By Madhava Smullen
Light of the Bhagavata, a new 25-minute film by ISKCON guru and GBC Bhaktivaibhava Swami, brings to life the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad-gita, teaching the viewer about the nature of the soul and taking them on a meditative and enlightening journey from planet earth, through galaxies, to the eternal, blissful world of freedom from all anxieties.
The film is designed to appeal to newcomers who are curious about Krishna consciousness and would like to find true inner peace
It is the constitutional position of the living entity to be a servant of Krsna. Therefore, this means that we are always in a relationship with Krsna. Service is our natural position. If we are not serving Krsna, then we are serving others – family, profession, society at large, animals, plants and so on – in so many ways, we are serving other living entities. Therefore, serving is our nature. But ultimately, everything finds its origin in Krsna and everything is only a spark of Krsna’s splendo
This is where it all began for me. My seed for bhakti was planted on Yonge St., in Toronto, and Victoria, B.C., where I had brief encounters with Krishna monks. However, it was here in this town, Sudbury, the nickel capital of the world, where my actual practice of devotion began. That’s why I’m excited to be back. To arrive here hits some sentimental nerves. It pushes emotional buttons. I met devotees during Christmas in 1972.
First of all, I really like the airport. If I say, it’s an incredibl
By Sadbhuja Das
As everyone knows, the Nrsimhadeva Deity will be installed on a separate altar in the East Wing of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. The temple room of Nrsimhadeva will be smaller than the central hall, but nevertheless, it will be beautifully decorated and very majestic. The Grand Opening of this wing is scheduled for 2023.
One of the features of the Nrsimhadeva temple room, in addition to a huge chandelier, will be eight, two-meter (7’) figures of demigods, who, standing on
I trekked in the rain to see our beloved Vaishnava Prabhu at the Toronto General Hospital. His heart is not in the best condition and so he deserved a visit. Being in the CIUC is a very protected and secure division of the hospital, which is number one in the country and one of the best in the world for cardio challenges. Visitation is quite restricted so I was lucky, as the priest, to come in. Vaishnava’s family comes daily. His wife, Janaki, brings tasty prasadam from home, blessed by Krishna.
My wife and I once stayed at her friend’s apartment. We knew that she was an avid collector of clothes, but we were amazed to find not only closets full of unused clothes – many with price tags still attached – but also boxes and boxes of unworn shoes.
As it turned out, my wife’s friend had a compulsion to find the perfect jacket or pair of shoes. She believed that if she were to succeed, her social image would be rightly aligned, and she would feel joy.
Unfortunately, when she got home her new
The curve that sets everything straight.
Nowadays I find myself increasingly cautious when sending emails or pinging my friends on messengers. This is not because I’m worried about privacy or security, but because of the danger of misinterpretation. Occasionally I’ve messed up a relationship because of a reckless choice of words or an inconsiderate presentation of thoughts. The written word is a serious form of communication. It’s archived, allowing us to revisit it. But it’s limited, since it l
This conversation between His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and some of his disciples took place at New Vrindaban, West Virginia, USA, on June 24, 1976.
Disciple: Srila Prabhupada, once you said, “The tractor – this is the cause of all the trouble. It took all the young men’s farm work. It forced them to go into the city and become entangled in sensuality.” You said people had to leave the country and the simple life of goodness and God consciousness. And so they went to the
Yesterday, December 2nd, at about 5:30 am California time, during the auspicious Brahma Muhurta period, His Grace Sura Prabhu, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and long-time servant of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT), left his body in Los Angeles. He had been hospitalized since November 26th, after being diagnosed with Covid-19. His son, Ram Nomi, and his daughter, Sitapriya, were in the room chanting when he departed. Srila Prabhupada’s chanting was also playing softly in the background. Sura
From a devotee who is distributing Bhagavad-gita and other books in Hungary:
“I was going door to door. A lady opened her door, and I showed her books. She invited me in and said she would get a donation for me. I was astounded at what I saw in her house. There was a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ, 2.5 meters high (about 7 feet tall). I was awed. It was so nice. The lady returned and saw me appreciating the picture.
She said, “I think you will understand what I’m going to tell you since you l
By Anuttama Das
Close to 5:30 a.m. this morning, December 2nd, 2021, my dear Godbrother and neighbor for the last 26 years left his body in a room at Southern California Hospital (near the New Dvaraka temple). He had been hospitalized since November 26th, with Covid-19. His son, Ram Nomi, and his daughter, Sitapriya, were chanting with him when he departed. Srila Prabhupada's chanting also accompanied him. Sura had his japa beads and was wearing a Nrsimha pavitra from Mayapura.
We are all uniq
We had such a sweet time with sadhana in the morning. Thanks to our guru, Prabhupada, who brought a morning program into our lives. It starts at 4:30 AM with singing. We are swaying. We are playing our instruments. Three hours later, we sit for a grave discussion on the book Bhagavatam.
This morning we dwelt on the beautiful story of the Dwarf Avatar and his encounter with King Bali. Bali was a generous type. He had all the protocol down, just right, when the very tiny Vamana came to his presenc
“Then we come to Bhāgavata, then we come to Caitanya-caritāmṛta, in this way. So from next year, unless one passes bhakti-śāstrī, he cannot be second initiated.”
Morning Walk – January 6, 1976, Nellore
Study Srila Prabhupada books
Teach the devotee in your temple and congregation
Receive digital certification for Bhakti Shastri and Bhakti Vaibhav
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By Pancharatna das
Hare Krishna,
The annual December book distribution marathon is approaching and devotees throughout the movement are thinking about how to increase their outreach efforts.
One way is to connect your efforts to Chantnow.com , an online follow-up and cultivation system centered around teaching about the maha-mantra.
A few years ago, we formally launched Chantnow.com and began our marketing efforts. Now, every day we receive over 120 new visitors and enroll 3-4 new students for o
Dark, ominous clouds set in and at the corner of Guy and Maissoneuve Streets in downtown Montreal, thousands of Concordia University students were making their way to destinations – classrooms, apartments, or coffee shops. Snowflakes hit our faces, but just momentarily, at this busy student hour as we chanted away letting the nippy nature of the night not bother us too much.
Students were curious. With a big percentage being from India they are indeed familiar with the sound. We received smiles
First meetings
I first met my spiritual master on March 6th 1975 in Dallas Texas. Srila Prabhupada had just been in South America and had toured the Southern United States. I was on travelling book distribution with a sankirtan party and had strayed quite a distance from Montreal my home base.
While reporting to the temple president about our scores, we were informed that Srila Prabhupada was flying from Atlanta to Dallas the next day and would be there for some time. We immediately drove west t
From Back to Godhead
The race for supremacy continues even in the virtual world
This is the age of internet.People are spending more and more time online. They are emailing, socializing, chatting, downloading, uploading, sight-seeing, blogging. And of course they are searching. In fact to perform all the previous tasks, one needs the help of a search-engine like Google. Google is so famous today for helping people find something on the internet that it is almost synonymous with a search-engine.
The Krishna consciousness movement is not a new creation but is simply presenting the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita for the benefit of the whole world.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly participating in this great movement. This movement was not started by me. It was started long, long ago by Krishna Himself. First He spoke the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita (4.1),
imam vivasvate yogam
proktavan aham avyayam
vivasvan ma
