god (61)

God Walks and Does Not by Bhaktimarga Swami

8549423258?profile=RESIZE_400x“The supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.”

The above quote is referenced from mantra five of the text Sri Isopanisad. How may we analyze this mantra?

There are three aspects of God (the Absolute) — brahman, paramatma, and bhagavan. The first aspect or feature a God is a depersonalize feature of the Absolute. It would be hard to explain this feature which is defined as an all-pervasive pres

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The Spirit of Christmas, the Spirit of Love

2515222782?profile=originalBy Giriraj Swami

“Now these Christmas holidays have begun in your country. Throughout the whole month of December you’ll observe nice festivities. Why? It began with God consciousness. Jesus Christ came to give you God consciousness, and in relation to him these festivities are going on. It may have degraded into another form, but the beginning was God consciousness. Now we may have lost it. But people cannot be happy without reviving God consciousness. It may be named differently—‘Krishna cons

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8223173271?profile=RESIZE_584xIf we are at all aware of how dependent we are on God—for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and our very ability to eat and drink and breathe, to think and feel and will, and to walk, talk, and sense—we will feel grateful and want to reciprocate God’s kindness. We will want to do something for He (or She or They) who has done, and continues to do, so much for us.

We often take things for granted until we lose them. I use my right hand to chant on meditation beads, and one

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7959314857?profile=RESIZE_400xWe should not think that sankirtana, or the chanting of the Lord’s holy names, is simply part of the system of mantra-yoga, or is merely a formula that has been passed down through the ages like other yoga systems. Nor is it a ritual, ceremony, or activity meant for producing good karma or positive fruitive results. Neither is it merely a way to focus the mind and achieve peace and tranquility. It is far more than any of these. It is the Lord Himself who establishes the chanting of the holy name

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Let us join together to hear from the very experienced Kirtan leaders from London as they reaffirm the Purpose #4 of ISKCON (To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu)

About the Team

Radhika Ranjan Das

Full time working professional who has been practicing Bhakti from a young age. Much of his time is spent in sharing kirtan with diverse audiences. He is a core mana

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We are not at length going to study the Mayavada philosophy or the Buddhist philosophy because they are very extensive and academic philosophy. The Mayavada philosophy is basically appealing to the very root cause of the living entity being in the material world, namely the competitive spirit in relationship with the Supreme Lord, where the living entity wants to be the enjoyer and the controller, and this, in turn, causes lust and envy.  So it is said, as we are freeing ourselves from the maya

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We will keep you in our hearts

6924954868?profile=RESIZE_400xBy Rajesh Hirani

Finally, when Srila Prabhupada said to you strongly:

“I will get better only when I die”
You broke down crying.

But he wished to bind you even closer:
“Is this what you have learnt from me?
The soul is always there – immortal!”

Although your heart ached with constant agony
you always lived with the understanding –
that Srila Prabhupada is constantly there…

Like a mother hiding behind a curtain
who wishes to teach her son to walk
by urging him to search for her: “Come, come…I am

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Let us join together to hear from the very experienced Kirtan leaders from London as they reaffirm the Purpose #4 of ISKCON (To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu)

About the Team

Radhika Ranjan Das

Full time working professional who has been practicing Bhakti from a young age. Much of his time is spent in sharing kirtan with diverse audiences. He is a core manager for Kirtan L

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By Krsnanandini Devi Dasi

I have vivid memories of the many times my mother took my siblings and me to church the heartfelt gospel singing, the soul-stirring preaching, the supplications for lost souls to join the church. I remember the passing of the baskets to collect money to support the church and its many activities, and I recall well the song that generally accompanied these collections. Its famous, oft-sung lyrics still echo in my mind today: “You can’t beat God giving, no matter how you

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My heart is like a desert, hot with the rays of the sun. This is my internal mental condition. The desire for temporary, material things cannot satisfy me because by nature they are death producing. And not one or two, but thousands of such death-producing desires have taken shelter in my mind. So, my subconscious region is always burning. This is my condition. But somehow, by the grace of sadhu and my guru, the holy name of Krishna with its infinite prospect has entered through the holes of my

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When we say Krishna we mean God. When we say God it is not a Hindu God or Muslim God or Christian God and so forth or an Indian God or Russian god or Chinese God. God is God. He is the only one. He is the Supreme Personality. Although He is one but He has innumerable names according to His innumerable pastimes and innumerable qualities. Even in English we notice God is addressed as the Almighty or Omnipotent. Almighty and omnipotent are the names of God. As God is all powerful, He is the Almigh

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At a recent public lecture I attended the speaker was asked the above question by a respectable Muslim lady. Her full question was; given that we all believe in God, why are there so many different religions? While the speaker understood exactly what she was asking he diverted for a moment to suggest that unfortunately we do not all believe in God. Rather there is a significant and powerful lobby making extensive propaganda that Gods existence is a fallacy, a myth and that this lobby go under t

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God’s Protection by Giriraj Swami

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From a talk by Srila Prabhupada on Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 25.29, January 21, 1967, San Francisco.

The laws of nature are so strict that if you have to suffer, nobody can check it. That is realized by Prahlada Maharaja. There are so many evidences. Balasya neha saranam pitarau. (SB 7.9.19) [“My Lord Nrsimhadeva, O Supreme, because of a bodily conception of life, embodied souls neglected and not cared for by You cannot do anything for their betterment. Whatever remedies they accept,

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“Nothing Is Impossible for the Omnipotent! “

How can stones float on water!? But they did…once upon a time! In treta-yuga, God appeared as a human being, and engaged some monkeys to throw stones in water. By the power of His name, the stones floated and thus a bridge was constructed across the ocean. Crossing this bridge, God rescued His wife, who was kidnapped by a demon.

This is a popular pastime of Lord Sri Rama. But a common man doesn’t believe in such ‘stories’ calling them ‘mythology.’ Ne

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If we had a rand for every time we felt discouraged and aimless in our spheres of livelihood, we would probably be well-off by now and ready to take early retirement. Srila Prabhupada explains that everyone has a prescribed duty according to the four social dispositions; namely the priestly, warriors, merchants, and labourers. Those who properly perform their prescribed duties as an offering to God “live peacefully and are not disturbed by material conditions.” Thus they achieve the highest per

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4003208094?profile=RESIZE_710xAn accupressurist, who comes around to see me in Mayapura, is actually quite good.  He is a kind-hearted person; Bilvamangal, by name.  He came to my invitation last night, and I awoke this morning feeling like a new creature.  If only I could bring him back with me to Canada.... It's a dream.  He's very much anchored here.  He has a family. 

What felt like new legs (and knees) were not put to terrific use today.  With my second last day in Mayapura, many things needed wrapping up, and a major
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Atheists think that a prayer to God is sheer imagination. But for centuries, thousands of sincere practitioners have accumulated definite evidence of the positive results of prayer. The serious doubt regarding prayer is not whether God can hear and respond, but whether the things people pray for are worthwhile. According to St. Teresa of Avila. “More tears are shed in this world from prayers that are answered than from those that go unanswered.” Those who pray, therefore, need more than the con

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At a lecture that Srila Prabhupada gave on April 6, 1972, at Tarrawarra Abbey, in Melbourne, one of the members said to Prabhupada, “Swami, in the Christian history, one of the people that many of us look up to is a man called Francis of Assisi, and he talks about knowing God, and he rates it up with experiences such as on the occasion when he embraced a leper. And he says, ‘If we turn away from our fellow, then we are not reaching God, or God consciousness.’ And this is in line with one of the

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Attraction for the Message of Krishna

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By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

dharmah svanusthitah pumsam
visvaksena-kathasu yah
notpadayed yadi ratim
srama eva hi kevalam

“Duties [dharma] executed by men, regardless of occupation, are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Supreme Lord.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1.2.8)

In human society there is always some kind of religious institution. One’s religion is called dharma, faith. Dharma, precisely, is one’s constitutional and fun

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"kartum akartum anyatha kartum"
"Everything happening, not happening or otherwise happening is His happening."

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a retreat for brahmacharis (monks) connected to the Radha Gopinath temple, Mumbai at the Govardhan Eco Village - the farm project of Radha Gopinath temple. Among other feelings, retreats like these always leaves you feeling a little more grounded and humble. You feel small in front of hundreds of other accomplished monks. The sayi
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