A fundamental tenet of Krishna conscious philosophy is recognising who is in control. Not just in theory, but at every moment. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna repeatedly declares himself to be the supreme controller (e.g. 5.29, 9.12, 18.61) and consequently tells us to “never consider ourselves the cause of the results” of our work (2.47). This is self-evident. Despite our best endeavours, we may never achieve that vast fortune we hoped for, or amass those ten million followers on social media. W

By Giriraj Swami and Sri Prahlada dasa

To commemorate the anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in America, we shall sing and discuss the second poem that he wrote on the ship Jaladuta when he arrived in the Boston harbor on September 17, 1965.

Poem [translation]:

1:  My dear Lord Krishna, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me.

2:  But I guess You have some business here. Otherwise, why would You brin

The influence of maya is very difficult to overcome. In our scriptures, the material energy is therefore compared to an ocean. When you sail the ocean you never know when the weather will become stormy and high waves will make it impossible for you to continue your journey. Material life is similar – you never know when difficulties will shake you. Krishna explains this fact to Uddhava and then says: “Devotees are like a strong boat that comes to rescue those persons who are repeatedly rising a

By Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami

It was Janmastami, the annual celebration of the advent of Lord Krsna some five thousand years before. Residents of Calcutta, mostly Vaisnavas (devotees of Lord Krsna) but also many Muslims and even some British, were observing the festive day, moving here and there through the city’s streets to visit the temples of Lord Krsna. Devout Vaisnavas, fasting until midnight, chanted Hare Krsna and heard about the birth and activities of Krsna from Srimad-Bhagavatam, one of

Devotees often ask me, “If Krsna is really merciful towards His devotees, why do so many devotees seem to experience misery? I hear in all these lectures that Krsna is so merciful but I don’t experience it – I just had an accident!” Others tell me: “A good friend distanced himself from me,” or “This great devotee is dying from cancer, so how can we make a general statement that Krsna is merciful to His devotees? Maybe He is merciful to Srila Prabhupada, but not to me or those I know…” I would l

By Thomas Haribol

When people say, “God will give you a sign,” they usually don’t mean that literally, but for me, that’s exactly what He did.

In 2015, I was driving south on I-15 to vacation at Capitol Reef National Park. This busy interstate carries millions of cars to the “Mighty Five” national parks in southern Utah. I’d traveled this western artery many times, but on this particular drive, I was gobsmacked to see a colorful “sign” along the road, a billboard showcasing a “Krishna Temple.”

The luxurious growth of one of Krishna’s greatest devotees, who appears in a special form, attests to the devotion of two of her dedicated caretakers.

Srila Prabhupada once quoted an atheist as saying, “What is the use of watering the Tulasi plant? It is better to water eggplant. By watering the eggplant one can get some fruits, but what is the use of watering the Tulasi?”

Rudrani Devi Dasi, one of Tulasi’s caretakers at ISKCON Vancouver, responds to this challenge.

“Tulasi is not an or

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

Since we don’t hear of a demon named Madhu in Krishna’s pastimes, why does Arjuna address Krishna as “the killer of Madhu”?

Madhusudana. The name always seemed curious to me. Where did it come from? In the Bhagavad-gita, one of our most sacred texts, Krishna is referred to as Madhusudana, or “the killer of the Madhu demon,” no less than five times (1.35, 2.1, 2.4, 6.33, and 8.2). And yet, Krishna didn’t kill a demon named Madhu. I looked through the vast storehouse of Krishna’s pastimes over an

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

Perhaps we are the only society who is proclaiming, “Here is God, Krishna. Take it.” We are the only society in the whole world. Otherwise they are all misled, all misled.

Others may cooperate or not cooperate; we don’t mind. But we cannot change our policy. Our policy is, “Krishna says, ‘I am the Supreme.’ ” We must declare throughout the whole world that Krishna is the Supreme. Krishna says, mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya. (Gita 7.7) [“O conqueror of wealth (Arjuna), there is

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

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

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