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About the year 1500 A.D., the incarnation of God Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu began the Hare Krishna Movement in Navadvip, a city in the Indian province of Bengal. This movement, based on the philosophy of ancient Sanskrit texts of devotion to Krishna like the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, spread all over India within a short time. The movement popularized sankiritan, the congregational chanting of the maha-mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Ram

The tale of how one boy decided to bathe in the morning. 
Yulia Shevchenko: I wrote that really to highlight the theme of cleanliness, in an accessible form explaining it to children. I had an idea to try to compose small Vaishnava tales on the theme of cleanliness to inspire young Vaishnava bathe, brush their teeth and wash their hair. 
The basic idea in this case is that our body is the Lord’s temple and we should try to keep it clean, because in our hearts is the Lord who resides, always lov

10th anniversary of Kuli Mela (Album with photos)
The 10th anniversary of that Mela, which also took place in New Vrindaban from June 15th to 19th this year, took those themes further and showed new levels of maturity and stability amongst the Kuli community, while still being full of joy and celebration.
Around 700 people flooded into the emerald hills of New Vrindaban for the event. They included Kulis from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and across Europe and South and Central America; but al

In 1885, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote: “Lord Chaitanya did not advent Himself to liberate only a few men in India. Rather, His main objective was to emancipate all living entities of all countries throughout the entire universe and preach the eternal dharma. Lord Chaitanya states in Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, ‘In every town, country, and village My name will be sung.’ There is no doubt that this unquestionable order will come to pass… . Although there is still no pure society of Vaishnavas, Lo

ISKCON holds Iftar gathering. 
To celebrate the over 400-year-old amity between the Hindu and Muslim communities in West Bengal’s Nabadwip, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Mayapur on Wednesday organised an Iftar party with elected Muslim panchayat members as its guests inside the temple premises.
The event upholds the legacy of brotherhood between the two communities, the seeds of which were sown in the 16th century by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his relationship w

I came across a line in a book about caring for roses which said, ‘if you water the roses in the right way they will happy.” Making roses happy. What a meditation.

And then I thought how we try to make so many things happy in our life – our dog, our lawn, our children, our family. And of course ourselves, we are always trying to make ourselves happy.

Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail in our happiness projects. Life is just like that.

And then I thought about how to make God happy. If we

It’s not the first time the news is filled with outrage against ill-made remarks. What a sad state to be in – to think we pull ourselves up by putting others down. Prabhupada calls the kind of remarks made by Donald Sterling, symptomatic of ‘skin disease’, or identifying people based on their body, ignoring the spiritual reality.

The Gita says it is a fact that we are not this body; we are more than this body. We say ‘This is my hand’ or ‘this is my foot.’ so who is this I? To whom does the body

…If one wants success in life, he should immediately understand from the right sources what his self-interest is and how he should mold his life in spiritual consciousness…- Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.5 Purport

One of the 8 teachings left behind by Sri Caitanya speaks of humility. It says that one must be in a humble state of mind in order to meditate properly. We should feel lower than a piece of straw in the street actually. What does that mean and what are the implications for our practice?

Humility is a huge topic and true humility can’t be faked. It is grounded in the deep realization that we are not these bodies and not the owner of our things nor the controller of our lives. It’s coming to the p

Lately I’ve been wrapped up in the non-essentials of spiritual life: work, family, money, car problems, entertainment, sense gratification, etc. The only glimmer of devotional activity in my life right now is listening to Srila Prabhupada lectures on my commute to work. Even that has become sketchy lately, as I’m usually only half paying attention or zoning out.

I feel no enthusiasm for the devotional process right now. I don’t feel eager or excited to chant. I don’t have much desire to make t

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