Author Archives: Dandavats

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…

By Cintamani Dhama Devi Dasi I know that if I really want to help my children, I have to help them become conscious of Krishna. To do that, I too have to become Krishna conscious. After all, you can’t give what you don’t have. Children are sensitive to…

By Bhakti Charu Swami

Difficulties deepen our realization & purifies our heart so that we serve Srila Prabhupada in a better way. In this material world, it is so easy to do wrong thing but it is so difficult to do right thing. Due to forgetfulness of Krishna,all problems of the world are coming about. The Basis of all difficulties: lust, anger, envy, pride, greed & illusion. Difficulties coming from Karma will give us samskaras which will further impel us to perform sinful acts, but difficulties coming from Krishna will purify us.

By Shyamasundara Dasa The name of King Kulasekhara Alvar is well known to the followers of Srila Prabhupada. His Divine Grace used to relish with great ecstasy the Mukunda Mala Stotra written by this great saintly king. This stotra is commonly known in…

By Shyamasundara Dasa The following history from the Valmiki Ramaya is full of import for anyone who wants to be a guru, GBC, temple president or leader in ISKCON or any spiritual institution. “Sri Rama said to Laksmana who was seated there and who was…

By Jivan Mukta Dasa When a family adheres to a spiritual program and cooperates to manage the household, the burden of stress and frustration is lightened. A disciplined devotional routine creates a more gentle flow to family life and an atmosphere whe…

By Urmila Devi Dasi

I look back on my life as a small child. Each morning my father would rise by 5:00 A.M. and wake me soon afterwards. Or did I wake spontaneously just to be with him? I would play in his office in our home while he showered. When I was very young we would play together, each of us with a doll. His doll told me stories of his life and taught me lessons of ethics and morality. As I got older, the play became a time to talk of the important things in our lives. My father squeezed fresh orange juice, made our breakfast, and forged our friendship. He made the early morning a time of peace, beauty, love, friendship, and understanding. Mentally traveling forward, I remember sitting in a temple president’s office so many years later. “I’d like to live here and dedicate myself to serving Krsna.” “We wake up early in the morning,” he says. “Very early. Can you do that?” I smile. “I’ve done that all my life.”

By Sridhara Swami Sex is the highest material pleasure, and love of God is the highest spiritual pleasure. For some people it’s disheartening to learn that they have to make a choice. The real thing to understand is that the pleasure of sex life has a …

By Madhavendu das Srimati Radhika’s kunda is as precious to Krishna as Sri Radhika Herself, and, above all gopis, Sri Radha is Krishna’s most beloved. Her divine Kunda is described by great sages as similarly dear to Krishna. Once Srila Prabhupada gav…

By Damodara Dasa Sir Isaac Newton once made a remarkable model of the solar system. Thanks to a clever hand-cranking mechanism, all of the tiny spinning globes orbited a small “sun.” On entering Newton’s study, one of his colleagues, a materialist, cou…

By Sadaputa Dasa “Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as nobody has the slightest idea what it means. —Bertrand Russell Throughout human history, philosophers and seekers of knowledge have sought to discover a singl…

By Kesava Krsna Dasa Here is a list of some effects of eating bhoga: (1)Makes the mind wicked. (2)Causes bewilderment. (3)Destroys clear thinking. (4)Causes lust. (5)Dampens the enthusiasm for devotional service. (6)Creates material desires. (7)Causes…

By Nimai

There were about twenty tents built up at the site, each one offering different means of spiritual entertainment e.g. prasadam, clothing, kirtan, books, etc. One tent supplied constant background music and the main stage featured many exciting performances such as: dances, yoga, spiritual lectures and of course a daily drama, which was one of the highlights. Bhakti Marg Swami had quickly trained up a group of devotees to perform in two plays that were featured over the four days. The Bhakti Cloud tent was designed for young people and it featured some really good singers and talented poets. In front of the Food for Life tent, there seemed to be a never ending queue as free prasadam was distributed throughout the festival.

By Rohininandana Dasa In many places in his books Srila Prabhupada describes the wonders of prasadam, food prepared with devotion and offered to Krishna. Prabhupada discusses such merits of prasadam as how it effectively immunizes one against the conta…

By Hari Parshad Das

Being non-judgmental about Govardhana-parikrama: Sometimes devotees think that barefoot parikrama of Govardhana is superior to wearing shoes, or that walking is superior to taking a vehicle. One should not consider one type of parikrama as superior to another. Srila Jiva Goswami says in the Gopala-campu (Purva, 15): natrapy anghri-kramitavasyakatvam svacchandatvad yanam apy atra distam Translation: It is not required that the parikrama should be performed by foot. One can also take a vehicle (and obtain the same result).

By Artha Forum

The event titled “Earn with Integrity, Spend with Compassion” was very well attended with over 400 attendees from all walks of life joining the event, which was partnered with TiE Singapore and IIMPACT. The attendees, many of whom have attended multiple Artha events in past, included entrepreneurs, industrialists, corporate leaders and professionals. World renowned spiritual teacher, author and motivational speaker His Holiness Radhanath Swami was invited to be the keynote speaker for the event. Esteem panelist Rajiv Vij – Life and Executive Coach, Author and Speaker; Srinivasan Venkita Padmanabhan – President & Global Head Finance at Olam Group, Madhabi Buch – Director at Agora Advisory and Sanjiv Aiyar – President of PAN IIM Alumni and a longtime supporter of Artha Forum shared the dais.

By Parampara Vani Das

Artha Forum (the non-profit initiative for bringing ancient wisdom to modern business) held its third event in Bangalore on Friday 18th March 2016 at the Taj Vivanta Hotel, M.G. Road. The event was attended by over 100 invited guests, including many members of the event partner, the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce – Karnataka Chapter. The keynote speaker was His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami, a Gaudiya Vaishnava sannyasi and renowned Vedic scholar and spiritual master. The evening’s proceedings began with an introduction by Sanjiv Maheshwari, Co-Founder and Director, Artha Forum. Sanjiv spoke about the increasing inequality in the world today, and the necessity for creating awareness amongst entrepreneurs to do business in a more socially and spiritually responsible way.

By Keshava Murari das Arjuna and Krishna preparing for battle “The emblem of Hanuman on the flag of Arjuna is another sign of victory because Hanuman cooperated with Lord Rama in the battle between Rama and Ravana, and Lord Rama emerged victorious. Now…

ISKCON of Silicon Valley: Srila Prabhupada’s mission was to write and distribute transcendental books far and wide so that it can change people’s lives.

By Giriraj Swami “Titiksavah–the sadhu does not become disturbed. At the same time, karunikah. He is himself being disturbed, but he is merciful to others. “Just like Jesus Christ. He was being crucified, and still he was merciful: ‘God, these people…

By Brother Aelred

In this article Brother Aelred (Chaitanya Dasa) offers his observations on the effectiveness of ISKCON’s communication of its key messages. These are particularly valuable in view of Brother Aelred’s close association with ISKCON over the years and his unusual position of being both a practising Catholic monk and Vaishnava. He is frank and insightful,with a sincere desire to help devotees. As the Scottish poet Robbie Burns once said, ‘I pray to God the power to give us, to see ourselves as others see us’. When I first made contact with ISKCON, Prabhupada was still alive. At that time — 1977 — I was already ‘falling in love’ with the devotees. No doubt a percentage of that was romanticism — being attracted to the externals of exotic appearances, sounds and lifestyle. After all, the sixties ‘hippy’ movement was not so far back in time. Out of this emerges the first serious observation I wish to make. A significant number of ISKCON devotees are still effectively living in that ‘exotic space’ of the past. I have asked — as have others — whether some devotees would survive without this identity, whose elements include at least some of the Bengali cultural artefacts, the cultivated sense of being ‘different’ from mainstream society, the conviction of living in a spiritually superior movement, and so on.

By Balabhadra dasa

In the mid 80’s the farm started a program called “ADOPT-A-COW” which was to raise funds to help support the cows. By that time we had a herd of 157 cows and it was way to many cows for the land that we had to work with. We were the 1st ISKCON farm in North America to stop breeding along the commercial dairy way of doing things. It was realized that if you are not killing your unproductive cows and male offspring as a commercial dairy does, then you lose your economic profit. So it was necessary to raise funds to pay for the feed that we could not grow on the farm. My wife and I ran the “ADOPT-A-COW” program from 1988 to 1990. During this time we also were in charge of the agriculture department on the farm.

Gunacuda Dasi: Sri Mayapur International School has a service opportunity for an Early Years teacher beginning in August 2016.

By Sri Nandanandana dasa As we look around the world, or watch and read the news, practically everywhere is affected by some kind of natural disaster. Floods are displacing millions of people, forest fires are destroying thousands of acres and burning …

By Uddhava Bandhu Das

The yearly boat festival in Vrindavan, part of the Gaura Purnima celebrations, is most popular amongst the devotees. The sunken courtyard of Krishna Balaram Mandir is flooded and becomes a beautiful kund where small Radha Shyamasundara are taken on gentle ride on Their swan boat. They glide to every corner of the lake to the sounds of resounding kirtan to see all Their devotees and admirers. The surface of the temple lake is completely covered by flower petals by artisans in a beautiful flower rangoli design that mysteriously stay in place. This year’s design includes a huge lotus motif in rose petals with the ISKCON lotus-tilak symbol done in golden flower petals bordered by real floating open pink lotuses. Seven-hundred kilos of flower petals were used to decorate the temple room and used by devotees to rain down on their Lordships that created a festival for the eyes. In total, over one-hundred thousand individual flowers were used for the festival decorations, taking sixty devotees about thirty-six straight hours.

By Ravindra Svarupa dasa

In Sanskrit, the word hamsa is the name for both a bird and an advanced yogi. The bird has such estimable qualities that its very name became applied to the spiritual practitioner. In English, Prabhupada followed a well-established convention and rendered ham.sa as “swan.” The advanced yogi- or devotee is accordingly “swan-like.” For example, Prabhupada once remarked, in reference to his disciples: “So Krishna consciousness means swan-like, they should be like swans. Their behavior should be like swans. They should live in a clean place, at a refreshing place.” In this second usage, ham.sa has probably become most generally encountered when prefixed by the superlative parama, meaning “highest,” best,” and so on. Strictly speaking, paramahamsa denotes the highest of the four ranks of sannyasa (see S.B. 5.1.27, purport), but it is used in a more general sense to describe the best of the sages or devotees.

By Kesava Krsna Dasa We never cease to be amazed or shocked. Thinking that nothing really surprises us anymore, the shock-value of what could happen to us, intrudes impolitely into our sense of peace and harmony, when fellow devotees are struck by sud…

By radhanathswami.com

On March 16th, 2016, Radhanath Swami was invited by Mr. Sanjay Kirloskar, Chairman and Managing Director of Kirloskar Group and Western Region Director of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), to deliver the closing Key Note Address at CII’s conference on ‘Enabling Inclusive Growth Through Social Engagement’ at the Hotel Taj Palace in Mumbai. Over 300 industry leaders attended. Founded in 1895, CII is one of the largest industry bodies of India with over 200,000 companies directly or indirectly part of its membership. As per the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – Indian Companies Act of 2013, every organization above certain turnover is expected to reinvest at least 2% of its average net profit for the immediately preceding 3 financial years back into the society on CSR activities. The purpose of the event was two-fold – one to discuss and deliberate on groundbreaking leadership attributes and to channelize social impact. The Nobel laureate Mr. Kailash Satyarthi was invited to share his experience on social impact while Radhanath Swami was given the task to enlighten the leaders on conscious entrepreneurship and the importance of corporate ethics to support positive growth which is need of the hour around the globe.