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India's greatest gift to civilization is her highly advanced spiritual culture, based on the eternal truths of the Vedic literatures. Sometimes, however, we hear the strange idea that this culture is not meant to be shared with others. I have heard more than one Western professor of Indian religion say, "The idea of preaching about God in a missionary spirit is not part of India's religion. That's something the Christians introduced into India a few hundred years ago." And self-styled yogis som

Srila Prabhupada…“The sunrays are open to everyone, but the capacities of the receptacles differ. Foolish people think that devotional service is flattering the Lord to get special mercy. Factually the pure devotees who are engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord are not a mercantile community. A mercantile house renders service to someone in exchange for values. The pure devotee does not render service unto the Lord for such exchange, and therefore the full mercy of the Lord is

The Bedford Basin Yacht Club was the perfect venue for the marriage of local Haligonian Marshall Daley (a.k.a Mangalananda) and Ratri Saha (originally from Bangladesh). You have these still waters protected by Halifax harbour’s rock formations. It is a picturesque Maritime place.

The wedding, in Sanskrit it’s called vivaha yajna, attracted family and friends from both sides of the bride and groom. Rituals were performed outside, right next to ocean water, and the meal was inside the club. Anand

My dear godbrother Kshudi Das Prabhu posted this:

I had a wonderful dream.

In the dream I saw my spiritual master, guide, and teacher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He was talking with some important people. When he saw me, he came over to me. He took hold of both my hands. He looked right into my eyes like he used to do and said, “Do not worry. I am here for you. I will provide all the support and inspiration you need, just as I always have.” He touched my head and said, “I will stay i

One generous donor left us four hefty bags of the local fiddleheads from New Brunswick. The province boasts being the capital of this delicious forest edible. We had some for breakfast and some for dinner.

A sweet treat. Healthy. Green.

It was also our pleasure to make it to Sunnyside Mall in the next province over – Nova Scotia. Just north of Halifax is the community called Bedford, and it was advertised at this shopping centre that the Walking Monk, along with the dream team of musicians – Ma

ISKCON Newtown located in Kolkata, West Bengal India hosted a 4 Day Grand Deity Installation Ceremony from May 19th-22nd.  The Deities installed were given the name, Sri Sri Gaur Nitai by Jayapataka Swami. There was a huge assembly of devotees which Maharaj addressed by saying, “So you all are very fortunate Nitai Gauranga are being installed here. They are especially merciful.” He encouraged the spirit of service by exclaiming, “Service is the secret to success.”

The first day of the installat

No time to be personal, I have my “to do” list. How can we help and encourage each other if we don’t take the time to know each other? There must be friendship among devotees and the time and space to develop it. Examples of friendship from the scriptures, Sudama, Arjuna etc. What is in our way is the tendency for impersonalism.

Video: Click here

By Acyuta-Bhava Dasa & Tarin Butterfield

May 15th, 2022 marked an important time in history for ISKCON Naperville (Illinois, USA); a special fundraising dinner for the construction of the new Sri Sri Radha Shyamasundar Temple, with Member of Parliament and Bollywood star Hema Malini headlining the program.

The fundraising event was held at Ashyana Banquet Hall. The large banquet room was filled with promise and excitement, as all who attended were eager for the completion of this important proj

I was sitting with monk Brhat Mrdanga and talking about the upcoming Bhakti Academy, a training for new men and women, when a call came in. It was the voice of a man.

“I am interested in a program for brahmacarya (celibate) life. I play basketball, and I really want to focus on the sport and not get distracted. I belong to a different faith than yours, but it doesn’t offer a program for what I want, the brahmacarya program.”

I was listening to his story and request for training and I turned the

Atheistic scientists and intellectual cynics rely totally upon their own brains for knowledge. Such brainpower has brought a little comfort for humankind, but at the expense of ruining our earth, atmosphere, and oceans. Human brains alone have caused more damage than good. In defence of this damaging progress, attempts are made to belittle religion.

Atheism Gets Romantic With Mammal Morality

It appears that a number of atheistic scientists have caught wind of the accusation of ‘No-purpose’ leve

When I open the window in the morning, I get a burst of a fragrant lilac explosion and that is early; before sun-up. By the time the sun does rise, the dynamic colour of this pleasant flower becomes an additional entertainer. Nature continues to surprise and charm us (also at times harm us).

Mahadeva, Annapurna, and I are putting the pieces together for a three-week trip to the east coast. In two days, the 18th, along with a young man, Bhakta Ryan from Montreal, we will depart for Nova Scotia t

The cherry blossoms are over, but that did not deter park lovers from coming to High Park. As mentioned, last week a constant stream of people was flowing into the main entrance off of Bloor, and it is there, on the green, under the trees, a few meters set in, where we (the chanters) were. And it was special; a good percentage of people spilling in wanted to see what the happy excitement was all about.

Our time slot for this weekly venture, which is likely to run till the end of October, is fro

Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay from 1990 to 1992 was sometimes a real challenge, because we had hardly any facilities.

In the beginning there were only three of us, not even initiated then—Bhakta Juan, Bhaktin Manju, and myself, Bhaktin Flor.

Cooking was done on the second floor in a small kitchen connected to the Bhaktivedanta Institute. Guru Maharaja always took his prasadam in his office, and, as he liked hot chapatis, we were cooking them on the second floor and then running down the hall

After delivering some classes on the Gita for the evening, to accommodate families that work during the day, Vallabha Hari and I took that stroll through Yorkville. The weather was just perfect. It hit twenty-three degrees Celsius. Every fragrant flower, bush, or tree is in full bloom. Lit evening lampposts reveal every colour that foliage provides.

“I am flower-bearing spring,” the Lord describes in the Gita.

People, too, are very much alive. It’s Friday. The work week is over. There are lots

German pessimist philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) thought that nirvana, (freedom from suffering) means becoming desireless putting an end to our will. But His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada disagrees….

Hayagriva dasa: Arthur Schopenhauer was a nineteenth-century German philosopher who took some of his ideas from the Indian Vedic literature. For Schopenhauer, happiness meant inactive satisfaction nirvana. Since he thought that the will to enjoy

At one opulent home in London, I rang the doorbell, and in response from within came a tirade of foul language – yelling at me to go away. I did not. I kept ringing the bell. I don’t know why, but I felt that I could convince this person to take a book.

Finally, a distraught and furious young man opened the door and shouted at me “Why are you bothering me? I told you to go away! Who are you anyway?”

I told him, “I am from the Hare Krishna temple.”

As soon as he heard “Hare Krishna” his fury dis

My beloved disciple Rasa Sundari dasi just left her cancer-ridden body in Malaga, Spain. She was surrounded by devotees lovingly serving her and chanting the holy names, and I was present by video call during her last two hours. She left at the auspicious time of the Deity greeting, which she never missed. Just before she departed, she opened her eyes, looked at a picture of me, smiled, and left.

Srila Prabhupada said that when a Vaishnava departs, we feel simultaneously happy and sad. We feel h

Matt Nash, from Welland, interviewed me for his podcast. It came clear in the interview that we were both raised Catholic. We both stepped back from our faith in order to explore other avenues, not necessarily religious. That is quite common for young folks in the developed world. The counter-culture of the ’60s grabbed my attention and I imagine some version of pop culture captured his fancy.

After my experimentation was complete (and that did involve walking and hitch-hiking), I took to bhakt

Wherever you go India, America, and points between you find certain people who seem to be getting less of life's pleasures and more of its pains. What's the solution? Increase public aid? Provide better job opportunities? Demand equal rights? After reading an article on the plight of India's "untouchables" (Harijans), Tamal Krsna Gosvami wrote to the author about the real solution. It's education but not just any education …

14 April 1977

Dear Professor Parmar,

I read with keen interest your ar

I was distributing books in Mexico. It was a very difficult day. Everyone was saying no, all day, and I had many books in my bag. It felt heavier as the day went on.

Then I saw a young lady, and I was thinking of not approaching her because I had already received so much rejection. But I thought, “What’s one more rejection?” I approached her and offered her the Bhagavad gita. She didn’t say anything.

Then I started telling her that the book tells about the soul and about God and how to have a l