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A true preacher is a true disciple. I believe all of us can agree that a thorough study of Srila Prabhupada’s books is so badly needed in our society in the age of Kali, the age of quarrel, hypocrisy and misinformation.

All of us come across devotees (or sometimes ourselves) answering other people’s questions without proper reference.

Without commiting offenses or looking down upon anyone, these following examples are illustrating pure, innocent ignorance. So these are one of the most bizarre st

2021 marks the 125th Appearance Anniversary Year of ISKCON Founder/Acharya His Divine A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Ambarisa Das and the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) management in Mayapur, India, have decided to officially begin celebrating this occasion on Nityananda Trayodasi, February 25th (24th in the U.S.), and simultaneously launch major promotion for the PRABHUPADA IS COMING! Campaign announcing the installation of the new Prabhupada murti in the TOVP in October this year

Temperamental weather today. The gods are at work. All was melting. Rains came. Wet snow. Then a blast of arctic freeze hit the land. Ice predominated and walking was unfavourable. Walking Monk out of work.

I did receive a vintage pic from my friend Krishnadasa today reminding me that I’m not just The Walking Monk. I’m also referred to as Drama Swami. The content of the photo is of Krishnadasa and myself in the 1980 drama called, “The Pandavas Retire Timely,” titled after a chapter in the book B

Speaking on Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.47 on January 22, 1975, in Juhu, Bombay, Srila Prabhupada appealed to us not to be preoccupied with the temporary miserable and happy conditions of life but to put a permanent end to the real problems of life and make our lives successful:

“Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, says personally, ‘These are your miseries.’ What? Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi: [birth, death, old age, and disease (Gita 13.9)] ‘Repetition of birth and death.’ This is your real mis

Everyone is trying to be happy in the material world. Real happiness however is found on a deeper level. Now, the art is to develop a bigger vision. The Bhagavad-gita, in the beginning, talks about Arjuna, who is a member of a royal family, and has found himself in a difficult situation, a war situation which made him depressed. But then Krsna explained to Arjuna na jayate mriyate va kadacin nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah (Bhagavad-gita 2.20). He explained that the soul never takes birth, th

My Father-in-law was at first alarmed by the framed photo of Srila Saraswati Thakur adorning our living room wall captioned with His Divine Grace’s bold declaration that “…Western civilization must be crushed.” I explained that the whole world was contaminated by the ideology of extreme exploitation which has it’s heart inextricably intertwined with the roots of what History portrays as Western “civilization.” This idea of exploitation ruins any realm in which it exists like a malignant cancer

"jīv jāgo, jīv jāgo, gauracānda bole

kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra kole"

By Madhava Smullen

The Grihastha Vision Team is offering an online Q & A on “Creating Meaningful Relationships” from 5:00 to 7:00pm on Saturday February 13th, the day before Valentine’s Day. The session will be broadcast live on the Grihasta Vision Team Facebook and Youtube, and via Zoom.

The GVT, established in 2004, is a group of Vaishnava couples who have all been in healthy marriages for over twenty-five years. The team members, who work professionally as premarital educators, psychotherapi

“The supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.”

The above quote is referenced from mantra five of the text Sri Isopanisad. How may we analyze this mantra?

There are three aspects of God (the Absolute) — brahman, paramatma, and bhagavan. The first aspect or feature a God is a depersonalize feature of the Absolute. It would be hard to explain this feature which is defined as an all-pervasive pres

Karnamrita, a man who is missed
A man who believed morals should persist
For him family was at the top of the list
A principal which in early days we’d resist

A true brahmin – devotee sincere
One who wanted things to be clear
As truth will always drive away fear
This loss – puts the cheek to the tear

He fought a fierce cancer combat
Now the body is a mere new stat
So many, you could shake a stick at
Resilient soul moves to a new flat

He was determined in helping the other
His was a vision for ea

By The Grihastha Vision Team

On February 9th, beloved Grihastha Vision Team member and premarital counselor Karnamrita Dasa passed away after a long battle with cancer.

Karnamrita Dasa was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1970. For fourteen years, he lived in various ISKCON temples around the world. In the beginning of his devotional service, he participated in street sankirtana and book distribution, and eventually became a head cook and pujari, specializing in emergency devotional service.

Af

The story of Lord Brahma going to visit Krishna at Dvarka is one of my favorite stories for reminding me of my insignificance. I think of this story when I am confused with other Karnamritas. I get email for Karnamrita dasi the singer, and I get asked if I wrote the biography of Gaura-kishora das Babhaji, or other books. I am reminded of my dear friend Dr. Garuda who has to distinguish himself from another Garuda who is active on-line.

By Karnamrita dasa

So which Karnamrita am I? That is a grea

Srimad Bhagavatam Class 01-01-01 by HG Gauranga Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty on 24rd jan 2021.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=93234

Partha Dasa: Today, February 9th, a most dear friend and fellow Grihastha Vision Team member, Karnamrita Prabhu left this world. Karnamrita was someone who cared about others in a deep meaningful way and devoted his life to make the lives of others better; someone who knew the meaning of love and lived it through his words and actions; someone who made everyone feel relaxed, valued and accepted.
Karnamrta always added an element of humor and lightness that would allow even a six-hour meeting to

Compiled by Nartaka Gopala dasi

Our dear Godbrother Vishal Prabhu passed away in Sri Vrindavan Dham sometime around February 8, 2021. He was 82 years old, almost 83. Vishal Prabhu was a legendary distributor of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Above is a photo of how I remember Vishal the most: wearing not one, but two book bags, criss-crossed in front of his chest, and going out to distribute every single day for the last fifty three years, whether he was in the US or in India.

Another photo at ISKCON

Sri Mayapur Community hospital needs your help to start Operation Theatre services:

Dear Devotees,

Please accept the blessings of Sri Sri Radha Madhava and our humble obeisances at your lotus feet.

We are very grateful for your magnanimous support us during the COVID crisis. Through your encouragement help and support we were able to attend to the health care needs of more of almost 10,000 patients during the lockdown period even with the very basic set up we have here in Sri Mayapur.

However, o

When I say “our street” I mean the one that we live on as well as the back alley that runs parallel to it and let’s not forget the street parallel to it and then the one also parallel but on the other side of the tracks. This was my route for the night; with snow and ice all over its surface.

It is awfully peaceful at the hour of 9 to 10 p.m. This is no doubt conducive to a soft chant rolling off the lips.

The quiet, combined with space, also lends itself to thoughts of the day’s affairs. To ba

Video: Click here

Deena Bandhu Das: Please join us in prayers for my very dear older Godbrother, Vishal Prabhu, who was living here in Vrindavan. Devotees hadn’t seen him for a couple of days, so just a half-hour ago, the police broke the door and found his lifeless body! Just happened so no details yet, but he was 85 years old. He constantly distributed Srila Prabhupada’s books till the present day!

Whenever Prabhupada would circumambulate the temple in the morning in Vrindavan, Vishal would be

Video: Click here

By Rupa Vilas Das

Whenever Prabhupada would circumambulate the temple in the morning in Vrindavan, Vishal would be standing with his hands folded chanting prayers from the Bhagavatam and then give the English translations. On this particular morning there was water on the temple steps because it had just rained. Prabhupada just snapped at Vishal and said, “Do something practical,” He said, “Clean this up.” (laughs) So that was his response to the glorification. He ordered him

By Dayal Gopal dasa, Nepal sankirtan preacher

Padayatra in Nepal began on January 19, 2021.

In a recent ISKCON Leadership Sangha (ILS-2020) our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, instructed Nepal regional secretary Patri dasa to organize a padayatra in Nepal. Patri took Maharaja’s words to heart and discussed the idea with the Nepali devotees.

A friend of Patri, Brahmacari Sahastranam dasa from Ukraine, who has been serving in Nepal for twelve years engaged in community and farm services, was