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If we are at all aware of how dependent we are on God—for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and our very ability to eat and drink and breathe, to think and feel and will, and to walk, talk, and sense—we will feel grateful and want to reciprocate God’s kindness. We will want to do something for He (or She or They) who has done, and continues to do, so much for us.

We often take things for granted until we lose them. I use my right hand to chant on meditation beads, and one

The Covid pandemic has affected ISKCON’s operations around the world, especially in regard to international travel. The New Govardhana devotee community usually has the Sacred Sounds festival in April every year, which devotees from around the world attend. However, the last couple of times a smaller local festival has been organised.

Nevertheless, around 500 devotees registered to come over the Queens Birthday long weekend and everyone was blissfully engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lo

I was a junior in high school and had one more year to go before I could be free of all my bad association, but the Laguna temple president Rsabhadeva recommended me to Prabhupada for initiation, so a letter went off to him.
So what did Krishna do while the letter went to Srila Prabhupada? My parents put me in the Santa Ana Psychiatric Center as a way of deprogramming me.
All of a sudden I wasn't coming to the temple, so Ratnanabha, who worked for the phone company, tapped my parents' phone and

Kirtana (pronounced keer-ton-uh) is a Sanskrit word that means “praise” or “glory.” The more common Hindi pronunciation is “keer-ton,” dropping the final “a.” Simply understood, it is a form of song that centers on glorifying God, commonly performed in a “call and response” style of singing.

There is Nam-kirtan, which are songs composed of God’s sacred names, and Lila-kirtan, or songs that celebrate the esoteric activities of the Divine. There is Sankirtan, when the songs of praise are performed

By Madhava Smullen 

New paperback editions of Srimad-Bhagavatam: A Comprehensive Guide for Young Readers Cantos 1, 2, and 3 are now available on Amazon.com, along with the just completed Canto 4. The first three cantos in the series, compiled by Aruddha Dasi, were originally each released in two parts starting in 2016. However the new editions, redesigned by Raghu Consbruck, and featuring new illustrations by a variety of artists, have been revised into a single volume per Canto, making them mo

I was so happy to receive another submission from a godsister in Los Angeles. She had given her story of the early days in the movement in Canada, to add to the compilation of our upcoming book Krishna in the Maple Leaf. Her spiritual journey began at the young age of fifteen, when she heard about the Bhagavat philosophy. Interesting it is that the guidance counselor at her school encouraged her in her spiritual pursuit.

For myself it was just a pleasure to deliver two classes virtually for two

Just after the 12 years of exile of the Pandavas was completed, they were considering where to spend the remaining 1 year incognito. While still in the forest, a brahmana came to them and reported that the sticks which he used for igniting his sacrificial fire had somehow gotten entangled in the antlers of a deer, and the sticks were now gone. The sage asked the Pandavas to see if they could possibly return the sticks. In a search for that deer, a very unusual event took place. They could not f

From doing things for Krsna to looking after people who were doing things for Krsna to looking after people for Krsna, all these things come up in devotional service. The mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu offers us a golden opportunity that if somehow or other, we can take advantage in the service we do for this mission and in our personal behaviour and in our dealings with the vaisnavas, then surely we can go back to Godhead. As I said, in my youth, I was sometime careless in my dealings with ot

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

By Karnamrita Das and Arcana siddhi Devi Dasi

I have been speaking to a friend about how personal and spiritual growth can be related, or how our being balanced human beings in the mode of goodness is a good foundation for Krishna consciousness. Thus I thought of posting this article by my wife and I: Chanting the holy name and engaging in Bhakti-yoga (Krishna consciousness or devotional service) is the ultimate process of purification and healing in our tradition of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. The p

Prabhupāda: So the devotees are protected by the Viṣṇudūtas always, constantly. They are invisibly wandering all over the universe. We may see or not see, because we cannot see spiritual body with these material eyes. So even we do not see, the Viṣṇudūta is always protecting the devotees from the enemies.

As I have explained yesterday, devotees will have enemies. Kṛṣṇa had enemies. This world is such: envious. Ordinarily, they are envious. The whole world is full of enviousness. Even the greate

"So I am so much pleased upon all of the boys and girls in Los Angeles and all over the world who are understanding and appreciating this unique quality of our transcendental literature and voluntarily they are going out to distribute despite all circumstances of difficulty. By this effort alone they are assured to go back to home, back to Godhead. In order to change this materialistic society and prevent them from gliding to hell, first thing is to educate them. All decent men want to give ser

The sun is always shining, always existing, but we can’t always see it—it’s dark half the time. There's night and day. The sun does rise on schedule, though, so we’re not condemned to live without sunlight. You can predict when it will rise.

Krishna is the same way. He always exists. He also has a regular schedule for appearing in this world, which is mentioned in the Vedas.

Just as biological life depends on sunlight, our existence depends on the Absolute Truth, Who is ultimately a Person, the

By Madhava Smullen 

Lord Jagannatha is coming.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was the first year without a New York Ratha Yatra parade in 45 years – instead, Lord Jagannatha was driven down Fifth Avenue in a minivan, along with a virtual online celebration.

This summer, things are beginning to look different. The number of new coronavirus cases in the US has plummeted from a seven-day average of more than 250,000 a day in early January, to a daily average of less than 14,380 during the past

Video: Click here

Questioning modern theories on the history of evolution on the basis of available evidence, to determine without predjudice, how old the human species is.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=90535

By Parijata Devi Dasi

The Devotee Care Directorate, together with GBC SPT is endeavoring to extend tribute to all the devotees in ISKCON who have unfortunately departed in the current pandemic due to Covid as well as non-Covid related death during this period (over the last year).

As part of this initiative, the Devotee Care team is compiling a consolidated list of these departed devotees from across the world; their names and photographs, and will display them on the official site: www.devotee