Websites from the ISKCON Universe
While recuperating from his stroke at Stinson Beach near San Francisco, Srila Prabhupada found the climate unsuitable due to insufficient sunlight. Deciding to return to India for better health, he planned a route from San Francisco → New York → London → Moscow → Delhi. Initiations at Stinson Beach Unable to travel to the templeThis is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:
So, when the Gita says that we should not disturb others’ minds, 3.26, na buddhi-bhedam janayet, ajnanam karma-sangeenam, joshyet sarva-karmani vidwanikta-samajam. So when we go out to distribute books, no, we are not letting people live their lives comfortably, we are trying to give Krishna to them. So is that disruption? Not necessarily.
If you look at what Krishna is saying in this verse, is that there are two levels. There is a level of, the level of people who are vidwan, who are wise and who are yuktaha, they are spiritually connected. In terms of intelligence and action, vidwan and yuktaha.
And the opposite is, na buddhi-bhedam janayet, ajnanam. Ajnanam is ignorant. And there is ajnanam karma-sangeenam, so karma-sangee is attached.
So there are attached ignorant people and there are wise and connected people. So now if we to some extent are here and there is somebody who is here, now we would like people to rise to the well-connected spiritual level. But sometimes it may happen that when we want people to rise all the way up here, that may become too much for them.
It becomes too much, they try to go up and they end up going further down. So for example, say somebody is worshipping Ganesh. We tell them, oh you worship only Krishna.
And we quote Shastra and they go and talk with their relatives and they find this, Shloka says Ganesh is supreme and this is Shloka says Krishna is supreme and they say that, you know, this whole religion business is very confusing. So better I become an atheist. Then what has happened is, we have ended up doing a disservice.
So when somebody is at a particular level, we want to elevate them from that level to a higher level. If they cannot come to a higher level right away, most people are here Indians from a Hindu background more or less. So there is only one country in the world where ISKCON is officially banned and that is Singapore.
And the reason it happened is that when our devotees, first generation devotees, mostly westerners, they came to Singapore and the devotees were welcoming the people over there. The Hinduism is officially recognized religion and the Hindus were very impressed. All these western people are practicing bhakti.
They invited them to temples to give classes and there are Ayyappa temple and Ganesh temple and Kartikeya temple and in those temples our devotees started saying, oh, Alpamitasa, you are less intelligent if you are worshipping devtas. And that created such a disturbance for them. They told the government that these people are disturbing our religious faith and the government banned us.
So now, if we are going to their forum, we have to speak a message that is acceptable for them. No Hindu will say Krishna is not God. The problem is not that Krishna is God.
The problem is Krishna alone is God. Now we have to be incremental. Instead of, it’s just not proper etiquette.
If we go to somebody else’s organized forum and criticize their beliefs over there, that if they are providing us a forum, then we have to present in a way that is acceptable for them. So if I am invited to Ganesh puja kind of programs, then I glorify a lot of Ganesh, talk some life lessons from him and then I talk about how Ganesh’s signature contribution is that he offered his own task to write the Mahabharata and the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad Gita. So this is a labor of love, this book that has been written.
So let us read that book. And when they read that book, they will get higher truths. So the point is that we need to create incremental pathways with steps.
People can get to the higher level. And different people may require a different degree of steps also. So some people may rise up, it will be Bahunam Janmanam But you will see that actually Srila Prabhupada himself, if you see among Srila Prabhupada’s followers, there were Srila Prabhupada’s disciples who just gave their life to Krishna.
They left everything and came to Krishna. But Srila Prabhupada also had life members. The life members did not become dedicated followers.
Very few of them became initiated. But they did a lot of service at that particular time. And Prabhupada created a place for them.
So that when we go for books, certainly we want to open the door for people to come to a higher level. And that’s what we do. But we don’t have to disrespect or insult their beliefs at that time.
If they have some other conception, we don’t have to criticize their conception at that particular time. We can just find some common ground and encourage them to dive deeper and end the interaction on a positive, favorable note. So to create a disturbance means what? That everybody has some worldview which makes some sense for them.
Now, it’s like somebody is very poor and they are on the streets, they are homeless, and they are having a very thin, torn, tattered kind of cloth with which they are protecting themselves from cold. And we tell them, I’ll give you this thick comforter. Just take this, throw away your tattered sheet and I’ll give you the comforter.
Now, that tattered sheet is the only relief from cold that they have experienced. If they don’t know how the comforter feels, they may not be ready for it. And if we try to pull that sheet away from them, they will fight against us with their life itself.
So whatever the worldview that a person may have, their worldview is like that cloth that is helping them make some sense of life. Giving them some protection from the chilling cold of an utterly meaningless life. So what we need to do is not pull away the cloth that is sheltering them right now.
Rather, that cloth might be there, we can put the comforter on top of it. That means give them an opportunity to experience Krishna. Give them an opportunity to understand Krishna’s wisdom.
They don’t need to confront and confound, confuse or confound them right now. There is a time that is required, but the appropriate time will come up. So don’t disturb people’s mind being that we should not act in a way that pushes people away from Krishna.
We may want to push them toward Krishna, but we push so much that we push them away from Krishna. So that is what we should not do. Thank you for that question.
The post By distributing books to people who haven’t asked for them, are we disturbing their minds, thus going against Gita 3.26? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
eta kṛpā koro prabhu
kori nija-baśa
Grant this mercy on me, O Lord Omnipotent
Take charge of me and make my words potent
Active surrender in service
My dear Lord, this verse reveals the mood of active surrender that defines Srila Prabhupada’s devotion. While he candidly acknowledges that the task before him is impossible without your mercy, he is not asking you to do a miracle while he passively watches. He is prayerfully ready—asking you to take charge of him and to speak through him.
O Lord Almighty, even when I am ready to do your will, that does not bring the results into my control. What remains in my control is my effort, as you instruct in the Gita (2.47): to focus on action, not on results. He does not seek control of outcomes; he seeks alignment of will. Srila Prabhupada exemplifies this mood by praying that you take control of him—not that you magically change the circumstances around him. His focus is on endeavor—on making his heart receptive to transmit your message.
O merciful Lord, his subsequent actions reveal how he remains practically steady—continuing his service of speaking spiritual wisdom for as long as required and as long as he is capable, leaving it to you to decide if, when, and how results will manifest.
O unfailing Lord, when I face formidable challenges, please bless me to remain similarly ready and steady—ever prayerfully ready to do my part and ever practically steady in surrender to yours.
The post 5.2 Make me prayerfully ready and practically steady appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Having achieved love of Godhead, the devotees sometimes weep loudly, absorbed in thought of the infallible Lord. Sometimes they laugh, feel great pleasure, speak out loud to the Lord, dance or sing. Such devotees, having transcended material, conditioned life, sometimes imitate the unborn Supreme by acting out His pastimes. And sometimes, achieving His personal audience,
Chanting the holy name of Krishna is the highest spiritual process. In Kali-yuga, the Lord has made the path simple: through sankirtan one can achieve peace, liberation, and pure love of God, surpassing all other methods of previous ages. The true devotee does not seek release from suffering but only the privilege of serving and
What does it mean a mortal wound? You know, if you’re in the battle, you get shot in the arm, you may not necessarily die, right? But in the old days, if you got shot in the stomach, you were dead. It’s over, right? That’s called a mortal wound. You’re shot so badly that you’re
I had the opportunity to visit the Vraja Eco Village about one and a half hours outside of Manila. This project had been developed under the inspiration of his Holiness Giridhari Maharaja and his team of dedicated and talented devotees.
The property is about nine hectares in size and there are many guest houses, a school, restaurant, ashrama and other wonderful facilities. The temple is beautiful and artistically designed, landscaped with beautiful gardens and fountains.
namo ’nanta-līlāya devāya tubhyam
I bow to you, O timeless one,
Whose endless plays are never done.
In my heart, may your pastimes gleam,
As the pinnacle of love, the deathless dream.
(Damodarashtakam, Verse 8, Line 4)
My dear Lord, your pastimes are unlimited and unlimitedly attractive, yet my perception is sadly the opposite. To my conditioned mind, the options for worldly enjoyment seem endless.
O infallible Lord, help me realize that the world’s variety exists only in appearance. In actual experience, it all feels the same; there’s no deeper happiness beyond some superficial short-lived sensory stimulation. The captivating variety soon gives way to numbing monotony, which makes me misuse my intelligence to invent newer illusions of novelty—each promising something different yet delivering only disappointing, leaving me ever more frustrated.
The variety in you, O unlimited Lord, is real, substantial, and transformational. In the divine reality of your personal arena, I behold ever-new facets of you, who possess limitless glories. I discover countless ways in which you express love for your devotees—and they, in turn, express love for you.
Please, my merciful Lord, protect me from being distracted, dissuaded, or deluded by any superficial sense of sameness in your pastimes. Help me dive deeper and relish the ever-new, ever-fresh, ever-rich flavors of love revealed therein. Thank you for giving glimpses of your endless attractiveness by manifesting some of your pastimes in this world. May those glimpses draw my heart ever closer to you—forever and ever.
The post Turn my heart from the deluding variety of this world to the illuminating variety in you appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
sakal-i sambhava hoy
tumi se kautukī
Your mercy makes everything possible,
You are incredible, unstoppable, magical.
My dear Lord, Srila Prabhupada here articulates his conviction that, for you, everything is possible. You have the power to do not just the things I may consider impossible, but also the things I cannot even conceive—things that lie beyond the reach of my imagination.
O ever-accessible Lord, Srila Prabhupada speaks of the miraculous in a disarming matter-of-fact way. For him, you are not a mere concept or a future possibility to be realized through practice; you are a concrete reality—present with him, and within him, always. He pours out his heart to you as if speaking to his most confidential friend—someone standing right beside him. He refers to you in the second person, just as one does in intimate conversation.
O Lord of all hearts, Srila Prabhupada’s conviction in your reality and potency is infectious; he infuses others with a similar conviction. Just as he embarks alone on a mission across the seven oceans to serve you, so too does he inspire hundreds to dedicate their lives in your service.
My eternal Lord, let my contemplation on Srila Prabhupada’s words and actions propel me to reorient my life around you—not as a distant ideal, but as my immediate and intimate reality, always with me and always for me.
The post 4.2 O ultimate, make your presence immediate and intimate appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
This is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:
Question: Why are there references to raised breasts of Rukmini and others in 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam and as rendered in Srila Prabhupada’s Krishna book?
Answer: Yes, this is one of the challenging aspects when we read the description of the epics, especially of female beauty, there seem to be quite explicit descriptions on various occasions. My understanding of this is threefold, that first, what to us seems questionable or explicitly sensual description at that time in that culture was just a routine description of the attributes of people. So, just as males are described in terms of their physical prowess or their heroism.
So, females are described in terms of their beautiful features and this seems to be something which is culturally quite normal at that time. If we look overall Indian culture and Indian history, it seems that the combined effect of Islamic invasion and then British, what was called as Victorian morality, Indian culture became a bit more prudish in terms of certain descriptions being considered unacceptable, at least in cultured circles. So, it seems to be the cultural norm in those times and I think this changes with time.
So, for example, how physical attributes are described, in the past somebody would be referred to as a cripple, now we say a person with special needs. Now, it is not exactly the same, but my point is that how physical attributes are described is, it varies according to culture and what is considered questionable in one cultural time may not be considered similarly at another time. The real question is that for us today, such descriptions are often triggering or agitating.
It seems in the past, such descriptions were not triggering or agitating to people. We will find them everywhere. Now, Ravan while describing Sita s beauty is explicit, we may say he is a demon, but Yudhishthira while staking Draupadi in the Mahabharata, the gambling match also describes her beauty in quite explicit terms.
Now, we could say even that is he is in a daze at that time and because of being in a daze, he does not know what he is doing and he speaks like that. That is also acceptable. But then we have sages in the narratives describing Sukadeva Swami and Suta Goswami who are extremely renounced sages.
They describe beauty not just of Mohini Murthy, but even of other characters and so it seems that was a cultural norm over there. It was non-triggering. Today, it is triggering.
So, Prabhupada was quite straightforward about it. He said that if we read such descriptions and we feel agitated, then that means we are not yet ready to read those descriptions. So, we can skip them.
He is especially referring to the Rastlila descriptions. And at the same time, he did give those descriptions of the 10th Canto in the Krishna book because that is there in the original book and it cannot be hidden. So, that is one point.
It seems the cultural norm. The second point I would say is that within Sringararas, the description of beauty is a part of literature. And in every literature, there has to be some Sringararas described as the rule of Kavya.
So, now in different ways, that particular Sringar is described. So, if we consider, there are, there is, even in the movies, if we consider, there is, there are categories, the romantic, erotic and pornographic. So, romantic is where the focus is more on the relationship between the hero and the heroine.
And within that, the attractive features of both of them may be described. The focus is more on the relationship and the story. In erotic, the much more than the relational emotional aspects, the physical aspects become much more explicit.
And in pornographic, the whole story just becomes incidental. And what is primary is the description of what will trigger lower desires in the audience. So, we may have a Mayavadi attitude towards all physical descriptions and conflate them or reduce them to just one thing as essentially triggering.
And that may be true for us today. But it is not that simple. So, just because somebody gets triggered does not mean that that was meant for triggering someone.
Just like if we have classical dance form like Bharatanatyam. Now, those dance forms may also involve beautiful women dancers. And their purpose is not to essentially trigger those dances.
Their purpose is to depict some stories and some pastimes. But by that somebody might get triggered. So, I think the differentiation has to be kept in mind.
So, in the story, if we consider that Krishna is the supreme enjoyer and for Krishna, everything will be, Krishna himself will be attractive. Krishna s associates will also be supremely attractive. And that will be conveyed in some way.
The point is not to trigger our desires within us. The point is to take the narrative forward. So, the key point would be that, is it playing a significant role in the narrative, that description? So, in general, wherever I have observed, there is a narrative role over there.
That when Ravan is looking through the palaces in Lanka and he sees the beauty of, he sees the women semi-clad over there and their beauty is described. That is to convey how Hanuman, Hanuman s firm resolve to serve Lord Ram by which he does not get agitated. Second is, similarly other places also, Mohini Murthy s explicit description is required because there is a dramatic twist over there in the story.
How would the demons who had given so much, fought so much and endeavoured so much to get the nectar pot suddenly just give it up? So, my understanding, that is the purpose of the author, purpose of the description in the epic. Thank you, Hare Krishna.
The post Why does the Krishna book include explicit descriptions of female beauty? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Where I Went and What I Did
The forty-fourth week of 2025, I lived at Viraha Bhavan, the ashram of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, my Guru Maharaja, in Stuyvesant Falls, New York. I helped his caretakers with different services like cleaning the kitchen, waking up the deities, singing for Them, and uploading dictation tapes. I also did some personal service for Guru Maharaja. Most days I would play the harmonium and chant on the porch for half an hour. Some people would smile and wave as they passed by. I attended the Chatham Wednesday Program, which included three kirtans.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Sri Caitanya-caritamrita and The Nectar of Devotion. I also share quotes from two lectures by Srila Prabhupada. I share notes on a presentation by Prishni Devi Dasi on Sadaputa Prabhu’s book, Maya: The World as Virtual Reality. I share a quote by Edgar Allan Poe on the supernatural.
Many thanks to my friend, Tara Prabhu, who I last saw in Poland when I went there for Ratha-yatra a few years back, for his generous donation. Thanks to Arcita Prabhu for the photos of me filming and giving out temple invitations on the walking harinama in Greenwich Village on Halloween and for his video of that event. Thanks to Ahaituki Prema Prabhu for the video and photos me on harinama in Washington Square Park.
Itinerary
September 12–November ?: serve Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
November ?–December 31: NYC Harinam
– December 6: Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Vyasa-puja / Hudson Winter Walk harinama
Chanting Hare Krishna in Upstate New York
Patrick chants Hare Krishna at the Chatham Wednesday Program (https://youtu.be/v_f2RGqCFp8):
Chanting Hare Krishna in New York City on Halloween
Although I was living at Stuyvesant Falls, I planned to return to New York City for Halloween because it is such a good day to interact with the public through our outdoor programs of Hare Krishna chanting. I planned to stay in New York City, but devotees thought I should continue to help out in Stuyvesant Falls, so I parked the car at the Hudson station, and took the last train from New York City to Hudson in the evening to return there.
I took the Amtrak from Hudson to Poughkeepsie and the Metro North from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Station to save money. From there I found it was just two stops on the subway to Washington Square Park, one on the 4 train to Union Square and another on the R train to 8th Street / NYU. I arrived 10 minutes before 3 p.m., the scheduled time of our harinama, so I chanted japa till then.
At 3 p.m. I started chanting Hare Krishna with shakers, and Gokulendra Prabhu joined me. The NYC Harinam devotees arrived fifteen minutes late, so I ended up chanting with my shakers until 3:20 p.m., when I began chanting with the harmonium.
Here I chant Hare Krishna in Washington Square Park on Halloween (https://youtube.com/shorts/7zadftJrASI?feature=share):
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Earlier I gave someone who spoke to me in French, an invitation to our downtown center in Paris, Yoga Lyrique.
I met a Belgian man, who told me he knew of our Radhadesh castle, and he was happy to receive an invitation to our restaurant and temple in Brooklyn.
I also enjoyed meeting a couple from Bern, Switzerland, and I told them how I attended the Basel Ratha-yatra the previous year.
I took a short video of each of the devotees who led kirtan in Washington Square Park that day:
Gokulendra Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Washington Square Park on Halloween (https://youtu.be/SkpD6bVijwk):
Krishna Rai chants Hare Krishna, and kids and parents play shakers and dance in Washington Square Park on Halloween (https://youtube.com/shorts/a4BOgpUDV4k):
Kamesi and Gopal Campu Prabhus danced with joy as Hadai Prana Prabhu chanted Hare Krishna at Washington Square Park on Halloween, and Premamani Devi Dasi also danced with some congregational devotees who had come to join our kirtan (https://youtube.com/shorts/OGc-bp8xDsU?feature=share):
Arcita Prabhu made a nice video that shows our walking harinama in action (https://youtu.be/tz-UwZR5UY4):
Here Hadai Prana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Greenwich Village on Halloween, and passersby chant and dance (https://youtu.be/GjN4-INynRs):
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Preface:
“On the basis of the sankhya philosophy of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva, which maintains that the Supreme Lord is simultaneously one with and different from His creation, Lord Caitanya taught that the most practical way for the mass of people to practice sankhya-yoga meditation is simply to chant the holy name of the Lord. He taught that the holy name of the Lord is the sound incarnation of the Lord and that since the Lord is the absolute whole, there is no difference between His holy name and His transcendental form. Thus by chanting the holy name of the Lord one can directly associate with the Supreme Lord by sound vibration.”
“Anyone who is fortunate enough to be attracted by Lord Caitanya is sure to be successful in his life’s mission. In other words, those who are interested in attaining spiritual existence can easily be released from the clutches of maya by the grace of Lord Caitanya. The teachings presented in this book are nondifferent from the Lord.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 1:
“In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya Prahlada Maharaja, while satisfying Lord Nrsimhadeva by his prayers, says, ‘My dear Lord of the universe, I am feeling transcendental pleasure in Your presence and have become merged in the ocean of happiness. I now consider the happiness of brahmananda to be no more than the water in the impression left by a cow’s hoof in the earth, compared to this ocean of bliss.’”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 3:
“Srila Rupa Gosvami remarks in this connection that one who is actually attracted by the beauty of the lotus feet of Sri Krishna or His service, and whose heart, by such attraction, is always full with transcendental bliss, will naturally never aspire after the liberation which is so valuable to the impersonalists.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 4:
“In the Seventh Canto of the Bhagavatam, Sixth Chapter, verse 25, Maharaja Prahlada says, ‘My dear friends born into atheistic families, if you can please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, then there is nothing more rare in this world. In other words, if the Supreme Lord Krishna is pleased with you, then any desire you may have within the core of your heart can be fulfilled without any doubt. As such, what is the use of elevating yourself by the results of fruitive activities, which are automatically achieved in all events by the modes of material nature? And what is the use for you of spiritual emancipation or liberation from material bondage? If you are always engaged in chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord and always relishing the nectar of the lotus feet of the Lord, then there is no necessity for any of these.’ By this statement of Prahlada Maharaja it is clearly understood that one who takes pleasure in chanting and hearing the transcendental glories of the Lord has already surpassed all kinds of material benedictions, including the results of pious fruitive activities, sacrifices and even liberation from material bondage.”
“In this atmarama verse it is stated that even those who are completely liberated from material contamination are attracted by the transcendental qualities of Lord Krishna. The purport of this verse is that a liberated soul has absolutely no desire at all for material enjoyment; he is wholly freed from all kinds of material desires, yet still he is irresistibly attracted by the desire to hear and understand the pastimes of the Lord. We may therefore conclude that the glories and pastimes of the Lord are not material. Otherwise, how could the liberated persons known as atmaramas be attracted by such pastimes? That is the important point in this verse.”
From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.1–8 in New Vrindaban on May 23, 1969:
“And when I was in New York, one old lady, she used to come to my class. Not in Second Avenue; when I first started in 72nd Street. So she had a son. So I asked, ‘Why don’t you get your son married?’ ‘Oh, if he can maintain a wife, I have no objection.’ . . . And still we are very much proud that we are advancing. Even a bird maintains a wife, even a beast maintains wife. And human being hesitates to maintain a wife? You see? And they are advanced in civilization? Hmm? It is a very horrible age.”
From a class on Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 20.137, in New York on December 6, 1966:
“What is the purpose of concentrating the mind? Just to find out myself, where I am within this body, and then find out where is Lord. This is the perfection of yoga.”
“Because they cannot find out even the particles of the Supreme Lord—we living entities, we are all particles of the Supreme Lord—so if they cannot find out the particle, what there is chance to find out God? So they cannot also find out God.”
“Dharma means rituals. Everyone has got some faith . . . Just like Hindus are going to the . . . temple, and the Christians are going to the church, or Muslims, they are going to the mosque, . . . with idea that ‘Here is God.’ That is, of course, beginning. It is nice. But because they are trapped in simply the rituals, they have no other, further knowledge, so that also cannot help to reach, because they are trapped. Every religious faith . . . Of course, that conviction must be there. But they do not try to make any further advance. They think that ‘Here it is ended. Everything is ended here.’ Therefore they cannot make any progress.”
“So one has to come. Maybe you go by the yoga process, maybe you go by the philosophical process, maybe you go by the ritualistic process, maybe that you go by penances and by study. But unless you reach to this point of Krishna consciousness, your attempt..., not failure, but there are different degrees. So people are satisfied with that different degrees only. . . . Hardly they try to reach the final goal. But if anyone wants to reach the final goal, then he has to take this process of Krishna consciousness . . . That process alone can take you to the Supreme Lord.”
Prishni Devi Dasi:
It was Pascal’s wager that got me to join the Hare Krishnas.
I had a relative in the health care field with a lot of degrees who said 85% of cures are based on the patient’s faith in their doctors. And she was a atheistic Darwinist.
Q (by me): How did Pascal’s wager get you to join the Hare Krishnas?
A: Pascal, known as the father of probability theory, was one of my favorite mathematicians, and he had experienced a mid-life religious conversion. During a philosophy class in graduate school, I encountered his famous “Pascal’s Wager,” which offers a probabilistic argument for why you should believe in God. So I switched my major to linguistics to find the oldest language to begin my search for God. When I learned it was Sanskrit, I began reading Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Edgar Allan Poe:
From his short story, “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt”:
“There are few persons, even among the calmest thinkers, who have not occasionally been startled into a vague yet thrilling half-credence in the supernatural, by coincidences of so seemingly marvellous a character that, as mere coincidences, the intellect has been unable to receive them. Such sentiments . . . are seldom thoroughly stifled unless by reference to the doctrine of chance, or, as it is technically termed, the Calculus of Probabilities. Now this Calculus is, in its essence, purely mathematical; and thus we have the anomaly of the most rigidly exact in science applied to the shadow and spirituality of the most intangible in speculation.”
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Krishna makes the point at the end of Chapter 8 (“Attaining the Supreme”) that if you just engage in His devotional service (bhakti-yoga), you can attain whatever you can get by other processes, plus you attain his spiritual realm. Thus that is best course of action.
vedesu yajñesu tapahsu caiva
“A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing sacrifices, undergoing austerities, giving charity or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities. Simply by performing devotional service, he attains all these, and at the end he reaches the supreme eternal abode.” (Bhagavad-gita 8.28)
The A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Legacy Museum in the TOVP will eventually expand in size to 21,000 sq. ft., the largest museum of its kind for any single person in history. The paraphernalia within its rooms will include his personal effects, clothing, tape recorders, books, recordings, and many more items of historical value to the early ISKCON days.
Regarding the spiritual nature of the acharya’s paraphernalia, Srutakirti prabhu related a story at the museum grand opening in February, 2025, from something Srila Prabhupada said to him in Atlanta, Georgia in 1975:
Seeing that Srutakirti didn’t have any socks, Srila Prabhupada told him to get a pair of socks from his own dresser drawer. He even told him to take extra pairs for other devotees. Srutakirti was shocked to hear this and told him that he didn’t feel this was proper etiquette. He replied:
“If I say you can use anything, you can use them. But once I leave, they become worshipable.”
The paraphernalia of the spiritual master is always as worshipable as him. It is his maha prasad, in as much as Deity paraphernalia is as good as the Deity. It can be referred to as ‘tadiyanam’: of persons or things related to Lord Visnu.
In this regard, there is a quote from the Padma Purana:
aradhananam sarvesam
visnor aradhanam param
tasmat parataram devi
tadiyanam samarcanam“Lord Siva told the goddess Durga, ‘My dear Devi, although the Vedas recommend worship of demigods, the worship of Lord Visnu is topmost. However, above the worship of Lord Visnu is the rendering of service to Vaisnavas, who are related to Lord Visnu.’
C.C., Madhya-Lila, 11.31
In our efforts to build and populate this museum with such tadiyanam, we humbly beg all devotees with such items in their possession to consider donating or lending it to the Prabhupada Legacy Museum for the sake of posterity and preservation, and to benefit the millions of people who will see and associate with these things while visiting the museum over the course of many hundreds of years to come.
Please visit the Prabhupada Legacy Museum website page for more information on how to do this.
Visit: www.tovp.org
Support: https://tovp.org/donate/seva-opportunities
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According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, the gopīs then replied, “But that Supreme Lord You are blaming is none other than Yourself, O most clever of speakers. Everyone in the world knows this! Why should we be ignorant of this fact?” “All right,” Lord Kṛṣṇa then told them, “if this is true, I must be God,
By Vrsabhanu das One way many people came in contact with the Hare Krishna movement was through college programmes. From the early days of ISKCON devotees have been presenting the Vedic philosophy to students at universities around the world. Srila Prabhupada was very happy to receive reports from such events. In this film we hearnamo rādhikāyai tvadīya-priyāyai
I bow to Rādhā, your dearest bride,
Whose love flows deep, a boundless tide.
Through her your mercy brightly streams,
Fulfilling all the devotees’ dreams.
(Damodarashtakam — Verse 8, Line 3)
My dear Lord, your most intimate devotee, Radharani, is not only the greatest of all devotees but also the very embodiment of devotion and the source from whom all devotion flows. Whatever love anyone offers to you ultimately springs from her heart of infinite grace.
O supreme Lord, I now understand that to know you and to love you, I need her mercy. It is through her that I can receive devotion; through her that I can rise above worldly infatuation; and through her that I can reach you, who are accessible only through devotion. She is the divine mediatrix between the devotionless soul and you, the Lord revealed only through devotion.
O inconceivable Lord, please help me to realize that you alone are the supreme reality. Just as for Radharani there is no reality apart from you, may I too see you alone as the sole truth of my life. Whatever circumstances life may bring, may I remember that beyond the play of your external energy, your internal energy—Radharani—is always acting, offering shelter, mercy, and the strength to serve you ever more deeply.
The post Grant me the shelter of the one who is the shelter of devotion appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
tabe jadi taba kṛpā
hoy ahaitukī
Choose, O Lord, to bless
With your mercy causeless
My dear Lord, when faced with a formidable challenge, a devotee naturally remembers you—as does Srila Prabhupada on seeing the spiritually barren landscape before him. When he seeks your causeless mercy, is his seeking not one cause for that mercy?
Free me, O supreme enlightener, from two misconceptions about causeless mercy. Let me not think of it as completely arbitrary, as if the dispensing of grace were like a divine lottery based solely on your mood or whim. Let me also not go to the other extreme, imagining that nothing I do has any effect in attracting your grace—that my initiative, intelligence, and creativity are of no value, even when I try to offer them earnestly to you.
O supremely merciful Lord, help me understand that causeless doesn’t mean that there is no cause; it means the cause is too less. Whatever endeavor I make to attract your mercy neither entitles me to it nor obliges you to give it. Yet you are so compassionate that when I take one step toward you, you may take a thousand steps toward me. Bless me with your causeless mercy and carry me from barrenness to blossoming, from illusion to illumination, from separation to shelter in you.
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By Radha Mohan Das A beautiful cultural event themed around Diwali was arranged by the devotee community in Basingstoke, in collaboration with devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor. In the arts faculty at Queen Mary’s College in the town, the Bhaktivedanta Players’ continued their 40th anniversary celebrations with a special version of The Ramayan. As a prelude,
I was born into a vegetarian family. They practiced yoga and followed the philosophy of con men, an impersonal philosophy but rooted in yoga and principles like not eating meat. That was my upbringing. At the same time, I attended a Roman Catholic school. So from a young age I was exposed to both yoga,
What is the use of a bowman’s arrow or a poet’s poetry if they penetrate the heart but do not cause the head to spin? What is the use of a bowman’s arrow or a poet’s poetry if they penetrate the heart but do not cause the head to spin? Enjoy the videos and musicbāsudeb-kathā ruci
nahe se prasanna
For Vasudeva’s glories, they have no attraction
In the divine, they find no satisfaction
My dear Lord, this prayer reveals that Srila Prabhupada’s earlier description of America as ugra-sthāna—a terrible place—was not condemnation but compassion. His concern was never that America’s material progress was bad, but that it diverted people from the immense spiritual joy of remembering and loving you.
O source of all joy, that compassion arose from a joy he had known since childhood. As a toddler he would awaken each morning to the sound of his father’s ārati—the ringing bells becoming his first memory of the day. It was that joy which he celebrated when he organized the Ratha-yatra festival in his neighborhood as a child. It was that same joy which inspired him later to shift from being a political freedom fighter for India to becoming a spiritual missionary for India’s bhakti treasures.
O Lord who grants conviction, Srila Prabhupada is fully convinced that no joy even remotely compares with the joy of loving you. Grant me a fraction of his conviction, that I may accept the gift of divine love he offers and share it with others—not by guilting them for their ignorance, not by judging them for their blindness, but by gently guiding them toward your light.
The post 3.2 Lift my vision from condemnation to compassion appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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ATL 2025-10-31 Nagaraja dasa SB 3.20.3 Listen to a class given by Nagaraja dasa on text 3 of the Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), canto 3, chapter 20, entitled “Conversation Between Maitreya and Vidura” given on October 31, 2025 at the Hare Krishna temple in Alachua, Florida.
ECSTATIC Harinam around the Jagannatha Temple yesterday afternoon with Indradyumna Swami and 400 devotees! Tens of thousands cheered us on as we blissfully walked and chanted around the Temple twice. The most ecstatic harinam. Hare Krishna!! Indradyumna Maharaja Puri Harinam Nov 2025
All the unmarried gopīs in Vṛndāvana used to daily worship goddess Kātyāyanī early in the morning after taking a bath in the river Yamunā. Kātyāyanī is another name for goddess Durgā.
The goddess is worshiped by preparing a doll made of sand from the bank of the Yamunā. The gopīs used to prepare the deity of goddess Durgā and worship it with candana pulp, garlands, incense, lamps and all kinds of presentations—fruits, grain and twigs of plants.
The unmarried girls used to pray with great devotion to goddess Kātyāyanī, addressing her as follows: “O supreme external energy of the Personality of Godhead, O supreme mystic power, O supreme controller of this material world, O goddess, please be kind to us and arrange for our marriage with the son of Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa.”
From Krsna Book by His Divine grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
tvadīyodarāyātha viśvasya dhāmne
I bow to your belly, where worlds reside,
With the whole wide creation safe inside.
Sustaining all, yet submitting to your mother’s will.
You, O Lord, are bound, while being boundless still.
(Damodarashtakam Verse 8, Line 2)
My dear Lord, you are always almighty, yet your defining glory lies not in doing everything possible, but in valuing displays of power far less than exchanges of love.
For love’s sake, O Supreme Lover, you do amazing things, such as taking on a small, childlike form; yet what is most amazing is that you allow extraordinary things to be done to you—by your devotees. Thus you allow yourself to be bound by your mother. How can that abdomen, which is the source of the universe, be tied by anything inside the universe, let alone something as tiny as a rope? It is love that ties you—or rather, it is out of your love for Mother Yashoda that you allow yourself to be bound.
O infallible Lord, bless me so that I may value love supremely as you do. If you, who are the all-powerful, accept positions of seeming powerlessness for love’s sake, then when I face difficult situations, help me remember that nothing happens outside your plan—and that whatever you do or allow to be done to me is ultimately meant to draw me into your circle of love. Guide me to respond not with the head of logic that resents life’s seeming unfairness, but with the heart of love that appreciates your unfathomable mercy.
The post Amazing is what you allow to be done to you for love’s sake appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
namas te ’stu dāmne sphurad-dīpti-dhāmne
Obeisance to the rope that gloriously gleams,
Whose fortune outshines the brightest beams.
That binds the Lord, a feat impossible rare,
Celebrates a thread of love beyond compare.
(Damodarashtakam — Verse 8, Line 1)
My dear Lord, how fortunate are those who can directly take part in your divine pastimes.
When Mother Yashoda bound you—the boundless—she drew even the rope into your intimate play.
O Lord of all, you use even the simplest objects—like a rope or a churning rod—to reveal the greatest truths.
What others would discard, you transform into the very centerpiece of your divine play.
Likewise, please use me—though I am insignificant—in your service.
O my beloved Lord, whatever I do may seem small and unremarkable,
yet if it is done for you and with you, it becomes eternal and full of meaning.
Without connection to you, even the greatest work loses all worth;
with connection to you, even the smallest act shines with eternal significance.
Please, my merciful Lord, engage me in your service.
Lift me above the fleeting pursuits of this world
and grant me the supreme fortune—to be counted among those who, in some way, serve and remember you.
May my life find its highest purpose in staying connected with you,
who never forgets even the least of your servants.
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Kripamoya Prabhu: Gopichand Hinduja has passed, aged 85. While most may have regarded him as an astute businessman with a sprawling empire, or simply “Britain’s richest man,” the Vaishnava community knew him as something much more. Each morning, before breakfast, he would visit London’s Radha-Krishna temple and take part in kirtan and darshan. His obvious
Here is the remedy for eliminating all inauspicious things within the heart which are considered to be obstacles on the path of self-realization. The remedy is the association of the bhagavatas. There are two types of bavatas namely the book bhagavata and the devotey bhagavata. Both the bhagavatas are competent remedies and both of themrajas tamo guṇe erā
sabāi ācchanna
By rajas and tamas in formidable might,
All here are covered in illusion’s night.
My dear Lord, Srila Prabhupada’s devotion is founded on deep scriptural erudition: he sees America not as a land filled with majestic architecture, impressive technology, or dazzling prosperity, but as a land dominated by the lower modes of material nature—those subtle forces that shape the interaction between matter and consciousness. He sees especially the modes of passion and ignorance, which are dangerously misleading and entangling. Despite America’s many claims to progress, he perceives growing distress—evident in the alarming rise of psychological and social disintegration across much of Western society.
O all-seeing Lord, the mode of passion fills me with infatuation, which lasts as long as I believe that material pleasure is both attainable and enjoyable. But when that hope fades—when pleasure becomes unavailable or unfulfilling—the mode of ignorance drags me into dejection and depression. And thus, I miss the precious window for introspection and spiritual redirection.
O merciful Lord, it is only when saints like Śrīla Prabhupada enter my life that I can recognize that window—and, by their mercy, turn it into a doorway to devotional flourishing. Bless me with the strength to first free myself from the shackles of these modes—and then to assist Srila Prabhupada and his followers in freeing others as well.
The post 3.1 Guard me from the spell of the progress that increases distress appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Sat Sanga with HH Krishna Kshetra Swami Topics: Go-seva, Community, and GBC Leadership Song: Janma-lila (verses 1–16), from Srila Locana Dasa Thakura’s Sri Caitanya Mangala — The Loving Pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Dubai, UAE November 1, 2025 Sat Sanga – Go-seva, Community, and GBC Leadership – HH Krishna Kshetra Swami – 01.11.2025
Yesterday we visited the Alalanatha Temple, where we completed our final parikrama for the month. Our program took place beneath a beautiful mango tree in a serene forest setting. There we listened to profound pastimes that occurred in that sacred place. Afterwards we had darshan at the temple and saw the stone that melted whenna mokṣe graho me ’sti dāmodareha
I seek not any liberation, O Dāmodar dear,
In your love, the supreme heaven is right here.
No wish do I have for freedom from pain,
Living with you and for you–that’s the greatest gain.
(Damodarashtakam — Verse 7, Line 4)
My dear Lord, how single-pointed and undistracted is the desire of your saintly devotees!
Even the desire for liberation—revered as life’s highest aspiration—pales before their longing for you.
Their example reveals how absorption in you is incomparably fulfilling, enriching, and even intoxicating.
O master of past, present, and future, I have grown up in an age that believes neither in heaven nor in liberation.
Having rarely seen anyone striving for liberation, I sometimes fail to grasp how extraordinary it is to renounce even that aspiration.
Those who seek liberation long to be free from pain—they recognize its reality, its inevitability, its unspoken yet unbearable severity.
Wisely, they seek freedom from the material existence that subjects all to such pain.
O reservoir of all joy, how immense—indeed immeasurable—must be the joy of remembering and loving you,
that it renders insignificant both the pain of existence and the relief of liberation.
I implore you for even a glimpse of that joy of complete absorption.
May its memory inspire me to turn away from both the desire for the world and the desire for liberation from it—
so that the one desire that drives and defines me is the desire for you.
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nahe keno āniben
ei ugra-sthāne
Why else would you bring me to such a terrible place—
so lost in illusion, so void of grace?
My dear Lord, great devotees are never enamored by material opulence, as seen in Srila Prabhupada’s description of America as an ugrasthān—a terrible place. While most people across the world, including India, dream of America as a land of liberty, opportunity, and prosperity, Srila Prabhupada saw it differently: as a land spiritually impoverished, where people knew neither you nor love for you. Outwardly, they appeared prosperous; inwardly, they were impoverished, struggling to find lasting meaning or joy.
Yet Srila Prabhupada’s vision was not one of condemnation but of compassion. O Lord of Vrindavan, he came from a land where nearly every heart beat with your name, to a land where your name was scarcely known. Though he had left Vrindavan outwardly, his heart had never left it. Indeed, we may take a devotee out of Vrindavan, but we cannot take Vrindavan out of the devotee. Srila Prabhupada carried Vrindavan within his heart and longed to manifest it in America.
O Lord of love, bless me that I may never be captivated by material prosperity but remain ever dedicated to devotion—to seeking it, savoring it, and sharing it. May I, in my small way, follow Srila Prabhupada by carrying the essence of Vrindavan within me wherever I go, and may my life become a window through which your holy abode shines into this world.
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Explore and download high-quality photos of Sri Mayapur-dhama, the spiritual capital of the world. This gallery features images of the Deities, temples, holy rivers, nature, and festivals—captured by devotee photographers. Each section links to dedicated folders with high-resolution photos for your non-commercial projects, presentations, and personal meditation. Temple of the Vedic Planetarium – TOVP Click
The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad completely distinguishes the Lord from the living entities. The living entity is subjected to the reactions of fruitive activity, whereas the Lord simply witnesses such activity and bestows the results. According to the living entity’s desires, he is wandering from one body to another and from one planet to another, under thetathā prema-bhaktiṁ svakāṁ me prayaccha
So grant me, Lord, that love divine,
The purest gift to call you mine.
Bestow the bond that nothing can end,
Before you, in utter humility, repeatedly I bend.
(Damodarashtakam — Verse 7, Line 3)
My dear Lord, for my heart to be drawn to you requires both my rational endeavor and your transcendental, causeless grace.
Yet, O all-attractive Lord, I cannot even endeavor properly without your grace, for it is by your grace that you grant the revelations and realizations that initiate and animate my effort. You reveal such splendorous displays of love that, by remembering them, I can push my heart toward you. Through your grace, you also grant me realizations from within my own heart and through other hearts—both through the sacred association available to me now and through the luminous commentaries of saintly teachers of the past.
O causelessly merciful Lord, your mercy not only initiates but also completes my endeavors. Without your grace, all my efforts to push my heart toward you remain mechanical and non-transformational. It is only your mercy that pulls my heart toward you—with a force far stronger than my strongest pushes. As and when you see fit, please bestow your supremely excellent grace so that I may be uplifted and united with you in love—for you are the one whom my heart has forever longed to love.
By your grace, O tirelessly loving Lord, you first enable me to push my heart toward you, and then you pull my heart to you. May your glorious grace reign supremely victorious.
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