By Vraja Vihari Prabhu
“It was the fall of 1984, and our party had been distributing books at the State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida, all day. We parked our van in a Days Inn parking lot for the night. Our party of five brahmacaris was fast asleep in the van when we heard aloud voice over a megaphone: ‘All right in there! Come out slowly with your hands raised!’ I looked out the window and was shocked to see the van surrounded by twelve police cars and about thirty officers with their guns dra
This article will be regularly updated to keep you informed on the ever-changing situation in Ukraine.
The following announcement has been sent to us from the European Crisis Team and reported by Sukanti Radha devi dasi. It was received on March 14th. We have no further information and are posting what we received.
“We have confirmation of de facto cease-fire in the direction of the humanitarian corridor for private transport along the route: Mariupol (towards the
By Syamala Devi Dasi
We are pleased to share that the VIHE will be resuming onsite courses in Vrndavana in June 2022. We would like to welcome you to join the Bhakti-sadacara (a pre-bhakti sastri course) or the Bhakti-sastri course.
Along with enhancing the knowledge of the students, this kind of structured study also enables them to preach better, see the world from a sastric perspective, enhance their faith and conviction, cultivate vaisnava qualities and apply the sastric knowledge in their
Dear Devotees;
My obeisances. Srila Prabhupada ki jai
Due to the urgent, horrendous and tragic situation unfolding in Ukraine, I would like to make an appeal that has both the suppo11 of the local GBC for Ukraine, HH Niranjana Swami, as well as the entire GBC body
The appeal is a simple one regarding the 20,000 or so ISKCON devotees living in Ukraine.
Many of these devotees will be displaced and some of them will leave Ukraine. As a result the European Regional Gove1ning Body for ISKCON has req
By Anuttama Dasa
ISKCON News Report
Anuttama dasa
6 PM EST
March 7, 2022
Events in Ukraine are changing daily, if not by the hour. Here are updates that ISKCON News has confirmed.
Kyiv Temple Refills With Devotees
It was previously reported that many devotee families and temple residents in Kyiv left the city for safer locations in the county or to other cities further to the west. Earlier reports were that only a handful of devotees were living in the temple, but that has all changed. Niranjan
(Based on the story of Pingala from the ancient text Srimad Bhagavatam) my poem:
The Prostitute
In the city of Videha lived a very beautiful woman
Whose profession involved a regular change of linen
For almost every day there was a new man
No long-term relationship ever began
Attention to makeup, hairstyle, attractive dress
Were all externals that spelled much success
Her routine was to stand in front of her home
From there she could see every male on the roam
This was the method that earned he
It has been in the news that Oscar winning actor, William Hurt, passed away Sunday, March 13th from cancer. What was not reported is that he spent one week in the guest house of our ISKCON Atlanta temple in 2010.
Mr Hurt was acting in a film being made in Atlanta. During the filming, he got burnt out, walked out of his hotel and headed down one of the main streets of Atlanta, Ponce de Leon Ave, without any aim. He was upset about his events that occurred in his personal life. He walked about an
Russia volunteers distributed fruit to 7,500 Refugees from Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
There are close to a hundred temporary accommodation centers for refugees in the Rostov region of Russia. In the last few days, Food for Life volunteers drove through some of those centers and distributed over 3 tons of fruit to 7,500 refugees. About 70% of the residents of the centers are children, while around 30% are mothers and social workers.
In particular, in one of the centers volunteers of the Food f
A poem for the people of Ukraine by Bhaktimarga Swami
To the staunch devotees in Ukraine
Great bearers of surprise and pain
We offer humble prayers to you
May the hardship you now go through
Be short-lived and strengthen
Your conviction while serving to lengthen
The need to bond in Krishna’s love
Which the world is short of
We all attest to human misunderstanding
Which requires a major disbanding
As we are spirits and not the flesh
May we all be given the chance to refresh
There’s much power in
By Krishna Lila Dasi
– Sample ‘Art for Peace’ collage
Over the past week, more than a million Ukrainian refugees crossed the borders to the neighboring countries, fleeing war. Most of them are women and children, like their husbands, fathers, and sons, —all men between the ages of 18-60 — had to stay back to defend their country, not knowing if they would ever see their loved ones again.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/art-for-peace-initiative-to-help-ukrainian-refugee-children-cope/
It may be news to many, but there is a large-scale, vibrant community of Krishna Bhakti in Ukraine. Niranjana Swami is ISKCON’s Governing Body Commissioner for Ukraine, and in this interview, Raghunath and Kaustubha ask him about the history of Bhakti in the former Soviet Union, and what it was like serving there undercover during Soviet times. Niranjana Swami also shares his personal experiences of witnessing the character of the Ukrainian devotees serving under the pressur
When we remember Krsna, that is also mercy. Krsna is choosing to appear in our memory!
When we remember Krsna, that is also mercy. Krsna is choosing to be in our memory! When we think of Krsna, He is appearing in our thoughts. In this way, we have to learn to see Krsna in every aspect of our life.
Watch the full lecture below or on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-C_6ZzNXTY
What does prostitution have to do with consciousness of Krishna? Is there any compatibility here? We hear that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession and that this vocation was around in Krishna’s time. Society women in His time felt He was a heart-throb. They would go out on their balconies to greet Him with flowers as He entered the city. Does a Krishna Conscious culture endorse this interesting profession?
The story of Pingala, from Canto 11 of the Bhagavatam, is very interesting. She
Creating a balance between the temporary and eternity
One of the essential activities of the sadhu, and of the most successful people, is creating “sacred space,” daily quite time. Some suggest this is the time to become more clearly focused on your material goals, and what you wish to accomplish in your day. This is important. We need sacred time every day where we put our external world on hold and make a connection that transcends this world. In our modern materialistic world and life, doing
By Nrsimhananda das
My mother, Mimi Jaffe, departed peacefully March 7 at the ripe old age of 100. Her pastimes with Srila Prabhupada are inscribed by his letters to her in response to her many challenges. They are in the Vedabase. From being a founding member of the anti-cult movement in 1972 to celebrating her 77th birthday in Vrndaban in 1999, her journey to Krishna was full of transcendental pastimes. She provided the seed money for the Pyramid house land and was therefore responsible for f
The importance of being thoughtful
One time, a simple elderly man came into a shop.
And the merchant was selling him some grains and the merchant asked the man, “Why is your head shaven? You come here every day. You never shave your head. Why are you wearing dark clothes today?”
And the old man, he was very serious. He said, “Oh! You have not heard? Sargal Singh is dead!”
The merchant, he didn’t want to reveal that he was ignorant – because the way he said “Sargal Singh is dead. You have not hea
Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.
—Mahatma Gandhi
Srila Prabhupada said that “Krishna consciousness (spiri tual truth) is so simple you can miss it.”
I have noticed that what researchers often discover after half a decade of research are simple truths missed by modern man, yet well known in the past. Truth may be profound, but it is usually simple.
One of the biggest selling books on marriage is Men Are From Mars,
By Rasikendra das, Nama Rasana dd & Jahnavi dd
On Thursday 25th of February we watched the news with horror and we knew at that very moment our next door neighbours will need our help. On the same day we got a call from Ukrainian temple in Kiev, asking “If we were to send our woman and children would you look after them?” Our reply ” Of course, but what about you? We need to stay back and fight and protect our homeland and our temple and our elderly who don’t want to leave their homes.”
We saw t
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a worldwide religious community and confederation of over 800 temples and cultural centers, conducted Chant for Peace events during the weekend of Saturday, March 5th, 2022 around the globe to pray for all people affected by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and surrounding areas. ISKCON devotees all over the world promoted the uplifting process of chanting the Holy Names of God as well as the understanding of universal brotherhood and
“According to Vedic civilization, the perfection of life is to realize one’s relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God.… All living entities are parts and parcels of God. The parts are meant for serving the whole, just as the legs, hands, fingers, and ears are meant for serving the total body. We living entities, being parts and parcels of God, are duty-bound to serve Him.”
