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If money is the means, then what is the goal? Over 2,300 people around the world tuned in Live where 200 selected local industrialists and leaders gathered in the heart of Cape Town to hear from an ISKCON Swami and celebrity banker on this topic.

With admission by invite-only, individuals considered cream-of-the-crop in the South African white community made up 80% of the gathering. The Provincial Minister of Economic Opportunities in the Cape Town government, Mr Alan Winde, joined the assemb

Dear Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to Sri Nityananda Rama Prabhu!!

Every year on the glorious appearance day of Sri Nityananda Prabhu I offer this short story for the pleasure of the Vaishnavas.

vande çré-kåñëa-caitanya-

nityänandau sahoditau

gauòodaye puñpavantau

citrau çan-dau tamo-nudau

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Krsna Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the

From a seminar of Bhagavata Purana prabhu on karatalas:
Six important things are to understand about karatalas.
1. Direction
2. Pitch
3. Volume
4. Speed
5. Open and closed beats
6. Upbeat and downbeat
In the Prabhupada beat the final beat is half open and half closed.
The thumb is supposed to be fixed on the strap so you do not lose control of your instrument. Use your fingers not the thumb to dampen the sound.
The singer and the mrdanga player work as a team, and everyone else follows the mrda

The lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are essential. Without the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, one cannot ever get the mercy of Radha and Krsna. In other words, one cannot ever be an eligible candidate to go back to the spiritual world therefore we need the mercy of Lord Nityananda.

I just noticed that it is 70 years ago today that Sadaputa Prabhu (Dr. Richard L. Thompson), who made a special and important contribution by writing many books on science and the Vedic worldview and who I worked with 17 years, appeared in this world. To honor him, I share with you my favorite quotes from his book, Parallels, which I recently proofread, because they are fresh in my mind, and I thank you for reading them:

“The inhabitants in a virtual reality actually exist outside of the false,

“Now our PhDs must collaborate and study the 5th Canto to make a model for building the Vedic Planetarium” proved a mandate from Srila Prabhupada that entered deep into the heart of his disciple Sadaputa dasa, in 1976. Having received his PhD in Mathematics from Cornell University just two years prior, he would soon be inducted as one of the founding members of Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta Institute.

In that capacity, he devoted over 30 years researching Vedic perspectives on cosmology and the na

Dear Devotee,

Recently an unmarried female devotee told me that a man was interested in getting to know her, and in their discussions he mentioned that ‘the husband is the guru.’ She asked me for guidance on the subject.

This article is what I wrote to clarify for her (and him) what it means for a husband to be a guru – and what it doesn’t mean; for misunderstanding what this means will be the cause of an unhappy marriage.

Even though Prabhupada writes that a failed marriage is usually the woma

Padayatra arrival lecture given by His Holiness Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja in Bhubaneswar, India (December 30th, 1995)

How long will you sleep in the lap of the ugly witch Maya? How long? You have already slept for such a long time, lakhs and lakhs of lives. Do you want to sleep in the lap of the ugly witch Maya? Mahaprabhu is your only well-wishing friend. He loves you so much that He descended here,

tomare loite ami hoinu avatara ami bina bandhu ara ke ache tomara

“For you I desce

Samapriya devi dasi: Betrothed by Srila Prabhupada the holy name to wed,
vowing not to put another in His sacred bed.
You rest upon my tongue, taking me a journey far,
throughout the worlds and inner space revealing who You are.

You are my husband and I pledge to stay with You forever,
I pray to keep You in my heart, no earthly thing will sever.
As Your wife I make an oath to serve You as I can,
placing You upon my lips surrendered to Your plan.

You are first in everything of duties I perform,

This evening, our meditation is on Lord Ramachandra, who appeared one million years ago and yet is still such a prominent personality that no one forgets. I was in India during the years that the television series based on the Ramayana was shown. It was very popular. At that time, people in India bought television sets just to see the Ramayana! And every week, when there was an episode of the Ramayana broadcast, the whole country would just stop! On the railways, people would just pull the emer

Kavicandra Swami: Gopinatha Acarya prabhu, (ACBSP) from Australia has left this world,
He was the first devotee to sell full sets of SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM.
He later took to cow and bull protection very seriously.
His body was found in the cow’s place
May he be surrounded by cows.

Srimati Krishna Kamani dasi passed away in Vrndavana.
She was from Chile and had lived in Vrndavana-dhama for many years. She kept herself as very insignificant, was extremely humble, simple living, and dedicated to her

Question: In Bhagavad-gita 2.47, Lord Krishna says, “…but you are not entitled to the fruits of action.” What does it mean here to be not entitled to the fruits of action? Does it mean that we aren’t the proprietors of the fruits that we get from our work, or does it mean that we don’t have a right to obtain or receive the reactionary fruit itself, good or bad, of anything that we do?
For example, consider that a student has appeared for an exam. Now does it mean that he does not have the right

Listen to your japa with rapt* attention.
Beware of plateaus* and comfort* zones.
Cultivate* humility*.
Remember that Krsna is the maintainer* of everything and everyone.
Say an encouraging* word to everyone you meet.
Drink lots of water, eat healthy* prasadam and get enough* rest.
Do the best* you can with what you’ve got at every moment.

*Definition of rapt: 1. Completely fascinated by what one is seeing or hearing. 2. Indicating or characterized by such a state of fascination. 3. Having been

I originally published this blog on February 15, 2011. Since I don't have time this evening to prepare a blog about Lord Nityananda, I thought I would post it again now. Wednesday, February 8th will be the observance of Lord Nityananda’s holy appearance day. I was blessed in 2011 to be able to give class to the devotees on that day. I am sharing with you part of what I spoke about then. On the one hand, I appreciate the special mercy that comes to one who is able to speak to the devotees about

Depression, according to recent statistics, is practically an epidemic, with over 70 million people suffering from its affects, such as a feeling of moroseness, uselessness, lack of energy, inability to sleep, and a poor attitude toward life in general, among other symptoms. Depression causes a pessimistic view of things. It also discourages enthusiasm and stifles one’s initiative. It may also produce despair and bring about sickness in the mind and body. It can make one resort to rash and thou

One turns to a Spiritual Master asking for guidance and care because someone told him, because he made up his mind, or he is convinced that he is suffering from a psychological, personality ailment or interpersonal problem or simply because he cannot accept the idea of death or suffering

However, health and sickness as well as adapting/non-adapting to the world phenomena are illusionary ideas, abstractions in a Maya context. First of all, you k

Mandakini devi dasi: Popular myotherapist and remedial massage healer Guru Prasad devi dasi decided last year to study Occupational Therapy (a specialized, four-year degree) at Southern Cross University.
Occupational therapy is a client-centered health profession concerned with promoting health and well-being through occupation. The primary goal is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Therapists achieve this outcome by working with individuals and communities to e

EDITORIAL BOARD: Damodara Pandit dasa, Govardhana Seva dasa, Krishnarupa devi dasi (ACBSP), Urvasi devi dasi
(layout and graphic design).
Srila Prabhupada: Vedic civilization is very strict. Because the whole aim was how to go back to home, back to Godhead, not sense gratification, eat, drink, be merry, enjoy. That is not the aim of human life. So everything was planned with that aim. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 2.3 – London, August 4, 1973
Find it here: https://goo.gl/0XlLoq

Source:http

For the past ten years, the Mayapur Academy – run by the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry – has offered devotees a four-month intensive training course that equips them with all the knowledge, skills and values they need to serve as pujaris in ISKCON.

Many successful graduates have come away from the course with diplomas in archana. But it’s not always easy for devotees to travel so far and be away from their services or homes for four months.

To address this challenge, the Mayapur Academy is esta

On Sunday January 29th in a special program at the New Govardhana Farm in Murwillambah, Australia, Mukunda Goswami shared memories of the Mantra-Rock Dance he helped organize fifty years ago on January 29th 1967.

The Mantra-Rock Dance concert was a key event in both ISKCON’s early growth and in the counterculture scene of the time, and commemorating it is an important part of ISKCON’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

After Srila Prabhupada established his first American temple at 26 2nd Avenue in