April 22—Aligned with the world celebration of Earth Day 2022, ISKCON is launching a global environmental initiative to assist local temples, communities, and families in better ‘walking our talk” by living more environmentally conscious and sustainable lifestyles.
“Many devotees think that because we’re strict vegetarians, we’ve done all we need to do for the environment,” said Shyamananda Krishna das (Dr. Sreenivasulu Chadalavada), an environmental scientist and Co-Director of the ISKCON Envi
I was forwarded a photo, one I’d not seen before, a precious piece, of a seed planter making his way on foot along Manhattan’s lower east side on Second Avenue. For sure it’s a vintage shot and takes you back to the mid-sixties – judging by the elaborate build of automobiles at the time. Included in the pic is a Mobil gas station. You can catch the corner of a building with crude magic marker writing by the window, promoting kirtan.
The seed planter is none other than His Divine Grace A.C. Bhak
Today is the disappearance day festival of Srila Vrindavan das Thakur, the author of Sri Caitnaya Bhagavata. At MODADRUMA DVIPA of Navadvipa dham is the birthplace and ancestral home of Srimati Malini devi, wife of Srivasa Pandit. Sri Vrindavan Das Thakura’s mother’s name was Sri Narayani Devi. Narayani Devi was the daughter of Srivas Thakura’s brother. When Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu revealed his divinity in the house of Srivasa, showing his true self to the assembled devotees there, Narayan
Shri Abhirama Gopal Thakura was also known as Shri Rama Das. He was a great Devotee of Lord Nityananda. On the order of Shri Nityananda Prabhu, he became a great acharya and preacher of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
He was a very influential personality, and atheists and blasphemers were very much afraid of him. Empowered by Shri Nityananda Prabhu, he was always in ecstasy and was kind to all fallen souls. It is said that if he offered obeisances to any stone other than a shalagram-shila, it would imm
Our very happy venture to Stratford came to a closure. My companions, Vallabha and Gabriel, and I arrived at the home of a sweet Ukrainian couple and their family. More chanting and feasting were featured here in the cozy setting with friends around. The group meets regularly.
The talking portion of the program was my responsibility and today’s topic was, “Who Is Crazy?” The theme here could sound like a loaded question but frankly the term ended up being the topic of an essay by our guru, Sril
By Muralimohan dasa
On April 3, 2022, my team and I from ISKCON’s Ahmedabad temple, also known as Sri Radha Govinda Dhama, held a one-day padayatra at Nani Devti gram, about 30km southwest of Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
We arrived at the village to hear that a samuha chandi yajna was being conducted and many people had assembled at one place. Moving ahead we started sankirtan and as we reached the yajna everyone there was pleased to see a group of devotees performing sankirtan and asked us to say som
The beauty found in this relative world pales
before the beauty of Krsna's perfect form.
People are very much enamored by the beauty of this world. The Vedic literature, however, offers us penetrating insight into the actual nature of material beauty. If people would take the time to hear from these revered sources, they would be surprised to learn that what is accepted as beauty within this world is but the pale, illusory reflection of the unlimited spiritual beauty of Lord Krsna, the Supreme
Before the two-hour trip to Shakespeare’s town, my family doctor, Dr. Juta, kindly took the time to come down and remove the operation’s steel staples from the knee. The first pull from the bottom staple triggered an incredible tingling sensation. From thereafter the rest were a cinch.
The doctor’s recommendation to Gabriel, our driver, was “take a break in the middle of the drive. Give Maharaja (me) a chance to stretch.” And so, we did. We veered off in New Hamburg and went for a walk at the O
It was a little quiet at my book table, so I was reading a verse from the Gita for inspiration. And then I hear someone saying, “Haribol! Haribol!“
I looked up. It was this super-favourable scientist and gentleman named Leo, from China. He met devotees 25 years ago in Shanghai and became a vegetarian. Devotees left a great impression on him.
He gave a nice donation and took a Gita and a couple of Chinese books and an invitation to our ashram. To my surprise, he showed up that evening at our ash
WINDSOR A world-famous Canadian heart surgeon says he believes the body has a soul which departs at death and theologians ought to try to find out more about it.
Dr. Wilfred G. Bigelow, head of the cardio-vascular surgery unit at Toronto General Hospital, said that “as a person who believes there is a soul” he thought the time had come “to take the mystery out of this and find out what it is.”
The Moment Of Death
Bigelow was a member of a panel which appeared before the Essex County Medical-Leg
My Dear Dr. Bigelow:
Please accept my greetings. Recently I have read an article in the Gazette by Rae Corelli entitled “Heart Surgeon Wants to Know What a Soul Is,” and it was very interesting. Your comments show great insight, and so I thought to write you on this matter. Perhaps you may know that I am the founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. I have several temples in Canada Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Hamilton. This Krsna consciousness movement is specif
By Giriraj Govardhan dasa, Congregation preacher
For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada and our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, the devotees at Alibag, a resort town on Maharashtra’s Arabian Sea coast, held a one-day padayatra on April 3, 2022.
Padayatra began at 7am from our Hare Krishna Namahatta Kendra near the Sri Sri Laxmi-Narayan mandir with the blessings of our Guru Maharaja on his zoom japa session which he started three years ago for fallen souls like us. Our party consisted of twent
Spring is upon us and that means it’s time for the Festival of Colors. The Festival of Colors is an annual celebration of the Holi Festival. Holi Festival is an ancient Hindu festival that commemorates Radha Krishna’s love as well as the triumph of virtue over evil. The Holi Festival began in India and has now spread throughout the world.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/the-festival-of-colors-spanish-fork-utah/
My right knee is healing well, so I put it to the test. It was approaching midnight. I was restless and, in a way, to execute some physio therapy, I thought to go down two flights of stairs and look around to the last round of renovations being completed. I’m personally excited about having those renos done. I’m counting the days when we cut the ribbon for this new training area called “Bhakti Academy.”
I descended the stairs with my ice pack on the bad knee, the left one. I looked around and c
It was hot summer day in May 2003. I was preparing for medical entrance exam and was completely exhausted by the long hours I had put. Add to it the tremendous anxiety about carrier and future.
I desperately wanted to read some inspiring book, which would give me some peace of mind. I started searching books on the shelf. In the corner was Bhagavad-gita As It Is. It had been kept on my book shelf for nearly ten years. I opened it and began to read. I realized that every verse in the Gita was re
After experimenting with various spiritual practices and mantras, an American youth finally comes to Krishna.
I grew up in Los Angeles. Once, when I was visiting a friend I saw a person on TV speaking about spirituality, I found it interesting. He was speaking about Transcendental Meditation, an organization founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I went to their center and took a three-day course. They informed me, if after the course I wanted a mantra they would give one to me but it would cost $12
By Acarya dasa, All-India Padayatra leader
On April 1, 2022, the All-India Padayatra reached Jyotisar on the banks of Jyotisar Sarovar 5km east of the city of Kurukshetra, also known as Dharmakshetra.
There is mention of Kurukshetra in the first sloka of the Bhagavad-gita:
dhṛitarāśhtra uvācha
dharma-kṣhetre kuru-kṣhetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāśh chaiva kim akurvata sañjaya
Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjay, after my sons and the sons of Pandu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kuru
Poland: This week in Warsaw we had a huge ‘wave’ arriving from the east of Ukraine – Donetsk, Krematorsk, and other areas. They have been wisely advised by Niranjana Maharaja to leave as the army forces were coming their way. Maharaja has been so closely involved in helping his yatra so wonderfully.
The majority of elderly devotees want to stay in Poland, hoping the war will end soon so they can go back home, with some going back to Ukraine already! Despite all the uncertainty they just miss ho
After receiving a super inspiring, mercy-filled email from His Holiness Giriraj Swami, encouraging book distribution, we went out on books to cash in on the mercy.
A nice young engineer approached our book table with many questions. He asked, “I’m confused in life, even though I’m very successful materially, so please recommend a book that will help me.”
I said, “Any of these books will help. I especially recommend “Hiding in Unnatural Happiness” and Bhagavad-gita. He took the books and donated
By Ravi Ramgoolam
Jaya Chaitanya Das, the former number one book distributor in North America is back on the scene after two years, this time with his new hip hop album. His first single is set to release on April 29, 2022, and an exciting trailer has just been released.
Jaya Chaitanya Das has been living in the ashram as a monk for six years and has been particularly active in book distribution. He at one time received the title of Number One Book Distributor in America and the main reason w
