I was distributing in Bethlehem, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. In the Countdown Supermarket parking lot I saw a young delivery guy heading toward his van. I approached him and put a Hiding in Unnatural Happiness in his hand. Eru is a nineteen-year-old New Zealander half Maori native.
Enthused about the book and our exchange, he wanted to donate but had no cash, so I pulled out the mobile eftpos PayClip machine. Eru trusted me but had doubts about this device. He expressed that he didn’t
Two and a half hours north (by car and not on foot) is the city of Saskatoon. I made it in time for the Chariot Fest managed by a gracious couple, Vivek and Amee. They receive a lot of help from their friends. Two lovely young daughters got to the stage for a “Bharat Natyam” classical dance performance.
Ryan flew in from Toronto to play djembe to my lead on chanting. Our methodology was to get safely seated in the back of the “sound” truck and sing and play from there. Radhika from Milton was o
Rtadhvaja Swami and Giriraj Swami spoke on success in the grihastha ashrama, Giriraj Swami with reference to Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.18.
“Ordinarily, the spiritual master, husband, father, mother or superior relative accepts worship from an inferior relative, but here Rsabhadeva forbids this. First the father, spiritual master or husband must be able to release the dependent from repeated birth and death. If he cannot do this, he plunges himself into the ocean of reproachment for his unlawful acti
Transcendental sound is echoing around the world. The world which is egg-shaped and hollow inside, consists of several layers. All these universes clustering together are flowing from the pores of Mahavishnu. Srila Prabhupada explains creation. Krsna expands himself in the form of Mahavishnu from whose breathing an innumerable number of universes emanate. In each of these universes, Mahavishnu enters as Garbodhakasayi Vishnu who lies on Sesa Naga on the Garbha Ocean. From his navel, Bramha is b
I was sitting next to Gil on the Air Canada flight to Regina. He explained that he and his buddies from Hamilton are off to a Metis fest to play their music. “It’s rock, Creedence Clearwater Revival music. We go all around.” Gil pointed to his t-shirt with a logo which reads, “Mystic River,” the name of their band.
Gil was just a great dude to talk to although the chat was brief, only after we landed. The flight was tough – poor movement of air as we were in the back corner and with masks on th
Kartamasa das: The first time I met Yamuna devi, my life changed forever.
I was in Saranagati for the Christmas holidays in 2000 having a reunion with my closest childhood friends. We were all in our early twenties, and having recently finished our university education and started work, we spent our time together recalling our childhood activities. One day we decided to have kirtan, but in a rather irreverent way, mocking the showy, elaborate vocal and instrument style we had all absorbed growi
"Om Namo Vagabate Vasudevaya"
Dharma
In Sanskrit, the word "Dharma" means to support or hold. [Support / hold the real / true dharma]
Many of us often criticize the maxim of Lord Krishna. He, the supreme, told 'fight for dharma'.
Many of us understand that 'dharma' only means individual religious sect. It is true but literally. But, Sri Krishna did not try to say fight for your religious sect.
Actually, the real meaning of 'dharma', is 'karm'/'work'/'duty'. Dharma is of two types - '
How a local newspaper helped ignite the explosive growth of the worldwide Hare Krishna movement.
I recently spoke to Peter Leggieri. The name might not mean much to most readers of Back to Godhead, but, in fact, Peter was engaged by Krishna to help establish the Krishna consciousness movement in the West.
When Srila Prabhupada first came to America in 1965, he was, from all appearances, an unknown monk, accepting the graciousness of his sponsors in Butler, Pennsylvania, and then of hippie follo
Every Sunday, we do harinama at the same market place in Minsk, Belarus, for two hours. Usually, I distribute books while it’s going on. Recently, when the harinama was already approaching the end, in my bag were left six books: three big and three small, all with the same title. I started intensely praying to distribute all the books, but I was so unsuccessful that couldn’t distribute even one. Finally, the whole harinama party came to our bus to leave, and I looked around in the hope of seein
Going on book distribution is always an adventure. We never know what lesson Krishna wants us to learn next.
Recently, I was distributing on 16th Street in downtown Denver, Colorado. A young man approached me with a concern.
He said, “Hey, why don’t you carry your books like a real monk on your back? Why do you cheat and use that rolling bag? That’s not very honorable.”
Slightly amused by the ridiculous accusation, I was surprised that he then kept insisting that he knew what the dharma of a br
Registration begins on 1st July, 2022.
It is our great pleasure to announce ISKCON MAYAPUR’s 10th annual six-day Kartik Navadwip Mandal Parikrama during the most auspicious month of Kartik (organized by the Mayapur Chandra’s). The Parikram dates are 27th, 28th, 30th, 31st October, 2nd and 3rd of November 2022.
There will be two days break, for Srila Prabhuap’s disappearance day (29th of October) and Gopashtami (1st November) so that devotees can participate in the festivals.
For this year also,
It works quite well for me when Gabriel takes the lead on his guitar. There were seven of us sitting on top of the mound in the park, poised to begin kirtan, when I asked him to strum away. Out of that spontaneously came a fresh new melody and then the receive-and-respond chanting process began. Oh, we had fun, and reverence at the same time. The name is non-different from the Lord.
An hour and a half lapsed and it was time to retire for the day. Rain was also about to descend. I stayed on at t
Everyone is making sacrifices for material benefit. But those are the sacrifices that we need to gradually detach ourselves from and just make some sacrifice for Krsna instead. So therefore, purification remains in our mind daily in whatever we do. Let us keep our head low, and let us not think that we are so qualified, because whatever credits we have, we got them from Prabhupada’s movement. It is as simple as that; that is where our credits come from. Whatever little service we were allowed t
Every day the number of people interested in practicing yoga and meditation increases by the thousands. Unfortunately, a person looking for a suitable teacher is likely to encounter a bewildering array of “gurus, “mystics, and self-made gods. In an interview with the London Times, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains how a sincere seeker can tell the difference between a cheater and a genuine teacher.
Reporter: Your Grace, it seems that more people than ever are seeking
On July 22nd, a Memorial Service for Krishna Tattva das and Madana Gopal das took place. The devotees died as a result of a missile attack in Alchevsk, Donbass region. According to a Reuters news report of July 17th, the missiles originated from Ukraine’s armed forces.
The survivor of the attack, Arjuna das, is recovering in the hospital. He spoke on social networks about what had happened. According to Arjuna das, on the evening of July 16th, they had just returned from Severodonetsk. There we
The Bhakti Center is a spiritual-cultural center in New York City’s Lower East Side with a talented staff devoted to sharing the experience of self-transformation through the timeless culture and practices of Bhakti-yoga.
If you or someone you know has the required skill sets for the jobs provided below and would like to be a part of the Bhakti Center Team, please reach out to Brajarani at brajarani@bhakticenter.org. Please see the job titles as well as descriptions below:
Ladies Ashram Leader:
Yesterday my dear godbrother HH Siddhartha Swami Maharaja came to visit me in Carpinteria. He was the head pujari in Juhu for many years when I was the temple president, and we shared many fond remembrances of our time together in service to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari.
Now Maharaja is developing a huge temple complex in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh. The project is 70 percent complete, and he hopes to open it next year.
Maharaja has become a learned scholar who knows ma
We were on our way to the Tommy Thompson Park, a shaded-in-spots trail where cyclists and pedestrians share the space, when a man on a bicycle stopped to ask if we had any drugs. His articulation was weak and so we had to ask him to repeat himself. We were still wet from the swim at Cherry Beach and in our swimwear, not recognizable as monks. With me were Emanuel, Karuna, Ryan, and Arjuna. We didn’t really come across looking like folks who take substance to get high. He was naturally disappoin
On October 3,1972, psychologist Dr. Gerald Frazer visited His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at ISKCON’s world headquarters, in Los Angeles. Their conversation follows.
Dr. Frazer: I am curious to know what you do when one of your students has a problem on the physical or emotional platform. Do you help that person over his problem by getting him to transcend it, by rising above it?
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, we speak only on the transcendental platform, not on the bodily or menta
I just came back from traveling sankirtan, where many amazing encounters took place. The other day I went into a shop and first gave a small book, then The Science of Self-Realization, and then, when the lady gave a nice donation, also the Bhagavad-gita. The lady explained to me her spiritual transformation after her father had had a very severe stroke; it really changed her life for the better.
When I was talking with her she suddenly said, “My hairs are standing on end.” Crying, she added, “T
