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Nīrakṣīra viveka nyāyaḥ (discerning milk mixed with water)

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A swan has a God-given ability to extract and drink just milk from the mixture of milk and water.

This instruction is of great practical moral and spiritual value. On a materialistic level this is a way how to be not morose, but happy, and liked. Nīti-darpaṇa 1.16 states:

viṣād apy amṛtaṁ grāhyam
amedhyād api kāñcanam
nīcād apy uttamāṁ vidyāṁ
strī-ratnaṁ duṣkulād api

A wise man will extract nectar from the pot of poison, takes a piece of

The Story of Back to Godhead Magazine Logo [back in 1944]
“From his front room at 6 Sita Kanta Banerjee, Abhay conceived, wrote, edited, and typed the manuscript for a magazine. He designed a logo, a long rectangle across the top of the page. In the upper left-hand corner was a figure of Lord Chaitanya, effulgent with rays of light like rays from the sun. In the lower right were silhouettes of a crowd of people, in darkness but groping to receive light from Lord Chaitanya. And between Lord Chai

About my Vrindavan days from “By his example”:GOVARDHAN HILL

A few days hence, before sunrise, with a group of about thirty people, we began our walk around sacred Govardhan Hill. The entourage included the Maharaja of Bharatpur, two queens, the prince, various relatives, zamindhars (landowners loyal to the king), agents, a doctor, and eight soldiers dressed in Jat military uniforms, part of the Maharaja’s private army. Twelve servants carried the supplies and the largest incense sticks I have

Indradyumna Swami: Last week here in Durban, South Africa, I visited my dermatologist – a skin specialist. Unfortunately, he found a Malignant Melanoma skin cancer on my face. The tumor was very near to the first one I had five years ago. It is called recurrence cancer. I had a PET/CT scan to see if this second tumor had metastasized (spread) throughout my body. The result came back clear. It had not spread. Nevertheless, as a precaution, my oncologist (cancer doctor) asked that while surgicall

When we started our OCHS journey twenty years ago, I was focused on the study of my own Hindu denomination. I thought it time for that tradition to engage in a critical assessment of itself. We should use the apparatus of scholarship to compare its perspectives with those of other world views, and provide a basis for discussion and dialogue in a more public and global context.

In the association of wonderful scholars, such as Prof. Keith Ward, Peggy Morgan, and Prof.

By Vidura Dasa ACBSP

In Nairobi, many moons ago, Kenya was hosting the annual meeting of the African Union where the heads of state of all countries in Africa gather. We happened to have recently received a container of Bhagavatams and Gitas cleared through customs. I went to the Kenyatta Conference Centre and tried my luck at getting in. If you think Western politicians are paranoid about security you should see these African ‘Boss Men’ and their ever nervous heavy dudes. Somehow, in dhoti, ku

By Jayapataka Swami

[It says that one who hears the pastime, when they leave the body they will get the benefit of leaving in the Ganges.] Lord Caitanya’s father, Jagannath Mishra, he would go to his guru’s ashram regularly. So one night he came back and suddenly got a high fever. So Sachi Mata started crying and she didn’t know what to do. At that time Lord Caitanya was still a small boy, maybe nine years old. He said everybody in this world leaves, as a human being everyone dies. So why are y

By Akruranatha dasa

“And so the reliance on Property, including the reliance on governments which protect it, is the want of self-reliance. Men have looked away from themselves and at things so long, that they have come to esteem the religious, learned, and civil institutions as guards of property, and they deprecate assaults on these, because they feel them to be assaults on property.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance” (1841)

The 19th century American philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo

An actual pair of shoes worn by Srila Prabhupada that are kept in safe custody in Radha Govinda Mandir (NYC), benedicting HH Radhanath Swami. RGM’s temple President Hansarupa Prabhu is holding them.

Another weekend of uplifting association, in New York City. Kadamba Kanana Swami, Vaisesika prabhu, and my Guru Maharaj Radhanath Swami, among others.

Last night, at the event in Radha Govinda Mandir in Brooklyn, we had the opportunity to obtain a priceless set of Srimad Bhagavatams, with the sig

This year’s Vraja Mandala Parikrama was special due to there being a confluence [sagam] of padayatris from three different padayatras:the All-India Padayatra, the Maharashtra Padayatra, and the Uttar Pradesh Padayatra. Also present were the devotees from the soon-to-be-inaugurated (on October 17) Andhra Pradesh Padayatra.

Normally in our Vraja Mandala Parikrama tent city we have tents of various groups such as volunteers, matajis, and prabhujis, but this year we had tents named after the padaya

» January

06 Jan 2020 - Putrada Ekadashi
07 Jan 2020 - Sri Jagadisa Pandita Appearance Day
10 Jan 2020 - Sri Krsna Pusya Abhisheka
15 Jan 2020 - Makar Sankranti (Sun entering Capricorn)
15 Jan 2020 - Ganga Sagara Mela
15 Jan 2020 - Sri Ramachandra Kaviraja Disappearance Day
15 Jan 2020 - Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami Appearance Day
16 Jan 2020 - Sri Jayadev Goswami Disappearance Day
17 Jan 2020 - Sri Locana Dasa Thakura Disappearance Day
20 Jan 2020 - Sat-tila Ekadashi
30 Jan 2020 - Vasanta Panca

The habit of criticizing devotees is like cancer. One may think that I'm doing it for many years but nothing has happened. Cancer can stay in the body for many years undetected before it finally strikes. This habit of fault-finding and duplicitous behavior keeps increasing with time. Under the influence of Maya we think everything is alright but actually the disease is spreading before it finally strikes.

Lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.15.23

(- By H.H.Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj 31.01.17 in Juhu

Worse than being alone is to be with a person who doesn’t like you; too many people have experienced the anguish and chaos caused by an incompatible marriage. Such travesties are systematically avoided in Vaishnava culture because, besides training and restraint in behaviour prior to marriage, all care is taken in matchmaking: “Formerly, boys and girls of similar dispositions were married; the similar natures of the boy and girl were united in order to make them happy.” (SB 3.21.15) “The centra

It happens and will continue to happen – someone says something to us, or about us, and we feel the emotions rise. We get ‘bent out of shape’, can’t stop the replay in our mind, and practice all kinds of imaginary ways to respond to it. This may go on for days, weeks, or even years. Resentment cooks like that. We don’t like how we feel and yet we don’t know how to shake it off. Here are some Krishna Bhakti guidelines to help:

See it as a test. We have taken up the spiritual practice of making l