What does it mean to follow the mood of the spiritual master? I think, it means that whatever is really important and essential to the spiritual master, that should also be essential to the disciple. Not that we become cat copies of our spiritual master – that is the last thing you want to see.
It is not about becoming exactly the same. It is about being different but appreciating that the spiritual master is highlighting certain things on the way back to the spiritual world which are important
Doubt is the motor of the modern mentality, the indefatigable engine that drives the spirit of our age. Such doubt was honored with an early recognition in the essays of the Renaissance courtier Michel de Montaigne: “We are, I know not how, double within ourselves, with the result that we do not believe what we believe, and we cannot rid ourselves of what we condemn.”
During Montaigne’s time, religious wars of unbearable cruelty rent Europe. The absolute certainty of the raging antagonists bega
History has witnessed the dark age that descended on earth after the disappearance of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates. Those unable to understand the transcendental mission of Lord Sri Chaitanya started numerous apasampradayas, or deviated philosophies. Educated upper class society was shocked and disgusted by the practices of these heretical sects and started to mistakenly identify Lord Chaitanya’s religion with the uneducated and immoral. That led them to lose faith in Lo
(Srila Prabhupada’s Typewriter)
“When you are typing, you should know that it is as good as chanting, because the work is also on the matter of Krishna. Chanting on the beads and chanting on the typewriter Composer machine are both transcendental sounds of Krishna. Krishna’s Name, His Fame, His Qualities– all of them are on the absolute platform, and therefore there is no difference between one and another. So do not be misled that you are typing and not chanting.” (Srila Prabhupada letter, 16t
Nityam Bhagavata Sevaya, ISSUE - 13 on The curse that gave srimad bhagavatam to the world.
Over the weekend of April 22nd to 24th, more than thirty scholars met at Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions to talk about the growth, impact, and challenges of ISKCON since its inception in July 1966.
Participants included some of the earliest scholars ever to study the Hare Krishna Movement, such as retired professors Thomas J. Hopkins and Larry Shinn, as well as the retired head of the British Council of Churches’ Committee on Interfaith, Kenneth Cracknell.
Also in
Devotees in Stockholm, Sweden, are campaigning to save their Hare Krishna Center, which has served the public for 34 years and is the oldest Hindu temple in the city.
Every three years so far, the Center has renewed its lease with its landlord, Familjebostader (Family Residences), a property company that is owned by the Municipality of Stockholm and builds properties for public benefit.
But in December 2014, the company cancelled ISKCON’s rental contract, effective September 2015, with plans to
As a part of ISKCON’s 50th year celebrations, devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor, academics from around the country and students from Bath Spa University gathered at the picturesque and quaint university on Saturday 23rd April to talk about their shared interest in the Hare Krishna movement. The day, organised in collaboration with Religions, Philosophies and Ethics at the University, was dedicated to talks, presentations and a panel discussion on the history of ISKCON including its greatest ach
Appearing near Katva, Krishna Dasa Kaviraja left for Vrndavana after Lord Nityananda told him in a dream: are are krishnadasa, na karaha bhaya, vrndavana yaha tanha, sarva larya haya, "0 my dear Krishnadasa, do not be afraid. Go to Vrndavana. For there you will attain all things." (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi 5.195)
Krishna Dasa took diksa from Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami. He lived a renounced life at Syama-kunda near Manasa Pavana Ghat, Radharani's midday bathing place.
Sri Jiva Gosvami, as p
The first time Woodrow Wilson High School’s basketball coach, Patrick Washington, laid eyes on Woodrow senior Shakshi Davis, he was a tall, lanky eighth-grader shooting hoops by himself on a neighborhood court.
“I was leaving school one day and something told me that instead of going my normal way, I went the opposite way to get to the highway,” Washington says.
“I drove by the park across the street where the hardtop is, and I saw this kid about 5’11” out there with an old tattered basketball.
Many times devotees try to reconcile this essentially Christian concept with Vedic understanding, but end up writing lengthy explanations that do not always satisfy the curiosity. This is because it is mostly incompatible with the truths of Bhagavad-Gita, for it has to be broken down in a simplified manner to give a satisfactory and brief explanation.
Predestination
As we may know, the five truths covered by Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, namely Krishna, the jiva souls, nature, time and action or karm
Cosmology has been of great interest to devotees ever since Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed his disciples to construct the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. However, since the Vedic cosmic model is so different from the modern one, devotees often struggle with many common differences such as heliocentric vs. geocentric models of the “solar system”, flat vs. round descriptions of the planets, rotating vs. stationary models of the Earth, the enormou
WHO IS THE PERSON YOU THINK YOU ARE, AND DO YOU ASPIRE TO IMPROVE?; NATURE VERSUS NURTURE, OR KARMA VERSUS FREE WILL?: At this point in my life I am doing my best to really understand what is true and what we can all do to be the best person possible, both on the human and spiritual level.
I know what it is like to either focus on the spiritual in theory while neglecting the material, as well as those whose total emphasis is on material progress, often at the cost of the environment and any pos
From Back to Godhead
The race for supremacy continues even in the virtual world
This is the age of internet.People are spending more and more time online. They are emailing, socializing, chatting, downloading, uploading, sight-seeing, blogging. And of course they are searching. In fact to perform all the previous tasks, one needs the help of a search-engine like Google. Google is so famous today for helping people find something on the internet that it is almost synonymous with a search-engine.
On April 22nd, 2016 Radhanath Swami joined faith leaders from around the world at Church Center of The United Nations in New York City to encourage world leaders to sign the Paris agreement on climate change. The event (The Interfaith Climate Change Statement To World Leaders Handover Program) was mainly organized byGreenFaith, in partnership with a number of faith based organizations.
Although a climate change agreement was made in Paris, each individual country that signed on still needs to a
Kirtan newsletter.
Yasomati Devi Dasi: It has already been more than a month since Kirtan Mela Mayapur. We have received several comments, most saying that they felt it was the best for them, easier to connect. Actually, this is not surprising as chanting is a personal journey, which increases in spiritual wealth and realizations as time goes by, as long as one is careful to stay away from offences. There were challenges like the absence of HH Sacinandana Swami and Madhava prabhu, but somehow
(Third from left, with white and light green sari)
By Nila Kamal das
With a heavy heart we sadly announce that HG Krsna Mayi devi dasi, disciple of HH Subhag Swami Maharaj has left her body in Sri Vrindavan Dham at 9.40pm on the 24th of April. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 at the Bhaktivedanta Hospital, Mumbai and 7 years later it finally took its toll.
It is said that ‘simplicity is vaisnavism’. Krsna Mayi Mataji was the embodiment of this statement, her dealings and behavi
