I grew up in Connecticut in the fifties and sixties. Always "the observer," dissatisfied with the status quo, I saw my parents' lifestyle as boring and futile. They had to…
I was born in Aravade, a small village in the Indian state of Maharashtra that differs little from more than seven hundred thousand others in India. After I graduated from…
Having just spent four disappointing years at the Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire, I was enjoying a new freedom at Harvard. I could choose my own courses, make new friends,…
The language hypnotized me, to say the least, and I couldn't put the book down. After about two days of reading, I began to feel out of place around my…
In college I had delved into the thoughts of the great philosophers and literary personalities of the past. Echoing my godless upbringing, I would argue with my logic professor, a…
In distress I prayed out loud: "If there is someone behind all this, I want to know You. I will be obedient to Your will." I prayed from my heart,…
Everyone in New York City thinks he's a philosopher. And who do they talk with about politics, religion, traffic, and the weather? Not their psychiatrists, business associates, or even their…
When I came to New Zealand in 1972, the farthest thing from my mind was opening a Hare Krsna temple. I was on a world surfing safari and the closest…
When Vicki Overton was growing up in Auckland in the 1950's, duly attentive to her studies at St. Cuthbert's College for girls, no one would have imagined she would one…
At the end of each day, after trading in his Gucci suit for a simple cotton dhoti, Marco spends the evening hours chanting Hare Krsna on beads, reading Bhagavad-gita, and…
Srila Prabhupada's message to the world was not one of artificial renunciation but of devotion. Whatever you may be—family man, businessman, professional—add Krsna to your life and be happy. Business,…
A million dollars and three dozen magazine covers later, Anne had wealth, fame, and apartments in most European capital cities. Anne Schaufuss had everything. Except, maybe, happiness. …
I finished the school year, bade farewell to my family, girlfriend, and other intimates, and set off for Japan to practice Zen in earnest.…
The other doctors never call him Samika Rsi dasa. Most of them don't even know he is an initiated devotee of Lord Krsna. In the hospital—St. Joseph's Hospital, Carbondale, Pennsylvania—he…
I was brought up a Catholic. I went to church every Sunday. As a young woman my only understanding of God was fear. I was told I had to do…
Early one evening, I answered the phone. "Hello, Mom? I just want to tell you I'm at the Krsna temple in Potomac, Maryland. I live here now."…
Before I came to Krishna consciousness my life was completely impure. I was confused and indecisive about spiritual life and couldn't help myself. But after I read that book, I…
Sivananda had not been in the temple more than a year when Srila Prabhupada came to Montreal. After a short meeting, Srila Prabhupada requested Sivananda to go to Europe to…
We stood on a rooftop in Manhattan, gazing out over the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge toward Brooklyn. I asked him, "Do you actually love Krishna?" He thought for…
It so happens that 1971 is the year that Srila Prabhupada initiated me. He explained to me then that to become qualified to go back to Godhead, one must hear…
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