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From Back to Godhead

By Jivan Mukta Dasa

On the path back home, back to Godhead, householder life often seems like an obstacle course. Stumbling blocks dominate the landscape. Work, social obligations, and household matters such as rearing children and paying the bills can easily become impediments to our spiritual development. Devotees may find themselves pressed to compromise their ideals because of the often negative influence of these constraints.

So how can we successfully prevent the attr

Lecture on The mind is a monkey that makes us a donkey by HG Chaitanya Charan Prabhu

(His Grace Caitanya Charan Prabhu is a monk and spiritual teacher in the time honored tradition of bhakti yoga. He is a editor of Back to Godhead, which is the official international magazine of the Hare Krishna movement.)

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By Karnamrita Das

The Origin of Secrets and their Reflection in the World

I am finding the subject of secrets very rich, deep and important. The existence of secrets is all-pervading, and it all begins in the spiritual world, where it has it true purpose to facilitate the loving pastimes of Krishna and his devotees. For example, Krishna’s relationship with Radha and the gopis, while suspected by a few, is a secret kept from Krishna’s parents, which intensifies their love and the passion of thei

Dharmsala is a beautiful hill station in Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh. Located at a height of 4800ft. from sea level, it is situated on the slopes of scenic dhauladhar mountain range. The view of these mountains from our host’s roof in Dharmsala is really fascinating. Dhauladhar’s snow covered peaks decorate this valley just like a mighty crown. It’s rich flora and fauna renders the landscape even more beautiful. Dhauladhar range is a paradise for worldwide mountain trekkers and Paraglider

Exploring the anatomy of a superior-subordinate relationship with the dynamics of subordinate’s autonomy and superior’s sensitivity.

How would you feel when your senior often intervenes to correct your decisions and actions? Do you get frustrated when your choices and opinions are not appreciated but altered? Would you love to have a guide who allows you to operate with freedom and wouldn’t interfere with your autonomy?

Interference with Independence

Every individual has an independence and he

We organized 4th annual Turkish Namahatta camp on the outskirts of Istanbul, Turkey. Our special guest was HH Sivarama Swami and also there were 7 devotees from Hungarian Yatra came along with him. It was the most crowded namahatta event for us and some days we reached 70 visitors in the place. Actually, it was the best retreat we have ever organized in terms of attendance, hotel itself, staff of the hotel, weather conditions, and many other aspects. Devotees had opportunity to get HH Sivaram S

A few weeks ago, Lord Nityananda’s Padukas and Lord Nrsimhadeva’s Satari, along with Their Graces Jananivas, Ambarisa, Svaha and Braja Vilasa prabhus paid an ecstatic visit to Hong Kong and Taiwan (Taipei) as part of the worldwide TOVP Tour that has been on the road since 2015.

However, we first would like to express our gratitude and thanks to TOVP Chairman Ambarisa prabhu and his wife Svaha mataji who, despite his busy personal schedule and pressing health issues, made the time to come to Hon

Nama Om…
Mukham karoti …
I need some warm water.
Mukham karoti…
So after spending almost a month and a half in the ICUs, after having waited for about six months to have a liver and kidney organs, Mahavaraha, he went and found out the exact system that whatever organs become available, go first to the government and which only the government hospitals do the liver transplant, Stanley Hospital which is owned by the state.

Then I had a transplant registration through the Stanley Hospital under th

Most devotees’ lives and views on devotional service change as their ashram changes. When several devotees pass through ashram changes at approximately the same time-or even if one respected devotee within a temple changes his ashram-a temple can become affected.

My writing down these developmental stages, which is similar for both individual devotees and temples (If the majority of devotees within a temple are in a similar ashram situation, it can be said that that temple is at that particular

I HAVE ALWAYS done a bit of travelling, at least since 1975 when I was fortunate enough to join Srila Prabhupada’s personal entourage. I got to travel India and around the world with His Divine Grace, and it gave me my first look at worldwide ISKCON.

I was impressed. Impressed with Srila Prabhupada and impressed with his disciples and the amazing scope of transcendental activity that was manifesting all over the globe. Unity was the key, and that was achieved through the presence and desire of

It isn’t always easy to see the funny side of things. Often I find it happens in retrospect. Recently I set off for a trip to that fabled land of chocolate and respected home of the European Union, Belgium. After loading up my trusty Satnav with the appropriate maps, I struck out by road. All went well until I approached my destination and it became apparent that the old satnav was struggling. It had taken me far out into the snow swept wilds of the Ardennes and as I peered about in alarm it su

I was reading a verse where it says, “Not by any means nor by any weapon, can one take away the possessions of a devotee.” That was interesting because I do watch over my electronics and do not leave them lying around because things sort of move in different directions. But, the possessions of a devotee cannot be taken away by any means because the true possession of a devotee is Krsna and devotional service; and devotional service cannot be taken away! Devotional service is always there. It is

In this article Brother Aelred (Chaitanya Dasa) offers his observations on the effectiveness of ISKCON’s communication of its key messages. These are particularly valuable in view of Brother Aelred’s close association with ISKCON over the years and his unusual position of being both a practising Catholic monk and Vaishnava. He is frank and insightful,with a sincere desire to help devotees. As the Scottish poet Robbie Burns once said, ‘I pray to God the power to give us, to see ourselves as oth

By Hari Parshad Das

What kind of devotees we are making?
Subhaga Swami: Srila Prabhupada wanted all his disciples to become gurus. To spread Lord Caitanya’s message to every town and village many gurus are needed. The guru should be an elevated person, beyond material attraction. That is not easy. We must understand we can never, never, never be happy here [in the material world], despite our dreams. Srila Prabhupada said this movement is for building character. We should be introspective to see how well we are