Over Easter weekend, the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah, hosted thousands of guests for the 29th annual Festival of Colors. Many regard this annual celebration as the most iconic Holi celebration in the world, framed by the snow-capped Wasatch Range and the stunning Rajasthani-style temple.
Holi Festivals, held around the world, are celebrations of new beginnings and the power of good over evil, drawn from several ancient Indian narratives. Appreciating the positivity and
Sukadeva Patita Pavan and I walked to the pier and naturally at it's edge you see nothing but waves of water forming those iconic curls and ending in a splash. The beach itself is unclean, noted by Patita. The city workers are on strike. Sukadeva remarked about the city and the country's issues. "Greed," was the big word he used. It's certainly a problem everywhere globally.
We are out here at the North Beach to browse but more so to get in a technical rehearsal for "The Age of Kali." The questi
Govinda Ghosh was one of three brothers Govinda, Vasudev and Madhav, who were all dear associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu.
According to Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (188), Sri Govinda Ghosh is a sakhi named Kalavati in Goloka Vrindavan who beautifully sings songs composed by Srimati Vishakha Sakhi.
Govinda Ghosh, in Mahaprabhu’s lila, was a celebrated singer with a melodious voice. He, along with his brothers, was present in the kirtans at Srivas Angan, in the kirtan party
Hearing His Holiness Niranjana Swami’s wonderful talk, I felt we were being elevated to the spiritual world. He quoted from Visnujana Maharaja. Visnujana had a program in which he went by boat along the Ganges River, in Bengal, and chanted the holy names all day, stopping at villages along the way and chanting and speaking and distributing books about Krsna. Once, when I was in Los Angeles recovering from being sick in India, Srila Prabhupada received an issue of Back to Godhead with an artic
The Ramayana character Maricha was faced with choosing who would kill him.
By Chaitanya Charana Dasa
Knowing he’d be killed by Ravana or Rama, Maricha acted with spiritual knowledge, but worked against the purpose of such knowledge.
We all are going to die one day. This is one of life’s hardest truths – hard to endure and hard even to contemplate. Equipping us to face this reality, Gita wisdom explains that at our core we are eternal souls; death is an event that happens only to our bodies, no
By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi
In the latest testament to its unwavering dedication to spiritual, cultural, and societal advancement, the Bhaktivedanta Research Center (BRC) in Kolkata, India, was honored with the prestigious Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Social Impact Award in the category of preserving intangible heritage on March 12th, 2024. The award was presented by the Honorable Governor of West Bengal, CV Anand Bose, with Balarama Lila Das, Head of Development, accepting this este
I was not disdainful towards wearing any standard dhoti. I secured a pair of yogi pants because it was totally practical to use them for our practice. The Durban's version of "The Age of Kali" calls for a swivelling office chair for our leading man playing Kali and I was to demonstrate some fancy moves with the chair. Has anyone ever tried to go up and down a ladder with either a dhoti or sari? Not advisable! Some thing with an office chair on wheels.
Our troupe went on site to practice by Nort
HG Caitanya Chandra prabhu a leading disciple of HH Gaura Govinda Mahraja left this world around 1:56 (IST) 30 March 2024
late night of the 29th March he was taken from the hospital in Bhavanesvara to Gadai Giri Temple where he has been the leader for many decades. Still alive although in a coma. on arrival all support was removed and for a few minutes he breathed on his own accord. After around 10 minutes he came out of coma and suddenly smiled. surrounded by hundreds of devotees chanting the
By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi
On March 20th, 2024, Raasbhakti Devi Dasi (Dr. Aditi Mishal) received the esteemed international award, “Outstanding Women in Global Sustainable Development – 2024.” The honor was awarded to her by the Global Alliance of Sustainable Development Foundation at the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW68) held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The distinguished presentation of this award was carried out by Hon. Mr. Zhang, Ch
First of all there was this wave of interest in start-up transcendental theatre. The local Noida community attended our planned Theatre Arts Workshop. 50 folks attended, men and women, with the age range from 7 years old to 78. That could be a challenge but not with this group. It became a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all - a loosen up, voice - empowering, relaxing, stretching, creative prodding one. I engaged our natural teachers from our troupe to share their skills. Parama Karuna led
By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi
The 68th Annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), the United Nations’ (UN) largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, took place this year from March 11-22, 2024. The event’s focus was “accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.”
The delegation of devotees who represented ISKCON Vaishna
In a spiritual culture you can surely expect blessings in great number. You will lose count of them because they are numerous even if you have a registering type of mind. Today's blessing came in the form of a visiting monk and his name is Devamrta Swami, an Afro American devotee of the Hare Krishna Movement.
He came into the temple hall while Kirtan was going on. Naturally it created some excitement as he made his way to the vyasasan, the exalted seat for the teacher of the Gita or the Bhagava
Some suggestions on how to stay inspired.
Somehow, it happens that our motivation in Krishna consciousness may falter. Usually that faltering comes in the form of lacking the desire to do some practical service, associate with devotees, or develop our spiritual practices, such as improving the quality or quantity of our chanting or of our reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Whenever this happens to me or a friend, I realize the urgency and fragility of devotional service and the importance of
Srivasa Thakura, one of the members of the Pancha-tattva, lived in Navadvipa-dhama in Mayapur, near the residence of Jagannatha Misra and Sacidevi, where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared. Later, when Lord Chaitanya began His sankirtana movement in Navadvipa-dhama, He and His other most confidential associates would meet at Srivasa-angana, the home of Srivasa Thakura, and have kirtan throughout the night. The kirtans at Srivasa-angana were ecstatic, and only the most intimate devotees of Sri Ch
By Niranajan And Jayapataka Swami
Today being the Disappearance day of our most beloved HH Sridhar Swami Maharaj we thought of remembering one of Srila Prabhupada’s favorite sons, his Samadhi is in Mayapur next to the Samadhi of HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaj, and Srila Prabhupadas Pusya Samadhi.
HH Niranajan Swami Maharaj remembers the Jolly Swami:
There are many things more we could say about Sridhar Maharaja. He was a very wonderful devotee and the w
The mission statement of HH Sridhara Swami (1995) is very inspirational:
“My mission is to serve my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, with all my heart and soul… .
“To achieve this goal has now become my only reason for living. Out of a great sense of debt for his having shown me the path, I want to become a sharp instrument to be used by Srila Prabhupada in his mission of flooding the world with love of Krishna.
“I will strive to achieve excellence in all
The Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), under construction, recently opened an office in the ISKCON Juhu temple, at Hare Krishna Land in Mumbai. In honor of the occasion, and to further the cause, I thought to share an excerpt adapted from my article “Memories of Sridhar Swami” in my book Many Moons.
In November 2003, Srila Prabhupada’s staunch disciple Sridhar Swami phoned me from Bombay and told me that he was planning to go to Vancouver in April for four to six months. Soon thereaft
