ISKCON Radha Krishna Center

Ratha Yatra

2010-03-01T12:03:00.001-05:00

Join Us for the Fifth Annual Rathayatra in St. Augustine
BY: NARTAKA GOPALA DEVI DASI

Feb 24, ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, USA (SUN) — Saturday, March 20, 2010, beginning at 11:00 a.m. in the Main Plaza—St. George Street and Cathedral.

500 years ago, the mainland of North America was first sighted by the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon. He named it "La Florida," Land of Flowers. Soon after, the historic city of St. Augustine was founded. At the same time, Lord Caitanya was in another part of the world inaugurating the Sankirtan Movement. Lord Caitanya predicted that the chanting of the Holy Names of Lord Krishna would spread to "every town and village," and now we are seeing that prediction come true! St. Augustine hosts more than 5 million tourists each year, and now these tourists will be blessed by Lord Caitanya's prediction as they witness the Fifth Annual Festival of the Chariots and Rathayatra in that historic city.

The procession route is about a mile long and can be easily walked by all age groups. It begins at the main Plaza (St. George Street and Cathedral) and will travel down Cordova, Orange, Castillo, St. Francis, Cordova, back to King St. and end at the Plaza. The parade will move in a leisurely fashion, stopping here and there along the route, giving way to song and dance. Following the procession, there will be family-friendly activities at the compound, lots of entertainment: Indian dance, music, singing, arts, and books. But the big draw is a delicious vegetarian feast, free to all.

Eight Ratha Yatras are held yearly in the state of Florida: Miami, Jacksonville Beach, Tallahassee, Orlando, Tampa, Gainesville, Daytona Beach, and St. Augustine. This St. Augustine festival is sponsored by ISKCON of Alachua, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, whose Founder/Acarya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada wanted these festivals everywhere.

All devotees are invited to come, and a bus will be arranged for transportation. We are seeking sponsors for flowers, prasadam, and devotee transportation. For more info contact: Bhadra das at (352) 316-4560 or bhadradas@gmail.com or Dharmaraja das at (352) 538-0292. If anyone wants to perform on the stage, contact Gaura Shakti das at 352-213-5550.

Our Founder and Inspiration

2010-01-12T13:09:00.003-05:00

His Holiness Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

New Vrindaban Community Graces Magazine Cover

2010-01-09T18:53:00.002-05:00

The Winter issue of IN Wheeling Magazine, a quarterly publication devoted to the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, features ISKCON’s New Vrindaban community as its cover story. The in-depth story chronicles the history of the community and focuses on how both devotees and their neighbors have grown to appreciate and learn from one another. The story is accompanied by color photos of devotees and Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, and a video montage is included as an “online extra” on the magazine’s website. The issue also features ISKCON leader Malati Devi Dasi as one of ten local religious leaders interviewed about how to achieve peace.

We feel that this story – with its recognition of the Krishna devotes as “true West Virginians who proceeded their Catholic, Pentecostal, and Protestant ancestors in search of religious freedom in the bowels of a rugged land where the hills make one’s eyes look up to the heavens” – is especially significant considering the tensions that once existed between the New Vrindaban devotees and local residents of Wheeling.

–ISKCON News Editors

An Unexpected Journey
The Krishnas find an unlikely home in the hills of West Virginia

By Dominick Paul Cerrone
Photography by Jack Blackwell, BlackStone Photography of WV

The road leading to the New Vrindaban Palace of Gold is tortuous, and snakes through some of the roughest interiors of West Virginia. Until recently, much of the road was unpaved, and before that, there was no road at all to the original community. Driving it can awaken the most agnostic of souls out of a mundane slumber and into the realm of heightened awareness. The final epiphany of the opulent black and gold palace at the end of the harrowing drive, called by the New York Times “America’s Taj Mahal,” seems to spring out of nowhere from the ruddy, West Virginia hills.

The Palace of Gold, at the end of a long harrowing drive, seems to spring out of nowhere from the ruddy West Virginia hills.

In some ways, the road resembles the same unexpected path of the one hundred or so original members of New Vrindaban, located approximately 15 miles south of Wheeling in the middle of nowhere in Marshall County, West Virginia. As a group of young, idealistic, self-described naive kids, mostly from larger metropolitan areas, the journey began in the early 1960’s and early 1970’s. However, in finding God, they also found a new home, learned over the years that they had more in common with the locals than they first had realized, and over time, have grown to realize that they, too, are true West Virginians who proceeded their Catholic, Pentecostal, and Protestant ancestors in search of religious freedom in the bowels of a rugged land where the hills make one’s eyes look up to the heavens.

“There is a wrinkle in time when synergy happens. That is what the sixties was for us. You had a lot of people searching and someone who comes along who is able to inspire so much,” says original member and current Marshall County resident Krsna Dasa. Dasa was a young hippie, born and raised in New York City, who encountered the first Krishna community there in the 1960’s.

San Francisco native now proud to call West Virginia her home. The soft spoken, charismatic Malati devi dasi spent time with George Harrison back in the day.

That person who inspired was His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In 1966, he founded the Hare Krishna movement (International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKON) in India and left for the United States almost penniless to deliver a new consciousness, which attracted the counterculture of the western world increasingly hungry for eastern philosophy. After opening up a house first in New York and then San Francisco, he wanted to open a transcendental place of pilgrimage in the West.

In the late 1960’s, an iconoclastic Marshall County resident with his own Buddhist ashram here ran an ad in a small San Francisco hippie paper about free land in Marshall County for anyone who would use it for spiritual purposes. The Krishnas responded, and their journey moved from the fringes of urban America to one of the most red-blooded areas of the country. New Vrindaban would become the first rural Krishna community in the country, and to this day, its Palace of Gold is esteemed by all Krishnas as one of its great pilgrimages.

By 1973, Dasa, along with a cohort of young men and women in “saffron robes and shaved heads” had arrived at New Vrindaban, West Virginia, as a “rag tag group of kids seeking spiritual truth.” Dasa recalls those first early years. “We were literally starving, living off of nothing, with no hot water and wood heaters in shacks,” he recounted about the early days when there was not even a road to the isolated community. “It was so weird for us to be here in West Virginia. In the early days, there was very little activity outside the community. We were the same way as the Amish. We were nice but kept people out. It was exclusive.” Reflecting on those days of youth, Dasa laughed about their immaturity and attitude of superiority. “We thought if we associated with the outside community, we’d become impure. We were so extreme that we would not see a doctor if we were sick. Some stayed in the commune two years without leaving.”

Much like the inception of many religious communities, the original Krishna community in New Vrindaban was insular and rigid, trying earnestly to obtain the perfection of life through being what they consider servants of God. As clear monotheists, the Krishnas deviate from their polytheistic mother religion of Hinduism. In that way, Krishnas had to develop thick skin to breech the divide between the prehistoric demigods of Hinduism and the God of Christianity. While many Westerners considered the Krishnas at odds with their beliefs, some Hindus considered the Krishna community rigid in its belief, and fundamentalist in its interpretation of Hindu characters. For Hindus, Krishna is just one of seven avatars, or appearances, of one of its three primary gods, Vishnu, the god that preserves. For the Krishnas, Krishna is elevated to be the one God, incarnate in many forms.

A Krishna in ceremonial attire inside the Palace of Gold.

Malati Devi is currently one of the 32 or so Governing Body Commissioners (GCB’s) that oversee the spiritual and philosophic endeavors of ISKON. She first met the Krishnas in her hometown of San Francisco at their second house in the country. She now proudly calls New Vrindaban her home. Malati was one of the first Krishna converts in the country and has a very clear, direct understanding of the ISKON movement, which she says is nonsectarian. “We believe in one God, not limited to one name. We call him Krishna.” She continues, “we accept Jesus Christ as the son of God. We believe we are all servants of God and that the perfection of life is the realization of this.” Specifically, she refers to the Krishna understanding of material and spiritual body. Whereas Christian theologians have labored over the nuances throughout the centuries defining the essence of material versus spirit, Krishnas are unequivocal in their understanding of that. “The soul goes from one body to the next. We have a material body, and the spark of life is the soul,” says Malati. “We also have a spiritual body. The ideal perfection of life is to fully enter into this spiritual body.”

Prabhupada encoded this in 1966, and is considered to be the last one in a lineage of disciples of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu from the 15th century in Mayapur, India, along the Ganges River. This is where the devotional Sankirtan movement of call-and-response chanting based on the teachings of Baghavad-gita was born. Malati visits there twice a year as a GCB member. “You get your spiritual batteries charged here.”

Malati, an uncommon mix of humility and charisma, however, has often been the one charging other peoples’ batteries in the past. Perhaps her most noteworthy association was the friendship she and her husband Shyamasundar had with the Beatles. She and her husband were part of that very first convoy of Krishnas from the US on a mission to import Krishna spirituality to the United Kingdom in the 1960’s. They eventually set up the Radha Krishna Temple in London. In order to obtain recognition, her husband had the idea to meet the Beatles, with the goal of getting the pop stars to chant “Hare Krishna” as a way of getting the new eastern philosophy known. “We chanted and got arrested in front of the Apple Studio,” recalls Malati. “We ultimately got their attention by making and sending in apple pies to the studio.” She also fondly told a story about sending a wind up apple holding a “Hare Krishna” flag into the studio.

Beatles guitarist George Harrison had taken to both Malati and her husband immediately. They ultimately lived with George and his wife Patti for some time. “We were quite integrated,” says Malati. “He was receptive and very spiritual.” Eventually, he asked Malati and her husband for help in making a new record after his departure from the Beatles, one that would hit the top of the charts in both England and abroad in 1970. “My Sweet Lord” ushered into the mainstream culture the fusing of western and eastern religion, and to this day, the song has become one of the most iconic components of the Krishna religion.

My sweet lord (hallelujah)
My, my, lord (hallelujah)

Hm, my lord (hare krishna)
My, my, my lord (hare krishna)
Oh hm, my sweet lord (krishna, krishna)
Oh-uuh-uh (hare hare)

Long before Malati would arrive in New Vrindaban in 1991, those lyrics would resonate with hundreds of youth from throughout the country. Many of them would come to New Vrindaban in the early 1970’s to begin work on creating one of the country’s most compelling religious shrines. “We were 98% untrained,” recalls Dasa. “We read books, went to visit people—it was basically learn as you go.” The palace was built for $500,000 in materials and countless hours of sweat from the 250 devotees in the community at that time. The New York Times reported on its grand opening on September 2, 1979 and quoted the leader of the commune, Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada. “In the beginning, we didn’t even know how to lay blocks. As our Krishna consciousness developed, our building skills developed, then our creativity developed and the scope of the project developed.” The palace serves as an eternal home and memorial for Prabhupada, who visited the site during construction but died two years before its completion. The palace is strewn with Italian marble floors, walls inlaid with Iranian onyx, gold-leafed column caps, stained glass peacock shaped windows, and crystal chandeliers. Much of the outside is gold-leafed. The approach onto the palace, keenly situated above the 2,000 plus acres of the Krishna’s forested hills dotted with farms, is awe-inspiring.

According to the Times, reaction by the locals was mixed. For Dasa, many people “looked past who you were.” He specifically remembers the help the fledgling community got from neighboring veterinarian families with the commune’s cows, and farmers that came to help with the farms. The Times quoted a local as saying, “I believe everyone has a right to their religion, though theirs is an awfully queer one.”
The growing New Vrindaban community, which peaked at almost 800 members in the early 1980’s, raised the eyebrows of a nation that was emerging from a tumultuous two decades of social liberation and transformation. In April of 1980, Life Magazine featured two young Krishna girls from New Vrindaban on the cover of its magazine and chronicled the daily life of the insular community through a series of eerie black and white photographs. “We went from starving and living off of rice soup to making the cover of Life,” noted Dasa. The photographs depicted women and men kept in separate quarters, tonsured children raised in boarding schools with no mattresses, Sanskrit being studied, and devotees waking at 3 A.M. for daily worship.

The unconventional mores of the community often placed it at odds with the local media and government. The commune’s original leader, Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada, was no help to the emerging religion’s public relations. His interfaith movement at New Vrindaban placed it at odds with the international ISKON movement. Several years after the completion of the palace, Bhaktipada was arrested on allegations of child abuse and the conspiracy of murdering two fellow members of the community. He was excommunicated from ISKON in 1988 by the GCB and indicted on more crimes in 1990 by the federal government. After a defense by famed attorney Alan Dershowitz, he eventually was able to return to New Vrindaban, but was permanently ousted in 1994 by members there, and New Vrindaban returned in good standing to its ISKON community in 1998.

By that time, something else had happened in the community that would indelibly change perceptions both of the Krishna devotees and those outside. “The real genesis for the community,” explains Dasa, “was when our kids went to the public schools. In the old days, the community was geared toward isolationism. The idea that our children would have gone to outside schools was not a question.” That changed with the closure of the commune’s own school. The once forbidden commune had decided that it was time to become one with its larger community.

Dasa recalls one antidotal story particularly well. “When my kids were young, one of them joined the basketball team. One day, I pulled up to drop off my kid, and I overheard the coach say, ‘there comes the critters.’” Dasa recalls his uncontrollable anger at the time. That all changed by the end of the season, when the coach pulled Dasa and his wife aside. “I had bad impressions of you all, but after getting to know your son, I have converted,” said the coach.

It was not only locals who were undergoing a conversion, but also the Krishnas. Malati Devi described the transformation of her community in New Vridaban after the dark years of the 1980’s. “With all the stuff we’ve been through, we’ve all been humanized as we have grown up. We are a lot more like our neighbors than we thought. We’ve become less rigid in our outlook,” she says. Internationally, the Krishna communities transformed from authoritarian communities to democratic ones, where members have a voice, and spiritual and administrative management have been separated. Local Krishnas now actively work outside the community, own their own businesses, and are connected through modern technology to the rest of the community. “In the meantime, people have become more open. We have found common ground,” says Malati.

So much so, that a local mother in Marshall County was overheard recently talking about how her son had been hanging around the wrong crowd. According to her, that all had changed for the better when he started hanging around a Krishna kid. “They’re a breath of fresh air,” says another man, a long time Marshall County educator. He was particularly proud of one of the first Krishna students who entered the public school system in the 1990’s and is now graduating from Duke University. “They have an enterprise here in the county and definitely want to become part of the community.” Another man, a Wheeling doctor, was excited that his daughter was coming home to visit from North Carolina, to attend an interfaith conference at New Vrindaban. Tourist bureaus and locals alike boast a visit to the palace as one of the area’s most endearing experiences.

New Vrindaban sisters walk the marble floors of the Palace of Gold, “America’s Taj Majal.”

Today, there are approximately 200 people living in New Vrindaban, with over 1,000 supporters who visit regularly. Only 15 to 20 remain of the original pact of idealistic youth that made that original journey deep into the West Virginia hills. The palace has seen its share of problems, both spiritually and structurally. Valiant efforts by the community to restore the palace have been successful, and the temple still shimmers atop the hill as it has now for 30 years.

“There has been nothing about the journey that I expected,” waxes a philosophical Dasa. “If the journey is what we expected, we probably would not be on the right road. After all, ‘Thine will be done.’ It is not our choice.”

“Our neighbors are welcome, and more and more, they are coming,” says Malati. “We’ve been finding common grounds of appreciation to meet.” She cited the recent “Farm, Faith, and Food” symposium that the community hosted that, like many symposiums, attracted people from the outside.

Perhaps, as the Krishnas become one with their home, there are signs that West Virginia is gradually becoming one with the Krishnas. Dasa says, “no matter what struggles we have, we have such a beautiful place. The people here are wonderful—we are living our life in heaven.” That would be “Almost Heaven.”

Duties of GBC and Guru in ISKCON

2010-01-04T13:52:00.001-05:00

BY: HH PRAHLADANANDA SWAMI

Jan 03, INDIA — Srila Prabhupada created the GBC Body to oversee that his teachings are properly implemented within ISKCON. These teachings direct that everyone in ISKCON, including initiating and instructing gurus, work cooperatively under Srila Prabhupada's authority system to spread Krishna consciousness. Unfortunately, since the departure of Srila Prabhupada, the GBC Body has not maintained his clear authority structure. The Body has often delegated its authority to individuals or groups who act more as independent authorities and less as subordinate servants to ISKCON as a whole. In the absence of a clear authority structure, ISKCON sometimes swings from one extreme to the other, sometimes from autocracy to bureaucracy.

Amidst these swings a lack of cooperation, clear vision, and faith in Srila Prabhupada's teachings among ISKCON leaders has diminished the resources necessary for important programs, such as mass book distribution, regular harinams, gurukulas, and self-sufficient farm communities. In the absence of a GBC Body that clearly represents the desires of Srila Prabhupada to preach Krsna consciousness as a unified movement, the Society remains together more on the basis of a loose confederation of initiating gurus and independent local leaders, than as a unified movement of surrendered servants.

United on what basis?

Unity is very important, but more important is truth. If unity of the Society is on the basis of individual gain for sense gratification and personal prestige, what will be the value? ISKCON and its members can be successful in spiritual life only if they work purely to satisfy Lord Sri Krishna and His representatives, the previous acaryas.

Should any or many of Srila Prabhupada's servants be acaryas?

Pure devotional service means working not only with humility, but also with discrimination according to the absolute perspective. One on a higher level of devotional service clearly knows, in all circumstances, Lord Krishna's desires and how to fulfill them. This knowledge requires transcendental awareness and expertise. A devotee who has attained the stage of uttama-adhikari possesses such knowledge. (1)

The Supreme Lord's representatives are on different levels. One level comprises those who preach according to their degree of realization to help those on lower levels of consciousness advance. A devotee on this level is generally on the platform of kanishtha- or madhyama-adhikari realization. Another level comprises those devotees who, being situated in transcendence, can convey perfect understanding of Krishna consciousness under all circumstances and to all audiences. The acarya in the true sense of the term is on this level—that of an uttama-adhikari Vaishnava. (2)

The advanced devotee manifests transcendental qualities and realization because of his unalloyed Krishna consciousness. (3) When an iron bar is completely and steadily immersed in a fire, it becomes just like fire. Such an uttama-adhikari Vaishnava is in perfect touch with the Supersoul and at every moment knows the Supreme Lord's desires. He can convey the Lord's desires to his followers with perfect discretion. Such a perfect devotee has no material desires and is never agitated under any material circumstance. (4)

Different levels of preachers

An uttama-adhikari perfectly realizes he is not the independent doer of the activities performed by his body; he knows he is an instrument for his spiritual master and the Supersoul. If he takes disciples, he is not bewildered into thinking that he has become their proprietor, nor does he wish to enjoy his disciples, either grossly or subtly. (5)

Although sastra recommends that the spiritual master generally should be chosen from among uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas, one may sometimes choose a spiritual master from the second- or even third-class level. Although disciples think of the spiritual master as their guru, no bona fide spiritual master thinks he is a "guru;" he thinks of himself only as the servant of his spiritual master and Lord Krishna. When he gives instructions to his disciples, he knows these instructions come from the disciplic succession, through his own spiritual master, by the grace of the Supreme Lord in his heart. When his disciples follow such instructions, he learns from them how to be a better servant of his spiritual master and the Lord. Thus he takes his disciples as his guru. (6)

Guru as representative of the Supersoul

Both the initiating and instructing spiritual masters represent of the Supersoul. (7) The guru is actually one; the guru is the Supersoul. The guru, as the representative of the Supersoul, may appear differently externally, but the transcendental message is the same. Therefore, no real representative of God can disagree with another representative of God. Sometimes it seems there are disagreements among genuine representatives of God, but these are not disagreements, only different perspectives on the same subject. When disagreement or confusion arises among Vaishnavas about transcendental subjects, it is almost always a symptom that at least someone involved, if not everyone, is not perfectly in touch with the Supersoul and thus lacks a clear perspective on the transcendental platform.

Pretension will lead to falldown

Sometimes someone may pretend to be a self-realized soul. Such pretenders may try to hide their imperfections. However, when discovered, such a cheating mentality will only serve to diminish their followers' faith in the Lord and His representatives. Just as a sterile woman cannot give birth to a child simply by imitating the sound of a pregnant woman, no one can become an uttama-adhikari Vaishnava by imitation. The pretentious imitation of an uttama-adhikari Vaishnava will lead to offenses and eventual falldown. (8)

The aspiration to be a reputed preacher based on desires for profit, adoration, and distinction is subtle, but nonetheless a product of sex desire. As soon and as much as there is material desire, one's consciousness is covered and one is disqualified from acting independently based solely on one's own inspiration, without consultation with authorities. (9)

It is not necessary to pose oneself as a pure devotee when one is not actually a pure devotee. A pretentious person, by politics, often obligates his followers to worship him beyond what he merits. Everything should be done naturally. Worship should not be manipulated by force or politics, but by genuine love according to the devotion that one inspires. (10)

Art of cooperation

To spread Krishna consciousness in the absence of an advanced uttama-adhikari Vaishnava, third-class and second-class Vaishnavas must follow the instructions of Srila Prabhupada and learn the art of cooperation. (11) Such cooperative devotional service based on truth will also help the devotees advance to the higher platforms of pure devotional service. A first-class devotee naturally knows the art of cooperation.

How to settle disagreements among devotees

On a spiritual topic of disagreement, if no one devotee's judgment is recognized as final, then devotees should resolve their differences by patient investigation done in a humble prayerful mood based on Srila Prabhupada books, instructions, and example. By the mercy of the Supreme Lord, such an investigation produces a clear understanding among the devotees, who can then act to serve the Supreme Lord with full conviction and enthusiasm.

The GBC Body, while acknowledging its imperfections, must naturally function as the ultimate governing authority of ISKCON. (12) The GBC derives its authority from Srila Prabhupada's instructions and must try to understand them and execute them as he would desire. Therefore, the GBC Body's authority must rest on humility and truth. According to Srila Prabhupada's instructions, the GBC Body's principal duties are to organize the worldwide preaching and to supervise the local temples and their members. Each GBC member should see that the devotees whom he or she is serving as a GBC secretary are performing activities in a Krishna conscious way and are enthusiastic to spread Krishna consciousness. The GBC Body and its members are not to interfere unnecessarily in the affairs of the local temples. (13)

The GBC Body also must be vigilant that the management system Srila Prabhupada created is not interfered with and that the actual purposes of ISKCON are purely maintained. The Body must see that its members are doing their service properly and that no one in ISKCON is falsely assuming a role of authority.

The initiating guru in ISKCON

The initiating gurus in ISKCON derive their authority from the orders of the previous acaryas, as revealed by Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada clearly established ISKCON's system of management with Temple Presidents, Secretaries, and Treasurers, under the supervision of a GBC representative and ultimately the GBC Body. He gave no managerial position to the initiating gurus within ISKCON. Therefore, even after initiating disciples, they are subordinate to the managerial authorities established by Srila Prabhupada.

The principal duty of an initiating guru is to act as an acarya for disciples and demonstrate how to follow the example of Srila Prabhupada and carry out his instructions. The initiating gurus must also show their disciples how to work cooperatively with other devotees in the preaching movement of ISKCON. (14) Srila Prabhupada has given the position of ultimate authority in ISKCON to the GBC Body, so how can an initiating guru make a claim of absolute authority over his disciples or proprietorship of their assets? Of course, the mood of the disciple is that of surrender to the guru, but the mood of the bona fide guru is also that of surrender to the instructions of his own guru. That is disciplic succession.

Why the Gaudiya Matha failed

After the disappearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, members of the Gaudiya Matha disobeyed the orders of their spiritual master by establishing an acarya system, and thus did not work cooperatively to spread Krishna consciousness under a GBC system. Instead they divided into different camps that elected acaryas as their leaders. The result was that the preaching stopped. (15)

Why ISKCON is in danger of failing

Srila Prabhupada also established a GBC Body and asked everyone to work under its direction. The members of the Body were to see that the purposes of ISKCON as expressed by His Divine Grace are maintained, and that, if possible, the preaching mission is expanded. (16) But as with the Gaudiya Matha, just after His Divine Grace's disappearance, leading disciples disobeyed the orders of the Founder Acarya to work cooperatively under the GBC Body and, although the GBC Body met yearly, each initiating guru virtually occupied the position of an acarya in his zone. These diksha gurus divided the world into 11 zonal acarya regions and disunited the mission. Some of these initiating spiritual masters claimed that they had become perfect uttama-adhikari Vaishnavas simply by Srila Prabhupada's having appointed them to the position of initiating guru in ISKCON. Generally, without supervision by the GBC Body, they controlled their disciples and assets collected in ISKCON's name. Often, the initiating gurus' absolute authority over their disciples undermined the authority of local temple leaders. The GBC Body at that time often allowed the initiating gurus to assume unrestricted authority. Later on, the resultant fall-downs of most of these zonal acaryas further disrupted the mission.

The imitation of uttama-adhikaris by these neophyte devotees undoubtedly led to their fall-downs and many subsequent problems in ISKCON. The GBC Body didn't properly understand its duties or the position of the initiating guru in ISKCON. Even to this day, although there are no longer official zonal acaryas in ISKCON, many of the same misconceptions have continued to create division among the Society's members, as well as to discourage some sincere devotees, who have consequently distanced themselves from Srila Prabhupada's movement in various ways. Those who control the assets and followers in the Society are rarely accountable for their activities. Thus in ISKCON we not only still have what amounts to zonal acaryas in different parts of the world, such as India, but we have independent temple presidents or preachers accountable to one but themselves.

ISKCON sometimes takes pride in accomplishments that prove to be only temporary. Sometimes our successes in these areas have demonstrated ISKCON's strengths in having determined and faithful preachers who are willing to make sacrifices to spread Krishna consciousness, but have also distracted us from the deeper management problems in other areas.

For example, in the former Eastern Block nations, in the absence of a strong Krsna conscious leader, a pattern is sometimes visible. After the demise of the Communist system, many people became interested in the process of Krishna consciousness and joined the temples. This resulted in a large force of preachers and a surge in book distribution. However, after some time the devotees married and had children, and then preaching and book distribution diminished, and ISKCON began to look more like a church than a preaching movement. Although strong senior preachers certainly added to the initial success—and still add to the on going success in these areas—ISKCON's success appears to be due more to circumstances than to a viable management system that encourages long-term preaching.

Another example can be seen in India, where there are many successes. However, again it is likely that success is due not to a viable management system, but to the unique circumstances of India, which are sometimes the underlying factors that have resulted in many devotees having been initiated and large temples having been built. These unique circumstances include cultural receptivity to Krishna consciousness, combined with a natural acceptance of an acarya system that appeals to the sentiments of the mass of Indian people. Indian people, due to their cultural heritage, are naturally sympathetic to many of the ideals of Krsna consciousness and often easily give support to ISKCON. However, sometimes in India and abroad, the devotees who are engaging Indians sometimes take advantage of this propensity and do not always focus on training the Indian congregation to come to a higher standard of sadhana and engage them in preaching the mission of Lord Caitanya.

The absence of a strong GBC Body and management system has created a authority vacuum within ISKCON. The devotees who join ISKCON often are more loyalty to their initiating guru than to the management structure of the Society. We have seen big temples such as in Bangalore leave ISKCON, and without learning from our mistakes, we do not sufficiently supervise our leaders or the Society's projects. In some places, the strategy of a charismatic leader and experienced managers has encouraged many devotees to join and take initiation. However, when the devotees do not identify themselves as subordinate to the authority structure of the ISKCON society, in the future, when the current gurus leave their bodies, it is not clear what will to happen to such projects.

Solution

The last snare of maya is to think oneself God, or even God's pure representative, worthy to be worshiped and served by others. It is an attachment that can adversely affect one's mentality and dealings with others. It is an attachment that is difficult to give up. It is an attachment that has ruined preaching movements such as the Gaudiya Matha. Presently the GBC Body lacks authority. Some of its leading members are initiating gurus who do not want to surrender their high degree of autonomy in the Society. Some leaders in ISKCON cooperate with the Society only as long as they can retain their own autonomy. Many second-generation disciples whose gurus have fallen down have lost faith in ISKCON authorities. On the other hand, some disciples think that it is only their guru who will save them.

If the GBC Body is to regain its authority, its members must become a disciplined body of devotees who are clearly selfless and enlightened in their dedication to Srila Prabhupada's mission. The GBC members must cooperate to advance the world-wide mission of preaching Krishna consciousness and to educate the devotees of ISKCON in Srila Prabhupada's philosophy and practical management systems. To achieve this goal, a strong system of training all the devotees, and especially the potential leaders, should be instituted in the Society by the GBC Body. This system must ensure that all the leaders share the same understanding and values of spiritual principles and the managerial structure of ISKCON.

The gurus, initiating and instructing, have important roles in ISKCON. The GBC Body must see that they and everyone else perform their services not as masters but as servants of Srila Prabhupada and his Society. Only if the leaders sincerely try to become servants of the previous acaryas and give up the controlling and enjoying propensities can Srila Prabhupada's mission succeed. If the leaders take up this mood, they will find infinitely more spiritual pleasure in acting as Krishna's simple instruments than in continuing even a subtle controlling mentality in trying to be appreciated as apparently empowered spiritual preachers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1)

"The devotee in the first or uppermost class is described as follows. He is very expert in the study of relevant scriptures, and he is also expert in putting forward arguments in terms of those scriptures. He can very nicely present conclusions with perfect discretion and can consider the ways of devotional service in a decisive way. He understands perfectly that the ultimate goal of life is to attain to the transcendental loving service of Krishna, and he knows that Krishna is the only object of worship and love. This first-class devotee is one who has strictly followed the rules and regulations under the training of a bona fide spiritual master and has sincerely obeyed him in accord with revealed scriptures. Thus, being fully trained to preach and become a spiritual master himself, he is considered first class. The first-class devotee never deviates from the principles of higher authority, and he attains firm faith in the scriptures by understanding with all reason and arguments. When we speak of arguments and reason, it means arguments and reason on the basis of revealed scriptures. The first-class devotee is not interested in dry speculative methods meant for wasting time. In other words, one who has attained a mature determination in the matter of devotional service can be accepted as the first-class devotee.
(NoD Chapter 3: Eligibility of a Candidate for Accepting Devotional Service)

(2)

"There are two kinds of instructing spiritual masters. One is the liberated person fully absorbed in meditation in devotional service, and the other is he who invokes the disciple's spiritual consciousness by means of relevant instructions. Thus the instructions in the science of devotion are differentiated in terms of the objective and subjective ways of understanding.
(Adi 1.47)

"The acarya in the true sense of the term, who is authorized to deliver Krishna, enriches the disciple with full spiritual knowledge and thus awakens him to the activities of devotional service."
(Adi 1.47)

(3)

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana
sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah
harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna
manorathenasati dhavato bahih

All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?
(SB 5.18.12)

(4)

"By the process of executing regulated devotional service, one is actually elevated onto the transcendental stage, beyond the material modes of nature. At that time one's heart becomes illuminated like the sun. The sun is far above the planetary systems, and there is no possibility of its being covered by any kind of cloud; similarly, when a devotee is purified like the sun, from his pure heart there is a diffusion of ecstatic love which is more glorious than the sunshine. Only at that time is the attachment to Krishna perfect. Spontaneously, the devotee becomes eager to serve the Lord in his ecstatic love. At this stage the devotee is on the platform of uttama-adhikari, perfect devotion. Such a devotee has no agitation from material affections and is interested only in the service of Radha and Krishna.
(NoD Chapter 17: Ecstatic Love)

(5)

"The author of Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, Srila Rupa Gosvami, very humbly submits that he is just trying to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, although he humbly thinks himself unfit for this work. That should be the attitude of all preachers of the Krishna consciousness movement, following in the footsteps of Srila Rupa Gosvami. We should never think of ourselves as great preachers, but should always consider that we are simply instrumental to the previous acaryas, and simply by following in their footsteps we may be able to do something for the benefit of suffering humanity."

(6)

"On the whole, you may know that he is not a liberated person, and therefore, he cannot initiate any person to Krishna Consciousness. It requires special spiritual benediction from higher authorities.

The statements of Thakura Bhaktivinode are as good as scriptures because he is liberated person. Generally the spiritual master comes from the group of such eternal associates of the Lord; but anyone who follows the principles of such ever liberated persons is as good as one in the above mentioned group. The gurus from nature's study are accepted as such on the principle that an elevated person in Krishna Consciousness does not accept anyone as disciple, but he accepts everyone as expansion of his guru. That is very high position, called Maha-bhagavata. Just like Radharani, sometimes thinks a subordinate of hers as her teacher, to understand devotion of Krishna. A person who is liberated acharya and guru cannot commit any mistake, but there are persons who are less qualified or not liberated, but still can act as guru and acharya by strictly following the disciplic succession. It is the injunction of the sastras that anyone who sees the Deity in the Temple as made of wood or stone, or considers the acaryas and gurus as ordinary common men, and discriminates Vaishnavas or devotees as belonging to a certain group or caste, are called hellish."
(Letter to: Janardana -- New York 26 April, 1968)

But the spiritual master does not think of himself as Hari. Although he's offered the respect of Hari, he thinks himself as humble servant of Hari and all others. A spiritual master takes his devo..., disciples as his spiritual master. That is the position. He thinks that "Krishna has sent me so many spiritual masters." He does not think himself as spiritual master. He thinks himself their servant. Because they have to be trained. Krishna has appointed him to train them. Therefore he thinks himself as servant of the disciples. This is the position. So when one is advanced, he can see the importance of devotees.
(The Nectar of Devotion--Vrindavana, October 23, 1972)

(7)

Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami states that the instructing spiritual master is a bona fide representative of Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna Himself teaches us as the instructing spiritual master from within and without. From within He teaches as Paramatma, our constant companion, and from without He teaches from the Bhagavad-gita as the instructing spiritual master.
(Adi-lila: 1.47)

(8)

"However, one should not imitate the behavior of an advanced devotee or maha-bhagavata without being self-realized, for by such imitation one will eventually become degraded."
(NoI Verse 5)

(9)

A neophyte devotee is certain to be attacked by other material desires as well, namely desires for women and money. In this way the heart is again filled with dirty things and becomes harder and harder, like that of a materialist. Gradually one desires to become a reputed devotee or an avatara (incarnation).
(Madhya lila 12.135)

(10)

Prabhupada: "...after you, who will take the leadership?" And "Everyone will take, all my disciples. If you want, you can take also. (laughter) But if you follow. They are prepared to sacrifice everything, so they'll take the leadership. I may, one, go away, but there will be hundreds, and they'll preach. If you want, you can also become a leader. We have no such thing, that 'Here is leader.' Anyone who follows the previous leadership, he's a leader. 'Indian,' we have no such distinction, 'Indian,' 'European.' "
Brahmananda: They wanted an Indian to be the leader?
Prabhupada: Yes. (laughs) "Everyone, all my disciples, they are leaders. As purely as they follow, they become leader. If you want to follow, you can become a leader.
(Room Conversation, November 2, 1977)

(11)

"Srila Prabhupada emphasized, "Your love for me will be tested how after my departure you maintain this institution. We have glamour and people are feeling our weight. This should be maintained. Not like Gaudiya Math. After Guru Maharaja's departure so many acaryas came up. We have won so many important court decisions." (TKG's Diary: Prabhupada's final days)

(12)

Srila Prabhupada's Will 1977

(13)

Prabhupada: The... The money matters should be dealt with the president, secretary and the treasurer, three men. Out of three, two should sign. And GBC's business is to see that things are going on, money matters. That's all. GBC is not supposed to deal directly. He has to inspect. That's all.
Atreya Rishi: So I can cross this...
Prabhupada: Just like... But the thing is, if the GBC and the president is the same man, that is not good. That is not good. The president should be separate. So the president, treasurer and secretary, they will deal directly, and GBC should inspect book, account, that it is done very nicely. That's all. You can question, "Why you have done this?" That's nice. Otherwise, in the..., it will be difficult to manage.
(Conversation with GBC March 1974)

(14)

"So it is the duty of the spiritual master to promote the devotees from the kanishtha-adhikara to the madhyama-adhikara. Not to keep them. My Guru Maharaja, sometimes he used to lament because so many disciples he had, but nobody was coming out very nice preacher."
(The Nectar of Devotion--Vrindavana, November 4, 1972

(15)

The words daivera karana indicate that by dint of providence, or by God's will, the followers of Advaita Acarya divided into two parties. Such disagreement among the disciples of one acarya is also found among the members of the Gaudiya Matha. In the beginning, during the presence of Om Vishnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Ashtottara-sata Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada, all the disciples worked in agreement; but just after his disappearance, they disagreed. One party strictly followed the instructions of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, but another group created their own concoction about executing his desires. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, at the time of his departure, requested all his disciples to form a governing body and conduct missionary activities cooperatively. He did not instruct a particular man to become the next acarya. But just after his passing away, his leading secretaries made plans, without authority, to occupy the post of acarya, and they split into two factions over who the next acarya would be. Consequently, both factions were asara, or useless, because they had no authority, having disobeyed the order of the spiritual master. Despite the spiritual master's order to form a governing body and execute the missionary activities of the Gaudiya Matha, the two unauthorized factions began litigation that is still going on after forty years with no decision.
(Adi-lila 12.8)

(16)

Prabhupada: Stick to our principle, and see our GBC is very alert. Then everything will go on, even I am not present. Do that. That is my request. Whatever little I have taught you, follow that, and nobody will be aggrieved. No maya will touch you. Now Krishna has given us, and there will be no scarcity of money. You print book and sell. So everything is there. We have got good shelter all over the world. We have got income. You stick to our principles, follow the... Even if I die suddenly, you'll be able to manage. That's all. That I want. Manage nicely and let the movement go forward. Now arrange. Don't go backward. Be careful.
(Room Conversation April 22, 1977, Bombay)

In the News

2010-01-02T14:03:00.001-05:00

by Madhava Smullen on 26 Dec 2009

Posted January 2 , 2010

On Saturday December 12, nine ISKCON devotees were arrested while chanting Hare Krishna outside the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

80,000 people from around the world had taken to the streets at 3pm on Saturday afternoon in a mostly peaceful rally demanding the gathered political leaders to take stronger action against climate change.

Demonstrators walked through the city, carrying banners that read “Demand Climate Justice,” “The World Wants a Real Deal” and “There is No Planet B.”

While ISKCON devotees supported the message of environmentalism and care for Mother Earth, they were mostly there to spread Krishna’s name amongst the huge crowd.

When a few youth activists at the tail end of the demonstration threw cobblestones through the windows of the former stock exchange and Foreign Ministry buildings, police in riot gear moved in and arrested an unprecedented 968 innocent people, saying that it was in “preventative action.”

“We were made to sit on the ice cold road with our hands cuffed behind our backs for four hours, and were not allowed to go to the toilet,” says Keshava Priya Dasi, one of the peacefully chanting Hare Krishna devotees that were rounded up with the crowd.

The protestors were then transported in buses to a nearby detention center where they were held in cramped steel cages for several more hours. Devotees were released by 11:15pm; many others were held until the next morning, when all but thirteen were finally released.

Devotees called the treatment “outrageous” but saw the positive side, saying “It was a very good opportunity that Krishna arranged to spread His name.”

Others were not so generous. After a further 257 protestors were arrested on Sunday, Danish human rights groups claimed that the police may have breached European law and called for their government to launch an immediate inquiry.

Claus Bonnez, a lawyer working with Krim, a human rights and legal support organisation, said: “This has all been done under the fairly new law which entitles police to arrest people and keep them for up to twelve hours. But according to the European Court of Human Rights process, the police will have to prove that it is necessary for democratic society to make such arrests. And I don’t think that the Danish police will be able to prove that."

Ida Thuesen, of Amnesty International Denmark said: “We call for the government ombudsman to begin an immediate investigation into the arrests last night. When nearly 1,000 people are arrested and then all but thirteen are released it means that many of those people were just innocent people in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

One of Denmark’s biggest newspapers and its national TV channel also chipped in. Keshava Priya Dasi and Chaitanya Chandra Dasa were invited to speak on TV 2’s Good Morning Denmark, while Minister of Justice Brian Mikkelsen was challenged on the same program to “defend the police’s actions towards the Hare Krishna devotees and all the other innocents who had been arrested.”

The Minister of Justice apologized in the interview, mentioning that all the innocents who had been arrested could apply for compensation from the government.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Auspicious Passing of Jayo Das

2009-12-18T22:22:00.000-05:00

Auspicious Passing of Jayo Das

by Gajahanta das

Posted December 15, 2009

I will try to narrate a brief summary of Jayo das's service to Srila Prabhupada, although I cannot adequately glorify the true nature of his service. I request those who also knew him to please add to or correct what I am recalling.

Jayo prabhu joined ISKCON in Los Angeles, served on the Namahatta Party under Gurukripa Swami and Yashodanandana Swami collecting in Japan for Srila Prabhupada's Mayapur and Vrindavan projects. He served in India on the BBT Library Indian party, distributing books to colleges and libraries in India. Wearing a Santa Claus suit outside of Macy's on Fifth Avenue, he distributed the most Krishna book sets ever distributed in one day as a resident of the Manhattan West 55th Street "skyscraper" temple. He carried Srila Prabhupada on a palanquin barefoot through Vrindavan on parikrama after Prabhupada's departure.

He served HH Bhaktisvarupa Damodar Swami collecting for the Manipur temple and the Bhaktivedanta Institute. During those years we ran an old Alamo Motel together in Oklahoma City in the 1980s.

Jayo das continued to serve Maharaja over the years to the best of his capacity, living simply as a poverty-stricken brahmachari, and he never married. He would visit my family often while we were both going to school in Oklahoma City and was always very affectionate to our children. We would often invite Indian graduate students for home programs with chanting and prasadam. Bhaktisvarupa Damodar Swami would come, and we would arrange for university professors to come to the program as well.

With the help of his brother, Henry Solomon, he eventually moved to Denver. As his health began to fail, he never complained, was always jolly and always recalled his days of direct fundraising service to ISKCON with great affection. He had the opportunity to visit the Manipur temple project, continued to visit me and my family in Florida and attended the installation ceremony of Radha Shyamasundar in Alachua. I am honored to have served Srila Prabhupada together with him and call him my dear friend and godbrother.

His uncontrolled diabetes had led to a septic foot injury two years ago that required the amputation of his foot. He later had to undergo acute emergency care and last year broke both legs in a fall, after which he was confined to a wheelchair. In part due to his fragile condition his doctors determined his cancer to be untreatable.

Due to the prayers and well wishes of all of the devotees and especially by the sincere heartfelt endeavor by Pranaballabha das and Padmalocana das in Denver to serve Srila Prabhupada's devotee, I am happy to report that Jayo das's departure from this world was very auspicious.

He fasted from water and food on the occasion of Saphala Ekadasi, while absorbed in constantly hearing the recording of the Holy Name from His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

In the narration of the glories of Pausha-Krshna Ekadasi, Sri Krishna states to Yudhisthira: "I do not become as pleased by sacrifice or charity as I do by My devotees' observance of a full fast on ekadasi. To the best of one's ability, therefore, one should fast on ekadasi, the day of Lord Hari. Anyone who properly observes this glorious Saphala Ekadasi — even unknowingly, like Lumpaka — will become famous in this world. He will become perfectly liberated at death and return to the spiritual abode of Vaikuntha. Of this there is no doubt."

The Skanda Purana also declares: hari-namaksara-yuktam bhale gopl-mrdankirtam tulasi-malikoraskam sprseyur na yamodbhatah ("Those whose body is adorned with tilaka or gopi-candana, and marked all over with the Holy Names of the Lord, and whose neck and chest are adorned with tulasi-mala, will never be approached by the Yamadutas.")

Jayo prabhu had requested his brother that I take his ashes to India, which I will do at the proper time. Thank you for all of your prayers, well wishes and letters of support for his spiritual journey back home back to Godhead.

I have received the following e-mail from our devotees in Denver, Pranaballabha das (ACBSP) and Padmalocana das (BSDS):

I would like to relate to you some of the events that occurred today, the passing from this world of Jayo das prabhu. Today is Saturday December 12, 2009. Pradmalocana das prabhu and I arrived at the St. John's Hospice center at around 12:45 pm.

We went immediately to Jayo's room, where we found him still breathing but not externally conscious. We adjusted his headphones (Srila Prabhupada chanting japa) so that he could hear clearly. We discussed Jayo's condition and asked the nursing staff to bathe his body as well as to change his clothing. We left the room while the nursing staff attended to his needs.

Then we went back into his room and proceeded to mark his body with Tilak and Gopichandana. Then we placed a new Brahmin thread over his shoulder, and decorated his body with flower garlands from the Deities. I then placed Tulsi leaves in his mouth and around his head. Then we poured Ganga water in his mouth while chanting the Maha Mantra. We then noticed that his breathing had all but stopped. The time was approximately 1:20 p.m. (MST). We called for the head nurse to come to attend to Jayo. She pronounced that his heart had stopped and that he had passed away.

Then we asked for the use of a private room so that we could perform the last funeral rites for our dear departed godbrother. Jayoâ�™s body was moved into a very nice room, where we chanted the required mantras and said our heartfelt goodbyes.

A funeral home director arrived shortly after this to take the body to the crematorium. He discussed with us that the cremation will probably take place once all of the legalities and paperwork are completed (Tuesday or Wednesday of next week). Padmalocana and I will attend the cremation next week.

Correcting ISKCON’s Guru System

2009-12-06T13:06:00.000-05:00

August 10, 2009 by Bhakti Charu Swami

By Bhakti Charu SwamiBhakti Charu Swami

Being enlivened by so many thought-provoking observations and concepts on the subject of guru-tattva and the ISKCON institution I feel inspired to express some ideas and understandings on this issue.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, while reviving Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Sankirtana movement, realized that the massive task of spreading Krsna Consciousness all over the world, in every town and village, would not be possible without the collective endeavors of committed devotees for generations to come. Therefore he saw the need for an institution, and gave the blueprint of that institution in the form of his “Namahatta” (the market place of the holy name) and “Visva Vaisnava Raja-Sabha.” (the Royal Assembly of the Vaisnavas from All Over the World). Srila Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati Thakura gave a shape to that concept in the form of his “Gaudiya Matha” and when that institution fell apart, Srila Prabhupada revived the spirit of his Guru Maharaja through ISKCON.

It is important to note that Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, Srila Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Prabhupada, all three of them, gave more importance to the institution than to their own authority - in spite of being the founders and organizers of their institutions they placed themselves as ordinary members of their respective institutions. For example, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura indentified himself as the sweeper of the Namahatta. Srila Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati Thakura called himself the servant of the Gaudiya Matha, and Srila Prabhupada identified himself as a mere member of the Governing body of ISKCON.

Although Srila Prabhupada spread Krsna Consciousness all over the world within the amazingly short span of ten years time, he knew that he would not be able to spread it in every town and village during his lifetime; rather, it would take generations to achieve that. That is why he was so emphatic about the effective continuity of his mission through his ISKCON. Personalities such as Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Prabhupada come to grace this world only once in a blue moon. It is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s causeless mercy that those three personalities came in such a succession. Their appearances on this planet was actually Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s divine arrangement for reviving His Sankirtana movement and fulfill His prediction that Krsna Consciousness movement would spread in every town and village on this planet. Although, being empowered by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, they could achieve anything and perform incredible miracles, yet, for the sake of fulfilling the ultimate purpose of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission they emphasized the collective continuity of the movement through an institution. Srila Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati Thakura was an extremely brilliant personality who attracted countless luminaries of his time within the fold of his Gaudiya Matha. However, soon after his disappearance when the Gaudiya Matha disintegrated, in spite of all those luminaries the propagation of Krsna Consciousness practically stopped.

Srila Prabhupada explained that, that happened because most his prominent followers could not understand the importance of continuing his mission through the institution he established. They held on to the traditional concept and concluded that a spiritual heritage could not effectively continue through an institution managed by a bunch of mundane managers, they defied the instruction of their spiritual master and appointed an acarya [who eventually fell down] the institution that he so meticulously structured collapsed.

Srila Prabhupada, in order to protect his ISKCON from such an unfortunate possibility, emphatically told us not to make the same mistake that his god-brothers made after his Guru Maharaja’s disappearance. He advised us to continue the mission under the authority of a collective management structure. Nevertheless, after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance, we in ISKCON also made a similar mistake. Thinking that Srila Prabhupada had appointed 11 successors we also plunged in to the same syndrome of appointing spiritual heads of the institution presuming that after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance they inherited ISKCON.

In 1987, about 10 years after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance, this mistake was addressed by concerned leading devotees of ISKCON, but was not fully corrected. Just by adding more gurus and allowing them to initiate wherever they could attract disciples, that mistake was only diluted to some extent but was not really corrected.

Recently, the GBC body became painfully aware that through that mistake a parallel line of authority has been created in ISKCON which is causing a considerable amount of damage to the institution and is stifling the growth of the movement. It is very laudable of the GBC body that they have taken this issue very seriously and are working hard to rectify it.

In order to effectively establish an institution we need two essential elements - the head of the institution, and its management structure. In ISKCON we have to be absolutely clear that Srila Prabhupada is the head of the institution and he will continue to be that as long as the institution lasts, and the management structure Srila Prabhupada established - the GBC, temple presidents, departmental heads, etc, must be fully functional without any deviation.

If we compare the institution of ISKCON to a corporate structure, then we must recognize that Srila Prabhupada is the proprietor of ISKCON, and the other leaders of this institution are the managers. The managers manage, and although they get their remunerations and incentives for that, the profit belongs to the proprietor. In ISKCON, it is important that we clearly recognize the fact that everything in ISKCON, including even all the devotees, belongs to Srila Prabhupada, then only this mistake that is stifling the growth of our institution will be rectified and Krsna Consciousness movement will start to spread once again, all over the world, in leaps and bounds.

New Hare Krishna Temple Opens in Seattle

2009-12-06T12:49:00.001-05:00

By Janet I. Tu for The Seattle Times (USA) on 23 Aug 2008

Once based in a run-down three-bedroom house, the Seattle area's Hare Krishnas now gather at their spacious new Vedic Cultural Center in Sammamish. The colorful $4.5 million temple, with marble floors, has 12,200 square feet.

The giant pink wedding cake of a building stands in bold contrast to nearby houses painted polite Northwest shades of beige and taupe.

Naresh Bhatt beams as he gives a tour of this new temple in Sammamish. He chose the colors. Happy, blissful colors, he says.

Inside, as the service begins, Bhatt joins his wife, two daughters and many others — most of Indian descent — who chant exuberantly: "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare."

The Hindu-based movement, highly visible in the 1960s and '70s, is making a comeback here and elsewhere across the country, and even globally. But it's a different movement today from what it was back then.

Where it once attracted mainly young white people known for their shaved heads and peach robes, today many if not most of its members are Indian.

Where before, most members lived in temples and communities called ashrams and made a living selling their guru's books, members today typically have homes, families and regular jobs.

And while the temples are still houses of worship, many are also cultural centers that offer programs for children and seniors, and Indian cultural festivals and performances.

When Bhatt, a 40-year-old high-tech professional, came to the U.S. from India in 1993, the only local Hindu community he could find was centered in a run-down three-bedroom house in what was then Issaquah. It was all that remained of the local Hare Krishna movement.

He found some things strange: The temple was not grand. Almost all of the 25 or so members were white. And they ate zucchini. But other things were familiar: The aroma of Indian vegetarian food, and the colorful Krishna and Rama deities — statues that devotees believe embody the spirits of the gods they represent.

"I felt a connection right away," said Bhatt, who lives in Sammamish and is now a temple board member.

These days, about 300 people worship regularly in the 12,200-square-foot temple that replaced the old house. The $4.5 million, marble-floored structure, formally called the Vedic Cultural Center, opened last month and has its grand opening this weekend.

The temple represents how the movement has matured, said Vineet Chander, a national spokesman. People ask Chander where the Hare Krishna are these days, "like they're looking for public chanting and saffron robes.

"It's not that we've gone," he said. "It's that we're growing up."

The beginnings

The Hare Krishna movement, formally called the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was established in 1966 in New York by a Hindu guru from India, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Its main mission was to spread spiritual knowledge and to raise awareness of, and love for, Krishna, whom devotees believe to be the Supreme Being, or God.

It attracted idealistic young people. By the 1970s, the movement nationwide had up to 4,000 monastics living in temples and ashrams. Many had cut ties with families and friends, leading some to accuse the movement of brainwashing converts.

Within years, bookselling income plunged and members made money in controversial ways, including dressing up as Santa Claus to solicit donations. After Prabhupada died in 1977, power struggles ensued. Some of the guru's successors became embroiled in scandals. One was convicted of racketeering.

Then came allegations of abuses at boarding schools — including a school in Seattle — where Hare Krishna parents had sent their children. Several temples elsewhere in the U.S. that were named in an abuse lawsuit filed for bankruptcy and paid millions in a settlement with some 600 victims. The boarding schools in the U.S. have since closed.

By 2000, there were fewer than a thousand monastics nationwide.

But then came the influx of Indian immigrants — the basis for the movement's revitalization, said E. Burke Rochford, a professor at Vermont's Middlebury College and an expert on the Hare Krishna movement.

Many temples were facing financial difficulties and "they didn't have anyone else who was knocking at their door," he said. "The organization simply needed them."

That's not to say temples across the country are flourishing. Today, about half still struggle financially. Nonetheless, there are now an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 members in North America.

And especially in India, the movement is gaining a large following, with temples built or under way in New Delhi, Mumbai and many other cities.

Troubles in Seattle

The local Hare Krishna community, which had grown to about 120 people in the 1970s, faced its own controversies.

Neighbors of the temple, when it was on Capitol Hill, complained about sunrise chanting and drumming. After travelers complained, Port of Seattle officials sought to limit proselytizing and soliciting by Hare Krishnas at the airport.

The temple moved to Madrona and then to its current location. By 1991, when current temple president and head priest Harry Terhanian arrived, it was on the verge of closing. "There were more deities than devotees," recalled Terhanian, who was sent by ISKCON to help the dwindling group.

Slowly, he built up the community. But it wasn't until the mid-1990s, as Indian families began joining, that Terhanian saw a "base by which we rebuild our legitimacy."

Though some Indians were wary of the Hare Krishna movement in the past, "I don't think in today's generation, that's an issue," said Ganapathy Krishnan, chairman of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center in Bothell, a traditional temple that opened in 2003.

Now, there are people who attend and contribute to both the Bothell and Sammamish temples, he said.

"I found my place"

On a recent Saturday evening, Anjan Chakraborty, a 40-year-old software engineer who lives in Sammamish, was enjoying one of the free vegetarian meals the temple provides regularly.

Chakraborty first came to the temple about 10 years ago when he moved to the U.S. He had been looking for a place to introduce his daughter to Hindu culture. The other families were welcoming and he found the rituals similar to those he had practiced in India.

"I found my place," he said.

As for the movement's controversial history, he thinks it's unfair to judge an entire movement based on individuals' past actions. The movement "should be known by what the founder teaches, stands for."

For Vishakha Dasi, 25, a software engineer from Sammamish, a big draw is the chance to perform classical Indian songs at the temple's festivals. "The people here are encouraging," she said.

The temple started "cradle-to-grave" programs three years ago, said Bhatt, the board member. "Not everybody is very interested in spiritual practices and becoming very staunch. Some are interested in culture. Others, food."

For Bhatt and his wife, Bansri, talking with Terhanian and reading Prabhupada's books help them understand their faith better. They both were raised as Hindus, taking part in rituals and practices mainly because their parents and grandparents had done so.

Now they understand better why Bhatt's grandfather read Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, every morning — because doing so provides guidance on how one should live each day.

Practicing his faith has helped him become a better husband, father, worker and citizen, Bhatt said. "Without this faith, I think I would be lost."

2009-12-01T17:18:00.001-05:00

Srila Prabhupada

2009-11-27T23:16:00.001-05:00

Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON
Srila Prabhupada,
the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON
2.1 Definition
To fulfill the previous acarya's desire for a united worldwide preaching organization to expand Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission, Srila Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness as a distinct branch of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya-Vaisnava-sampradaya. Therefore he is the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON. This means that he is ISKCON's link with the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya, that his writings, oral teachings, and exemplary actions remain the permanent and irreplaceable basis for all subsequent teachings and activities of ISKCON. He is and will remain always the instructing spiritual master of all devotees in ISKCON. (Law Revision committee 9.6.90)

Dedication

2009-11-27T23:01:00.002-05:00

Blog Dedicated to
His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada
ISKCON Founder Acarya

ISKCON Denver

2009-11-23T22:08:00.000-05:00

Give Up Meat to Save the Planet

2009-11-13T22:20:00.000-05:00

Give Up Meat to Save the Planet

By Robin Pagnamenta for Times Online on 27 Oct 2009
Image: Times Online
Methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas

People will need to turn vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to a leading authority on global warming.

In an interview with The Times, Lord Stern of Brentford said: “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.”

Direct emissions of methane from cows and pigs is a significant source of greenhouse gases. Methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas.

Lord Stern, the author of the influential 2006 Stern Review on the cost of tackling global warming, said that a successful deal at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases.

He predicted that people’s attitudes would evolve until meat eating became unacceptable. “I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he said. “I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.”

Lord Stern, a former chief economist of the World Bank and now I. G. Patel Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, warned that British taxpayers would need to contribute about £3 billion a year by 2015 to help poor countries to cope with the inevitable impact of climate change.

He also issued a clear message to President Obama that he must attend the meeting in Copenhagen in person in order for an effective deal to be reached. US leadership, he said, was “desperately needed” to secure a deal.

He said that he was deeply concerned that popular opinion had so far failed to grasp the scale of the changes needed to address climate change, or of the importance of the UN meeting in Copenhagen from December 7 to December 18. “I am not sure that people fully understand what we are talking about or the kind of changes that will be necessary,” he added.

Up to 20,000 delegates from 192 countries are due to attend the UN conference in the Danish capital. Its aim is to forge a deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to prevent an increase in global temperatures of more than 2 degrees centigrade. Any increase above this level is expected to trigger runaway climate change, threatening the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Lord Stern said that Copenhagen presented a unique opportunity for the world to break free from its catastrophic current trajectory. He said that the world needed to agree to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to 25 gigatonnes a year from the current level of 50 gigatonnes.

UN figures suggest that meat production is responsible for about 18 per cent of global carbon emissions, including the destruction of forest land for cattle ranching and the production of animal feeds such as soy.

Lord Stern, who said that he was not a strict vegetarian himself, was speaking on the eve of an all-parliamentary debate on climate change. His remarks provoked anger from the meat industry.

Jonathan Scurlock, of the National Farmers Union, said: “Going vegetarian is not a worldwide solution. It’s not a view shared by the NFU. Farmers in this country are interested in evidence-based policymaking. We don’t have a methane-free cow or pig available to us.”

On average, a British person eats 50g of protein derived from meat each day — the equivalent of a chicken breast or a lamb chop. This is a relatively low level for a wealthy country but between 25 per cent and 50 per cent higher than the amount recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Su Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Vegetarian Society, welcomed Lord Stern’s remarks. “What we choose to eat is one of the biggest factors in our personal impact on the environment,” she said. “Meat uses up a lot of resources and a vegetarian diet consumes a lot less land and water. One of the best things you can do about climate change is reduce the amount of meat in your diet.”

The UN has warned that meat consumption is on course to double by the middle of the century.

2009-11-13T22:19:00.002-05:00

Our Spiritual Master
Srila Prabhupada
September 1, 1896 - November 14, 1977 (solar calendar)

" He reasons ill who tells that Vaisnavas die

When thou are living still in sound!
The Vaisnavas die to live, and living

try to spread the holy name around! "

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur

Sivarama Swami Receives Hungarian Gold Cross

2009-11-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

Sivarama Swami Receives Hungarian Gold Cross
Post a Comment Send to friend Printer-friendly version Download a PDF version of this page.
By Govardhana Dasa on 7 Nov 2009
Image: Kep Fenyek
Minister for Higher Education and Science, awarded Sivarama Swami with the Gold Cross at the event, saying it was in appreciation of his “charitable, humanitarian and value-creating work.”

ISKCON guru and leader Sivarama Swami received the Gold Cross of the Hungarian Republic, the second highest award in the state, during a Diwali celebration this October 20th.

The Diwali Dinner, commemorating the Hindu New Year, was organized by the Hungarian Society for Krishna Consciousness at the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest. Károly Manherz, the Junior Minister for Higher Education and Science, awarded Sivarama Swami with the Gold Cross at the event, saying it was in appreciation of his “charitable, humanitarian and value-creating work.”

Devotees and various dignitaries then sat down for dinner at elegant tables in a large hall with high ceilings, Indian-style arches and dramatic golden lighting. As they ate, they watched a professionally-produced music performance, with flute and violin.

Many Hungarian newspapers and TV stations covered the event. An official explanation of the decoration glowingly detailed Sivarama Swami’s history and notable achievements:

“As a spiritual leader, he participated in the foundation of the Hungarian Society for Krishna-Consciousness in 1989. Since then, he has devoted his tireless work to the organization and development of the spiritual and charitable activities of this church, as well as to the spiritual guidance of its members. Under Sivarama Swami’s leadership, the Society became the fourth most popular and supported religious community among hundreds in Hungary, measured by the allocation by taxpayers of 1% of their personal income tax.

All this bears to the church’s significant service to society under Sivarama Swami’s direction, as well as to his outstanding humane and leadership qualities. It seems appropriate that, on the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the church, the state expresses its appreciation in the form of a state decoration.

Sivarama Swami was born in Budapest in 1949, under the name of Peter Létai. In 1956 his parents emigrated to Canada, where he completed his studies. He joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in 1973. Since 1979, he has held a high position as a teacher in the Society. He is a respected member of the Governing Body Commission of ISKCON. For an extended period, he was the spiritual leader of the English community, which has a high representation of Hindu population. During this period, the community became one of the most stable members of the International Society.

He started visiting Hungary occasionally in 1987, initially in disguise because of the restrictions on religious activities that were then in place. By the depth of his knowledge, leadership capabilities and attractive personality, he became the spiritual leader of the forming community of devotees of the ancient faith of Krishna consciousness.

With the transition to democracy, the Hungarian Society for Krishna Consciousness became an officially registered church in 1989. Rapid development followed, both in the number of members and in the scope of activities. Soon the church started the Food For Life vegetarian food distribution program, which has helped to ease the hardship of the homeless, the elderly, the poor and people with large families.

Under Sivarama Swami’s expert guidance, the internationally renowned spiritual books of the ancient Indian tradition, published by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, were made available to the public in the Hungarian language. These books teach universal humanistic values: they promote non-violence, moderation, charity, and physical and spiritual purity. Their teachings have spread the popularity of a non-violent and healthy vegetarian diet, and have helped many thousands of people to give up bad habits such as drug abuse.

In 1994, next to Somogyvámos village, the Indian Cultural Centre and Organic Farm of Krishna Valley was founded. The inhabitants of this eco-village follow the principle of simple living and high thinking, and they are engaged in organic farming and traditional crafts, thus perpetuating many forms of traditional Hungarian farming technologies and small crafts. Much of Sivarama Swami’s energies are devoted to the leadership and development of this exemplary community. During the last fifteen years, Krishna Valley has become a prime destination in Somogy County for domestic and international tourism, with 30,000 visitors coming annually to see the ecologically self-sustaining community based on spiritual principles.

The environmentally conscious operation of the eco-village has attracted the attention of a number of professional and civil organizations involved in environmental protection. The professional conferences organized in October 2008 and 2009, and the subsequent cooperation agreements, concluded with a number of relevant higher education institutions also indicating the importance of this initiative.

Sivarama Swami also initiated the establishment of the Budapest Hare Krishna Temple and Cultural Centre in Csillaghegy, Budapest. The Centre is offering a wide variety of programs not only for devotees of the religion, but also to the Hindu population and the general Hungarian public. In addition, permanent communities exist in Eger, Debrecen, Pécs and Kecskemét, with supporting members also living in many other settlements in Hungary.

One of the ways to mitigate conflicts in our time is fostering the dialogue among various religions. Sivarama Swami is especially active internationally and within our country in such dialogue in the form of round-table discussions, conferences and personal meetings with leaders of other churches. The Swami participates not only in a dialogue with other churches but also in the life of the intellectual community: his church regularly organises fora, symposia, conferences and summer courses in order to enhance the dialogue with representatives of science and public life, to debate social issues, and to develop cooperation.

He is a frequent guest of the media as a spiritual master representing an oriental religion, and is the subject of a biographical film by Hungarian television’s Studio for Religious Programs.

Sivarama Swami also initiated the founding of Bhaktivedanta College, HSKCON’s institute for higher education. Also acknowledged by the state, it is training hundreds of students in day and correspondence courses. Sivarama Swami serves as one of its professors.

He is also active as a writer. He devotes a significant portion of his time to writing works of philosophy, morality and theology, as well as novels which give an aesthetic experience and spiritual inspiration to many.

More than a dozen webpages publish the activities of the supporting members and monks of the Society. These can be accessed through the www.krisna.hu address, which is the official site of the Church.

In spite of his erudition and high position, Sivarama Swami is renowned among disciples, admirers and friends for doing his service with deep humility. His deeds radiate compassion, love and self-sacrifice. Besides his official duties, he devotes a considerable amount of his time to solve the personal problems of those who ask for his assistance.

He is due much of the credit for the fact that, from the mere hundred people at foundation, the Krishna-church has become a community with tens of thousands of supporters during the twenty years of its operation.

State decorations are regulated by Para. 1 of the Act No. XXXI. of 1991.

According to this Act, the Republic of Hungary highly appreciates extraordinary and exemplary activities exerted to help the development of the country, to promote the interests of the same, and to enhance unversal humanity. To appreciate such activities, the Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Republic is founded, which is awarded, on recommendation by the appropriate Ministry, by the President of the Republic.”

Lord Narasimha

2009-05-09T11:03:00.004-04:00

Narasimha Caturdasi festival commemorates the appearance day of Lord Narasimha, a half-man / half-lion incarnation of Krishna who descended in order to protect His pure devotee Sri Prahlada.

Important Links

2009-05-04T22:59:00.001-04:00

http://www.krishna.com

www.krishnadenver.com

http://alachua.templeportal.net

Contact Information

2009-04-28T12:23:00.000-04:00

Nrishimha Caitanya dasa : 904 819 0221

Email : rkmandir@att.net

Vasudeva dasa : 352 359 9574

Email : vasudeva108@gmail.com

Our Address

2009-04-28T12:20:00.001-04:00

3001 First Street
Saint Augustine (Vilano Beach)
Florida 32084 USA

The Moon

2009-01-18T14:29:00.001-05:00

http://www.calculatorcat.com/moon_phases/phasenow.php

Hatha Yoga and the Bhagavad Gita

2009-01-12T13:13:00.001-05:00

Hatha Yoga and the Bhagavad-gita

By Satyaraja Dasa

September/October 2008

How the Gita teaches the eight steps of hatha yoga, the topic of Patanjali’s Yoga-sutras.

According to a 2003 survey by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, an estimated 13.4 million Americans practice yoga, and many more experiment with it every year. Yoga is everywhere—from Mumbai to Moscow to Monte Carlo. But while yoga is meant to bring one closer to God, many of today’s yogis have a different agenda, the most common being to keep their bodies in shape.

“They’re not necessarily deeply spiritual, but looking more to do yoga as another form of exercise,” says Jennifer McKinley, co-founder and general manager of Plank, a Charlestown, Massachusetts, maker of chic, high-end yoga mats, totes, and other accessories. Launched in 2005, the company projects sales in the upcoming year that will rival that of Western exercise equipment.

In an increasingly secular world, we naturally want to adapt valuable ancient techniques for contemporary purposes, but yoga is losing its essence in the process.

Yoga is a science left to us by the sages of India. The word yoga literally means “to link up,” and its implication, originally, was similar to the Latin root of the word religion, which means “to bind back.” Thus, yoga and religion are both meant to bring us to the same end: linking up and binding with God.
The Inner Message of the Yoga-sutras

Today’s yogis might find it interesting that traditionally the preeminent text on yoga is Bhagavad-gita—not Patanjali’s famous Yoga-sutras. But the Gita is not your usual yoga text, full of difficult bodily poses and strenuous meditation techniques. Rather, it offers a practical outline for achieving the goal of yoga—linking with God—by encouraging the chanting of Krishna’s names, by teaching how to act under Krishna’s order, and by explaining the importance of doing one’s duty in spiritual consciousness. These activities, properly performed under the guidance of an adept, allow one to bypass much of what is considered essential in conventional yoga.

And yet there is harmony between the Gita and the Yoga-sutras. For example, both Lord Krishna and Patanjali indicate that we must transcend all false conceptions of “I” and develop love for God, which Patanjali calls ishvara-pranidhana (“dedication to God”).

Patanjali wrote in the third century CE, but little is known about his life. His only surviving text, the Yoga-sutra, would indicate that toned physical and mental tabernacles are helpful in the pursuit of spiritual truth. In fact, his major accomplishment is that he took age-old practices meant for improving the body and the mind and codified them for the benefit of spiritual practitioners.

But Patanjali’s Yoga-sutras merely hint at the truths illuminated in the Bhagavad-gita, which might be considered the post-graduate study of Patanjali’s work. Even so, Patanjali intended his method to be used for ultimate spiritual benefit, as some of his verses, especially later ones, clarify. Still, many yoga practitioners today use his method solely for physical and mental health because in the beginning of his work Patanjali mainly focuses on basic methods related to the body and the mind, without much spiritual commentary.

In sutra 3.2, for example, we learn that dhyana, or meditation, is the one-pointed continuous movement of the mind toward a single object. But Patanjali’s technique can be used for concentration on any object, not just on God. And even though he tells his readers the point of his sutras—to get closer to God—one may be tempted to use his methods for selfish ends, as he says later in the text. Ultimately, one-pointed concentration is for focusing on God, though it’s not until one graduates to the Bhagavad-gita that one clearly learns how to do this.

As Professor Edwin Bryant points out in his excellent article “Patanjali’s Theistic Preference, Or, Was the Author of the Yoga-sutras a Vaishnava?”1 Patanjali was trying to gear his diverse audience toward the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even if he was doing so in a roundabout way. Much like today, many forms of religion beleaguered the India of his time; practitioners worshiped numerous aspects of the Supreme. Consequently, he opted for a stepwise approach in his Yoga-sutras that he believed would accommodate his varied audience.

Still, he asserts that the ultimate object of meditation is Ishvara, which means “controller” and generally refers to God. Although there are many controllers and many forms of the Godhead, Bhagavad-gita (18.61) says that the ultimate ishvara is Krishna. Other texts tell us this as well. Consider the ancient Brahma-samhita (5.1):

ishvarah-paramah krishnah
sac-cid-ananda vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam

“Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Godhead [ishvarah-paramah]. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, and He is the prime cause of all causes.”

Patanjali advises his audience to choose an ishta-devata, a deity of their choice. His reasoning is transparent: He is trying to teach a method of meditation, and learning this method is easiest if one practices on a subject close to one’s heart.

Did Patanjali have Krishna in mind when he outlined the yoga process and its goal of love of God? For one learned in the Vedic literature, it is obvious that the answer is yes. In the words of Edwin Bryant:

Krishna is … promoted by the Gita as possessing all the … qualities listed by Patanjali as pertaining to ishvara, namely, being transcendental to karma, of unsurpassed omniscience, teacher of the ancients, untouched by Time, represented by om, and awarding enlightenment. Krishna is not touched or bound by karma (Gita, IV.14, IX.9), and, in terms of omniscience, he is the beginning, middle and end of all (X.20 & 32), who pervades the entire universe with but a single fragment of himself (X.42). Krishna taught the ancients (here specified as Vivasvan, the sun god, who in turn imparted knowledge to Manu, the progenitor of mankind [IV.1]) and is himself Time (X.30 & 33; XI.32). He is also the syllable om (IX.17). And, of course, Krishna assures his devotees that he will free them from the snares of this world such that they attain the supreme goal (IX.30-32; X.X; VIII. 58). There is thus perfect compatibility between Patanjali’s unnamed ishvara and Krishna as depicted in the Gita.2

The commentarial tradition of the Yoga-sutras bears this out. Patanjali’s major commentators were Vyasa (fifth century CE, not to be confused with the compiler of the Vedic literature), Vachaspati Misra (ninth century CE), Bhoja Raja (eleventh century CE), and Vijnanabhiksu (sixteenth century CE). All identify the ishvara of the Yoga-sutras with Vishnu or Krishna and show how the Bhagavad-gita expresses the culmination of all Vedic wisdom relating to yoga.
The Gita’s Eight Limbs

The Bhagavad-gita addresses all eight limbs of raja-yoga, the form of yoga popular today as ashtanga yoga or hatha yoga.3 For example, yama, the first limb, consists of five ethical principles: truthfulness, continence, nonviolence, noncovetousness, and abstention from stealing. These fundamental disciplines of yoga are mentioned in the Gita, as is niyama, the second limb, which consists of things like worship, cleanliness, contentment, austerity, and self-reflection.

Now, the third limb of Patanjali’s method, asana, is less obvious in the Gita. The term asana appears infrequently on Lord Krishna’s lips. But when it does, it refers to “the place where one sits for spiritual practice.” The Gita does not give tips on sitting postures. Its Sixth Chapter, though, comes close. Verses 11 and 12 state: “To practice yoga, one should go to a secluded place and should lay kusha grass on the ground and then cover it with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat [asana] should be neither too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place. The yogi should then sit on it very firmly and practice yoga to purify the heart by controlling his mind, senses, and activities and fixing the mind on one point.”

Here Krishna uses the word asana in a general rather than technical sense. He is talking about sitting to focus the mind.

It’s easy to lose focus, and that’s basically Arjuna’s argument against hatha yoga. In fact, Patanjali himself identifies nine obstacles on the path: doubt, disease, lethargy, mental laziness, false perception, lack of enthusiasm, clinging to sense enjoyment, lack of concentration, and losing concentration. His commentators list several others as well, including inordinate attraction to yogic powers, a misconceived view of meditation, oversimplification of yoga’s eight limbs, and irregularity of practice. All of these problems are traceable to the difficult nature of Patanjali’s method and are why Arjuna views hatha yoga as virtually impossible. By the end of the Sixth Chapter he denounces it as too difficult. Krishna agrees, telling Arjuna that the ultimate yogi always thinks of God. He further tells him that such meditation is real yoga, implying that using one’s body and mind in Krishna’s service is the perfect asana.

The Gita also discusses pranayama, or breath control, the fourth limb. Krishna says that yogis can use the incoming and outgoing breath as offerings to Him. He speaks about dedicating one’s life breath to God. He tells Arjuna that His devotees’ prana, or air of life, is meant for God and that Arjuna should use it “to come to Me.” In fact, if one follows Arjuna’s example and offers every breath to Krishna—by speaking about Him, chanting His glories, and living for Him—there is little need for breath control as delineated in Patanjali’s sutras. Breathing for God is the essence of pranayama. Srila Prabhupada writes, “Chanting of the holy name of the Lord and dancing in ecstasy are also considered pranayama.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.23.8, Purport)

The fifth limb of yoga, pratyahara, deals with the withdrawal of the senses, a major subject in the Bhagavad-gita. In the Second Chapter Krishna tells Arjuna that the yogi withdraws his senses from sense objects, “as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell.” Taken superficially, this might seem to suggest full renunciation of the world. But that’s not what Krishna is getting at. Rather, as other verses make clear, He’s teaching how to renounce the fruits of work, not work itself, and how to be in the world but not of it. In other words, His teaching centers on how to withdraw one’s attachment to sense objects for personal enjoyment. He instructs us to use these same objects in the service of God. That is true pratyahara.
The Upper Limbs

And then we have the culmination of yoga practice—the last three limbs of raja-yoga: dharana, dhyana, and samadhi, or concentration, meditation, and complete absorption.

While yama and niyama are preliminary steps, these three are called samyama, “the perfect discipline” or “perfect practice.” Bhagavad-gita speaks extensively of these upper limbs. For example, Lord Krishna states, “Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt. My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga [abhyasa-yogena]. In this way develop a desire to attain Me.” (Bg. 12.8–9)

The process of Krishna consciousness is practical dharana, or spiritual concentration. By seeing paintings of Krishna, we use our sense of sight for God; by chanting and hearing we engage the tongue and the ear; by offering incense to Krishna we engage our sense of smell. All the senses can help us engage in dharana, leading to advanced states of meditation and absorption.

The holy name is particularly effective in this regard. That’s why Krishna says that of austerities He is the austerity of japa, private chanting, especially while counting on beads. Chanting is the king of austerities because by chanting we can easily reach the goal of yoga. It all comes together in the practice of japa because by chanting God’s names we focus on Him with our voice, ears, and sense of touch. And kirtana, congregational chanting, not only takes us to deep levels of absorption but engages the senses of onlookers as well. In sutra 1.28, Patanjali, too, promotes “constant chanting.”

Overall, Patanjali’s ambivalence might appear confusing. When he first mentions ishvara-pranidhana, dedication to God, he presents it as optional, while later he gives it far more attention, with six verses elaborating on the nature of ishvara. In the beginning he seems to allow variance in the object of meditation (1.34-38), but ultimately he advises the yogi to focus on ishvara, who in Patanjali’s words is the “special supreme soul” who alone can bestow samadhi, yogic perfection.

Patanjali says in sutra 3.3 that samadhi occurs when the object of your meditation appears in your heart of hearts without any competitors or distractions. You have no other interest, as if your intrinsic nature loses meaning.

The Bhagavad-gita makes it clearer. In samadhi your intrinsic nature doesn’t lose meaning. Rather, it takes on new meaning: You see yourself in relation to Krishna. You are now His devotee; He’s the focus of your life. That state of perfect and total absorption is called Krishna consciousness.

Footnotes:
1. Edwin F. Bryant, “Patanjali’s Theistic Preference, Or, Was the Author of the Yoga-sutras a Vaishnava,” in The Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Volume 14, Number 1 (Fall 2005).

2. Ibid.

3. This has been pointed out by my friend Graham Schweig, professor of religion at Christopher Newport University, Virginia. Much of the material in this article on the eight limbs of yoga comes from his interviews and lectures.

Our Founder Acarya Srila Prabhupada

2009-01-12T13:02:00.001-05:00

Srila Prabhupada’s Legacy

Srila Prabhupada’s main contribution was translating and publishing books on Krishna consciousness in English. In ten years, he wrote more than forty books. These are now published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in over fifty languages.
His Society

In 1966, Srila Prabhupada established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as the Hare Krishna Movement. It has the following purposes:

1. To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.
2. To propagate a consciousness of Krishna (God), as it is revealed in the great scriptures of India, Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
3. To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus developing the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krishna).
4. To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
5. To erect for the members and for society at large holy places of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the personality of Krishna.
6. To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, more natural way of life.
7. With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings.

An Examplary and Perfect Disciple

Srila Prabhupada taught by example. For the last part of his life, he led the austere life of a sannyasi, a renunciate, and displayed great humility, never taking undue personal credit for his accomplishments. “My only credit,” he said, “is that I have strictly followed the order of my guru maharaja.” His spiritual master advised him: “whenever you get money, print books”. And he did that. You can glimpse at who Srila Prabhupada was and see the life he led on the 36 hours of film footage available at our Krishna.com Store: Srila Prabhupada Video DVD Set.
A Pure Devotee Dependent on Krishna

Srila Prabhupada arrived in the West almost penniless, but he preached with full conviction the chanting of the holy names of Krishna [see Maha-mantra towards the bottom of this page.] Gradually, young people felt attracted to the chanting and to “Swamiji” and his mission: to spread Krishna Consciousness worldwide. Krishna Consciousness is the original consciousness of the soul. Srila Prabhupada stressed the importance of accepting a bona fide guru. Such a bona fide teacher leaves the message of Krishna intact. Bhagavad-gita As It Is, by Srila Prabhupada, remains the best-selling and most potent English edition of this classic.

The Bhaktivedanta Institute

To establish the scientific merits of Krishna Consciousness and to encourage academic study of the soul, Srila Prabhupada established the Bhaktivedanta Institute (BI). Staffed by devotee scholars, the BI has published several books on the nature of consciousness, Vedic Cosmology, and the origins of the human race. The Institute has twice gathered renowned scientists for a World Congress on the Synthesis of Science and Religion. For more information, check out the Bhaktivedanta Institute website.
The Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust

Srila Prabhupada started the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust to revive and restore some of the important Gaudiya-Vaishnava shrines in India. Several temples in Vrindavan and Mayapur are under the Trust’s care.

In addition, Srila Prabhupada desired that nobody within a ten-mile radius of a Hare Krishna temple should go hungry. With that aim in mind, ISKCON temples in India and around the world have set up programs for the free distribution of sanctified food to the needy.
The Maha-Mantra

Srila Prabhupada introduced the Western world to the sublime benefits of chanting the Holy Names of Krishna. In the form of the mantra known in Vedic writings as the Maha-mantra, or Great Chant for Deliverance, the chanting goes:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Translation: “Oh Energy of God [Hare], Oh All-Attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead [Krishna], Oh Supreme enjoyer[Rama], please engage me in Your service!”

Srila Prabhupada said that this mantra should be chanted “just like the call of a child for its mother,” There are no hard and fast rules for chanting this mantra, and it can be chanted at any time for relief from the miseries of material existence and to develop our innate love of God.

Who's who at ISKCON SA

2009-01-12T12:41:00.001-05:00

Nrsimha Caitanya dasa

Vasudeva dasa

Gopa Vallabhi devi dasi

Gaura Bhakta dasa

Jaya Radhe devi dasi

Bhakta Derek

Who is God ?

2009-01-12T11:11:00.000-05:00

ISKCON of Saint Augustine

International Society for Krishna Conciousness. Founder Acarya:His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Monday, January 12, 2009

Who is God ?

"It is natural that a philosophical mind wants to know about the origin of the creation. At night he sees the stars in the sky, and he naturally speculates about their inhabitants. Such inquiries are natural for man because man has a developed consciousness which is higher than that of the animals. The author of Srimad-Bhagavatam gives a direct answer to such inquiries. He says that the Lord Sri Krsna is the origin of all creations. He is not only the creator of the universe, but the destroyer as well. The manifested cosmic nature is created at a certain period by the will of the Lord. It is maintained for some time, and then it is annihilated by His will. Therefore, the supreme will is behind all cosmic activities. Of course, there are atheists of various categories who do not believe in a creator, but that is due to a poor fund of knowledge. The modern scientist, for example, has created space satellites, and by some arrangement or other, these satellites are thrown into outer space to fly for some time at the control of the scientist who is far away. Similarly, all the universes with innumerable stars and planets are controlled by the intelligence of the Personality of Godhead.

In Vedic literatures, it is said that the Absolute Truth, Personality of Godhead, is the chief amongst all living personalities. All living beings, beginning from the first created being, Brahma, down to the smallest ant, are individual living beings. And above Brahma, there are even other living beings with individual capacities, and the Personality of Godhead is also a similar living being. And He is an individual as are the other living beings. But the Supreme Lord, or the supreme living being, has the greatest intelligence, and He possesses supermost inconceivable energies of all different varieties...

Srimad-Bhagavatam is the narration of the svarupa of the Lord manifested by His internal potency, and this potency is distinguished from the external potency which has manifested the cosmic world, which is within our experience. Srila Vyasadeva makes a clear distinction between the two in this sloka. Sri Vyasadeva says herein that the manifested internal potency is real, whereas the external manifested energy in the form of material existence is only temporary and illusory like the mirage in the desert. In the desert mirage there is no actual water. There is only the appearance of water. Real water is somewhere else. The manifested cosmic creation appears as reality. But reality, of which this is but a shadow, is in the spiritual world. Absolute Truth is in the spiritual sky, not the material sky. In the material sky everything is relative truth. That is to say, one truth depends on something else. This cosmic creation results from interaction of the three modes of nature, and the temporary manifestations are so created as to present an illusion of reality to the bewildered mind of the conditioned soul, who appears in so many species of life, including the higher demigods, like Brahma, Indra, Candra, and so on. In actuality, there is no reality in the manifested world. There appears to be reality, however, because of the true reality which exists in the spiritual world, where the Personality of Godhead eternally exists with His transcendental paraphernalia.

The chief engineer of a complicated construction does not personally take part in the construction, but he knows every nook and corner because everything is done under his direction. He knows everything about the construction, both directly and indirectly. Similarly, the Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme engineer of this cosmic creation, knows every nook and corner, although affairs are being carried out by demigods. Beginning from Brahma down to the insignificant ant, no one is independent in the material creation. The hand of the Lord is seen everywhere. All material elements as well as all spiritual sparks emanate from Him only. And whatever is created in this material world is but the interaction of two energies, the material and the spiritual, which emanate from the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna. A chemist can manufacture water in the chemical laboratory by mixing hydrogen and oxygen. But, in reality, the living entity works in the laboratory under the direction of the Supreme Lord. And the materials with which he works are also supplied by the Lord. The Lord knows everything directly and indirectly, and He is cognizant of all minute details, and He is fully independent. He is compared to a mine of gold, and the cosmic creations in so many different forms are compared to objects made from the gold, such as gold rings, necklaces and so on. The gold ring and the gold necklace are qualitatively one with the gold in the mine, but quantitatively the gold in the mine is different. Therefore, the Absolute Truth is simultaneously one and different. Nothing is absolutely equal with the Absolute Truth, but at the same time, nothing is independent of the Absolute Truth...

Unless one surrenders unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, it is certain that he will be bewildered. When an intelligent man surrenders unto the lotus feet of Krsna and knows completely that Krsna is the cause of all causes, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita, then only can such an intelligent man become a mahatma, or great soul. But such a great soul is rarely seen. Only the mahatmas can understand that the Supreme Lord is the primeval cause of all creations. He is parama or ultimate truth because all other truths are relative to Him. He is omniscient. For Him, there is no illusion."

Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1st Canto, 1:1 Purport

"....The Lord's proprietorship over everything within the universe is confirmed in the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita (7.4-5), where para and apara prakrti are discussed. The elements of nature--earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego--all belong to the Lord's inferior, material energy (apara prakrti),whereas the living being, the organic energy, is His superior energy (para prakrti). Both of these prakrtis, or energies, are emanations from the Lord, and ultimately He is the controller of everything that exists. There is nothing in the universe that does not belong to either the para or the apara prakrti; therefore everything is the property of the Supreme Being.

Because the Supreme Being, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is the complete person, He has complete and perfect intelligence to adjust everything by means of His different potencies. The Supreme Being is often compared to a fire, and everything organic and inorganic is compared to the heat and light of that fire. Just as fire distributes energy in the form of heat and light, the Lord displays His energy in different ways. He thus remains the ultimate controller, sustainer and dictator of everything. He is the possessor of all potencies, the knower of everything and the benefactor of everyone. He is full of inconceivable opulence, power, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation."