(Rukmini Walker’s speech in honor of International Women’s Day at the Institute for Spiritual Culture, The Glories of Our Mothers Conference, in Mayapur, India, March 3rd, 2019.)
I’m very grateful to have been invited to speak at this conference, on the Glories of Our Mothers. Specifically, I’ve been asked to speak on the traditional Vedic aphorism that, in this world, we must honor seven mothers:
“Our own biological mother; a guru or wife of our guru; a queen or head of state; brahminis, or wi
The ISKCON Batam Center in Indonesia held a successful Indian Music Festival outreach in beautiful Ocarina, Batam, on April 15th, 2023. The celebration of music, dance, and spirituality attracted 250-300 guests. Locals, expatriates, and Singaporeans were all deeply affected by the event and enthusiastically participated in the many performances and activities. Batam is the largest city in the Riau Islands Province, across the Strait of Singapore, and the eighth largest city in Indonesia.
Temp
By Atma Tattva Das
Govinda Charan Das, a South African-African Hare Krishna devotee, has recently completed the translation of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita As It Is into the isiZulu language for BBT Africa. Zulu, or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in Southern Africa. Before this vital service, Govinda Charan Das’s journey as a devotee in the South African Yatra had been challenging. He was involved in the early African preaching initiatives in
Krishna Chandra and I took to the trail along the Huron River, a narrow but full and flowing stream of water that flows to Lake Erie. In this college town there is a lot going for it besides this kayak-friendly river and adjoining trail. There is a college, and then there’s Harmony Collective, which is where Krishna Chandra stays, and where I am guested. This facility is a Krishna temple and a meeting place for lovers of bhakti yoga.
Srila Prabhupada explained to the late Cardinal Daniélou the importance of the commandment ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’.
At a recent interreligious conference, I happened to mention that we devotees of Krishna are vegetarian, and in the midst of the discussion, I referred to the Sixth Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” A prominent Christian scholar, who was part of the discussion, asked what the commandment had to do with vegetarianism.
“It has everything to do with it!” I responded. “If you eat meat
(Tamal Krishna Goswami and Sura dasa witnessed this pastime. Sura dasa has confirmed the accuracy of this story from his diary and recollection. Sura noted that of the three reports that morning, this one brought a smile to Srila Prabhupada’s face.)
It was forty years ago, August, 1977, just three months before Srila Prabhupada was to leave our external vision. Srila Prabhupada was sitting in his room in Vrndavana, very ill and leaning up against the wall, showing little response as some sann
I knew right away that he was my teacher. It was like something that happens in books.
In September 1965 I went up to Ananda Ashram, an hour and a half out of New York City. I went there mostly to get out of the city. The Indian guru who presided at the Ashram I had met before in New York at a Yoga Society. Many of my friends were involved with him studying Raja Yoga, a form of meditation. They were very enthusiastic and tried to persuade me to come uptown with them to their meetings.
To tell t
By Khusboo Basan
Bhakti Kids Sangha is an initiative started by Abhidheya Devi Dasi and her eleven-year-old son Krishna Balaram that includes a broad number of inspiring initiatives. Some of these include establishing libraries for children, creating resources for parents, producing digital educational content, and hosting a successful podcast on YouTube.
Initially, the Bhakti Kids Sangha was started as classes on bhakti yoga that were live-streamed on Instagram and Facebook during the pandemi
Bala Krsna Das, formerly known as Bongani Mazibuko, has been creating art since childhood. Unfortunately, his impoverished situation prevented him from studying art at university. He explains, “I could not afford to attend university, but I think I could have chosen art as part of my education if I had had that opportunity.” However, his passion for art never faded, and he continued to create.
When Bongani joined the Hare Krishna movement, formally taking shelter of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Sw
Nature is doing some renovation on the city of Montreal. On April 6th, a major freeze hit the town and although the trees in particular looked magical, the weight of collective hard water (ice) caused devastation when sizeable branches just snapped off. In my walk today to the botanical garden off of Pie IX Boulevard, my companion, Emille, pointed out all the piles of tree debris. It’s all over the place. Spring buds are coming out and that is redeeming, while blossoms from certain les arbres a
Frontline servants: Remembering the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta publishing marathon
Join GBC SPT to meet the veterans and know what happened behind the scenes when Srila Prabhupada engaged his disciples in publishing Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta that turned into a marathon.
About Devamrita Swami
Devamrita Swami is an educator, author, and monk in the Krishna bhakti tradition. For over forty years, he has been traveling the world sharing the teachings and lifestyle of bhakti-yoga.
With a unique ability to analyze modern problems through the wisdom of the Bhagavad-gita and Shrimad-Bhagavatam (essential Vedic texts), he challenges audiences to understand that the quest for genuine personal and social upliftment is rooted in precise and comprehensive knowledge. Often
By Krishna Prana Devi Dasi
On Saturday, April 22nd, almost 50 North American leaders and managers gathered online for the first-ever virtual Intimate Partner Abuse (IPA) Prevention Program, which introduced new tools and resources to assist ISKCON leaders in dealing with domestic abuse in their communities.
The initiative began in 2020 under the umbrella of the Vaishnavi Ministry of North America in response to the absence of domestic abuse resources available at North American ISKCON temples,
New Mayapur rolls out their “Be a monk for a week” programme for young people to acquaint them with the practice of bhakti yoga. The programme gives hands-on training and direct immersion in the Vedic lifestyle to participants, mainly consisting of volunteers who visit New Mayapur to work on the community’s farms and gardens. Young men and women who come from non-devotee backgrounds with absolutely no knowledge of Krishna consciousness are introduced to the philosophy and culture by senior devo
There once was a tiny anti-material particle
Not reported in any regular news article
Jiva was the name of this glowing entity
Who somewhat lost purpose and identity
In its wanderlust it really liked to move
Feeling as though life would then improve
Yes, Jiva was up for travel far and wide
A wish that absolutely could not be denied
The search was on with the gift to freely fly
It looked about for directions in the sky
The Moon, Sun, Saturn, and Mars
Heavenly bodies including the stars
Disconten
By Giriraj Swami
We shall discuss the conversation between Sri Ramananda Raya and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, ramananda-samvada, recorded in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter Eight: “Talks Between Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya.”
TEXT 1
sancarya ramabhidha-bhakta-meghe
sva-bhakti-siddhanta-cayamrtani
gaurabdhir etair amuna vitirnais
taj-jnatva-ratnalayatam prayati
TRANSLATION
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is known as Gauranga, is the ocean of all conclusive knowledge in
By Thomas Haribol
Krishna Balaram, an 11-year-old devotee living in Sydney, Australia was awarded second place for his memorized recitation of chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit at the International Gita Mahotsav held at Sydney’s International Convention Centre.
The three-day event, held April 28-30th, brought together Hindus from several sampradayas to celebrate the Bhagavad Gita. It included attendees from several other countries, including the UK and Canada. The annual event not onl
By Radha Mohan das
In the run-up to the momentous occasion of the coronation of King Charles III, Bhaktivedanta Manor hosted a ‘pre-coronation tea’ for faith leaders on Tuesday 2nd May.
The event was attended by over 30 religious organisations from Hertfordshire, who collectively represented a dozen faiths. Bhaktivedanta Manor this year celebrates its 50th anniversary — it was 50 years ago that George Harrison of the Beatles kindly donated the temple to our community.
Robert Voss the Lord Lieut
By Thomas Haribol
On Saturday, April 22nd, the Eco Teaching Farm at New Raman Reti in Alachua, FL, celebrated its sixth annual Earth Day Eco Festival. Established in 2017, the Eco Teaching Farm’s mission is to develop, through hands-on learning opportunities, a fully functional and dynamic, self-sustaining, ecologically sound farm project. The Festival is a beautiful way to showcase that aim for devotees and the public.
“We invite people to witness and experience the simple means of fulfilling
These are my day’s bright spots:
The morning’s kirtan took us all over the temple room. I added some new moves, new steps to the dance.
Being in Toronto only for the day, so I was asked to give the class. Topic – baby Krishna and the witches.
I confess to not have a taste for South Indian cuisine, but the kichari (rice, dhal, veggies) – the best!
Spike, an old friend for many years, came to visit me. A good talk, ever reinforcing for both of us.
My dear god-brother, Bhumna, also came t
