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By Lisa Chastain 

A lifelong search for God ends in the most unexpected of places.

Are they the same thing?

BEFORE I MET Srila Prabhupada, I had wanted to serve humanity. Then I heard from Srila Prabhupada about the importance of serving Lord Krsna. Still the question remained: How does God's service relate to man's?

After a week of hearing from Srila Prabhupada, I got the chance to ask after Srila Prabhupada concluded a lecture:

sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yayatma suprasidati

"Without spiritual realization you can-not have peace of mi

For Ukraine, our residents had a chant.

From our west coast Gita Chat group, we discussed a host of things, some of which are as follows:

1) We are all in a conditioned state; meaning we are contaminated.

2) Getting free from this contamination is called mukti.

3) Consciousness can be described with the term “I am.”

4) When consciousness is contaminated, one declares, “I am Lord.”

5) When consciousness is purified it means, “I am servant.”

6) Purification comes in the form of co-operation with

Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the golden avatara, the embodiment of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna in the aspect of a devotee, appeared 484 years ago to deliver the pure essence of the Vedic literatures to the entities of this Age of Quarrel. He brought God consciousness from behind locked doors into the streets and into the hearts of everyone. He showed the importance of sincerity in our service to God. This eternal loving service is the highest religion, over and above any limited sectarian faith.

Five centu

Akrura, a devotee of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, achieved perfection by his notable prayers. In his book Easy Journey to Other Planets, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada describes nine processes of realizing God. It is said that perfection of human life and entrance into the spiritual kingdom are guaranteed by execution of any or all of the nine items of devotional activity, and it is recommended that we execute these processes, following in the footsteps of gr

By Jayabhadra devi dasi

On February 26, 2022, we had a one-day Vaishnavi padayatra at Wadad village 15km from Amravati. As a district Medical Officer, I am well acquainted with our health workers, so while our ISKCON Girls’ Forum team did advance party work a few days before padayatra I liaised with fellow employees Anganwadi and Asha and they agreed to join us for padayatra.

Our group received an early-morning welcome at Wadad with the village ladies enthusiastically singing and dancing with us

Mark your calendars for the upcoming ISKCON HEARTS workshops listed below provided you by the esteemed members of the Holistic Emotional Awareness Relational Training & Support [HEARTS] Collaborative whose mission is to provide bhakti practitioners education, training & support that nourishes and sustains them on their journey back home to their eternal life with Krishna.

The workshops will cover a wide range of important topics such as; recovering from addiction, compassionate listening, grief

Do you also have one? Are you also connected with one of those things that just eats up your time? That just makes you obsessed. That is with you as a constant companion. And that is always getting your attention by making sounds and by vibrating. Do you also have one? You probably do. Time for a digital detox. Time to disconnect. Time to leave that thing. Time to simply break the habit. Are you also touching the screen more than you are touch your beads? It is time to go back to the basics.

Sr

Able driver, Gabriel, took us from Montreal to Niagara in just under 700 kilometers. It was a pleasant drive, though at spots wind came on strong as we were reminded that winter is not totally over.

Our destination is the town where water from an entire massive lake, Erie, descends 170 feet to create the Falls. In 1969, crews shut down the falls. Two bodies were found and millions of coins, which were removed (along with the remains of two corpses).

The Lions’ Club was kind to have us use their

I tried my best to help my own mother in spiritual life.

Unfortunately, throughout most of her life she never showed the slightest interest in religion.

I once asked her if she believed in God, and she replied, “Something may be out there.”

Whenever I visited her we would often debate the existence of the soul, life after death, karma, and similar topics.

Throughout the years I continued cultivating that little “something” in her heart by sending her Srila Prabhupada’s books, which invariably e

By Dayal Gopal dasa, Nepal sankirtan preacher

After a break of a few months to regroup and make minor personnel changes, by the mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga and by the pure desire of pure devotees, on December 14, 2021, the auspicious day of Gita Jayanti, Nepal Padayatra continued to spread the message of the Bhagavad-gita throughout the hilly region of Nepal.
We are now just two devotees on Nepal Padayatra, Sudarshan dasa and myself. Sudarshan takes care of the oxen and drives the chariot ex

To say that there is unrest in the world is certainly an understatement. Right at the location where our chanting party was to set camp for two hours was a demonstration by people of Tunisia. The nation’s flag of a red background, bearing in its centre a white disk with a red star, was waving in the air. Here in Montreal, Tunisians are expressing their dissatisfaction with their political leader, so you can imagine how much greater disturbance exists in the homeland.

Our chanting party decided

From CHANT AND BE HAPPY – THE POWER OF MANTRA MEDITATION

It’s a scene that has been repeated countless times on the thoroughfares of cities throughout the Western world-from Hollywood Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in America, to London’s Oxford Street and the Champs Elysees in Paris. There, in the midst of traffic, shops, restaurants, and movie theaters, people suddenly find themselves confronted by a group of young persons singing and dancing to the beat of cylindrical drums and the brassy cadenc

I am reading sankirtan stories regularly. They are always inspiring. One day I received an email containing a link to “Vijay Prabhu’s Special Class on Book Distribution.” Before going out to distribute books, I listened to the lecture. A great lecture.

I heard this new anecdote about how books are patient and help in time:

On a street in Poznan (Poland), I stopped an elderly person. He said he is a hunter. He was interested in how karma works, what reactions follow killing. He said: “I have som

During His presence on earth about five hundred years ago, Lord Krsna’s most recent incarnation often displayed His divine powers.

This is the second of three articles describing the mirac-ulous events in the life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The information herein comes from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and Sri Caitanya-Bhagavata.

Soon after Lord Caitanya began His movement for chanting the holy name of the Lord (sankirtana), many of His followers would sing, dance, and play musical instruments for

As we know from the “Teachings of Lord Caitanya,” there are no hard and fast rules for chanting Hare Krishna. Similarly, there are no hard and fast rules for distributing books. I was distributing books at a college, and I saw a security guard coming my way. Sometimes people complain. He was some distance away, so I went into a nearby building. After going through the door, I walked fast to avoid him. I made the first left, and it turned out to be a restroom. I thought, “I’ll just hang out here

In the early 1980s, my father was a doctor working with the United Nations. He had some friends who were visiting the United States, and while there, they met a devotee in the airport who gave them a BTG. They were Buddists, so they weren’t very interested, but they knew that my father was a Hindu, so they took the BTG magazine back to Burma, where we lived and gave it to my father. He never read it. But I saw it and read it. I was eighteen at the time, and I was searching for higher truth. I f

It was back in 1968 that Hare Krishna devotees first appeared on Canadian soil, at Phillips Square. The popular world Expo, which began the year before at Canada’s 100 year celebration, was extended over from ’67. Well, faithfully you will still see the Krishnas at that corner, the juncture of Sainte-Catherine and Union. Due to renovations, the Square is blocked off, hence our lively chanting troupe of today went kitty-corner in front of a heritage church.

What is really appealing about recent

Nurturing our faith helps ease the inevitable suffering of life in the material world.

I’m groggy. It’s early. I’m way too tired to go to work today. After nearly shattering my alarm clock, I slowly drag myself out of bed. I shower, worship my deities, chant my rounds, and head downstairs for breakfast. I glance at the newspaper that sits untouched on the kitchen table.

“Father Convicted of Killing Two Children”

“Young Couple Victim of Hit and Run”

“Infant Dies of Malnutrition After Abandonment

Some of the seniors at Stellenbosch University mentioned that the Hare Krishna film was to be shown at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town, about an hour from where I stay and where the Stellenbosch preaching centre is located (SPYS – Spirituality Philosophy and Yoga Society).

We were really excited and invited many of our members to join us. The night was ecstatic and worthwhile, but I had a desire to show the film to those who were unable to make the journey.

A year later Srila Prabhupada fulfille