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We often get questions about surrender, like “how can we surrender”. Recently I was reading one old BTG, 2001, and found a nice practical statement from Srila Prabhupada. If we search “surrender” on the vedabase we find 7445 hits, so we know it is an important topic. And we all know the conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita:

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami mä suca

TRANSLATION

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall de

Janmastami is Krishna’s day. More than any other day of the year we should make an effort to meditate on Him on this day. Meditation means to engage in contemplation or reflection. In Bhakti Yoga we contemplate upon Krishna through the use of all the senses – which makes it a most enjoyable practice. In sanskrit it’s called ‘kevala ananda-kanda’ – the path of happiness.
The following list of the 64 qualities of Krishna is a delightful source of meditation. It is taken from the Nectar of Devotio

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

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

“How any spiritual activity should be done is understood from three sources: saintly persons, standard scriptures and the spiritual master”. (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.28.4, purport)

Proper sankirtan – a phrase used by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati in his Sri Sanmodana Bhasyam and by Lord Caitanya Himself – means certain tunes, certain instruments, a certain musical style, certain dress and certain kinds of dancing by the members of the chanting party. In Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement, r

(Bhaktivedanta Research Centre: This is a one of a kind original photo of Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj found by BRC while going through Sri Sundaranand Vidyabinode’s collection.)

Today is Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja’s disappearance day. He comes in the Gaudiya Vaishnava disciplic succession after Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. He was a renounced ascetic, fully engaged in chanting the holy names of Krishna and meditating on His pastimes. For

  The common understanding of an Advanced Civilization in today’s context is to be advanced in Technology, having a comfortable lifestyle, Earning Lots of money and having enough or rather lavish facilities to enjoy the senses to the fullest. This is the yard stick that is generally used to gauge the Advancement in Civilization. Owing to this yardstick Countries like United States of America, Great Britain etc are considered as First world Countries and more advanced in civilization then others.

In this article, I compare the origin of universe as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam (SB) and the Big Bang (BB) theory .

1. The initial state

According to SB, the initial state of matter immediately previous to its manifestation is calledpradhāna (SB 3.26.10p). In the BB theory, this initial state is called the singularity. The table below compares these two states:

I found this talk by Yamuna-devi, from the Pune Yatra 2001, so profound and powerful, I wanted to share it with you all. If you wish to learn more about—and from—this extraordinary devotee and disciple of Srila Prabhupada’s, you may visit the beautiful new website Unalloyed: The Yamuna Devi Legacy Project (www.unalloyed.org). —Giriraj Swami

Radhanath Maharaja has requested that my godsisters and I speak something. Last night, after we left the transcendental program and before I took rest, I wa

Video: Click here

Brahmatirtha: “…as mayor of Gainesville, there’s many challenges in this day of social media where the like button determines what is right and what is wrong. a little discretion. He has to deal with all of these contentions and he deals with it with grace, with dignity and patience that I do not understand. Just a dear person whose values are true and I say this in the core of my heart truly represent the very of the city of Gainesville. I’m very honored to have had him here w

It’s been another one of those weeks wherein caring for our severely autistic/mentally daughter has very nearly eclipsed all other activities. Again. Same as every minute of every day. For years on end. In order that we might truly learn and grow deeper with sincere affection from the difficult experience which the Supreme Lord has sent as mercy to reform us from all selfish considerations. Or complaint (tat te nukumpam…) about the severe circumstance we must necessarily endure. As each endless

Let us meet and hear from one of Srila Prabhupada’s silent warrior who helped him spread Krishna consciousness fearlessly in Malaysia and Indonesia. Let us immerse in the mystery behind the untold history.

About Amogha Das
He was born in California and attended UCLA ( University of California Los Angeles) where he met the Hare Krsna devotees in 1969. After listening to lectures and joining in on various street kirtans, he decided to leave university and commit his life to S

Let us meet and hear from one of the rare gems of Srila Prabhupada’s army who marched fearlessly with him to establish Krishna consciousness in Every Town and Village.
 

About Vegavan das
Born 1947
Joined ISKCON in Mumbai in Jan/Feb 1971 and got initiated and married to Padmavati dd in March same year during the first Hare Krishna Festival in Cross Maidan, Mumbai
.
Traveled with Srila Prabhupada as his personal assistant on his tour to Malaysia and Sydney Austr

 Let us meet and hear from one of the silent warriors of Srila Prabhupada’s army who marched fearlessly with him to spread Krishna consciousness in Every Town and Village.

About Kurma Das
Born in London, England in 1952, Kurma Dasa immigrated to Australia with his parents when he was 12 years old.
Kurma Dasa became an initiated disciple of His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on 10 May 1971 in Sydney.
He started his cooking career in the ISKCON Sy

As the United States of America was established by its founding fathers, Srila Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krnsa Consciousness and therefore he is its Founder-Acharya. His goal was to establish a society by which to bring people of the world to Krsna.

In the beginning days of America the pioneers had to depend upon their own determination, strength and faith, to establish themselves in “the new world”. They saw this land as a place of opportunity where each person could pur

We sometimes think of ourselves as being good adjudicators of who is serious in Krishna consciousness, and who is not. Who is pure, or not. Expecting that “More people will leave Krishna consciousness than stay,” we easily become proud of being one of the “privileged few” to remain.

Being of the surprising few and rationalising this way is certainly premature, and signals immediate complacency. The adage, “It is how you finish that counts; not how you start,” usually escapes our attention when

“How is our existence in the material nature? Very beautiful, very wonderful. [laughter] Full of promises and full of excitement, full of opportunities. But that is the influence of the Lord’s illusory potency. We are suffering, but we consider this suffering condition to be joyful. The reality is this material existence is full of suffering. And the thing is, the more we try to enjoy, the more we end up suffering. Therefore, saintly people in the past, they used to voluntarily accept austeriti

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