Author Archives: Dandavats

By Tarini Radha Devi Dasi When we try to memorize a Shloka, it keeps reverberating in our minds, leaving no room for the devil. First it is a challenge to memorize it and when that is done, it becomes a pleasure to just keep repeating it. A mother, mem…

By Bhakti Tirtha Swami Imagine that your doctor has just informed you that you have a serious case of cancer or AIDS, and you are going to die in three months. If this were your fate, how would you live each of your last days differently? This reflecti…

By Vraja Bihari Dasa No sooner do chanters begin their meditation session than the mind becomes restless, digging into past memories, running again and again over present worries, and exploring the future. Much of this mental life is fantasizing about …

By ISCOWP

She went down in the north pasture. There was no shade there and it was hot. All the cows gathered around her, licking her and pushing her in an effort to get her up. She tried to but her front legs would not support her which never happened before. We waited to see if she would gain strength and get up but she didn’t. We then decided to get her up with a cow sling with the hope her legs would revive once they were free. Her legs were lifeless. We then moved her, by use of the cow sling, to a shady place. She wishes to live. Please give us the strength to care for her until she decides to visit the Surabhi cows in Vaikuntha loka. Please guide her on her journey.

By Giriraj Swami Sri Hanuman, a great devotee in the form of a monkey, prays, “Since Lord Sri Ramacandra is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, He is not attached to anything in this material world. He is the most beloved Supersoul of all sel…

By radhanathswami.com

Over one hundred participants from five yoga and kirtan groups joined for the Bhakti Immersion Retreat held at Govardhan Eco Village (GEV) from January 25 to January 29, 2016. In the words of Vishvambhar Sheth, who headed one of the groups, the retreat consisted of “Bhakti teachings, yoga asana classes, Ayurveda and of course dancing and chanting!” Another group leader John Smritic shared on social media a picture of Radhanath Swami addressing the participants of the retreat (John included) and texted his experience, “360° mountain surround, golden setting sun, warm Indian countryside air… A talk on the very essence of Bhakti Yoga and Bhakti philosophy. The satsang gave way to ecstatic kirtan as day turned dusk turned the most transcendental starlight sky I have ever seen. Humbled, honored and grateful beyond words.” Yoga teacher Gopi Kinnicut posted a similar picture on the internet and added, “What a heart filled evening!”

By Patita Pavana Dasa

The album contains 10 songs, all of them are either Vaishnava Bhajans or the Hare Krishna maha mantra tracks except for one which is composed to glorify Srila Prabhupada. The track was named as “Tribute to Srila Prabhupada”, since the album is a memorial to the historic Jaladuta Yatra. The album is targeted mainly towards the main stream music market and for those listeners who are not much familiar towards ISKCON. It features 6 singers and 6 music directors, most of them are highly rated professionals like Sonu Nigam, Shankar Mahadevan, SP Balasubrahmaniyam, Rickey Kej (Grammy Award 2014 Winner), Bikram Ghosh, Akriti Kakkar to name a few. The album was jointly produced by ISKCON and STRUMM, one of the leading production house in the Devotional music industry. Patita Pavana Das(CFA) and Chakradhari Das(IIT Graduate) were involved in this project.

By Sri Nandanandana dasa

Sri Lanka is the proud custodian of more than 50 Ramayana sites from the place of Sita Devi’s captivity to the battlefields where vast armies clashed, to the groves of exotic herbs dropped by Hanuman, to the ultimate theater of war where Lord Rama slew Ravana, the ten-headed demon-king. People living in the areas where great events took place remember to this day the connection of their soil to the great epic. An oath taken at the spot where Sita Devi undertook “Agni Pariksha” is still considered valid in village courts or grama sabhas. The color of the soil of the ancient battlefield is still red today, and is still surrounded by lighter colored earth. One of the airports of Ravana, torched by Hanuman when he came looking for Sita Devi, still has a scorched-earth look. A patch of darker soil surrounded by brown earth. Exotic alpine Himalayan species are found suddenly amidst tropical Sri Lankan vegetation, the legacy of Hanuman’s heroic voyage carrying a mountain with life-restoring herbs.

Shyamasundara Dasa: For some people the episode of Rama exiling Sita to the forest, while she was five months pregnant, is one of the most disturbing and incomprehensible events in the RamayanaRead More…(This post has been viewed 1291 times so far)

By Bhakti Prabhava Swami

To expand ISKCON’s preaching mission Srila Prabhupada created sannyasis. Thus the Ministry for Sannyasa Service has established a website to provide information about potential sannyasis to the ISKCON community and to get feedback in order to help in the candidate’s training. On this page is the personal data and the devotional history of the Present sannyasa candidates. If you know any of these candidates and would like to express something positive or negative pertaining to their candidacy to the Sannyasa Committee, please send us your comments via e-mail to our secretary

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 March. North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors. Monthly Top 100 Individuals, Monthly Top 5, Cumulative Countries, Cumulative Temples, Cumulative Top 100 Individuals, Cumulative Top 5

By Abhijit Tolley Suppose for a moment this stone has life. It still has all the characteristics of a stone, but now it knows it exists. No matter how many trucks choose to run over it, it feels no pain. It is, after all, just a stone. And, just as bef…

By Sri Nandanandana Das The childless Dasharatha was advised by his family priest Vashishtha to perform a fire sacrifice ceremony to seek the blessings of God for children. Vishnu, the preserver of the universe, decided to manifest himself as the eldes…

By Vamsi Vihari Dasa According to the Bhagavad-gita (15.1), this material world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. All varieties of this world exist in the spiritual world in its original pure form. If this material w…

By Radhanath Swami The Lord’s descent from His transcendental abode is already explained in the 6th verse. One who can understand the truth of the appearance of the Personality of Godhead is already liberated from material bondage, and therefore he ret…

By Sesa Dasa

Here are three questions for you to ponder, dear reader: First, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Second, what do a highway billboard, a small town storefront, and the Greek philosopher Aristotle have in common? And third, what do either of these questions have to do with Lord Rama? The ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana describes the life of Ramachandra, the incarnation of God whose advent in this world is celebrated each spring by Hindus and followers of Vedic culture worldwide. The work contains 24,000 verses and is considered to be the original Sanskrit poem. However, the Ramayana is not simply an epic tale; because it describes the activities of the Personality of Godhead, it is a complete guide to God-realization.

By Karandhara Dasa From this, we can understand that consciousness merely reflects the experience of whatever it is directed towards, just as the space capsule reflects information from wherever it is directed. If you walk into a store, you can purchas…

By Vishakha Devi Dasi Srila Prabhupada writes, “Whatever is taken from the earth—either from the mines, from the surface of the globe, or from the atmosphere—should always be considered the property of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and should be u…

By Vishakha Devi Dasi How we value, acquire, use, and relate to money reflects our inner state of being. Krishna determines how much money each of us receives. It may appear accidental that one person is born into wealth and another into poverty, or th…

By His Divine Grace A.C.B. Swami Prabhupada So ideal state means the king must be very responsible. There are many instances. Just like Yudhisthira Maharaja, who was a pious king. In Bengali there is a proverb rajar dose raja nasto dose grihastha bhra…

By Ramacandra das The incarnations of Godhead are as numerous as the waves of the sea, yet Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the source of them all. Just as from one original candle we may light many other candles equal in potency,…

By Chaitanya Charan das One of the primary values that it conveys – selfless sacrifice – is especially relevant in our present times that are characterized by obsessive selfishness. Contemporary culture largely glamorizes the “me” paradigm, which impel…

NA ISKCON Medical Professionals Retreat Team: All ISKCON medical/health care professionals in North America are cordially invited to the second annual retreat being held at the Gita Nagari Farm from September 22nd (Thursday) to September 25th (Sunday)

By Satyananda Dasa ISKCON devotees commonly use the phrase, “Going back home, back to Godhead.”Have you ever thought about what this means when a traveler is anxious to return home? Home is where our family is, where there are people who love us, who t…

By His Divine Grace A.C.B. Swami Prabhupada Every living being is ambitious to have the topmost level of enjoyment in the material world and yet he is always unhappy here. This unhappiness is present in all the above mentioned planets in spite of long …

By His Divine Grace A.C.B. Swami Prabhupada A kshatriya never goes back from the promise, never refuses any challenge. If a kshatriya is challenged by somebody, that “I want to fight with you,” oh, he cannot refuse. This is kshatriya spirit. He cannot …

By Giriraj Swami Lord Ramacandra was the eldest son of Maharaja Dasaratha, and He was loved by all of the citizens in the state. According to the Vedic system, when one reaches a certain age he retires from worldly duties and responsibilities and devot…

Krsna Sundari dd: We are looking for a full-time pujari to join our team serving Sri Sri Radha Madhava.

By Nila Kamal das

Often referred to as ‘DevBhumi’ or the ‘Land of the Demigods’; Dharamsallah plays host to serene beauty seldom found in the corners of the globe. Throughout the year this small city of 50,000 is flooded with tourists looking to enjoy the fine view of the snowcapped Himalayas and the cool mountain weather. Located in Himachal Pradesh in the district of Kangra, Dharamsallah is home to the world renowned noble laureate and ‘living God’ Dalai Lama. Given that the literal translation of Dharamsallah is ‘Place of Religion’, it is no surprise that the residents here are by nature pious and religious.

By Sri Nandanandana dasa When it comes to the Ramayana and the history of Lord Rama, there have been numerous authors who have accepted the Ramayana as a history of ancient events. For example, the first Governor General of India, Sri Rajaji, wrote on …

By Giriraj Swami We, as conditioned souls, tend toward impersonalism. Every conditioned soul has two conditioned tendencies: one is toward sense gratification, and the other is toward impersonalism. So we carry impersonal conceptions with us even when …

By Chandan Yatra Das

Jambavan also known as Jambavantha, is an eternal servant of Lord Ramacandra. He was the King of the Bears (Riksharaj). He helped Lord Ramacandra find His wife Srimati Sita devi and fight Her abductor, Ravana. He was instrumental in making realize Hanuman his immense capabilities and encouraged him to jump across the ocean to search for Sita in Lanka. Jambavan was present at the churning of the ocean, and circled Lord Vamana seven times in a brief time when Lord was acquiring the three worlds from Bali Maharaj. In his previous life, he was the King of the Himalayas who had incarnated as a bear in order to serve Lord Ramacandra. He had received a boon from Lord Ramacandra that he would have a long life, be handsome and would have the strength of ten million lions.

By Shyamasundara Dasa: For hundreds, perhaps thousands of years the island that is currently known as “Sri Lanka” has traditionally been identified as the “Lanka” of the Ramayana. But is this really the case? Does the Ramayana support this tradition? R…

By Giriraj Das Whatever position one may have, if he is fully conversant with the science of Krsna, Krsna consciousness, he can become a bona fide spiritual master, initiator, a teacher of this science. In other words one can become a bona fide spiritu…

By Romapada Das

Over 20000 students attended a mega youth festival organized by ISKCON Pune on 20th March to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ISKCON. The event, which was attended by principles of various colleges, political leaders from the youth community, the education commissioner of Pune and several other VIPs, was widely covered by several newspapers and broadcast on Indian’s national TV channel, Doordarshan. The theme of the event was ‘Drishti – Bharat leads the world’ and showcased India’s real spiritual wealth by means of which the country has the capacity to lead the entire world

26 2nd Avenue Team: Between now and July 1, you and your fellow Godsisters and Godbrothers around the world have a chance to safeguard the Mecca of Krishna Consciousness in the West.

By Niscala Dasi There are many things which we aspire for and even worship, which have no intrinsic value. They have value inasmuch as they are attached to values, and thus can serve perverted or promoting aims. Thus, though they have no value, they ha…

By Giriraj Swami If we are at all aware of how dependent we are on God–for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the very ability to eat and drink and breathe, to think and feel and will, and to walk, talk, and sense–we will fe…

By Brahmananda Dasa Krsna consciousness provides the enlightenment by which to understand who one is, what the world is, and who God is. One achieves this consciousness by performing various scientific spiritual disciplines recommended by great authori…