By Akruranatha dasa
“And so the reliance on Property, including the reliance on governments which protect it, is the want of self-reliance. Men have looked away from themselves and at things so long, that they have come to esteem the religious, learned, and civil institutions as guards of property, and they deprecate assaults on these, because they feel them to be assaults on property.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance” (1841)
The 19th century American philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo
An actual pair of shoes worn by Srila Prabhupada that are kept in safe custody in Radha Govinda Mandir (NYC), benedicting HH Radhanath Swami. RGM’s temple President Hansarupa Prabhu is holding them.
Another weekend of uplifting association, in New York City. Kadamba Kanana Swami, Vaisesika prabhu, and my Guru Maharaj Radhanath Swami, among others.
Last night, at the event in Radha Govinda Mandir in Brooklyn, we had the opportunity to obtain a priceless set of Srimad Bhagavatams, with the sig
This year’s Vraja Mandala Parikrama was special due to there being a confluence [sagam] of padayatris from three different padayatras:the All-India Padayatra, the Maharashtra Padayatra, and the Uttar Pradesh Padayatra. Also present were the devotees from the soon-to-be-inaugurated (on October 17) Andhra Pradesh Padayatra.
Normally in our Vraja Mandala Parikrama tent city we have tents of various groups such as volunteers, matajis, and prabhujis, but this year we had tents named after the padaya
Worse than being alone is to be with a person who doesn’t like you; too many people have experienced the anguish and chaos caused by an incompatible marriage. Such travesties are systematically avoided in Vaishnava culture because, besides training and restraint in behaviour prior to marriage, all care is taken in matchmaking: “Formerly, boys and girls of similar dispositions were married; the similar natures of the boy and girl were united in order to make them happy.” (SB 3.21.15) “The centra
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, is my grand spiritual master, but I feel that I never really knew him that well until I read his biography Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava by my godbrother Bhakti Vikasa Swami. Many of the quotes and references below come from that work, which has helped bring me closer to my spiritual grandfather.
We are all here by the mercy of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and the Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna Caitan
Today is the divine disappearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, the spiritual master of Srila Prabhupada and an exalted acharya on our parampara. I am sharing a very enlightening quote by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur where he speaks about the position of acharya or jagad-guru and those who come after him as spiritual masters or diksha gurus.
Question: If Jesus Christ was a jagad -guru and his instructions are capable of bringing us deliverance, why do we need a spirit
“Anyway, print books, distribute profusely, and that will be the best preaching work. What will your three minutes; preaching do?—but if they buy one book, it may turn their life. So make this your important task, to print our books…and distribute widely, and that will please my Guru Maharaja. Never mind it takes little time to make progress, our process is slow but sure, and we are confident that if we continue in this way we shall go one day back to home, back to Godhead.” - Srila Prabhupad
By Radha Mohan Das
The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made an impromptu visit to Bhaktivedanta Manor last Sunday, when worshipers at the Manor were surprised to see an entourage of MPs, including the Home Secretary Priti Patel and numerous security share their Sunday worship. Priti Patel went to school in Watford and her family live in Hertfordshire.
The Prime Minister was taken through the £10 million Sri Krishna Haveli, a multi-purpose community facility, which is nearing completion. He was
"True story by Malika Mala Devi Dasi, a preacher in Russia and Kazakhstan"
Malika-Mala: Once with Mataji Kirtirani, we performed some festival in Astana, Kazakhstan. We did not have time to have dinner and rushed to the plane because we were going to be late for the flight. The local devotees handed us a big bag with Prasadam.
I said: Krishna! The flight from Astana to Alma-Ata is just an hour and a half. We don’t need anything. Especially at night.
But Kirtirani said- I’m hungry!
Devotees insi
Today he sits on the sidewalk, in minus degree temperatures, holding a ragged sign which reads “give me hope.” It’s a familiar sight that I’ve become somewhat desensitized to; I don’t think I can truly understand his situation. Seeing him sleeping rough, a few people throw in some coins, someone else gifts him a Costa coffee, while an occasional passer-by stops to offer a few comforting words. All nice gestures. But, my heart says, what he really needs is hope. In that sense we are all beggars
A few weeks ago, I exited from the Whatsapp platform after using it for years. Here are few parallels I drew between the experience of leaving "the WhatsApp world" and the experience one has of leaving this world.
On November 16th, devotees in London celebrated the life of one of Srila Prabhupada’s greatest warriors, who continues to inspire and motivate ISKCON members to this day – Tribhuvanatha Das, who passed away in 2001.
The remembrance festival was in honor of Tribhuvanatha’s birthday or ‘appearance’ day, which is on November 27th according to the Western solar calendar, and on Gita Jayanti day according to the Vedic lunar calendar (December 8th this year).
About seventy to ei
On 8th Dec. 2019 became a red-letter day in the history of Sri Sri Radha Madhav Temple, ISKCON ROHINI. The temple observed not only ‘Mokshada Ekadashi’ but also witnessed its first-ever ‘Kirtan Mela’.
Month-long preparations fructified into a grand harinaam mela with the slogan ‘CHANT FROM YOUR HEART’ in the presence of exalted devotees from all around the world. As the temple is in the final stages of its completion, the mela was dedicated to its grand opening in 2020. With ‘Adhivas Ceremony’
HH Narasingha Swami is now in hospice (back from the hospital) most likely preparing to leave this world any day, any hour. He is in and out of consciousness and very much in the process of leaving his mortal frame.
Dear Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
The Annual General Meeting of the ISKCON GBC Society will begin on February 11, 2020. Following the ISKCON GBC Society’s Rules of Order, the GBC Secretariat requests proposals, duly sponsored by two GBC members, to be submitted by December 15, 2019. Note that NO proposals will be entertained after this date.
Please follow the updated format for GBC Proposals, attached as a fillable PDF.
Once ready, kindly email
About 100 people, including local devotees, parents and family they had invited, and members of the Indian community attended this year’s Thanksgiving program at ISKCON’s New Goloka Dham in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Some North Carolina devotees attended the Rathayatra festival that is part of the Charlotte Thanksgiving Parade, the largest such parade in the Southeast USA. Those that did not came to the Hillsborough event instead, which has been a tradition for the past d
On 11 Dec, Badrinarayan Swami and two other devotees from San Diego spent the afternoon with us in Carpinteria, and I had a wonderful time with him. Associating with him outside a temple setting, I became aware of many wonderful qualities and abilities in him for the first time. He is brilliant and truly a great asset to Srila Prabhupada’s mission, to which he is completely committed and devoted. And he has a real taste for Krishna consciousness.
Atheists think that a prayer to God is sheer imagination. But for centuries, thousands of sincere practitioners have accumulated definite evidence of the positive results of prayer. The serious doubt regarding prayer is not whether God can hear and respond, but whether the things people pray for are worthwhile. According to St. Teresa of Avila. “More tears are shed in this world from prayers that are answered than from those that go unanswered.” Those who pray, therefore, need more than the con
