The idea that we should not try to see God but act in such a way that he feels pleased to look our way is one of the main philosophical contributions of Srila Prabhupada’s guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He always made it clear that we are not the seers (that we cannot see God) but that we are the seen (that we can be seen by God).
Imagine an ant crawling over your book while you read. It cannot see you from its position – you’re something the ant cannot understand because it is t
On October 4th, in Rome, Italy, an extraordinary event took place at the House of Representatives of the Italian Parliament. ISKCON devotees, friends, professors and politicians gathered to celebrate 50 years of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in the world, and Srila Prabhupada as a messenger of peace and spiritual knowledge.
A line of devotees in colorful sarees and shaved heads stood outside of the House of Representatives in a spirit of controlled euphoria. Rome, Italy’s
Charge, donation or contribution
I’ve been pondering these three words, how interchangeable are they and how easy it is to cheet if their misapplied
We often ask for a donation especially on book distribution, if you give me a donation you can have a book whilst showing them a wonderful book that will transform their life. Then we withdraw the book if the donation is small, or we go no it has to be £x; unwittingly we can cause offence, they asked for a donation I gave and they took away (I’ve ha
To realize one's utter insignificance is a critical milestone in life. It opens up significant opportunities for us to connect to something truly grand and important. This realization can come at any stage of our life, and come multiple times, each time helping us realize the majesty of something else that is truely magnificent.
The typical society encourages one to believe and imagine that we are very special and significant. That's what the self centred small mind wants to believe. Break free
Hare Krishna!! Dandavat pranam. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.
We wanted to give an update about the wonderful retreat we had at the Gita Nagari Farm from September 22nd (Thursday) to September 25th (Sunday). It was a truly transformative experience where pioneers in healthcare and leaders of the society gave us seminars and presentations about how to bring Krishna consciousness into our daily life and everyday medica
A special Edition on the auspicious occasion of Sri Damodara Month.
Nityam Bhagavatam Sevaya #48 features:
1. Killing Of The Demons Shakatasura And Trnavarta
Conversation Between Sukadeva Goswami and Maharaja Parikshit
2. Destroying Shakatasura and Trnavarta Within
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
3. Recommendation By Maharaja Parikshit
His Divine Grace A .C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
4. Prakata-Lila And Aprakata-Lila
Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakur
5. Sri Vraja-Raja-Sutastakam
Eight Pra
Meditating on the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Muralimanohara, placing myself at the dust of Lord Caitanya’s feet, and respectfully offering obeisances to the great devotees of the Lord, who are so many oceans of transcendental virtue, I shall now happily begin to praise the transcendental opulences of Sri Vrndavana.
I am not strong enough to go to the far shore of the great nectar ocean of Vrindavan’s glories. Who can go there? However, because I love Vrindavan I will now dip into that ocean. I
On 23rd October ISKCON Congregation Forum Patna conducted Anand Utsav (Festival of Joy) at Boring Road, Patna. More than 300 people attended the festival. Hg Jagdish Shyam Das(President, ISKCON Gaya) delivered a lecture on “Need of Inner Engineering”. He highlighted the need of connection to self and Divinity should be the highest priority. All the people enjoyed the aarti and Kartik deep dan(lamp offering) to Lord Damodar. Program finished with the distribution of delicious prasadam. About 50
As jack-o-lanterns, comedy gravestones, and fake ghosts and zombies crop up on our neighbor’s lawns, and every kid in town shakes with excitement about their candy haul, ISKCON devotees may be wondering whether or not to take their own children out trick-or-treating.
Some devotees have expressed concerns that in celebrating non-Gaudiya Vaishnava holidays like Halloween or Thanksgiving, we will wind up becoming culturally indistinct, and gradually assimilating all the practices of ordinary mater
kasturi-tilakam lalata-patale vaksah-sthale kaustubham
nasagre vara-mauktikam kara-tale venuh kare kankanam
sarvange hari-candanam su-lalitam kanthe ca muktavali
gopa-stri-parivestito vijayate gopala-cuda-manih
“All glories to the crest jewel of cowherd boys known as Gopal, who has a musk tilala-mark on His forehead, the kaustubha jewel on His chest, a graceful pearl on the tip of His nose, a flute in His hand, a bracelet on His wrist, graceful sandalwood paste on all of His limbs, a necklace
The renowned International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding by revered spiritual leader A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada with an elaborate black-tie gala in Washington DC late last month. The event brought together scores of religious, academic and political leaders from across the country to celebrate the life of Swami Prabhupada and the influential, global organization his work inspired.
Founded in 1966 in New York, ISKCON boasts mo
Vedic culture says that nature will respond according to the behaviour of people. The behaviour of nature is directly related to the behaviour of people on the planet. This is something that I never thought of before coming to Krsna consciousness, it had never occurred to me. And the reason for this correlation is because nature has a divine origin – behind nature is the Supreme Lord and everything in this world is going on under the control of the Supreme Lord. As the Bhagavad-gita explains, ‘
Lord Jagannath Shobha Yatra at Budh Vihar of North West Delhi district in Delhi by ISKCON Rohini Delhi’s devotees (6 min video)
Srila Prabhupada: If you get one thousand of rupees, ten rupees is already there. If you get Krishna, you get all perfection. Hrishikesh, May 15, 1977.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/yh5WGt
Today I was in Sydney central I stopped this young Chinese couple saying, “We’re stopping all the good looking couples today and showing these books on meditation,” They laughed and stopped happily. The guy said, “Oh meditation? My golf teacher said that he plays good golf because he meditates daily and he highly recommends it.”
The boy was into it right away. The girl wasn’t into it but ended up she was the one who had the money so I was praying to Krishna to help. The guy asked her if she cou
There comes a time, sometimes regularly, where we may feel, Oh, Krishna. I can’t do this anymore. This ‘this’ will be different for everyone. It happened to Arjuna in the Gita – he wanted to give up, not to fight, and go off to the forest to be alone. He did not want to deal with people and life’s problems. He told Krishna: I’m not fighting, I can’t do it, I can’t see the point, better if I don’t act and move to the side.
If it can happen to Arjuna, who had everything going for him, including t
So one thing is to simplify your life and this is really nice for the modern age to give yourself permission to simplify your life.
Atyahara, you don’t have to collect too much. In fact nowadays studies are showing that when you have less clutter in your life you can focus more and actually that focus is more important than intelligence. It’s better to be a focused person than to be a genius whose attention is being pulled all over the place. And one of the ways he’s recommending that you becom
Tamal Krishna Goswami: “This Braj is in prakad and aprakad, prakad means manifest and aprakad unmanifest. So, we cannot see the Braj without getting the eyes to see Braj, and Giriraj Govardhana has the power to bless us to be able to see. We can pray that 'You have seen everything, you have arranged everything, all of the pastimes happened on your own slope, on your lap.’ Just like if a child is sitting on the lap, you can see very nicely that child. So Krishna and Krishna’s associates, they’re
Devotee artist: After Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate Mike Pence said in a speech that we had to stop illegal entry into the country otherwise ‘we’ll have taco trucks on every corner’, a Los Angeles curator invited me to participate in a new art exhibit called 'A Taco Truck on Every Corner’, the theme being, of course, taco trucks.
Remembering Srila Prabhupada’s directions, I dovetailed my abilities with the show’s theme and created a piece called 'Govinda’s Vegetarian and Vegan T
Satsvarupa das Goswami: Sri Krishna is “handsomeness and waves of nectar of handsomeness.” (Brhad-Bhagavatamrta). But Srila Prabhupada was seventy or eighty years old. We were all young men, so why were we attracted to this “old man”? (Srila Prabhupada used to say, “I’m an old man, I may die at any moment.” And, “I am a poor foreigner. Why are they after me?”) He had the attractive features of a sage. The way he sat, the shape of his head, the gestures of his hands. He was from the East, like G
In this chapter, the passing away of Bhismadev, in the purport to this verse there is a list of challenges for society at large to improve their quality of life. The first challenge is, “Not to become angry!” We remember Upadesamrta, the Nectar of Instruction Verse 1, vaco vegam manasa krodha vegam, one must control the pushings of anger. So even when anger is pushing, one must somehow or other subdue it. Bhismadev also said that in order to conquer anger, one must learn to forgive because it i
