Srila Prabhupada wanted this land in Mayapur, but so many people failed to try to get anything because there was so much opposition. So he turned to Tamal Krsna Goswami, 'get me this land'! So it took a long time and when he finally came back to Calcutta with the deed, it was late at night, Srila Prabhupada did not go to sleep, he was so concerned, he was just sitting, waiting. The light was on. Tamal Krsna Goswami Maharaja came in and said "Prabhupada, you have the land!" In Mayapur dhama, here is the deed. Srila Prabhupada with tears in his eyes embraced...

“You are all born to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world..” (Haribol). Prabhupada took that way ‘You are born to spread this Krishna consciousness all over the world.’ And then I was talking of letters, not letter, this is a purport, in another purport Fifth Canto Prabhupada writes, “therefore this (meaning this Mayapur) is the best among all the places in the universe (Haribol). The Krishna consciousness movement has established its center in Mayapur, birth site of Caitanya Mahaprabhu to give men the opportunity to go there and perfor...

Ramachandra went to the ocean. So He wanted to test, “by writing My name stone is floating. If I put a stone what is happening?” Ramachandra picked up a stone and threw it in the ocean and the stone drowned into the ocean. And Hanuman, clapping from behind, “Oh My Lord, now You understand. You are testing Your power. But see, Your Holy Name is more powerful than You. You threw the stone, the stone drowned. But when we are writing Your name, the stone is floating”.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is called maha-vadanyavatara because although He is Sri Krsna Himself, He is even more favorably disposed to the poor fallen souls than Lord Sri Krsna. When Lord Sri Krsna Himself was personally present, He demanded that everyone surrender unto Him and promised that He would then give one all protection, but when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to this earth with His associates, He simply distributed transcendental love of God without discrimination. Sri Rupa Goswami, therefore, could understand that Lord Caitanya was none other th...

Now we are going to hear how the Lord actually feels about us. Each and every one of us. The Supreme lord said: “Welcome, welcome my dear boy. I am fortunate, most fortunate to meet you here. For so long I have been eager to see you. My dear friend you have passed many lifetimes without paying any attention to me at all. So I transgressed my eternal code of conduct and arranged for you to take your current birth”. That birth was in Govardhan.

Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita, as soon as there is lust there must be frustration, anger, there is no way around it because you are not the body, you are not the mind, your dedication to material desires must cause problems. So we can see that in the case of the phenomenon we are describing of the middle class being the ones who are shaking everything up, not the proletariats as Marx predicted, not the poverty stricken persons that we thought to be the constant source of trouble.

It is very challenging to be a servant, to have the mood of the servant and also adopt the mood of a leader. Sometimes we think, they are both anathema, they don't go together. In the world, people are all wanting to be leaders. They want to enjoy lordship. They want to enjoy mastership. They want to lord over people and many of them they do that for the sake of getting a subtle happy thrill of being able to control others and whatever servant leadership or whatever they may advocate, ultimately it is meant for them to enjoy leadership. But actually s...

Prabhupada opened many temples around the world but only Mayapur that he addressed as the world headquarters. The spiritual capital of ISKCON or the Vatican of ISKCON. And Prabhupada in many of his letters highlighted the importance of Mayapur. I collected three extracts from Prabhupada's innumerable quotes that I would like to share with all of you.

Prabhupada at that time mentioned that how each previous acaraya had done something for Mayapur dhama. Then Prabhupada he mentioned that he also was trying to do something for the dhama. And he had predicted that there would be a temple here and he wanted to be sure that he started it. So actually in 1977, he laid another foundation stone for the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. And that time he was weak and so he sent someone else, he took the Ananta Sesa in his hand and gave it to one disciple to put it into the pit. So he actually laid the stone for...

I recall one incidence when some individual was challenging Srila Prabhupada, 'Why are you building these temples?' This was soon after Vrindavana temple was opened, Krishna Balarama temple was opened. It was actually in 1977 in Hrisikesh Kumbha Mela. This person was questioning Srila Prabhupada, asking Srila Prabhupada in a rather challenging way, "Why are you building new temples when there are so many temples, old temples needing renovation?"

In the Fifth Canto is the structure of the universe, which is one of the main functions why we call this the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. The structure of the universe is related to the process of creation, also, but it is certainly related through the empiric approach of modern science that what we see is what reality is. What Sukadeva Goswami sees is what reality is. But his reality and the reality of the scientists are different.. In one morning walk, Srila Prabhupada said that our worship of Radha-Krishna is our own private business, but actually, in ...

The Temple of Vedic Planetarium will show us the principles of the lower states of consciousness going up and up to the higher levels of material consciousness, to the siddhis, to the impersonal Brahman, to the Vaikunthas, and ultimately, to Goloka Vrindavana.

Bhakti is about knowing the heart of Krishna, knowing what is there in the heart of Krishna. Because this is the only thing which will please Krishna. If we do something which is against the heart or the intention of Krishna it will not be pleasing to Krishna. And bhakti as we know is anukulyena krsnanusilanam. This is the essence of bhakti, anyabhilasita sunyam.

It is with that faith that we have to begin to work. We have to stop the logical calculation. Logically we are very small, limited, logically we can only take care of our own turf, that logic doesn’t apply. When we are trying to take on more, Krishna will help us and give us the strength to do it and it is on that strength that this movement will go forward and that consciousness we will have to instill and of course we have to hear that from our leaders.

In this verse we see that Krishna doesn’t have to do anything, He has His energies who are happy to do all His bidding. So they manifest the material world, spiritual world, do all the things needed. So what does He do? So what does Lord Krishna do? It says He likes to personally take care of His devotees. That’s what He does.

At 26 Second Avenue, the very foundational beginning of Hare Krishna movement in the West, hippies were coming, people who weren’t following the four regulative principles, didn’t have any conception of God, but they were taking interest and Srila Prabhupada saw them as devotees because he saw the potential. Prabhupada was cooking for them, cleaning for them, he was taking care of their health and he was nourishing their souls with his philosophy, with his kirtans, which was like medicine administered with such compassion.

I don’t know about you, but I am a card carrying member of the fault-finding club. Actually I am an honorary member I am embarrassed to say but I am trying to learn to overcome this habit and one thing I find is that if I am self-critical then there is no more steam left to be critical of others because there is plenty of work for me to do on myself.

Someone said 'well! If I want to love Krishna why does it depend on Krishna? I should be able to love Him whether He gives His blessings or not. That's up to me.' But actually love of Krishna does depend upon Him, it's His causeless mercy

During HH Bhakti-tirtha Maharaja's Vyasa-puja in Mayapur the following lecture was played during the Srimad-Bhagavatam class

Prabhupada often refers to this process as 'the science of Krishna consciousness'. He would argue many times like this, it's a science, its not a theory, its not just some belief but you test it

When one is strongly fixed in devotional service and free from all material attachment, uncontaminated by the material modes of nature, he becomes fit to return home, back to Godhead

Caitanya Mahaprabhu preached Krishna consciousness and big big scholars accepted. It is very hard for common man to understand Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Because He is covered avatara, 'channa' avatara. But by the help of this description we can understand Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself

This temple of the Vedic Planetarium it is not a planetarium, its not a planetarium, it is the fifth canto, its the Bhagavatam, it’s the Bhagavatam. It is actually, its not about the planetarium, its about the Bhagavatam. It is the temple which makes the Bhagavatam.