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Two Highlights From The Waikato (Waikato is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand).
Damodara Krsna Dasa: Recently, I went on a six-day stint in the Waikato.
I was in Hamilton East–in a small car park–and stopped an athletic lady. She happened to be Joelle King, the best women squash player for New Zealand.
After an injury, her ranking dropped from No. 4 in the world to 17th. Six months after her recovery, she is now up to 11th in the world. But she explained that s

The fulfillment of the desire of visionaries, from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu down to Srila Prabhupada, saints and incarnations, the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium is a unique and ambitious project to make the vast culture and philosophy of the timeless Vedic tradition accessible to everyone.

Rising from the plains of the holy land of Sri Mayapur, on the banks of the sacred Ganges River, the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium will be a shining beacon to all aspiring spiritualists who are searching

From Back to Godhead

When Charles asked his son and daughter-in-law a Hare Krsna couple to move in with him, he knew he’d have to adapt, but his reward wasmore than he could ever imagine.

Charles was born in 1917. He grew into a man of courage and principles, serving his country in the U.S. Navy for twenty years and then the Civil Service for twenty more. Assigned to a submarine eet during World War II, he saw his share of pain and suffering and, like many veterans, came to value a safe, secure

From Back to Godhead

What is the effect of chanting Hare Krishna?

The names of the Lord in the maha-mantra Hare, Krishna, and rama are invested with His full potencies. Singing God’s names, therefore, is to contact Him through the medium of transcendental sound. Thus, the effect of chanting is the same as the effect of directly associating with the Lord. The following beautiful verse, written by Lord caitanya, describes the seven effects the Hare Krishna mantra has on chanters.

ceto-darpana-mar

There is a strange term which has often puzzled me we speak about devotee’s then the term congregational member; do we actually have congregational members?

It appears to be more divisive than it initially appears, however I have found that those labeled congregational members are actually inspirational devotee’s in disguise.

Given that I’ve been going to the same temple for over seven years you would have thought may be not going since the beginning of the year someone would notice, may be thos

It is mentioned in the Hari Bhakti Vilasa that if one accepts the worship of a deity then, not only should one worship that deity very nicely during his lifetime, but one is also responsible to make sure that theseva puja goes on after one’s lifetime! So we see that it is a major responsibility to worship a deity.

Krsna is very kind when he manifests himself in his deity form. Krsna descends from the spiritual world in that particular form and manifests himself here. When Krsna manifests himself

My first encounter of the devotees was an unexpected one. I’d heard about the Hare Krishnas before (most notably from when they were mentioned by Kermit the Frog in that seminal classic, The Muppet Movie), and only thought them as funny looking but probably good natured people in orange robes singing and dancing in the street, and this is the extent to which I suspect most college students know ISKCON. At my university, the students may talk to the devotees when they see them on their bi-weekly

Kadamba Kanana Swami: It is true that there is that inner animal within us. The animal that we hide. The animal that lives behind the saintly expressions on our faces. There is this animal and we have chained him up in regulative principles by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy but he wants to break loose. That inner animal which lives within and he OR SHE wants to break loose and waits for opportunities!
I like this theme. I found it somewhere in a magazine, a lady writer picked up on it. She had this ba

One time a saint observed a candala walking along the road was sprinkling water on the path to purify before his every step. This was kinda strange and so the saint approached him and asked the reason. The Candala told its sinful to walk along the path where an ungrateful person has walked over. Even a candala feels he gets sin to touch the earth that was walked over by an ungrateful person. 

The following is quite impersonal but is ultimately about connecting to the nature and the creator indi

The material body of every living being is animated by a spiritual soul, who is the eternal offspring of Krsna. Each souls individual history of good or bad deeds causes him to become fastened into a higher or lower body, yet all souls remain in essence equal as children of God. God never forgets them, and a godly person, Krsna tells us, sees all animate beings as spritually equal sparks of the divine (Bg.5.18).

But if we forgt God and consequently develop eclipsed material vision, the transcen

When the earth moves suddenly, we all stop. The poet Govinda Das wrote – kamala talajala, jivana talamala: this life is tottering like a drop of water on a lotus flower.

In Nepal there will be many stories of those who survived, who barely missed a collapsing building, who were one minute absorbed in their everyday life and the next in a life upturned. There will be communities who come together in the face of tragedy and families forever torn apart.

Why? We will ask again and again. And what i

Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 07, Chapter 06, Text 01 by HG Kamallochan Prabhu on 29 Nov 2015 at ISKCON Juhu

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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto - 10, Chapter - 03, Text - 28 by HH Lokanath Swami at Bhaktivedanta Manor on 03 May 2016

(Lokanath Swami born in Aravade, a small village Maharashtra, Indian, he went to Mumbai for studying. In the year 1971, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was touring India with his foreign disciples and had organized a pandal program in Mumbai.Intrigued, maharaj attended the whole Hare Krsna Festival and heard from Srila Prabhupada.)

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Lecture on Narsimha removes Ignorance and Fear by HG Urmila Mataji on 21 May 2016 at New Vrindavan

(HG Urmila Mataji has mainly served ISKCON since 1973 till the present time as book distributor, assistant secretary for the BBT, pujari, temple cook, actress, writer, traveling preacher, editor of BTG since 1990, primary and secondary teacher for 27 years, school principle for 18 years, member of Sastric Advisory Council to the GBC. )

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Lecture on How to overcoming the laziness to chant by Sivarama Swami at Budapest on 12 May 2016

(Sivarama Swami was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1949. In 1956, during the failed Hungarian revolution, he emigrated with his family to Canada.)

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Of late I have noticed one disturbing thing in Iskcon  which I want to write about. Many of Iskcon Sanyasis and senior devotees are more into writing their own books and spending their energies to push them. Instead they should concentrate on distribution of Prabhupad's books. Prabhupad's books alone have the potency to turn the reader into a Krishna devotee. More over a number books written by second and third generation of devotees are not hundred percent faithful to gaudiya vaishnava samprada

The significance of rathayatra reached the far corners of the globe now and especially where ISKCON temples are located ever since Srila Prabhupada organised the first rathayatra in San Francisco in 1967 as briefed below. The rathayatra was scheduled on a Sunday the 9th July. On Saturday, 8th July, Jagannatha Deities were brought from Stinson Beach and draped in cloth. Although some rathayatra posters were the only official announcements, everyone in the Haight-Ashbury was talking about the fes