The cows are as important as the citizens. Just as the human citizens should be given all kinds of protection. So the cows also should be given full protection. Srila Prabhupada did not make distinctions between Indian cows (Desi) and western cows.
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=88094
krishna (140)
An old brahmin priest lived in a holy place, at an ashram, with his seven disciples. There they worshipped some very old and famous Deities of Radha and Krishna. Many people would come to see these Deities and make donations for Their worship.
The guru, however, was growing weak due to old age. He knew it was time to soon leave his body, but did not feel confident to hand over to his disciples the entire service of these Deities.
One day a pilgrim donated a large ruby to the Deities.
I think it
During the current Covid 19 pandemic threat period, to share and care deeply about each other is very important at the same time as Krishna devotees we should have an implicit faith in Krishna. avasya raksibe Krishna visvasa palana leaving it upto Krishna.. mar bhi rakha bni jo icch tohara Nitya dasa prati tuva adhikara (Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s saranagati songs) Relevant to this Covid 19 situation, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur wrote a short article during the period of the Bubonic Plague outbr
Just from a logical deduction perspective, Sri Krsna has to be the Original Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, one without a second. There is no one in the history of the universe that can compare to Him, in transcendental beauty, paraphernalia, qualities, pastimes etc.
(The following are names of some of His exquisite paraphernalia; His milk bucket, His signet ring, His earrings and locket, even His scissors.)
(from Srila Rupa Goswami’s Radha-Krishna-ganoddesha-dipika)
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Lecture given in San Francisco on September 11, 1968
Only one person can rightfully claim to be beyond all control.
jñanam te ’ham sa-vijñanam
idam vakshyamy asheshatah
yaj jñatva neha bhuyo ’nyaj
jñatavyam avashishyate
“I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge, both phenomenal and numinous. This being known, nothing further shall remain for you to know.” – Bhagavad-gita 7.2
Knowledge means to know how this universe is working
From Back to Godhead
How we value, acquire, use, and relate to money reflects our inner state of being.
Sri Sukadeva Goswami said, “Money does not stay in one place. It passes from one hand to another. Ultimately no one can enjoy money, and it remains the property of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.24) Money is God’s energy. He created it, He owns it, and He controls it: “Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord
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
Geneology:
From Vishnu were descended in the following order - Brahma-Atri-Candra-Budha - Pururavas - Ayus - Nahusha- Yayati - Puru - Janamejaya - Prachinvaa - Pravira - Namasyu - Vitabhava - Shundu - Bahuvidha - Samyati - Rahovadi - Raudrasva - Matinara - Santurodha - Dushyanta - Bharata - Suhotra - Gala - Gardda - Suketu - Brhatksetra - Hasti - Ajamidha - Riksha - Samvarana - Kuru - Jahnu - Suratha - Vidaratha - Sarvabhauma - Jayatsena - Ravyaya - Bhavuka - Chakrod
Vasanta Panchami
The festival of Vasant Panchami is celebrated on fifth day of Shukla Paksha of Magh Mas. This is the first day of spring in India (Northern Hemisphere). On this day one should celebrate the coming of spring to Vrndavana by offering Krishna many types of leaves and flowers, and fresh shoots of sprouting grasses. Things that symbolize life and new growth.
On this day Sri Mayapur community devotees decorates the altar of Sri Radha Madhava, Sri Pancha Tattva and Prahlad Narasimhadev
“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
From Back to Godhead
Variety is said to be the spice of life. Imagine a life where you eat the same vegetables daily, wear the same clothes, meet the same people, and visit the same places. So boring, right? This world is full of varieties seasonal changes in the form of summer, winter, autumn, spring; periodic appearance and disappearance of the sun and the moon; cultural differences among people of different nations; the language, the dress, and the eating habits in different parts of the wor
How can we chant in a way that it makes us forget the material world and run to Krsna? When you sit down to chant, there will be moments in which you notice that your mind wandered somewhere else – ‘Uuups, I was thinking about my shopping list, that I have to close this deal to get more money and that Suresh Patel said something bad about me – well, he can just wait – I will show it to him!’ You will notice, ‘Where was I? I am sitting here in saintly company, chanting, but what happened?’ What
From Back to Godhead
When Krishna leaves Vrindavana to become the ruler of a great kingdom, He remains the same Krishna, the treasure of His devotees’ hearts.
The Krishna deity worshiped at the Hare Krishna temple in Los Angeles, where I live, is named Dvarakadhisha, “the Lord of Dvaraka.” Dvaraka is the pristine island Lord Krishna rules in His adult years. (Although Krishna lived in Dvaraka when He was present on earth five thousand years ago, Dvaraka exists eternally in the spiritual world.
From Back to Godhead
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Lecture given in Vrindavan, India on October 26, 1972
Any contact with Krishna purifies our consciousness and gradually qualifies us for eternal loving exchanges with Him.
Pradyumna Dasa, Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit editor, begins reading The Nectar of Devotion, Introduction: “Invoking auspiciousness: Lord Sri Krishna is the Supreme Per
A Dubai commuter, stuck in traffic, muses on how modern inventions have failed to improve the quality of our lives and have added to our distress.
It’s 7:00 P.M., and I’ve been driving for more than an hour. As I head home from work along Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, I’m caught in the usual evening traffic jam. Like the car ahead of me, my car starts, stops, and starts again. While my car moves slowly, my mind races. I do mental mathematics with the number on the car plate in front of me. The tr
Thirty years ago I was doing the Prabhupada marathon at the Chicago airport. One afternoon, we devotees were so intoxicated by distributing books that we decided to show that one doesn’t have to speak to sell books, that book distribution just depends on our state of consciousness. So we didn’t speak.
Just after loading my bookbag with (20) maha books I tapped a man on the arm and looked him in the eye. He stopped, expecting me to say something. I didn’t. I put a book in his hand, pointed at Pr
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
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:
- Loving Krishna enables our love to break free from all limitations,
- Krishna is eminently lovable,
- Krishna loves all of us impartially,
- Krishna’s love for us is unconditional and
- Krishna engages his omnipotence to help us when we choose to love him.
1. Loving Krishna enables our love to break free from all limi
From Back to Godhead
Why hearing is the first and most important of the nine kinds of devotional service to the Lord.
When I first read that hearing is the most important of the nine kinds of devotional service, I was confused. I was twenty-one at the time and had been hearing all day every day for my whole life. What was so special about hearing? Then I read that the “hearing” prescribed wasn’t meant for mundane topics but for the activities and qualities of Krishna and His devotees. This hea
From Back to Godhead
A brief analysis of Bhagavad-gita 9.4, 9.5, and 9.6.
The Bhagavad-gita is one of the world’s perennial wisdom texts. Because it offers knowledge of the Absolute Truth, some of its texts can be difficult to understand. Few are as difficult as verses four and five of Chapter Nine: “By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them. And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence! Alt