I awoke to the sound of young coyotes howling in the morning. To me it was a good sign that wildlife was comfortable in the suburbs of such a sprawling place as Mississauga. David, Vivasvan, and Adisvar from Michigan, and I spent the night at the home of an outstanding couple, Dharma and Manasi. From there we went to meet Fernando and Victor for an additional stretch on the Bruce Trail. We anticipated a mere eight kilometres, which under normal circumstances, could take three hours on a usua
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Ahi nir-lvayanī nyāyaḥ (cast off serpent's slough)
After a serpent strips off its skin, he disregards it even though once it was part of his body.
In the same way, an intelligent man sees a difference between his own self and the material body he possesses. Once the body utterly stops cooperating with the soul, it is stripped off of the living entity, to be nothing better than food for worms. This is well known as death. The soul then continues on, taking up new body, just like snakes do, until
Anandini Dasi passed away on August 18th at the age of 84. She was one of the first communications devotees in Russia.
“Krishna is grateful. He never forgets what a person does for Him. He takes care of his fate. And Srila Prabhupada has said that Lord Caitanya would personally come for the preacher and neutralize all his faults. Srimati Anandini remained a preacher until her last days and did so much for Lord Caitanya's movement in our country.
She joined the movement at the height of the p
How do we identify how much time to spend on going deep and fully researching verses while we are reading?
I think that there is a time to read the Srimad Bhagavatam and there is a time to study the Srimad Bhagavatam. When we are simply reading the Srimad Bhagavatam, we are meant to just read it through and not go research things in too much detail like, “Let me look up on the Mahabharata about Bhismadeva. Let me check this in the Puranas and let me then have a little look at what the acaryas s
I introduced our guests, an extraordinary couple from Silicon Valley, California—Vaiseshika and Nirakula—as "The Unsinkables." This dynamic duo are stalwarts of bhakti yoga, who come to visit Toronto every six months to enliven the community. The emphasis of this four-day blessing was on chanting, billed as "Make Japa Great Again."
Vaiseshika had the interested recruits sit in a circle and, with chanting beads in hand, fuelled the group to a fresh approach. Every so often he would cease the
At night while sleeping I played on some devotional Bhajans on my mobile in a very low volume. In the early morning while I was awake, all of a sudden the music stopped playing. As you guessed it rightly - the mobile got discharged and it switched off. I was thinking that my life is like this mobile, anytime it can get fully discharged and stop functioning. After all, our body is also a mechanical material device like a mobile. That the body is going to fall dead is a given fact. What is impor
By Sesa Dasa
“Do I have to repeat myself young man?!!” Oh, how I hated it when my mother would say that. Not because she was being mean, rather because she was being right. It’s hard to hear someone when they’re right and you’re wrong. Most of the time she was correctly pointing out my selfish behavior, “Share with your brother … don’t boss others around,” she would say.
My mother had a good heart. She was a professional social worker, a career of public service that focused her energies on ben
Ahibhuk kaivarta nyāyaḥ (Ahibhuk and boatman)
A man named Ahibhuk wanted to cross a river. He got aboard a boat on which there were a plenty of passengers. Ahibhuk thought for himself that if there are so many persons on the boat that it would be no wonder if he loses himself and becomes changed to one of them. In order to avert such a calamity, Ahibhuk wrapped his foot with a piece of rope to keep a mark upon him, and then feeling easy in his mind, fell fast asleep. The boatman chanced to overh
My dear Gopal Krishna Maharaja,
Congratulations on your seventy-fifth appearance day!
My first vivid recollection of you is from 1973. I had heard about you how you had studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and then at McGill University in Montreal and then held responsible positions with Pepsi Cola and Bristol-Myers, and how you would come to the New York temple every day and were so humble that you would go around the temple room and offer obeisances to all the spiritual paintings on the walls. S
TEXTS 36-37
sukham tv idanim tri-vidham
srnu me bharatarsabha
abhyasad ramate yatra
duhkhantam ca nigacchati
yat tad agre visam iva
pariname 'mrtopamam
tat sukham sattvikam proktam
atma-buddhi-prasada-jam
srnu me bharatarsabha
abhyasad ramate yatra
duhkhantam ca nigacchati
yat tad agre visam iva
pariname 'mrtopamam
tat sukham sattvikam proktam
atma-buddhi-prasada-jam
TRANSLATION
O best of the Bharatas, now please hear from Me about the three kinds of happiness which the conditioned soul enjoys, and by which he sometimes comes to the end of all distress. That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to se
The MAN-tra Retreat is back. Excitement is ramping up as devotee guys pack their bags and head to the hills of New Vrindaban for a weekend of rejuvenation, association, learning and empowerment from September 21st to 23rd.
“There’s never been a more manly way to be engaged in Krishna consciousness,” grins kirtan leader Gaura Vani, who will be participating. “This is the kind of sanga that will put hair on your chest.”
Over 135 men from the UK, Canada and the United States are expected to to
Even Mother Yashoda could occasionally, for some moments, understand that Krsna was the Supreme Lord. But then, she would forget it once again. That is how it works with the eternal residents of Vrndavana. We also forget that Krsna is the Supreme Lord again and again, but in a different way. We forget that Krsna is the Supreme Lord and then we also forget Krsna Himself. The residents of Vrndavana however forget that Krsna is the Supreme Lord, but they still think of Krsna Himself all the time!
There was a major birthday party for Ashu at our temple, with kirtan entertainment in Govinda's. Special guest musicians were Amal Krishna and Hari Bhakti who were belting it out with voice and harmonium.
Ashu asked me to say a few things using the microphone, and so I had the chance to see face-on who had attended. "I can see that the people we have here are of the ’80s and ’90s crowd." They agreed with me. It seems that congregations go in waves not all at once, but transitionally. Pa
By Giriraj Swami
“Because He is as powerful as Lord Krsna and can bestow spiritual power to the devotees, He is therefore known as Baladeva. In the Vedas also it is enjoined that no one can know the Supreme Lord without being favored by Baladeva. Bala means spiritual strength, not physical. Some less intelligent persons interpret bala as the strength of the body. But no one can have spiritual realization by physical strength. Physical strength ends with the end of the physical body, but spiritu
"Whether we fear pain and suffering or not, pain and suffering will come to everyone. Why not keep our minds focused on where we want to go?" - Radhanath Swami
PURE SUFFERING
As soon as one takes to the role of being a preacher, one thing that invariably happens is that people come to you explaining their woes and sorrows. Probably because they see you as someone who knows a little more and is a little more spiritual than them and because they trust you, they open up their life in front of you
PURE SUFFERING
As soon as one takes to the role of being a preacher, one thing that invariably happens is that people come to you explaining their woes and sorrows. Probably because they see you as someone who knows a little more and is a little more spiritual than them and because they trust you, they open up their life in front of you
A very blessed day for the people of Assam that Iskcon Guwahati, (Ulubari, Assam) has released "Assamese Srimad Bhagwatam Canto-1" given by HDG Srila Prabhupad (Founder Acharya of ISKCON) on 24.8.19 at ISKCON Guwahati in presence of HG Sri Sreejeeva Das Prabhuji (ISKCON Guwahati President & GBC), Hon'ble Minister of Assam - Sri Piyush ji Hazarika & Ex-IPS Sri Hare Krishna Deka. Now Assam can read "Bhagwatam As It Is" and enjoy pastimes of Lord Krishna.
এটা বিশেষ অনুৰোধ -
আজিৰ পৰা আমি সকলোৱে দৃঢ়
Gour Govinda Swami offering arati to Srila Prabhupada after his installation in 1991
namo om visnu-padaya
krsna-presthaya bhutale
srimate bhaktivedanta-
svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve
gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa sunyavadi-
pascatya-desa-tarine
Srila Prabhupadaji Maharaja ki jaya!
It is the causeless mercy of Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga that I came here to meet you all, I am very happy at such causeless mercy of Guru and Gauranga. Unless one gets such mery, how can one cross
By Chaitanya Charan das
A search for God or for the ultimate truth underlying existence has characterized thinking people in various traditions all over the world. Among various conceptions of God that have been revealed, the conception of Krishna is special. One aspect of his specialty is the specialty of his devotees, especially the devotees of Vrindavan, the Vrajavasis.
The claim to specialty is a matter of not subjective sectarian sanctimony, but objective theological reality. After all, ho
Dearest Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you!
This year marks the 123rd anniversary of your appearance in this world. Somehow, by the causeless mercy of the Supreme Lord, I am connected to you through initiation as one of your spiritual sons. This can never be disputed in the chronicles of time because on December 10, 1971, you wrote the following to my temple president:
“I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 22, 1971, along with beads a
