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
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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
By Madhava Smullen
ISKCON Mauritius’ 11thannual Rathayatra at Mahebourg, in the south-east of the island nation, featured a unique offering that truly befit the tropical setting – a boat festival in a vivid blue lagoon.
The festival took place over the weekend of December 15thand 16th. At least 10,000 people attended the two-kilometer Rathayatra procession on Saturday afternoon. Passing right through the center of Mahebourg, it ended on the beachfront, on the edge of a five-kilometer wide lago
By Adikarta das
It is with great sadness that we announce the unexpected loss of our dear godbrother and friend Kaliyaphani dasa, who was killed in a motorcycle accident Thursday night in Alachua Florida.
I knew Kaliyaphani since he joined ISKCON in 1975. He was from an upper class English family, had expensive private schooling and an aristocratic upbringing.
Almost from the day he joined he became a traveling sankirtan devotee. In fact he was the rock on which the great British sankirtan
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 08 March 2015, Stockholm, Sweden, Srimad Bhagavatam 3.1.4)
After years of chanting, we may stop and say, “Why am I doing this? I don’t feel like it anymore. I don’t know. I cannot get myself to chant anymore.” What happened? What happened to your knowledge? Is it all gone? Don’t you know that there is no alternative? Don’t you know that the material world is like hell? Don’t you know that you are caught here? Have you forgotten about all this? Don’t you know that this wor
By Ramai Swami
Srila Locana Dasa Thakura appeared in this world in 1520 A.D., thirty-four years after the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Locana Dasa wrote a biography on Lord Caitanya entitled Sri Caitanya Mangala, based on the diary of Murari Gupta. He also wrote many devotional songs.
Sri Locana dasa Thakura took birth in a family of physicians who resided in the village of Kogram, within the district of Barddhaman. His guru was Sri Narahari Sarkar Thakura. When he was only a little b
In Italy, near the city of Perugia, is the place called Assisi, the birth place of a very popular saint named Francis. He was the son of a wealthy merchant, but he took up the life of renunciation. Committed to a life of self-imposed poverty, humility, and devotion, he attracted many to follow.
“One day he was walking with one brother Leo from Perugia to a very famous temple, St. Maria of the Angel. He was walking for miles and miles, and it was freezing cold. It was raining and snowing. He ask
By Madhava Smullen
Srila Prabhupada called Krishna conscious art “Windows to the Spiritual World.”
Every once in a while, an artist comes along who is truly blessed with the ability to open those windows for us.
One of today’s most exciting spiritual artists, Radhe Gendron, grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s on the New Mayapur farm in France, daughter of pujari Visesa Dasi and handyman Nrsimhananda Das. She started painting at the age of four.
Visesa Dasi was extremely supportive of her daughter’s i
There was a great excitement at Mayapur Campus as HH Bhakti Charu Swami arrived at Mayapur by helicopter landing in the huge parking area behind temple. A grand welcome was offered to Maharaja with flower designs, rangoli and lamp offerings. After a spectacular preaching program at East Medinapur, Maharaja took the helicopter ride to Mayapur. His Holiness will be blessing all of us with a three day seminar starting from 4th Janaury.
Source: http://www.mayapur.com/2019/welcome-to-hh-bhakti-charu
By Chaitanya Charan Das
The world features many attractive things that we clamor and labor to enjoy. Yet their beauty doesn’t last for long. Even while it lasts, their charm dwindles with time, leaving us disappointed.
Is our longing for pleasure meant to be permanently thwarted?
No, asserts Gita wisdom – provided we understand the point of the world: Krishna.
The Bhagavad-gita (10.41) explains that all attractive objects manifest a spark of Krishna’s splendor. However, because the attractivene
“Because Bhagavad Gita is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one need not read any other Vedic literature. One need only attentively and regularly hear and read Bhagavad Gita.”
– Srila Prabhupada, Bhagavad Gita Introduction
Since 1994, the Bhaktivedanta Gita Academy (Mayapur) has been enriching the lives of many with the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is. The Academy provides various courses, such as the Gita Study course and others, which are designed in a way that benefits
By Giriraj Swami
We have gathered at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada in this wonderful temple of Sri Sri Radha-Gokulananda, Sri Sita-Rama-Laksmana-Hanuman, and Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai, in the presence of His Holiness Radhanath Swami and so many exalted devotees. We are entering the new year, and on such occasions we take stock of what and how we did in the last year and what we want to do in the next. Studies have shown, and probably many of us have experienced, that most New Year’s resolutions
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 December 2017, Gold Coast, Australia, Bhagavad-gita 8.20)
At the end of our lives, there will be a weighing scale to see if we have enough to go back to Godhead. We will first put on the scale all our devotional service that we may have accumulated in our lifetimes, and there may not be much movement in the scale at that point. We will then add Prabhupada’s mercy onto our scale, and it will start to show some real movement then. But the real difference comes in when we
By Madhava Smullen
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
