Author Archives: Dandavats

By Nila Kamal das

Sragen is regency in the eastern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is Sragen, located about 30 km to the northeast of Surakarta. Sragen is bordered with East Java Province to the east. Presently there are no devotees that are staying in Sragen. The first time devotees held the Ratha Yatra festival in Solo, Indonesia, a few months prior, they met the Tourism leader of Sragen. The Tourism leader of Sragen requested the devotees to join in their annual city parade and hold a Ratha Yatra festival as well. This was in mid February. When HH Subhag Swami was present earlier in the year in Indonesia, after being informed about the invitation from the Sragen Tourism Department, he encouraged the devotees to hold a Ratha Yatra festival there. And by the Lord’s arrangement on the 4th of April, an official invitation was sent to the devotees by the Sragen Government.

By Madhava Smullen

The sale has been a matter of interest, concern and controversy amongst the New York temple’s board members and congregation as well as devotees around the U.S. So the meeting, held at the Dweck Auditorium of the Brooklyn Public Library, was well-attended by over 120 people. The event was hosted by the GBC’s Brooklyn Temple Sale Committee – Bhakti Charu Swami, Sesa Das and Praghosa Das. They were joined by co-counsel Guru-Gauranga Das, a Prabhupada disciple and corporate finance attorney. Proceedings began at 7pm with a spiritual invocation by Bhakti Charu Swami, who emphasized the need for trying to understand Prabhupada’s desires and working cooperatively together.

By Satyaraja Dasa

An ambitious multi-year and multi-million dollar renewal effort is in the works, with an enthusiasm that rivals the Palace’s initial construction. The Palace Restoration Committee, established in 2010, is focusing first on the outside Palace wall, and then will move on to the Palace and the grounds. Gopisha Dasa, project manager for Palace restoration, says, “I was absolutely overwhelmed when I first saw the Palace. It was so beautiful. But what was most exciting to me was the spirit of cooperation, to see so many devotees working together for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. That same spirit is alive again, and it will facilitate, even mandate, the Palace’s new incarnation. In fact, it is now a priority to improve the entrance way and front steps by 2016 as an offering to Srila Prabhupada for the fiftieth anniversary of ISKCON.”

Rasika SIndhu Dasa: We were surprised to see a patient admitted at the hospital off his bed standing near the window in the building on the 3rd floor dancing while waving exuberantly.Read More…

By Dina Krishna Das We all have attachments in this material world. The secret of success is to dovetail these attachments to Krishna. This is easy said, than done. However, if you have access to a mature devotee, then the doors of detachment will star…

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Just like here in this planet we have got presidents in each country. So now there are so many presidents. Formerly even on this planet there was one president. They are trying to be united. The U…

By Chandan Yatra Das

One time, Jiva Gosvami heard a flute playing, and then Damodar called out and said, “Jiva! Come; I am playing the flute for you.” And Jiva Gosvami came to the altar and there he saw Damodar dancing! The Deity of Damodar was dancing – His three fold bending form playing upon His flute beautiful, sweet music for the pleasure of His devotee. Jiva Gosvami saw the beautiful form of Damodar, whose eyes were like lotus flowers. His head was decorated with a peacock feather, a garland of beautiful forest flowers was around His neck, and lovely ornaments decorated His body. He was dancing and singing, playing sweet, sweet melodies on His flute for His devotee. Jiva Gosvami fell unconscious in ecstasy, and when he came back to consciousness, he could only cry in ecstatic love. These were some of the pastimes that Sri Jiva Gosvami performed with Sri Damodar, who is worshiped here.

By ISKCON Wellington

A lot has changed since H.H. Subhag Swami’s last visited the Wellington ISKCON temple many years ago. But the one thing that remains unchanged is the teachings of Srila Prabhupada and his disciples, H.H. Subhag Swami Maharaj being one of them. Initiated by Srila Prabhupada himself in 1971, H.H. Subhag Swami has since served Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission and vision from Sridham Mayapur for the last 40 years out of his 46 years in ISKCON.

By Chaitanya Charan Das Before we can understand whether God is male or female, we need to clearly understand that we ourselves are neither male nor female. We are at core spiritual beings, souls, whereas our gender refers only to our shell, our physi…

By Udayananda dasa I was doing some work at my home, and I was listening to some Srimad Bhagavatam lectures giving by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada told a humorous story about a rabbit that killed a lion. It was so transcendentall…

By Jaganmohini Devi Dasi I will have to tell you that today science education- people are taking it as very important. Scientific civilization, or scientific knowledge or scientific education, people are becoming engineers, doctors, telecommunication e…

Lucy Logan Green: PiTV takes a look at Hare Krishna’s free lunch. Read More…

By Urmila Devi Dasi

He will think, “I don’t like pain, so why should I give pain to an animal just so I can eat?” He’ll be honest: “I don’t like to be cheated, so why should I cheat others?” And he’ll always speak beneficially: “I like to hear the truth, I don’t like to be insulted, and I want to hear what is useful to me. Let me speak to others that way.” A truly educated person, therefore, will try not to hurt anyone, even by his words.

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada So this dog’s philosophy will not help you, that “I have got this body, and how to enjoy the bodily sex life.” This is dog philosophy. A dog knows all these things. Your philosophy should be how …

By Dhameshvara Mahaprabhu Dasa In this article, I begin with a confession of what I experience as a common experience for men with an addiction to pornography, based on my life and deep empathetic conversations with others. I will share what I believe …

Sadbhuja Das: The Wonder Team is here After much awaiting, the team of the Manufacturing Company from Moscow arrived to Mayapur. A group of 6 engineers has come to our site to assemble the grand Kalashes. No time was wasted as they enthusiastically beg…

Indradyumna Swami: Over 1,000 devotees gathered for kirtan, classes and a beautiful Ratha Yatra in Depro, Ukraine over the weekend. It seemed the whole city was inundated in the nectar of the holy names!Read More…

By Madhava Smullen

From the very beginning, Tejomaya braved many austerities. He and Manonatha worked with Madhava Gosh in the garden, and would get badly suburnt after a whole day in the sun. By night, they would mix and carry cement used to build Prabhupada’s Palace. In October 1974, the two friends were initiated by Srila Prabhupada. Tejo was transferred full-time to the Palace construction crew, and became integral to the team of whom Prabhupada said, “These devotees are my jewels.”

Transcendental book distribution for going back to Godhead by Shastrakrit DasRead More…

The beauty of the lotus feet of the Lord is compared to the petals of a lotus flower which grows in the autumn season. By nature’s law, in autumn the dirty or muddy waters of rivers and lakes become very clean. At that time the lotus flowers growing in the lakes appear very bright and beautiful. The lotus flower itself is compared to the lotus feet of the Lord, and the petals are compared to the nails of the feet of the Lord.

By Swami B. A. Ashram

For those of us who love Agnideva prabhu and his kirtana, it has been far too long since his last CD. Of course, tracks from his most recent CDs, as well as from his older cassette albums and temple kirtanas from Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, etc., and, more recently, from kirtana festivals around the world, have circulated so widely and for so long that generations of devotees seem to have tunes we identify with him as part of our DNA. We hear the evidence of this in the cheering as Agnideva segues to another “classic Agni tune,” one of those tunes most second-generation devotees grew up with as their parents played them in the kitchen, in the car, and at bedtime, in a kirtana mela. And wherever Agnideva has gone the last few years, devotees have asked about his next CD. And Agni has responded by smilingly assuring them, “We’re working on it.”

By Anand Caitanya das

The conference was organized by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) on the occasion of 10th World Agri Tourism Day, with the main aim to promote Agri Tourism in Maharashtra. Ways to increase employment and investment opportunities in Agro Tourism sector were discussed at the conference. Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra and Pandurang Fundkar, Minister of Agriculture & Horticulture, Government of Maharashtra inaugurated the conference in the presence of Madan Yerawar, Minister of State for Tourism, Government of Maharashtra. On behalf of GEV, Mr. Neeraj Kapoor went and received the award at the hands of Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Tourism

By Romapada Swami Refining our ways of presenting Krishna consciousness as a movement according to time, place and circumstances, without compromising our principles. Subjects discussed: Equality, women’s position, ecology, interfaith discussion, pr…

While in Minsk, Belarus, I was going around distributing books with Vaninatha Vasu Prabhu. I asked him how he joined. He was a doctor in Minsk, a cardiologist. One day, walking down the sidewalk, he saw a devotee at a book table. He stopped and asked …

By Nartaka Gopala dasi Saturday, May 6, 2017: A group of four of us drove the 168 miles from Alachua, Florida to Clearwater Beach, Florida. It was very beautiful as we drove for miles across Old Tampa Bay with the ocean on both sides of the road. As we…

By Bhagavan Dasa Many works of art with sacred themes have been painted under the inspiration of ISKCON-founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. These paintings were originally intended to illustrate books by Prabhupada, author of many original wri…

By Bhakti Niskama Shanta, Ph.D. The orthodox tradition does not allow scientists to build their views on the basis of any divine revelation (scriptures) and thus scientific studies do not include any topics on soul, God and the eternal constitutional r…

It is very rare to come in contact with a pure devotee of Krishna in Kali-yuga. But thanks to the sacrifice of the devotees of Sankirtan – book distribution, many are able to get Srila Prabhupada’s mercy by getting his books.Read More…

By mk.ru

In the first case, a local resident Andrey Puchkov took part in the procession of hare Krishnas, where you just played the drum. The second made a speech before the concert in which they sang the ancient mantras in Sanskrit. The court both times found him guilty of violating the Law “On freedom of conscience and on religious associations”. And in a higher court, the lawyers proved that the actions Puchkov was no sign of missionary activity in the illegal exercise of which he was accused.

By Shyamasundar Das

Whenever you came to the Swami’s door, your heart was in your throat. (This feeling never left me, even after a thousand trips to that door.) There was a heightened sense that something marvelous was about to occur, a tingling in the blood. You never knew what to expect, just that it would be a wonderful surprise, whatever happened. He’d be sitting behind his little table or in his rocker clicking his beads, dressed in saffron, maybe with a white sweater, sunlight through the south-facing window shining on his freshly-oiled head and his face a radiant gold, emerging from some deep bliss—and he would welcome you no matter what hour of day or night.

By Anuttama das

Anuttama and Sanullah decided to create a forum for deep dialogue between Muslims and Vaiṣnavas in Washington, D.C.—perhaps at the same time providing a format and example for others to follow. It was obvious to both, that very large meetings were not conducive to dialogue that would be truly satisfying. However, their mutual experience of that large-scale event did give them an opportunity to reflect together on the process and transformative power of dialogue itself. It is during those conversations that Anuttama voiced his interest in organizing a small Hindu-Muslim dialogue in Washington D. C. He had confidence in such an approach, having been instrumental in the founding of the still-ongoing Vaiṣnava-Christian Dialogue in 1997. “Given Anuttama’s enthusiasm, his energy, and—particularly—his faith,” says Sanaullah, “I felt it was worth a try.”

By Antardwip das With a click of a button in the MayapurTV masteradmin, broadcasters can co-broadcast on their Facebook page. One single broadcast to MayapurTV gets split at our server to reach both www.mayapur.tv, your temple/individual website and no…

By Kesava Krsna dasa If we intend to be a credible alternative to the woes of society, we must analyze how we conduct ourselves in the public arena – namely the internet. Our discussions are by and large intelligent respectful dialogue. The occasional …

26th Annual Festival Honoring Srila Prabhupada May 27th and 28th, 2017 – Memorial Day Weekend. At ISKCON Los Angeles. If you have never experienced a Prabhupada Festival, we enthusiastically invite you to attend; and if you attended in the past, then …

Kirtan program with Tarana Chaitanya in Athens. Kavicandra Swami: “After a super feast devotees begged for more kirtan”Read More…

It is with our whole heart, that we humbly invite all of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples to Sri Vrindavan Dham, in honor of the solemn and auspicious occasion of the 40thAnniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s Tirobhava, on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of October 2017.

By Anand Caitanya das

Over 150 business professionals & entrepreneurs attended this event. By hearing the experiences of esteemed speakers, the attendees were empowered with answers to the questions “What is the dharma of business? And why is connecting with that dharma vital to the future of humanity and the planet?” Amit Chandra, noted businessman and MD, Bain Capital, called upon the audience to get involved in charitable works and learn to give back to the society. “We must spare at least one-third of the time to do social work,” he said. In a country which celebrates its wealth creators, Amit Chandra and his wife are known to be a couple that both give between 50-75% of their time and annual income to social causes. Many business leaders grapple with the issue of when is the right time to start giving, how much should they give, and should they get involved with their time? Sunil Sanghai in the question and answer session with Amit Chandra requested him to help answer this question for the assembled audience.

By Gauranga Das

The Smart Cities Award Ceremony was part of the Mega Event organized by the India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) and the Exhibitions India Group. The three-day event hosted over 400 global exhibitors from around 40 countries across 20,000 square-metres of exposition space on the themes of Buildings India, Solar India, Transport India, Smart Cities India and Water India. Along with the expo there was also a three day conference and other key programmes including the CEO Speaks, Mayor’s Conclave, Smart Cities India Awards, Smart Village Conclave and Youth Leadership Summit. GEV also participated as one of the panelists in the Smart Village conclave which was focused on bringing together individuals, institutions, Government, industry/Technocrats, NGOs, etc. to bridge the urban rural divide and provide best practices, learnings or case studies which the other villages can replicate or learn from.