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
During kartik last year, a very dear friend of mine, Padma visted Sri Vrindavan Dham, and a sincere devotee for many years. She arrived a day after the much celebrated Gopastami festival. As we made our way to the ISKCON goshala that afternoon, I described to her our Gopastami festival, where our Srimati Radharani is dressed as the cowherd boy Subal and at this time Her devotees relish the sweet darshan of Her lotus feet, the only time in the year except Radhastami. On this wonderful day also T
…As for determination, one should follow the example of the sparrow who lost her eggs in the waves of the ocean. A sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean did not even consider her appeal. So the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news o
Srila Rupa Goswami.
From the translation and purports of Srila Prabhupada.
Preface:
This book of 11 verses in Sanskrit was written by Srila Rupa Goswami in Vrndavana, and deals the gradual stages of devotion developing within the aspiring bhakta; beginning with the control of the senses, all the way to hearing about the glories of Radha and Krsna and Their topmost lilasthana, Sri Radha Kunda. This book is an instructing guide and manual for all sadhakas. Srila Rupa Goswami gives herein, the bas
Oh Holy Name!
Cause
Even when a person becomes an offender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, he can still be delivered simply by taking shelter of the Holy Names of the Lord: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. In other words, the chanting of Hare Krishna is beneficial for eradicating all sins, but if one becomes an offender to the Holy Names of the Lord, then he has no chance of being delivered.
— NOD Ch. 8
Effect
M
Bhaktimarga Swami: “On this day, Remembrance Day, men and women whose lives were sacrificed in recent wars are honoured for their service.” After these opening remarks at our ISKCON Canada AGM, I also included mention of one of our own veterans, if you will, an ISKCON pioneer for Latin America, Jagajivan, who passed away this week from heart failure. He was likeable, loveable, and a firm, stalwart man for our guru, Srila Prabhupada, and his mission. He surely will be missed.
Eventually, we all
Hare Krsna
Dear Devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. We have a new book available: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam -A Comprehensive Guide for Young Readers-. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is an incomparable treasure house of Krsna’s pastimes, and by studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam our children can gain spiritual knowledge, language and reasoning skills, and most importantly, devotion for Lord Krsna.
This comprehensive guide contains many fun and educational activities for each c
Mahatma das: Today I heard a wonderful story. A devotee wrote Srila Prabhupada because his disagreed with the tactics devotees were using to raise donations, tactics supported by the Temple President. He expressed his specific concerns in his letter to Srila Prabhupada.
In Srila Prabhupada’s reply, he did not address the issue. He did not say he favored one idea over the other. All he said was, “I just want you to work well together.”
Some argue that it is not right to cooperate when we believe
In this material world, everything is so gross and cheap. Here, when there is a meeting between lovers then within no time, it is the full embrace – that is what it is all about… Right down to the action! The main thing! Let us not waste any time! Acceleration from zero to a hundred in two seconds, right!? That is the material experience. Very quick and very shallow and with strong exchanges.
But in spiritual loving exchanges, things are very different. In spiritual loving exchanges, everything
Swarupa das: Last Saturday night I went to the ER with high fevers and cellulitis (swelling and redness due to infection in the blood). I was admitted and finally got to my room early Sunday morning. I was feeling pretty out of it most of Sunday and then the fevers began to subside as the I-V antibiotics began doing their magic. By Monday morning my head began to clear and I was only running a low grade fever. My wife brought my laptop in so I could get on the Internet, check emails, etc. whi
I would like to share an unexpected surprise yesterday in Melbourne Harinam. We (group of devotees) were doing our regular Harinam in Swanston Street. We were in front of Town Hall, suddenly a long official car stops right front of our Harinam party and to our surprise Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle joined our Harinam, greeted each devotee with a hand shake and hugs to kids and played ‘hi five’ with them, he said ‘I thank you and appreciate you people’s contribution towards incorporating m
Mahotsaha das: Bhakta Cesar and I distributed 667 books over a long weekend at the annual comic book convention.
The comic convention is where over 100,000 people come to the Javits Center by Penn Station in NYC and buy paraphernalia related to their favorite comic book characters. So, of course we made sure they also received some of Srila Prabhupada’s books, the original comic books.
We encountered many costumed characters. I encountered one of the most peculiar people at this event while
Transcribed by Suvilasi Madhavi Devi Dasi
Hare Krishna!
This morning we are reading from Granthraj Srimad Bhagavatam Canto Six, Chapter Three entitled “Yamaraja instructs his messengers”, Text 26.
(invocation prayers)
evam vimrsya sudhiyo bhagavaty anante
sarvatmana vidadhate khalu bhava-yogam
te me na dandam arhanty atha yady amisam
syat patakam tad api hanty urugaya-vadah
Translation:
“Considering all these points, therefore, intelligent men decide to solve all problems by adopting the de
Recently I got an opportunity to attend the conference on Rural development based on cows, conducted by National Institute for Rural Development (NIRD) & Panchayati raj (Ministry for Rural Development, Government of India) Rajendranagar, Hyderabad on 3rd of November, 2016.
As a pleasant surprise, I met Rupavilas prabhu (Venumadhuri trust director) who was also giving a seminar sharing his experience about Venumadhuri NGO activities. Seminar was well organized by NIRD inviting the elite group
Ignited with the Fire Of Krsna Consciousness.
I want to thank you for being a critical part in my life. Without the distribution of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s books, I would never have been ignited with the fire of Krsna consciousness. My first contact with Krsna was at my friend’s house. I saw the book The Science of Self Realization lying on the floor, and at that moment I felt an overwhelming, irresistible attraction to borrow the book. I read a few pages and kn
Getting congregation members to sponsor books
The story of this year’s Czech Padayatra began in autumn 2015 when we were thinking how to best celebrate the 50th anniversary of ISKCON and how to please Srila Prabhupada. Our first beacon was Lokanath Maharaja’s appeal to organize at least 50 padayatras around the world. This was our first “DOUBLE IT” moment – to double the number of padayatras in Central Europe. This year we managed to again have a padayatra in Czech Republic and also to i
I read this article about organ donations. Someone sent it around and the article described how you cannot take organs from a dead body. It is not possible because then the organs are spoilt already and can no longer be used for transplant. Therefore you still have to be ‘alive and dead’ at the same time to donate an organ. So this type of death where you can be ‘alive and dead’ at the same time is called brain-dead, the heart still beats but the brain is dead. So people that are heavily inju
During the month of November, every day early in the morning the young daughters of the cowherds would take one another’s hands and, singing of Krishna’s transcendental qualities, go to the Yamuna to bathe.
Desiring to obtain Krishna as their husband, they would then worship the goddess Katyayani with incense, flowers and other items.
Going strong since its launch one year ago the New Raman Reti 2nd Generation Initiative - dedicated to the 25 to 45-year-olds in our community - is going strong since its launch one year ago. Its three main programs are as follows:
1) The Mentoring Program offers an opportunity to develop a working relationship with a qualified senior devotee of your choice and confide in him or her with the aim of improving your spiritual wellbeing. A dozen of our community’s senior devotees have volunteered t
