Initiation Into Krishna Consciousness
For a typical initiation, about one hundred devotees gather in the temple. The devotees to be initiated—perhaps a dozen of them—sit in two rows, facing the devotee designated to be the priest of the ceremony.
For a typical initiation, about one hundred devotees gather in the temple. The devotees to be initiated—perhaps a dozen of them—sit in two rows, facing the devotee designated to be the priest of the ceremony.
A study of material nature, for the purpose of distinguishing matter from spirit, is known as Sankhya philosophy.
Srila Prabhupada thought if he could get some of the Westerners to become devotees of Krishna, the Indians would then realize the importance of the spiritual culture they had given up.
In Bhagavad-gita Krishna says, Just surrender to Me, and I will give you all protection. Caitanya, in addition, explains the activities following surrender.
In New York the airlines advertise, “Enjoy peaceful Puerto Rico.” And in Puerto Rico they say, “Find satisfaction in New York.” But, really, going from one place to another in this material world won’t help us find the peace we want.
Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, plays His flute and herds the cows in the spiritual world with His brother, Balarama. One who is fully Krishna conscious can enter that spiritual world.
In New Vrindavan, the devotees find that by following the Lord’s example of living with what the land and cows provide, they can easily be free of all economic problems.
The human body is an opportunity to become free from repeated birth and death. The soul is eternal and by nature full of bliss and knowledge but the material body gives rise to distress.
If a boy wants to know who his father is, the simple process is to ask his mother. The mother will then say, “This is your father.” This is the way of perfect knowledge.
We have forgotten how to love Krishna. Consequently we rush to and fro in this material world trying to love this and that-wife, country, society, cats, dogs. Thus we are always frustrated. Why?
The universal form is the form of the Supreme Lord in which one can see everything in the universe, all at once. In the universal form, one can see past, present and future. One can see all the demigods of the material creation, and all other living beings.
In Calcutta in 1896, the teachings of Lord Caitanya began their journey to the West. In Bengali-speaking Calcutta on August 20th of that year, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura published a small English treatise entitled Lord Caitanya—His Life and Precepts.
Those who do not like this Hare Krishna movement say we are “crazy.” Similarly, we see a person in material consciousness as a crazy person. Who, then, is actually crazy? Who decides?
The Hare Krishna temple in Paris in the elegant 16th district maintains sixty full-time devotees who teach a weekly course in Vedic Wisdom at Nanterre University, run a press and and hold a weekly festival that attracts some four hundred guests.
With this issue, we mark the beginning of the tenth year that BACK TO GODHEAD is being published in the West. It is unique because it is devoted to Krishna.
I have thought of entering a temple and becoming a full-time devotee, but there is one major question in my mind in regard to Krishna consciousness. I feel as though woman is regarded as lesser than man within Krishna consciousness.
Gurukula, a school for children ages five to fifteen, was founded by ISKCON in 1971. It is the only school teaching one how to be eternal, blissful and full of knowledge.
Bhagavad-gita is the transcendental science of God spoken by the father of religion Himself, Lord Sri Krishna. It is the essence of all Vedic knowledge.
After the disappearance of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, his son, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, a great scholar and pure devotee, continued to expand the mission of Lord Caitanya.