Blog

By Mina Sharma

The day began with a thought-provoking presentation on Ethics and Morality in ISKCON, delivered by HG Rasamandala Dasa. This provided food for thought for a group exercise where devotees broke into sub-teams to discuss key moral and ethical issues facing ISKCON and working out our position on these.

After prasadam, HG Anuttama Dasa ran a practical and lively session on the Art of Public Speaking, where he shared practical tips that devotees can implement immediately. The ISKCON E

LITTLE VAISHNAVAS TAKE PADAYATRA TO DHAMANGAON

By Jayabhadra devi dasi – IGF preacher ISKCON Amravati

After a successful little balgopals’ padayatra at Amravati, the ISKCON Girls’ Forum considered holding such events at other nearby centres. My spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, once said in a japa talk, “When you chant Krishna is happy, but when you give harinama to others Krishna becomes happier.” If padayatra makes Krishna and my spiritual master happy, why not have padayatras everywhere?

VAISHNAVI EVENING WALK COMPLEMENTS CHILDREN’S EVENT

By Jayabhadra devi dasi – IGF preacher ISKCON Amravati

Following the ISKCON Girls’ Forum Vaishnavi padayatra at Amravati, I had been looking for the opportunity to hold such walks in our nearby centres. When the chance came to have a children’s padayatra at Dhamangaon it seemed natural to follow that with a Vaishnavi padayatra later that day, an idea to which ISKCON centre leader Damodardulal dasa kindly agreed. At the end of the little Vaish

ISKCON included in Cambridge syllabus and exams

The Cambridge body of examination based in UK through which Mauritius gets their Higher School Certificate has included ISKCON as a topic to be studied as from next year in Hinduism.

The examinations will be held by 2021. Students aged 17, 18, 19 will be studying ISKCON movements in high school.

This is truly an achievement and a step ahead to make students Krishna Conscious.

The attached images are of the syllabus they will be studying.

In this episode, I talk to Damodar Prabhu again to discuss some of the more personal aspects of his life as a devotee.

Some of the topics we cover:

• How it was growing up in a Hare Krishna family.
• What life was like as a 17-year-old brahmacari.
• What it was like to be part of the "van ashram".
• How his techniques as a book distributor helped him in his professional career.
• Challenges faced by temple presidents.
• What are his concerns in regard to leadership development in the sanyasi.

To listen to the episo

In order for the thesis of this article to be appreciated we will first discuss the underlying context of the scriptures- we might call this the paradigm of Vaishnava teaching.

Srila Prabhupada wrote:

The devotees of the Lord understand that it is maya’s influence that has spoiled the people and made them demoniac. Thus the inherently noble disposition of the devotees leads them to think only of the demons’ benefit, without a tinge of envy (RTW 1.3).

Genuine spiritual teachers are friends to ev

When I work in hospitals I am always very moved by the great suffering and despair of the souls who by circumstance happen to be there, whether patient or hospital worker. Because of this, as I traverse the various stairwells, elevators, corridors and rooms I whisper Hari! Hari! over and over again, pleading for His Divine Presence to Descend and benefit the suffering jivas.

Often I am left in a room working alone, pondering how many people have died in that particular room and I begin to gentl

By Mina Sharma

Day Two of the European Communications Conference began with a very relevant and hard hitting talk by Willy Fautre of Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF). This led to much discussion about various cases of abuse of human rights on the basis of religious belief and how HRWF has helped. It was also a fascinating opportunity to learn about the importance of PR and lobbying to raise awareness and tackle these issues.

Next was an e

By Her Grace Malati Devi Dasi

Developing congregations in ISKCON is actually something so important that enough cannot be said about it. Initially the temples were our homes, and if you were not living in the temple, then you were considered to be in maya. Thankfully that concept no longer exists. As wonderful and as big our temples may become, they are not going to be able to be big enough to accommodate the whole world.

Lord Caitanya’s movement is meant to encompass the whole world. The temple i

By Kripamoya dasa

Whether you like it or not, Jehovah’s Witnesses are always ready to do two things (1) Distribute books (2) Sit down and talk with you, and help you to understand. ISKCON has many book distributors, but we need more gurus.

After people have read one of Srila Prabhupada’s books, and if they want to know more, their first question is often something like this: “How can I find out more about all this? Do you have any meetings in my town?” or “Are there any other Krishna people liv

By His Grace Aniruddha Dasa (Temple President Melbourne Australia)

I think it is important that the leaders of our society put effort into training and educating the congregation because we have discovered how effective it is, especially if the leaders themselves are the teachers. There is this concern that if we train up all these people and they have home programs they won’t come to the temple. But what we have actually found is that if you put the time in to training, educating and making frie

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