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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Daily Conference Calls & Japathon going strong!


At the Hare Krsna Temple in Toronto, we're celebrating the MahaMantra Week to mark Srila Prabhupada's arrival in the west 45 years ago. 15 days of festivities are marked with harinams, sankirtan outings, double-decker harinam, 64+ round days, movie nights and more.

This past weekend Beatles Festival Sankirtan in Orillia was a great event to say the least! Over 45 devotees participated in bringing the holy names and Srila Prabhupada's books to the small town on Orillia. Everyone attending the festival was truly enthralled and left eagerly awaiting for next year. More details coming up soon!

As the week rolls by, our Japathon challenge of chanting 45,000 rounds collectively is on strong and steady we're only at 8,500 and we need you to chant and log in! This is a special offering to Srila Prabhupada to commemorate 45 years of the "Hare Krsna Culture". Visit www.torontokrishna.com to log your rounds.

Also start your mornings with special conference call readings on Sri Namamrta - The Nectar of the holy name. Every day we read for 10 min from 7:15-7:25 am, on the transcendental effects of chanting Hare Krsna and the propagation of the holy name. Join in by calling the toll free line 1-800-617-7801; Conference code: 6833446
(You don't need a security pin. Please press 1 after entering the Conference code)

Chant and Be Happy!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Maha-Mantra Week Sep 17- Oct 2


15 days of constant celebration.
1. An amazing opportunity to learn more about the glories of chanting "Hare Krsna"
2. Your crash course to know more about the person who built the house in which the whole world can live - Srila Prabhupada!
3. A golden chance to render as much service as you like. if you like!
Click on the poster for details!

Starting this Friday, Sep 17th, ISKCON centres all over the world will celebrate the arrival of Srila Prabhupada in the West 45 years ago, the day that changed the life trajectory of millions all over the globe. The celebrations this year in ISKCON Toronto will be marked by 15 days of non-stop activity. We encourage you to make the most of this occassion, participate in the numerous activities, help organize them and most importantly - spread the word around!
Please see below for a day-wise schedule (followed by an activity-wise description at the end).
Also, check www.torontokrishna.com (coming soon) and www.torontosankirtan.blogspot.com for regular updates.
Daily Highlights:-
Morning Conference Call readings from Sri Namamrta (7:15-7:25am)
Japathon challenge to chant 45,000 rounds collectively
Week 1 (Sep 17th Fri to Sep 23rd Thu)
Sep 17th (Fri) - Downtown Street Harinam (6:30-8pm)
Sep 18th (Sat) - Sankirtan in Orillia (Beatles Festival) (9am-6pm) ** Pre-Registration Required
Sep 19th (Sun) - 64+ Rounds Day (4am onwards)
Sep 20th, 21st, 22nd (Mon, Tue, Wed) - Japa-volunteer at the temple
Sep 23rd (Thu) - Srila Prabhupada Movie night (7-9pm) with popcorn and juice!
Week 2 (Sep 24th Fri to Oct 2nd Sat)
Sep 24th (Fri) - Downtown Street Harinam (6:30-8pm)
Sep 25th (Sat) - Monthly Sankirtan Festival (9am-2pm)
Double Decker Bus Harinam (4-8pm) ** Pre-Registration Required (first come, first serve basis)
Sep 26th (Sun) - 64+ Rounds Day (4am onwards)
Sep 27th, 28th, 29th (Mon, Tue, Wed) - Japa-volunteer at temple (6-8:30pm)
Sep 30th (Thu) - Srila Prabhupada Movie night (7-9pm) with popcorn and juice!
Oct 1st (Fri) - Downtown Street Harinam (6:30-8pm)
Oct 2nd (Sat) - Grand-Finale - 12 Hour Kirtan (9am-9pm)
Activity-wise Details
1. Morning Conference Call Readings - Every morning from Sep 17th to Oct 2nd, we will read for 10 minutes from Sri Namamrta (the book of the month) about the glories of the Holy Name. The perfect meditation to kick-start your day! Details to be available closer to the date.
2. Japathon Challenge - During the celebration weeks, chant your rounds for the Japathon Challenge. Log on to our online japathon monitor (coming soon on the www.torontokrishna.com) and enter the number of rounds you've chanted daily! Our collective target is to chant 45,000 rounds to celebrate the arrival of Srila Prabhupada in the West 45 years ago.
3. Downtown Street Harinam - Taking the holy name out in the streets of Yorkville for the 3 Fridays (Sep 17, 24 and Oct 1), join Lord Gauranga's Harinama Party led by Dhira Grahi Das and participate in the most blissful Friday Fun!
4. Orillia Sankirtan (Beatles Festival)- Every summer, 1000s of beatles fan come to the small city of Orillia to celebrate the legendary musicians. This year the Toronto Sankirtan Team has the golden opportunity to go and share the holy names, books and prasad magic through a small booth at the festival site. Please join us for this special Sankirtan Festival. Pre-Registration is Required to arrange logistics.
5. 64+ Rounds Day - Starting at Mangal Aarti (4am), chant 64+ rounds with other fellow devotees and experience the bliss of the nectar of the holy name! Your direct contribution to the 45,000 rounds Japathon!
6. Srila Prabhupada Movie Night - Thursday night, movies on the life of Srila Prabhupada with Popcorn and Juice!
Week 1 (Sep 23rd) - A Lifetime in Preparation
Week 2 (Sep 30th) - Krsna Balaram Installation (Following Srila Prabhupada)
7. 16th Monthly Sankirtan Festival - Join in for the extra special MSF! Let's go out to share the holy name, prasad and Srila Prabhupada's books with the passersby!
8. Double-Decker Bus Harinam - Like last year, we've chartered a Double-decker sight seeing bus, for a 4-hour tour of the city! Tour the city of Toronto, chanting your way to glory in the association of devotees. Seats are limited so please reply to this email for registration details. For last year's experience, please visit:- http://iskcontoronto.blogspot.com/2009/09/double-decker-harinama-hits-toronto.html
9. Japa Volunteer - Every weekday, we plan to have a "Japa volunteer" at the temple, greeting new-comers and introducing them to the "Maha-Mantra" and encouraging them to join the celebrations. Volunteers Required!
10. 12 Hour Kirtan - Our Grand-Finale, the 12 hour kirtan, organized by our dear Jittu & company (Jatin Bhandari) does not require any further introduction! Come and experience!
We look forward to seeing you and celebrating the legacy of the "Maha-Mantra" with you!
Please call 416-844-2937 or email us for more details. Please pre-register to reserve your spots where marked.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Vyasa-Puja Offering


Dearest Srila Prabhupada,


Please accept our most humble obeisances. All glories to your divine grace.


Srila Prabhupada, thank you for brigthening millions of lives around the world with nectar drops from the spiritual world - glimpses into Krsna Consciousness through the holy name, divine prasad and your glorious purports. If it were not for you, so many people in the world would never find out what it means to be happy, people would never find homes in every part of the world and most would experience the lack of friends worth giving up lives for.

Prabhupada, you came as an ambassador of goodwill and ushered all this happiness in the lives of insignificant nobodies. By your mercy, we the insiginificant nobodies are also engaged in this highest welfare activity - your sankirtan movement. During the last 16 months several devotees from different walks of life, most of whom had never considered Sankirtan as their potential service, have regularly participated in distributing your magnanimous books and the holy name to the citizens of Toronto through the Monthly Sankirtan Festivals. Since its inception in June 2009, the Toronto Sankirtan Team has distributedabout 11,000 books and 1000's of pieces of prasad.

In addition to the Monthly Sankirtan festivals, this year Srila Prabhupada we launched our Smart Box Project - Challenging and demanding as it is, but it provided venues for book distribution "even while we sleep". Presently there are 20 smart boxes all over the GTA distributing your books through store-tops, restaurants and even a dollarama.

New innovations for your book marathon, the glorious Ratha yatra festival and the book of the month specials has attracted attention of the guests and devotees at home. Through the collective, organized and harmonius way of Sankirtan, and by your infinite mercy, we experience trickle drops of ecstacy - when passersby get captivated to walk right into the doors of your home; when someone who picked up a book from a smart box shows up at a sunday feast and when little Krsna miracles of people finding your books brigthen our days. More importantly Srila Prabhupada, through these various projects we've experienced the bliss of togetherness. Serving together in your glorious Sankirtan movement has never felt so special and rewarding, and the bond between the team is deepening.

Srila Prabhupada, we've just begun our novice attempts, our simple, insignificant service - and we can already experience such ecstacy, we wonder how it would be like to be completely drowned in the nectar of your service in every breathe of our existence.

Srila Prabhupada, we're so grateful to have come in touch with Vaisesika Prabhu, one of your Sankirtan Stalwarts, who has inspired this sprout of love for Sankirtan in our hearts. Vaisesika Prabhu often tells us, that Srila Prabupada has given us lifetimes worth of service, there is as much service as we like if we like. The only limit really is our desire.

Please bless us Srila Prabupada, that in whatever comes, in good times or bad, we remain united and our desires be dovetailed in your service.

Your aspiring servants

Toronto Sankirtan Team

Janamastami - Book Lounge!


An exciting innovation of the Festival Organising Team at ISKCON Toronto, led the Sankirtan Team to a Book Lounge in Govinda's! What followed, was an exciting and very encouraging Sankirtan experience after many years at a festival as packed as Janamastami!


The Book Lounge, setup in the Govinda's along with two other booths (one by ISKCON Cinema and another with Gopidots and Tilaka) had facilities to display books for sale as well as for guests to sit around and read the books available. Our enthusiastic team distributed books way past midnight, our highlights were the special Krsna book sale and also 3 small books for $5.
The Sankirtn Team distributed 35 different titles sold, for a total of 112 books, including 29 Krsna Books (highest count / book) and 1 Krsna Art book for a total collection of $767.25 laxmi points!

15th Monthly Sankirtan Festival - Highlights

August 28th marked the 15th consecutive Monthly Sankirtan Festival of the Toronto Sankirtan Team. Battling the scorching heat, the sankirtan warriors hit the streets at 11am distributing Srila Prabupada’s presents through the specially themed—Festival of Goodwill. Accompanied by constant harinam, the sankirtan team greeted the passersby with prasadam and books signifying the advent of Yoga in the Western world 45 years ago by Srila Prabhupada. 18 devotees participated for 3 hours distributing 40 books for a total of 126 laxmi points.
At another front, under the able leadership of Mathura Gopika devi dasi, the Sankirtan team setup a table displaying Srila Prabhupada’s books in front of a Textile Store in Scarborough from 10am-7pm. Inviting guests to the Janamastami festivities, this team distributed 33 books for a total of 200 laxmi points.

A special innovation this month was the "kiddie packs". Inspired by Vaisesika Prabhu, these kiddie packs were for the kids passing by our Sankirtan Tables. Sing Lung and Kalki led this innovation by making 32 very attractive packs with a Krsna coloring book, non-toxic crayons and some prasadam candy! The Kiddie packs definitely seemed to be doing their bit by attracting the little ones and subsequently the parents followed.

Sri Namamrta - Book of the Month for September



" harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam, kalau nasty eva nasti eva nasti eva gatir anyatha"
- a Sanskrit verse from Brhan-naradiya Purana which means "In this age of Kali, there is no alternative, there is no alternative, there is no alternative for spiritual progress other than the chanting of the holy name, the chanting of the holy name, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord”.
The Book of the month for September is Sri Namamrta —The Nectar of the Holy Name. It is a compilation of inspirational and informational quotes on chanting the holy names, from various books translated and compiled by Srila Prabhupada. This systematic collection of quotes on the importance of chanting is in 4 sections - describing the attributes, effects, practice and propagation of the Holy Name as well as other instructions on chanting. There is also a compilation of songs by Vaisnav Acaryas on the glories of the Holy Name!
Grab your copy from our Sunday Feast Book Table and immerse yourself in meditations of the holy name!