From Dawn till Dusk; singing and dancing on the murky streets of Amsterdam to transform it into a transcendental party.
Introspect and remembrance; sharing our connection and stories with Kadamba Kanana Swami during his Vyasa-puja.
You are warmly invited to join us in Radhadesh and partake in the annual birthday party of Kadamba Kanana Swami which comes with an extra surprise harinam in Amsterdam! Get your party hats (orange ones), dancing shoes and make your way to Radhadesh!
On Sunday, January 6, Srila Locana dasa Thakura’s appearance day, in the presence of Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji, Srila Prabhupada, and their followers, I was pleased to officially connect five devotees to Srila Prabhupada and the guru-parampara through hari-nama initiation. Jeff Janock became Jaya Chaitanya dasa, Nishant Mehta became Nitai dasa, Sakar Panta became Shyama Gopala dasa, Rosie Panta became Radharani dasi, and Ambika Gurung became Amrita Gopi dasi. Please bless them and support them
Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam2.3.17.
“A moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning home, back to Godhead. Mad-dhama gatva punar janma na vidyate. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.17 purport)
On Jan 1, 2019, we went for preaching at a Bank namely HDFC Bank, making these people know the real method to celebrate every festival that is the congregational chanting of the holy name of Sri Krsna.
All the Zonal Heads, State Heads and staff members of the Bank took part in this congregational chanting. Congregational chanting accompanied by clapping and dancing turned the bank into Sri Dham by their excitement for the holy name. In the end, we gifted Srimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is to all t
ISKCON MINISTRY OF EDUCATION EXECUTIVE SECRETARIES REPORT
By Tapan Misra Das
Over the past several months we have been trying to develop several projects to serve ISKCON devotees. Please keep in mind, we are working with very limited or no resources. The only currency we have is the enthusiasm of some devotees to help. With deepest gratitude, to every devotee who is helping, I share a short update on a few of these projects:
Regional Representatives: India, is one of the fastest growing and l
By Praghosa Das
We were very happy to accept the kind invitation of the new Ambassador of India to Ireland to meet with him at the embassy in Dublin this January.
It was a most rewarding meeting, not least to learn of Ambassador Sandeep Kumar’s strong support and indeed deep appreciation of ISKCON.
He offered us an open door and encouraged us to approach him whenever we needed any help or support and he also requested us permission for him to invite us to any events that are being hosted or spo
FIRST CONTACT WITH THE HOLY SOUND
My life took an apical turn when I stumbled across the Hare Krishnas. Being born in India I had some knowledge of “Krishna” but I was like most Indians are – conscious of Krishna but not Krishna Conscious. Being just “conscious of Krishna” didn’t mollify my thirst for happiness. When I was introduced to the programs conducted by the Hare Krishnas near our college campus new hope dawned upon me. What mesmerized me the most in these programs was the chanting of t
God is neither – and is both. Let’s see how.
Before we can understand whether God is male or female, we need to clearly understand that we ourselves are neither male nor female. We are at core spiritual beings, souls, whereas our gender refers only to our shell, our physical bodies. Our spiritual identity is eternal, our gender is transient. According to the law of last thought described in the Bhagavad-gita ( 8.5), we attain in our next life a body as per the thought that predominates our cons
Our false ego prevents us from looking at our own faults. It makes it difficult for us to acknowledge our faults and therefore, instead of being introspective, we see those faults in others. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, “Because I am myself honeycombed with faults, I see the faults of others”.
If you spot it, you have got it
In the realm of psychology it is said that if something about someone really bothers you, it’s usually because you have that fault. Of course, we usually do
Picture this: Srimati devi comes home from school one afternoon so quietly that her mother senses a problem. “Srimati”, she calls, “Are you okay? How was your day?”, When she doesn’t hear a response, Sudevi, Srimati’s mata goes to the ten year old’s bedroom, takes one glance at her daughter’s tearful face and hugs her. “Mata, today some of the children in my class said I was crazy because I don’t eat meat. One girl put a meat sandwich in my face and I pushed her away from me.” The teacher gave
By Praghosa Das
ISKCON will be celebrating a monumental milestone this year, as the movement marks fifty years since its UK incorporation date.
This is a UK wide celebration of ISKCON and every centre is invited and encouraged to participate in these events. ISKCON UK will be holding a month of celebrations to mark the lead up to the inauguration date (15th August – 15th September 2019), which will include a specially commissioned touring pop-up exhibition, a keynote event at SOAS in London, an
Dhirasanta Das Goswami: This is a story which happened in Benares about 300 years ago:
There was one Brahmin who used to take bath in Manikarnika-ghat, a very nice bathing place. One day when he was taking bath he saw a young boy sitting on the steps crying. He felt very compassionate and he went and took the young boy on his lap and asked, “You look so beautiful, a nice attractive young boy. Why are you crying like this?”
“You look at my back,” the boy replied. So when the brahmin lifted up th
The foundation of ISKCON is comprised of two things. Srila Prabhupada’s teaching and our understanding of those teachings. It is easy to measure our understanding of Krishna Consciousness. It is equal to how much we understand that anything other than service to Krishna is a cheating process. This includes everything from following Vedic rules (in pursuit of sense gratification) to cherishing modern ideals.
Very few can immediately give up all material activities; therefore, mundane morality mu
We all have attachments in this material world. The secret of success is to dovetail these attachments to Krishna. This is easy said, than done. However, if you have access to a mature devotee, then the doors of detachment will start to open into the garden of Bhakti.
We have five senses which are controlled by the mind, anyone of these senses can be captured by the illusory nature we live in. When one goes through a phase of addiction, it is a way to escape from the realities of life. We can s
We feel stressed not so much because we are over-worked as because we are over-worried (Based on Gita 18.35)
Chaitanya Charan Das: Stress is rampant in today’s society. Why? One common explanation is over-work.
But is over-work the only cause? At least three points suggest otherwise:
Nowadays, machines do many things that we ourselves had to do earlier.
Even people who don’t do much work sometimes complain of stress.
Even people who are on vacation without any pressing obligation sometimes feel
It is well known that chanting the holy name in good company is easier than doing so alone. This holds true both for japa and kirtan. When we chant in a group of devotees, we co-create a devotional energy and atmosphere that we get to enter into together. It is therefore said that sankirtana (kirtana performed with others) can create such extraordinary delight in the chanter that he or she will find it easy to remain focused on the holy name and experience divine taste in chanting.
But alas, ch
January 5, 2019: we just learned of the passing of our dear Godbrother, Kaliyaphani dasa Prabhu. I would like to give a little eulogy based on my association with him. I first met Kaliyaphani Prabhu at the Bhaktivedanta Manor in London, October, 1976—I had just arrived from Los Angeles. He was a brahmacari in his early twenties, doing full time traveling sankirtana book distribution very enthusiastically. His younger brother was also a devotee and an excellent book distributor named Satyavak da
Scottish Parliament offers recognition to the GBC Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture
The following is a recognition EDM (Early Day Motion) text which Dr Lisa Cameron, Member of the Scottish Parliament who opened our 11th ISKCON European Farm Conference last September, submitted in Parliament following her visit. Her office is offering ISKCON IMCPA a framed version of the text. We’re equally grateful to Dr Cameron for her support and encouragement.
“That this House commends the efforts
Dear Supporters and Friends,
Please accept my humble respects. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Please accept the blessings of Sri Pancha Tattva, Sri Sri Radha Madhava, and Sri Narasimhadev from Sridham Mayapur. Congratulations to all of you in helping Srila Prabhupada fulfill this long cherished dream.
We have completed the year 2018 which was another landmark year for the TOVP in Sridham Mayapur. The most auspicious event of the year was setting the goal to move the deities into their new hom
Suppose a man is fallen in the pit and he’s trying to come out, and another man drops a rope, “Please catch it. I shall take you out of the pit.” He does not catch it. Then how he can be taken out? So sadhu and sastra, they’re always ready to give you mercy, but you have to take it. If you don’t accept it, then how you can recover, recover? Therefore initiation means to accept the mercy of the sädhu and spiritual master. If you don’t accept, so there is no other way. If you think… If you cry th
