One year on Gita Jayanti, the day on which Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna, I heard a talk in which Srila Prabhupada spoke about the perfection of reading the Gita.
“When Lord Chaitanya was traveling in South India, in a big temple, Ranganatha temple, He went to see the Deity, and He saw one brahmana was reading Bhagavad-gita. And people were joking with him, ‘Oh, Mr. Brahmana, how you are reading Bhagavad-gita?’ Because they were neighbors, they knew that this brahmana was illit
This year, Gita Jayanti, the anniversary of Lord Sri Krishna’s speaking the Bhagavad-Gita to Sri Arjuna, falls on December 17th.
For those whose lives have been forever improved by meeting Lord Krishna personally in the pages of the Gita, Gita Jayanti is not only a day of celebration but also a chance to express their gratitude. And the best way to do so is to share the Gita with others. Krishna Himself says, “There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one
From Back to Godhead
Krishna is always engaged in sport, and when we try to imitate Him, we lose.
When the 2017 Super Bowl game, the summit of American professional football, was held in Houston, a devotee convinced me and a few others to try to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books at a huge pregame event downtown. Venturing into the passionate, teeming crowd, we sold a few books, but not so many. This experience reinforced what was already obvious: mundane sport certainly has a powerful allure.
Guest: What is the highest devotion, the highest bhakti, please?
Srila Prabhupada: To love Krishna. If you become expert how to love Krishna… The idea of loving is not unknown to you. You love somebody. You love your wife. You love your children. You love your country. You love your society. There are so many loving aspect. But when you love Krishna, then your life is perfect. That we have to…
sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yayatma samprasidati
(Srimad-Bhag
In his talk on the Bhagavad-gita 9.20–22, on December 7, 1966, in New York, Srila Prabhupada stated:
“The Lord says a very nice thing. What is that?
ananyas cintayanto mam
ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham
[Gita 9.22]
[But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.] Here the Lord gives assurance that ‘Those who are unflinching and cent percent devoted in the transce
I learned how to offer at a young age. When I didn’t want to carry the freshly ironed clothes upstairs my mother would cheerfully say, “Offer it up!”. There was no choice about having to do it but she was suggesting where I put my mind in the process. She was teaching me to offer this small activity to God. Those three words stayed with me, and when I was later introduced to Krishna consciousness, the same concept from my childhood appeared to me in Krishna’s teachings.
What does it mean to off
[During a lecture Srila Prabhupada interrupts his discourse on the Srimad-Bhagavatam verse when he notices some of his disciples leaving the
lecture, apparently to attend to other services] Srila Prabhupada: Why they are going? They are busy in some other work? Eh? Ugra-karma.
Without hearing, what will he do?
Nonsense? Sravanam kirtanam, this is our main business. If you don’t hear, what will you do? You will simply
do sense gratification. That’s all. So this is the difficulty, that we are not
How could your life change if you choose to think this way?
1. My human life is sacred and I am responsible to honor it in that way.
“The human body, which can award all benefit in life, is automatically obtained by the laws of nature, although it is a very rare achievement. This human body can be compared to a perfectly constructed boat having the spiritual master as the captain and the instructions of the Personality of Godhead as favorable winds impelling it on its course. Considering all th
As devotees, we talk a lot about getting free from the material energy, free from the influence of maya, free from our attachments to material sense pleasures and their objects.
Why do we want to do that? What would be the reason?
Sometimes it can be confusing. It may seem like we’re taking all this too seriously, when really it’s all Krishna’s creation and life in this world can have so many pleasures to offer us.
Here is an example that perhaps will illustrate the reasons.
Suppose you are in
I heard a wonderful talk in which Srila Prabhupada and Srimad-Bhagavatam glorified the chanting of the holy names. I was present when Srila Prabhupada gave the talk at the Ardha-kumbha-mela in Allahabad on January 31, 1971.
Srila Prabhupada said, “The conclusion is:
na vai sa narakam yati
neksito yama-kinkaraih
yady apy amangalo martyo
visnu-loke mahiyate
[SB 6.2.48]
[‘Because this very confidential historical narration has the potency to vanquish all sinful reactions, one who hears or describ
Madhu means sweet. It means honey. Krishna is also called Madhu. In this material world there is one type of honey and in the spiritual world there is also a type of honey. The sweet honey in the spiritual realm is the real honey which we should hanker for. In this material world there is Kandarpa (Cupid) but in the eternal world, Madan (Cupid) is Krishna and everyone is attracted by Him.
The holy name and Krishna are non different. Even great personalities such as Brahma chant the holy name in
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
We frequently hear that such and such exalted Vaishnava is an eternal associate of Krishna or Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Some other terms used for an eternal associate of Lord are Sangi or pāriṣada. Let’s hear from Srīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura what is the real significance of being called an eternal associate of Lord and what is the qualification needed to be called one.
The Gauḍīya: Ṭhakura [Narottama dasa] Mahāśaya writes, gaurāṅgera saṅgi-gane, nitya-siddha kari māne, se yāya braje
By Giriraj Swami
“Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, quoting from the Vaisnava-tosani of Srila Sanatana Gosvami, says that the incident of Krsna’s breaking the pot of yogurt and being bound by mother Yasoda took place on the Dipavali Day, or Dipa-malika. Even today in India, this festival is generally celebrated very gorgeously in the month of Kartika.” (SB 10.9.1–2 purport)
We are now in the month of Damodara. It began on the full-moon night and will continue until the next full moon. Damoda
Reach out to Krishna’s heart by intensely longing for his mercy, so much so, that it blends out all other projects.
DAY 2 . 14 OCTOBER, 2019. The Great Longing.
The most important question on the spiritual path is: when is my experience real? When do I have substantial insights that can even carry me through troubling times? In other words, we are searching for a substantial and a very very real connection with Krishna, an experience of the Lord.
The Damodara-lila, which took place in this mont
“So during Kartika month we can more easily obtain the favor of Radha. If Shri Radha recommends us to Krishna, we can be sure he will take notice”
Prabhupada speaks in the Nectar of Devotion (summary of the Bhakti-Rasamrita-Sindhu) about the power of performing devotional service during the month of Karttika:
“One of the most important of these ceremonial functions is called Urja-vrata. Urja-vrata is observed in the month of Karttika (Oct.-Nov.); especially in Vrindavana (Krishna’s place of “bi
By Vasanta Das
The Pastimes of Lord Damodara.
Just as there is no yuga equal to Satya-yuga, no scripture equal to the Vedas, and no place of pilgrimage equal to the Ganges, so there is no month equal to Kartika. Even unserious persons who execute devotional service according to the regulative principles during the month of Karttika, and within the jurisdiction of Mathura (or Vrindavana) in India, are very easily awarded the Lord’s personal service". During the Kartika month millions of devotees
1. Apply principles so we can measurably change our lives whether the world around us changes or not.
2. We have to search for our “rest” in the correct place. It is not linked with external circumstances.
3. The key is the internal condition of the heart.
4. The presence or absence of rest at the center of our lives determines the manner and extent to which we are shaken by the circumstances of life.
5. We have to accept Krishna’s mercy and accept His timing. We have to wait for Him.
6. Tim
From the very beginning, the body was given by father and mother. In the childhood, as the father and mother say, “Sit down here, eat this, don’t go there,” everything is controlled by the father and mother, and originally given by the father and mother. So how we can claim, “This is my body”? From the very beginning. Then, somebody else maintains you. Suppose you are working in an office, in a factory. So actually that body belongs to him, the maintainer. In this way, up to the point of death,
