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The Meaning of Initiation

(Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami)

The day of spiritual initiation is a very important day in all our lives. Initiation is actually a second birth for the human beings. In this second birth, the spiritual master is our father and the scriptures are our mother. It is a very auspicious and memorable occasion in our lives. We are all born in the darkness of ignorance and on the day of i

Hare Krsna

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada

A 'devotee' wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to the temple. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 mantras. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the priests are wasting theirs by giving services at all."This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to

Hare Krsna

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada

I can challenge you that you are not happy in the present set up of your affairs. You may have in your possession your so called accumulated material wealth, health or happiness but still you are always feeling some insufficiency and frustration and thus you are not happy as you ought to have been. If you do not feel like this, then you must be either an abnormal man or a liberated saint or in gross ignorance of lower co

When we smell a good natural fragrance, we can think, "Oh, here is God.  Here is Krsna."  Or when we see some natural beauty, we can think, "Oh, here is Krsna."  Or when we see something uncommon, powerful or wonderful, we can think, "Here is Krsna." Or when we see any form of life, whether it be in a tree, in a plant, or an animal or in a human being, we should understand that this life is part and parcel of Krsna, for as soon as the spiritual spark, which is part and parcel of Krsna, is taken

Bhakti-vaibhava, Vrindavan 2012, August 19 – November 21

Dear Devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

With great pleasure VIHE wishes to invite you to the in-depth, step-by-step, systematic Bhakti-vaibhava course in Vrindavan, running from August 19 – November 21. Srimad-Bhagavatam is "Sri Krsna who has returned among us" and is the "life-breath of the Vaisnava devotees". Srila Prabhupada wanted that the "family transcendental diploma will continue through t

By Devaki devi dasi

All of us chant the maha-mantra, but how much are we struggling to come to the platform of purely chanting the holy name. This struggle is so important for we all contend with constant stimulation from our mobile phones and the Internet that often distract us from relishing the holy name, our most valuable jewel.

At times we may have to admit that we don't take our chanting as the most important activity in our life.

Bhaktivinoda Thakur describes in Harinam Cintamani how ina

Maya has given us this car for satisfying our desires. Sometimes it is called field. Ksetra. We want to work on this, just like agriculturist work on his field and produce some results. Similarly, we are working on this field, we are moving by this car, but I am not this field, I am not this car. If one has understood this philosophy that "I am not this body..." But "I am not this body," that does not mean I shall neglect it. I must maintain it because ... The same example: if I want to move nic

Settlement of

All Our Material Accounts

(Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami

We in Abudhabi were really fortunate to have the personal association of our beloved Guru Maharaja for three days last week. Maharaja encouraged all the devotees in the performance of devotional service and he gave very serious instructions to be remembered and practiced in our lives. We shall try our best to transcribe the lectures for t

Hare Krsna, dear devotees!

Below is a beautiful and moving letter from inmate Bhakta Mark. I hope you will be as touched as I was when I read it. This is the type of letter that inspires me to keep doing this service. There are real people out there, who are in such a dreadful situation, people who suffer, locked in with the worst of characters and under very severe, oftentimes brutal conditions, and they long for something more, something that will help them transcend the miseries they are forc

Hare Krsna

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada

One of the most severely limiting beliefs that many of us have is that the person we were yesterday is the person we have to be today. This belief keeps us tied to our past mistakes, habits, and limitations. 

We somehow buy into the notion that if we weren’t successful yesterday, we certainly can’t be successful today or tomorrow.

If you can see how ridiculous and self-defeating this belief is, you can make an instant shi

Hare Krsna

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada

A well-known speaker started off his public speech in a strange manner – by holding up a Rupee 1000 Note! Holding up the Note high in the air in one of his hands, he addressed the curious audience, "Who would like this Rupee 1000 Note?"
    
With great cheers almost all of them raised their hands with the shout, "I want it", "I want it”!! He said, "Oh! That’s nice. Well, I am going to give this Note to one of you... But,

Venue: Los Angeles. So everything ready to go, everything is getting loaded into, into what?  Big trucks?  carts, bullock carts. Every family had at-least one cart or more.  So many cows, so many bulls and that’s the mode of transportation. Krishna had never gone His travels were more kind of limited to this brahad van,  He was more in Gokul, into the town, just  around on the bank of Jamuna just near. It’s the first time He is going for a very long travel, very  very long,  its like going to an

Sanatan Arya Vedic theosophy, Cosmic and Indic history.

1)     Goloka Vrindavandham – topmost planet in spiritual world (Vaikuntha – no anxiety or distresses of repeated birth, death and rebirth for a living entity) in which the Supreme personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna exists eternally in the subdivision Dhams (places) of Vraja, Vrindavan, Mathura and Dwarka according to the various pastimes Lord Krishna is performing eternally in transcendental bliss with his eternal devotees having spirit

Hare Krsna

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada

In a certain place the fishermen were catching fish. A kite swooped down and snatched a fish. At the sight of the fish, about twenty crows chased the kite and made a great noise with their cawing.

Whichever way the kite flew with the fish, the crows followed it. The kite flew to the south and the crows followed it there. The kite flew to the north and still the crows followed after it. The kite went east and west, but wi

Whatever We Own, Owns Us

(Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami)

The following is notes from His Holiness Mahavishnu Gosvami Maharaja’s class on Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.30, given in London, July 10, 2008. Srila Gurudeva is here speaking the direct truth for the benefit of all, about the crime it is to claim any kind of material ownership.

sri-prahraada uvaaca
matir na krsne paratah svato vaa
mitho 'bhipadyeta grha-

I was inspired by a song by Vasu Ghosh where he is saying 'yadi gaur na hoito.' That means if there was no Gauranga, what would there be today? So I was thinking, what if there was no Prabhupada? What would there be? Think of all the things that Prabhupada gave us. Of course, he gave so many things that I could not mention them all. I apologize to those devotees who are involved in services in areas I didn’t mention, but then I would have a song that would go all night long! To mention all the t

ISKCON Toronto’s Ratha-Yatra and Festival of India

1.Photo’s link for Parade & center island programs ? https://picasaweb.google.com/106652055478422838217/ISKCONTorontoRathayatra2012

2. Photo,s link for 12-hour kirtan ??. https://picasaweb.google.com/106652055478422838217/12HourKirtanISKCONToronto

3. Photo’s for launch Party at Yonge-Dundas Square (Toronto) ?.. https://picasaweb.google.com/106652055478422838217/FestivalOfIndiaLaunchPartyAtYongeDund asSquareToronto

For 40 years, this annual parade ha

एक बार राधा जी सखी से बोली - सखी ! तुम श्री कृष्ण की प्रसन्नता के लिए किसी देवता की ऐसी पूजा बताओ जो परम सौभाग्यवर्द्धक हो.

तब समस्त सखियों में श्रेष्ठ चन्द्रनना ने अपने हदय में एक क्षण तक कुछ विचार किया. फिर बोली चंद्रनना ने कहा- राधे ! परम सौभाग्यदायक और श्रीकृष्ण की भी प्राप्ति के लिए वरदायक व्रत है - "तुलसी की सेवा" तुम्हे तुलसी सेवन का ही नियम लेना चाहिये. क्योकि तुलसी का यदि स्पर्श अथवा ध्यान, नाम, संकीर्तन, आरोपण, सेचन, किया जाये. तो महान पुण्यप्रद होता है. हे राधे ! जो प्रतिदिन तुलसी की