All the Upanisads are like a cow, and the milker of the cow is Lord Shri Krishna, the son of Nanda. Arjuna is the calf, the beautiful nectar of the Gita is the milk, and the fortunate devotees of fine theistic intellect are the drinkers and enjoyers o…
Author Archives: Dandavats
Churning Srimad Bhagavatam
Gratitude rooted in Srimad Bhagavatam and Nama Prabhu
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By Romapada Swami Srila Prabhupada told us later that he received some direct instruction from Rupa Goswami. Rupa Goswami came and said to him: Take courage, I will be with you, your mission will be successful! Go forward, complete the instruction giv…
Rathyatra at Festival of Lights Parade Ipswich QLD Australia
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By Subhangi Devi Dasi More than 20000 people lined the streets of Ipswich in Queensland Australia as Jaganath, Subhadra and Baladev distributed Their mercy freely. Crowds were dancing, chanting and clapping as Their Lordships and the harinam party went…
Akshaya Tritiya 2018 Message from TOVP
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By 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.
News from Eco-Vrindaban
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ECO-Vrindaban promotes simple living, cow protection, engaging oxen, local agriculture, and above all, loving Krishna, as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON New Vrindaban.Read More…
Candana-yatra and Aksaya-tritiya
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ISKCON Mayapur: The Candana-yatra festival perfectly exemplifies the sublime and wonderful nature of Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness is simply sublime because we are constantly engaged in serving Krishna somehow or other.Read More…
4th Annual Sri Sri Gaura Nitai Ratha Yatra in North Chennai
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By Bhakta Mohana Rangan 14th April 2018, New year according to Tamil lunar calender will remain forever in the memory of North Chennai devotees as it does every year. 4th Annual Sri Sri Gaura Nitai Ratha yatra organized by ISKCON Perambur enliven the s…
Finding Ultimate Meaning
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By Nikunja Vilasini Devi Dasi Dhruva was elated to see his Lord face to face, but he felt ashamed. “O my Lord,” he said, “because I was seeking an opulent material position, I was performing severe types of penance and austerity. Now I have gotten You…
NASN March 2018 – North American Sankirtan Newsletter
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By Mayapur Sasi dasa For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following North American results of book distribution for the month of March 2018. North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors. Monthly Top 100 Indi…
The Authority of the Puranas
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By Srila Jiva Goswami The preeminent philosopher in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s line explains why, in this age, the Puranas are essential for accessing the Absolute Truth. Sri Tattva-sandarbha is the first of Srila Jiva Goswami’s Bhagavata-sandarbha, or Sha…
Gadadhara Pandita – the Embodiment of Pure Love for Lord Caitanya
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By ISKCON Mayapur When Mahaprabhu departed from this world, He entered into Gadadhara Pandita’s worshipable Deity, Tota-gopinatha. After Mahaprabhu’s departure, Gadadhara Pandita’s feelings of separation for Him were so intense that he appeared to age …
Historic First GBC College for Leadership Development in Latin America
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By 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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By 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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By 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
Were There Two Buddhas?
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By Sri Nandanandana dasa In the following material, we will look at the evidence that seems to indicate that there was first the Avatara Buddha, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu who appeared near 1800 BCE, and then there was another person who became kno…
Lord Buddha: Making the Faithless Faithful
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By Mayapur-shashi Dasa The subject of Lord Buddha and how we as Vaishnavas should consider him is a deep, highly complex subject, and the very complexity and depth of Buddhist teaching makes it impossible to discuss in detail in an article of this leng…
The Importance of Reading
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By Balaram Nityananda Das Chandramauli Swami: Krishna Katha and Krishna Kirtan must go together side by side like husband and wife, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur tells us, each one supports the other. – After a year of asking Maharaj to speak somet…
The Archbishop of Canterbury Receives Srila Prabhupada’s Books
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Mantra Caitanya das: This evening devotees from Canterbury, England, attended a lecture by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is the most senior cleric of the Church of England and the head of the Anglican Communion (an organization with 8…
New Iskcon Temple in Manama, capital of Bahrain (Arabian Gulf)
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By Nrusingha Prasad The King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa officially announced for Hindu-Sanatan spiritual organization ISKCON in Bahrain. New Hare Krishna Temple will be built in Manama very soon…. Also will have Sri Jagannath’s Rathyatra on …
Beautiful New Arabic BGAIS!
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By Satyanarayana dasa More than two years in the making, this meticulously translated Arabic edition of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is is now being snapped up by temples all over North America and worldwide (including the UK, Europe, Aus/NZ, and even India…
Reflections on God and Evil in the Krishna Bhakti Theology of Caitanya
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By 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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By 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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By 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
Back in the U.S.S.R.- Vladivostok (15 min video)
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Indradyumna Swami: Following in the footsteps of our beloved spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, we are back in Russia on a two-month winter preaching tour, taking us from the far eastern shores of Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, 6,532 kilometres to th…
Bhakti Vriksha Hands on Training held in ISKCON Mira Road, Mumbai
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ISKCON MIRA ROAD, MUMBAI had organized a 3 Day workshop Entitled Bhakti Vriksha-Hands on Training between 6th-8th April 2018. Around 65 devotees participated in this workshop which includes Congregation devotees, Youth Forum Devotees and Brahmacari’s …
A picture book by an ISKCON devotee is among finalists of prestigious MIPA book award
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A devotional children’s book by Ananda Rupa devi dasi is recognized as one of the best among all books published in Midwest last year
Departure of Vrindavan Chandra De
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By The GBC EC The GBC EC, on behalf of the GBC body, wishes to offer its deepest respect to Sriman Vrndavan Chandra De, on the occasion of his passing from this world. Vrndavan Chandra De was the youngest son of His Divine Grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Sw…
TOVP: Nrsimha Caturdasi, Maha Sudarshana Yajna and Harinama Yajna 2018
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Every year for Nrsimha Caturdasi we celebrate the Lord’s appearance with a grand three day festival. The first day is celebrated with a huge procession throughout the ISKCON Mayapur property and on the second day we perform a three hour long Maha Sudarshana Homa before the Deity of Lord Nrsimhadeva.
ISKCON Dallas Festival of Joy got huge television coverage
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ISKCON Dallas is doing their Ratha Yatra in Downtown Dallas very first time. Entire temple congregation is working hard to make it the best event in DFW vicinity. They got the coverage on the television today morning. It was cold but devotees went in …
Hare Krishna! Film to have its eagerly-awaited UK premiere in London on Monday 23rd April
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By ISKCON-London Communications
The wait in the UK is finally over! Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami who started it all (formerly known as Acharya) is coming to cinemas in the UK! Never before has there been a bigger opportunity for a mainstream audience in the UK to experience the incredible story of A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami (affectionately known as Srila Prabhupada), the 70-year-old Swami from India, who arrived in America without any support or money in the turbulent 1960s. Despite all difficulties and obstacles, his unflinching determination and faith ignited a worldwide spiritual phenomenon, known as the “Hare Krishna Movement” and officially named the “International Society of Krishna Consciousness” (ISKCON)
For the love of wisdom
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By Kripamoya Das
The great logical philosopher Jayatirtha wrote in his book of logic, the Tattvasankhyana Tika: “The independent principle is that which does not depend on any other for its own nature and existence, self-awareness or for becoming an object of knowledge to the selves and for the free and unfettered exercise of its own powers” The philosophical enquiries of the Indian philosophers led them into an area of knowledge which today we would term Theology, the study of theos or God. Although theology is considered today to be a separate discipline from philosophy, one more interested in sectarian religious dogma than scientific examination of the truth, the ancient Indian philosophers saw no such hard distinction. They simply saw that their line of enquiry into the ultimate reality led them to the very reasonable conclusion that there existed an independent reality that had unlimited awareness and volition, and the infinitesimal consciousness of the limitless number of individuals was somehow connected and given sustenance by this one entity.
Sad-bhuja-murti: Sri Caitanya’s Six-Armed Form
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By Satyaraja Dasa Anthropomorphism fails as an explanation for the many-armed divine forms described in the Vedic literature. When I joined the Hare Krishna movement, something in Srila Prabhupada’s books intrigued me: God’s unlimited nature went bey…
Confessions of the Prasadam Addict: Divine Intervention
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By Taru dasMy dear readers, it is time to come to an understanding of the motivation behind these articles. We have attempted to be a little amusing and in this respect, there may have been a certain amount of success. But actually what we are trying t…
Celebrating the spirit of togetherness as a Rainbow Nation through diverse and innovative style – The 30th Durban Festival of Chariots
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By Krsangi Radhe dasi
It has been an amazing festival of spreading Krishna Consciousness through diverse preaching programmes, bringing people together from all walks of life to a spiritual realm. ISKCON Kwa-Zulu Natal (South Africa) hosted the 30th Durban Festival of Chariots over the Easter Weekend (30 March – 2 April). The four day festival is a flagship event on the Ethekwini Municipality calendar as an event that promotes social cohesion through song, dance, food and discussion. As with previous years, we saw over 150 000 enthusiastic guests enjoy all that was on offer.
Reaffirmation of Ministries and Standing Committees
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By The GBC
GBC Nominations Committee: Members – Bhakti Caitanya Swami (Chairman), Prahladananda Swami, Praghosa Das, Gopal Bhatta Das (Convenor), Tamohara Das, Anuttama Das, Revati Raman Das, Radha Krsna Das, Gauranga Das, Aniruddha Das, Devakinandan Das (MVG), Laxmimoni Dasi, Manohara Das, Kaunteya Das, Tapana Misra Das (Non-voting Executive Member)
Sannyasa Waiting List
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By The GBC One Year Waiting List: Bhaktipada Das Deva Deva Das Ekalavya Das Navadwip Dwija Gauranga Das Priti Vardhana Das Pushpashila Shyam Das Raghava Pandit Das Santa Nrsimha Das Vrindavan Chandra Das Two Years Waiting List: Asim Krishna …
Zonal Assignments 2018
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By The GBC Zonal Assignments for GBC Members Acyutatma Das Co-Zonal Secretary with Bhakti Caitanya Swami for: Russia: Northwest Co-Zonal Secretary with Gopal Krishna Goswami and Niranjana Swami for: Russia: Moscow Anuttama Das Zonal Secretary for: Del…
ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry Standing Annual Presentation to GBC Body
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By The GBC
Whereas when Deity worship is done properly following the rules of worship and maintaining strict cleanliness and punctuality, the worship is enlivening to devotees; Whereas, it has been seen that in temples where the worship is below the required minimum standard, it is often a result of zonal leadership, temple management, and/or the head pujari not knowing the proper standards of worship; Whereas GBC members and other leaders of ISKCON may not have the time to learn appropriate standards for ISKCON centers; Whereas, the maintenance of public Deity worship in an ISKCON center is the responsibility of the management of that center, under the supervision of that center’s zonal authorities, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the GBC Zonal Secretary and the GBC Body; Whereas Deity worship is one of the five primary angas of bhakti and therefore of primary importance in a sadhaka’s progress in spiritual life; Whereas other primary activities of ISKCON, such as book distribution, have standing annual presentation time to the GBC and discussion on ISKCON Deity worship at our centers is similarly worthy of the GBC Body’s attention and awareness; Resolved: Each year at the AGM in Mayapur, the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry will be allocated a minimum of 1 hour, at the discretion of the Executive Committee, to present a report of Deity worship in ISKCON, particularly with a focus on Radha-Krsna worship.
Radha Krsna Deity Worship Standards
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By The GBC Resolved: That the ISKCON Law governing the commencement of worship of Deities in ISKCON centers shall be amended to include the following: ISKCON centers proposing to commence worship of Radha-Krishna Deities must ensure that their propos…
Establishing The ISKCON International Office for the Prevention of Leader Misconduct (PLM Office) as a permanent ISKCON managerial entity
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By The GBC Resolved: 1. The ISKCON International Office for the Prevention of Leader Misconduct (PLM Office) be established as a permanent ISKCON organizational entity subject to review by the GBC Body (as with other Offices and Ministries). The PLM …