Toronto's Hare Krishna Centre (ISKCON Toronto), has always been the hub of a rich, vibrant and enthusiastic community. Whether it be grand festivals, programs at local universities and yoga studios, philosophical discussions, cooking sessions, or singing and dancing on the streets, there are events taking place for everyone's interest.
We recently received a newsletter from Vaisnava Family Resources, a website by the Grihastha Vision Team. The newsletter covered the team's presentations at this year's Festival of Inspiration, an article about parenting entitled, "Parenting: Are you a Jellyfish or a Brick Wall?" and even responses to questions from devotees. The work that the team does is more than inspiring. From the Vaisnava Family Resources website:
The Grihastha Vision Team is a grass roots volunteer group of Krishna devotees who are mostly mental health or educational professionals. Our intention is to provide resources to support married couples and prospective couples primarily in North American ISKCON communities. However, the broader community of Vaishnavas, and anyone who is interested in spiritual married life are welcome to take advantage of the knowledge that is shared here. We want to help spiritualize your married life so that it will be an asset for your Krishna (God) consciousness. We welcome your suggestions to make this site relevant and useful.
Walking monk crossing Canada to meditate, meet people
NEW GLASGOW – Clad in a bright orange robe and wearing sneakers, a Hare Krishna monk is walking through Pictou County this weekend as part of his fourth trip across Canada.
The Ontario-born Bhaktimarga Swami, now 53, joined the Hare Krishna in 1973 and adopted a Sanskrit name as part of his vows.
Bhaktimarga, who began his travels in Newfoundland a week ago, averages about 30 kilometres a day and camps on the side of the road, preparing his own vegetarian meals. This weekend, he plans to stay with a friend in the county and hold a ceremony welcoming a Halifax woman in to the movement before continuing on towards New Brunswick.
During the recent Toronto Film Festival, the Hare Krishna's took the opportunity to share the spotlight with the stars by loading onto a double-decker bus and chanting exuberantly through the downtown streets! Here's a quick clip to help re-live the wild experience. Keep an eye out for the part where we pass by a tattoo studio owned by Yamuna Jivana das, one of the many artistic devotees of our community! The name of his tattoo studio is BluGod (and it features a beautiful picture of Krishna on it's window facing Yonge Street)!
CDM (Ceto Darpana Marjanam) is a project which entails the organized cleaning of the temple as a group that will start at 6:30pm on Friday!!! :)
Be part of a special process, the process of cleansing one's heart by cleaning the temple! :)
The schedule will be as follows:
6:30pm to 8.30pm - Maha clean-up
8:30pm to 9:00pm - Special pizza party and nectar-filled conversations.
An inspirational quote by Srila Prabhupada: "Everything within the temple should be kept very, very neat and clean. And the more you keep the temple neat and clean, you will be neat and clean within your heart. And then your understanding will be very easy. We cannot understand Krsna because our heart is piled up with many garbages. That we have to cleanse."
-- Srila Prabhupada Melbourne, May 22, 1975
Please come out and bring your family and friends for this unforgettable experience!
As part of the Mahamantra Festival, the Hare Krishna temple chartered a double-decker bus on Saturday, September 10, 2011! With a boosted sound system aboard the bus cruised it's way around all of Toronto's hotspots, with devotees chanting, singing and drumming much to the delight of the public! Like a party-on-wheels, the kirtan (chanting) brought smiles to everyone on the streets! Check out some highlights from this incredible event below:
This film is an artistic depiction of the prophecy made by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura in the early 19th century that a wonderful temple would appear at Sri Dham Mayapur and people from all over the world would gather there to chant the holy names in great ecstasy. Srila Prabhupada played an integral role in making the Thakura's prophecy a reality.
Over 46 years ago, His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada stepped off the steam ship Jaladutta onto American shores and rest is history. From the moment Srila Prabhupada set foot on western soil, he began to work miracles! ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), popularly known as the Hare Krishna Movement, was formed in 1966. Today, 45 years later, there are over 400 centers all over the world with thousands of followers and Srila Prabhupada's legacy lives on in his students and books!
In order to celebrate the historic occasion of Srila Prabhupada's coming to the west, celebrations are taking place in every corner of the world! In Toronto, we have organized a ten day festival called the Mahamantra Festival. The festival commenced on Sept 10 and will go on till Sept 20! The coming 4 days are going to feature special events and we hope you can join us in these events!
Thursday, September 15 - Srila Prabhupada Memories Movie Night at Hare Krishna Temple, 243 Avenue Road from 6:30pm - 8:00pm. Popcorn and juice will be served as we sit back and watch some memories of Srila Prabhupada!
Friday, September 16 - Harinama in Downtown Toronto - meeting at the temple at 6:30pm. With the famous TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) on, it is the perfect opportunity to go and share the Hare Krishna Mahamantra with enthusiastic Torontonians!
Saturday, September 17 - Beatles Festival in Orillia (Pre-Registration is required). George Harrison and the Beatles expressed great interest in the Hare Krishna Movement and helped devotees in UK to establish the movement there. So when the organizers of the Beatles Festival in Orillia contacted us, we had to join them to honour George Harrison and his love for the Mahamantra. If you are interested in joining, please email the Sankirtan team at toronto.sankirtan@gmail.com .
Sunday, September 18 - Special Sunday Feast glorifying Srila Prabhupada! If you feel inspired, you can also join us for Mangala Arati (Morning Program) from 4:30am.
For more inspiration, join our daily calls from 7:15am - 7:30am with the reading from Sri Namamrta. These calls will go on only till September 20! So dial in tomorrow :-)! It is the perfect way to start your day!
Conference line dial-in: 647-847-1525; Passcode:- 6118889#
On Tuesday, September 20, we will be having a Grand Finale Kirtan & Pizza Party - an extremely grand way to cap off 10 days of fun and bliss with a special kirtan night at the Hare Krsna Temple!
A group of devotees from Toronto's Hare Krishna community gathered to throw a mini-surprise party for Bhaktimarga Swami as he prepared to begin his FOURTH walk across Canada this year.
With Maharaj busy in a meeting, devotees hid in the restaurant with balloons, rose petals, a confetti stick and a garland and waited for Maharaj to be brought in! It was an explosion of colour and chanting as we then surprised Maharaj and brought him to a specially arranged table where we served a huge feast for him (and everyone present)!
The special menu included all of Maharaj's favourites: noodles, manchurian, cream cheese wraps, humus wraps, gauranga potatoes, Russian potato salad, asparagus, spinach sabji, pizza, paranthas, greek salad, strawberry/banana/coconut milkshakes and more!
The mini-surprise party was a huge success and we wish Maharaj all the best as he heads out for his fourth walk across Canada! Hare Krsna!
Toronto's Hare Krishna Temple has an exciting seminar coming up. The temple's Pujari Department, which manages the care of our beautiful Deities in ISKCON Toronto is welcoming anyone interested in learning about process of Deity worship. The seminar will teach basic standards for worship that can be adapted for both home and Temple worship.
The Seminar will take place in four sessions on October 8th-9th and 15th-16th. Regestration is required as educational material will be sent to the participants prior to the seminar.
Click HERE to register.For more information or if you have questions, comments please contact Bhakti Yoga Das.
