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Question: In CC Adi 17.167 Caitanya Mahaprabhu criticizes Islam as being illogical to Chand Kazi “There are many mistakes and illusions in your scriptures. Their compilers, not knowing the essence of knowledge, gave orders that were against reason and argument.” But in prior verse i.e. 166, he states ” Cow-killers are condemned to rot in hellish life for as many thousands of years as there are hairs on the body of the cow" which is even more illogical and unjust punishment by any standard of Ch

By Karnamrita Das

ENCOURAGING ONE ANOTHER TO STAY THE COURSE OF BHAKTI AND GO THROUGH THE INEVITABLE GROWING PAINS AND AND EVEN DEPRESSION plus A FREE VERSE RAMBLING, "FAILURE IS THE PILLAR OF SUCCESS": As I was waking up I was dreaming of having a conversation to encourage someone who was feeling discouraged and hopeless about their life and their practice of bhakti. I like to think that I write to encourage devotees or in general, the spiritually minded, to have a positive attitude in spite of

By Madhava Smullen 

Three months after the category 4 Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico on September 20th, the U.S. territory’s infrastructure is still far from recovered. Only 20 per cent of traffic lights are powered; forty per cent of Puerto Ricans, especially in the countryside, are still without electricity, and many have barely any running water.

This includes the U.S. territory’s only ISKCON temple, which had its roof, veranda and porch ripped off in the storm. Devotees are still st

By Patita Pavana das Adhikary

A condensed version of the following essay about HH (108) Shridhar Swami was read at a recent Vyasa Puja in Mumbai celebrated by his disciples…

In his diaries, HH Indradyumna Maharaja writes that Shridhar Swami trained him up in his early days of sannyasa. However, even though I’m light years from a sannyasi, I received the best guidance from him because I was fixed up by Shridhar Swami in Kirtan Sagar.

It was soon after Shrila Prabhupada departed for Vaikuntha—ju

If you really want to see iskcon a lot stronger than it is at present, and if you are ready to take part in a grassroots revolution, here is a program for you. It is non-political and non-controversial, easy to implement, and with negligible cost, yet it will benefit the whole society of devotees worldwide. The program is that all members of the Krsna consciousness movement should read all of Srila Prabhupada’s books.

Of course, many devotees are already reading Prabhupada’s books, but still, f

One who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately freed from the reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants indirectly [to indicate something else], jokingly, for musical entertainment, or even neglectfully. This is accepted by all the learned scholars of the scriptures.

If one chants the holy name of Hari and then dies because of an accidental misfortune, such as falling from the top of a house, slipping and suffering broken bones while traveling on the road, being bitten by a serpen

Most of the people fear Gita(and other scriptures too!!) and it's teachings. They want to keep themselves aloof from this divine wisdom. Why they fear? They think if I follow Gita I will have to stop my enjoyment and kill my desires, I will have to do this and that and stop doing this and that, then I will be controlled by rules and laws and life will become boring better keep Gita packed in red cloth and offer respects from distance. It's like when a child wants to touch the fire father chasti

By Bhadra Balaram das

Like most of you, I also have met hundreds of thousands of people in my life. When we ask, “how are you?”, depending on our relationship with that person the replies range from “it’s great” to “all well” to “ok” to “going on”. Hardly do we hear, “too bad”. People generally do not want others to know they are unhappy. Why?

You may have seen that persons known to be wealthy do not want others to know when they have financial crisis. Even those who are not rich also do not wa

By Abhimanyu Das

It is a miracle that this Rathayatra in San Juan on December 30th still happened this year after Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on the island of Puerto Rico. New Govardhana, the only Radha-Krsna temple in the Caribbean, had part of the roof of the main temple ripped off and debris was scattered all over the property. For some time, the devotees didn’t even have running water, and they still don’t have electricity. Despite all of these hardships, the dedicated New Govardhana comm

By Sakshi Mohan Das

None other than HG Jashomatinadan Prabhuji Disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada himself odered the construction of the ISKCON Temple in Kathwada in 2016. Known as the Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar Gaudham, the Vaishnav Temple has vigraha of Lord Krishna and Radha along with those of Jagannath, Baladev, Subhadra and also vigraha of Nityananda Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This is the first ISKCON

There are several important steps towards initiation in ISKCON. Although requirements will differ according to locality, most of the steps described here are common throughout the Society. Details are available from your local ISKCON centre.

Before initiation

Initiation means the beginning of something. In spiritual life, it refers to the beginning of a new stage of spiritual practice, normally when you begin some new discipline, begin a course of study of an ancient text, start performing a pa

By Ananda

According to modern psychology, the self is made of a combination of conscious and unconscious self. In the unconscious realm, there are collective and personal forgotten images. Images or memories that we collected from our culture, family and our own individual quarks over a period of time. We may not be aware of these intentionally but is a part of us. This is unconsciously present within us. The ego is a sum total of our conscious and unconscious self and this sum total (ego) is ex

Personal development expert, Brian Tracy, writes: “Here is one of the greatest questions you will ever ask and answer: ‘What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?’”
One should ask the same question about one’s bhakti practice.
Asking this question is vital because, unlike regular career skills that become obsolete, bhakti skills are eternally relevant and potent. By seriously dedicating oneself to any one of the proce

By Kadamba Kanana Swami

When something happens to a devotee, is it karma or is it Krsna acting? This is a big question. Sometimes, we hear, “It’s your karma, Prabhu?” Then at other times, you are told, “Isn’t it Krsna who is behind this?”

Srila Prabhupada explained about how karma works for a devotee in the Nectar of Devotion – the fan (analogous to karma) is spinning and at the time you take up devotional service, the electricity is turned off but the fan continues turning, therefore we are ge

By Bhakti Carudesna Swami

On Saturday, 23rd of December 2017, Iskcon Lomé, Togo, West Africa organized its second Padayatra.
Around 45 devotees from different countries of West Africa met in Lomé, the capital of Togo. We had devotees like Bhakti Carudesna Swami from Côte d ‘ Ivoire, Yuga Prabhu, the west African Council chairman from Ghana, Vrajendra Dhulal and Tribhuvanath Prabhus from Nigeria, Candrasekar Prabhu and Bhakta Séverin from the Republic of Benin and many others from Togo like Atma

More Photos: Click here

Source: http://www.iskconpune.com/glimpses-of-ratha-yatra-2018-iskcon-pune/

By Urmila Dasi (Dr. Edith Best, Professor of ISKCON History and The Sociology of ISKCON at Bhaktivedanta College, Durbuy, Belgium; Associate Editor of Back to Godhead magazine; member of the Sastric Advisory Council to the GBC)

Understanding ISKCON through the lens of social development and history

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada established ISKCON when it consisted of one rented storefront in New York City. He wrote purposes for his new society—to teach spiritual knowledge, consciousness o