28 December 2011
Mumbai, India

On 28 December 2011, the court in the Siberian city of Tomsk dismissed the state prosecutor's stand that the "Bhagavad Gita As It Is" be branded as an "extremist" literature. The case had been going on in the Tomsk city court since June 2011. The Government of India and the Russian Embassy in India took up the matter with the Russian Government.

It shall be recalled that the court case in Tomsk sparked international outrage as the Prosecutor's Office filed the case in

A Russian court has dismissed a call to ban an edition of the Hindu holy book Bhagvad Gita, in a case that triggered protests in India.

Prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk wanted the edition to be ruled “extremist”. That would put it in the same category as Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

The Russian foreign ministry said it was the commentary on the text, not the text itself, that was under scrutiny.
The edition - Bhagvad Gita As It Is - is used by the Hare Krishna movement.

A lawyer representing th

Dear Maharaja's and Prabhu's

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

The court in the Siberian city of Tomsk today dismissed the state prosecutor's stand that the "Bhagavad Gita as-it-is" be branded as an "extremist" literature. The case had been going on in the Tomsk city court since June 2011. The Government of India and the Indian embassy of Moscow as well took up the matter with the Russian Government.

ISKCON expresses its gratitude towards the Government of I

Vishnu sahasranama is the essence of the Mahabharata. Mahabharata also confirms the Lord’s appearance in the Kali-yuga as Sri Caitanya as follows:

suvarna-varno hemango
varangas candanangadi
sannyasa-krc chamah santo
nistha-santi-parayanah

The Lord (in the incarnation of Gaurasundara) has a golden complexion. Indeed, His entire body, which is very nicely constituted, is like molten gold. Sandalwood pulp is smeared all over His body. He will take the fourth order of spiritual life (sannyasa) and

Govindadas Kaviraj (c 1535-1613) Vaisnava poet, contemporary of Chaitanyadev, born in the village of Teliabudhuri in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, son of Chiranjib, a follower of Chaitanyadev.

Govindadas came from a literary family: his maternal grandfather, Damodor Sen, was the writer of Sangeet Damodar, and his brother, Ramchandra Sen, used to write poems in Bangla and Sanskrit. Both Ramchandra and Govindadas were initiated intovaisnavism by Sreenivas Acharya. After his initiation, Govinda

Sri Amiya Nimai, another stunning deity of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (the largest deity of Sri Chaitanya in Vrindavan, about 7 feet tall!).

In the disciple succession of Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami, Sri Sarvabhauma Madhusudan Goswami got the privilege to worship the self manifested deity of Sri Radha Ramanji in Vrindaban. He was a great scholar of nyaya (Sanskrit grammar), a preacher, a social reformer, and a great devotee. During his life-time, he toured around various parts of India a number of tim

krsnera pratijna eka ache purva haite

ye yaiche bhaje, krsna tare bhaje taiche

Lord Krsna has a promise from before to reciprocate with His devotees according to the way they worship Him.

Adi 4.177

ye yatha mam prapadyante

tams tathaiva bhajamy aham

mama vartmanuvartante

manusyah partha sarvasah

As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha.

Bg 4.11

se pratijna bhanga haila gopira bhajane

tahate pramana krsna-sri-mukha-vacane
 

That promise h

In 1971 Srila Prabhupada went to Allahabad for the Ardha-kumbha-mela, and Yamuna-devi and I were in the party that accompanied him. Srila Prabhupada spoke on the story of Ajamila and the holy name, from the Sixth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Only the first two cantos had been translated and published, so Prabhupada read from his Sanskrit Bhagavatam with commentaries, sometimes translating from Sridhara Svami’s and occasionally from Jiva Gosvami’s. While there, I heard that Srila Prabhupada had sa

 

With great sadness, the Governing Body Commission (GBC) of ISKCON, deeply mourn the departure of Her Grace Yamuna Devi. She dedicated the last 45 years of her life to the worship of Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. She was a mentor, guide, and friend to many and a beloved member and hero of ISKCON. At every ISKCON temple, her singing of "Govindam" greets the Lord.

 

Yamuna Devi was one of the most influential devotees during ISKCON's fledgling years. She was among a handful of people who established

Tomorrow at 12:30 hours IST, Tomsk court, Russia, is due to pass its verdict on banning the Bhagavad Gita. An "anti-cult" group affiliated to the Russian Orthodox Church, has called for a ban on the Gita terming it an 'extremist' text. And the verdict can have far reaching repercussions - either way.

An expert panel was constituted to examine if the text incites religious hatred and humiliation.

"Banning the Gita as an extremist piece of literature would mean banning the Russian chapter of the Int

In the backdrop of the present sad controversy over the banning of the Bhagavad-gita in Russia, we present Lord Krishna’s side of the story. His take on the controversy is presented as a song based on poetic translations of four important Gita verses that express its message of love. The song comprises a chorus English verse and English renditions of those four verses followed by their Sanskrit originals.

My message of love,
Will you ban,

All beings are my children beloved, the seed of life, I give