By Jagabandhu dasa
In the morning, I sing the words of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur from Arunodaya -kirtan to millions of suffering jivas as I ride through the pre-dawn darkness on my way to work. I follow with Sri Rupa’s famous prayer of extreme self-abnegation (mat tulyo nasti papatma) and Srila Kaviraj Goswami’s obeisance to all the Gurus, Vaishnavas and the diverse aspects of the Divine Lord Who is recognized in completeness as Shree Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Then I sing some verses from S
By Madhava Smullen
Jayadev Das (John Richardson), a popular devotee musician and drummer with 1970s pop group The Rubettes, is set to release a dance album on April 1stunder the name “Jayadev’s Mantra Crew.”
In response to the current superhero craze, the album will be called “The Original Superheroes” and will feature songs about spiritual personalities and role models.
The tracklisting is as follows:
By Madhava Smullen
A state-of-the-art new goshala facility has been built at the New Govardhana farm in Australia, setting up a bright future for cow protection in the community.
The goshala will open on March 18thwith a fire yajna, kirtan, guided tour and prasadam.
Cow protection has been going on at the thousand-acre farm in some form since its establishment in 1979.
Currently there are seventy-eight cows, divided into three categories. Retired cows are cared for by Gita Govinda Dasi and kep
The pastimes of Krsna have more power to capture the heart than any other pastime. Therefore, to develop love for Krsna is especially easy because Sri Krsna is all attractive and His pastimes are especially sweet. What Lord Caitanya gave us is filled with taste and there is no compromise – it is the highest taste. Taste is the special feature of Lord Caitanya’s movement.
In the Caitanya Candramrta of Prabodhananda Sarasvati the question is asked: “Where do you find renunciation as you find it
By Nitya Kishore dasi
“Jaya Jaya Sri Caitanya Jaya Nityananda, Jaya Advaita Chandra Jaya Gaura bhakta vrinda!
In the Parikrama 4th day we covered Rtudvipa and Jahnudvipa, processes arcana and vandanam respectively. Rtudvipa is where the house of the learned Vidya Vanaspati is situated and Jahnudvipa is the island where the sage Jahnu muni was living, once Bhismadeva came to visit him.
So, we can’t describe the happiness of the devotees to visit such sacred places! Champahati (or the market of j
By Nitya Kishore dasi
Gauranga!! Nityananda!!!
The last 2 days of Parikrama have been such an unforgettable experience for all the pilgrims. In the second day we visited Godrumadvipa, the island where kirtan is the process. This is where Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura gave comments on the Sri Caitanya Caritamrta and wrote all his songs.
We were in Surabhi kunj where Sri Nityananda prabhu started His first Namahatta and from that very place the incredible mercy of Lord Nityananda crossed the whole w
All glories to Sri Navadvipa Dhama, the birth place of Harinama sankirtan!
Sri Caitaya Mahaprabhu said: “This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon.” Kali Yuga it is an hopeless age in all respects, chanting the Holy Name is the only means to achieve even material happiness!
HH Gaura Govinda Maharaj once said: “the Holy Name will give you everything…everything and in the end the Holy Name will give you Krsna Prema
A new textbook for schools in the Telegu language, entitled “Bhagavad-gita for Complete Success in Life,” has been written by an ISKCON devotee and published by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), the organization that manages the famous Venkateswara temple.
Author Vaishnavanghri Sevaka Das, a scientist in the polymer industry who translates Prabhupada’s books into Telegu in his spare time, feels that this collaboration would be very much appreciated by Srila Prabhup
Mayapur, India, March 7, 3:45 PM – Following a break for lunch, members of the GBC reconvened for the afternoon session of the day’s 2019 GBC Annual General Meeting.
The first topic up for discussion was ISKCON’s Radha-Govinda Temple in Brooklyn, NY. The last few years have seen conflict over the managerial authority of the temple, prompted by an earlier proposed sale of the property.
The co-GBCs of the New York temple, Radhanath Swami and Devamrita Swami, assisted by Vaisesika Dasa and templ
Mayapur, India, March 7, 12:15 PM - The morning session of the 2019 GBC Annual General Meeting continued with an hour-and-a-half presentation on the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, or BBT. The BBT was established by ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada in 1972 to publish Krishna conscious literature, and is the world's largest publisher of classic Vaishnava texts and contemporary works on the philosophy, theology, and culture of bhakti-yoga.
Vaisesika Dasa made the presentation on behalf of th
Mayapur, India, March 7, 10:00 AM –The 2019 GBC Annual General Meeting is in session in Sridhama Mayapur. The ISKCON Governing Body Commission, or GBC as it is commonly known, gathers here every year at ISKCON’s world headquarters in West Bengal. Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya,established the GBC as the ultimate managing authority for his movement. At present, the GBC body is comprised of 37 members who are each responsible for overseeing the management and spiritual standards of I
By Sacinandana Swami
The following prayers, which Srila Prabhupada described as “the sum and substance of devotional life [v. 24]”, are spoken by the demon Vrtrasura – to Indra’s great astonishment – in the middle of his fight for life or death with the king of the demigods (Indra):
“O my Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, may I again be able to be a servant of Your eternal servants who find shelter only at Your lotus feet. O Lord of my life, may I again become their servant so that my min
By Caitanyacandra das
The Independent online news reports that this weekend (24th of February) the animated cartoon Peppa Pig has attained 10 years of being broadcast for the entertainment of young children. The Independentmentions that Peppa Pig is being shown in 180 countries and has been translated into 40 languages. One might ask why does the show has so much success among little children. Basically because the episodes use children´s ordinary interests as main topics and show children natu
By Devaki Devi Dasi
In February, the leaders of the Sri Mayapur International School had requested me to spend quality time with their pupils aged 11 to 18. We had decided to first welcome the boys with a group of teachers for two days to Nityananda’s abode, and then a bus-load of girls and their teachers. What a wonderful excursion!
Our children are very special, and they start chanting in japa and kirtan already at a very young age. If we can inspire them to develop good chanting habits from
By Madhava Smullen
ISKCON’s flagship center, the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur, West Bengal is slated to open “on or around Gaura Purnima 2022,” according to tovp.org’s Sunanda Das, who adds that the GBC has not yet officially approved a specific date.
Construction on the 520,000-square-foot temple is now in the final phase after decades of development and nearly ten years of work onsite.
The project officially started on September 21st, 2009 with the clearing of the construction
By Anuttama Dasa
Mayapura, India—Nearly eighty top ISKCON leaders from around the world met at the society’s global headquarters in West Bengal for three full days, March 4-6, to discuss opportunities and challenges in expanding the ISKCON movement.
The meeting was the third “Sanga of Gurus, GBCs, and Sannyasis,” or SGGS (sanga means association or meeting; sannyasi is a renunciate). Prior meetings were held in 2015 and 2017.
The meetings were held at the ISKCON Mayapura community, home of
In Germany Srila Prabhupada was speaking with professor Durkheim. In that discussion they were speaking about the soul being eternal and separate from the body. Prabhupada said, “The body actually does not die because it is never alive. Never was there a moment when it was alive. It is the soul that is alive and that makes the body move and animates it. But otherwise it is not alive.”
Of course, as conditioned souls, all this philosophy is something we can only remember and remind ourselves abo
By Chaitanya Charan das
Question: Doesn’t renunciation indicate an absence of the will to keep fighting amidst frustration?
Short Answer: Not necessarily. Renunciation can also be a sign of realization; it can indicate the presence of the insight that there is more to life than fighting futilely for perishable material pleasures.
Detailed Answer:
Firstly, we need to recognize that the material eye and the spiritual eye don’t see alike, as the Bhagavad-gita (2.69) confirms.
For material
