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bhagavan api ta ratrih

saradotphulla-mallikah

viksy- arantum manas cakre

yoga-mayam upasritah

Sri  Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full in all opulences, yet upon seeing those autumn nights scented with blossoming jasmine flowers, He turned His mind toward loving affairs. To fulfill His purposes He employed His internal potency.    – S.B 10.29.1

On this most sacred and holy evening on the full moon night of the month of Kartik,in the forest of Vrindavan the moon starts rising on th

Shri Nimbarka Acharya comes in the line of the Kumara Sampradaya and is believed to have lived around the 11th and 12th centuries. Born in the modern Murgarapattam in the southern Dravidian province, he was the son of Aruni and Jayanti, a very pious brahman a couple of the Tailanga order.

 He was a great ascetic of the Tridandi order. He wrote many books according to the Dvaitadvaitavada and he lived most of his devotional life at a place called Nimbagrama near Govardhana at Vrindavana.

While a

During Kartik, in addition to reciting the Damodarastaka, I read about the damodara-lila in Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 10, Chapters 9 and 10, including Nalakuvara and Manigriva’s beautiful submission to Lord Krishna, which I pray will be my own:

vani gunanukathane sravanau kathayam
hastau ca karmasu manas tava padayor nah
smrtyam siras tava nivasa-jagat-praname
drstih satam darsane ’stu bhavat-tanunam

“Henceforward, may all our words describe Your pastimes, may our ears engage in aural recepti

According to Vrinda-kunda Baba, Srimati Vrindadevi appeared on the full-moon night at the end of Kartik, or Damodara.

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, in Sri Vrndadevi-astaka (6-8), glorifies her:

rasabhilaso vasatis ca vrnda-
vane tvad-isanghri-saroja-seva
labhya ca pumsam krpaya tavaiva
vrnde namas te caranaravindam

“By your mercy, people attain residence in Vrindavan, the desire to serve your masters’ lotus feet, and the desire to assist in the rasa dance. O Vrinda, I bow to your lotus f

Krsna allows the eternal individual jiva-souls (devotees) in the spiritual world to continually re-invent themselves by voluntarily serving in a capacity they choose by making their own unique contributions and offerings.

This allows diversity and an unlimited range of variegatedness in personal service that expands forever the devotee's progressive independent contributions by always forever enlarging their active participation, personal contributions and inspiration in an unlimited variety of u

भगवद्गीता यथारूप 108 महत्त्वपूर्ण श्लोक

अध्याय पन्द्रह पुरुषोत्तम योग

न तद्भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावकः ।
यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम ।। 6 ।।

न-नहीं;तत्-वह;भासयते-प्रकाशित करता है;सूर्यः-सूर्य;न-न तो;शशाङकः-चन्द्रमा;न- न तो;पावकः- अग्नि, बिजली;यत्- जहाँ;गत्वा- जाकर;न- कभी नहीं;निवर्तन्ते- वापस आते हैं;तत्-धाम- वह धाम;परमम्- परम;मम- मेरा।

भावार्थ : वह मेरा परम धाम न तो सूर्य या चन्द्र के द्वारा प्रकाशित होता है और न अग्नि या बिजली से। जो लोग वहाँ पहुँच जाते हैं, वे इस भौतिक जगत् में फिर

By Vraj Patel 

“The Hunger Free Zone” is a non-profit organization of ISKCON Baltimore with a mission to distribute prasadam to the community at large. With its own food truck, devotee volunteers go out every day, except Sunday, to distribute free vegan prasadam to the people of Baltimore City. Since its inception three years ago, the Hunger Free Zone has distributed over 167,600 free vegan meals.

Grateful recipients note that the food is delicious and shared freely with all. “I’ve partaken of t

भगवद्गीता यथारूप 108 महत्त्वपूर्ण श्लोक

अध्याय पन्द्रह पुरुषोत्तम योग

निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामाः ।
द्वन्द्वैर्विमुक्ताः सुखदुःखसंज्ञै-र्गच्छन्त्यमूढाः पदमव्ययं तत् ॥ 5 ॥

निः-रहित;मान-झूठी प्रतिष्ठा;मोहाः-तथा मोह;जित-जीता गया;सङ्ग-संगति की;दोषाः-त्रुटियाँ;अध्यात्म-आध्यात्मिक ज्ञान में;नित्याः-शाश्वतता में;विनिवृत्तः-विलग;कामाः-काम से;द्वन्द्वैः-द्वैत से;विमुक्ताः-मुक्त;सुख-दुःख-सुख तथा दुख;संज्ञैः-नामक;गच्छन्ति-प्राप्त करते हैं;अमूढाः-मोहरहित;पदम्-पद,स्थान को;अव्ययम्-शाश्

Dear Devotees,
 
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
 
The Annual General Meeting of the ISKCON GBC Society will begin in February 2025. 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 31, 2024. Note that no proposals will be entertained after this date.
 
Please follow the format for GBC Proposals, found as a fillable PDF here:
https://gbc.iskcon.org/wp-cont

From Back to Godhead

For a long time scientists have been asking, 
What’s going on? And some of them 
have tried to find out, 
What’s behind it all?

Sir Isaac Newton once made a remarkable model of the solar system. Thanks to a clever hand-cranking mechanism, all of the tiny spinning globes orbited a small “sun.”

On entering Newton’s study, one of his colleagues, a materialist, couldn’t help noticing the model. He was flabbergasted.

“Dr. Newton,” the man stared, “who made this wonderful cont

By Nandini Devi Dasi 

As most ISKCON readers know, Saranagati Village was evacuated on the evening of July 17th, 2024. During our three-week absence, some devotees lost their homes, and others lost their wood sheds, outbuildings, storage structures, and equipment like chainsaws, the community plow, and sander.

We are not able to get insurance as we are an off-grid community, and so we have to cover the costs of cleanup and rebuilding. The government helped with our basic needs while we were eva

Bhakti Center NYC celebrated its seventh annual Diwali Festival on November 1st, attended by over 1,000 people. The popular evening event included kirtan, food stalls, dance, drama, and children’s activities like henna and face painting.

Several well-known publications, like the Gothamist, list the Bhakti Center as the number one place to celebrate Diwali in the city. Local print and television media covered the event, most notably CBS New York, which broadcast a live report from the event. You

भगवद्गीता यथारूप 108 महत्त्वपूर्ण श्लोक

अध्याय चौदह प्रकृति के तीन गुण

ब्रह्मणो हि प्रतिष्ठाहममृतस्याव्ययस्य च ।
शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य सुखस्यैकान्तिकस्य च ।। 27 ।।

ब्रह्मणः- निराकार ब्रह्मज्योति का;हि- निश्चय ही;प्रतिष्ठा- आश्रय;अहम्- मैं हूँ;अमृतस्य- अमर्त्य का;अव्ययस्य- अविनाशी का;च- भी;शाश्वतस्य- शाश्वत का;च- तथा;धर्मस्य- स्वाभाविक स्थिति (स्वरूप) का;सुखस्य- सुख का;एकान्तिकस्य- चरम, अन्तिम,च- भी।

भावार्थ : और मैं ही उस निराकार ब्रह्म का आश्रय हूँ, जो अमर्त्य, अविनाशी तथा शाश्वत है और चरम सुख का स्

By Yudhisthira Dasa  

This article aims to open the door to an emotionally and spiritually healthier attitude toward our ongoing journey of self-realization. This approach stands in stark contrast to the sectarian and fear-based renunciation that many of us in the first and second generation of ISKCON have experienced, albeit generally with no detrimental intent. After all, we took birth in human bodies for a purpose, not to deny it, but to see our human experience as an opportunity to learn bet

By Ananda Tirtha Das

The Annual General Meeting of the ISKCON GBC Society will begin in February 2025. 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 31, 2024. Please note that no proposals will be entertained after this date.

To submit a proposal, please use the fillable .pdf here. Once completed, the proposal should be emailed here.

Read more: https://iskconnews.org/gbc-releases-proposal

You cannot follow nicely unless you hear nicely, and you cannot lead nicely unless you have learned to follow nicely.

Yamuna: From the very beginning of our programs in Bombay, Srila Prabhupada became known as one “who is startling India with kirtan.” Our kirtans were full of so much excitement they were so thrilling that we were like one throbbing heartbeat, the heartbeat of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission of Krishna Consciousness.

It is difficult to describe how much potency we felt in the