This year we won't get the chance to pull Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva and Subhadra Devi's chariots through the streets but don’t let that dampen your spirits. Get ready to welcome Them into your hearts this weekend!
ISKCON Berlin, London, Radhadesh and Zurich are organizing the Spirit of Ratha Yatra, a unique first-time European virtual collaboration festival jointly hosted on Saturday 18th July, 11:00 - 17:00 CEST / 10:00 - 16:00 BST.
The festivities will include Deity darshans, history
By Achyut Gopal Das
Being born in this world is not easy and being born as a woman is definitely not easy and being a chaste woman and trying to live a principle-centered life is definitely, definitely not easy. The struggles a woman goes through being a wife, raising children and running a family is many times beyond comprehension and very often, overlooked. Running an empire is easier than running a family. But probably the biggest challenge of womanhood is in being understood. Every woman loo
Raccoons can be seen during the day or night, but, like most party animals, they seem to prefer the nocturnal time of a twenty-four hour cycle. On my return journey from Bellevue Square Park, I heard the familiar sound of scratching claws against the bark of hardwood trees. There, at George Street, my eye captured three little guys at the same tree, each on different levels.
Partying? I guess. Exploring? For sure.
Anyway, I had just come from the park and was personally disgusted with what hum
“Ocean of Mercy: A Search Fulfilled” is His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami’s memoir of his childhood and youth in India, his travels in Europe, his search for a guru back in India, his joining the Krsna consciousness movement in July of 1976, and his intimate service to Srila Prabhupada from then till Prabhupada’s departure in November of 1977. In honor of Bhakti Charu Swami and his greatly inspiring life of devotional service, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is making this book available in pdf form
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So we just try to broadcast and today is July 6th and this is two days after the departure of Bhakti Charu Swami, so I decided that I would like to share with all of you what I believe is in his heart and what he would want us to understand from his life and take forward. And I’ll also share some of my experiences with him but I think sharing what’s in his heart is extremely important for all of us and especially important for the future of ISKCON. I’ll begin just sharing a few of
The hallmarks of ISKCON, its seven purposes were reaffirmed through a series of interviews and dialogues by the exemplary leaders of ISKCON who personify these seven purposes in their own exquisite ways. COVID-19, a global pandemic might be a menace but ISKCON GBC SPT Team optimized the lockdown situation by utilizing the social media forum to celebrate ISKCON’s incorporation day by reaffirming its seven foundational purposes set forth by its founder Acarya A.C Bhaktived
In what is normally an event with 30-40,000 people in attendance, the Festival of India/Chariots was down scaled substantially due to the epic Covid-19 epidemic. That’s the reality today—learn to adjust.
The organizers of this year‘s program in Toronto operated as cool as cucumbers, as usual, and their approach to this beloved event was full of innovation. Deities of Jagannath were stationed in a convertible and were taken for a ride down the customary route of Yonge St to the waterfront at Su
By Rajesh Hirani
Finally, when Srila Prabhupada said to you strongly:
“I will get better only when I die”
You broke down crying.
But he wished to bind you even closer:
“Is this what you have learnt from me?
The soul is always there – immortal!”
Although your heart ached with constant agony
you always lived with the understanding –
that Srila Prabhupada is constantly there…
Like a mother hiding behind a curtain
who wishes to teach her son to walk
by urging him to search for her: “Come, come…I am
When we fly to greater heights in the sky of bhakti, we become free from darkness in ourselves.
ākāśa — ananta, tāte yaiche pakṣi-gaṇa
yāra yata śakti, tata kare ārohaṇa
(Caitanya Caritamrta Antya Lila 20.79)
The sky is unlimited, but many birds fly higher and higher according to their own abilities.
I started thinking about the sky as the sky of devotional service and how different birds are flying at different levels of devotional service. In the beginning, the weight of old habits is stro
I was on two zoom calls this morning with Trinidad, Tobago, and Guyana as the first, then a second call with Brampton. During both online communications, I presented details of the first Ratha Yatra (or Festival of the Chariots) five millennia ago when people from all over Bharatvarsha (Greater India) converged at Kuruksetra during a solar eclipse. It was a massive familial reunion of the Yadu Dynasty.
That presentation, in many ways, was supplementary. The main focus of each conversation was wi
Let us hear from HG Jagattarini Devi Dasi as she reaffirms the Purpose # 5 of ISKCON (To erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the personality of Krishna).
About Jagattarini Devi
Her Grace Jagattarini Mataji joined ISKCON and first met Srila Prabhupada in America in 1970 (many of you may have heard of this famous story of a successful actress becoming a devotee). Through her connections with the Movement, Jagattarini met her husband
Sri Baladeva, Subhadra and Jagannath
On 12 July, 2020, Summertime is Ratha Yatra time! The Ratha Yatra festival is a celebration of reunion, when Their Lordships Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra, who had been separated from Their devotees during a two-week “sick” leave, finally return and are taken out on a pleasure ride in a gorgeously decorated chariot. On a deeper level, it signifies the ecstatic reunion of Krishna with the residents of Vrindaban aft
Within one hour of the start of my walking, the classic question came my way, first by three Chinese-Canadians.
“Are you a monk?”
“Yes, indeed.”
The second time the question was posed came from a Black Canadian standing at the corner of Yonge and Dundas. I wasn’t sure if he was poised to cross, but when I began answering, he remained planted right there, eager to listen.
“I am a monk. It’s a good life,” I said.
“So you’re celibate? You don’t have sex with your wife?” was his curious question.
“T
ISKCON Cardiff temple president and Food For Life Wales Director Tarakanatha Das has received a Points of Light award from the UK Prime Minister’s office, and has accepted it on behalf of the prasadam distribution organization.
The Points of Light award is presented to outstanding volunteers who are making a change in their community. On Friday July 3rd, Food For Life Wales was recognized for its relief work during the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the team of Cardiff devotee
Let us hear from HG Vaisesika Das as he reaffirms the Purpose# 7 of ISKCON (With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings.)
About Vaisesika Das
Vaisesika Dasa was born in 1956. As a teen, he was an avid spiritual seeker. Soon after receiving a Back to Godhead magazine from a friend in the spring of 1973, he moved into the ISKCON temple in San Francisco at the age of sixteen and, with the blessings of his pa
Let us hear from HG Ambarish Das and Svaha Devi Dasi as they reaffirm the Purpose #5 of ISKCON. They are instrumental in the overseeing and construction of “The Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP)”.
About Ambarish Das and Svaha Devi Dasi
Ambarisa das was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1974 in Hawaii. He is the great-grandson of Henry Ford, and has been involved in numerous ISKCON projects around the world including the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center in Detroit, the Oxford Center for Hindu Stu
By Garuda Das, PhD (ASBSP)
I offer you some heartfelt thoughts and reflections here on Vaishnava loss, grief, and the departure of beloved Vaishnavas:
This is a time of grieving such a great loss for you. If the passing away of a loved one were not already challenging enough, factors such as the departed one’s age or the unexpectedness of the departure, the suddenness with which one leaves, how much more of a life one could have lived, the manner in which one departed—to name a few—tend to natu
By Yadubara das
The 90-minute feature-length Documentary ‘HARE KRISHNA! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami who started it all’ will be available in TAMIL, GUJARATI & MARATHI
Srila Prabhupada’s uplifting story is emotionally moving and has given inspiration and hope to many, especially in this very difficult time.
Please take the time to watch HARE KRISHNA! and spread the word to others.
Hare Krishna! is a documentary on the life of Srila Prabhupada–the 70-year-old Indian Swami who arrived i
On the anniversary today of the incorporation of ISKCON in New York City . . .
Bhavananda: In Svarup Ganj there’s one big astrologer. So, he saw your photograph, and he said, “This is the face of the most powerful spiritual personality on the planet.”
Prabhupada: [laughs] Hare Krishna.
Brahmananda: Then what else?
Bhavananda: Then he said that “I can tell from his face that he can make a house in which the whole world can live peacefully.”
Devotees: Jaya Prabhupada!
Prabhupada: At least I desire
