domingo, 16 de octubre de 2011

Australian News: Diwali with Sri Prahlada & Carmella Baynie – coming sooner than you think








PLANET ISKCON

 


Your email updates, powered by FeedBlitz


 

"Planet ISKCON" - 48 new articles

  1. Australian News: Diwali with Sri Prahlada & Carmella Baynie – coming sooner than you think
  2. ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana
  3. Sita-pati dasa, AU: The Appearance of Radha Kunda
  4. Australian News: More Mayapuris in kirtan on video – the perfection of the eyes and ears
  5. Karnamrita das, NC, USA: Ring Around the Rosie: We all Fall Down/Rise Up
  6. Japa Group: Nectar Of The Holy Name
  7. ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Nanda Mandir Prabhu
  8. Agnideva das (Adam Helfer), Washington, USA: Occupy Philadelphia: Occupy Wall Street underdogs
  9. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): Poem for October 16
  10. H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): Selected Writings
  11. Toronto Sankirtan Team, CA: Looking for a home
  12. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  13. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  14. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  15. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  16. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  17. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  18. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  19. Srila Prabhupada's Letters
  20. Bhakta Chris, New York, USA: A Revolution In Consciousness?
  21. Haricharana das, Indonesia: Walk Harinam~Segara Beach - Padang Galak...
  22. Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Devotee Brothers Use Sports to Build Community and Keep Youth Fit
  23. Australian News: Mayapuris Rock the Sydney Kuli Catch-up
  24. H.H. Sivarama Swami: Bn Georgina asks why devotees showed her a wrong attitude upon her temple visit and about chanting the Nrsimha kavaca
  25. ISKCON Malaysia: A Special Day with the Young Ones
  26. ISKCON Desire Tree: Vaishnava Calender - Srila Narottam Dasa Thakura -Disappearance
  27. H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: Vaishnava Etiquette (1) Mauritius Lectures
  28. ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Kartik Bhagavatam Classes - LIVE!
  29. ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana
  30. Dandavats.com: Philadelphia 2011 Ratha Yatra Report to Srila Prabhupada
  31. Japa Group: Bring The Mind To The Chanting
  32. H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 5, Chapter 3, Text 20.
  33. Spiritual Scientist: Lust & Love – What's the Difference?
  34. Spiritual Scientist: How Do Saints Help Others?
  35. ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Vedavyasa Priya Swami
  36. Gouranga TV: Radhanath Swami The Essense of Religions
  37. Spiritual Scientist: Why Irrational Shopping?
  38. Spiritual Scientist: The Power of Divine Sound
  39. Spiritual Scientist: Isn't Spirituality Impractical?
  40. Spiritual Scientist: Go Beyond Fear
  41. Spiritual Scientist: Raaz Agle Janam Ka
  42. Spiritual Scientist: Your Inbuilt Security System
  43. Spiritual Scientist: Can Spirituality solve World Problems?
  44. Spiritual Scientist: Why Natural Calamities?
  45. Spiritual Scientist: Is Karma practically relevant?
  46. Spiritual Scientist: How to choose the Right Path?
  47. Spiritual Scientist: Why to Approach God?
  48. H.G. Sankarshan das Adhikari, USA: Sunday 16 October 2011--I Never Came Back to the World of Misery--and--When to Abandon Material Activities?
  49. More Recent Articles
  50. Search Planet ISKCON
  51. Prior Mailing Archive

Australian News: Diwali with Sri Prahlada & Carmella Baynie – coming sooner than you think

Diwali Festival of Lights with Sri Prahlada and Carmella Bay
By Vara Nayaka  |  View on Facebook
When: Oct 27, 2011 (7:00pm - 9:00pm)

Where: 1/40 Hall Street Bondi Beach NSW 2026; Jois Yoga Bondi


» View map
Celebrate Diwali Festival of Lights with Sri Prahlada

early bird
at the door

Contact/ Bookings: (02)8094 9231
manager@joisyoga.com
www.joisyoga.com

Click here to go to www.SriPrahlada.com

Click here to see more from Brihadmrdanga.com

Share this story your way:PrintPrintFacebookFacebookTwitterTwitterGoogle BookmarksGoogle BookmarksStumbleUponStumbleUponYahoo! BuzzYahoo! Buzzdel.icio.usdel.icio.usDiggDiggLiveLiveMySpaceMySpacePDFPDF

 
Email to a friend

ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana

17/10/2011

"By such childhood pastimes as this He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy, and is revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbues with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe and reverence.

With great love I again offer my obeisances to Lord Damodara hundreds and hundreds of times."

(Sri Damodarastakam)

With great love we again and again relish the wonderful darsana of Sri Damodara.

 
Email to a friend


Sponsored link

Sita-pati dasa, AU: The Appearance of Radha Kunda

This Saturday, the Appearance of Radha Kunda. Sherwood Scout Hall, 14 Young St, Graceville, 5pm - 7pm. Entry free, all welcome.

 
Email to a friend

Australian News: More Mayapuris in kirtan on video – the perfection of the eyes and ears

Click on the video below and be astounded at the Mayapuris and their activities. After performing an entire kirtan concert Vish, Kish and Bali jumped off the stage and into the crowd and this is what they did next:

Share this story your way:PrintPrintFacebookFacebookTwitterTwitterGoogle BookmarksGoogle BookmarksStumbleUponStumbleUponYahoo! BuzzYahoo! Buzzdel.icio.usdel.icio.usDiggDiggLiveLiveMySpaceMySpacePDFPDF

 
Email to a friend

Karnamrita das, NC, USA: Ring Around the Rosie: We all Fall Down/Rise Up

Earth in Hands
Self-realization in a circle
what goes up
must come down
within the Spring leaf
the Autumn falling power
Vedic Cosmology
champions cyclical time
linear time's a modern illusion
after the light, darkness
begetting again the light
yesterday's gain
today's forfeiture.

read more

 
Email to a friend

Japa Group: Nectar Of The Holy Name


Hare Krsna my dear devotees, this is a very nice prayer by Srila Haridasa Thakur taken from the Harinama Cintamani. I hope you appreciate that.

Srila Haridasa Thakur's attachment to the holy name:


"My dear Lord, my consciousness is thoroughly mundane. Though I mouth the names of the Lord, I am too unfortunate to experience their transcendental touchstone qualities. O Lord! I beg You to please appear as the holy name and dance on my tongue. I fall at Your lotus feet and pray: if You like, You can keep me in this material world or place me in the spiritual sky. Whatever desire is Yours, You are free to fulfill, but please let me taste the divine nectar of Krsna's holy name. You have descended amongst the conditioned souls to distribute the holy name, so kindly also consider me, an insignificant jiva. I am a fallen soul and You are the savior of the fallen. Let this be our eternal relationship. O Savior! On the strength of this relationship, I am begging from You the nectar of the holy name."

I wish you have a great week of chanting and realisations.

your servant,

Aruna devi
 
Email to a friend

ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Daily Class - Nanda Mandir Prabhu

Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.23 - Krsna & Balarama come to relieve the burden of earth and to uphold religious practice (yada yada hi dharmasya...).

 
Email to a friend

Agnideva das (Adam Helfer), Washington, USA: Occupy Philadelphia: Occupy Wall Street underdogs

Steady and Growing, Occupy Philadelphia will not be overshadowed by its East Coast counterparts.

 
Email to a friend

H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): Poem for October 16

4:28  A.M.   Poem for October 16   The talks are now on the level of spontaneous loving service to the Lord. Ramananda Raya said, "Service as exchanged by master and servant is the highest perfection." Lord Caitanya requested him to go a step further. Ramananda Raya said, "Loving service to Krishna revealed in fraternity [...]

Poem for October 16 is a post from: EVERY DAY

 
Email to a friend

H.H. Satsvarupa das Goswami (Ret.): Selected Writings

From Prabhupada Meditations, Volume III "Old-time Kirtanas" "Recently at Gita-nagari we held an old time kirtana. First we listened to a 1966 kirtana held by Prabhupada. I pointed out that Prabhupada sang only one tune and kept a steady beat for half an hour. Then we tried it. It produced a wonderful feeling, and we [...]

Selected Writings is a post from: EVERY DAY

 
Email to a friend

Toronto Sankirtan Team, CA: Looking for a home


I was at the corner of Yonge and College, one of the busy intersections in Toronto, and most people were simply zooming past me. That's when a young girl with a smoke in her hand, stopped and turned back to look at what I had. She was really young so I wasn't sure what to say. But I stuck with the basics and showed her the Bhakti Yoga. I had just read a beautiful note by Vijaya Prabhu about the 'Dos and Don't of Book distribution' where Prabhupada explained that he wanted everyone to see pictures in his books as it would make them more curious. So I started to show her pictures and then requested her to take the book. All the while I was talking she kept appreciating the book but was looking at me with an empty stare and I could not quiet make out what it meant. When I requested her donation, she simply said 'I am homeless'. I had a complete loss of words as the words just pierced my heart with shock. Gathering my wits I asked her oh, so do you believe in love or look for it. She gave a most definite yes and so I requested her to give me even a coin if she had it. She put a hand in her jacket and pulled out a begging coffee cup and gave me a coin that she had collected from begging. I gave her the book but could not check my emotions as she walked away. A quick look at some statistics showed that over 5000 homeless people in just the most affluent and industrial city in Canada. Actually who has a home in this material world, we were all living in homeless situations even when inside an apartment/house with what seems like a family. Had it not been for Srila Prabhupada's powerful books and the magnanimous shelter of devotees, we would also be lost in the smoke screen of maya, wandering aimlessly through this life. Just like that little girl walking up and down the street with a smoke.

Srila Prabhupaa Lecture SB 6.1.25 Jul 1975 : Sanatana-dharma means when the sanätana-jiva, living entity, tries go to back home... That is our real home. Here it is not home. We have taken America as home. How long it is your home, sir? Say, fifty years, hundred years, that's all. Not this kind of home. So that home is eternal. That is called, therefore, sanätana.
Source Toronto.ca : If you include homeless people in Toronto's correctional facilities, provincially run Violence Against Women shelters, and health care facilities, there were an estimated 5,086 homeless people in Toronto on the night of April 15, 2009, almost unchanged from the estimate in April 2006.
CBC News : Survey counts 5,052 homeless in Toronto
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2006/06/23/to-homeless20060623.html

 
Email to a friend

Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1967 October 16: "Kirtanananda has not rightly understood Krishna Consciousness philosophy. He has been attacked by maya; he is a victim. We shall pray to Krishna for his recovery but we cannot allow him to speak on my behalf."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967

 
Email to a friend

Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1967 October 16: "Why are you disturbing the whole situation in my absence? You have not understood Krishna properly, please therefore do not misrepresent me. If you love me please do not talk but chant in solitary place - anywhere you like."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967

 
Email to a friend

Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1968 October 16: "The Ravana class want Sita without Rama and therefore havoc. We want to perfect everything with Krishna Consciousness. Our policy is without Krishna, everything is zero. But zero by the side of Krishna, then it is 10, 1,000, 1,000,000."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

 
Email to a friend

Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1968 October 16: "In future we can open centers in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Fiji, Bangkok, Sydney, New Zealand, and all neighboring islands. And Hawaii will be our center for spreading Krishna Consciousness in the Pacific."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

 
Email to a friend

Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1968 October 16: "I have come here on the order of my Spiritual Master, I am nonentity; there is no credit for me, all the credit goes to my Spiritual Master. He has arranged everything, and I am simply to abide by His order."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

 
Email to a friend

Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1971 October 16: "Somehow or other on account of their previous pious activities, they have come to Krishna Consciousness. So amongst ourselves we should treat one another very sympathetically so that our missionary activities may go on unhampered."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

 
Email to a friend

Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1971 October 16: "I hope the Deity worship is going on very nicely; dress, flowers, ornaments, arati, cleanliness, foodstuffs, all of them must be regular, accompanied by kirtana, street sankirtana, distribution of literature, etc."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

 
Email to a friend

Srila Prabhupada's Letters

1973 October 16: "As soon as the older boys can read Sanskrit and English, they should read our books, such as Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Their attention will be always in Krsna consciousness. That will save them from the clutches of maya."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

 
Email to a friend

Bhakta Chris, New York, USA: A Revolution In Consciousness?


By Chris Fici for ISKCON News on 12 Oct 2011
Image: dipatch.com
Occupy Wall Street demonstrators carry a "false idol" to New York's Zuccotti Square
I was recently having lunch with a few of the ministers and pastors from our Interfaith community here in New York`s the East Village, and I was struck by how our conversation turned, like the force of a magnet, towards the practical matters of feeding and caring for the increasing number of homeless and destitute who were appearing in the Village.

I felt a certain disquietude as I listened. I didn't feel comfortable joining in their interest, and as I explored that discomfort, I returned to the disconnection still lingering in my heart between a bridge unmade.

My own compulsion to understand truth had previously lead from me the realm of social justice and activism to the realm of the spirit, and since that transition, I have been struggling to reconcile within my heart the bridge between these two worlds. 

As I began exploring my feelings surrounding that lunch, another layer of truth hit me like a ton of bricks. The headlines I read turned towards a unique gathering in downtown Manhattan, which we all know now as the "Occupy Wall Street" protests.

In the past few weeks, I have been doing a dance in my mind and heart over how I feel towards this unlikely and unprecedented turn of events. I have gone from being quite eager to go down there and join them in their strange and colorful carnival, and I have also felt an equally strong desire to keep my distance.

Other monks in our ashram are feeling the same way, teetering between feelings of solidarity and skepticism, encouragement and discouragement. Yet it's something we can't ignore, not only because it's right down the street, but because it is speaking to a voice we know we all share.

Stop what you are doing for a moment and go to this website which is philosophically and practically linked to the protests on Wall Street:http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

What do you feel when you read some of these people's accounts? I feel the pain of my own parents' financial troubles. I feel the pain of so many people from the wasted city of Detroit, where I grew up and honed my roots. I feel the pain of people just like me, just like you, who have found that precepts of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", as guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence, are a cruel joke laid upon them.

I look at many of the young people saddled with college and credit-card debt and I also feel gratitude for my current shelter as a monk, which has allowed me to keep a certain space from being plunged into that kind of angst, an angst which is visceral and existential all at once. I can literally say that "there but for the grace of God go I."

Most of all I feel that there are people who are done with being stuck with the survival of the fittest. Those camped out at Zuccotti Park near Wall Street are but the spearhead of what appears the emergence of a new zeitgeist, of a potential movement moving across lines of race (though not necessarily class), which is done with what Naomi Klein calls "The Shock Doctrine", or disaster capitalism.

The 99% are people who are sick of being manipulated and exploited by the 1% who, by all appearances on the surface and underneath, are rigging the system and benefiting beyond any sense of means and decency by a dependence on the inherent shocks and chaos programmed into the system itself.

In her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Klein writes of the 1% and one of their "spiritual" preceptors Milton Friedman:

"This desire for godlike powers of total creation is precisely why free-market idealogues are so drawn to crises and disasters. Non-apocalyptic reality is simply not hospitable to their ambitions. For thirty-five years, what has animated Friedman's counterrevolution is an attraction to a kind of freedom and possibility available only in times of cataclysmic change-when people, with their stubborn habits and insistent demands, are blasted out of the way-moments when democracy seems a practical impossibility."

This is clearly a movement which is making the attempt to push back, to assert an essential need for decency, integrity, justice, and humanity. They are articulating a voice for so many of the voiceless. The desire of their heart is so sincere, and this is what is attracting so many of us to consider and even directly support their activism.

Yet, despite all these obvious truths, I still struggle to join my body, mind, and heart with their own. This is largely because I am a head-space person, and I am becoming more conscious of the "limits of my empathy", as articulated quite nicely in a recent NY Times op-ed by David Brooks, but the bridge between these considerations and actual action is also still unmade, and is the great conflict of my inner spiritual life at the moment.

There are practical considerations in any case. As monks, our distance from the world insures the space and freedom to cultivate the deeper spiritual reality which underlies and actualizes all potential solutions to the problems of this world. This distance allows a proper perspective and vision.

I can't help but relate to the similar struggle the great Catholic writer Thomas Merton also felt in trying to understand the bridge between his concerns for social justice and spiritual truth. He was careful to avoid the kind of zeal that warps sincerity, and which turns this sincerity into the violence of pride. From his 1962 essay The Seasons of Celebration he defines the zealot as an individual:

"who 'loses himself' in his cause in such a way that he can no longer 'find himself' at all. Yet paradoxically this 'loss' of himself is not the salutary self-forgetfulness commanded by Christ. It is rather an immersion in hos own wilfulness conceived as the will of an abstract, non-personal force; the force of a project or program. He is, in other words, alienated by the violence of his own enthusiasm: and by that very violence he tends to produce the same kind of alienation in others."

There is, of course, a fear in getting involved, of getting too drawn in when we are already in our ashram stretched to the max is so many ways. There is also a fear and hesitation based on simply not being familiar, on the ground, with the protestors, with who they are, what they are feeling, what they are experiencing. The only to this cure is a careful engagement on our part, to a sharing of our presence which also keeps us free from the winds of the chaotic and unformed aspects of this movement.

What the Occupy Wall Street movement needs, and what it is yearning for, is something more than a band-aid solution. They must solve the questions of leadership, policy, momentum, and a deeper integrity which will resonate with the mainstream. They must solve the question of how they are going to become truly transcendent.

Where do we come in to help them do this? Humbly of course, at first, not pretending to be the soothsayers who will guide them to victory, but as their servants trying to make them aware that they are on the cusp of a potential revolution in consciousness. We want them to understand truly what it means to come in like a needle, and out like a plow.

It is my own personal conviction that, as devotees and caretakers of Srila Prabhupada's mission, that we cannot live in a vacuum. We must offer, in some way, our presence, our association, our wisdom, our lifestyle, our love, friendship, and support. I ask for your blessings and your own prayers that we can perhaps all do this with courage and without naivety.

Bhakta Chris Fici is a monk in the Bhaktivedanta Ashram at The Bhakti Center, New York City

Related Stories:



Read more:http://news.iskcon.com/node/3943#ixzz1ayIQf7zF
 
Email to a friend

Haricharana das, Indonesia: Walk Harinam~Segara Beach - Padang Galak...





















Walk Harinam~Segara Beach - Padang Galak Beach

varaḿ deva mokṣaḿ na mokṣāvadhiḿ  
na canyaḿ vṛṇe 'haḿ vareṣād apīha 
idaḿ te vapur nātha gopāla-bālaḿ 
sadā me manasy āvirāstāḿ kim anyaih

O Lord, although You are able to give all kinds of benedictions, I do not pray to You for the boon of impersonal liberation, nor the highest liberation of eternal life in Vaikuntha, nor any other boon (which may be obtained by executing the nine processes of bhakti). O Lord, I simply wish that this form of Yours as Bala Gopala in Vrndavana may ever be manifest in my heart, for what is the use to me of any other boon besides this?

idaḿ te mukhāmbhojam atyanta-nīlair 
vṛtaḿ kuntalaiḥ snigdha-raktaiś ca gopyā 
muhuś cumbitaḿ bimba-raktādharaḿ me 
manasy āvirāstām alaḿ lakṣa-lābhaih

O Lord, Your lotus face, which is encircled by locks of soft black hair tinged with red, is kissed again and again by mother Yasoda, and Your lips are reddish like the bimba fruit. May this beautiful vision of Your lotus face be ever manifest in my heart. Thousands and thousands of other benedictions are of no use to me.

namo deva dāmodarānanta viṣṇo 
prasīda prabho duḥkha-jālābdhi-magnam 
kṛpā-dṛṣṭi-vṛṣṭyāti-dīnaḿ batānu 
gṛhāṇeṣa mām ajñam edhy akṣi-dṛśyah

O Supreme Godhead, I offer my obeisances unto YouO Damodara! O Ananta! O Vishnu! O master! O my Lord, be pleased upon me. By showering Your glance of mercy upon me, deliver this poor ignorant fool who is immersed in an ocean of worldly sorrows, and become visible to my eyes.

Damodarastakam

Every living being is anxious for full freedom because that is his transcendental nature. And this freedom is obtained only through the transcendental service of the Lord. Illusioned by the external energy, everyone thinks that he is free, but actually he is bound up by the laws of nature. A conditioned soul cannot freely move from one place to another even on this earth, and what to speak of one planet to another. But a full-fledged free soul like Nārada, always engaged in chanting the Lord's glory, is free to move not only on earth but also in any part of the universe, as well as in any part of the spiritual sky. We can just imagine the extent and unlimitedness of his freedom, which is as good as that of the Supreme Lord. There is no reason or obligation for his traveling, and no one can stop him from his free movement. Similarly, the transcendental system of devotional service is also free. It may or may not develop in a particular person even after he undergoes all the detailed formulas. Similarly, the association of the devotee is also free. One may be fortunate to have it, or one may not have it even after thousands of endeavors. Therefore, in all spheres of devotional service, freedom is the main pivot. Without freedom there is no execution of devotional service. The freedom surrendered to the Lord does not mean that the devotee becomes dependent in every respect. To surrender unto the Lord through the transparent medium of the spiritual master is to attain complete freedom of life.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) 1.6.37


 
Email to a friend

Madhava Ghosh dasa, New Vrndavan, USA: Devotee Brothers Use Sports to Build Community and Keep Youth Fit

By by Madhava Smullen on 30 Sep 2011
 

 

Raghu and his wife Yamuna outside the Alachua temple

 
In Alachua, Florida—home to North America's biggest ISKCON community—two second generation devotee brothers have found that sports can be a healthy part of a balanced Krishna conscious lifestyle.

Samba Zaldivar, 36, and Raghunath Zaldivar, 31, have played soccer for many years and have found it a good way to keep the "temple of the body" fit, as well as to build community and contribute positively to the development of the next generation of ISKCON youth.

Raghunath, a father of two, has served as a P.E. teacher in the local charter school for nine years, where a large percentage of the students are devotees.

He began playing soccer while at the Gurukula day school in Gita Nagari, Pennsylvania in 1986 and '87, and when he moved to Alachua the following year, began playing in the city's local recreational soccer league.

At twelve years old, his talent was spotted, and he was picked to play for a select team by the US Youth Soccer Association, traveling to cities throughout Florida to play other all-star teams until he was seventeen. At the same time, Raghunath—known to his friends as Raghu—made the varsity team at his high school, Santa Fe, and became its all-time leading scorer with 62 goals, a record he still holds.

"I had some really cool experiences there," he says. "There was a whole bunch of devotee kids on the team. Once while we were on the bus, some of the other kids starting asking us what the Hare Krishna mantra was, and when we told them, they wanted to chant it. The next thing we knew, the whole bus was roaring out the Hare Krishna mantra!"

After high school, Raghu received a scholarship to play for Carson-Newman, a Baptist liberal arts college in Tennessee. Traveling to neighboring states such as Kentucky, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Alabama while playing for its soccer team, he established strong bonds with his fellow players and introduced many of them to Krishna consciousness too.

"They'd see me chanting japa, and would have many questions about it," he says.

Graduating from Carson-Newman in 2002 with a degree in communications, and a minor in psychology, Raghu didn't have to wait long to find a job. Upon moving back to Alachua, he was contacted by the head of the local charter school who asked him if he'd be interested in applying for the position of P.E. teacher. He did, got the job, and now, nine years later, he hasn't looked back.

"I love my job," he says. "I teach 165 students right now, about half of whom are devotees, from Kindergarten through eighth grade. We do warm-up exercises, stretches, the Presidential Challenge Physical Fitness program, rock-climbing, and tons of games—American football, soccer, and many games that I made up and the kids gave crazy names. There's Raghuball, which they love—it's a combination of Capture the Flag and Dodgeball—and Death Lane, which is also a type of Dodgeball. In this country right now, we have a big problem with childhood inactivity, obesity and heart disease—so many kids just stay inside and watch TV and play videogames all the time. Our philosophy is to make sure the kids have a really good time and learn to enjoy physical activity, so that they have a positive outlook on it throughout their lives."

Raghu also seeks to give youth a positive experience of Krishna consciousness, and has contributed to his community by organizing a mentoring program and other schemes in the past. Recently, however, he has managed to combine sports and Krishna consciousness for a wonderfully unique offering to the youth of ISKCON Alachua.

Coach Raghu (back row, third from the left) with teachers and P.E. students from Alachua charter school

"When I was going to Carson-Newman, a Christian college, I noticed a lot of churches doing something called lock-ins for their youth," he says. "Because kids love getting together and staying up all night, they created a supervised facility for them to do that, with plenty of activities that would have a positive influence. So I decided to do the same."

Every year, in October or November, Raghu rents the gym at the Alachua Recreation Center, and organizes a spectacular lock-in for thirteen to eighteen year olds from the local ISKCON community. The teenagers stay up all night from 8pm until 8am, playing sports such as soccer, Basketball, Raghuball, and a gurukula favorite called Dadhi Bandha.

Prasadam is provided for them throughout the night, and mixed in with this healthy, supervised fun are many Krishna conscious activities. Various devotee speakers from the community make presentations on Srila Prabhupada, the Bhagavad-gita, the Holy Name, and even local preaching efforts such as Gainesville's Krishna House.

"They absolutely love it," Raghu says. "As soon as one lock-in ends, we get kids asking us when the next one is for the rest of the year!"

Raghu's brother Samba, who has also played soccer since high school, also uses sports to create a positive social and fitness experience for the local Hare Krishna youth, but in a slightly different way—he has his own soccer team.

"Back in 1996, when I was twenty-two, we started a team called The Pandavas, after the heroes of the Mahabharata," he says. "Eighteen out of the twenty-two players were devotees, who would come out and play with shaved heads and sikhas. The community would show up to our games playing mridangas and kartalas. It was crazy."

Although the Pandavas only lasted two seasons, in 2004, Samba decided to start a new team of second generation devotees. While the number of devotee players has sometimes fallen, today, there are fourteen amongst the twenty team members of "Real Alachua."

"What's special about it is that I also used to teach P.E. at the New Raman Reti school on our ISKCON property years ago, and now many of the kids I taught have grown up and are my team-mates," says Samba. "The team chemistry is great, because we all know each other so well."

Affiliated with the Gainesville Regional Soccer League (GRSL), Real Alachua has won six League championships and five tournament championships, and remains one of the top teams.

"If you look at our roster now, it's full of names like Govinda, Krishna, Balarama, Mathura, and Uddhava," Samba says. "That's pretty awesome!"

Describing his team as keeping devotee kids engaged in a healthy, clean way, Samba adds, "Apart from me and my brother, who is also on the team, many of the others are between the ages of eighteen and twenty. So sometimes I'll find myself coaching them. If they loose their temper, for instance, I encourage them to relax and remind them that it's just a game."

Raghu, whose priorities are bringing his children up in Krishna consciousness, contributing to his community, and doing Deity worship both at home and at the temple, agrees.

"In sports, as in life, we must remember to play the game, but not be attached to the results, as Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita," he explains. "Sports are good for your body's health, and can be a positive recreational activity; and I think playing them is fine as long as we always remember not to take them too seriously and loose focus of what's really important in life—Krishna."


Filed under: Sports
 
Email to a friend

Australian News: Mayapuris Rock the Sydney Kuli Catch-up

Tonight the Mayapuris once again lived up to their reputation of the kings and Queens of Kirtan Rock. They shook the house and blew the dust from our minds and hears. Look at these photos and see what happens when you let the young Tigers of Kirtan loose at your temple.


From Mayapuris at Sydney Kuli Catch-Up 16 October 2011, posted by Antony Brennan on 10/16/2011 (63 items)

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher


Share this story your way:PrintPrintFacebookFacebookTwitterTwitterGoogle BookmarksGoogle BookmarksStumbleUponStumbleUponYahoo! BuzzYahoo! Buzzdel.icio.usdel.icio.usDiggDiggLiveLiveMySpaceMySpacePDFPDF

 
Email to a friend

H.H. Sivarama Swami: Bn Georgina asks why devotees showed her a wrong attitude upon her temple visit and about chanting the Nrsimha kavaca

Jiggy Nayee asks about IVF treatment, Bn Julianna about accepting a guru and David Garvin about how many strands of neck beads to wear.

 
Email to a friend

ISKCON Malaysia: A Special Day with the Young Ones

BY MALINI PRITII  DEVI DASI

 

Thank God It's Friday (TGIF) is the first thing that comes to my mind, waking up on a Friday morning. As for most us, this is like the Heaven on Earth day, since it is the last day of the working week, unless you are some crazy workaholic.

 

Now we have the most SPECIAL inspiration; the Food For Life Malaysia and Bramacharis team organises FFL and Sastra Dana programs mostly at schools on Fridays. Of course some programs are also organised on other days of the week. So on 14 October 2011, a joyful event was organised at SRK(T) Thamboosamy Pillai, Sentul. For Simheswara, Rasa Parayana prabhus, it was bringing back time in memories, as it was their hometown!

 

Malaysian timing or Indian timing? NO WAY, when it comes to school programs. Everything has to be punctual. The event commenced at 10.00 am with Siva Caitanya prabhu guiding the school children to sing the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. Ha, this is interesting! We had Rasa Parayana prabhu playing the kartal and Santi Vardhana Caitanya prabhu dancing on the stage, teaching them how to sway their body to the left and right and saying Haribol!  Vallabhi mataji was also guiding the kids to chant. Good coordination ah? The children were having so much fun! All you can see is smiles and laughters! They were very enthused (Yes, better response than a Sunday feast program, haha). Soon after, they had a competition between boys and girls; as to who sang louder, correctly with proper coordination. They had to listen to Siva Caitanya prabhu singing and follow the dance steps of Santi Vardhana Caitanya prabhu. With eyes closed, you can tell, the girls obviously followed better (I am not being a feminist here, haha). Later, they also had volunteers from the students, to chant the Maha Mantra and rest to follow!

 

Santi Vardhana Caitanya prabhu gave a brief speech on Krishna Consciousness and Bhagavad Gita. When he asked "Who Krishna Spoke the Bhagavad Gita to?" Some of the kids answered "Indians!!!" haha! One boy got it right, he said loudly "Aaaaarrrrrjjuuuunaaaaa!" It was then time for Book Distribution! BBT Malaysia is very systematic, where books were given according to their age category which includes colouring books, children books, some simple reading philosophical books and we also had books for the teachers. Srila Prabhupada ki! Jai!

 

Santi Vardhana Caitanya and Siva Caitanya prabhus presented the books to the school teachers and kids. They were all so so so happy to receive the books and I personally saw some children going through them which was very encouraging.

 

Meanwhile the rest of the team were preparing prasadam packets for the kids! And Guess What's special? It is Malaysians all time favourite NASI LEMAK preparation, with corn jelly and lime drink to quench the thirst of the noon heat!! These were prepared by our Masterchef Malaysia Mayapur Chandra prabhu and team.

 

After having prasadam, some teachers took the opportunity to learn more about Krishna Consciousness, they were speaking to Simheswara, Santi Vardhana and Siva Caitanya prabhus. They had many interesting questions and they personally were happy and thanked the team to have such encouraging, spiritually enlightening and wonderful program which benefits not only the kids but also the teachers themselves. In total: 26 Krishna Story Hard Bound and 309 small and medium size literatures and 350 prasadam packets distributed. P/S: Let me tell you, Children are so much fun.

And if you had a crazy week, consider taking leave on a Friday, because this is not only a spiritual program, it is stress relief, fun, exciting and very satisfying at heart. In summary: YOU WILL LOVE IT! We also need more volunteers to assist the FFL Malaysia team; it would be wonderful if you could give a hand. The more the merrier! Come on! BOY, I wish I was in school again!

 
Email to a friend

ISKCON Desire Tree: Vaishnava Calender - Srila Narottam Dasa Thakura -Disappearance

<div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:YwkR-u9nhCs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?d=YwkR-u9nhCs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?i=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?i=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:KwTdNBX3Jqk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?i=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:KwTdNBX3Jqk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:l6gmwiTKsz0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?d=l6gmwiTKsz0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?i=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?a=pxLUkigT0mU:nH3KKzblK-Q:TzevzKxY174"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Iskcondesiretree?d=TzevzKxY174" border="0"></img></a> </div>

 
Email to a friend

H.H. Bhakticharu Swami: Vaishnava Etiquette (1) Mauritius Lectures

THE FOLLOWING SEMINAR LECTURE WAS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CARU SWAMI IN MAURITIUS 24 MARCH 2011. Transcription : Her Grace Rasa-Mandali Dasi Editing : Her Grace Hemavati Radhika Dasi Audio reference : click here Pictures : click here The first thing today is because it is a seminar there may be a need to [...]

 
Email to a friend

ISKCON Toronto, Canada: Kartik Bhagavatam Classes - LIVE!

 
Email to a friend

ISKCON Melbourne, AU: Today's Darsana

16/10/2011

"His eyes are filled with fear, and the necklace of pearls around His neck, which is marked with three lines like a conch shell, is shaking because of His quick breathing due to crying. To this Supreme Lord, Sri Damodara, whose belly is bound not with ropes but with His mother's pure love, I offer my humble obeisances."

(Sri Damodarastakam)

Here is the darsana of Sri Damodara on this beautiful Sunday of the month of Kartika.

 
Email to a friend

Dandavats.com: Philadelphia 2011 Ratha Yatra Report to Srila Prabhupada

By Jahnava devi dasi

"The most enlivening feature of Ratha Yatra for me is the energetic, creative, and responsible participation of so many of our congregation members who fantastically organized everything from the fleet of children's Ratha Yatra carts in the parade to the various workshops on yoga, meditation, and kirtan at the festival sites." --Ravindra Svarupa prabhu

Correo Vaishnava

Archivo del blog