Confusing “cast” with “caste” is an innocent error, but mistaking Lord Krsna’s varnasrama system for an oppressive, hereditary class structure is a far more serious blunder. By Mathuresa Dasa Baseball, to most anyone’s mind, has little in common with the Indian caste system, which rigidly divides society into four hereditary classes. But for me there’s […]
“We’re practicing yoga.” “Yoga? You call this yoga? Chanting and dancing, playing on drums and hand cymbals, passing out magazines and sweets—all in one big group?” “Absolutely! Yoga means ‘to link with God,’ and this congregational chanting of God’s names.
The gurukula students in Mayapur are preparing for their future roles in society by performing simple character-building austerities and cultivating qualities like honesty and compassion.
Despite almost one hundred years of research in evolution, paleoanthropologists have not given us a clear understanding of man and his origins.
Jesus Christ is our guru. Christ is preaching consciousness of God. So he is our guru, our spiritual master. That’s a fact. Don’t take him otherwise. He’s our guru.
While in Vrndavana, the Lord rediscovered many important places of Krsna’s pastimes. Among such places are Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda, two ponds that featured prominently in Krsna’s Vrndavana pastimes five thousand years ago.
Devotees of Lord Krsna are a special kind of vegetarian. While we are certainly quick to point out the health and economic advantages of our vegetarian diet, such concerns are, frankly, secondary. We eat the way we do because this diet is recommended by the Supreme Lord Himself.
As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.
Man looks to woman, and woman looks to man. The teachings of the boy devotee Prahlada Maharaja explain that we’re looking for love in the wrong place.
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare In Sanskrit, man means “mind” and tra means “freeing.” So a mantrais a combination of transcendental, spiritual sounds that frees our minds from the anxieties of life in the material world. Ancient India’s Vedic literatures single out one mantra […]
A mother-to-be ponders karma, reincarnation, and devotional service to Krsna. by Visakha-devi dasi When, one crystal-clear morning in January of 1982, my husband Yadubara and I first learned that we were parents-to-be, we had many of the usual questions first-time parents have. But since we were devotees of Krsna, the answers to our questions were […]
Eons ago a wonderful incarnation of God revealed the relation between divine anger and transcendental love. by Dvarakadhisa-devi dasi Ferocious beauty. Red eyes glare out from a fearsome visage that writhes with rage. The form is massive. The powerful arms thrash in all directions. The being appears to be half man and half lion, with […]
Leaders of society should seriously learn the science of Krishna consciousness in order to give society proper guidance and direction not only materially but spiritually as well.
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 a second. “I love pleasure,” he said finally. “To be truthful.”
“My books are more important than myself.” This was Srila Prabhupada’s instruction to one of his disciples who was being sent from his personal service to open a temple in a distant place.
Dhruva’s stepmother said, “My dear boy, you cannot sit on the lap of your father. Although you are his son, you are disqualified because you have not taken birth in my womb.”
Vrndavana, India, the land of Krishna five thousand years after the disappearance of the Supreme Person, is invaded by eighty American and European disciples of Srila Prabhupada. The white and saffron robed pilgrims arrive in Vrndavana for Karttika, a celebration of Krishna’s rasa dance with the cowherd girls
Krishna wants us to eat only food offered first in sacrifice to Him: “The devotees of the Lord are released from all sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.”
Bhakti is as much a science as physics, chemistry or any other science. It is based on observation and experiment, and its results are capable of verification. But bhakti is a transcendental science, and its experiments are of a different nature.
The word Govinda refers to one who gives pleasure to the cows and the senses. There are many incarnations of Godhead, but Govinda is the adi-purusa, or the original person. As such He is not technically an incarnation of God but is God Himself.