As habitual creatures, we find change very difficult to comprehend and accept at times. Especially when situations are dramatically altered, practically overnight. As we move throughout our daily lives, it’s evident in conversations, behaviors, the news, social media, etc. that there is a growing sense of unrest in the US. So many people feel as if they are in crisis and are looking for answers on how to stay calm in a crisis.
This crisis management mode creates tension, anxiety, nervousness,
Prapujaka Das (Per Jäderstrand) is just ‘an ordinary guy,’ as he’ll tell you himself. He’s not a Swami or a guru. And he’s not from India, or even America or England, but from Sweden.
“Nobody knows where Sweden is,” he deadpans.
But all that might make his extraordinary tale “Looking for My Life” – about searching for his identity across India and beyond – more relateable.
“If people see books about spiritual life by sannyasis, they may say, ‘Well, that’s for them,’” he opines. “But if they re
Photo Credits: Mindful
"What’s this world coming to when we’re having a ‘mindful moment’ and we still feel miserable, not having found the happiness we think we deserve? What’s the value of meditation if it only makes us all the more aware of our mundane reality?"
“I’m making a failed attempt at mindful dishwashing,” exclaims an exasperated Ruth Whippman in an Op-Ed in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/opinion/sunday/actually-lets-not-be-in-the-moment.html?emc=edit_t
ISKCON Govardhan Eco Village (GEV, http://www.ecovillage.org.in/), a 100 acre sustainable farming community and retreat center, based near Mumbai, India received the Green World Environment Award 2016 in the international campaign to find the world’s greenest countries, companies and communities. They competed against more than 500 other nominations in the Green World Awards for Environmental Best Practice and were presented with their trophy and certificate at a glittering presentation in Th
HG Rasamandala Prabhu, Director of ISKCON Educational Services, facilitated a four day Devotee Care Course-2, pilot course at ISKCON Govardhan Eco Village (GEV), Wada from 27th to 30th Oct 2016. It was organized by Revatiraman Prabhu, Chairman of the Devotee Care Committee and Gauranga Prabhu, Divisional Director for Devotee Care Committee. Rasamandala Prabhu was given the responsibility of creating a world class Course on Devotee Care in the VTE style and was given all the resources created
We’ve decided to implement a new method to keep you up to date. Our new blog, BRC Bulletin, will be continually updated as we make a commitment to keep you more informed and connected to our service developments.
This edition’s topics include:
An index of selected scanned texts in English that have recently been added to online catalog
A University of Oxford scholar explains how his research at BRC library benefited his latest publication
Highlights from our adaptation of Open Source technolog
Since the day I came to know about God, I was told that God is the giver of everything and so I should unhesitatingly ask him to fulfil all my desires. And from that day or rather from that moment onwards I have always treated God just like a shopping mall from where I can buy anything and everything. The only difference is that in a mall I need to pay but in front of God I do not need to pay. Yes it is true that sometimes like many others I have put some paper notes or coins in a hundi (donati
Hare Krishna,
5th December, 2016. Gurgaon
The common Gauòéya Vaiñëava understanding is that the word rupanuga was first used by Çréla Raghunätha däsa Gosvämé in the last verse of his Çré Manaù–Çiksä:
manaù-çikñä-daikädaçaka-varam etaà madhurayä
girä gäyaty uccaiù samadhi-gata-sarvärtha-tati yaù
sa-yüthaù çré-rüpänuga iha bhavan gokula-vane
jano rädhä-kåñëätula-bhajana-ratnaà sa labhate
These eleven excellent instructions to the mind grant all spiritual benedictions. A person who stay
Odana Sashti is a festival that marks the beginning of winter. During the Odana-sasthi festival the devotees dress Lord Jagannatha and Balarama with starched cloth. This ceremony indicates that from that day forward, a winter covering should be given to the Lord. That covering is directly purchased from a weaver, and freshly purchased cloth is usually starched to preserve it. According to the archana-marga, a cloth should first be washed to remove all the starch, and then it can be used to cover
Remembering Kartik month with His Holiness Subhag Swami
by Ramanuja das
For the aspiring devotee who wishes to be constantly engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna the process of smarana or continuously remembering the pastimes of the Lord as he has heard from the pure devotee or the spiritual master in the association of like-minded devotees is most important as Maharaj Prithu submitted to Lord Vishnu Himself:
sa uttamasloka mahan-mukha-c
“Now, our next program will be to organize farming land to set an example to the whole world how people can be peaceful, happy, and free from all anxieties simply by chanting Hare Krishna Maha-mantra and living an honorable life in Krishna Consciousness. In India especially people are religiously inclined. They like to live in village and also like to love Lord Rama, Lord Krishna. This idealism is running through their blood and veins. We have to organize their natural tendency and elevate them
One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament. (Bhagavad-Gita—-2:27—-translation)
Yamaraja, the great controller of life after death, decides the living entities’ destinies in their next lives. He is surely among the most confidential representatives of the Lord. Such confidential posts are offered to great devotees of the Lord who are as good as His eternal associates in t
Vaisesika das: In the backyard of my home, I recently set up a bird feeder that I inherited from my father several years ago. For the past few weeks, I have been regularly filling it with Nyger seeds, much liked by Finches. Today, as I watched a group of happy Finches devouring these seeds, I mused at how they have no idea where the seeds come from, or how the feeder magically fills up every few days. They only merrily eat without considering the source of their food.
This is true of most livin
Recently, Gurukula principal, Vinod Bihari dasa, joined 29 other principals and Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, in a meeting organised by the AIS (Australian Independent Schools of NSW) in Sydney.
Vinod Bihari gave a presentation on the programs implemented by the Gurukula that have led to such enormous success. Vinod Bihari talked about how the school is focusing on best instructional practices that tailor to student learning.
The Gurukula has also pioneered a coaching model whereby a spec
Vrindavani Briant: My two-month visit from 21 July to 26 September 2016 to New Govardhana dhama wasn’t a trip I originally planned to make. After I visited New Govardhana briefly in April of this year – also an unplanned trip! – the sweetness of the New Govardhana temple and community made me feel compelled to return. With this in mind, I made inquiries into staying at the New Govardhana brahmacharini ashrama and received such a welcoming and encouraging response that I returned to New Govardha
Feeling unusually sober and contemplative, I wrote a rough poem today about how I feel after reading two devotee memoirs, as I think about compiling my own. While I will share it after this introduction, I have so much more to say, to properly convey, all I am feeling today. I continue to contemplate death as as a motivating meditation to live today, and to endeavor to have no possessive attachment weights, that if not addressed, will propel me to work out issues with others in future lives; to
Modern cosmology is a field of speculative thoughts interspersed with points of evidence. These evidences act like tent poles holding up the fabric of cosmological theories. Theories such as steady state, big bang, M-theory, grand unified theory etc all give different explanations to the origins and the functioning of the universe. Personally, I found it more of science fiction than science.
Regardless, there are some fundamental axioms that physicists accept. Although, I am not a scientist, it
By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications
Devotees at ISKCON New Vrindaban, West Virginia are in the midst of major renovations on Srila Prabhupada’s Palace. And they’re launching a campaign to help them continue restoring the renowned Smriti Samadhi, or memorial shrine to ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya, to its full glory.
The effort is a labor of love, just as it was when devotees first started building the Palace in 1973, intending it as a residence for their guru, who expressed a
Preaching will not become successful if we are not endearing ourselves to Krsna. Preaching does not just depend on some techniques otherwise we could all learn hypnosis and with hypnosis, we could take over the world! There are yogis like that who can bring people under their will, “Chant Hare Krsna!” and look into their eyes. This is not the way we want people to chant – by force! We want people to chant voluntarily. We want service to be voluntary.
When Prabhupada invited everyone to come to
Srutidharma das was invited to the Diwali function at Number 10 Downing Street. Along with the Prime Minister and other dignitaries such as the Indian High Commissioner Mr Dinesh Patnail, Srutidharma das lit the ceremonial lamp before being invited to say a few words and lead the Diwali prayers.
