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By Gauranga Darshan Das (Gaura Purnima Special)

Lord Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gīta that He descends in every yuga as an incarnation for three purposes: to protect the righteous, to punish the mischievous, and to establishes dharma. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descended in the current age of Kali as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu or Śrī Gaurānga. In this incarnation, the Lord appears in the form of a devotee to teach how to perform loving devotional service (bhakti) unto Him.

Assuming the emotions of a

My balcony pacing continues, usually in the evening and from either of the three arch-shaped windows. I can see the weather conditions quite clearly on this west end of our building. What is there to be seen these days?

The street lights reveal, at least the last few evenings, snow flurries coming down like pretty little avatars descending from the heavens. They come down in the multitudes and contribute to a kind of merging whiteness; always with a soft landing.

Through the day I am more statio

अध्याय बारह पूर्ण समाज – चार आध्यात्मिक वर्ग (7.12)

1 नारद मुनि ने कहा: विद्यार्थी को चाहिए कि वह अपनी इन्द्रियों पर पूर्ण संयम रखने का अभ्यास करे। उसे विनीत होना चाहिए और गुरु के साथ दृढ़ मित्रता की प्रवृत्ति रखनी चाहिए। ब्रह्मचारी को चाहिए कि वो महान व्रत लेकर गुरुकुल में केवल अपने गुरु के लाभ के हेतु ही रहे।

2 दिन तथा रात्रि के सन्धिकाल में प्रातःकाल तथा संध्या समय उसे गुरु, अग्नि, सूर्यदेव तथा भगवान विष्णु के विचारों में लीन रहना चाहिए और गायत्री मंत्र को जपते हुए उनकी पूजा करनी चाहिए।

3 विद्य

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-sarasvatīti nāmine

śrī-vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayitāya kṛpābdhaye
kṛṣṇa-sambandha-vijñāna-dāyine prabhave namaḥ

mādhuryojjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-bhaktida
śrī-gaura-karuṇā-śakti-vigrahāya namo ‘stu te

namas te gaura-vāṇī-śrī-mūrtaye dīna-tāriṇe
rūpānuga-viruddhāpasiddhānta-dhvānta-hāriṇe

I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His

While studying about Madhavendra Puri I came across these gems.
Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says that there are 5 primary counter examples we should learn from Ramachandra Puri:
(1)Faultfinding, especially finding fault in Vishnu and the Vaishnavas, is extremely detrimental to one’s spiritual advancement. A devotional practitioner should look at his own faults rather than at others’. By correcting his own faults, he will be able to make some advancement.

(2)All the disciples who take initi

अध्याय ग्यारह – पूर्ण समाज : चातुर्वर्ण (7.11)

1 शुकदेव गोस्वामी ने आगे कहा: प्रह्लाद महाराज, जिनके कार्यकलाप तथा चरित्र की पूजा तथा चर्चा ब्रह्मा तथा शिवजी जैसे महापुरुष करते हैं, उनके विषय में सुनने के बाद महापुरुषों में सर्वाधिक आदरणीय राजा, युधिष्ठिर महाराज ने नारद मुनि से अत्यन्त प्रसन्न मुद्रा में पुनः पूछा।

2 महाराज युधिष्ठिर ने कहा: हे प्रभु, मैं आपसे धर्म के उन सिद्धान्तों के विषय में सुनने का इच्छुक हूँ जिनसे मनुष्य, जीवन के चरम लक्ष्य, भक्ति को प्राप्त कर सकता है। मैं मानव समाज के सामा

Free will ONLY fully exists in Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavana, and is greatly restricted in the material creation to the point it almost does not exist.

Free will certainly does NOT exist in lower species of life, where the trapped jiva soul in a material body is forced to act under the demands of eating, sleeping, mating and defending.

Free will is partially expressed in a very limited way ONLY in the human form of life in the material creation, where the trapped jiva soul can inquire about wher

He is indeed by far
The mercy avatar
For he bore the blood
During the love flood

As companion to Gaur
Life was less is more
Distributing a wealth
For everyone’s health

Committed to the name
And establishing its fame
He went door to door
In the effort to explore

He went with Haridas
Many gains, no loss
With interesting reception
Prepared for any rejection

Jagai/Madai, there in queue
The loud obnoxious two
Met more than their match
When Nitai did dispatch

They swayed, they fell
Totally drunk as h

By Madhava Smullen 

In mid-March, the ISKCON Communications Journal (ICJ) is set to publish its first issue after a fifteen-year hiatus, under the guidance of Mahaprabhu Dasa, Director of ISKCON Communications Europe. The Journal is edited by Tattvavit Dasa and Rupa Sanatana Dasa.

 ICJ was known for addressing many important topics and issues, including challenges and crises that ISKCON faced. Articles were written by scholars from both within and outside of ISKCON.

The ISKCON Communications Jo

“Slowing Down in a Fast-Paced World” was the theme chosen for the Mauritian Zoom crowd. I started off with everyone doing a boogie snap of the finger and singing Simon and Garfunkel’s first stanza to 59th Street Bridge song, “Slow down you move too fast/you’ve gotta make the morning last…”

Arjuna slowed down. To process. To listen. Only then to pick up due to the empowering words of Krishna. Further still, to go in high gear; into the battle of Kuruksetra. For us ordinary folks it appears that a

अध्याय दस – भक्त शिरोमणि प्रह्लाद (7.10)

1 नारद मुनि ने आगे कहा: यद्यपि प्रह्लाद महाराज बालक थे किन्तु जब उन्होंने नृसिंहदेव द्वारा दिये गये वरों को सुना तो उन्होंने इन्हें भक्ति के मार्ग में अवरोध समझा। तब वे विनीत भाव से मुसकाये और इस तरह बोले।

2 प्रह्लाद महाराज ने आगे कहा: हे प्रभु, हे पूर्ण पुरुषोत्तम भगवान, नास्तिक परिवार में जन्म लेने के कारण मैं स्वभावतः भौतिक भोग के प्रति अनुरक्त हूँ; अतएव आप मुझे इन मोहों से मत ललचाइये। मैं भौतिक दशाओं से अत्यधिक भयभीत हूँ और भौतिकतावादी जीवन से मुक्त ह

By Madhava Smullen

The Live to Give Campaign, run by the BBT Marketing, Communications and Innovations team, has smashed its 2 million Gita goal, distributing 2,172,456 copies of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is around the world. 

Over 250 ISKCON communities in more than 55 countries participated, between September 17th 2020 and January 7th 2021. The campaign also commemorated Gita Jayanti, or World Gita Day, on December 25th. 

Live to Give was a phenomenally successful effort to get de

At noon we had a Zoom. “Mindful Trinity” is a regular broadcast/podcast from South Africa and I had the pleasure to be interviewed on one of those “Tales from Trails” by an elegant host, Vaishnavi Carana.

It certainly puts me back on the road when recalling and conveying the stories from the trails of past walks. It will be 25 years ago that I began my first marathon walk across Canada. In April 1996 I took that journey, which lasted seven and a half months, starting in British Columbia and fin

अध्याय नौ – प्रह्लाद द्वारा नृसिंह देव को प्रार्थनाओं से शान्त करना (7.9)

1-5 नारद मुनि ने आगे कहा: ब्रह्मा, शिव इत्यादि अन्य बड़े-बड़े देवताओं का साहस न हुआ कि वे भगवान के समक्ष जाँय, क्योंकि उस समय वे अत्यन्त क्रुद्ध थे।  वहाँ पर उपस्थित भयभीत सारे देवताओं ने लक्ष्मीजी से प्रार्थना की कि वे भगवान के समक्ष जाएँ। किन्तु उन्होंने भी भगवान का ऐसा अद्भुत तथा असामान्य रूप कभी नहीं देखा था, अतएव वे उनके पास नहीं जा सकीं।  तत्पश्चात ब्रह्माजी ने अपने पास ही खड़े प्रह्लाद महाराज से अनुरोध किया--हे पुत्र, भ

By Kadamba Kanana Swami 

The essence of the process that we are following in this movement is the chanting of the holy name. This process is the yuga dharma – the dharma (religion) for this age of Kali. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has made this chanting of the holy name widely available to us and also added his extra mercy. The holy name has been chanted widely throughout the millennia but in this particular millennia, there is the added mercy of the Lord himself. Therefore, now it is very easy and

In Canto Twelve of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhumi, Mother Earth, says this: “Although in the past great men and their descendants have left me, departing from this world in the same helpless way they came into it, even today foolish men are trying to conquer me. For the sake of conquering me, materialistic persons fight one another. Fathers oppose their sons, and brothers fight one another because their hearts are bound to possessing political power. Political leaders challenge one another: ‘All this

Wherever we see the greed for wealth, gold, power, prestige, name or fame – consequently we see a rise in hate, envy, fighting and war.
Greed is a source of misery because it never gets satisfied. Its demand increases more and more, despite of our efforts to pacify it. It is compared to feeding a blazing fire, no matter how much amount of fuel you put in, the fuel gets consumed in seconds. It always ends in dissatisfaction.
The harder you try to satisfy this enemy of greed, the deeper you fall

अध्याय आठ – भगवान नृसिंह द्वारा असुरराज का वध(7.8)

1 नारद मुनि ने आगे कहा: सारे असुरपुत्रों ने प्रह्लाद महाराज के दिव्य उपदेशों की सराहना की और उन्हें अत्यन्त गम्भीरतापूर्वक ग्रहण किया। उन्होंने षण्ड तथा अमर्क नामक अपने गुरुओं द्वारा दिये गये भौतिकतावादी उपदेशों का तिरस्कार कर दिया।

2 जब शुक्राचार्य के पुत्र षण्ड तथा अमर्क ने देखा कि सारे विद्यार्थी असुर पुत्र प्रह्लाद महाराज की संगति से कृष्णभक्ति में आगे बढ़ रहे हैं, तो वे डर गये। अतएव वे असुरराज के पास गये और उनसे सारी स्थिति यथावत वर्णन कर दी।

By Radha Damodar das

The year 2021 marks the centennial celebration, the 100th appearance anniversary, of  Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja. A disciple of Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Maharaja—himself one of the foremost disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur—Narayana Maharaja served the Gaudiya Vaishnava community as a sannyasi for fifty-eight years. From 1996 to 2010 when Narayana Maharaja left this world, he circled the globe many times sharing the teachings of bhakti-yoga.

Narayana Ma

There is bliss in service. That bliss is demonstrated by those in the devotional realm of bhakti. One person, whom I snuck up on, who characterizes this joyful practice, was a person in the kitchen of our ashram. Uttamananda is a kind soul — and a kind soul is usually a happy one — and in the early hour of 6 a.m. he was immersed in pot washing. That’s how I was able to get in from behind him. The pot sinks are against the wall, so anyone who has that designated role of pot washing has a wall in