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From Back to Godhead

By Guru Dasa (Gurudev D. Allin), a disciple of His Holiness Bhaktimarga Swami.

“Oh, God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.” Shakespeare’s Hamlet, 2.2 (First Folio) This line from Hamlet nicely sums up the absurdity of our delusions of self-importance. I wrote this meditation on the importance of humility as part of my effort to shake my own delusions of knowledge and significance.

Human nature seem

𝗘𝗰𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗚𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮 “Falling into the sea, He lost consciousness and could not understand where He was. Sometimes He sank beneath the waves, and sometimes He floated above them.” Antya 18.30

During the last twelve years of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He started to exhibit symptoms of Bhava that are beyond our mundane conception. In Madhya Lila, these symptoms of Bhava are said to be like that of Srimati Radharani when she was feeling separation from Krishna thus it is said to be a tra

From Back to Godhead

By Guru Dasa (Gurudev D. Allin), a disciple of His Holiness Bhaktimarga Swami.

“Oh, God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.” Shakespeare’s Hamlet, 2.2 (First Folio) This line from Hamlet nicely sums up the absurdity of our delusions of self-importance. I wrote this meditation on the importance of humility as part of my effort to shake my own delusions of knowledge and significance.

Human nature see

Answer Summary: By contemplating how meditation is where the biggest action is.

Answer: Action is what catches our attention. For example, in a cricket test match, when the action slows down as the batsmen start playing defensively, our interest sags. But when the action rises – the bowler delivers a googly that clean bowls the batsman or the batsman hits a huge six, for example – then our attention peaks effortlessly.

A break that we don’t need?

When it comes to meditation, we often think of it

Chaitanya Charan Das, “The Spiritual Scientist,” is one of ISKCON’s premiere teachers and prolific authors. He graciously agreed to share his two-part reflections on the Damodarashtakam with ISKCON News to help devotees enter this month of spiritual auspiciousness more fully.

“Prayer is the universal language by which the human heart communes with the divine heart. Poetry is an artistic means to verbalize deep emotions. Singing is a popular method to express one’s emotions.

The integration of t

“Nish, nish, ram, ram, nish, nish, ram, ram.” Prabhupada once imitated how we sometimes chant without focus, without concentration, without proper pronunciation – how we chant when we don’t feel like chanting. You know the mood behind this chanting; “I have to chant but I’d rather be doing something else.” And in our minds we are thinking, “I can’t wait to get these rounds out of the way.” We all do this. And it can get pretty bad. I know devotees who chant rounds while watching football games

Can meditation solve our everyday problems? Is there life after death? Can drugs help us achieve self-realization? During a recent visit to South Africa, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada discussed these questions with Bill Faill, a reporter for the Durban Natal Mercury.

Srila Prabhupada: “Krsna” is a name for God which means all-attractive. Unless one is all-attractive he cannot be God. So this Krsna consciousness means God consciousness. All of us are small particles of God

Krishna is the Original Soul. If they were able, all souls could trace their ultimate origin to Krishna, the origin of everyone and everything. Just as the body has a soul within, so the soul also has a soul. The Soul of the soul is known as Atma-atma. But this Soul is never trapped or compromised as the individual soul is. This Soul remains ever free and above all. He is therefore known as the Over Soul or Superior Soul, or Supersoul, the Param-atma.
The individual soul has an innate attractio

When rain comes, as it does now as I write, it sets a mood for meditation. I was thinking about Mayapura in India as those raindrops hit the window panes of my room.

Mayapura has been bursting with energy, with so many pilgrims coming daily, families moving there to take up residence and a new temple arising. We get reports that while international travel has been slow, fueled by the virus restrictions, attendance from all over India has been good, especially during Holi/Gaura Purnima time in Fe

Ideal Companion for Meditation
It is a common ritual around the world, to light up a incense, a companion for meditation, which is one’s attempt to reach the ultimate state of bliss. Although meditation only requires control over the mind and to have a spiritual experience, but it is easier said than done. Th

By Lokanath Swami

The auspiciousness of the month of Kartik

Srila Prabhupada and Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu declare this month to be the best. In 1972, considering the importance of this month Srila Prabhupada put all his engagements and travel plans aside to spend this time in Vrndavana.

“My plan is come to Vrndavana for Kartik,” he wrote.  “I want to stay in Radha Damodar temple until nearly end of November. I will lecture daily in the courtyard.” 

In the year 1972, Kartik started on October 15 

In the Gaudiya way of bhakti, you offer everything to Krsna, the good, the bad – your life. You share everything with someone you are close to, the barriers are low, close friends are intimate. In bhakti this is called mamata, a strong sense of ownership, or relation to the Lord, that “He is mine and I’m His”. This type of love can be attained by two types of devotional service, as it is stated by Narada Muni in Sri Brhad-bhagavatamrta: “One develops that love by practicing the devotional servi