By Sayer Ji
Chanting (mantra) is an ancient technology that, as modern science reveals, connects us in a very real way to the farthest reaches of the universe.
I love chanting mantras, and I do so daily as an integral part of my kundalini yoga practice. I don’t need to know the specifics of how it produces a calming and sometimes even transcendent effect on my consciousness, but I’ve always been deeply curious about the mechanisms that may be at play beneath the surface of my awareness.
This i
Sri Damodarastakam
By Sri Satyavrata Muni
From the original 1974 “Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas” songbook
This eight sloka prayer is sung morning and evening during the month of Damodara, which begins today.
namāmīśvaraḿ sac-cid-ānanda-rūpaḿ
lasat-kuṇḍalaḿ gokule bhrājamanam
yaśodā-bhiyolūkhalād dhāvamānaḿ
parāmṛṣṭam atyantato drutya gopyā
1) To the supreme controller who possesses an eternal form of blissful knowledge, whose glistening earrings swing to and fro, who manifested Himself in Gokul
By Giriraj Swami
“It is important that devotees take care of each other. Like other people, devotees have different aspects to their lives—physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. So we want to support each other in all these ways. Of course, with devotees, everything is for Krishna. We help each other in all respects to better serve guru and Krishna. That is really our goal: gopi-bhartu pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasa—we want to be the servant of the servant of Krishna, the maintainer of the
By Giriraj Swami
Today i.e 05th Oct 2017 we begin the beautiful month of Damodara. The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 4, says, “There is a statement in Padma Purana describing the ritualistic function during the month of Karttika (October–November). During this month, in Vrndavana it is the regulative principle to pray daily to Lord Krsna in His Damodara form. The Damodara form refers to Krsna in His childhood when He was tied up with rope by His mother, Yasoda. Dama means ‘ropes,’ and udarameans
By Vaikunthanath das
It is a miracle of good fortune that Srila Prabhupada’s disciple, Saradiya dasi, should leave her physical body on the very day of the Sri Krsna Saradiya Rasa-yatra (October 5, 2017). She left at 6:15 a.m. San Diego time. The time zone in India is twelve and a half hours ahead of California, so it was 6:45 p.m. in Vrindaban at that moment. The moon rose at 6:03 p.m. in Vrindaban. So Saradiya left her body just as the moon was rising above the horizon in Sri Vrindaban Dham.
ALL INDIA PADAYATRA WORLD HOLY NAMES WEEK CELEBRATIONS October 6, 2017 By Acarya Dasa Srila Prabhupada’s greatest desire is to propagate the chanting of the Holy Names all over the world. During Srila Prabhupada’s Centennial held in the year 1996, the Governing Body Commission (GBC) of ISKCON established ‘World Holy Names Day’ to commemorate Srila Prabhupada’s arrival anniversary in the West. The ‘World Holy Names Week’ celebrations enthuses and inspires devotees all over the world. Just as one
UPDATE FROM THE TELANGANA, INDIA PADAYATRA | ATTRACTING VILLAGERS WITH THE HOLY NAMES
October 6, 2017
By Vishnu Swamy Dasa
After celebrating Janmastami and Radhastami we resumed our pāda-yātrā with four devotees. We are now travelling to more interior regions of the state of Telangana State such as Motakondur, and Valigonda Mandal.
We set off on September 7th from the Gaura Gram farm near Yadagiri Gutta. This time, many villagers participated in the saṅkīrtana. They were attracted by the mridanga a
By Kadamba Kanana Swami
In 1986, I was very involved in the construction of Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi in Mayapur. There was NO LIMIT to what had to be arranged for that building! One day I looked at the Samadhi and it looked like a huge face with a big mouth, and the mouth just said, “Aniyor! Aniyor! Bring me more! Bring me more!”
And I brought trucks of cement, steel, bricks, stone, marble. I brought engineers and draughtsmen, drawing and technical experts and I had to deal with endless thing
By Nishanta-lila Dasi
Sri Damodara-janani is the latest book from Sivarama Swami and the fourth volume of the Krishna in Vrndavana series, a unique retelling of the damodara-lila that weaves a captivating tale of the glories of Mother Yasoda.
No other person has ever received the unique mercy that Krishna showed His own mother, teaching devotees for all time that the binding force of love for Him is more powerful than even His own supreme will. A lila that stopped the demigods in their tracks,
By Umesh Modak
He is an initiated disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Srila Prabhupada) since 1974. He first met Bhaktivedanta Swami in Dallas, USA. Alfred Ford joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1975 and that same year he made his first trip to India with Prabhupada. He assisted in the establishment of the first Hindu temple in Hawaii and also donated $500,000 to help establish the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center in Detroit which was completed in 1983. A
By Sanatana Gosvami
Kartika month is the most important month in our calendar, as it is very dear to Sri Sri Radha-Madhava. Just as there is no yuga equal to Satya-yuga, no scripture equal to the Vedas, and no place of pilgrimage equal to the Ganges, so there is no month equal to Kartika. During the Kartika month, millions of devotees worship Damodara Krishna with ghee lamps and devotional bhajans, glorifying His playful childhood pastime of stealing yogurt. And traditionally, desiring to satis
By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications
Born to a devotee family in New Vrindaban, West Virginia in 1977, Bhagavan Bauer lived and attended gurukula there until the age of eighteen.
While he developed great friendships with the other gurukula students and has good memories of fun times with them, he also endured the kind of traumatic abuse and neglect that was unfortunately all too common in many of ISKCON’s ashram-based gurukulas at the time.
So it was no surprise that he le
By Ramai Swami
I accompanied a small but enthusiastic band of devotees from Govinda’s Asrama on harinama to Newtown.
This inner suburb of Sydney is famous for students and alternative lifestyle residents. The shopping strip has about 8 vegetarian/vegan restaurants and some years ago we had a centre there too.
People enjoyed the kirtan with many waving and clapping from the cafes and bars.
Source: http://www.ramaiswami.com/newtown-harinama/
By Navin Shyam Prabhu
TKG Academy is now offering an after school chess club, facilitated by Navin Shyam Prabhu.
The club, “Yudhisthira’s Chess Court”, is meant to provide interested students an opportunity to learn the rules and fundamental strategies of the game and have an opportunity to practice with their peers. The club will focus on respectful playing and encouragement of all participants. Timings:
Tuesdays, 3:15 – 4:00 PM
Fee: $10 per month, or $50 for the whole school year.
*September
Recently from 29th Sept – 1st Oct, the devotees of ISKCON PUNE, NVCC were highly privileged by the divine association of illustrious disciples of Srila Prabhupada – HG Haripad Pr and HG Phalini Mataji.
HG Haripad Pr joined ISKCON in 1973 and served as a Sankirtan Leader and also the leader for the bus party for 7 years. Prabhuji joined after reading the Bhagavad-gita in just 3 days!!! He is currently based in Udupi in Karnataka. HG Phalini Mataji is a very dedicated devotee of Lord Rama and is
KARTIK CHAD 2017 – BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 9
(5 OCT 2017 to 3 NOV 2017)
H.G. Vaisesika Prabhu has selected Chapter 9 for Kartik 2017! Make a vow to recite Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 9 every day from 6 Oct 2017 to 3 Nov 2017.
As heat purifies gold and
