Golden Gate Park, hayagriva das, hippies, kirtan, Morning Star Ranch, Psychedelic Shop, Sumer of Love, Swamiji
The Hare Krishna Explosion
by Hayagriva das
Part II: San Francisco, 1967
Chapter 10
Soul Struck
During April and May, tourism and hippy fantasy soar to rare heights in the Haight-Ashbury. Like a Mardi Gras carnival, the celebration is cresting, rushing toward some indefinite Ash Wednesday.
Kirtans are wild and uninhibited. We often chant at the Fillmore and Avalon ballrooms, during intermissions between rock groups. A “Summer of Love” festival is organized, and we chant at be-in’s in Golden Gate Park, at the YMCA and Psychedelic Shop, and with hippy sun worshipers at Morning Star Ranch.
The spring passes so quickly, perhaps because its days are filled with long hours of sunshine and festivity. Youths from all sections of the nation roam and lounge throughout the park, barefoot and dungareed, leisurely creating what they hope is a new community of love and peace, a world where no one is over thirty, where there is no violence, ignorance or death. And they chant Hare Krishna because they see ISKCON as an exotic flower in the hippy bouquet, something even further removed from twentieth century America, from the political activists and their endless strife. Generally, activists and Negroes shun us, considering us on far-out trips, dabbling in the cultures of undeveloped nations.
But what do they know of Krishna? Or of Swamiji? What do any of us really know?
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02 Apr 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Devotional Service, Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta, Uncategorized
Tags: arcanam, atma-nivedanam, chanting the names of the Lord, dasyam, kirtanam, pada-sevanam, sakhyam, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, smaranam, sravanam, vandanam, vysnoh
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
Madhya-lila Ch. 6, Text 241-242
TEXT 241
bhakti-sādhana-śreṣṭha śunite haila mana
prabhu upadeśa kaila nāma-saṅkīrtana
TRANSLATION
Then the Bhaṭṭācārya asked Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “Which item is most important in the execution of devotional service?” The Lord replied that the most important item was the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.
PURPORT
There are nine items to be executed in devotional service. These are enumerated in the following verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.5.23):
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
Hearing the glories of the Lord, chanting, remembering, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering worship in the temple, offering prayers, becoming a servant of the Lord, becoming the Lord’s friend, and sarvātma-nivedana, offering oneself fully at the lotus feet of the Lord-these are the nine devotional processes. In The Nectar of Devotion, When Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya asked the Lord which item was most important, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately answered that the most important item is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord-Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. He then quoted the following verse from the Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa (Thirty-eighth Chapter, verse 126) to confirm His statement.
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02 Apr 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Radha-kunda, Spiritual World, Srimati Radharani
Tags: divine hand, Govardana Hill, Lord of Gokula, loving pastimes, Mathura, Nectar of Instruction, Radha Kund, rasa-lila, Rupa Goswami, Srimati Radharani, transcendental world, Vaikuntha, Vrndavan
Radha Kunda
“The holy place known as Mathura is spiritually superior to Vaikuntha, the transcendental world, because the Lord appeared there. Superior to Mathura-puri is the transcendental forest of Vrndavana because of Krishna’s rasa-lila pastimes. And superior to the forest of Vrndavana is Govardhana Hill, for it was raised by the divine hand of Sri Krishna and was the site of His various loving pastimes. And, above all, the superexcellent Sri Radha-kunda stands supreme, for it is overflooded with the ambrosial nectarean prema of the Lord of Gokula, Sri Krishna. Where, then, is that intelligent person who is unwilling to serve this divine Radha-kunda, which is situated at the foot of Govardhana Hill?”
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02 Apr 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Bhakti Caru Swami, Devotee's, Remembering Srila Prabhupada
Tags: Bhakti Caru Swami, devotees, disappearance day offering, disappearance pastimes, final instructions, His Divine Grace, just maintain what I have given you
Disappearance Day offering to Srila Prabhupada
June 16, 2010
By Bhakti Caru Swami
Why do we hesitate to tell a new comer who is searching for a guru that Srila Prabhupada, the best guru the world has ever seen, is still here, and one can surrender unto him and go back to Godhead very easily? When we have such a great good fortune, why do we not take full advantage of it?
…Prabhupada did not say anything and then in a very soft voice he told me, “Didn’t I teach you that the spirit soul is eternal and he never dies?”
That one statement gave me a profound realization: how could the person who taught me that the spirit soul never dies ever die himself? He will always be with us, although some day he may disappear from our mundane vision.
But today, when I look back, I can see that soon after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance we took it for granted that Srila Prabhupada is not here any more – like any other mortal, as he left his body, he is no more. I very strongly feel that this is the greatest mistake we have made. And as a result, ISKCON today is in such a critical condition. Now that we assembled here to celebrate Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance pastime, once and for all let us recognize that Srila Prabhupada has not gone away.
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01 Apr 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Diksha
Tags: bangalore, Chennai, diksha ceremonies, harinam diksha, Hubli, ISKCON Bangalore, Madhupandit das, Mysore, second initiation, Vrindavan
Harinam Diksha Ceremonies held in Srila Prabhupada’s Temples
Vrindavan, Bangalore, Chennai, Mysore and Hubli, On March 19th 2011
by prabhupadanuga news
Harinam Initiation Ceremony ISKCON Bangalore March 2011
It was a very emotional and historic day for all followers of Srila Prabhupada, as hundreds of them formally accepted him as their diksha guru. The formal diksha ceremony was held in Hare Krishna centres of Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Vrindavan and Chennai. The respective Presidents of the temples conducted the harinam diksha and second initiation ceremonies.
The ceremony consisted of each of the devotees taking an oath in front of Srila Prabhupada’s deities that they will follow the four regulative principles and chant at least sixteen rounds of Hare Krishna Maha Mantra daily. Following which each of them were given japa beads which were already chanted on by the GBC appointed rtviks and the temple presidents announced the initiated disciples’ names declaring to all present that these devotees were accepted formally as disciples of His Divine Grace.
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01 Apr 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Book Changes, Punya das
Tags: Bhumi, book changes, global movement, guru, Gurudas, Krishna devotee, Laxman, Punya das, pure devotee, Radha Krishna, sound incarnation, Vayu, Visvasvan
Glorification of the Guru Who Lives in His Books
Mar 29, 2011 — BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, USA (SUN)
By Punya das
Guru das watched Prabhupada laughing while reading his Krsna book.
Guru Das: “Prabhupada, you’re laughing at your own books.”
Prabhupada: “I did not write these books, Krsna wrote them!”
Srila Prabhupada, Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet Your Divine Grace. My words cannot begin to show my gratitude for all the things you gave this world. Anyone is fortunate enough to be able to have the association of Krishna’s pure devotee, THE guru who lives in His books. Inspired by your association, your global movement continues to give birth daily to billions of sound incarnations of Radha-Krishna, 24/7/365. They are dancing round the universe and purifying it. You said when we chant Hare Krsna, the Divine Couple personally appear. It does not get any better than that, to be in the presence of Krsna, being purified by His Personal Association.
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01 Apr 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Devotee Books, Jayananda Thakur
Tags: Jayananda, Krishna, San Francisco temple, sankirtan festivals, spiritual relationship, Srila Prabhupada, The Beautiful Life of Jayananda Thakur, tribute, Vishoka das
The following is the introduction to the new book, soon to be released, on Jayananda Thakur, beautifully written by Sriman Vishoka Prabhu. Many of you remember Vishoka’s first book; “The Beautiful Life of Jayananda Thakur”, which was Vishoka’s tribute to Jayananda and portrays the beauty of something rarely seen-a genuinely happy man, experiencing a perfect life and death.
We will continue to post the chapters as they are released, so stay tuned.
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30 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Devotional Service, Narada-bhakti-sutra
Tags: devotional service, immortal, path of perfection, peaceful, perfect, pure love of God, transcendental devotion
Narada-bhakti-sutra
Purport & Translation By A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Text 4
TRANSLATION
Upon achieving that stage of transcendental devotional service in pure love of God, a person becomes perfect, immortal, and peaceful.
PURPORT
The part-and-parcel living entities are entangled in the conditioned life of material existence. Because of their diverse activities they are wandering all over the universe, transmigrating from one body to another and undergoing various miseries. But when a fortunate living entity somehow comes in contact with a pure devotee of the Lord and engages in devotional service, he enters upon the path of perfection. If someone engages in devotional service in all seriousness, the Lord instructs him in two ways—through the pure devotee and from within—so that he can advance in devotional service. By cultivating such devotional service, he becomes perfect.
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30 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Books by Srila Prabhupada, The Hare Krishna Movement
Tags: 1970 Edition, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindu, Krsna, Lord Caitanya, Sanskrit, Srila Rupa Goswami, The Hare Krishna Movement, The Nectar of Devotion
Original 1970 Edition
The Nectar of Devotion
by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
This book is especially intended for those who are engaged in The Hare Krishna Movement. The text is flooded with nectarean stories, philosophy and poetic verses about Krsna and His pure devotees-all taken from the Vedic literatures, It is a summary study of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, which was written in Sanskrit by Srila Rupa Goswami, the chief of the six direct disciples of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Caitanya, who apeared in India 500 years ago, is revealed by Vedic scriptures to be an incarnation of God in the role of His own devotee. He and His followers are thus most authorized to teach us how to become perfect in spiritual life.
The subject matter is love of God. the Basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love someone. At the present moment, 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 God or Krsna. 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. The presentation of this authoritative information about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna and our relationship with Him is simply the mercy of His pure devotee, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the acarya for the present age, who is coming in disciplic succession from Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself.
“The funds for printing this book have been kindly donated in loving memory of Her Grace Gangamayee Devi Dase and Her Grace Krsna Krpa Devi Dasi by their friends and families. We continue to be inspired and are grateful to those fortunate souls who, with loving devotion, present and distribute the literary works of Srila Prabhupada” -Annada Devi Dasi, December 5, 2009 Vrindavan
30 color plates
495 pages
High Quality Hardcover Edition
Glossary
Also Available Wholesale by the case!
Available online at http://www.theharekrishnamovement.com/nectar-of-devotion
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30 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in The Hare Krishna Explosion
Tags: Buddhist, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Christian, gopis, Haight Ashbury, Harsharani, Janaki, Jayananda, Jewish, Lilavati, Malati, Moslem, Mukunda, Shyamasundar, Subal, Swamiji, Upendra, worship in seperation, Yamuna
The Hare Krishna Explosion
By Hayagriva Prabhu
Part II: San Francisco, 1967
Chapter 9
Mad After Krishna
Golden Gate Park is redolent with March flowers. The morning fog disperses early, and the days are cloudless and blue. Thousands continue to flock to San Francisco from the midwest and east, and our Sunday kirtans attract big crowds.
Sunday is always a day for strolling in the park, and as soon as we start ringing cymbals and chanting, people follow. Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Buddhist and ISKCON banners, flying from long poles, proclaim our ecumenism. We stake these in the field below Hippy Hill and set up the kettledrum. Haridas, Mukunda, Shyamasundar, Subal, and Upendra sit in a circle on the grass. We beat the rhythm slowly on the kettledrum, the cymbals clash, and the kelp horn announces the beginning of kirtan.
After we chant about an hour, Swamiji walks over from his apartment and enters the center of the circle, clapping his hands and dancing, appearing wonderfully bright in his saffron robes. He leads the chanting, playing his own personal set of cymbals, a large pair with slightly flared rims that resonate loudly. Although he is a half century older than everyone around him, his presence is dynamically youthful. As the kirtan soars, Swamiji is a child amongst children, dancing with hands upraised to the blue sky, placing one foot before the other, dipping slightly, encouraging everyone to dance.
Then something remarkable happens.
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28 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Chanting Hare Krishna, Krishna Consciousness, The Hare Krishna Movement
Tags: chanting Hare Krishna, Iskcon, krishnasmercy.org, Lord Caitanya, Srila Prabhupada, The Hare Krishna Movement
By Krishna’smercy.org
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, more affectionately known as Srila Prabhupada, is the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON, or more popularly known as The Hare Krishna Movement. The movement was inaugurated in India by Lord Caitanya almost five hundred years ago. The age that we currently live in is full of quarrel and dissent and the only means of self-realization is through the constant chanting of the holy name of God.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
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28 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Beyond Birth & Death
Tags: Beyond Birth & Death, bhagavad-gita, Hare Krishna Hare Rama Hare Hare, Liberated souls, spiritual sky, Vaikuntha planets
Beyond Birth & Death
Chapter 5
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The inhabitants of the Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky are all liberated souls.
“And whoever, at the time of death, quits his body remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt. He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Pārtha [Arjuna], is sure to reach Me.” (Bg. 8.5, 8.8) Such meditation on Kṛṣṇa may seem very difficult, but it is not. If one practices Kṛṣṇa consciousness by chanting the mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, he will be quickly helped. Kṛṣṇa and His name are nondifferent, and Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental abode are also nondifferent. By sound vibration we can have Kṛṣṇa associate with us”.
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28 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Krishna, Teachings of Pralada Maharaja
Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, all-pervading, all-pervasiveness of the Supreme Lord, God is Everywhere, illusion, material nature, maya, Prahlada Maharaja
Transcendental Teachings of Prahlada Maharaja
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 5
Realizing that God Is Everywhere
Mahārāja Prahlāda informed his classmates about the all-pervasiveness of the Supreme Lord. But although the Supreme Lord is all-pervasive by means of His expansions and His energies, that does not mean He has lost His personality. That is significant. Although He is all-pervading, still He is a person. According to our material perception, if something is all-pervading, then it has no personality, no localized aspect. But God is not like that. For example, the sunshine is all-pervading, but the sun also has a localized aspect, the sun planet, and you can see it. Not only is there a sun planet, but within the sun planet is a sun-god, whose name is Vivasvān. We get this information from Vedic literature. There is no way to understand what is taking place on other planets except to hear from authorized sources. In the modern civilization we accept scientists as authorities in these matters. We hear a scientist say, “We have seen the moon; it is such and such,” and we believe it. We have not gone with the scientist to see the moon, but we believe him.
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26 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Devotee's, Jaganatha das, The Hare Krishna Movement
Tags: chanters, Christmas, Hare Krishna Devotees, Iskcon, Jagannatha das, shaved heads, Srila Prabhupada's books
Minor History of ISKCON
BY: JAGANNATHA DASA
Mar 25, 2011 — USA (SUN) —
Part 2 – First Times
The first time that I saw the Hare Krishna devotees was in 1969. My father took me to his job in Manhattan. He was employed as a printer for a public relations company on Lexington Avenue and 59th Street. I spent the day collating stacks of papers. I was 14 years old at the time.
My father took me out to eat during his lunch break. We were walking down a typical crowded city street when I was stopped in my tracks.
A group of about a dozen young men and women wearing pink, white, orange and different colored robes were dancing and singing. They were lined up in a row along the curb, men on one end and ladies on the other end, swaying side to side in rhythm with the music. The men all had shaved heads. They were playing drums and cymbals.
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26 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Srila Prabhupada Conversations
Tags: bhagavad-gita, disciples, eternal relationship with God, materialistic persons, spiritual movemnt, Swamiji
This exchange between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and reporters took place at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Reporter: Swamiji, what special message would you have for people who don’t know anything about your movement and would like to know something about it?
Srila Prabhupada: It is a little difficult to understand this movement, because it is a spiritual movement. Unfortunately, people have practically no information about what spirit is and what a spiritual movement is. They can simply understand that the body is there — but the body is a machine, and the driver of the machine is the spirit soul. So we are beginning our movement from this platform. People are very much engrossed with the machine only, but they have no information about who is driving the machine. That is what we are teaching.
Reporter: Swamiji, your movement has received much attention because many of your followers dress in what, for the West, is an odd fashion. Why have you asked your followers to dress in this fashion and play drums on the streets?
Srila Prabhupada: This is our preaching method — somehow or other to draw people’s attention, so that they may have the opportunity to revive their eternal relationship with God.
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25 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Krishna Consciousness
Tags: Advaita, Gadadhara, Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, krsna consciousness, Lord Caitanya, Nityananda, Padmapani das, Prabhupada's instructions, simple method, Sri Panca-Tattva, Srivasa
The Simple Method
by Sriman Padmapani Prabhu
Sometimes it appears very difficult to make advancement in Krsna consciousness, and we become impatient. If we expect immediate results and they aren’t forthcoming, we can easily become discouraged. For those of us who are unable to live in a temple (or even near a temple), this is especially true. So what’s the solution?
In November of 1969, while speaking in London’s Conway Hall, Srila Prabhupada stated the following:
“The process is very simple. Just keep a picture of Lord Caitanya with His associates. Lord Caitanya is in the middle, accompanied by His principal associates — Nityananda, Advaita, Gadadhara, and Srivasa. One simply has to keep this picture. One can keep it anywhere. It is not that one has to come to us to see this picture. Anyone can have this picture in his home, chant this Hare Krsna mantra, and thus worship Lord Caitanya. That is the simple method. But who will capture this simple method? Those who have good brains. Without much bother, if one simply keeps a picture of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu at home and chants Hare Krsna, then one will realize God. Anyone can adopt this simple method. There is no expenditure, there is no tax, nor is there any need to build a very big church or temple. Anyone, anywhere, can sit down on the road or beneath a tree and chant the Hare Krsna mantra and worship God. Therefore it is a great opportunity.”
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