“This time new year begins with ‘Vaikuntha Ekadashi’ (the only one Ekadasi that all people in south India try to observe). This is very auspicious. Previous year started with New Moon day” my aunt said very thoughtfully. Her statement stirred many thoughts in me resulting in wonderful realization. "Wow! Indeed, the New Year 2015 is a special year with many great events. Surely it inspires everybody towards the golden jubilee celebrations of ISKCON in 2016" my inner sense happil...

One day, however, was especially memorable. As I entered the temple, I was surprised to see an Indian sadhu sitting at the front of the room, being fanned by two devotees. Although I had seen many such persons before, he looked especially serious and focused. Still, the first thought that came to my mind was “Here is another Indian who has come in America to make dollars, just like me.” Nevertheless, as I heard from Srila Prabhupada on this and a few other occasions, his speaking was so pow...

We experience life-giving heat in two ways from the sun. One is directly on our skin and the other indirectly through digestion, which releases the sun’s energy transformed into food through photosynthesis. For warm-blooded creatures like us humans, eighty of the food we eat is used to produce internal heat. Yet we forget how this heat outside and inside our bodies sustains us. Heat is, after all, invisible.

I was looking forward to an afternoon of celebrating and expressing gratitude towards a spiritual teacher who I have come to hold very dear and seek to serve. I was not disappointed. Running throughout much of the afternoon were his lectures. It was especially sweet that one of the lectures played was the very first lecture I had ever heard from Radhanath Swami, “The Essence of Religions”.

Thus the left half of the body is more feminine, the right side more masculine. Generally if there is twitching on right side of male body it bodes good luck but if on left bad luck. Opposite is the case for females. (In some instances it can be good or bad no matter what side it is.) And we note that in North India the male deity is always to the right of the female deity, and the female is always to the left of the male deity. And, in palmisty we read both hands but emphasize right hand for males and left for females.

Duress is caused when there is a need to make a decision that has undesirable elements- in order to avoid a decision that has greater undesirable elements. It is a moral dilemma.

The stranger came out of the shadows, pointing his huge gun at me. He came right up to me and stared in my face, apparently a bit confused by my answer. After finding no weapons on me, not even a pocketknife, the man was even more confused, but he considered me harmless, and therefore he relaxed. But then from the darkness another soldier appeared, shouting and swearing. “On the ground!” he yelled. As I lay on the ground he searched me. Not finding anything, he got mad. I was still chanting. The two soldiers started arguing about wh...

It’s by English scientist Alfred Wallace, the co-founder of evolution. In his book My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions, he eloquently wrote how he outgrew the narrow-mindedness that rejected naturalism. “The facts did not fit into my then existing fabric of thought. All my preconceptions, all my knowledge, all my belief in the supremacy of science and of natural law were against the possibility of such phenomena. Every other possible solution was tried and rejected

The contentious discussion on human placements resurfaced recently, though it is ongoing. The involvement of devotee doctors serving at Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mumbai has added extra range to it. Suddenly it seems, we are confronted with samples of varnashrama-dharma being practiced ‘outside’ of our ISKCON world. Some devotees are opposed to this because they say it does not conform to Srila Prabhupada’s ideal of ISKCON being a preaching movement. Others contend that everyone has a right to serve Krishna through their human o...

If Srila Prabhupada visited you, Maybe just for a day or two, and came by unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do. Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room, To such an honored guest, And all the food you'd offer, Would be the very best. And you would keep assuring him, You're glad to have him there, That serving him within your home, Is a joy beyond compare. BUT If you saw him coming, Would you meet him at the door, With arms outstretched to welcome, This honored visitor?

During this particular month, thanks to the Book Marathon, most of us would be engaged in bringing new souls to Krishna Consciousness everyday. It is hard, agreed! But it is truly worth it. With each temple congregation battling to make it to the top of the highest distributors list, we Damodardesh (Dubai) vasis are bereft physiologically of the opportunity to distribute books. As per law, we are not allowed to distribute any books on streets or anywhere publically. All we can do is, contact people when we can, take their details down and ...

Response to the author of “No More Cattle Raising on the Planet of the Trees” "Your suggestion that in the future any mistakes which are found can be reported to Satsvarupa Maharaja, Jayadvaita Prabhu, Radha Ballabha Prabhu, or yourself, and after sufficient investigation and confirmation these mistakes can be rectified is accepted. As we are working on this Fifth Canto planetary system, whatever corrections are required to be made, we will get approved by His Divine Grace and then send them on to you so that the new edition will be...

I first heard about Bilvamangala Thakura Dasa, who is blind, when I arrived at the ISKCON temple in Belgaum, Karnataka, where he lives. When I saw him at the early-morning mangala-arati, he was dancing and singing joyfully, and shouting “Gauranga!” and “Jaya Srila Prabhupada!” Later he sat down to chant his japa and after a short break joined in Guru-puja and the Bhagavatam class. His day begins before 3:00 A.M. He chants all the prayers sung during mangala-arati, even the prema-dhvani prayers (jaya om vishnupada, etc.), during w...

First, desire for an achievement develops in mind. But, to convert that desire into a goal one has to use his intelligence. For that purpose an action plan has to be devised. Time frame for the activity, identification and acquiring resources, review of the progress, etc. become the important points. When all these are nicely arranged, then the desire gets converted to goal. When the goal is achieved it results in great enthusiasm in the performer, who endeavors to set further higher goals. If these things are missed out, desire r...

UPON THE invitation of the Gita Bhavan ("Gita Center"), in December 1970 Srila Prabhupada and a party of disciples traveled to Indore, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, to take part in the week-long celebration of the anniversary of the day on which Lord Krsna spoke the Bhagavad-gita. Most of the other speakers were Mayavadi impersonalists, who did not preach Bhagavad-gita as it is or present Krsna as He is.

Divya Simha Dasa (Devidas Vaidya), 70, from Mumbai is a person who does not believe in retirement — in fact he feels real work begins now. After working with Pfizer India for over 33 years and entering into its Hall of Fame for community and social service, Divya Simha wanted to do something more. Village development, women’s empowerment, health and education were some activities in his agenda. But before starting to work on these goals, he wanted to lay the right foundation. He explains, “I was convinced that material problems c...

Sri Navadvipa-Mayapur Dhama is beautifully situated on the banks of the Ganges. Every island is separated a tributary of Ganges river. On each of these islands Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates performed Their transcendental pastimes. Later Vaishnava Acaryas - Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Gaura Kisora Babaji, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Jagannatha Das Babaji, Vasudeva Dutta and others spent several years of their lives here discussing the pastimes of Gaura and Nitai. These islands are accessible by boat. There are scattered...

Prabhupada envisioned New Vrindaban as a “self-governing village” that would set an example for the world and contain all the basic necessities residents needed: in one letter he explained how they could grow vegetables, fruit, wheat and other cereals, hand-weave cloth, and use an ox-powered mill to grind seeds into oil. Working to create this self-sufficiency, meanwhile, would keep devotees busy in the service of the Lord and ensure that they didn’t have to search for work outside.

In the Philadelphia airport, I had occasion at one time to observe a pair of free-lance peripatetic sellers of watches working the crowds. They drew you aside and offered you a rare deal: a gleaming Rolex watch for a few hundred dollars, a tenth of the retail price. It was imperative to sell them quickly. Naturally you wondered how they were able to sell such expensive timepieces so cheaply, but by their haste, furtiveness, and weighty silences you were led to surmise that the chronographs were stolen goods. Of course, when you got ho...