Bhagavad-gita As It Is 4.9 - The importance of authoritative spiritual knowledge.

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# Posted by Timothy Mcleod at 15/6/08; 7:32:57 PM to the General dept.
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Ciranjiva Prabhu gave a nice rendition of Jaya Radha Madhava for the Sunday Feast program.
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# Posted by Timothy Mcleod at 15/6/08; 7:32:19 PM to the General dept.
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An insightful article by Satyaraja...

For many, as the twin towers came crashing down, so did Western innocence, or the illusion that the world is a safe place and that America is as loved by people of other lands as it is within its own borders. Inescapably, "violence and religion" are the new twin towers, replacing the old because the perpetrators claim that their crime was not only sanctioned by God but commanded by Him.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 21/8/06; 11:33:31 AM to the General dept.
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On thursday H.H. Devamrita Swami gave first initiation to Bk. Vijaya (Vrsni Vamsa dasa), and second initiation to Kilimbika devi dasi and Bhagavata-katha dasa. Sitting in on the yajna was Bn. Sonya (Sri Murti devi dasi) who was initiated by H.H Indradyumna Swami in December.   

                                                                            

                                                

Bk. Vijaya (Vrsni Vamsa dasa) receiving his new name.

# Posted by Divya Jnana at 2/4/06; 10:19:05 AM to the General dept.
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Today we had a most ecstatic Hari-nama through the streets of Melbourne, at one stage we had well over fifteen people.

Dandakaranya prabhu made a good comment on the way... "Imagine Hari-namas like this during the Commonwealth Games!"... and that got me thinking... Imagine Hari-namas like this all the time.
 
The response we get from the public is most pleasing, it's a great way to get the word out about Crossways, the Loft, the Temple, and of course... it's the yuga-dharma!

It would be great to get all available devotees and enthusiasts onboard, and fine tune our Hari-namas before the games are upon us.

Please add some comments for ideas and discussion, some ideas I have:

• New colour flyers for Crossways, Loft and the Sunday Feast programme for distribution
• Possibility of prasadam distribution as a regular on Hari-nama, and for the games
• Dress standards

Yuga-dharma Hari-nama Sankirtana Ki!!


# Posted by Glenn at 19/10/05; 4:39:41 PM to the General dept.
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Karunanidhi Krsna and family have arrived safely in Chennai (Madras). Karunanidhi and his family will be missed by everyone. He has been cooking the Saturday feast every week for as long as I can remember. Fortunately he has left a great team to take his place. May he continue his preaching and prasadam distribution where ever he goes.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 8/8/05; 3:05:37 PM to the General dept.
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This news is actually a bit old but just in case you didn't know it we've got boxed DVD sets of Kurma's cooking classes in the shop. There are also some children's puppet shows as well.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 16/3/05; 8:01:14 PM to the General dept.
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I'm off to India tonight for the annual meetings in Mayapur. I'm going to attempt at least one post everyday but this is the most intense two weeks of the ISKCON year for me. This is the first post where I've spoken in the first person for a while. I hope to improve on that in the future also.

I won't speak too much about what I'd like to do however; actions speak louder than words.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 21/2/05; 6:12:44 PM to the General dept.
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As you can see we've started work on replacing the front fence. We won't start the actual replacement work until after Gaura Purnima but for the time being in order to show the council we mean business and to remove the palm we've knocked the top off the wall. We've got a buyer for the palm. Prabhupada House is going to look really good when it's completed.

We are going to need some help finishing this project. For the moment if you would like to clean some bricks, be my guest. More on other help required later.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 12/2/05; 9:05:34 AM to the General dept.
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Here's something interesting I found out about the Truth today.

Food for thought. Can we take advantage of this?

Yoga we identified is the ultimate truth brand. The very thought of it combines so many different emotions, pre-conceptions and reactions all of which are positive and based on the truth.

Of course you need to take it with a grain of salt since it is part of the relative world but what I find interesting is their take on Yoga. If you want to be cool, at least for the moment and that's in a marketing sense, then you need to have a bit of Truth in your walk and if you spice it up with the connection to Yoga then all the more Truth to you.

It's a .pdf file so you might have to wait a while for it to load.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 10/2/05; 6:48:21 PM to the General dept.
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Sita-pati Prabhu came up with these links for distance learning. Thanks.

On the subject of distance learning there is www.vedalearn.com. which has a bhakta program and Bhagavad-gita online. At www.spiritualachievers.org there are question sheets for the Science of Self-Realization.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 2/2/05; 4:17:08 PM to the General dept.
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Thanks to Uddhava Bandhu Prabhu for this link.

Online Bhakti Sastri with the VIHE at http://www.vihe.org/corresp.htm.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 2/2/05; 1:54:24 PM to the General dept.
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I've just had a request for information regarding distance education for devotees. Does anyone know of any courses that can be pursued on-line? Please let me know.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 1/2/05; 1:37:21 PM to the General dept.
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We've got some viewing for you from shots I took over the last week.

Today's darsana is here. The shots are a bit dark. I forgot to use the proper white balance setting but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

Our hay bale stacking from last Tuesday is here.

I also took some shots of Radha-govardhanadhari last week. This was Thursday's darsana and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's disappearance day on New Years Eve. The second lot are a bit better than the first.

I decided to just get the pictures up rather than make sure they were all perfect. I didn't take my camera to the Byron Bay Ratha-yatra. I wasn't confident of my night photography skills. As it was it turned out to be a pretty wild night. Thousands participated. It was a very young crowd, mostly intoxicated but friendly and respectful, in most cases.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 3/1/05; 10:51:56 AM to the General dept.
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I'm testing a new Gallery Tool kindly provided by our software advisor, Steve Hooker. It's something I've been dreaming of for ages.

You can check out the first gallery I created here and some shots from today's darsana.

There's a nice shot of Indradyumna Swami's Radha-vallabha, a deity worshipped for over 250 years.

The gallery took me about half an hour to create. I'd like to hear your feedback.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 21/12/04; 10:30:14 AM to the General dept.
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Here's something pertinent in any times.

I got this Chinese proverb from Braja Bihari on Mediator's Sanga, a conference for ISKCON mediators on PAMHO.

Regarding maintaining sadacara when disagreeing with one another:

"Do not remove a fly from your neighbor's face with a hatchet"

# Posted by Aniruddha at 19/12/04; 8:28:14 PM to the General dept.
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Here's a great review of Crossways I just found looking for the name on the web.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 18/12/04; 9:38:30 PM to the General dept.
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Indradyumna Swami will be doing a program at Bhakta's house tomorrow starting midday. He lives in Rowville.

If you want to come along give me a call and I'll give you the address. You can get me on my mobile. 04 1444 1428.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 18/12/04; 9:01:06 PM to the General dept.
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If you are looking for some Christmas gifts we've just brought back some new items from India which you might like to have a look at. Ask Susan to show you what's new.

We've also received three sets of the small compact Srimad Bhagavatam which we are selling at $240 per set.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 17/12/04; 2:23:28 PM to the General dept.
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Test post from Singapore.

I've got an intermittent connection which won't allow me to download my email in one go. Consequently I have six or seven copies of the same messages. Fortunately web mail works but that also intermittently. It's less of a nuisance.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 19/11/04; 9:19:38 AM to the General dept.
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Test from remote location in my office.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 18/11/04; 9:03:37 PM to the General dept.
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We've got some new arrivals in the shop.

Satyaraja's new book called "Holy Cow" looks like a good read. There's also the last ten copies of Prabhupada Slokas from the BBT in India and two sets of Prabhupada Siksamrta, extracts of pertinent instructions from Prabhupada's letters.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 17/11/04; 8:29:32 AM to the General dept.
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# Posted by Aniruddha at 9/11/04; 5:42:01 PM to the General dept.
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Speaking of Diwali and Govardhana Puja, we have a lot of arranging to do this weekend.

We need to make sure we have plenty of Arati trays set up for the weekend. Sweets need to be prepared and boxed. There are going to be a couple of big feasts. Muni-cari will need help setting up the Abhisheka and Acintya Rupa is going to need assistance making sweets for Govardhana Hill.

We are going to need to plan for what will be a busy weekend. We'll also need some extra hands as well.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 4/11/04; 7:17:03 PM to the General dept.
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This is a little note from Kurma I picked up from the Perth temple mailing list.

ps...and for those devotees (who shall remain nameless) who complained and harassed me in the kitchen yesterday because I didn't allow them to leave their cooking tasks to go to the temple program so they could ‘think of Krishna’ ...I humble (sic) submit this for you to all to read...

Early one morning Subala left the land at Ramana-reti, where he had been staying, and approached Srila Prabhupada on the roof of the Radha-Damodara temple. "Prabhupada," he said, "I am having so much difficulty. I don't have time to read, I can't chant my rounds properly, I can't think of Krsna. I'm always thinking of how this contractor is cheating us, or I'm thinking of signing cheques for labor and materials. It's just too much. All these things on my mind are stopping me from thinking of Krsna."

"Do you think Arjuna was simply meditating on Krsna on the battlefield of Kuruksetra?" Prabhupada replied. "Do you think Arjuna was sitting in yogic trance, while on the battlefield Krsna worked? No, he was fighting. He was killing for Krsna. He was thinking of all the soldiers he had to kill for Krsna. "Thinking of the checkbook, thinking of the men, thinking of the contractors - this is also like Arjuna's thinking. This is Krsna's service.

You should not worry about thinking of Krsna directly. Arjuna wasn't sitting before Krsna in a trance, meditating on His form. He was engaged in Krsna's service. Similarly this is Krsna's service, and you should engage. Your life is full of Krsna's service, and that is very good."

# Posted by Aniruddha at 23/9/04; 1:03:17 PM to the General dept.
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Well we managed to survive Radhastami without too many incidents. Madhava Maharaja gave a great class which went on right up till the arati. Those who stayed for the kirtana arrived a little late for prasadam and so a few missed out on prasada which had been served since 6.00 pm. The feast was magnificent. Acintya Rupa did a really good job ably assisted by Scott, Renu and Sudama. There were also quite a few others who helped with the cut up and other preparations.

Veda Priya ogranised the flower set for Radha-vallabha and it was really bright and colourful. I thought it was the best yet.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 23/9/04; 12:50:26 PM to the General dept.
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Tomorrow is Radhastami. It's a half day fast.

Out temple progam will start at 5.00 pm. Bhakti-visrambha Madhava Swami will be giving class till 6.00 pm when we serve the feast.

Acintya Rupa is cooking the feast and is looking for assistance. Kurma's helped her out with some recipes.

He's cooking for 150 in Perth. Acintya Rupa is struggling with the idea of cooking for 350. Please give her a hand if you have some spare time tomorrow.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 21/9/04; 3:41:08 PM to the dept.
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I just spoke to Gopala at the Show. He confirmed my suspicions of this morning. The traffic on Epsom Rd was a lot heavier this morning than on any other day, even Sunday. It looked to me like it was going to be another busy day at the Showgrounds.

I got the picture above from Manigriva yesterday. Nobody's going to miss our stall.

You can see what Manigriva was really into from the picture below. He tells me this pure bred Brahman bull is worth around $8000. He's a beauty. They've been designed to pull a cart, haven't they? Look at that hump over his shoulders.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 21/9/04; 2:56:12 PM to the General dept.
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For those of you looking for some excitement in the kitchen, and an opportunity to learn some culinary tricks, Kurma is canvassing for an assistant during his next visit to Melbourne in October.

Prabhu, do you know of any devotees who would like some work experience in the cookery/teaching area who would like to accompany me to any of the 4 TAFE classes I will be conducting whilst in Melbourne? They would drive me to the TAFE, learn how to cook, eat like kings and come back with me. The first one commences Saturday 2 October. Any cooks should take up this opportunity.

If anyone is keen on the idea contact me here.

I'm not sure if he means ‘all cooks’ or ‘any cooks’ but it is a good opportunity.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 21/9/04; 1:57:49 PM to the General dept.
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I've got stuff to post and things to say but not enough time to organise myself to do it.

We did a very nice home program today which took up the better part of the middle of the day.

Reports from the show are promising. Manigriva was told by one of the gate attendants that the wait at the gate was between 2-3 hours. Our crew get in easily because they are pass holders. Now that the football is all but over, at least for most Melbourne fans, attention is turning to the show and it is packed today. That of course means lots of customers for Krsna's prasada.

Some customers have mentioned how happy they are to see us at the show. It means they can get something decent to eat.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 19/9/04; 8:01:22 PM to the General dept.
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Madhava Maharaja didn't do the home program last night since he hasn't been feeling well. Kadamba Kanana Swami also left with the flu and a healthy cough.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 18/9/04; 2:59:29 PM to the General dept.
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Our new site design is making progress. We are discussing with our designer the combination of our web graphics with a new letterhead and other stationary so that our branding is consistent. We might even revamp the FOLK News printed edition so it echoes the theme to. So far we have pretty much settled on our home page layout. It will be tweaked over the next week or so. We'll be adding pages and sites for the restaurants, farm and other temples in Australia. There's a fair bit of work to be done but I'm hoping it will look pretty good. The response I've received from those who have seen our current design has been very positive.

We'll be pulling all the posts from here and squeezing them into the new site so we'll keep our history. At this stage it looks like we might abandon the FOLK News name. The site will basically be ISKCON news. It will function the same as FOLK News but have a different name and a lot more links and information. ...which I will have to get together.

That's our current thinking at this stage. This is a work in progress so things may change.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 18/9/04; 2:25:41 PM to the General dept.
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Our router and internet connection have finally settled down. We have also settled into the show schedule and routine nicely. Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami is giving morning and evening classes. Tonight he'll speak at the student program at Nityananda's. Last night he did a program at Ranga and Usha's.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 18/9/04; 7:48:25 AM to the General dept.
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I just received the following news from Ekendra Prabhu.

This is to let you know that Sukha-sindhu das was born this morning - 17 September at 5:32 am - amidst the chanting of the holy names and loving supervision of devotee matajis from the community here in Christchurch, New Zealand. Both Sukha-sindhu and Seva Kunja mataji are doing fine.

Congratulations. Now the fun starts!

# Posted by Aniruddha at 18/9/04; 7:37:09 AM to the General dept.
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Manigriva has promised me some shots from the show. He'll upload them to me today.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 18/9/04; 7:08:51 AM to the General dept.
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We are changing the morning program slightly so that those of us going to the show early will get a chance to hear the Bhagavatam class and breakfast.

Guru puja will start at 6.45 am and class will begin right after greeting the Deities at 7.05 am. We'll finish class at 8.15 am. Cooks will need to have breakfast ready by 8.15 am.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 15/9/04; 2:42:27 PM to the General dept.
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We are still having major problems with our connections so until we fix it I'm restricted from posting a lot here.

Koti and I spent a lot of time working on the problem yesterday and today. We thought we had it sorted out. One thing keeps on popping up after another so we are now back to the drawing board again.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 13/9/04; 8:37:25 PM to the General dept.
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It looks as if the router has settled down for today.

We are still going to exchange it for something more stable.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 11/9/04; 4:22:49 PM to the General dept.
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Our Router is playing up. One minute it is up then it is out of action for an hour or so. We are going to have it replaced but we need to set up a replacement in the mean time.

I've got a few links and items to post but will have to sort out the router first.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 9/9/04; 6:20:47 PM to the General dept.
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It is pretty hectic in the temple at the moment. There's a lot going on around the place. The tents are going up. Buckets of vegetables are piling up in the car park. Rooms are being readied. Visitors are arriving.

We managed to finish the Vyasasana today. We are missing the bolsters and cushions which should arrive tomorrow. It still looks pretty good though. We experienced a few minor hiccoughs but it all came good in the end.

Thanks to Jason we were able to get a pretty reasonable finish. I'm going to try to get him to build some shoe racks for the shoe area tomorrow. Hopefully we can ease some of the congestion there tomorrow night.

# Posted by Aniruddha at 6/9/04; 7:01:47 PM to the General dept.
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I hear there are some concerns regarding replacing the woodwork on Prabhupada's Vyasasana. I appreciate we are replacing the original and that will be a loss. However it is inevitable we will have to do these things as they age. In removing the upholstery I became more aware of this than I was earlier. The foam on the seat is turning to powder. It's just reached its use by date. It's my realisation that the same type of work will have to be done again in another thirty years. Materials just don't last for much longer.

As for the molding it was beyond repair. It was ‘shabby’, to quote a word a repor