Today is the divine appearance day of the transcendental twins: Rangadevi and Sudevi Sakhi. In the year 1992, the last of the four Asta-sakhis, or principle associates of Srimati Radharani, appeared in Mayapur and took their places on the altar. Rangadevi and Sudevi, were two of these four and they stand third and fourth on Srimati Radharani‘s left.
Rangadevi and Sudevi are identical twins. Their father is Rangasara and their mother is Karuna. Rangadevi is married to Vakreksana, and Sudevi is
Once we were in Mayapur. We had an old—I think it was a 1948 Hudson or some old, big car. And I was driving. We had left the main road. If you have been on the main road you know how bad it is. You can imagine how bad this secondary road was like. We were going to visit Lalit Prasad, who was Bhaktisiddhanta’s living brother, who was a very old man then. We didn’t know the road, and we didn’t know the way very well. We knew that it was up that road somewhere. And we drove halfway up or so, and
As well as the official ISKCON Disciples course, which is required studying before taking initiation, ISKCON offers many retreats around the world for devotees to learn about the guru-disciple relationship, and to build their personal relationships with their guru and their godbrothers and godsisters.
One of these was the recent retreat for disciples of Niranjana Swami, which ran from July 30th to August 4th at New Mayapur, Ukraine.
A rural community located two hours’ d
The following article was written by my wife Shefali Jandial in June,2013 which talks about her experience of Krishna Consciousness through Kirtan/Kirtan Mela and an incident which strengthened her faith in Krishna. She recently left her body in an unfortunate accident.
The Purple flower
Where is the joy?
Oh! Just around the corner.
I turn the corner-
Where is the joy?
Oh! Up there & yonder.
Closer I wander…
I hear Krishna’s heartbeat,
Radha Rani’s anklets
I hear vibrating mridangas
& tinkling kartalas
Oh
Hare Krishna dear devotees,
Dandavat Pranams.
Hare Krishna dear devotees,
Dandavat Pranams.
Today is the appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, the spiritual master of Srila Prabhupada.
Few weeks ago a senior Vaishnava shared a revolutionary article by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, which I am sharing with you below. It is deep and very insightful and can give us key(s) to make a very rapid progress in Krishna consciousness by changing our outlook towards the world and ou
Andhasyaivāndha lagnasya nyāyaḥ (association with the blind)
If one associates with a blind person, he is sure to develop same blindness.
This is particularly the case of persons blind in the subject matters of morality, wisdom, culture, spiritual knowledge, and detachment from matter. An intelligent man can hardly appreciate the association of such blind people. How they became blind? Their blindness is caused by the glitter of materialistic association with women, and money, which is another fo
“Today we are observing the Sri Krishna janmasahtami adhivas because lord Krishna Janmastami is one of the most holy days in the universe. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita My birth and My work is transcendental. We will offer about 26 sacred items to the deities. We will offer that with various prayers. We have here the gurukula students who will chant the mantras and different pujaris, brahmanas and sanyasis will offer the sacred items. See the deities have come forward in their utsav murti and
Over 1,000 people new to mantra culture are expected to attend Mantra Fest in Moscow, Russia on September 1st at the Green Concert Club.
It’s the second such event this year. The first, says organizer Shaktyavesha Avatar Das, came about as a result of a collaboration with Georgia Wyss, director of the film Mantra Movie: Entrance into Silence, and was a big success.
Taking place on April 24th, the festival featured a combination of local Hare Krishna bands and well-known
Bhismadeva was not only a pure devotee, but very much a self-reliant devotee. He was a devotee who chose the transcendental position even though he was in a condition of life which was mundane. Living in a royal court is not the ideal situation for a brahmacari. Generally, brahmacaris are nicely locked away in the brahmacari ashramas, where they are protected from the heavy aspect of sense gratification straight in their face. But here, Bhismadeva was living in royal opulence, a very difficult
"kartum akartum anyatha kartum"
"Everything happening, not happening or otherwise happening is His happening."
By Khonika Gope-Kumar
[Translated and abridged from the Bengali Book “Gauda Mandal Parikrama: The Holy Tirthas in Bangladesh” by Patita Uddharan Das Brahmacari. Publisher: Hare Krishna Publications, ISKCON Swamibag]
After the disappearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates from the planet Earth, non-Vedic philosophies and customs propagated and practiced by pseudo sampradayas completely misled the common population, and Mahaprabhu’s preaching was almost lost. In such a dire situa
Kamiya Sindoor is a popular kind of sindoor and it is the blessings from the goddess Kamakhya.
Kamakhya Devi or as her devotees and believers refer to her as Kamakhya devi and Kamiya Maa is the goddess of fulfilling desires of everything we want in our life which is related to the worldly wishes. To know about the origin of the deity we have to back in time when the supreme lord shiva got married to the aadishakti sati. Sati was the daughter of a great king who was the utmost important man in th
Hare Krishna dear devotees,
We all have our own experiences of reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and getting better understanding of our philosophy, principles, etc. As we develop more faith, study his books more carefully, also hear them from the mouth of the pure devotees, then we get realisations in our heart. This blissful and transcendental process forever continues in the life a sincere and a faithful follower, anandambudhi-vardhanam.
Today morning I read a very heart touching purport from Sr
Bali Maharaja has become the most famous among the demons and nonbelievers, for in spite of being bereft of all material opulences, he is fixed in his devotional service.” (SB 8.22.28)
Purport: In this verse, the words sidann api na muhyati are very important. A devotee is sometimes put into adversity while executing devotional service. In adversity, everyone laments and becomes aggrieved, but by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, a devotee, even in the worst condition, can unders
