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Saturn and Jupiter were to come very close together from the earth’s viewpoint. They were to appear as a bright star. I decided to execute my walk through Ramsden Park, doing a back-and-forth pacing where there is less interference by high-rise buildings. Unfortunately hazy clouds actually blocked the view. My anticipation for this darshan (sighting) became deflated. Being equipoised was my only refuge.

Now, have any of you ever listened to “The Planets" by music composer Holtz. If you have not,

The New Year is traditionally the time for resolutions. The turn of the calendar brings both the opportunity to reflect on the last 12 months and the chance to begin planning for the next dozen. As you think about yours, GBC Strategic Planning Team (SPT) brings to you live interview with Sri Radha Govinda Dasi to help you keep up with the resolutions, better decision making, leading through crisis and grow tall in Krishna Consciousness.

About Sri Radha Govinda Dasi

Sri Radha Govinda Dasi was bo

By Prishni Devi Dasi

In 1976, Srila Prabhupada instructed the founding members of the Bhaktivedanta Institute “to build a model of the universe that could later be built full size at the future Mayapur Temple and Planetarium complex.” To help broadly facilitate Srila Prabhupada’s directive, the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies (BIHS) in Gainesville, Florida recently hosted its second cosmography workshop with the title, “Models and memes and maps: A modern journey through ancient cosmo

By Madhava Smullen

During an especially challenging holiday season, the Food For Life Foundation in Hungary is bringing some care and support with its Christmas Love Feast prasadam distribution effort, from December 8th to 27th.

In previous years, Food For Life would hold a massive event in the capital city of Budapest, giving out thousands of meals over three days. However this year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteers are instead distributing food at over twenty different outdoor locations

Like many pedestrians I will just take a pause when I get to a park and hit one of those benches. The sunlight was coming on strong, darting towards the northeast, almost as if pointing to that seat. I accepted the invitation and plopped myself down. A great location for a sobering time. Chanting one round on my japa beads is what I got out of it.

The park was located off of Barton St. I was not alone in the sunbathing. Others did the same; caught in their own form of meditation. I wonder if God

Please click on the above link:
Bhagavad_Gita_As_It_Is-Only_Shlokas.pdf

By Giriraj Swami

“Now these Christmas holidays have begun in your country. Throughout the whole month of December you’ll observe nice festivities. Why? It began with God consciousness. Jesus Christ came to give you God consciousness, and in relation to him these festivities are going on. It may have degraded into another form, but the beginning was God consciousness. Now we may have lost it. But people cannot be happy without reviving God consciousness. It may be named differently—‘Krishna cons

This year is an unusual year. One of its many unusual features is that Christmas and Gita Jayanti, the speaking of Bhagavad-Gita (The Song of God), are celebrated on the same day. This is a special opportunity to connect East and West.

The Gita, India’s endearing holy book, is spoken 5000 years ago by the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna to the warrior prince Arjuna right before the great battle at Kurushetra in northern India. Arjuna is hesitant to fight. On the other side of the battlefield, his cousi

My beloved disciple, “ISKCON’s Mother,” Rajani Priya Dasi (Rose Forkash), passed away in her home in Carpinteria, California. Three months ago, we were pleased to celebrate her one hundredth birthday at my ashram.

You can read about Rajani Priya—and hear from her—on my website: https://girirajswami.com/blog/?p=16347

In a room conversation on January 20, 1977, in Bhubaneswar, Ramesvara dasa and Srila Prabhupada discussed Rose and her daughter, Lila-sakti dasi:

Ramesvara: We have one mother in Lo

Silver Jubilee year festival of Gita Jayanti inaugurated in grandeur at ISKCON Mayapur on 23rd December. After a long silence following the lockdown, it is a pleasure to welcome over 2000 guests who have arrived at Mayapur to take part in Gita Jayanti festival. Inaugurating the session, HG Bhakti Bijoy Bhagavat Swami informed that around 20000 students have been enrolled for Grade1 Gita Study Course and this shows how people are very eager to receive this king of knowledge. HH Bhakti Purusottama

In the Age of Kali, it is not going to be that beautiful. It is not possible to just get it perfect in this age. One has to always look out for disturbances and within it find some Krsna consciousness – that is how it is in spiritual life. We are living in a crazy world and we have to block it out and keep our little Krsna bubble. We have to find or create our own little sacred space amidst all this madness. That sacred space depends on the depth of our faith, kecit kevalaya bhaktya vasudeva-par

Rasheshvara called me up the other day and asked about a good spot in the city for his fiancé and him to venture to. I guess I’m an authority for some people as to the hot nature spots in town. By the way, Palak is his friend and they have decided to include our tiny walk as a portion of their engagement. A fire ceremony is to follow this weekend. So through walking we celebrated.

I was touched to be included in the program. I thought the easiest and dreamiest place would be the Brickworks. No o

I am reminded of feet every day, not just merely because I use them daily, rather my reflections on feet come from another source. As a devotional routine our monkly crew offers prayer to the guru. We approach him with all humility while reciting these prayers in a firm meditation. As tradition has it, when the guru is no longer with us in body, but in spirit, one can offer flower petals to an imprint of his feet as a way of honouring him; as a way of expressing gratitude. It is a ritual that is

For those whose lives have been forever improved by meeting Lord Krishna personally in the pages of the Gita, Gita Jayanti is not only a day of celebration but also a chance to express their gratitude. And the best way to do so is to share the Gita with others. Krishna Himself says, “There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.” (Bg. 18.69)

The Gita teaches the essence of spiritual knowledge, purely and succinctly, in a way that anyone – in an

By Ritudvipa dasa, UP Padayatra leader

Walking through the city of Kanpur and the surrounding villages during the first few days of the Uttar Pradesh Padayatra in September 2019 was a big challenge for us, as people in that area are not aware of padayatra culture. We had virtually no donations and had to rely on the support of the congregation devotees to keep our mission moving, but we endured and found preaching on the road to be a rewarding experience.

On one occasion we had no grains or puls

I felt very fortunate because I was able to see Prabhupada when he wasn’t with his disciples. He wasn’t busy training them in management in a variety of ways or chastising them for the mistakes they had made. He wasn’t getting involved in seeing that the books were being produced. So many different services that he was doing in the service for his spiritual master.

At various times during the day behind closed doors Prabhupada was just there by himself and they were the times that I liked the mo

It was the second Sunday night in a row that I took a walk to Isabella Street to meet Vallabha and Michaela, the great couple that worked on our film, “Rolling the Dice.” My intent on the visit, which was outside their apartment for Covid safety, was to bring them a token of appreciation in the form of cake prasadam. Also, we needed to set some schedules to fine-tune our production. It was our first film.

My day was like a live-wire of bhakti, devotional service. At 6 a.m. I chatted with Vrishab

By Kalakantha das and Jitamitra dasi

We became close to Yamuna and Dinatarine Prabhus over the last five years. We run a busy college outreach program in Gainesville and, in 2006, looking for a getaway during the summer breaks, we decided to visit Saranagati, as we had lived and served in Vancouver temple years ago and had many friends there.

Soon after arriving in Saranagati we discovered Banabihari Ashram, a straw bale house plastered in adobe covered with a green metal roof perched on a smal