Author Archives: Dandavats

By Visakha devi dasi

The mayor of St. Augustine, Nancy Shaver, was delighted to attend. She said, “The Festival of Chariots is a moment of joyful peace for me, I am invited to attend many programs but this festival gives me inner peace.” She was given Kurma’s cook book & she said “I will definitely try using the recipes.” She inaugurated the event by breaking a fresh coconut before the Rathayatra cart, and the procession began. Seven mridungas accompanied the lead kirtan singer, as Adikarta das played a harmonium and a newcomer played a base drum. The hari- nam party, flanked on both sides by the thick ropes of the Rathayatra cart that was being pulled by many hands, walked through St. Augustine’s main streets as Lord Jagannatha and His divine family members watched with wide-open eyes.

By Arjun Bhattacharyya

This festival was dedicated to ISKCON’s 50th anniversary. There were special presentations covering various topics i.e. ISKCON 50 year ago, ISKCON’s future in North America and a special presentation on Srila Prahbupada’s new biography by Yogesvara Prabhu. An inaugural kirtan was held on Thursday evening. Three consecutive days of: sadhu-sanga, tumultuous world-class kirtans, ecstatic chanting & dancing, sumptuous prasadam, transcendental entertainment,engaging presentations & so much more! (150 photos)

By Bhaktivedanta Manor

Dairy Queen Honoured The Manor honoured Lalita Sakhi dasi, who is moving on after three years of innovation in her role of managing the Dairy. Under Lalita’s stewardship, the milk produced by the cows that graze on the Manor fields was transformed into rich butter, yoghurt and ghee. These items form the core ingredients in the famously delicious savouries, main meals and sweets made by the Manor’s deity department. Lalita also pioneered the production of palatable condiments, such as jams and chutneys, made from fresh ingredients grown on the fields surrounding the Manor.

By Giriraj Swami On this particular morning I was caring for a woman named Jane Kohr, who had been with us for almost a week. She was a kind and polite person, and I enjoyed the time I spent with her. Around 8 a.m. on August 6, I entered her room and f…

By Kalakantha dasa After the disappearance of Jayananda Das on May 1, 1977, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada instructed devotees all over the world to commemorate the event every year as they would any great Vaishnava’s disappearance day. Therefore w…

By Urmila Devi Dasi IT IS FASHIONABLE in modern secular societies to regard sacred literature as the mythological musings of undeveloped people. Schools teach that with our current understanding of physics, medicine, psychology, democracy, and so on, w…

By Ravindra Svarupa dasa

My first connection with the Hare Krishna maha-mantra happened during the “Summer of Love” in August, 1967 in the course of a wedding within a three-room apartment in Powelton Village, the budding hippie district in Philadelphia. The wedding epitomized the time and place. The groom and I had become close friends during our travails as fellow philosophy majors at the nearby University of Pennsylvania. Thin, angular, his pale beak-nosed face densely hedged with a curly black beard, Steve presented “the Jew” with a delicious hint of self-parody. His bride Catherine was black and beautiful and very pregnant. Behind the altar—a massive wooden table, knobby legged and claw-footed—a goateed United Church of Christ minister of progressive views officiated. As recitations from the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Tao Te Ching sounded out, a mottled cat manifested itself on the altar and began weaving balletically through a maze of objets, sacred and profane. Then the reception: with our mirth and good wishes amplified by the herb of choice, our hearts soon swelled to the mighty anthems of the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and Buffalo Springfield. We lit our fires. We fed our heads.

By Mayapur-shashi Dasa In the Bhagavad-gita (1.28) Arjuna says, “My dear Krishna, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up.” Srila Prabhupada comments: …

By Kavicandra Swami We often get questions about surrender, like “how can we surrender”. Recently I was reading one old BTG, 2001, and found a nice practical statement from Srila Prabhupada. If we search “surrender” on the vedabase we find 7445 hits, …

By Narasimha Swami Dasa From the scriptures, especially Srimad-Bhagavatam and Mahabharata, we are aware of the histories of pure devotees who have shown us the way of total surrender to Lord Krishna. When Duhsasana tried to disrobe Draupadi, she held o…

By Kesava Krsna Dasa There is a lot of emphasis nowadays on the need for love and trust among devotees. We can cite the six loving exchanges between us. We can also use the strength of the often quoted, “your love for me will be shown by how you coop…

By Mahatma das The first thing Srila Prabhupada explained to a friend of mine in their three hour meeting on how to run his business was this: “Don’t compromise your principles.” Srila Prabhupada often said, “I never compromised my principles. If I c…

>Dwaipayan De: Having a vegetarian/Vegan diet has a considerable effect on our environment.

By Krsnanandan Das

Summer Camp classes for children started from 14th April at some residences and it continued for 10 days. Every place had a good response of enthusiastic children. The children who attended the summer camp enjoyed learning shlokas of the 12th Ch of Bhagavad Gita, singing bhajans like Madhurashtakam, Guruvashtakam, hearing the stories of ‘Mighty HANUMAN’, playing Krishna Conscious Games and had the feeling that they had chosen the best Summer Camp. On 23rd April, 2016, the respective teachers invited all the students and their parents from almost 30 places. So there were 300 children attending Darshan Arati at ISKCON Mira Road temple on that day. Then H.G. Kamala Lochan Prabhuji (temple president), addressed the children. He spoke about the qualities which Lord Krishna had mentioned in the 12th chapter of Bhagavad Gita. He stressed on the verse ‘advesta sarva bhutanam….’, and told the children the definition of kindness. The children loved his lecture and learned many things from it. After the lecture, H.G. Kamala Lochan Prabhuji himself distributed certificates to the children who attended the Summer Camp, which inspired them to be a part of ISKCON.

By Ekalavya Das

“This is the first time ever that we have been given permission by the honorable Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain to perform Harinam Sankirtan publically!” exclaimed Sridhari Madhav Das, the organizer of ISKCON Bahrain’s presence at the event called Bahrain for All, All for Bahrain. Held on Friday, April 29, 2016, from 4 pm to 10 pm, the event was sponsored and patronized by the office of Bahrain Prime Minister – His Highness Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa. Fifty thousand fortunate residents of Bahrain turned up for the festival and were in for a treat when two hundred and fifty members of ISKCON Bahrain took over the stage, fulfilling the prophesy of Lord Caitanya that the chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra will be heard in every town and village of the world.

By Braja Vilas das

This Monday, May 9, is Akshaya Tritiya, one of the most important days in the Vedic calendar. Akshaya Tritiya is the appearance day of Lord Parasurama, and it is also the day that the Ganges descended to the earth. Most devotees know it as the beginning of Candana-yatra, but actually many of Lord Krishna’s other pastimes also took place on this day, specifically those which highlight Krishna’s generous and intimate reciprocation with his devotees. The very word Akshaya means “that which never diminishes”. Any service or charity one performs on this day will be paid back many times over. On this day, Sudama gave the Lord a tiny portion of chipped rice and was rewarded with untold opulence. Draupadi was protected by Lord Krishna twice on this day, once when He provided her an unlimited sari at the dice game in return for a tiny piece of cloth, and later, when she needed to provide food for Durvasa muni, the Lord took a single grain from her pot and satisfied the hunger of all the sages.

By Mahatma das Appreciation only costs you a few words, but what it buys is priceless. When Dale Carnegie said to be appreciated is the greatest human need, those who paid attention found appreciation one of the greatest motivating forces known to man….

By Gauranga Dasa Mistakes why we make them and how we can rectify them? To err is human … ” so goes the saying. Safely we can add three more details to the list: tendency to fall under illusion, cheating propensity and imperfect senses. A conditione…

By Giriraj Swami As many of you know, Lord Caitanya is Krsna Himself in the role of a devotee. He is Krsna, but with the complexion and mood of Srimati Radharani. There are different purposes for the Lord’s advent. The internal reason for Lord Caitany…

By Daamodara Dhananjaya Das

Outreach – How to beget devotees from a Rathayatra During one of our meetings between GBC-SPN (Strategic Planning Network) Outreach Committee and the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry, the subject matter of discussion was how to improve our outreach during the festivals that we celebrate in ISKCON. It has been observed that most of our festivals are successful in creating a majestic impression in the minds of the people, but fail to generate new devotees in a large number. In spite of so much time, labor, money and intelligence being used in each festival, we remain almost unproductive. Especially our Rathayatras are celebrated with a great pomp and circumstance, but they hardly yield any fruits in terms of new devotees. Hence, the GBC-SPN Outreach Committee, in collaboration with the Congregational Development Ministry, designed a process to generate contacts during the Rathayatras and thus, make them worth all the expenditure.

By Kalakantha Dasa O Krishna! In Your absence every moment lasts for years. The whole world seems so empty that my eyes are raining tears. When we no longer expect happiness from illusions, we naturally expect happiness from Krishna. Yet the ever-indep…

By Abhay Charana Dasa

Sankirtana Dasa, long time resident of New Vrindaban community, recently won a Storytelling World Resource Award for his dramatic storytelling CD Hanuman’s Quest. He is also a recipient of  a WV Artist Fellowship Award,  a National Endowment of the Arts Grant,  an Ohio River Border Initiative Grant, and a Next Generation Indie Book Award for his Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest.  For many years Sankirtana had used his background in theater to write, act and direct Krishna Consciousness dramas. Today, he offers dramatic storytelling programs in a variety of venues. He is on the  visiting artist  rosters of the  WV Division of Culture & History, the Greater Columbus Arts Council,  Artsbridge, and is  a member of  the WV Storytelling Guild.

By Kesava Krsna Dasa “O Narada, I am not in Vaikuntha nor am I in the hearts of the yogis. I remain where My devotees glorify My name, form, qualities and transcendental pastimes.” (Padma Purana). How many of us are fortunate to have not just good fri…

By Radhanath Swami You see these temples that we are living in, they are not in Kali-yuga. So long as the devotees are taking shelter of Holy name. this is Satya in this room as soon as you go out it is Kali. Why? because everyone here is simply surch…

By Ganesh das Brahma-samhita (5.50) “I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda. Ganesha always holds His lotus feet upon the pair of tumuli protruding from his elephant head in order to obtain power for his function of destroying all obstacles on the path …

Bhaktin Natasha: Padayatra is an excellent way to reach the public and show that the Hare Krishna’s really practice what they preach.

By ISKCON Coimbatore

The first one is the grand celebration of the First Annual Rathyatra of Lord Jagannath at Ooty and the second one is the successful beginning of excavation of land for their new temple project , of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna at ISKCON, Pelamedu, Coimbatore. When Lord Jagannath decided to visit the Queen of Hill Stations, Ooty, He directed the devotees from within to arrange for a grand rath yatra. Residents and tourists at Ooty, attracted by the Rath Yatra posters were inquisitive to see the Lord who had a unique form quite unfamiliar to them . The scene was all set to pull the ratha of the Lord through the main streets of the town. Great care was taken in arranging for prasadam ,accomodation and other facilities for the devotees.

By Hari Narayana das

Kapuas, a regency in central Borneo is a beautiful city located on the bank of the ‘Simpang Tiga’ river which in turn joins three other rivers; Murung Kapuas, Kapuas, and the shore of Javanese ocean. The capital city, Kuala Kapuas is said to look somewhat like Manasi Ganga in Vrindavan. This city was originally built as a port to connect roadways in Borneo. There are a few devotees who live in Kapuas. Since there is not that much active preaching in Kapaus, devotees had become a little unenthusiastic. The heartfelt prayers of the devotees was answered very soon however in the form of a grand Ratha Yatra celebration in Kaula Kapuas, the first ever in area. Under the banner of the Government festival, ‘Indonesian Record for Creativity’, devotees managed to hold the Ratha Yatra celebration.

By Niranjana Swami

My purpose for providing this facility was manifold: 1) to give devotees struggling with sadhana the opportunity to become more accountable for their sadhana practices, 2) to give devotees struggling with sadhana the opportunity to keep a record of their own performance in order to better see for themselves where they are lacking and where they need to improve, 3) to encourage devotees who either were or currently are struggling to come up to the prescribed standards, to maintain steadiness… even if it’s to a lesser standard, 4) to encourage devotees to increase whenever they feel they have the strength and commitment to do so, 5) to encourage devotees with their sadhana in general, simply by providing this extra facility for accountability, 6) to give initiated devotees a private venue to disclose that they are not able to maintain his/her vow to chant sixteen rounds daily, 7) to help initiated devotees better deal with any possible guilt they may have for their inability to maintain their sixteen rounds, 8) to help devotees feel a closer connection between their sadhana and their service to their spiritual master(s), 9) and to show that I understand the struggles devotees encounter with their japa, especially devotees who are not living either in, or near to a temple.

By Gauranga Dasa Why only Krishna? Typically in Indian homes of Hindu families you see a whole bunch of gods on the altar. All are same, they say. But it is not like that. If you take group photo of Microsoft employees with Bill Gates and show it to a…

By Lakshman das Srila Prabhupada often said, “Vrindavan is my residence, Bombay is my office, and Mayapur is where I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Bombay (Mumbai) is where he incorporated the main branch of ISKCON and other branches in I…

By Sri Nandanandana dasa In this way, we can begin to understand that devotional service ultimately brings us to the level of being able to see Lord Krishna directly. It is by this method that numerous other saintly sages and yogis have come to be able…

By Vraja Bihari Dasa “We say God’s on our side but the more important question to ask is are we on God’s side…” (George Washington) Democracy is supposed to be ‘by the people, of the people, and for the people,’ but I fear it may soon be redefined as …

Jaya Gaurasundara dasa: The Temple of the Holy Name is situated in Prabhupada Village, a rural community in the foothills of central North Carolina.

Rama vigraha das: This is a very special and rare occurrence! Please join us!

By Rsiraja Das

Cosmology has been of great interest to devotees ever since Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed his disciples to construct the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. However, since the Vedic cosmic model is so different from the modern one, devotees often struggle with many common differences such as heliocentric vs. geocentric models of the “solar system”, flat vs. round descriptions of the planets, rotating vs. stationary models of the Earth, the enormous mountains which cannot be observed, etc. Somewhat surprisingly though, devotees unquestioningly accept “higher” and “lower” planetary systems, and linear vs. cyclic time, which are fundamental to grasping Vedic cosmology, because they change space and time from flat-linear (in modern science) to hierarchical-cyclic (in Vedic cosmology). What we have unquestioningly accepted (although not adequately understood) holds the key to a better understanding of Vedic cosmology.

By Caitanya Carana Dasa Are we the makers of our destiny or is life pre-destined? In the Mahabharata, Vidura explained to Dhritarastra, “Destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves.” This means that we are not like pr…

By Kesava Krsna Dasa

Many times devotees try to reconcile this essentially Christian concept with Vedic understanding, but end up writing lengthy explanations that do not always satisfy the curiosity. This is because it is mostly incompatible with the truths of Bhagavad-Gita, for it has to be broken down in a simplified manner to give a satisfactory and brief explanation. Predestination As we may know, the five truths covered by Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, namely Krishna, the jiva souls, nature, time and action or karma are revealed. Of these, karma or action does not fit in to the predestination scheme. Yes, we can argue that our actions determine our ‘predestination’ or fate, but this is not the predestination of God’s doing.

By Zayani Bhatt

As a part of ISKCON’s 50th year celebrations, devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor, academics from around the country and students from Bath Spa University gathered at the picturesque and quaint university on Saturday 23rd April to talk about their shared interest in the Hare Krishna movement. The day, organised in collaboration with Religions, Philosophies and Ethics at the University, was dedicated to talks, presentations and a panel discussion on the history of ISKCON including its greatest achievements and challenges, its position within the larger British Hindu community and its future and the potential challenges it may experience going forward into the next fifty years. The academics included Dr Dermott Killingley who used to be of Newcastle University and Professor Kim Knott of Lancaster University, both of whom have extensively studied the Holy Scriptures such as the Bhagavat Gita, and the theology and practice of Srila Prabhupada’s movement.