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By Yamuna Devi Dasi

What a week of Vaisnava sadhu-satsanga this has been! I leave the richer, having exchanged with my family members, old and new, Godbrothers, Godsisters, nephews and nieces. While I feel most unqualified to speak to you today, I am honoured and privileged to join my Godsisters in voicing my concerns as a woman in ISKCON.

As the GBC body, all of you are responsible for establishing Srila Prabhupada’s legacy, which, in these difficult and turbulent times, is at stake. One realm

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Vrndavana – Land of No Return

By Brahmananda Dasa

From the beginning of time, man has yearned for the perfect home a paradise, a Shangri-la, a Walden where he could live eternally in peace and happiness. Such a place cannot be found anywhere in the material world, however, for the material world is by its very nature temporary and frustrating. To end our weary searching, we must go beyond this world of duality, beyond the boundaries of space and time, into the spiritual realm.

Vrndavana, India, is that sought-after eternal

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Vaishnava Etiquette

By Bhakti Caru Swami

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructed Sanatana Gosvami to write Vaishnava Smrti (Hari-bhakti-vilasa) in CC. Madhya-lila 24.324-344:
 
Folding his hands, Sanatana Gosvami said, “My Lord, You ordered me to write a directory about the activities of Vaishnavas. I am a most lowborn person. I have no knowledge of good behavior. How is it possible for me to write authorized directions about Vaishnava activities?” Sanatana Gosvami then requested the Lord, “Please personally tell me how
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Bhagavad-gita As It Is - 14.26

TEXT 26
mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate
SYNONYMS
mam—unto Me; ca—also; yah—person; avyabhicarena—without fail; bhakti-yogena—by devotional service; sevate—renders service; sah—he; gunan—all the modes of material nature; samatitya—transcending; etan—all this; brahma-bhuyaya—to be elevated on the Brahman platform; kalpate—is considered.
TRANSLATION
One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once tran
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Hare Krishna,
Dear Devotees,

Blogs:

Videos:

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Hare Krishna,
Dear Devotees

Blogs:

Video:

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Hare Krishna,
Dear Devotees

Blogs:

Video:

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FATAL FAT

By Caitanya Caran Das

A two inch tongue can kill a six feet man. This traditional saying is being confirmed by modern obesity statistics. The prosperity of the Indian middle class is showing up – in a not-so-pleasant way in the burgeoning waistline, of over 25% of urban Indians. Obesity is the cause of diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks, strokes and a variety of other chronic diseases. Unlike infectious diseases which are curable, chronic diseases need lifelong care, leading to enormous expe

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Events

Can physicalism fully explain all features of the phenomenal world? The international conference to be held in Gainesville, Florida, from January 18 to 20, 2019, organized by the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies is a  multi-disciplinary exploration of the possibilities and challenges of the topic of consciousness in science with the participation of scientists and scholars - physicists, philosophers, chemists, biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, mathematicians, computer scien

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Youth for Sustainability

 Events
 
By Kamala Priya Dasi 

More than sixty ISKCON youths and twelve youth leaders participated in a project that included four inspiring youth exchanges during 2017 and 2018. 

Two years ago, six devotees from different yatras started to organize youth exchanges at several ISKCON temples in Europe. They saw a need for ISKCON’s youth to get together, develop deep friendships, integrate into the ISKCON community, and develop a philosophical understanding of our faith.  

The title of the project wa

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Kirtana-Yoga and the Maha-mantra

By Satyaraja Dasa

Kirtana is a simple and effective way to commune with God.

The word kirtana means “praise” or “glory” and is the name given to glorification of God in song, especially in call-and-response style. There are different categories of kirtana. For example, nama-kirtana refers to singing God’s sacred names, lila-kirtana celebrates the transcendental activities of God and His associates, sankirtana is group singing, and nagara-sankirtana is public chanting in the streets. There are n

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A Mountain of Faults

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Dhirasanta Das Goswami: It was the hour of the day when anyone could come to the king and present anything and the king would deal with it. So Maharaja Yudhisthira was on the throne waiting for people and Bhima was at the entrance to the castle in the next room.
One man came and said to Bhima, “I have to see Yudhisthira, I have got a big problem and I can’t figure it out.” Bhima replied, “Oh. What is the problem?” The man said, “I have got a vegetable garden and for security purposes I built a

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By Jaybhadra devi dasi

ISKCON Mayapur has been organizing the Sri Ksetra Parikrama for the past thirteen years but it has been performed since the time of Vidyapati, one of Lord Jagannatha’s most intimate worshippers who served under King Indradyumna. It is always held at Puri-dhama on the days prescribed in the scriptures and observed by previous generations.

The parikrama was blessed with the association of many senior devotees, including Indradyumna Maharaja disciple Bhakti Rasayan Sagar Mah

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Who am I? Nobody!

Hare Krishna

Written by an insignificant soul

This is how I have always felt in my devotional life. I have always been in awe of fantastic devotees with their enthusiasm for preaching and bringing Krishna into the lives of so many souls to rescue them from this material life. I have always felt that I am no one, I know nothing and I certainly would never be able to help anyone how wrong I was.

A colleague, Andrew, began to have headaches at the end of January. It took about 3 weeks to discover that he had

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 24 April 2011, Durban, South Africa, Ratha Yatra Lecture)

Srila Prabhupada wrote two letters after the departure of his spiritual master. In the first letter, he said, “My spiritual master has now returned back to the spiritual world and has taken up his eternal position as a manjari in the spiritual world.” In the second letter, he wrote, “Although my spiritual master is now in the spiritual world, he is always looking at everything I do.”

So in other words, Prabhupada w

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By Ananda Tirtha Das

Only He Could Lead Them: San Francisco / India 1967

SPL 22: "Swami Invites the Hippies"

22. "Swami Invites the Hippies"

January 16, 1967

As the United Airlines jet descended on the San Francisco Bay area, Srila Prabhupada turned to his disciple Ranacora and said, "The buildings look like matchboxes. Just imagine how it looks from Krsna's viewpoint." Srila Prabhupada was seventy-one years old, and this had been his first air trip. Ranacora, nineteen and dressed in a suit

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Activism
 
By Madhava Smullen

Although Food For Life Hungary operates all year around, the charity has a huge drive throughout the month of December, organizing events all over the country to feed thousands of people in need.

The effort was started by Dhananjaya Das back in 1993. Pulling up to a square in downtown Budapest and distributing potatoes and orange from an ancient van, devotees were soon surrounded by a crowd of people. 

Today Bhakta Vatsala Das heads up the Christmas time drive, reaching ou

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Events
 
By Madhava Smullen

Between five and six hundred devotees from all over North America started the New Year as they meant to go on – chanting the Holy Name and associating with devotees – at Kirtan 50 in Dallas this holiday season.

The genesis of the festival took place a decade ago, when gurukuli Sri Rupa Das started an annual New Year’s Eve 24-Hour Kirtan at ISKCON Dallas. 

Then in 2016, when temple president Nityananda Das wanted to do something monumental for ISKCON’s 50thanniversary, the

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People

By Madhava Smullen

Kaliyaphani Das, an English disciple of Srila Prabhupada known for being multi-talented and always ready to serve – as an actor/director, book distributor, kirtan leader, and groundskeeper to name but a few – passed away in a motorcycle accident on January 3rd, 2019 in Alachua, Florida. He was sixty-five.

Born in Hambledon, Surrey on May 21st, 1953, Kaliyaphani grew up in an upper-middle class family and went to a prestigious private school. It was there that some of his m

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