When we practice bhakti-yoga sincerely, we express to Krishna our desire to love him, to install him on our heart’s altar, displacing the many things that the mind and senses have impelled us to place there in the past. Being pleased by our devotional intention, he reciprocates by manifesting his presence in our heart, thereby releasing within it electrifying currents of oceanic happiness – currents that increase in intensity and ecstasy as our devotion increa...

The much-maligned Hindu sect has shed its freak-show status and, behind its yuppie-friendly pillars of yoga, meditation, and clean living, is transforming America into a postmodern ashram. Robes not required.

I always wondered how the families of Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis, who were Gauda Sarasvata Brahmanas from Karnataka ended up in Bengal. This article explains this mystery.

Discovering the Vedic lunar calendar and following its tithis (lunar days) and festivals gets us closer to heartbeat of the universe we inhabit. The Moon, Chandra, is the basis of Nature’s calendar. He is the most important planet according to the Vedic system of astrology because his movements provide nourishment for all living entities.

We will analyze the verses of scripture or statements of our acaryas quoted in the articles on fall-vada, which seem to say souls don’t fall from the Vaikuntha planets

Most of us have seen the book named ‘Śrīla Prabhupāda Ślokas’, compiled by The Bhaktivedanta Archives. Many devotees carry this book as a reference for quoting verses that Srila Prabhupada would often like to cite. The sources for most of the quotes in the book have been specified. At the end of the book, however, is a section named ‘Quotes from Unknown Sources’. Here is a small attempt to trace most of those quotes to their original sources:

I am presenting this to the readers of Dandavats.com in order to illustrate how misdirected and speculative the attempts of searching for the truth can be when not guided by the genuine spiritual teacher or Acharya. We must be mindful how fortunate we are to have the guidance of Srila Prabhupada in our day to day and even moment to moment spiritual practices. My comments are in relation to the cover article for the April 28, 2014 Time Magazine entitled "Let There Be Dark."

The Mahabharata is a fascinating book with many of its characters not clearly black or clearly white, but multiple shades of grey. Karna is an intriguing character – virtuous, yet choosing the side of the vicious Kauravas; born as a warrior, but treated lifelong as charioteer’s son; great archer, but defeated and killed in a fight with another great archer. Let’s see where he falls on the spectrum of black to white through a series of question-answers.

Padayatra India is often affectionately referred to as "the mother of all padayatras."This is because it has provided inspiration for devotees and leaders alike since its inception in 1976, and more especially since the phenomenal 1984 walk from Dwaraka to Mayapur. Padayatra India has nurtured and encouraged many devotees to organize walks in their own countries or to eagerly participate in them, making padayatra a worldwide phenomenon. The use of bullock carts...

Obtaining the mercy of a pure devotee is an absolute necessity for those who aspire for the service and association of the Supreme Lord in the spiritual world. Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami writes in madhya-līlā 22.51. One may do...

The hordes of demons killed by the Lord during His pastimes on the earthly realm represent the different anarthas we have stock piled in our hearts during our long sojourn in the material world in different species of life. The demon named Vatsasura who took the form of a calf and tried to kill Sri Krishna was killed by the Lord during His boyhood pastimes in Vrndavana. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura in an article titled 'Vatsaura' reveals an esoteric meaning of the Lor...

The original home of the living entity and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the spiritual world. In the spiritual world both the Lord and the living entities live together very peacefully. Since the living entity remains engaged in the service of the Lord, they both share a blissful life in the spiritual world. However, when the living entity, misusing his tiny independence, wants to enjoy himself, he falls down into the material world

George Harrison's lyrics to My Sweet Lord drew many to the path of Krsna Consciousness and also provide insight regarding states of mind conducive to steady advancement - patience and confidence. The advancing bhakta [sadhaka] must remain equipoised when confronted with the realization that meaningful spiritual advancement "takes so long" on the one hand, and fully confident that mercy is forthcoming through Krsna's pure devotees, "it wont t...

Consider the experience of seeing a beautiful sunset. We can directly experience the beauty of the sunset. But can any scientific experiment measure that beauty? Science could perhaps measure some parameters like the intensity of the sunlight, but such measurements would do little to convey or explain the actual experience of the beauty.

At the present moment, society is in a chaotic condition, and everyone has given up the cultivation of spiritual life, which is especially meant for the brāhmaṇas. Because spiritual culture has been stopped all over the world, there is now an emergency, and therefore it is now time to train those who are considered lower and condemned, so that they may become brāhmaṇas and take up the work of spiritual progress. The spiritual progress of human society has...

Lord Chaitanya, the Kali-yuga incarnation of Krishna, inaugurated this golden age and Srila Prabhupada expanded its golden influence all over the world by his tireless outreach efforts. Each one of us has the fortune to receive and share this divine legacy and thereby become models and messengers of integrity amidst this age of perversity.

In this age of instant communication, we expect immediate answers to our questions. From nearly anywhere in the world we can google from our cell phones and in seconds find out whatever facts we are interested in. Moreover, there are hundreds of translations of vaiṣṇava literatures available today, including descriptions of intimate and esoteric pastimes of Krishna and the gopīs.

A clarion call for devotees and like-minded people to come together and, by Krishna conscious governance, save the world from its precarious condition - before it is too late.

This seventh verse from the 2nd cloudbank of Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti's Madhurya Kadambini delineates two kinds of devotional service, the unsteady practice [anistha] of one just beginning and the steady practice [nistha] of one who has attained eligibility to easily tread the path of sadhana bhakti by prolonged and steadfast practice.

This article is a compilation of several conversations between Hindu intellectuals (HI) and ISKCON scholars (IS) on various occasions. To cover the various issues in a systematic way, all these conversations are presented here as one, continuous conversation between two individuals.