By Khonika Gope-Kumar
How should a devotee treat his wife? How should he address her? How should he pacify her when she is angry? How should he guide her if she makes some mistakes? Can we get some clues about these topics from Srimad Bhagvatam?
One might wonder whether these are mundane topics and even worth being discussed among the devotees. Srila Prabhupada, nevertheless, stressed a lot on having a harmonious relationship between husband and wife. “A wife should always remain satisfied with
From Back to Godhead
By Nikunja Vilasini Devi Dasi
Is life meaningless until we give it meaning?
A young woman from South Africa, where I live, is a candidate for the Mars One project, the brainchild of a Netherlands-based group hoping to set up a colony on Mars by 2025. She anticipates years of vigorous training, many grueling hours of intense research, an eight-month-long journey in a confined spacecraft, and difficult living conditions on a strange planet. She is excited to be
Back in October, 2018 we announced the launch of the TOVP Victory Flag Campaign wherein devotees can sponsor the raising of the daily TOVP Victory Flags onto the temple domes. The response has been very good and the TOVP management has now decided to start a monthly Flag Festival to continue into perpetuity as long as the temple stands.
On February 2nd the first Flag Festival was officially launched during the grand inauguration ceremony of the 2019 Gaura Purnima Festival, with sixty flags bein
The characteristics of Krishna are understood to be a storehouse of transcendental love. Although that storehouse of love certainly came with Krishna when He was present, it was sealed. But when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came with His associates of the Panca-tattva, they broke the seal and plundered the storehouse to taste transcendental love of Krishna. The more they tasted it, the more their thirst for it grew.
Sri Panca-tattva themselves danced again and again and thus made it easier to dri
By Sacinandana Swami
Our greatest problem is that we have turned away from Krishna. This one action has turned into our existential dilemma. We are lost servants. But strangely we think, at least unconsciously, that it is Krishna who has abandoned us. Only when we become eager to meet Krishna again, and serve Him with body, mind and heart – as eager as a drowning man is eager to breathe again – can we attain our spiritual success. Real love, however, will only flow when we move out of the cente
From Back to Godhead
By Srila Jiva Goswami
The preeminent philosopher in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s line explains why, in this age, the Puranas are essential for accessing the Absolute Truth.
[Excerpted from Sri Tattva-sandarbha, by Srila Jiva Goswami, translation and commentary by Gopiparanadhana Dasa. Published by Giriraja Publishing, a branch of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. The book is available from the Krishna.com Store.]
Sri Tattva-sandarbha is the first of Srila Jiva Goswami’s Bhagavata-san
By Muralimohan dasa
With the desire to maximize book distribution, ISKCON’s Ahmedabad temple devotees planned our thirty-second one-day padayatra to follow a route covering as diverse a cross-section of Indian society as possible. We contacted our groups regarding date, time and venue, but events then compelled me to think that this padayatra should include something special. On padayatra day many of our temple devotees were going to perform harinam sankirtan on the streets of Ahmedabad for the
As part of the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry’s expanding regional training strategy, a nine-day temple worship course will be taught at ISKCON New Vrindaban, West Virginia for all of North America.
Between fifteen and thirty devotees are expected to take the course, which will run from May 29th to June 6th this year. Participants will hail from the US, Canada and Mexico and will comprise of current and aspiring ISKCON temple pujaris who have at least first initiation and are recommended by the
By Parasuram dasa
At the official opening of Krishna’s Castle in the City of London on March 1st 2019, representatives from 10 banks and businesses were in attendance.
Since 14 months Krishna’s Castle, situated in the heart of the banking world, has been a hive of devotional service.
We need about 10 volunteers daily and half of them are bankers who come to do their Corporate Social Responsibly.
One definition : The emerging concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goes beyond charity
With the raising of Garuda and Hanuman flag, officially the Gaura Purnima festival has begun in Mayapur. Speaking in the inaugural ceremony HH Bhakti Charu Swami spoke about how Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakura and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur began the real revival of Lord Caitanya’s pastime places and His teachings all over the world. That prediction of Lord Caitanya, that “prithvite achecjato nagaradi gram, sarvatra prachar hoibe mura naam” – my holy name will be broadcasted all the to
Kirtan Mela – festival of chanting the holy names of the Lord begins today. In a colorful Adhivas ceremony, worship was offered to the musical instruments and prayers offered for success of festival. HH Loknath Swami Maharaj led the first kirtan after Adhivas.
Kirtan Mela : Day-1 Schedule:
“I firmly believe that simply chanting the holy name of the Lord can remove all misconceptions of the material world. I believe that simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord one can attain the shelter of
By Nikunja Vilasini Dasi
Whether it is 3 a.m. in New York, 6 a.m. in California, 4 p.m. in South Africa, or 7:30 p.m. in India, devotees all over the globe can connect with Giriraj Swami at the same time every day to chant the holy names together.
Gone are the days when disciples could see their spiritual master only rarely, what to speak of chanting together. Now by the mere click of a mouse, you can see Giriraj Swami every day and chant the maha-mantra along with him.
Before every round of ja
Our deity of Sri Gopisvara Mahadeva at our ashram, Siva-ratri.
In his Sankalpa-kalpadruma (103) Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura prays:
vrndavanavani-pate jaya soma soma-
maule sanandana-sanatana-naradedya
gopisvara vraja-vilasi-yuganghri-padme
prema prayaccha nirupadhi namo namaste
“O gatekeeper of Vrindavan! O Soma, all glories to you! O you whose forehead is decorated with the moon (soma), and who is worshiped by the sages headed by Sanandana, Sanatana, and Narada! O Gopisvara! Desiri
Shiva-ratri occurs every lunar month on the 13th or 14th day of the dark half of the moon phase. Once every year during the month of Phalgun, a Maha Shiva-ratri occurs. This Maha Shiva-ratri day is considered to be the day when Lord Shiva married Parvati and it is celebrated elaborately by devotees of Lord Shiva.
Vaishnavas do not generally take part in the worship of demigods except to honor them as great devotees of the Lord. Lord Shiva is worshipped by Vaishnavas because he is the greatest
On or around Gaura Purnima 2022 all of ISKCON will ecstatically celebrate together the Grand Opening of the magnificent Temple of the Vedic Planetarium at the World Headquarters of ISKCON in Sridham Mayapur on its 50th Anniversary, and our beloved Mayapur Deities will at last be moved into Their long-awaited new home.
After twelve years of planning, execution and fundraising mixed with the blood, sweat and tears of many, we will finally make this combined offering to Srila Prabhupada, increasin
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 December 2017, Gold Coast, Australia, Bhagavad-gita 8.20)
We must try to properly glorify Srila Prabhupada in order to understand his unlimited spiritual potency. Srila Prabhupada was always a resident of the spiritual world. He may have been present in this material world for us, but he still resided in the spiritual world. What if I was trying to glorify Srila Prabhupada and I were to say, “At the end of his life, he went back to Godhead.” What would you say to that?
The Srimad Bhagavatam gives us full descriptions of Krsna’s appearance, of Krsna’s character and of his activities. It is in this way, by absorption in the Bhagavatam that we get everything, everything to know who Krsna is. First, it describes how of all the incarnations, Krsna is the Supreme Lord, ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.28). Then finally in the tenth canto, it gets into detail. In this way, by reading, we can gradually understand and begin to ap
By Bhakti Chaitanya Swami
The GBC Organizational Development Committee started its meetings on thursday in Mayapur, just before the full GBC meeting starts. Some of the main management experts of the movement are taking part.
Most of the times, we are running after money ( dhan ). Money is what makes the world go round, or so it appears. Many a times, this appears to be true. Money enables us to buy goods and services, food, clothing and other basic necessities of life, possessions, home, car, luxuries, etc; Since Laxmi is the goddess of wealth, we worship her to bless us with her favour and benediction. As we are mostly obsessed with money and its acquisition, we do not realize that Laxmi also benedicts us with bea
AT “SRI ANTARDVIPA” ISLAND OF SRI NAVADVIPA-MAYAPUR DHAMA
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura called this place “Vrindavana Pattan”, which means the place where the forest of Vrindavana is manifest. By Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s spiritual potency, Syama-Kunda, Radha-Kunda and Giri-Govardhana of Vrindavana are all manifest here. Established by Sarasvati Thakura in 1918, this temple was the headquarters of his Krishna Consciousness preaching throughout India. During its peak t
