The Accepted Member of the Family.
A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In… my young mind, he had a special niche.

Giving Thanks to Whom?
Mahesvara Das: At the end of this month the people of America celebrate the event called “Thanksgiving”. As the title implies, the whole purpose of this event is to stop and become consciously grateful for the things we have each been given. Traditionally people take this time to give thanks to God for the gifts of the bountiful harvest and the blessings of family, friends, and good health etc.
Of course, the holiday assumes an acceptance that there is a God to gi...

Materialism reduces human life to an inhuman race from nowhere to nowhere (Based on Gita 16.09)
Chaitanya Charan Das: Many people adopt a materialistic lifestyle without thinking about its implications. A materialistic worldview implies that we have come from nowhere because we didn’t exist before birth; we will go nowhere because we won’t exist after death; and while we live, we are successful if we get more things than others. And even if we do succeed, still, life ultimately ends in failure because we lose everything at death.

Our Seven Mothers.
“Our own biological mother; a guru or wife of our guru; a queen or head of state; brahminis, or wives of our teachers; the cow; one’s nurse, and finally, Mother Earth. Manu Smriti says,“The gods dwell where women are honored and respected”.Perhaps that’s why there are so many problems in the world today. So, first of all, our own mother, our first guru, the one who gave us birth. Srila Prabhupada writes in his commentary to Srimad Bhagavatam that, “only fool...

Do Vaisnavas drink Tulasi Tea?. In 1975 Srila Prabhupada visited Govinda’s restaurant in Honolulu, Hawaii. I think it was the first Govinda’s in Iskcon, although at it’s second location in the University area.

“Everything for Krishna …”
In Calcutta, 1971, the temple was in quite a bad state because the temple president had become preoccupied in an incense business he had started to raise funds. In the course of his absorption in the business, the devotees in the temple were being neglected. He hardly spent any time with them, and they really had no one to look after them. They were barely surviving. A strong-bodied devotee named Sudama Vipra, who had belonged to the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, was so famished that he would take t...

Srimad Bhagavatam Class 11.22.45 by HH Niranjana Swami at ISKCON Chowpatty.

Srila Prabhupada: Simply Love Krishna!
Krsna is full with six kinds of opulences. So this is the opulence of Krsna’s beauty. Krsna wants everyone…we are offering obeisances to Krsna with awe and veneration. But nobody comes here to Krsna with a rope: “Krsna, You are an offender. I shall bind You.” Nobody comes.

Life Beyond Cultural Shame.
A Second Gen’s Perspective on Never Have I Ever.
By Gopika-kanta (Gopika Sharma)
I remember leading the Bhakti Club at Rutgers University. The Western students loved the kirtan and embraced our genuine attempts to explain the practice of mantra meditation in an impactful way. The Indian kids? Their feelings of judgment made my insides shrivel. I hated feeling looked at by my own people as if I was less because I finally was doing the hard work of figuring out the value ...

Looking for the Bliss by Mangalananda prabhu (4 min video)
We were kids back then
Just looking for the bliss
A ragtag band of transcendentalists
It was Vishnu Johnny
And the white-trash yogi

Making a truce with the body and the mind (video)
Srimad Bhagavatam Class by H.H.Sachinandana Swami at ISKCON Vrindavan

Dear Bhagavatam!
When there is no other glimmer of light
And the clouds of illusion cover my power of sight
Your every word illuminates my path from within
And You give me the faith to let my journey begin
When the unceasing rain of this world starts
It drips through the holes in the ceiling of our hearts

HH Mukunda Goswami is featured in this latest offering as he remembers the early days with Srila Prabhupada

Prabhupada wants to see you ….NOW!
HG Srutakirti Prabhu at Swedish festival - memories about Srila Prabhupada (video)

The world points to Krishna and often misses the point of Krishna (Based on Gita 10.41)
Chaitanya Charan Das: The world features many attractive things that we clamor and labor to enjoy. Yet their beauty doesn’t last for long. Even while it lasts, their charm dwindles with time, leaving us disappointed.