Manjari Gauthie: Sweet, heavy smoke is pouring off the altar - the curtains are opening! Oh, so painfully slow they are opening. On my left, Tulsi Priya is sobbing. All the frankincense is now escaping, huge billows rolling over the crowd, so thick that even though the altar is now completely opened, it is still a few moments before I can see anything.

5 Ways to Love Janmastami
Janmastami is just one day, but how we spend it can deeply inspire us for the whole year.
Krishna consciousness mean we are conscious of Krishna. He becomes an active part of our life – like a close friend or an affectionate family member we love to be around. Krishna consciousness, then, is loving to be around Krishna.
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Janmastami on the Jaladuta.
Yamuna Devi: THREE YEARS AGO, on Janmastami, Lord Krsna’s appearance day, I received a copy of the diary Srila Prabhupada wrote aboard the steamship Jaladuta. It’s a personal account of his first journey from India to America. Though I had read excerpts in various publications, the full handwritten text revealed a richness I had barely realized before.

Janmastami Lila
We all like a good story. It makes our day, inspires our heart, and we experience a gamut of emotions. When it comes to Krishna’s birth story He doesn’t disappoint. In Sanskrit, stories about God are called Lila. This is to remind us that His stories are not of the world, although sometimes taking place in the world.

64 Meditations for Janmastami.
Janmastami is Krishna’s day. More than any other day of the year we should make an effort to meditate on Him on this day. Meditation means to engage in contemplation or reflection. In Bhakti Yoga we contemplate upon Krishna through the use of all the senses – which makes it a most enjoyable practice. In sanskrit it’s called ‘kevala ananda-kanda’ – the path of happiness.
The following list of the 64 qualities of Krishna is a delightful source of meditation. It is taken from the Nectar of Devotion ...

In spiritual parlance there are ‘thin’ places in the world. These are holy places, sacred spaces, where the line between the spiritual and materials worlds is very thin and the ability to feel and perceive our relationship with Krishna is heightened. It’s easier to chant there, to call Krishna deeply from the heart, and thus to call ourselves to experience our spiritual selves.
There are also thin days (and even thin times in the day). Janmastami is one such day. Although Krishna is unborn and eternal, he ‘takes birth’ in this world to share Himself with us and remind us of our rela...

To complete our spiritual journey we need strength – much spiritual strength – so that we can act upon our higher convictions. But how and where do we find this strength?
The answer is we need to go to the Lord Himself! He is the reservoir of everything, including infallible spiritual strength, the “acyuta balah”. The aspect of Lord Krishna who is particularly responsible in granting spiritual strength is Lord Balarama, who acts in the pastime of Lord Krishna as His beautiful older brother.

Dance and chant. This is the best exercise. We allow them to dance very... Yes. High jump. Actually, that is exercise and at the same time ecstasy. If they dance and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, it is automatically a very big exercise and spiritual advancement. (Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lecture given on Oct. 2, 1968 in Seattle)

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada gave the following Kavacha for the protection of sannyasis he had send to the west:
Sri Nrisimha Kavacha of the Trailokya Vijaya in the Samhita of Brahma

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Lord Nrisimhadeva’s Appearance Day.
Our Christian friends are fond of quoting the Bible that “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” [John 3.16] and we could also say that God so loved his pure devotee in the world that he personally descended to give him all protection.
To this day devotees feel protected by this form of Krishna and pray to him to slay their “anarthas” or unwanted habits of thinking and acting, just as the Lord sla...

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Ramachandra Appeared on this earth in the lineage of Raghukula, in Ayodhya As the son of King Dasharath and Queen Kaushalya Elder to the princes Bharat, Lakshmana and Shatrughna

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Yamuna remembers: Sankirtan in Surat.
“So there was one nagar sankirtan in Surat that struck me in the heart just like lightning. It was the culmination and fulfillment of Srila Prabhupada’s words.