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From Back to Godhead

The desire to be soul-conscious inspires a move to a soul-compatible place.

“The soul [jivatma] is unborn, eternal, immortal, and primeval. It does not die when the body dies.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.20)

I first heard details about jivatmathe soulin 1971 during my maiden overseas trip. I was reuniting with my then-boyfriend (later husband) John in India, and to me, a born and bred atheist, jivatma was a quaint irrelevant idea.

An idea, however, can be like a seed: it can germinat

Our beloved Srila Prabhupada conforms to the sastric description of who exactly is a perfect devotee. His behavior is flawless, as his every word and deed is meant to glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna. He never deviates from that full attention to the Absolute Truth and he cannot be seen at any moment engaged in any frivolous talk or momentary material idleness. Each and every moment in a fully surrendered devotee’s life, even up to his last breath, is connected in some

“Is chanting all that your religion does? Don’t you do welfare or anything like that?”

Alex, my barber, works at the Pilatos salon in Queens, New York, on the cusp of a Hispanic neighborhood. The salon has mostly Latino hairdressers and clients, and it is bright and upbeat, with salsa music often playing softly in the background. On a recent visit there, instead of salsa, I heard the chanting of om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, which means “obeisance to the Supreme Lord Krishna.” I remarked to Ale

 A conversation with His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

In June 1976 at New Vrindaban, a Hare Krishna farm community in West Virginia, Srila Prabhupada fields questions sent to him from the editors of Bhavan’s Journal, one of Bombay’s leading cultural and religious periodicals.

Devotee: Here is the first question:

“It is said that the greatest strength of Hinduism is its catholicity, or breadth of outlook, but that this is also its greatest weakness in that there are very fe

Every civilized person is familiar with the concept of seva or service. Service can be of different types and of different qualities. At home, every member of the family is serving everyone else. Traditionally, the father traditionally earns for the family and is therefore known as the “breadwinner,” while the mother takes care of the home itself by cooking, cleaning, and creating a comfortable and congenial atmosphere. The children obey their parents and perform basic chores or run minor erran

By Udayananda

During the 1976 festival in Vrindavan, there was a whole schedule one day that started at mangal arotik and went all the way until midnight at a pandal program celebrating the Appearance of Lord Ram and attended by over twenty thousand people.
It was very impressive.
For me the day started blissfully as I got to go on a morning walk with Srila Prabhupada.
Prabhupada walked for a very long time preaching vigorously.
At the beginning of the walk I was at the rear of the devotees, bu

By Sankirtana Das (ACBSP)

1.Devotees need to educate the public as to why they are chanting on the public streets around the world. The holy name of Krishna is both a personal meditation for our own spiritual well-being and, as Prabhupada explains in the purport of Adi, 17.141, “for the reformation of all the anomalies of human society.” The chanting parties should distribute brochures or flyers to inform everyone who passes by and invite them to participate when they have the chance.

2. So many

By Satyanarayana Dasa

Especially in this time of crisis, Arabs and Persians alike are desperately seeking guidance and knowledge of God from the wisdom of India, which they deeply respect: Ancient spiritual knowledge above religion. And that’s what we are all about, and they know it!

In fact that is the very order of the Prophet Mohammed: “If you seek knowledge, go to the East!” To facilitate these sincere souls in obtaining this transcendental knowledge worldwide, and especially in their sacred

“One day Srila Prabhupada asked me to paint a set of Radha-Krishna Deities that he was sending to Hamburg to have installed. When I informed him I was not an artist and didn’t feel I could do it, he said that he would show me what to do. So he told me to find a special black, white and red paint, and that evening we sat Them on his small desk and Srila Prabhupada personally painted the Deities and instructed me at the same time. I sat in front of him, and as time seemed to disappear, the lovely

This year’s annual 12-Day Matching Fundraiser is focused on helping to open the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium on Srila Prabhupada’s 50th Disappearance Anniversary, November 1, 2027. The Grand Opening celebrations will continue for three months as our beloved Mayapur Deities are relocated into Their new palace home. Please consider sponsoring a Prabhupada 50 KRSNA Ring, an exact replica of Srila Prabhupada’s personal KRSNA ring, or give a donation of any amount. Payments towards existing pledg

On the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, ISKCON Mayapur launched its latest initiative, an Interactive Timeline of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada (1896–1977), ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya.

This engaging timeline presents the major milestones in Srila Prabhupada’s life and mission—from his birth in Kolkata in 1896, to his historic meeting with his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, in 1922, his courageous journey to America in 1965, the found

As a genuine spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada takes personal responsibility for the advancement of each of his students in the spiritual life of Krsna consciousness. Although now his transcendental instructions are available in book form, when Srila Prabhupada first began the Krsna consciousness movement, the only way his new disciples could get the answers to their many questions was to ask Sri

“So far your question regarding women, I have always accepted the service of women without any discrimination” (Letter to: Gurudasa — Los Angeles 26 May, 1972)

In terms of our personalities and abilities, no two of us are alike. Why should we be? And why would anyone want us to be? Variety, Srila Prabhupada tells us, is the mother of enjoyment. Whatever our personality, whatever our talents, Prabhupada wants us to use them in Krishna’s service.

Yet when we learn from Prabhupada’s teachings th

Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 7: The Science of God Chapter 14: Ideal Family Life

Summary

Maharaja Yudhisthira inquired from Narada Muni: O my lord, O great sage, kindly explain how we who are staying at home without knowledge of the goal of life may also easily attain liberation, according to the instructions of the Vedas.

Narada Muni replied: My dear King, those who stay at home as householders must act to earn their livelihood, and instead of trying to enjoy the results of their work themselves,

A true spiritual master transforms lives not through external power, but through authentic devotion, personal example, and unconditional love, guiding others back to God.

This talk is a personal, storytelling-based glorification of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, emphasizing how a genuine spiritual teacher transforms lives through simplicity, purity, and deep love for God (Krishna).

Key Themes
1. Seeing the Soul, Not the External
Prabhupada saw everyone’s spiritual potential, even in small

B.g. Lecture 1969:

Devotee: Prabhupāda? Does Lord Jesus Christ appear in the spiritual sky with the body he manifested on the earth?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Otherwise how there can be resurrection? Ordinary body cannot be resurrected. He appeared in his spiritual body, certainly. Jesus Christ told, if I remember, that “Lord, excuse these persons,” who were crucifying him. Is it not? He knew that “These rascals, they are killing me, but… They are offending certainly. So they do not know that I cannot be

Interview with HG Satyanarayana Prabhu, a direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada, personally initiated in 1972, whose life’s mission was given to him by his spiritual master. As the Director of the BBT for the Far East and Middle East, he carries Prabhupada’s message to every corner of the world, including the Middle East and Vrindavan. With profound and even mystical experiences with Srila Prabhupada, Satyanarayana Prabhu will share his insights into the miraculous spread of Krishna consciousness

By Nitai Madhav Das,

As part of the ISKCON 60–50 global celebrations, and in alignment with the objective of increasing Śrīla Prabhupāda consciousness across the Society, the Śrīla Prabhupāda Introductory Course (SPIC) is being presented by the ICC 60–50 Education Committee. Based on the BBT publication Śrīla Prabhupāda: The Messenger of the Supreme Lord, this course is designed to gently guide participants toward a deeper, more personal appreciation of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, fost

The desire to see God, to touch God, to talk to God is in itself probably the strongest argument for His existence; besides the logic and evidences from the scriptures, this direct experience is very significant indeed. Bringing Deity Worship from the insiders circle of elderly pujari-priests and making it part of the congregational development is probably the only way it may become part of the positive future for many places in ISKCON. While everyone hankers for direct experience of God in per

The Deep Ecology movement is rooted in the conclusions of Professors Lynn White and Arne Naess. By the late 1960s, Prof White, a historian and university president who had studied the development of technology from medieval times to the present, published “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis”. In that influential article, he identified society’s mentality of anthropocentrism (human-centrism) as the root cause of the ecologic crisis. Shortly after that, Prof Naess, philosopher and enviro