Author Archives: Dandavats

By Ajay Kamalakaran

The Russian Krishnaite said he respected the right of the Orthodox priest to have an opinion but felt the young man was misguided. “We have absolutely no political agenda of any kind. Even if we had 100,000 followers in Russia, could we possibly topple a government in a country of 140 million?” Das agreed that there were many followers from Western countries but insisted that these people merely sought salvation from the “vicious cycle of karma.” He said his guru told him about how some Western intelligence agents “penetrated the ranks of the movement,” but added that these were the exception and not the rule. “Russians, like Indians, strongly resist change and any idea that is considered new,” he said, “and that’s why there is suspicion against the movement.” Das said yoga was looked upon with suspicion a few decades ago in the country but now even stringent followers of the Orthodox faith practice the Indian system of physical and mental wellness. “It’s only matter of time before those who have misplaced fears understand that we’re not on some sort of political mission.”

By Bhakta Jorge Camara

In 1967, Srila Prabhupada wrote to his disciple: “Be careful about your health first. This information is not only for you but all my noble sons. I am an old man. I may live or die it does not matter. But you must live for long time to push on this Krishna Consciousness movement.” Since time immemorial, human societies have championed Mother Nature’s therapeutic splendor as a reliable and sacred source of healthcare. Whether one is a spiritual dilettante or a vigorous meditator, it is important to be aware of the various health issues sprouting up during this iron age of Kali. By learning how to make conscious decisions about our material wellbeing we can avoid unnecessary disturbances and peacefully perform our spiritual practice.

Daruka dasa: This is a somewhat convoluted and speculative explanation of reincarnation. The Rabbi mixes Talmudic explanations and empiric observations in his attempt to understand the reality of repeated birth and death.Read More…

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur: In the following article Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur describes Krishna consciousness as the only genuine reform process. He says that anyone who takes shelter of any other process to reform society is …

By His Divine Grace A.C.B. Swami Prabhupada Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself wanted our cooperation. He is God, Krsna. And therefore cooperation is very important thing. Nobody should think that “I have got so great ability. I can do.” No. It is simply by c…

Srila Prabhupada: Generally, we work for our sense gratification. “I have got this money. I must use for my sense gratification or for my relative’s sense gratification or for my country’s sense gratification, for my society’s sense gratification.” So…

By Mayapur Sasi dasa For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following results of book distribution for the month of November 2016 from the whole planet. World Totals, Monthly Congregation and Weekend Warriors, Monthly Continents,…

By Paramadayala Nityananda Das First, devotees need to understand there is no way to manipulate natural resources for sense gratification without being a burden to the Earth. Srila Prabhupada wrote: According to Vedic understanding, men are transformed…

By Subhag Swami His Holiness Vrajendra nandan Swami went to England from Malaysia to study Engineering. He was living in Birmingham at a YMCA. He met ISKCON members there while they were distributing Srila Prabhupada literatures. He was induced to tak…

By Janananda Goswami HH Bhaktivrajendranandana Maharaja was born in Malaysia. He came to the UK to study where he joined ISKCON in 1971 in Birmingham. He was around 33 years old at the time of joining. Subhag, now swami, was his inspiration at that tim…

By Madhuha Das In 2014 Prahlada, now Panca Tattva dasa, started designing an exhibit to replace the Gita exhibit Festival of India has been using for many years. Of course nothing was wrong with the original exhibit that was being used, it is just afte…

By Titiksu dasa It was the longest 50th Event, lasting 366 days and potentially involving every member of ISKCON on a personal and collective level. Its aim was simply to provide the opportunity for every devotee to make an offering to Srila Prabhupad…

By Mahatma das It’s natural to talk about new year’s resolutions. You might be thinking about doing something you’ve put off or making some changes for the new year. Srila Prabhupada cites Dhruva Maharaja as a perfect example of determination. He says …

By Bhakti Madhurya Govinda Goswami

When remembering Maharaj, we should meditate on his “golden years” of service and preaching in Malaysia. He was the only sannyas disciple of Srila Prabhupad from Malaysia. He was officially the president of ISKCON Malaysia since 1980. He was a great pioneer and early general in developing the preaching in Malaysia. Srila Prabhupad came to Malaysia in 1971, paving the way for Maharaj to develop the preaching. Maharaj was a major player in expanding Srila Prabhupad’s movement so nicely in Malaysia, crowned by the grand opening of the Penang octagonal temple attended by at least 10,000 guests. For India, that may not be such a large number, but for Malaysia that is huge. ISKCON Penang, with its beautiful deities Sri Sri Radha Krishna Kanhaiya, is certainly one of the grandest and now one of the most popular of “Hindu” temples in all of Malaysia.

By Praghosa Dasa I remember many years ago when devotees appeared on a popular TV chat show in front of a live audience, they started with some sweet bhajan and then 4 or 5 of them were interviewed. During the interview the TV host cottoned on that the…

By Deena Bandhu Das Please join us in prayers for my dear friend and Godbrother, HH Bhakti Vrajendra Nandan Maharaja, President of ISKCON Malaysia, who just left his body this morning in Sri Jagannatha Mandir, Kuala Lampur. He has been suffering from v…

By Navasi Dasi As devotees, we talk a lot about getting free from the material energy, free from the influence of maya, free from our attachments to material sense pleasures and their objects. Why do we want to do that? What would be the reason? Some…

By Giriraj Swami In 1974, George came to visit Srila Prabhupada at Hare Krishna Land, in Juhu. I took him around the construction site, and he expressed his appreciation for the work and encouraged us in our efforts. When at twelve-thirty we heard the…

By Satyaraja Dasa For some, duty is a dirty word—we want to do what we want to do. Period. To hell with duty. But let’s consider this more seriously: What is duty, and should I be concerned about it? Clearly, duty means different things to different pe…

Srila Prabhupada: If I am thinking, “I am suffering,” it is also Krsna’s grace. We should take like that. Even in my consideration, I am in a position which is apparently suffering, we must accept as Krsna’s grace: “All right, I have surrendered to Krs…

By Yamuna Devi

So my sister bluntly expressed to Srila Prabhupada that she wanted to leave. She told him that “When you are here, everything is fine; but when you leave, everything becomes harder to deal with, especially the men, and I don’t want to do it.” I looked at Srila Prabhupada, whose eyes glistened with tears of love. I was also crying—we all were. With a combination of deep love and gravity, he said: Please do not leave. We have the best philosophy. You will not find a better philosophy in this world. There is nothing like the knowledge that we have in Krishna Consciousness. We have the best scriptures, like Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, The Nectar of Devotion and Caitanya-caritamrta.

By Mahatma das After reflecting on this exchange, I concluded that Krsna’s instruction to, “Just surrender unto Me,” is really another way of saying, “Just Do It.” Of course, it took convincing to bring Arjuna to this position, and Krsna brought Arjuna…

Prashanta Devi Dasi: With great pleasure we wish to announce the 7th Annual VIHE International Vaishnavi Retreat, which is to be held at the foot of Shri Giriraj Govardhan on March 21-26, 2017Read More…

By Hari Narayana das

The Batam Devotees who did ratha yatra on December 11, 2016, was supported by Wajah Batam, a non-government organization in Batam, Indonesia. As Srila Prabhupada mentioned in his letter that “So all these variety shows will be so attractive with melodious musical sounds, and above all our good behavior and advanced Krishna consciousness will make this show very successful.” SPL to Haàsadüta, 4th March, 1968. A day before ratha yatra, in the field of Engku Putri field, the chariot team did preparation for the chariot. They worked tirelessly until midnight. Because of the rainfall, they skipped the work until the following morning. Arriving from Bali and Jakarta the devotees directly gave a hand to prepare the festival. They made garlands and assisted the chariot team to prepare the chariot.

Srila Rupa Gosvami “Srila Rupa Gosvami, after consulting various scriptures, has enumerated the transcendental qualities of the Lord as follows: (1) beautiful features of the entire body: (2) marked with all auspicious characteristics; (3) extremely pl…

By Rukmini Devi Dasi Power, such a seductive thing. It begins when we are infants and learn that a shrill cry can get you immediate attention. First we cry because we need something. Then we cry because we want something. Soon we cry just because we kn…

By Kesava Krsna Dasa Naturally, self-assertive people will wonder about the mental condition of such a devotee. They will think he has no go, drive or self-belief, or is possibly depressed. A devotee’s deep sense of dependence on the Lord that can caus…

By Nabhinandan das As part of ISKCON South London offering to Srila Prabhupada on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of ISKCON, we visited 72 schools in South London in 2016 and gave the message of Krishna consciousness to 15,350 children. The schoo…

By Nrsimha Kavaca das We at ISKCON’s Deity Worship Ministry, are happy to present our annual report to the assembled vaisnavas. Education and training are the main tools of ISKCON Ministries to achieve their mandate. Our team is focused on developing a…

By Purushottam Nitai Das

Once during a meditation session a teacher decided to do an experiment. As soon as all his pupils assembled and sat in an erect posture with closed eyes waiting for his instruction, the teacher said, “I have a special instruction for you all today. For next one hour during the meditation session no one should think about the red monkey.” And suddenly from nowhere the red monkeys came, attacked and conquered everyone’s mind. For the next one hour all the participants whose eyes were still closed were utterly miserable because while meditating today they were seeing nothing but red monkeys. They tried their best to empty their minds of the thoughts of the red monkeys but the red monkeys were in each and every corner of their mind – sometimes jumping, sometimes dancing, sometimes laughing and sometimes silently watching all the fun.

Sastric quotes In the Kali Yuga, wealth alone will be the deciding factor of nobility [in place of birth, righteous behavior or merit].And brute force will be the only standard or deciding what is righteous or just. Mutual liking [and not family pedi…

Bhurijana dasa: That is the real picture of God. The Vrndavana-lila of Krsna is the perfect presentation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He’s simply enjoying. And all the inhabitants of Vrndavana, the gopis, the cowherd boys, Maharaja Nanda, Ya…

Srila Prabhupada: So therefore the real thing is that everything belongs to Krsna. We are artificially enjoying the stolen property. Therefore if you go on enjoying like that, then this frustration will come. But before coming to that frustration, if …

By Visakha Dasi Worse than being alone is to be with a person who doesn’t like you; too many people have experienced the anguish and chaos caused by an incompatible marriage. Such travesties are systematically avoided in Vaishnava culture because, …

By Vibhu Chaitanya Das We usually feel that there will be another day but what if there is no other day? What if this is our last day on this planet, the last day in this body? Did we accumulate sufficient blessings in this life to make it our last? Sp…

By Matsyavatara das

Some will get married and some will not, some will have children and some will not. But also those who don’t get married and those who have already surpassed this phase of life will greatly benefit by knowing the basic dynamics, the rapport of weights and measures, the values of family life in the Vedic-Vaisnava civilization. In the past so much damage has been done by people—who had no positive experience in this area—who tried, disastrously, to handle the life of others. Therefore those directly involved in family life—as well as those who have to come in touch with those directly involved—should know about the fundamental principles and values on which family relations are based. To know such fundamentals of the grihastha asrama is an integral part of spiritual realization, not because it’s in itself something spiritual, but because it’s a social organization problematic to spiritual realization. Even those who renounce family life for a more elevated aim will always be in touch with those in family life. Directly or indirectly everyone is interested in family life, either because one is married, or because one plans to form a family, or because one has brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, or parents in family life. In this way this asrama is fundamental and is not completely avoidable even for those who desire to live as brahmacaris—a very noble commitment and intention.

By Jaganmohini devi dasi Therefore we have to study ourselves internally that, by asking who am I? What is my duty? Why I came to Krishna Consciousness? And this we have to ask regularly. Everyday to enquire then we will be able to go beyond the modes…

Bhakta Rod: Once upon a time many years ago, the British began building trains that would travel far and wide throughout India…Read More…

By Bhurijana dasa: If you’re having a problem, even if it’s a big one, you’re not alone. Dhruva Maharaja, the great devotee mentioned in Bhagavatam Canto Four, is also within the group of “problem-havers” Read More…