Bhaktivaibhava Swami to Debut "Lost Village" This Sunday!

H.H. Bhaktivaibhava Swami and the producers of the documentary Mother Ganga have launched another documentary project, Lost Village, inspired by the story of H.H.Lokanath Swami. This Sunday, H.H. Bhaktivaibhava Swami will be visiting The Hare Krishna Centre to debut this new production.

For the first time in human history, a smaller proportion of the global population now lives in rural areas, states the United Nations statistics from June 2006. The twentieth century witnessed the rapid urbanization of the world’s population. As a result villages have been eclipsed in importance, as units of human society, settlement and traditions. This issue is being dealt with by the documentary Lost Village. Lost Village aims to explore that simple way of life, which is crucial to the solution of ecological problems and social dilemmas.

Lost Village is not the story of one village or one villager, but a story of 500 thousand villages in India and millions throughout the world endangered to vanish from the face of the Earth.

View the trailer of the documentary below:

18th Annual Astaprahar (24-Hour Kirtan)

This weekend, devotees from ISKCON Toronto as well as visiting devotees from ISKCON Montreal will be participating in the 18th Annual Astaprahar: 24-hour non-stop chanting of the maha mantra. The program is being held at the Tagore Center, 140 Millwick Drive, Toronto (Islington and Steeles Ave West), Phone: 416-740-7222. The program begins at 9:00am on Saturday May 1st, and the kirtan will be kicked off by our very own Bhaktimarga Swami at 10:00am and will continue till 10:00am on Sunday.

Click HERE for the event flyer.

Marriage Counselling Seminars by Grhasta Vision Team

Marriage or Grhasta life is an important aspect of the Hare Krishna Community and in order to share the importance of married life and in particular, a Krishna Conscious married life, the Grhasta Vision Team was formed in 2003. This group of Hare Krishna counselors helps married couples and prospective couples cope with different aspects of marriage by means of interactive workshops and seminars.

Partha das and Uttama dasi, two of the counselors from the Grihasta Vision Team will be here in Toronto conducting a series of workshops at ISKCON Toronto from Saturday, May 1st to Tuesday, May 4th.

May 1st (Sat) - Strenghtening the Bonds that Free Us (I) - 10:00am - 6:00pm
May 2nd (Sun) - Strenghtening the Bonds that Free Us (II) - 10:00am - 6:00pm

May 3rd (Mon) - Staying Connected in Krishna Conscious Marriage - 6:30pm - 9:00pm

May 4th (Tue) - Good and Bad Relationships and The Languages of Your Love - 6:30pm - 9:00pm

These seminars are open for all and will be held at ISKCON Toronto. In order to cover the costs for the seminar, there is a nominal charge for attending these seminars. For couples, it is $120 or $75 per person for all four days. If you chose to attend only a particular session, it is $20 per session. Prasadam (Vegetarian lunch or dinner) will be provided at the end of each seminar.

To register for these seminars, please contact Praharna devi dasi. For further questions, please feel free to contact us!

We look forward to seeing you at these seminars!

Deity Darshan: Sunday, April 25, 2010

No Sunday Feast Recording This Week!

Due to technical dificulties we were unable to record our live broadcast of the Sunday Feast and so we are unable to post a recording this week. We apologize for any inconvenience.
We will resume with live broadcasts and videos with the upcoming Sunday Feasts!

Krishna's Month Back Again After Two and a Half years!

As many regular spiritualists of the Hare Krishna tradition know, Krishna's month or the Purushottama Adhik Mas is back this year after two and a half years! This special month is inserted into the lunar calendar to help the lunar months coincide with the solar year. An extra month called Purushottama Adhik Mas, is inserted every 30 months (every 2 ½ years).

Purushottama, is another name for Lord Krishna, Adhik means extra and mas means month.

Lord Krishna presents different opportunities for us to get closer to him and this is a special time for sincere spiritualists to increase their spiritual strength and draw closer to Krishna.

To read more about Krishna's month or the Purushottama Adhik Mas, click here!

Sunday Feast Photos - April 18, 2010

Here's a look at this week's Sunday Feast through the eyes of a camera lens!

"Reaching out to Krishna? All you need is heart."

Jaya Radha Madhava - Lokanatha Swami

Here is a beautiful video of HH Lokanatha Swami singing Jaya Radha Madhava at the Laguna Beach Hare Krishna Centre in California in 2002.

During our weekly Sunday Love Feast, the class is usually opened with the singing of this bhajan, Jaya Radha Madhava. The bhajan goes as follows:

(1)

jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-bihārī

gopī-jana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī

(2)

yaśodā-nandana braja-jana-rañjana

yāmuna-tīra-vana-cārī

TRANSLATION

1) Krsna is the lover of Radha. He displays many amorous pastimes in the groves of Vrndavana, He is the lover of the cowherd maidens of Vraja, and the holder of the great hill named Govardhana.

2) He is the beloved son of mother Yasoda, the delighter of the inhabitants of Vraja, and He wanders in the forests along the banks of the River Yamuna!

Srila Prabhupada was very fond of this sort and sang it just before his lectures. In Allahabad and Gorakhpur Srila Prabhupada fell into a trance after singing the first two lines, and after some time he came back into external consciousness and said, "Now just chant Hare Krsna." Srila Prabhupada said that this song is "a picture of Vrndavana. Everything is there--Srimati Radharani, Vrndavana, Govardhana, Yasoda, and all the cowherd boys."

Deity Darshan: Sunday, April 17, 2010

Sunday Feast Recording - April 18, 2010

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

An Audio Treasure-Trove: ISKCON Desire Tree!

Many of our regular readers probably already know about this website, but just for those who may not know, there is a wonderful website entitled "ISKCON Desire Tree" where a wealth of audio gems are located. Ranging from audio classes, kirtans and more, this website has all the Krsna conscious gems you could ever ask for.

You can hear kirtan and classes from Srila Prabhupada, along with many of the wonderful sannyasis of our movement. Click here to visit ISKCON Desire Tree!

A Visit from the Funny Side!

We stumbled upon a cute little comic that portrays the dilemma of the modern devotee. (Just for the record, Facebook is not considered taboo in Hare Krishna circles... but if you're spending 18 hours a day on Facebook... that's another story!) :o)

Check out ISKCON Toronto on Facebook!

ISKCON Scarborough Flourishes!

Last year, the ISKCON Toronto Blog featured an article about the rapid expansion of ISKCON Centres in Canada. The article mentioned the early beginnings of ISKCON Scarborough.

ISKCON Scarborough has rapidly grown and now hosts several programs each week! Once you step through the door of this nondescript industrial unit, you're transported into another world. The welcoming devotees and the beauty of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Gopi-Vallabha make anyone feel right at home!

For more information about this new centre please check out their blog: http://www.iskconscarborough.com/. The ISKCON Toronto Blog Team would also like to formally welcome them to the world of blogging!

A Beautiful Centre in Budapest, Hungary!

Considering a trip to Central Europe? Well, in the heart of Budapest, Hungary, a beautiful temple has been built by the local Hare Krishna devotees. We stumbled upon this very nice video tour of their new facilities! It's amazing to think that such an amazingly beautiful building used to be a business office for Samsung!!!

Part One:

Part Two:

Deity Darshan: Sunday, April 11, 2010

No Sunday Feast Broadcast tonight

Due to some unexpected technical difficulties,we will not be broadcasting the Sunday Feast today.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Dinner & Entertainment at Govinda's!

Govinda's Dining Hall is introducing a new monthly program, where once a month your dining experience will be accompanied by live entertainment!

The first event will be taking place this Saturday, April 10, 2010. In addition to Govinda's famous vegetarian buffet, the evening will feature a musical performance by Gaura-Shakti.

Gaura-Shakti is a Toronto-based kirtan yoga group with experienced musicians that hail from all around the world. Invoking ancient mantras and using beautiful instruments Gaura-Shakti will help take you on a sublime spiritual journey!

The performance will begin at 6:30 pm at Govinda's Dining Hall, $12.00 per person includes vegetarian buffet.

Future monthly programs will feature classical Indian dances, dramas based on classical Indian literature and more!

Deity Darshan: Sunday, April 4, 2010

Sunday Feast Recording - April 4, 2010

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

Recordings from Rama-Lila Conference Calls

We recently wrapped up five days of celebrations for Rama Navami, which marks the appearance of Lord Ramacandra. As a new effort, Toronto's Hare Krishna temple hosted audio conference calls with special guests Krsnanandini devi dasi from Cleveland, OH and Mahatma das from Alachua, FL. Of the three calls, we were able to record two of them and present the recordings below!

Sita Devi - Strengthening the Bonds of Relationships

Facilitated by Krsnanandini devi dasi

Recorded on Friday, March 26, 2010

Earth Hour Special - Purging Our "Inner-Ravana"

Facilitated by Mahatma das

Recorded on Saturday, March 27, 2010

A New Initiative to be More Eco-Friendly!

As many of our regular temple-goers know, the temple decided last year to begin using steel plates during our weekly Sunday Feasts to reduce the amount of disposable plates used by our community. At that time, a special committee was formed at the temple to make recommendations about new environmentally-friendly initiatives that our community can undertake.

The Hare Krishna temple would like to announce that, in an effort to reduce our temple's eco-footprint (and also to go to a more Vedic way of hygiene), we will no longer have toilet paper in the temple washrooms. We encourage people to use water for personal cleansing after using the washroom.

According to environmental statistics, the average person will use a total of 20,805 sheets per year! That is quite the burden on the environment. We hope that this humble effort will do it's part to reduce that impact.

While the Hare Krishna temple acknowledges that this may be an unpopular decision at first (similar to our switch to the use of steel plates), we hope our community will support this effort to help the environment.

To allow for an adjustment period, devotees will be allowed to bring their own toilet paper from home to the temple for the next 90 days as a grace period. If you have any questions and/or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

For those of you who figured we are too spiritual to play tricks on you, we'd like to wish you a Happy April Fool's Day!!! We promise the washrooms will be stocked with toilet paper... we promise! (Check out last year's April Fool's joke)