World famous Bondi beach, Christmas day 2006. 25 devotees descend amidst the thousands of beach combers with their surf boards and numerous other gadgets for trying to find happiness. The kirtan begins winding our way along the promenade. Then into the bar areas, onto the grass, with bodies lying everywhere in different states of awareness. The kirtan reaches higher and higher peaks raising the fallen to their feet.

Many of us struggling sadhakas know that overcoming laya, sleepiness, during chanting, hearing and meditating is not always an easy thing. Some devotees struggle year after year, regularly wandering in a realms of tamo-guna and sleep while Srimad Bhagavatam-class, japa and gayatri

So, how did I, a peanut butter and jelly Nintendo kid from America, the land of plenty and plenty more, choose to enter as a brahmacari into the tradition of Gaudiya Vaisnavism as brought to the West by His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada?

A journalist pretended to be a normal Christian follower asking the confessors for absolution from his sins, or rather asking if what he claimed to be doing was sinful.

For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this file contains the following North American results for the month of December: North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors etc., Monthly Top 100 Individuals, Monthly Top 5, Cumulative Countries, Cumulative Temples, Cumulative Top 100 Individuals, Cumulative Top 5

Dear Devotees, Here's a gift for Lord Nityananda's appearance day. It can be used for Sunday schools or Gurukula's, for performance or for future reference.

The representative of the General Prosecutors' office said on the last day of the Commission (3rd of January, 2007) that the Karasai District Prosecutors office has opened a criminal case against the members of the Society for Krishna Consciousness.

To be honest, I did not know what to do, write to my spiritual master asking for advice, or run into the first chocolate shop I find, because I have to recognize, I was a chocolate addicted and the only idea of eating chocolates without any feeling of guiltiness made me so glad.

His Grace Sridama Prabhu was enthusing devotees to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books at Malad Station. His heartfelt announcements were inspiring the crowd, and sales picked up. Then a strange thing happened...

"In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin."

December was a very successful ending for 2006 with over half of the years points being done in that month alone. What a great marathon! India of course was the main reason for that turn out, Srila Prabhupada predicted that India would be a country where book distribution would be a great success, and so it has.

Here at ISKCON Pandharpur, we just had our first Youth Festival. More than two hundred youths attended from district towns and villages across Maharashtra including Pandharpur, Jaisingpur, Solapur, Amravati, Pune, Jalgoan, Vita, Satara, Sangli, Aravade, Alibhag, and Bid. The festival was a co-operative effort of ISKCON Pandharpur and the ISKCON Maharashtra Preaching Ministry

Our mercilful God has offered us this perfect revelation about our real spiritual identities and our inate enduring loving relation to Him; and He has preserved its integrity within an unbroken disciplic succession "evam parampara praptam" of His empowered servants, the authentic Vedic teachers

Hare Krishna! I am seeking two assistants between March 07 through Oct.07 (can be longer or shorter but this is the preferred duration). During this time, there will be many large and small Festivals and activities to facilitate, such as the Festival of Inspiration, the Vaishnavi Retreat, Bhakti Shastri course, Rathyatra Festivals, an International GBC meeting in New Vrindaban, etc.

Do we see all the obeisances and reverences accorded to the renounced order and secretly think “That position really has some power! Advanced supremacy! Without so much as lifting a finger, devotees fall like adoring uprooted trees without a storm in their presence. It is tempting to say, I wouldn’t mind having a danda.”

Srila Prabhupada encouraged repetition of the sastra as a principle of disciplic succession and at the same time he condemned it as artificial and unscientific. Let’s examine the two positions with quotes from him.

Before I begin to describe the conference, I would like to publicly thank both Sriman Bimal Krishna Prabhu and Sriman (Dr.) Ganga Narayan Prabhu, who are the co-Presidents of ISKCON Ujjain, for so kindly hosting myself and my “party” at the newly constructed guest house there.

I offer my obeisances to my spiritual master, Hridayananda das Goswami. In presenting these essays, I have meant you no malice. But please understand: I would rather be an outcast and have my arguments given a thoughtful hearing instead of an insider whose arguments are never heard. I offer my obeisances at your feet. And finally, I offer my obeisances at the feet of my param-guru, Srila Prabhupada. Without you, where would we all be? Please have mercy on me.

Some nice pictures from the Maha Snana Yajna

The Brahma-vaivarta Purana explains why Sarasvati no longer exists in her full glory: When Ganga-devi cursed Sarasvati-devi to become a river here on Mrtyuloka, one of the conditions was that she would only remain on earth as long as rishis and other great sages performed tapasya on her banks.

"Yadubara's DVD series comes as close as you can get to providing new devotees the visceral experience of being in the physical presence of Srila Prabhupada, and it also transports the older devotees back to those exciting times." – Caru das, Utah

Chanting Hare Krishna with a completely fixed goal. No consideration of who’s who – off the bodily platform. One goal – Save Kalindi! No material thoughts or motives. It felt like Samadhi - deep Krishna consciousness.

Obeisances to the Vaishnava Community! Please visit www.ashram-arts.com for all your graphic design needs. Here you'll find a selection of recently completed projects; both web and print. Naturally, devotee-discounts apply.

Although, the subject of devotees' consumption of commercial milk speeding the moment of cows' slaughter has already been discussed years ago, I think that it is a good idea to revisit it from time to time.

The temporary happiness derived from mundane topics of philosophy, poetry, art, culture, politics, sociology, and so on is like a mere drop of water that cannot give us satisfaction.

Even ducks and other birds of Vrindaban partipate in Krsna's wonderful pastimes. "Some boys imitated flying birds by running after the bird's shadows on the ground, some imitated the beautiful movements and attractive postures of the swans, some sat down with the ducks, sitting silently, and others imitated the dancing of the peacocks."

Offerings for Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja book are due on April 15, 2007. The following is the official BBT announcement in this regard.

I am so happy to see some environmental issues being discussed amongst the devotee community. It is an issue for everyone in the world wherever you are. The saying "Think Globally, Act Locally" is particularly applicable at this time in history. We all affect each other and we each make a difference, everyday.

Since in Ujjain Kumbha Mela in 2004, Lokanatha Swami became a Sri Mahant of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness Prabhupada Khalsa, we now have our official place in the Shahi Snanas.

ONE OF OUR GOD BROTHERS NRSIMHA PURANA IS CELEBRATING HIS 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF BEING A RURAL KING OF GOMOA NKRANALL IN THE CENTRAL REGION OF REPUBLIC OF GHANA. DEVOTEES ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THIS WONDERFUL ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION.

I offer my respectful obeisances to Das Goswami, who helped pioneer the mission of Srila Prabhupada in the southernmost tip of the world. He is devoted to bhajan and is caring and affectionate to all those who take shelter of his lotus feet

For years we have been kicking around the idea of vicarious cow protection. Facing the reality that most will have to, for the time being, purchase milk from cows that will be slaughtered, what is a sincere devotee of the Supreme Cowherd Boy, Krishna, to do?

The devotees in Kazakhstan have been painstakingly following the proper procedures and have been careful to act with integrity and honesty. Likewise, members of the campaign team – under the direction of His Holiness B.B. Govinda Swami – have been diligent and conscientious in their approach, maintaining dignity, accuracy, balance, and fairness in all that we do.

Ksudhi dasa, initiated by ISKCON Founder-Acarya Srila Prabhupada in 1970, is known for his pioneering spirit. A dedicated and caring preacher, Ksudhi Prabhu is credited with starting the South African yatra back in 1972. Presently he lives in Laguna Beach, California and is engaged in Bhakti-vriksha propagation.

If you are involved in technology and want to join an online group to discuss how we can use our energies and talents to help ISKCON, then please join the new World Sankirtan online group

This is an invitation to see if you might be interested in using several free brochures that have been developed for helping explains various aspects of Vedic knowledge.

Particularly in India, environmental solutions can be solved within the context of religion. Experts say that a fundamental cause of environmental problems in the West is that the Protestant disregard for God’s nature has allowed business, government, and science to collaborate in the rape and destruction of the earth and its living beings.

The Japa Retreat in the Catskills Forest is filling up. We can accommodate up to 80 participants, and seats are still available. Join this rare assembly of devotees and get all the support you need to improve your Hare Krishna japa chanting!

Going back to the original question - does sport have any place in the life of a devotee? We can fairly confidently conclude that sport of the professional, competitive and passionate variety does not, and clearly falls into the category of what Srila Prabhupada termed 'unnecessary sports'. Yet if we remove those elements, the argument could be made that engaging in sports like tennis, basketball or squash etc., might be okay for devotees. Perhaps not young full time temple devotees who have the opportunity to spend hours either dancing in kirtan or harinam but rather for the middle aged devotee variety who are more or less chained to their desks at work. One quote that might interest those under the grip of the middle-age spread relates to Lord Balarama who used the equivalent of a bat and ball in his victory over Dvivida;

Please take five minutes to update your information. If your temple has an email address or website, please update the listing accordingly. More than 4000 new people every day visit Krishna.com in search of Krishna. Many end up visiting their nearest local temple. If your contact information is not there, or out of date, they will be unable to visit you.

Prabhupada"s point about "no scarcity" is extremely important. He was interested to hear that although his disciple was giving fifty percent he had no scarcity of facilities to maintain his family.

My first shock arriving in Vrindavan after nineteen years of absence was seeing the amount of rubbish, plastic bags and inedible food in the streets that not only pollute Vrindavan, but also constitute a hazard, particularly for cows’ health and ultimately their life, as you very rightly pointed out.

When we invite you to come to Mayapur, more important than our personal request, is the desire of the great souls we are trying to represent. In reality, Bhaktivinode Thakura and Srila Prabhupada are inviting you to come to Mayapur for the Gaura Purnima festival!

Earn commissions and bonuses to upgrade homeowners to solar power. No fee required. Anyone, homeowner or not, is welcome.

Recently I have begun to comtemplate about a computer program designed to teach devotees (or anyone for that matter) how to play the mridanga.

Most people today have been led to believe that science can explain – or soon will explain – all natural phenomena – including the origin of life and the universe. Not many of them get to know that this notion is a belief that is only a few centuries old.

Former Vice President Al Gore writes that significant changes are urgently needed to avoid global warming. According to the Save America’s Forests organization, “There is a world deforestation crisis - and America is at the center of the problem.”

Following the desire of Lord Caitantya, Prabhupada widely advertised Vrindavana throughout the world. The Lord and His servants do not intend, therefore, for Vrindavana to remain as unpopulated fields. We have followed the order to spread Vrindavana’s glories, and now we must, ethically, guide that development properly, dealing with the unintended negative consequences of development as our service, as well.