The German writer Goethe, who is like the German equivalent of Shakespeare, came up with an interesting point.
He said that a child is a realist because a child is trying to understand what are apples and what are pears; a child tries to figure out the difference. He tries to understand what is reality.
A youth is an idealist – a dreamer of what he is going to make of his life. He said that in mid-life, one becomes a bit of a cynic. The person goes, “But yeah, yeah, yeah. I have seen it. These
By Madhava Smullen
Eleven second-generation devotees received first and/or second initiation from ISKCON guru Radhanath Swami in New York City on June 9th, the day after New York Rathayatra.
Initiates hailed from Houston, Washington D.C., New York, and London, and included prominent kirtaniyas such as Gaura Vani, Jahnavi, Tulasi, Ananta Govinda, and Janaki Priya. All others in the group are also dedicated to regular ISKCON service in their areas.
The full list of initiates includes three
By Giriraj Swami
“Vyasa was the spiritual master of Sanjaya, and Sanjaya admits that it was by Vyasa’s mercy that he could understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means that one has to understand Krsna not directly but through the medium of the spiritual master. The spiritual master is the transparent medium, although it is true that the experience is still direct. This is the mystery of the disciplic succession.
“Actually there is no difference between hearing directly from Krsna a
Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics, a new book by ISKCON guru and scholar Krishna Kshetra Swami, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in early 2020. The work is set to make caring for cows, in the spirit of devotion, a serious topic of discussion in academia worldwide.
Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics speaks exclusively and in great detail to educated, thoughtful readers about the immense value and special practices involved in caring for cows, both devotionally and prof
When Srila Prabhupada started the Sunday love feast, there were about fifteen preparations where each one was outstanding. There was nothing ordinary, everything was special. In the Lilamrtra, it is said that Satsvarupa wanted to be renounced. So when Prabhupada was serving out and asked, “Any seconds?”, Satsvarupa did not want to say “More sweet rice!“, so he instead said, “Just some rice please.” But even the sweet rice had little cheese balls in it and cashews and all kinds of other incredib
Krishna consciousness is an adventure, most devotee will vouch that there is never a dull moment in our spiritual journey. There are ups and downs, many a times we wish to do more, feel inspired to push our boundaries, while sometime we become morose as we see our shortcomings and feel lack of progress despite a strong and sincere desire to do so.
Sometimes devotees feel constrained by their circumstances, and start praying fervently to Krishna to change their situation. In extreme cases some d
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Congresswoman from Hawaii, took a break from politics to lead kirtan at the ISKCON Rathayatra festival in New York on June 8th.
Gabbard is currently campaigning for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2020. She has recently been named by the Democratic National Committee as one of the twenty presidential candidates to participate in the first primary debate of the 2020 campaign, which will take place in Miami on June 26thand 27th.
Tulsi Gabba
