Author Archives: Dandavats

By Iskcon Medchal Majority of the devotees who attended were surprised at the spontaneous response of the public and the participation and remarked that in future they would ensure people from all nearby villages will participate in greater numbers. Th…

By Niranjana Swami In the “Prabhupada Lilamrita” there is a wonderful description of the first harinama the devotees went on without Prabhupada. The devotees were just so ecstatic because they were so eager to go back and tell Prabhupada what they did….

By Ram das One of the basic principles of Krsna consciousness is that one may utilize whatever talent he has in the service of the Supreme Lord. And it is a symptom of a bona fide spiritual master that he is expert in engaging everyone in practical tra…

By Patita Pavana das

The soulful sankirtan of Shri Vishnujana Maharaja illuminated the streets of San Francisco and Los Angeles , and then across the States, from the earliest days of Krishna consciousness. Today his uplifting bhajans and melodious kirtans still echo in the halls of ISKCON centers around the world. There was never a more faithful servant of Shrila Prabhupada, and the fortunate Vaishnavas who served under his loving care always keep his memories in their hearts. Shrila Prabhupada, who by his mystic potency sometimes appeared more as a member of ISKCON than the exalted founder-acharya, also expressed a desire to spend a week traveling with the bus party led by Vishnujana Swami. Many fell under the irresistible spell of Vishnujana Maharaja and became Prabhupada’s devotees. HH Indradyumna Swami met him on a college campus in Michigan . He accepted his invitation to the love feast, and when he first showed up at the Detroit temple, he asked for Vishnujana Swami saying, “I want to be like him.”

By Tattvavit Dasa

Villa Vrindavan, in Italy, almost looks too old to have a future, but the humble devotees there are confident it will. ISKCON’s oldest building probably, the villa is four centuries old. Naturally, not everything works. A sunken semicircular fountain does not spout. The front roof nobly displays a stopped clock; the bell over it no longer chimes times. When devotees moved in with Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, putting their faith in the Lord’s names and graces they named the hundred-and-twenty-acre estate after India’s transcendent village where Krishna enacted a humanlike childhood. How and why is the project now moving ahead?

By Akrura Nandan das

ISKCON Chandigarh celebrated ISKCON Incorporation Week from 11th July to 17th July 2016. From 11th to 17th July we had regular glorification of Srila Prabhupada during Bhagavatam class. In addition to that during Sunday festival program on 17th July evening many senior devotees glorified Srila Prabhupada and a drama named “Swamiji at Sea” was staged.

By Khonika Gope-Kumar

Though since childhood, I was used to being called “gopi” by my classmates and coworkers as my surname had been “Gope”, however, that never made me uncomfortable. I knew those karmi people did not have any clue what they were referring to. But my devotee girlfriends surely know what they are talking about. Or do they? To my surprise, I found out that it has become quite common among young ladies in ISKCON to call each other gopi, even call each other Srimati Radharani! I was in a dilemma. Is it offensive or trivial to call another devotee girl gopi? At first, I thought, may be it is not as bad as I am thinking. Since “without the help of the gopis, one cannot enter into these pastimes. Only one who worships the Lord in the ecstasy of the gopis, following in their footsteps, can engage in the service of S’ri S’ri Radha-Krishnain the bushes of Vrindavana. Only then can one understand the conjugal love between Radha and Krishna. There is no other procedure for understanding.” CC Madhya 8.204-205

By Vrndavanlila Devi Dasi The tussle between “freewill” and “destiny” has been primordial. Bhagavad-gita explains the wonderful attributes of the soul besides the minuteness of soul. It is just one ten-thousandth part of the upper portion of the hair p…

By Giriraj Das

Here is the text from ‘Krishna’ Book, chapter 4, where, having being warned by Durga Devi that the child who will kill Kamsa has already taken birth, Kamsa is now repenting and is also trying to justify all his past sinful actions, putting them behind the bars, killing their children, etc., as will of providence. In these lines lie some very enlightening lessons for an aspiring devotee like my own self. “My dear sister Devaki-, you are so gentle and kind. Please excuse me—don’t be aggrieved by the death of your children, which I have caused. Actually this was not done by me, because all these are predestined activities. One has to act according to the predestined plan, even unwillingly. People misunderstand that with the end of the body the self dies, or they think that one can kill another living entity. All these misconceptions oblige one to accept the conditions of material existence. In other words, as long as one is not firmly convinced of the eternality of the soul, one is subjected to the tribulation of being killer and killed. My dear sister Devaki- and brother-in-law Vasudeva, kindly excuse the atrocities I have committed against you. I am very poor-hearted, and you are so great-hearted, so take compassion upon me and excuse me.”

By Dr. Bhakta Chetan Hazare In a humble attempt to glorify Srila Prabhupada and the ISKCON movement on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee, ISKCON, Navi Mumbai with the auspicious blessings of HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja and encouraging direction …

By Mahatma das

Forgiving yourself is obviously an issue for you. Look at it this way: Krishna wants you to come back to Him, and if you don’t forgive yourself, you’re making that trip back to Him a more difficult – and thus slower – journey. Krishna is waiting for you to come back, so don’t make Him wait longer than necessary. Krishna forgives you, and if He forgives you, certainly you can forgive yourself. (If it’s good enough for Him, it’s good enough for you.) In addition, if you are thinking, “I am so low and so bad, I don’t deserve Krishna’s mercy,” when the mercy comes you won’t take it because, after all, you don’t deserve it. But mercy wouldn’t be mercy if you fully deserved it. You may not deserve it, but you need it. And Mahaprabhu shows His mercy to those who need it most. Let Him know how much you need it. It’s also possible that a lack of self-forgiveness stems from a kind of self-sabotaging, a self-hatred mechanism within. To me this equates to the idea of being envious of one’s self as taught in the Bhagavad-gita and Isopansisad. Why would we do anything to hurt ourselves unless we lack self-respect and self-love? If you love yourself, forgive yourself. Prabhupada said the highest service is to save yourself, but why would you try for that if you have little respect or love for yourself?

By Kesava Krsna Dasa Some of our pujaris insist that only white flour and white sugar should be used in bhoga offerings for our Lordships, while many of us, being health conscious, will avoid eating such adulterated or suspicious foods. Should we feel…

By Bhakti Raghava Swami

A few years ago, while pursuing my postgraduate studies at USM in Penang, I happen to glance over the front page of the local newspaper to read the following headlines in large capital letters: WANTED: LEADERS. Srila Prabhupada: “Ordinarily, the spiritual master, husband, father, mother or superior relative accepts worship from an inferior relative, but here Rshabhadeva forbids this. First the father, spiritual master or husband must be able to release the dependent from repeated birth and death. If he cannot do this, he plunges himself into the ocean of reproachment for his unlawful activities. Everyone should be very responsible and take charge of his dependents just as a spiritual master takes charge of his disciple or a father takes charge of his son. All these responsibilities cannot be discharged honestly unless one can save the dependent from repeated birth and death.”

By Lokanath Swami From its inception twenty years ago World Holy Name Day has grown into World Holy Name Week. This year we commemorate and celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the inauguration of ISKCON by Srila Prabhupad with a two week long World Holy …

By Gautam Saha Those uninitiated into the spiritual knowledge of the Srimad Bhagavad – Gita might consider Arjuna as a very gifted and talented warrior (like Bruce Lee or Dara Singh or an Indiana Jones of ancient times), who ‘killed’ so many enemies o…

By ISKCON-London Communications

“It was a truly glorious day. You could really see that Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara – the Lords of London – and the first installed Deities in ISKCON, personally installed by Srila Prabhupada himself – wanted to spread the glories of Their dear devotee, Srila Prabhupada, to the wider London community. Not only did we have excellent attendance from the community and a full day programme at the Temple to celebrate ISKCON’s 50th, but we had the BBC interviewing devotees and filming footage at various points throughout the day. We also worked with Bhaktivedanta Manor to hold a Gratitude Day where we distributed 5000 cupcakes to the public in key locations around London to raise awareness of the Hare Krishna movement and to thank Londoners for accepting us as part of the community.

By Ananta das

Krsna’s Village of Peace has been an integral part of the Polish Woodstock Festival since it’s inception 22 years ago. This year was no exception as 550 devotees came together from around the world to create a veritable spiritual dhama in the midst of the 800,000 young people who attended the 3 day event on the Polish border, just 2 hours drive from Berlin. Utilizing kitchen facilities in 3 nearby schools, as well as two giant pots onsite, devotees distributed 100,320 full plates of delicious prasadam. They also distributed over 1,000 of Srila Prabhupada books and entertained people with a 5 hour stage show each afternoon in the main tent in Krsna’s Village Of Peace. One of the more popular scenes in the village was the Mantra Yoga Tent where prominent ISKCON kirtnaeers like Bada Haridas, Madhava dasa, Sacinandana Swami, Indradyumna Swami, Mahatma dasa, Sri Prahlad and Acyuta Gopi dasi held kirtan 12 hours a day. The tent was packed with guests day and night. Devotees also held Ratha Yatra, with a massive chariot, through the throngs of people on 4 separate occasions. All in all, it was truly a great yajna.

By Yamuna Devi Dasi The closer we come to individually appreciating and honouring Srila Prabhupada’s personal dealings with his disciples, the closer we will come to his sense of completeness in Krsna consciousness, to his joyfulness, to his transcende…

By Radha Shyamsundar das It was torrents of rain continuously from last few day in Vrindavana which became very heavy on the day of the Ratha Yatra. Lord Jagannatha tested our devotion and determination till the last minute. First a pandal, to be…

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada People have got no clear conception of God because they are sinful. But we can give the name, address and everything about God through this Krishna consciousness movement. We give them a clear con…

By Chaitanya Charan Das Suppose we are driving to some destination and come to a fork. If we are unsure about which way to go, we will move slowly or not move at all. But even if we are sure, that conviction alone will not take us ahead – we need to dr…

By Sri Nandanandana dasa This is an important point, that humanity’s search for happiness does not rely on catering to the needs of the body as much as it does on the realization of and attaining unity with God: O yogis, unite the soul with God and enj…

By Giriraj dasa My dear King, Bali Maharaj donated all his possessions to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vämanadeva, but one should certainly not conclude that he achieved his great worldly opulence in bila-svarga as a result of his charitable dis…

By Ranacora Dasa An answer to the question: “Why is a good Christian like you worshiping a Hindu god?” People often ask me why I changed my faith from Christianity to worship of Krsna. They ask what made me give up Christianity. I am always quick to a…

By Acyuta Dasa Srila Prabhupada often referred to bhakti-yoga as “the science of Krishna consciousness.” This was not his attempt to falsely confer a sense of empirical cachet upon a spiritual process, an area of knowledge that is, in the West anyway, …

By Bhakti Caitanya Swami One day in late January, or perhaps early February, in 1973, a devotee named Caranaravindam das came into the main brahmacari room in the ISKCON temple at 7 Bury Place, London, and told us how he had just met an amazing devotee…

By Chirag Dangarwala “You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty”. The a…

By Kesava Krsna Dasa

We oftentimes hear devotees say that their preaching efforts might become easier if a disaster strikes somewhere, or everywhere. More suffering should mean more turning towards spirituality and God. Will things be as simple as this? Would thinking like this be a tacit admission that we cannot preach successfully in “normal” times? In the event of a disaster, how do we know if the devotees themselves will not be immune to its likely trauma and effects, so as to impact on their own preaching abilities? Could it also be, that our urgency to see rapid and dramatic preaching results not always displaying, cause us to impatiently seek results through tragic adversity? Are impatience and tragedy useful companions for a preacher? The fact that we somehow or other turned away from Krishna – since how long no one knows – was itself the ultimate of all disasters. Forever seeking peace and happiness within this tragedy can only earn the unlikely goal of a “peaceful and happy disaster.” Devotees are aware of these incompatible achievements. We can imagine a comedy movie or drama having the title, “Disastrous Serenity, and Jubilant Tragedy.”

By Keshav Murari Das

India’s government-owned TV channel, Doordarshan National aired a one-hour programme about ISKCON on July 13th, featuring a studio interview with Keshava Murari Das, President of ISKCON Rohini (New Delhi), interspersed with several video clips about different activities of ISKCON. He explained how Srila Prabhupada started the movement and continued to speak about the achievements of ISKCON today such as the movement’s expansion into 650 centres, distribution of 300 million plates of free prasadam and 50 million books. The programme showed several clips such as the youth festival in Pune attended by 20,000 young people and the recent visit of the then Prime Minister David Cameron to Bhaktivedanta Manor in London to celebrate the 50th anniversary. Video of the interview included.

By Srigarbha das With over ten thousand people taking part, this year was the biggest ever Ratha Yatra held aa Netrakona, Bangladesh. Jagannath Vallabh Temple, ISKCON Netrakona celebrated its 6th Jagannath Ratha Yatra festival from the 6th till 14th of…

By Dharmatma Das It takes an incredible effort to cook for 16,000. Parasuram prabhu and a stellar crew have been doing this faithfully for over 12 years. Titiksu prabhu expertly procures the required donations and Parasuram goes about assembling the ma…

By Zayani Bhatt

As a continuation of the celebration of Incorporation Day – the day Srila Prabhupada received the certificate stating that ISKCON was officially incorporated – and the 50th year anniversary of ISKCON, Bhaktivedanta Manor held the grand opening ceremony of the Srila Prabhupada garden to honour the spiritual leader and founder of ISKCON along with his disciples. Devotees from across the country and many of Srila Prabhupada’s direct disciples from around the world, gathered on the 16th of July 2016, for a day dedicated to expressing gratitude to Prabhupada, for making the perilous journey to the west, and changing the lives of people for generations to come.

By Kalasamvara Das Dignitaries and well-wishers spent the afternoon at the local hare Krsna temple as part of the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON movement receiving the mercy of the Deities, placing Garlands and performing the abhiseka of…

By Radhanath Swami

I was born and raised in the United States, and I saw all around me so much wealth, so much luxury, such nice telephone system and road systems, and televisions and everything else, and I saw so much power, but to myself and so many people of my generation it was so hollow, it was so shallow, because you see greed could never satisfy the heart. Bhagavad-Gita tells that greed is like fire, the more you feed it, the hungrier and more it needs. When people are trampling on each other, exploiting each other due to greed, ‘Do I want to be a part of this?’ And then I heard of verse, that in many ways is the essence of the Bible, it was spoken by a great personality of Jewish descent who founded Christianity, Jesus Christ, and to me this statement is what a Christian is, what is Jew is, with what a religious person is. And I just saw that it was so rare all around me. The verse is – what profit of a man who gains the whole world but loses his eternal soul? That’s what I saw happening, and it’s happening today more than ever, even in the name of God. I was seeking my soul. I was seeking a meaning and purpose in life that would make whatever I did of actual value. Children in so many parts of the world, if we don’t give them a meaning, a spiritual purpose to live for, then they are so vulnerable to greed, to arrogance, to exploitation.

By Ananda Murti Devi Dasi It may be known by now how many Ratha-yatra festivals are being conducted every year in different countries and cities spanning across continents, of the world. It is really impressive though to get, even a little glimpse of t…

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

By Chaitanya Charan das Forgiveness involves our cultivating virtue independent of the other person, whereas trust is our reciprocation conditional to that person’s cultivating virtue. By carefully understanding the difference between the two, we can t…

By Madhuha Das

In a Talk at the Radha-Govinda Mandir in Calcutta on March 24, 1976 Srila Prabhupada said: And that is the inspiration of my devotional life. Then I asked my father that “Give me Radha-Govinda Deity; I shall worship.” So my father was also Vaisnava. He gave me small Radha-Govinda Deity. I was worshiping in my house. Whatever I was eating, I was offering, and I was following the ceremonies of this Radha-Govinda with my small Deity. That Deity is still existing. I have given to my sister. So then I introduced Ratha-yatra.