Iskcon Toronto: What a Way to Kick Off the New Year!
Festival Report by: Smruthi Venkateshan
New Year’s Day kicked off with a bang at the Toronto Hare Krishna Temple, with grand celebrations for His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada who is the founder of the ISKCON movement.
The night started out with a melodious kirtan and arati ceremony for their Lordships Sri Sri Radha-Ksira-Chora Gopinatha. After the arati, everyone gathered around Srila Prabhupada and offered their thanks to him, by placing flowers on his lotus fe...

Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra picks up momentum to reach the 108 mark!
The Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra commemorating ISKCON’s Golden Jubilee year of 2016 reached the 105th village on 28th December 2016.
The three-days Yatra fulfills the ardent desire of HG Satya Madhav Prabhu and Manimanjari mataji to take the Holyname to their native and adjacent village.
The first village, Chandana Pally in Nalgonda district of Telangana State, is located on the outskirts of the Nalgonda district near to Panagal Uadaya Samudram (reservoir). Thi...

Chaitanya Charan Das: How do we explain the authenticity of the Lord’s pastimes to skeptics who doubt Vyasadeva’s saintly authority?
Listen to it here: https://goo.gl/YxLsLX

Maggie the gentle horse.
Last weekend I visited some devotee friends in Big Sur, a very natural, scenic area along the coast of California. My hosts, Yamuna Dasi and Todd, who are local residents, took me for a walk one day up a hillside trail. Along the way, a friendly and gentle horse named, Maggie, joined us.
Maggie lives in a stable nearby Yamuna and Todd’s home; but during the day, she wanders about the wide-open countryside, grazing.
After meeting up with us, Maggie followed us wherever we went....

Temptation to watch movies.
Question: I am an initiated devotee and stay away from my shiksha guru as well as diksha guru. I attend local chapter of the ISKCON temple thrice a week and participate in the activities of the temple. My (including my wife) daily routine of activities are as per ISKCON guidance. We get up at 3.30am, mangala arti at 4.30am, chant 16 rounds by 8am and listen bhagavatam lectures, take prasadam etc in the house for 4 days, 3 days in the temple. I chant 32 rounds of japa daily and my wife 20 rounds.
The Problem is: even after...

New Year’s Harinama in Sydney (Album with photos)
Ramai Swami: Most people take their holidays between Christmas and New Year’s and like to go downtown for shopping or go to the beach and other areas.
Hare Krishna devotees take advantage of this opportunity to increase Harinama Samkirtan and book distribution.
Govindas Asrama devotees in Sydney went out a number of times during this period and especially on New Year’s Eve they had a Maha Harinama to the delight of ten’s of thousands of spectators.
I was fortunate eno...

“As good as God!”
Kadamba Kanana Swami: When I approached my spiritual master for initiation, he said, “Hmmm, as good as God, are you prepared to accept that?” And I thought, “Umm, well, I don’t know…” but I just said yes with a weak voice because it is not so simple to accept the spiritual master as good as God. But this is Krsna’s standard so what can we say. So somehow, gradually we must bring the guru-disciple relationship to that point. For me, it was not so easy because I had been initiated be...

Iskcon Durban breaks all records by distributing 50.000 books!
Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple, as a final offering in celebration of 50 years of ISKCON, set a goal of distributing 40.000 of Srila Prabhupada’s books during the 2016 Prabhupada Marathon. We are pleased to announce that not only did we surpass that goal but reached 50.000 books. 50.000 Books for 50 years of ISKCON! Thank you to all who helped us get there.

ISKCON Ahmedabad - New Year’s Eve at CG Road (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: One should always offer to the spiritual master whatever one can. One should chant the Hare Krsna mantra at least 16 rounds daily and follow the four regulative principles then one’s life can become perfect. Always try to remember Krsna in all your activities and gradually He will help you to break free of all material attachments of life and along with your sincere desire your path back home back to godhead can be clear. One should always be sincere to pleas...

Moscow: freezing outside, boiling inside (Album with photos)
Bhakti Caitanya Swami: Now we’re doing a Japa Workshop in our main temple in Moscow. We’re at the lotus feet of Sri Sri Dayal Nitai Saci Suta, the presiding Deities of Moscow. They are very nice and very beautiful. Quite a few devotees are attending the Workshop, and the atmosphere is wonderful, although outside the weather is minus 23 Centigrade.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/nsliwL

ISKCON Sydney Temple - Thursday night Harinam (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: As the gopis and Krsna danced together, a very blissful musical sound was produced from the tinkling of their bells, ornaments and bangles. It appeared that Krsna was a greenish sapphire locket in the midst of a golden necklace decorated with valuable stones. While Krsna and the gopis danced, they displayed extraordinary bodily features. The movements of their legs, their placing their hands on one another, the movements of their eyebrows, their smiling, the movements ...

Beautiful murti of His Divine Grace curved out of wood.
Bhakti Caitanya Swami: Srila Prabhupada in ISKCON Irkutsk. He is carved......

Iskcon of Houston - ISKCON 50 Gala Reception Highlights (5 min video)
The night before the gala, the devotees encountered a good problem: they had 350 confirmed guests, with 10 guests paying online within an hour, but only 300 seats! After closing registration, staying up all night the day before the gala making last-minute preparations, by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, on December 8 the event came together and attracted more than 340 guests from government, business, education, medicine, interfaith/religious organizations, media, and entertainment a...

A disciple of Srila Prabhupada from the UK, Bhajahari Prabhu, in the intensive care unit after suffering a severe cardiac arrest and an emergency operation. Currently in an induced coma with possible irreversible brain damage. Last signs of life “he has been squeezing his son and his wife’s hands when they talked to him.”
The doctor said that it’s unlikely he will recover and wake up.
Please pray for a miracle.

Transcendental snowman, somewhere in Russia.
Srila Prabhupada: When there are miseries, a Krsna conscious person takes the responsibility himself, and when there is happiness, it is due to Krsna. But the materialistic person is just the opposite. When he is in miseries, he’ll say, “Oh, God has put me into such miseries.” And when he’s happiness, his friend says, “Oh, you are now well-to-do.” “Yes, you do not know how much I have worked hard.” When he’s happiness, he takes the credit for himself, and ...

Devotees in Russia doing Harinama in a “cultural” way to avoid harassment by the authorities based on the new anti-missionary law. (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: One who is engaged in devotional service has not the least fear in material existence. This is because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Supersoul and friend of everyone. One who knows this secret is actually educated, and one thus educated can become the spiritual master of the world. One who is an actually bona fide spiritual master, representative of Krsna, is not ...

Devotee soldier gets 600 American soldiers to chant Hare Krsna.
“ I am a soldier in the US Army and thought you all might get a laugh at what happened the other day. We had to do a 6 mile run for fitness. It’s custom to sing during these runs to build soldier cohesion.”
“ So they asked me to sing. I agreed so we were running down the street when the idea popped in my head to get them to chant. Now this wasn’t 6 or 7 people, its was a total of 600 soldiers. And they were into it, for 3 miles they chanted the Maha Mantra ...

New Years Eve 2017 - Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast (Album with photos)
Dharmatma Das: Our nightly Harinams have been exceptional. So many people smiling, waving and chanting and dancing with us. We really were the best and most enlivening show in town. Yes, there were a few Buskers but no one can get the crowd excited like Lord Chaitanya’s Harinam Party. This New Years was no exception. Kadamba Kanana Maharaja led the charge, then Janananda Maharaja took it to an even higher level, then the “Mad Hatter”, Mahavishnu Swami turned it into...

Preaching in Mexico by the Bus tour devotees (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: When a disciple becomes perfect in spiritual advancement, the spiritual master feels very, very happy, that “I am a nonsense, but this boy, he has followed my instruction and he has achieved the success. That is my success.” This is the spiritual master’s ambition. Just like a father. This is the relationship. Just like… Nobody wants to see anybody more advanced than himself. That is the nature. Matsarata. If anybody becomes advanced in any subjec...

Ocean of Mercy.
A new publication, yet so much appreciation
...