Blog

By Savitri Devi Dasi  

The Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education (VIHE) is pleased to announce its latest on-site Bhakti-vaibhava course covering Cantos One and Two, which will be held from June 26 to October 30, 2024. The full course facilitates the systematic study of the first six cantos of Srimad-Bhagavatam in the association of devotees under the guidance of senior teachers, with reference to Srila Prabhupada’s books and the works of previous acaryas. It aims to expand devotees’ devotio

A recent short documentary released by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) explores the unlikely and inspiring journey of the Srimad Bhagavatam to Antarctica, the most remote continent on Earth.

Antarctica, the Earth’s southernmost continent, is primarily covered by a massive ice sheet that holds about 70% of the world’s fresh water. Despite being home to various life forms, like penguins and seals, no permanent human population resides on the continent year-round. Instead, Antarctica hosts a rot

By Ekachakra-prana Dasa

The 2023 BBT Bhadra Purnima marathon has begun with a goal to distribute at least 55,000 sets of Srimad Bhagavatam all over the world in multiple languages. The target date for the 2023 goal is September 29th.  

Launched in 2017 by the BBT MCI Team (Marketing, Communications, and Innovation) under the expert leadership of HG Vaisesika Prabhu, the Bhadra Campaign aims to bring together all devotees in the world around the common goal of mass-proliferation of the Srimad Bh

By Gauranga Darshan Das

“A brief outline of the twelve cantos of Srimad-Bhagavatam that represent the bodily limbs of Lord Sri Krsna and present ten transcendental topics.”

Of all the sacred Vaisnava scriptures, Srimad Bhagavatam is considered the topmost. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu hailed the Bhagavatam as the spotless authority (pramanam amalam) amongst the Vedic literatures. Srila Rupa Gosvami, in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu declared that hearing Srimad Bhagavatam is one of the five most po

I was recently looking at new property for our ladies’ ashram in Wellington. We moved out of a large house and needed to store our things before moving into our next location, so we needed a storage facility fast!

That’s when I was introduced to an Indian man named Raj. Gokula-lila recounted how Raj had spent some time at The Loft in Auckland around 2010. His brother and father also often spend time at the The Loft and Bhakti Lounge in Wellington.

Owing to the encouragement and persistence of M

Home Programme in Auckland
I did a home program in Auckland. At the end of the talk this Indian lady approached me with some questions. She was under lots of stress. She witnessed one of her friends committing suicide, a big shock. She is very attached to her father and for some strange reason she thought “What if my father dies”? Sure enough she got a call from india saying her father had a stroke and went into coma. Both these combined she was going through so much anxiety she was asking me w

By Sesa Das

OK, I admit it. I’m a junkie, a New Year’s resolutions junkie. Every year I make so many resolutions, and every year I fail to keep them. I know I am not alone in this. Is there a support group out there?!

This pesky little urge to make a commitment to a project or to reforming a habit to mark the beginning of each New Year is not new and seems to be quite universal. Brooke Williams’ article, The History Behind New Year’s Resolutions, published in The Colonnade, The Official Student

The Auckland Loft recently received a letter from a prisoner in the Auckland Correctional Facility, saying that he wanted The Nectar of Devotion, Teachings of Lord Caitanya and the Krsna Book. Munjaranya went to great lengths to connect with him on the phone, and after a week she succeeded. It turns out that he had just moved there from the Christchurch prison, where he had found a Bhagavad Gita and read it. Then he had contacted the temple in Christchurch, which sent him japa beads, and he sta

Of all reading material that comes my way in a natural devotional setting – the Gita, the Bhagavatam and anything else which is a publication of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, I also include the occasional more secular material (even an occasional newspaper) – I confess to my favorite amongst all.

I just love hearing or reading of the past times of Prabhupada. There is a wealth of material out there on the subject of His Divine Grace, the founder and acharya (teacher) of the great bhakti movemen

In Stratford, I met Sandy, a Westpac Bank worker from New Zealand, who told me that she has most of these books and LOVES reading them. She said that every time a devotee comes through, she buys another book.

“These are not books you just read once and move on,” she said. “I read them through fully, then after a few months I re-visit them and start reading them over again.”

She was so inspired, and she really takes shelter of Prabhupada’s books. This time, we sat on a park bench, and I showed h

By His Divine Grace Srila A.C.B. Swami Prabhupada

Śrī Brahmā-saṁhitā, Verse 32
Type: Sri Brahma Samhita
Date: Aug. 14, 1972
Location: Los Angeles

Prabhupāda: Hare Krsna.
aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti
[Bs. 5.32]

Aṅgāni means limbs of the body. Govinda, Lord Kṛṣṇa is person. He’s got His limbs of the body as we have got. Man is made after God. We are imitation of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not imitation of us. The atheist class, they think that “They have painted a form of God according to one’s own

Today’s world is in disarray. Even the so-called educated class of society has no idea how to be happy, or how to do good for the world. Fortunately for us, the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya entertained this idea thousands of years ago. As a result of their thousand-year sacrifice, the enlightened sage, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, spoke Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the panacea for respiritualizing the entire planet. Because the Bhāgavatam addresses the root cause of suffering, it is a cure-all for the many ills we suffer i

The word question comes from the word quest, which means to search for something. In the etymological dictionary, the verb quest dates to the late 14th century. It refers to the medieval romantic sense of adventure undertaken by a knight, especially a search for the Holy Grail.

When you ask a question, you are embarking on a journey! The Buddha, for example, started his famous journey with a question. One day, he left his father’s protective care, ventured outside the royal palace and saw sick

After receiving a super inspiring, mercy-filled email from His Holiness Giriraj Swami, encouraging book distribution, we went out on books to cash in on the mercy.

A nice young engineer approached our book table with many questions. He asked, “I’m confused in life, even though I’m very successful materially, so please recommend a book that will help me.”

I said, “Any of these books will help. I especially recommend “Hiding in Unnatural Happiness” and Bhagavad-gita. He took the books and donated

One Prabhupada saying that often lingers in my ears is “It is better to chase the rhinoceros. If you fail, no one can say you have failed – everyone knows you cannot capture a rhinoceros, But if you succeed, they will say he has done the impossible.”

During last year’s lockdown, my wife and I were pondering how to reach out to the community in Longmont, Colorado, with Prabhupada books. We happened to see little house-shaped structures full of books on the front lawns of houses in our neighborho

This class on Srimad Bhagavatam 8.22.24 is given by HG Kalakantha Prabhu on Tuesday, January 26th, 2021, at Bhakti Center.
The crux of the issue is this: Will I serve the Lord with whatever money He has allotted to me, or will I use it to try to please myself. My consciousness, and not on the amount of money I have, determines my decision. Prabhupada explains: “Materialism does not mean that one has to possess so many things. The actual fact is one may be a perfect transcendentalist or spiritua

By Sri Nandanandana das (Stephen Knapp)

More devotees should know about the holy town of Shukratal. Shukratal is the place where Shukadeva Goswami spoke the sacred Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana) to Maharaja Pariksit 5000 years ago. It is located about half way between Delhi and Haridwar, a four to five hour drive, and about 86 kilometers before you get to Haridwar. The little town sits on the banks of the holy Ganga River, where it has cut a swathe through the rocky region. Pilgrims come

The amazing energies of the Lord and their expansions. Srimad Bhagavatam class by HG Daivi Shakti Mataji.

TRANSLATION
After speaking to Kaṁsa in this way, the goddess Durgā, Yogamāyā, appeared in different places, such as Vārāṇasī, and became celebrated by different names, such as Annapūrṇā, Durgā, Kālī and Bhadrā.

PURPORT
The goddess Durgā is celebrated in Calcutta as Kālī, in Bombay as Mumbādevī, in Vārāṇasī as Annapūrṇā, in Cuttack as Bhadrakālī and in Ahmedabad as Bhadrā. Thus in different

Shaping a prayer was a portion of today’s preoccupation. Why is prayer important? It is a practice amongst followers of bhakti yoga. A person by the name of Akura, during Krishna’s time, championed this. In my spare time I’m piecing together a poem to address the nature and healing power of prayer.

It’s fun and it’s provocative.

Today was also splendid in the sense that two god-siblings called at different times to reach out. It is always great to reminisce, which is what we usually do when we