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Pradīpe pradīpaṁ prajvālya tamonāśāya yatamānaḥ (endeavor to dissipate the darkness with a lamp under a lamp)
A lamp produces a greater amount of light than tiny candle. Therefore to try to compete with the light of a lamp with that of a candle is futile.
Dīpaḥ means light, but also knowledge, and for better, transcendental knowledge (jïāna-dīpaḥ). Now, material world means darkness, because of not knowing who we are and what is our purpose. This darkness is a side product of transcendental lig
From Back to Godhead
In a unique form, Lord Krishna is worshiped in a famous temple in Puri, India, and at Rathayatras (chariot festivals) there and around the world.
I was born in a conservative Orissan Vaishnava family in Puri, on the east coast of India. The Supreme Lord Jagannatha and His devotees were at the center of my life. As a child, I played with dolls of Jagannatha, Baladeva (Balarama), and Subhadra, the deities in the famous Puri temple. I still remember how my mother gave me enorm
By Damodarlila dasa, Maharashtra Padayatra leader
Since the India-wide lockdown was announced in March 2020, the Maharashtra Padayatra has been under the shelter of the Sawantwadi ISKCON centre. The devotees here have been taking good care of us, especially temple president Vasusresta dasa. As we can’t leave the centre due to the lockdown, we have faced a shortage of grains and grocery items. After one of the morning programmes, I discussed the issue with congregation devotees Avadhut Krishna d
By Sakhipran Devi Dasi
During these trying times of the pandemic, for devotees who are not working and stuck at home, ISKCON Nashik, India, is offering a great opportunity to participate in an online Chaitanya Caritamrta contest (CCC-2020).
Part one of the contest consisting of Adi-lila has already been successful wherein nearly 400 devotees from all over the word (India, UAE, Australia, USA, Canada, Qatar etc) participated. The contest was conducted online on May 3rd, 2020, based on the ve
Dear devotees, please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Amphan, the strongest cyclone ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal, reached Sridham Mayapur on Wednesday’s evening. The wind gusts were very severe, reaching the speed of 160km/h, accompanied by torrential rain and tumultuous sounds.
The community devotees were informed of the approaching cyclone and recommendations were given of how to prepare for the forthcoming nature’s disaster. Sarasvati Nagar was expected t
I was inspired to walk upon the sun’s movement in the western sky. I couldn’t see the glowing disc itself for the trees, the buildings and the time but I could perceive it through the colours it left. It was a mix of warm colours, from reds, to pinks to an almost purple. I wanted to gaze at it for some time but my measly mission was to walk. And for that I must watch the sidewalk, the curbs, the traffic and the pedestrians.
Oh yes, you really have to be cautious about pedestrians. And as
BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 2-51.
By thus engaging in #devotional service to the #Kṛṣṇa, great #sages or #devotees free themselves from the #results of work in the #material world. In this way they become #free from the #cycle of #birth and #death and attain the state beyond all #miseries.
|| #HareKṛṣṇa || https://t.co/4God67pD4C
“For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Mukunda, or the giver of mukti, the ocean of t
CHAPTER: - 2:50
A man engaged in #devotional service rids himself of both #good and #bad actions even in this #life. Therefore strive for #yoga, which is the #art of all #work.
|| #HareKṛṣṇa || https://t.co/hUHBlcNiMi
Since time immemorial each living entity has accumulated the various reactions of his good and bad work. As such, he is continuously ignorant of his real constitutional position. One’s ignorance can be removed by the instruction of the Bhagavad-gitä, which teaches one to surrender un
BHAGAVAD GITA :- CHAPTER 2 : 49.
Those who want to #enjoy the #fruits of their #work are #misers. || #HareKṛṣṇa || https://t.co/3fRUGne4ZS
- One who has actually come to understand one’s constitutional position as an eternal servitor of the Lord gives up all engagements save working in Krsna consciousness. As already explained, buddhi-yoga means transcendental loving service to the Lord. Such devotional service is the right course of action for the living entity. Only misers desire to enjoy the frui
(just recent conversation)
Adhibhuta Das: Jnana-yoga can be defined in variety ways. One of them could be hoarding of transcendental knowledge without application and realization.
Kashya Das: Not that. That would be out of range.
AD: Ok. What would be the exact one sentence definition?
KD: Engaging the intellect for understanding the Absolute Truth.
AD: Is study of the shastra (sat shastra) jnana and bhakti-yoga at the same time?
KD: Study of the shastra is part of bhakti-yoga. Complete is thus srava
“How is our existence in the material nature? Very beautiful, very wonderful. [laughter] Full of promises and full of excitement, full of opportunities. But that is the influence of the Lord’s illusory potency. We are suffering, but we consider this suffering condition to be joyful. The reality is this material existence is full of suffering. And the thing is, the more we try to enjoy, the more we end up suffering. Therefore, saintly people in the past, they used to voluntarily accept austeriti
By Madhava Smullen
According to NPR, fear of food shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred people on to plant more vegetable gardens; while community supported agriculture programs (CSAs) are booming.
In New Vrindaban, West Virginia, ISKCON’s first rural community which Srila Prabhupada earmarked as an example of sustainability to the world, resident devotees have a headstart, and are using the pandemic to push themselves closer to their goal of self-sufficiency.
A few weeks ago,
I took a chance, a risk… It was starting to sprinkle. Tiny drops from the sky made polka dots on the stairs.
I had finished one of those live-stream presentations on Iskcon Toronto’s Facebook page on the topic of “The Art of Forgiveness,” then joined our crew for the pot-banging in support of health caretakers after which I decided to put in my allotted time for my daily trek.
Whether those polka dots were going to stay for seconds or if they were to fill in to be a solid wetness on the con
Courtesy of Covid-19, the sky-high prices of vegetables and having to contend with dried-up herbs pushed us to start our own little garden. My husband was planning about organic fertilizers, timings for watering and ensuring adequate sunlight. However, as I fingered the fertile soil; I realised that the nutrients and strength that Mother Earth provides to those plants was being ignored. We focus on the externals; we praise the gardener’s skills, the fertilizers, right timings of water and sunli
On August 15, 1968, in Montreal, I was initiated at the age of 16-an unqualified person meeting such a great and unprecedented saint as Srila Prabhupada. At the same time, the six pioneers from San Francisco, on their way to London received their Gayatri mantra, or second initiation.
To listen to the transcript of my initiation, please click on this link: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/initiation-rukmini-dasi/
Written transcript begins here:
[Yamuna starts kirtana with “Hare Krsna.”
HG Padmakshi Vinodini Mataji and HG Govinda Vallabha Mataji (from Left to Right)
For the warriors of COVID-19
Reported by Dr. Chetan Hazaree
We often hear that devotees live a life of mature compassion. They perform multifarious activities out of their compassion for the welfare of all living entities. While performing these compassionate acts, their vision is set on serving the Supreme Lord and begging for mercy, not for themselves, but for others. Each mature devotee performs different acts o
By Madhava Smullen
When Ghanashyam Das first began his chaplaincy service in New York City, little did he know that he would end up on the frontlines of a global pandemic, risking his own health every day to provide spiritual and emotional support for patients dying of Coronavirus.
Ghanashyam, now 42, joined ISKCON in 2000 at 26 2nd Avenue in New York, the movement’s first ever temple. Later, he moved to the Bhakti Center in Manhattan, where he lived as a monk for eleven years, and where his
I was asked to speak on the topic, “The Art of Forgiveness” on one of those zoom calls for Sunday so while on my walk today to deliver a small packet of what we call mahaprasadam, some blessed sweets, to Subuddhi on her 85th birthday, I thought about the subject of forgiveness. In a way I was preparing myself for some thoughts I could convey on the broadcast.
What did come to mind was a song that came on the radio, a tear-jerker, from when I was 8—a song by Brenda Lee, “I’m sorry!”—a love son
My dear Indradyumna Swami Maharaja,
Please accept my prostrated obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. And all glories to your service.
I could speak for many days about your service to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and for many hours about how you have helped me personally. But today I wish to focus on one area in particular in which you have helped me—my writing, which Srila Prabhupada said I should take up as my “first business” and which thus is my
