By Prof. Keith Ward
Can a scholar be a true believer? Can a believer be a good scholar? Two parts of a problem that has exercised many in the West since at least the Enlightenment. Prof. Keith Ward, Regius Professor Emeritus of Divinity at the University of Oxford, takes a fresh look at the conundrum by examining some of the main problems and outlining a few principles that may help modern-day devotee-scholars.
Religion calls for total commitment and faith. Scholarship calls for critical reason
By Satyaraja Dasa (Steven J. Rosen)
I recently heard a woman say, “least but not last.” She meant to say the usual, “last but not least,” but somehow, due to a slip of the lip, or perhaps because of some mild form of dyslexia, she inverted the words in this somewhat humorous way. And this got me thinking about humility, which people sometimes confuse with low self-esteem, thus viewing it as an inferior quality. To think of oneself as “least” is the last thing one would want to do.
Our Krishna-c
By Giriraj Swami
We have gathered at the lotus feet of the Panca-tattva on this most auspicious occasion of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami’s cida-dadhi festival. The background to this incident can be found in the early life of Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. His uncle and father, Hiranya and Govardhana Majumadara, were wealthy landlords in Bengal—almost like kings—and had a huge, opulent riverside palace, with boats that plied the river. Hiranya and Govardhana were generous and devoted to brahminical
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Lord Krishna withdrew His dynasty from the earth by orchestrating a devastating battle.
jalaukasam jale yadvan / mahanto ’danty aniyasah
durbalan balino rajan / mahanto balino mithah
evam balisthair yadubhir / mahadbhir itaran vibhuh
yadun yadubhir anyonyam / bhu-bharan sañjahara ha
“O King, as in the ocean the bigger and stronger aquatics swallow up the smaller and weaker ones, so also the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to lighten the b
This is actually the goal of any saint, sadhu, holy man, or bhakta, to go through life and perform all of one’s activities while being absorbed in thoughts and awareness of God, like a constant meditation. This is the means of bhakti-yoga by which we are always thinking of Lord Krishna in some way. This is the way we reach the spiritual strata.
“A grass worm confined in a hole by a bee always thinks of the bee in fear and enmity and later becomes a bee simply because of such remembrance. Simila
Meditating on the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Muralimanohara, placing myself at the dust of Lord Caitanya’s feet, and respectfully offering obeisances to the great devotees of the Lord, who are so many oceans of transcendental virtue, I shall now happily begin to praise the transcendental opulences of Sri Vrndavana.
I am not strong enough to go to the far shore of the great nectar ocean of Vrindavan’s glories. Who can go there? However, because I love Vrindavan I will now dip into that ocean.
SB 1.1.2 … sadyo hrdy avarudhyate ‘tra krtibhih susrusubhis tat-ksanat …As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhagavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.
Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.1.2
By the hearing process Krsna IMMEDIATELY (sadyo) is established in the heart.
Please note the word RAPT [attention, in the previous quote] – there is a consistency in the Bhagavatam methodology. One has to hear attentively.
The sadhana of hea
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
God is a person, and out of His infinite kindness He allows us even in
our present condition to render Him personal service.
In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the devotee Prahlada Maharaja, a great spiritual authority, says, “Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia, and pastimes of Lord Visnu [Krsna], remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship …, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming H
Sri Hanuman, a great devotee in the form of a monkey, prays, “Since Lord Sri Ramacandra is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, He is not attached to anything in this material world. He is the most beloved Supersoul of all self-realized souls, and He is their very intimate friend. He is full of all opulences. . . .
“One cannot establish a friendship with the Supreme Lord Ramacandra on the basis of material qualities such as one’s birth in an aristocratic family, one’s personal beauty,
John Lennon’s pacifist anthem again this Friday sounded throughout Europe on the airways. At the request of Berlin Public Radio, around 160 public radio stations from 28 European countries simultaneously played “Give Peace a Chance”, the song Lennon composed in 1969 against the Vietnam War.
The song, recorded in room 1742 on June 1, 1969, had its obvious starting point in Lennon’s response to war. These words haunte
Misers hold on to whatever wealth they have and do not want to share, and the result is they are being deprived. So here we are in Europe, we brought wealth from all over the world. We got it by hook or Captain Cook, somehow or other, we brought it in. Here it is and now we are sitting on it. But gradually, it is running out. London is still going strong but if you go a bit North, people are poor! It is like, England is sinking in poverty. I am sorry to bring it up so early in the morning but i
Every civilized person is familiar with the concept of seva or service. Service can be of different types and of different qualities. At home, every member of the family is serving everyone else. Traditionally, the father traditionally earns for the family and is therefore known as the “breadwinner,” while the mother takes care of the home itself by cooking, cleaning, and creating a comfortable and congenial atmosphere. The children obey their parents and perform basic chores or run minor erran
Srila Prabhupada visited New Vrindaban four times. One of the significant sites of his pastimes is the house in Madhavan where he resided during his last visit in 1976.
The house in Madhavan (where Sankirtan Prabhu now lives) is the site of the last darshan Srila Prabhupada gave to the New Vrindaban plow department. Darshans were scheduled according to department, and I was a member of the plow department. The last darshan is very exceptional because Srila Prabhupada was commenting spontaneous
On Thursday 9th March at 12.06pm, under the gaze of Śrī Giriraja, in the holy land of Śrī Vṛndāvana dhāma, in the loving company of his spiritual master and the vaisnavas, with a resounding kirtan party, His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Swami departed from this material realm.
“Intelligent persons who take shelter of beautiful Vrndavana’s opulent vines melting with motherly love, and throw far away the idea that they are material, become supremely successful, both in this life and also after death
“How any spiritual activity should be done is understood from three sources: saintly persons, standard scriptures and the spiritual master”. (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.28.4, purport)
Proper sankirtan – a phrase used by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati in his Sri Sanmodana Bhasyam and by Lord Caitanya Himself – means certain tunes, certain instruments, a certain musical style, certain dress and certain kinds of dancing by the members of the chanting party. In Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement, r
(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
Over the years modern science has speculated and researched to find out the number of species on earth, the method that main stream science has adopted is experimental which is commonly known as “seeing is believing”, but without going much in detail regarding the imperfectness of this method, which is based on imperfect senses of the human being and imperfectness of the instruments developed by the human beings by these imperfect senses, it is extremely difficult to understand or gauge the vas
From Back to Godhead
One of the basic principles of Krsna consciousness is that one may utilize whatever talent he has in the service of the Supreme Lord. And it is a symptom of a bona fide spiritual master that he is expert in engaging everyone in practical transcendental devotional service. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has thus engaged a number of very talented artists in the service of the Lord by asking them to use their natural artistic inclination in painting pictu
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
