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For Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day, I thought to read one verse and purport about him from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten, “The Branches of the Caitanya Tree”:

TEXT 105

sri gopala bhatta eka sakha sarvottama
rupa-sanatana-sange yanra prema-alapana

TRANSLATION

Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches of the tree. He always engaged in discourses about love of Godhead in the company of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvam

This weekend four Chariot Fests are being held within the Quebec/ Ontario area. Burlington, Oakville, Kingsville and Montreal. It is Burlington's 2nd, Oakville's 1st, Kingsville's (I'm not sure), but Montreal's running for decades is the largest. After beautiful overnight showers and a persistent overcast sky, the procession began at Sherbrooke and Ste. Laurent.

A large number of police escorted. They were great and most co-operative. By the end of the day, at festival site, Joanna Mance Park,

Please join us in prayers for Vishvambhara Das, who left his body on Guru-Purnima in Montreal, Canada.  According to his godbrother Deena Bandhu Das, “He went to France and expanded the preaching there very widely for Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure. He was a wonderful Vaishnava who was like a big brother to the devotees who knew him. He will be greatly missed! Hare Krishna!”  Other godbrothers like Giriraja Swami noted, “I have fond memories of serving with him in New Mayapur. He was a great soul

First Meaning: –

Srila Jiva Gosvami reveals the meaning of each of the sixteen Names in the Hare Krishna Mahaamantra in his Mahaa-mantrartha Dipika as follows: –

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

(1-Hare)
Krishna steals the minds of everyone, yet Radha steals even His mind by Her divine expertise. Thus She is known as Haraa.

(2-Krishna)
He forcibly attracts Sri Radha with the sweet sound of His flute, therefore that Lord of all enchantin

From Back to Godhead

Academic knowledge provides information of the world, but spiritual knowledge awards us eternal liberation

One of my friends in college was known for his immense general knowledge. He knew the names of all recent Hollywood and Bollywood movies, the actors, directors, and producers of each movie, and the winners of Oscar and Filmfare awards from every year. In sports, he knew the winners of each Grand Slam tennis tournament from every year as well as similar information abou

By Giriraj Swami  

“Srila Prabhupada has explained that the system of honoring the spiritual master is current in all sections of Vedic followers. In the Mayavadi (impersonalist) sects, the disciples offer respect to the spiritual master once a year, on Guru-purnima. And in the Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya, the disciples offer homage annually on the appearance day of the spiritual master, called Vyasa-puja because the spiritual master represents Vedavyasa, the empowered incarnation of Krishna w

By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

Mayapur Clean & Green, led by Murari Mohini Devi Dasi, along with ISKCON Mayapur Land Office Central and the Mayapur Environmental Protection Team, came together on July 7, 2024, to clean Sri Mayapur Dham and welcome Lord Jagannath on the first day of the Rathayatra. The cleaning was sponsored by the Land Office and some volunteers lead by Anadi Krishna Das.

The cleaning started in the morning of the Rathayatra day, from the precinct at the beginning of the IS

Still in Toronto, and showing a new trail for the group of walking companions. We are dodging on foot the main motorists thoroughfares and taking to the neat hidden pathways at the University of Toronto. Near Yorkville we stood behind an artist's iron sculpture of a bull. It is symbolic. The bull stands for the principle of dharma and that's what we must always stand behind.

Now dharma, or duty, is always the obligation of a monk, and travel is one of them. Being the weekend of Ratha Yatra, the

From Back to Godhead

Conceptions of God in the Bhagavad-gita encompass those of other traditions and give full picture of the Absolute Truth.

“The Bhagavad-gita teaches a pantheistic view of God,” he said, his confidence and years of learning clear from his authoritative tone. “The massive vishvarupa—Krishna’s universal form, which encompasses all material phenomena, including time—tells us much about God in the Gita.”

His friend, another scholar of some renown, seemed to disagree.

“The Gita go

Sri Madan Mohan Temple at Karoli

and Srila Sanatana Gosvami

Glory to the all-merciful Radha and Madan Mohan! I am lame and ill advised, yet They are my directors, and Their lotus feet are everything to me. (Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Antya lila 1.5)

Srila Sanatana Gosvami was the principal disciple of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and is one of the Six Gosvamis of Vrindavana. Sanatana Gosvami (or Santosha as he was named at birth), appeared in Jessore in Bangladesh in 1488 as the son of Mukunda, the p

By Atma Tattva Das

The 2024 Krishna Bhakti Art 4 exhibition, a transformative event hosted by the Krishna Balaram Ashram, was held in Manila on July 7th, 2024. Set against the backdrop of the Balaw Balaw Restaurant, a prominent art gallery in Angono Rizal, this annual event captured the essence of Krishna’s consciousness through a stunning array of visual artworks, music, and cultural expressions.

The event’s start was memorable, and many important people attended, including Vice Mayor Gerry C

July 18, 2024 – The Saranagati Village, a Vedic Eco Community located 4.5 hours northeast of Vancouver in British Columbia’s southern interior, was given an immediate fire evacuation notice last night. The expansive property, threatened by these latest local wildfires, is home to about 30 families. It includes a K-12 school, a goshala, and a temple.  Everyone was safely evacuated to the local village and government resources provided hotels and food allowances. A generous neighbor from the vill

On this day number 2 of a walk with Bhakti Academy we landed ourselves at a picnic table to attempt a concentrated session with the maha mantra. At this hour, 6.45am, we could find no disturbances externally, perhaps internally. Everyone could speak for themself on this, but chronically that agitating does get in the way. As it was put by one of the callers later on in the afternoon on the Gita zoom, "I'm lucky to have just one minute of internalization."

Such is the nature of the monkey mind.

Why Follow Caturmasya?

“The real purpose behind the vow taken during these four months is to minimise the quantity of sense gratification. This is not very difficult.”
Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya Lila 4.169, Purport

In the purport to Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila 4.169, Srila Prabhupada explains that the Caturmasya period begins in the month of Ashadha (June-July) from the day of Ekadasi called Sayana-ekadasi and ends in the month of Kartika (October-November) on the Ekadasi day known

Writing the last chapter of the Srila Prabhupada-lilamrita was an intense experience for me. Prabhupada was teaching “the final lesson,” and I relived the day-by-day remembrances of being with Srila Prabhupada and serving in his ISKCON movement in the final days leading up to his disappearance. Those days were like a drama unfolding. Would Prabhupada stay with us? What would we do without him? And again I felt the grief at his departure. I was also reminded that Prabhupada’s last days were fille

It was 6am when I announced to members of the Bhakti Academy that I'm walking. They knew what I was hinting at and that it was an invitation to hit the sidewalk. I had a route in mind. It was a mix of residential park green space, ravine forest and more stately home - a one hour trek and a very new one for them.

Off we went!

We’re back on the Baltic Sea coast in Poland with our summer ‘Festival of India’ for the 34th year running. It never ceases to amaze me how thousands upon thousands of people attend our festival programs through July and August each summer and enjoy the wonderful world of Krsna consciousness. Each year we strive to present a high class, professional show imbued with Bhakti to touch their hearts. Srila Prabhupada, thank you for the great privilege of carrying on your misssion in this world. Pl

By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

The ISKCON New Gokula Farm in Australia’s Hunter Valley celebrated their 2024 Rath Yatra on July 7. The 550-acre property, renowned for its large organic vegetable gardens and orchards, is situated just two hours north of Sydney and the presiding Deities are Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda.

Srila Prabhupada, in his lecture in San Francisco on July 5, 1970, glorified the significance of Rath Yatra. He said, “Simply by seeing the Lord on the chariot, one makes advance

After a great rest at the home of Shreyas, I opened the shutters to the window and saw the sun's rays drawn in. Usually I'm up and around by this time of day-up before sign of Surya, the sun god, but we played hard in Ottawa, singing and then swimming. Hamm! Maybe I should do more of this if it guarantees an attack on insomnia.

Mahadeva and Annapurna picked me up headed west but before we hit the infamous 401 Highway, we encountered some mechanic difficulty in the exhaust area. Mahadeva always

The Islamic population in Bangladesh constitutes approximately 91.04%. Although spreading Krishna Consciousness in Bangladesh has faced its challenges throughout the decades but still devotees are enthusiastic and are trying their level best to continue preaching throughout the country. As declared by Srila Prabhupada, related by Vaiysaki Das " I put on my head the dust from the feet of whoever preaches in the Muslim countries." p? thivite ache yata nagaradi-grama sarvatra pracara haibe mora na