Krishna carnival lights up London

The chariots were pulled by rope through the streets of central London

Londoners are used to seeing juggernauts rumbling through their streets, but this was a very different kind of heavy traffic.

It was a riot of colour in the heart of the capital - three 40-foot-high wooden chariots pulled from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, accompanied by a colourful crowd singing, chanting and dancing their way along the route.

Britain’s Hare Krishnas were holding their 40th annual Rathayatra Carnival of Chariots, a street festival which brings together a mixture of devotees and bemused onlookers.

The ancient ceremony originates in Jagannatha Puri in India - giving British colonial forces a new word to describe a huge, lumbering vehicle.

Thaipusam and Ratha Yatra in Singapore

BY MADAN MOHAN DAS

Jan 22, SINGAPORE (TUE) - In the Sri Jagannath, Sri Baladeva, Srimati Subhadra Stuti it is stated:

karunamrta pathodhi sudhamne namo namah
dinoddharaika guhyaya krpapathodaye namah

“O You who are an ocean of nectarean compassion and whose abode is most attractive, I offer my obeisances to You again and again! You uplift and deliver the fallen souls, but how you do this no one can understand. O ocean of mercy, I offer you my respectful obeisances!” As we see from the above verse, Sri Jagannath’s thoughts and activities are always engaged in trying to deliver the fallen souls of the universe. But no one knows how he actually does this. His activities are wonderful and cannot be conceived. This truth was extraordinarily exhibited in Singapore during the annual Thaipusam festival which is celebrated by all the Hindus in Singapore to glorify Lord Kartikeya.

Free World Holy Name Day Posters!

BY EKLAVYA DASA
Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada, the ambassador of the holy name.

These are the new ISKCON World Holy Name Day Posters designed by the World Holy Name Day International team deputed by the GBC.

You can download and print these FREE high resolution versions at A3 size.

Monday, September 17, 2007 (Srila Prabhupada’s Arrival in the USA) World Holy Name Day Poster (Global)

Please visit this link for the posters.

ISKCON Moscow update

BY HH BHAKTI VIJNANA GOSWAMI

Dear Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to our beloved Srila Prabhupada.

I offer you and all the devotees my heartfelt congratulations on your successful celebration of Sri Krishna Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja.

Here in Moscow, Janmastami and Vyasa Puja were celebrated with great pomp. Around six thousand people passed through the temple on these two days. HH Bhakti Chaitanya Maharaja was the guest of honor.

Annual World Holy Name Day - September 17th

BY JANANANDA GOSWAMI

Don’t forget World Holy Name Day. Chanting the holy names is the Yuga Dharma and the purpose of all our activities. This year the GBC resolved as follows: “That World Holy Name Day is made an annual program for all ISKCON centers. Different countries or continents can modify the name to suit their needs. “The observance of World Holy Name Day is to be held in connection with Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in the USA (Sept. 17, 1965) to coincide with, and commemorate, his delivering the gift of the holy name to the world. -A Global Coordination Team for World Holy Name Day shall be appointed consisting of His Holiness Lokanath Swami, His Grace Janananda Das, and His Grace Ekalavya Das.

Singapore Ratha Yatra

BY DEVAKINANDAN DAS

Last Sunday 29 July 2007 marked the 5th Annual Chariot Festival of Sri Jagannath, Sri Baladev and Sri Subhadra in ISKCON Singapore. Due to legal and governmental constraints, we are not allowed to bring the Lord to the streets. However, by the Lord’s mercy, devotees gather every year in a peaceful cow farm (Vishnu Dairy Farm) in Singapore. This year was no different and no less ecstatic.His Grace Bhojadev Prabhu, disciple of Srila Prabhupada and dear friend and well wisher of His Holiness Bhakti Svarup Damodar Maharaj, graced the occasion and led the way in chanting and dancing before Their Lordships. This year, more than 350 devotees, newcomers and well-wishers attended the Festival, pulling the Lord’s Chariot, and taking turns to lead rousing kirtan.

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare Me a Dome

BY CARU DAS

Aug 6, UTAH, USA (MON) - Now that the domes, arches & columns are finished for our temple here, Vaibhavi and I are thinking of giving the manufacturers the nod to continue making them for us, and our putting them up for sale to anyone who would like to incorporate them into their own temple design. Krishna Temple of Utah is the designer and owner of the molds, and can make them available to temples under our proprietorship.

Before
After

Domes are of one type of material and the arches and columns are another.

Christian protesters disrupt Hindu prayer in U.S. Senate

Jul 31, USA (TUE) —

A group of Christian protesters tried to shout down a Hindu clergyman who was invited to give the opening prayer during yesterday’s session of the Senate. Capitol Police say they arrested three people after they stood up and started yelling “this is an abomination” when guest chaplain Rajan Zed invited the Senate to join him in prayer.

Thanks the Congressional Record, we can now share the full text of the prayer that the protesters didn’t want anyone to hear:

The Prime Symptom of Love

BY HH JANANANDA GOSWAMI
THE PRIME SYMPTOM OF LOVE IS THAT THE DEVOTEE WANTS TO SEE THAT HIS LORD’S NAME FAME ETC. BE SPREAD EVERYWHERE.

In New Vrndavana on September 5th 1972, Srila Prabhupada was lecturing on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.6. “One who is engaged in devotional service of the Lord in love and devotion. What is the symptom of love? The symptom, the prime symptom, most important symptom of love is that the devotee wants to see that his Lord’s name, fame, etc. become widespread. He wants to see that “My Lord’s name be known everywhere.” This is love. If I love somebody, I want to see that his glories are spread all over the world. And Krsna also says in the Bhagavad-gita, na ca tasmat manusyesu kascit me priya-krttamah, anyone who preaches His glory, nobody is dearer to Him than that person..”

We hear a lot about the need to be loved. Interestingly enough there are few references to the need for this but quote after quote stating our need is to love. The nature of the soul is to love. What better and easier way to express and develop this than to give the holy names to others. “In every town and village my holy names shall be heard and chanted”.
golokera prema-dhana hari-näma-sankirtana rati nä janmila kene täya

NewVraja Dham, Hungary : Photos from the Harvest festival

BY ADI RADHIKA DASI

PHOTOS BY GAURA SAKTI DAS

 

 

In this years harvest festival Govindanandana, Anthardi prabhus and others serving in goshala prepared a very beautiful ox cart, making everyones hearts greatly pleased. The cart and the oxen you are seeing in this picture are completely made from wood, manure and straw. Another nice side of this is that these oxen are zebus that we are desiring to breed in our farm in the future. I guess their appearance on this auspicious harvest day is a sign that soon they will be with us.

Great service opportunity! Give Krishna To Soldiers

BY MAHA-TATTVA DASA

Aristide LaVey is a US Army soldier, a devotee of Sri Krishna. He first found out about the Bhagavad-gita as a child when he received a copy from a sankirtana devotee. Ever since he’s been a regular reader of Srila Prabhupada’s books and a visitor to the Iskcon Los Angeles temple. Recently he was called to active duty service in the Army and is based in Ft Bragg, North Carolina.

Aristide distributes Bhagavad-gitas to Army Chaplains and Chapplain assistants. He gives them a few copies to give to the soldiers who are looking to read the Bhagavad-gita. He also gives them out to anyone who sees him reading his and asks about it. “I try to be a good devotee through my service and example.” says Aristide.

Though the Department of Defense has authorized the recruitment of “Hindu” Chaplains since 1998, they have yet to attract any. It is Aristide’s dream to become the first.

Ratha Yatra Worldwide

Hare Krishna followers brought the annual Ratha Yatra event to Liverpool last Saturday. Devotees believe they receive spiritual benefit by pulling the chariot of Jagannatha, the Lord of the Universe. [Photo: Elliott Housego and Angelo Velardo]

Jul 19, PURI, ORISSA (THU) — More Ratha Yatra stories from around the world.

Villaggio Hare Krishna Welcomes You

BY TATTVAVIT DASA

June 26, MILAN, ITALY (TUES)

This spring I revisted the place where I edited the “Darsana” book for six months. You should visit it, too — Hare Krsna Village, near Milan — to see beautiful Deities.

Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai and Sri Radharamana have jewelry decorating Their waists and wrists that is custom-made by devotees. Their outfits and the backdrops are first-class.

The new altar is especially attractive. The temple room was renovated in the past two or three years, and a new, carved wooden altar from India was painted off-white, with trim of blue and silver (Srila Prabhupada’s vyasanana matches it). Absolutely elegant!

The modern Deity kitchen is always producing wonderful offerings, and the pujaris are devoted and talented.

The old temple-room roof was raised. Large new windows near the ceiling and floor admit lots of light. The ceiling is finished in a professionally done pattern of silver stars.

Cameras on the ceiling broadcast the morning programs and darshans. On the wall — along with a few BBT paintings — is a large Sony TV screen. The temple-room floor was redone in wood, with some marble inlay. You can walk on the roof, where there are three (small) Vrindavan-style domes.

Hindu Prayer To Open US Senate

BY NEWSPOSTINDIA.COM

June 26, NEWSPOSTINDIA (TUES)

History will be created when a Hindu prayer will be recited at the opening of the US Senate in Washington DC on July 12.

Rajan Zed, a Hindu chaplain, told IANS that he had been officially asked to say the prayer. He said he believes this may be the first time any Hindu prayer is delivered in the Senate since its formation in 1789.

Bhaktivedanta College Awards First Bachelor’s Degrees

BY TATTVAVIT DASA

June 26, BELGIUM (TUES)

On Wednesday and Thursday, June 21 and 22, 2007, students of Bhaktivedanta College, at Radhadesh, Belgium, celebrated the end of the academic year. The first six students to complete the three-year Ministerial Programme were going to receive Bachelor of Theology degrees from the college, in partnership with the University of Wales Lampeter. This is a milestone in ISKCON history: Srila Prabhupada had recommended this sort of relationship between ISKCON and a university.

On Wednesday afternoon, the students and staff took a guided tour of the Hotton Caves, an outstanding natural heritage site, to associate with one another after the final days of exams and essays. Joining them was Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, a sannyasi from Russia and the guest of honor for the graduation ceremony. He’d flown in from California the day before to encourage the college project because his strong interests include leadership training. Also on hand were Janmastami Dasa, the director of the Mayapur Institute for Higher Education and Training, and his wife, Samkalpa Dasi (from Germany), and their two teenage sons.

Famous rugby star Marc Ellis becomes Hare Krishna

BY AMRTA PANI DEVI DASI

June 12, KUMEU, NEW ZEALAND (TUES)

Shaving up, wearing a dhoti, chanting on the streets and attending mangala arati at 4.30 a.m. are some of the things experienced by new Krishna devotees, and Marc Ellis well known TV personality and former All Black rugby player, did just that from Friday, May 25 to Sunday, May 27 at the Radha Giridhari temple in Kumeu.

Kalasamvara, council member, said Ellis jumped into the role of a new devotee while filming How the Other Half Live, a TV One series on minority groups in New Zealand. Ellis was photographed by the New Zealand Sunday Herald while dressed as a devotee with the headline “Marc Ellis joins the Hare Krishnas”.

New Zealand Purushottam Report

BY SUHRIT KRISHNA DASA

June 26, AUCKLAND (TUES)

Hare Krishna Vaishnavas,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

All glories to Purushottam Masa.

With the mercy of Sri Sri Radha Giridhari and the blessings of all the Vaishnavas, the devotees in Auckland could perform a total of 114 home programmes during the just concluded Purushottam month.

Apart from spreading the glories of Purushottama Month this was a good occasion for distribution of books and beads and inviting the new host and guest to the temple and the Nama hatta programmes.

Kazakhstani online petition

By Radha Mohan Dasa

Please visit www.krishnatemple.com NOW and click the link to the new petition, or go straight to the petition webpage:

http://harekrishna.epetitions.net

Please sign it soon as you can, and please tell as many people as you can about it.

Fears for Hare Krishna Believers in Kazakhstan

BY MATT CRESSWELL
 

Jun 16, UK, RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE, LTD. (SAT) — More homes at a Hare Krishna commune have been destroyed in Kazakhstan. Workers and police arrived at a village near Almaty this morning and crushed the houses “into dust”, reported Forum 18 News Service. So far the beloved temple has not yet been bulldozed, but the community feels it could be the next target.

Human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis, head of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, said he was outraged at the continuing destruction. “The authorities are showing that they will do what they want, despite the international outrage at the earlier demolitions of Hare Krishna-owned homes.”

The local administration, he believes, “doesn’t care about the political damage to Kazakhstan’s reputation — or to its desire to chair the OSCE.”

Explaining why the communes were destroyed he told Forum 18: “Here in Kazakhstan the Hare Krishnas are considered to be non-traditional.”

There was some confusion over certain ‘inaccuracies’ in the community’s ownership documents submitted to the authorities but Zhovtis said he considered this to be of little significance.

Help Needed for Devotees in Kazakhstan

BY PAYONIDHI DASA

Jun 16, MARYLAND, USA (SAT) — Yesterday at Potomac temple HH BB Govinda Maharaja got a call from Kazakhstan in the middle of the kirtan, saying that the government in Kazakhstan are sending police cars, etc. to organize destruction of ISKCON properties in Kazakhstan and that of individual devotees homes.

Basically it is one big corrupt government, with officials trying to steal the land of the devotees there. I suggest devotees daily chant Narasimha and Narayana Kavachas in prayer for the devotees there. You could even do longer Narasimha prayers daily in prayer for the devotees there in Kazakhstan, as it is really getting serious.