Recently, I read one of interesting article in a leading newspaper about spiritual organizations starting FMCG companies & becoming very successful in India. They criticized & generalized all the spiritual organizations saying, “If you want to become successful businessman in India first become spiritual teacher.” Add followers with skillful presentations through TV, internet…etc & open the business to become successful entrepreneur.
From Wikipedia we get the information, about Patanjali (Ramde
Vertical relationship means top to bottom (top down) relationship between Krishna and you. Once we are connected with devotional life. We will realize it.
Horizontal relationships means left & right relationships with you. These are the relationships with immediate family members like father, mother, spouse, kids...Etc. They form the Inner Circle. Outer circle consists of friends, colleagues, neighbors.,Etc.
Sometimes we have a misconception that, we face difficulties in our vertical relatio
Siddha-svarupa: If that seriousness is not there, then it makes a mockery of initiation.
Prabhupada: No, there is no question of mockery.
Siddha-svarupa: No, but if the seriousness is not there...
Prabhupada: That means your preaching is not good, because you are not preaching seriously. That means your preaching is failure, you see? But you should go on, but you should know also that "These men are not becoming serious. Then what is the use of initiation?" You cannot give it up. Then your prea
The last month has been a rollercoaster journey. For over 40 years I have spoken about the harsh reality of life in lectures, funeral sermons, congregational gatherings and personal meetings. Now I am facing those same realities in my own life. It is not an easy pill to swallow.
The Bhagavad-gita explains that we are spiritual beings on a material journey. This life is simply a chapter, and according to the spiritual consciousness we develop now, the rest of the story unfolds. Our current situa
Hari-sauri das: June 5th 1976 – Los Angeles: One exhibit in particular is truly wonderful – that of Srila Prabhupada himself sitting at his writing desk in his Radha-Damodara room in Vrndavana. Made by Locana dasa, the exhibit will be designed so that the head of the diorama slowly looks up as the rays of the rising sun fill the room. Srila Prabhupada had not been informed that his figure actually moved. As he approached it the devotees switched on the mechanism causing the head to look up just
Recently I was distributing books door to door in Gisborne, New Zealand. I knocked on one door and had the great fortune to meet Caleb, a very pleasant middle-aged gentleman and committed Christian. As a successful musician, one of the ways he serves is to glorify God through music at Christian gatherings all around the world. Still, I could understand from his respectful and friendly demeanor that he was open to receiving one of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Utilizing the clever presentation HG Vi
Only in Vrndavana is Krsna fully manifesting his pure transcendental nature which is based only on loving exchange and nothing else. It is not based on any sense of duty. Krsna is only purchased by pure and unalloyed love. To follow a sense of duty is the lower platform of devotional service. Vaidhi-bhakti – it is the platform where one is still materially conditioned and then one takes shelter of rules and regulations.
The higher manifestation of devotional service is devotional service based
By Hari Narayana Das
The annual tourism event entitled Festival Pesona Teluk Tomini (FPPT) was centered in the former location of Sail Tomini, Kayubura Village, Pelawa Baru Village, Parigi Tengah Subdistrict, about 75 kilometers from Palu City, capital of Central Sulawesi Province.
Parigi Moutong District is one of the Second Level Regions in the province of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The district capital is in Parigi. Parigi Moutong district covers most of the eastern coast of Central Sulawe
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
