All of us–husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, children, students, and teachers have duties, and sometime we begrudge the performance of our duties because we think their execution will impede our personal happiness. But duty is duty, and duty must be done. Even in the cold of winter, one must bathe. And even in the heat of summer, one must cook.
Speaking on Bhagavad-gita 1.27, Srila Prabhupada gave a wonderful example of two heroic souls who adhered to their duties even in the most awkward circu
From Back to Godhead
“My exposure to the young devotees and to Swami Bhaktivedanta as well as the chanting of Hare Krsna has brought me moments of inner peace and has enabled me to live a little more spiritually with my family and in my profession. My two older children also spent some beautiful moments with the Swamiji times we will always treasure.
“It is not necessary to shave your head and to become fully absorbed in the teachings to absorb some of the spiritual vibrations which flow from t
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
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
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
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
There have been a number of scientific studies recently that try to analyze if animals have any form of morality. This is obviously complex since it is nigh impossible to get inside the mind of a poor dumb creature and there is always the accusation of anthropomorphizing.
The subject is important to many people because there seems to be various beliefs with vested interests in the interpretations. For instance, Charles Darwin believed that animals expressed morality and that what we understand a
Coco is a lovable dog proudly owned by an also lovable household couple who hosted this evening's ‘Gita Chat.’ While we conducted our discussion, Coco seemed to bark occasionally and spontaneously at times when it was just right, as if to confirm profound statements made. He is 3 1/2 years of age, full of energy, and moved about from participant to participant, who were all just sitting in the Lotus position (well, most of them). He is well behaved, like the people in asana formation, and was l
