who do you serve?
→ everyday gita

Verse 4.38: In this world, there is nothing so sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge is the mature fruit of all mysticism. And one who has become accomplished in the practice of devotional service enjoys this knowledge within himself in due course of time.

The quest to figure out who were are and what we are meant to do is one that many have embarked on. Perhaps you are on this very quest yourself.

For some people, its a journey they've been on since childhood. For others it's one that they have embarked on later in life. Perhaps, like me, these questions started occupying your mind towards the end of high school when you felt pressured to choose a major in University.

The Gita provides the answer for all of us.

We are spiritual beings (having a material experience) and we are meant to serve.

The answer is so simple and elegant. Know what the best part is?

It is applicable to everyone regardless of gender, nature or culture.

Personally, I have always struggled with "what it is I'm meant to do". The Gita's answer that we are meant to serve is a powerful one for two reasons:

1. It isn't prescriptive. It takes into account that everyone has different natures and inclinations.

2. It indicates that consciousness behind an action is more important than the action itself.

When speaking about service, the Gita is defining it as a mood, intention and attitude. It's not the service we receive as part of a business transaction but rather the understanding that everything we do is in service of something or someone and is done with a particular intention/consciousness. Whether we realize it or not, the thing we serve most is often our own minds!

For this week's challenge, we invite you to stop once a day to ask the question "who am I serving?" before doing something. It's a powerful question and the answer might surprise you!

The Story of the Arrival of Our Deities!
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

The presiding Deities of the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple are Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha (Radha Krishna), Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai and Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra.  Everything we do in our temple is a just a humble offering to the Lord and our Deities are the heart of our temple!  Below, you can find the latest pictures of our beautiful Deities, information about darshan times and even the stories about how our Deities arrived in Toronto!

We've recently updated the page on our website dedicated to our Deities and we've added stories about how our Deities arrived to our beautiful temple!  Check out our new "Our Deities" page by clicking here!

Canada Couple Try to Live Prabhupada’s “Simple Life” Gaura Nitai…
→ Dandavats.com



Canada Couple Try to Live Prabhupada’s “Simple Life”
Gaura Nitai and Lala Gopi’s 100-acre “Govinda’s Farm” in King’s County, Eastern PEI overlooks the Northumberland Strait of Nova Scotia and includes a 140-year-old Victorian house, a barn and outbuildings. Today, the couple live in the house with their Gaura Nitai and Jagannath Deities and their 23-year-old son Rama, who moved back home to help out. “When we first came here, we paid cash for the land – we don’t take mortgages out,” says the likeably direct and plainspoken Lala Gopi. “After that, we only had $600 left to our name.”
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/QKhxR9

Community Meeting – Development Proposal
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

Several months ago, our temple was approached by a large condominium development firm who has built several mid-rise condominiums in downtown Toronto.  They are working on a proposal to build a 25-story condominium which will occupy part of the small park behind the temple and have approached our temple to solicit our interest in using part of our property to build their condominium.  Please note, this is still very early in the planning stage and no official plans have been submitted to the city.

Their plans to use part of the temple's property would mean a significant change to the east side of our building and, more importantly, the addition of a 25-story building which would be in very close proximity to our temple.

Even though the proposal is still in the development phase, the Hare Krishna temple felt the need to reach out to our community to solicit their feedback on this idea.  The development firm is offering a significant financial windfall to the temple to proceed with this plan.

There will be a special Community Meeting wherein all devotees are welcome to come and hear from a representative of the company putting this proposal together.

This project by this condo development company has very serious implications for our temple and has many benefits and drawbacks.  We are humbly asking for your feedback regarding this important proposal and thus are extending an invitation to all of our devotees to come to this Community Meeting to learn more.

Even though information is not public, we have been granted permission from the development company to share one conceptual drawing about what the condominium would look like, once it is completed.  Click the image below to see the full artists concept about how our temple would be situated in relation to the new condominium development.


For those of you who figured we are too spiritual to play tricks on you, we'd like to wish you a Happy April Fool's Day!!! There are no condominium developments which are being planned for our temple... we promise! (Check out previous years' Aprils Fools jokes here and here!)