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Announcement from Krishna Balaram Mandir’s Temple President:

Everyone is familiar with the Coronavirus. They say in the news that India is now at stage 2 and stage 3 means it becomes widespread because many people are actually carrying the virus but it is dormant and not acting. We had to take hard decision, its a difficult and coordinated decision, and we are closing the Temple today at 01:00 PM for two weeks. It will be open for resident devotees only. There will be many questions and concern

Visitor Restriction:
1. Starting from 19 March 2020 the darshan time in the temple for visitors will be restricted to 10:00am to 1:00pm and 5:00pm to 7:30pm. The line will be arranged in such a way that they will enter the campus, have darshan and exit the campus.
2. The other than the designated route, all other parts of the campus will be off limit for pilgrims.
3. All pilgrims and visitors will be thermal scanned at entry point to the campus. They will also be subject to compulsory disinfecti

A day in the life of Shri Krishna is filled with numerous activities: tending cows, playing pranks on the women of the village, feasting on sumptuous food with the cowherd boys and vanquishing an ill-fated demon whose misfortune brings him wandering into Krishna’s abode. Considering all this, one might ask why Krishna would choose to lose sleep over dancing with a group of mere milkmaids.

The Adi Purana narrates a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna. The Supreme Lord, Shri Krishna, describe

Some of our devotees wanted to go out to distribute books door-to-door yesterday, Saturday.

I asked them to be extremely careful, by:

Staying at least 6 feet away from people when speaking to them. Sanitizing their hands after *every* interaction. Being vigilant to not touch their faces at at any time.

This group of distributors reported that, uncharacteristically, 95% of people opened their doors to speak with them. Most of them took books very enthusiastically, saying: “While we have to sta

There is so much fear, and perhaps rightfully so, about COVID-19 virus.

If we subscribe to the philosophy that Krishna’s plan is always for our welfare, then the COVID-19 virus is here to help us.

To reset.
To remember.
What is truly important.
What is the purpose of life.
By reconnecting with family, community, and, God.
Reducing travel so that the environment, the air, lungs all get a break.

Huge regions of China are seeing blue skies and clouds for the first time in decades because the ugra

If we had a rand for every time we felt discouraged and aimless in our spheres of livelihood, we would probably be well-off by now and ready to take early retirement. Srila Prabhupada explains that everyone has a prescribed duty according to the four social dispositions; namely the priestly, warriors, merchants, and labourers. Those who properly perform their prescribed duties as an offering to God “live peacefully and are not disturbed by material conditions.” Thus they achieve the highest per

In May of 2006, a young man who had been born into a family of devotees, who had gone to and been abused at different ISKCON gurukulas in the 70’s and 80’s, committed suicide. A huge outpouring of emotion surged through the Vaishnava community, especially on the internet. On the Chakra website, in addressing abuse in ISKCON, someone wrote:

“How can somebody take disksha from Prabhupada, chant for many years, study the shastra for many years, and end up abusing their power like this? How can som

Devotees who are always hesitating in completing the sixteen rounds of chanting the Hare Krsna mahamantra may say, “You know, I just cannot do it. It is too difficult!” These people do not advance very much even if they are having difficulties in chanting. We are tolerant, we understand that it can be difficult to immediately go to sixteen rounds, but one must still get there. One cannot just remain on eight rounds because that is just not good enough! Eight rounds means another birth; eight me

It was very late December in 1958, the disappearance day anniversary of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkura. His elderly disciple, initiated in 1933 as Abhay Caraëäravinda Däsa, was sitting alone in Våndävana. Outside his window, the sacred Yamunä River flowed by peacefully – but his heart was in turmoil. He felt so helpless and hopeless. What service did he have to offer as a meaningful gift of gratitude to his Gurudeva on this most painful yet precious day? Any attempt to even remember hi

The darkness of kali yuga is everywhere around us, but it is also within us. This is the main problem! It is said that when we are looking at a jewel, that ornament appears to look more beautiful when placed against a blackish background. So in this way, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur explained that at the time of the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, kali yuga had become darker. It is said that kali yuga showed its darker feature during this time, just to highlight the golden avatar. So now