By Sunanda das
Headed by Premavatar Gauranga prabhu, the TOVP Construction Manager, we recently began mounting the decorative stars and ribbons onto the domes, beginning with the Planetarium dome.
Work is progressing rapidly and three segments have already been completed. Once completed, each segment is sealed and waterproofed insuring they will maintain their integrity and beauty for hundreds of years into the future.
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 June 2012, Cape Town, South Africa, Bhagavad-gita Lecture)
The 5th Chapter of Bhagavad-gita gives us a metaphor of the lotus flower that sits on water but yet is not affected by the water. The water just runs off and the lotus is blossoming in that condition.
In this analogy of the lotus in water, the water represents the struggle for existence that everyone is facing and the lotus is a symbol of one who is not affected by that struggle for existence. A lot of people
"All you have to do now is carve away everything that does not look like a beautiful elephant!”
When a budding sculptor approached his master for guidance, he received some cryptic advice. After quizzing him on his purpose, the young craftsman replied: “More than anything else, I would like to sculpt a beautiful elephant.” Without the blink of an eyelid, the master set a block of stone and some tools in front of the young boy. “Here is some marble, a mallet, and a chisel” the master said, “
gadadhara-paṇḍitadi — prabhura nija-sakti
tan’-sabara carane mora sahasra pranati
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto the internal potencies of the Lord, of whom Sri Gadadhara Prabhu is the foremost.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 1.41)
Sri Gadadhara Pandita is one of the five Panca-tattva, who along with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Sri Advaita Acarya, and Srivasa Thakura descended to this world to teach pure devotional service and spread the chanting of the holy nam
By Prema Rupa Madhava das
In the city of Campina Grande, surrounded by Brazil’s warm climate, devotees from different generations and places within Latin America gathered with one thing in common – a fervent desire to learn how to better perform their services in their respective yatras. Srila Prabhupada always wanted ISKCON to be at the forefront of education in the world. For this, it is necessary that our leaders develop their spiritual strength, their loyalty to the principles of devotiona
Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita says that for a soul to accept Him as the Supreme Being requires millions of life times of sojourn in this material creation. In this long sojourn, if a soul is fortunate to meet a bonafide spiritual master, then that soul embarks on the journey back home back to Godhead.
In one lecture, Srila Prabhupada spoke about this potential jiva. Prabhupada said that it is not only that the spiritual master has to be bonfide but also the disciple has to be bonafide. By that
In everything in our life, if we see the connection with the Supreme and we see, “I didn’t make this world. I appeared in this world. It was already there. It is not mine therefore, it actually was made by someone else – the Supreme Lord and it is his. I am meant to use it for his purpose and not for my purpose.”
Then, one becomes an agent; one becomes a via media; one becomes surcharged, electrified, mystified; one becomes potent with spiritual energy. At that time, we become spiritually empo
By Madhava Smullen
The ISKCON Tribal Care Initiative’s 2018 convention ran from March 30thto April 1stin Mayapur, West Bengal this spring. It drew 2,000 tribespeople from thirteen tribes in five Indian states – each with their own culture, language and dressing style.
Tribes represented included Reang, Tripuri, Halam, Hojang, Bauri, Shanthal, Tea Tribe, Munda, Safahora, Sabar, Karbi, Dimahasao, and Boro.
“We try to bring them all together to celebrate the diversity, learn about each other and
Mahatma das: There is No Failure on the Spiritual Platform. Spiritual success means to please Krsna and guru, and can sometimes have nothing to do with measurable external results. Since devotional service is absolute, you can even successfully serve Krsna in your mind.
In the Nectar of Devotion there is a story of a devotee who wanted to offer sweet rice (khir) to his Deities, but couldn’t afford the ingredients. So he cooked the sweet rice in his mind. While in this meditation he touched the
By Madhava Smullen
With its ambitious new development project, ISKCON’s Gita Nagari farm in Pennsylvania is inviting devotees to move to the community to experience Krishna conscious village life.
Founded by Srila Prabhupada in 1974, Gita Nagari is an optimal setting to practice his vision of simple living, high thinking. It has 350 lush green acres, a vegetable garden, 80 protected cows, and its own dairy, all centered around the temple of Sri-Sri Radha Damodar.
Its new “Gita Nagari Lifestyle”
Sri Navadvipa Dhama has long been a center of learning and education. In the time of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, people would come from all over India to Navadvipa – the educational center of the country. Now, Sri Dham Mayapur has three esteemed schools for children’s education, one of which is the Bhaktivedanta National School (BVNS).
Bhakti Purusottama Swami was the main inspiration behind the school, as he understood the need for the local children to have a basic education so that they
Social get-togethers are memorable and warmer when in the presence of widely and genuinely respected loving elders. They are even more enchanting when people express their gratitude openly and downplay their mutual differences of opinions.
Otherwise social events are typically shallow formalities attended out of social pressure. Even if attended willingly, if devoid of the warmth of loving elders and heartfelt gratitude, social functions are like any other means of popular entertainment meant
By Sunanda Das
With great pomp and ecstacy, the TOVP Euro Tour led by Lord Nityananda’s Padukas and Lord Nrsimhadeva’s Sitari and accompanied by Their Graces Jananivas and Braja Vilas prabhus departed Mayapur, arriving in Belgium on April 10th. This is the third year of such touring, bringing the mercy and darshan of Lord Nityananda and Lord Nrsimhadeva to devotees in every corner of the world.
The first stop of this tour was the Radhadesh temple in Belgium. The program was held at the temple o
Answer by His Holiness Romapada Swami
Does spiritual advancement depend on the degree of advancement of the spiritual master?
Question: Srila Prabhupada said in certain places that one should accept a spiritual master whose guidance will make one’s life perfect. Would it make any difference to one’s spiritual progress if the spiritual master one accepted was:
(A) At a different level of realization to, say, another spiritual master?
(B) Both coming from a bona fide disciplic succession.
Or does
Balaram Nityananda Das: “Krishna Katha and Krishna Kirtan must go together side by side like husband and wife, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur tells us, each one supports the other.” – His Holiness Chandramauli Swami. After a year of asking Maharaj to speak something about Kirtan, He finally agreed to speak about the importance of Krishna Kirtan along with Krishna Katha. It’s such an important topic for the success of our spiritual lives!
By Sri Nandanandana dasa (Stephen Knapp)
I was asked to look into this a few years ago by someone who knew of my research abilities. But I have not been able to until now because of other priorities. But this topic has come up before, that actually there were two different Buddhas that played the part to establish Buddhism and its principles of ahimsa and nonviolence and its monist philosophy.
In the following material, we will look at the evidence that seems to indicate that there was first th
From Back to Godhead
By Mayapur-shashi Dasa
Reflections on an article written by Srila Prabhupada in 1956 and on how we as Vaishnavas should think of Lord Buddha today.
In the May 5, 1956, issue of Back to Godhead, Srila Prabhupada published his article “Lord Buddha: The Emblem of Theism.” The opening paragraph informs us of the transcendental poet Sri Jayadeva Acharya’s worship of Lord Buddha. Srila Prabhupada then quotes the poet’s Sanskrit prayer to the ten incarnations of the Personality of
By Karnamrita Das
Part one: The Metaphysic of Simultaneous, Inconceivable, Oneness, yet Difference
“In my unmanifested form
I pervade the Universe,
though I’m present everywhere
I am also apart from all.” [Bg 9.4]
In the broadest sense
Krishna is everything--
with more knowledge and focus
we learn about His energies.
Within the One Energy
there is spiritual variety
as Krishna is like the sun
his energies, the sunshine.
Here is Chaitanya’s metaphysic
of simultaneous, inconceivable
Oneness yet di
The qualities that degrade us are, unfortunately, so familiar, near and dear to us. They are “the wealth of the evil”(āsura-sampada). Krishna lists them in Gita (16.4):
dambho darpo ’bhimānaś ca krodhaḥ pāruṣyam eva ca
ajñānaṁ cābhijātasya pārtha sampadam āsurīm
Dambha means being super loud about how wonderful we are, and extremely quiet about how lame we are.
Darpa is the root of the Sanskrit word for mirror (darpana). It means admiring oneself, fawning over one
