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In an ancient gurukulam, once a disciple asked the guru "Is there a God?"
The guru took him to a dark room and asked, " What can you see here?"
"Nothing" replied the disciple.
The guru gave a lamp made of mud and said, "Now light this lamp."
The disciple did so and the room lit up. "I can see everything in the room.
Here is a wooden box; there is a cot and I also see the palm leaves on the small table in the corner.."
The guru asked, "How was the room before you lit the lamp?"
"It was dark," said the disciple.
"Did the things in the room cease to exist when it was dark?"
"No, they were there, but not visible," said the disciple.
The guru asked, "Where did the darkness come from?"
"From the absence of light," replied the disciple.
"Then when you lit the lamp in the dark room, where did the light go?"
"It was driven away by the light," said the disciple.
The guru explained further, "Just remember one thing - the light did not bring in anything new, nor did the darkness take away anything

Here is this letter from Srila Prabhupada to Karandhara prabhu.

 

My dear Karandhara,

 

Please accept my blessings…

 

"…Regarding your points about taxation, corporate status, etc., I have heard from Jayatirtha you want to make big plan for centralization of management, taxes, monies, corporate status, bookkeeping, credit, like that. I do not at all approve of such plan. Do not centralize anything. Each temple must remain independent and self-sufficient. That was my plan from the very beginning, why you are thinking otherwise? Once before you wanted to do something centralizing with your GBC meeting, and if I did not interfere the whole thing would have been killed. Do not think in this way of big corporation, big credits, centralization—these are all nonsense proposals. Only thing I wanted was that books printing and distribution should be centralized, therefore I appointed you and Bali Mardan to do it. Otherwise, management, everything, should be done

WARNING: Deities of today's ISKCON are not bona-fide.

If the spiritual master is not bona fide, then is the Deity also not bona fide?

Prabhupāda: Daṇḍavat class(?). Surrender means you must abide strictly the orders, sad-dharma-pṛcchā, ādau gurvāśrayam. To accept a guru means... Śiṣya means one must agree to be governed by the spiritual master. That is called śiṣya. Śiṣya... Śās-dhātu. From śās-dhātu all these terms—śāstra, śiṣya, śāsana. These are words derived from the root śās-dhātu. Śās-dhātu means śāsana, governing. The governing is done by military, governing is done by lawbooks, governing is done by personal instruction, so many things. So śiṣya means who voluntarily accepts to be guided or being governed by the representative of God. That is śiṣya. Yes.

Chapter Two: Teaching 39:

Please read text 39 of chapter two along with the purport, and then read the following commentary.  Afterwards, each participant should offer a thought or comment on this passage. As you do so, please consider this study question:

What is the meaning of John Locke’s comment, and how is it proven false by scripture?

esa te 'bhihita sankhye
buddhir yoge tv imam srnu
buddhya yukto yaya partha
karma-bandham prahasyasi

Lord Sri Krsna has very patiently and lovingly explained to Arjuna the truth of the atomic soul and the material body. He has explained the importance of obeying religious duty, and the way to avoid incurring sin. Now, Sri Krsna must explain how to free oneself from the bonds of work, essentially, how to work without fruitive results. Human beings have long sought happiness as a chief goal of life, and so the

In November of 1967, Srila Prabhupada wrote the following:

“In my opinion, a single sincere soul can maintain a center. You know I started the center at 26 2nd Ave. alone. I took the risk of 200.00 dollars per month for the rent… Still I was maintaining the establishment simply depending on Krishna and then Krishna sent me everything — men and money. Similarly, if a sincere soul goes out and opens a center in any part of the world Krishna will help him in all respects. Without being empowered by Krishna, nobody can preach Krishna Consciousness. It is not academic qualification or financial strength which helps in these matters, but it is sincerity of purpose which helps us always…. That is preaching, cooking, writing, talking, chanting everything one man’s show. I never thought about the audience. I was prepared to chant if there were no man to hear me. The principle of chanting is to glorify the Lord and not to attract a crowd. If Krishna hears nicely then he will ask some sincere d

SRILA PRABHUPADA SPEAKS OUT!!!

"Therefore our movement is being checked in the Western countries that this is a brainwash movement. Brainwash movement, that we are injecting some ideas by psychology, mental control, and our people they are taking to it, and it is spreading like epidemic. How to check it?

Therefore they are now taking action how to stop this Hare Krsna movement in Europe and America. They are trying.

Of course, we are not afraid of this attempt. They will never be successful, rest assured, because we are pushing Krsna consciousness. Krsna was attempted to be killed from the very beginning of His life. That is the nature of this material world, "How to kill God," "God is dead." This is their attempt.

So from the life of Krsna we can understand that so many attempts were made by the demons and the raksasas to kill Krsna, but actually Krsna killed them all. So if you are sincere, if you follow the principles and push on this Krsna consciousness movement, nobody can kil

End of Tulasi Jala Dana During the hot season in India, a pot of dripping water is placed over Tulasi and Salagrama to keep them cool. - See more at: http://harekrishnacalendar.com/vaishnava-calendar/end-of-jala-dana-2015/#sthash.00KNbzIx.dpuf

Hare Krsna Prabhus;

As you know, this past weekend I attended the Festival of Inspiration at New Vrindaban. This was the 15^th annual event, and it could not have been more memorable. I would encourage anyone who is able to attend next year’s event.

        There were three days of talks from figures such as jayadvaita Swami, Deena Badhu Prabhu, Ravindra Swarup Prabhu, Varsana Swami, Gurudas, Sankirtana Prabhu, and Ramesvara Prabhu. And of course, you can meet many interesting people and enter into wonderful enlightening discussion over prasadam.

        A few highlights: Deena Badhu Prabhu took us on a journey to sacred places with his words and sound effects. One could see, hear and smell the road to Vrindaban.

        Sankirtana Prabhu gave us a visual history of our movement from the time of Lord Caitanya to the event at Thompkin Square.

        Gurudas, who is one of the most genuine people you will ever meet, told stories of his experiences with Prabhupada in the early days. Filled wit

Devotee: The role of woman he envisioned as that of man's companion. He says, "The first aspect, then, under which positivism considers women is simply as the companion of man, irrespective of her maternal duties," and that this friendship or companionship has as its basis sex. He says, "Conjugal union becomes a perfect ideal of friendship, yet still more beautiful than friendship, because each possesses and is possessed by the other. For perfect friendship, difference of sex is essential as excluding the possibility of rivalry." So he felt that sex, there can actually be very little friendship between men, because there's no sexual basis, that sex is the basis for the friendship between the sexes.

Approach God with a One-Way Ticket

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

Question 1: Is it appropriate to approach śrī guru and Śrī Gaurāṅga with a return ticket in hand?

Answer: Never. Those who have come to the matha with a return ticket in hand do not wholeheartedly desire to attain Śrī Bhagavān. Would one who truly loves Śrī Bhagavān ever want to go away after coming to His lotus feet? Once one’s self-conception (abhimāna) of being the servant of Śrī Bhagvān has awakened, how can one leave that direct service to His lotus feet and again busy oneself in serving māyā?

Those who have attained divine knowledge (divya-jñāna) do not and cannot ever come to serve their most cherished Lord (iṣṭadeva) with the intention of returning back. But if someone considers himself to be the master or the doer; if he has other near and dear ones who are dependent on him; if he gives importance to his relation with things or persons other than the Supreme Lord; or if he identifies wi