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By Visvambhara Das

A crowd of people were waiting for someone to come out of the car in the motorway service area. When he came out, he came towards me. He had bodyguards keeping the crowd distant. Because he was wearing a mask, I couldn’t recognize him, but l placed the Bhagavad Gita in his hand. He said to me, “l recognize you. You are someone famous.” l replied, ” l am not famous. l am a man of God.” He said, “If you’re a man of God, pray for me.” I replied, “If you read this book, l’ll pray

For about ten years, I maintained myself and my family by driving a taxi. Srila Prabhupada’s kirtan always softly played in the taxi, and I was distributing his books to my passengers. Some happily accepted, and some refused as always.

One day, I picked up a passenger from the airport to take him downtown, about a forty-minute drive with traffic.

On the way, he recognized the maha-mantra in the background and started a conversation with me. I slowly introduced him to the message of the Bhagavad

Drumila Dasa: Mystical Story!

A friend of mine Jude Acer, a big name in the world of chess (tied Bobby Fisher when he was younger), told me a great chess celebrity was going to be here today. So I tried my best to make it, but was late, and he was already gone. I was having a particularly tough day, so bad that I turned back the other way to head back towards my car, (wasn’t quiting, just changing my usually route) and I never ever do that, I always tough it out. Then I realized that he was at

Compiled by Stephen Knapp

The Bhagavad-gita is the essence of all Vedic philosophy and is composed of 700 verses and explains such topics as the nature of the soul, God, the material universe, the nature of activities and karma, reincarnation, the process of yoga, the purpose of life, and more. Within the Bhagavad-gita we can find the teachings for such additional topics as how to have a peaceful life, how to gain stability of mind, how to understand the workings of material nature, or even get

An old Farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Bhagavad-gita. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way that he could.
One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagavad-gita just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagavad-gita do?”
The Grandfather quietly

The Auckland Loft recently received a letter from a prisoner in the Auckland Correctional Facility, saying that he wanted The Nectar of Devotion, Teachings of Lord Caitanya and the Krsna Book. Munjaranya went to great lengths to connect with him on the phone, and after a week she succeeded. It turns out that he had just moved there from the Christchurch prison, where he had found a Bhagavad Gita and read it. Then he had contacted the temple in Christchurch, which sent him japa beads, and he sta

Of all reading material that comes my way in a natural devotional setting – the Gita, the Bhagavatam and anything else which is a publication of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, I also include the occasional more secular material (even an occasional newspaper) – I confess to my favorite amongst all.

I just love hearing or reading of the past times of Prabhupada. There is a wealth of material out there on the subject of His Divine Grace, the founder and acharya (teacher) of the great bhakti movemen

In Manchester, Nagendra dashed past me as I attempted to stop him. He did however capture a momentary glimpse of our “Veda” book and seconds later he returned to find out more.

I spoke about “Veda” and also introduced him to the Bhagavad Gita. He then revealed that a couple of years ago someone in the City Centre stood in the exact same spot as me, tried to give him a Bhagavad Gita, and he said he would come back later to take it. However, he never did. Since that day he’s sometimes felt overwh

Every Sunday, we do harinama at the same market place in Minsk, Belarus, for two hours. Usually, I distribute books while it’s going on. Recently, when the harinama was already approaching the end, in my bag were left six books: three big and three small, all with the same title. I started intensely praying to distribute all the books, but I was so unsuccessful that couldn’t distribute even one. Finally, the whole harinama party came to our bus to leave, and I looked around in the hope of seein

By Premanjana Das

The beginning of book distribution

Krishna Bhava Das, from ISKCON Punjabi Bagh community in Delhi, 68 year old , strongly built, having a sharp gaze of determination yet having an air of simplicity around him, eldest in his family of 30 members, untouched by modern flare , who prefers to keep to his village roots and culture, a strong businessman is been one of the most enthusiastic devotee when it comes to book distribution. Over the last 10 years, he has distributed lakhs of

While distributing at Richland College in Dallas, I met a couple who came to my table enthusiastic to hear about the teachings of the Gita, which they saw on the table. Both of them had heard of it. I showed them the illustrations and explained a little. Then they became more enthusiastic to take one. The young lady was happy to take one and give a donation, but the young man said he would get it another time.

A half hour later they came back to the table. They had been reading it for that half

In Stratford, I met Sandy, a Westpac Bank worker from New Zealand, who told me that she has most of these books and LOVES reading them. She said that every time a devotee comes through, she buys another book.

“These are not books you just read once and move on,” she said. “I read them through fully, then after a few months I re-visit them and start reading them over again.”

She was so inspired, and she really takes shelter of Prabhupada’s books. This time, we sat on a park bench, and I showed h

By His Divine Grace Srila A.C.B. Swami Prabhupada

Śrī Brahmā-saṁhitā, Verse 32
Type: Sri Brahma Samhita
Date: Aug. 14, 1972
Location: Los Angeles

Prabhupāda: Hare Krsna.
aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti
[Bs. 5.32]

Aṅgāni means limbs of the body. Govinda, Lord Kṛṣṇa is person. He’s got His limbs of the body as we have got. Man is made after God. We are imitation of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not imitation of us. The atheist class, they think that “They have painted a form of God according to one’s own

At a university in Los Angeles, a student with a walker came straight away to my book table and declared, “I know the Bhagavad-gita, and let me tell you this is not a book of rainbows and fairy tales. Arjuna wanted to save the bodies of his family members. He did not know that Krishna would teach him the real truth: that no one can kill the soul. So Arjuna fought his best. No one should think that this is a sentimental book to promote peace. Krishna creates and dissolves the universe over and o

As I write this article there are pictures on the news of hundreds on people lying on the ground simulating the unjust death of George Floyd, a black man, by an officer of the law. People on the streets all over the country are demanding action, demanding that the police be reformed, defunded and/or disbanded. Cries of “racism” echo throughout the land. In the news, some of the talking heads are saying it’s “a few bad apples” and others warn of a more systemic problem. Is it individuals on the

What did I learn today from sastra (scripture) or from the words of the guru?

In the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna asks Krishna appropriate questions, with all of them being answered, of course.

Another item that I read from the book Chasing Rhinos, by Shyamasundar, left me satisfied:

“Sometimes, just like the wild tiger, you have got to control by repression. But when the tiger is under control, there is no question of repression. You can play with the tiger; he becomes your friend. So, repression is

From a very young age I knew that this life that I was living was not all that there was. I started searching to find what the perfection of life is. I was told that it was wealth, a big house or an expensive car, but with each step towards success, I was less and less happy. 

Then I met some devotees who introduced our family to Krishna. I quickly forgot that all of these items were even on my bucket list. Instead, I was encouraged to search for ways to see Krishna in the world. Overwhelmingly,

If we were to distill the Bhagavad-gita to one word, it would surely be, “Krishna.” If we were to distill the Bhagavad-gita to eighteen sentences, one per chapter, it might read like this:

Before a just and vital battle, recognizing beloved relatives and mentors among his opponents, the great warrior Arjuna tells his friend Krishna that he will not fight.

Krishna points out that by giving up the battle Arjuna would fail to see the spiritual essence in others, fail in his duty as a warrior and fa

Every year the Prabhupada Marathon is a time for giving around ISKCON communities worldwide. For the second year running, Prabhupada Marathon is being celebrated globally as the “Live to Give” campaign. The global goal is to distribute at least 2.2 million Bhagavad Gitas and spread the message of the Gita far and wide. Several centers around the world have already pledged to meet a goal for this global campaign, which started after Bhadra Purnima, and will end on January 7th.

Source: https://w

From Back to Godhead

Lord Krishna’s words made their way to us after a long historical journey.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Although many articles have been written about the Gita as a philosophical poem, exploring its meaning and theological implications, and although both devotees and nondevotees have written elaborate studies of Srila Prabhupada’s translation, few articles deal with the text as a historical phenomenon, something that