|  Balance Edutainment provides its expansive thoughts on the Occupy Movement
Public demonstrations will not help much.
If you want to bring about the change in this world, start with yourself.
How?
Declare a war to your lower nature.
in Mahabharata, General Bhismadeva says to king Yudhisthira that the greatest victory for a king (or any leader) is over self (meaning: over our lower self).
And what is our lower self or nature?
It is that part of us that wants to enjoy sinful activities, a part of us that is animalistic, a part that wants to control and exploit others.
If you work on controlling your lower nature, and give prominence to your higher, divine nature, you might become an empowered leader.
You might become the change you want to see in this world.
Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.35 - Krsna smashed the pride of His devotee Indra by Govardhana Puja.
We had a very sweet and intimate Diwali night yesterday. The whole altar was solely lit by ghee lamps. Here's a slideshow.
By Krishna-lila Dasi for ISKCON News on 28 Oct 2011  | Recently, ISKCON spiritual master Mukunda Goswami was featured in the documentary George Harrison: Living In The Material World, directed by award-winning director Martin Scorcese. Mukunda Goswami talks about the filming and his relationship with the ex-Beatle.
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For many years now we celebrate Govardhan Puja on Saturday at Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir.
So "Happy Govardhan Puja" dear devotees. Giriraja, which is another name of Govardhan, is the best of Krsna's servants. He supplies Krisna, Balarama and cowherd boys fresh grass for their cows, fruits, roots, minerals and beautiful scenery, caves and groves for the wonderful pastimes of Sri Sri Radha Ballabha. On this auspicious day we pray to Sri Giriraja Maharaja to always grant us the glorious darsana of the Divine Couple.
Hare Krsna my dear devotees. Today I would like to bring up a very nice topic related to chanting. I was reading a verse about the glories of Lord Rama and the name of the prayers are "Where Should Rama Stay?" and by reading the verses something came to my mind and I thought about chanting. Where should our thoughts be when we chant. If my thoughts were at the lotus feet of Krsna or on the maha mantra Himself or in the sound vibration (who is Krsna Himself), where is my heart at this time?
Sometimes it's easy to say our hearts are with the Lord when we are in kirtan, arati, worship, cooking and any other service but when we chant why our minds conduct us to anything else but not Krsna or His Holy names? So I remembered how the great devotees who chant nicely have so much love for the Lord, are so dedicated that their hearts are full of Krsna and the Lord is there all the time wherever they go....whatever they do it`s for Krsna and this seems so simple. We have to have our minds and hearts on the Lord every time, not even forget the Holy names for a second. So we should chant all the time and perform our japa with sincerity and our taste for chanting will increase in a way that one day we will chant with the heart in it.
Wishing your weekend is full of realisations on spiritual life.
your servant,
Aruna devi
Here is a very nice seminar on chanting Japa given by Chandramauli Swami (there is a slight pause between each part).
1970 October 28: "Maya is insurmountable but one who surrenders to Krsna - Maya does not touch him. So all my books are as good as Krsna therefore taking shelter of my books means taking shelter of Krsna - there is no doubt about it."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
1969 October 28: "It is very, very encouraging that you propose to go to Australia. If you can start a center there now, it will be certainly all glorious. By the order of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu we shall not leave any place within this world without Krishna Consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969
1967 October 28: "Narayana understood Dhruva's sincerity & sent Narada to initiate him. This Krishna Consciousness is a parallel process of worshiping the Supreme Lord & the Spiritual master simultaneously."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967
1970 October 28: "I've sent the sannyasis letters requesting them to preach from different centers. Why they are together? Sannyas means they should travel extensively, create new centers and new devotees--that is sannyasa business."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
1967 October 28: "Thank you very much for your letter. I am so happy that a boy of 17 years can feel so nicely about Krishna Consciousness. I am so happy that this movement is attracting young innocent hearts of America. I think the future is very hopeful."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967
1970 October 28: "In regards to Swami Tirtha, forget all these past incidences. Let us now work with new life and new vigor. They are all nice boys but maya has made them something else. In course of time, they'll all become nice again."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
1970 October 28: "If the Hamilton House in Dalhousie Square is available for purchase, immediately all of you see it. I am very much anxious to have a center in Calcutta, so if it is suitable for our purposes, you work for it immediately."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
1973 October 28: "If the men you bring to India come as tourists and then go away this kind of coming and going is a waste of money. I think you can get local men here. That is the preaching process."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
Vicaru Das
Bhaktivadanta Manor (UK) The Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 2 Chapter 9 Text 1 states: Sri-Suka Uvaca
Atma-mayam rte rajan
Parasyanubhavatmanah
Na ghatetartha-sambandhah
Svapua-drastur ivanjasa Translation Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: O King, unless one is influenced by the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no meaning to the relationship of the pure soul in pure consciousness with the material body. That relationship is just like a dreamer's seeing his own body working. Purport by HDG A.C.Bhaktivadanta Swami Prabhupada Maharaja Pariksit's question as to how a living entity began his material life, although he is apart from the material body and mind, is perfectly answered. The spirit soul is distinct from material conception of his life, but he is absorbed in such a material conception because of being influenced by the external energy of the Lord, called atma-maya. This has already been explained in the First Canto in connection with Vyasadeva's realization of the Supreme Lord and His external energy. The external energy is controlled by the Lord, and the living entities are controlled by the external energy – by the will of the Lord. Therefore, although the living entity is purely conscious in his pure state. He is subordinate to the will of the Lord in being influenced by the external energy of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-Gita (15.15) also the same thing is confirmed; the Lord is present within the heart of every living entity, and all the living entity's consciousness and forgetfulness are influenced by the Lord.
Now the next question automatically made will be why the Lord influences the living entity to such consciousness and forgetfulness. The answer is that the Lord clearly wishes that every living entity be in his pure consciousness as a part and parcel of the Lord and thus be engaged in the loving service of the Lord as he is constitutionally made; but because the living entity is partially independent also, he may not be willing to serve the Lord, but may try to become as independent as the Lord is. All the non-devotees living entities are desirous of becoming equally as powerful as the Lord, although they are not fit to become so. The living entities are illusioned by the will of the Lord because they wanted to become like Him. Like a person who thinks of becoming a King without possessing the necessary qualification, when the living entity desires to become the Lord Himself, he is put in a condition of dreaming that he is a King. Therefore the first sinful will of the living entity is to become the Lord, and the consequent will of the Lord is that the living entity forget his factual life and thus dream of the land of utopia where he may become one like the Lord. The child cries to have the moon from the mother, and the mother gives the child a mirror to satisfy the crying and disturbing child with the reflection of the moon. Similarly, the crying child of the Lord is given over to the reflections, the material world, to lord it over as karmi and to give this up in frustration to become one with the Lord. Both these stages are dreaming illusions only. There is no necessity of tracing out the history of when the living entity desired this. But the fact is that as soon as he desired it, he was put under the control of atma-maya by the direction of the Lord. Therefore the living entity in his material condition is dreaming falsely that this is "mine" and this is "I" The dream is that the conditioned soul thinks of his material body as "I" or falsely thinks that he is the Lord and that everything in connection with that material body is "mine." Thus only in dream does the misconception of "I" and "mine" persist life after life. This continues life after life, as long as the living entity is not purely conscious of his identity as the subordinate part and parcel of the Lord.
In his pure consciousness, however, there is no such misconceived dream, and in that pure conscious state the living entity does not forget that he is never the Lord, but that he is eternally the servitor of the Lord in transcendental love. This is confirmed in the Padma Purana qhich quotes the CC Madhya 17.133 as follows: Nama cintamanih krsnas
Caitanya-rasa-vigrahah
Purnah suddho nitya-mukto
'bhinnatvan nama-naminoh The holy name of Krsna is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, from it is Krsna Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Krsna's name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Krsna Himself. Since Krsna's name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with maya. Krishna's name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Krsna and Krisna Himself are identical. The powerful and merciful sound incarnation of the Supreme Lord is purely Received and honoured by the True and Faithful Lovers, these Faithful lovers are Forever intoxicated, obsessed profoundly with the nectarian taste of that Rasa, these great souls who happen to be walking amongst us are to be associated most with love and care, and we desperately take shelter of them, by thoroughly hearing, when they sing the divine names. They often travel to the spiritual world through the holy names because they have access by the power of faith, which is uncompromising, undeviating, unbending, and unflinching Faith on divine names, they are profoundly dear to Srila Haridas Thakur and the Master Lord Caitanya, the all merciful holy name reveals the knowledge to these great lovers of the holy name. This planet can turn into Vaikuntha in an instant, IF every, single being take Complete Shelter of the divine holy name, The most available now on this dark rotten planet, which Krsna is not so inclined of and which Krsna in his schedule, made the last item to think of about the welfare of this planet. Even Balrama is holding the whole universe on his thousands of hoods to maintain this universe so that the living entities can quickly recognise their identity and go back to see my brother, Krsna on that eternal planet. So the most valuable diamond is in the hands of Srila Prabhupada and his powerful and humble Servants who daily Feast on holy names: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama
Rama Rama, Hare Hare Glory to all those fortunate souls who are the greatest servants of the Holy Names With great hope in some life I'll get some speck of that taste of the Holy Names, which is highly tasted by those pure Hearted Devotees Your Humble Servent Vicaru Das Bhaktivadanat Manor (UK)
SB 06.15.07 Orienting Oneself Towards Krishna 2011-10-28 Lecture – Srimad Bhagavatam 6.15.7 Orienting Oneself Towards Krishna 2011-10-28 Los Angeles SB 06.15.07 Orienting Oneself Towards Krishna 2011-10-28 Lecture - Srimad Bhagavatam 6.15.7 Orienting Oneself Towards Krishna 2011-10-28 Los Angeles
The new issue of Martha Stewart Living featured a really ingenious idea–cabbage leaves covered in chocolate to use for ice cream bowls! At first I was all fart face about it, until I realized that you peel away the cabbage after the melted chocolate hardens and before you serve the ice cream. Oh yeah! Since it is Halloween/Fall Festival time and I am a mom of 3, I took this idea and ran with it….all the way to my cupcake decorating station. Do I really have a designated cupcake decorating station in my kitchen? Oh yeah! I used basil from my garden as my leaf molds, melted semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave (going for easy here, don’t judge), and got my paint brush sharpened (not really).  Basil leaves are a natural, non-toxic chocolate mold! A slight hint of basil was left behind; I found it rather pleasant. Mint would also be a natural choice. After I painted the leaves, I set them on parchment paper and stuck them in the fridge overnight. The next morning, I peeled back the leaves and was left with a delicately detailed chocolate relief. Or should I say, chocolate re-leaf. Guffaw.  Isn't the detail amazing? I go the best results from painting the chocolate on the underside of the leaf since that is the veinier side. I stuck the leaves, at a fun and jaunty angle!, into the piped buttercream on le cupcakes. Unfortunately, those pictures were not worthy of this blog. Sadness.
I’m sure like me you look forward to classes by our most senior but humble devotee’s and so it was nice to be at Bhaktivadanta Manor and able to record the class given by HG Krypa Moya Dasa on the morning of Govardhana Hill.
Please note that it was recorded in a tent on the Manor grounds so it’s not as clear as in the temple room but you will enjoy every second: Hg Krypa Moya Dasa.mp3 Whilst staying I was able to record the following wonderful classes for you all to enjoy: Hg Jay Krishna Dasa (1).mp3 Hg Patanjali Muni Dasa.mp3 Hg Prayojana Dasa (4).mp3 HG Prayojana Dasa (5).mp3 Hg Ramanuja Dasa.mp3
Saturday, October 29th will mark the day we commemorate Srila Prabhupada's passing from this world, also known as Srila Prabhupada's Disappearance Day. Festivities will begin at noon and will feature memories of Srila Prabhupada by our dear Srila Prabhupada disciples and amazingly sweet kirtan!
It will be a special day as Toronto's Hare Krishna temple will welcome HH Bhakti Vasudeva Swami, HH Bhaktimarga Swami, various Srila Prabhupada disciples and kirtan superstars Gaura das (Montreal, QC) and Amala Kirtan das (Dallas, TX).
Festivities will begin at 12pm and continue to 4pm. A special invitation goes out to your and your family to join us for what promises to be a VERY special afternoon, dedicated to Srila Prabhupada!
Check out this wonderful video of Amala Kirtan das from his "Yoga Bliss Kirtan Tour" in Australia last year:
 By Deva Sekharah Das
Everything started eight years ago when Dharma Raja Prabhu set out on a fantastic adventure with ISKCON youth groups of that time, groups of which I was a part. The experience was so positive that year after year since then ISKCON youth groups have strived to repeat the initiative and finally this intention became a reality in the summer of 2011. I was impressed with the adventure that Dharma Raja Prabhu was leading us on, walking 220km through the north of Spain, I was thoroughly inspired for later events and specially for this Padayatra, "The Holy Walk" Camino De Santiago | 
