“The Varsana parikrama is situated around the Sriji Temple. The different hills here are demigods incarnating in this way to place the feet of the devotees on their heads.”
Sancaricor
First, we got lost but there is no wrong turn in Vrndavana. Following in the footsteps of the spiritual master, each step takes us closer to Krsna. A narrow path surrounded by soft sands leads us to Sancaricor; a narrow valley where two hills meet. Here, Krsna would st
By Kesava Bharati Dasa Goswami
Letting Śrīla Prabhupāda Speak for Himself
Part 2
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
My dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my prostrated obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to you and your spiritually refreshing transcendental books, which are sowing seeds of pure devotion (bhakti) in the hearts of cond
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta states, “Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the most benevolent personality in human society because His only desire is to make people happy. His sankirtana movement is especially meant for the purpose of making people happy.” (Adi 9.45 p)
And Srila Prabhupada said of himself, “I have started this Krishna consciousness movement in this country, America, to make people happy: happy in this life, happy in next life. . . . So we are making little our teeny effort, how to make peopl
Srila Prabhupada: The Spiritual Master and Krishna are two parallel lines. The train, on two tracks, moves forward. The Spiritual Master and Krishna are like these two tracks, they must be served simultaneously. Krishna helps one to find bona fide Spiritual Master, and bona fide Spiritual Master helps one to understand Krishna. If one does not get bona fide Spiritual Master, then how he can ever understand Krishna? You cannot serve Krishna without Spiritual Master, or serve Spiritual Master wit
By Deena Bandhu Das
More than 120 disciples gathered in Vrindavan to glorify Srila Prabhupada for his Disappearance Day Festival. Fabulous arrangements were made and they churned the great ocean of the nectar of Srila Prabhupada’s glories. Again in the evening, they gathered at Srila Prabhupada’s bed where he left this world. Every year I think they will never be able to make better decorations to his bed, but again, just see how gorgeous they did. Finally there was aratika at 7:20 pm, the time
By Rahul Singh
“When you are in the field of spirituality, you think you can advise anyone on any topic. We listened to experts in hydrogeological survey and Soil Biotechnology”. This was the greatest takeaway for me from the session titled “Sustainability from the Inside out” hosted in October in Singapore by Artha Forum – the fact that knowledge makes you humble. Thanks to Rajeev Srivastava and Suman Chaki’s kind invitations, every time I walk into Tanglin Club for an Artha session, I come ou
The Vraj Parikrama is bursting at the seams this year. We are different. All 140 of us have come with a milieu of accents, skin tones, natures and cultures from all corners of the earth. Yet we have come to Vrindavan as family and Vrindavan is home.
We begin our pilgrimage in the early morning and load into three buses. Kadamba Kanana Maharaja smiles and chats to people in between managing logistics. He is a gracious host and guide on this sacred tr
By Mayesvara Dasa
Those of us who appreciate the magical potency of what Srila Prabhupada gave us know that a miracle of colossal historic importance occurred in the late 1960’s. At that time His Divine Grace came and ignited a worldwide spiritual revolution that has no historic equivalent. Those of us who were blessed to become his disciples all got an opportunity to be part of this extraordinary moment in history. Yet time is gnawing away at all of us every day. One by one we watch the discip
Let us say we won a general election. A majority vote sweeps us into power. All state resources are at our disposal. There will still be a democratic opposition in place, but they will want to see how we give all citizens of the land a Vedic alternative. Where do we start?
Sometimes devotees in their exuberance will say, “We’re going to take over the entire world.” Lord Chaitanya’s prediction has to materialise, but the sombre realities of actualising Vedic models of civilisation with VAD in mi
The Vedic scriptures proclaim that the glories of Lord Krishna are unlimited and eternal and no one is able to reach the end of them. In the same way, who can fully describe the splendid glories of Sri Giriraja-Govardhana, the best servant of the Lord and at the same time non-different from the Lord Himself? To protect his dear vrajavasis from Indra’s wrath, Sri Krishna held the Hill on the small finger of His divine hand for seven days. The area of Govardhan is full of wonderful forests, lakes
The Stolen River, the multiple award-winning documentary about the River Yamuna has been released for public screening in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. The film is now available in six languages: English, Italian, Hungarian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.
In celebration of the holy month of Kartik, communities who are wishing to entertain their guests with a heart-rending but inspiring story of young Brajabhasi environmental activists trying to save their sacred land and
By Visakha Devi Dasi
The desire to be soul-conscious inspires a move to a soul-compatible place.
“The soul [jivatma] is unborn, eternal, immortal, and primeval. It does not die when the body dies.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.20)
I first heard details about jivatmathe soulin 1971 during my maiden overseas trip. I was reuniting with my then-boyfriend (later husband) John in India, and to me, a born and bred atheist, jivatma was a quaint irrelevant idea.
An idea, however, can be like a seed: it can germinat
By Bhakti Chaitanya Swami
Hare Krishna dear devotees, this is a long read. Please persevere through it all. I hope it is worthwhile
We just had an amazing visit to the Balaji/Venkatesvara temple, the main temple at Tirupati. Or more correctly at Tirumala, on top of the hill above Tirupati town.
Balaji, arguable more properly known as Venkatesvara or even Srinivasa, was looking amazing. By the kind arrangement of the local GBC, Revati Ramana prabhu, I was able to get special darsana early in the
An innovative new website, Chantnow.com, was offered to Srila Prabhupada on Radhastami, September 9th, and aims to revolutionize online outreach for ISKCON.
The site’s goals are to 1) Make Krishna consciousness relevant, relatable and easy to understand for someone who doesn’t know anything about it. 2) Provide a systematic course that they can follow. And 3) Do all this in a framework where devotees are interacting with them and helping them along the way.
Run by Panchar
By Madhava Smullen
The ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry has released two position papers on perennially debated issues: “Showing Radharani’s lotus feet;” and “Who can participate in public abhisekhas in ISKCON Centers?”
Both can be read in full here: http://deityworship.com/downloads.html#positionpapers
The first paper takes the position that “Srimati Radharani’s lotus feet should not be ever shown publicly at ISKCON temples, whether on a daily basis or particularly on festivals such as Radhast
Yesterday was the disappearance day festival of Srila Prabhupada. At Srila Prabhupada Pushpa Samadhi Mandir, Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, sanyasis, senior godbrothers, community devotees came together to celebrate this festival by offering glorifications, abhisheka, Pushpanjali and a grand bhoga offering. Samadhi Mandir was beautifully decorated with colorful flowers and new asana and golden canopy is offered to Srila Prabhupada’deity. In the evening, Tirobhav Muhurta or the time of disappear
By Anuradha dasi
On October 27, ISKCON New Vrindaban devotees in West Virginia heard of the horrific mass shooting at the Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, a 90-minute drive away from their idyllic rural community. This tragic news affirmed the timeless knowledge of the Srimad Bhagavatam, which instructs us to take shelter of the Supreme Lord in a time where “there is danger at every step” (SB 10.14.58). Devotees visiting New Vrindaban often travel to and from the Pittsburgh airport, and one of t
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you.
As always, this day is bittersweet for me. Knowing that you went back home, back to the spiritual world, is the only consolation for the pain of losing you. Surely our grievous loss was an immense gain for the many residents of the spiritual world. One can only imagine the joyful festivities they held upon your long-awaited return! It is only natural for devotees to appreciate the selfless service of great souls like
