By Sacinandana Swami
It is my great pleasure to share something with you today that is characteristic for Vrindavan: talk about Radha and Krishna. The topic is the journey of Radharani to meet Her beloved Krishna. It is very nectarean and dear to the vaisnava’s heart because in some ways it represents our own journey of eagerness to Krishna.
Lotus-eyed Radha walks into the forest like the personified Goddess of spring, making the trees and creepers bloom with flowers. Everywhere She looks She
Nityanand Ashraya Das: ISKCON’s Congregational Development Ministry (CDM) Mayapur had organized a 2-day workshop entitled “Bhakti Vriksha-Hands on Training” for the leaders from all over the world.
For the 2nd time, this training was held in November 17th and 18th, 2018, and twenty two devotees from Malyasia, South America, Canada, South India, Remuna and various parts of India participated. The workshop was facilitated by Nityanand Ashraya Das (Temple President) from ISKCON Bahadurgarh, Haraya
By Madhava Smullen
After the major success of the recent Bhadra Campaign, in which devotees all over the world distributed thousands of full Srimad-Bhagavatam sets, the BBT Marketing, Communications and Innovations team is launching a new global campaign for this winter’s Prabhupada Marathon – “Be A Giver.”
“One of our main goals is to unite the world as a team,” says BBT trustee and sankirtan strategist Vaisesika Das. “With the Bhadra Campaign, we felt a really strong sense of cooperation bet
You must know that there is bhakti with nectar and bhakti without nectar. Bhakti without nectar means that we do not obtain a taste from our spiritual practices that is higher than the taste created by material things like smartphone apps, movies and all the other ‘maya’ our town has to offer. Thus, it is very important that we perform bhakti with taste.
In other words, we need to know how we can relish the five processes of bhakti and avoid boredom. This is much like drawing juice from sugarca
By Kadamba Kanana Swami
On the banks of Sri Radha-kund we gather.
“Let us sit down and hear about what we are really seeing. There is another reality here that is available to those who are absorbed. Since we do not have spiritual vision, Krsna Das Kaviraj Goswami opens our darkened eyes in the Govinda-lilamrta and shows us…”
“Krsna arrived at Radha-kund. The jewelled staircases lead to pavilions encrusted with precious stones.”
We sit on the hard stone steps, looki
Just few days left for Kartik festival to come to a close. Last five days of Kartika, devotees observe Bhisma Panchaka Vrata, especially devotees gather at holy dhams like Mayapur , Vrindavan, Puri to celebrate this Vrata. Today HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami spoke on the sweet pastime of Damodar lila- which will continue for next few days.
Source: http://www.mayapur.com/2018/damodar-lila-lecture-by-hh-bhakti-purusottama-swami/
By Sacinandana Swami
When something upsets us, we can remind ourselves: “Yes, this is the material world, and this is bound to happen. When a stone drops into water, it will get wet. When a soul drops into the material world, it will experience miseries. That is just the way it is; there is no way around it.”
At that time you need some spiritual orientation. You see, most of us act on the social level and add a little Krishna consciousness. “Oh yes, I have my friends, colleagues, projects, and
By Akhandadhi das
There have been a number of scientific studies recently that try to analyze if animals have any form of morality. This is obviously complex since it is nigh impossible to get inside the mind of a poor dumb creature and there is always the accusation of anthropomorphizing.
The subject is important to many people because there seems to be various beliefs with vested interests in the interpretations. For instance, Charles Darwin believed that animals expressed morality and that w
By Urmila Devi Dasi
SB 6.16.41
Being full of contradictions, all forms of religion but bhagavata-dharma work under conceptions of fruitive results and distinctions of “you and I” and “yours and mine.” The followers of Srimad-Bhagavatam have no such consciousness. They are all Krsna conscious, thinking that they are Krsna’s and Krsna is theirs. There are other, low-class religious systems, which are contemplated for the killing of enemies or the gain of mystic power, but such religious systems,
By Sacinandana Swami
Bhakti takes two forms in this world. On the one hand the form of activities you perform with body, voice and mind, and on the other hand the form of feelings. These devotional feelings are the inclination to serve Krishna in a favorable way, in other words giving pleasure to Him. The feelings of bhakti-bhava also include eagerness, gratitude and being moved by genuine love.
Just yesterday I developed another feeling: urgency. This is what happened.
I was on parikrama arou
By Chaitanya Charan das
Question: At one moment we are absorbed in devotional thoughts and then suddenly at the next moment we become submerged in sensual, even immoral, thoughts. Why is spiritual life so unstable?
Answer: It is not spiritual life that is unstable; it is we who are unstable in our spiritual life. And our instability is due to our having not yet recognized the gravity of gravity in spiritual life.
The gravity force in spiritual life
The force of gravity is a simple, real, undeni
By Giriraj Swami
Terrible forest fires have been raging around Ventura and Ojai, California, devastating homes and everything else on their way. I recalled Srila Prabhupada’s discussion of the first verse of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s Sri Gurv-astaka:
samsara-davanala-lidha-loka-
tranaya karunya-ghanaghanatvam
praptasya kalyana-gunarnavasya
vande guroh sri-caranaravindam
“The spiritual master is receiving benediction from the ocean of mercy. Just as a cloud pours water on a forest fire
By Naimisaranya Devi Dasi
It rains in Vrndavana. The Vrndavana rains are purifying. Maharaja pops his head into the bus apologising for the weather and the delay, and announces a change of plans. Today we will go to Govardhana. Jai Giriraj!
The famous sandstone domes of Kusum Sarova come into vision. A bustle of pilgrims in the parikrama path intermingle with monkeys, cows, rickshaws and mobile sugar cane juice stalls but we leave the hustle for the highest platform: the
An answer to the question:
“Why is a good Christian like you worshiping a Hindu god?”
People often ask me why I changed my faith from Christianity to worship of Krsna. They ask what made me give up Christianity. I am always quick to answer that I never “gave up” Christianity. The principal instruction Jesus gave was to love God, and I believe I can best do that by worshiping and serving Krsna.
What is it that makes Krsna more attractive or meaningful to me than the God of the Bible? Well, firs
By Kadamba Kanana Swami
We have been given the gift of the holy name, but actually, we are given even more than that. We have the additional mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu! Through his mercy, what is difficult for us becomes easy. And without his mercy, what is meant to be easy becomes unexpectedly difficult. This is a key point for all of us to always remember and appreciate.
In the Lagu Bhagavatamrta, Srila Rupa Goswami gives a lengthy and thorough explanation of all the avatars (incarnati
The following is a partially edited transcription of a lecture given on June 15, 2014, at the Carpathian Festival in Ukraine – SB 1.2.19 – Becoming Free from the Three Modes of Nature.
Reading from the 1st Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Chapter 2, Text 19.
tada rajas-tamo-bhavah
kama-lobhadayas ca ye
ceta etair anaviddham
sthitam sattve prasidati
tada — at that time; rajah — in the mode of passion; tamah — the mode of ignorance; bhavah — the situation; kama — lust and desire; lobha — hankering; a
By Madhava Smullen
Bhaktivedanta Academy, a combined Montessori – International Bacchalauratae school at ISKCON of Alachua, Florida, has been awarded a $3,000 grant for science education.
Deepa Mukhtyar (Deva Sarita Dasi), the science teacher for Krishna Sharanam, the school’s Middle Years program, applied for the grant from the Toshiba America Foundation, and received approval on October 23rd.
“This is a national program, so it was quite a surprise that it came through for us,” says Bhaktive
By Madhava Smullen
Nearly 10,000 delegates from 80 countries attended the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions from November 1stto 7thin Toronto, Canada. They represented nearly 200 religious, spiritual and indigenous traditions, comprising the single largest interfaith gathering in the world.
The Parliament was first held in 1893 with the aim to cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities, and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions
I sat at the banks of Radha Kund and had a wonderful realization I must tell you about. I had already arrived before sunrise and watched the different morning scenes. Tulasi leaves drifted by from the offering to Giriraj at the Sangam. Devotees from Delhi whom I recognized sang beautiful glorifications. Later a group of villagers from the Gujar community arrived, all dressed in the most colorful outfits you can imagine. However, what caught my special attention was a group of devotees circulati
Part of my kartik-vrata is to read Krishna’s instructions to Uddhava before He left this world from the 11th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam. The Lord makes an important point there – that the knot in the heart, the ahankara, the false ego, is destroyed by bhakti. He says: “When one engages constantly in worshiping Me through loving devotional service, his heart becomes firmly situated in Me. Thus all material desires within the heart are destroyed and the knot in the heart is pierced, the ego k
