Author Archives: Admin108

“Simply by chanting the holy name of Krishna once, a person is relieved from all the reactions of a sinful life. One can complete the nine processes of devotional service simply by chanting the holy name. CC Madhya 15.107 Read more ›

HH Radhanath Swami Visits Detroit (Seminar on 31st July, 2014 at Finnish Center & Hall)
Photography Courtesy: Arjun Bhattacharyya Read more ›

Padayatra with Lokanatha Swami in Czech Repubic. “In this Age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Krishna. Simply by chanting the holy name, one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered.
CC Adi 17.23 Read more ›

Indradyumna Swami: The day before Polish Woodstock we had Ratha Yatra through the center of the field where 700,000 people are slowly setting up camp. Afterwards people flowed towards our Krsna’s Village of Peace to enjoy kirtan, prasada and a variety of events. Madhumangala das entertained 8 thousand people in our large tent with his band. Kirtan went on in our kirtan tent until 2 am. Read more ›

MILK IN INDIA, is not just a drink, it is an elixir. For almost every Indian — rich or poor — the idea of a daily glass of milk holds a potent and emotional charge. It speaks of parental devotion, well-being and health. This faith in the power of milk is well-grounded: it is the primary nutrient for the young and the old. Nearly 63 percent of animal protein in the Indian diet comes from dairy products. For vegetarians, there is simply no alternative. India, though being the largest producer of milk, is known for the quantity of cows rather than the high yield and quality of them. Thus the project, named ‘Rashritya Gokul Mission’, aims to promote locally bred cows as they are better suited for the Indian climate and are even heat resistant. Thus by switching to purely locally bred cows over cross-bred, it aims to increase the output of milk. Read more ›

Salem is a city and a municipal corporation in Salem district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is performed in the parampara system; that is, it is conveyed from spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in the false, temporary glorification of this cosmic manifestation. Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self? SB 10.1.4 Read more ›

Haryana Cabinet, which met under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today, approved the proposal to allot six acres of land belonging to Kurukshetra Development Board to ISKCON.

Earlier, it was decided that six acres of land of HIRMI situated in village Raogarh, tehsil Thanesar will be transferred to Kurukshetra Development Board free of cost and thereafter it would be transferred by Kurukshetra Development Board to ISKCON at collector rate. However, ISKCON would hand over the land earlier allotted at Jyotisar to Kurukshetra Development Board. As the HIRMI has transferred the said land free of cost to Kurukshetra Development Board, now the land would be allotted to ISKCON for a lease period of 99 years at a rate of Rs 38 lakh per acre. Read more ›

The tribunal had last year restrained the Uttar Pradesh government from cutting trees in the holy town of Govardhan.

The tribunal’s order came after Mathura-based organisation Giriraj Parikrama Sanrakshan Sansthan filed photographs showing that municipal solid waste is being thrown on the roads as well on the sites of Govardhan Parvat.

The petition had sought a ban on cutting of trees in 3.9 hectare reserved forest land in Govardhan for widening of a mud road at the pilgrimage site. Read more ›

Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

For the first time in a long time, I feel I don’t have mind peace. I live in Valparaíso Chile, and in April of this year there was a giant fire in the city, where 5000 houses were burn, among them was mine. It was a horrible experience. This was the first time I stopped chanting for some days, because every thing we had to do. I’ve have been chanting for 7 or 8 years.

I’m not mad at Krishna in anyway, I know it’s just the material energy working as it’s supposed to do. But besides I can feel that way, my family doesn’t, and that’s why I am so troubled. In my house my dad also had his work source, a not so small serigraphy studio. So in one day my family had no money and nowhere to sleep. Plus, we rescue 2 of our cats, but I lost my beloved one in the fire.

It is very difficult see my family like this, I do all I can but the money I make from my work is not enough. This problem has me overthinking, my rounds are not the same, I can’t really focus. I feel like I would do anything for not thinking in that horrible day, but I can’t.

I wish you could give me some advice. If someone passed through something similar, please let me know what you did. Any kind words will help.

Thank you. Bolo Hari. Read more ›

There may be discrepancies in pronouncing the mantras and observing the regulative principles, and, moreover, there may be discrepancies in regard to time, place, person and paraphernalia. But when Your Lordship’s holy name is chanted, everything becomes faultless. SB 8.23.16 Read more ›

Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society. SB 6.3.22 Read more ›

Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the Aryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas and fulfilled everything required. SB 3.33.7 Read more ›

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge. SB 2.1.11 Read more ›

The VIHE in Vrindavan was established to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desire for an educational institute in Vrindavana. The VIHE in the holy Dhama provides an ideal facility and atmosphere for you to improve your sadhana, develop your devotional qualities, engage in serious study, associate with senior devotees, and receive training in practical skills relevant to management and preaching.

The VIHE also aims to preserve and disseminate standards Srila Prabhupada set for acting in Krishna consciousness and to deepen devotee’s understanding, realization and appreciation of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings and movement. Thus, the Krishna conscious culture and values that Srila Prabhupada gave us can be passed on to successive generations. All courses are well researched and taught by senior devotees who have a deep understanding of the subject. Read more ›

Indradyumna Swami: Two days before Woodstock officially opened 20 thousand young people had already arrived and set up their tents. We took full advantage and went on harinam with 500 devotees and invitations to Krsna’s Village of Peace. Though we ourselves were still putting the finishing touches to our village we managed to have kirtan in our Mantra Yoga tent for 8 hours and distribute 6,000 plates of delicious prasadam. It’s only the beginning …. Read more ›

The holy town of Vrindavan’s narrow streets are made even narrower by the makeshift businesses encroaching on the pavement and using this space for their shops. Since this is having a negative impact on traffic flows, the municipal government last week launched a campaign to remove them, starting on Monday.

Under the direction of the Executive Officer of the Palika Parishad, Rajneesh Sharma, and junior engineer Suresh Chandra Lawania began the campaign to remove roadside encroachments, primarily motivated by the expectation of an influx of pilgrims over the next two months, when Vrindavan is invaded by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. Read more ›

There was something that Maharaja did and said that held great importance to me. Firstly, he sang the famous Hare Krishna maha mantra tune that which Srila Prabhupada immortalized at No 26, Second Avenue and at Tompkins Square Park. Even today when we look at the red tinted videos of those recordings our hair stands on its ends surcharged with its spiritual potency.

Srila Prabhupada had a unique gravity in his chanting and in his kirtans. His kirtans assumed musical quality not for the sake of music but for the sake of the holy name itself. Similarly Danavir Maharaja sang the same tune for almost 45 minutes with identical solemnity. He sang only the aarohan (upscale) version and sustained it for so long without slightest variation in his enthusiasm towards singing harinama. Read more ›

The Krsna consciousness movement is based on this principle: chant the Hare Krsna mantra at every moment, as much as possible, both inside and outside of the temples, and, as far as possible, distribute prasada. This process can be accelerated with the cooperation of state administrators and those who are producing the country’s wealth. Simply by liberal distribution of prasada and sankirtana, the whole world can become peaceful and prosperous. Read more ›

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lotus Feet of my Spiritual Master and unto the feet of all Vaishnavas. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lotus Feet of Srila Rupa Gosvami along with his elder brother Sanatana Gosvami, as well as Raghunatha Dasa and Raghunatha Bhatta, Gopala Bhatta, and Srila Jiva Gosvami. I offer my respectful obeisances to Lord Krishna Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda along with Advaita Acharya, Gadadhara, Srivasa, and other associates. I offer my respectful obeisances to Srimati Radharani and Sri Krishna along with Their associates Sri Lalita and Vishakha.” Read more ›

This week the Kirtan course students are over half way through their course and they had a special visiting teacher in the form of Jahnavi Harrison who took the students through reading and singing the Saranagati prayers of Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

The students discovered songs from the 6 sections of the Saranagati:
1) Humility
2) Surrender
3) Accepting the Lord as one’s maintainer
4) Considering the Lord to be one’s protector in all circumstances
5) Accepting those things that are favourable for devotional service
6) Rejecting those things that are unfavourable to devotional service

The week’s objectives were to:
1) Connect with the author by reading extracts from The Seventh Goswami by Rupa Vilasa dasa
2) Connect with the songs
3) Feel comfortable reading in Bengali
4) Discover how the songs enhance the maha mantra

To conclude the week they took a virtual pilgrimage to the samadhi tomb of Bhaktivinoda Thakur, via film footage, and wrote individual prayers of gratitude to offer to him. Each student received a packet with some small chips of his samadhi stone (after renovations), some dust from the floor of his chanting room, and twigs from the birthplace of Lord Caitanya.

Towards the end of the week, the students were given a short class by HH Lokanatha Maharaja who extolled the importance of proper sanskrit pronunciation when singing.

Then, the weekend brought the Radhadesh summer festival where the sun shone brightly and students were very much involved in the festivities – from throwing themselves into the Holi arena and being showered in colour to stepping onto stage with HH Lokanatha Swami and HH Kadamba Kanana Swami to presenting on stage what they’d been learning so far… Read more ›

As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one’s sinful activities. SB 6.2.18 Read more ›

The area of Radha Kunda, Shyama Kunda and Govardhan Hill is the topmost holy place in the universe. It has been recorded that about 10 million people visit Govardhana on Guru Purnima day alone. Education and trash cans are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what it will take to keep this holy place clean. To match the cleanliness and beauty standards of New York City’s Central Park, we will need a small army of sanitation workers, tree care experts, gardeners, drivers, park rangers, and more, all taking care of Govardhana. Right now we have about 30 local brajavasi’s (mostly widows) working to keep a few areas in Radha Kunda clean. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see 2,500 people working to keep all of Govardhana area clean, beautiful, and organized in many different departments, including relief for the poor and elderly? We don’t need to control the government. We just need to organize the care of Govardhana.

Are we His servants, or is He ours? Read more ›

Living beings who are entangled in the complicated meshes of birth and death can be freed immediately by even unconsciously chanting the holy name of Krishna, which is feared by fear personified. SB 1.1.14 Read more ›

The event which took place in the temple premises at Umuebulu 2, Etche LGA (Nigeria) saw people from all walks of life. Including devotees from far and near trooped in to the premises to have a glance of the young pupils. The father of the day, Prabhu Hariha Das, appreciated the teachers and the school committee for instilling Krishna consciousness into the young ones despite the fact that most of them are children of non-devotees. In the same vein, the Chair lady of the occasion, mother Kapasuni Devi Dasi, encouraged the children never to forget Krishna conscious activities and always be studious even as they go on long vacations. Also speaking was the master of ceremony (MC) Prabhu Bhadra Das, who commended the children and the teachers for a good job. Read more ›

My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom. SB 12.3.51 Read more ›

At the St James Junior School in London, the number of students wanting to learn the language has grown by leaps and bounds. Read more ›

Simply because I chanted the holy name of the Lord in the association of devotees, my heart is now becoming purified. Therefore I shall not fall victim again to the false lures of material sense gratification. Now that I have become fixed in the Absolute Truth, henceforward I shall not identify myself with the body. I shall give up false conceptions of “I” and “mine” and fix my mind on the lotus feet of Krishna. SB 6.2.38 Read more ›

Krishna-valley / New Vraja-dhama is more than 250 hectares of typical Mid Europian rural area, located in Hungary about 30 Kms from the well known tourist place Lake Balaton, in a beautiful natural environment. New Vraja-dhama is the transcendental realm of the world’s most beautiful deities Sri Sri Radha-Syamasundara. Please visit Krishna-valley for a spiritual journey. Read more ›

The District Forestry Office is working on a plan to make a peacock sanctuary. The team of the environment activist raised various issues related to deforestation in Vrindavan. They were particularly concerned about recent reports about peacock deaths in the district. The DFO assured the team that steps are taken to protect the peacocks in Vraja. As per the forest office, they are also working to make a “monkey safari,” for which they have already sent a proposal to the government. Once the project is approved, monkeys from Vrindavan and other places will be translocated to forest land in Farah, between Mathura and Agra. Monkeys have become danger for trees, birds, peacocks and even for the humans. Read more ›

One who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately freed from the reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants indirectly to indicate something else (sanketya), jokingly (parihasya), for musical entertainment (stobha), or even neglectfully (helana). This is accepted by all the learned scholars of the scriptures. SB 6.2.14 Read more ›

As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one’s sinful activities. SB 6.2.18

etävän eva loke ‘smin
puàsäà dharmaù paraù småtaù
bhakti-yogo bhagavati
tan-näma-grahaëädibhiù

Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society. SB 6.3.22 Read more ›

Therefore it should be understood that one is easily relieved from all sinful reactions by chanting the holy name of the Lord and chanting of His qualities and activities. This is the only process recommended for relief from sinful reactions. Even if one chants the holy name of the Lord with improper pronunciation, he will achieve relief from material bondage if he chants without offenses. Ajamila, for example, was extremely sinful, but while dying he merely chanted the holy name, and although calling his son, he achieved complete liberation because he remembered the name of Narayana. SB 6.3.24 Read more ›

Iskcon Munich, Germany organised a four days Maha Harinam for World Peace in cooperation with a group of 28 Russian devotees. The program inculded ecstatic Sankirtan in different parts of Munich City with transcendental singing & dancing, sweets distribution, stage singing, book distribution & so on. These Russian devotees are a part of Youth Bus Tour who already performed several Kirtans in different parts of Europe & now they bring the Hari Nama to different cities of Germany. Read more ›

Narada Cotarelo: The Ladies Sanga program, which has been going on for 4 years, is held in the Radha Krishna Temple in London, Soho Street.

It is advertised as “An Informal Presentation of Krishna Consciousness” and so attracts newcomers and curious ladies. Because of this wonderful preaching program, some ladies have even become devotees.

The program consists of kirtan, japa, Bhagavad-gita reading and discussion, and ending with prasadam. Read more ›

My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the sankirtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will take it seriously. SB 6.3.31 Read more ›

There may be discrepancies in pronouncing the mantras and observing the regulative principles, and, moreover, there may be discrepancies in regard to time, place, person and paraphernalia. But when Your Lordship’s holy name is chanted, everything becomes faultless. SB 8.23.16 Read more ›

One glance at the palanquin of Their Lordships Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda induces the immediate desire to all hearts to bow down to the lowest ground possible with full love and surrender to the sweet Lordships. Unimaginably beautiful, alive and mesmerizing, this time around in Kuala Lumpur, the Lordships graced the land of Kampung Tasik Permai in city of Ampang on 19th July 2014, through Harinama Sankirtana organized by Sri Jagannatha Mandir Kuala Lumpur (SJMKL). This would be the 7th Harinam the temple has organized this year successfully, bringing joy to many many people and touching their lives in special ways. Read more ›

Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Vishnu, in Treta-yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dvapara-yuga by serving the Lord’s lotus feet can be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. SB 12.3.52 Read more ›

Hinduism is the second-largest practiced religion in Arizona, according to the U.S. Religious Congregations & Membership Study from 2010. The study only took a count of people who are members of a church or organized body within a faith, so some people who might consider themselves to be of a certain religion were not counted if they do not attend services regularly. Read more ›

On the 19th July 2014, more than 500 devotees took part in the Jaganatha Ratha Yatra festival organized by New Vrindaban, USA.

The Narada Purana (uttara kanda 52.12) describes the conversation between Lord Narayana and Lakshmi devi about Purushottama kshetra (Jagannath Puri),
pratimam tatra tam drstva svayam devena nirmitam
anayasena vai yanti bhavanam me tato narau
“A person who sees the Deities there built by the Lord Himself will easily find the path to reach My abode.”
Anyone who sees the Deities of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra during their Ratha yatra procession will be quickly rid of his miseries and is bound to reach Vaikuntha-loka, the eternal, spiritual world where anxiety does not exist.
Rathe ca vamanam drstva punar janma na vidyate.
“Simply by seeing the Lord on the chariot, one makes advancement for stopping the repetition of birth and death.”
“Similarly, Krishna and Balarama and Their sister Subhadra, They also came in royal fashion, with so many soldiers, and so many…, just like king. So these residents of Vrindavana, they met Krishna, and especially the gopis, they saw Krishna, and they lamented that “Krishna, You are here, we are also here, but the place is different. We are not in Vrindavana.” So there is a long story how they lamented and how Krishna pacified them. This is a feeling of separation, how the inhabitants of Vrindavana felt separation from Krishna. So this… When Krishna came on chariot, that is called Ratha-yatra. This is the history of Ratha-yatra. So any pastimes made by Krishna, that is observed in ceremonial form by the devotees. So that is Ratha-yatra.” (Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Seattle, October 18th 1968) Read more ›