Author Archives: Dandavats

New Devotee Website “Second Half” Launched into Orbit: The Fusion of Farming and Preaching
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Hare Krishna Devotees living at New Talavan Farm Community in Southern Mississippi have launched a dynamic new website called The Second Half (Second-Half.org). The name “Second Half” references Srila Prabhupada’s expressed desire for land-based preaching prototypes that make the philosophy and culture of Krishna consciousness approachable and understandable to Western people.

TOVP Euro Tour Days 2 and 3: Koln, Germany – Gauradesh
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Hare KrishnaBy TOVP staff

To everyone’s surprise, this became a miraculous visit with less than fifty devotees pledging over $150,000 U.S.! This precedent setting example shows that the hearts of the devotees and not the size of the temple is what really counts. When there is a will, there is a way. Make the commitment and the means will manifest. This was also Srila Prabhupada’s mood.

Akshaya Tritiya 2018 Message from TOVP
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Hare KrishnaBy Braja Vilasa das

This Wednesday, April 18, is Akshaya Tritiya, one of the most important days in the Vedic calendar. Akshaya means “imperishable” or “that which never diminishes”. Traditionally, this is the best day for starting important endeavors or projects. For example, Vyasadeva and Ganesa chose this day to start writing the Mahabharata, and every year construction of the huge Ratha carts in Puri also starts on this day. Srila Prabhupada chose this day in 1953 to start the “League of Devotees” in Jhansi.

Historic First GBC College for Leadership Development in Latin America
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Hare KrishnaBy Prema Rupa Madhava das

Seminars were given on various topics to help future Zonal Supervisors be able to perform their services more effectively. These ranged from behavioural aspects of a leader, personal development, introspection, to specific management techniques including project management, digital marketing, and leadership models. The association with leaders from different countries offered a very enriching experience. The different experiences each devotee brought to the table has helped all the students to better understand the challenges they each face. Attending morning programs together, chanting japa, honouring prasadam in an atmosphere based on love and service increased enthusiasm and has given inspiration and strength to continue Srila Prabhupada’s mission. Particularly, the conversations held at the tables during prasadam and recreational activities has helped deepen relationships between the students.

Review of Francis X. Clooney, S.J., His Hiding Place Is Darkness: A Hindu-Catholic Theopoetics of Divine Absence
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Hare KrishnaBy Krishna Kshetra Swami

This affirmation of Jesus leads me, reading the book from a Vaiṣṇava Hindu perspective, to reflect on how the book’s exercise might best “work” for a careful reading by a Vaiṣṇava, for whom it is likely to be Krishna who is the all-in-all—not just as Bhagavān, the absolute Lord, but as the embodiment of ever-expanding love that is ever surprisingly (and often playfully) enacted and just as painfully hidden from view. Suffice it to say here that one challenge for the Hindu might be to resist the temptation to settle for easy parallels as some sort of confirmation that “it is actually the same thing.” For the Hindu to experience a similar opening of space to the Catholic tradition of loving Jesus would require a similar readiness to be unsettled and to suspend a broadly Hindu (or neo-Hindu) tendency to enfold the other into the self.

Sri Varaha Nrsimha Swamy Temple at Simhachalam
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Hare KrishnaBy Chandan Yatra Das

Simha means “lion” and chalam means “hill”. So this is lion’s hill, the hill of Lord Nrsimhadeva. The Deity here, Sri Varaha Laxmi Nrsimha Swamy, is popularly known in Sanskrit as Simhadrinatha or in local Telugu language as Simhadri Appanna (“the Lord of the Lion Hill”). The Sthala Purana of Simhachalam recounts the history of the great devotee Prahlada Maharaja and his demonic father, Hiranyakasipu

Reflections on God and Evil in the Krishna Bhakti Theology of Caitanya
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Hare KrishnaBy Garuda Das

In order to appreciate aspects of the relationship between God and evil in Bhakti traditions, specifically for the Krishna Bhakti tradition of Caitanya, we must apply at least some essential conceptions of the school’s complex and richly nuanced theology to our topic. First, however, we must acknowledge at least briefly what we all know about the Hindu theological palette that undergirds this school’s vision, before we can appreciate the school’s theological portraiture.

Hinduism and the Academy: Towards a Dialogue Between Scholar and Practitioner
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Hare KrishnaBy Radhika Ramana Dasa

Recent decades have seen persistent tension between Hindus and scholars of Hinduism. There is, for example, ongoing disagreement over how Hinduism is taught in school textbooks, how scholars portray Hindu deities in their writing, and how we ought to conceive Hinduism’s history. The accusations from both sides often become heated, with nationalist politics, colonialist agendas, and missionary zeal allegedly part of the mix.

Fight or Flight: Thomas Merton and the Bhagavad Gita
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Hare KrishnaBy Satyaraja Dasa

TWO commemorative events of landmark stature inspired the essay you are about to read: First, the year 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Thomas Merton’s abrupt departure from our material vision. Second, 2018 is also the semicentennial celebration of a consequential publication: It was in 1968 that His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada released his unprecedentedly influential Bhagavad-gita As It Is. As we shall see, the trailblazing Western visionary, Merton, and this particular edition of the Gita engaged in productive conversation with each other