Sukadeva Goswami says: “These sins are like the dried leaves of creepers beneath a bamboo tree, which may be burned by fire although their roots remain to grow again at the first opportunity” (SB 6.1.13). The problem of sinful desires, or what may be more neutrally called addictive behaviours, has been of great interest in modern psychology. Different schools of thought have approached the problem differently, but perhaps the most prominent in recent modern history has been the behaviour...

Srila Prabhupada would say that this miraculously transformed educational system would still be a grand failure. Why? Because it would still be built on ignorance, on mistaking the body for the self, and on making the gratification of our bodily demands—the needs for eating, sleeping, mating, and defense—the central focus of our life. The animals know of no higher purposes in life than to eat, to sleep, to defend themselves, and to have sex. Of course, as human beings we share these same ne...

Prabhupada wrote to his disciples elsewhere in the world expressing his appreciation of the festival. “The Bhagavata Dharma discourses here in New Vrindaban are going on very nicely, and daily several hundred devotees and guests are coming to hear, and it is truly a wonderful time,” he wrote to Radha Damodar Das. And to Brahmananda, he wrote, “Now go on holding [these] Bhagavata Dharma discourses in every city of the world.”

Admiration for the astounding abilities of Sherlock Holmes is certainly not misplaced. The methods he and his contemporary scientific counterparts use for acquiring knowledge—observation and reasoning—are universal and necessary, and even the Vedic literature of ancient India recognizes them as valid for certain purposes. Nevertheless, they are not sufficient. Because they are imperfect processes, subject to limited certainty and scope, they should not be independently relied upon. Inducti...

I analyzed my work through the lens of Krishna consciousness and found it degrading and contrary to Krishna consciousness. I work for a retail company where I create propositions that entice people to buy more and more. I started feeling that any kind of work is equivalent to contributing to maya's trap of increasing material desires. "I'm on the path of Krishna consciousness to escape the influence of maya, but I'm busy creating material allurements for others." That thought disturbed me constantly...

Some things must, unavoidably, be jettisoned as excess baggage and some things adapted if the distinct religious community is to survive. Yet it would seem that some things – essential aspects of the theology, for instance – must be carefully protected if the religion is to continue to exist at all. Full cultural assimilation may completely swallow up a unique religious tradition causing it to disappear, along with any contribution it offered. The questions confronting religions today, spread ...

To comprehend the reality underlying this appearance, we need to understand Krishna’s transcendental position and disposition. The world’s theistic traditions proclaim God’s transcendence, underscoring his self-existence in a realm that transcends time and space. Being the source of everything, including the fabric of time and space, he is never limited by his emanations.