By Patita Pavana das Adhikary
Part One: A Chance Encounter
“Lord Shiva, the spiritual master of the entire world, is free from enmity. He remains ever peaceful and self-satisfied. Among the devatas, no one is greater. How, then, is it possible that Daksha could be inimical towards such an auspicious personality?” (SB 4.2.28)
Recently, I had a long conversation with a self-styled European Shaivite. Having paid an undisclosed sum to a poseur “guru” for the privilege of “becoming God,” he was unwi
In the “sublime and auspicious land of Gaurasundara on the charming bank of the Bhagirathi, Gaudadesh[Sridham Mayapur], which is eternally shining and full of bliss” (extracted from Navadvipastakam Verse 1, Srila Rupa Goswami), on the auspicious Appearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, the GBC College for Leadership Development held the 2018 Graduation ceremony at the ILS (ISKCON Leadersh
By Thakur Saranga dasa
West Bengal’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited Sri Sri Chandrodaya temple of ISKCON Mayapur where she was greeted by the GBC ( governing body commission ) sannyasis with warm welcome and the chief minster was then escorted to the main altars by the head pujari of ISKCON Mayapur temple Jananivas prabhu who guided Mamata banerjee to perform Maha arati to Lord Narasimha deva and prayed for her protection. Mamata Banerjee enquired about the temple worship and offered di
By Lalitamrita Dasi
According to Laxmimoni Dasi, who is in charge of registering the guests at the ISKCON Leadership Sanga (ILS), there are 950 devotees attending the event, coming from all around the world, including Brazil, Nepal, Bangladesh, Australia, South Africa, South America, USA, Canada, Europe, Russia, India and a delegation of 75 people from China.
During the Day 2 plenary sessions interesting concepts were presented by Kaunteya Das and Gopal Bhatta Das addressing a series of questi
Ultimately, the mercy of Mahaprabhu is what we are hoping for but only after we have given our everything – NOT BEFORE and NOT while lying on our back saying, “Oh, I really hope for the mercy of Mahaprabhu.” Not like that but instead, after we have given our everything and we have reached our limits by trying hard and when we reached our limit, that is when we start praying! When we have tried everything to conquer the unconquerable Krsna then miracles can happen by mercy.
Source: https://www.k
Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee visits ISKCON Mayapur today!
ISKCON Mayapur extends a very warm welcome to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee to Mayapur.This is the first time that the Chief Minister is visiting us, and our hope is that she will be inspired by our Mayapur international community and as a result that she will be willing to support and promote the vision of Srila Prabhupada of Mayapur as a spiritual city.
A warm welcome with harinam kirtan will be gi
THE IMPORTANCE OF LORD SHIVA in Vaishana Sampradaya !!!!!
Today is Shiva Ratri the appearance of Lord Shiva!. Lord Shiv is very important part of bhakti as without his mercy and permission we cannot enter any dham or pastime of Lord Radha Krsna
For example
In Vrindavan there is Gopeshwar Shiv was became in the form of gopi to enter krsna lila
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur offered these prayers wriiten for Gopishwara Mahadev when he visited the Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneshwar on Ju
By Lalitamrita Dasi
ILS is acronym for ISKCON Leadership Sanga which takes place in Sridham Mayapur about one month before the Gaura Purnima festival. It is a gathering of gurus, temple presidents, GBC members and other formal and informal ISKCON leaders from around the globe where unity in diversity is discussed as was desired by Srila Prabhupada. The meetings were opened by GBC Chairman Bhakti Caru Swami who said how Mayapur is a place of rest for all the preachers and sankirtan devotees who
I heard a wonderful lecture on Krishna Book by HG Srimati Mataji. I am quoting a small portion from the same lecture on how we should become a conscious cooperator in the hand of Lord.
Here is the text from ‘Krishna’ Book, chapter 4, where, having being warned by Durga Devi that the child who will kill Kamsa has already taken birth, Kamsa is now repenting and is also trying to justify all his past sinful actions, putting them behind the bars, killing their children, etc., as will of providence.
By Madhava Smullen
On February 7th, GBCs, sannyasis, ISKCON leaders and devotees from all over the world gathered to witness the historic installation of the final two chakras on the domes of Sri Sri Radha Madhava and Lord Nrsimhadeva atop the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
The event began with an elephant parade that carried the murti of Srila Prabhupada, along with Lord Nityananda’s sacred shoes, to the site of the towering 113 meter (370 foot) hight TOVP, which is still under construction
By Praghosa Das
The aim of this paper is to present how the “No Objection” procedure, the mechanism the GBC has established to encourage devotees to serve as diksa-gurus in ISKCON, is not contrary to Gaudiya Vaisnava siddhanta. We will examine how the system came to be and why it remains in place as the best option available now for the GBC to ensure as best it can, that ISKCON has qualified diksa-gurus available to its aspiring bhaktas. It will also look at how the procedure best
Some people say, “After 36 years that I have been chanting, I can see no result!”
Do not worry, one day we will all realise that making spiritual advancement is not easy. It takes time. It is a slow process. We make spiritual advancement but we do not see it. One may have no taste for chanting but if one day, it is forbidden to chant; we still cannot stop it. It is not possible. That is how it is. It is deeper that we think it is. At the end of life, all that counts is spiritual advancement. Al
By GBC Attorney Guru Gauranga Das (ACBSP)
On January 19, 2018, an emergency hearing was held in New York Supreme Court for Kings County on an application for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) enjoining the Bharati Center Board led by Ramabhadra Das (the “Ramabhadra Board”) “from interfering with any congregant’s attendance at worship, service and other religious functions in the ISKCON Bharati Center house of worship in Brooklyn, NY.”
The application was submitted jointly by ISKCON’s Govern
By Lila-sakti Devi dasi
2017 was a year full of forward movement and positive changes at ISKCON New Goloka. Established in 1985, our aging temple infrastructure is currently being upgraded and updated to comply with required local building codes. Orange County, North Carolina is particularly stringent with their commercial code requirements, so the renovation process has been long, tedious, and costly. By Krishna’s mercy, however, we are in the home stretch of completing the first part of a mul
By Rasika Kanai Das
On the occasion of ‘Narottama Purnima’, the birth anniversary of Prema Bhakti Mahajan Srila Narottama Das Thakur Mahasaya with fully auspicious festivity in Kheturi Dham, Godagari, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabu left behind Krishna Prema through Padmavati, the river Padma flowing by the side of Prematali, the most auspicious holy place for the vaishnavas. At the age of twelve Narottama dasa Thakura had a vision of Lord Nityananda in a dream. He told Nar
By Hari Narayana Das
Sulawesi is one of the main islands of Indonesia and Kendari is the capital city of South East Sulawesi. We took a flight from Bali to Makassar for a transit of about two hours then another flight to Pomala airport at Kolaka, Sulawesi where devotees were eagerly waiting to receive us. That evening we had the opportunity to interact with few guests who were leaders of Hindu community there. They were happy to discuss Bhagavad-gita with us and also took some books. Next day,
By Rasika Raman Das
A two-day international conference on Vaishnavism: Theory and Practice was held on 18th and 19th December, 2017 at Jadavpur University, organized in collaboration with Stockholm University (Sweden). In this session devotees from various academic fields represented proper a understanding of Vaishnavism and the impact of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement.
Pro Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University, Prof. PK Ghosh, spoke on the importance of interdisciplinary studies, religi
