Bhakti Vriksha Hands on Training held in ISKCON Najafgarh (Delhi)
ISKCON Najafgarh had organized a 3 Day workshop Entitled Bhakti Vriksha Hands on Training between 11th-13th September 2019. Around 30 devotees participated in this workshop. This workshop was facilitated by Nityanand Ashraya Prabhu (Temple President) from ISKCON Bahadurgarh, Harayana.
In the workshop, Nityanand Ashraya Prabhu thoroughly discussed the different preaching techniques, Systematic Training and Education, Different preaching Models, Difference between One-time Program and Cultivation, pitfalls in delivering lessons and their solutions, interactive ways of learning and much much more….
If interested in these training programs, please contact our central office in Sridham Mayapur at Chakra Building, Office #128 from 10:00-13:00 / 14:00-17:00 Mon-Fri & 10:00-13:00 on Sat.
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Basic Principles to Create a Healthy Marriage
By H.H. Chandramauli Swami
Challenges and difficulties are actually opportunities to make spiritual progress. When two people are roped together based on religious principles, getting guidance from seniors and through spiritual leaders and work through the difficulties even though it may seem impossible then that relationship becomes stronger. That is also given as a statistic that when two people somehow or the other agree to make it work despite the difficulties then in that effort success is there then that relationship becomes stronger. This is an important point to understand.
Actually this is the whole process of life itself. One makes advancement both materially and spiritually when one accepts difficulties as opportunities. When we see difficulties or challenges, of course we have to be fixed within our duty and our responsibility, and when we accept the difficulties as the mercy of the Lord then those difficulties actually awaken within us the realizations how to perceive our responsibilities. Krsna gives the intelligence.
Nowadays I see so many things how within our Krsna consciousness society being in the position I am in people come to me with so many marital challenges, problems and sometimes they want immediately to call it off and they want my blessings to call it off. Srila Prabhupada when he first began the Hare Krsna movement, in those days of course no one knew anything about Krsna consciousness marriages or how to become Krsna conscious within the marriage situation. So Prabhupada took on the responsibility for being the priest during the marriage ceremony and giving the directions, the blessings and the instructions on what it means to become responsible in marriage life.
After three years Prabhupada decided not to do that service anymore because he said, “You are not taking it seriously.” So it is difficult. Sometimes you may say unless you are in the situation you can’t really understand the situation, but we can understand from the authorities that ultimately that the goal is to become Krsna conscious and the opportunities to accept difficulties in the relationship and to rise above those difficulties or to accept them as the opportunity to become more connected in our devotional way.
So Radhanath Swami Maharaj tells this story, it is a personal story but he tells it also in classes. It is interesting when he was a little boy, about eight years old his mother said, “Your father and I don’t get along so good so we are thinking that maybe we should get separated.” As a little boy being attached to both parents he started to cry and his mother was really emotionally affected by her sons crying so she went to her husband and said, “Our son is really upset that we are going to be breaking up so lets try to make it work.” And because of that they stayed together just for the benefit of the child. Then of course later on their relationship became strong, so strong that later on they both became fully Krsna conscious. And his mother left the world at the Krsna Balaram Temple by the grace of her son.
So we can see how when two people somehow accept difficulties as opportunities to become responsible then the mercy comes in different ways. So even if not perfectly matched according to character and taste and it is very hard these days. I was told by some devotees that they got more than one astrological reading. They don’t like the first one they get another one and if they don’t like that one they can have multiple choice to see which one is the most suitable for their desire. You might say that it has an element of cheating in it.
Of course another way to determine what gives a safe entry into a relationship is to get the recommendations of seniors and friends who know both the boy and the girl and when they say, “Oh yes, we know her and it seems like it will work and so we give our approval. “ That is another way. That is very important also because we cannot somehow see through that situation.
To know more details about Bhakti Marriage course for Men, please click here iskconcongregation.com/courses/bhakti-marriage-for-men/
Bhakti Marriage course for Women, please click here iskconcongregation.com/courses/bhakti-marriage-for-women/ ... See MoreSee Less
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Sri Bhadra Purnima- A campaign to inundate the world with Srimad Bhagavatam
In the Srimad Bhagavatam 12.13.13 it is stated:
prausthapadyam paurnamasyam
hema-simha-samanvitam
dadati yo bhagavatam
sa yati paramam gatim
“If on the full moon day of the month of Bhadra one places Srimad-Bhagavatam on a golden throne and gives it as a gift, he will attain the supreme transcendental destination.”
In the Varaha Purana it is mentioned that –
mamotsavesu sarvesu, srimad bhagavatam param,
srnvanti ye naraa bhaktya mama prityai ca suvrata
bastra alankara maihpuspair, dhupa dipo pahaarakaih,
vasikrito hy ahamtais ca, sat striyaa sat pati yatha
“Sri Narayana said to Brahma, O saintly brahmana! among all of my festivals, the celebration of the appearance of Srimad Bhagavatam is the best. I am subdued by persons who with devotion and love hear, decorate and worship Srimad Bhagavatam, with clothes, ornaments, flowers, incense and lamp during festivals, just as a chaste wife subdues her husband.”
In Krsna-lila–stava (412–416), Srila Sanatana Gosvami prays,
“O Srimad-Bhagavatam, O nectar churned form the ocean of all the Vedic scriptures, O most prominent transcendental fruit of all the Vedas, O You who are enriched with the jewels of all spiritual philosophical conclusions, O you who grant spiritual vision to all the people of the world, O life-breath of the Vaisnava devotees, O Lord, You are the sun which has arisen to dispel the darkness of the Kali-yuga. You are actually Lord Krsna, who has returned among us.
“O Srimad-Bhagavatam, I offer respectful obeisances unto You. By reading You one attains transcendental bliss, for Your syllables rain pure love of God upon the reader. You are always to be served by everyone, for You are an incarnation of Lord Krsna.
“O Srimad-Bhagavatam, O my only friend, O my companion, O my teacher, O my great wealth, O my deliverer, O my good fortune, O my bliss, I offer respectful obeisances unto you.
“O Srimad-Bhagavatam, O giver of saintliness to the unsaintly, O uplifter of the very fallen, please do not ever leave me. Please become manifested upon my heart and my throat, accompanied by pure love of Krsna.”
The Srimad Bhagavatam is the literary incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and should therefore be worshipped with great devotion. In Srila Prabhupada’s purport of this verse, he explained that “(o)ne should place Srimad-Bhagavatam on a golden throne because it is the king of all literature. On the full-moon day of the month of Bhadra, the sun, which is compared to this king of literatures, is present in the constellation Leo and looks as if raised up on a royal throne. (According to astrology, the sun is said to be exalted in the sign of Leo). Thus one may unreservedly worship Srimad-Bhagavatam, the supreme divine scripture.”
Bhadra-Purnima is also the date on which Srila Prabhupada took sannyasa. When asked, “Are you going to America?” he replied, “No, Srimad-Bhagavatam is going to America—I am going with it.” The Sastra, previous Acharyas, our most beloved Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada and senior-most leaders of ISKCON have shared their realizations and instructions on Srimad Bhagavatam, now it is up to us how seriously we take these instructions to heart. Come let’s take this auspicious opportunity to Worship, Preach and Distribute Srimad Bhagavatam.
Reference, Mayapur Communications Forum
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Lord Nrsimhadev’s Mercy
Dr. Bashudev Das is a Bangladesh Government doctor. His 20-year-old daughter Mistee Das who is a medical student became very sick in March 2006. She was diagnosed with a life-threatening germ cell tumor in the ovary. They brought her to Mumbai, where treatment started. But soon the doctors gave up on her.
Dr. Das went to visit the ISKCON Temple in Juhu, where one devotee gave him a leaflet about the upcoming Nrsimha Caturdasi festival in Mayapur, which he attended. There he received a small book of pastimes of Lord Nrsimhadev in Mayapur. He read in the book some of the miraculous cures that Lord Nrsimhadev had performed, and was convinced that by Lord Nrsimhadev’s mercy his daughter would be cured.
He went back to Bangladesh and contacted Lord Nrsimhadev’s pujari in Mayapur. He requested him to offer a special offering to Lord Nrsimhadev to save his daughter’s life. Immediately Mistee’s health started to improve. Now gradually she is returning back to her normal state.
Basudev Das became so inspired by Lord Nrsimhadev’s mercy that he printed the book of His pastimes and distributed it in Bangladesh. He says, “I feel every person should pray to Lord Nrsimhadev for personal and spiritual development.”
All glories, all glories to the merciful Lord Nrsimhadev in Sri Mayapur.
As an act of gratitude for our sponsors, we, the Congregational Development Ministry, offer a monthly offering on behalf of all our donors. Subscribe and get a monthly puja for Lord Nrsimhadev done on your family’s name!
To subscribe to the monthly offering to Lord Nrsimhadev in the name of your family, please visit our website iskconcongregation.com/cdm-subscriptions/ ... See MoreSee Less
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