Love is our innermost longing. Gita wisdom declares that our longing for love is best fulfilled when we learn to love Krishna. Let’s understand this central Gita teaching in five parts:
1. Loving Krishna enables our love to break free from all limi
By Chaitanya Charan Das
Millions celebrate the secular holiday of Thanksgiving* this week, which can serve as a helpful reminder to all of the importance of giving thanks and expressing gratitude regularly. Creative devotees also use this annual event to highlight living a non-violent lifestyle that doesn’t involve killing animals and even hosting Thanksgiving day events to share our philosophy, prasadam, and ahimsa recipes. In today’s reflection, Chaitanya Charan Das focuses on expressing gr
Chaitanya Charan Das, “The Spiritual Scientist,” is one of ISKCON’s premiere teachers and prolific authors. He graciously agreed to share his two-part reflections on the Damodarashtakam with ISKCON News to help devotees enter this month of spiritual auspiciousness more fully.
“Prayer is the universal language by which the human heart communes with the divine heart. Poetry is an artistic means to verbalize deep emotions. Singing is a popular method to express one’s emotions.
The integration of t
We all have certain abilities that enable us to make a contribution and gain satisfaction.
When we use our abilities properly, we get a sense of self-worth and specialness. But sometimes those talents can also make us proud because we may feel superior to those who do not have such talents. To avoid such pride, we need to see our abilities appropriately. Gita wisdom explains that our talents are not our entitlements, that is, we are not entitled to have these talents. Even if we have certain a
From: Working with Hindu organizations for common causes, The Monk's Podcast 167 with Mahaprabhu Prabhu.
Mahaprabhu Dasa (Martin Gurvich) was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1963. He is the son of well-known artist Jose Gurvich and Julia Anorga. Mahaprabhu Das studied Political Science at Syracuse University, USA.
He joined the Hare Krishna Movement in 1982 in Paris, France.He has performed many different services in the movement and at present is ISKCON Communications Director for Europe, Preside
Radhika Ramana Prabhu is a notable Vaishnava scholar. He holds the Charles Redd Chair of Religious Studies at Utah State University. He is the author of The Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Vedānta of Jīva Gosvāmī (Routledge, 2007), co-editor of The Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Columbia University Press, 2013), editor of Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Philosophy: Tradition Reason and Devotion (Ashgate Publishing, 2014), and co-author of The Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Selected Readings (Columbia University Pr
Caru Das
Initiated by Prabhupada in May 1970
Australia 1970-1975, President of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane Temples at Various Times
BBT Library Party 1975
Bhakti Sastra in 1977
Berkley Temple President 1975-1978
Traveling Rathayatra/Festival of India 1979-1981
Los Angeles Temple Life Membership Director 19791989
Started KHQN Krishna Radio in Spanish Fork Utah 1981 to present day
Opened Sri Sri Radha Shymasundar Temple In Spanish Fork 2001
Opened Sri Sri Radha Govinda Temp
“The arrogance of the wicked increases on studying scripture, which is actually meant to remove arrogance, just as the darkness owls experience increases with the rising of the sun, which is actually meant to remove darkness.”
— Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāram, ku-paṇḍita-nindā, Verse 11.
To properly perceive even ordinary reality, we need humility. While driving along a road, if we become overconfident, thinking that we know the way, we may become neglectful and get jolted by newly-formed potholes
By Chaitanya Charan Das
We all worry sometime or the other. And to some extent, worrying is just natural and unavoidable because so many things that are important for us are not in our control.
Still, if we consider the amount of mental time we spend on worrying, we will recognize that it is enormous – and enormously unproductive, in fact counterproductive.
While there are no quick fixes to the problem of excessive worrying, still we can progress towards a solution by appreciating that the sam
Traditions across the world have stories similar to the Western classic about Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde. In such stories, the same person acts sometimes like a principled, selfless benefactor and sometimes like an opportunistic, self-centered malefactor.
And similar is our own story too. What makes us behave like this? Our mind, or more precisely, the way we respond to our mind. Our mind reacts impulsively to external perceptions and internal recollections; it becomes infatuated with some things and
By Chaitanya Charan Das
Suppose we accidentally take a drink that acts like poison for us in our particular health condition. As soon as we realize what we are doing, we will immediately stop drinking it and take some antidote.
When we gain spiritual knowledge, we understand that sensual indulgence acts like poison, even if it tastes initially like nectar (Bhagavad-gita 18.38). Despite understanding this, we still succumb to sensuality because our conditions or conditionings highlight the initi
