America, and the world, sorely needs these types of examples more than ever. But warriors have to be leaders and courageous and generous, all at the same time. It’s not easy. The responsibilities of a warrior/leader are brought in sharp focus in the ancient epic Mahabharata. I think Mahabharata is one of the most valuable stories for healing and for seekers of spiritual wisdom in our time. The story is about five warrior brothers - the Pandavas - and their common wife struggling to stand up to tyranny and at the same time keep their humanity. There’s a monument...

ISKCON’s achievements over the last 50 years have been largely due to the influence of Srila Prabhupada and his direct disciples. We have been standing on the shoulders of giants. However, in the relatively near future, there will not be anyone present who personally associated with Srila Prabhupada. How will ISKCON continue to grow then? This movement will progress with our cooperative spirit to please Srila Prabhupada: “Now, we have by Krishna's grace built up something significant in the shape of this ISKCON and we are all one family. Sometimes there may be...

Since the day I came to know about God, I was told that God is the giver of everything and so I should unhesitatingly ask him to fulfil all my desires. And from that day or rather from that moment onwards I have always treated God just like a shopping mall from where I can buy anything and everything. The only difference is that in a mall I need to pay but in front of God I do not need to pay. Yes it is true that sometimes like many others I have put some paper notes or coins in a hundi (donation box) in a temple. But here too the desire is less to share the wealth w...

Is it any wonder that we would want to retreat from a world that offers news of constant strife? What have we to look forward to? A world of uncertainty, a lackluster economy, a people divided, everyone talking past one another, hurtling slogans and accusations, and never connecting nor really listening to one another. With these burdens weighing upon us, meditation doesn’t seem to be enough. Maybe it’s downright ineffective! At the end of her article, Ms. Whippman evokes some studies which conclude that the results of meditation are “underwhelming” and that i...

We can understand how pure is the service which Tulasi offers to Sri Krsna. So we should always endeavor after becoming the servant of Tulasi devi. I do not know who has taught you that part of a Tulasi plant may be cut off and then replanted? From the Tulasi plant you can cut off only leaves for offering them to Krsna, never for cutting and planting. That is an offence. The manjaris (seeds) can be offered in water and it makes the water fragrant and tasteful. And the manjaris can be planted for growing new Tulasi plants. Yes, the prayer you have enclosed is bona fide. Tulasi...

In order to understand what selfishness is, let us first of all examine what the self is, generally speaking people consider the body which is seen with the naked eye to be the self and selfishness in this regard is the tendency to please the body or the senses, i.e sense gratification. Some consider the mind as the self and engage themselves in mental speculation and excessive thinking and selfishness in this regard is the tendency to please the mind at the cost of others. Some others consider the intelligence as the self and they are engaged in philosophical discussions and debates, and ...

I share an excerpt of a letter from Srila Prabhupada, and a quote from his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. I share inspiring selections from Vaishnava Compassion and Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. I share notes on lectures Prahladananda Swami gave at 26 Second Avenue and The Bhakti Center. I share notes on a lecture by Adi Purusha Prabhu, who does Food for Life in New York City, and part of a conversation with Bhaktivinode Prabhu, a Prabhupada disciple who plays drum on harinama in Washington, D.C. I share notes on an excelle...

Kanchipuram, also known as Benares of Southern India or The City of Temples, is one of the most ancient and sacred cities of India. Kanchipuram is an eternally holy place and has some of the most magnificent temples. The Garuda Purana enumerates seven sacred cities (sapta-moksha puri) as giver of moksha. They are Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya, Kasi, Kanchipuram, Avantika (Ujjain) and Dwarka. Kanchipuram is one of among such holy place. It is 75km from Chennai, 130km from Tirupati and 32km from Sriperumbudur (birthplace of Sripad Ramanujacarya).

Worshiping the cows: The Vedic scripture states that all the demigods and demigoddesses reside in the body of a cow. This explains why the body of a cow is divine and holy. If we worship Mother Cow, we attain the same material benefits we'd get by worshiping the demigods and demi-goddesses individually. The Garuda Purana says that anyone who has even once worshiped Mother Cow will be saved after death from the great suffering of hell (Naraka). Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, gave more importance to the worship of the cows than to the worship of ...

Recently, there were incidents of anti-corruption protests started by some national leaders in India. They had started nation-wide awakenings to make the people alert and aware for corruption free India and curbing the use of black-money. Such efforts may be appreciable to some extent but they are not perfect as far as wiping out of corruption from a state is concerned. The people are in general attached to sense gratificatory propaganda, and such protests can’t withdraw sinful tendencies from the minds of the public. Consequently, people are again taken up by such tendencies and the nati...

I share wisdom from the books and letters of Srila Prabhupada. I include excerpts from Satsvarupa dasa Goswami’s Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name and Vaishnava Compassion, as well as his online journal. I share inspiration from a lecture by Bhakti Charu Swami. I share notes on a class by Yogesvara Prabhu on Bhagavad-gita. I include some realizations from Ramabhadra Prabhu, president of Radha Govinda Mandir. I also share notes on the morning classes at The Bhakti Center given by Adi Purusha, Shyamananda, Karuna Gauranga, Vasudeva, Murali Gopal, Natabara Gaurang...

Selected quotes from Sadaputa Prabhu’s upcoming book "Maya: The World As Virtual Reality" “This is ironic, since the very feature of consciousness that disqualifies it for many modern philosophers is the starting point for meditative disciplines that try to realize the self by discriminating it from nonself.” “Whether we use quantum theory or classical Newtonian physics, it is clear that no known computer or process of computation will enable us to predict what billions and billions of molecules will do. Physicists have taken it as a matter of faith that all of ...

Mahattama (“especially great person”) — A mahattama sees whatever good qualities others have and magnifies them, not seeing even the smallest fault. Viswanath describes their attitude, “This person has stolen my cloth because he is cold, and though he has a weapon, he doesn’t attack me because he is merciful. He is virtuous.” Ati-mahattama (“extremely great person”) — An ati-mahattama sees good qualities in others even where there are none. Their attitude is, “In this world there are no bad people. Everyone is good.”

At the time that Srila Prabhupada and his disciples acquired New Dvaraka, I was in Boston, and there we heard the news that Srila Prabhupada had gotten a wonderful property that had been a church. Srila Prabhupada made New Dvaraka his Western world headquarters and spent months on end here--at one stage he stayed for eight months--and established it as the model center. And he personally trained the devotees. A devotee named Silavati was the head pujari, and under Prabhupada's guidance she and others devotees established an exemplary standard of Deity worship. Then if any temple wanted to lear...

As we drove back to Keshi Ghat, I recalled a conversation with Shivarama Swami. Yamuna Devi is always flowing in Vraja in aprakata, or unmanifested, form, he said, but her disappearance in drishtva form, or that which we can see, shows that she is offended by how Vrindavan is being exploited – dirt and filth everywhere, rampant corruption, lack of building codes. Shivarama Swami reminded us that our Save Yamuna Campaign is not just about moving politicians, courts, and policy makers; it's also...

Despite many challenges, the intrepid devotees in this remote city 5,700 land miles from Moscow built a suitable temple to worship the Lord. The city of Vladivostok (“Ruler of the East”) is situated in the far east of Russia, a few hundred kilometers north of China. The region was long under Chinese rule, but Russia acquired it through the Treaty of Beijing in 1860. In time Russians migrated from the western part of the country, and it is now an important port serving the eastern regi...

I share many powerful insights from Srila Prabhupada’s lectures and his books. I include excerpts from Satsvarupa dasa Goswami’s Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name. I transmit some nice realizations from Janananda Goswami, speaking at 26 Second Avenue in New York City on the fiftieth anniversary of the first Tompkins Square Park harinama, October 9, 2016, and also some cool insights from his godbrother, Mahavirya Prabhu, also speaking at that occasion. I share a nice point from a lec...

Gadeigiri is a beautiful village situated amidst the tranquil solitude of rural Orissa (less than two-hour drive from Cuttack and nearly three hours from Jagannatha Puri Dhama), surrounded by lotus-filled ponds and green paddy fields. Gadeigiri has a most interesting history. The village is named after its founder, Gadai Giri, a great devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who hailed from Midnapore in Bengal, some 300 years ago. This village is extremely special as Lord Gopal Jiu came here espec...

By enacting His intimate pastimes, Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, evokes deep primeval emotions in the hearts of the sleeping souls. Generally, when the Lord displays His pastimes in the material world the mood is one of separation. This mood of separation is very important for the conditioned living entities who are dwelling in this material world. Not only they have forgotten their eternal identities as Shri Krishna’s servants but they have fallen into the mode of unrealistic feelings. All...

On this day in 1966, Srila Prabhupada's Diary records: "Back to Godhead published again today." On the same day, it records that Gargamuni Dasa was initiated. Gargamuni Prabhu's account of the beginning of the magazine at 26 Second Avenue is presented in this week's keynote article. His story is a unique personal glimpse into the mood and happenings of the time. For an insight into writing for Back to Godhead, we are presenting an article by Chaitanya Carana Prabhu entitled "Writing for Krishn...

Srila Prabhupada has expressed his fond dream for BTG: “As I have told you several times, I am awaiting for the day when this paper will take the shape of Life magazine or similar other magazines in the matter of its popularity.” (Letter dated June 1968) The popularity of BTG depends on many factors: for example, the reach and appeal of our movement; the magnitude of the efforts to distribute BTG; the format, feel, and cost of the issues. But the most important factor, the factor I can influence, is its core content—the qualit...

Srila Prabhupada sat in the front passenger seat, and we all sat in the back. Shyamsundar read Mondokini’s letter aloud, and when Srila Prabhupada heard that she was ready to depart for Russia and marry this young man, his joy knew no bounds! "While this letter was being read, I snapped two pictures of Prabhupada. He was smiling the biggest smile I had ever seen! He was so overjoyed to hear her reply! To him, this was the beginning of the conquest of the demonic atheism that had invaded the lan...