Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Amsu das on 13 August 1974:
“Regarding the worship of our Gaura Nitai by women pujaris, we worship Lord Chaitanya in His householder life when He was with His wife, and not as a sannyasi. So, it is alright for women to do this service. But, besides this, service is spiritual and there can be no material designation. In Bhagavad-gita it is stated by Lord Krsna: striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te’pi yanti param gatim. The principle is that everyone who is properly initiate
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While the coronavirus is spreading throughout the world, so is kindness. Even though they are physically restricted in their movement, people find ways to reach out, express appreciation to and care for one another.
On May 15th, ISKCON News announced a contest for young devotee artists between the ages of 3-18, asking them to recognize and capture these little acts of kindness around them and turn them into artwork. Dozens of pieces were submitted to the 'Kindness Pandemic' Art Contest, and t
To complement walking, swimming is one of those activities on the top of the list. A most pleasant person from Stratford, Jaya Gopal, picked me up from the big city to bring me to Lake Couchiching, one of three clean and tame lakes in the Orillia area. Now that was super sweet, however, the real purpose of the day was to partake in Orillia’s first Ratha Yatra festival. Done in downscale-style, the deities of Jagannath were set in the backseat of a van, and then driven to dozens of recipients, mo
Starting in 1973, residents of New Vrindaban, West Virginia, held their own small rural Rathayatra festival on the farm, a sweet event with Lord Jagannath riding a succession of different charmingly rustic makeshift carts.
In the early 2000s, Malati Devi, one of the organizers of San Francisco’s 1967 Rathayatra – the first outside India – commissioned a proper traditional chariot and the festival grew in popularity within the community.
Then in 2016, the Rathayatra became a public annual even
Have You Forgiven?
Below is a checklist to help you determine whether or not you are practicing a life of forgiveness, and thus what you may still need to work on. Go over this checklist as many times as needed for any person you have issues with.
On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest level of unforgiveness, rate your forgiveness practice (0 is a perfect practice).
You need your offender to apologize.
You need your offender to admit they were wrong.
You need your offender to receive
Speaking on Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.41, on June 7, 1976, in Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada explained the following verse from the Padma Purana:
arcye visnau sila-dhir gurusu nara-matir vaisnave jati-buddhir
visnor va vaisnavanam kali-mala-mathane pada-tirthe ’mbu-buddhih
sri-visnor namni mantre sakala-kalusa-he sabda-samanya-buddhir
visnau sarvesvarese tad-itara-sama-dhir yasya va naraki sah
“One who thinks the Deity in the temple to be made of wood or stone, who thinks of the spiritual master in t
Before I took my walk today I was sitting, and across from me was our senior-most monk who resides in our ashram. His name is Dakshin, a native of London, Ontario, and he became committed to bhakti, devotion, back in 1974 when he joined in Vancouver.
He’s a jolly and dutiful type of person and in the temple portion of our building he does two poojas (rituals) per day and also functions as our security for three hours. He can look mean with his stick and bears a grave persona, however, deep down
In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa describes four kinds of pious men (su-kṛtinaḥ) begin to render devotional service unto Him – the distressed (ārto), the desirer of wealth (arthārthī), the inquisitive,( jijñāsuḥ), and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute (jñānī)’
catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ su-kṛtino ’rjuna
ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha (BG 7.16)
Dhruva Mahārāja was arthārthī Bhakta- desirous of wealth. He wanted a kingdom bigger than his grandfather Lord Brahmā. W
By Madhava Smullen
First and second-generation kirtaniyas have created a new song dedicated to beloved ISKCON guru Bhakti Charu Swami, who passed away on July 4th.
Second-generation devotee Nadiya Mani sings lead vocals and Prabhupada disciple Bada Haridas backing vocals on the epic nine-and-a-half-minute standalone single Ocean of Mercy, which was released on Friday July 17th to iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Google Play. https://smarturl.it/oceanofmercy
The deeply moving, s
If one commits an offence, one has the duty to denounce that immediately; to denounce the offender. In the Caitanya Caritāmṛta, we have the story of how Gopāla Cāpāla became envious of Srivasa Thakura, who is a great devotee, and tried to diminish Srivasa Thakura’s prestige, due to which Gopāla Cāpāla then suffered leprosy as a result. He was then forced to stay outside the village as lepers are very contagious. Then one day, Gopāla Cāpāla met Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and fell at His feet and ask
An interview with Giriraj Swami by the ISKCON Strategic Planning Office, July 9, 2020, via Facebook.
Gauranga Dasa: Hare Krishna. We welcome all the devotees who have joined this weekly care conversation, Vaishnava seva. This week we are very honored to have with us His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja. We welcome His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja, who is one of the most senior of Prabhupada’s disciples. He was very active on the GBC, and was one of the founders of ISKCON India, especially the
Most days, on which I embark on my evening trek, I have a destination in mind to go either east, west, north or south. Sometimes I have no pre-arrangement so I let the wind talk to me. If the air currents go north/south, I’ll take that. If the breezes are more active east/west that’s where I feel I am being guided. Not since the summer of ‘77 has there been such an extended heat wave.
Martha Reeve and the Vandellas had a hit song on the charts. “Heat Wave” expressed in its lyrics a love-fever th
The Global Devotee Care Directorate invites everyone to their weekly webinars focused on Vaishnava Seva and Devotee Care, an effort that emphasizes the culture of devotee care in our ISKCON temples and communities. We are pleased to announce this week’s discussion was led by HH Niranjana Swami Maharaj, who is the force behind one of the world’s largest thriving communities of devotees in Ukraine.
Click below to start the player
About HH Niranjana Swami
His Holiness Niranjana Swami was born
By Radha Sakhi Dasi
The age-old friendship of Touchstone Media and Torchlight Publishing is now evolving into a merger to operate as a single unit. Advaita Chadra Das, Director of Torchlight Publishing and Isvara Das, Director of Touchstone Media have been planning to work together for quite some time and now that they’ve both joined hands. “We have joined forces to passionately strive to provide everyone with real matter for soul-nourishment and assist them to live spiritually balanced, heal
I never met Michael before but he seemed to know us. Just to make sure he had the right group in mind, he asked, “Hare Krishna?”
“Yes indeed,” I responded.
Then Michael, a man about fifty years old, proceeded to speak about a deity of Krishna which was moving His eyes—a deity owned by a Hindu friend of his. He inquired about our philosophy: “Is this pantheism?” simply because I had mentioned about seeing divinity in all things.
“Yes, brahman is everywhere, however, there exists a Supreme Brahman
Shri Raghunandana Thakura made his appearance within this world in Shri Khanda. In his home he became acquainted with the worship of Shri Gopinatha from an early age. One day his father, Mukunda Dasa, who was a doctor, had to go away on medical business.
He called Raghunandana to his side. He told Raghunandana to see to it that their deity was served with great care and attention. He told him to be sure and feed the deity. At the appointed hour, taking the order of his father on his head, Raghu
Dear Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
HH Bhakti Charu Swami’s sudden departure has left an empty space in my heart.
Up to the last moment, I was praying and hoping that Maharaja would be able to overcome this disease.
I was always cherishing his association because it filled me with warmth, with a feeling of a close family member that was always there for me when something would go wrong. A hug from Maharaja was a booster in my Bhakti.
Maharaja’s ou
Last weekend, July 17-19, Rambhoru Devi Dasi, a respected Srila Prabhupada disciple, Interfaith Chaplain, and Clinical Pastoral Educator, revisited New Vrindaban to offer a three-day workshop on the topic of “Bereavement after Loss and Self-care.”
Rambhoru Devi is a certified professional in her field. Her formal training includes a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies, a Master of Divinity Degree, a Masters’ Degree in Patient Counseling, and Board Certification from the Association for Cli
His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja was one of the most ardent and steadfast supporters of the TOVP. Over the years he personally spoke incessantly about the project, raised funds for construction, attended fundraising events, and was recently planning to travel with the North American TOVP Tour to many temples until the COVID-19 shut everything down. His temple in Ujjain is also overseeing the production of all the parampara murtis for the TOVP altar.
Below Sadbhuja prabhu speaks about Bhakti C
HH Bhaktimarga Swami and Mother Krsnannandini share their thoughts and memories of Bhakti Charu Swami
Video: Click here
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=87655
