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We can take them all During questions the seminarians were very respectful. They stood while questioning and addressed Srila Prabhupada as "Your Divine Grace". One priest asked: "How would His Grace see Jesus Christ?" Prabhupada's obvious veneration for Lord Jesus moved the audience. "Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ ..a he is son of God, the best son of God. So we have all respect for Him. Yes. Anyone who is teaching people about God consciousness, he is respectable to us. It does not matter in

Young freelance film-maker William Kerr had been chanting Hare Krsna on and off for over a year and sometimes ate his lunch at the Hare Krsna shop at 299 Little Lonsdale Street. William had first met a devotee while working in the family camera shop in downtown Melbourne in 1972. The devotee, Amogha, had come to buy film. He told William about the first Ratha-yatra parade due to travel down Swanston Street in a few days time. Intrigued, William attended the parade. He loved it, and t

Prabhupada graphically described how the material world was a miserable place, replete with anxieties. From the big controllers, down to the insignificant ant, Prabhupada said, life was a struggle. "Even President Nixon, he is also full of anxieties: 'When shall I be dethroned? Let me take protection.' And the ant -- the ant is going, you stop it by your finger. He will struggle: 'Why you are stopping?'"

Why so much anxiety? The reason, Prabhupada pointed out

In the afternoon that Thursday, a few local devotees came to speak to Satsvarupa dasa Goswami about the current state of affairs existing between the two camps. Satsvarupa spoke, giving his perspective, after having travelled with Prabhupada from Hawaii to Japan, then to Hong Kong, where he had encountered almost identical problems. Although the rift between the "temple" devotees and the "outside" devotees appeared to some like a split, Satsvarupa hesitated to use the word.

He explained t

We have to be very organized It had been almost nine months since controversy had split ISKCON's ranks. Siddha Svarupa Goswami now lived in Hawaii with his own break-away group of devotees that included some from Australia and New Zealand. He preached to them, and to newcomers, that it was best not to live in the temple. He did not advocate that one follow the rules and regulations strictly, nor did he conduct any organised preaching activity -- only casual chanting of Hare Krsna. And he continu

Later, speaking alone in the quiet ambience of Prabhupada's room, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami brought up a topic that he found had recently become a common concern amongst devotees -- the threat of nuclear war. He broached the subject carefully. "Srila Prabhupada, now India has the nuclear bomb and other small nations are rushing to get it"

"What is this nuclear bomb?" asked Srila Prabhupada bluntly with a dismissive movement of his hand. "I will drop it on you, and you in turn will drop it on

Prabhupada was happy to see the enthusiasm that the devotees exhibited while chanting Hare Krsna in the morning guru puja kirtana. Before commencing his class, Prabhupada encouraged the devotees to always chant, even if they felt no spontaneous enthusiasm to do so. "Go on chanting and dancing. Even if it feels a little artificial, it doesn't matter. Even there is no ecstasy, dance. It will bring ecstasy. It will have effect. The chanting is so potent that if you continu

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