As well as the official ISKCON Disciples course, which is required studying before taking initiation, ISKCON offers many retreats around the world for devotees to learn about the guru-disciple relationship, and to build their personal relationships with their guru and their godbrothers and godsisters.
One of these was the recent retreat for disciples of Niranjana Swami, which ran from July 30th to August 4th at New Mayapur, Ukraine.
A rural community located two hours’ d
“Today we are observing the Sri Krishna janmasahtami adhivas because lord Krishna Janmastami is one of the most holy days in the universe. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita My birth and My work is transcendental. We will offer about 26 sacred items to the deities. We will offer that with various prayers. We have here the gurukula students who will chant the mantras and different pujaris, brahmanas and sanyasis will offer the sacred items. See the deities have come forward in their utsav murti and
Over 1,000 people new to mantra culture are expected to attend Mantra Fest in Moscow, Russia on September 1st at the Green Concert Club.
It’s the second such event this year. The first, says organizer Shaktyavesha Avatar Das, came about as a result of a collaboration with Georgia Wyss, director of the film Mantra Movie: Entrance into Silence, and was a big success.
Taking place on April 24th, the festival featured a combination of local Hare Krishna bands and well-known
Bhismadeva was not only a pure devotee, but very much a self-reliant devotee. He was a devotee who chose the transcendental position even though he was in a condition of life which was mundane. Living in a royal court is not the ideal situation for a brahmacari. Generally, brahmacaris are nicely locked away in the brahmacari ashramas, where they are protected from the heavy aspect of sense gratification straight in their face. But here, Bhismadeva was living in royal opulence, a very difficult
"kartum akartum anyatha kartum"
"Everything happening, not happening or otherwise happening is His happening."
Giriraj Swami read and spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.23:
“O King Rahugana, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahamsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. It is never attained by tapasya [austerity], the Vedic worshiping process, acceptance of the renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of the Vedic hymns, or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold wa
Any question that is put forward may be answered by quoting the authority, and that satisfies the saner section. That is the system even in the law court. The best lawyer gives evidence from the past judgement of the court without taking much trouble to establish his case. This is called the parampara system and learned authorities follow it without manufacturing rubbish interpretations.
Material
Just before the annual Gaura Purnima festival in Mayapur in 1986, Campakalata Devi, along with three other sakhis, was installed and joined Sri Sri Radha Madhava on the altar.
Sri Campakalata Devi is the third of the eight principle gopis. Her father is Arama, her mother is Vatika-devi and her husband is Candaksa. She has a yellow-white complexion, just like the colour of a full-blown champaka flower. Her garments are described as chataka, or brown like a sparrow’s feather. Campakalata Devi’s k
The first Janmastami festival organized by the new ISKCON management at Brooklyn’s Radha Govinda Mandir focused on improving the pilgrim experience to create lasting positive impressions for devotees and visitors alike.
The inspirational event also attracted a visit by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who conferred a citation upon temple president Hansarupa Das for his service to the community.
To catch the interest of passersby, increase outreach and facilitate th
I HAVE SURRENDERED UNTO RADHA RANI’S LOTUS FEET 49 YEARS AGO BY ACCEPTING THE SANYASA ORDER -49 years of Sanyasa. At a young age of 21, HH Jayapataka Swami was awarded Sanyas by His Divine Grace A.C.BhaktiVednata Swami Prabhupada. Today at the Namhatta Bhavan disciples celebrated this historic moment. HH Jayapataka Swami is the senior most and longest standing Sanyasi in the whole of Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya. In a humble mood Jayapataka Swami said, “I need your prayers that I continue foll
Full happiness means full freedom. As long as we are not fully happy, we are chained, we are trapped and we are not free. Only in full happiness are we actually free. Therefore, only in Krsna consciousness we can be really free, because nowhere else are we able to be fully happy.
So this is nice to remember that devotional service is voluntarily performed. It is performed out of free choice and no one is forced in this way. Service can be our life, but this is our choice because Krsna does not
By Bhurijana dasa
In Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.5.24), Narada Muni explains to Srila Vyasadeva how he attained, through the mercy of the Vaisnavas, an exalted spiritual position:
Although they were impartial by nature, those followers of the Vedanta blessed me with their causeless mercy. As far as I was concerned, I was self- controlled and had no attachment for sports, even though I was a boy. In addition, I was not naughty, and I did not speak more than required.
Srila Prabhupada explains in his pu
A Talk by Giriraj Swami August 30, 2009 San Diego
For the most auspicious celebration of Sri Radhastami, we shall read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three: “Pure Devotional Service.”
TEXT 23
jivan chavo bhagavatanghri-renum na jatu martyo ‘bhilabheta yas tu sri-visnu-padya manujas tulasyah svasan chavo yas tu na veda gandham
TRANSLATION
The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person
Srila Prabhupada’s childhood Deities of Sri Sri Radha Govinda,
courtesy Nityatrpta Devi Dasi, BBT Archives.
By Shyamasundara Dasa
Original article: https://is.gd/MZSb0J
The following is a revised and expanded edition of an article that I originally wrote in 1995. It weaves together, through the lens of Vedic Astrology (Cora Prasna), the history of how the ISKCON Mayapura temple was first victimized by thieves who stole Srila Prabhupada’s childhood Deities. And, the subsequent more serious attac
Yesterday eight of us Kuntidevi, Lavanga Manjari, Nanda Kishore, Kandarpa Manjari (his wife), Gopal (their son), Srimati (their daughter), Jivan Mukta, and I visited Rajani Priya Dasi (Rose Forkash) at Mission Terrace Convalescent Hospital, where she is staying temporarily. She was as Krishna conscious as ever and told us how she is getting staff, patients, and visitors to chant Hare Krishna. She explains the philosophy behind it and gives them pieces of paper with the maha-mantra written on it
