It was hard to believe when the cake came out. I was visiting my sister Pauline in North York, as did two other sisters, Connie and Rose-Ann (I also have two brothers who live a distance away), and presented before me was a one-level, vegan cake with the number seventy pressed into the top.
What was shocking to me was not the delicious flavor that the desert was, rather it was the number indicating seven decades of experience in this body. Yes, in this lifetime I have gone through “stuff” but
By HH Sacinandana Swami
Krishna is very eager for the company of each and every one of us.
As I sit here in Vrindavan, I sometimes ask myself, “Does Krishna see my efforts? Does He care for such an insignificant and useless person?” I’ve seen many sincere practitioners of bhakti ask this question.
The answer is: yes, Krishna is very eager for the company of each and every one of us. The Brihad- bhagavatamrita describes this in the instance when Lord Narayana welcomes Gopa Kumar after a long jo
By Sukanti Radha Devi Dasi — Bhaktivedanta Medical Association
The intensive care unit can be a very daunting area for most people. By having some understanding about how the bedside of an intensive care unit operates, it can help to put things in perspective and relieve a lot of anxiety of the unknown. One can then start to appreciate the wonderful service that takes place around the intensive care bedspace for the speedy recovery of a patient.
Here is the link to the rest of the article :
In the Padma Puräëa it is said, “The Lord may offer liberation or material happiness to a devotee, but after some devotional service has been executed, particularly in Mathurä during the month of Kärttika, the devotees want only to attain pure devotional service unto the Lord.” The purport is that the Lord does not award devotional service to ordinary persons who are not serious about it. But even such unserious persons who execute devotional service according to the regulative principle
By Brahmatirtha Das
ISKCON, Chowpatty, in academic collaboration with the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies in Gainesville, Florida (BIHS) and the Bhaktivedanta Research Center in Mumbai (BRC), will be hosting an international hybrid conference at the Govardhan EcoVillage (GEV) just north of Mumbai, November 4 – 6, 2022, entitled, “Puranic and Siddhantic Cosmology: Within an Experiential Mathematical Framework.”
For people trained in the modern sciences, Vedic knowledge offers many con
The Child Protection Office has an excellent service that you can engage in whether you live in, near, or far from a temple community. This much-needed Seva is one that you can do on your own or with others, such as your family or a reading group. Together we will compile a repository of all quotes and references from the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada related to the protection of children.
The quotes may directly reference children or the duty to protect other
My first class for today was held in Stouffville, a new and upcoming urban sprawl place. Along with it comes young families who are adherent to the culture of the Vedas. In the quaint lobby of a relatively current plaza unit is pinned on the wall’s bulletin board an invitation to talk about “The Nine Goddesses.” I thought that was a Vedic concept for sure. “Nine Mothers” is what some of us call it.
Inside the main presentation room, which comfortably sits around fifty folks, the intensely pain
When a budding sculptor approached his master for guidance, he received some cryptic advice. After quizzing him on his purpose, the young craftsman replied: “More than anything else, I would like to sculpt a beautiful elephant.” Without the blink of an eyelid, the master set a block of stone and some tools in front of the young boy. “Here is some marble, a mallet, and a chisel” the master said, “all you have to do now is carve away everything that does not look like a beautiful elephant!” Simpl
Being sick is a serious ordeal these days. If it is a serious illness, it is double trouble. Willpower and wallet are put to test. Gauranga Dasa, a devotee from Odessa, found himself in such a difficult situation.
In March 2022, after an emergency operation for peritonitis, Gauranga Prabhu heard a terrible diagnosis – cancer.
There was a difficult operation where some of his intestines were taken out and his stomach was put in place, followed by an exhausting 5 cycles of chemotherapy. By the Lo
Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, visited Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire to mark the start of the Hindu holy month of Kartik.
On arrival, the Labour leader was greeted and garlanded as part of a traditional ceremony to welcome guests, and met with the Temple President, Her Grace Visakha Dasi.
Sir Keir spoke to Her Grace about being the first female President of a major Hindu Temple in the UK and recognised her endeavour in keeping the Temple open during the pandemic.
Sir Keir
Today is Bahulastami or appearance day of Radha-kunda . In this month of Kartik, the presiding deity of the month is Srimati Radhika and in the same month is also the appearance day of the lake which is the embodiment of the Love of Radharani. On this day, devotees from Mayapur visit Sri Caitanya Mutt and take holy dip in Radha Kunda snana on Bahulatami & do Parikrama.
Following is the description of Radha Kunda in Navadvipa Dham by Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Bhakti vinoda thakura and Sri Chaitanya
There were two of them – twins – just babies, Ronik and Ronok at six months are at an age where they receive their first grains in the form of kheer, a rice pudding, which signifies that they are entering a period of growth. This sweet ceremony where a brahman or priest feeds the first spoonful is a samskara, or sacrament, and is called anna prasanna. I was the priest.
One of them, held in parent’s hands, didn’t take too well but the other relished it like anything. When it came to their choice
“No matter what was going on, Srila Prabhupada always related it to his service to Krsna.”
Srutakirti dasa, ISKCON Mayapur
During my first trip to Mayapur with Srila Prabhupada, the guesthouse had not been built, so our quarters were very austere. We stayed in a goshala, a thatched hut, which had been prepared for his stay. Srila Prabhupada stayed in one room and the rest of us stayed on the other side of a partition. I had never seen so many mosquitoes in my life. It was so bad that by the tim
Srimati Radharani is wandering in the forests of Vrndavana and she is not entirely in a calm state of mind. Her love for Krsna is not casual. It is not love that you put on the shelf and sometimes take it off and dust it off for a romantic moment. It is not love that is there after work and after business is done. It is not love in between. It is there all the time and with intensity. It is not that sometimes it peaks and other times it is sort of flat. No, this love is existing constantly in gr
The nature of time is that it is constantly passing. Everything comes into being, everything grows, everything flourishes, gives some by-product, dwindles and then ceases to exist. Our meetings are also going through these stages and we are coming to the latter stages of these meetings. So many people are coming to say goodbye to me. I was calculating – say if people come in groups, 200 people come to say goodbye, with 5 minutes per person – that is 1000 minutes alone! That is over 15 hours of
Every morning our reader, Vallabha Hari, who is a natural Master of Ceremonies, projects out on the microphone a passage from the Bhagavad-Gita: As It Is and it is always a reassuring message from God. Today’s passage went as such from chapter six:
“For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.” And, very closely connected to verse thirty is the sloka of yesterday, verse twenty-nine, “A true yogi observes Me in all beings and also sees ev
Dear Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
The Annual General Meeting of the ISKCON GBC Society will begin in February 2023. Following the ISKCON GBC Society’s Rules of Order, the GBC Secretariat requests proposals, duly sponsored by two GBC members, to be submitted by *November* 15, 2022. Note that no proposals will be entertained after this date.
Please follow the format for GBC Proposals. The PDF is found here:
It was today, with umbrella in hand, that I walked to my old spiritual stomping grounds, or, to put it in another phrase, my spiritual birthplace. 187 Gerrard St. is the actual location, currently a house and formerly a temple, where my spiritual training took place. That was back in the spring of 1973, almost a half a century ago. I almost shed a tear looking at the place when actual raindrops fell from the sky.
It is only a few doors down on Gerrard, which is the home of Praharana, my godsist
The Pastimes of Lord Damodara.
Just as there is no yuga equal to Satya-yuga, no scripture equal to the Vedas, and no place of pilgrimage equal to the Ganges, so there is no month equal to Kartika. Even unserious persons who execute devotional service according to the regulative principles during the month of Karttika, and within the jurisdiction of Mathura (or Vrindavana) in India, are very easily awarded the Lord’s personal service”. During the Kartika month millions of devotees worship Damoda
