I want to thank Paramahamsa, from Guelph, who came to do some physio work on me today. I’m also grateful to Jhorom, who came as a special guest when I hosted him in the sitting quarters of our guru, Prabhupada, who spent a few days there in June of 1976.
Jhorom is loving the Bhagavad-Gita, As It Is, and since reading this exceptional text he’s been asking me questions. He is just intrigued with the conversation based on a fratricidal misunderstanding.
“Most misunderstandings, if not all, have t
By Madhava Smullen
Sana Mittar, a young devotee who attends the ISKCON Punjabi Bagh temple in Delhi with her family, has been honored with the Diana Award. Established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, it is the most prestigious accolade a young person aged 9 to 25 years can receive for their social action or humanitarian work.
Sana was presented with the award for her work on clean water and sanitation; starting GVAN, a non-profit that empowers youth to advocate for social causes; and sup
We have gone back, steadily, to our older program of stairway kirtan. Neighbours who pass by love it. As long as we don’t perform with symbols, drum, harmonium “in-their-face,” so to speak. Gentle, sweet and melodious is the way to go. Actually, the weather is conducive for outdoor kirtan and our group’s intent is to gain as much mileage with this presentation as possible.
In addition to the kirtan, which is now regular at night, 7 pm punctual, the morning and noon chants are also steady. I can
Dear devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
As we would be observing His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja’s Tirobhava Tithi in the coming weeks – which marks a year of His Holiness’ physical disappearance please find this brochure (attached herewith). It will be a source of great solace and inspiration to be participating in honoring a vaisnava acharya and our beloved spiritual Master, in the wider association of devotees – our ISKCON family.
By Kasisvar Das
On June 26th over five hundred devotees from Alachua and other ISKCON communities gathered in Daytona Beach, a picturesque vacation place in Central Florida, for joining the Ratha Yatra Festival. It was a long-awaited event indeed.
The Covid-19 pandemic delayed everything in the world and many festivals and events were placed on hold for months. Millions of people have been pulled out of their comfort zone to realize what Bhagavad-Gita calls the reality of this temporary miserab
“Perhaps you’re one of the few centres that’s really taking care of older Vaishnava men,” remarked an observer, a friend, the other day. Mind you, we do have younger men as residents in addition to the five who are average 71 years of age. Yes, I am one of those golden boys who joined monkhood in the 70’s. I’m in that age bracket, naturally.
We scheduled a meeting in our new seminar room and called it a “Seniors Meeting” to delve into the conditions of our remaining lives for the coming years.
While at the temple in Los Angeles, when the weather permitted, Srila Prabhupada would take his massage outside in his garden. He described his garden in New Dwarka as his favorite place in the world, because there were so many Tulasi plants there. It was Vrindavan.
"The morning sun gives you energy and the afternoon sun takes it away," His Divine Grace told me. He would sit with his back to the sun, benefitting from the energizing rays it gave. On this particular sunny, springlike day he was h
Video: Click here
Vanipedia-Behind the Screen-Live conversation with Visnu Murti Das
GBC SPT brings to you inside insight into one of the most valuable projects within ISKCON-Vanipedia. This live interview aims to bring us to an understanding of how Vanipedia is invoking and fully manifesting Srila Prabhupada’s Vani-presence amidst us. We have the fortune to have with us the project director, Visnu Murti Das.
About Visnu Murti Das
Visnu Murti Dasa was born in New Zealand in 1958. Leaving New Zea
By Madhava Smullen
Started in the mid-2000s, MayapurTV now hosts broadcasts by over 150 ISKCON centers, sannyasis and leading devotees, with 314,000 subscribers on YouTube. The channel inspires viewers and provides free access to ISKCON programs worldwide, all in one place.
The next step for MayapurTV Manager Antardwip Das is to establish different branches of MayapurTV for different languages. With nearly 500 million native Spanish speakers in the world, one of these, naturally, had to be Maya
While the US is celebrating its birthday, on this beautiful day and weekend in remote Canada — actually Montreal — the Krishna community and I are seeing to a marriage. Samuel and Nandini Radha, tied the knot as a couple at around noon today at the Pie-IX Boulevard temple.
Priest Madan-Mohan conducted the ceremony at which parents from both bride and bride-groom were seated at the corner of the kund, or tiny arena, observing rites that were colourful and new to their eyes and ears.
I gave the a
Our life is like a yatra – a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey towards the Divine. Our body symbolises the rath or chariot, through which we embark on the journey towards serving and attaining eternal love of the Lordships. Though we live in this material body or ‘rath’, the bonafide shastras and acharyas advise us to surrender its control to the all-merciful Lord Purushottama. Thus, by sincerely following their instructions, we earn their blessings and eventually we are able to blissfully maneu
Ratha Yatra or Chariot Festival'is a festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at Puri in the state of Odisha, India. It is the oldest Ratha Yatra taking place in India and the World, whose descriptions can be found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, and Skanda Purana and Kapila Samhita.This annual festival is celebrated on Ashadha Shukla Paksha Dwitiya (second day in bright fortnight of Ashadha month).The festival commemorates Jagannath's annual visit to Gundicha Temple
The presiding deities o
One of the special book distribution efforts during this year’s campaign, inspired by Bhaktivinod Thakur, will be “Books to McGill.” In 1896 – the year of Prabhupada’s birth – the Thakur mailed copies of his book Sri Chaitanya: His Life and Precepts to McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Following Bhaktivinod Thakur’s example, the Books to McGill program will see devotees send an introductory letter, as well as some of Prabhupada’s books, to the thinkers, political leaders and luminaries of
All Glories to Sri Gadadhar Pandit whose emotions are not possible to describe!
“Another name of Lord Gauranga is the ‘Lord of the life of Gadadhara.’ Who can understand what mercy has been bestowed upon him? Their glories are sung by everyone as Gadai- Gauranga.”
Today is the holy disappearance day of Gadadhar Pandit, who is none other than Shrimati Radharani, appearing in this material world to bless the household of Madhava Mishra and Ratnavati devi and to assist Shri Chaitanya in fulfilling
Karuna Sindhu is a safe driver behind the wheel and so I was his passenger, safely seated as we moved along eastward bound. It was momentous because this morning marked my first time beyond the Ontario border in approximately 16 months. We both felt a kind of freedom; enjoying what we could not for all this time. Entering into the city of Montreal was a sweet sensation and being greeted by the community of Vaishnavas I haven’t seen (many of them fairly new to bhakti) for so long was a real brea
This past weekend, New Vrindaban hosted hundreds of devotees for its 24-Plus Kirtan event. It was the first major festival held in over a year since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and devotees traveled from all over North America to be a part of it. Among them was a group of nine Vaishnavis from Krishna House in Gainesville, Florida. Most of them were new devotees who had joined during the pandemic and had never been to New Vrindaban, or for that matter, to any major ISKCON festival.
To re
Nothing major but I was feeling a bit woozy from the vaccine I received yesterday, nevertheless I wanted to keep busy. In that regard priestly duties were put to motion. It started with a visitation to Nimai Nitai’s home. Among his family friends was someone’s birthday; Jyoti is her name. She’s a young mother. We celebrated with a cheese cake.
Now you may ask what is it with my involvement in a birthday and what does it have to do with priestly duties? Well, my role in a spiritual community may
"By the grace of the Lord, a devotee can achieve wonderful success simply by willing, but a real devotee does not like that. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught that one should not desire material opulence or material reputation, nor should one try to enjoy material beauty; one should simply aspire to be absorbed in the devotional service of the Lord, even if one does not get liberation but has to continue the process of birth and death unlimitedly. Actually, however, to one who engages in Kṛṣṇ
"Mother Yashoda’s love is unmatched in purity and is unlike any other that even the infinite Lord who pervades the entire creation is bound by her love."
“Because mother loves the most…in this material world, there is no comparison of mother's love. Without any exchange. Even in this material world. Mother loves the child without any expectation of return generally…that is called unalloyed love. Anyabhilasita-sunyam, free from all material gain.”- Srila Prabhupada Srimad-Bhagavatam1.8.31 lectur
By Madhava Smullen
After a successful school year of keeping all students safe during the Covid-19 pandemic, the TKG Academy in Dallas, Texas held a graduation ceremony on May 27th that felt “triumphant,” according to Vice Principal Gopi Gita Dasi. During the event, three students who had attended TKG Academy since preschool graduated from Twelfth Grade, while the rest of the school’s thirty-three students received end-of-year certificates.
Throughout the year, Covid safety protocols such as ma
