One of the features of the Krishna Balaram Mandir is that everyday Mangal Arati is packed with devotees, including in the sunken courtyard and all the way by the front entrance. Not only that, but there is usually a big crowd for the 4:10 am Arati for Srila Prabhupada in his samadhi. If you don’t go early, you’ll probably have to stand outside.
On some days during Kartik, you literally cannot even enter the temple room. Devotees are spilled outside, some watching Mangal Arati on the monitors t
I worked as a senior flight attendant with a good salary and roamed freely around the world. I had a beautiful pregnant woman and everything seemed complete, but in my heart I felt a terrible emptiness.
The world had no attraction, as nothing made me happy. I started to smoke marijuana and take drugs. The grass and drugs made me feel better for a while, but finally began to make me feel worse. With all my strength I tried to abandon drugs, but I could not. The grass held me in her arms, and I d
Sutapa Das: With genuine spiritual advancement comes the capacity and capability to have friendly relationships with one and all. Equipped with spiritual vision that penetrates beyond externals, one remains undisturbed by annoying idiosyncrasies, ideological differences, unpredictable personalities, and sticky character traits. We’re able to see something deeper, see the spirit, the underlying sincerity. We can see the heart. At this stage, we have no enemies, even if others view us as such. I
We may say that we do not love chanting so much but if I, as the government, would give an order, “You are not allowed to chant! Chanting is forbidden.” Suddenly, you will have a lot more love for chanting than you think. Whereas now, chanting is like, “Oh… I have to chant again.” But if it would be forbidden, then suddenly we are very Krsna conscious.
I also experienced it like that because I am a freedom lover by nature. When I read Prabhupada’s Gita, the purports were hammering me. They were
18th – 24th of July 2016
(the 17th of July as arrival day)
at Almviks gard farm and village community, Sweden
Saturday, 23rd of July – Holy Name Day –
a whole day dedicated to kirtan;
24th of July – Maha Harinam in Stockholm!
Welcome!
The process of Krishna consciousness brings about a very dynamic and ongoing transformation – a transformation of our life and ourselves. Spiritual life is ever increasing – there are always new insights to gain and new discoveries to make.
Lord Chaitanya compa
Due to the recent heavy rain showers in Sri Lanka, several areas of the country are affected. Around 60 people died by floods and 130 people died in landslides. Over 350,000 people have displaced and sheltered in various camps.
ISKCON Sri Lanka has been conducting the Food For Life program as it is the desire of Srila Prabhupada to distribute vegetarian food for the needy. As the responsibility to help the flood victims, the volunteers and members of ISKCON Sri Lanka distributed cooked vegetari
Travel Journal#12.9: Birmingham and the North UK
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 12, No. 9
By Krishna-kripa das
(May 2016, part one)
Birmingham, Newcastle, Chester-le-Street, Durham, York,
Chester, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Leeds, and Sunderland
(Sent from Manchester on May 23, 2016)
Where I Went and What I Did
The seventeenth annual Birmingham 24-Hour Kirtan, and the harinama preceding it, spanned the last day of April and the first day of May. With new senior devotees gracing the event,
Cilegon is a major coastal industrial city in Banten province, Indonesia. Also known as the “Steel City” due to its being the largest steel producing city in Southeast Asia. The annual Ciligeon Ethnic Carnival (CEC) took place on April 26th this year. Commemorating the 17th anniversary of Ciligeon, a variety of performances and arts were displayed in front of the Government Office. The theme of the event this year was “Ethnic Multi Cultural in Harmony”. Participants from schools, art groups and
With genuine spiritual advancement comes the capacity and capability to have friendly relationships with one and all. Equipped with spiritual vision that penetrates beyond externals, one remains undisturbed by annoying idiosyncrasies, ideological differences, unpredictable personalities, and sticky character traits. We’re able to see something deeper, see the spirit, the underlying sincerity. We can see the heart. At this stage, we have no enemies, even if others view us as such. Indeed, the Bha
With ISKCON’s 50th anniversary year nearly halfway gone, and the date of its incorporation on July 13th, 1966 in New York fast approaching, temples throughout the society are working hard to make a splash for founder Srila Prabhupada.
In South Africa, all the country’s thirteen temples are working together to achieve big things, with a steering committee driving efforts nationally, and ISKCON 50 ambassadors in each temple pumping everyone up locally.
To set the mood, the year kicked off with se
Sankirtana Dasa, long time resident of New Vrindaban community, recently won a Storytelling World Resource Award for his dramatic storytelling CD Hanuman’s Quest. He is also a recipient of a WV Artist Fellowship Award, a National Endowment of the Arts Grant, an Ohio River Border Initiative Grant, and a Next Generation Indie Book Award for his Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest.
For many years Sankirtana had used his background in theater to write, act and direct Krishna Consciousness dramas. T
On the 7th of March the Institute for Spiritual Culture conducted their annual program in Mayapur. This year the overall theme was "The Glories of the Vanaprastha Ashram" - a topic which attracted attention since it is not so widely discussed.
The program took place on the premises of the Old Gurukula on the way to the Goshala. A big pandal was constructed to conduct the event, and another little one with tables and chairs for the VIP prasadam - both with open sides which allowed a pleasant br
KOLKATA: The devotees of Iskcon Mayapur celebrated Narsimha Chaturdashi, the divine appearance day of Lord Narsimha Deva in the temple on Friday, May 20. To commemorate the occasion, discourses from Srimad Bhagwatam , glorifying the pastimes of the Lord Narsimha Deva was recited by H.H Bhakti Purshottam Swami in the morning followed by “Darshan Arti”. At dusk “Maha-Abhisheka” of the deity was performed by using sandalwood oil and other precious oils. Hundreds of devotees raised their arms and
World class International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) will construct Shri Radharaman temple at Chouwkital Lamhetaghat over 4 acre land at the banks of Narmada. Gaushala, Free Food for Life, Gurukul, Hospital, Vedic study centre construction has also been proposed. Temple Manager Aditiputra Das said that it will be the third largest temple in Madhya Pradesh. The biggest temple is situated in Indore, while second largest temple is situated in Ujjain.
Founder of ISKCON Acharya Bhakt
More than 300 thousand devotees and pilgrims from all over India and from more than 70 countries visited Sri Mayapur Dham on Gaura Purnima day 2016. Please note that we are not talking about the whole festival that started on the 5 of March and went on until the end of the month. We are talking about the Gaura Purnima day alone! During this very special day for all the devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, ISKCON Mayapur did its homework and those who visited Mayapur were overwhelmed with a var
Krishna-valley in Somogyvamos, Hungary is one of the fastest growing villages in the area. In the past two decades, due to the hard work of the devotees, the 275 hectars of land has become Europe’s largest eco-village.
At the moment, Krishna-valley has 150 inhabitants, and there are an additional 30,000 people yearly who visit there or participate at religious festivals.
People gathered in front of the new school building.
There are 50 children living in Krishna-valley, who, by know, outgrew
Dawn is yet to streak across the horizon but at 4.30 am at The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple at Juhu, the air is thick with the fragrance of flowers, burning incense sticks and the clash of cymbals and drums to the rhythmic loud chants of Hare Krishna, Hare Rama. There is a clutch of devotees who sway and clap their hands as they chant. As the day progresses, one sees silk clad women with diamonds twinkling on their noses and ears and some celebrities of the ci
When he was 19, Richard Slavin, a nice Jewish boy from the suburbs of Chicago, went backpacking in Europe for two months.
“Hey,” I told him. “I have a son about to do the same thing.”
“But,” Slavin added with a twinkle, “I never came back!”
With that he gave a hearty laugh as jolly a sound as the ice cream man’s bell. Pure joy. He could laugh now he was laughing now, in a conference room in Midtown, in town for a book tour because at 60-something and bald, he is no longer the wandering hippie
Every conditioned soul wants to be special. Most souls in this world realize sooner or later that they are just one amongst millions and with no special attributes. They want to be heroes but are in fact quite ordinary. They rejoice in others’ heroic deeds secretly hoping to be in the heroes’ shoes someday. If the hero happens to be an acquaintance, their mind squirms in unexpressed envy. Even if a soul is relatively well-placed materially, he is painfully aware of others who are better placed
