The day was done as far as giving classes and cleanup on various levels at the temple. Digging up an old script, which I still haven’t found, is giving some anxiety. I’m not sure where that is going, but I’m getting ready for India, a trip coming up soon.
It was 10 to 10 PM, and I had not yet met the outside air. Let’s see what an hour stroll can do to make the day truly done. I took to Yonge St. The wind showed some might, and it had been playing with cardboard pieces that were strew
“Is chanting all that your religion does? Don’t you do welfare or anything like that?”
Alex, my barber, works at the Pilatos salon in Queens, New York, on the cusp of a Hispanic neighborhood. The salon has mostly Latino hairdressers and clients, and it is bright and upbeat, with salsa music often playing softly in the background. On a recent visit there, instead of salsa, I heard the chanting of om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, which means “obeisance to the Supreme Lord Krishna.” I remarked to Ale
(LtoR) Masha, Sita Rani Dasi, Yulia, Krsna Abhishek Das, Ishani Devi Dasi, Keith Eustace, Ivan Demiashkin (with mridanga), Manu Das, and Praghosh Das.
ISKCON Dublin recently concluded its participation in the 2024 Srila Prabhupada Book Distribution Marathon, surpassing expectations with a total of 12,781 books distributed across Ireland. The initiative, which took place throughout December, saw devotees tirelessly engaging in the sacred mission of sharing spiritual knowledge through the distribu
Mahaprahu Dasa, Director of MOSA, welcoming dignitaries and esteemed guests to the opening.
On January 30, 2025, the Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA) opened a new exhibit entitled “Mystic Paths: Living Traditions of Indian Art from MOSA” at the Museo de Antropología of Madrid in Spain’s capital. Over 150 special guests, including many professors, intellectuals, and artists from the area, attended the opening.
MOSA is an international visual arts initiative dedicated to supporting art and artists from
Hare Krishna Devotees!
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
On Tuesday, February 4th, we will be celebrating Advaita Acharya’s appearance day! Please join us at the temple on this special day for the program at 4 pm. We will have space blocked off for all the devotees so that everyone can gather comfortably and take part in the program. We will have the space reserved for Sandhya Arati as well so devotees can participate.
We will hear the glories of Sri Advaita A
A farewell from a fine Bangladeshi family, my hosts in Tampa. Arjuna from Dominican Republic bid me goodbye at the airport. I flew off with perfect walking weather behind. As I have written, swimming was another dream.
At Air Canada Jazz flight 1245, I reached my seat. I didn’t anticipate to use the screen in front of me, but I couldn’t resist watching a documentary, 500 Days In the Wild by filmmaker Dianne Whelan. She embarked on a journey paddling, cycling, and walking the longest t
Many people think that science and spirituality will always be at odds, but true religion must be supported by science, and true science must be supported by religion.
Real religion is sanatana dharma, or eternal duty. It is based on universal truth rather than rituals or superstition. Real religion is about truth because God is truth. When religion is true, it is applicable to the material world and can be used to explain natural phenomena. Here’s how by taking three science courses (astronomy,
Excerpt from a lecture by HH Nirañjana Swami
The following is a partially-edited transcription of an excerpt of a lecture given at the Baltics Winter Festival – Chanting with Feeling
Today I wanted to read and speak from a few quotes about the Holy Name. Some of them I have read recently and found a lot of significance to them, not only to myself but those with whom I shared them. A lot of times the devotees struggle to make their chanting relevant. The previous speaker, Dhīra-śānta Prabhu was u
Relishing the Bhagavatam for a boost while out on book distribution.
For Gopala-Raya Das, book distribution is more than a duty; it is a central theme in his spiritual journey. His recent appointment as Sankirtan Leader in his yatra – Swansea, Wales, and as Chair of the ISKCON UK Book Distribution Committee is a natural extension of his lifelong dedication to sharing Krishna consciousness. Yet, he approaches this service with characteristic humility. “I don’t have much to say,” he admitted durin
FLORIDA FREEZE
I packed swimming trunks
Not a restriction for monks
Anticipating a dip in the springs
After tightening the drawstrings
Once I arrived in Tampa
Felt a freeze known by Santa
There were the usual bearded trees
The Spanish moss, but strange breeze
An Arctic vortex hit the land
My dreams for dipping totally canned
Even alligators do not prefer
For them cold waters – not secure
It’s Canada’s attack on the US, this cold
Trump’
Boar is a wild animal, probably not known for its beauty or great work. But when God appears in the form of a boar, He looks extremely beautiful and performs the most wonderful deeds. Just as the Supreme Lord appears in the human society as Lord Rāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa, He also incarnates in the animal society as Varāha (Boar), amongst the birds as Haṁsa (Swan), amongst the aquatics as Matsya (Fish) and so on.
According to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the Supreme Lord appeared as Varāha (a wild boar) twice –
“From the viewpoint of eternity, a life span of five thousand years is the same as that of five years: both are a flash, both temporary.”
Two summers ago when the Reforestation Department of the Sequoia National Park in California gave away excess baby Sequoia trees, I got four and planted them on our nine-acre property in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Sequoias don’t produce useful things like fruits or flowers. They simply live—for thousands of years. And they grow—hundreds of f
Krishna House in Gainesville, Florida, famous around the world for its innovative and successful ashram program, and Krishna Lunch on the University of Florida campus, has released a new video on YouTube. In less than five minutes, the creative film gives you a “peak into the experience of participants in the Krishna House Ashram.”
Common misconceptions are addressed in a welcoming and colorful presentation of Bhakti life. Krishna House is based on Srila Prabhupada’s example in his first ISKCON
Siddha Hari Das (left); Two children visitors at the mall receive some books from his booth.
A book distribution program led by Siddha Hari Das was successfully conducted at Michigan’s largest mall, Great Lakes Crossing Mall, from December 3rd, 2024, to January 12th, 2025. This innovative initiative was well received by the visitors and became a remarkable endeavor in spreading Krishna consciousness.
A total of 4,222 books were distributed, including 454 Bhakta Stacks (1,816 books), 120 Saptha S
So on the occasion of Varaha’s appearance day, we are reading a verse in relation this pastime. This is from Canto Three, Chapter Eighteen “The Battle Between Boar and Hiranyaksa”, Text number two.
dadarsa tatrabhijitam dhara-dharam
pronniyamanavanim agra-damstraya
musnantam aksna sva-ruco ’runa-sriya
jahasa caho vana-gocaro mrgah
Translation:
“He saw there the all-powerful Personality of Godhead in His boar incarnation, bearing the earth upward on the ends of His tusks and robbing him of his
In the Alachua temple, I delivered my third and last class on the heroism of the avatar, Varaha, who saved the earth in His most unique way. Back at the home of my hosts, Ananta Sesa and Vaishnavi, I led a Gita Chat on Zoom with devotees from the Caribbean. Chapter 1.32 – 35. Those verses are Arjuna’s rationale leading to his declining to fight. A major theme behind these verses was that Krishna, the main pundit, was actually a good listener. This is another trait of heroism.
For the eveni
The Vedic scriptures reveal that Mayadevi, Lord Krishna’s deluding potency, works with certain energies that have the capacity to make material life seem like normal life.
As we go about our everyday activities in the material world, we are continuously confronted with the normality, or normalness, of material existence. In other words, we are constantly bombarded with the notion that material life, with all its mundane rationality, constitutes normal life and that this world
We are familiar with the literary devices of similes and metaphors. In a simile, we may say something like, “The summer air was as hot as a furnace”, but in a metaphor we do not simply compare two things but describe one as the other, as in Sandburg’s poem: “The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches, and then moves on.”
The language of metaphor and poetry is the language of emotion and love. In the Italian film “Il Postino” (The Postman), a simple
The Vedic contribution to one of the central debates in Western philosophy.
Sam Surya goes to his city’s orphanage one day and makes a large donation. Elsewhere in town, Andy Andhakara robs a bank. What led these two to make such drastically different choices? Was it their own volition, or the force of some other factor? In other words, were their actions predetermined, or did Sam and Andy have free will?
These questions concern one of the pivotal debates in Western philosophy. Are human beings
