On a trip to Hawkes Bay, NZ, as part of our Every Town and Village project (ETV), I was at a book table at the Hastings Warehouse. A mature lady walked straight over and began looking at the books. She then spontaneously grabbed japa beads and asked the price. She wanted four strings of beads.
She said that she used to do a lot of meditation and wanted to get back into it. I encouraged her to also take books, as they will help her deepen the quality of her meditation and learn more about the cu
When Tota Gopinatha Dasa arrives at the Chilliwack Community Services building driving a shiny black Harley Davidson motorcycle, the loud rumbling pouring out of the polished silver tailpipes turns every head in the parking lot. At first sight, the long hair tied back into a ponytail and the big belt buckle might suggest that another biker from the halfway house has arrived for an appointment with his parole officer. But when he walks in and takes his seat behind the supervisor’s desk, you noti
Lord Krsna has innumerable expansions. As far as Krsna Himself is concerned, there are six opulences which are always present knowledge, wealth, fame, strength, beauty and renunciation. He has these opulences in totality, whereas created beings have them in part only.
Knowledge
In the world there have been men who have been considered very rich in knowledge Socrates, Plato, Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo, Francis Bacon, Da Vinci, Einstein, etc. History has afforded us innumerable geniuses whose thou
The Melbourne ISKCON devotees living in the western suburbs of Melbourne Australia have for years participated in the annual local Hindu Holi festival in which they have incorporated a mini Ratha Yatra parade.
Many hundreds of people from the culturally diverse community attended the festival and the devotees engaged them all in the festivities.
With the cooperation of the festival management, the devotees were able to distribute books and prasadam (sanctified food), and much more.
The highligh
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine produced one of the world’s largest refugee crises in history. We are now one month into the conflict and more than 3.7 million Ukrainians have had to leave their home country.
There are now almost as many Ukrainian refugees as there were Afghan refugees fleeing the (first) Taliban regime in 2001, according to figures compiled by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They represent about 9.1% of Ukraine’s pre-invasion population of about 41.1 million – rank
If we are honest, then we must admit that we are not perfect.
If we are honest, then we must admit that we are not perfect. And if we are not perfect, then we must admit that we have some faults. Maybe we can write down some of our faults. Three days later, we are still not finished writing! So, the more honest we become about our own limitations and shortcomings, the more humility sets within us naturally.
Watch the full lecture below or on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/
Vallabha and I headed for Sault Ste. Marie’s waterfront, which has a trail starting from the Sleep Inn Motel where we rested and dreamed for the night. The trail along the St. Mary’s River is not detectible. You cannot see it for the snow banks, but we tried anyway and so we sank into the white stuff, which was hard on the surface but soft underneath. I sank first, knee-deep. He began to come to my rescue but he sank all the same. It was a good laugh.
I continued on my own down the main street.
A few nights ago, on the train from Gare de Nord to Sarcelles we sat in the train after a day on book distribution. Opposite us was a young lady whose colorful appearance looked a little different from the norm. I looked at her, and she smiled; showed her the Bhagavad-gita, and she became attracted. As a student of French literature in a Paris university, she loves to read. She had never heard of the Hare Krsna movement or Bhagavad-gita in her life. She spoke fluent English, and with no questio
Back to Godhead has inevitably undergone changes over its sixty-year history. When Srila Prabhupada’s disciples took up the service of producing the magazine, he gave them general guidelines and left most of the details up to them. Occasionally he would give specific instructions. One of those, which BTG editors have held sacrosanct ever since, was that each issue should contain an excerpt from the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Once, when some disciples expressed concern that the spiritual content of BTG
In the spirit of Srila Prabhupada Marathon, here is a story from some thirty years ago in Russia, as told by Gautama Rishi Prabhu.
You know how Sanskrit names sometimes sound funny in our languages? So this Gautama Rishi went on sankirtana with a friend called Akula Das. Akula means "shark" in Russian. Not "sounds like" but literally means shark. For our English speakers, internet says that Akula class attack submarines make lion’s share of Soviet/Russia’s nuclear submarine force. "Akula" is to
It often happens that people just give a nice donation but do not take a book. Someone will say, “I like what you are doing, but I think that you should give the book to someone who really needs it.” But THEY REALLY need it, too! So I was wondering how to give someone the book at this point in the conversation …
Recently, I met an atheist in Paris. He doesn’t like religion and God.
So I told him, “No problem. I think that you can take this small book instead: “Science and Consciousness.” It is
If you are a budding lawyer, seasoned attorney, solicitor, barrister, or paralegal we invite you to join our community of devotee attorneys.
The ISKCON Law Department has over 100 devotee attorneys around the world. We hold a sangha every fortnight (two weeks) to introduce international legal talents which will inspire and enthuse you. These devotees are serving their respective temples whilst pursuing and continuing their careers. We also hold annual international conferences.
If you would li
A POWERFUL NARASIMHA PUJA to invoke blessings of the Divine Protector
Join us on April 3, 2022 for 3 Pujas:
Puja 1: Ahobhilam (India) 6:30pm IST
Puja 2: Simhachalam (Germany) 8pm CET
Puja 3: New Vrindaban (USA) 8pm EDT
Pray for Ukraine and the world invoke auspiciousness receive blessings
Hosts:
@sacinandanaswamiofficial and @thegodofyoga
Esteemed Guests:
@radhanathswami @krishnadasmusic @eddiestern @krishnakshetraswami_official @madhavanaidoo @govindagirl_acyutagopi @cambridgeuniversity
With t
Not much time to walk today. Driving north consumed a bit of time. Destination, the Caruso Banquet Hall in Sudbury. Our little troupe consisting of Mahadeva, Annapurna, Vallabha Hari, Gabriel, Alec and myself were keen to hit a trail at gorgeous French River. The sky’s spitting rain along with mud and melting snow made it all somewhat restrictive. However, our day, and in particular the night, was fruitful.
The hall was venue to a Festival of India, which was filled up in no time. Advanced tick
I will share a story about the fructification of sankirtan. We never know what will happen. Even distributing a small book can turn into something amazing.
Two Maori boys, cousins, showed up at the Bhakti Lounge shaved-up with sikhas and tilak. Where did they come from? Who were they? None of us knew.
We found out that they had received “Chant and Be Happy” from a sister who had bought it at the New World mall in Papakura. They read the book and felt convinced that they have to give up “animal
The world is searching for a perfect book, a book that contains all you need to know. May be the key to this search lies in the pages of the Mahabharata . Vyasadeva boldly states the glory of this great text: What you will find here you may find elsewhere, but what you don’t find here, you will never find anywhere.” Mahabharata is called an itihasa, or history. Indeed, being the history of a great country like India, it teaches us life lessons – what one should and shouldn’t emulate.
When amb
Recently while speaking to my eight-year-old cousin, I asked her what prayers they recite in their morning assembly. She sang many prayers, one of which was a Christian nursery rhyme that I found interesting. It said:
God’s Love is so wonderful,
So high you can’t get over it,
So deep you can’t get under it,
So wide you can’t get around it,
Oh! Wonderful love!
This song mentions three characteristics of God’s love. Let us discuss each of them separately.
“So high you can’t get over it”: Our exis
When delivered by His pure representative, Krishna’s message attracts and transforms people young and old.
Touched by Srila Prabhupada Books
Haribol Nani!“ I greet my grand mother as I enter her home.
Unable to get up to receive me, she stretches out her arms, ready to welcome me into her warm embrace. Although her face is wrinkled with time and herbody is diseased with old age, her radiant smile and loving mood reveal her inner beauty. My eighty-five-year-old grandfather, lying on a bed nearb
Without a transcendental objective, being truthful may seem difficult in front of the alluring temptations of ordinary life.
Initiation Ceremony
Every politician in India, upon assuming office, takes an oath to faithfully execute the responsibilities of his office, will do his best to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law and will devote himself to the service and well-being of the people. “I swear in the name of God,” reads the oath. Yet, once they come to power, they rarel
