Websites from the ISKCON Universe
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 August 2018, Vrindavan, India, Bhagavad-gita 4.9) In Germany Srila Prabhupada was speaking with professor Durkheim. In that discussion they were speaking about the soul being eternal and separate from the body. Prabhupada said, “The body actually does not die because it is never alive. Never was there a moment when it […]
The article ” An Essential Realization ” was published on KKSBlog.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 February 2016, Bhaktivedanta Manor, United Kingdom, Srimad Bhagavatam 10.2.21) Our process is not repression, it is not just simply abstinence – to give up illicit activities and let the pushing of the senses rage within. This is not possible for us. NO! We must engage in devotional service and then devotional […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 22 April 2016, Radhadesh, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.8.14-16) It is said sometimes that anger is the younger brother of lust. First, there is our desire to control. We want a world according to our desires and if people interfere with that then we become angry! But it is not that people just interfere because you have to […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 22 April 2016, Radhadesh, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.8.14-16) Demoniac tendencies remain with the living being for a very long time. Even when we take on the process of devotional service, it does not mean that all the influence of previous demoniac activities are gone. There are so many traces of demoniac tendencies in our […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 04 February 2016, Bhaktivedanta Manor, United Kingdom, Srimad Bhagavatam 10.2.21) It is true that there is that inner animal within us. The animal that we hide. The animal that lives behind the saintly expressions on our faces. There is this animal and we have chained him up in regulative principles by Srila […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 February 2013, Prague, Czech Republic, Caitanya-Caritamrta Adi-Lila 1.2) It is said that the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are more cooling than millions of moons and the shadow of those lotus feet can cool down the entire universe. So, this idea that the universe needs to be cooled down, we also […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 27 June 2014, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.13.17) Some people say that the greatest enjoyment in the material world is sex. Well, we can also say that greater than that is to be free from such desires. If you do not have the desire, then it saves a lot of trouble! You […]
The article ” Higher taste ” was published on KKSBlog.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2004) I always tell devotees that we should understand that Vrindavan or Mayapur is our home! This is where we live and now at one point, when we go from here to some foreign country, then we are like tourists – we are only visitors there whether it is New Zealand, Spain, […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 23 August 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.29.55) People are hankering to be devotees! Yesterday, in the morning, I was going for a walk and there was this person who came and stood opposite of me. The street was very crowded and this person was fifteen centimetres away, face-to-face. He gave me a really […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 09 October 2012, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.12.24) When a devotee is close to Krsna then Krsna is also close to the devotee. But if we think, “Yes, I know I’m serving Krsna but at the same time sometimes I really wonder, is Krsna really protecting me or is he only protecting his […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 20 March 2013, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.12.6) When the disciples of Prabhupada saw him lying on his bed, in his final days, they said, ‘How can such a terrible condition happen now? How can this happen?’ Prabhupada said, ‘Don’t think it will not happen to you because it will.’ So, this […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 October 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.8) One should never think that we possess anything in this world, not even our children. Our children are independent from us. They are living beings with their own destiny who are placed under our care for sometime, that is all. It is not that they […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, May 2011, Radhadesh, Belgium, Lecture) Our movement is growing and it is not only growing in numbers but it is also growing in complexity! In the earlier days of Srila Prabhupada establishing the preaching mission, this movement was more simple. The membership was more homogenous – people of a similar age group […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 31 March 2012, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 7.15.26) The spiritual master sees himself as a fallen soul, as trying to be a good instrument and falling short in so many ways but others do not see it like that because that would be an attitude of seeing him as an […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, October 2011, Melbourne, Australia, Lecture) During the month of Kartik, there is the chance to make special advancement. Especially whoever goes to Vrindavan is very fortunate because in Vrindavan, during Kartik, one can make many times more advancement under than under normal conditions! Therefore, being in Vrindavan during Kartik is very, very special. But […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, October 2011, Melbourne, Australia, Lecture) In Kartika, we will try for pure devotional service. In this month, one can take vows to perform some special service because this month is the month of Srimati Radharani who especially notices the service that we render. When she recommends us to Krsna, then Krsna will also be […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 24 October 2012, Vrindavan, India, Ramachandra Vijayotsava, Lecture) Kirtan is emphasized as more important than japa because in the chanting of kirtan, one is bestowing mercy upon so many other beings and therefore it is considered to be even greater than chanting japa! Of course, the other day Yuvaneshwar Prabhu, in his […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 14 March 2013, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Bhagavad-gita 7.24) In everything in our life, if we see the connection with the Supreme and we see, “I didn’t make this world. I appeared in this world. It was already there. It is not mine therefore, it actually was made by someone else – the Supreme Lord and […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 02 October 2012, Cronulla, Australia, Program at Yoga Studio) One of the qualities of a devotee is kṣamā which means forgiveness. In this world, every relationship must begin with that because, after all, nobody is pure. If we were all perfectly pure then we would have no faults but because we do, […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 29 September 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.2.36) Real security is with Krsna. The more one places his faith in Krsna, the more everything becomes successful. This is what we see in Srila Prabhupada who came to the Western world with forty rupees and then had so many assets at the end […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2011, Helsinki, Finland, Lecture) It is said that from all services, the chanting of Hare Krsna is the first and foremost. It is the most important. Of course, we all may not always experience it like that. Somebody may just love cooking and they may feel, “Cooking is my life and soul! That’s […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 29 September 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.2.36) How can we always remain appreciative in association of devotees? Sometimes, we lose it so how can we stay always in the correct mood? By thinking that we are not appreciating devotees enough and that we are always falling short in appreciation. As soon as we start […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 27 June 2015, New York, USA, Bhagavad-gita 9.33) Question: You mentioned the shooting incident. I am curious to know how this specific experience affected you in a personal way, if it is not too personal to share? I will keep it simple. I do not want to speak about the material side of it, […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 22 September 2012, Durban, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 11.31.24-28) It is said in the Bhagavatam that the pastimes of Krsna are always covered by darkness and cannot be seen by the materialist. Krsna remains hidden from the materialists. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is eternally present in Dwarka but hidden from non-devotees. […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 24 June 2013, Czech Summer Camp, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.2.33) We should get serious now. Our time is running out! We must increase our devotional life and that is really necessary. It is not so cheap, going back to Godhead. We get the chance but we still have to work for it. Why else […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 27 June 2015, New York, USA, Bhagavad-gita 9.33) I remember in Vrindavan when we were listening to a lecture in our temple, sometimes there were a lot of ants in the temple and not small ones but those big ones with the tweezers on their nose. So when they would come for […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 27 June 2015, New York, USA, Bhagavad-gita 9.33) When I was a kid, I was quite wild. One of my favourite games was to take a ball, throw it onto the roof of the house then climb up the drainpipe, grab the ball, come back down and throw it onto the roof […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 11 May 2015, Brisbane, Australia Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.42) The different acharyas are spiritual masters who may place emphasis on different things. But still, all are sitting at Srila Prabhupada’s feet. He is the founder acharya, Prabhupada – the master at whose feet all others sit, therefore we should take it that Prabhupada’s books […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 11 May 2015, Brisbane, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.42) Srila Prabhupada was such a loving personality, whose love for Krsna was so deep but his love would also come down to all living beings. After Prabhupada left, things became a bit more mechanical, “Sankirtan, sankirtan, sankirtan! Preach, preach, preach! We have got to […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 11 May 2015, Brisbane, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.42) Question: How do you preach from realization? There is scripture and then there are the acaryas who have given their realizations on scripture. We can study their realizations and that will help us to understand the scriptures better. Just like Srila Prabhupada said. “My purports are more […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 11 May 2015, Brisbane, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.42) Yesterday, at the Sunday program, I mentioned that chanting changes us internally and it awakens our love for Krsna and because of that, our whole perception of reality changes. Then our whole perception of the maha-mantra changes. In the beginning, we think that the Hare Krsna […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 February 2013, Prague, Czech Republic, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.19.4) There was one devotee who had sort of given up spiritual standards for a while and I was thinking of what to say to such a person without saying that you MUST chant Hare Krsna. Of course, that fell on deaf ears. Their answer […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 21 November 2012, Cape Town, South Africa, Evening Lecture) Krsnadas Kaviraj Goswami describes how the tongue is desert-like… always dry and in constant need of an endless flow of refreshing water, in the form of the Ganges. Just like how the Ganges pours refreshing transcendental water on the desert-like tongue, in the same […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 16 July 2012, Modra, Slovakia, Lecture) In so many ways, maya (the illusory energy) is infiltrating our lives. Maya is everywhere. They say maya is a witch. For the male, maya takes a female form and for the female, maya takes a male form. In this way, maya has only one purpose which is to bind the living […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 08 March 2015, Stockholm, Sweden, Srimad Bhagavatam 3.1.4-8) We have to understand that in the spiritual life, we have to rely on knowledge but more so, we rely on mercy and then try to absorb ourselves in love for Krsna. The world is so distracting; the material energy is very distracting. It […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 08 March 2015, Stockholm, Sweden, Srimad Bhagavatam 3.1.4) After years of chanting, we may stop and say, “Why am I doing this? I do not feel like it anymore. I do not know. I cannot get myself to chant.” What happened? What happened to your knowledge? Is it all gone? Don’t you know […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 18 May 2012, Melbourne, Australia, Lecture) I used to live in Vrindavan a long time ago. In the rural areas, the medical facilities were sometimes worse than the disease. I was in hospital at one time and the doctors were fighting over me. One said it was malaria and the other said […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 29 April 2012, Radhadesh, Belgium, Lecture) This morning, I opened my lecture with the topic of sex life because we have these material bodies. Prabhupada said in the Srimad Bhagavatam, ‘The whole material world is a backdrop for sex life!’ That is what he wrote. Sex is the one thing that is behind everything, somehow or […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 December 2015, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 9.19.26) I was reading Chanakya Pandit’s Neeti-Shastra. It was a long time ago that he wrote it, when he said ‘Which family has no blemish? Which family is not scarred by some scandals?’ In every family, there are some stories… Like, I have this […]
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, November 2011, Mayapur, India, Caitanya Caritamrta Seminar – Part 4) The divinity of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has been established. It comes up many times that he is clearly the Supreme Lord. There were many miracles which are related to this. This is expected since whenever you deal with the Supreme Lord, there […]