On this day in 1966, Srila Prabhupada's Diary records: "Back to Godhead published again today." On the same day, it records that Gargamuni Dasa was initiated. Gargamuni Prabhu's account of the beginning of the magazine at 26 Second Avenue is presented in this week's keynote article. His story is a unique personal glimpse into the mood and happenings of the time. For an insight into writing for Back to Godhead, we are presenting an article by Chaitanya Carana Prabhu entitled "Writing for Krishn...

Srila Prabhupada has expressed his fond dream for BTG: “As I have told you several times, I am awaiting for the day when this paper will take the shape of Life magazine or similar other magazines in the matter of its popularity.” (Letter dated June 1968) The popularity of BTG depends on many factors: for example, the reach and appeal of our movement; the magnitude of the efforts to distribute BTG; the format, feel, and cost of the issues. But the most important factor, the factor I can influence, is its core content—the qualit...

Srila Prabhupada sat in the front passenger seat, and we all sat in the back. Shyamsundar read Mondokini’s letter aloud, and when Srila Prabhupada heard that she was ready to depart for Russia and marry this young man, his joy knew no bounds! "While this letter was being read, I snapped two pictures of Prabhupada. He was smiling the biggest smile I had ever seen! He was so overjoyed to hear her reply! To him, this was the beginning of the conquest of the demonic atheism that had invaded the lan...

Srinathji: So I was thinking, ‘Why is Prabhupada talking so much? There must be some hidden agenda coming up soon.’ Prabhupada knew that my father was treasurer of the Congress party. And sure enough, Prabhupada said, ‘I need visas for all my disciples’. First thing, please realize they are not CIA. You must see that in parliament they stop the inquiry against my pupils and me. My father said that he had a friend who was the minister in charge and he would talk to him and definitely do so...

Overall tourism at Prabhupada’s Palace has increased from 20,000 annually to approximately 30,000. One woman took the tour this summer after she saw the Palace in a commercial. During the tour, she was listening very intently, really absorbing all the information. Then, when we turned the corner, entered Srila Prabhupada’s study, and saw him behind his desk writing in his murti form, she began to cry. Tears were running down her face, and she was overwhelmed with emotion. The others on the ...

An article about the early days of the Deities in Mayapur, from a 2006 edition of Mayapur Magazine. Thirty-two years elapsed between the time Srila Prabhupada first mentioned life-sized Panca-tattva Deities and Their arrival in 2004. But you could hardly call the devotees at Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir “idle” during those intervening years. Two of the Deities’ oldest servants guide us through a brief history of Mayapur Deity worship

At the risk of losing more Kartik Kredits, I’ll tell you that my main vrata this year is to keep my hand in the beadbag whenever it’s not required elsewhere. In spite of having a lot to do, I managed to fulfill my quota today. But if I happen to remember at 11pm that there’s a load in the washer that is on the verge of mildewing (not that that happened tonight, for example), I’m not going to resent the boring necessity of hanging them up for taking me away from my chanting. It’s Kartika, damn i...

It was formerly a custom that if one wanted to remember something constantly, he would transform it into poetry or have this done by a professional poet. It appears that Mother Yasoda did not want to forget Krsna's activities at any time. Therefore, she poeticized all of Krsna's childhood activities, such as the killing of Putana, Aghasura, Sakatasura and Trnavarta. While churning the butter, she sang about these activities in poetical form. This should be the practice of persons eager to remai...