At present, everywhere, we are all praying for Sri Srimad Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj. As everybody knows, his condition is very critical. He is affected by Covid-19 and is in an ICU near Deland.
According to the latest updates about his health from time to time, devotees all over the world are praying for him because he is very dear to all ISKCON devotees and outsiders as well. Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj is very dear to Srila Prabhupada. So, G.B.C. and his well-wishing devotees are performing
As ISKCON GBC member HH Bhakti Charu Swami struggles in the USA with COVID-19, devotees around the world are deep in prayer for his rapid recovery. Kirtan Fest Global for HH Bhakti Charu Swami is an opportunity to pray together.
On behalf of the ISKCON Harinam Sankirtan Ministry, and ISKCON Ujjain, I invite you to participate in Kirtan Fest Global for HH Bhakti Charu Swami. This event will provide a forum for us all to offer our prayers for Maharaja’s recovery together. This event is inspired b
Wow! I got out! Out of the city! What a treat!
With the lockdown culture suddenly lifting some of the restrictions on social gatherings, I’m now about to honour the gesture. One of our members/administrators from Brampton, owns a motel in Orillia, a little over an hour’s drive north of Toronto. Nimai is the owner, and he drove me to the airport to pick up our dear brahmachari monk, Karuna, who has been stuck in India for the past three months.
He looks just fine, only he could use a little more
By Hari Sauri das
On July 9 1976 NY Prabhupada concluded his tour on the roof, which affords a virtually unimpeded view across the Hudson River. It was a relief to emerge from the confines of the narrow corridors and low ceilings of the interior and sit high in the air, aloof from the hustle of the streets, surrounded at a distance by Manhattan’s innumerable steel, glass and concrete monoliths piercing the fragile sky.
The sun was beginning to dip below the western horizon, its waning rays glowi
By Gita Duncan
****UPDATE AS OF 8:30PM EST 06/18/20****
Another positive update:
We had been requesting the team of doctors at the hospital to give Maharaj convalescent plasma, which is plasma that contains antibodies from people who have recovered from COVID19. Patients who received this convalescent plasma are usually taken off the ventilator within 3-4 days.
The doctors managing Maharaj’s condition informed us that there are 3 patients ahead of Maharaj. It takes 4-5 days to get the plasma fo
Dear Maharajas and Devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
We are all distressed to hear the news that His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja has recently contracted the Corona Virus and is in critical condition in the ICU unit of a hospital in the U.S. We therefore immediately made arrangements to carry on a daily Nrsimha Yajna for Maharaja’s protection and recovery. We are requesting all devotees to please keep Maharaja in your hearts and pray that he may qu
There are not too many ways to get around in this self-same body without the use of any conveyance. I would say you could walk, run, crawl or swim and that’s about it. Forget about flying by thrusting yourself off a cliff. We just don’t have, as a human, the mechanism to float through the air. The human frame has got its limitations. Oh, how we can admire an eagle in flight or even an earthworm burying through the soil!
The advantage of being a human is the gift of cultivating our spiritual pote
After hearing so many complaints from so many devotees, Srila Prabhupada called a meeting of all the devotees. Practically all the devotees in the temple came into Srila Prabhupada’s room, and he listened very sympathetically to what every devotee had to say, and he was really concerned and wanted to improve things.
At one stage the GBC for India protested: “Srila Prabhupada, my only intention was to execute Your Divine Grace’s will.” And Prabhupada replied a little sarcastically, “Is it My Div
After some time, Lord Nityananda was approached by Madhai, where he said that “My Lord, You’ve pardoned me, You’ve given me Your mercy, but I am haunted by the idea that with my hand, I have struck You and I have caused You to bleed. And I am just obsessed with this thought that I have committed this offence to You and how can I actually be forgiven. Even though You’ve pardoned me officially, still I was thinking that I am so rotten, I am so fallen, I am so envious that I could have done such a
Keepers Of The Flame: Although this expression is most often used by our Christian brothers and sisters, I totally relate to its exclamation in relationship to what or who I am, or at least, aspire to be: A Keeper of the Flame of Bhakti, or A Keeper of the Flame of Spirituality. Personally, I see this as a responsibility for all followers of Shri Chaitanya and those who represent him. I visualize a flame burning brightly in my heart, or raising a torch in my hand to dispel darkness. To me, this
As a child I often heard my mother say cleanliness is next to Godliness; in fact I heard it everyday almost. We were kids, there was dirt around, sand castles to make, cops and robbers to play, sweat to sweat, and clothes to get dirty. Especially my brother who played soccer like drinking water. Mommy could smell the dirt from miles away. She would tell us that guest could come at anytime, and worse thing is to have a dirty house when there’s a guest around. OK, kids we were; kids rooms become
South Africa has a painful history. So many people have suffered transgressions, so many have endured racial policies based on discrimination and deliberate marginalization. This history and its ongoing ramifications should never be trivialized, and any callousness should be met with a concerted effort to deepen our collective understanding of past and present pain.
Human dignity is the bedrock of our country’s constitution, which enshrines equality, human rights, freedom, non-racialism, and
Dear Devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
We write today to inform you that HH Bhakti Charu Swami has tested positive for Covid-19 and is currently in critical condition in the ICU at a hospital in the USA.
We request the worldwide community of devotees to offer heartfelt prayers for Maharaja’s prompt and smooth recovery.
As you all know, HH Bhakti Charu Swami is a most respected Vaisnava leader who has generously given his life to the service of his be
“In order to encourage the King, who had only seven remaining days of life, Srila Sukadeva Gosvami asserted that there is no use in living hundreds of years without any knowledge of the problems of life—better to live for a moment with full consciousness of the supreme interest to be fulfilled. The supreme interest of life is eternal, with full knowledge and bliss. Those who are bewildered by the external features of the material world and are engaged in the animal propensities of the eat-drink-
By Madhava Smullen
What leads one to become a Hare Krishna youth leader, initiated brahmana, real estate and food company manager, GBC trainee, and yes, a magician, all before the age of thirty-five?
For Dattatreya Yogesvara Das, it began with family. His mother Shaktimata Dasi, who joined ISKCON in 1973, worked for the BBT in the early days; his father Bhutabhavana Das, a Prabhupada disciple, was one of the pioneers who first brought Krishna consciousness to Africa.
What’s more, as the el
This Krishna consciousness movement is spreading quickly all over the world—within four, five years. Is it my credit? No. It is Krishna’s credit. But because I have tried to do this business, people are automatically giving me the credit. They say, “Swamiji, you have done wonderful.” I have done nothing wonderful. It is Krishna’s business. Krsna-sakti vina nahe tara pravartana. (Cc Antya-lila 7.11) Without Krishna’s strength, nobody can spread. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritamrta.
Krishna
There are sixteen words that encompass the maha-mantra, which is taken seriously by those of the bhakti persuasion, and preferably uttered in the morning for setting a good spiritual note; though the sound is welcome anytime of the day. There is no hard and fast rule for chanting, however, it should be noted that one makes the effort to communicate with the Divine through this medium of chanting at some time. I spend a portion of my night chanting on my beads but I also fix myself (usually on a
Krsnanandini dasi is a true warrior! Although she has recently gone into the stage of hospice care at home after a painful battle with cancer, her service spirit remains undaunted. She will be the guest presenter at yet another webinar – this time, sharing her homeschooling experience, which has never before been documented, for Vaishnava Academy, ISKCON Chicago’s homeschool cooperative.
Her homeschooling experience is unique. Who else can boast of having successfully
We have these ‘noise boys’, who are playing all their instruments in the kirtan very energetically. But that energy is not theirs, that energy is given to them by Krsna. It is Krsna’s energy which He has deposited in the ‘noise boys’, and now they have it. But as time goes by, they will not have it, a lot of that energy will be gone, won’t it? If you look at some of the elderly gentlemen, they are sitting on chairs, leaning against the wall. (laughter) They do not have the same energy anymore. S
“That is all I want in life: for this pain to seem purposeful.” ― Elizabeth Wurtzel
