“They [the masses] must have their illusions at all costs; they turn instinctively, as the insect seeks the light, to the rhetoricians who accord them what they want. No truth, but error has always been the chief factor in the evolution of nations…. The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduces them.” (Gustave Le Bon, 1995: 132).
The advent of ‘modernity’ saw the eradication of the ancien regime
How can we chant in a way that it makes us forget the material world and run to Krsna? When you sit down to chant, there will be moments in which you notice that your mind wandered somewhere else – ‘Uuups, I was thinking about my shopping list, that I have to close this deal to get more money and that Suresh Patel said something bad about me – well, he can just wait – I will show it to him!’ You will notice, ‘Where was I? I am sitting here in saintly company, chanting, but what happened?’ What
Wednesday morning, after clamoring aboard a United 747 Jet, I flew over the Pacific Ocean, crossed the international dateline, and landed in Tokyo, Japan at 2:30pm Thursday afternoon.
Ten minutes before our jet landed in Tokyo, our chief purser asked the passengers - who had been without sunlight for nearly eleven hours - to open their window shades.
The instant the passengers opened the shades we were treated to a most magnificent sight: the green earth below with all its majesty and vari
By Madhava Smullen
According to NPR, fear of food shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred people on to plant more vegetable gardens; while community supported agriculture programs (CSAs) are booming.
In New Vrindaban, West Virginia, ISKCON’s first rural community which Srila Prabhupada earmarked as an example of sustainability to the world, resident devotees have a headstart, and are using the pandemic to push themselves closer to their goal of self-sufficiency.
A few weeks ago,
My dear Indradyumna Swami Maharaja,
Please accept my prostrated obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. And all glories to your service.
I could speak for many days about your service to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and for many hours about how you have helped me personally. But today I wish to focus on one area in particular in which you have helped me—my writing, which Srila Prabhupada said I should take up as my “first business” and which thus is my
Courtesy of Covid-19, the sky-high prices of vegetables and having to contend with dried-up herbs pushed us to start our own little garden. My husband was planning about organic fertilizers, timings for watering and ensuring adequate sunlight. However, as I fingered the fertile soil; I realised that the nutrients and strength that Mother Earth provides to those plants was being ignored. We focus on the externals; we praise the gardener’s skills, the fertilizers, right timings of water and sunli
On August 15, 1968, in Montreal, I was initiated at the age of 16-an unqualified person meeting such a great and unprecedented saint as Srila Prabhupada. At the same time, the six pioneers from San Francisco, on their way to London received their Gayatri mantra, or second initiation.
To listen to the transcript of my initiation, please click on this link: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/initiation-rukmini-dasi/
Written transcript begins here:
[Yamuna starts kirtana with “Hare Krsna.”
HG Padmakshi Vinodini Mataji and HG Govinda Vallabha Mataji (from Left to Right)
For the warriors of COVID-19
Reported by Dr. Chetan Hazaree
We often hear that devotees live a life of mature compassion. They perform multifarious activities out of their compassion for the welfare of all living entities. While performing these compassionate acts, their vision is set on serving the Supreme Lord and begging for mercy, not for themselves, but for others. Each mature devotee performs different acts o
When Ghanashyam Das first began his chaplaincy service in New York City, little did he know that he would end up on the frontlines of a global pandemic, risking his own health every day to provide spiritual and emotional support for patients dying of Coronavirus.
Ghanashyam, now 42, joined ISKCON in 2000 at 26 2nd Avenue in New York, the movement’s first ever temple. Later, he moved to the Bhakti Center in Manhattan, where he lived as a monk for eleven years, and where his
Even when there is duty, we have to see what will be the effect of the duty. Not everything should be done very blindly. This is devotee. Devotee means he’s not blind. Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah. (SB 5.18.12) [“All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge, and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva.”] Bhagavad-bhakta means he w
Lord Caitanya’s magnanimous desire was to bless the whole world with His infinite mercy by displaying His most sublime lila of tasting and widely distributing the supreme fruit of love of God, Krishna prema. He thus desired to engage all willing souls to help Him distribute His sublime gifts everywhere. To fulfill his divine desire, Lord Nityananda Mahajan became the chief distributor of this transcendental harvest of pure love through the chanting of the nectarean Holy Names of Lord Krishna, t
Srivasa’s niece was only four years old. Her name was Narayani. She was just seating peacefully in the corner of the room. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu cried out “Narayani! Chant Krsnas name and cry in ecstatic love.” And little Narayani called out “Oh! Krsna, oh! Krsna, oh! Krsna…” and tears just irrupted from her eyes profusely, soaking her body, her limbs trembled and she felt to the ground just crying out “oh! Krsna.” But the devotees saw that they understood the power of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
By Badrinarayan Swami
Hare Krishna,
This message is to report the sad news that the Los Angeles Ratha Yatra, usually held in August, has been canceled due to the Covid pandemic. The City of Los Angeles is not granting permits to any large gatherings for the summer.
We are all sorry to have to report this news. We look forward to seeing you next year at the lotus feet of Lord Jagannath.
Devavrata Prabhu writes: Recently, I asked a boy whom I have been cultivating during the Corona-virus shutdown to write a testimony of his experiences in Krishna consciousness. I hope that devotees are finding it inspiring to reach out to the people we have met and to nourish the relationships.
Here is what Chris wrote:
When I met my wife, she was practicing an Indonesian martial art known as Poekoelan Tjiminde Tulen. It was deeply traditional, and I was struck by its cultural authenticity. I,
Varnasrama College — ONLINE (www.varnasramacollege.com) will be officially inaugurated tomorrow, 15 May 2020 (Friday) with a global Go-Vrishabha Puja in conjunction with Vrishabha Sankranti. The main puja will be conducted at 7:30 AM India Standard Time at Nandi Sanctuary in Sridham Mayapur, West Bengal, India.
Several groups of devotees around the world will also be participating in the global Go-Vrishabha Puja, including members of the Saranagati Village Community in Western Canada, GAURI at
By BB Govinda Swami
I had a pleasant call from Niranjana Swami Maharaja, he told me he is in Mayapur and he was trying to express how happy he is actually feeling in being there. How happy he is being in a place where he can be regulated. He is just having an excellent time in Mayapur. For us people who are always traveling, this arrangement of not traveling is a miracle. We have regulation. We have the proper time for sleeping. We eat at regulated times. We have regulated time for sadhana and
My heart is like a desert, hot with the rays of the sun. This is my internal mental condition. The desire for temporary, material things cannot satisfy me because by nature they are death producing. And not one or two, but thousands of such death-producing desires have taken shelter in my mind. So, my subconscious region is always burning. This is my condition. But somehow, by the grace of sadhu and my guru, the holy name of Krishna with its infinite prospect has entered through the holes of my
