As Lord Jesus Christ said, we should hate the sin, not the sinner. That is a very nice statement, because the sinner is under illusion. He is mad. If we hate him, how can we deliver him? Therefore, those who are advanced devotees, who are really servants of God, do not hate anyone.
When Lord Jesus Christ was being crucified, he said, “My God, forgive them. They know not what they do.” This is the proper attitude of an advanced devotee. He understands that the conditioned souls cannot be hated,
Tropically settled on the southern coast of the Sunshine State, Delray Beach is a welcome home to many- especially those looking to catch some waves or connect body, mind, and spirit! A month before the Bhakti Lifestyle Retreat, five New Vrindaban devotees had scoped out the area during a short fall vacation earlier. At the time, they didn’t realize Krishna would soon place them back in Delray Beach to gift a spiritual revolution to the salty-haired yogis they had crossed paths with- but they w
My last hours were spent in comfort, both physically and otherwise. I was asked to give another Bhagavatam class, my fourth this week, and I caught up on some rest before the drive to Tigre. Tigre (Spanish for tiger) is a tourist attraction outside of Buenos Aires. There is located a vegetarian restaurant run by Daksha, and so visitors from other ISKCON communities in the country made this fine dining place their stop over before returning to, more in particular, Mar del Plata. We brunched. We
By Sucitra Devi Dasi
In 1962, working alone with a manual typewriter, Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda condensed the Bhagavad-gītā’s seven hundred verses into simple rhyming Bengali couplets. His book, ‘Gītār Gān’, is a beautiful and easily-understood poetic rendition of the gītā, aimed at making its wisdom more accessible to Bengali-speaking people. When it was first published in 1973 it became a grand success, widely loved and appreciated by the Bengali populace. One distributor rep
By Parasuram das
Devotees coming from Ukraine put their own Sunday Feast together in their ‘New Beginning Cafe’, in the City of London. Today we received £10,000 worth of computer equipment for learning English and establishing initiatives. The cafe helps raise income and acts as a resource centre, thanks to the hard work of Bhaktin Inna. All these devotees have a story to tell, but Srila Prabhupada has come to take the devotees suffering away so they can chant the Holy Name:
It was the beginni
Bhakti takes two forms in this world. On the one hand the form of activities you perform with body, voice and mind, and on the other hand the form of feelings. These devotional feelings are the inclination to serve Krishna in a favorable way, in other words giving pleasure to Him. The feelings of bhakti-bhava also include eagerness, gratitude and being moved by genuine love.
Just yesterday I developed another feeling: urgency. This is what happened.
I was on parikrama around Govardhan Hill, car
An old Farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Bhagavad-gita. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way that he could.
One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagavad-gita just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagavad-gita do?”
The Grandfather quietly
As the representative for the Hare Krishna Movement and the Vaisnava Hindu Community in Victoria, Bhakta Dasa was again voted in as the Chairperson for the third year of the Faith Community Council of Victoria (FCCV) in Australia.
Established in 2010, the Faith Communities Council of Victoria is Victoria’s umbrella multifaith body.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/bhakta-dasa-again-elected-as-chairperson-for-fccv/
The Youth Interfaith Walk was a three-day hybrid event to bring together individuals of different religious orientations and cultures. With the objective of enhancing social cohesion and interactions among youths of different religious communities, Ms. Fatima Jiwani decided to launch this initiative as part of her fellowship with the ‘King Abdullah International Center for Interfaith and Intercultural dialogue’ (KAICIID). KAICIID is a unique intergovernmental organization bringing together foll
Dear Prabhus,
Please accept our obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Hare Krishna!
We understand that you are all engaged in the most important service of keeping ISKCON members worldwide informed and enthused about the expansion and development of ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada’s family extends to every corner of the Earth now and it is essential to maintain unity of purpose and consciousness.
With that in mind, we would like to emphasize at this time that in two years, starting from Decembe
Jananivas Prabhu’s service was to bring frankincense to Srila Prabhupada’s room in the evening. He mentioned that usually after you fill a room with frankincense, you open the doors and windows so that the mosquitos go out with the smoke. Srila Prabhupada however liked to keep the smoke within the room and stopped Jananivas Prabhu from opening the doors and windows. Since it was Srila Prabhupada’s darshan time, there would usually be many western devotees in the room and these western devotees
Hard work with the drama practice, but while waiting for all to show up, I pulled together this poem:
Dream and Cream
It’s a blessing to be alive
In such a honey bee hive
Sharing space of purity
Where darkness becomes obscurity
In a safe ashram temple
Far from the judge mental
We sing and we play
Even on the most gloomy day
Keeping to some regimen
For even Bhakta Benjamin
We sit and hear a lesson
Always time for some question
We honour the best food
At the three point interlude
A ses
Jananivas Prabhu’s service was to bring frankincense to Srila Prabhupada’s room in the evening. He mentioned that usually after you fill a room with frankincense, you open the doors and windows so that the mosquitos go out with the smoke. Srila Prabhupada however liked to keep the smoke within the room and stopped Jananivas Prabhu from opening the doors and windows. Since it was Srila Prabhupada’s darshan time, there would usually be many western devotees in the room and these western devotees
The Lord is known as Bhava-grahi Janardana because He accepts service in devotional emotion if we are sincere, humble, and fully surrendered at His lotus feet (Bhagavatam: 8.23.2). The Lord is most pleased by the attitude of service rendered by a devotee, with unalloyed devotion. Devotion is a process that attracts Krsna and directly connects one with Krsna. The Lord reciprocates by inundating that devotee with His infinite mercy.
Practicing unalloyed devotional service to the Lord is practical
My last festival here was in 2019 and now that I’m back at the same service of giving class, leading the chant and directing a drama, it almost seems like I have not missed a beat. The last item is the biggest but happiest challenge.
First of all, there is a language barrier. I know little Spanish. So, how does one direct a play written in English to a Spanish-speaking group? Getting the script translated was accomplished, but, as most people know, intent can be lost in translation. A lot of th
Among the most striking of these passages from the Vedic sastras are the following:
In the Kali Yuga, wealth alone will be the deciding factor of nobility [in place of birth, righteous behavior or merit].And brute force will be the only standard or deciding what is righteous or just.
Mutual liking [and not family pedigree, social status, etc.] will be the deciding factor in choosing a partner in marriage; cheating will be the order of the day in business relations; satisfaction of sexual pleasu
Delhi, Wednesday 20th June, 1956 (Series #8)
Edited and Founded
Under direct order of His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Bhakti-Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada
By Goswami Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta
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In the Secretariat Buildings in New Delhi there is an inscription on the stone that Liberty does not descend upon a people but it has to earned before it can be enjoyed. Actually this is the fact and we have seen it that much sacrifice had to be rendered by the people of India before the
I just meditate on mercy. The point is this – we have to appreciate that this is a mercy movement and we somehow or other just take shelter constantly. We do not measure ourselves all the time, because if we start measuring ourselves, we will always fall short and then we will become increasingly frustrated. So, there is no need for measuring, instead, we just take shelter. Take shelter of the Holy Name, take shelter of the Srimad Bhagavatam, take shelter of the devotees, take shelter of prasad
A very kind-hearted Markandeya was at arrivals to pick up my check-in, my carry-on and myself. The airport at Buenos Aires has very much improved with its renovations. I got through the customs with a cinch. On the freeway, I could see the usual tall hardwoods and, with it being spring, good fragrances are in the air. Colours too. The purple-flowering jacaranda is stunning. There’s also the very red santa rita, which gives life just by looking at it. However, in man’s world of duality there is
