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By Jayaprakash Ramsaran

“The successful warrior is the average man with laser-like focus.” Bruce Lee

The magnifying glass is a source of constant fascination for young kids; I know it was for my brother and me. We used them to learn wilderness survival. Ostensibly, if we were ever backpacking and got lost, we’d have to start a fire. So, we took advantage of that to see how many things we could start alight by using the heat of the sun. 

There we were in the backyard, finding little pieces of pap

Prabhupāda: Be happy and make all others happy. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sarve sukhino bhavantu. That is Vedic idea. Everyone be happy. That is the benediction. Sarve sukhino bhavantu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says also the same thing, that let this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement be preached in every village, in every town of the world. People will be happy. That is His foretelling. So any missions, any high ideals, should be preached just to make everyone happy. Because in the material existence,

Today is Gopastami, the day on which Krishna and Balarama and other boys Their age, who previously had tended the calves, were given charge of the cows. This event is described in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.15.1):

tatas ca pauganda-vayah-sritau vraje
  babhuvatus tau pasu-pala-sammatau
gas carayantau sakhibhih samam padair
  vrndavanam punyam ativa cakratuh

“When Lord Rama and Lord Krsna attained the age of pauganda [six to ten] while living in Vrndavana, the cowherd men allowed Them to take up the

“Bless My Son”
Living with Srila Prabhupada.
By Rukmini Devi Dasi.
The ultimate anxiety for every parent is how their child will fair in the world. Srila Prabhupada’s mother wanted him to study in London and become a barrister, akin to the current day I.T. specialist who scores a job in the USA. However, Srila Prabhupada lovingly describes how his father’s ambition differed. Gour Mohan De wanted Abhay (Srila Prabhupada ’s birth name) to be skilled in mridanga and the art of knowing and sharing

Mitch from Orangeville came by to join us on the prearranged walk to the Brickworks and beyond. Usually, I can pack in some japa on beads; chanting during these urban pilgrimages, which are actually located in ravines. However, today was just talking all the while. The topic of Tattva, philosophical truths, according to the devotional perspective and practical realities were what occupied our time. It was sweet. We even cited a beaver lodge.

Now, I am the first to admit that I am a trite bit be

The following account was given by Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Atma Tattva Dasa.

One Ekadasi during the Kumbha-mela in Allahabad, Prabhupada was sitting back with his eyes closed, his legs stretched under his desk, talking about Ekadasi. Prabhupada said, “Lotus pods fried in ghee are very good on Ekadasi.” Somebody immediately ran to the market to arrange for lotus pods, but just two minutes later a Ramanandi brahman and his nine-year-old son arrived, both wearing Ramanandi tilak. They paid thei

By Giriraj Swami

Early this morning Srila Prabhupada’s beloved disciple, my dear godbrother, Sankha Dasa departed this  world. You can read about him and his wonderful service to Srila Prabhupada in Juhu in the following excerpt from my book I’ll Build You a Temple: The Juhu Story. I have no doubt that Srila Prabhupada has called Sankha Dasa back to him. He is in the front row at the far left in the attached photo.

After Nara Narayan left, we didn’t have a steady gardener for almost two years—u

MY FIRST VISIT TO ISKCON

Entered in the mood of INQUISITIVENESS
Accumulated thoughts to get ADDRESS
Darshan was CLOSE
To wait, I CHOSE 

In the temple hall, I was ALONE
Saw shining statue on THRONE
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada- name was written BELOW
Who is he? How to KNOW?

Bhagavad-Gita As It Is was kept NEARBY
The same name written below- don’t know WHY?
He is an author, I GUESS
Opened it with EAGERNESS 

Brief Introduction of Author in BOOK
Oh! Great! Let me LOOK 

His

In some respects, it was a long hard day; a workshop on kirtan standards. It went well though and I was happy with the turnout at our ISKCON Montreal center. The course covers directions or standards on conducting chanting sessions either by those who lead or those who respond to kirtan. As usual, we go through the points of the mood behind chanting, the execution, the collaboration, the inclusiveness, the etiquette, etc.

Kirtan has become popular among our youth around the world and much of th

And people are so fool that they send their wife and their daughter for performing rasa-līlā. Things are going on like that. You know the Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s life? A similar rasa-līlā was going on. You know that story? Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was magistrate, and one person in Orissa, he declared himself that “I am Viṣṇu,” and in the village he was enticing young women and girls to dance at night. And some of them protested, and they lodged complaint to the government that “This person is doing

New Mayapur ISKCON Education Center has provided shelter for devotees who have been displaced in Ukraine.

The main task for New Mayapur currently is to increase its energy self-sufficiency as the vital infrastructure of Ukraine is being destroyed including power plants and electricity distribution networks. Now there are around a hundred Vaishnava refugees relocated to the education center.

To donate and help New Mayapura please visit Share Your Care’s website.

If you or your community would b

Mariupol is one of the biggest сities in East Ukraine. There used to be more than 500,000 people before the war broke out. However, now the сity is mostly destroyed. But those that could not leave remain to survive day by day.

The city has no gas, electric power, or water. Many people are living in the basement of buildings. They have to cook with firewood. As winter approaches, it is very important to provide them with a hot meal.

Ukrainian authorities reported outages in nearly 600 towns and

It is now my service to stay here in Vrndavana. This service of mine is not the service of all of you – you all still have to carry on. You still have to go back to all the different places of the world where you come from and spread Krsna consciousness there. That has to be done! I was thinking of Srila Prabhupada’s lions, and how Prabhupada was known as the simha guru. His guru was also known as the simha guru – the lion amongst all spiritual masters. And it is clear that Bhaktisiddhanta Sara

Our superstar Brahmachari (monk), Brhat Mrdunga, and I, along with my musical devotee friends, Mahadeva and Aunapurna, set off in the westerly direction towards Montreal. But first we plan to take a small detour at Marysville, off the 401, to visit a country farm project run by Dhyana Chandra and David, who both had some experience in ashram life. The property of forty-five acres has a house, a barn, garden and an acreage of mostly red cedar. Before our trek through this new kind of forest, whi

By Karnamrita Das

[Reposted from 10-11-2011]One of the recommendations for advancing in devotional service is the observance of Kartika Vrata (special devotional practices) especially in Vrindavana, India, or at some holy place, but anywhere that we worship Krishna during the Vedic month of Kartika, or Damodara, which corresponds to October-November. It began yesterday on the full moon and continues to the following full moon. As the next month of Margashirsha represents Krishna, [Bg 10.35] thi

It is our time to leave
It is real but hard to believe.
It is my anxiety
What will happen to our society?

A society which Prabhupada built, with hard efforts and pain
Different color bodies sitting here today, that is the ultimate gain.

We were young when we joined the movement
Vigour and energy were there to supplement.
Thinking, we must do whatever we can
In this allotted life span.

When Prabhupada left,
with a broken heart we moved further.
His lesson which I always remember
To  cooperate wit

Question: In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Lord Siva instructs Citraketu that instead of posing as a devotee externally while lacking in devotional attitude, one should keep one’s bhakti hidden and not pose as a devotee outwardly. In this connection, I sometimes think about how irresistible it is to speak about one’s accomplishments. When talking with friends or others you like to share what you have done and the value of it. In fact it’s normal in one sense. So how do we practically apply this teachi

I decided to have some downtime through walking, considering that, at the end of it, there would be a kind of party with a number of people. So, I set foot at 1 pm, headed for a ravine, which took me through some fall colors in the northwest direction. I met a man, perhaps in his early eighties. We actually chatted at a park bench for a while. So I was adjusting my seat and taking off my socks; it was too warm, when he told me the distance he was going, to the U of T, I was inspired. That is a

“Because mother loves the most…in this material world, there is no comparison of mother’s love. Without any exchange. Even in this material world. Mother loves the child without any expectation of return generally…that is called unalloyed love. Anyabhilasita-sunyam, free from all material gain.”- Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam1.8.31 lecture, Los Angeles, April 23, 1973
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Just imagine how great her love must be if she thought that she can catch and bind the Lord of the Universe!
She is awa