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Well, it was my first time ever to take a swim in the Vancouver Island outdoors. It was a pleasure to get a relief from physical stress based on my irregular schedules, the flying and all that. Gadadhar, Manohorini and their wonderful pooch, Yogi, that headed for the Chemainus River at a spot ideal, humanless. It's waters come from the mountains and before they hit the ocean, we has our moment.

This is indeed downtime.

Where that waters of people came in for today was at the Unity Hall, now re

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By Radha Mohan

On behalf of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Nila Madhava das officially presented “Bhagavad Gita As It Is” to the Speaker of the House of Commons Rt. Hon. Sir Linsey Hoyle MP and Mr Shailesh Vara on Friday 24th May 2024.

This copy of the Bhagavad-Gita, with translations and purports by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, can now be used in the House of Commons for when Hindu MPs swear in and take a Parliamentary Oath, following their election.

“…It is with grea

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By Atma Tattva Das

ISKCON’s Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture will be holding its next “Taking Care of Krishna’s Cows” course beginning July 15th, 2024. Kalakantha Das, its global minister, emphasized the importance of this course, stating, “The goal is to standardize cow protection practices in ISKCON and provide guidance to our goshalas. This training will also serve as a valuable resource for new devotees interested in this activity.”

The course, which spans six weeks with bi-weekl

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On June 26, 2024, ISKCON community members from all over the world gathered in Ujjain to honor the departure of His Holiness Rupa Raghunath Swami Maharaj, a disciple of Lokanath Swami and a revered ISKCON sannyasi who passed away on June 22, 2024, in Bhopal, India. The ceremony was filled with devotion and deep respect, reflecting Maharaj’s profound impact on his followers and the ISKCON movement.

Read more: https://iskconnews.org/honoring-the-departure-of-rupa-raghunath-swami/

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By Gopika Radhika Devi Dasi 

The year was 2009. A fledgling library and research center were inaugurated on June 28th by Jayapataka Swami, Bhakti Charu Swami, Jananivas Dasa, and Hari Sauri Dasa. Fast forward to 2024, and it has expanded to three thriving centers in Kolkata, Pune, and Mumbai, as well as branches in Puri, Govardhana, and New York. Its sphere of activities has expanded exponentially, with various prestigious collaborations and several awards recognizing its contributions.

The res

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I landed in Vancouver at 10:35 am. My boarding time for Nanaimo on the Island was for 10:35, hence the rush was on for a mere 10 minute flight. Gadhadar was there to greet me in style with a kurta top and green dhoti bottom with gold trim. Walking off through the Nanaimo terminal, the tinniest you could imagine, the two of us were a sight from another world.

A lunch appointment was set for the home of Tamalie and Walter. Walter we met at the beach at Departure Bay and, there, at a majestic

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By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

74/06/27 Melbourne, Bhagavad-gita 3.27

(Town Hall)

Srila Prabhupada: (leads chanting of “om namo bhagavate vasudevaya”)

prakrteh kriyamanani
gunaih karmani sarvasah
ahankara-vimudhatma
kartaham iti manyate
[Bg. 3.27]

Krsna says that all these living entities… We are all living entities… Actually, every one of us is spirit soul, living entities. It does not matter whether I am a human being or other than human being, lower animals, birds, b

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By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

Art of Kirtan, launched in May 2024, is an online music school and heritage project. The initiative is headed by Bada Haridas, who has been leading and teaching kirtan for the past 50 years and is a professionally trained musician and composer. His wife, Kosarupa Dasi, manages the project, marketing, and fundraising, with assistance from their two adult children, Sri Gaura Mani and Nitai Sharana.

Bada Haridas and Visvambhar Sheth are the founding teachers of th

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Many joyful adventures took place daily while traveling with Srila Prabhupada. So much nectar flowed from the regulated activities of personally serving our glorious Gurudeva. Who could imagine anything more wonderful than cooking, massaging and tending to the needs of His Divine Grace, except for being present when His Divine Grace exhibited ecstatic symptoms? It was the rarest of treasures. These exceptional events invariably took place while Srila Prabhupada sat on his Vyasasana in the templ

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Loving Krishna means loving everyone because Krsna is in their heart. Conversely, applying that logic backwards, if you don’t love everyone, it means that you are not loving Krsna. Using the root and leaves example, if the leaves are looking healthy, it is to be understood that the root is receiving nourishment.

In SB, eleventh canto, it is explained that only the kanishta or neophyte sees Krsna in the temple, but not in the hearts of all, and fails to respect and develop loving relationships w

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6202104288?profile=RESIZE_400x On the auspicious day of Jagannatha Ratha-yatra in Puri, two of Lord Chaitanya’s most confidential associates, Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami and Srila Sivananda Sena, left this world to return to the supreme abode.

The inner moods of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, especially in Puri, were not easy to understand, and they were unknown to most devotees. Only Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, who was the most intimate associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri, could really understand them, and by his gra

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Today is Ratha-yatra day.

It is a great honor, privilege, and pleasure to be here on the auspicious occasion of Snana-yatra. The first deities of Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra in ISKCON were discovered in San Francisco in 1967. One of Srila Prabhupada’s early disciples, Malati dasi, saw a small figure in an import store, Cost Plus, and brought it to him. When Prabhupada saw the figure, his eyes opened wide. He folded his palms and bowed his head in respect. Then he said, “You have brought

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There are several interesting episodes about the origin of Rath Yatra stated in Vedic scriptures.

(1) In the Vedic scripture 'Srimad Bhagavatam', it is said that devotees celebrated this day when Shri Krishna and Balram left Gokul for Mathura in a chariot. This was known as Rath Yatra. 

(2) After Lord Krishna delivered the evil Kansa, he gave darshan to devotees in a rath with Balram, in Mathura.

(3) When Lord Krishna was in Dwarka, on the west coast of Saurashtra, he once took his sister,
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Happy Ratha Yatra

HH JAYAPATAKA SWAMI,  MERCY ON WHEEL, SRI JAGANNATH E RATHA YATRA ADDRESS, SRI MAYAPUR DHAM, INDIA

Mukam karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim

Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinamc

Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram

I offer my obeisances to His Divine Grace Abhay Caran Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada! Lord Jagannath is a very special deity in Rajapur. Radharani created the Navadvipa dhama for the pleasure of Lord Krsna. And Krsna gave the blessing that all the holy places will

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ISKCON of Harrisburg is gearing up to celebrate its 14th Annual Hare Krishna Festival of India on Saturday, July 20, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at City Island in Harrisburg. Harrisburg is only a short drive from most major cities on the East Coast – 3 hours from New York City and 2 hours from most towns and cities in New Jersey, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.

The festival will start at 11 a.m. with kirtan inaugurating the festival followed by a two-hour procession of beautifully decorated car

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“I request…that everything in the Temple should be kept nice and clean… We should always remember that Krishna is the purest & similarly only the pure can associate with Him. Cleanliness is next to Godliness.”

–  Letter to: Nandarani, Krsna Devi, Subala and Uddhava, Delhi, 3 October, 1967

Srila Prabhupada always emphasised the importance of cleanliness, and said that cleanliness is essential for making advancement in spiritual life: “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” In Sridhama Mayapur, the

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Gundica-marjana by Giriraj Swami

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The observance of Gundica-marjana, the washing and cleansing of the Gundica temple, takes place on the day before Ratha-yatra, in preparation for the arrival of the Lord.

The history of Ratha-yatra goes back thousands of years, to a previous age, but the specific significance of the Ratha-yatra and the cleaning of the Gundica temple for us was shown by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu when He was residing in Jagannatha Puri five hundred years ago. In the transcendental mind of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, t

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Ratha-Yatra Sponsorships

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The annual festival of Jagannath Rath Yatra will be celebrated at the global spiritual headquarter of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Sri Mayapur Dham, Nadia.

Each year the devotees endeavour to raise the bar by adding new dimensions to the celebrations. The deities of Lord Jagannath, Baldev and Subhadra will be seated on three different carts and taken out in a grand procession. The scriptures mention that whoever takes darshan of the gleeful grin of Lord Jagannath se

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Despite this world of utter craziness, I still cannot help but to see some optimism behind it. It doesn't take much to perceive some beauty in it all, whether through the first rays of the sun, a bird in flight, the smell of dawn, a lake with shimmering water backed by a mountain or a human after a fresh bath with a smile.

Gadadhar came to my cabin in Chemainus to check if I was all packed for the ferry to the mainland. Indeed I was, prepared for the two hour playing over the sea, then a drive

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