Radhanath Swami's Blog, page 13

Radhanath Swami Speaks on ‘Redefining Happiness’ in Salt Lake City

On September 23rd, 2016 Radhanath Swami spoke to a packed house at the Nancy Tessman Auditorium in Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah on the message “Redefining Happiness”.

George Pratt, a well known local Attorney coordinated the event and gave the opening address. Caru Das, president of the Utah Krishna Temple gave the introduction.

After an enchanting kirtan led by Jai Krishna & his band, Radhantha Swami signed copies of  “The Journey Within”.

Visitors which included dignitaries from all walks of life, like Dr. Dinesh Patel, a venture capitalist; Mrs. Pamela Atkinson, advisor to the Utah Governors office; Mr. Shree N Sharma, Chairman Vijaya Foundation; Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Founder & CEO of Global Consulting International Inc; HG Radhika Raman Prabhu & his family along with several local well known Physicians & University Faculties.

Radhanath Swami Addresses Corporate Leaders at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai

Artha Forum, a not-for-profit initiative that aims to bring the relevance of ancient wisdom to modern business, organised the event “Business With a Purpose” on 17th November 2016 at Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai. Over 400 corporate heads and entrepreneurs attended. Radhanath Swami was invited to be the keynote speaker.

Others who spoke on the occasion were leaders from business and government administration: Ashishkumar Chauhan, the head of Bombay Stock Exchange, one of the leading stock exchanges in the world; Praveen Pardeshi, the principal secretary to the chief minister of Maharashtra state; and Ajay Piramal, the chairman of Piramal Group, a diversified global business conglomerate.

Speaking on the occasion, Radhanath Swami said,“Greed and exploitation are the greatest states of inner poverty. The wisdom of all sages is that we need to make sacrifices for a higher purpose, and that we need to earn with integrity and spend with compassion.” He cited from Krishna’s words in Bhagavad Gita and other world scriptures to shed light on how connecting with one’s inner wealth – one’s dormant love for God – awakens true fulfilment and compassion in every aspect of our life.















































Radhanath Swami’s talk – Applied Spirituality Testing





Questions and Answers





Ashishkumar Chauhan’s talk – Creating Happier Employees





Ajay Piramal’s talk – Conscious Captalism

Installation Ceremony of Sri Caitanya Deity at Govardhan Eco Village

On November 14th, 2016 Radhanath Swami visited Govardhan Eco Village outside of Mumbai, India, for the welcoming ceremony, (prana pratista) of the form of Sri Chaitanya, to the Eco Village’s temple.

Govardhan Eco Village is a model farm community and retreat center, inspired by Radhanath Swami in the service of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s vision, highlighting the need to live in harmony with ourselves, nature and the sacred.

Sri Chaitanya now accompanies Sri Sri Radha Vrindavanbihari on the main altar. The ceremony was held on the auspicious day of Kartik Purnima – the day Sri Chaitanya, the incarnation of love who established the devotional practice of kirtan – arrived on his historic pilgrimage to the holy place of Vrindavan. This year marked the 501st anniversary of that sacred event.

Around 3,500 devotees gathered. There were beautiful traditional ceremonies, kirtan  and Radhanath Swami spoke to the devotees on the devotional path of Bhakti, citing historical stories and passages to lead the audience into the loving spirit of the event.

Radhanath Swami Visits Italy

In mid-October Radhanath Swami visited Italy, including stops in Florence, Bologna and Vicenza.   The programs he spoke at included the launch of Ritorno all’Anima, the Italian translation of The Journey Within, organized by Centro Vaikuntha and attended by over 500 people. Radhanath Swami told stories form the book and autographed copies for the many guests.

The next evening he visited Centro Yoga in Bologna, where about 150 people gathered (mainly yoga students and teachers) to hear him speak on the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita and share stories from the Ramayana.

Photos from these events can be seen below.

Kirtan Yoga in Seatle

On Sunday, September 18th, 2016 Radhanath Swami took part in an event called Kirtan Yoga at the ISKCON Vedic Cultural Center in Seattle, Washington. Approximately 1500 guest attended the day long event which brought kirtan singer from around the world together.

 
Guest kirtan singers included…

Gina Sala one of the most famous vocalist, composer, music director, sound healer, kirtan singer and teacher from Seattle.
Karnamrita Dasi – Classically trained as a vocalist in India for nearly a decade and immersed in kirtan (devotional music) since birth, Karnamrita Dasi is one of the world’s leading kirtan singers as well as the first female Westerner to be classically trained in this sacred art.
Gauranga Das – Famous kirtan singer and vice president of the Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir in Chowpatty, Mumbai.
Partha Govinda Das – Famous kirtan singer from Assam, India

Radhanath Swami gave a wonderful lecture about the glory of Sankirtan, the congregational chanting of the holy name, and led an ecstatic kirtan himself. He also personally signed about 200 of his new book The Journey Within for guests. Delicious snacks and dinner prasadam was served throughout the day to all attendees

Talk & Book Signing at Golden Bridge Yoga Studio, Santa Monica, California

On Wednesday, July 12th, 2016 Radhanath Swami attended a “The Journey Within” book signing event that was held at the Golden Bridge Yoga studio located in Santa Monica, CA. The founders of this studio- Gurmukh and her daughter Wahe invited Maharaj for an evening featuring kirtan and a talk. The studio has a wide clientele of people from all spheres of life and was crowded with 75 guests including the soul kirtan artist, C.C. White.

A beautiful soft kirtan was led before Radhanath Swami’s arrival. In his talk he recounted stories illustrating the basic tenets of Bhakti-yoga and about his own personal experiences in relation to simple principles for balancing our lives. He simplified spiritual teachings in a heartfelt way that captured everyone’s heart in the gathering. After the talk Maharaj led a resounding kirtan that got everyone on their feet. The books were then purchased by the guests which Maharaj graciously signed. Several guests purchased several copies of the book for their friends and family and had profound conversations with him. The evening ended with many new people interested in yoga coming forward expressing a newfound interest in Radhanath Swami and the teachings of Bhakti-yoga.

C4C SLIDE

Radhanath Swami Speaks at Intel Headquarters, Santa Clara, California

On July 18, 2016, the microprocessor giant Intel Corporation invited Radhanath Swami to speak at their headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The event was organized and coordinated by the Intel India Association.

Speaking on the topic ‘Growing Through Adversity”, Radhanath Swami began the talk by quoting Winston Churchill, “Success means going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” He then narrated the story of Sindhutai Sapkal, an woman he had met who runs many orphanages around India and has nurtured over 1000 orphans. A village woman, she had been married at age ten  to a 32-year-old man. When she was nine months pregnant, he beat her senseless and abandoned her, leaving her for dead. When she recovered, Sapkal was deeply depressed. Just as she was about to commit suicide, however, she spotted an orphan and took him under her wing. She had found her calling in life. She began an orphanage, and gradually opened much more, becoming a world-famous philanthropist. She won around 270 national and international awards. Her former husband, now eighty and having lost everything he had, came to her for shelter, and with no resentment, she took him in as her ‘oldest child.’

We have many choices in life, Radhanath Swami explained. But the best way to positively affect society is to use our lives to give love to others, find love within and transform ourselves, and ultimately love God.

He shared that Sapkal had told him, “My life was a path of thorns, but I made friends with those thorns.”

Quoting the Bhagavad-gita, Radhanath Swami said true fulfillment in life comes from within us. “When we don’t have internal fulfillment, nothing external can satisfy us,” he added. Swami stressed on building a strong internal foundation, which can withstand tumultuous storms in our life.

“A meaningful life is what we give not what we get, ” he said. Elucidating this further, he explained how the roots of red wood trees, which have lifespans of thousands of years, move horizontally, and intertwine with the roots of other redwoods and thus gain stability. As human our roots are our hearts.

Sriram Govindarajan, Hardware Design Engineer at Intel Corporation said “ After hearing the talk, I felt at ease to deal with situations around me. The key takeaway for me was having a strong connect with your inner self, makes you realize what is important in life and focus on them rather than the petty disturbances that are usually not in our control. Instead of regretting about things that we lack in life we could give to people who are less fortunate than we are.”

Talk and Book Signing at Veda Yoga, Los Angeles

On July 13, 2016 Radhanath Swami spoke at the Veda Yoga studio in Los Angeles. The event was organized by Kumudini, a yoga teacher and friend of Radhanath Swami. This studio is located within walking distance of the Los Angeles ISKCON temple and the event featured a large gathering of devotees and yoga students. The studio was resounding with an ecstatic kirtan led by the LA temple singers who set the mood for an exciting talk by Radhanath Swami. Every inch of the space in the studio was occupied, with people also standing in the patios and the courtyard to hear from a heart-warming talk featuring stories from Radhanath Swami’s life, teachings from the bhagavad-gita and spiritual insights on the environment. The talk was followed by an wonderful kirtan led by Maharaj which had the audience on their feet chanting and dancing with blissfully. A book table at the back of studio received a steady stream of people eager to purchase Radhanath Swami’s new book The Journey Within and Swami signed the books and spent time speaking with guests. Everyone was treated to delightful vegan cookies and lemonade at the end of the program.

Chant 4 Change at Historic Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

Political pundits last weekend were calling the second presidential debate “the darkest and nastiest in modern history,” full of scandals, personal attacks and insults. And the ongoing drama may be what’s taking over the news lately.

But not everyone, even in Washington, is being dragged down by it. On Saturday October 8th, thousands of people from different faiths and backgrounds gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for a “Chant 4 Change,” trying to bring some light into the darkness.

Throughout the ten-and-a-half-hour event, they chanted God’s names together in each other’s traditions. They sang songs of peace, unity and love. They sang to change the consciousness that has caused so much violence, racism, corrupt leadership, environmental destruction and economic collapse recently.

“You can point to so many outward problems,” says organizer Gaura Vani, a second-generation ISKCON devotee and kirtan artist. “But when you trace it all back, it goes back to one’s own heart. If we change who becomes president this year, but we don’t change the consciousness of the nation, the city, our community, and ultimately our families and our own selves, we will not have lasting change for good.”

Although a rainy day made for a smaller crowd than expected, the 2,000 people who attended, according to Gaura Vani, “were 100% clear why they were there.” Meanwhile, thousands more regular visitors to the Lincoln Memorial witnessed and heard the chanting, and many others watched on a Facebook livestream.

“People could feel that something incredibly special was happening,” says Gaura. “And the fact that it was held not only at the same spot where Martin Luther King gave his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech, but also exactly fifty years after ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada’s first public kirtan in Tompkins Square Park, added to that historic atmosphere.”

Chanting together were people from the Sufi, Buddhist, Vaishnava, Sikh, Hindu, Native American, Jewish, Christian and yoga communities. And they hailed from Spain, Colombia, Argentina, India, Russia, Ukraine, and all over the U.S. The scene perfectly brought to life Vaishnava saint Bhaktivinode Thakur’s words from his Chaitanya Siksamrita:

“The Church of Kirtan invites all classes of people, without distinction to engage in the highest cultivation of the spirit. This church, it appears, will extend all over the world, and take the place of all sectarian institutions which exclude “outsiders” from the precincts of the mosque, church or temple.”

The event started at noon with representatives from different faith traditions speaking invocational prayers. They included Father Don Rooney, pastor of the Saint Bernadette Catholic Church in Springfield, Virginia; Episcopalian Minister Alan Gates from the California Bay Area; Washington D.C. rabbi Tamara Miller; Matt Regan, Secretary to the International Buddhist Committee of Washington D.C.; and Mary Aubry, a teacher from the Buddhist Vipassana tradition.

ISKCON Communications Director Anuttama Das also spoke. The Bhakti tradition, he said is centered on the concept of people coming together and glorifying God according to their different traditions and understandings. And so Vaishnavas were very pleased to be part of this event.

The chanting itself began with celebrated Indian classical musicians Amjad Ali Khan and Sons, Sikh artist Ajeet Kaur, and Sufi group Fanna-Fi-Allah, with the hand clapping, multiple harmoniums, and driving rhythms of devotional Qawali music.

Next came The Juggernauts, a lively kirtan/rock hybrid group led by Gaura Vani and Visvambhar who sang the Hare Krishna maha-mantra as well as songs like Bhaja Govindam that incorporated English lyrics about the higher values in life that unify us all. As they sang, Bharatanatyam dancers Anapayini Jakupko and Ganga Sheth performed, adding a spectacular element.

Grammy-winning gospel group Sweet Honey in the Rock followed, singing beautiful acapella songs of existing through difficulty with grace and love. And the rain began to matter less and less.

“As the day went on, more and more people came, until it was like a massive shanty town of tents and tarps and umbrellas,” Gaura Vani says. “People were sitting in rows, dancing shoulder to shoulder under a giant blue tarp. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Interspersed with the music were various speeches. Cherokee spiritual teacher Yona French-Hawk spoke about the rain as not a negative, but as an amplifer for the chanting. Leading everyone in a meditation that they let their prayer reflect off the pool at the Washington Monument and spread across the world, he was deeply inspiring.

Meanwhile South Florida businesswoman Vivienne DeMille spoke about the role of ethical and conscious business practices in the world’s wellbeing; Kerry Kelly encouraged the spiritual people present to get involved in politics; and Howard Ross, a professional diversity consultant who regularly appears on NPR programs, also spoke.

The Dalai Lama also sent a letter echoing Chant 4 Change’s goals, which was read out by Prabhupada disciple Rukmini Dasi at the event. “Brothers and Sisters,” The Dalai Lama wrote, “The challenges we face today call for an approach based on ethical awareness and inner values. Safeguarding the future is not just a matter of laws and government regulations; it also requires individual initiative. We need to change our way of thinking and recognise that we all belong to the same human family. Differences of faith, race or nationality are secondary in the context of our sameness as human beings. As social animals the best way to take care of ourselves is to take care of each other. This is the kind of recognition that gives rise to the trust and inner peace that is the basis for peace in the wider world.”

A letter from ISKCON GBC Jayapataka Swami was also read, in which he said that coming together and chanting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was an important spiritual activity to purify not only Washington, but the world.

As evening descended, spiritual teacher Radhanath Swami chanted and then gave the main talk of the day. We have a tendency to misidentify with many things in this world such as gender, nationality, or political affiliation, he said. But in truth we are spirit souls, looking for love. And the prayers chanted tonight can reawaken that dormant pure consciousness within us.

As Radhanath Swami spoke, the rain dispersed, the sky lit up in beautiful saffron and violet colors, and the tents and tarps were discarded, revealing the full majestic backdrop of the Lincoln Memorial.

A by now large and thoroughly inspired crowd sang along with even greater enthusiasm to African-Caribbean artist Fantuzzi, Mikey Pauker’s Hasidic Jewish prayers about coming from the eternal source of all energy and love, and others.

By the time conscious rapper MC Yogi took the stage, delivering uplifting songs about gratitude and positivity, the atmosphere was truly electric. And it all came to a crescendo with David Newman’s sing-along rock finale, mixing classic tunes like “Give Peace a Chance” with kirtan chants like Sita Rama as drums pounded, guitars wailed and the audience danced for all they were worth.

“All these kids out for Homecoming in their dresses and suits stopped by, jumped up on stage and started dancing and singing Sita Rama,” Gaura Vani recalls. “One girl, dancing like a crazy person, asked me, ‘What isthis?’ I said, ‘We’re gathering from different religions, and singing each other’s songs to show harmony and unity and peace.’ And she screamed back at the top of her lungs, ‘That’s what I belive!!’” He laughs.

Chant 4 Change concluded with a wonderful sense of camaraderie between the musicians, dancers, audience and volunteers.

“The amazing thing for me was that while every group was so diverse from each other, they responded equally to every performance, singing together and rocking to each other’s music when they didn’t know the lyrics,” says Gaura.

During the event, a reporter from PBS show “Religion and Ethics News Weekly” filmed the program and interviewed almost a dozen people, asking them how this kirtan event could have a positive impact on what’s going on in the world today.

For speaker and participant Anuttama Das, there’s no doubt that it already has.

“Despite the rain, there was no dampening of the spirit,” he says. “There was a real sense of coming together, not just as a performance, but as a yajna to try to bring about auspiciousness in the nation’s capital in these troubled times.”