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"Free will" or having a unique independent personality and sense of self, means the individual jiva-souls can express themselves in their own unique way serving Krsna, voluntarily offering their own personal contributions in a "two-way" exchange.

Srila Prabhupāda - "Love means a relationship between "two persons," then there is exchange, then there is love. I must deal with you open-hearted, you must deal with me open-hearted, then there is love. So if you want to love Kṛṣṇa, God, then these thin

Thousands are in Sri Mayapur Dham to celebrate the opening of the TOVP Nrsimhadeva Wing following the 150th Vyasa-puja of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. A schedule of the 150th Appearance Day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and Nrsimhadeva Mohotsava can be found below. Click here for the entire schedule of the three days from February 29 – March 2 in an online flipbook that is downloadable and shareable. The entire program will also be broadcast live on Mayapur TV here.

Source: https://is

On February 25th, Mendoza, Argentina, held its annual “Blessing of the Fruits” festival, thanking God for a bountiful harvest. The cultural event, which has been going on since the 1930s, included religious leaders from different traditions who each contributed to the program. Baladeva Das, ISKCON’s Regional Director of Communications in Latin America, beautifully chanted the Panca-tattva and Hare Krsna mantras and blew a conch shell for the estimated 15,000 people who were gathered at the fest

Devotees from across New Zealand came to ISKCON Auckland to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Sri Sri Radha Giridhari Temple from January 19-21, 2024. 

Day one began with a kirtan festival followed by a Rath Yatra on the second day of festivities. The main celebration was the third day with the Chandan Yatra and a flower abhishek of the Deities, Sri-Sri Radha Giridhari. The temple leadership also reverently celebrated the inauguration of the Ayodhya temple on January 22nd with an abhishek of Lo

“Fake News” is in the news, everyone seems to be or pretend to be worried about it. A news or an information or a story or a data is considered “fake” when the truth is suppressed and is manipulated to suit a certain narrative. Political parties, journalists, twitter warriors, social activists today do not hesitate to spread fake news to further their agenda. Thinking people are up in arms and are vociferously demanding to check the menace of fake news.

It is good to be concerned about the fake

From Back to Godhead

By Guru Dasa (Gurudev D. Allin), a disciple of His Holiness Bhaktimarga Swami.

“Oh, God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.” Shakespeare’s Hamlet, 2.2 (First Folio) This line from Hamlet nicely sums up the absurdity of our delusions of self-importance. I wrote this meditation on the importance of humility as part of my effort to shake my own delusions of knowledge and significance.

Human nature see

Srila Prabhupada was given the whole world as his frontier for preaching. He wanted to fulfill Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction that His holy name would be spread all over the world. Prithivite ache yata nagaradi grama / sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama (Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya 1.117). Srila Prabhupada traveled the world eleven times, published volumes of Krishna conscious books and established 108 temples and centers. Everything was a massive success.

Srila Prabhupada was the pioneer wh

Those jiva-souls who fall to being called the "tatastha-sakti designation" means they have fallen (entered) the material world.

Srila Prabhupada - "So this temporary material world is the taṭastha (materially conditioned) characteristics, and the spiritual world is the permanent (personal) characteristics. So our effort is to get out of this taṭastha (materially conditioned) characteristics and enter the permanent (personal) characteristics. That is called spiritual elevation." (Lecture CC Madhya

The grand opening of Sri Narasimha Wing Temple is currently going on! Auspiciousness in fullness! A day filled with festive dances, exchange, love, unity and divine sanga!  Along with the Nrisimha wing temple opening and the grand commemoration of the 150th Appearance Anniversary of ISKCON Param Guru His Divine Grace Ashottara Sata Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada, the Bhaktivedanta Research Center (BRC) in Kolkata, in collaboration with the Saraswata Gaudiya Vashnava Association

Sri Prahlada Dasa:

Today is the holy appearance day of our grandfather or great-grandfather spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja Prabhupada. On Giriraj Maharaja’s instruction, I will attempt to say something about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s history and share my realizations regarding his contribution and mood. I pray for the mercy of the Vaishnavas that this realization aligns with his authentic teachings.

The appearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati is most sign

By Giriraj Swami

Today is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada’s appearance day. We have heard about His Divine Grace already. Today is also the disappearance day of HH Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja. He left on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s appearance day.

I remember the first time we celebrated Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s appearance day. I was a new devotee in Boston temple in early 1970, and Srila Prabhupada instructed us how to observe the appearance day of the spiritual

Dhruva Maharaja dasa: I put this slideshow/video together for a class on Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s Appearance day this Saturday at the Alachua Temple of Srila Prabhupada explaining his famous Vyasa-puja Offering poetry from 1936. I think devotees may appreciate Prabhupada explaining reasons for using various phrases in that offering.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=71884

Birthplace of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

at Sri Jagannatha Puri Dhama

By Chandan Yatra Das

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was a foremost scholar and Lord Krishna’s devotee of his day. Born on 6 Feb 1874 at Jagannatha Puri, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura is the child that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura prayed to Lord Jagannatha for, wanting an able assistant to preach Krishna Consciousness. His divinity was evident from birth. When he was born, his umbilical cord was wrapped

Today is the auspicious appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura!

“I advise all to preach the teachings of Rūpa-Raghunātha [disciples of Lord Caitanya] with all energy and resources. Our ultimate goal shall be to become the dust of the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī Rūpa and Raghunātha Gosvāmīs. You should all work conjointly under the guidance of your spiritual master with a view to serve the Absolute Knowledge, the Personality of Godhead. You should live somehow or other without any q

You say, “Oh! We have been cheated so many times. Now we won’t put faith in anyone. No sādhus are there. We don’t see any sādhu.”
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Can you see a sādhu? Do you have the vision to see a sādhu? You are a conditioned soul. You have defective vision. How can you see a sādhu? You have developed this motto, “Seeing is believing.” You say, “If I see then I will believe. Can you show me? Can you show me the Lord? Then I will believe.”
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But you are not prepared to admit that you are blind. You have no

By Madhavananda Das
From chapter 15 of When Good Fortune Arises

“I MAY LEAVE”
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Shortly after hearing his comments following the 1995 GBC meetings, a couple of disciples of Gour Govinda Maharaja approached their spiritual master: “Guru Maharaja, we don’t need these people. We can leave ISKCON and start our own society. You have so many disciples, it won’t be any problem.”
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Hearing their suggestion, Gour Govinda Swami became very grave. Shaking his head no, he said, “The only way I will leave I

Creative dramatic presentations have been part of the ISKCON culture since the earliest days, with devotees performing at Sunday Feasts beginning in the late 1960s. The Bhaktivedanta Players, the main drama group at the Manor, recently performed a Krishna-Conscious version of the classic 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz.”  The parody pantomime, called “The Wizard of Om,” was so popular that it was performed three times in a single day in the Manor’s theatre and was especially appreciated by the yo