Toronto's Hare Krishna Temple is excited to welcome back Sankarshan Dasa Adhikari to the Greater Toronto Area from Jan 11-14, 2018. Traveling across the globe, Sankarshan Dasa Adhikari is a teacher, author of several books, and personal mentor and guide to tens of thousands in over 100 countries. He explores and makes knowledge from the ancient Vedic scriptures relevant to us in modern times.
Together with his wife and teaching partner, Vishnupriya Devi Dasi, he brings the purity of an anci
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By Damodar das
Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam2.3.17 during the Sunday program.
“The materialistic man of the modern age will argue that life, or part of it, is never meant for discussion of theosophical or theological arguments. Life is meant for the maximum duration of existence for eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, making merry and enjoying life. The modern man wants to live forever by the advancement of material science, and there are many foolish theories for prolon
By Bhaktimarga Swami
You might wonder if a monk has any interest in family values. The answer is a resounding, “YES!” At least this one finds it a favourite topic. My hosts, Partha and Uttama, and I carried on with a casual discussion on the strength and stability behind a solid family unit. Everyone wants it but the rate of separation within couples is astounding.
“Let’s get behind it,” is their method, and I might add, that to their credit, they are world travellers who present seminars o
ISKCON devotees' 7-year-old daughter Vasilisa Yashenko has been recently filmed in a major Russian TV talent show for children entitled as “Luchshe Vseh” or “Best Of All”.
The audience, as well as the host Maxim Galkin - a famous TV-star, husband of Russian primadonna Alla Pugachova, - were responding to Vasilisa’s performance of an Indian dance with great enthusiasm.
Watch Vasilisa’s heart-warming TV performance here:
https://www.1tv.ru/shows/luchshie-deti-strany-obedinyaytes/vystupleniya/sp
By Kadamba Kanana Swami
In the Bhagavad-gita (7.4), we find a list of material elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and the false ego. These are Krsna’s separated energies. Then we find in the next verse (Bhagavad-gita 7.5), a description of the living being and what they are doing. They are exploiting the universe. We like to think of ourselves as innocent people who are misunderstood but Krsna, in the Bhagavad-gita, has another judgment. According to Krsna, we are mani
By Kadamba Kanana Swami
It is said that the pastimes of Lord Caitanya are like the sky and different birds are flying on different levels in that sky. But some birds do not fly at all, for example, chickens; they do not fly. But I tell you, by this kirtan, we are becoming flying chickens!
Prabhupada said, “Impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary.” That is a fact. Nothing is impossible. We think we know our limitations. We think we know how far we can take it but with the mercy of Lord Caita
By Karnamrita Das
KEEPERS OF THE FLAME: Although this expression is most often used by our Christian brothers and sisters, I totally relate to its exclamation in relationship to what or who I am, or at least, aspire to be: A Keeper of the Flame of Bhakti, or A Keeper of the Flame of Spirituality. Personally, I see this as a responsibility for all followers of Shri Chaitanya and those who represent him. I visualize a flame burning brightly in my heart, or raising a torch in my hand to dispel dar
“IMPOSSIBLE is a word in fool’s dictionary.” Hope you have heard this statement oftentimes. Such inspiring statements invigorate one to do things that apparently seem to be beyond one’s capacity. But did you ever try to contemplate in what ‘context’ such statements could be used? And what could be the driving force that enables a person to make impossible things possible?
Scriptures proclaim that not a blade of grass moves without the permission and sanction of the Supreme Lord. Sure enough, th
By Kadamba Kanana Swami
The essence of spiritual life is simple – to render devotional service to Krsna. This does not require very complex philosophical understanding. However, there are some injunctions which require analysis, for example, “One who does not give to charity according to the customs of the scriptures and who does not accept from charity are considered to be in the mode of ignorance.”
So giving to charity is very important. We have to be charitable because if we are not and we j
By Visnu Murti das
Great news! On January 2nd in a conference call, the Global BBT unanimously voted to *continue* the special augmented book points for Arabic and Farsi books! So it did not stop at the end of the year, and is still active right now and for the whole of 2018 (at least)!
This is also nicely timed for the long awaited launch of the new Arabic Gita which will be awarding the book distributors with 6 (six) points for each sale instead of the normal 2 points for a Gita. So please fe
January 6, 2018
Dear follower of Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Kindly submit your homage to Srila Prabhupada for his Vyasa-puja book by April 15.
In addition, if you’re a direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada, please check out www.sptributes.com to learn about a Vyasa-puja book open to all his disciples. The deadline for submission to this book is also April 15.
The standards for submitting an offering to the traditional Vyasa-puja book (t
By Adikarta Das
Veganism is a very fast growing diet. In the US there was a 500% increase in Veganism in the last 3 years; up from 1% in 2014 to 6% now. In the UK over half a million follow the diet, up from 150000 in 2007.
There are 3 main reasons. Health, ethics and environmental. There is much more information available now, as to the health hazards of eating meat, and there is much more awareness of the cruelty of factory farming and the meat industry. The meat industry is also an environme
In anticipation of the fortieth anniversary of the Juhu temple, Rasa-sundari dasi wrote about serving there:
Serving Guru Maharaja in Bombay from 1990 to 1992 was sometimes a real challenge, because we had hardly any facilities.
In the beginning there were only three of us, not even initiated then: Bhakta Juan, Bhaktin Manju, and myself, Bhaktin Flor.
Cooking was done on the second floor in a small kitchen connected to the Bhaktivedanta Institute. Guru Maharaja always took his prasadam in his o
By Madhava Smullen
It seemed like Jason La Shard was living the dream.
Born in Quebec, Canada to Kashubian parents (a Slavic ethnic region in Northern Poland), his incredible physical stature – 7 foot 1 with size 20 shoes – set up his destiny early on.
La Shard started out playing ice hocky, then moved to England in 2005 and became a pro wrestler for the UK Wrestling Force, playing a villain character called “The Titan.” Meanwhile, he studied art history and film at Kent University.
Soon he be
By Madhava Smullen
There’s nowhere like Govindadvipa.
The 22-acre property, originally called Inis Rath, is ISKCON’s only temple on its own island. Located on the waters of Upper Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, resplendent with emerald green foliage in the summer and often shrouded in mists during the winter, it’s perfect for spiritual reflection and growth.
In the sixth century, several of the surrounding 154 islands on Lough Erne were the sites of early Christian monastic communities – who also
Dear Indradyumna Maharaja, please accept my humble bow. Glory to Srila Prabhupada.
Sandipani Muni Prabhu, your older student from Kharkov left the body today at seven in the morning. I saw him the day before, being in Kharkov two weeks ago. Despite his long illness, he was in such an admirable state of Krishna consciousness, he did not speak of anything ’, just chanted on the japa, read and prayed by name to all the devotees in his care.
During the Soviet Union, Sandipani Muni was a military pi
By Chaitanya Charan Das
Suppose while driving to a destination, we take some wrong turns and end up far away from our goal. We may feel irritated, and understandably so. But if we keep beating ourselves up for losing our way, that won’t get us anywhere. We need to resume our journey by accepting where we are and taking the best way ahead from there.
During our life-journey, we sometimes take wrong turns. We make mistakes, indulge in immoral pleasures or get caught in harmful habits. These take
A Neuroscientist Explores the “Sanskrit Effect”
MRI scans show that memorizing ancient mantras increases the size of brain regions associated with cognitive function
From Scientific American Magazine……….
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/a-neuroscientist-explores-the-sanskrit-effect/
Madhavananda Dasanudas ACBSP 1970 : In 1972, Srila Prabhupada took us all by train from Calcutta to Hyderabad.
He was pleased that four of his sannyasis had caused a stir in South India by preachi
All schemes are only useless scraps of paper in the face of war, famine, earthquakes and other disasters. All these disasters are warnings from Mother Durga, and by them she confirms her eternal superiority over the illusioned planmakers.
[Excerpt from Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Ch 3]
It is the duty of a disciple approaching a spiritual master to inquire about his constitutional position. In conformity to that spiritual process, Sanatana has already asked, “What am I, and why am I suffering fr
By Kadamba Kanana Swami
As ISKCON devotees, we are not meant to be fundamentalists! It takes great intelligence to apply the scriptures therefore whenever things are not clear then there needs to be a discussion amongst senior vaisnavas and we try to reach some conclusions. It is not all cut and dry. Every tradition has its fundamentalists and so does the Hare Krsna movement. We have plenty of them, like the Ritviks. They are trying to reduce things to where it is all black and white, and no sh
