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Srila Prabhupada returns to the city of his birth, accompanied by his “dancing white elephants.”
By Rajasekhara Dasa Brahmachari
The people of Calcutta happily welcome Srila Prabhupada’s “dancing white elephants.”

Excerpted from Calcutta — City of Divine Grace: An Historical Memoir of the Period 1510 to 1977, by Rajasekhara Dasa Brahmachari. Copyright: © 2023 Vedanta Vision Publications.

This excerpt, taken from Chapter Seven, retains the book’s style for Sanskrit and other considerations. The b

By Atma Tattva Das

In Alachua, Florida, a significant initiative called Seva Care (formerly Southcare), originally started by Sukhada Devi Dasi, Mulaka Devi Dasi, and Rasa Devi Dasi and now being carried forward by Tamohara Dasa and Madhuryalila Devi Dasi, is dedicated to providing practical and spiritual support through various programs to enhance the devotee community’s well-being.

Seva Care began with a desire to serve and uplift the large and growing devotee community in Alachua. The vision

By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

During the auspicious month of Kartik, from October 17, 2024, to November 15, 2024, the Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education (VIHE) is offering a special compilation of five courses titled ‘Kartika Vidya Sankalpa,’ which translates to “a vow of knowledge during the month of Kartika.”

This initiative is much more than just a series of courses. In the Mathura Mahatmya, Srila Rupa Goswami reveals that spending the month of Kartika in Vrindavan leads one to th

ISKCON released the following statement to the media, “A video of some altercation at ISKCON Patna surfaced yesterday night. It is unfortunate and painful that some differences between different members of the community escalated into something that doesn’t represent the teachings and values of ISKCON, which are practiced by lakhs of its members across the world.

The affected members from yesterday have been offered support by ISKCON.

Being a responsible institution, all grievances are taken se

भगवद्गीता यथारूप 108 महत्त्वपूर्ण श्लोक

अध्याय आठ भगवत्प्राप्ति

अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम्।

यः प्रयाति स मद्भावं याति नास्त्यत्र संशयः।। 5।।

अन्त-काले– मृत्यु के समय;च– भी;माम्– मुझको;एव– निश्चय ही;स्मरन्– स्मरण करते हुए;मुक्त्वा– त्याग कर;कलेवरम्– शरीर को;यः– जो;प्रयाति– जाता है;सः– वह;मत्-भावम्– मेरे स्वभाव को;याति– प्राप्त करता है;न– नहीं;अस्ति– है;अत्र– यहाँ;संशयः– सन्देह।

भावार्थ : और जीवन के अन्त में जो केवल मेरा स्मरण करते हुए शरीर का त्याग करता है, वह तुरन्त मेरे स्वभाव को प्रा

By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

Syama Gauri Devi Dasi, originally from Hungary, shared some of her spiritual journey in a recent interview with ISKCON News. Her service over the years has taken her around Europe, including temples in Budapest, Scotland, and most recently to Folkestone, UK. She now lives there with her husband, Priya Kunda Das who hails from Liverpool, and together they run a small preaching center called Atma Lounge in the seaside town of Folkestone, in southern England.

Fro

Dear ISKCON Devotees,

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

We are deeply saddened to share the difficult news regarding the health of His Holiness Giriraja Swami. Maharaja has been diagnosed with Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD). This degenerative neurological disorder has been increasingly affecting him over the past three years, with more significant clinical symptoms emerging in the last year.

This cruel disease is characterized by the progre

This morning an hour and a half was set aside for an initiation of two devotees. From the U.K., now residing in New York, is Joseph, one of the actors from the night before. He’s a good performer, is intelligent, and shows lots of devotional qualities. His Sanskrit name is Jivan Mukta. Suneel is living here in New Vrindavana, is humble, and has a sweet disposition. His new name is Saranya.

A person from Nepal, Gambhira Gaur, received his second diksha, in the absence of Gopal Krishna Goswami who

Dear Malati,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 22, 1973.

You write that things are in a crisis in England, with oil shortage and IRA bombing. Therefore, we have to take shelter of Krsna. If Krsna wants to kill us that is not wrong, if it is His desire. Our business should just to be to follow the regulative schedule, deity worship, distributing prasadam, chanting, book distribution and never mind the material danger. Krsna Consciousness means

By Bhaktisiddhanta Swami

We can study the example of a topmost Vaishnavi, Queen Kunti-, who prayed for calamity to remember her Lord again and again. Of course, she is the personified zenith of devotional dependence, but we can greatly benefit by trying to at least get a glimpse of her mood.

SB 1.8.25

vipadah. santu ta-h. s’as’vat tatra tatra jagad-guro
bhavato dars’anam. yat sya-d apunar bhava-dars’anam

I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You agai

The secret to protection and universal welfare

“Absorption in Krsna” and “Dependence on Krsna” are the two main aspects of spiritual life demonstrated by Lord Sri Krsna in Sri Vrndavana. A materialist is generally absorbed in one’s own self and has quite a lot of faith and pride in one’s own intellectual capabilities, achievements, resources and contacts. As opposed to such materialists, the Vrajavasis are a group of people who are totally absorbed in the thoughts of how to serve Krsna and are

भगवद्गीता यथारूप 108 महत्त्वपूर्ण श्लोक

अध्याय सात भगवदज्ञान

येषां त्वन्तगतं पापं जनानां पुण्यकर्मणाम् ।

ते द्वन्द्वमोहनिर्मुक्ता भजन्ते मां दृढव्रताः ॥ 28 ॥

येषाम्– जिन;तु– लेकिन;अन्त-गतम्– पूर्णतया विनष्ट;पापम्– पाप;जनानाम्– मनुष्यों का;पुण्य– पवित्र;कर्मणाम्– जिनके पूर्व कर्म;ते– वे;द्वन्द्व– द्वैत के;मोह– मोह से;निर्मुक्ताह– मुक्त;भजन्ते– भक्ति में तत्पर होते हैं;माम्– मुझको;दृढ-व्रताः– संकल्पपूर्वक।

भावार्थ : जिन मनुष्यों ने पूर्वजन्मों में तथा इस जन्म में पुण्यकर्म किये हैं और जिनके पापकर्म

भगवद्गीता यथारूप 108 महत्त्वपूर्ण श्लोक

अध्याय सात भगवदज्ञान

इच्छाद्वेषसमुत्थेन द्वन्द्वमोहेन भारत ।

सर्वभूतानि सम्मोहं सर्गे यान्ति परन्तप। ॥ 27 ॥

इच्छा– इच्छा;द्वेष– तथा घृणा;समुत्थेन– उदय होने से;द्वन्द्व– द्वन्द्व से;मोहेन– मोह के द्वारा;भारत– हे भरतवंशी;सर्व– सभी;सम्मोहम्– मोह को;सर्गे– जन्म लेकर;यान्ति– जाते हैं, प्राप्त होते हैं;परन्तप– हे शत्रुओं के विजेता।

भावार्थ : हे भरतवंशी! हे शत्रुविजेता! समस्त जीव जन्म लेकर इच्छा तथा घृणा से उत्पन्न द्वन्द्वों से मोहग्रस्त होकर मोह को प्राप्त होते ह

By Atma Tattva Das

On September 21, 2024, the streets of Rose Belle, Mauritius, hosted the Rathayatra Festival, an important festival on the Vaishnava calendar. The event featured a procession involving the deities Lord Jagannath, Baladev, and Subhadra. It was organized by a team of volunteers led by Kaunteya, a prominent figure in ISKCON Mauritius.

Kaunteya’s journey in Krishna consciousness began in 1989 when he joined the temple as a new devotee. His dedication quickly found expression in var

By Suniti Devi Dasi

ISKCON Resolve and the North American Regional Governing Body (NA RGB) announced a new free online seminar entitled “Fostering Effective Cooperation for a Unified Mission” hosted by Vraj Vihari Das to be held on Saturday, October 12th,  10 AM – 12 PM EDT. The seminar will be on the Zoom platform and a link will be emailed to you prior to the event.

Srila Prabhupada consistently emphasized that cooperation is essential for the success of his mission. However, as many of us kno

Energy is a very active principle and that is personally felt by myself. On this second day of MANtra endeavouring to piece the play together was just that - a lot of energy output. It was a labour of love, for sure. My directorship was necessary for practice even during MANtra sessions, so I missed some good presentations.

I was fortunate to be present during the women’s panel which was so revealing. My dear god sister, Praharana spoke about the real tough times she had when a wave of anti-wome

A sign of a good leader is that he does not request those under him to do something that he is not prepared to do. So before we desire to distribute this Vedic culture to the whole world, we ourselves have to be following it in such a way that nobody can find even a minute discrepency in our practice. People are too attached to their sense gratification and wont be so readily eager to give it up, and although they may have some attraction to the Vedic culture, if the mind can find an excuse for

From Back to Godhead

Lessons on life, death, and living in a spirit of devotion

ISKCON devotees commonly use the phrase, “Going back home, back to Godhead.”Have you ever thought about what this means when a traveler is anxious to return home? Home is where our family is, where there are people who love us, who trust us. It’s the place we’re comfortable and happy. It’s the place we feel most natural.

The world we live in is foreign to the soul; we are strangers in a foreign land. In this alien p