When His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada frst arrived in America in the midst ol the cultural turmoil of the sixties, he quickly captured the hearts and minds of the New York hippies and the San Francisco flower children with the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra.
Within three years, he journeyed to London, and by 1971, Hare Krsna had been recorded on hit records by former Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison. By then the mantra had been heard by hundreds of millions of peop
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Many people say “By your mercy, I will surrender” or “Give me your blessings so that I will surrender” or “When Krishna wants”. Srila Prabhupada says these are spoken under “FALSE PRETENSE”–These are just “PLEA’S” Not to Surrender.
Srila Prabhupada: Surrender is willing. If you don’t like to surrender who can make you obliged to surrender? Surrender is voluntary. “Yes I surrender.” Determination, “Yes I surrender.” Who can make you obliged to surrender? Nobody can make. Even Krsna can not work.
It is that time of the year when leaves are descending, but geese are ascending and soaring to the south in their V formation. Ah, yes, V for Vishnu. Thanks for the reminder, guys. Your honking sound is well noticed by those of us making the trails in King’s Park. What splendour there is in all we see, including a woodpecker who allowed me to come so close. The Assiniboine River is humble as it is low; a notable message we are able to take in as a component to the natural splendour of God.
Much
By Chaitanya Charan das
Transcribed and edited by– Nayanasundari Devi Dasi
Question– As devotees, as sadhus, should we focus on just internal change or should we focus on social change also?
Answer (short)–
- Primary focus in Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition has been on internal change. However, Srila Prabhupada went a step forward and used scripture as a means for social commentary to bring about a change in the society.
- Prabhupada said, he has come to create Brahmanas and Brahmanas should inspire o
Be personal. Honor each individual for who he or she is. This principle was repeatedly exemplified by Srila Prabhupada throughout his time with us. As he saw how everyone is spiritually equal and should have an equal opportunity to participate in his movement according to his or her qualifications and propensities, so can we. As he encouraged everyone, so can we. In the world today, there’s a dire need for this cutting-edge, spiritual vision, a vision that’s resonant with Krishna’s teachings, t
The other day I was remembering Srila Prabhupada’s statement of how paintings of Krsna are like windows to the spiritual world; it means that through these paintings, we are looking into the ‘real world’, and when we are looking out of this window (of the building), we are simply looking at a picture. So Krsna consciousness must begin with that understanding, that the spiritual world is the real world. It is there where we find our nourishment because after all, in the material world, we will n
I spent the day visiting Krishna Bhakti students at their homes. It is inspiring to see their love and commitment to Krishna, their work, their school and their parents. I also had the pleasure to walk along Red River at St. Vital Park. Lots of geese in the pond. Since arriving in Manitoba all households that I visit, they conduct a beautiful ceremony to honour Damodara (Krishna) with ghee lamps.
We were at the dawn of our guru’s anniversary of his passing. My poem, in his honour, follows. Prab
How can we chant in a way that it makes us forget the material world and run to Krsna? When you sit down to chant, there will be moments in which you notice that your mind wandered somewhere else – ‘Uuups, I was thinking about my shopping list, that I have to close this deal to get more money and that Suresh Patel said something bad about me – well, he can just wait – I will show it to him!’ You will notice, ‘Where was I? I am sitting here in saintly company, chanting, but what happened?’ What
Even when there is duty, we have to see what will be the effect of the duty. Not everything should be done very blindly. This is devotee. Devotee means he’s not blind. Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah. (SB 5.18.12) [“All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge, and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva.”] Bhagavad-bhakta means he w
A leading monthly travel magazine with over 16 million readers displays a full page color photo of Tompkins Square Park with a caption that begins, “The East Village’s Tompkins Square Park has been a bastion of counterculture for decades. The Hare Krishna movement was born here.”
Srila Prabhupada describes that birth, “Our sankirtana movement was first introduced in New York in 1966. At that time I came and began to chant this Hare Krishna mantra in Tompkins Square. I was chanting there for thr
It is explained in the scriptures that on the route to the spiritual world, one will have to pass through the irresistibly attractive heavenly planets. Only very rare and fixed up souls are able to get ahead of these tests and boldly march ahead to the spiritual world. Most decide to take a break and engage in their rendezvous at the highly-eulogized heavenly pleasure gardens. Thinking about making my journey through these heavenly realms without getting stranded in these heavenly realms is a
The proud practice of using our dull material senses to try to judge who is sadhu and who is not is the same as the neti neti endeavor of the impersonalists. The impersonalists try to understand what is spirit by using their material senses. “Net, neti” means, “not this, not this”. In the process of neti neti, the impersonalists try to ascertain what is matter and what is spirit by examining matter through the medium of their mundane senses.
Such empirical endeavor is doomed to failure from th
Written By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications
Archival Research by Chaitanya Mangala Dasa
ISKCON Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada visited New Vrindaban four times, giving the devotees there his association and dispensing practical advice for simple living that remains invaluable not only to New Vrindaban, but to all ISKCON rural farm communities to this day.
During his first visit, running for over a month from May 20th to June 23rd 1969, Srila Prabhupada encouraged the sma
For more than 8 months war has been going on in Ukraine and devotees keep asking us for help.
The devotees in the occupied cities and towns on the front line are facing the worst situation.
The economy is not operational there and it is close to impossible for them to support themselves.
Many devotees need to be evacuated, you might be asking how to help Ukrainian devotees. Share your care fund is the tool you can use to do this.
SHARE YOUR CARE WITH DEVOTEES
Shareyour.care project is dedicated
Hare Krishna,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada
All glories to Sri Kshetra Dham!
Welcome to Sri Kshetra Parikrama 2022.
We would like to welcome you to our 19th anniversary celebration of Sri Ksetra parikrama which will be celebrated from the 10th to 13th of November 2022.
Puri dham is also known as Sankha ksetra as its form is in the shape of a conch shell. This puri parikrama is known therefore as Sankha ksetra parikrama or Sri Ksetra parikrama. The path is
When I flew out to North Ontario, sitting next to me across the aisle was a man, possibly in his thirties, who had his sketchbook out. For that hour-and-a-half I watched from the corner of my eye seeing this guy whipping out page after page of just gorgeous designs coming out of his drawing pen. I envied him on two counts; one is that he was so damn good at what he was doing because each sketch carried a different theme; two is that he was just keeping himself busy, engaged in something product
Amidst the Covid situation of this year, pilgrims from far and across the country are visiting Sri Dham Mayapur during this auspicious period of the year to partake in the various auspicious pastimes of the Lord. From Govardhana Puja celebration, to Gopastami, down to the most auspicious days of Bhisma Pancha, Devotees all over the Dham are observing various vrata, taking cold and auspicious bath in Ganga while reciting various sacred mantras, offering seva to our Mayapur Goshala, Sri Radha Madh
Video: Click here
Join us for a one-hour special conversation with Niranjana Swami, ISKCON Governing Body Commissioner, to learn about the current status of Hare Krishna devotees in Ukraine, the challenges they face, and how you can help.
Maharaj will share many of the stories and plight of the Ukrainian devotees. In an interview format, he will answer questions and describe the condition of the yatra and how the ISKCON community came to help.
Some of the topics:
- The situation in Ukraine now
- T
Rouge National Urban Park is a real gem located in the east end of the city of Toronto. To my understanding it is one of the largest green spaces in a major city in North America. Recently there have been bear sightings in the area. Unfortunately (or fortunately) our group from the Bhakti Academy didn’t see any, although I did take home a tick crawling on my dhoti (lower robe).
This might be the last of our outings for the group this season before late autumn chills set in. For today the scener
Srila Prabhupada: One time, Indra, the king of heaven, was cursed to become a hog, and he became a hog. He had a wife and many kiddies and was living in a filthy place, eating stool. Brahma came to him because in his absence the management in the heavenly kingdom was not going nicely.
Brahma requested, “Indra, now please come with me.”
“Where shall I go, sir?”
“Heaven.”
“What is that? I cannot go. I have responsibilities. I have my wife, my children, and I am happy here. I do not know what heav
