Author Archives: Dandavats

By Yogesvara dasa A Native American storyteller named Ron Evans tells a tale that warms the heart of all who agonise over the effects of contemporary media. Ron visited Africa some years ago and was present the day electric lines were installed for th…

By Dayananda das“Everything should be done on the basis of love. Strictness is not very good. The students should act automatically, out of love. That is wanted. [However,] Superficially, strictness may be necessary—some material laws or basic principl…

By Hari-dhama dasa In this presentation, Hari-dhama dasa discusses an important social issue for the Society: that of providing care for the terminally ill in the movement. Since Vaisnava hold very dear the hope of dying in the association of devotees …

By Satsvarupa Dasa Gosvami July 11, 1966. 26 Second Avenue, New York City: A few sympathetic, interested people gather in a small downtown storefront to help an Indian swami’s mission by adding their signature to a legal document. Today, ISKCON has br…

By Srutakirti dasaOne evening, Srila Prabhupada spoke at the University of California in Berkeley, the heart of the hippie capital. The San Francisco devotees enthusiastically received him and relished his lecture. They prepared barrels of popcorn and …

Rukmini had never seen Krishna, but by hearing about Him from Shri Narada, purva raga arose within her heart. Thus she became exceedingly anxious to meet with Krishna. Similarly, by hearing from the guru and Vaishnavas or by reading the shastras, the …

By Radhanatha Swami Across all religions there is a universal concept that when a man and woman marry with proper attitude they become one body. They don’t merge into each other’s existence, but it means that they start living for a common purpose – to…

By ISKCON Ministry of Education

Please find enclosed the 4th Issue, 2nd Volume for this year, of ISKCON Ministry of Education’s quarterly journal, Viplavah. We hope this edition will be useful and interesting to you in many ways. We look forward to being in touch with you. Please let us know if you would like to participate in educational projects facilitated by the ministry or would like to collaborate with the ministry for educational initiatives in your area.

By Indradyumna Swami When Hanuman returned from Lanka, reporting to Lord Rama, he didn’t want to start by “I found Sita” by putting himself first, neither putting Sita’s name first like “Sita was found” to prevent Lord Rama’s anxiety by hearing first h…

By Damodar Prasad das For Srila Prabhupada, the term “Society, Friendship and Love,” was used to refer to the primary allurement which keeps us shackled in the material world of illusion and suffering. The following excerpt is indicative of his general…

By Srila Krishna Das Kaviraja Goswami If one chants the exalted Holy Name of the Lord again and again and yet his love for the Supreme Lord does not develop and tears do not appear in his eyes, it is evident that because of his offenses in chanting, th…

By Sivarama Swami From Srila Prabhupada’s teachings and Gaudiya history, it seems that there has always been a tension between two kinds of followers of Lord Caitanya’s mission—the preachers and the reclusive practitioners. These are known as the gosth…

By Sri Nandanandana dasa As related in the Bhagavata Purana, at the start of Kali-yuga, King Pariksit declared that the seeds of evil will manifest in four things: intoxication, gambling, illicit sex, and the killing of innocent creatures, especially …

By ISCOWP Co-Managing Director The Cow Culture Conference was held in Silicon Valley, California May 2018 by the Om Sri Surabhi Campaign headed by HH Bhakti Raghava Swami. At the conference, Balabhadra (William E. Dove – president of ISCOWP) speaks abo…

By the GBC EC It has come to our attention that an idea is circulating that the GBC Body has overturned the CPO’s ruling in a recent case. We wish to clarify that the GBC Body, by its own rules, does not have the authority to overturn a ruling by the …

By GBC Corresponding Secretary The Annual General Meeting of the ISKCON GBC Society will begin on March 3, 2019. Following the ISKCON GBC Society’s Rules of Order, the GBC Secretariat requests proposals, duly sponsored by TWO GBC members, to be submitt…

By Paramadayala Nityananda Dasa

ISKCON is a monotheistic movement, based on authoritative scriptures which provide an ontology and epistemology unparalleled in the history of mankind. Monotheism, and acceptance of sacred literature is pervasive throughout the western world: and there is high regard for critical/philosophical analysis, as a means for finding truth. As such, creating an accurate perception of ISKCON in the minds of people in general is the most powerful way to attract true spiritual seekers among the masses. However, we are utilizing our energy on “bridge preaching” programs which cloud this accurate perception.

By Acarya Dasa

When these 8 boys joined us they became part of our padayatra party, in fact we felt like they were also padayatris. Their sadhana was very strong- they used to get up at 3 am and chant their rounds before mangala arati. Not only did they attend all the programs with us but they also lead some harinamas and other programs and sang the prayers of mangala arati and Gaura arati with so much enthusiasm. They walked with us all day, tolerating the scorching sun. Sometimes we did not have much water to drink, but they never complained. Almost all of them caught a common cold due to the weather change, but they happily accepted it as part of their padayatra experience. They were all very fervent to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. One of them exclaimed, “We have never seen such book distribution anywhere! Even Muslims are taking books and participating in sankirtana. It’s a miracle they do it, it’s all mercy. Their hearts are getting transformed by the darsana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundara.”

By Gadadhar Das

Bali has a Hindu population of around 85%. Most of the Hindus in Bali practice the orthodox religion which has been dated back for centuries. The ‘Student Community of Hindu Dharma, Indonesia’ is the largest Hindu youth organization in the island. The mission of this organization is to spread the fundamental teachings of Hinduism to others. In every province in Indonesia there is a branch but the headquarters are in Jakarta. Although Hindus and Muslims live peacefully together in Indonesia there is a vast increase in the conversion rate of Hindus. To strengthen the faith of the Hindu community, especially the youth, the Student Community of Hindu Dharma started to actively preach about Hinduism to try and preserve this age long culture.

By Indradyumna Swami I arrived in America on Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day is reserved for remembering the American soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in the wars over the centuries. I had just come from a similar event in …

Bhakta Krishna Kirtan: We have a new bhakta. His name is Thomas Biers and he is the MOST sincere new bhakta I’ve come across since I’ve been practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness (2009)

Niskincana: Just to let you know, we have the next sabbatical course coming up this year. The Sabbatical course will start near the end September 2018 and finish in May 2018.
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By Ajita Dasa

New Mayapur has been tested by the usual lack of resources and succession. Incidentally, New Mayapur, situated in central France, 350km south of Paris, is the last place where Srila Prabhupada’s quarters are kept intact in the European continent. Being somewhat similar to New Govardhana in its history, in 2013 the France GBC requested that I help with the New Mayapur project. I started travelling there two or three times a year, for three to four weeks at a time. The New Mayapur management team secured a stall at a five-day festival in Bourges, 140km west of the project. This was the first testing ground for the famous Australian kofta arriving in the ‘land of fries’. The menu remained exactly the same as the catering menu Australians here love so much – the French dove into the nectar rather than turning up their noses!

By Urmila Devi Dasi

One day in an Armenian mountain village, a typically atheistic engineer, a man well respected in his community, sat outside for a smoke. When a truck came to deliver a package, he and his friend the truck driver talked about news from the city. As the driver carried the package to the engineer’s house, the engineer saw an unusual book in the truck: a Russian translation of Sri Ishopanishad. Curious, he picked it up. He looked at the photo of Srila Prabhupada on the back and thought, “How amazing that there is someone like this living on this planet!” Then he spontaneously fell on the ground to offer obeisance to the photo.

A sacred journey to India hidden in Western Australia’s Swan Valley! Here’s a fantastic report by Kimberley McGivern, who is in her final year studying journalism at Edith Cowan UniversityRead More…

By Mukunda Bhakti Das Dark life in the locked cell of prison is really a hellish experience. Prisoners remain repentant on the misdeeds of their past lives and fully frustrated thinking on dark future. But Bhagavad Gita can bring a horizon of light and…

By Hari Narayana Das

Both sides of the streets were packed with people who wanted to see the parade. Devotees distributed one ton of oranges that already offered to the Lord Jagannath which was donated by Dina Dharini Mataji to the audiences. The Hare Krishna Maha Mantra filled the atmosphere. The devotees danced in front of Lord Jagannath and people also followed from their place. They were so happy seeing Lord Chariot. Devotees also distributed Srila Prabhupada’s books. Throughout the journey, many people witnessed various activities and cars followed by the Regional Device Organization (OPD) Pemkot Surabaya, BUMD Pemkot Surabaya, universities, agencies/ambassadors from neighboring cities and also cities from outside the province and outside the island.

By Vijaya Dasa Denver had a great month in April. It was the No. 1 temple in the Medium Temple category worldwide. There’s a nice temple president there, Tusta Krsna Prabhu, who previously was a full-time book distributor for about fifteen years. Becau…

By Sri Krishna Purusottama das On Sunday, May 20, 2018, a conference on Cow Culture was held at the India Community Center, Milpitas, California, which is located on the Northeastern side of the area that has become known as Silicon Valley. The confere…

By Suhrit Krishna Das

ARISE with R.I.S.E!!! (Rupanuga Institute of Spiritual Education). The response at the time of registration was overwhelming, entries were very encouraging. Knowing the fact that this is happening for the first time in Auckland, gave enough confidence as to what could be expected. Even though it was a cold evening on Narsimha Chaturdashi yet devotees were enthralled with the idea, came up for registration and could not wait to attend the three session seminar on “ The Journey of Self- Discovery”, a systematic and scientific presentation on the essence of Bhagavad Gita.

A report of Pujari department from H.G. Jananivas Prabhu – ISKCON, SRI MAYAPUR May-2018Read More…

Around fifty devotees gathered together at Bhaktivedanta Manor in the UK for the daylong course, which began with Ajita Das encouraging attendees to examine deeply, what they personally felt, was the biggest problem Krishna Consciousness could solve.R…

By Bhakti Bhringa Govinda Swami A path of surrender means attentive chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord. Path of surrender means attentive study of scriptures. Path of surrender means describing the glories of Krishna to other people. Path of surren…

By Anuradha Imseng

On Thursday, 17 May 2018, a second VIP event was held at ISKCON New Vrindaban to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary with dignitaries, supporters, friends, and local and worldwide devotees. It was an opportunity to thank the guests for their unrelenting support during New Vrindaban’s fifty-year journey. The pre-event began with a tour of Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, the breathtaking memorial shrine (Smriti Samadhi) of Srila Prabhupada, while the lady guests were treated to henna tattoo art and saris to wear to the occasion.

This is a very extraordinary explanation of the 1st verse of the Siksashtakam teaching of Sri Caitanya MahaprabhuRead More…

Life is a journey but many are blissfully unaware of its final destination. Please read Bhagavad-gita and chant Hare Krishna, to know it all in full perfection.Read More…

Krishna das: We had a wonderful prog @ Rasipuram in Tamilnadu, IndiaRead More…

By NRR Community Development Team

(3.5 MB, 52 pages PDF document) From more than 1000 Devotees, 508 Total Responses, September 2017. The Community Development Initiative (CDI) is organized by a team of community members in conjunction with the New Raman Reti Board of Directors. Our vision: A loving and well connected family of Krishna devotees, spiritual aspirants, and friends fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s Mission. Our Mission: To empower and assist our congregation to live happily in New Raman Reti by giving devotees a voice and building a shared vision which will maximize the long term potential of our temple and community