Beautiful Krishna
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A Meditation Krishna is the Original Soul. If they were able, all souls could trace their ultimate origin to Krishna, the origin of everyone and everything. Just as the body has a soul within, so the soul also has a … Continue reading

Overtaking the Spiritual Master
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Dear Srila Prabhupada, Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. There was a time in 1976 when you were being driven from Heathrow airport to Bhaktivedanta Manor. The M25 did not exist at that time, so you were … Continue reading

Slovenia this week
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Some pictures from this week: The Slovenian landscape is 60% forest Burger bars are not my usual haunt but this one was special: Radha Govinda in downtown Ljubliana Looking every inch the Buddhist chef in this designer ensemble is Mrigendra … Continue reading

For the love of wisdom
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Philosophy – from the Greek words: philo – love of, affinity for; sophos – wisdom. Philosophy – the love of wisdom Wisdom – from the Old Norse visdomr – the ability to think and act utilising knowledge, experience, understanding, discernment, … Continue reading

Vedas #3: The ‘Smriti’ – Puranas and Itihasas
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Narada Muni, son of Brahma, instructs his disciple Srila Vyasa, and requests him to write the Bhagavata Purana It is said that Vedic injunctions are made large by the Puranas, or histories, since within these texts we can learn of … Continue reading

Vedas #2 The Upanishads and Vedanta Sutra
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Uddalaka speaks to his son Svetaketu in the Katha Upanishad (For an extract of their conversation see end) Samhita, Brahmana and Aranyaka Samhita means ‘that which has been collected and arranged.’ A samhita brings out the meaning of the particular … Continue reading

What are the Vedas?
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On October 6th, 1969, in London, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada gave a lecture about the Vedas. He began as follows: “Ladies and gentlemen, today’s subject matter is the teachings of the Vedas. What are the Vedas? The … Continue reading

Five Nights of Wisdom
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The Pancharatra is a group of texts as old as the four Vedas and has the same transcendental origin. They were ancient even in the time of the Lord Krishna’s appearance in this world, and are mentioned in the Shanti-parva … Continue reading

Having the eyes to see
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  A lone eagle soars high in the sky above the craggy foothills of the Himalayas, wheeling and gliding on the thermal currents. Her golden-brown wings, extending to a gloriously feathered span of five feet, catch every breeze. At times … Continue reading

ISKCON celebrates Ramanujacarya in his 1,000th year
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The international governing body of ISKCON, the GBC, has issued the following resolution to all its centres in this millenium year of Sri Ramanujacarya: 310: Global Observance of Sri Ramanuja Sahasrabdi Whereas Sri Ramanujacarya, the great Vaisnava saint who lived … Continue reading

And so Britain’s slow exit begins…
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Today is the day Britain begins its two year period of exiting from the European Union, the official beginning of what has been termed ‘Brexit.’ The country is surprisingly divided over our immanent departure from what started out as a … Continue reading

The Ten Fundamentals
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Here’s a poem by my old friend, Madan Mohan Das. Its The Ten Fundamentals or Siksa Dasaka-Moolam; being the articles of faith deduced primarily from Caitanya Caritamrta and adduced as ten propositions by Bhaktivinoda Thakura. The Vedic truths are deemed … Continue reading

Daily Japa: My Daily Flight
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The first six months of my life were spent on an RAF aerodrome, and as a child I heard the grown-ups talking of military aircraft and of daring aerial battles during the war. No small wonder that I still think … Continue reading

Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Breakthrough
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I don’t think I quite believed in God until I had a trans-rectal prostate gland biopsy. The experience made me a believer. Well, I had to shout out to someone for help. There are parts of the body that our … Continue reading

Remote Viewing Revealed: Uri Geller speaks out
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In 1998 the CIA ended its research into the intelligence-gathering and espionage potential of ‘remote viewing.’ It had been running since 1973. The research was to study the ability of certain people to see pictures and objects at a distance … Continue reading

Not too late to make a resolution!
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Resolutions are like a pod of seeds. They’ll grow. It’s still not too late for a New Year’s resolution. You can do it. Whatever it is, rallying your determination now can make all the difference to the rest of the … Continue reading

Management vs Theology – a new challenge
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Martin Luther nails his protest to the church door Any human endeavour requires good management. Any organisation of a certain size – and some say over 150 members – requires a different system of management from that of its beginnings. … Continue reading

Happy New Year of Service to the Vaishnavas!
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We have now entered 2017 and with it, the Millenium of Sri Ramanujacarya. I wish all the Vaishnavas who will be directly celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of the birth a wonderful year, and I wish that his name is broadcast … Continue reading

What is the Spirit?
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A few years ago I narrated a compilation of selections from the Upanishads. Music was added and it became track 7 on the Chakram album. Now some friends have created a video around the track. I’d like to share it … Continue reading

Renunciation Personified
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Today is Gaura Kishor Das Babaji’s appearance day. In our line of gurus he comes after Bhaktivinode Thakur and before Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. He is a very important person because his life was an example of vairagya, or renunciation. His life … Continue reading

Kirtans from the Attic
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Here’s some old recordings of kirtans from thirty years ago. Although 1985 was a great year for cassette tapes, time had taken its toll on them and they were sounding pretty rough. Now they’ve been given new life by Jaggi … Continue reading

Remembering Aberfan
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On this day in October 1966 I was ten years old and living in a small village in Cornwall. I’d gone out for a walk in the afternoon and wherever I went, people were talking to each other about a … Continue reading

‘Locker Room Talk’
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Who would you vote for? How do you make your choice? When it comes to political leaders, does it matter if their language is sometimes harsh if they get the job done? Must they always tell the whole truth and … Continue reading

The Appearance Day of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur
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Today is the appearance day of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur. On this day in 1838 he was born in Birnagar, Bengal, India. He was to become a prolific author of books on the philosophical teachings of devotion to Radha-Krishna, a masterful … Continue reading

National Geographic Channel highlights ISKCON Kitchen
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I went to the Bhaktivedanta Manor this afternoon. It was a hot summer’s day for England, but a team of dedicated volunteers were underneath a marquee surrounded by chopping tables and hot gas stoves, preparing food for the 30,000 pilgrims … Continue reading

My Condolences to the Followers and Disciples of Pramukh Swami Maharaja
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I would like to offer my condolences to all the many followers and disciples of His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaja, who passed from this world on Saturday, 13th August at the age of 95. His contribution to their lives is … Continue reading

Learning from a Tree
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Two weeks ago at Bhaktivedanta Manor, a new garden was dedicated to Srila Prabhupada and his disciples. Since it was the week in which we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the formal establishment of ISKCON, I gave the following … Continue reading

Dangerous Kite Flying: Mundane and Transcendent Religion
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  Every year on January 14th comes the Spring Equinox. Known in India as Makara Sankranti, it is a holiday that is often accompanied by gusts of wind. One on occasion, a young prince was on the flat roof of … Continue reading

More Devotees, Happy Devotees: The Seven Stages of ISKCON Membership
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The diagram above is of a generic ‘Sales Funnel’ or ‘Marketing Funnel’ used in the world of business for many years to show how a customer flows through stages from initial awareness of a product to being an enthusiastic advocate … Continue reading

Bengal Milk Sweets
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When Lord Krishna played on this Earth as a child, He lived in a community of cowherds in the region known as Vraja, in northern India. He was in charge of the young calves and took them out each morning … Continue reading

Auschwitz survivor saved ‘by chance alone’
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When we examine the path of our life, we may note that we became the person we are today through a judicious combination of education, the kindness of others, intelligence and hard work. It all adds up, and we are … Continue reading

999th Birthday
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An actor plays the part of Ramanujacarya in a modern movie from southern India. Today is the birthday of Ramanujacarya, the great teacher and organiser of the Sri Sampradaya, the human vehicle of Laxmi Devi’s teachings within this world. Actually, … Continue reading

Post-modern perspectives on the guru-disciple relationship
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Despite the success of Vaishnavism as a worldwide phenomenon, there are yet some persistent difficulties faced by converts in understanding and implementing the ancient guru-disciple tradition. Partial understandings of source texts combined with highly selective use of quotes has only … Continue reading

Gopala Bhatta Goswami’s gifts to the Vaishnava community
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So today we’re marking the life of a great saint in our tradition who lived 500 years ago. He was the son of a Sri Vaishnava brahmana, Venkata Bhatta, and was born in a village near the famous temple town … Continue reading

Peace in the Middle East? Not unless the children are peaceful.
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The essential principle of progressive, civilised human life is to restrain negative emotions within oneself and to limit their discharge towards others; and to cultivate positive emotions such as tolerance, compassion and non-violence. Lust, greed and anger are the three gates … Continue reading

Taking Christ out of Christmas
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Although I have been travelling around England recently, I’ve been following the ongoing dispute about the Church of England’s attempt to promote prayer by commissioning a 54-second film – a cinema advertisement, so to speak, for The Lord’s Prayer. The … Continue reading

Visiting the Ashram
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For some years I have had a collection of books from a variety of religious traditions. I also have a few from the community I was brought up in, the Methodist Church. One book – one amongst many – is … Continue reading

Guru and Disciple: Hundreds of copies already sold
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So I published my book in August, just a modest run of 500 copies. They’ve almost all gone. Thank you to all those who showed me support and bought one. And congratulations to you if you bought one as a … Continue reading

Wolf in sheep’s clothing
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I’ve been reading the news about the increasing violence in Jerusalem this week, and it seems to be surpassing much of what’s been happening for years. The wave of horrific daily stabbings is far more brutal than ever seen before, … Continue reading