By Daamodara Dhananjaya Prabhu
During one of our meetings between GBC-SPN (Strategic Planning Network) Outreach Committee and the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry, the subject matter of discussion was how to improve our outreach during the festivals that we celebrate in ISKCON. It has been observed that most of our festivals are successful in creating a majestic impression in the minds of the people, but fail to generate new devotees in a large number. In spite of so much time, labo
When a temple develops as a collective result of dedication and hard work of temple authorities and devotees at a lower level the success goes to the head of the head - the temple president. Such presidents start consolidating their position and go about as if they are the virtual owners. We have got an example on our hand where a temple president in defiance of his SpiritualMaster proclaimed the center and temple of which he was made president as being separate from main tree ISKCON. It is lik
During the Bangladesh ISIS attack on a café frequently visited by foreigners, which is in the headlines of the world media, an ISKCON devotee was attacked in the district of Satkhira, 300 km from Dhaka, on the border of India, a little North of Kolkata.
ISKCON has a recognized Namahatta temple in the village of Brahmarajapur, District Satkhira, Bangladesh.
The devotee in charge of it Bhavasindhu Dasa Adhikari had just finished his bath and was preparing for the Mangal Aarti at 4:15 am when the
Have any of you felt as I feel whenever I hear Srila Prabhupada's recorded lecture?
Although Prabhupada was speaking in front of so many of his disciples and other listeners. when you hear his lectures through an earphone it is indeed as if he is speaking to you personally.
You feel should not miss a word , even bat your eyelids fearing offence of inattention.
The other day I fell asleep as I was listening to a lecture of Prabhupada. I felt guilty and ashamed
anandgopaldasJPS
The Vedic injunction is asato ma sad gamaya: everyone should give up the platform of temporary existence and approach the eternal platform. The soul is eternal, and topics concerning the eternal soul are actually knowledge.- Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.5
By Syama Sakhi devi dasi
Situated in the idyllic mountain scenery of the ISKCON Hare Krishna community in Eungella, NSW, the Bhaktivedanta Swami Gurukula School is the only Hare Krishna school in Australia. It is a small but enthusiastic school with a current enrolment of 90 students and 17 teaching and support staff. The school was established more than 30 years ago, serving the community and its children by providing quality education that follows the Australian curriculum and offerin
Mukunda Goswami, author and one of the society’s initiating spiritual masters, is one of the very first disciples of ISKCON’s FounderAcharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Mukunda Goswami presents a peek into those precious beginnings of an organisation that grew exponentially in a very short period of time. From one small shopfront in 1966, in 2016 ISKCON is estimated to now have 650 centres, temples, schools and colleges worldwide with approximately 95,000 formally spir
I can ask any devotee I see about faults in ISKCON and will find myself in a long conversation. But then I take a step back and ask myself again, where are the faults? Actually there are none. There are none because ISKCON is based on the Vedic scriptures such as the Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, which are perfect in themselves.
ISKCON was formed by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada who is a perfect student of such literatures. So where is the fault? The fault lies in me, in my heart. Not
The Walking Monk is on the road again, celebrating ISKCON’s 50th anniversary in his own unique way.
From September 20th to November 10th in 2015, Bhaktimarga Swami walked from Boston’s Commonwealth Pier, where ISKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada first reached the U.S. in 1965, to Butler Pennsylvania, where he stayed with sponsors the Agarwal family, to New York City, where he registered ISKCON in 1966.
In New York, Bhaktimarga concluded his 907-mile walk by chanting under the famous “Hare Krishna t
“Worship of Radha-Krishna Deities is the ultimate pinnacle of Deity worship, and it must be done with the utmost caution and attention to every detail of giving opulent service. I am not recommending more temples to install Radha-Krishna Deities until I have become more convinced that they can properly manage. At least five to ten persons must be engaged full time to worship Radha-Krishna properly, and for any small temple especially that is a detrimental factor to maintaining the highest stand
Govardhana Trail in New Govardhana, Australia.
Kishori devi dasi: Lying across two states – Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in India – there is a mystical mountain called ‘Govardhana’. Govardhana is located in the middle of a forest called Vrindavana, the birthplace of the Lord, Sri Krishna. This mountain is considered sacred and non-different from Krishna Himself.
Nowadays there are still some pockets of the Vrindavana forest remaining and although Govardhana has reduced in size externally and is
TODAY IS ALL FOR YOU
My dear Lord Shyamsundara, yesterday I was lonely, but i meditated on Your lotus feet.
My dear Lord Shyamsundara, yesterday I was fearful, but i meditated on Your lotus feet.
My dear Lord Shyamsundara, yesterday i was depressed, but i meditated on Your lotus feet.
My dear Lord Shyamsundara, yesterday I was angry, but i meditated on Your lotus feet.
My dear Lord Shyamsundara, yesterday I was puffed up with pride,
Thinking about suicide?
“when pain of living becomes greater than the pain of dying then a person commits suicide.”
I had just typed suicide keyword and when i hit the enter button i got to see a number i was perplexed what is this? Then i understood it was a helpline number! Goodness!Suicide, an act of taking one's own life is a massively pervading phenomenon. You know what, it happens twice as often as murder. According to W
Lately I’ve been asking myself what’s stopping us from living the life we long for, and I’ve had to conclude that we’re usually our own worst enemies. Instead of living fully, we allow fear, selfishness, and anger to govern us, standing passively by despite their tyrannical rule. we throw ourselves into our own prison! Someone once told me, “There are as many ways to sabotage yourself as there are people in the world.”
Even saints have the ability to sabotage themselves. Have you ever wondered
On Sunday I told the story of my mother. She was born in May, named May, and died in May. She was a beautiful person and I learned much from her that continues to have a positive influence on my everyday spiritual practice.
I shared with all that I was there with my mother at the time of her leaving her body. It was a powerful experience with my sister on one side reciting prayers from the Bible and I on the other side chanting our mantra. She left peacefully on the wings of sacred sound.
What
A young lady from Colombia was walking on the Mall in DC last week. On the same day the young man who manages the Krishna House at near the University of Maryland decided to go there and sell some Bhagavad-gitas.
He met various people and sold some books. He also met this young lady from Colombia and she bought a book. After about ten minutes he saw her coming back towards him. She stopped to ask him two questions.
“Why are you out here doing this on this cold day?” she queried.
He told her he
Last week we asked the question – what do we do with the body when we know we’re not the body? How do we view it, work with it, live with it? Here are three approaches that help us see the body from a spiritual perspective and appreciate the strong role it plays in deepening our relationship with Krishna.
A Bridge: We as spirit souls connect to the world through the body. We eat, see, hear, smell and seek happiness through the mind and senses. The body bridges the inner me to the outer world. W
How to know Krishna? How to get a sense of who He is, a feeling towards Him? How can we think about Him naturally throughout the day and not just while we battle with our mind during our chanting practice? In other words, can we meditate off the mat and into the day?
Meditation is mind work. For some it’s emptying the mind of everything. For us it’s filling the mind with thoughts of Krishna. Letting the mind drift to His side, lean into His space and rest there.
Arjuna asked Krishna such a ques
