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6 TIPS FOR GIVING A CLASS
A friend recently wrote me who is giving Bhagavatam class for the first time asking me for some tips. It’s a very, very big subject, there are volumes of books and courses devoted to this topic.
After some consideration I wrote him the following 6 points that I feel are essential. There are many, many other things to consider, but I think these will be helpful for anyone who has to give class.

1) PREPARE: Please, please, please prepare ahead of time, take notes if ne

By Karnamrita Das

[I am continuing the reposting of this 5 part series.] An unusual cold, rainy day in Berkeley, California, but for a particular person, it was a fitting, useful, backdrop for an epiphany, or deep “aha moment.” Chris Cox, in a contemplative mood that was becoming almost normal, was sitting on the floor in his minimally furnished room. A single light bulb hung down from the ceiling by a cord speckled with white paint from an ancient paint job. Warming himself in front of the gas

Krsna does not derive any happiness from the material energy. He enjoys only his inner, eternal spiritual energy. However, the material energy can be connected to Krsna. By engaging the material energy in the service of Krsna it becomes transcendental because the ‘fruit’ becomes transcendental.

Of course, the material world is temporary and anything in the material world is temporary. The material energy is real but all variety of form is temporary. There is no lasting relationship, no relation

Srivas Thakura is the one of the members of  Panca-tattva and 9th March is His Divine Appearance Day.

Honoring Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura on his appearance day is important to all who are or are aspiring to be gaura-bhaktas.  In the ISKCON Śrī Māyāpur Candrodaya Mandir, on this day Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura is decorated with many items of flower jewelry lovingly made by community devotees.  In the morning, devotees hear about the glories of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and take darśana of him.  Around midday, devotees again gat

By Damodara Dasa

I offer my most respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, my spiritual master and the spiritual master of the universe, from whose lotus lips has sprung the eternal message of the Vedas in the purest line of disciplic succession from Sri Krsna, the Absolute Truth, through Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja. He is spreading the teachings of Krsna consciousness around the planet for the be

By Sahadev Sakha Das

Srimad Bhagwatam tells us, that the incarnation of the Supreme Lord in this age of Kaliyuga, is Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is the hidden Avtaar of Lord Krishna and Srimati Radha Rani. The Lord appeared in the form of His Holy Name to preach the yug dharma of this age in the form of congregational chanting of the Maha Mantra as :

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rame Hare Hare

This 16 word syllable is the most effective means by

Giriraj dasa: Srimad Bhagavatam instruct us how to take darshan of Lord.

ekaikaso ’ngani dhiyanubhavayet padadi yavad dhasitam gadabhrtah
jitam jitam sthanam apohya dharayet param param suddhyati dhir yatha yatha

The process of meditation should begin from the lotus feet of the Lord and progress to His smiling face. The meditation should be concentrated upon the lotus feet, then the calves, then the thighs, and in this way higher and higher. The more the mind becomes fixed upon the different pa

By Mahatma Das

How do we maintain self-confidence, yet feel ourselves a fool before our spiritual master? How can we be confident and simultaneously feel unqualified to serve Krishna? Aren’t self-confident people somewhat proud or arrogant?

We are ordinary people engaged in an extraordinary process, a process that will make us extraordinary. Thus, our confidence lies not in ourselves, but in the power of the process of bhakti.

With Krishna’s divine power and intelligence guiding us, we know we

By Aradhika Radha Dasi

The Boat Festival has its roots in Goloka Vrindavan, the spiritual eternal realm. One of the boat pastimes is described in detail in Gopal Champu by Srila Jiva Goswami. One day the gopis, loaded with pots full of yogurt and butter, came to the banks of Manasi Ganaga, wishing to cross the river. They met a boatman who gladly agreed to help. When the boat was already far away from the bank the boatman stopped rowing, saying that He was too hungry. The gopis gave Him whateve

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 22 April 2016, Radhadesh, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.8.14-16)

It is said sometimes that anger is the younger brother of lust. First, there is our desire to control. We want a world according to our desires and if people interfere with that then we become angry!

But it is not that people just interfere because you have to see Krsna behind it. So devotees accept, “Alright, so Krsna did not want this for me. Krsna has another plan for me. This is not destined to be.” One has to acc

By Taru Das

The Agony and the Ecstasy

In this material world everyone needs something to look forward to because generally no one is satisfied with his present condition. They are hoping that in the future, in some other situation or with some other person, they will experience happiness. The working man is always waiting for payday, the student is looking toward summer vacation, the lover is wishing to meet his beloved, the little boy can’t wait to grow up. The materialist becomes so attached

Transcribed by Ananda Manjari dd

HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami
Caitanya Caritamrta, Adi Lila, 7.74
February 28th 2018
Mayapur Dhama

Verse:

nāma vinu kali-kāle nāhi āra dharma
sarva-mantra-sāra nāma, ei śāstra-marma

Synonyms:

nāma — the holy name; vinu — without; kali–kāle — in this Age of Kali; nāhi — there is none; āra — or any alternative; dharma — religious principle; sarva — all; mantra — hymns; sāra — essence; nāma — the holy name; ei — this is; śāstra— revealed scriptures; marma — purport.

Tra

The GBC College for Leadership Development is ISKCON’s official leadership school where potential candidates will be trained for positions of top leadership in ISKCON. It is a GBC initiative offering interactive classroom and online classes from experienced ISKCON instructors. Dedicated to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

First residential of year 2018 is in ISKCON Pune, NVCC from 24th Feb to

By Ramai Swami

The Canberra Bhakti Vrksa program has been going on for over 10 years. I was a guest at the last one and quite a number of devotees and friends attended.

What is a “Bhakti Vrksa program?”.

It is when a small group of congregational devotees meet every week to practice Krishna consciousness and to plan preaching activities. In these Bhakti-vriksha groups the devotees learn how to nourish their spiritual creeper and to cultivate their service attitude in cooperation with others.

Ev

I have heard this phrase that whatever happens is for our good. Honestly, at least in the past could not find meaning to this phrase till I came in contact with Bhagavad Gita.

According to Bhagavad Gita (8.16), nothing in this material creation is actually good. We have a choice to accept what Krishna says or we can accept our own idea of good. But from Krishna’s perspective, this place is a place of misery and it is temporary. Even if we accept this place as good it is still temporary. Regard

We read about Vasudeva Datta who was such a great devotee. He wanted to deliver the entire universe by taking on the sinful reactions of everyone in the universe – he was ready to do that. Lord Caitanya was so impressed by Vasudeva Datta that he had said, “He has purchased me. He can sell me in the marketplace,” and then he said, “Whoever touches the body of Vasudeva Datta will go back to Godhead. Not only that, even the wind that has touched the body of Vasudeva Datta, if that wind now touches

For a preacher, there are four things:

īśvare tad-adhīneṣu
bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca
prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā
yaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ -SB 11.2.46

When in the lower stage of devotional service, he cannot become preacher. When he's in a little upper, second stage, he can become preacher. So preacher has to see four things. First of all God, īśvara, and tad-adhīneṣu, and those who are devotee. God, His devotees, and bāliśa, innocent, he does not know anything about... So three = God, devotee, and the i

 (Kadamba Kanana Swami, 02 May 2015, Simhachalam, Germany, Seminar, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.18.8)

trasto ‘smy ahaḿ kṛpaṇa-vatsala duḥsahogra-
saḿsāra-cakra-kadanād grasatāḿ praṇītaḥ
baddhaḥ sva-karmabhir uśattama te ‘ńghri-mūlaḿ
prīto ‘pavarga-śaraṇaḿ hvayase kadā nu (Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.16)

“O most powerful, insurmountable Lord, who are kind to the fallen souls, I have been put into the association of demons as a result of my activities, and therefore I am very much afraid of my cond

From Back to Godhead

By Navina Shyama Dasa

When atheists decry religion as a crutch, most believers bristle. Perhaps we should agree instead.

While riding in the elevator at my workplace the other day, I noticed that one of my fellow passengers was supporting himself with a pair of crutches. I asked him why, and he responded that he had broken his leg while skiing. After the interaction, I found myself reflecting on the view that many people have of religion as a crutch. They mean it, of course

By Kadamba Kanana Swami

Before the Ratha Yatra performed, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu engaged in the pastime of the cleansing of the Gundica temple. It is said that all the devotees were engaged by Caitanya Mahaprabhu in sweeping the dirt. Mahaprabhu himself would sweep up the most dirt and at the same time, he would check on everyone else. If they did not do enough, he would tell them, “Is that all?” In this way, he pushed everyone to sweep up more dirt but he swept up more than everybody else tog