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"You cook samosas. You chant beautifully, you have love for Krishna. What else is needed?"

Sudama: Srila Prabhupada saw me come in. I paid my obeisances, and he jumped all over me. "What is this? Why you have left? Why you are dressed like that?" He asked me all these questions for twenty minutes. I was sweating, crying, very upset, very confused, very on edge, very on trial in front of my God-brothers, who were really strangers. I had gotten a temple that was too big, and my men had been stolen. It was the old politics game.

The Lord is to be Worshipped by one's own consciousness, not by material substances - by waving lamps, lighting incense, offering flowers or even food or sandal paste. HE is attained without the least effort: HE is worshipped by Self-Realisation alone. This is the Supreme Meditation, this is the Supreme Worship: the continuous and unbroken awareness of the indwelling presence, Inner light or Consciousness. While doing what ever one is doing - seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing or talking - one should realise one's Essential Nature as Pure Consciousness. Thus does One attain Liberation.

- Lord Shiva to Sage Vasishta.

He was the composer of the original Ramayana into Sanskrit. He lived in Varanasi till death. The name of Tulsi ghat is after him. He was great poet in Hindi, Indian, world literature and founded the temple Sankat mochan.

Goswami Tulsidas was a great Hindu poet saint, reformer as well as philosopher and composed various popular books. He is renowned for his dedication to the Lord Rama and being the author of great epic, the Ramcharitmanas. He was always admired as a reincarnation of the Valmiki (original composer of the Ramayana in Sanskrit and Hanuman Chalisa). Goswami Tulsidas lived his whole life as well as died in the city of Benares society in the India.

History

Tulsidas was born at the 7th day in the month of Shraavana (July or August), in the bright half of the lunar. His birth place is identified at the Rajapur (also known as the Chitrakuta) at the banks of the Yamuna river in UP. The name of his parents is Hulsi and Atmaram Dubey. According to the biographers, various opinions are

Received from our Godbrother Sriman Padmapani Dasa;

The deity of baby Raghunandana on the lap of his mother at his birthplace, Sri Khanda. Courtesy of Sakhicharan dasa.

   Being called away on medical business, Mukunda Dasa once asked his young son, Raghunandana, to offer the raja bhoga to the family Deity of Gopinatha. Raghunandana prepared everything timely, carefully, and with great devotion. When he made the offering he remembered his father's order, "make sure the Deity eats." Ringing the bell the simple boy told the Gopinatha Deity, "Eat, eat!" Raghunandana began crying when he saw the untouched food remaining on the Deity's plate. He feared his father's anger for his inability to "make the Deity eat." Gopinatha couldn't resist the child's intense devotion. So the Lord ate everything on the plate, leaving no remnants.
 
   Upon returning, Mukunda asked for Gopinatha's Maha-Prasadam. Raghunandana said the Deity ate everything. Astonished, Mukunda told his son to make the offering again. From a hidden place Mukunda watched in total ama

Vamsidas Babaji was a Gaudiya Vaishnav sadhu who lived at Swarupa Gunj, Navadwip during the time of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He was respected by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, and he used to see to it that Vamsidas Babaji was provided with grains and so on by Gaudiya Matha brahmacharis.

Srila Vamsidas Babaji appeared in the village of Majidpur in the Jamalpur district of Bangladesh. Before the partition of India, this city was formerly in the district of Mymensing. His father’s name was Sanatana Malobrahma and he was previously known as Bhairava. Babaji Maharaj came to Nabadwip from East Bengal.

He lived as a total recluse, far away from the hubbub of the town in a solitary place on the bank of Ganga near Baral Ghata in Navadvipa, as if he was a mad or crazy person. His only possessions were an old kaupina, karanga and kantha. Vamsidasa Babaji lived in a world of his own. His world centered round his deities-Gaura-Gadadhara, Nitai, Radha-Krishna and Gopala. For the service of his

By JAMES GORDON MEEK 3 hours ago

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ISIS Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Sexually Abused American Hostage Kayla Mueller, Officials Say (ABC News)

Before her death earlier this year, American hostage Kayla Mueller was repeatedly raped by the top leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to counter-terrorism officials.

Mueller's family confirmed to ABC News that government officials have told them that their daughter, who would have turned 27 today, was the victim of repeated sexual assaults by al-Baghdadi.

"We were told Kayla was tortured, that she was the property of al-Baghdadi. We were told that in June by the government," Kayla's parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, told ABC News today.

DIGITAL FEATURE: What Is ISIS?

American ISIS Hostage Kayla Mueller Dead, White House Says

Fate of ISIS’s US Hostage Unknown, Experts ‘Skeptical’ of Terror Group’s Claim

Al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi who calls himself "Caliph" as ruler of the Islamic State, personally brought the enslaved

Within the heart of a Vaisnava...

"Dust in the feet. Not even an atom of the flesh, not that. Not the flesh of the feet, but vibhinamsa, the dust of the feet. Please consider me to be so. My highest ambition is there. That is the direction we got from our Masters. Try to think in this way if you want to approach and make real progress towards the absolute.

Another gopī said, “It is an unreasonable hope for us to expect Kṛṣṇa to come back to Vṛndāvana. We should try instead to be happy in disappointment. Even Piṅgalā, the great prostitute, said that disappointment is the greatest pleasure. We all know these things, but it is very difficult for us to give up the expectation of Kṛṣṇa’s coming back. Who can forget a solitary conversation with Kṛṣṇa, on whose chest the goddess of fortune always remains, in spite of Kṛṣṇa’s not desiring her? My dear Uddhava, Vṛndāvana is the land of rivers, forests and cows. Here the vibration of the flute was heard, and Kṛṣṇa, along with His elder brother, Śrī Balarāma, enjoyed the atmosphere in our company. Thus the environment of Vṛndāvana constantly reminds us of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. On the land of Vṛndāvana are the impressions of His footprints, the residence of the goddess of fortune, and because of such signs we cannot forget Kṛṣṇa.”

As I'm planning for an upcoming retreat to India in 2016, I came across this beautiful painting of Saint Tukaram & Lord Vitthala (painting by Vijay Adagale) and it reminded me of a beautiful poem by Tukaram. Thought I'd share 

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The Moral World

https://youtu.be/IPAjf2B3oR0

Srila Prabhupada founded ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, in 1966 - See more at: http://harekrishnacalendar.com/vaishnava-calendar/the-incorporation-of-iskcon-in-new-york-2015/#sthash.LFB0QYa2.dpuf