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13557228655?profile=RESIZE_710x13557229052?profile=RESIZE_710xIn this important and timely podcast, Basu Ghosh Das, Secretary of the ISKCON India Bureau, joins members of the ISKCON India Scholars Board (IISB)—Krishna Kirti Das (IISB Convenor) and Sridhar Srinivasa Das (author) —to discuss the recent Supreme Court proceedings held on 16 May, 2025, concerning the long-standing legal dispute between ISKCON Bangalore and ISKCON Mumbai.

The discussion explores the ongoing debate around the validity of initiations conducted under the Ritvik system. Drawing from

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The Founder-Acharya of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada, registered ISKCON in India as a society and public trust in Mumbai in 1971. It was his desire that there should be only one ISKCON, i.e., the one he registered in Mumbai, and all the other temples and centres would be under its administrative control. This is also evident from the fact that, during his lifetime, Srila Prabhupada had opened several ISKCON temples, including Vrindavan, Mayapur, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and New Delhi, and they functioned

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By Aditya Devi Dasi  

We have opened Govinda’s Kadamba Kafe in New York City right at the front of our temple building in Brooklyn, offering a fresh new take on prasadam distribution in the city. The opening ceremony took place on the auspicious day of Aksaya Tritya. Jayadvaita Swami, Dilip Chauhan, the Deputy Commissioner for Trade, Investment and Innovation at the NYC Mayor’s Office, Temple President Hansarupa Dasa, Arcita Dasa, and many other Vaishnavas came for the occasion. A puja was perf

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13557223876?profile=RESIZE_584xThe soft touches to the day, after a rather bland phase at Newark Airport, was a visit to Shyama Kund’s childhood home in Cleveland.  Also, I might add that a great trek with Srimala down a trail made the afternoon what it was – fine and fun.  Both Srimala and I were fascinated to hear from Shyama Kund about his work at Nasa in Florida.  Who wouldn’t be intrigued with the space mission, the planets, the moon, and Mars, and whatever achievements may have come through, if any?  Shyama reminded us

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Question: Maharaj, sometimes we try to restrain our urges such as eating less. For some time we can but after a while we feel dissatisfied and cannot continue with our practices. How can we practically apply this in our lives and maintain the standard?

Answer: Everything should be done with moderation. There is a famous saying: ‘Haste means waste. Slow and steady wins the race.’ If we are given something very palatable we may say, ‘No, no. Take it away.’ But inside we are meditating on that sen

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By Suresvara Prabhu

When I grew up in Krishna consciousness—in the 1970s—we were very sympathetic to the Vaiṣṇavas in the former Soviet Union. After all, they were persecuted, jailed, and tortured by the KGB. Yet, they remained seemingly indomitable and could not be broken. We would hear their stories and think, “Wow, this is amazing.”

In 1991, however, the Soviet Union disbanded, and we soon received word that the first group of Russian devotees would come to India.

Keshava Maharaj was one of t

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We shall discuss the conversation between Sri Ramananda Raya and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, ramananda-samvada, recorded in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter Eight: “Talks Between Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya.”

TEXT 1

sancarya ramabhidha-bhakta-meghe
  sva-bhakti-siddhanta-cayamrtani
gaurabdhir etair amuna vitirnais
  taj-jnatva-ratnalayatam prayati

TRANSLATION

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is known as Gauranga, is the ocean of all conclusive knowledge in devotional servi

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Today is an auspicious day in Krishna consciousness. Of course, every day is auspicious in Krishna consciousness. When we first arrived in India, in Bombay, Srila Prabhupada was invited to a program on the lawn of an aristocratic gentleman’s house. Most of us went ahead, and Srila Prabhupada followed with a few disciples. When we arrived, our hosts told us, “It is very auspicious that you have come today, because today is a holy day.” We had never heard of the holy day and were somewhat doubtfu

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SRI RAMANANDA RAYA

A MOST CONFDENTIAL ASSOCIATE OF LORD SRI CAITANYA MAHAPRABHU

Sri Ramananda Raya was the Governor of the Rajamahendri (present day Rajahmundry of Andhra Pradesh at the bank of river Godavari), Godavari Province of Kalinga-Utkala Empire under the King Prataparudra. When Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was setting out on his tour of South India, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya humbly requested his plea to Lord to meet Ramananda Raya. Ramananda Raya was one of the most intimate associates o

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Enthusiastic devotees from ISKCON Surkhet recently placed copies of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is and the Krishna book in all the rooms of one of the city’s most beautiful hotels, the Siddhartha Resort.

Surkhet is located in a picturesque valley in the mid-western region of Nepal, about 600 kilometers west of Kathmandu. Known for its natural beauty and growing infrastructure, the city has seen significant growth in the past few decades, ensuring these books will be available to many

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Perth, Australia — April 2025:

With hearts full of gratitude and spirits lifted in devotion, over one hundred devotees from across Perth gathered for the fourth annual Bhakti Vriksha Camp, organised by ISKCON Perth, held from April 19 to 21, 2025, at the scenic Bickley Outdoor Recreation Camp in Perth Hills. The retreat marked another profound milestone in the community’s shared spiritual journey.

The event was guided by His Grace Gokuleswar Prabhu, whose insights, compassion, and wisdom infused

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In New Jersey the people are encountering a second day of full-on drizzle and rain.  Haripad and I managed to sneak out of the house to do some walking around the lake.  Again, I informed him of some plants that, like most of us, we don’t notice or ignore as weeds.

“There’s the horsetail plant, good for the nervous system and your bones.  It can be used like a tea,” I explained.  I also cautioned, “There’s poison ivy.  Don’t touch!  The rash you’ll get is very irritating.  And there’s that i

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A. Introduction

1. What is vanaprastha?

The word vanaprastha is composed of the words vana, meaning “forest” and prastha, meaning “to go,” so a vanaprastha is “One has gone to the forest.” Vanaprastha is an asrama in the Vedic varnasrama system. An asrama can be both a physical and mental place and refers to “a place where one cultivates spiritual life, where culture of the spiritual is foremost.”
The vanaprastha order is complete retirement from householder life, a time when one prepares ones

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Rasamandala dasa has offered us this article to help clarify some of the concerns and reservations that many of us may have with educational approaches to Vedanta and Hinduism. He reassures us with his positive treatment of the subject and with his obvious experience in the field of teaching Hinduism and Vaishnavism in British schools. He has systematised our objectives very well and marries this to the difficulty in interpretation experienced between members of the tradition and those non-prac

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The Highest Charity by Gautam Saha

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Every civilized person is familiar with the concept of seva or service. Service can be of different types and of different qualities. At home, every member of the family is serving everyone else. Traditionally, the father traditionally earns for the family and is therefore known as the “breadwinner,” while the mother takes care of the home itself by cooking, cleaning, and creating a comfortable and congenial atmosphere. The children obey their parents and perform basic chores or run minor erran

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By Bhakti-lata Dasi

In January 2022, the prison system in the USA started the process of converting all inmate mail to an electronic system. The state of Florida was the first to transition, gradually followed by Texas, then Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In the near future, the other states will follow this trend as well.

This means that most of the inmates in those states are no longer allowed to receive paper letters, books, magazines, and newsletters. All snail

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In the Srimad Bhagavatam 7 canto it is said: The Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotee know how to use properly lust, anger, greed, illusion, pride and envy.

In the Bhagavad Gita 3.37, Srila Prabhupada says: “…Therefore the origin of lust is also in the Supreme. If, therefore, lust is transformed into love for the Supreme, or transformed into Krishna consciousness – or, in other words, desiring everything for Krishna – then both lust and wrath can be spiritualized.
Hanuman, the great

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By Mohan Lila Das


Hema Malini is an Indian actress and politician currently serving as a member of the Lok Sabha, representing Mathura constituency, to visit ISKCON Naperville.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) of Naperville is delighted to announce a special celebration on Sunday, May 18, marking the second anniversary of the temple’s opening. This commemorative event will be an evening of inspiration, devotion, and community spirit, bringing together supporters and

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By Purshotam Dasa and Nimai Devi Dasi 

This year, the annual four-day ISKCON Communications Conference was held at Prabhupada Desh, Vicenza, Italy, from May 3–6. It expanded this year to include guests from around the world, as well as eighty participants from Europe.

“It was a great success, thanks to the high numbers of participants,” said Mahaprabhu Dasa, the ISKCON Communications Director in Europe. “Both the topics addressed and the quality of the presentations were interesting and engaging

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I’m a firm believer that everyone should take a break from the man-made world, even if just for a few minutes every day.  For the sake of sanity, the connection is essential.  I recall from my visit to Sparta last year, at this time there is a nearby body of water, Lake Sparta.  A walk around it is 1.12 kilometres.  Notable are the natural elements.  No wonder people have made their homes here.  Luckily for walkers like me, no homes are built on the lake’s edge, and plentiful gaps of nature bet

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