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By Patita Pavana dasa

There are a few ISKCON old-timers, relics of the ’60’s—including me—who feel that Dylan was sort of planted into the wonderland of that era’s counter culture by a guiding hand of destiny. Much of his influence was positive in directing the young people away from a stone-like social order that was on the verge of self-destruction with the Viet Nam War in full swing and a giant Cold War overhead. His anti-establishment message has led us to consider that at least a few of hi

By Abhaya Mudra Dasi

“The Manu named King Satyavrata formerly saved himself by tying the small boat of the entire world to the horn of the Matsya avatara, the fish incarnation. By the grace of the Matsya avatara, Manu saved himself from the great danger of the flood. May that same fish incarnation save us from the great and fearful danger caused by the son of Tvashta.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam 6.9.23)

A single event of the ancient world has been covered by a number of scriptures—even though some of

On my healing journey
to postpone my death,
I missed hearing the subtle
first murmurings of spring,
when Winter just begins to dream
of all that it can become—
through rest and rejuvenation,
during snow and freezing rain,
leafless trees and barren landscapes—
transforming into new life possibilities.

I first learned this sensing
on our forested, countryside land
after adjusting to the quiet
while quieting my city mind’s busy-ness
learning to be present and open
without imposing on the environme

Today, as I was thinking about Lord Caitanya and the upcoming celebration this week, I received three reminders of his teachings.

1. On the internet I came across a saying by St. Augustine – “He who sings prays twice.” One of the trademarks of the Krishna Bhakti movement of Sri Caitanya is the coming together and singing of Krishna’s names. We do it all the time! This is called kirtan – the call and response chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. I think we can all appreciate how singing can evok

Disappointment from India

On February 8, Srila Prabhupada had written to India’s new Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, requesting her to sanction the release of money from India.  A reply, dated Feb. 25, New Delhi, came from the Prime Minister’s official secretary, Mr. L. K. Gha:

Dear Swamiji,

The Prime Minister has seen your letter of February 8, 1966.  She appreciates the spirit which prompted you to carry the spiritual message of Srimad Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam to other countries. 

Early in the morning we left the beautiful Pratapnagar towards the Ganges shore (only 2 km walk).  We boarded the boats and ship to Sankarpur. You can’t imagine how it is to get all these boats on the right time and cross the Ganga with more than one thousand people. How much managerial work is necessary to get these things done? To be honest with you there is no such thing as Boat Company here and   the boats need to be hired individually, what takes a lot of time, patient and work.

Before lea

namo maha-vadanyaya

krishna-prema-pradaya te

krishnaya krishna-chaitanya-

namne gaura-tvishe namah

O most munificent incarnation! You are Krishna Himself appearing as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Srimati Radharani, and You are widely distributing pure love of Krishna. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.
All glories to Sri Krishna Chaitanya, the unlimited ocean of mercy .

It is not possible to bring any eloquent words under the command to deline

Lecture on Krishna never abandons devotees even when they fall by HG Chaitanya Charan Prabhu

(His Grace Caitanya Charan Prabhu is a monk and spiritual teacher in the time honored tradition of bhakti yoga. He is a editor of Back to Godhead, which is the official international magazine of the Hare Krishna movement.)

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Lecture on Krishna's Great Multitasking by HH Radhanath Swami on 13 Mar 2016 at ISKCON Chowpatty

(Radhanath Swami was born in Chicago in 1950. Radhanath Swami's childhood name was Richard Slavin; Radhanath Swami was given the name Radhanath Swami after he entered the renounced order. In his teenage years)

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Dear Devotees,

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

We are heartily inviting all serious students to this year’s VIHE Bhakti-sastri course. The Bhakti-sastri course is a systematic study of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Srila Prabhupada wanted all of us to deeply study his books, so that we could become better preachers and teachers, and, very importantly, achieve a clear understanding and application of the beautiful science of devotional service. Shri Vrindavan Dh

Lecture on Life and Work of Bhakti Vinoda Thakur by Bhakti Rasamrita Swami at ISKCON Mayapur on 02 Mar 2016

(His Holiness Bhakti Rasamrita Swami completed his B.E. from M.S University Baroda, MBA from Bombay University & worked for some time in a multinational Bank.)

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Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 11, Chapter 05, Text 32 by HH Lokanath Swami on 07 Mar 2016 at ISKCON Mayapur

(Lokanath Swami born in Aravade, a small village Maharashtra, Indian, he went to Mumbai for studying. In the year 1971, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was touring India with his foreign disciples and had organized a pandal program in Mumbai.Intrigued, maharaj attended the whole Hare Krsna Festival and heard from Srila Prabhupada.)

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The words “Kuli Mela” literally mean “celebrate community!” in Sanskrit. And the tenth anniversary of the very first Kuli Mela – coming back to New Vrindaban from June 15th to 19th --will do exactly that.

With its main themes of “celebrating family” and “building community,” the festival will bring around 1,000 people from the first, second, and third generations of ISKCON together: the original pioneers of Prabhupada’s society, their now grown-up children, and their children.

The days will fea

Sridhar Swami’s Samadhi Dedication.
Giriraj Swami: My dear brother Sridhar Swami Maharaja,
I feel so much separation today. What can I say? Now Mrs. Singhal, Srila Prabhupada’s beloved daughter and our affectionate mother, has also left us here. Somehow her departure has served to awaken my feelings of separation from you, from His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, and ultimately from our Srila Prabhupada.
We all shared so much together, especially the struggles at Hare Krsna Land—to get the land

Every morning I relish hearing Damodara Dasa’s rendering of Srila Prabhupada’s translation of Sri Caitanya-catitamrta. Today I heard Madhya-lila Chapter 23, “Life’s Ultimate Goal,” which includes the list of Srimati Radharani’s twenty-five principal transcendental qualities—one of which is “full of mercy” (karuna-purna). When I heard “full of mercy,” I thought, “This is my only hope: ‘full of mercy’—Srimati Radharani is full of mercy.”

Jaya Sri Radhe!

Source: http://www.girirajswami.com/?p=1070

QUESTION: If one knows the essence of the sastras,is one exempted from reading difficult portions of the sastraswhich are very philosophical? Like we at least know theoretically the conclusion of sastras that we are not the body but a spirit soul, a part and parcel of Krishna and as a part, its our duty and nature to love and serve the whole, Krishna. Basically this is the entire philosophy and conclusions of sastras, so why read and acquire more knowledge?

For decades, the usual academic hero was depicted as the detached, unbiased, value-free, objective observer revealing the secrets of nature to us. This view is now largely regarded as a pious myth. We can’t get away from it even if we tried: knowledge is state-specific. Our state of consciousness determines what we can know. Devamrita Swami elaborates on the yoga of subjectivity in a lecture given at New York University:

I’d first like to present to you the possibility that in your studies you’

One can measure a person’s character by their capacity to tolerate difficulties. We are living in a world of dualities. One cannot escape dualities. One must learn to adjust one’s consciousness and maintain integrity despite dualities. An apt example of this is a coin which has two sides: a head side and a tail side. If we want one side, we automatically must accept the other. They are inseparable. Distress is inseparable to happiness, pleasure and pain are inseparable, attraction-aversion, hono