If I truly want to be satisfied, and thus stress-free, I need to truly understand who "I" am. Stress, according to The World Health Organization, is the “health epidemic of the 21st century.” Demanding circumstances make us tense mentally, emotionally, and physically, and over time that tension takes a serious toll on our wellbeing. While there are many ways to deal with stress, one often overlooked and highly effective way is to cultivate a state of inner satisfaction. The word satisfaction, meaning the pleasure derived from the fulfillment of one’s wishes, expectations, or needs,...

From this, we can understand that consciousness merely reflects the experience of whatever it is directed towards, just as the space capsule reflects information from wherever it is directed. If you walk into a store, you can purchase whatever you like some ice cream, some fruit, or some milk. You make the choice. And according to whatever you select, you will have a certain taste experience. Similarly, in our lives and with our consciousness, we can be aware and hav...

Shivananda Sen, he was taking all the 200-300 devotees from Bengal to Puri. They were walking so many days. And a little dog just started following. And that dog… he wasn’t a kind of pedigree, beautiful kind of dog. He was just the kind of dogs that you find in the streets of India. He followed. He followed. And Shivananda Sen just saw with such compassion – “If this spirit soul in this dog, if he sees Lord Chaitanya, how much he will benefit! I must serve him nicely.”

In 1971 Prabhupada was having big public programs in India, and one evening an Arya Samajist challenged Prabhupada. He said, "Oh, Swamiji, you have come to India with your western chelas, but we know all these things. This is our culture. Better you go to the other places and do your work there. All right, you have been to the West, but what about the Muslim countries? What about Pakistan? You should go to Pakistan and preach there. Make them devotees." This was in a public pandal with thousands of people. Prabhupada said, "You are chal...

Srila Prabhupada’s purports (commentaries) illuminate for us the verses spoken by Krishna and Arjuna. The following condensed version of their historic conversation combines key points from the verses and purports in the same sequence as the original. These are not direct quotes and thus cannot replace the complete Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Instead, this version provides an overview of the philosophical thread of the Gita. It is consistent with Srila Prabhupada’s comprehensive edition and can...

It is said that the higher authorities are always observing us. The sun, moon, air, fire and the ten directions, they are noting our actions. We cannot escape this. A sadhu, who by dint of his spiritual advancement can perceive this, refrains from committing sinful activity, even though apparently no one is watching. Even after knowing about all of this, sometimes we get carried away. Why? Because of kama (lust). Therefore Krishna instructs us that we should first curb this lust. Because of this we are forced to act in such a way, even th...

Until people gain the spiritual inspiration that underlies truly good behavior, attempts to legislate morality will inevitably fail. Daily news reports of things like corruption, nepotism, favoritism, and infidelity have us fed up. Politicians say, “Education in ethics and values is the solution. ” But don’t most people already know right from wrong? I think so. They just feel they’ll fare better in life without following moral codes. And exhortation by moralists or legislation by...

'Srila Ramananda Raya was an incarnation of the gopi Visakha. Since Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was Lord Krishna Himself, there was naturally an awakening of love between Visakha and Krishna. Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the combination of Srimati Radharani and Krishna, and the gopi Visakha is a principal gopi assisting Srimati Radharani. Thus the natural love between Ramananda Raya and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu awakened and they embraced.'

Every civilized person is familiar with the concept of seva or service. Service can be of different types and of different qualities. At home, every member of the family is serving everyone else. Traditionally, the father traditionally earns for the family and is therefore known as the “breadwinner,” while the mother takes care of the home itself by cooking, cleaning, and creating a comfortable and congenial atmosphere. The children obey their parents and perform basic chores or run minor erran...

The word vanaprastha is composed of the words vana, meaning “forest” and prastha, meaning “to go,” so a vanaprastha is “One has gone to the forest.” Vanaprastha is an asrama in the Vedic varnasrama system. An asrama can be both a physical and mental place and refers to “a place where one cultivates spiritual life, where culture of the spiritual is foremost.” The vanaprastha order is complete retirement from householder life, a time when one prepares oneself for going back to Godhead. It requires shedding one’s mat...

However, right from the start, there were a couple of notable challenges. Firstly we were assumed, and required, to represent one of the principle world religions, namely Hinduism. This raised pertinent, and sometimes controversial, theological questions about the identity of ISKCON and its members (we’ll come back to this later). Secondly and subsequently, this also meant that ISKCON Educational Services staff were required to make presentations not just on ISKCON and Gaudiya Vaishnavism, n...

Once during the rasa dance, when Radharani left the arena and Krishna went to seek Her out, one of the dear friends of Radharani addressed Krishna thus: "My dear Krishna, You have been very much obliging in serving the form of our Sri Radharani, and now You have left all the other gopis to search for Her. Please allow me to inquire how You want Her to treat You." This is an instance of feeling pride on account of exquisite beauty. Sometimes Radharani felt pride within...

Once, Srila Prabhupada was being driven to a public engagement. As they hit a series of roadworks, the traffic slowly built up, and within minutes all the vehicles were at a complete standstill. As they peered outside the windscreen, a luminous highway sign read “road works: temporary inconvenience, permanent improvements.” The Swami laughed heartily and exclaimed “the material world: temporary improvements, permanent inconvenience!” And so, learning to live with chaos is more realistic, progressive and pragmatic. Like running ...