Gaura-Shakti Holds Debut Concert!

On Sunday, January 25, 2009, Toronto's brand new kirtan yoga band debuted at the Hare Krishna Temple.  "Gaura-Shakti", a Toronto-based kirtan troupe, led an evening of sacred mantras and devotional chants (kirtan) performed in a call-and-response style. 

Kirtan yoga allows a musical tapestry to fill the heart and lift the spirit in a soul-piercing journey into the sublime. From transcendentally mellow kirtans that will move the heart to kirtan that will have you joyfully dancing, kirtan yoga can be a transcendent experience!

 
Invoking ancient mantras and using beautiful instruments like harmonium, mrdanga-drum, bamboo flute, base guitar and more, Gaura-Sakti hopes to help introduce the power of kirtan to Toronto's vast yoga community!

The following is a small video presentation with clips from the evening's concert:

"Food for Life" Hits the Streets Again!

Srila Prabhupada, our founding guru of the Hare Krishna movement, had a desire to have widespread prasadam (sanctified food) distribution around the world. In an ongoing endeavor to fulfill this desire, the youth from ISKCON Toronto have been distributing prasadam to Toronto's homeless.

This past Sunday, 100 bio-degradable take-out containers were filled to the brim with delicious hot pasta and treats and were personally handed out to the homeless on the street. While some of the volunteers distributed the food containers, other devotees created a wonderful atmosphere by performing harinama-sankirtana, chanting and singing, as they happily sang the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Additionally, two large trays of hot pasta were delivered to a homeless shelter for distribution later in the day.

This Food for Life program takes place on the last Sunday of each month and all volunteers and food/monetary sponsorships are welcome. If you would like to participate please contact ffltoronto @ hotmail.com

See Below for Photo Gallery from this Month's Food For Life!

"Toronto Hare Krishna News" Now Online!

For the last few months, our Toronto Hare Krishna newsletter has been back up and running and copies can always be found at the front desk at our temple. We also now have our newsletters online and will try to keep archived copies of them available for our blog visitors!

We hope you enjoy this new feature of the blog and we thank the Pandava Sena youth group of Toronto for managing the responsibility of publishing the newsletters every month!

You can find the newsletters, available for download, in the sidebar of our blog along the right hand side.

Previous Newsletters:
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008

Sunday Feast Recordings - Jan 25th, 2009

The Sunday Feast recording this week featured the debut concert by ISKCON Toronto's new kirtan band, Gaura-Shakti! In lieu of posting the webcam recording (which was broadcasted online), we will instead be posting high quality video highlights from the concert, along with a small report, later this week. Stay tuned!!!

Deity Darshan: Sunday January 25, 2009

Kirtan Concert this Sunday with Gaura-Shakti

Last Sunday, we had a special presentation as a "Year in Review" of 2008. This upcoming Sunday, we have another special presentation for our community!

As a new initiative to reach out to Toronto's vast yoga community, a group of local devotees have formed a kirtan group, officially named "Gaura-Shakti".

To help introduce the power of kirtan to Toronto’s yoga scene, Gaura-Shakti will present devotional chants and sacred mantras in the form of kirtan yoga with a blend of modern and classical instruments.

The goal is to arrange performances within the large yoga community at various yoga studios in the GTA as a means to introduce and further cultivate spiritualists’ love for kirtan!

Their official debut will be for Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha, Srila Prabhupada and the assembled devotees this Sunday at the Sunday Feast! Instead of the normal lecture, a full kirtan presentation will be given. It will surely be something not to be missed!

2008: A Year in Review at ISKCON Toronto

This past Sunday, we showcased a presentation, "2008 - A Year in Review at ISKCON Toronto". We have placed this presentation on YouTube

The video contains touching footage and images of the early days of the Hare Krishna movement!

The message is that the Hare Krishna movement has been around, in the west, for over 40 years and while it seems that so much has changed, we're still doing a lot of the same wonderful things.

We hope you enjoy the presentation!

-- PART ONE --

-- PART TWO --

-- PART THREE --

Sunday Feast Recordings - Jan 18th, 2009

Today's Sunday Feast recording can be viewed by clicking the image below. As a reminder, the recordings from our weekly live web broadcasts are stored on our new ISKCON Toronto Video Archive Blog.

Deity Darshan: Sunday January 18, 2009

This Sunday - "2008: A Year in Review!"

This Sunday, instead of our normal class during the Sunday Feast, we will be showcasing a multimedia presentation which will present a review of all the exciting and neat things that happened at ISKCON Toronto during 2008!

Presented as a "year in review", we will cover many of the outreach, internal development and amazing things that took place at Toronto's Hare Krishna temple during 2008. This will certainly be a presentation that you will not want to miss!

The Sunday Feast begins at 6:00pm sharp! See you then!

HH Indradyumna Swami Coming to Toronto!

The Hare Krishna Temple is very happy to announce that from February 20th to 22nd, HH Indradyumna Swami will be visiting ISKCON Toronto. Travelling with Maharaj will be famous kirtaneer Sri Prahlad das.

Both Maharaj and Sri Prahlad will be conducting numerous programs in our community! His visit is still over a month away, so stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks!

No Recorded Sunday Feast :-(

Unfortunately, we hit some technical snags once again and we weren't able to record the Sunday Feast. While the Sunday Feast was still broadcasted live, we weren't able to record it. We are looking to correct the problem and will resume posting recorded Sunday Feasts next week.

Although we don't have a recording from the Sunday Feast, here is a picture from the amazing kirtan that was led by HH Bhaktimarga Swami and Ajamila das after the 8:00pm arati tonight!

Deity Darshan: Sunday January 11, 2009

Prayers for HH Radha Govinda Swami

His Holiness Radha Govinda Swami, a senior leader in the Hare Krishna Movement, had a paralytic attack and bleeding in the brain on January 8th. He is currently in ICU in Tagore Hospital, Jalandhar, India and under 48 hours observation. As of this afternoon, he is improving and hopefully will be transferred to another hospital by tomorrow.

Radha Govinda Swami is world renowned for his wonderful Srimad Bhagavatam recitation.

We request everyone to sincerely pray for speedy recovery of Maharaja.

How Did You Spend Your New Year's Eve?

On December 31st, New Year's Eve, devotees from Toronto's Hare Krishna Temple rang in the new year at City Hall amongst tens of thousands of revellers. We hope you enjoy this small video presentation recapping the ecstatic maha-harinama (outdoor chanting, drumming and dancing) that took place on that special night!!!

Sunday Feast Recordings - Jan 04, 2009

Today's Sunday Feast recording can be viewed by clicking the image below. The videos feature class by HG Rupanuga das and the 8:00pm arati by Ajamila das.

As a reminder, the recordings from our weekly live web broadcasts are stored on our new ISKCON Toronto Video Archive Blog.

Deity Darshan: Sunday, January 4, 2009

Srila Prabhupada Festival Celebrations!

A brand new year often beckons us to both start things off with a fresh outlook and approach things with a clean slate. It is no surprise that the annual Srila Prabhupada Festival, held every New Years Day at Toronto's Hare Krishna Temple, draws such a large crowd. While festivals at ISKCON Toronto almost always result in an absolutely packed temple, our festival on January 1st seems to bring out a few more non-regulars as people look to start their year with a spiritual flavour.

Challenged with the responsibility of delivering a program that would help devotees start the year on the right spiritual note, the Hare Krishna Temple had a program filled with a feast for the eyes, heart and soul.

The program began with the 6:00pm arati, led by Premavati devi dasi. After a brief welcome and announcements, HH Bhaktimarga Swami gave a small class about the importance of the new year and also took the opportunity to thank a few of the many devotees that help make our temple the wonderful spiritual hub that it is!

Following this small talk, the crowd assembled around Srila Prabhupada as Guru-Puja was sung by Asha Latha devi dasi. Devotees then scrambled for good seats as the highlight of the night was next! HH Bhaktimarga Swami presented a drama which debuted during Janmastami 2008. The drama, entitled "The Eighth Boy", featured new scenes, actors and costumes. The assembled crowd was enthralled as the stage was transformed by the superior direction of Maharaj and the wonderful acting of the cast.

As the drama concluded, the altar doors swung open and a raucous 8:00pm arati was led by Ajamila das. The temple room was packed as devotees clamoured to get a view of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha in Their brilliant red outfits! A feast like no other then awaited the massive crowd as the evening concluded with amazing prasadam that certainly had devotees rubbing their tummies on their way home.

The Hare Krishna Temple and the ISKCON Toronto Blog would like to wish everyone a happy and safe new year and hope that everyone is looking forward to a year of festivals, kirtan and more! Hare Krishna!

Srila Prabhupada Festival Picture Gallery Below

New Years Eve Maha-Harinama Hits Toronto!

The projected frigid weather was not enough to scare away a large group of devotees as they cheerfully made their way to City Hall in downtown Toronto to take part in the annual Maha-Harinama on New Years Eve.

Led by HH Bhaktimarga Swami, an ecstatic group made their way from the temple at around 10:30pm to the nearby Rosedale subway station. Already teeming with energy, the kirtan began right on the subway platform and, as the train arrived, astonished faces greeted the devotees as they boarded the train, drumming, chanting and smiling. Passengers fumbled in their pockets, purses and bags to get out their cameras to capture the moment and as the train stopped at each station, cheers and howls of approval greeted the devotees as more people piled into the train.

Arriving at the Queen subway station, the singing and drumming continued as everyone spilled out of the trains and onto the streets. Making their way towards Nathan Phillips Square, where the City of Toronto's main New Years Eve celebrations were taking place, the harinama party already began to draw a following as hordes of people tagged along and danced to beat of the drums.

As midnight approached, the ecstatic group of devotees fought off the cold by jumping, dancing and singing and, at the stroke of midnight, the sky was set ablaze with fireworks and the new year had officially arrived!

Tens of thousands of people then poured onto the streets from Nathan Phillips Square and passed right by the harinama troupe! Soon, the devotees were surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of new years eve revellers who, while perhaps a bit tipsy, still happily joined the kirtan and the chanting!

The harinama procession made it's way down Queen St. and up the famous Yonge St. towards Yonge-Dundas Square where another large crowd gathered as the kirtan built up to another final frenzy! After the final kirtan, HH Bhaktimarga Swami took the opportunity to give some random folks a chance at the microphone to see if they could belt out a "Hare Krsna" in their best melodic way.

With frosted noses and cheeks, the devotees made their way back onto the subway and eventually back to the temple where hot ginger tea, cake and steaming kichari awaited them. The annual maha-harinama at City Hall was once again a great success and while the group of kirtaneers came back a little colder and with their fare share of runny noses, smiles were abound as they all knew the new year had been ushered in with style... "Hare Krishna" style!!!

Picture Gallery from the Wild Harinama!

Bhajan & Prasadam For All!

During the weeks leading up to second annual Bhajan & Prasadam Festival, regular announcements were made at the weekly Sunday Feasts that the Hare Krishna Temple would be the place to be when it comes to ending off the year on the right note. True to form, on December 31st, Toronto's Hare Krishna temple reverberated with the blissful sounds of kirtan and the smells of tantalizing prasadam filled the air.

It all started early in the morning as a small group of devotees gathered to begin the kirtan. It turns out, CBC Television decided to drop by to take some footage for a news piece that they were working on about how different spiritual groups were planning on celebrating the new year.
As the day continued the crowd grew and the kirtan also picked up. During the break periods, devotees were greeted with delicious prasadam. The kirtan reached a feverish pace by the end of the night and all the assembled devotees then headed out for the exciting annual maha-harinama at City Hall. The next day, the kirtan continued as preparations began for the annual Prabhupada Festival.

A lot of hard work was exerted to make the second annual Bhajan & Prasadam Festival a success and a hearty thanks goes out to all the devotees who helped to make it happen. We look forward to seeing everyone at next years festival.