Last week I was asked, “What’s the most important practice for advancing in spiritual life?” Srila Prabhupada said chanting of Hare Krishna is most important. Some have suggested that devotee association is more important because without it, most of us wouldn’t have the strength to chant Hare Krishna.
I agree. But I think there is a principle even more fundamental than this.
OUR VERY DESIRE TO ADVANCE IN SPIRITUAL LIFE IS THE CORE CONDITION UPON WHICH OUR ADVANCEMENT IS BUILT.
“One’s devotion a
“My father and the coach at UCLA were pleased with my volleyball successes, and my mother was satisfied with my academic work. But I wondered if Krishna was pleased.”
I was born in Los Angeles in 1949. My parents were avid volleyball players. My father had been one of America’s best, and my mother had been a third-team All-American. I started playing volleyball when I was four. I passed through school easily. Sports dominated my free hours, and generally my childhood was a happy one. With ado
A lot has changed since H.H. Subhag Swami’s last visited the Wellington ISKCON temple many years ago. But the one thing that remains unchanged is the teachings of Srila Prabhupada and his disciples, H.H. Subhag Swami Maharaj being one of them. Initiated by Srila Prabhupada himself in 1971, H.H. Subhag Swami has since served Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission and vision from Sridham Mayapur for the last 40 years out of his 46 years in ISKCON.
On his recent four-day Wellington visit, coinciding with
In this article, I begin with a confession of what I experience as a common experience for men with an addiction to pornography, based on my life and deep empathetic conversations with others. I will share what I believe to be the way to overcome this addiction in Krishna consciousness. This includes the necessity of an environment with minimal temptations, knowing of the science of overcoming anarthas, and the value of being genuine in relationship with others. I will take the liberty of writ
ISKCON’s Govardhan Eco Village (GEV, http://www.ecovillage.org.in) won the National Agri-Tourism Award for its initiative of Eco-Tourism as a catalyst for Rural Development. The Award was given during the National Agri Tourism Conference organized at Y.B. Chavan Auditorium, Mumbai on 16th May. Prior to the award ceremony, GEV also made a presentation about its role in developing Agri-Tourism.
The conference was organized by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) on the occasion o
By Nartaka Gopala dasi
Saturday, May 6, 2017: A group of four of us drove the 168 miles from Alachua, Florida to Clearwater Beach, Florida. It was very beautiful as we drove for miles across Old Tampa Bay with the ocean on both sides of the road. As we neared the venue I saw Clearwater Beach Mayor George Cretekos walking down the street with a huge maha flower garland around his neck, and looking happy. Narayani devi dasi later told me that when he spo
Display panels in the exhibition Light of the Bhagavata. In the foreground is the cover of the last edition of the book in Portuguese.
Many works of art with sacred themes have been painted under the inspiration of ISKCON-founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. These paintings were originally intended to illustrate books by Prabhupada, author of many original writings and translations, and were also meant to decorate temples and houses of devotees of Krishna.
The world, however, moves on,
In one of his past postings Dr. Dr. Ádám Kun asked a question “I kept on asking what is your problem with evolution, and you keep on not answering that question. How does evolution interfere with your faith? How does it interfere with your study of consciousnesses?” and we have also sent reply for the same from one perspective.Serge Patlavskiy also said on the same thread “Darwinian hypothesis of biological evolution may continue to be studied at schools and universities, however not as a theo
Our Haight Street apartment in San Francisco was constructed after the great earthquake of 1906. There was an old iron fireplace with a mantel in the front room. On the mantel we kept our little doo-dads and sacred objects, like our gods-eye, a couple of photos of the Swami, and some shells and pretty rocks. One day in mid-February, 1967, I noticed a brightly painted wooden figurine there. It was about three inches high.
“What’s this, Malati?”
“I, uh, I got it the other day at Cost Plus—it’s fr
Muslim and Vaishnava scholars gather in D.C. for their most recent dialogue (Anuttama Das and Dr. Saunallah Kirmani are seated together on the far right)
By Anuttama das and Sanaullah Kirmani
We live in a world dominated by reports of religious tension and conflict. The sources of such are long and complex, and not the focus of our paper here. However, no one can deny such tension and conflicts are an ever-present experience for all of us—whether it be through reports of wars in the Middle Eas
There were times when the mainstream media lumped us ‘Hare Krishna’s’ with the weird mix of pseudo religions and charlatan led cults, whose existence caused consternation among the establishment and parents alike. When out on book distribution, we would often be confronted with, “Are you sure you are not one of those dangerous David Koresh Heavens Gate suicide pact lunatics?” In many ways we had to plead our case as legitimate followers of the Vaisnava path, without being the glassy-eyed brainw
Two court cases under the anti-terrorism amendments Irina Spring once again call into question the adequacy of the guardians of law and order. In the first case, the FSB insists that conduct worship services in a residential building are prohibited. In simple terms — encroach on the right to pray in his apartment.
At the same time in the Crimea, the judge has already ruled that the agreed religious procession through the streets of the city breaking the law.
We are talking about an event orga
Srila Prabhupada: My Guru Maharaja never compromised in His preaching, nor will I nor should any of my students. We are firmly convinced that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all other are His part and parcel servants. This we must declare boldly to the whole world, that they should not foolishly dream of world peace unless they are prepared to surrender fully to Krishna as Supreme Lord. From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Giriraja, 30 December 1971
Source:http://www.dandavats.c
In the Narada Pancharatra, it is said bhakti begins only after we give up our material designations that is connected to our body and mind. As long as we are connected to the body and mind, any devotion we perform is mixed devotion (mixed with karma and knowledge).
When a soul engages in service to Krishna from his constitutional position as servant, then that service is called bhakti. Any service to Krishna thinking I am this body/mind becomes mixed. So this mixed service is called sadhana
We are very pleased to announce that a team of Engineers from the Manufacturing Company in Moscow that built the parts for the TOVP Kalashes has arrived in Mayapur.
A group of six engineers came to our site to assemble the grand Kalashes and no time was wasted as they enthusiastically began the work without delay. When Bhavananda prabhu heard of the beginning of such work, he rushed to meet them and admire the elements of the Kalashes.
Within a few months time, the Kalashes for the two smal
Philosophy – from the Greek words:
philo – love of, affinity for;
sophos – wisdom.
Philosophy – the love of wisdom
Wisdom – from the Old Norse visdomr – the ability to think and act utilising knowledge, experience, understanding, discernment, insight and common sense – coupled with just judgment as to action.
Philosophy means the love of wisdom, the ability to separate truth from error, reality from illusion, and the subsequent discernment as to correct action. Professional philosophers use the
"We are instructed to “surrender”; and at the same time, Srila Prabhupada encourages us to achieve apparently impossible tasks, like “Krishna-izing” the whole world, and becoming fully qualified spiritual masters in our own right."
“Is my Krishna consciousness completely dependent on the mercy of the spiritual master and Krishna, or do Ihave something to do with it?”
Krishna says, “Surrender unto Me…”, and that may sound very simple and clear. However, there are many possible layers of reali
In the association of vaisnavas, especially advanced vaisnavas, we become uplifted beyond our normal limitations of holding onto material security. We hesitate about jumping forward in spiritual life, that Krsna will catch us, that Krsna will provide, that Krsna always protects his devotee.
But some devotees die and not in good ways. Where was Krsna then? Was he not protecting? Does he protect some devotees and not others? Does it depend on the degree of one’s Krsna consciousness? Does Krsna on
When we come to the spiritual platform, we think life is only love and only peace, that there is only one feeling, one emotion… LOVE-and-PEACE.
But no, no, no… true spiritual emotions are not only lovey-dovey, it is also YOU RASCAL! We know one of Prabhupada’s favourite words was rascal. In fact, I didn’t even know the word before I started reading Prabhupada’s books. I learnt the word from Prabhupada. It may even be an outdated word but in Iskcon, it is a bit of an endearing word.
When people
Devotees came from all over Australia to attend the ISKCON three day Annual General Meeting, which was held at Melbourne temple.
Temple President, Aniruddha Das, and a wonderful team of devotees looked after everyone very nicely with accommodation and prasadam.
Many topics were discussed to help maintain and push forward ISKCON into the future.
Source:http://www.ramaiswami.com/australian-leaders-meeting/
