THE Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.29.11-12) states, "The manifestation of unadulterated devotional service is exhibited when one's mind is at once attracted to hearing the transcendental name and qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is residing in everyone's heart. Just as the water of the Ganges flows naturally down towards the ocean, such devotional ecstasy, uninterrupted by any material condition, flows towards the Supreme Lord." In his purport, Srila Prabhupada writes, "No ma...

Vaisnavism has been manifested in its purest and most wonderful form through the love and teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates. The most beautiful aspect of Lord Caitanya's pastimes is the loving interaction between Him and His devotees, and among the devotees themselves. Although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Caitanya played the role of the devotee just to teach us how to conduct our lives as devotees. In Navadvipa sometimes Lord Caitanya would bow down to His devotees and take the dust from their lotus feet. Sometimes He would wash their clothes with...

Steps for practical application. 1. Arrange seminars on devotee care regularly - preferably having the seminars delivered by those who have actually implemented devotee care. 2. Increase awareness of devotee care by wider circulation of the devotee care newsletter. 3. Display quotes about devotee care on temple notice boards just as quotes about book distribution are prominently displayed. 4. Set up a dedicated team for devotee care with a caring and competent devotee at the helm. 5. Send team members to centers where devotee care is being implemented so that they can learn not only through ...

We generally think that we're in control of our actions and that we're making our own decisions, but the supreme authority, Krsna, declares that this is not the case. He says that we are acting as puppets victims of the forces of nature. In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krsna says, "All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment." (Bg. 3.5) Not just you and I, but "no being existing, anywhere in the material world, is free from the three modes of materia...

"For various reasons, common people do not easily develop faith in exalted persons who are still living, whereas they tend to develop great faith in the activities of mahajanas who have passed away." (Jaiva Dharma chapter 22) The proud practice of using our dull material senses to try to judge who is sadhu and who is not is the same as the neti neti endeavor of the impersonalists. The impersonalists try to understand what is spirit by using their material senses. "Net, neti" means, "not this, no...

In this article, I compare the origin of universe as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam (SB) and the Big Bang (BB) theory . 1. The initial state According to SB, the initial state of matter immediately previous to its manifestation is called pradhana (SB 3.26.10p). In the BB theory, this initial state is called the singularity. The table indicates a clear similarity between these two initial states. Both states, i.e. pradhana and singularity, refer to a condition where no matter/space is manife...

King Prthu and Queen Arci ascended to the spiritual world, Vaikuntha, in spiritual airplanes. They ascended in spiritual bodies, their material bodies having been consumed by the fire of the funeral pyre. The sage Maitreya, narrating this history in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, said, "Any person who describes the great characteristics of King Prthu with faith and determination whether he reads of them himself or helps others to hear of them is certain to attain the very planet Maharaja Prthu attained...

Over 175 selected analogies from Srimad Bhagavatam (Cantos 1‑4 & 9‑11), Bhagavad‑Gita As It Is, Teachings of Queen Kunti, Teachings of Lord Kapila, Life Comes from Life, and Path of Perfection. Activities (material and spiritual) & milk preparations 1 Atheists and criminals 1 Authorities and lawyers 1 Bodies and firewood 2 Body and fortress 1 Body in Krsna consciousness and iron in fire 2 Body's occupant and apartment's tenant 2 Conditioned soul an...

The arduous sea voyage from Calcutta to Boston was finally over. The lone passenger aboard the cargo ship Jaladuta, a seventy-year-old Indian holy man, had been given free passage by the owner of the Scindia Steamship Company. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada arrived at Commonwealth Pier on September 17, 1965. For thousands of years krsna-bhakti, love of Krsna, had been known only in India, but now, on the order of his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada had come to awaken the natural, dormant Krsna consciousness of the American people. On his arrival day onboar...