In America motherhood is considered old-fashioned. People are ashamed to be mothers. Women are taught to be professionals. Child care is given to other professionals, and thus children miss out on the love of a mother and have so many psychological difficulties. In America, 68% of couples get divorced. Of the parents of my friends I grew up with, my mother and father are the only couple that stayed together.

There is a need for ideal mothers, ideal fathers, ideal brahmacaris, ideal sannyasis, e

सीतानाथ समारम्भां रामानन्दार्य मध्यमाम्।
अस्मदाचार्य पर्यन्तां वन्दे श्रीगुरू परम्पराम् ।।

Get clear view of Shlokā;

आत्मानं मानुषं मन्ये रामं दशरथात्मजम् || (६-११७-११)

Many of us some times get easily confused with this shlokā, as we think the word maanuSham here means human. But this is not true, earlier I have already explained it and you guys have given a very good response in that but this time let's see same Shlokā with a quite different meaning.

The actual meaning of Manushya is successors of

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

Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana) Canto 2: The Cosmic Manifestation SB 2.9: Answers by Citing the Lord’s Version

etavad eva jijñasyam
tattva-jijñasunatmanah
anvaya-vyatirekabhyam
yat syat sarvatra sarvada

Synonyms: etavat  up to this; eva  certainly; jijñasyam  is to be inquired; tattva  the Absolute Truth; jijñasuna  by the student; atmanah  of the Self; anvaya  directly; vyatirekabhyam  indirectly; yat  whatever; syat  it may be; sarvatra  in all space and time; sarvada  in all

By Giriraj Swami 

On October 3, 1974, in Mayapur, Srila Prabhupada spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.23, Queen Kunti’s prayer:

yatha hrsikesa khalena devaki
  kamsena ruddhaticiram sucarpita
vimocitaham ca sahatmaja vibho
  tvayaiva nathena muhur vipad-ganat

“O Hrsikesa, the master of the senses and the Lord of lords, You have released Your Mother Devaki, who was long imprisoned and distressed by the envious King Kamsa, and myself and my children from a series of constant dangers.” (SB 1.8.23)

And

The other day I was remembering Srila Prabhupada’s statement of how paintings of Krsna are like windows to the spiritual world; it means that through these paintings, we are looking into the ‘real world’, and when we are looking out of this window (of the building), we are simply looking at a picture. So Krsna consciousness must begin with that understanding, that the spiritual world is the real world. It is there where we find our nourishment because after all, in the material world, we will n

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

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

“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. Damodara is a name for

“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

Kartamasa das: The first time I met Yamuna devi, my life changed forever.
I was in Saranagati for the Christmas holidays in 2000 having a reunion with my closest childhood friends. We were all in our early twenties, and having recently finished our university education and started work, we spent our time together recalling our childhood activities. One day we decided to have kirtan, but in a rather irreverent way, mocking the showy, elaborate vocal and instrument style we had all absorbed growi

Protection is a need for everyone in every walk of life. We seek protection through wealth, doctors, military, insurance and many other sources. The protection offered through them is limited by time, space and ability. They cannot protect us completely and forever. One who has control over everything, one who is eternal and one who is conscious of us completely alone can offer us complete protection. Only the Supreme and All-Attractive God Krishna can only offer us such protection.

We can acce

You want to know Krishna. I too want to know Krishna. In fact, everyone is looking for Krishna because we all have deep spiritual relationship with Krishna.

George Harrison explains it in a better way, “Everybody is looking for KṚṢṆA. Some don’t realize that they are, but they are.”

So, the question is, is it possible to know Krishna? Is it possible to understand Krishna? Is it possible to know our relationship with Krishna? And most importantly is it possible to develop relationship with Krish

Neil is an accomplished sculptor who hails from Ingersoll, Ontario, and is now settled in Toronto, near Greektown. A generous sponsor, Lajput Prasher, commissioned him to sculpt Krishna and Radha out of a massive maple tree trunk for the upcoming Huntsville project.

I had the good fortune to see Neil’s work-in-progress as he’s putting the finishing touches to an 8-foot-tall Krishna. Thus far, Krishna projects a powerful presence. I’m impressed. It’s indeed rare to see a rendering of the Lord, i

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

By Lisa Chastain 

A lifelong search for God ends in the most unexpected of places.

Exactly twenty years ago, with a group of three people, I came to the ancient Russian city of Suzdal to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. It was a bold decision to go to a place where almost every second resident is a nun or a priest, and almost every corner has a church or a temple.

On the first day, inspired by the morning program, I was walking around this exotic little town for about nine hours and offering books everywhere I could, but was unsuccessful. All the residents refused as if t

From a very young age I knew that this life that I was living was not all that there was. I started searching to find what the perfection of life is. I was told that it was wealth, a big house or an expensive car, but with each step towards success, I was less and less happy. 

Then I met some devotees who introduced our family to Krishna. I quickly forgot that all of these items were even on my bucket list. Instead, I was encouraged to search for ways to see Krishna in the world. Overwhelmingly,

When I was young, I was always searching for ways to develop my devotion to The Lord. As I have grown older, I not only seek to develop new ways, but how to nourish them as well.

In my search, I seek to understand as well as to grow, as I feel they go hand in hand. I have found there are all kinds of devotees and while learning, I found some on the impersonal path. I was interested to see what the difference was from personalism. Krishna tells us that the personalist seeks to engage himself in l