Blog

Thursday, 27 June 1974

The venue for the morning walk was Melbourne's Botanic Gardens. The sun barely shone through the heavy morning mist. Srila Prabhupada, once again well-wrapped against the cold in chaddar, scarf and knitted cap, walked briskly along the tree-lined pathways. Prabhupada occasionally stopped, and as he did so the devotees with him would immediately huddle close to listen. At one such unscheduled pause, Prabhupada explained the reason why there were so many livi

Melbourne temple's enthusiastic cooks were vying for Prabhupada's attention. Each day a different cook would send down a batch of juicy gulab jamuns to the house for Prabhupada to give out to his guests. They also hoped he would try one himself, and give a judgment on whose were better. That night a particularly soft and succulent batch arrived. Prabhupada relaxed as Dipak brought in a plate of freshly-made cauliflower and pea-filled samosas, spiced with a predominance o

Publicity was the topic of conversation on many devotees' lips that morning. And there was yet more to come.

Duncan McLay: It was a hive of activity at the Hare Krsna shop in Little Lonsdale Street. Devotees were working furiously on the accessories for the chariots for Saturday's Ratha-yatra parade. Some were sewing the colourful canvases, and others were carving life-size polyurethane foam horses. I was helping Dhaumya on the finishing touches of the huge statue of Lor

Introduction

ascarya-vat pasyati kascid enam

ascarya-vad vadati tathaiva canyah

ascarya-vac cainam anyah srnoti

srutvapy enam veda na caiva kascit

Bg 2.29

Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all.

The Amazing soul

Since Gitopanisad is largely based on the principles of the Upanisads, it is not surprising to also find this passage in the Katha Upanisad (1.2.7):

sravanayapi bahub

So when one becomes Krsna conscious by the grace of the Supreme Personality, guru-krsna, by the grace of guru and Krsna, then he understands that this place, this material world, is full of miseries. Then brahma-jijnasa. But foolishly people do not understand that it is a miserable condition. Sanatana Gosvami, he was minister. By contact with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu he could understand that "Although I am minister, although I am holding very high, exalted position, I am learned scholar in Sanskr

  The science of the development of Bhakti (Love of God) is taught in the various Vaisnava sampradayas by their representative Acaryas, or Gurus, according to time, place and circumstance. All Vaisnava traditions accept the Vedic scriptures (Sanskrit sastra) as the source of the authoritative Absolute Truth. Like the Christians who have various interpretations of the Bible, Vaisnava sects interpret and emphasize the Vedic texts according to their lineage's own specific teachings. But all agree o

Bhakti yoga is a designation that often needs clarification, particularly here the West, where our inclination is to envision yoga as being either a physical exercise (hatha) or a meditation process aimed at peacefulness. Yoga literally means union with God, and Bhakti translates as “devotion”.

Even this specific nomenclature invokes misinterpretation due to the widespread perception of Hinduism as being both a polytheistic and impersonal religion. In fact, Hinduism is not a religion so much as i

Maharaja asking should the class be in English? Then what about hindi bhasi devotees. Devotees arranged for hindi translation.
So we are reading from canto 3, chapter 24, verse 12.
brahmovaca
tvaya me ‘pacitis tata
kalpita nirvyalikatah
yan me sanjagrhe vakyam
bhavan manada manayan

Word for word:
brahma — Lord Brahma; uvaca — said; tvaya — by you; me — my; apacitih — worship; tata — O son; kalpita — is accomplished; nirvyalikatah — without duplicity; yat — since; me — my; sanjagrhe — have completely acc

Hare Krishna,

So Kali-yuga, people are suffering. They're all fallens, all meat-eaters, all drunkards, all fifth-grade, sixth-grade men. They are puffed-up, but actually they are fifth-, sixth-and tenth-grade men, not even gentlemen. Therefore my Guru Maharaja used to say that "No gentleman can live here. The society is so polluted." And... But the, there is opportunity of serving Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Because the society is so fallen, therefore there is good opportunity to serve Sri Caitanya Mah

Giriraj Swami: As we lament the departure of our dear godsister and Srila Prabhupada’s beloved daughter Yamuna-devi—and rejoice in her reunion with him—I quote from a letter she wrote me some years ago: “I remember when Dina and I visited you in your house in Vrindavan. We asked you one question, and you took three hours to answer it: ‘How has your relationship with Srila Prabhupada changed since his departure?’ The departure of loved ones helps us to change, to go deeper. Surely this will happe