From Back to Godhead
Are we the makers of our destiny or is life pre-destined? Find out here . . . .
In the Mahabharata, Vidura explained to Dhritarastra, “Destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves.” This means that we are not like programmed robots that have no free will, or no choice. Our past karma does determine what will happen in our life, but it does not determine how we will react to it.
Destiny is something like a weather forecast on a journey. A we
A long, long time ago when I was not an ISKCON devotee I developed a growing interest in spiritual life. After many years of taking drugs and attending rock concerts I had become sick of life.
I had been manager in several companies I worked for, most of the time I had more money than I needed and I had freedom and independence. Somehow I was not satisfied. I started wondering if real happiness existed. I discovered that no matter how hard I tried I just could not break free from certain activi
The following exchange took place after a talk by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada before the World Health Organization, in Geneva, on June 6, 1974.
WHO member: Your Divine Grace, do you have any suggestions for solving the worldwide problem of food shortages?
Srila Prabhupada: Yes. My suggestion is that people should utilize all this vacant land for crops. I have seen so much land lying dormant. For instance, in Australia and also in America, there is so much land lying do
From Back to Godhead
By Vamsi Vihari Dasa
Though illness may restrict or halt our normal spiritual activities, it can provide spiritual benefits we might not otherwise gain.
After seven days of sickness, malarial fever had broken me down to the bones, and loss of appetite and hallucinations added miseries. I struggled to practice my daily chanting of Hare Krishna. But in those seven days I gained in ways that would not have been possible had I not been sick.
We have to accept the truth that we
From Back to Godhead
For anyone interested in spiritual progress,
gambling is more than just a harmless amusement.
High’s convenience store is bustling with last-minute shoppers picking up odds and ends for a holiday dinner. Having run out of milk, I find myself in the crowded store, standing in a line that wraps around the food aisle. I resign myself to the waiting, and chant the Hare Krsna mantra softly to myself.
An elderly shabbily dressed woman at the counter draws my attention. She’s fr
By Giriraj Swami
As long as we are in the material world, we must suffer–pain caused by others, pain caused by our own bodies and minds, pain caused by acts of nature. And unless we can tolerate, we cannot live in this world.
But how much can a person tolerate? Should we not, on occasion, resist? Why, then, should we tolerate? And if we must, what will enable us to endure the difficulty without being disturbed.
Srila Prabhupada told the story of a young boy who tolerated more than I can imagine
The world around us is changing at an ever-increasing rate. The notion of keeping up with the changing world may have relevance in devotional service. But is this perspective relevant in all areas of our practices of bhakti? Are there some elements of devotional service that must always be constant? Srila Prabhupada wrote:
The greatest danger to our movement will come when we manufacture and create our own process for worshiping the deities. … Whatever is going on, follow it just to the exact
By Sri Chaitanya Chandra Das
The last thing people would like to discuss or even think is ‘Death’. But they often don’t last till last to discuss or even think about what really death is! Man has made so much innovation in technology that with little remote control he can control satellites from thousands of miles away. Or he can put so much complexity into a small electronic chip to work wonders. But death challenges all human advancements. It is an affront to the genius of modern human. Nobo
We all have heard Srila Prabhupada warn us that television and media strengthen our materialistic mentality and divert us from service to Krishna—our consciousness being formed largely by our association. However, it is often difficult to keep our children away from the influences that are so pervasive in our culture.
Aggression and Television Viewing: The problems associated with children watching TV go beyond moral and spiritual concerns. There is mounting evidence of the many negative psycho
From Back to Godhead
Why are some people by nature outgoing and talkative while others are quiet and shy? What are the forces of nature that compel people to act the way they do? How do these forces work, and who is controlling them?
Dr. and Mrs. A. B. Bright and their two children have a small home, just suitable to their needs, in a peaceful country town. Dr. Bright is the local, M.D., a thoughtful, qualified man, respected for doing his job honestly and selflessly. His hobby: reading books o
From Back to Godhead
Presence of joy is higher than absence of sorrow.
I was zooming along a beautiful tree-lined highway when I slammed on the brakes. Screeeech! Thud! Generally, when you run over a squirrel scampering across the road just a little too late for you to stop, you get a sinking feeling. Unless you’re stone-hearted, the next few minutes are not joyful. The guilt of having taken a life lingers until it’s replaced by more important things. But this time I was not gripped by remo
Jananivas Prabhu’s service was to bring frankincense to Srila Prabhupada’s room in the evening. He mentioned that usually after you fill a room with frankincense, you open the doors and windows so that the mosquitos go out with the smoke. Srila Prabhupada however liked to keep the smoke within the room and stopped Jananivas Prabhu from opening the doors and windows. Since it was Srila Prabhupada’s darshan time, there would usually be many western devotees in the room and these western devotees
In the 1960s, literary and media critic Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “global village” to describe the extension of people’s frames of reference and sense of responsibility beyond their immediate surroundings, or “village.” This growing sense of connectedness, McLuhan proposed, is the natural result of a world in which electronics enable our senses (at least the senses of sight and hearing—for now) to immediately experience that which is taking place across the globe, just as we would in o
My earliest memories of religion in this life are of my father (my first guru) teaching me about the Great Spirit worshiped by American Indians (“Wakan-Tanka” Who also undergoes quadruple expansion just like the all pervading yet personal Vasudev). He also taught me that I should be respectful of other people’s beliefs irrespective of race and creed. And never look down upon anyone. Ever.
Even though his mother, my paternal grandmother was a devout Baptist (my maternal grandmother was a devout
By Kesava Krsna dasa
Have we ever embellished a telling of a lie with an assortment of trivial details to disguise the actual truth? Have we ever pretended to be someone we never were, by exuding a persona larger than ourselves? Are there any angels among us who can boldly claim to have never fibbed; ever – even to get out of an awkward situation?
The truth is out; there are no foolproof ways of telling if someone is lying or not. Shifty eyes, truth drugs and lie detectors can provide clues bu
Don’t we just delight in books and movies wherein destruction wreaks havoc in one form or other, be it by nuclear bombs, disease, twisters, volcanic eruptions, giant creatures or alien invaders. If you do, then you’ll love The World Without Us, authored by Alan Weisman. Reviewed by Janet Maslin in The Arts section of the August 13th NYT, the book is a “what if” account of what would happen to the world if mankind would suddenly disappear.
How long would our cities and achievements last without
Saradiya: Swamiji? When we go to Krsnaloka to be with Krsna…
Prabhupada: Just see this girl, little girl, is aiming for going back to Krsnaloka. Just see.
(Srila Prabhupada lecture, Montreal, June 16, 1968)
—
Prabhupada: How you are feeling, Saradiya? Nice?
Saradiya: I’m fine.
Prabhupada: You are going to Europe? No? You have got to attend your school? That’s nice.
(Srila Prabhupada conversation, Montreal, October 27, 1968)
—
Saradiya: Simply by Your Divine Grace, on Krsna’s appearance day in S
Many people in the world think they live only once. With only one life, how does this affect lives and society? How is a one-life concept going to affects ambitions, goals and outlook? There is one-life spirituality and multi-birth spirituality – which of these enable a full understanding of the soul, and why good or bad things happen? Is God to blame, or us? If there is no God, why do people lament the loss of loved ones if they are simply bags of chemicals?
With only one life, there must be a
Westerners, in general, take too much for granted and are not careful enough in social dealings.
Modern Western society conditions one to artificially come too close, too soon without respect for one another.
Modern Western society respects nothing beyond fame, money and sexual prowess; it is the antithesis of Vaishnava culture.
Prematurely judging others and jumping to conclusions are other negative traits found almost everywhere, which most of us must admit. These traits, born of the mode
We all know about avoiding prohibited foods, but may not know why, or what effects they produce. Becoming aware of such bad effects will cause us to think extra before eating more “delicious” sin.
We understand that there are difficulties faced by certain householders, especially if both husband and wife work, or are being surrounded by indifferent family members. Whatever the situation, it is worth trying to place oneself in an advantageous eating situation with what “little time” we have.
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