Author Archives: Dandavats

By Balimardana Das

The ISKCON Ministry of Education’s annual education conference was held in New Raman Reti Dhama – Alachua, Florida from June 21 through June 24, 2018. Alachua is home to two devotee run schools serving in combination 250 children from Pre-K through High School. About thirty participants attended from these schools and education programs across the USA. Many more joined on line.

By SriRama Dasa There is a worldwide campaign to increase the distribution of Srimad Bhagavatam sets. Previously, we had done this since the Bhagavatam glorifies the Bhadra Purnima. Recently, ISKCON Silicon Valley (ISV) headed by Vaisesika Prabhu resta…

Jagannath Damodar Das: This year Surat witnessed the largest and grandest ever Rathyatra since last 25 years, people rushed to see Lord Jagannatha as moths rush towards fire.Read More…

By Hari Narayana Das

Diversity was the mercy of the Lord. When the diversity of people brings about good performance; progress & prosperity. When our country has social harmony, stability & security. No riots, no civil wars, no burning of each other’s places, no fear because of your age, gender, dress, skin colour. Then the peace of the country can be established. This message was brought by the committee of Jagannatha Ratha Yatra Bali, July 14-15, 2018.  The diversity of the religion was presented in front of Lord Jagannatha. This is annual Ratha Yatra in Bali. This year the committees presented different things at the festival. Youth from interfaith presented their performance in front of Lord Jaganath.

By Shaunaka Rishi Das A gathering of around 270 people met and dined together in the magnificence of Oxford Town Hall on Monday, 2nd July . The grand event was held by the OCHS to say a great big ‘Thank You’ to all our friends, benefactors and well-wis…

By Subroto Das By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, today Hera Panchami is celebrated by devotees all across the world and with each passing year the size of the festivities is growing. More than 500 years back Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu along with His de…

By Khonika Gope We all know that Mahaprabhu was born on February 18, 1486. Other than these broad chronologies, we know very little about the exact timelines of His life events. The difficulty in constructing a reliable timeline of His life events lie…

The unanimous efforts of the Chennai devotees pulled off an attractive little parade led by ecstatic kirtan and dancing; crowds of people forming parallel lines on either side of the Ratha to pull the ropes; Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladev and Lady Subha…

By Iskcon Mayapur

In South Kolkata, a treasure trove of Vaishnava literature can be found in ISKCON Mayapur’s Bhaktivedanta Research Centre. This library is a gem hidden in a quiet Kolkata neighborhood, in which can be found copies of almost every book written by the previous acharyas going back to Srila Rupa Gosvami, and many rare and out of print books, such as Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s compilation of commentaries on the Padma Purana and his commentaries on the Bhagavad-gita. The library also contains scans of many original, handwritten manuscripts, as well as many of the original manuscripts themselves, such as the only known copy of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s personal diary, dating from 1904 -1906.

Radhanath Swami: In the past thirty years Krishna has blessed us with countless gifts. We passed through truly ecstatic times, and times of painful challenges.Read More…

The verse and purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.34 describes the envious and non-envious behavior towards seniors, equals and juniors. Srila Prabhupada explains things in simple yet profound terms which are of very practical relevance to us all.Read Mo…

By Acarya Dasa

The padayatri near me mumbled, “He is a Muslim. Let’s leave, he will fight with us.” Then, very softly, I explained to the man the objective of our padayatra, which quieted him a little. Then I asked him, “Can we have prasad here after our team reaches?” He said, “Ok, sit under the tree; but you have to pay for water”. I agreed with this condition. After a while all the padayatris arrived on the spot where we were waiting. We parked our cart and trolleys in the shade. As we were all set to start honoring our prasadam, this man came again. I assumed that he was going to create some nuisance, but the Lord showered His causeless mercy upon him. As he took darsana of Their Lordships, his heart melted. He just kept looking at them while I was waiting for his reaction. The Lord took away the envy in his heart and filled it with love. With folded palms he came to us and requested, “Please sit inside my house while honoring your food.” Generally ladies in the Muslim community don’t come out of house but he called all of them outside for darsana, and they took photos of Their Lordships and the oxen. We offered them carnamrita, which they readily accepted, and I also explained to them the importance of honoring this carnamrita. The man took prasadam with us and also bought some of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Then, as we were about to depart, he came to me and said, “I am sorry for the offence I committed. Please forgive me. I was very rude to you. I am very fortunate that in this month of Eid (a big Muslim festival) and roza (fasting in Islam) the Lord has come to my house and His cart is standing right outside my house. I am very obliged to all of you.”

We are planning a wonderful garden that will capture the mood of Vrndavana. In these gardens we will hold our Mayapur Jhulan Yatra, as well as other festivals, thoughout the year.Read More…

Iskcon Mayapur: The Ratha-yatra festival observed by Lord Caitanya is the emotional process of taking Krishna back to Vrindavana. Sramati Radharaṇi refused to go with Krishna to Dvaraka to enjoy His company in the atmosphere of royal opulence, for She wanted to enjoy His company in the original Vrindavana atmosphere. Lord Krishna, being profoundly attached to the gopis, never goes away from Vrindavana, and the gopis and other residents of Vrindavana remain fully satisfied in Krishna consciousness.

Purushottam Nitai Das: When Lord Jagannath with his elder brother Balarama and little sister Subhadra enthrone the beautifully decorated majestic chariots on the Rath Yatra day then the hearts of lakhs of people dance in joy.Read More…

Sunanda Das: Gaia is one of the world’s only alternative, spiritual and educational online television channels. Starting July 12th, Gaia will be making available two videos by Sadaputa Dasa and Drutakarma Dasa

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 June 2018. North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors. Monthly Top 100 Indiv…

By Tamal Krishna Goswami We cannot calculate the debt which we owe to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura Practically this Krishna consciousness movement is based upon his design because it is he who revived the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and who gave …

By Hari Narayana Das Two Jagannatha Ratha Yatra took place at the same time (July 8, 2018) and in two different places. one far in the west, Jakarta, and the other one far in the east, Kediri, East Java. As Srila Prabhupada mentions in his lecture tha…

By Radha Sundari devi dasi

We have all heard the story of the house that Srila Prabhupada built in which the whole world can live. And how in his great mercy he lovingly created, in the body of ISKCON, a spiritual family to take up residence in that house. A family imbued with the qualities of love and trust, to stand at the door and welcome inside the rest of the world. Although we have repeated these words many times over the past 38 years, it is only in the last few days, after Hari-sauri Prabhu launched an appeal to help our family, that we have been privileged to really experience first-hand what it means to be embraced by the love of that family. We feel as if we’ve been sitting in the centre of a magic circle surrounded by hundreds of devotees and well-wishers from all over the world, flooding us with blessings, prayers, gifts from the heart, pledges of laxmi and messages of hope, wisdom, comfort and succour.

Fast forward to 7 months from where it all started, here we are now, at the beginning of July, and Food For All Coventry has served, in total, over 5000 delicious hot meals and countingRead More…

Everything belongs to Krishna, and therefore by cleaning His temple and other paraphernalia one automatically begins cleaning his or her heart, which ultimately belongs to Krishna too. Krishna wants to reside in our hearts and therefore assists us in …

By Mahatma Das The reality is that if we don’t become enthusiastic about improving ourselves, we are going to have trouble moving forward. We can lament and feel remorseful about our fallen condition, yet we can be enthusiastic for bhakti at the same t…

By Bhaktin Debasmita

London College of Vedic Studies was very honored to have HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami deliver a powerful and relevant seminar entitled ‘Power of Habits’, on Sunday 8th July 2018. The College serves as the educational wing of ISKCON-London, offering a wide range of educational, spiritual and practical courses, seminars and workshops aimed at nurturing character, personal fulfilment and spiritual progression.

By Hari Narayana Das Globalization now days give many impacts to the young generation. The effects of this era sometime gave positive influence and negative in other ways. Protecting the young from the bad effect of the globalization is in the hands of…

By ISKCON Mayapur

To this day, the Panihati Chida Dahi festival is celebrated in Panihati Dhama and all around the world. Panihati Dhama is located near Kolkata, and annually the festival is celebrated there in the same style as it was in Raghunatha Dasa’s time. Every year, a busload of devotees from the Mayapur temple goes and assists in the Panihati festivities. ISKCON Panihati organizes this festival for the mass distribution of prasadam and pilgrims in the thousands from surrounding states come to participate in the celebrations.

By Giriraj Swami Srivasa Pandita is one of the members of the Panca-tattva: sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasa. Vedic authorities state that in the current Age of Kali, Krishna came as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Balara…

By Haridas DasIn September 1965 I went up to Ananda Ashram, an hour and a half out of New York City. I went there mostly to get out of the city. The Indian guru who presided at the Ashram I had met before in New York at a Yoga Society. Many of my frien…

By Louise Guthrie

Holborn is a strange place to build a castle. Not only that, but I can’t seem to find it. Surely Krishna’s Castle must be here somewhere, because, not only does this fantastic Food Fort commendably provide 1,500 free meals a day to those in need, but it (most importantly) has an official London postcode and address. However, as we all know, London street-numbers are not necessarily any more visible to the naked eye than hidden castles, and those door-numerals that are apparent don’t necessarily follow in sequential order.

By Mahatma Das

(The following is an excerpt from an unfinished book about my life in Krsna consciousness. It details the history of how big book distribution began in Iskcon, a history which has not been chronicled in any Iskcon publications. The scene takes place in Vancouver, Canada, November of 1971.) At this time in Iskcon (1971) big book distribution had not yet begun. We only distributed Back to Godhead magazines (BTG’s) on the street. We usually got donation of 25cents per magazine. If we were lucky, we might occasionally get a really big donation of 50 cents. We thought it was difficult to get that much money from most people so we didn’t usually ask for it.

By Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami After a month I really loved the svami (Mrs. Agarwal relates). I felt kind of protective in a way, and he wanted to go to Philadelphia. But I couldn’t imagine—I told him—I could not imagine this man going to Philadelphia for …

By Kesava Krsna dasa Chant and dance in ecstasy! Experience the bliss! Just let go! Many a time we may have felt heightened exhilaration during kirtan or other devotional activities and wondered if it was some form of ecstatic symptom like bhava! If it…

Kishore Krsna Das: I am writing for my good friend, Mahabudhi Das also known as Don Ferry, American Born and a senior Prabhupada Desciple. Recently he met with an unfortunate accident at the ISKCON Alachua Temple in USA Florida, where he has been servi…

By Karnamrita Das In the lives of great persons there is always opposition and apparent road blocks in accomplishing their goals or mission in life. Whether through another person, an accident, their own body or mind, or some natural disturbance, what …

By Devaki Devi Dasi Envy is a very subtle and deep-rooted anartha within our hearts. It comes about because we want to be the supreme enjoyer, proprietor and controller. Therefore we tend to use any relationship for the purpose of establishing our supe…

By Hari Narayana das It needed great effort to organize such great festival to make it successful. The committee of the festival had made preparations since three months back. The committee felt confidence to do the festival because devotees from aro…

By Sita Rama Lakshmana Das Australians or colloquially known as Aussies, are known for their laid back, easy going and predisposed to be friendly attitude even in the grim circumstances. According to the most recent census conducted by Australian Burea…

By Samita Sarkar The Srimad Bhagavatam frequently refers to the universe as “the cosmic ocean,” with the planets as “islands.” This analogy was used countless times in my astronomy textbook, since outer space is composed mostly of, well, space. Althoug…

By Vishakha Devi Dasi Longevity attracts me because I’m an eternal spiritual being, an imperishable soul. In my natural state I don’t transmigrate. So, since I’m not meant to be helplessly, traumatically dragged from one body to another, I crave perman…

By Niranjana Swami As we all know from various understandings of Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy, our life is going to move just like this also. Sometimes when we realize how quickly our life is passing by, we begin to analyze: “Where am I going?” These…