Akrura das, Gita Coaching: FIVE QUESTIONS FOR A POSITIVE CHANGE

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"Planet ISKCON" - 35 new articles H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Tuesday 6 September 2011--Escaping the Hellish Nightmare--and--Definition of Meditation Jayadeva das, USA: Agnostic with a Side of Fries? ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Kesava Prabhu Japa Group: Please Join The Japa Group Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: Upakhyane Upadesa by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: Radha: greater than Krsna New Vrndavan, USA: Community Spirit — Wednesdays 6 – 9 am Akrura das, Gita Coaching: FIVE QUESTIONS FOR A POSITIVE CHANGE Akrura das, Gita Coaching: AN AMAZING RADHASTAMI LECTURE Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: ClearEdge Wants To Put A Refrigerator-Sized Fuel Cell In Your House Srila Prabhupada's Letters Srila Prabhupada's Letters Srila Prabhupada's Letters Srila Prabhupada's Letters Srila Prabhupada's Letters Srila Prabhupada's Letters Srila Prabhupada's Letters Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Forgiveness? Srila Prabhupada's Letters Srila Prabhupada's Letters Srila Prabhupada's Letters Australian News: Radhastami ISKCON Sydney 2011 Australian News: An imperfect guide to restringing japa beads Dandavats.com: PDV1: A masterpiece Dandavats.com: Yet Another Set Back to Madhu Pandit Dasa Dandavats.com: Are We More Intelligent Than Srila Prabhupada! Dandavats.com: A Chaste Disciple Never Finds Fault In The Substance Of Any Statement Made By ISKCON-Founder Acarya, Srila Prabhupada Dandavats.com: Thief Exposes Fraud at Akshayapatra Dandavats.com: Photos of Sri Krishna Janmashtami 2011 at Bhaktivedanta Manor H.H. Sivarama Swami: I offer my respects to Radharani Manoj, Melbourne, AU: 228. Sri Radhastami Japa Group: Meaning Of The Sixteen Names PT.11 Gouranga TV: Parijata, New Goloka NC USA kirtana ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Darshan ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Darshan More Recent Articles Search Planet ISKCON Prior Mailing Archive H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Tuesday 6 September 2011--Escaping the Hellish Nightmare--and--Definition of Meditation A daily broadcast of the Ultimate Self Realization Course Tuesday 6 September 2011 The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, and His eternal consort, Srimati Radharani are enjoying transcendental pastimes in the topmost planet of the spiritual world, Sri Goloka Vrindavan. They are beckoning us to rejoin them. (Click on photo to see a larger image.) Our Mission: To help everyone awaken their original Krishna consciousness, which is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Such a global awakening will, in one stroke, solve all the problems of the world society bringing in a new era of unprecedented peace and prosperity for all. May that day, which the world so desperately needs, come very soon. We request you to participate in this mission by reviving your dormant Krishna consciousness and assisting us in spreading this science all over the world. Dedicated with love to ISKCON Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, our beloved spiritual master, and to you, our dear readers. For Transcendental Association Connect With Other Members of this Course. Join this Conference: http://groups.google.com/group/sda_students Today's Thought: Escaping the Hellish Nightmare Uploaded from Sofia, Bulgaria In spite of all its temporary fleeting pleasures, in the final analysis this material life is a hellish nightmare. We want to live forever, but yet we are dragged to death by the inexorable wheel of time. We want to stay young and energized forever, but yet we are forced to get old and invalid. We want to always be healthy, but yet we have to get sick again and again. The good news is that this nightmarish situation is not the ultimate reality. It is only a covered version of reality. All we have to do to become free from this hellish nightmare to come out of the covering like a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon to become a butterfly. We simply have to wake up to our eternal identities as pure spirit souls, eternal servants of Lord Sri Krishna, by chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra with love on a regular daily basis. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Radhastami Kirtan-Sofia, Bulgaria-5 September 2011 http://www.backtohome.com/images/2011-Fall/Radhastami_Kirtan.JPG Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Definition of Meditation Hare Krishna, Gurudeva, What is the exact definition or meaning of meditation? Is it concentration? Aluru Answer: Thinking of Krishna Always Meditation is different from concentration. You can fix your mind intensely on anything and be engaged in concentration. It is only when you fix your mind on God that you are engaged in meditation. Always thinking of Krishna. That is real meditation. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Transcendental Resources: Receive the Special Blessings of Krishna Now you too can render the greatest service to the suffering humanity and attract the all-auspicious blessings of Lord Sri Krishna upon yourself and your family by assisting our mission. Lectures and Kirtans in Audio and Video: Link to High Definition Videos Link to Over 1,000 Lecture Audios Lecture-Travel Schedule for 2011 http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/schedule Have Questions or Need Further Guidance? Check out the resources at: http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com or write Sankarshan Das Adhikari at: sda@backtohome.com Get your copy today of the world's greatest self-realization guide book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is available at:http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/store Know someone who could benefit from this? Forward it to them. 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I wonder how I was ever so "fired up" and enthusiastic about Krishna Consciousness and devotional service that I once went on a one-man harinama in downtown Detroit (at a barbecue food tasting event, no less!). That person, and that consciousness, seem so foreign to me now. What was it at the time that made me so sincere, focused and determined? It feels like time and my experiences in Krishna Consciousness have left me jaded. I've become pessimistic, doubtful and negative. I see others writing about or talking about Krishna Consciousness and it seems so contrived and dogmatic. We simply repeat the things that we've heard and read, but are we really experiencing, seeing, talking to and interacting with Krishna (God) face-to-face? I find it hard to believe. I also find it hard to believe that others who are speaking about Krishna or performing kirtan, etc. are not struggling with some kind of selfish desires or who are not still interested in sense gratification to some degree. I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm sure there are very advanced (and rare) devotees who have given up all selfish pursuits and desires. But even hearing from and associating with them, I still have to wonder, "How do you know this is all true?" Someone may give up selfish sense gratification and completely dedicate themselves to devotional service. They may have intense faith that Krishna is real, that Goloka Vrindavan is real, etc., but they still may not have directly experienced it. It's all based on faith. We can say, "Srila Prabhupada and the Acaryas have said all of these things, therefore they must all be true and real!", but again, it's all based on faith. Perhaps that is my biggest problem: a lack of faith. It's hard to believe in something when you can't experience it. I sometimes wonder if other devotees struggle with this issue or not. It seems like they don't...or maybe everyone just hides it. I go to the temple or festivals and everyone seems so happy and blissful. They're dancing and chanting and talking about devotional activities. I see them and think, "Do they ever wonder if Krishna is real? Do they ever have more interest in sense gratification than devotional service?" What is it that makes us, as individuals, stay on the path of bhakti? Is it the social/community aspect? Is it the food/prasadam? Is it the ability to gain prestige and notariety from our knowledge of sastras? Is it because we like the clothing and cultural aspects? Is it because we like to perform rituals and fire yajnas? Somehow we must be getting some kind of taste to go on calling our self a "devotee". These days I wonder if I could even be considered a "devotee" in the true sense of the word. I don't chant japa, I rarely study/read the sastras, I rarely attend devotional functions, I barely worship our Deities and I only sometimes listen to lectures. When I hear about 24-hour kirtan programs or some kind of festival I don't get excited. On the contrary I think, "Ugh. I really don't want to drive all the way out to that and then sit there for hours. Then I'll run in to devotees from the past and say the obligatory "Jaya! Haribol!" and then have nothing else to say." I just don't know where my fire has gone. I feel like I'm losing interest in the process all together. I see so much mixed devotion going on all over the place that it sometimes feels like maybe everyone is just lying to themselves. Then I feel despair, as it only reinforces my own personal experiences. I see that I'm not the only one pretending. The dogmatic answer here would be that I need to associate with higher, more advanced devotees. Well, I did that for quite some time and it never made me enthused, nor gave me prema. In fact, it made me more depressed that I couldn't live up to the highest ideals of Krishna Consciousness. It made me realize there was no joy in selfless service, rather there was only anxiety, frustration and resentment. It made me realize how selfish and self-centered I truly am and how I'm more attached to sense gratification than devotional service. It didn't make me want to do more devotional service, rather it made me want to run away from it. I feel myself falling into some sort of agnostic state of mind, where the existence of God has no bearing on my existence. If He's there, cool. If He's not, cool. I'm sure there's something higher and something greater than just this material existence we're perceiving with our senses, but it's just getting so hard to care about it and its impact on my day-to-day reality.   • Email to a friend • • ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Kesava Prabhu Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.14 - The progressive stages of bhakti (adau sraddha tatah sadhu sango 'tha bhajana kriya...).   • Email to a friend • • Japa Group: Please Join The Japa Group Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world...simply send me an introduction email and I will be happy to make you a member: rasa108@gmail.com ys Rasa Rasika dasa   • Email to a friend • • Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: Upakhyane Upadesa by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thankyou to the many devotees who sent this to me. Hare Krsna. hari-guru-vaisnava dasa, BVS   • Email to a friend • • Bharatavarsa.net: Bhakti Vikasa Swami: Radha: greater than Krsna Krsna and Radharani are both transcendentally qualified, and They attract one another. But Radharanis transcendental attractiveness is greater than Krsna's, for Her attractiveness is the transcendental taste in conjugal love. >>> Ref. VedaBase => TLC 14: The Ecstasy of the Lord and His Devotees   • Email to a friend • • New Vrndavan, USA: Community Spirit — Wednesdays 6 – 9 am Dear Brijabasis,   Please accept my humble obeisances.  All glories to Srila Prabhupada.  There will be a special Bhagavatam class this Wednesday, September 7.  Malati Prabhu will make a slide presentation from the Janmastami celebration at Bhaktivedanat Manor that was attended by over 70,000 people.  Please attend if you can! At last week’s istagosthi, the topic was “Community Spirit.”  Many devotees commented that good sadhana will help improve the community spirit. The group agreed that there should be a designated time once a week for the devotees to come together and chant.  Therefore, please come to the temple for hearing and chanting EVERY WEDNESDAY FROM 6:00 – 9:00 AM.       EVERY WEDNESDAY FROM 6:00 – 9:00 AM                   • Email to a friend • • Akrura das, Gita Coaching: FIVE QUESTIONS FOR A POSITIVE CHANGE 1) What is my mission? 2) Who are my customers? 3) What do my customers consider value? 4) What are my desired results? 5) What is my plan to achieve these results? These five Peter Drucker questions can help anyone in almost any situation to focus on the most important elements to change.   • Email to a friend • • Akrura das, Gita Coaching: AN AMAZING RADHASTAMI LECTURE Here at Gita Nagari farm in the USA, I heard an amazing Radhastai lecture by Mother Krsnanandini, Srila Prabhupada's disciple from Cleveland (Ohio) and a member of the Grhastha Vision team. I will try to arrange for a link to a video recording of the video asap.    • Email to a friend • • Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: ClearEdge Wants To Put A Refrigerator-Sized Fuel Cell In Your House Article Source If you have $60,000 to spare and like to show off to your neighbors, ClearEdge Power may have the product for you: a giant fuel cell that can power up your house or business, and perhaps take you entirely off the grid. Bloom Energy burst onto the clean energy scene last year with the Bloom Energy Server (you know it as the Bloom Box), a so-called fuel cell “power plant in a box” that can run on natural gas, hydrogen, or biogas. Bloom has cornered the big business fuel cell market, with installations at eBay’s headquarters, multiple AT&T sites, Adobe’s headquarters, and more. But thus far, the company has stuck with large installations. ClearEdge Power, an Oregon-based startup that just raised $73.5 million in funding, is aiming to corner the small fuel cell installation market. The company’s fuel cells might end up in a house near you. Like Bloom, ClearEdge makes power cells. Users put natural gas into a fuel processing system, where it is converted to hydrogen, fed to a fuel cell, put through a chemical conversion, and turned into electrical power. But ClearEdge’s cells also generate heat, which goes into a heat exchanger, where it can be used to generate hot water. The system can also use hydrogen or biogas as an input. While Bloom’s fuel cell systems cost between $700,000 and $800,000 and produce 500 to 700 KW of power, ClearEdge’s systems retail for $56,000 (before tax incentives and rebates) and offer five KW of power, though you can string multiple units together if you need more. Customers can expect to have the system pay for itself within five to eight years. “We consider Bloom to be complementary technology,” says Mike Upp, VP of Marketing at ClearEdge. Upp believes that ClearEdge doesn’t have any major competitors at the moment. Filed under: Cows and Environment   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1969 September 5 : "The service of the devotee is offered up to Krishna through the disciplic succession. It is like electricity: if one is in touch with his Spiritual Master, and his Spiritual Master is in touch with his bonafide Spiritual Master, then in this way an offering is automatically transferred to Krishna." Prabhupada Letters :: 1969   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1974 September 5: "My only anxiety is to guide you. Krishna sometimes makes me sick just to examine how much you have learned. You should never act independently - my guidance is always there in my words." Prabhupada Letters :: 1974   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1967 September 5 : "When I received your letter, it appeared to me that I had received a letter from a lost child. I felt too much aggrieved when some of you left me, but I was confident that all of you would come back again." Prabhupada Letters :: 1967   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1965 September 5 : "In the evening the sky was cloudy and they expected foggy weather and all of them became little gloomy. But at midnight we passed Malta by God's grace it was all right throughout the night." Jaladuta Diary :: 1965   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1975 September 5: "We require the help of many, many young men like you to understand this philosophy thoroughly and preach this movement in an organized way all over the world. I am here in Vrindaban for some time. If you come and stay with me along with some of your interested friends, I shall be happy to convince all of you." Prabhupada Letters :: 1975   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1974 September 5: "There will be no more discussion. Immediately this should be stopped, this matter. He should be encouraged very much in his activities. Amongst ourselves there must be very liberal and friendly dealings not that if somebody has got some fault he should be cut. We should reform by amicable dealings." Prabhupada Letters :: 1974   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1969 September 5: "Who has said this about rasa with the Spiritual Master? It is a most unauthorized statement. Better you should stick to hearing from authorized persons, like your Spiritual Master. Never hear from someone not in our line. It is simply a waste of time." Prabhupada Letters :: 1969   • Email to a friend • • Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Forgiveness? This is a story about old Rama das and old Tulasi das, two members of an ISKCON forum, who were always at odds with each other. They were constantly at each other’s throat on issues concerning ISKCON. When one of them said “yea,” you could be assured that the other would say “nay.” So, one day old Rama das dies and arrives at the court of Yamaraja. He notices how Yamaraja asks everyone a question before they proceed. When it was his turn, Yamaraja said: “Hi, Rama das, to see if you qualify for Vaikuntha, I need to ask you to spell Krishna for me.” “That’s easy,” says Rama das, and goes: “K-r-i-s-h-n-a.” Yamaraja said: “Great; you’re in, but could you do me a small favor and take over here for a while? I just need to check on something. I’ll be back.” Rama das didn’t mind doing some service, and asked everyone in line to spell Krishna. Just then, old Tulasi das was coming through the line. “What are you doing here?” asked old Tulasi das. Said Rama das; “Oh, I am just filling in for Yamaraja, asking everybody to spell a word before they can pass through.” “Oh yeah, what’s the word?” asked Tulasi das. After thinking for a moment, Rama das said: “Spell Bodhipakkhiyadhamma!” Filed under: Jokes   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1969 September 5 : "I can re-organize all the branches of the Gaudiya Math in India. If you can negotiate about our amalgamation on a cooperative basis, it will be great service to Srila Prabhupada." Prabhupada Letters :: 1969   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1974 September 5: "This restaurant program will not work. Do not attempt. Best idea is to go to Fiji and preach. Preaching is first. That is the business of sannyasi, not opening restaurant." Prabhupada Letters :: 1974   • Email to a friend • • Srila Prabhupada's Letters 1975 September 5: "Krishna appears for this purpose. He leaves behind His instructions so that in the future people could take His help and guidance. But, if you do not accept His instructions, then how can you be happy?" Prabhupada Letters :: 1975   • Email to a friend • • Australian News: Radhastami ISKCON Sydney 2011 right click and download these pictures, they’re high resolution, print them large or zoom in close. Share this story your way:   • Email to a friend • • Australian News: An imperfect guide to restringing japa beads Let's say you've got a really awesome set of japa beads. Maybe initiation mala or, like me, some really nice and smooth beads. But, this being kali-yuga, the cord breaks. Yikes! So let's restring them! Now, I'm sure that there are other methods, I'm sure that there is even a sastric method, complete with mantras and sacred knots. The way I'm about to describe isn't that. It's just how I restrung my beads. Here you go! First, we'll need a few things. Scissors, of course. Also some vice grips and regular pliers and a small drill bit (size is up to you). You'll need a large-ish needle. Not as large as a garlanding needle, but bigger than a regular sewing needle. Also, your favorite cord. Could be the fishingline-like material or nylon. Don't use hemp. Sure, it's the strongest natural fiber, but it won't hold up very long. You'll be restringing them again within a month. Click here to see the rest at Sit Properly Share this story your way:   • Email to a friend • • Dandavats.com: PDV1: A masterpiece By Nimai Hawkins It was in a moment of deep concentration on the Holy Name that I had an epiphany of HG Aindra Prabhu's legacy. I had heard all the Vrindavan Mellows CDs many times, some of the other random live kirtans as well as bits and pieces from other albums such as Cintamini Nam, but in one stunning realization I felt the impact of his kirtan as powerfully as any poem I'd ever read