Remembering Not to Forget: But if its amnesia you want, Krishna will give it to you
It’s funny how if you give Krishna, God, an inch, he gives you a mile. I remember in my earliest days as a devotee, I had left the movement for some time. I was home, watching TV with my family. All of a sudden, right on the screen there was an ad for the television station with a photo of New York City streets. There he was, my Godbrother Bhaktivinoda, with a close-up of the Channel Two logo below his chin. I h
At a temple I visit there is a nice devotee who previously was a gangster. While in jail he somehow received a Bhagavad-gita. He didn’t understand much, but enough to now be a devotee.
He recently told me that a friend of his is in a high security prison and is forced to do hard labor. The friend wrote to him, saying that he’d heard about his new life as a monk in a temple.
He said, “I need help. This place is driving me nuts. If I don’t get some type of help, I’m going to go backwards [take my
Sri Rama-navami
A Talk by Giriraj Swami
April 6, 2001
Ojai, California
The original Personality of Godhead is Krishna, and He manifests Himself in different forms. One such manifestation is Lord Ramachandra. When Krishna appeared in His original form He acted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whereas when He appeared as Rama He acted as the ideal king. In fact, the pastimes of Lord Rama display ideals in many ways. Lord Rama appeared as the son of King Dasaratha, and Dasaratha acted as the
Sri Ram Navami celebrations!
We wish you all a very auspicious filled Rama Navami 💥💥💥💥
Sri Rama Navami is always a bigger festival as it is just before the vyasapuja of HH Jayapataka Swami and thousands and thousands of devotees visiting Mayapur for Vyasapuja, come early to take part in Rama Navami also. In the afternoon, we will have an abhisheka to “Shaligram Shila” and arati, Pushpajali offered to Sri Ramchandra.
A very grand procession of Sri Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Hanuman in bullock chari
By Shyamasundara Dasa
For some people the episode of Rama exiling Sita to the forest, while she was five months pregnant, is one of the most disturbing and incomprehensible events in the Ramayana. It seriously tests their faith; and in some cases actually breaks it, leading some to even offend Lord Rama. They forget it is a divine lila and that the Lord has His own reasons for doing what He does, and that they are not always within the purview of our tiny understanding.
To read the entire artic
The Ramayana is one of the two main itihasa - historical epics – of India, along with the Mahabharata. It describes the activities of Krsna’s incarnation Lord Rama, including the kidnapping of His consort Sita by Ravana, King of Lanka, and the subsequent military campaign to release her. Since a substantial amount of the history takes place in Lanka the actual real identity of Lanka is important to Vaisnavas and devotees of Lord Rama in general. For hundreds, perhaps thousands of years the isla
Sri Ayodhya Dharma Yatra
Situated on the banks of the beautiful Saryu River, Ayodhya, also known as Saket, is the birthplace of Lord Rama and was the capital of the ancient Kosala Kingdom. Here, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His quadruple expansion as Lord Rama, Laksmana, Bharata and Satrughna appeared as sons of Maharaja Dasaratha in Raghu dynasty in Treta-yuga.
Ayodhya was originally built by Vaivasvata Manu, who is the descendant of Svayambhur Manu, the
The story of Rama is divided into four parts:
1. Early life of Rama
2. Rama’s exile
3. Abduction of Sita (Rama’s wife) and
4. Slaying of Ravana, the abductor of Sita, and Rama’s coronation.
Dasharatha was the king of Kosala, an ancient kingdom that was located in present day Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya was its capital. Dasharatha was loved by one and all. His subjects were happy and his kingdom was prosperous. Even though Dasharatha had everything that he desired, he was very sad at heart; he ha
Today, in observance of Sri Rama-navami, we shall read a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: “Scheduled Incarnations.”
TEXT 24
yasma adad udadhir udha-bhayanga-vepo
margam sapady ari-puram haravad didhaksoh
dure suhrn-mathita-rosa-susona-drstya
tatapyamana-makaroraga-nakra-cakrah
TRANSLATION
The Personality of Godhead Ramacandra, being aggrieved for His distant intimate friend [Sita], glanced over the city of the enemy Ravana with red-hot eyes like those of Hara [who wanted
‘Lord Rama (BG 4.10)’ by Radhanath Swami, in Mumbai
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so ‘rjuna
(BG 4.9)
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.
PURPORT
The Lord’s descent from His transcendental abode is already explained in the 6th verse. One who can understand the truth of the appearance of
Ram possesses all the qualities of a superhero
Royal traits of ultimate prince, monarch, or pharaoh
Reverent to all, eager to help and listen
With a service attitude acting on what's given
His build is admirable, countenance grave
Tasks he tackles meant only for the brave
He never moves suddenly at a reckless whim
No wonder his father, the emperor, adores him
Ram is the heartthrob for many a woman
He also has a striking brother, his name, Lakshman
Of all ladies, lovely Sita won Ram in a tourna
Dated: March 21, 1969
Location: Hawaii
Letter to: Tamala Krsna
My Dear Tamala Krishna,
Please accept my blessings. Your letter dated March 18th by special delivery is in hand and it is so gratifying that you have already saved $600 for the improvement of the temple. So I am very much pleased. Go on working like this and Krishna will give you ample money—there is no scarcity. Regarding the change of altar, you can do it later on, but your making up the feast room you can take care of immediately
Sri Hanuman, a great devotee in the form of a monkey, prays, “Since Lord Sri Ramacandra is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, He is not attached to anything in this material world. He is the most beloved Supersoul of all self-realized souls, and He is their very intimate friend. He is full of all opulences. . . .
“One cannot establish a friendship with the Supreme Lord Ramacandra on the basis of material qualities such as one’s birth in an aristocratic family, one’s personal beauty,
By NItai Gaurasundar Das
ISKCON devotees from France traveled to the Caribbean Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe this past winter to perform Harinam in the streets. For some of the small towns, this was their first-ever exposure to Bhakti Yoga and chanting of the Holy Name.
The group was led by Jaya Bhakti devi dasi, a disciple of HH Guru Prasad Swami, who spent her own personal pension money to fund the pilgrimage. The harinam group consisted of Prasanatma das- a French Prabhupada disciple
You can feel spring in the air with the sun bright and any hints of snow now on a slow melt. When I step out the door, I know I have choices whether to turn left or right. Today’s choices turn right toward the Annex, the university (U of T), or just plain old Bloor Street, a favourite pedestrian-friendly avenue.
Once I got to the corner of Robert, a man by the name of Dan, 68, saw me and asked a common question, “Are you a monk?”
“Yes, I am. A Krishna monk.”
“I had a friend who worked with me i
Rishabh Verma: Reflections on the essence of the Valmiki Ramayana
The Vedic scriptures describe many different types of charity or dana. Of these, Srila Ramanujacharya identifies two types of charity as the highest – charity of self-knowledge (Jnana dana) and charity of fearlessness (Abhaya Dana). These forms of charity are not only recognized by Bhakti Yogis, but also by Buddhists. Both schools agree that Abhaya Dana is superior to Jnana dana because it removes the fear of repeated birth and d
By Vasant Pancami Das
Hare Krishna!
Dear Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Ai is the buzzword on everybody’s mind. I decided to use it as a powerful preaching tool. So I worked hard on it and came up with BhaktiAi a system within ChatGPT the most advanced and talked about Ai language model in existence today.
Microsoft has invested 10 billion dollars in the system. I invested time and conversational machine learning intelligence (because I don’t have
We’re spirits inside material bodies. If we do something about our own spiritual life—like find out who we really are and what we’re meant to do—life can only improve. We generally prefer consciousness to unconsciousness, except during surgery. Putting zero effort into finding our true identity and purpose while keeping our bodies and minds pleasantly occupied is like always stopping for gas but never eating. What good is keeping our car’s fuel tank full if we’re starving? How can we have a bal
By Thomas Haribol
Springtime in New Vrindaban is like stepping into a colorfully painted landscape, and Mother’s Day weekend will unite its beauty with some of our movement’s most talented artists, musicians, writers, and creators in the second annual Vaishnava Arts Festival, May 12-14th, 2023.
Fittingly, the idea for the event came through the creative collaboration of HG Kalakantha Prabhu and HG Anuradha Dasi. “Coming from a background of Waldorf School’s pedagogy, I’m always looking for w
A very enthusiastic marathoner, Nitai Priya, spent hours on restructuring and redesigning a slide presentation for our much-needed Kirtan Standards Workshop. 40 to 50 attendees sat to listen, observe, and interact in this 4-hour seminar on how to approach and deliver the practice we almost like to do dash chant. The themes of this presentation are what our guru, Prabhupada, desired in the realm of sharing mantras, and secondly, inclusivity.
When we say ‘inclusivity’ in the matter of kirtan enga
