By Radha devi dasi, ISKCON Vaishnavi Minister
At the 2022 Annual General Meeting, the GBC appointed South African devotee, Champakalata devi dasi to the post of ISKCON’s Justice Minister. Champakalata devi’s appointment follows the resignation of prior minister, Sesa das, on the grounds of ill health.
Champakalata devi, a disciple of HH Indradyumna Swami has been practicing bhakti yoga since 1978 when her parents joined ISKCON in Durban, South Africa. She has an impressive resume of ISKCON serv
Rishi Sunak and his wife celebrated the festival of Janmashtami at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire, near London. Mr. Sunak and his family have made visits to the temple in the past. Today, Mr. and Mrs. Sunak were welcomed with the customary tradition of the blowing of a conch shell, and they were garlanded before they toured the Temple, which was donated by George Harrison of the Beatles. The couple were greeted by Her Grace Visakha Dasi, the temple president, who said “We invite everyone
Dear Devotees
Hare Krsna
All Glories to Guru and Gauranga. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
The most auspicious of all months is just weeks away! The Month of Kartika is said to be very auspicious that whatever little Spiritual activities performed in this month are rewarded with greater spiritual results than usual. Just Imagine immersing your consciousness in this month by visiting 30 Sacred Holy places in Gaura Mandala Bhumi where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates performed blissful
By Mathuresa Das
Many initiatives to promote Sastric education in different countries of Latin America have been formed. The desire of responsible and capable members of our communities to help devotees to excel in the knowledge of the scriptures in a systematic and scientific way is very praiseworthy and worthy of being supported.
In an effort to integrate these different initiatives, H.H. Hanumatpresaka Swami promoted the creation of the Spanish language magazine, Jayam, in mid-2018, as part o
Non-violence when wrongly applied can cause greater harm to society than direct violence.
The first question often asked about the Bhagavad-gita is why was it spoken on a battlefield? Despite a common view that religion is a major cause of war, in most people’s minds the two should remain separate. Religion or spirituality should result in peace not conflict. If one’s spiritual practices bring about the bloodthirsty desire to eliminate the followers of some other faith th
saḿsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-
trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam
prāptasya kalyāṇa-guṇārṇavasya
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam
The spiritual master is receiving benediction from the ocean of mercy. Just as a cloud pours water on a forest fire to extinguish it, so the spiritual master delivers the materially afflicted world by extinguishing the blazing fire of material existence. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master, who is an ocean of auspicious qu
The first people that I met at the Radha Govinda Cultural Centre, as preparations were underway, was a group of volunteers from the Jesus Christ Seventh Day Adventist. Sweet folks they are. They were made security patrol to keep chariot chanters and chariot rope pullers in line and away from traffic.
The route established by organizers of the Edmonton’s Chariot Fest is an industrial park area of the city’s south. Basically it is not a public zone but for some Hindu temple destinations along the
At 8:33 am on August 11th in Sri Mayapur, the beloved disciple of His Holiness Jayapataka Maharaja and servant of Srila Prabhupada, His Holiness Bhakti Nityananda Swami, left his body. It is with great sadness that we announce this news, as he has been very dear and important to all of us in our Mayapur community. He has given many years of tireless and steadfast service to ISKCON Mayapur, and the amount of people he was able to bring to Krishna Consciousness has made him truly a leader in Maha
Jnanasim, the sword of knowledge, is given by Krsna, and when one serves the guru and Krsna in order to hold the sword of Krsna’s instructions, Balarama gives one strength. Balarama is Nityananda. Vrajendra-nandana yei, saci-suta haila sei, balarama ha-ila nitai. This bala—Balarama—comes with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and both of Them are so merciful that in this Age of Kali one may very easily take shelter of Their lotus feet. They come especially to deliver the fallen souls of this age, papi t
Today is Balarama Purnima, the appearance day of Lord Balarama, the first expansion of Lord Krishna, who plays as Krishna’s older brother. Listening to Sri Caitanya-bhagavata this morning, I happened to hear a description of Lord Chaitanya’s special affinity for the mood of Lord Balarama: “Every day, Lord Chaitanya, accompanied by Lord Nityananda, visited various Vaishnava’s homes and enacted transcendental pastimes. The Lord was constantly engaged in His ecstasies, manifesting the moods and be
Four of us set out to step in the mountainous woods of the Rocky Mountains. Even for a Monday, because it is summer after all, the big draw to nature is one. My companions, Radha Madhava, Nanda Gopal, Vallabha Hari, and I took to trail walking along the Bow River, which has an admirable aqua colour. Banff is a town, a tourist trap, where the mighty river flows. It is a place of respectable folks. It appears pedestrians, locals and visitors, show courtesy to a monk with greetings as I pass by. I
Prabhupada’s Money Analogy and the Politics of Doing the Right Thing
- Satyaraja Dasa (Steven J. Rosen)
According to Srila Prabhupada, one can gauge a person’s spiritual status by how they react to finding money on the street: Do they keep it for themselves? Do they leave it lying there? Or do they look for the original owner? What would you do?
In Sanskrit, there are three terms that cover the gamut of possible reactions to finding money in the street: bhoga, (enjoyment); tyaga (renunciation)
By HG Tejiyas Das
It was May and already by 6 am it was sweltering hot, even for Delhi. I started the day, going house to house in Hauz Khas, business to business in Connaught place. Yesterday I had received a notice, on a white post card, from the phone company, to return the phone we had leased during the LIC grounds festival last year. At that time the only phone company, along with almost everything else in India, including the buses, was owned and managed by the socialistic leaning central
Some people hold that, having been prophesied by scripture, by Lord Chaitanya and by the previous acharyas, if Srila Prabhupada had not spread Krishna Consciousness, some other devotee, or some group of devotees, would have been empowered to do so in Srila Prabhupada’s place.
In other words, the prophecy to spread Krishna Consciousness around the world relied on empowerment, rather than an empowered individual, for its fulfillment. It is similar to saying that if we were empowered like Hanum
By Acarya dasa, All India Padayatra leader
The All India padayatris started their char dhama yatra from Haridwar on May 10, 2022, heading for Badrinath dhama via Joshimath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri, and lastly arriving at Gangotri on June 18. From Gangotri, we negotiated the steep downhill walk back to Haridwar and on June 20 returned to our preaching journey.
Padayatra headed south from Haridwar stopping at Bijnor where we celebrated the disappearance day of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur. There are so
By Patri Das
Meeting with Honorable Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Sri Yogi Adityanath Maharaj ji. We had a nice conversation on Spirituality, Life’s Journey, the teachings of Bhagavad-Gita and many more. I am grateful for the quality time we spent together.
I am thankful for the special exchange of gifts that happened today.
Maharaj ji honored us with Anniversary coins which were unveiled by Honorable Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modi ji on the auspicious occasion of the Ground Brea
One of the major fears and concerns that most of us hear about, especially in the past 10 years, is the danger of Vaisnava-aparadha. Any aspiring Vaisnava fears offenses towards devotees as they are detrimental to one's spiritual progress. However, not knowing what "offensive behavior" means is dangerous. Why? Because that may end up being detrimental to our spiritual progress as well. For example, maintaining a healthy distance from "devotee-pretenders" can be seen as "offensive", yet it is ve
