By Pancharatna das
Last month ISKCON Online completed the launch of Chantnow.com and we have started our marketing. We are gradually building a following on social media and getting some good initial response to our advertising. Here’s an article about it – https://iskconnews.org/chantnowcom-makes-bhakti-yoga-relatable-to-total-newcomers,6748/
When we began this project one of our primary goals was to provide a way for devotees, especially book distributors, to connect people they meet with a f
By Urmila Devi Dasi
CELIBACY IS SUCH an important part of Vedic education that the Sanskrit word for student is brahmacari (“celibate”). The pressure to give up celibacy begins, of course, in adolescence, the most dangerous ageand often the turning point of one’s life. Young adults need guidance before and during the teenage years to recognize and follow the right path.
Celibacy trains adolescents for self-restraint, whether they stay single or get married. It develops their inner strength, sel
Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.3-5.
“Piety refers to the process of cleansing the heart. As recommended by Lord Caitanya, one has to cleanse the dust from the mirror of the mind, and then advancement on the path of liberation begins. Here also the same process is recommended. Malam means “contamination.” We should learn to despise all the causes of devastation, beginning from irreligion and cheating, and then we shall be able to make advancement in a life of piety. The
By Purushottam Nitai Das
Imagine if a message suddenly flashes on the sky: “Due to a technical fault the supply of oxygen will remain unavailable for some time all over the world. Next update about the issue in another hour”. What would happen to us? There won’t be just utter chaos but soon the earth will become a graveyard. Not even vultures and jackals would be alive to feast on the dead bodies. But has it ever happened? Never. Can it happen in future? Sceptics and agnostics may say, “Yes”. B
Indradyumna Swami: This is a family that has been visiting our festival in Poland every summer for 12 years. They plan their vacation around our event. After our program this evening they decided to go deeper into Krsna consciousness and bought 10 books; one copy each of Srila Prabhupada’s large size Bhagavad Gita and one copy each of a smaller version of the Gita. They also purchased 4 other books on the science of self-realization. “We have plenty of time to read them now on our vacation,” th
By Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami
When we think calmly and carefully about this wonderful universe, we can see that everything is working under the control of a supreme brain. The arrangements in nature are perfectly ordered. Things would be at random without the careful planning of a scientific and engineering brain. It is a common understanding that there is a cause behind each action. A machine cannot run without an operator. Modern scientists are very proud of automation, but there is a scien
Question: The caring attitude is pleasing to everyone, but generally the default attitude in this world is one always thinks selfishly. So is it an inbuilt script of the mind that makes one think selfishly?
Radhanath Swami: The false ego misconceives: “I am this body, I am this mind, I am the controller, I am the proprietor, and I am the selfish enjoyer.” This is foundational to all material complications. It impels us to put ourselves above others and act selfishly. And when we continue to act
By Sacinandana Swami
It is my great pleasure to share something with you today that is characteristic for Vrindavan: talk about Radha and Krishna. The topic is the journey of Radharani to meet Her beloved Krishna. It is very nectarean and dear to the vaisnava’s heart because in some ways it represents our own journey of eagerness to Krishna.
Lotus-eyed Radha walks into the forest like the personified Goddess of spring, making the trees and creepers bloom with flowers. Everywhere She looks She
Nityanand Ashraya Das: ISKCON’s Congregational Development Ministry (CDM) Mayapur had organized a 2-day workshop entitled “Bhakti Vriksha-Hands on Training” for the leaders from all over the world.
For the 2nd time, this training was held in November 17th and 18th, 2018, and twenty two devotees from Malyasia, South America, Canada, South India, Remuna and various parts of India participated. The workshop was facilitated by Nityanand Ashraya Das (Temple President) from ISKCON Bahadurgarh, Haraya
By Madhava Smullen
After the major success of the recent Bhadra Campaign, in which devotees all over the world distributed thousands of full Srimad-Bhagavatam sets, the BBT Marketing, Communications and Innovations team is launching a new global campaign for this winter’s Prabhupada Marathon – “Be A Giver.”
“One of our main goals is to unite the world as a team,” says BBT trustee and sankirtan strategist Vaisesika Das. “With the Bhadra Campaign, we felt a really strong sense of cooperation bet
You must know that there is bhakti with nectar and bhakti without nectar. Bhakti without nectar means that we do not obtain a taste from our spiritual practices that is higher than the taste created by material things like smartphone apps, movies and all the other ‘maya’ our town has to offer. Thus, it is very important that we perform bhakti with taste.
In other words, we need to know how we can relish the five processes of bhakti and avoid boredom. This is much like drawing juice from sugarca
By Kadamba Kanana Swami
On the banks of Sri Radha-kund we gather.
“Let us sit down and hear about what we are really seeing. There is another reality here that is available to those who are absorbed. Since we do not have spiritual vision, Krsna Das Kaviraj Goswami opens our darkened eyes in the Govinda-lilamrta and shows us…”
“Krsna arrived at Radha-kund. The jewelled staircases lead to pavilions encrusted with precious stones.”
We sit on the hard stone steps, looki
Just few days left for Kartik festival to come to a close. Last five days of Kartika, devotees observe Bhisma Panchaka Vrata, especially devotees gather at holy dhams like Mayapur , Vrindavan, Puri to celebrate this Vrata. Today HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami spoke on the sweet pastime of Damodar lila- which will continue for next few days.
Source: http://www.mayapur.com/2018/damodar-lila-lecture-by-hh-bhakti-purusottama-swami/
By Sacinandana Swami
When something upsets us, we can remind ourselves: “Yes, this is the material world, and this is bound to happen. When a stone drops into water, it will get wet. When a soul drops into the material world, it will experience miseries. That is just the way it is; there is no way around it.”
At that time you need some spiritual orientation. You see, most of us act on the social level and add a little Krishna consciousness. “Oh yes, I have my friends, colleagues, projects, and
By Akhandadhi das
There have been a number of scientific studies recently that try to analyze if animals have any form of morality. This is obviously complex since it is nigh impossible to get inside the mind of a poor dumb creature and there is always the accusation of anthropomorphizing.
The subject is important to many people because there seems to be various beliefs with vested interests in the interpretations. For instance, Charles Darwin believed that animals expressed morality and that w
By Urmila Devi Dasi
SB 6.16.41
Being full of contradictions, all forms of religion but bhagavata-dharma work under conceptions of fruitive results and distinctions of “you and I” and “yours and mine.” The followers of Srimad-Bhagavatam have no such consciousness. They are all Krsna conscious, thinking that they are Krsna’s and Krsna is theirs. There are other, low-class religious systems, which are contemplated for the killing of enemies or the gain of mystic power, but such religious systems,
By Sacinandana Swami
Bhakti takes two forms in this world. On the one hand the form of activities you perform with body, voice and mind, and on the other hand the form of feelings. These devotional feelings are the inclination to serve Krishna in a favorable way, in other words giving pleasure to Him. The feelings of bhakti-bhava also include eagerness, gratitude and being moved by genuine love.
Just yesterday I developed another feeling: urgency. This is what happened.
I was on parikrama arou
By Chaitanya Charan das
Question: At one moment we are absorbed in devotional thoughts and then suddenly at the next moment we become submerged in sensual, even immoral, thoughts. Why is spiritual life so unstable?
Answer: It is not spiritual life that is unstable; it is we who are unstable in our spiritual life. And our instability is due to our having not yet recognized the gravity of gravity in spiritual life.
The gravity force in spiritual life
The force of gravity is a simple, real, undeni
By Giriraj Swami
Terrible forest fires have been raging around Ventura and Ojai, California, devastating homes and everything else on their way. I recalled Srila Prabhupada’s discussion of the first verse of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s Sri Gurv-astaka:
samsara-davanala-lidha-loka-
tranaya karunya-ghanaghanatvam
praptasya kalyana-gunarnavasya
vande guroh sri-caranaravindam
“The spiritual master is receiving benediction from the ocean of mercy. Just as a cloud pours water on a forest fire
By Naimisaranya Devi Dasi
It rains in Vrndavana. The Vrndavana rains are purifying. Maharaja pops his head into the bus apologising for the weather and the delay, and announces a change of plans. Today we will go to Govardhana. Jai Giriraj!
The famous sandstone domes of Kusum Sarova come into vision. A bustle of pilgrims in the parikrama path intermingle with monkeys, cows, rickshaws and mobile sugar cane juice stalls but we leave the hustle for the highest platform: the
