Blog

It always pays off. This walking I do, to a nearby park, in any direction, almost each day, gets attention by some individual and leads to a spontaneously established friendship.

Today I made my way southbound to Queen’s Park to meet a newly made compadre, Saurav, where we would be going over a discussion on chapter 1 of The Gita. He tells me he has accepted me as his teacher and also admitted it’s hard for him to spark an interest in spiritual talk with his buddies. With me it’s 90% all about t

Despite cooler temperatures most trees in the area remain a rich green. Some, like the maple, are starting to show its true colour. At the end of the street from the temple/ashram you have got a majestic maple that is not just “showing” but it’s “showing off.” And it’s under that tree where, in two days, I’ll meet with my philosophical/spiritual friends for discussion. For now, a lit park lamp-post in the night is all that is necessary for the splendor of this tree to catch my fortunate eye.

Wit

Radharani is known as the soft-hearted feminine counterpart of the Lord. She is therefore very compassionate. Now, Caitanya Mahaprabhu has taken that mood of Srimati Radharani. One might say that Caitanya Mahaprabhu is golden but Caitanya Mahaprabhu said it Himself that, “I am not golden. I appear golden because I touched Srimati Radharani and therefore I became golden. Actually, I am blackish but I have taken this mood to feel the blissful emotions of Radharani”.

Source: https://www.kksblog.co

On June 21, 1973, in Mayapur, Srila Prabhupada spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.6:

nadhayo vyadhayah klesa
daiva-bhutatma-hetavah
ajata-satrav abhavan
jantunam rajni karhicit

“Due to the king’s having no enemy, the living beings were not at any time disturbed by mental agonies, diseases, or excessive heat or cold.”

Srila Prabhupada explained, “In Maharaja Yudhisthira’s time, the government was responsible to keep people peaceful, without any anxiety. That is government—without any anxiety. And no

A good friend of mine, a former schoolteacher, sent me images of the subject: “The Scale of Things,” featuring a seven-foot long leatherback sea-turtle at 2000 pounds, and a whole bunch of other astounding statistics of what’s big on Earth and in our universe. One picture he forwarded featured an eagle’s talon/claw as enormous. Another one lined up a cut-and-paste Titanic next to a modern cruise liner. Quite the difference in size, showing how modern-day shipbuilding has truly excelled in 100 ye

English rendition of the beautiful song Kevalastakam (madhuram madhurebhyo api… harer namaiva kevalam.)

Sweetest among sweet

Most auspicious pathway

Holy Name Alone

No Other Way (1)

In all fourteen worlds

Only reality mainstay

Holy Name Alone

No Other Way (2)

True relation is one

Which can convey

Holy Name Alone

No Other Way (3)

Call out in shelter

Before death us slay

Holy Name Alone

No Other Way (4)

Lord eternally dwells

Where saints sing & pray

Holy Name Alone

No Other Way (5)

Mistaken this j

Affirmations for Chanting the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra

by Payal Shah

(Adapted from ‘Japa Affirmations’ by His Grace Mahatma Dasa)

Ancient Vedic texts address the notion that no amount of material accomplishments can deeply satisfy us. Our consciousness has been polluted by the material atmosphere, and as we try to exploit resources, we are in fact getting more and more entangled in complexities. Vedic wisdom attributes this condition to a lack of spiritual awareness. These Vedic wisdom texts sha

We should not think that sankirtana, or the chanting of the Lord’s holy names, is simply part of the system of mantra-yoga, or is merely a formula that has been passed down through the ages like other yoga systems. Nor is it a ritual, ceremony, or activity meant for producing good karma or positive fruitive results. Neither is it merely a way to focus the mind and achieve peace and tranquility. It is far more than any of these. It is the Lord Himself who establishes the chanting of the holy name

These days many numbers are thrown at us—stats about Covid. How many people are infected this very day? How many died from the virus? Stay at home and keep your number of people gathering down to ten. Outside you can have twenty-five, etc.… The numbers are on the rise for those found with the virus. It’s not good! It’s a second wave. The number two.

However, someone sent me some figures about saving lives if the world switched to a plant-based diet. It reads like so:

If the world switched to pla

On July 4th, 2020, the world has lost one of its most inspiring spiritual leaders, Bhakti Charu Swami, to COVID-19. The shock and the loss made thousands of his followers numb, while others expressed their pain by posting their appreciations of their beloved master, or friend, on many different forums around the globe:

"The vacuum felt by Bhakti Charu Maharaja’s departure is immense. And that is how it should be. These feelings of separation are the proper testimony to Bhakti Charu Maharaja’s li

In Jagannatha Puri, besides the deity of Lord Jagannatha, there is another famous deity which was the Gopinatha deity of Gadadhara known as Ṭoṭā-gopīnātha. We had just described in the Caitanya Caritamrta that Gadadhara had taken a vow of ksetra-sanyasi. The vow was to just stay in Jagannatha Puri and serve the deity, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “How can you break your vow?” And Gadadhara said, “I am not interested in keeping that vow. I am interested in the association of the Lord.” But Lord

Prabhupada told us the story of the old Bengali lady, who while on her death bed, is being forced by her son to chant ‘Hare Krsna!’

The son says to his mother, ‘chant! chant! Hare Krsna bolo!’ but the mother is simply not chanting. The son then pushes her a little stronger and finally the lady says a full sentence, “I am dying, can’t you see? What more do you want me to say?” The lady says this whole sentence but still she could not say Hare Krsna! Why?

This is because the lady has not seen how

2020 is bringing in new things for ISKCON North America (NA) Communications Department: new management, with the appointment of Madan Gopal Das as Director and Kumari Kunti Dasi as Administrative Director, as well as back-to-back events to boost the North America teams with a Training Workshop and Communications Conference in the fall of this year.  

The NA Directors of Communications work directly under the guidance of Anuttama Das, ISKCON GBC, and Global Communications Minister, with the aim o

Today is the divine appearance day of Chitra Sakhi. Chitra is the fourth of the varistha gopis. Her beautiful saffron complexion resembles the color of kumkuma, and her garments are the color of crystal. She is 26 days older than Srimati Radharani, being 14 years, 7 months and 14 days of age. Her father is Catura, the paternal uncle of Suryamitra. Her mother is Carcika-devi and her husband is Pithara. She is an adhika-mrdvinayika, and her home is in Chiksauli.
In gaura-lila she appears as Sri Go

A yogi friend of mine, Devananda, who I’ve known for forty-five plus years, came by. He spends half his time in India and half in China. It looks like he retreats to his native Toronto now and then. We always have a good chat. Today we covered everything from The Gita, bhakti, jnana, smarta brahmins, Covid-19, transgender, vaccines, Indian history, Islam, you name it. We spoke while eating prasadam, nice blessed food, in the environment of “Govinda’s” dining hall.

Devananda is cool, a Canadian,

The glory of the Lord’s holy name is confidential knowledge that must be passed on to others with care.

This article discusses the offense of telling faithless persons the glories of the holy name.

Among the many presents I received for my sixth birthday were several pairs of heavy red stockings. Like most children, I preferred toys to clothes-especially duplicate clothes. So I ran to my room and pouted. Like any good mother, mine told me to return to my guests, smile, and say, “Thank you,” reg