During a five-day retreat from November 14thto 18th– held on picturesque Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands – spiritual seekers spent quality time with like-minded people and immersed themselves in Hatha Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and the Bhagavad-gita.
Balarama Nityananda Das organized the retreat as part of Krishna Wisdom, a team at the UK’s Bhaktivedanta Manor aimed at introducing local Westerners to Krishna consciousness.
“Most of our previous retreats have been held at Buckla
By Pradyumna Das
Like previous years, during the auspicious month of Kartika, the ISKCON Bhubaneswar Nama-hatta Department organized a grand 20 day Sankirtan Padayatra from October 10 to November 16 in the district of Jajpur, Odisha.
For remembrance, the Sri Krishna Balaram Temple of Bhubaneswar was the last project founded by Srila Prabhupada, and it was inaugurated in 1991. It was Srila Prabhupada’s dear disciple, Gour Govinda Swami, the epitome of Krishna consciousness in Odisha, who start
Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam are two most important scriptures for Kali Yuga, they have specifically manifested for us kali yugians. If we sincerely try to serve these two transcendental scriptures then we can unlock many hidden gems. Let us take a look at the famous verse from Bhagavad gita
जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः ।
त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन ॥
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body,
It is said sometimes that anger is the younger brother of lust. First, there is our desire to control. We want a world according to our desires and if people interfere with that then we become angry!
But it is not that people just interfere because you have to see Krsna behind it. So devotees accept, “Alright, so Krsna did not want this for me. Krsna has another plan for me. This is not destined to be.” One has to accept being an instrument of Krsna!
This is difficult. I know it is difficult. T
By Chaitanya Charan Das
During our reflective moments, we may wonder, “What is the purpose of this world?”
Materialists answer that the world is a place for our enjoyment. This answer is problematic because distress and death pervade the world.
Some spiritualists, especially impersonalists, answer that the world is a place of illusion – it is just meant to be renounced. This answer too is problematic because it is largely impractical, and it renders meaningless most of the things we value: our
By Sunanda Das
Fundraising on Facebook has reached an all-time high with people fundraising for their favorite non-profits, churches, Causes, etc. on holidays, their birthdays, and other occasions. Why not become a TOVP Ambassador and celebrate your birthday, wedding anniversary or any other special day with the TOVP and make it a combined gift from your Facebook friends to support the MISSION 22 MARATHON to complete the TOVP by 2022?
The TOVP Foundation, Inc. is a registered non-profit organiz
By Gurudas
I am saddened by my feeling of separation from you, that I will not see you again on this planet, yet I still feel close to you. Our relationship transcends material boundaries and You are in my, and many peoples hearts . Let us all pray for your continued spiritual journey, which makes me happy, as you are not in pain anymore, and with our beloved Spiritual Master, and Radha and Krishna.
I fell in love with you upon viewing your powerful presence
I fell in Love with you, little did
By Giriraj Swami
At Kirtan50 today, Bada Haridas Prabhu and I spoke about the holy name, following the theme of this beautiful verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.2.55):
visrjati hrdayam na yasya saksad
dharir avasabhihito ’py aghaugha-nasah
pranaya-rasanaya dhrtanghri-padma
sa bhavati bhagavata-pradhana ukta
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead is so kind to the conditioned souls that if they call upon Him by speaking His holy name, even unintentionally or unwillingly, the Lord is inclined to dest
545,599,371 pieces of literature authored by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada have been distributed worldwide by his sincere followers since 1965 to the end of November.
6,080,380 literatures this year.
601,385 literatures the month of November.
These are official stats issued by the BBT (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, the publishing agency of Srila Prabhupada’s books)
Sankirtan Yajna ki Jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
From Back to Godhead
Delhi, Friday 5th October, 1956
Edited and Founded
Under direct order of His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Bhakti-Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada
By Goswami Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta
The Supreme Lord is said to be ‘Sachidananda Vigraha‘ in the revealed scriptures. ‘Sat‘ means eternal, ‘Chit‘ means fully cognizant and ‘Ananda‘ means joy, and ‘Vigraha‘ means specific Personality. Therefore the Lord or the Supreme Godhead who is one without a second is eternally a joyful per
By Sacinandana Swami
“When an intelligent person engages constantly in worshiping Me through loving devotional service as described by Me, his heart becomes firmly situated in Me. Thus all material desires within the heart are destroyed. The knot in the heart is pierced, all misgivings are cut to pieces and the chain of fruitive actions is terminated when I am seen as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 11.20.29-30)
This is the power of bhakti: it can, so to say, ‘digest’
A human being should realize the aim of his life, and this direction is given in all Vedic literatures, and the essence is given in Bhagavad-gītā. Vedic literature is meant for human beings, not for animals. Animals can kill other living animals, and there is no question of sin on their part, but if a man kills an animal for the satisfaction of his uncontrolled taste, he must be responsible for breaking the laws of nature
By Madhava Smullen
Lord Jagannath decorated for the Christmas Parade
Around one hundred devotees from the New Raman Reti ISKCON community participated in the Alachua Christmas Parade on Saturday December 8th, in Alachua, Florida.
Devotees have been part of the parade for the past twenty-five years, sometimes bringing a bullock cart to liven things up.
This year, the parade began at 2pm and lasted about forty-five minutes, running from the beginning to the end of Main Street, Alachua.
All
As the festival season of December to March begins at ISKCON Mayapur, pilgrims are flooding into the holy town. For many, the recently built full dome planetarium theater is a major attraction.
“The feedback we’re getting is fantastic,” says Sridham Das, project manager for the Vedic Science Museum and Planetarium Theater at the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP).
Immersive technologies are a major part of the plan for the still-under-construction TOVP, including a hu
By Giriraj Das
We often read and hear, how being a devotee, our heart should be soft, full of humility and compassion for others. Sometime we are not even sure where to draw the final line as there are different instructions for devotees at different levels of consciousness. We do not even know what is true humility and many a times wonder how a pure Vaishnava thinks, what are his emotions and how does he acts?
Caitanya Mahaprabhu quoted the below verse, from Mahabharat, to a brahmana during
By Madhava Smullen
Nitaipriya Dasi has to balance many responsibilities in life: she’s a mother of two, serves on the board of the ISKCON Philadelphia temple, and works as vice president of a reputed bank.
However she’s found yet another sweet service to offer – making astonishingly beautiful and delicious cakes for Sri Sri Radha-Saradbihari and Their devotees.
Years ago when her sons Varun and Tushar didn’t like the vegan birthday cakes she would purchase from Wholefoods, Nitaipriya decided
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, March 2018, Durban, South Africa, Ratha Yatra Lecture)
Human relationships become meaningful when Krsna is the priority. It is not good enough when Krsna is simply there in our lives. I mean, it is still nice that Krsna is there, but when Krsna actually becomes the priority, then it becomes significant to the point that everything will change. This is the unique feature of Srila Prabhupada, who truly made Krsna the priority and showed that consistently throughout his whol
Karma – Activities of the Conditioned Soul
Ignorance of Krsna
Desire to Enjoy
Material body
Identity with body
Desire to enjoy in body
Action to get enjoyment
Immediate Experience
Of enjoyment
Or suffering
Attachment to objects
causing enjoyment
Repulsion to objects
of suffering
(samskara)
Desires or hatred Restrictions
in next life (vasana) in next life (karma)
Free will, intelligence
Action
Tama Raja Sattva
Misery Immediate Detachment
Pleasure Peace
Action: Prakrti in combina
Srila Prabhupada explains in many places that the human form of life is a juncture at which one can elevate or degrade himself.
What is the value of atonement if the propensity to commit sin is still there?
One reaction for sinful activities is the continued tendency to commit sinful activities.
One cannot counteract one fruitive activity with another fruitive activity. The analogy given is counteracting a bad dream with a hallucination.
An intelligent person does not endeavor for happiness bec
We have to remind ourselves again and again who we are and who we are not.
Most people seek only to increase their sense gratification rather than to understand who they are.
Everyone is in a rush going nowhere.
If people can understand their bodies are changing but they are not changing, that is a second birth.
If we cannot give up hankering and lamenting and see all people on the spiritual plane, we cannot begin devotional service. [Bhagavad-gita 18.54]
Neither Brahma nor the insignificant a
