The Bhagavata Academy

11/03/2024

10/29/2024

Kirtan after the initiation ceremony this Saturday. We served nearly 80 people!

10/14/2024

We finally have the sauna back since the fire last year!
This sauna is new and improved with red cedar seats and floor, slightly larger build, and shingles.
Come do yoga with us and enjoy the sauna!

07/18/2024

This month's topic is, "What is the greatest thing?"
Join us this Sunday to discuss this question and enjoy a skit by Vatsala das and mother Kimberly.

07/14/2024

...Just try to understand what is incarnation. The Sanskrit word is avatara, and that is translated into English as "incarnation." The root meaning of avatara is "which comes from the transcendental sky, the spiritual sky to the material sky." That is called avatara. Means "coming from up to down." That is called avatarana. And avatara is understood that when God or his bona fide representative comes from that sky to this material plane, that is called avatara.
So this is the meaning in a nutshell of this spiritual vibration, Hare Krsna mantra. Now according to grammatical rules, when somebody is addressed, just like in your English language, it is a not of address, "O Mr. such and such." Similarly, in Sanskrit grammer, the same note of address, which is called sambodhana, that is expressed in this way. So Hare, Hare is the note of address form of the sound Hara. Hara means the potency of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is represented everywhere by his potency.
So the incarnation of God means the expansion which is as good as God Himself. That is called incarnation. So this Hare Krsna mantra is the expansion, incarnation, sound incarnation of God. Not representation. God presents Himself in this form of sound because we cannot see God with our present eyes. Because these are not our proper eyes. They are material eyes. You don't think that this eye, the transparent thing which is floating in this hole, that is not seeing. If you take this eye out, you cannot see. It is simply a lens only. So none of this body is actually the thing which is taking part. So therefore with these eyes, with these material eyes, you cannot see. The present senses cannot have any knowledge of the Supreme God. But how then can we have knowledge? If my senses are unfit, then how can I make them fit? Oh, that is the thing.
You have to spiritualize these material sense organs. And then when you spiritualize, then you can have the spiritual vision to see God and yourself.

06/17/2024

Deities freshly dressed on this auspicious ekasadi day 💛🦚💚🦚🧡

06/16/2024

...But in the course of time it has become lost. Consequently the Lord has to speak it again, this time to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.

He tells Arjuna that He is relating this supreme secret to him because Arjuna is His devotee and His friend. The purport of this is that Bhagavad-gītā is a treatise which is especially meant for the devotee of the Lord.

There are three classes of transcendentalists, namely the jñānī, the yogī and the bhakta, or the impersonalist, the meditator and the devotee. Here the Lord clearly tells Arjuna that He is making him the first receiver of a new paramparā (disciplic succession) because the old succession was broken.

It was the Lord’s wish, therefore, to establish another paramparā in the same line of thought that was coming down from the sun-god to others, and it was His wish that His teaching be distributed anew by Arjuna. He wanted Arjuna to become the authority in understanding the Bhagavad-gītā.

So we see that Bhagavad-gītā is instructed to Arjuna especially because Arjuna was a devotee of the Lord, a direct student of Kṛṣṇa, and His intimate friend. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is best understood by a person who has qualities similar to Arjuna’s. That is to say he must be a devotee in a direct relationship with the Lord. As soon as one becomes a devotee of the Lord, he also has a direct relationship with the Lord. -(Bhagavad Gita Introduction)

06/15/2024

...Similarly Rama, Rama means pleasure. So one who gives transcendental pleasure, He's called Rama. So this Krsna name, Rama name, are God's names. That is on the very high level. Therefore we chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare HAre, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. And Hara, Hara also means on e who can take away all our miserable conditions and put us into the transcendental position. This is Hara. So these three names are there, Hara, Krsna and Rama. (Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.21 LA, January 17, 1970 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

06/12/2024

Meet Vatsala das! This upcoming Sunday is our monthly open house and Vatsala will be giving a talk about the 5 basic truths of the Bhagavad Gita as well as leading us in kirtan.