Remember a posting about Srimad Bhagavatam set distribution in Sri Lanka at schools? (Read it below)
Well, today I saw how they do it. Amazing. I’m in Sri Lanka for a week. The day after I arrived I was taken to a meeting of government officers, where the devotees were going to distribute sets.
Six of us went into the meeting room, and about ten people at the front stood waiting to enthusiastically put garlands on us. A very respectful, good way to start.
About a hundred people were in the room
Who were we in our past life? Ever thought about that. Maybe we were already devotees in our last life and blew it up so we have come back again; it’s possible. On the other hand, it might also have been that we were a worm and some vaisnava spat and it landed on our head and by that we attained human birth now and our devotional service has begun. It could also have been that we were a rat in our last life and somehow or other ate some prasadam and that is why we still have a rat like mentalit
kaler doṣa–nidhe rājann
asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta–saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.3.51)
Kali yuga is an ocean of faults but there is ONE good quality of this age which is the chanting of the holy name and it is accompanied by the mercy of Lord Caitanya. The importance of the holy name can never be overestimated. We may sometimes ask, “Which service is the best?” and there are different answers. All forms of pure devotional service are equally transcendental
Yamuna-lila devi dasi, a grandmother with a large devotee family, passed away from this world on Tuesday 21st around 4.45pm. She had been in ill health recently and was surrounded by her family at death.
Yamuna-lila and her husband came from Malaysia to Australia in 1987 and lived in a sea-side suburb of Perth. The family had devotees regularly to their home for kirtan, lecture and prasadam.
I was fortunate enough to go with devotees for a final kirtan in her honour. All glories to Yamuna-lila d
His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami participates in Panel Discussion on ‘Healing Historic Divisions in Durban South Africa.
On Tuesday, March 14, 2017, the Department of Sport, Recreation and Culture of the city of Durban, South Africa, hosted a panel discussion at the prestigious Durban International Convention Centre entitled, “Healing Historic Divisions – towards racial harmony”. Over 150 delegates, including city officials, political councillors and religious leaders accepted the Heads invita
Over the last weekend my wife, Nirakula Dasi, and I, had the great pleasure of visiting the devotees in New Remuna Dhama, (ISKCON, Toronto, Canada).
Over three days, the theme of our discussions together during the morning Srimad-Bhagavatam class at the temple was: Miseries in the life of a devotee: karma or Krishna’s mercy?
One of the Toronto devotees, Srimati Arusha, was out of town in South Africa during the classes, but she listened to them over the Internet.
Today, upon returning to Califo
Mahatma Das: Just as one can offer Krishna an existing thing or a present action one can also offer him a future action along with the perseverance to fulfill it. That offering of perseverance is characteristic of a vow.
This is actually a definition or close to a definition of a vow that I found online given by the Catholic Church, so let’s analyze it a little bit.
The idea is that I agree to offer something to you, but a vow is I agree to offer you that forever and I also agree or I commit in
Question: Because of pride somebody assumed himself as great devotee. He regarded himself as an advanced devotee and cultivated enviousness. He couldn’t recognize his deviations in consciousness. Because of restlessness in mind later he offended an associate, a friend. Earlier he had a taste for hearing and chanting because of his genuine humility and sincerity.
Now he lost the taste; instead he became like a hard-hearted and uncontrollable animal. He asked forgiveness from his friend.
In any l
The pious activities of one soul do not just benefit that soul but they benefit others also. It’s like when your son becomes a pious person, you are fortunate because the parents get the benefit from that piety and their destination changes. In the same way, they also get one-sixth the karma of their children. So when your children become criminals and so on, then you get one-sixth of that karma. That is quite a bit – sixteen percent! Think about it… it’s a lot… the little darlings! If you sudd
Today being Ekadasi, I was considering whether or not to go out on an errand, and I recalled an incident that took place on Ekadasi in Madras in 1971. Achyutananda, Bhavananda, and I were based in a supporter’s house, and Bhavananda and I were in the mood to go out and preach. Achyutananda, however, said, “No, it’s Ekadasi. We shouldn’t go out. It’s inauspicious. And besides, it looks like rain.” But we thought, “Oh boy, he is so attached to external rules and regulations. We have the real spir
Srila Prabhupada: The best policy to control the mind is to desire how to spread Krsna consciousness. This is the best. Kamah krsna-karmarpane. Narottama dasa Thakura has said that you cannot be free from desire. That is not possible. This is useless attempt. They say that “You become desireless.” No, that is not possible. How can I…? If I become desireless, I become dead. So long I am living entity, I must desire. I cannot check it. Therefore kama means desire. So at the present moment, we are
Nosocomephobia is the extreme fear of hospitals. It is a fairly common phobia; many people (including US President Richard Nixon) are known to suffer from it. I also never liked(in fact I hated and feared) to go to hospitals because of it's particular atmosphere and medicinal stink. But somehow or other due to circumstances I had to forcefully get hospitalised. During resting on hospital bed I have made few observation and drawn some lessons from it.
1)Ward doesn't matter, disease and it's tre
Everything within the universe is going on according to the arrangement of the Supreme Lord and the universe is arranged in an interesting way. In the Brhad Bhagavatamrta, it is said that we are in the middle planetary systems which are ruled by the mode of passion. Then there are the higher planetary systems – the abodes of the demigods which are predominated by goodness. The heavenly planets, Swarga, are where the demigods are enjoying. And above the heavenly planets are the Mahar-, Jana- and
Question: Is guilt for past deeds a good thing? I feel guilty of past mistakes done when there was no knowledge of Krishna Consciousness; however, that guilt makes me sad and dejected. How to counteract feeling low out of guilt and rather use that realization to become more determined and enthusiastic for Krishna Consciousness.
Romapada Swami: Since Bhaktivinoda Thakur uses the term ‘regret’ instead of guilt, I am going to respond to your question using the term 'regret’ instead.
The connotati
By Radha Krishna Das
ISKCON Food Relief Foundation – Annamrita, an NGO that has been working tirelessly for nearly 13 years to fight classroom hunger and provide the underprivileged school children of India with wholesome nutritious meals has bagged the IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality award for the second year in a row.
Being inspired by Srila Prabhupada – the Founder Acharya of International Society for Krishna Consciousness who was a true visionary and wanted to see a hunger free world
Srila Prabhupada: …a hellish civilization artificially increases the conditions of life, and existence becomes intolerable for everyone. The foolish leaders of a godless civilization try to devise various plans to bring about peace and prosperity in the godless world under a patent trademark of materialism, and because such attempts are illusory only, the people elect incompetent, blind leaders, one after another, who are incapable of offering solutions. If we want at all to end this anomaly of
We were invited to one of the famous university in Nairobi to speak about the Vedic culture. All the students were impressed with the knowledge.we distributed over 100 books in 20 minutes.
One professor commented “if you had gone on for another half an hour I would have converted to being a Hare Krishna”
A Muslim scholar commented, “in all my study I haven’t experienced such deep knowledge”.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/U4AFkv
This is the new Ferry/Shuttle on Mother Ganga at Prabhupada Ghat in Mayapur Dham. This large catamaran will ferry pilgrims to and from Kolkata and Mayapura. (I apologize for the poor quality of the photo)
When I was a teenager, I moved to Amsterdam which is 25 km from where I grew up. At that time, there was no internet but just near to where I stayed was the Dutch Society for Sexual Reform and they had all these posters which said, “If you’re a guy and like guys, call this number… If you like kids, call this number… If you like dogs, try this number!” So all this was there on the window and you could call at anytime. I walked past there every day and I started to think about it and it looked a
My dear Godbrother Sridhar Maharaja,
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Today is the celebration of your Vyasa-puja. It is a day of mixed feelings for me: I am happy to remember your exalted service to Srila Prabhupada, and at the same time I am sad. I miss your association and friendship more than you can imagine.
Despite our intimacy I always considered you my respected Godbrother and held you in the highest esteem. I remember my good fortune in the
