One of my closest friends, Dr Abhishek Ghosh, who is a faculty member at Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA, invited me to speak to his students for a World Religions course. As most of the students were from a Christian background, he asked me to give an insider perspective on how I as a Hindu see Christianity in particular and other religions in general.
I spoke on how God is bigger than the religions we dedicate to him (Religion is meant for God; God is not meant for religion) and
Spiritual life has been challenging in every age, even in the satya yuga! Although in the satya yuga, conditions were very easy and very nice. There was no need to work; grains were growing naturally, fruits were everywhere. All that needed to be done was meditation but it needed to be done for a very long time – that was the problem. Now everything has to be done for a short time and quick results are there but in satya yuga, everything had to be practiced for an extremely long time. So then a
The London Saturday Night Harinama Sankirtan Party's ranks were
boosted this weekend as many Srila Prabhupada disciples came along to
celebrate Srila Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, which had fallen
earlier in the week.
Please find photos below.
Slideshow (please turn on sound):
http://davidc.zenfolio.com/maha_harinama_sankirtan_05112016/slideshow
Gallery:
http://davidc.zenfolio.com/maha_harinama_sankirtan_05112016
Sri Harinama Sankirtan Yajna Ki Jaya!
Srila Prabhupada Ki Jaya!
Nitai Gau
Please find below photos from Annakuta, Go Puja and Govardhan Puja
2016 at Bhaktivedanta Manor.
Slideshow (please turn on sound):
http://davidc.zenfolio.com/govardhan_annakuta_gopuja_2016/slideshow
Gallery:
http://davidc.zenfolio.com/govardhan_annakuta_gopuja_2016
With best wishes,
Hare Krishna,
David.
During the London leg of my tour of the West, the most memorable engagement was a talk show at Queens College, Cambridge University. The format was that the program coordinator acted as a host for a talk show entitled “Debunk the monk.” He shot a flurry of questions at me, challenging my beliefs and practices and the students got into the spirit and followed shoot. I was enlivened by the program format and the QA soon went in the direction of science and spirituality, as I had hoped.
Ever since
Honoring our Godbrothers and Godsisters
by Padmapani dasa
“Regarding serving your godbrothers, this is a very good practice. The Spiritual Master is never without His followers, so to serve the Spiritual Master also means to be the servant of His disciples. When you want to serve the king, you must also serve his minister, secretary, and everyone who serves him. And to serve his servants may please him more than to serve the king personally. So the Spiritual Master is not alone. He is always wi
Sometimes people think that the ancient Vedic literature no longer has any real usefulness in this day and age. That it is little better than an antique of foregone days. However, this article shows the universal and ever-relevant nature of the Ramayana, and how it explains the symptoms of society when there is no ruler, or when there is an unqualified leader. This is from the discussion between Markandeya and the great sages and Visishtha when they urge him to install a proper king onto the th
On the sacred day of Govardhan Puja, 31st October 2016, Bhaktivedanta Manor hosted a gathering at the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The House of Lords is the upper house of the UK Parliament and was built to advise the Crown Imperial since 1295. The House of Lords scrutinise bills that hav
Dear devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.Srila Prabhupada said that a GBC member could have “thousands of secretaries,” and in keeping with this principle the Governing Body has designed new posts for senior devotees to be engaged in assisting the GBC expand the oversight of the Society’s development. One such post is that of Global Duty Officers (GDO), who help the Governing Body and its members by taking up important services giving support and leader
His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami was invited to provide the keynote speech for ‘The Call of Dharma’ at the Headquarters of EY in London on 25th October, 2016. EY (formerly Ernst & Young) is a multinational professional services firm and is the third largest of the “Big Four” with Deloitte and PwC. EY has 231,000 employees in over 700 offices across 150 countries; revenues as at 2016 total USD 29.6 billion. EY provides assurance (including financial audit), tax, consulting and advisory services
Srila Prabhupada departed from this world in Vrindavan dham, India, on the 14th of November 1977. One would not usually celebrate the disappearance day of a person, especially one so loved and revered as Srila Prabhupada. However, the departure of a pure Vaishnava gives cause for jubilation because he returns to his eternal service at Krishna’s lotus feet in Goloka Vrindavan, the spiritual world.
“He reasons ill who says that Vaisnavas die,
When thou art living still in sound!
The Vaishnavas d
“So at the time of death… Of course, those who are devotees, their position is different. People may say, “The devotee is also dying, and the nondevotee, sinful man, is also dying. What is the difference?” So there is much difference. The example is given: just like a cat catching a rat in his mouth and at the same time carrying his cubs in the mouth. Superficially, we can see that the same mouth is being used, but one is feeling comfortable being carried by the mother, and another is feeling
Although Srila Prabhupada is no longer physically with us, on the spiritual platform he is very much present. He is present in his deity form, in his books and through his instructions. His mercy is available to all those who seek it.
Srila Prabhupada departed from this world on November 14, 1977 in Vrindavan, India. One would not usually celebrate the disappearance day of a person, especially one so loved and revered as Srila Prabhupada. However, the departure of a pure Vaishnava gives cause
Each morning in ISKCON temples we pay homage to our Founder-Ācārya Śrīla Prabhupāda by singing Śrī Guru-vandanā together while offering him guru-pūjā.
Śrī Guru-vandanā is a Bengali song composed by Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. In the hymn’s second stanza, that great ācārya directs our attention to the words or speech (vākya) issuing from the guru’s lotus-like mouth (guru-mukha-padma).Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura
says we should make those words one (aikya) with our hearts and minds (citta
Please find below a few phone snaps of the Vyasana and bhoga offerings
from Srila Prabhupada's Disappearance Day 2016 at Bhaktivedanta Manor.
A small murti of Srila Prabhupada was given abhishek earlier in the
day, pushpanjali was performed after the 12:30 arati, and many
devotees read out heart-felt offerings.
http://davidc.zenfolio.com/srila_prabhupada_disappearance_day_2016
If you are in the UK and can come to London please join our maha
harianama sankirtan party THIS SATURDAY EVENING (5t
Today we honor the disappearance day of His Dive Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada with a half day fast and are celebrating your disappearance with remembrances and prayers.
The Disappearance of a Vaisnava was explained very nicely by Srila Prabhupada is a lecture given on the disappearance day lecture of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja Prabhupada on Dec. 13, 1973 in Los Angeles:
“So spiritually, appearance and disappearance, there is no difference. Just like in materi
Avatar Art: Neo-Vedic Paintings Celebrating Life by Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa) and co-author Kaisori Bellachoffers a beautiful artistic smorgasbord of the most popular figures in India's array of avatars, gods, sages, and demons. The alluring paintings of which this volume is comprised, portrayed by contemporary artists, mostly ISKCON devotees, focus on stories from the Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), the Mahabharata, and the Caitanya-caritamrta. The text illuminates the art.
Here,
By Namhatta ISKCON Vrindavan:
The Transcendental Pastimes Of Lord Jaganatha's 2nd Rathayatra in Mathura Vrindavana.
17th Oct 2016, During the auspicious month of Damodar, ISKCON Vrindavana Namhatta Department organized the 2nd grand Rath Yatra festival in Mathura to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ISKCON. The event co-ordinated with the 2016 Braja Mandal Parikrama with the parikrama devotees gathered in Mathura that very day to attend the festival on Oct 17, 2016. Due to the overwhelming suppo
Time is ticking and I’m reflecting on what I’ve actually contributed to the world. Though trying to avoid the egotistical desire to ‘make a mark,’ we are impelled to share the ‘fruits’ we have received. Spiritually, morally, and even legally, knowledge brings a certain responsibility. In certain circumstances, to withhold information that can greatly assist others would be considered violent and unethical. Thus, I often consider how to develop myself into a better instrument to proliferate spir
