What qualifies a person to obtain the rare gift of a life of devotional service to the Lord?
“Ajñata-sukriti means doing pious activities without knowledge. So we give everyone a chance to act very piously without his knowledge. This is the Krishna consciousness movement.” (Srila Prabhupada conversation with Bob Cohen, February 1972, Mayapur)
It’s usually better to do something in knowledge than in ignorance. Bhakti-yoga, or devotional service, is no exception. But everyone, in every field of e
The four headed Brahma’s diminutive intelligence
Vs Srila Sanatana Goswami’s first class humility
By
Jaganmohini devi dasi
Sri Ramanavami day was special for us this year. As I was doing our regular morning worship in our altar with flowers, fruits and incense, we offered special prayers to Lord Ramachandra. Recalling that the abhishek of the Lord was the first festival that we participated in ISKCON temple few decades back, and also reminiscing our childhood days, when my father would daily na
Fifty years ago, in 1969, three couples – Mukunda and Janaki, Gurudas and Yamuna, and Shyamasundara and Malati – were inspired by Srila Prabhupada to start the first ISKCON center in London.
At the time, London was the music capital of the world, with bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, and Moody Blues conquering global pop culture.
The devotees knew what they had to do to make an impact, and they approached it fearlessly. Befriending The Beatles,
For Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day, I thought to read one verse and purport about him from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten, “The Branches of the Caitanya Tree”:
TEXT 105
sri gopala bhatta eka sakha sarvottama
rupa-sanatana-sange yanra prema-alapana
TRANSLATION
Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches of the tree. He always engaged in discourses about love of Godhead in the company of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvam
For Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s appearance day I thought to read a verse and purport about him from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten, “The Branches of the Caitanya Tree”:
TEXT 105
sri gopala bhatta eka sakha sarvottama
rupa-sanatana-sange yanra prema-alapana
TRANSLATION
Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches of the tree. He always engaged in discourses about love of Godhead in the company of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami.
PUR
By Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja
When the acarya disappears, a dark period comes, just as a patch of black cloud covers up the effulgent sun. It is an unfortunate time, but it is temporary. That cloud will go away. A violent storm may come and disperse the cloud, and then the effulgent sun will come out. If you trace out history you will find that after the disappearance of an acarya, this period comes. That period came after the disappearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. Then his discipl
The year was 1933. In Orissa, Professor N.K. Sannyal had just published the first volume of his milestone work on the life of Shri Mahaprabhu under the divine order of his spiritual master, Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. To that date, it would be the most voluminous and scholarly presentation ever scribed in English regarding the life and times of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And with another volume to go, the good professor was only half-way through the project. The title page proudly announc
By Hari Parshad Das
The term parikramā is a synonym for the term pradakṣiṇā.
Both terms are used synonymously.
For example, while performing parikramā of tulasī-devī, we call it a pradakṣiṇā — “tāni tāni praṇaśyantipradakṣiṇaḥ pade pade”
Parikramā means — To completely (pari) travel around (krama).
Pradakṣiṇā means — To walk around completely (pra) while keeping the deity to the right (dakṣiṇa)
The Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (8.393) specifies the method for performing Parikramā/Pradakṣiṇā of an
Photos by Sridama das
29th February 2016, Mayapur, India
By Romapada Das
After screening a short film about Mayapur on the sixth day of ILS, Brjavilasa Das spoke to the ILS delegates on behalf of the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), stressing the importance of Mayapur in the eyes of Srila Prabhupada. He mentioned that Prabhupada had wanted to establish Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the yugavatarafor this age from the precincts of this temple.
“In 1969, Srila Prabhupada gave his first ever
By Bhakta Nikhil
Friends, disciples and well-wishers of HH Subhag Swami Maharaj gathered in the holy land of Jaipur to participate in a festival of hearing, chanting and sadhu sanga between the dates of 15th ~ 20th October 2015. This is the 5th annual parikrama Maharaj has been holding in various holy places across India. Jaipur, also known as “Gupta Vrindavan” plays hosts to our Gaudiya Sampradaya’s most cherished deities’: Radha Govindadev and Radha Gopinath. As stated by Maharaj on a n
Srila Prabhupada writes to one his disciples about Lord Vamanadeva:
Montreal 3 July, 1968
My Dear Satsvarupa,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 28, 1968, and I thank you very much for it. Regarding Bali Maharaja: He is born in the same atheistic family of Maharaja Prahlada. He happened to be the grandson of Maharaja Prahlada, and as his great grand-father, Hiranyakasipu was very powerful, and as there was animosity between the demigods and the demons, Bal
I’ll tell one verse from Caitanya Caritamrta but this verse if quoted from Srimad Bhagavatam. As all of you know Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu He has not written any books upon His teachings except Siksastakam. So but He has by His discussions with different personalities, the five most important discussions took place, it is between Caitanya Mahaprabhu-Srila Rupa Goswami; Caitanya Mahaprabhu-Sanatana Goswami; Caitanya Mahaprabhu-Raya Ramananda; Caitanya Mahaprabhu-Prakasananda Sarasvati; and Caitan
The sastras proclaim three avenues of relation and purification for the jiva; guru seva, gau(cow) seva and dhama seva. Of course the yuga-dharma, the harinama, is the foundation activity for all, supporting the other three that have unique characteristics and varying spiritual potencies.
The guru seva is the first prescription given in the Vedas and every devotional work is obviously done as a credit to guru, and sometimes sadly in this field there is possibility of offense. Gau seva, cow pro
Once upon a time, the cowherd men of Vrindavana, headed by Nanda Maharaja, desired to go to Ambikavana to observe the Siva-ratri ceremony. The rasa-lila was performed during the autumn, and after that the next big ceremony is Holi, or the Dolayatra ceremony. Between the Dolayatra ceremony and the rasa-lila ceremony there is one important ceremony called Siva-ratri, which is especially observed by the Saivites, or devotees of Lord Siva. Sometimes the Vaishnavas also observe this ceremony because
Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura
Shrila Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura took birth in the year 1654 Shaka era (according to the Gaudiya Vaishnava Abhidana, Part 3, p. 1370) within the Nadia district of West Bengal in a place called Prasiddha Deva Gram. He appeared in the Radhiya line of brahamanas. He had two brothers: Shri Ramabhadra Chakravarti and Shri Raghunatha Chakravarti. Shrila Chakravarti Thakura went on to live in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, in Saiyadabad, where he received
