Friends and followers of Sadaputa Prabhu, many in Alachua County, Florida, started a branch of the Bhaktivedanta Institute in Gainesville. They decided to do a practice conference on November 13, inviting devotee scholars to speak and present papers. What follows is some notes I took on the presentations of things that were striking to me.
Brahmatirtha Prabhu:
I was at the “Life Comes From Life” conference in Vrindavan in 1977. After each day’s meeting we would report to Srila Prabhupada. He wo
Srila Prabhupada:
Letter to Hamsaduta and Himavati written in Los Angeles on March 3, 1968:
“The more one feels imperfect in Krishna’s service, the more he is advancing in Krishna Consciousness. Even the topmost devotees feel they are inadequate in their service to the Lord. So it is good to feel inadequate, and to try harder to please Krishna with better service. But one should never feel, oh, I have seen Krishna, and so I am reached perfection—this is not Krishna Consciousness.”
Bhaktisiddhan
Recently I attended the yearly conference, “The Science of Consciousness”, at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona. Sponsored for the past 23 years by the University of Arizona and the University of Michigan, and dedicated to “broad and rigorous approaches to conscious awareness, the nature of existence and our place in the universe”, this unique forum attracted over 1000 participants from 60 countries. Of the 500 submitted abstracts, mine was one of the 200 included in the poster
Tivon and Cheyenne are an African American couple in their mid-twenties. She works in a steakhouse, and he’s in marketing. Cybil, in her fifties, is a real estate agent. Jorge is a student. Lauren is a professor of music at Towson University. Maria is retired from her government agency job. Ravi is doing his postdoc in medicine at John Hopkins. Kate is a nurse and a Buddhist. And Henna works on a horse farm.
They’re as diverse a group as possible, but they all have one thing in common: they’r
Eight years after celebrated ISKCON scientist Richard L. Thompson’s (Sadaputa Dasa’s) passing, his former colleagues and some rising young Vaishnava scientists are relaunching the Bhaktivedanta Institute of Gainesville.
Their inaugural seminar, held at the Alachua Learning Center in North Central Florida on November 13th, was dubbed “Bhakti Yoga & Science in the 21st Century.”
It explored Srila Prabhupada’s vision for his Bhaktivedanta Institute – a research branch he established in 1976 to add
Giriraj Swami: Reading Srila Prabhupada’s Light of the Bhagavata, I was struck by text 12 and his commentary on it:
“The mountains, although being struck by torrents of rain during the rainy season, are not shaken, just as those whose hearts are dedicated to the transcendental Personality of Godhead are never disturbed, even when harassed by great misfortune.” (LOB 12)
“Because a person who is spiritually advanced accepts any adverse condition of life as the mercy of the Lord, he is completely
Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu is always free from politics and institutional bashing or promotion. Just simply nectarean Krishna Katha!
The word, responsibility, derives from Old French, respondre, “to answer.”
In other words, responsibility, can be literally taken as, “one’s ability to respond.”
The way we respond to what happens to us in life directly indicates the degree to which we have developed our consciousness.
As one practices devotional service, beginning with hearing and chanting about Krishna, one develops the ability to respond mindfully to the events and circumstances in one’s life.
For example, Srila Prabhupada w
It was Ford and Reuther, and the ceremony was covered by Time magazine, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press!
Udayananda: We had kirtan competitions. Devotees from the Chicago temple would do their thing, the L.A. devotees would do their thing, the Radha-Damodar party would do their thing and the London devotees would do their thing, like that.
Everyone was fired up about chanting. But one of our God-brothers didn’t like it.
He was in Prabhupada’s room with the Radha-
From Back to Godhead
By Urmila Devi Dasi
Because sexual desire has a spiritual origin, the practices of bhakti-yogacan recover its pure eternal purpose.
Bhakti-yoga gives us the key to the origin of sexuality and its means of total fulfillment. Yoga literally means “union.” Bhakti means loving service.Bhakti-yoga, therefore, means the loving union of the soul with the Supreme Soul. The soul’s deepest desire is for this loving union.
Whenever the Lord is pleased in any way, He and His pleasure e
Krishna Kshetra Swami: Yesterday I gave a 2-hour lecture at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Faculty of Religion) here in Beijing. My lecture title: “Translating 'Dharma’ and the Dharma of Translation” (focusing on the Bhāgavatam). Nice, bright group of students and scholars, some of whom I met last year.
“The mountains, although being struck by torrents of rain during the rainy season, are not shaken, just as those whose hearts are dedicated to the transcendental Personality of Godhead are never disturbed, even when harassed by great misfortune.” (LOB 12)
“Because a person who is spiritually advanced accepts any adverse condition of life as the mercy of the Lord, he is completely eligible to enter into the spiritual kingdom. Even though a person takes to the devotional service of the Supreme Lo
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world’s largest association of scholars in the field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association, serving as a professional and learned society for scholars involved in the academic study of religion. It has some 10,000 members worldwide, with the largest concentration being in the United States and Canada. AAR members are university and college professors, independent scholars, secondary teachers, clergy, seminari
Important temples in and around Kanchipuram:
1. Sri Deepa Prakasar Perumal Temple (or Thiruthanka)
2. Sri Ashtabujam Perumal Temple (or Sri Aadhikesava)
3. Sri Azhagiya Singar Perumal Temple (or Thiru Velukkai)
4. Sri Varadaraja Perumal Temple (or Thiru Kanchi)
5. Sri Yatoktakari Temple (or Thiru Vekka)
6. Sri Ulagalantha Perumal Temple (or Thiru Ooragam) and Sri Thirukkaar Vaanar Temple (or Thirukkaar Vaanam)
7. Sri Vaikunda Perumal Temple (or Thiruparameshwara Vinnagaram)
8. Sri Pandava Dhoot
Srila Prabhupada’s Humility
by Padmapani das
“Although my Guru Maharaja ordered me to accomplish this mission, I am not worthy or fit to do it. I am very fallen and insignificant. Therefore, O Lord, now I am begging for Your mercy so that I may become worthy, for You are the wisest and most experienced of all.”(Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Krishna, on board the ship Jaladuta, September 13, 1965)
“It is all Krishna’s Grace that He has sent such a nice assistants to me, for executing the mission o
The verb, prepare, means: to make something ready for use or consideration.
Great thinkers everywhere speak enthusiastically about the power of preparation.
For instance, George Clason writes:
“Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared.”
And William Shakespeare remarks:
“All things are ready, if our mind be so.”
Wise people know that one’s destiny in this life and the next are dependent on the way in which one prepares oneself in the present.
Or stated co
I was showing the Bhagavad-gita to one gentleman, he expressed his interest but said he was a Christian. He said, “If you can show me in this book where Jesus is praised I’ll take it.” I showed him 11.55 purport where Prabhupada says, “There are many examples in history of devotees of the Lord who risked their lives for the spreading of God consciousness. The favorite example is Lord Jesus Christ. He was crucified by the nondevotees, but he sacrificed his life for the spreading of God conscious
We all want to know who we really are, what role we are meant to play in God’s plan, what contribution we are meant to make to God’s work. And, by God’s grace, we may get a sense of our calling, what we are meant to do in His service. But even then, we may shrink from what we know is our duty, shirk what we know is our responsibility. We may fear the challenges ahead and retreat into what we imagine will be a safer, more comfortable place. We always have that choice–to face God and the mission
By Chandan Bhatia
As a child, Nimai cried a lot and would not stop until everyone sang “HAR! HARI!” and clapped their hands. His golden ankle bells tinkled as He kicked His legs while an Sachimata’s lap and as He took His first faltering steps while learning to walk. Being promised sweets and ksira, the ladies coaxed Nimai to dance for them. That same Supreme Lord who is unapproachable even to great sages and demigods, danced awkwardly on His short chubby legs and smiled sweetly at the ladies a
