Blog

By Madhava Smullen

One of the biggest book distributors in East Africa, Dwarka Vasini Devi Dasi, along with her teams Vaishnavi Sanga and Krsna Kids Sena, distributes about eighty percent of ISKCON Nairobi’s total during the December Prabhupada marathon every year. Throughout the rest of the year, she and her niece Ambika Gopi Devi Dasi are the main book distributors in the Kenyan capital. With her efforts, ISKCON Nairobi has gone from distributing about 5,000 books during the marathon to 30,000

All the abilities and gifts we have, come from the Supreme Lord. He gives and He takes – that is the nature of material existence. Sometimes, we do not get anything at all, that happens. We miss out! Everybody gets it, but we might not. That means we are chosen by Krsna for some higher purpose. Everyone gets sense gratification and we do not get it – this means Krsna wants something higher for us, He wants something more for us! Krsna does not want us to forget about Him and simply enjoy the mat

At UBC a group of fifty to sixty young, Indian students came together for a Hindu collaboration, which included mostly devotional songs. It was indoors, Diwali-like in atmosphere, and timed just before exams. Iskcon was invited, which became my inclusion. Someone from our Burnaby community, by the name of Visudha Sattva, scheduled kirtan chanting sessions at our temple. He sang and then had me slotted in for a turn.

Clearly, I could see our own boys, who are great drummers, getting into the groo

I found this talk by Yamuna-devi, from the Pune Yatra 2001, so profound and powerful, I wanted to share it with you all. If you wish to learn more about—and from—this extraordinary devotee and disciple of Srila Prabhupada’s, you may visit the beautiful new website Unalloyed: The Yamuna Devi Legacy Project (www.unalloyed.org). —Giriraj Swami

Radhanath Maharaja has requested that my godsisters and I speak something. Last night, after we left the transcendental program and before I took rest, I wa

Prabhupāda: Now if somebody argue that, “Here is… a devotee is also dying. A devotee is also dying. How can I say that it is deathlessness?” No, he does not know. Devotee is not dying. There is very good example. Just like a cat: he catches the rat and he catches his cub also. But these two kinds of catching is different. When the cat catches a rat, that rat means his “chi-chi-chi” means dying, actually dying. And the cub, he is feeling very comfortable: “meow, meow, meow.” Because the same cat,

“The mind’s activities are thinking, feeling and willing, by which the mind accepts materially favorable things and rejects the unfavorable. This is the consciousness of people in general. But when one’s mind does not accept and reject but simply becomes fixed on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then one’s mind becomes as good as Vṛndāvana. Wherever Kṛṣṇa is, there also are Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the gopīs, the cowherd boys and all the other inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. Thus as soon as one fixes Kṛṣṇa in his m

By Vishnu Dasa

According to “The Lost Art of Dying,” an article in the Sunday Telegraph of London, people nowadays are trying to avoid the thought of death. One proof of this is that the dying are no longer cared for at home. Whereas a century ago only five percent of the British population died in a hospital, today more than seventy percent do. And the more people seek to keep death at arm’s length, the more perfunctory its rituals have become. Supposedly, there is very little weeping, and seventy-five percen

Devotee: Prabhupāda, when I’m serving you sometimes I feel very nice, but then when I think of how bad and imperfect this service is, I feel terrible. Which is right to feel?

Prabhupāda: (laughs) You feel terrible?

Devotee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Why? When you feel terrible?

Devotee: When I see all the blunders I make, all the mistakes.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes… This is nice. To accept the blunders… Even there is no blunder. This is the symptom of sincere service. Just like a father is very beloved to hi

From the purport of text 11.7.8 from the Bhagavatam, we read, “When a woman loves a man, she is most eager to see him, and she daily sees him dressed in different clothes. Actually, the woman is interested not in the clothes, but in the man. Similarly, within every material object is the Supreme Personlity of Godhead; therefore, one who has developed love of God is constantly seeing the Lord everywhere, and not just the superficial material objects that cover the Lord.”

Nice example on “proper p

As I stand where earth, sea, and sky meet, and watch the sun rise before me, it’s easy to feel the emotion of gratitude. Who am I to be so blessed and where does all this life and beauty come from?

Prabhupada says it well:

Every living entity, especially persons in the human race, must feel grateful for the benedictions offered by the grace of the Supreme Lord. Therefore anyone with a simple heart of gratefulness must be Kṛṣṇa conscious and offer devotional service to the Lord. Those who are act

Having been appointed just a matter of weeks ago, one of the first meetings the new Ambassador for Ireland, Mr. Akhilesh Mishra, wanted to arrange was with ISKCON!

A very nice, knowledgeable and humble man we spent about 40 minutes discussing Sanskrit (which he has studied and his father was a professor of), Vedic culture and the achievements of Srila Prabhupada.

Before leaving we presented him with the complete edition of the Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta. Somehow that seemed hugely appropriate giv

From Back to Godhead

Understanding the concept of destiny disempowers passivity and empowers a focus on duty.

Indian thought is sometimes deemed fatalistic, holding that everything is destiny, predetermined by our past actions, and thus leaving little room for human initiative. While Indian literature is filled with diverse thoughts, some of which may be fatalistic, the bhakti literature, which is among the most influential Indian literature, offers a far more nuanced and empowering outlook on l

There are places in Sudbury I just had to revisit as part of my personal “memory lane.” First of all Ramsey Lake, a sixty-five feet deep and eight kilometre-long body of water within the city limits; a place I would gravitate to fourty-nine years ago.

Damodara, my host in the city, drove a few of us to Cambrian College, where I attended as a fine arts student. Two boys accompanying us are current students in the computer science field. The campus has expanded since my time.

Finally, I just had t

By Kamala Radha devi dasi

Godhead is a new Los Angeles-based Krishnacore band. Krishnacore is a subgenre of hardcore punk that draws inspiration from the Bhakta Yoga traditions. Although some hardcore punk bands had already made references to Krishna Consciousness in the 1980s punk scene, this subgenre was established in the early 1990s by bands like Shelter and 108. Godhead recently released their first EP and just had their first show on November 21st at Programme Skate & Sound in Fullerton, C

By Madhava Smullen

Light of the Bhagavata, a new 25-minute film by ISKCON guru and GBC Bhaktivaibhava Swami, brings to life the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad-gita, teaching the viewer about the nature of the soul and taking them on a meditative and enlightening journey from planet earth, through galaxies, to the eternal, blissful world of freedom from all anxieties. 

The film is designed to appeal to newcomers who are curious about Krishna consciousness and would like to find true inner peace

It is the constitutional position of the living entity to be a servant of Krsna. Therefore, this means that we are always in a relationship with Krsna. Service is our natural position. If we are not serving Krsna, then we are serving others – family, profession, society at large, animals, plants and so on – in so many ways, we are serving other living entities. Therefore, serving is our nature. But ultimately, everything finds its origin in Krsna and everything is only a spark of Krsna’s splendo