In the Bhagavad-Gita, it is mentioned that there is the austerity of the body, austerity of the speech and austerity of the mind. In the austerity of the body, there are things like offering respect to elders. In the austerity of speech, we speak truthfully and such things. In the austerity of the mind however, there is one interesting point. This point that is mentioned is ‘to be satisfied’.
So since when is being satisfied an austerity? Are we experiencing satisfaction as an austerity?
Well,
On Sunday, September 15, in Dallas, in the presence of Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji, Srila Prabhupada, and their followers, I was pleased to officially connect eight devotees to Srila Prabhupada and the guru-parampara through hari-nama initiation. Rajesh Sharma became Radha-vallabha dasa, Seema Sharma became Srimati dasi, Deo Pun became Divya Nama dasa, Manju Pun became Manjari dasi, Syamasundara Dasshort became Syama-vallabha dasa, Maria (Maggie) Caldwell became Madhuri Gopika dasi, Vanitha Sukum
By Ukranian IMCPA ( Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture)
Ukraine held the first ISKCON Farm Organization meeting in New Mayapur, from the 16-18th of August. The event targeted on how to accomplish the recent GBC resolution that by Janmastami 2022, all ISKCON centers should have a plan on how to supply the Deities with Dairy from protected cows.
New Mayapur, Ukraine, is located on the territory of an ex-pioneer camp in the protected forest and on the bank of the river Oryl, which is one
Mathura, 2019-09-12: On Wednesday, September 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the holy town of Mathura to inaugurate and announce various projects related to animal/cattle healthcare, dairy development, cleanliness and tourism. The program was organized at Mathura’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Veterinary Science University and Cattle Research Institute.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Mathura MP Hema Malini were also present.
Addressing the (approx.) 15000 strong crowd in Brajbhasha, the
More than 5,000 devotees have flooded to Jubga, near the Black Sea, for the epic Sadhu Sanga festival which started on September 4thand will run for one week until the 11th.
A popular vacation spot in the south of Russia, Jubga is bordered on one side by lush greenery and on the other by the picturesque Black Sea. It has been the site of Sadhu Sanga for the past five years, although the festival was launched over two decades ago.
Fittingly, this year the coastal event ha
Alpasya hetorbahuhātumicchanniti nyāyaḥ (huge effort to gain a trifle)
One overworks to get transient results.
It is not very sensible to work hard for a little profit. But it so happens everywhere. The human form is very rare to achieve. It is a golden opportunity after soul's travel through millions of other life forms. Yet the obstinate mind dictates us to work very very hard in freezing cold and scorching heat, day-shifts, night-shifts, in nonhuman environments just to get little drop of promi
By Madhava Smulen
On Saturday August 24th, the sacred day of Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-Puja, a group of devotees from El Paso, Texas fed Jagannath prasadam to nearly one thousand migrants at a Central American refugee facility in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, right on the border.
The migrants, including families with young children, had fled gang violence, political instability, and economic hardship in Honduras, Guatemela, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
On their way, they had been smuggled by ‘coyotes
By Bhaktimarga Swami
Reveal One’s Impressions
At the final session of our monk sanga (gathering) our facilitator asked us to write down a statement revealing our impressions. This was my off-the-cuff rendition:
“Krishna is fond
When we do bond
In sharing views
We destroy our blues.”
Another verse from the Bhagavad-gita confirms the notion of chatting on spiritual topics. Such activity brings about the greatest joy. That verse is 10.9.
If we talk of practical matters we may get bored. If we talk
Hare Krishna and pranams dear devotees,
Today is Bhadra Purnima, a very auspicious and special day for all the devotees of lord Krishna.
Today is Visvarupa- mahotsava , the date on which Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s elder brother, Visvarupa, took sannyasa, the renounced order of life. We hear from Caitanya Caritamrta –
After this, Jagannātha Miśra got a son of the name Viśvarūpa, who was most powerful and highly qualified because He was an incarnation of Baladeva.
Viśvarūpa
By Purshotam Govind, Anousha Maheshwary & Neeta Maheshwary
The appearance day of Lord Balaram symbolizes to resemble the devotees to be prepared for greeting Lord Krishna. Lord Balaram is firstly and in conclusion defined as THE SERVITOR GOD TO LORD KRISHNA. The caption compels the devotees to initially approach Bal Bhadra to serve Krishna. In fact, he is the ADI GURU (the teacher) for all the devotees, the purification GOD of our annuities onward restricting a devotee to be eligible for servi
Today is Bhadra-purnima. Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.13.13) states, “If on the full moon day of the month of Bhadra one places Srimad-Bhagavatam on a golden throne and gives it as a gift, he will attain the supreme transcendental destination.” As explained in the purport, “One should place Srimad-Bhagavatam on a golden throne because it is the king of all literature. On the full-moon day of the month of Bhadra, the sun, which is compared to this king of literatures, is present in the constellation Le
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
