Author Archives: Dandavats

By Vijaya Das ISKCON Bangalore’s Jaganatha Mandir got off to a great start in 2018, with 17,000 book points. Some very enthusiastic book distributors earned Bangalore the No. 1 spot in the Small Temple category. The New York Harinama Party long ago st…

Lilasuka dasi: Any activity that you begin on Gaura Purnima day becomes very auspicious. There is a special, true story in this regard. On the afternoon of Gaura Purnima, March 8, a few of us were chanting bhajans in the temple room for the pleasure of…

Shyam Mukund Das: The life story of the greatest spiritual leader of all times Srila A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and his pure desire to serve the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu through the establishment of the International Society of Kris…

By the MCO

The best time and place is Mayapur on Lord Caitanya’s Appearance Day. That is not only the best for me but for everyone. Mayapur is meant for that. If possible all devotees from all our centers should go for 8 days at that time.” – Srila Prabhupada, Letter to Tamal Krishna, Bhaktivedanta Manor 20 July, 1973

By Chaitanya Charana Dasa 1. Acknowledge: In our relationships that have gone sour, we can honestly introspect and humbly hear from others to check if we might have been more at error than we have believed. If we come to know of our error, we need to a…

Nabhi: On Friday, 252 Higher Taste were distributed to 12 year old children (year 8) in a school in Purley, London. Read More…

By Taru Das

In a few short years, it has all taken on the quality of a legend. Nobody really believes the stories of what we used to eat, how much we used to eat, the austerities of cooking outdoors. It all seems like a myth. Sometimes new devotees still come up to me and say, “I hear you used to eat ninety chapatis a day”. I just kind of shrug my shoulders and smile and mumble that everybody used to eat a lot more then. (The truth of the matter is that one time I kept count up to seventy and then gave up counting). But who’s going to believe that. anyways? Better to let it remain a myth.

By Malati Devi Dasi Less reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books, minimizing his position by more elaborate guru-pujas than SP’s guru-puja, introduction of new, unauthorized literature, demigod and non Vaishnava worship in Iskcon temples, Indian social cus…

By Jagannath Damodar das A glorious Rathyatra festival was organised on 24-2-18 in the town of Bharuch ( Bhrigu kuchh). This is a historical place connected way back crores of years back, when Lord Vaaman Dev enacted His wonderful pastimes of covering …

To travel to different places of pilgrimage means to attain emancipation from material bondage.Read More…

By Mayesvara Dasa

Because of the success of the BBT book distributors all over the world… the volume of pilgrims attending have become so high the parikrama groups have had to be divided into smaller groups. What is further impressive is that those responsible for coordinating the logistics of this operation arrange for ALL the pilgrims to get both breakfast and lunch served at the location sites where they arrive at! There is yet another group of very hearty individuals who camp and bath at the places of worship where huge tents are set up for them to sleep and they get an evening meal as well! This is all because of the extraordinary teaching of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

By Nartak Gopal Devi Dasi

Krishna arranged for devotees to be there at the time of his death. This was December 8th 1980. The New York temple was on West 55th Street in Manhattan and two devotees lived at that temple. Bakula and Surottama, and they had their daughter Shringara born that morning. She was born in the temple so by the afternoon she had developed kind of a cough so they thought well we better take this baby to the hospital because you never know. So they asked another devotee Keshiha, who now lives in Alachua where I lived, that can you please drive us to the ER the emergency room at Roosevelt Hospital. Roosevelt Hospital is up on West 59th Street and the temple is on 55th Street so at the hospital they were taken into this room and the lady doctor was examining the baby when all of a sudden she was called out of the room, there was apparently like a big emergency, and she was called out of the room so uh Surottama das followed her, he wanted to see what what is this emergency, so he followed her to and of course I mean at that time this was 1980 the devotees you know they always just dressed with their shaved head and the dhoti and kurta they didn’t wear karmi clothes to go places in America so much that because they were living in the temple. So what it was, Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s wife was walking alongside a stretcher and John Lennon was laying on it facedown lying on his stomach. He had been shot, somebody assassinated him, they shot him outside of his apartments and his apartments were up on West 72nd Street so what it means is that the hospital is right in the middle. So that’s why he went to that same hospital and when Yoko Ono Saw Surottama she said “John the Hare Krishna’s are here” and then, like a moment later he expired.

By Vrindapati Dasa

It is almost entirely possible in this age to make our temples, businesses, and deity paraphernalia more GREEN. It is favourable for spiritual life and you may agree, purer. The revolution needs to happen with devotees and temples. Do not make a demand for plastic mantra boxes, clickers, trinkets and cheap souvenirs, have some class! Use a proper meditation beads. If you need a to-go kit, why not try using a 27 bead mala in your pocket or wrist (at least this is justified by scripture in the Hari Bhakti Vilasa, where this mala is called a kanista/sumarni), or you could wear a small 108 beads around your neck in addition to your neck beads (at least this is justified by scripture like Nectar of devotion, where devotees should wear Tulasi around the neck and chest) – Better still what happened to the good old meditation bead bag that is designed to go everywhere with you. Amazing! no? Better than a non-eco-friendly counter (stop buying them – it is only inattentive chanting being promoted).

By Purushottam Nitai Das Arjuna had never been defeated in any battle. But today standing between the armies of Kaurava and Pandavas he was not even able to hold his famous Gandiva bow with which he had conquered the mightiest of the warriors. He was i…

The children loved the chanting of the mahamantra and dancing while chanting.Read More…

By Hari Narayana Das This annual festival is held by the government of Surakarta to memorate the anniversary of Solo city. The committee invited many departments and communities in Solo and nearby. The Narayana Smerti Asram, which located in Jogjakarta…

By Parasuram Das Yesterday was a historic day in Prasad Distribution, it was the first day cooking at “Krishna’s Castle”, the new Prasad Distribution kitchen/ Temple in the City of London. The City of London is a one mile area, established by the Roman…

By Lokanath Swami

Tamal Krishna Maharaj had come back to Bombay and in the meantime something happened with me. I was getting ready for marriage, it was arranged, temple president was involved and my parents were very happy, thinking that I became normal so they also had come and everything was but then, on the day of the ceremony, the girl’s parents came and then they parked the car, some distance away from the temple. They said jewelleries and sarees for you, please come to the car, they brought her to the car, and made her sit down in the car and (actioning they drove the car away), they kidnaped her. I was very much down thinking why bad things are happening to good person like me?

Balabhadra das talks about how religious principles are derived from protecting cows. Srimad Bhagavatam class at ISKCON Houston, February 18, 2018.Read More…

By Partha Das Srila Prabhupada said the chanting of Hare Krishna is the panacea for all material problems and all diseases. But at least for myself I find it’s very hard to chant attentively day after day, month after month, year after year. It’s very …

By Sacinandana Swami “One should become like the ocean. The ocean is filled by many thousands of rivers, and millions of tons of its water evaporates into clouds, yet the ocean is the same unagitated ocean. The laws of nature may work, but if one i…

By Sukanti Radha Dasi

The TOVP World Tour continues and is now being organized to visit nine European Countries in the Spring of 2018. Led by Lord Nityananda Prabhu’s divine lotus shoes (Padukas) and Lord Nrsimhadeva’s sacred helmet (Sitari) from the Mayapur Chandodaya Mandir, They will be accompanied by His Grace Jananivas prabhu (head pujari of Mayapur), His Grace Ambarisa das (TOVP Project Chairman) and his wife, Her Grace Svaha mataji, and His Grace Vraja Vilas Das (Global Fundraising Director).

By Giriraj Swami

This is the real purpose of our society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness: to become Krishna conscious—to chant and hear about Krishna and fix our minds on Krishna, mainly through the process of chanting and hearing in the association of devotees

By Vishnujana Dasa

What is Transhumanism? Transhumanism is the belief that through the use of technology, man will “transcend” the limits of his conditioning-his mortal coil-and will become something “post-human”-a god essentially

By Indradyumna Swami Either you follow Buddha philosophy or Sankara philosophy or Vaisnava philosophy, the ultimate goal is Krsna. You have to approach Krsna through these different types of philosophy. They are partial realizationRead More…

The procedure is called Lithotripsy, wherein a laser is used inside the body to destroy the stoneRead More…

Bhaktisiddhanta is an icon in the Gaudiya Sampradaya who was also an iconic astronomer before he became a lifelong renunciate. Read More…

By Khonika Gope-Kumar “By 10 o’clock the night was very dark and cloudy. Across the Ganges, in a northern direction, I suddenly saw a large building flooded with golden light. I asked Kamala if he could see the building and he said that he could. But m…

By Krishna-kripa das

I share many quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s books and lectures. I also share notes on talks by Varsana Swami, Rtadhvaja Swami, Adikarta Prabhu, Akhandadhi Prabhu, Madana Mohan Prabhu, Nagaraja Prabhu, Garuda Prabhu of Tallahassee, Murali Gopal Prabhu, and Hanan Prabhu. I share quotes by Prishni Devi Dasi and Nama Kirtan from conversations and by Jagannatha Misra Prabhu from his latest book, The Book III.

By Bhanu Swami Srimad Bhagavatam 12.3.51in Mayapur on 17-02-2018. Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults but there is a great benediction given to the people of this age: the congregational chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord. There is no way to overesti…

This is our second reminder to kindly submit your homage to Srila Prabhupada for his Vyasa-puja book by April 15Read More…

Mayapur Kirtan Mela is a unique chance to chant 12 hrs a day prayerful kirtan with all devotees together.Read More…

I’m thrilled to have been a part of the first (and hopefully not last) Rathayatra at this festival.Read More…

By Sunanda Das In the wake of the recent historic Chakra installation ceremony on February 7th, the TOVP is pleased to release this specialTribute song, Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, to all devotees worldwide. Written and composed by Yamuna Jivana d…

By Vaishnava Das Govardhan Ecovillage hosted a 4-day conference, Hinduism and Ecology: Towards a Sustainable Future, from 11th to 14th of December 2017. The conference was jointly organized by Yale University, Govardhan Eco Village, Bhaktivedanta Vidya…

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 January 2018. North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors. Monthly Top 100 In…

By honika Gope-Kumar A lot of Bengali devotees lament that even though A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada instructed a number of his senior disciples to preach in Bangladesh, he personally never visited Bangladesh. However, devotees would be hap…

By Pandava Sena Global It was through the youth that Srila Prabhupada established this International Society and it was the youth that he engaged in fulfilling the desire of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu! In order to help build and further develop youth grou…