Bhaktivedanta Manor: Our prayers are with Rishi Kapoor, famous actor and director, who sadly passed away today.
We remain forever grateful that in our time of need, he came to our aid. In 1989 when Bhaktivedanta Manor was under threat of closure, he joined over 7000 campaigners on a sponsored walk to raise funds for the legal fees. Rishi walked at the front and gave a rousing speech.
Today the Manor flourishes but it would not be without the support of those kind persons such as Rishi Kapoor wh
A newly discovered opera, Krishna, by Sir John Tavener is to be staged for the first time after the late composer’s friend Prince Charles flagged up its potential.
Sir John Tavener is one of the most acclaimed British composers of the postwar years, admired by Prince Charles and the Beatles, among others.
Tavener’s mesmerizing, trance-inducing music – listened to by some fans with a joint in hand – won him a cult following. At the age of 24 the Guardian called him “the musical discovery of the
Hansadutta Prabhu ACBSP left his body yesterday about 6:25 in California.
Hansadutta became an initiated disciple of Bhaktivedanta Swami in March 1967.
He assisted with the pioneering of the Hare Krishna movement, opening centers and preaching in different parts of the world.
Prayers for the safe journey of Hansadutta Prabhu.
Life is like a game of chess – whether you’re the king, queen or pawn, at the end of the game everyone ends up in the box. Unless, of course, you get cremated. Morbid? Depressing? Dark? Though discussions on death are not usually number one on our conversation list, I was invited to the Southbank Centre a few weeks ago to speak on the topic “what happens next?” In an auditorium filled with coffins and somber lighting, I shared some thoughts on the logic of life after death. Living in a communit
Prabhupada would tolerate disrespect of himself in order to keep a disciple engaged but he did not tolerate disrespect of Iskcon and his disciples. Although we were incompetent, he did not allow disciples to criticize other disciples.
“The intention of this video is not to defend the misdeeds of leaders and I agree that there needs to be a system in which complaints can be heard and addressed. In fact, I just mentioned this in a seminar this past weekend. I have been concerned about this since
The Passing of Arca Vigraha Devi Dasi
by Daivi Sakti Devi Dasi
Arca Vigraha Devi Dasi joined ISKCON in 1985. She was a successful artist who was disillusioned with material life and wanted an alternative. For a long time she searched for the truth, and she was finally satisfied when she met Srila Prabhupada’s devotees in South Africa.
She discussed philosophy with them and considered how to dovetail her art career in Krishna’s service. Thus she began working on a series of charcoal drawings whi
By Vijaya Prabhu
One Muslim boy was reluctant to take a book from me because it was from outside his tradition. I saw him another day, and he said, “I had this dream the Bhagavad-gita came to me glowing.” I again encouraged him to get the book, and after repeated attempts, he finally accepted it.
This knowledge can pull people out of the modes of material nature.
We are still tinged, but we have come a long way.
We are not distributing paper and ink but jewels.
I tell the people, “You cannot pu
The loving service of the Lord in ISKCON Vrindavan is being carried out by the dedicated devotees living within the temple compound, while simultaneously taking full precautions such as social distancing, hygiene and so forth. In order to celebrate the auspicious festival of Chandan Yatra, the devotees had started grinding Chandan well in advance, and, the day before the festival, other Vaishnavas artistically prepared gorgeous flower ornaments for the deities. On Akshaya Tritiya, the Lords we
My dear friend, the scent of Kṛṣṇa’s body enchants the entire world. It especially enters the nostrils of women and remains seated there. Thus it captures them and forcibly brings them to Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa’s eyes, navel and face, hands and feet are like eight lotus flowers on His body. From those eight lotuses emanates a fragrance like a mixture of camphor and lotus. That is the scent associated with His body.
When sandalwood pulp is mixed with aguru, kuṅkuma, musk and camphor and spread on Kṛṣṇa’s
Mother Arca-vigraha left this world in Vrindavan in 1994 on Jahnu-saptami, which is Wednesday, April 29, in America, and Thursday, April 30, in India.
In her last days, Mother Arca-vigraha gave me the inspiration and vision to establish the Bhaktivedanta Hospice in Vrindavan. She had been a prominent artist in South Africa, and she built a house in Vrindavan, in Raman Reti, near the Krishna-Balaram Mandir, to serve as a residence and art studio whenever she visited India. But not long thereaft
The Divine Love Trip, is a deeply thoughtful saga of the devotional life and realizations of Samapriya devi dasi. In this book, she chronicles her spiritual journey through biography, poetry, prayers, realizations, scripture, and the words and pastimes of Srila Prabhupada. These many highly literate and very readable forms of spiritual expression are interwoven expertly as she reveals both her outward activities and her inner spiritual life from first meeting devotees, to her mature realization
In 1976 Hansadutta Swami had come to India with two German busses filled with mostly German and European devotees. I was a new sannyasi and Srila Prabhupada arranged for me to join Hansadutta Swami’s World Travelling Sankirtana Party.
We traveled together all over North India for nearly 5 months holding festivals, performing street Sankirtana and distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. Srila Prabhupada was very pleased. We developed a strong bond of friendship and we became buddies. He was one o
Srila Prabhupada mentions in the purport of SB.3.25.25 the importance of devotee association. He explains that devotees should give up the association of materialistic persons and seek the association of devotees; he describes that to understand the pastimes of the Lord, to see the Lord as a person with personal activities and to offer devotional service one should have devotee association. Srila Prabhupada states that devotee association means association with the Lord.
It is relevant for devo
March 21, 2020
Invitation to Participate
Dear devotees,
Please accept my humble pranams. Jaya Srila Prabhupada!
This is to inform you of a Vaishnava community writing project in which you are invited to participate. In brief, it is about sharing your thoughts, reflections, and inspirations on the basis of some portion of the Second Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, by writing (a maximum of 1200 words).
One very powerful way of fixing one’s attention on shastra is to read with the aim of responding-in
By Madhava Smullen
With ISKCON book distributors off the streets and staying at home due to the Coronavirus pandemic, you might think their service has completely ground to a halt. Instead, however, they’ve put all their energy into innovations such as mailing, contactless delivery, and e-books to distribute thousands of Prabhupada’s books at a time when people need them more than ever.
In North America, one of the teams most affected was New York City’s Yuga Dharma Ashram led by Rama Raya
What is namahatta other than the marketplace of the holy name?
Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote this book where he explains that this marketplace of the holy name is widely available and it can be purchased for the price of one’s faith.
He said there are those who are looking after the marketplace, those who are supplying the marketplace, and there are personalities who look after different marketplaces and sometimes come to supply that marketplace with fresh inspiration.
Then he describes that he
Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.19 while on a Zoom conference with devotees in Spain.
“Through parental care, through remedies for different kinds of disease, and through means of protection on the water, in the air and on land, there is always an endeavor for relief from various kinds of suffering in the material world, but none of them are guaranteed measures for protection. They may be beneficial temporarily, but they afford no permanent benefit. Despite the presence
Akshaya Tritiya in essence is the day of Receiving – the day to receive unlimited spiritual benefit by giving, expecially offering charity on Akshaya Tritiya is considered very virtuous . Scriptures proclaim that offering oblations to forefathers, taking bath in holy river, offering anna dana, sastra dana brings one more auspiciousness than given on any other day. As Navadvipa dham Mahatmya declares that any spiritual activity performed in Navadvip dham earns one 1000 times more benefit than of
