Blog

Alpasya hetorbahuhātumicchanniti nyāyaḥ (huge effort to gain a trifle)

One overworks to get transient results.

It is not very sensible to work hard for a little profit. But it so happens everywhere. The human form is very rare to achieve. It is a golden opportunity after soul's travel through millions of other life forms. Yet the obstinate mind dictates us to work very very hard in freezing cold and scorching heat, day-shifts, night-shifts, in nonhuman environments just to get little drop of promi

By Bhaktimarga Swami

Reveal One’s Impressions

At the final session of our monk sanga (gathering) our facilitator asked us to write down a statement revealing our impressions. This was my off-the-cuff rendition:

“Krishna is fond
When we do bond
In sharing views
We destroy our blues.”

Another verse from the Bhagavad-gita confirms the notion of chatting on spiritual topics. Such activity brings about the greatest joy. That verse is 10.9.

If we talk of practical matters we may get bored. If we talk

Hare Krishna and pranams dear devotees,

Today is Bhadra Purnima, a very auspicious and special day for all the devotees of lord Krishna.

Visvarupa- mahotsava

Today is Visvarupa- mahotsava , the date on which Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s elder brother, Visvarupa, took sannyasa, the renounced order of life. We hear from Caitanya Caritamrta –

After this, Jagannātha Miśra got a son of the name Viśvarūpa, who was most powerful and highly qualified because He was an incarnation of Baladeva.

Viśvarūpa

Today is Bhadra-purnima. Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.13.13) states, “If on the full moon day of the month of Bhadra one places Srimad-Bhagavatam on a golden throne and gives it as a gift, he will attain the supreme transcendental destination.” As explained in the purport, “One should place Srimad-Bhagavatam on a golden throne because it is the king of all literature. On the full-moon day of the month of Bhadra, the sun, which is compared to this king of literatures, is present in the constellation Le

Today is the divine appearance day of the transcendental twins: Rangadevi and Sudevi Sakhi. In the year 1992, the last of the four Asta-sakhis, or principle associates of Srimati Radharani, appeared in Mayapur and took their places on the altar. Rangadevi and Sudevi, were two of these four and they stand third and fourth on Srimati Radharani‘s left.

Rangadevi and Sudevi are identical twins. Their father is Rangasara and their mother is Karuna. Rangadevi is married to Vakreksana, and Sudevi is

Once we were in Mayapur. We had an old—I think it was a 1948 Hudson or some old, big car. And I was driving. We had left the main road. If you have been on the main road you know how bad it is. You can imagine how bad this secondary road was like. We were going to visit Lalit Prasad, who was Bhaktisiddhanta’s living brother, who was a very old man then. We didn’t know the road, and we didn’t know the way very well. We knew that it was up that road somewhere. And we drove halfway up or so, and

The following article was written by my wife Shefali Jandial in June,2013 which talks about her experience of Krishna Consciousness through Kirtan/Kirtan Mela and an incident which strengthened her faith in Krishna. She recently left her body in an unfortunate accident.

 The Purple flower

Where is the joy?

Oh! Just around the corner.

I turn the corner-

Where is the joy?

Oh! Up there & yonder.

Closer I wander…

I hear Krishna’s heartbeat,

Radha Rani’s anklets

I hear vibrating mridangas

& tinkling kartalas

Oh

Hare Krishna dear devotees,

Dandavat Pranams.

Hare Krishna dear devotees,

Dandavat Pranams.

Today is the appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur,  the spiritual master of Srila Prabhupada.

Few weeks ago a senior Vaishnava shared a revolutionary article by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, which I am sharing with you below. It is deep and very insightful and can give us key(s) to make a very rapid progress in Krishna consciousness by changing our outlook towards the world and ou

​

Andhasyaivāndha lagnasya nyāyaḥ (association with the blind)

If one associates with a blind person, he is sure to develop same blindness.

This is particularly the case of persons blind in the subject matters of morality, wisdom, culture, spiritual knowledge, and detachment from matter. An intelligent man can hardly appreciate the association of such blind people. How they became blind? Their blindness is caused by the glitter of materialistic association with women, and money, which is another fo

“Today we are observing the Sri Krishna janmasahtami adhivas because lord Krishna Janmastami is one of the most holy days in the universe. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita  My birth and My work is transcendental. We will offer about 26 sacred items to the deities. We will offer that with various prayers. We have here the gurukula students who will chant the mantras and different pujaris, brahmanas and sanyasis will offer the sacred items. See the deities have come forward in their utsav murti and

Bhismadeva was not only a pure devotee, but very much a self-reliant devotee. He was a devotee who chose the transcendental position even though he was in a condition of life which was mundane. Living in a royal court is not the ideal situation for a brahmacari. Generally, brahmacaris are nicely locked away in the brahmacari ashramas, where they are protected from the heavy aspect of sense gratification straight in their face. But here, Bhismadeva was living in royal opulence, a very difficult