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Perhaps one of our gifts to Krishna on His birthday this year could be a promise to get to know Him better. There are many ways to do this, reading being one of the easiest and most enjoyable, yet often days, maybe weeks go by without a piece of sacred literature touching our hands.

That’s truly a loss, for sacred reading soothes the wild mind, sharpens the intelligence, and nurtures our true self, the soul. Reading about Krishna also helps ‘all that is troublesome to the heart’ to be ‘almost co

To start to tell the story of Vrajabhumi we must introduce Sergio, a typical playboy of the seventies. He worked with Law and was a partygoer in Rio nightlife. His penthouse in Copacabana, one of the richest neighborhoods of Rio, was a place for parties, where people swapped the day for the night. Almost suddenly, however, his life would change. After reading the book Beyond Birth and Death, written by Srila Prabhupada, founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the

Question: Karma applies only in this realm – only in this material world, right? Or does it also apply to the soul in the non material world?

My reply:
Karma is cause and effect as a result of work.

We exist on one side of the kāraṇa ocean (the ocean of causality). Ours is the side where a lack in the soul motivates work (karma) which sets cause and effect in motion. The other side of the ocean of causality, the “non-material realm” or the “spiritual world” as we often call it, is “Vaikuṇṭha” –

One barrier to acceptance of interactionist models for mind/body dualism is a shortage of conceptual resources. Turning to the ancient Sanskrit writings of India, we find in the Bhagavata Purana of India the allegory of the City of Nine Gates, which provides a complex model from mind/body dualism. This model, rich in imagery, allows one to account for such varied phenomena as phantom limbs, out of body experiences, past life memories, traveling clairvoyance, and perception of qualia.

Is there a

Beauty of Nitai 
Sri Caitanya Mangala Madhya Khanda 
Chapter 4 “The Beauty of Nitai” 
Lord Gauranga met Nityananda Raya in the home of Nandanacarya. Nityananda’s beautiful golden-colored body had a slightly reddish hue. Glistening ornaments adorned His enchanting form. Bright yellow cloth carressed His hips. A yelloe turban the color of a golden campaka flower, decorated His head. As He walked, His anklebells chimed sweetly “Jhuni, Jhuni, Jhuni”. 
His eyes were wide and long like a deer. He rem

About 140 devotees from Spain, Portugal, Holland, the UK and Russia bonded in calling out to Lord Krishna during the third annual Holy Name Festival in Spain this summer.

The festival ran from August 11th 14th in Srila Prabhupada’s Gardens at the New Vrajamandala farm.

Devotees arrived on Thursday to a welcoming address and an evening kirtan in an elegant white tent in the Gardens, as the newly renovated elephant fountain trickled pleasantly in the background.

With Srila Prabhupada’s murti and

It was a truly uplifting and festive time for ISKCON of Los Angeles from August 4th to 7th recently, with celebrations for both the 40th anniversary of the city’s Rathayatra festival, and the 50th anniversary of ISKCON in full swing.

The ISKCON of LA property looked fresh and beautiful for the festival, with temple president Svavasa Das and his brother Naikatma Das completing an ambitious renovation project just in time.

All the windows were replaced and the temple, Govinda’s buffet and kitchen

Dear Devotees,

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!

On the auspicious occasion of Sri Krishna Janmashtami and the appearance
day of Srila Prabhupada, we wish to humbly offer this special edition
"Deliverance of Putana" at Their lotus feet.

We pray that this issue brings some pleasure to the devotees of Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

NBS # 43 Features:-

1) Deliverance Of Putana
Srila Sukadeva Goswami

2)Understanding The D

One time I used the word “dogmatic” and a young boy asked me what does “dogmatic” mean? Interestingly, I did not have a convincing answer. This made me think a little bit. The dictionary definition is “a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true”. From a cultural perspective, any phenomenon that does not have supportive evidence can be deemed dogmatic. By both accounts, one may argue that the tenets of Krishna consciousness is dogmatic. Because it is laid

The all blissful Supreme Personality of Godhead is eternally young and not plagued by any imperfections, not plagued by an old cranky body and not ugly either. Some incarnations of God are certainly not the most beautiful. It is said that various incarnations of the Lord have different qualities of the Lord. Maharaj Pritu had the pālana-śakti, he was empowered with the power to protect the earth. Mohini-murti and Balarama represent the beauty of the Lord. Nrsimhadev is the protector of the devo

The operative word in Krishna Consciousness is “faith”. In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna uses the word “shraddha” at least ten times in different places in His conversation with Arjuna. In these places, Krishna clearly stresses the importance of faith in knowing Him. In chapter six text 47, there is a clear indication to this point. Srila Rupa Goswami, the leader for Gaudiya Vaishnavas, explains that “shraddha” or “faith” is the preliminary ingredient to understand and love God. Having said that, Srila

By Bhanu Swami

Karma – Activities of the Conditioned Soul

• Ignorance of Krsna

• Desire to Enjoy

• Material body

• Identity with body

• Desire to enjoy in body

• Action to get enjoyment

Immediate Experience

Of enjoyment

Or suffering

Attachment to objects

causing enjoyment

Repulsion to objects

of suffering

(samskara)

Desires or hatred Restrictions

in next life (vasana) in next life (karma)

Free will, intelligence

Action

Tama Raja Sattva

Misery Immediate Detachment

Pleasure

It was a spectacular day for women across Durban who attended a high tea party hosted by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) at the Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple in Chatsworth, on Tuesday, August 9.

The day was held to commemorate National Women’s Day. The fundamental aspect of the morning was holistic nourishment as spirituality and meditation plays a vital role in enhancing peace, love and positivity through one’s daily life. Some of the highlights of the brunch were

Experts are saying consciousness continues even when the heart has stopped beating after a study shows people continue experiencing awareness for up to three minutes after death.

The most significant finding of the study is that of a 57-year-old man believed to be the first confirmed out-of-body experience in a patient. After suffering a cardiac arrest, the patient revealed he was able to recall what was taking place around him with eerie accuracy after temporarily dying.

head researcher Dr Sam

Hare Krsna Mantra – meaning of the mantra
Meaning as explained by Gopala Guru Gosvami, disciple of Svarupa Damodara of Puri:
The word “hare”: 
hari harati papani dusta cittair api smrtah
anicchayapi samsprsto dahaty eva hi pavakah
vijnapya bhagavat tattvam cid ghanananda vigraham
haraty avidyam tat karyam ato harir iti smrtah
“Just as the fire, on contacting an object, automatically burns it, so the name of Hari takes away (harati) or burns up all ht esins of the people with materialistic heart

It is written that the
color of Krishna
is like a monsoon cloud
dark bluish grey
like the heavy rains
gathering at the edge
of an unbearably hot day
or at the edge of an
unbearable time of our life
a low rumbling of cool relief
that we know is going to
change things
change us.

Monsoon Krishna
is known as Syamasundar
the beautiful Syama
the color of love, joy, hope
the color of mystery, movement, and depth
the color of life – rich, full, and ready to overflow
when the cloud bursts
upon us all.

Ca

The great Sankirtan Movement of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a great gift to the world and a very rare event! 
Gauragopala dasa: Many could take it for granted without realizing how rare Lord Caitanya’s appearance actually is as He comes once in every day and night of Brahmā. That is once every 2000th Kali-yuga in the cycle of Maha Yugas, there are 4 Yugas to a Maha Yuga, Lord Caitanya appears “once” in a Kali-yuga with His Sankirtan Movement out of every two thousand.
There are 4,320,000 human

For many years, ISKCON’s Gita Nagari farm community in Pennsylvania has held annual Labor Day retreats, on topics from improving japa meditation to understanding the nature of the guru.

This year’s retreat, set to run from Friday September 2nd to Monday September 5th, will tackle an intriguing subject: Varnashrama Dharma.

Varnashrama generally refers to a social structure consisting of four varnas, or occupational groups, and four ashramas, or stages of life. However there are many nuances to i

Modern materialistic science is not sure about the origin and nature of most psychic phenomena including dreams. This information can be found in Vedic scriptures.
Srimad Bhagavatam 6.16.53-54, 7.7.25 or 7.15.61 describes three material states of consciousness:
1. jagrata, awakened state (beta, 14 - 20 Hz)
2. svapna, dreaming state (alfa, 7 - 14 Hz)
3. susupti, deep sleep (theta, 4 - 7 Hz)
Beyond them is the fourth state (turya) which is non-material (SB 6.5.12, 7.9.32, 7,15.54). On this level

Here is another fine article compiled by Vidura Mahatma Prabhu, which appeared in my mailbox some time back. Some very nice quotes.

The Cause of Confusion and Dissension in the Krishna Consciousness Movement
by Vidura Mahatma Das

“When disciples do not stick to the principle of accepting the order of their spiritual master, immediately there are two opinions. Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritua