Interview with Dr. Basham
Professor A. L. Basham, one of the world's most highly respected authorities on ancient Indian civilization, has written extensively on the Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions.…
Eternal Dharma
The eternal religion, called in Sanskrit "Sanatan Dharma," has no history of beginning or end. By the analytical processes of modern science, we can see that Sanatan Dharma is the…
Morality the American Way — Piety at the Pig Roast
The Bible says, "Thou shalt not kill." Yet this simple moral maxim seems impossible for most Americans to accept, or even understand—even those clamoring for a return to morality. …
Krsna’s Message at Westminster Abbey
One of the highlights of last summer's Festival of India in Britain was an ecumenical dialogue at Westminster Abbey, where British clergymen gathered to learn more about the Hare Krsna…
Freedom of Religion — A Spiritual Challenge for Hare Krishnas
West Virginia Sheriff Robert Lightner doesn't like people to shave their heads and wear long robes. "When the founding fathers wrote about freedom of religion," he says, "they didn't have…
The Religion Beyond All Religions
The perfect socio-religious system is explained by Lord Krsna in Bhagavad-gita. (This system differs from the prejudicial system of caste by birth.)…
American Religious Life — A Vital Transition
the largest number of new groups have come from India—so much so that the phenomenon can almost be considered a missionary movement from India to America.…
Decent, Hardworking “Misled” People — Notes from the Editor
A regular occurrence around here is that each year the local newspaper carries an article commending us for our hard work and decency but condemning us for not being Christians.…
Defining The Religious Principle
Religion is something you participate in; it's not a spectator sport. Because it is based on faith, there's no question of understanding it from the outside. Of course, it is…
Speaking Out
What Is the Best Spiritual Process? After giving a lecture in Bombay in April 1979 Srila Hrdayananda dasa Goswami Acaryadeva answered a probing question from the audience: ‘All over the…
How I Was Saved From Being “Saved” — The Vedic Observer
Strange that these Baptists should discover, looking back at them under a shaven head marked with the twin clay lines of tilaka—the signs of a servant of Visnu—such a disconcertingly…
Can Religions Compete?
He considered how a religion, as a whole, measures up to narrow expectations drawn from Christianity. Thus he complained, "India has no 'expiator' [referring specifically to Jesus], no Golgotha [the…
Hare Krsna Confronts B’nai B’rith — Fighting Religious Defamation
Devotees of Krsna were surprised, therefore, when they recently found a B'nai B'rith pamphlet rife with stereotypes of Krsna devotees as cultists and brainwashed robots. Such caricatures, the devotees thought,…
Celibacy—Exquisite Torture? — The Vedic Observer
I had watched as one Catholic priest after another abandoned their vows to take up secular life. Some got married; others simply hit the streets.…
The Aim of All Faiths — One truth ties all religions together
The aim of any scripture of any country—not only the Bhagavad-gita, but any scripture—is simply to get us back to Godhead. That is the purpose.…
Vedic cuisine — The Taste of Another World
Delicious, traditional Vedic cuisine was part of the legacy Krsna consciousness brought to Western shores. Eating, like everything else for Krsna devotees, is a part of the complete spiritual experience…
Exposure to the “Cold Cruel World”
Gurukula, "the school of the guru," has no equivalent in Western education. It is all at once a place of spiritual formation, character development, academics, and vocational training.…
Pope Receives Bhagavad-gita As It Is — Every Town and Village
His Holiness Pope John Paul II received a copy of Bhagavad-gita AS IT IS, the scripture that sets forth the basic philosophy of the Krsna consciousness movement. …
A Monastic Encounter — Hare Krishna Meets Priest
My friend came back for a second visit to our monastery more recently. I was very favorably impressed by the spiritual growth that I witnessed in him. It was quite…
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