Author Archives: Dandavats

By Yasodadulal Dasa

What could I draw public attention to with my little insignificant padayatra which paralleled his Salt March? At the age of 62 (Gandhi was 61) I began the 22 day journey (the same amount of days Gandhi walked) on November 22nd, concluding on the full moon of 4 December 2017. Although I began as one man and my influence over others was that I would also finish alone, still it was important for me to have a message that would take my yatra just that one step further above the worldly limitations of nationalism. My idea was to launch it on to the pure transcendental platform. I began with the simple words, “Enough Salt!”, but it soon became apparent that such a hidden message was too subtle for the general public to pick up on. As the walk progressed and the ISKCON book marathon started coming on, my mantra changed to “Enough Salt! Now take Bhagavad -gita!” It fitted well because Gandhi was a strong advocate of the Bhagavad-gita.

By MCO

In 1972, Srila Prabhupada and some of his disciples went on parikrama around Sri Navadvipa Dham, and since that time ISKCON Mayapur has been performing Navadvipa parikrama. The ISKCON Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama has been steadily increasing in size – from seventy devotees to ten thousand devotees and beyond – and is continuing to grow, not only in size but in activities, destinations and transcendental bliss. In 1996, the year of Srila Prabhupada’s centennial, the ISKCON Mayapur Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama was divided for the first time into two groups – Gauranga and Nityananda – which comprised of the English and Russian speaking devotees, and the Bengali and Hindi speaking devotees respectively. To facilitate the growing numbers of participants, the parikrama is now divided into six groups, allowing for smoother coordination and facilitation.

By Hari Narayana das Singaraja, known for its beautiful beaches and picturesque sites of natural wonders, is also the most important education hub in Bali, Indonesia. The Hare Krsna Centre or ISKCON at Banyuning, Singaraja or more affectionately called…

By Madhava Smullen

The result was that for this year’s Prabhupada marathon, about 55 street teams and 220 individual devotees went out on book distribution throughout the UK and Ireland, distributing a total of 138,330 books. Temple devotees went out for 8 to 10 hours a day of their own accord, while many of the book distributors were working professionals with families, giving up their evenings and weekends to dole out transcendental knowledge.

By Vaisesika das

As heat purifies gold and increases its luster, so this simple austerity of reading Bhagavad Gita every day burns away the dirty coverings of the soul and brightens one’s spiritual luster. Start 2018 Stronger! Follow the 2018 Calendar, Read a chapter of Bhagavad Gita every day. This will make your life sublime.

By Shrutadev Das

After I had read many of the books about Srila Prabhupada for a second or third time I found myself thinking, “Didn’t it say something about that pastime in another book?” And I would pull out a different book and read about the same event or time period from a different perspective. Or whereas in the Lilamrta it might say that Srila Prabhupada traveled to Australia and then back to Bombay but not give any details, in another book it would give the details of his trip. It was very enlivening, so I started to compile an outline of my readings. Gradually it developed into the Srila Prabhupada Lila Reading Guide.

By Abhimanyu Das It is a miracle that this Rathayatra in San Juan on December 30th still happened this year after Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on the island of Puerto Rico. New Govardhana, the only Radha-Krsna temple in the Caribbean, had part of the …

By Sakshi Mohan Das None other than HG Jashomatinadan Prabhuji Disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada himself odered the construction of the ISKCON Temple in Kathwada in 2016. Known as the Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar Gaudham, t…

By Shyamasundara Dasa “…as we were walking back to the ashram to honor prasadam I noticed some altercation was going on with the security guards. On enquiry I found out that they had caught a shoe thief and had garlanded him with a garland of shoes, …

It’s no secret that Srila Prabhupada wants the devotees to develop rural communities where they produce their necessities while centering their lives around Krsna. Read More…

By the GBC

ISKCON center officials shall be responsible to ensure that any and all web sites published by the center prominently feature a picture of Srila Prabhupada on the introductory page. This picture should be larger than any other individual’s photo (such as the GBC, center President, or guru). Srila Prabhupada should be addressed by his formal name and title: “His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness,” or “ISKCON Founder-Acarya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada”, or an equivalent translation.

By the Governing Body Commission of the International Society for Krishna ConsciousnessThe GBC Body hereby encourages ISKCON managers to monitor the levels of the sound systems in use at their centers. The sound system should be adjusted so that it sou…

By Bhakti Carudesna Swami

On Saturday, 23rd of December 2017, Iskcon Lomé, Togo, West Africa organized its second Padayatra. Around 45 devotees from different countries of West Africa met in Lomé, the capital of Togo. We had devotees like Bhakti Carudesna Swami from Côte d ‘ Ivoire, Yuga Prabhu, the west African Council chairman from Ghana, Vrajendra Dhulal and Tribhuvanath Prabhus from Nigeria, Candrasekar Prabhu and Bhakta Séverin from the Republic of Benin and many others from Togo like Atmattva Prabhu, Akincana Prabhu, Mother Abla Amouzou etc. Vrajendra Dhulal Prabhu from Nigeria a disciple of Lokanath Swami Maharaja, was on his way to Nigeria but decided to stay for the program. He said: “Padayatra is my Guru Maharaj’ s program, I can’ t afford missing it. I must stay to attend to it.”

By Urmila Devi Dasi

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada established ISKCON when it consisted of one rented storefront in New York City. He wrote purposes for his new society—to teach spiritual knowledge, consciousness of our existence as a soul part of the Supreme Godhead Krishna, and a simpler natural way of life

By Bhaktin Diksha Vohra World Holy Name Festival team gears up to welcome delegates at their booth in the ISKCON Leadership Sanga to be held between February 4th and 11th 2018 in Sri Mayapur Dhama.Read More…

By Adikarta das This first verse of the siksastakam, particularly resounds for me, when I go on sankirtan. All the wonderful features, and blessings of this verse become manifest. Especially, the ocean of bliss that one can experience when giving out a…

By Guru Carana Padma devi dasi Bhaktivedanta Manor school children participated in an inaugural ceremony to mark a new chapter in their school’s history. The primary school has been situated at Bhaktivedanta Manor for the past 35 years. Due to variou…

By Adikarta Das The Supreme Personality of Godhead is worshiped with the prayer name brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca. Thus it is clear that the Supreme Personality of Godhead respects and protects the brahmanas and brahminical culture, as well …

By Dravida dasa

*Absolutely no offerings will be accepted after April 15, 2018.* Offerings must be in English. Please restrict the length to a maximum of 3,000 words. Please omit all diacritics on words that can be found in the VedaBase. It’s easier for us to put them in. If you quote a verse from outside the VedaBase or compose original Sanskrit, please include diacritics. Do not “recycle” an offering — no offerings from previous years will be accepted. The Vyasa-puja book is meant for glorifying Srila Prabhupada, not venting grievances. The BBT reserves the right to reject an offering it deems inappropriate or to ask for a rewrite. When writing an offering on behalf of a temple or other unit, please try to write in such a way that the other devotees in your unit can also identify with the offering.

By Abhirama das In the previous months at the old center some neighbors were disturbing the programs in different ways, devotees could not have kirtans, and there were other obstacles that discouraged guests from visiting the old temple. Eventually Tem…

Unlike Radhanath Swami, Visakha was not on a search to find God, although she had no faith that the materialistic lifestyle of those surrounding her in her youth would satisfy her.Read More…

Recently released a thought provoking song inspired by the Bhagavad Gita with transcendental lyrics set to reggae beats, and through it hopes to awaken the curiosity of many a sleeping soul throughout the world!Read More…

By Visnu Murti das On January 2nd in a conference call, the Global BBT unanimously voted to *continue* the special augmented book points for Arabic and Farsi books! So it did not stop at the end of the year, and is still active right now and for the wh…

By MCO

To this day, the ISKCON Mayapur Food for Life strives and, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, succeeds in fulfilling this instruction. Over the last eight years, the ISKCON Mayapur Food for Life program, under the Sri Mayapur Food Relief Trust, has distributed over three million, nine hundred and twenty-five thousand, seven hundred plates of prasadam (3,925,700 plates). By the end of this year, the number of plates will have reached four million.

By Sitalatma das Why is that thousands of these Orthodox monks can chant day and night non-stop but we can’t? Now that many of our devotees are retired from active duties and call themselves vanaprasthas perhaps it’s time for our society to start talki…

By Chaitanya Charan das Love is our innermost longing. Gita wisdom declares that our longing for love is best fulfilled when we learn to love Krishna. Let’s understand this central Gita teaching in five parts: Loving Krishna enables our love to break f…

By Aradhika Radha Devi Dasi

One year ago Nayati Hospital opened it doors to Brijasi of Vraj. So Community Service Centre went to connect the temple with Nayati. Today the heads of different departments of ISKCON Vrindavan sevites got an opportunity for qualified medical check-ups. There were 5 kinds of doctors: orthopedist, gynecologist, general physician, child specialist and pain relief therapist. The Nayati Hospital also provided the devotees with special silver id cards which give 10% discount for any hospital procedures, except medicine. The executive director of the hospital, P. Sagar Tuteja and the operations manager, Vivek Dave came to share their experience and get to know more about ISKCON Vrindavan. They are willing to take care of any devotee of our community and provide their best service. After the medical program delicious prasada was served to all the 18 doctors of the Nayati Hospital and our own volunteer doctors that serve in our Devotee Care Clinic. Anyone who would like to get more information about the medical facilities can contact the director of “Devotee’s Care”, Prem Prakash Das. The office of “Devotee’s Care” is situated nearby Balarama hall. Later, another medical camp will be organized for devotee who did not attend. It will be announced soon.

By Pushti Devi Dasi

Hari Sauri das: As you know the BRC has for the last nine years emerged as one of the most important projectsin ISKCON, and indeed in the Vaisnava community as a whole, by collecting and preserving important historical documents of our Gaudiya Vaisnava lineage. I have had the privilege of serving as the managing co-director along with our academic co-director Pranava Prabhu. Most of you will know that in recent years my health has gradually been seriously affected by Parkinson’s disease which is ongoing. It has now progressed to the point where I feel I can no longer function effectively enough to fulfil the requirements of the service.

All Glories To Srila Prabhupada, who reaffirmed for us, and greatly expanded our understanding of, The Non-Dual Truth, long before it became provable, or fashionable.Read More…

By Giridhari Swami From Dec. 29-Jan. 1, Nitai Caran and I had the great fortune of attending Kirtan 50 in Dallas. The festival kicked off on Friday evening with Giriraj Swami Maharaja speaking to us about the importance of chanting the holy name offens…

By Indradyumna Swami On the kind invitation of Pundrik Goswami, of the Radha Raman temple in Vrindavan, we have been invited to participate in his week long service to the famous deity of Radha Raman. Today we participated in a parade through town and …

By Madhava Smullen

“Kindly help me,” was Srila Prabhupada’s heartfelt request to devotees in Los Angeles in 1975. “Print as many books as possible in as many languages as possible, and distribute throughout the whole world. Then the Krishna consciousness movement will automatically increase.” Today, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust has translated Prabhupada’s books into 89 languages, but there are still unique challenges in getting them to people. What if you’re a book distributor in a foreign country? Or you want to share books with foreign-language speaking immigrants in your own country?

As we now enter the year 2018, we are fast approaching what will be perhaps the most momentous and important occasion in ISKCON’s history thus far!

By Chaitanya Kishore Das People, in general, wish the Birthday boy or girl that they may live many more years, and this day may come again and again, and Devotees sing “May you never take Birth Again” . This may seem odd and strange to a common man the…

By Arcana Siddhi Devi DasiKrishna helps His fledgling devotees by purifying any mentality that prevents them from coming closer to Him. When we form opinions of people and their situations, we should do so with the desire to be of assistance and to ple…

By Navasi DasiSrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura indicates that rather than trying to separate conditioned souls by materialistic distinctions, one should bring them together to chant the holy names of the Lord and propagate the sankirtana movemen…

By Mayesvara Das Any parent who has raised a child knows they will sometimes get into mischief that may even be dangerous or problematic. In my case, I drove my mother crazy because I loved to play in the water. It was readily available in the stream t…

By Purushottam Nitai Das

I was reluctant. What will be new in it? “I know the story, have seen multiple videos about him and moreover it will be available on youtube in few months.” But none of my arguments cut the ice with my wife, she was so eager to watch the “Hare Krishna!” movie that I had to finally relent. I was skeptical when I was entering inside the hall but was thrilled while coming out. My wife was too happy. We both soon started inquiring about the possibility of buying the next show tickets. It was a perfect wedding anniversary gift for both of us. The memory of the movie will remain with me for a very long period, may be till my last breath. It is a must watch for those who want to know how an old man struggled all alone to create a worldwide movement.

By Madhumati Pushkarini Devi DasiYes I hold back. There is every reason to surrender to You, every reason to hold on to You. Yet I hold back. This is my precarious condition, dear Lord. While I keep trying to coax my mind to understand what is good for…

By Gargamuni Das So I thought, “Boy, how am I going to show Prabhupada how to use this thing? He’s from the village. In Vrindavan, they don’t know what a Dictaphone is.” So I brought it up to Prabhupada’s room, and I showed it to him. I showed him the …