The Unconditioned State
Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is not conditioned. When He speaks, it is from the Absolute level. He is within the heart of the hearer. In that position, His words cannot be false.
Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is not conditioned. When He speaks, it is from the Absolute level. He is within the heart of the hearer. In that position, His words cannot be false.
By Allen Ginsberg Mantram (singular), mantra (plural) is a short verbal formula like Rolling Stones’ “I’m going home,” or Gertrude Stein’s “A rose is a rose is a rose,” which is repeated as a form of prayer meditation over and over until the original thin-conscious association with meaning disappears and the words become pure physical […]
The devotees of the Krsna consciousness movement are simply trying to spread this sublime message all over the earth. Observe how people everywhere—in America, Japan, Australia, Canada and Europe—are taking to this life style and taking off the shackles of material existence.
Glory to the sri-krsna-sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years together. Thus the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death, is extinguished.
Krishna says: “Devotees are always engaged in chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination. Offering homage unto Me, they worship Me with devotion.”
The taking of prasadam, spiritual foodstuffs, by the devotee and the distribution of such foodstuffs to the public is an extremely important part of Krsna consciousness.
In the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krsna is explaining how to practice yoga by meditation. Although the Lord is recommending the eightfold yoga system here, we will also see that in the end it is rejected in favor of karma-yoga.
It is hoped that the government authorities will cooperate with our sankirtana parties in enabling us to perform sankirtana on the streets. To do this it is necessary that we be able to chant the names of Krsna, dance, play the mrdanga drum.
In Karma yoga, when you are working for Krishna, you can do your office tasks, speak to people on business, and do whatever you duty happens to be, for it all becomes part of your single aim: to return to God.
Paintings are needed in all the temples, as well as for illustrations in books. For these two reasons an art department has been set up in ISKCON for production of Krsna-katha art (art based on the pastimes of Krsna).
Any child can chant Hare Krsna and dance and feel transcendental ecstasy. That is the special facility of Krsna consciousness—even a child can perform it.
Kardama Muni practiced meditative penances on the bank of the Sarasvati River for a period of 10,000 years. It is understood that the yoga system, in order to be rightly practiced, must be performed by persons who possess a very long duration of life.
In Sanskrit, man means “mind” and tra means “freeing.” So a mantra is a combination of transcendental, spiritual sounds that frees our minds from the anxieties of life in the material world.
The promise of art is illusory. Art cannot save us, no matter how beautiful and well wrought its objects may be. They are, essentially, fictions. At best, art may palliate the pains of life, but even in this it dangerously misleads.
A pretty girl wearing an exotic Indian dress and carrying a handful of flowers and a shoulder bag full of books pinned a flower on my lapel and asked, “Have you ever read the Bhagavad-gita? This book will answer all your questions about life.”
Ice cream, the ingredients don’t vary much from one brand to another. But ice cream that’s been prepared for Lord Krsna and offered to Him with love and devotion stands above all others.
Why is the attraction between male and female so powerful? What is the essence of this attraction? And why does the Vedic literature call it illusion?
I was Jewish, and my early education was steeped in the lore and culture of Judaism. Weekly my mother would send me for my violin lesson and dance class.
I spent an afternoon at the Zoo with my two-year-old son. As I carried him from the elephant compound to the lion house to the bird sanctuary, I began to wish I had heeded my wife’s advice to bring along the stroller. “Why He knows how to walk.”
The name Krsna means “the all-attractive one,” the name Rama means “the all-pleasing one,” and the name Hare is an address to the Lord’s devotional energy.