Blog

By Madhava Smullen

Since 2016, the ISKCON Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture (IMCPA) has been organizing multiple farm conferences every year in four continents. The result has been ISKCON farm staff in each region coming closer together, networking and sharing best practices, and making increased progress towards Srila Prabhupada’s simple living and high thinking vision.

2019 marks the 50t hanniversary of cow protection in ISKCON, so it’s an excellent time to look at and celebrate

William Wordsworth was one of those poets with a skill, who also liked to walk. One day, at noon, he ambled along a narrow lane thinking of his past.  I came upon his poem some hours after I took a five kilometre walk with Godbrother Gaura.  It's called, "Sweet Was the Walk."

 

Sweet was the walk along the narrow lane

At noon, the bank and hedge-rows all the way

Shagged with wild pale green tufts of fragrant hay,

Caught by the hawthorns from the loaded wain,9

Which Age with many a slow stoop s

A couple from Saudi Arabia and their baby in a stroller sat down next to us in the park. One of our chanting party members handed them a card promoting the soon-to-arrive "Chariot Fest" which is also called "Festival of India" and this compelled them to join us. They have only been in Canada for nine months and are loving it.  They were curious.

 

"But you're not from India?"

 

I looked around and noted all of us pale-faced persons.  Except for Ananda on the djembe, our group was all white, in

The State of West Bengal in India has joined hands with ISKCON, and produced a video to promote ISKCON Mayapur as a tourism hub. 

The video focuses mainly on Gaura Purnima or the day of the advent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This is the biggest festival at Mayapur and brings devotees from across the globe to this Nadia town.

This video has also been promoted by the Times of India Journal. To read visit the following link:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/state-joins-hands-with-

By Madhava Smullen

After decades of communism, civil war, and bans on all religion in Albania, ISKCON was finally officially registered in the Southeast European country on May 31st, 2019 for the first time.

Now a small group of devotees are making friends and contacts, distributing Prabhupada’s books and hatching plans for establishing ISKCON centers. In a country long starved for spirituality, the response is enthusiastic, and the future hopeful and exciting. 

The Beginnings of Krishna Con

 

One member of our local community who comes regularly for priestly tasks drove Jai and I to his residential area at Pape and Danforth.  It was at my request.  "From your place the two of us will walk back to the ashram, a distance of five kilometres, exactly."

 

It's been hot here and the sun was blazing, "Jai, let's go on the shady side of the street."  The sun was going on its westerly way, casting shadows from buildings and trees on a slightly northern slant.  That was relieving.

 

On stre

 

On June 5th– World Environment Day – ISKCON India partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for the first time, for a nationwide effort.

“The Indian office of the UNEP realized the potential of engaging spiritual organizations, and reached out to us,” says ISKCON India Communications Director Yudhistira Govinda Das.

At least forty-two different ISKCON centers stepped forward to help. To support the theme of this year’s World Environment Day – beating a

ISKCON of Houston is organizing a Kirtan Fest 2019 during Labor Day Weekend (August 31 – September 2) at the beautiful temple in Houston, TX. This will be the 3rd annual festival that has become a recurring flagship annual festival. Every year, they have seen increased number of devotees gathering for sankirtan yajna. 

It will be a combination of kirtan, entertainment and philosophy. They are inviting kirtaniyas, special guests such as sanyasis, travelling preachers and othe

 

I've left Florida and landed in Canada, and done some walking with Jai. Thoughts were flowing through my mind in the course of the walk.  I'll share and let those thoughts flow in as natural a fluidity as possible.   https://www.instagram.com/p/BzKFtffAn0k/?igshid=n1oo069onhre

 

There is a controversy drifting in the air within the local community.  The subject is whether to go vegan at our festivals with the public, go partly vegan, or not at all, in other words, "stick to the paneer and but

Iguanas by the dozens were taking in the rays in the sun, just being very stoic until P. Krpa and I started walking in their territory.  They went scurrying about here and there until they came to that lagoon, taking shelter of its waters or the trees nearby.  Their speed disallowed candid pics.  We were at Virginia Beach.

 

Instead of attempting to get some time in walking, we opted for the swim. Unfortunately the water is shallow. I was content to get some mobilization in.  Can't complain.  

 

"May we always be burdened with thinking of the suffering of others, for that is what it means to be human." - Kamand Kojouri

The ethos of this great land of India and it's Vedic culture is captured perfectly by the Upanishadic statement - "vasudhaiva kutumbakam". It means - this entire world is one family - the family of God.

Lord Krishna mentions in the Bhagavad-Gita 14.4 

No walking.  Being a passenger in a car—yes.  From Tampa area, a group of us drove south to Miami.  Temperatures are in the high 90s and it's humid.  Upon arriving at a rented space on a floor in Coconut Grove, every AC unit and every fan was on, full-blast, to address this northern swami's needs.

The apartment filled up with guests, very quickly, for an evening sangha.  My choice excerpt of reading was a passage from Shyamasundar's book, Chasing Rhinos with the Swami.  Here is a quote from s

Although little known in the western world, Mount Kailash is one of the most sacred spots on Earth. It is a holy pilgrimage site for people of the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Bon faiths.

For modern day travelers it offers an adventure unparalleled to any other adventure on the planet. In ancient scriptures Mount Kailash has been described as the center of the universe and the abode of Lord Shiva, the greatest of Vaisnavas.

Mount Everest is 8,848 meters in height and its summit has been scaled by

This journey is documented in undated Hindu sacred texts known as the Puranas written a few thousand years ago

One of India's biggest religious festivals, the Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra, gets under way on Thursday. The festival is unique in that three Hindu gods are taken out of their temples in a colourful procession to meet their devotees. The BBC's Priyanka Pathak explains the legend behind the festival and its significance.

The biggest of these processions takes place in Puri in the eastern

 

I had read from the book, Chaitanya Charitamrta,where Nityananda expresses that the body and soul are one, but the prana / atma / the soul is more important.  My reading with the follow-up verse and purport was the subject of discussion.  Naturally it led to the philosophical conclusion of acintyabedabedatattva: the inconceivable, simultaneous oneness but difference principle. The subsequent discussion among those who sat there, thirty-five or so people, was very interesting.

From that templ