In 1974, George came to visit Srila Prabhupada at Hare Krishna Land, in Juhu. I took him around the construction site, and he expressed his appreciation for the work and encouraged us in our efforts. When at twelve-thirty we heard the conch shell blow for raja-bhoga arati, we proceeded to the small temple shed, where George chose a pair of karatalas and sang with the other devotees. Puri dasa, originally from Scotland, was doing the arati, and when he turned to offer the ghee lamp to the devotees and saw George, his hand trembled so much that, as he told me later, he was a...

But what was even more disturbing was that according to the Bible accepted by the priests as the “Word Of God”, it was recorded that God had specifically told Moses it was impossible for humans to see his face! How then could Michelangelo have the audacity to splash a Technicolor rendition of what he though God must look like across the front of their new church! Michelangelo convinced the priests to allow the paintings to stay by reasoning that God had also said he made man in his image and therefore if the Universe was very old, then G...

If we are at all aware of how dependent we are on God—for the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and our very ability to eat and drink and breathe, to think and feel and do everything else we do—we will feel grateful and want to reciprocate God’s kindness. We will want to do something for He (or She or They) who has done, and continues to do, so much for us. We often take things for granted until we lose them. I use my right hand to chant on meditation beads, and one morn...