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Today was the appearance day of Lord Ramacandra. I received this from the “Nectarean Mellows Group” and I wanted to share it with you.

Sure 100% method to conquer lust - Nectarean Mellows

How to conquer this all-devouring sinful enemy-Lust? There is a method … And it’s a sure 100% method. And the Supreme Lord showed us the method in a wonderful way. He sent to this world, lust personified Ravana. Ravana was the most striking emblem of lust in the history of all creation.

Sita Devi is the wife of Ram. Sita is none other than an expansion of Lakshmi Devi, the goddess of fortune. All the fortune of the world is the energy of Sita. What is fortune .. Fortune does not simply mean money. Fortune means anything good. Fortune means good health, popularity, comforts in life, good friendship, good family, etc. Fortune means anything good in this world and to loose anything good is misfortune. Lakshmi devi appeared as Goddess Sita. And everyone knows Sita is exclusively meant for Rama. What is the definition of love? Love means to assist Sita in Her affair with Ram. Is that not what Hanuman, Sugriva, Lakshman, and the residents of Ayodhya did? The only desire of the residents of Ayodhya was to see Ram and Sita happy.

But Ravana, he wanted to take Sita for himself. That is called kama or lust. In Caitanya Caritamrita, Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami describes - love is that natural inclination of the soul to want to give pleasure to God. But when the natural affection for God is misplaced, in trying to enjoy the property of God for our own selfish desire, then that love is transformed into lust. Love and lust is the same energy; same inclination within us. Prema is when that energy is placed toward God. When it is placed anywhere else, it is called Kama or lust.

So Ravana was very tricky. He disguised himself and stole Sita. And of course we read from the Ramayan of Valmiki muni, how Lord Ram and His brother Lakshman looking for Goddess Sita made alliances with Sugriva and Hanuman and together with a great army, they attacked the island of Sri Lanka. And Ravana was so powerful that no one could defeat him. With Ravana, Indrajit, Kumbhakarna and the other Rakshasas; even the demi gods were totally robbed of any pride and were living in utter fear. They were totally unconquerable by any jivatma.

Ravana was the symbol of Kama. And know that any desire you have to enjoy separate from the Lord is due to the presence of Ravana in your heart. Lord Sri Ramachandra wanted to really show to the world, how powerful Ravana was, how powerful lust really is. Everytime he cut off the heads of Ravana, another one grew. Doesn’t that sound like our own material desires? Everytime you do some yajna, sacrifice, puja and you give up one material sinful desire and immediately another head grows. And you perform penances, practice yoga, take vows, to give up this lusty propensity in your heart and finally you conquer it … and then … another head grows. Those who are on the spiritual path, know that as soon as you cut down one head, 10 more grows. It is an endless battle. Finally Rama shot His arrow into Ravana’s heart. When the arrow pierced the heart, Ravana fell to the ground.

Rama is the only one who has this arrow. That arrow cannot be obtained by any mortal, any jiva, any living entity. It is the exclusive power of Ram. That is why Lord Krsna says in the Gita, this material energy is very very difficult to overcome. But one who surrenders unto Me I take the war in My own hands. I will conquer lust. I will conquer Ravana within your heart. For me it is not difficult. I will kill all the demons in your heart, with My arrows. When we surrender to the Lord, Ram appears within our heart. When we remember Krishna, when we remember Lord Ramchandra ji, He is non-different from that remembrance. The process of Bhakti is to always remember the Lord, to be His devotee, to always worship Him and to offer homage unto Him. Through this process Ram appears within our heart and with His mighty arrows, he shoots right into the heart of Ravana and all his heads and everything else falls and disappears from our life eternally.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaja

Jaya Sri Rama Navami ki jaya!

ys, Sol

technorati tags:hanuman, ramayana, ravana, rama, harekrishna, ramanavami, radhanathswami

How to describe this unlimited beauty…

Click here for daily darshan.

ys, Sol

technorati tags:radhagopinath, harekrishna, darshan, gauranitai, gopalji

Well, I have been asked many times “what do you cook?”, specially by my Indian friends, so I though it would be a good idea to show you, and them, what do we eat on a common weekday. It is not that we always eat pizza! hehehe.

Well, today I made some very typical Spanish soup. We call these kind of preparations something that could be translated as “spoon dish” (plato de cuchara para los españoles). It’s made with chickpeas, potatoes, carrots and spinach. Very nice for winter season. It’s not winter here but we had a few very cold days so I felt inspired

I boiled the chickpeas, potatoes and carrots and I fried the spices (asafetida, cumin seeds, cummin powder, coriander powder, turmeric…) and spinach in a pan with olive oil. To get some thickness I blended a part of the soup and added to it with the spinach, then some salt and pepper and that’s it. Simple and pleasing to the heart!

And then I made rice with corn, red capsicum and looots of black olives. I don’t know if olives are used in rice dishes but I love them so I put them everywhere! I used some bay leaves, dill, yellow asafetida powder and salt for seasoning…and olive oil of course!

Offering time! Everything ready to offer to Srila Prabhupada

I offered also some bananas with “dulce de leche”, some kind of typical
Argentinian caramel… every Argentinian worships it, but that’s
another story…

“Foods dear to those in the mode of goodness increase the duration of
life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and
satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome, and pleasing to
the heart.”
Bhagavad-gita 17.8 (Click here for full Bhagavad-gita).

So this is an example of what I cook… what do you think?

ys, Sol

technorati tags:chickpea, rice, olive, spanishcooking, harekrishna, prabhupada

We were singing this beautiful bhajan at the temple during the Sunday Feast class: Manasa Deho Geha, by Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Here you can hear HH Visnujana Swami singing it full of sweetness and devotion…

More mp3s by Visnujana Swami here. 

Manasa Deho Geha
(from Saranagati)
1 manasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mor
arpilu tuwa pade, nanda-kisor!
2 sampade vipade, jivane-marane
day mama gela, tuwa o-pada barane
3 marobirakhobi - jo iccha tohara
nitya-dasa prati tuwa adhikara
4 janmaobi moe iccha jadi tor
bhakta-grhe jani janma hau mor
5 kita-janma hau jatha tuwa das
bahir-mukha brahma-janme nahi as
6 bhukti-mukti-sprha vihina je bhakta
labhaite tako sanga anurakta
7 janaka, janani, dayita, tanay
prabhu, guru, pati–tuhu sarva-moy
8 bhakatvinoda kohe, suno kana!
radha-natha! tuhu hamara parana

1. Mind, body, and family, whatever may be mine, I have surrendered at Your lotus feet, O youthful son of Nanda!
2. In good fortune or in bad, in life or at death, all my difficulties have disappeared by choosing those feet of Yours as my only shelter.
3. Slay me or protect me as You wish, for You are the master of Your eternal servant.
4. If it is Your will that I be born again, then may it be in the home of Your devotee.
5. May I be born again even as a worm, so long as I may remain Your devotee. I have no desire to be born as a Brahma averse to You.
6. I yearn for the company of that devotee who is completely devoid of all desire for worldly enjoyment or liberation.
7. Father, mother, lover, son, Lord, preceptor, and husband; You are everything to me.
8. Thakura Bhaktivinoda says, “O Kana, please hear me! O Lord of Radha, You are my life and soul!”

ys, Sol

technorati tags:vishnujana, bhaktivinoda, harekrishna, manasa

I came back from India one month ago and since then I didn’t make any pizza… why? We were in Mayapur and we took too much of it, sounds familiar? hehehe. But I was feeling the separation so I decided to awaken my Italian side!

When we went to Italy (click here to see the report) we got a Pizza-Express machine and since then we were taking pizza maybe once a week for not breaking the Ayurveda diet too much. Pizza imbalances the pita dosha a lot, so be careful!!!

I like to use fresh ingredients and specially olive oil and olives that are so good in Malaga where we live.

Fresh fresh…

Red tomatoes for the tomato sauce… yum yum… it’s done!

Capsicum, olives and cheese… the dough… everything is ready!

Putting everything together + a few minutes of Pizza-Express…

Oregano and olive oil…

And here it is! Hot and delicious pizza ready to be offered to Srila Prabhupada…

My mum came for the pizza party and she and my brother were very happy and satisfied.
All glories to the offered pizza!

I hope I can make some for you one of these days!

ys, Sol

technorati tags:pizza, harekrishna, italy

My friend Adbhuta just sent me this picture from the time I was in Chowpatty with her. Jagannath is the Prabhuji from the left. Our dear gurukuli.

Missing you and the great times we had together

I love you my friend

technorati tags:travel, iskcon, krishna, chowpatty, harekrishna

Here you can see some pictures of the most auspicious festival of the year. Devotees cooperated in a very happy mood and we had a wonderful day engaged in serving the Lord, hearing, chanting, dancing and honoring prasadam together. Click here for more.

Altar decoration by Syama Mohita and Uttara Matajis…

Kirtans and Caitanya Lila…

Cooking…

Arranging everything to welcome the guests…

Aratik and kirtan leaded by Devakinandana Prabhu… ecstatic!!!

Multimedia Show by Sara and Soheil and Bharatnatyam…

All glories to Prasadam! It was nice after fasting all day long

Click here for more.

Going to take some rest. See you soon with more news

Jaya Gaura Purnima ki jaya! Jaya Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jaya!

ys, Sol

technorati tags:harekrishna, chaitanya, gaura, purnima, malaga, temple, festival