From Back to Godhead
Dear Sivarama Swami,
Hare Krsna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I hope you do not mind my writing to you. I have never written to a spiritual master before. You do not know me. My name is Bhaktin Dora and I live in Pecs (Hungary). I am 14 years old, and I live at home with my mother and older sister.
Some years ago I went to the Hare Krsna Festival with a friend. I was not very interested, but I enjoyed the chanting and dancing at the e
Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 7: The Science of God Chapter 14: Ideal Family Life
Summary
Maharaja Yudhisthira inquired from Narada Muni: O my lord, O great sage, kindly explain how we who are staying at home without knowledge of the goal of life may also easily attain liberation, according to the instructions of the Vedas.
Narada Muni replied: My dear King, those who stay at home as householders must act to earn their livelihood, and instead of trying to enjoy the results of their work themselves,
From Back to Godhead
Far from being a sentimental activity, devotional service is based on well-defined principles that systematically guide a practitioner to ultimate perfection.
Discussions about the relationship between science and religion usually end in a stalemate: Scientists accuse religionists of relying too much on faith, which they say is experimentally unverifiable, while religionists accuse scientists of relying too much on physical and chemical laws, which they say fail to measure
The Deep Ecology movement is rooted in the conclusions of Professors Lynn White and Arne Naess. By the late 1960s, Prof White, a historian and university president who had studied the development of technology from medieval times to the present, published “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis”. In that influential article, he identified society’s mentality of anthropocentrism (human-centrism) as the root cause of the ecologic crisis. Shortly after that, Prof Naess, philosopher and enviro
By Srila Vyasadeva
SB 9.10: The Pastimes of the Supreme Lord, Rāmacandra
This Tenth Chapter describes how Lord Ramacandra appeared in the dynasty of Maharaja Khatvanga. It also describes the Lord’s activities, telling how He killed Ravana and returned to Ayodhya, the capital of His kingdom.
The son of Maharaja Khatvanga was Dirghabahu, and his son was Raghu. The son of Raghu was Aja, the son of Aja was Dasaratha, and the son of Dasaratha was Lord Ramacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
From Back to Godhead
Just to attract us to His service, God appeared on earth more than one million years ago as Lord Ramacandra the most benevolent ruler and valiant hero the world has ever known.
The incarnations of Godhead are as numerous as the waves of the sea, yet Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the source of them all. Just as from one original candle we may light many other candles equal in potency, so Krsna expands Himself in many incarnations, each as powerful as
We often get questions about surrender, like “how can we surrender”. Recently I was reading one old BTG, 2001, and found a nice practical statement from Srila Prabhupada. If we search “surrender” on the vedabase we find 7445 hits, so we know it is an important topic. And we all know the conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita:
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami mä suca
TRANSLATION
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall de
Translation (SB 11.10.17)
Although the performer of fruitive activities desires perpetual happiness, it is clearly observed that materialistic workers are often unhappy and only occasionally satisfied, thus proving that they are not independent or in control of their destiny. When a person is always under the superior control of another, how can he expect any valuable results from his own fruitive actions?
Purport
Although materialistic persons reject Kṛṣṇa consciousness and instead pursue t
By Niranajan And Jayapataka Swami
Today being the Disappearance day of our most beloved HH Sridhar Swami Maharaj we thought of remembering one of Srila Prabhupada’s favorite sons, his Samadhi is in Mayapur next to the Samadhi of HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaj, and Srila Prabhupadas Pusya Samadhi.
HH Niranajan Swami Maharaj remembers the Jolly Swami:
There are many things more we could say about Sridhar Maharaja. He was a very wonderful devotee and the w
The world around us is changing at an ever-increasing rate. The notion of keeping up with the changing world may have relevance in devotional service. But is this perspective relevant in all areas of our practices of bhakti? Are there some elements of devotional service that must always be constant? Srila Prabhupada wrote:
The greatest danger to our movement will come when we manufacture and create our own process for worshiping the deities. … Whatever is going on, follow it just to the exact
By His Divine Grace ACBS Srila Prabhupada
A conversation about the Hare Krsna mantra between Srila Prabhupada and John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison
Montreal Star, June, 1969:
Reporter: Where do you get your strength?
John Lennon: From Hare Krsna.
Yoko: That’s where we get it from, you know. We’re not denying it.
In September 1969. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acarya (spiritual master) of the Hare Krsna movement, arrived as a house guest at Tittenhurst Park, the beautifu
(Bhaktivedanta Research Centre: This is a one of a kind original photo of Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj found by BRC while going through Sri Sundaranand Vidyabinode’s collection.)
Today is Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja’s disappearance day. He comes in the Gaudiya Vaishnava disciplic succession after Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. He was a renounced ascetic, fully engaged in chanting the holy names of Krishna and meditating on His pastimes. For
Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 8, Chapter 7 (texts 36-42) describes the benevolent activities of Lord Siva when the living entities were threatened by the deadliest poison (halahala):
“Srila Sukadeva Gosvami said: ‘Lord Siva is always benevolent toward all living entities. When he saw that the living entities were very much disturbed by the poison, which was spreading everywhere, he was very compassionate. Thus he spoke to his eternal consort, Sati, as follows.
“ ‘Lord Siva said: “My dear Bhavani, ju
By Gargamuni Das
October – November 1966: NEW YORK CITY, “Happiness on 2nd Ave.”
We used to make these leaflets called “Stay high forever.” People really got a kick out of those.
Gargamuni das: We had a big tape recorder that weighed 50 pounds. I was in charge of that.
Brahmananda would bring it down from Prabhupada’s closet every night.
So my job was to set up the tape for Prabhupada’s lecture.
Prabhupada was very insistent in having his lectures tape recorded – so much so that when the tape r
When we talk about sankirtana, we are, of course, talking about the congregational chanting of the Lord’s holy names, specifically in the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. For many people, this is the first way they come in contact with the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, and with Lord Chaitanya’s sankirtana movement, by hearing the devotees chanting the holy names. But what is it about this process that makes it so effective, and so important in the way people are first exposed to it?
To answer th
By Srila Krishna Das Kaviraja Goswami
(from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 8)
Whether he is offensive or inoffensive, anyone who even now chants “sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda” is immediately overwhelmed with ecstasy, and tears fill his eyes. Simply by talking of Nityananda Prabhu one awakens his love for Krsna. Thus all his bodily limbs are agitated by ecstasy, and tears flow from his eyes like the waters of the Ganges.
There are offenses to be considered while chanting t
So on the occasion of Varaha’s appearance day, we are reading a verse in relation this pastime. This is from Canto Three, Chapter Eighteen “The Battle Between Boar and Hiranyaksa”, Text number two.
dadarsa tatrabhijitam dhara-dharam
pronniyamanavanim agra-damstraya
musnantam aksna sva-ruco ’runa-sriya
jahasa caho vana-gocaro mrgah
Translation:
“He saw there the all-powerful Personality of Godhead in His boar incarnation, bearing the earth upward on the ends of His tusks and robbing him of his
Excerpt from the lecture by HH Nirañjana Swami
Baltics Winter Festival, January 17, 2014
The following is a partially-edited transcription of an excerpt of a lecture given on January 17, 2014, at the Baltics Winter Festival – Chanting with Feeling
Today I wanted to read and speak from a few quotes about the Holy Name. Some of them I have read recently and found a lot of significance to them, not only to myself but those with whom I shared them. A lot of times the devotees struggle to make their
Live From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!
Date: January 30th, 2012 Topic: Sri Advaita Acarya’s Appearance day Verse: C. C. Adi 6.5 Speaker: H. H. Bhakti V. V. Narasimha Swami
So today being the occasion of the appearance of Advaita Acarya we will speak on the pastimes, some of the significant events in relation to Advaita Acarya. This is from Adi Lila, chapter 6 – The Glories of Advaita Acarya, text 6.
advaitam harinadvaitad acaryam bhakti-samsanat bhaktavataram isam tam advaitacaryam asraye
TRA
