How to chant Japa (Mantra Meditation): 
Chant on one bead then move to the next, go forward and not backward. If you twirl the bead when you chant the tendency is that you might chant on more than one bead for one mantra.

Solutions: 
1) Hold on to the bead tightly (for dear life) like a drowning man in the ocean of birth and death holds on to the rope cast by the spiritual master in the boat of devotional service.

2) Get bigger beads ! If people question you why you're chanting on huge beads tel

Kurmarupa Prabhu Blessed by the Cows of Vraja an Astrological analysis

By Shyamasundara Dasa

I did not have the good fortune of knowing my god-brother Kurmarupa Prabhu but I have read with interest what others have written especially The Passing of Kurma-rupa dasa. It was reported that this mahatma had left his body on Sunday, June 28, 2015 at 8:45 hours during Padmini ekadasi, in Purushottama masa in Vrndavana. I didn’t have his horoscope but I thought – let me at least check what was happeni

San Francisco Airport Arrival Lila, 1974

By Padmapani das

Greeting Srila Prabhupada at the airport was never an ordinary occasion. Some of my fondest spiritual memories are of those wonderful times when devotees would gather together en masse to meet the world traveling paramahamsa. One such occasion was at the San Francisco International Airport in 1974 when Srila Prabhupada so kindly gave us a glimpse of his true transcendental nature. The sweet memory of those few moments of ecstacy remai

Photos for ISKCON 50th Anniversary Magazine

By Bhakti devi dasi

Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Anuttama prabhu and Mukunda Goswami have asked me to contact devotees re photographs for the ISKCON 50th Anniversary Magazine.
This is an exciting publication which presents a lot of facets of ISKCON in one document, and will be edited for continued distribution use after the 50th is over.
The magazine is mainly pictorial, and we really need good qu

Free Trip to Kolkata in August 11th to 16th

By Radharaman Das

My dear Maharaj ji’s and Prabhu ji’s Please accept my most humble obeisances All glorie to Srila Prabhupada!

Please find enclosed a list of 125 countries. If you are from any of those listed countries (and have valid passport of that country) we are offering a absolutely free trip to Kolkata in August from 11th to 16th August 2015.

This trip will include complementary return ticket, accommodation, transfers, all prasad and a trip aro

13th Annual Lord Jagannatha’s Ratha Yatra At Rijeka, Croatia, Europe

By Dvaraka-Gamana Devi Dasi

“O KRISHNA! TEARS FILL MY EYES WHEN I HEAR YOUR NAMES BEING GLORIFIED BY PURE DEVOTEES.”

Croatia, officially known as the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state at the crossroads of Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which forms one of the country’s primary subdivisions, along with its twenty counties. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres (21

This is Alia and her son Alfie visiting Henderson NZ from Piha. She said she couldn't take a book because they had just had their house robbed yesterday of all their valuables.

They had already looked through the pictures with me so I didn't hesitate to say in a calm matter of fact way:

"Yesterday all your temporary material things were taken from you but now today you are being given eternal wealth"

She didn't say anything immediately in reply so we kept chatting about a few other things and th

Bhumi Puja at ISKCON Jagannath Puri

Dear Devotees,
Namaskaar. Jaya Srila Prabhupada! Jaya Jagannath! On Friday, July 17, 2015, the bhumi puja - worship of the earth upon which construction is to be undertaken - will be held at the ISKCON Puri Project land at Jagannath Puri, in Orissa (Odhisha) State.

This is the date of the Gundicha marjan ceremony.

The ceremonial worship (bhumi puja) will begin in the early morning and continue till about noon.

All are invited to attend.

The ISKCON Puri land i

We arrived in Columbus, Ohio on the evening of Wednesday, June 24th, and stayed at the home of Prema Sindhu and Lila Valisini prabhus. The next day, Tuesday, June 25th, we moved to the home of temple president, Naveen Krishna and his wife Vraja Bhakti (named Radha Madhava House).

We visited the small Columbus temple and then made our way to a rented hall for the TOVP program. The hall filled with about 200 devotees and congregation members who enthusiastically performed a puspanjali ceremony f

The history of the Detroit Temple, Devasadan, is known to many, and within that history lies the seed of the fruition of Srila Prabhupada’s vision of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. As the story goes, as told by Ambarisa prabhu at all of his TOVP presentations, he joined ISKCON in Detroit which is a center for car production in the U.S. His great-grandfather was Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company.

He was sitting with Srila Prabhupada in his room in the temple with several ot

On Sunday, June 21st, we were scheduled for two TOVP presentations. The first was at New Hastinapura Dhama in the U.S.A.’s capital, Washington, D.C.. This is also one of the original temples established by Srila Prabhupada and, in fact, the main Deities of Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan were the first Radha Krishna Deities in ISKCON. Alongside Their Lordships are Gaur Nitai and Sita, Rama, Lakshman and Hanuman.

The mid-day program in New Hastinapura began with an abhisheka of the Padukas and Sitari

On Friday, June 26th, we arrived in Detroit, Michigan at the home of Temple President Jagad Guru das and his wife Radha devi dasi, and were served the most wonderful varieties of International cuisine at lunch. A TOVP presentation had been arranged for that evening in Farmington Hills, a suburb of Detroit, at a large temple building recently purchased by the devotee community there. 200 devotees and congregation were expected.

We arrived to a packed temple with kirtan going on and quickly set u

The small devotee community in Richmond, Virginia is run by temple president Divyanam das, and he and his wife Premalatika devi dasi, along with their two children Kulashekhar and Mahatma, hosted us in their home.

The TOVP presentation on Tuesday, June 23rd was in the home of Subala Sakha das and Krishna Pramodni devi dasi and was attended by 40+ devotees. An abhisheka of the Padukas and Sitari was first on the schedule during kirtan, after which Radha Jivan and Jananivas prabhus spoke to the g

On Sunday, June 28th, we arrived at ISKCON Houston at the home of Advaitachandra and Kalasuddha prabhus. They are leaders in the U.S. of the Bhakti Vrksha programs, helping devotees all across the country to organize their efforts in this regard. Their home was like Vaikuntha; every inch of wall-space was covered by either a photo of some Deities or guru, or a picture of the Lord in one of his incarnations. Their Pancha Tattva Deities were cast from the leftover metal used for the original Panc

With lakhs of devotees expected to arrive in Puri for Rath Yatra celebrations, Odisha government is taking all measures to ensure smooth conduct of the annual festival which is slated for July 18 this year. The state government is racing against time to brace up for the festival.
Keeping in view the safety of devotees and avoid any untoward incident, 9,000 policemen will be deployed during the yatra. Over 2,000 volunteers and 224 doctors will be deployed in Puri so as to provide emergency medica

Time Magazine – The Answers Issue: A Closer Look

By Sankirtana Das

The cover of the recent Time is intriguing – The Answers Issue – with dozens of little cubes, each asking questions about some of today’s most important concerns, and looking like some information terminal. I thought that this would surely be a breakthrough in journalism. I thought that maybe I could find some answers to our troubled existence and why so many of us feel burdened all the time, or about breakthroughs in curing the

Conversation Between
Krsna-ksetra Dasa (now Swami)
and Mr Vineet Narain (Vineet Narain is Editor of Kalchakra, a video magazine for investigative news.)
New Delhi, 1993

KK: So, Mr Narain, perhaps you could first explain something about how you came in contact with the Krsna Consciousness movement?

VN: Well, on different occasions, devotees of ISKCON sort of accidentally met me with a gap of a few years each time. And this was so limited that I couldn`t really understand what is it all about, e

I think I have acquired a spiritual guru…

By Auriga

Actually, I think it might be more accurate to say that he has acquired me.

I’m a scientist (astrophysicist to be precise) and I’ve been agnostic for as long as I can remember, so I’ve always struggled with the idea of God and the purpose of religion. But a few months ago, I had a spiritual experience, and since then, I’ve been on a quest to understand the being known as God. To learn more, I’ve studied and participated in various religious s