If we are very tolerant, patient and positive, I think that we can deal with a lot. Our false ego may be in the better modes of nature than someone else. Because we are not completely transcendental, we are looking to get close to people that stimulate us positively and from others, we keep a little bit of distance. Our capacity to absorb all that negative energy is not so great; it pulls us down. It is intense to absorb a lot of negative energy.
Sometimes people come to me and say, “Well, I ha
By Ramai Swami
Lord Nrsimhadeva’s appearance festival was celebrated with great enthusiasm at the Southport Centre on the Gold Coast.
Over 100 devotees and guests came for the arati, lecture, drama, puspanjali, feast and prasadam. The drama was especially nice with some of Hiranyakashipu’s soldiers being portrayed by the young devotee children.
Source: http://www.ramaiswami.com/lord-nrsimha-appearance-at-southport-centre/
By Girish Sarin
Each single verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam tastes like transcendental condensed milk of a Surabhi cow mixed with kesar, simply delicious and a nectar most satisfying to even conditioned souls (although it is meant to be tasted by paramhansas – liberated souls). No wonder that, along with Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam is the specific scripture meant for kali-yuga.
I am sharing another transcendental verse and its nectarean purport by Srila Prabhupada, for the pleasure of devotees
From Back to Godhead
Whether we are neophytes or advanced, association of pure devotees is crucial for our spiritual progress.
The pure devotees of the Lord carry the message of Godhead in order to deliver the fallen souls, and therefore the common man who is bewildered by the influence of the external energy of the Lord should avail himself of their association.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.5.4, purport)
The Science Behind Krishna Consciousness
Srila Prabhupada often referred to bhakti-yoga as “the s
Leaving the countryside farm of New Vrajadhama for the capital of Hungary, Budapest, we arrived at the temple of Their merciful Lordships Sri Sri Dayal Nitai Vijay Gauranga on April 20th, rested a few days and finally held a most amazing and enlivening fundraising program with Sivarama Maharaja and 120+ devotees present.
The Hungarian Yatra has been personally built up and developed with the oversight and guidance of Sivarama Maharaja for over thirty years. It is a smooth running and well organ
Vaisesika Dasa: Keeping things simple: To advance in yoga - any kind of yoga - one must first control the tongue. As a rudder is the most critical mechanism for steering a ship, the tongue is one’s most vital organ for defining one’s course in life.
The great Acarya (world teacher) of bhakti yoga, Rupa Goswami, in his essential teachings on bhakti yoga called The Nectar of Instruction, starts with this: “One must first control one’s urge to speak.” If one can control the tongue, he suggests, al
By Radhanath Swami
Essentially there are three planes of consciousness: enjoyment, renunciation, and devotion.
1. Enjoyment
In order to survive, the environment is geared towards exploitation. Why? Because of selfishness. We put ourselves in the center and this results in conflict as everyone has a different center.
2. Renunciation
It is taught that there can be no peace in this material existence because everything is temporary and there is so much conflict. To renounce everything and have a d
Chand Kazi was the Chief Magistrate of Navadwipa. He was a devout & strict Muslim who was well versed in the Koran. As the Chief Magistrate of Navadwipa-Mayapur, he kept law and order for the Hussein Shah and was also the spiritual advisor of the Shah. He was a tyrannical ruler and the Hindus were oppressed in their religious practices. Angry that Hindus were not obeying his order forbidding Kirtana, Chand Kazi went with 2 boats of soldiers to Srivasa Pandita’s house to personally enforce his o
Giriraj Swami: Two days after I first saw Srila Prabhupada and the devotees at Brandeis University in Boston, on Nrsimha-caturdasi, May 1, 1969, he gave a beautiful talk about the nature of a Vaishnava, how a devotee is an ocean of mercy:
“This atheist is so unkind, cruel, that he is prepared to kill his own son, beloved son, five years old. That is atheism. And theism, the father who tortured him so much—after the death of his father, he’s praying to Nrsimhadeva, ‘Please excuse my father.’ Thi
Many times devotees try to reconcile this essentially Christian concept with Vedic understanding, but end up writing lengthy explanations that do not always satisfy the curiosity. This is because it is mostly incompatible with the truths of Bhagavad-Gita, for it has to be broken down in a simplified manner to give a satisfactory and brief explanation.
Predestination
As we may know, the five truths covered by Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, namely Krishna, the jiva souls, nature, time and action or karm
From Back to Godhead
Are we the makers of our destiny or is life pre-destined? Find out here . . . .
In the Mahabharata, Vidura explained to Dhritarastra, “Destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves.” This means that we are not like programmed robots that have no free will, or no choice. Our past karma does determine what will happen in our life, but it does not determine how we will react to it.
Destiny is something like a weather forecast on a journey. A w
Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.22-34. Los Angeles, May 27, 1972,
720527SB.LA
Prabhupada: So today, appearance day of Lord Nrisimhadeva. Lord Nrisimhadeva appeared on this Nrisimha Caturdasi on account of His devotee, Prahlada. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata, abhyutthanam adharmasya [Bg. 4.7]. Paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca dushkritam, sambhavami yuge yuge [Bg. 4.8]. The Lord appears with two purposes. Paritranaya sadhunam: just to give protection
By Amogha das
Pankajanghri Prabhu told me a few months ago that one Mataji had been suffering a health condition that would not go away for years. When she read about Lord Nrsimhadeva curing devotees, she realized that she could pray to Him for this purpose and she did. The condition disappeared.
A few weeks ago Jananivas Prabhu told me that a married couple could not conceive a child. A year ago the doctor examined the wife and said that in the past some disease had occurred and her tubes were
By Madhava Smullen
On Nrsimha Chaturdasi -- Saturday April 28th– ISKCON’s Child Protection Office (CPO) will commemorate 20 years of service.
On the occasion, its North American headquarters in Alachua, Florida – where the CPO was first established in April 1998 – will put on special events to highlight child protection.
North American director Lilasuka Dasi is requesting ISKCON communities all over the U.S. and Canada to do the same.
In Alachua the Appearance Day of Lord Nrsimhadeva, the orig
Question to Radhanath Swami: What is the difference between mind and intelligence?
Radhanath Swami: Lord Krishna speaks about his energies in the Bhagavad Gita. “Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.” Out of these, earth, water, fire, air and ether are gross energies, or the gross elements of creation. The other three—mind, intelligence and the ego—are subtle energies, or the subtle elements of creat
Jayananda made his own notes in the jacket of his Krishna book in a list in point form. He wrote:
“As your begin to apply the book’s clearly described principles to your life you will quickly experience a new realm of mental poise and experience an inner happiness even in the midst of the most trying circumstances.
You will worry less and enjoy more. Your power of concentration, memory, understanding and creativity will increase. You will work more energetically, more confidently, and efficient
By Kadamba Kanana Swami
When Srila Prabhupada was lecturing on the appearance day of Lord Nrsimhadev in Bombay, he was lecturing immediately after a play and he was glorifying Hiranyakasipu because the part was played so well. Then he explained more about the pastimes of Lord Nrsimhadev and at the end he said, “If I had more time, I would have spoken about the prayers of Prahlad.” These prayers of Prahlad were particular favourites of Srila Prabhupada and in a sense, the most important, because
By Sunanda Das
The Hungary temple in Budapest and farm have been personally overseen by GBC member, His Holiness Sivarama Maharaja for over thirty years. Through his guidance and care for his disciples, followers and friends He has created a sweet devotional atmosphere of dedicated ISKCON devotees who are well taken care of spiritually and materially. Anyone who has visited these two communities has appreciated that.
We stopped over first at the New Vrajadhama farm after driving from Slovakia w
Today is Rukmini-dvadasi, the appearance day of Srimati Rukmini-devi. There have been wonderful festivities all day, beginning with the special darshan of the Deities in Their flower outfits, and just now a wonderful abhiseka. During the abhiseka I really felt like I was in Vrindavan. There was so much devotion, spontaneous devotion—every time the pujaris poured another substance on the Deities, there would be gasps and cries of ecstasy and approval. It was really wonderful. And that is life in
By Karnamrita Das
I am going to reprint a series from 2010 during late April till May 20th, when I spent time with my mom. [What follows after this introduction is from 10-21-10] She lay in hospital bed in a hospice, basically waiting to die, though she didn't really understand that, and kept asking when she was going home. When both one's parents have left the world in biological death, and moved on to another life, that is a kind of initiation.
"Loosing" one's parents (were they ever really "
