It is said that the souls in the spiritual world are nitya-siddha, eternally liberated souls, and no one falls from the spiritual world. The souls in the material world are nitya-baddha, eternally conditioned – thus they can never become liberated – and that their conditioned state is anadi, or without any beginning; But it is also said that we conditioned souls have fallen from our original position we can regain our original Krsna consciousness and in so doing go back to Godhead. How t...

The Swami sat between us. He was unassuming, comfortable in all situations, and smiled a lot. His jolly manner was infectious, so I smiled a lot from being around him. If someone gave the Swami any money he would immediately use it for printing, either books or magazines, never for his own self. He lived simply, but he would accept gifts as tools if it helped him to serve Lord Krishna. He awoke at 2:00 a.m., bathed, chanted 250,000 Holy Names, or sixteen rounds on a rosary of 108 beads. He encouraged u...

It is considered an act of divine grace to be attracted to the lotus feet. By taking refuge at the master's lotus feet, the devotee can receive innumerable spiritual benefits, just as he might attain through making pilgrimages, fasting, doing charitable acts, performing austerities and engaging in yogic disciplines. Sometimes the lotus feet are referred to as "a pool of sacred nectar that grants salvation to the world-weary pilgrims on the path."

We can think of our heart as a palace with many rooms. Slowly, we open more rooms and we have to turn all these rooms into temples. But as long as we have any ideas of wanting material things, that means that we still lock out some rooms from Krsna – that is where our obstacles are. Everyone has some barriers otherwise we will all be ecstatic prema bhaktas, rolling on the ground in ecstasy. So, we may have some personal agenda but we minimize it more and more.

As ISKCON moves forward in time, there will be parallel types of sadhana-bhakti practiced – vaidhi and raga, side by side – it is unavoidable. It must be happening today even. Do we think that Srila Prabhupada wants us all to remain as internal vaidhi-practitioners forever? No. He simply wants us to be careful about it. If being careful is to be cautious to the point of polite prohibition, another danger of ignorance will arise due to neglect of it. In reality, there is no official pr...

Srila Prabhupada explains that we are indebted in so many ways. We are indebted if we take milk from the cow. We are indebted to other living beings, demigods, family, parents and to everyone who has made a sacrifice for us. We are indebted to our teachers for whatever knowledge we have taken from them. Like this, we are indebted, indebted, indebted! Therefore, we have a duty to repay. It is a karmic duty and not just a moral duty! If we do not repay that duty then there are reactions. It ...

Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited this temple in 1510 AD during His South India tour. This is the temple where Lord discovered the 5th chapter of Sri Brahma-samhita. Brahma-samhita is said to contain 100 chapters. This scripture is so old and so sacred it was practically lost to the general population. But Lord Caitanya understood the supreme importance of this scripture and He found it in the Sri Adi Keshava temple at Thiruvattar.