Severe Drought
→ Ramai Swami

On a recent visit to New Gokula farm the devotees told me that the area was experiencing the worst drought in the last one hundred years.

There had been some light rain but not enough to change the situation much. Our cows were being fed with hay that had been bought from other areas of the state.

The devotees were praying to Radha Gokulananda and doing lots of extra kirtan.

Can ambition and devotion go together 1 – How happiness-distress are fixed and how they aren’t
→ The Spiritual Scientist

[Talk to IIT Kharagpur students, Kharagpur, India]

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Analyzing different religions to find life’s purpose 2 – The problem of evil, original sin and karma
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[Talk to IIT Kharagpur students, Kharagpur, India]

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Analyzing different religions to find life’s purpose 1 – Seeking a purpose bigger than our problems
→ The Spiritual Scientist

[Talk to IIT Kharagpur students, Kharagpur, India]

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Rathayatra in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital (Album with…
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Rathayatra in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The Hare Krishna movement is also an incarnation of Krishna in the form of the holy name (name-rupe). Every one of us who is actually afraid of the asuric rulers and politicians must welcome this incarnation of Krishna. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10.3.21 Purport)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/cugQQa

Krishna Lunch (8 min video)
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Krishna Lunch (8 min video)
Krishna Lunch is a delicious, all-you-can-eat vegetarian and vegan buffet that has been prepared and served daily by volunteers/devotees of the ISKCON of Gainesville since 1971, when Gargamuni Swami, the first Hare Krishna to come to Gainesville, began chanting and giving out food at the plaza to anybody who passed by him. Krishna Lunch is an extremely economical and nourishing alternative to most of the unhealthy food venues currently populating campus, providing unlimited servings of the day’s entrée, dessert, and refreshment to anyone.

Seeing the Worship
Giriraj Swami

Indradyumna Swami Maharaja has come to spend four weeks with me at my ashram in Carpinteria, and today, watching him do his Deity worship, I was reminded of a statement in Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.5.23–24 purport) that a devotee “unable to worship the Deity must at least see the Deity worship, and in that way he may achieve success also.” Deity worship is one of the five most potent items in devotional service, and witnessing Maharaja’s worship had a powerful effect on my heart.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

Is seeing believing 3 – Resolving science-spirituality conflicts
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[Talk to IIT Kharagpur students, Kharagpur, India]

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Is seeing believing 2 – What the map of science misses
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[Talk to IIT Kharagpur students, Kharagpur, India]

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Is seeing believing 1 – Even science explains the visible with the invisible
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[Talk to IIT Kharagpur students, Kharagpur, India]

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*All India Padayatra NEWS.* (Album of photos) By Acarya…
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*All India Padayatra NEWS.* (Album of photos)
By Acarya Dasa.
On June 4 and 5, 2018, All India Padayatra travelled 13 Km from Belgaum to Nilaji via Samarth Nagar in Karnataka.
For the pleasure of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundara, Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev we would like to announce the book distribution score of All India Padayatra on 4th and 5th June, 2018.
Mahabig Books - 186
Big Books - 09
Small Books - 127
Total Books - 322.
Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundara ki jai…
Srila Prabhupada ki Jai…
Find them here: https://goo.gl/9rGFWh

GBC Proposals AGM 2019
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Hare KrishnaBy GBC Corresponding Secretary

The Annual General Meeting of the ISKCON GBC Society will begin on March 3, 2019. Following the ISKCON GBC Society's Rules of Order, the GBC Secretariat requests proposals, duly sponsored by TWO GBC members, to be submitted by December 15, 2018. This will allow adequate time for the GBC Deputies to prepare the proposals for presentation at the meeting. Continue reading "GBC Proposals AGM 2019
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If circumstantially we can’t get initiation, does that mean Krishna thinks we aren’t yet qualified?
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Answer Podcast

The post If circumstantially we can’t get initiation, does that mean Krishna thinks we aren’t yet qualified? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Arabic book distribution in NY (Album with photos) Satyanarayan…
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Arabic book distribution in NY (Album with photos)
Satyanarayan das: Bringing a special transcendence to the iconic “New York state of mind”, the great Arabic book distributor Mahotsaha Dasa Brahmachari has already gone through two cases of Arabic Gitas, with more having just arrived so as not to interrupt this unending river of bliss! The fortunate souls seen here holding up their new books were visiting NYC from Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia….
Find them here: https://goo.gl/MBPPU4

Windows to the spiritual world.
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Windows to the spiritual world.
Kadamba Kanana Swami: The other day I was remembering Srila Prabhupada’s statement of how paintings of Krsna are like windows to the spiritual world; it means that through these paintings, we are looking into the ‘real world’, and when we are looking out of this window (of the building), we are simply looking at a picture. So Krsna consciousness must begin with that understanding, that the spiritual world is the real world. It is there where we find our nourishment because after all, in the material world, we will never be emotionally nourished.


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Seek Krishna – The Person
→ Servant of the Servant

A friend is one who is related to another person for the cause of having a personal relationship regardless of the social and economic status of the friend. If a person is rich and famous, typically his friends and family also become famous on account of their relationship with the celebrity. So a celebrity is always connected to his or her opulence. Nevertheless, a true friend will associate with a celebrity not for his opulence but for his personal relationship. In the adult world, unfortunately, such friendships are rare because we only seek alliances if there is some level of social, economic, political or religious benefit. We live in a benefit-driven world, no doubt (true even amongst close family members)!

Duryodhana will be proud of this world since he was very much like that. Krishna is most richest and famous person in the entire cosmos. Not only that, He is also very attractive, powerful, strong etc. So who would not want alliance with Krishna. Duryodhana actively sought Krishna’s alliance for His riches and power. When Duryodhana went to see Krishna before the grand war, he asked Krishna’s favor for His power. Duryodhana asked for Krishna’s Narayani Sena so he can use them in the war. Duryodhana like modern man was a numbers person. He thought “what can one Krishna do? If I get His grand army, I can win the war”.

On the other side, Arjuna was a true friend. He did not care for Krishna’s majesty or opulence or power or how much he can benefit from Krishna. Rather, Arjuna’s only request was to be by-the-side of Krishna, that’s all. Arjuna only sought Krishna’s personal relationship without all His opulence. Arjuna was not benefit driven.

Today, we go to God for only one reason – to seek some benefit in the form of physical or mental or emotional support or even spiritual emancipation. We do not go to God just to express our friendship and love to Him. It is always purpose or benefit driven. When we approach God with no purpose but to only share our feelings of love or friendship, then we will realize God!

Great souls like Arjuna or Narada etc have shared their heart with God sans His opulence and have realized that Supreme Divine Being to be Sri Krishna.

Seek Krishna the Person and not His riches!

Hare Krishna

The “mystic” ingredient in the sweet rice! “When I…
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The “mystic” ingredient in the sweet rice!
“When I got to the scene, [the lobby] it was a wonder. San Francisco was famous for its Sunday feast kirtans. After the feast, there was always a huge kirtan in the hallway. Why the hallway? I suppose there was no time to clear out the temple. But these hallway kirtans were wonders. When I got there, I saw Jayananda in the center, surrounded by 40 or 50 devotees, just going wild. The kartals and drums were like staccato transcendental machine guns annihilating every inch of maya for miles around. Jayananda was doing this dance, legs back and forth, twirling, going nuts, playing kartals like a madman, and everybody was equally mad, it was really powerful. I never saw such powerful energy, it was Krishna’s internal energy. Maybe the sweet-rice had a little something to do with it! Yeah, mix ecstatic prasadam with ecstatic dancing and chanting, and you’ll get a crowd of madmen/women there at the Frisco temple, every Sunday. It’ll happen every time.” JT vedaBase => Jayananda in powerful kirtan

Holy Name Seminar with Mother Devaki
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!

Please join us for a spiritual charged weekend deepening our understanding of chanting and the Holy Name from June 16 - 17, 2018. This Holy Name Seminar will be facilitated by Mother Devaki, who will be visiting us for the second time. Some highlights from the seminar include:





  • Deepening your relationship with the Holy Name.
  • Hear about the glories of the Holy Name in the association of like-minded devotees and practically apply what you have heard in kirtan and japa.
  • Experience a different reality - associate with Krishna in person, through His Holy Name.
The Schedule is as follows:

June 16, 2018: 10am - 5pm (with lunch break) Kirtan 5pm onwards
June 17, 2018: 10am - 5pm (with lunch break)

To register for this seminar or if you have any further questions, please email education@torontokrishna.com.

‘Other scriptures’ and devotees.
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‘Other scriptures’ and devotees.
“One should have firm faith that he will achieve all success in life by following those scriptures that describe the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān. At the same time, one should avoid blaspheming other scriptures. One should rigidly control his mind, speech and bodily activities, always speak the truth, and bring the mind and senses under full control.”
(SB 11.3.26)

Working with Habits.
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Working with Habits.
Caitanya Caran das: Habit can be terribly powerful. When people get caught in some bad habits such as smoking or drinking, they find quitting those habits almost impossible – it appears that habits have a power bigger than theirs.

Another body.
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Another body.
Ananda Vrindavaneswari Devi Dasi: My family and I were just visiting my mother, Edith, in Boca Raton, Florida to celebrate her 90th Birthday. As we honored her and celebrated her life, she declared that 90 is too old and that people shouldn’t really live that long. Gaura Vani tried to bless her by saying: “May you live as long as you like!” She responded by saying, “Tomorrow, I’m ready to go tomorrow”.

Real nourishment
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 May 2018, Radhadesh, Belgium, College of Vedic Studies Retreat Lecture: ‘Krsna Consciousness in the Real World’)

The other day I was remembering Srila Prabhupada’s statement of how paintings of Krsna are like windows to the spiritual world; it means that through these paintings, we are looking into the ‘real world’, and when we are looking out of this window (of the building), we are simply looking at a picture. So Krsna consciousness must begin with that understanding, that the spiritual world is the real world. It is there where we find our nourishment because after all, in the material world, we will never be emotionally nourished. There will always be something lacking as this is the nature of the material world. It is usually when we talk to people behind closed doors where people reveal their heart and usually what comes out is that they are not feeling fulfilled, “I’m not happy with my life!”

It was recently in the news that some Russian lady who supposedly turned 119 years old said, “I have never had a happy day in my life!” Now, that is a bit depressing, isn’t it? I mean I don’t think this life is that bad (laughter). Everyone should at least remember some happy days, with the exception of that lady clearly (laughter). What to do? But the point of this is that we will never find fulfilment in this material world. Can we have everything that we have ever wanted here? Who has that?

So therefore, we always feel a little undernourished in this material world. Real nourishment comes in our relationship with Krsna and that is where we have to find it. Now, it is easy to say, “But Krsna is so far away. I need something here and now to nourish me.” Well, Krsna is far away but only if we put him far away. We should make an attempt to bring Krsna closer to us. So we must begin with our Krsna consciousness. By understanding that we have to invest in cultivating our relationship with Krsna, we bring him closer to us! That is what we are doing when we are having our morning sadhana – our regular reading, chanting and so on. We are coming closer to Krsna. In the Ādi Purāṇa, it is stated that when we chant the holy name, we are extremely close to Krsna. So this is what we are actually experiencing. It may take a little while to experience it in that way, but at least we can begin to reflect on it right now!

The article " Real nourishment " was published on KKSBlog.

Some Problems With “Bridge Preaching”
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Hare KrishnaBy Paramadayala Nityananda Dasa

ISKCON is a monotheistic movement, based on authoritative scriptures which provide an ontology and epistemology unparalleled in the history of mankind. Monotheism, and acceptance of sacred literature is pervasive throughout the western world: and there is high regard for critical/philosophical analysis, as a means for finding truth. As such, creating an accurate perception of ISKCON in the minds of people in general is the most powerful way to attract true spiritual seekers among the masses. However, we are utilizing our energy on “bridge preaching” programs which cloud this accurate perception. Continue reading "Some Problems With “Bridge Preaching”
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What does Prabhupada want to convey by talking about the conflict of communists and capitalists?
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Answer Podcast

The post What does Prabhupada want to convey by talking about the conflict of communists and capitalists? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Are Bhishma’s teachings of pure devotion at the end of his life contradicted by his life of service to the Kauravas?
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Answer Podcast

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