Busting The Myths and Misconceptions About Lord Krishna

This essay has been written by Pranjal Joshi. Feedback can be given to the writer at pranjal280@gmail.com

It was more than 5000 years ago that Lord Krishna personally descended on this Earth as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to bless his devotees, punish the miscreants, spread the Divine knowledge and to establish law and order.

Shri Krishna appeared in Mathura as a son of Nand and Devaki. His birthday is celebrated every year as ‘Janma

Sometimes I have had dreams wherein I’m caught in a situation that seems to have no solution. For example, I have found myself where I am staying in a hotel, but this hotel is huge, with many floors of rooms, an arena for sports games, stages for entertainment, plus shops, restaurants, and all kinds of amenities, with crowds of people everywhere. I check in and then I am supposed to find my room. Or maybe I have already checked in and reached my room, but after wandering around the place, I can’

In the Bhagavatam, there are twelve individuals considered Mahajan and Yamaraj is one among them. Vidura, Yamaraj’s sudra incarnation, is not explicitly mentioned as a Mahajan. For punishing Mundaka Muni, Yamaraj was cursed by the Muni to become a sudra (lower birth).  Is there a reason why Yamaraj punished Mundaka Muni?  Should we consider Vidura a Mahajan as well, since Yamaraj is a Mahajan? Does Vidura possess the traits necessary to qualify as a Mahajan?

Mundaka Muni was wrongly arrested al

By Puskar das

In 1956, I moved from one area of Brooklyn (near the temple) to the Benson Hurst area, where I entered fifth grade. Peter Viggiani (a.k.a. Kusakratha) was in my class for the next two years. He also attended the same junior high as I, and we shared some of the same classes. For approximately 5 years we were good friends. He was always quite eccentric and didn’t appear to have many other friends.
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Those who knew "Kusa” found him to be a bit of an avadhuta, and he was no less so i

The Lord’s Potencies are inconceivable (acintya): That which cannot be thought of, understood, imagined or believed. While taking Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma to Mathura, and taking bath in the Yamunā, what Akrura saw in the water was four-armed Lord Vāsudeva. His complexion was dark blue like a fresh raincloud, He wore yellow garments and He lay on the lap of thousand-hooded Ananta Śeṣa. Lord Vāsudeva was receiving the prayers of perfected beings, celestial serpents and demons, and He was encircled by H

From Back to Godhead

A gang intent on stealing Lord Nityananda’s jewelry eventually surrenders to Him, and He mercifully awards them pure love of God.

When I was eight or nine years old, my parents took me to the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. After meandering through myriad halls and galleries, we came across an exhibit of valuable gemstones in the Museum of Natural History. I remember being particularly struck by the famous Hope Diamond, a large bluish diamond pendant surrounded by s

Speaker: HH Lokanath Swami
SB: 11.5.32
Date: 16 Feb 2018
Mayapur Dhama
 

Verse

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
 sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
 yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

Translation

In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.

Purport:

T

"A natural human sentiment, compassion finds its highest expression in the works of devotees of the Lord.
The tenderness of the heart experienced toward Krishna is known as bhakti. All other jivas are servants of Krishna. When one experiences tenderness of heart toward them, it is known as daya, compassion. Therefore, compassion is included within bhakti."

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Jaiva Dharma, p. 179

I was aware of the concept of compassion before I met Srila Prabhupada. While studying at Br

By Giriraj Swami

Today is Guru-purnima. Srila Prabhupada has explained that the system of honoring the spiritual master is current in all sections of Vedic followers. In the Mayavadi (impersonalist) sects, the disciples offer respect to the spiritual master every year on Guru-purnima. And in the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya, the disciples offer homage annually on the appearance day of the spiritual master; this occasion is called Vyasa-puja, because the spiritual master represents Vedavyasa, the

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada was known as 'simha' (lion) 'guru' due to his fearless and ferocious preaching. If an impersonalist saw him on the street, the impersonalist would cross the road in fear, or turn off onto another street. Those who didn't, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta would go up to and shake them violently, his huge body towering over them, and say, "Why do you say the Lord has no form? Nonsense offender!" We have already mentioned his birth and some of his early pastimes in

By Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura

The holy command of Shri Guru has been that we shall serve Godhead in association with one another. By the word ‘we’ he did not mean any one individual. There are many persons who are very selfish, indeed. They say, ‘I alone shall serve. It is incumbent on me alone. No one else has any claim to join me in my service of Godhead.’ But the kind heart of Shri Gurudeva says, ‘Come, let all of us jointly worship Godhead by giving up malice.’ The service of G

vettha tvam saumya tat sarvam tattvatas tad-anugrahat
bruyuh snigdhasya Sisyasya guravo guhyam apy uta
Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.8

Translation: And because you are submissive, your spiritual masters have endowed you with all the favors bestowed upon a gentle disciple. Therefore you can tell us all that you have scientifically learned from them.

Purport: The secret of success in spiritual life is in satisfying the spiritual master and thereby getting his sincere blessings. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur

About the year 1500 A.D., the incarnation of God Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu began the Hare Krishna Movement in Navadvip, a city in the Indian province of Bengal. This movement, based on the philosophy of ancient Sanskrit texts of devotion to Krishna like the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, spread all over India within a short time. The movement popularized sankiritan, the congregational chanting of the maha-mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare

- Sri Radhika Stotra -
The 108 Names of Radharani


by Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami

aviksatmesvari kascid vrndavana-mahesvarim
tat padamboja-matraika gati dasyati katara
patita tat-saras tire ruda tyartha-ravakulam
tac chri-vaktreksanavaptyai namanyetani sanjagau
Some maidservant, unable to find her mistress, has fallen on the bank of Radhakunda, crying in great anxiety, being very eager to take exclusive shelter of Her lotus feet, glorifying Her by singing the following names of Her:

radha gandharvik

Spiritual knowledge descends through the disciplic succession from Krishna. The representatives of the disciplic succession can not change anything, add anything or subtract anything. Otherwise the disciplic succession will be broken and their preaching will have no potency. Many times in the history this disciplic succession has been broken because the representatives of the disciplic succession did not correctly pass on the knowledge to their students.

We can understand how perfect knowledge ca

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was born on Sunday, Sept. 2, 1838 in Biranagara (Ulagrama) in the Nadia district of Bengal. He was the seventh son of Raja Krsnananda Datta, a great devotee of Lord Nityananda. He was also known as the great grandson of Madana Mohana and the third son of his Godfather Anandacandra. He would be known as daitya-kulera prahlada (Prahlada in the family of demons). This was because Vaisnavism was not very much respected in his family; on his mother's side, there was no resp