The building of the bridge to Lanka is a favorite part of the Ramayana. Not only because it was done mainly by an army of monkeys and other animals, but it was built around one central idea – when the name of Rama was written on the rocks they floated on the water.
My big take away from this is that mantra meditation, the recitation of the names of the Lord, will help us build the bridges to where we need to go to on our spiritual journey. And that our hearts, without Lord Rama, are hard and he
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Shri L.K. Advani (Former Deputy Prime of India) along with his daughter Smt. Pratibha Advani & Family visited ISKCON Delhi Temple, performed an Aarti to Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi, offered prayers to Srila Prabhupada and took darshan of the ‘Astounding Bhagavad-Gita’ one of the biggest religious books in the World.
Okay! So I did some pacing in the Toronto temple room before heading out to the ISKCON Scarborough Centre. It's quite interesting that the Toronto Yoga Show is so popular, and as a result, we are churning out a huge amount of prasadam from our kitchen, and are the most in-demand food booth on site. Our pot washers are going steady at it in the kitchen. Plenty of water gets used to the point where only a small amount of H2O made it up the pipe-line for my shower.
In any event, after my sho
By Achyut Gopal Das
"Make the worship of the Holynames, the most important aspect of your life" - Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati, foremost reformer of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
We all know that what is a reality today may not be a reality tomorrow. This world is in a constant flux, a constant change. Only God and His Holynames are a reality - today, tomorrow and forever. As one great soul sings in his song "Kevalashtakam" -
abrahma stamba paryantam
sarvam maya-mayam jagat
satyam stayam punah satyam
By Hari Narayana Das
That morning, clouds hung over the Tugu Pahlawan Surabaya, the hero monument located in Surabaya. However, this did not necessarily dampen the enthusiasm of hundreds of Surabaya people who were cramming in to take a closer look at the Surabaya Vaganza show which was a part of 726th Surabaya City Anniversary commemoration agenda, celebrated each year, on Sunday, 24th March 2019. The parade carried the theme Puspawarni, as a place to unite the diversity of people living in Su
By HH Sacinandana Swami
There is a reason why we are here in this world and why we often feel bewildered and afraid. It is because we have turned away from Krsna. Srila Jiva Gosvami gives an analogy: in Indian villages people used to gather in the evening and sometimes an entertainer would stand before a lantern and use his hands to project shadows on a wall while telling a story. Sometimes children and simple villagers would then become afraid because of seeing demons and witches on the wall.
By Vijaya Dasa
I was distributing books at a university when I motioned for a student to come to my table. He came over, and I began explaining some of Krsna’s teachings in the Bhagavad-gita. He didn’t show much interest. From his bulging muscles, I could tell he lifted weights and worked out a lot. I said, “It’s good that you’re taking care of your body, but did you know that while we’re talking right now your body is dying? Every second you’re getting closer to death, and in a relatively shor
By Madhava Smullen
The Yamuna Boat Festival on March 30th captured the sweetness of serving Sri Sri Radha Krishna in Vrindavan.
The celebrations began at 5pm, with an enthusiastic kirtan procession from ISKCON’s Krishna Balaram Mandir to Sringar Vat temple, on the banks of the Yamuna river.
In Sanskrit, sringar means decoration, while vat means banyan tree. Sringar Vat is known as the banyan tree where Lord Krishna decorates Srimati Radharani.
According to the temple’s website, the spot sho
Ruben was our Uber driver to get to the Prasher home. From Africa, but now in Toronto, he took a real liking to Connor and I and our lifestyle. During our conversation, we spoke about books. Ruben seemed rather intelligent, yet admitted that he didn't read big books.
"Well, what's your favourite book?" he asked Connor.
"The book called Bhagavad-gita,” said Connor, and as he said it, I happened to be reading a passage from a copy I had brought with me while sitting in the back seat.
"Here,"
"By the power of the Name one will know what cannot be known, one will see what cannot be seen, one will speak what cannot be spoken and one will meet what cannot be met. Incalculable is the gain that comes from repeating the Name of God." - Tukaram Maharaj.
In this world, we are all looking for happiness, peace, joy and abundance. We are all searching for nectar in life. This is the sole purpose of everyone in this world. We are searching for it in relationships, in places and in things. We
In this world, we are all looking for happiness, peace, joy and abundance. We are all searching for nectar in life. This is the sole purpose of everyone in this world. We are searching for it in relationships, in places and in things. We
By Bhaktimarga Swami
Stephen, Connor, and myself headed straight south on Avenue Road to the Yoga Show. Yes, it was happily on foot that we stepped, and it was very much in a straight line, except for a curve at Queen's Park, and then a clean right at Front Street to get to the Convention Centre. https://www.instagram.com/p/BvokoHzg2gZ/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=xafr76165h3k
The weather was absolutely conducive for the trek. Optimism was in the air. After all it was Friday night.
By Achyut Gopal Das
"Perhaps someday I'll crawl back home, beaten, defeated. But not as long as I can make stories out of my heartbreak, beauty out of sorrow." - Sylvia Plath, American poet and writer.
Who doesn't like stories. Stories have always been loved by human civilization for eons probably because in the story of others, humans find semblance of their own stories. Some stories are entertaining, some inspiring, some touching and some enlightening. Here is one such story fro
By Mukunda Bhakti Das
Chatigram (Chattogram), Bangladesh, was blessed by the divine appearances of some of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabu's important eternal associates such as Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi Thakur, Sri Basudev Dutta Thakur, Sri Mukunda Dutta Thakur, Sri Dhananjaya Pandit, and so many other great souls.
Recently, with the divine blessings of their lordships Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Sri Jagannatha, Sri Baladeva , Sri Subadra Maharani, Sri Sri Goura Nitai and His Divine grace A.C. Bhaktiveda
By Madhava Smullen
Since 2016, the ISKCON Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture has been organizing farm conferences all over the world, to share best practices, create networks, and inspire new projects. Now the fruits are starting to show, with more exciting plans on the way.
UK Parliament Commends ISKCON Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture
During the European conference in September last year in Karuna Bhavan, Scotland, Karuna Bhavan devotees invited UK MP Dr. Lisa Cameron.
Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Bhagavad-gita 3.10.
“The Lord created this material world to enable the conditioned souls to learn how to perform yajñas (sacrifices) for the satisfaction of Visnu, so that while in the material world they can live very comfortably without anxiety, and after finishing the present material body they can enter into the kingdom of God. That is the whole program for the conditioned soul. By performance of yajña, the conditioned souls gradually become Krsna consciou
Richard Longley, a well-educated lovely man and journalist, spent two and a half hours with me, asking a few questions. Of course, he was curious about my long walks, but his real purpose in visiting was to take photos of the temple and restaurant, and view how we are utilizing a space which was once a Methodist Church.
Richard has written a number of articles for "Now" magazine, articles particularly centered on heritage buildings. In any event, he liked what he saw and heard, about us and
By Achyut Gopal Das
If everyone does what they want, who will do what is needed?"
During the world-famous Rajasuya ceremony of Yudishtira, when Lord Krishna was worshiped as The Supreme Person, Shishupala - the envious cousin of Krishna couldn't control his envy, he burst out with words of severe criticism. One of his main complaints was that no-one knows what the Varna (ordained duty) of Krishna is - sometimes He acts like a Vaishya, a cowherd boy and sometimes He acts like a Kshatriya, a warr
By Purushottam Nitai Das
With just his tail, Hanuman effortlessly burned the entire city of Lanka. But he too wasn’t successful in burning the lust and ego of Ravana, the powerful king of Lanka. In fact Ravana’s real well wishers such as his brother Vibhishana and his chaste wife Mandodari had tried their best to counsel him several times against kidnapping Sita, wife of Lord Rama. Ravana not just refused to listen to them but he even humiliated them. Upon being reminded by Vibhishana that ki
Approximately 160 visitors from China, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Taiwan recently came to Mayapur with His Holiness Giridhari Swami on pilgrimage. They came in two groups – the first group, of about 40 people, visited in late December of 2018, and the second group, of about 120 people, came in late January of 2019.
The tours were arranged by ISKCON Mayapur’s Visiting Devotee and Leader Care Department. Prior to visiting Sridhama Mayapur, the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the depar
By Achyut Gopal Das
"Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light." — Vera Nazarian
Here is a simple yet powerful story which shows the world "the power of a book". This is a real life story of two boys named Richie and Willy which happened during the 1970's, in the city of California. One day while walking on the streets of California, Richie bumped across the Hare Krishna devotees and one of the devotees convinced him to buy a magazine that they we
