Author Archives: Dandavats

By Satsvarupa dasa Goswami Knowledge about Srimati Radharani, Her relationship with Krishna, Her relationships with Her sakhis and gopi manjaris is expanded throughout the confidential literatures of Gaudiya Vaisnavism. In recent years these books are …

By Emma Wynne Taking part in last week’s celebrations were Jagattarini Dasi and Bhurijana Dasa. The pair joined the movement at the height of the counter culture of the late-1960s. “We were young and those were hippy days,” Ms Dasi said. Prior to be…

By Bhakti Anugraha Janardana Swami Just as you have already understood the benefits of this Krsna Consciousness Movement, try to realize and assimilate it more and more and distribute it to the suffering humanity. Our movement is the greatest gift to t…

By Giriraj Swami The good news is that in this age of Kali, Sri Krsna came in the mood of Srimati Radharani. And as we read in the purport, Srimati Radharani is the tenderhearted feminine counterpart of Krsna. In The Nectar of Devotion also, Srila Prab…

By Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu

Embedded with various flowers here and there, tied together using jewelled strings; decorated with lines of deeply fragrant jasmines; having a spherical arrangement of jewels hanging at the back from [three] lines of excellent jewels — 0 Radhe! When will I see the excellent dhammilla hairstyle created by the hands of Sri Hari himself? Rasa-kulya Commentary: The term dhammilla means, “Hair tied together in a topknot.” This term indicates that Radha’s hair had been intricately tied in various ways. Previously [in the preceding verse], a hairstyle named kabara was described. The dhammilla style of tying hair is different from the kabara. Connoisseurs expert in conjugal mellows know the details of this hairstyle.

By Nitya Bhgavata-sevaya Because of the special attention She received from Krishna, that gopi thought Herself to be the most fortunate woman. She told Krishna that She could walk no further and that He would have to carry Her on His shoulders. Hearing…

By Radhanath Swami To release the dormant love within our heart is only possible by the grace of the Lords Hladini Shakti, his pleasure potency Srimati Radharani, She holds the key that can unlock the deepest mysteries of the soul. But it is natural th…

By Jagadish Shyam Das

It was first time Janmastami was celebrated at Gaya Gandhi Maidan. More than 10,000 people attended the festival, from 5 PM to night 2 AM. Prasadam was distributed profusely to all the attendants. Hg Rambhadra Prabhu, (Director, IYF- Bihar & Jharkhand) delivered a lecture. He highlighted Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead quoting from scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. A drama entitled ‘Advent of Lord Krishna’ was performed. It was followed by aarti, abhishek etc. 136 ekadasi bhoga was offered to Lord though it was planned to offer 108. District Magistrate Gaya- Mr. Kumar Ravi, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Operation Gaya- Manoj Yadav were the guests of honor. There was a significant support provided by Mr Ramchandra Yadav, Director of Sri Krishna Janmastami Mahotsav Committee, in organisation of the festival.

By His Divine Grace Srila A.C.B. Swami Prabhupada Audio file and transcription of a lecture Srila Prabhupada gave on September 18, 1969 in London, on the occasion of the appearance anniversary of Srimati Radharani. Srila Prabhupada: The Lord, the Supre…

By Krishna das

65 000 guests gathered to celebrate 25th Sri Krishna janmasthami at ISKCON Salem. Celebration started early morning 4.30 am and went ‘till 2 am in the morning next day. Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai alankara was “Kalpa-Vrksa”, surrounded by 108 delicious offerings made by devotees. The darshan queue was way out on the main road. HG Hari-pada Prabhu and HG Phalini Mataji were the chief guests. They lead most ecstatic kirtans, and Prabhuji gave inspiring lectures much appreciated by locals. Program consisted of eight lectures, eight hours bhajans, two dramas (at noon and at evening performed by Srila Prabhupada Theatres from Chennai) and maha-abhishek. The 50 years of ISKCON’s glories and achievements were showed at the 24x 12 feet LED screen continuously throughout the event. 5 lakhs worth of Srila Prabhupada’s books were distributed and of course free prasadam throughout the day: Chole subji, Vegetable rice, Dal, Naan, Puri, Aloo Bonda, Kesari and Boondi were distributed to 65 thousand visitors. Srila Prabhupadas Vyasa puja was also celebrated in great manner and thousands participated in hearing Srila Prabhupada’s glories. After the abhishek followed pushpanjali and arati. The celebration ended with feast prasadam coming right from Sri Ranganatha Swami temple.

By ISKCON Delhi This year on Janmastami day, ISKCON – Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi Mandir received 5 lakh devotees. The temple was decorated using flowers from India and elsewhere along with several Jhakis depicting the pastimes of the Lord. The temple…

By Indradyumna Swami For years we have taken pride in doing our summer festival in Kolobrzeg, one of the biggest and most popular tourist destinations along the Baltic Sea coast in Poland. There was a time when we had to fight for permission to hold o…

By Arya Devi Dasi

The weekend’s events started on Friday night with Bhakti Film Fest and a patron’s dinner. The highlight of the weekend was a theatrical, musical, and multimedia performance at the iconic Sydney Opera House with 800 people attending two performances. In attendance were Rachael Kohn from ABC Radio’s Spirit of Things program, the New South Wales Indian Consul General, as well as representatives from Multicultural New South Wales, the Hindu Council of Australia, and the Catholic Church. Numerous dignitaries sent their best wishes, including: the Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore; New South Wales Premier, Mike Baird; Australia’s Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten; and India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

By Kesava Krsna Dasa

There is one publication issued by the Watch Tower called, “Mankind’s Search For God.” In this book, they probe all the major world religions and thought systems with a view to guide the readers to the “True God”.

Any laypersons reading this book could easily think this is an impartial and balanced analysis, but make no mistake, it is pleasantly biased in favour of the ‘Biblical’ observation that the world is 6,000 years old, and all religions, including Hinduism, spread out from the cesspool of Babylonian times.

As we would suspect, the references to Srila Prabhupada are found in the chapter entitled, “Hinduism – a search for liberation”. While it is pleasing to acknowledge he is cited as a major authority on ‘Hinduism”, sadly his, and Lord Chaitanya’s message get enmeshed in the tangled web of whatever Hinduism is supposed to be. They are mashed together with the tantrics, impersonalists, and demigod worshippers, sharing equal status with them.

By Chaitanya Charan Das Srila Prabhupada manifested both the literary vigor of Vyasadeva and the itinerant vigor of Vyasadeva’s spiritual master, Narada Muni. Srila Prabhupada wrote prolifically and profoundly, thus doing in English what Vyasadeva did …

By Vijaya Dasa Usually the Bali temple is barely noticed in the world of book distribution, but in July something happened, I don’t know what, and the temple had its best month in history, with 15,064 book points: an 849% increase. The devotees there a…

By Sunita Sohrabji

Several thousand Indian Americans, along with other devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, gathered together here Aug. 14 to celebrate the 50th annual Ratha Yatra. “I have come every year since 1994,” Mohini Raj, bearing several garlands of marigolds which she offered to Sri Jagannatha, told India-West. The elderly woman brought her young grandchildren along this year, to clap, sing and dance at the joyous festival. “This reminds me of the festivals I would go to in India,” she said. Four colorful carriages – bearing replicas of Srila Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness; Lord Jagannatha; Nityananda Prabhu and his devotee Nitai Guaranga; and Sri Baladeva and Sri Subhadra Devi – were pulled by devotees, who wound their way down a mile-long path in the park. The red-and-gold chariots and sparkling outfits of the revelers cast a spell of sunshine onto the fog-driven morning. The Ratha Yatra is a centuries-old festival, originating in Puri, Odisha. Devotees of Sri Jagannath – the Lord of the Universe – traditionally pull him in his current form as Krishna, back to Vrindavan.

By Sadhubhusan Das

Including Manipur ISKCON in the worldwide celebration of 50 Golden years of ISKCON, the Youth Forum of ISKCON Manipur organized ‘The Achintya Youth Festival 2016’, from 21st to 24th August 2016 at the temple premises and was completed successfully. A festivity replete with cultural programs, musical performances, debate, quizzies, interesting competitions, interaction with distinguished professors, social workers and celebrities, martial arts presentationa, kirtans, prizes and to complete it all…extraordinary mahaprasad for all….altogether made the event memorable. As a prelude to the festival a photography competition was held during the ratha yatra festival with a theme ‘ratha yatra in Manipur’, jointly organized with the Manipur Photography Club. An open essay competition on the topic ‘Spirituality is the Ultimate Solution to All Material Problems’, and a painting competition on the theme ‘Krishna Lila’, for classes 6th to 12th was also organized on 14th August 2016 with an attendance of more than two hundred students. The first prize for the essay competition went to Kavita Kancahan Ningthoujam of DM College of Arts and for painting competition, Telen Khaidem of DAV Public School bagged the first prize. A state level open debating competition was also held on 21st August 2016 on the subject ‘Communal Harmony is Possible Only through Interfaith Dialogue’, which was presided over by Dr. I. Ibohalbi Singh, MLA leader of opposition; A. Mubi Singh, President, Editors’ Guild and His Holiness Bhaktivyasa Tirtha Swami, ISKCON Guru and Sannyasi. The first prize for the debate was awarded to Mr. Misban Hanif of Modern College. It was very interesting that students from all different faiths came and took part in the events which in itself served the purpose of the festival…’going forward together as one community, promote open mindedness and creative thinking, and generate an awareness to be successful in life both materially as well as spiritually.’ The famous Gaura Lila of Manipur was also enacted in the evening to the pleasure of all.

By Satsvarupa dasa Goswami I started out by remembering Janmastami 1966 in the storefront. “The room we are in now reminds me of that storefront,” I said. “It was about the same size. 1966 was the first year Prabhupada observed Janmastami in America…

By Giriraj Swami Srila Prabhupada has explained that the system of honoring the spiritual master is current in all sections of Vedic followers. In the Mayavadi (impersonalist) sects, the disciples offer respect to the spiritual master every year on Gur…

By Kripamoya Das The spiritual master teaches everything we need to know about the Lord who dwells within us, that one supreme person who is unseen by our eyes. As the external manifestation of the Paramatma, the guru teaches the Vedas, the sound manif…

By Girish Sarin

Cymbals, damru drums, bherries, and big drums vibrated auspicious sounds in specific melodies. A celestial concert of precise poetical meters, proper rhythms, and metrical compositions suddenly manifested there. The musical ensemble inspired the society girls to sing and dance in mirth and merriment. Though not good singers, by the will of the Lord they sang with great virtuoso. Their wonderful songs filled Nanda Maharaja’s heart with joy. The combined vibrations of brahmanas’ chanting Vedic hymns, the recitation of Puranic lore, and the panegyrists’ prayers trans­formed the ethers into sabda brahman. The joy of Krishna’s birth celebration taxed the drains of Nanda’s capital city as they swelled to the brim with milk, yogurt, and other auspicious liquids. Soon rivers of this nectar flooded the streets of the town and permeated the entire atmosphere with a sweet fragrance. Disguising them­selves as birds, the demigods descended to Vrajapura to happily drink the flood of nectar. The Vrajavasis decorated their cows with gold and jeweled ornaments. Then in great excitement they smeared them with oil, fresh butter, and turmeric paste. Beholding Krishna in their hearts, these fortunate cows looked like the essence of the earth’s auspiciousness. The whole world resounded with their jubilant bellowing.

From Prabhupada Lilamrta An excerpt from the Prabhupada Lilamrta about Srila Prabhupada’s mother, Srimati Rajani Devi. Abhay’s mother, Rajani, was thirty years old when he was born. Like her husband, she came from a long-established Gaudiya Vaisnava fa…

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila PrabhupadaLord Krishna: “One who knows the transcendental nature of My advent and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode.”…

By Purushottam Nitai Das “Anyone and everyone can become God.” This philosophy is propagated by certain so called spiritual preachers. In order to mislead the gullible people they assert that by chanting certain mantras or doing certain types of medita…

By Lee Bensen

Suffice it to say that the success in Spanish Fork paved the way for plans to build a similar, if smaller, temple in Salt Lake County on property the Hare Krishnas own just east of 900 East and south of 3300 South. Also designed by Vai, the completed temple “will be exquisite,” promises her husband. Caru envisions the Salt Lake temple as a beacon of spirituality for not only the 100 families active in the faith in the valley, but for others looking for positivity and enlightenment as well. “Salt Lake City is a different story than Spanish Fork,” he says. “There are more here who need ministration. We can make a difference in more lives here.” It took three years to get enough funds pledged and secure the proper building permits to get started, but on July 10, after a ceremony apologizing to Krishna for disturbing Mother Earth (but for all good purposes), track hoes moved in and dug the hole Caru has been admiring ever since. Soon enough, the foundation will be poured and the temple will take shape. The domes and cones that will grace the exterior, Taj Mahal-style, have already been built and are in storage, awaiting the walls to get framed.

By Sadaputa dasa In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, European scholars and scientists began to come in contact with the culture of India, and many were impressed by the antiquity of Vedic civilization and the deep spiritual and material knowledg…

By SPtributes

The 2016 Srila Prabhupada Tributes book – “the open Vyasa-puja book” – is now available as a pdf file from www.sptributes.com. Physical books have already been mailed. Each year, all initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada are welcome to write offerings for the book. And any disciple who sends an offering will receive a physical copy of the book.If you were initiated by Srila Prabhupada but didn’t receive an invitation to contribute, please write to sptributes (at) gmail.com in order to be added to the mailing list.

By Nimai Devi Dasi

ISKCON Leicester has welcomed Sri Sri Radha Madhava from ISKCON Belfast to accept worship in Leicester, UK. A special welcome ceremony took place today (Sunday 21st August) to receive the beautiful brass Deities Who have been worshipped in Belfast, Northern Ireland for the last 35 years. The community offered abhishek to the 2.5 feet tall Deities to welcome Them to Their new home in the heart of Leicester City Centre. Devotees travelled from all over the country to witness the special event, and celebrated the arrival with a yagya, and a full day of kirtana. UK GBC Pragosa Dasa, and Shaunaka Rishi Dasa, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies shared memories of Sri Sri Radha Madhava and blessed the congregation to serve Them wholeheartedly. Praghosa Dasa, GBC for the UK said: “Having known Radha Madhava since 1983, I cannot remember a more auspicious and blissful event in Their association than today in Leicester”

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 July 2016. North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors. Monthly Top 100 Indiv…

By Vishakha Lila Devi Dasi

The scans for this chapter give you much to see. You’ll see the extensive first paragraph to 9.26 (patram puspam phalam toyam). This paragraph appeared in the 1968 abridged edition, and devotees often relished and quoted it, especially its memorable line “Who is such a fool that he does not want to be Krsna conscious by this simple method?” In the 1972 edition this paragraph was left out. In the 1983 edition it has been restored. You’ll see twenty-six of Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit quotations recovered (seven in the purport to text 2 alone). You’ll see several places where the 1972 edition includes Srila Prabhupada’s explanation for a Sanskrit word but leaves out the word he is explaining — and the second edition restores the missing word. (For example: “avasam” in the purport to text 8, “udasinavat” in text 9, and “vyapasritya” in text 32.) You’ll find out about new translations the original editor pasted into the manuscript over Srila Prabhupada’s (and see examples). You’ll also see the thirteen verses for which the original word-for-word meanings were done by a BBT Sanskrit editor, not by Srila Prabhupada himself. Apart from images for specific changes, the scans for this chapter include thirteen complete sample pages from the original manuscripts, including four pages showing those BBT-supplied word-for-word meanings. Whether you’re for “the changes,” against them, or neutral, here’s another opportunity to see what the changes actually are.

By Subroto Das

The fragrance of incense, variety of beautiful colourful flowers, illumination of glittering lights, melodious chanting of Hare Krishna Mahamantra and glow on the faces of shaved headed tilak borne devotees transformed the auditorium of Prabhupad Samadhi Mandir at ISKCON Mayapur into a transcendental heavenly planet. To mark the Golden Jubilee celebrations( 1996- 2016) of International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the devotees organised the programme- “Homage to Srila Prabhupad” to pay tribute to His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad, founder Acharya of ISKCON.

By Victoria Arnold, Forum 18 Less than four weeks after Russia’s legal amendments restricting sharing beliefs came into force, a Judge acquitted Vadim Sibiryev on 15 August in the first attempted prosecution. Anti-extremism police had charged Hare Kris…

By Nkosinathi Ntuli The International Society of Krishna Consciousness, better known as the Hare Krishna Movement, turned 50, last month. The Rising Sun has therefore decided to take a closer look at its achievements and the impact they have on society…

By Giriraj Swami Personally, He has nothing to gain. But He comes out of His mercy, to deliver us. The material world is compared to a prison house, and we, conditioned souls, are the prisoners. We are restricted, like prisoners. We can’t just go anywh…

By Romapada Das

ISKCON Baroda organised three major Harinama processions to celebrate the World Holy Name Week for ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, which drew thousands of devotees and passers-by into the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. The first Harinama procession was held on 6th August at Padra Village, the second one on 7th August in Baroda, and the third one was at the holy pilgrimage town of Dakor near Baroda, which has the renowned temple of Ranchhodraiji, a form of Lord Krishna. The final celebrations included a 24-hour kirtan programme on 14th August that coincided with the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s first Harinama procession in 1966 on the same day from 26 Second Avenue to Washington Square Park in New York.

By Ram Murari Das

In Commemoration of ISKCON Golden Jubilee Celebrations, Department of Postal Services of India has released a special cover. This limited edition cover will be available in post offices for purchase at Rs 10 each. In a grand function at the premises of Buckingham Post Office in the heart of Vijayawada, this special cover was released. The meeting was presided over by the Vijayawada SSPS Head Sriman S V Prasad. Postal Services Director Sriman K Somasundaram was the Chief guest. Sriman K S V Venkateswara Rao, Superintendent of Postal Storage also participated. Sriman Revati Ramana Dasa, ISKCON GBC Member & Andhra Pradesh Zonal Secretary as well as Sriman Ram Murari Dasa, Vijayawada Temple President and In-Charge of Krishna & Guntur Districts graced the occassion. All the speakers praised the spiritual and social services that ISKCON has been rendering. His Grace Sriman Revati Ramana Dasa shared with the gathering how Srila Prabhupada had changed the lives of many across the globe through his teachings for practical application of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!!!