On the all-auspicious disappearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati we should all try to remember His divine instructions and make them our life and soul – guru mukha parma vakhya cittete koriya aikhya ara na koriho mane asa. This philosophy that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati epitomises and that he expounded is well worth remembering on this day when the prediction of…
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(From an old letter)
INDIAN/AMERICAN/HARE KRISHNA
I am a devotee of Krishna and have been one for the past seven years. I am also of Indian origin, and my story is a typical one.
I have been living in North America since I was nine years old. My parents came here to complete their higher education, and upon completion of their doctorates, they decided to settle down in this, their adopted country. As the family grew, came…
We are gathered on the most auspicious occasion of the disappearance anniversary of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja Prabhupada, the spiritual master of our Srila Prabhupada. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was born in Jagannatha Puri as the son of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who was a magistrate and the superintendent of the Jagannatha temple in Puri. At that time, during the British rule, the position of…
"True story by Malika Mala Devi Dasi, a preacher in Russia and Kazakhstan"
Malika-Mala: Once with Mataji Kirtirani, we performed some festival in Astana, Kazakhstan. We did not have time to have dinner and rushed to the plane because we were going to be late for the flight. The local devotees handed us a big bag with Prasadam.
I said: Krishna! The flight from Astana to Alma-Ata is just an hour and a half. We don’t need anything. Especially at night.
But…
Today he sits on the sidewalk, in minus degree temperatures, holding a ragged sign which reads “give me hope.” It’s a familiar sight that I’ve become somewhat desensitized to; I don’t think I can truly understand his situation. Seeing him sleeping rough, a few people throw in some coins, someone else gifts him a Costa coffee, while an occasional passer-by stops to offer a few comforting words. All nice gestures. But, my heart says, what he really needs is hope. In that…
A few weeks ago, I exited from the Whatsapp platform after using it for years. Here are few parallels I drew between the experience of leaving "the WhatsApp world" and the experience one has of leaving this world.
I WILL ALWAYS EXIST
After leaving…
December 22 is National Mathematics Day, which is the birth anniversary of Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujam.
That Ramanujam had a humble yet extraordinary beginning in his career is evident from his letter to G. H. Hardy, his guide and mentor in Cambridge:
Dear Sir, I beg to introduce myself to you as a clerk in the Accounts Department of the Port Trust office at Madras on a salary of only Rs. 20/- per annum. I have had…
By Madhava Smullen
On November 16th, devotees in London celebrated the life of one of Srila Prabhupada’s greatest warriors, who continues to inspire and motivate ISKCON members to this day – Tribhuvanatha Das, who passed away in 2001.
The remembrance festival was in honor of Tribhuvanatha’s birthday or ‘appearance’ day, which is on November…
The decorated Christmas tree came crashing down. A metal barrier at a construction site also collapsed to a horizontal position and lay there. Clear plastic bags flitted in the air, here there. It was surreal and it was happening within a certain solitude. A strong gale whipped through the downtown where I was walking. It was 3:30 a.m.
I needed…
On 8th Dec. 2019 became a red-letter day in the history of Sri Sri Radha Madhav Temple, ISKCON ROHINI. The temple observed not only ‘Mokshada Ekadashi’ but also witnessed its first-ever ‘Kirtan Mela’.
Month-long preparations fructified into a grand harinaam mela with the slogan ‘CHANT FROM YOUR HEART’ in the presence of exalted devotees from all around the world. As the…
HH Narasingha Swami is now in hospice (back from the hospital) most likely preparing to leave this world any day, any hour. He is in and out of consciousness and very much in the process of leaving his mortal frame.
Source: …
We concluded our last discussion on the existence of the self with the recognition that accepting our own existence somehow or other implied the existence of God, quoting Srila Prabhupada’s words “One can understand the nature of the Supreme by thorough study of oneself” (Bg 2.16, purport) (http://www.dandavats.com/?p=12367#more-12367).But by what process can this understanding be…
One of the most prominent sages in the Vedic literature, he travels throughout the universe awakening love for the Lord.
NARADA MUNI is exalted in Vedic texts as one of the twelve mahajanas, or great authorities on eternal truth. Details of his life and teachings are recounted in the Narada Purana, the Padma Purana, and throughout Srimad-Bhagavatam. So advanced is his level of spirituality that in these texts he is even sometimes called…
Dear Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
The Annual General Meeting of the ISKCON GBC Society will begin on February 11, 2020. Following the ISKCON GBC Society’s Rules of Order, the GBC Secretariat requests proposals, duly sponsored by two GBC members, to be submitted by December 15, 2019. Note that NO proposals will be entertained after this date.
Please follow the updated format for…
By Madhava Smullen
About 100 people, including local devotees, parents and family they had invited, and members of the Indian community attended this year’s Thanksgiving program at ISKCON’s New Goloka Dham in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Some North Carolina devotees attended the Rathayatra festival that is part of the Charlotte Thanksgiving Parade, the…
Kadamba Kanana Swami: What happens when you chant Hare Krsna? There is a change if you chant Hare Krsna. You look at me, everyone looking? Okay, look now, “Hare Krsna!” Did you see any change?
Devotees: Yes.
Kadamba Kanana Swami: Okay, what did you see?
Devotees: “Happy!” “Lots of energy!” “Enthusiasm!” “Blissful!” “Positivity!” “You made…
On 11 Dec, Badrinarayan Swami and two other devotees from San Diego spent the afternoon with us in Carpinteria, and I had a wonderful time with him. Associating with him outside a temple setting, I became aware of many wonderful qualities and abilities in him for the first time. He is brilliant and truly a great asset to Srila Prabhupada’s mission, to which he is completely…
Before Clare got lured away by the junkie, I shared with her a quote from W.C. Fields, whom I admired to some extent before I became a monk. She had a good laugh at it. Here it is. "Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than anywhere else. We start drinking early. And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus, we'll be…
The tumultuous crescendo of base and profanities spewed forth from its speakers and flooded the ether with torrential like ferocity. As the taxi got closer I got deafer. The speakers roared out, ” I like big butts and I can not lie, all the other brother can’t deny.” Being a member of the Hare Krishna’s I thought to myself that we practice yukta vairagya, complete renunciation where nothing is falsely given up rather everything is used in The Lord’s service. So how to link such vulgarity…
Atheists think that a prayer to God is sheer imagination. But for centuries, thousands of sincere practitioners have accumulated definite evidence of the positive results of prayer. The serious doubt regarding prayer is not whether God can hear and respond, but whether the things people pray for are worthwhile. According to St. Teresa of Avila. “More tears are shed in this world from prayers that are answered than from those that go unanswered.” Those who pray, therefore,…
