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
Today we are observing Advaita Acarya’s appearance day, which is on saptami tithi in the month of Magha.
Advaita Acarya appeared first, then He made Mahaprabhu, Krishna, appear. By Advaita Acarya’s calling Krishna appeared. Therefore it is a very auspicious day so we should speak something on Srila Advaita Acarya and beg for His mercy. If He bestows His mercy on us then we can get Caitanya Nitai, otherwise we cannot.
He Is the Lord and the Incarnation of the Lord’s Devotee
First we should know w
In Kingdom of God, there is no hunger, thirst, birth and death, old age, disease, etc. Thus without these sufferings that draw our consciousness in the material world, keeping us absorbed in sorting out problems of life in material world, one can simply focus on service to Supreme Lord without any impediments.
The Vaikuntha residents while travelling in their Airplanes condemn the fragrance of Madhavi flowers in ponds, which indicate
Quotes from Radhanath Swami
1) From letters
“The culmination of all our preaching efforts is when a sincere soul experiences his or her spiritual home when they visit our temple. I cannot overestimate the great importance the service, which you have accepted as a guest receptionist. I am most indebted to you for taking this service so seriously. Any person who ever visits our temple should feel so personally welcomed that they feel they have made a true friend. A devotee who genuinely is con
From Back to Godhead
Sri Brahma-samhita is one of the oldest Vedic scriptures, and it is accepted by Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu (an incarnation of Krsna Himself who appeared 484 years ago) as the essence of Vaisnava (Krsna conscious) philosophy. The first verse of the Fifth Chapter of Sri Brahma-samhita reads: “Krsna, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal, blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, and He is the Prime Cause of
By Janananda Gosvami
Hey that’s not what Prabhupada said. You’ve got it the wrong way round. He said ” resolution, then revolution, then dissolution—no solution!
What do you mean revolution? Another ISKCON reform, a changing of the guards, change the structure of the management, get rid of the tyrants at the top, throw out the guru system, bring in the uttama bhagavata, a philosophical revelation. Aha! An unveiling of the hidden mysteries of ISKCON history, the latest solve the problems techniq
The purport of the verse is that even Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu — He is God himself, Krsna Himself — He felt, alone, unable to do this task. He felt.
So this is the position. You are cooperating; therefore I am getting the credit. Otherwise alone what could I do? Ekaki amara nahi paya bolo.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself wanted our cooperation. He is God, Krsna. And therefore cooperation is very important thing. Nobody should think that “I have got so great ability. I can do.” No. It is simply by c
From Back to Godhead
A devotee-bookseller explains.
Have you ever met a Hare Krsna devotee in an airport, a parking lot, or on the street distributing books and collecting donations? Many people wonder why we do this. I’ve been distributing books for over six years, and I’d like to tell you something about the origin of book distribution.
Devotees are not ordinary booksellers; their bookselling is transcendental. It is sankirtana, the glorification of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
By Giriraj Swami
Today is the auspicious occasion of Gita Jayanti, the day Lord Krsna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kuruksetra, the day of Moksada Ekadasi. To begin, we shall read from Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Chapter Nine, “The Most Confidential Knowledge,” two verses that can provide us with guidance for our lives:
TEXT 30
api cet su-duracaro
bhajate mam ananya-bhak
sadhur eva sa mantavyah
samyag vyavasito hi sah
SYNONYMS
api—even; cet—if; su-duracarah—one committi
From Back to Godhead
Presence of joy is higher than absence of sorrow.
I was zooming along a beautiful tree-lined highway when I slammed on the brakes. Screeeech! Thud! Generally, when you run over a squirrel scampering across the road just a little too late for you to stop, you get a sinking feeling. Unless you’re stone-hearted, the next few minutes are not joyful. The guilt of having taken a life lingers until it’s replaced by more important things. But this time I was not gripped by remo
By Sesa Dasa
In medicine, a coma, or comatose, (from the Greek “koma”, meaning deep sleep) is a profound state of unconsciousness.
Talk about living a nightmare. There was a report on the news that a Belgian man “though to be in a coma for 23 years was actually conscious the whole time.” Alex Watts of Sky News Online writes, “For the whole time, he was trapped in his own body with no way of letting friends and family know he could hear every word they were saying.”
It gets worse. In an intervie
In this article, I compare the origin of universe as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam (SB) and the Big Bang (BB) theory .
1. The initial state
According to SB, the initial state of matter immediately previous to its manifestation is calledpradhāna (SB 3.26.10p). In the BB theory, this initial state is called the singularity. The table below compares these two states:
Pradhāna SB 3.26.10p, SB12.4.20,21 |
Singularity ref : [1]-[4] |
*Unmanifested/undifferentiated form of matter. *No |
When His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada frst arrived in America in the midst ol the cultural turmoil of the sixties, he quickly captured the hearts and minds of the New York hippies and the San Francisco flower children with the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra.
Within three years, he journeyed to London, and by 1971, Hare Krsna had been recorded on hit records by former Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison. By then the mantra had been heard by hundreds of millions of peop
“Srila Rupa Gosvami, after consulting various scriptures, has enumerated the transcendental qualities of the Lord as follows: (1) beautiful features of the entire body: (2) marked with all auspicious characteristics; (3) extremely pleasing: (4) effulgent; (5) strong; (6) ever-youthful; (7) wonderful linguist; (8) truthful; (9) talks pleasingly; (10) fluent; (11) highly learned: (12) highly intelligent; (13) a genius; (14) artistic; (15) extremely clever; (16) expert; (17) grateful; (18) firmly
