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This handbook and accompanying curriculum, which are to be used enjointly, have been compiled under the direct order of the Governing Body Commission of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness. Their contents are based wholely on the inspiration, guidance and wisdom of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the founder acarya of ISKCON. This humble attempt has been made in the service of any aspiring devotee and future disciple of the authorised ISKCON Acaryas. We pray to Srila Pr

By Sesa Dasa

Sesa Dasa, a member of ISKCON’s Ministry for Educational Development, looks at the place of ‘virtue’ in the lives of devotees. He notes the changes that thirty years of devotional practice have made to his outlook on life and takes lessons from Mahabharata about the apparent conflict between material and spiritual duty.

Thirty years is time enough. Thirty years, out of a life of fifty-one, spent in the Hare Krsna movement, is certainly time enough. A thirty-year period provides enou

By Jananibas Dasa Brahmacari

Let me first offer my obeisances to my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya 108 Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Gosvami Maharaj Prabhupada, the acarya for this age, who has opened my eyes with the torchlight of knowledge, having rescued me from the fires of material birth and death. Let me also offer my most humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of Sri Krsna Caitanya, who is more magnanimous than any avatara, even Krsna Himself,

When is a person Krsna Consciousness enough to preach? Srila Prabhupada encouraged us to preach immediately, regardless of our degree of realization. By preaching we cement our understanding. Hearing is the first step in devotional service, and the second step is chanting. Either privately or Congregationally. Preaching really means teaching.

It is commonly accepted that by teaching others your own understanding becomes enhanced. They also say your retention levels increase when you pass on to

By Satyaraja Dasa

In more ways than one, the word “movement” captures the essence of Lord Caitanya’s religion of the holy name.

I offer my respectful obeisances to the devotees of the Lord. Simply by their hearing the two syllables Krishna, their bodily hairs stand up in ecstasy and they become moved to dance in ecstatic bliss. With their sandals they expertly extricate the fallen souls deeply sunk in the fetid mud of the ocean of repeated birth and death.
 ( Rupa Gosvami, Padyavali, Text 54)

K

Many of my friends thought life was just a huge meaningless game.
But I always felt there was something more and I had to find it

I was born near Boston in 1958. My father had a Masters in architecture from Harvard, my mother a B.A. in literature from Smith. They were well-to-do, yet they instilled in me the understanding that money wasn’t the ultimate cause of happiness. Before I was born they had moved out of Boston to the country, to bring up their family in a place where they felt moral val

India's greatest gift to civilization is her highly advanced spiritual culture, based on the eternal truths of the Vedic literatures. Sometimes, however, we hear the strange idea that this culture is not meant to be shared with others. I have heard more than one Western professor of Indian religion say, "The idea of preaching about God in a missionary spirit is not part of India's religion. That's something the Christians introduced into India a few hundred years ago." And self-styled yogis som

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is a worldwide community of devotees practicing bhakti-yoga, the eternal science of loving service to God. The Society was founded in 1966 by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a pure devotee of God representing an unbroken chain of spiritual masters originating with Lord Krsna Himself. The following eight principles are the basis of the Krsna consciousness movement.

We invite all of our readers to consider them wi

From CHANT AND BE HAPPY – THE POWER OF MANTRA MEDITATION

It’s a scene that has been repeated countless times on the thoroughfares of cities throughout the Western world-from Hollywood Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in America, to London’s Oxford Street and the Champs Elysees in Paris. There, in the midst of traffic, shops, restaurants, and movie theaters, people suddenly find themselves confronted by a group of young persons singing and dancing to the beat of cylindrical drums and the brassy cadenc

THE EXPRESSION "Krsna consciousness" indicates a life of progressing spiritual awareness that prepares one to enter the eternal association of Krsna (God) even before the death of the body. Devotional service to Krsna (bhakti-yoga) is a practical life of rendering service to God under the guidance of the Vedic scriptures and a personal spiritual master. When the spiritual master is bona fide, the results of such spiritual service are complete detachment from the alternating pains and pleasures o

Just like children only want to eat sweets, we only want kirtan. But we must not forget about the philosophy in Krsna consciousness because without this philosophy, we have no anchor. Without philosophy, we are on the waves of the three modes of material nature. The three modes of material nature exist inside of us and they exist around us too. And the two are not always the same – sometimes externally everything is very peaceful, however, there is a storm within us. So in this way, we can see