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By Anandini Padayachee

“They [the masses] must have their illusions at all costs; they turn instinctively, as the insect seeks the light, to the rhetoricians who accord them what they want. No truth, but error has always been the chief factor in the evolution of nations…. The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduces them.” (Gustave Le Bon, 1995: 132).

The advent of ‘modernity’ saw the eradicatio

I was reading in the Uddhava Gita where there is a whole list of qualities given. One quality given is heroism. It is said that heroism means to overcome the natural tendency to enjoy the material life; that is a hero! Men and women alike, are heroes and heroines when they give up this tendency to enjoy material life.

In youth, when still very young, when taking up Krsna consciousness, one may wonder “Don’t you know what you are giving up? Those few years that you have, you are so eager to sacr

No one is so powerful that he is not influenced by maya, the illusory energy. Even Lord Brahma can sometimes become bewildered by illusory energy. Therefore we can never think, “Oh well, now I have been a devotee for ninety-nine years and maya cannot touch me. What can maya do to me? It does not affect me. I am a bhakti yogi.”

No. We should understand what Srila Prabhupada mentions about Ajamila – Ajamila was a qualified brahmana, Ajamila went through gurukula, Ajamila was properly trained, he

By Mahatma das

Vengeance, envy, anger, and discord are often higher within religious groups than elsewhere (“We have enough religion to hate, but not enough to love”). We need to be careful about this in Iskcon.

Recently I came across this quote:

“Religious people often become self righteous, judgmental, resentful, condemning, etc. as they see more faults in man than other’s see. Psychologists have noted that piety can easily become an unhealthy form of neurosis rather than a healthy form of r

“The best time and place is Mayapur on Lord Caitanya’s Appearance Day. That is not only the best for me but for everyone. Mayapur is meant for that. If possible all devotees from all our centers should go for 8 days at that time.” – Srila Prabhupada, Letter to Tamal Krishna, Bhaktivedanta Manor 20 July, 1973

A few hours north of Kolkata is the holy land of Navadvipa, also known as Sri Dham Mayapur, which is celebrated and worshiped by Gaudiya Vaishnava devotees because it was in this very place

Lecture on Gaura Purnima Festival by Nava Yogendra Swami at Udhampur on 19 Mar 2011

(Nava Yogendra Swami Naishtik Brahmachari left home at a very young age of 9 years to become Sadhu and lived in jungles. Returned home and again left at the age of 17 years and lived at Shri Vrindavana dham.)

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Gaura Purnima - Lord Caitanya’s Appearance Day

Activities and Resources for teaching and guiding ages 4 -18
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Lecture on Gaura Purnima Class by HH Bhakti Charu Swami on 27 Mar 2013 at ISKCON Phoenix

(Bhakti Charu Swami is from a Bengali family and spent most of his early childhood in urban Kolkata. He met with Srila Prabhupada at the end of 1976 after a long and intense search for a spiritual teacher. This initial meeting resulted in Bhakti Charu Swami being assigned to translate the books of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust into the Bengali language.)

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From Back to Godhead

Discover Krishna’s law of attraction, the real power behind the latest rage in the self-improvement marketplace.

The Secret, a book and DVD by Rhonda Byrne, is getting a lot of attention as sales soar. The author claims that if we apply the principles she lays out, we can achieve whatever we desire. People from all walks of life are excitedly latching on to her ideas.

In the beginning of the DVD, ancient-looking texts in a medieval ambiance invite us to discover secret know

Prasadam is All-Attractive

Someday the masses of people are going to find out about prasadam. It’s inevitable.

Prasadam is all-attractive, who could resist it? No matter who you are there’s some variety of prasadam which has the potency to captivate you, absorb you, make you forget about everything else that you hold dear. For no one can taste prasadam only once. After the first experience one is in­variably forced to try it again and again until final­ly he gives up eating everything else. It

Less reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books, minimizing his position by more elaborate guru-pujas than SP’s guru-puja, introduction of new, unauthorized literature, demigod and non Vaishnava worship in Iskcon temples, Indian social customs like rakhi, minimizing prasadam standards, inappropriate items offered to the deities like frozen vegetables, relaxed sexual behavior, improper decorations of the Deities, non traditional kirtans by chanting names non associated with Lord Krishna and more.

Sourc

Some suggestions on how to stay inspired.

Somehow, it happens that our motivation in Krishna consciousness may falter. Usually that faltering comes in the form of lacking the desire to do some practical service, associate with devotees, or develop our spiritual practices, such as improving the quality or quantity of our chanting or of our reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Whenever this happens to me or a friend, I realize the urgency and fragility of devotional service and the importance of

Hare Krishna, please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

“Yes, my order still stands. Please organize Back to Godhead distribution and do it nicely. The sankirtana party and distribution of our magazines and books is our real program. Other things are secondary. So during the summer time you should utilize this program of sankirtana and book distribution vigorously. Attention diverted to incense business is not a very good sign. We should give all our energy for distri

Born in Chennai, India, Nandapriyā Sikdar, 27, has devoted her life to the teachings of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), or more commonly, the Hare Krishna Movement.

Sikdar lives in Alachua, where her group says it has the largest concentration of Hare Krishnas in North America. She teaches music and art to teenagers at the oldest and largest Hare Krishna school, Bhaktivedanta Academy. Since the movement’s birth in the 1960s, it has attracted millions of congregatio

Dhirasanta Das Goswami: In a small town situated close to the banks of the River Yamuna there lived a man called Amrita. Nothing in life caused him more anxiety than his fear of death. One day he had an idea that if he befriended Lord Yamaraj, he would be able to keep death at a distance, and so Amrita practiced austerities and meditated upon the Lord of Death, who was verily pleased and granted him a vision.
Lord Yamaraj said, ‘I know by the aid of my divine powers that you seek to befriend me