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Deena Bandhu Das: Please join us in prayers!! I requested a few weeks ago for my dear older Godbrother, Nara Narayan Prabhuji and now on January 2nd, Krishna has finally taken him surrounded by devotees and children at the apartments in Los Angeles doing kirtan. Srila Prabhupada nicknamed him Visvakarma for his many wonderful services including making the first very ornate Vyasasana and engineering the up and down movement of the rath carts among many. Srila Prabhupada loved him dearly and he w

I was milking the cows in the afternoon, and an Indian family came into the goshalla. We had a talk as I was finishing the milking, and then I engaged them in bottle-feeding the calf Nishta.

Afterward I offered to show them some books. The head of the family agreed to take a whole stack and gave a nice donation. I also mentioned that I had full sets of the Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrta at home and encouraged him to consider taking a look at them.

The gent replied that he had already spent

To His Holiness Pope Francis
Members of the Roman Catholic Church

January 1, 2023

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) extends our heartfelt condolences to all of our friends and colleagues in the Roman Catholic Church, who are feeling great loss due to the passing of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope Benedict was a great theologian and scholar of the modern Church. Among his many contributions, we are moved by his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, in 2005, where

The festival of Gaura Purnima is upon us once more, and whether you are physically present or not, we gladly invite you to join us in celebrating! Take advantage of the chance this year to serve Sri Pancha Tattva on Gaura Purnima and receive Gauranga Mahaprabhu’s unending blessings!

Please watch out for the Seva Sponsorship Forms On www.mayapur.com page!

Read more: https://www.mayapur.com/2023/gaura-purnima-2023-schedule/

It gets fairly interesting when the boiler breaks down and you sit in a frigid space. I’m talking about our temple hall in Burnaby, where I’m staying. In sacred places like Vrindavan, India, you just don’t have central heating, therefore a pilgrim will naturally feel a chill. As pilgrims do at these times of year, they wrap themselves in coats, scarves, mits, and chauddars (shawls). It’s the norm to bundle up in the winter.

What compensates for the chill in the air is chanting and reciting the 

Stop—where are you running?
Everything you seek lies inside:

Soul, God, happiness, and joy.
You might miss it all
If you keep searching outside.

(Found on the walls of a medieval monastery)

Please consider that the most essential things in life are invisible. Breath, life force, love, soul, and God; all can’t be seen with our present eyes nor touched with our hands. Nevertheless, they are what matters most. Without them, all the things we surround ourselves with are like a big meal without sal

A Ball for All . . . . No Game.

I know, I know, of the cup that cheers but doesn’t inebriate;
But the world cup sure gives no cheer for some close affiliate
For those that know and see, and get conditioned to the game
Its misery and sorrow I heard, and what to speak of shame?
For the World Cup that may chee, is sure not writ on their fate!

Oh! come on, it’s all in the game, said one, a wager won;
While another, who knew naught – a village idiot, told his son:
“My God ! why all the kicks and fig

In Vraja there was a dancer named Candrahasa who was very expert in the tasting of rasa. In Chaitanya-lila, he became Jagadisa Pandit who also took great pleasure in dancing for the Lord.
(Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 143)

Jagadisa Pandit is considered to be simultaneously both Nityananda-shakha and Chaitanya-shakha, a branch both of Chaitanya as well as Nityananda in the desire tree of devotion. He was born in the town of Gauhati (Pragjyotishpur) in modern Assam.

His father’s name was Kamalaksha B

In Vraja there was a dancer named Candrahasa who was very expert in the tasting of rasa. In Chaitanya-lila, he became Jagadisa Pandit who also took great pleasure in dancing for the Lord.
(Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 143)

Jagadisa Pandit is considered to be simultaneously both Nityananda-shakha and Chaitanya-shakha, a branch both of Chaitanya as well as Nityananda in the desire tree of devotion. He was born in the town of Gauhati (Pragjyotishpur) in modern Assam.

His father’s name was Kamalaksha B

During this year’s book marathon in Durban, I met many people who had a change of heart. Not heart transplantations but a transformation of consciousness.

A Christian lady whom I spoke with was going through difficulties. I told her about the Fifth Canto and what happens after one is involved in the four sinful activities. I gave her details, such as how eating meat puts you on a hellish planet, where in a pot of boiling oil, you are boiled alive.

She became interested and took a Bhagavatam set

Enroute to Vancouver, and I’m waiting at the Toronto Airport, Gate 34 for Air Canada Flight 111. A Middle-Eastern fellow came to sit across from where I was sitting. The first thing he did after settling down, was whip out a set of beads for his meditation. He began a soft utterance while fingering on his beads. Our eyes met. We nodded. Then I revealed my beads as I was also meditating on my japa beads.

“Is he a devotee?” I queried in my mind.

His phone rang, and he answered. It’s not Hindi. He

By Shyamagopika Devi Dasi

On the 22nd of December 2022, the Sri Narasimha Saligrama Sila, worshipped by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur, was officially installed on the Narasimhadeva’s altar in ISKCON Mayapur.

In 2018, per the direction of Jayapataka Swami, to restore and establish worship in various Sripats in Gaura Mandala, a team of devotees traveled throughout West Bengal and Orissa, with the guidance of Namahatta director, Sri Gauranga Prem Swami.

Christmas Love Feast – Thousands of families rely on help in the present times of crisis.

Food for Life Hungary, the humanitarian aid arm of ISKCON Hungary has organised food distribution events all over the country on a daily basis for the last thirty years. Although the present difficult economic situation affects the content of aid parcels and the number of portions is also affected, the devotees do not give up and will organise the Grand Christmas Love Feast this festive season as well.

Eve

I fail to understand why some folks just don’t dance when the drums are beating. I know it can be early for some at 4:30 am when we, the temple residents, attend the chanting session for what we call mangal-arati. This translates as the “auspicious service.” This “service” entails a ritual of viewing plus a chanting session to accompaniment of musical instruments. The drum is a major feature, and how someone playing or listening to good beats does not dance, simply puzzles me.

Personally, I lik

या नया साल पिछले साल जैसे ही दोहराएगा?

The New Year is traditionally the time for resolutions. The turn of the calendar brings both the opportunity to reflect on the last 12 months and the chance to begin planning for the next dozen. As you think about yours, GBC Strategic Planning Team (SPT) brings to you live interview with Sri Radha Govinda Dasi to help you keep up with the resolutions, better decision making, leading through crisis and grow tall in Krishna Consciousness.

About Sri Radha Govinda Dasi

Sri Radha Govinda Dasi was bo

Date: December 13, 2022
To: North American Leaders and Congregation
From: Niranjana Swami

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I visited Ukraine twice this year, in August and October. My first visit was for Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja. Since I was the first to visit Ukraine since the first days of the outbreak and since it was the first large gathering since Nityananda Trayodasi, it was quite an emotional occasion for all.

On the first day of my

This is the continuation of a conversation between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and some of his disciples in New Vrindaban, West Virginia, on June 26, 1976.

Srila Prabhupada: So those who are devoted to the Lord believe they'll become happy by seeing others becoming happy.

[To Disciple:] Read the next verse.

Disciple [reading from Bhagavad-gita 16.11-12]: "The demoniac believe that to gratify the senses is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus until the end of

Hare Krishna!!

Right now i am a student studying management. I am a little confused about how i should serve Lord Krishna . In Gita, Lord said that everyone should do their varnashram dharma and one should put all their talents in the service of the lord. I believe that i have some talent in the finance and business field, so how should i devote my skills to serve Lord Krishna. Should I just leave the college and surrender myself completely in his service? I am very confused, please help me.

Hare