"When disciples do not stick to the principle of accepting the order of their spiritual master, immediately there are two opinions. Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation." (Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi Lila, 12.9, purport)

                                         

nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktisiddhanta-sarasvatiti namine

I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, who is very dear to Lord Krishna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.

sri-varshabhanavi-devi-dayitaya kripabdhaye
krishna-sambandha-vijnana-dayine prabhave namah

I offer my respectful obeisances to Sri Varshabhanavi-devi-dayita dasa [another name of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati], who is favored by Srimati Radharani and who is the ocean of transcendental mercy and the

The following statement was read by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at a press conference in December 1968:

"The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is a movement aiming at the spiritual reorientation of mankind through the simple process of chanting the holy names of God. The human life is meant for ending the miseries of material existence. Our present-day society is trying to end these miseries by material progress. However, it is visible to all that in spite of extensive material progress, human society is not peaceful.

The reason is that the human being is essentially a spirit soul. It is the spirit soul which is the background of the development of the material body. However the materialistic scientist may deny the spiritual existence in the background of the living force, there is no better understanding than accepting this living force as ultimately the spirit soul within the body.

The body is changing from one form to another but the spir

nikhila-bhuvana-māyā-chhinna-vichchhinna-kartrī
vibudha-bahula-mṛgyā-mukti-mohānta-dātrī
śithilita-vidhi-rāgārādhya-rādheśa-dhānī
vilasatu hṛdi nityaṁ bhakti-siddhānta-vāṇī
(Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)

The messages of Sri Bhakti-siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharajah Paramahamsa Thakura demolish  the illusions of the entire world, finishes the intellectuals’ mad pursuit of liberation, properly adjusts scriptural regulations, and is an abode of loving attachment for Sri Radha’s Lord. May that message play within our hearts eternally.

Sri Sri Prabhupada-padma Stavah

- Prayer unto the Lotus Feet of Srila Prabhupada -

sujanarbuda-radhita-pada- yugam
yuga-dharma-dhurandhara-patra-varam
varadabhaya-dayaka-pujya-padam
pranamami sada prabhupada-padam (1)

Best of countless souls worship the pair of his feet,
Best of those who practice true religion is he,
His worship removes fear and fulfills our dreams,
I forever bow down unto Prabhupada’s feet.

bhajanorjita-saj-jana-san gha-

Kṛṣṇa Kṛpā Srī Mūrti

The Embodiment of Kṛṣṇa's Mercy

We should understand a Vaiṣṇava never dies. A Vaiṣṇava has no birth and no death like an ordinary jīva. He is no ordinary jīva, he is beyond birth and death. As the Supreme Lord appears and disappears, similarly His dear devotee, Vaiṣṇava Thākura, appears and disappears.

“A Vaiṣṇava does not take birth under the jurisdiction of karmic law. His birth and disappearance are transcendental. The wise have declared that the servants of Viṣṇu are eternally engaged in the liberated service of the Lord and hence are free from the laws of material nature.” (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, 10.113)

Question 1: How can one hear harikathā in the association of devotees when one is residing far away from them?

Answer: In our maṭhas, harikathā is being delivered all the time and everyone there is engaged in hari-seva. It is our foremost duty that, by all means, we should associate with devotees whose life and soul is service. Staying in a place where harikathā is absent is absolutely undesirable, even if that place is very comfortable and we are surrounded by loved ones. I am able to contemplate the special mercy of Mahāprabhu when I witness at every moment that, by the grace of Bhagavān, the topics of Śrī Hari are being discussed and everyone here is exhibiting the inclination toward divine service.

Those gentlemen who desire true welfare should visit the maṭha on occasion and listen to harikathā from śrī guru and the Vaiṣṇavas. Our taste for hearing harikathā and our inclination to serve Śrī Hari shall itself separate us from unfavourable association. And if we constantly beseech

"The sruti says that food is Brahman; food is rasa. Feeding people with this in mind will make the giver one with Brahman as well. It will enable all those involved to taste rasa--dynamic love of God."

Q. Devotees are known for distributing delicious vegetarian food offered to Krishna with little or no charge to the public. In the West they have been doing this at their temples as well as at music festivals and other popular events for almost fifty years. Interestingly, Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs relates how during his college years the late Apple co-founder regularly walked to the Krishna center in Portland, Oregon to chant, dance, and enjoy the free feast being served there. Lecturing at Stanford University, Jobs told students, "I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it."

In India, along with prasadam distribution at temples and events, devotees work with government agencies in distr

LYRICS:

(1)
nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭi-candra-suśītala
je chāyāy jagata jurāy
heno nitāi bine bhāi, rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi
dṛḍha kori' dharo nitāir pāy

(2)
se sambandha nāhi jā'r, bṛthā janma gelo tā'r
sei paśu boro durācār
nitāi nā bolilo mukhe, majilo saḿsāra-sukhe
vidyā-kule ki koribe tār

(3)
ahańkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā
asatyere satya kori māni
nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe
dharo nitāi-caraṇa du'khāni

(4)
nitāiyer caraṇa satya, tāhāra sevaka nitya
nitāi-pada sadā koro āśa
narottama boro dukhī, nitāi more koro sukhī
rākho rāńgā-caraṇera pāśa

TRANSLATION

1) The lotus feet of Lord Nityananda are a shelter where one will get the soothing moonlight not only of one, but of millions of moons. If the world wants to have real peace, it should take shelter of Lord Nityananda. Unless one takes shelter under the shade of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, it will be very difficult for him to approach Radha-Krsna. If one actually wants to enter into the dancing party of Ra

By chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra regularly and following the regulative principles, one becomes qualified to be initiated as a brāhmaṇa, because unless one is a qualified brāhmaṇa he cannot be allowed to worship Lord Viṣṇu. This is called yājñika janma. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness society, unless one is twice initiated—first by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and second by the Gāyatrī mantra—he is not allowed to enter the kitchen or Deity room to execute duties.  

Lord Nityānanda Prabhu's Āvirbhāva Appearance Day
Nitāi-Pada-Kamala Purport
—
Los Angeles, January 31, 1969
Prabhupāda: (sings)
nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭi-candra-suśītala,
je chāyāy jagata jurāy
heno nitāi bine bhāi, rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi,
dṛḍha kori' dharo nitāir pāy
se sambandha nāhi jā'r, bṛthā janma gelo tā'r,
sei paśu boro durācār
nitāi nā bolilo mukhe, majilo saṁsāra-sukhe,
vidyā-kule ki koribe tār
ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā,
asatyere satya kori māni
nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe,
dharo nitāi-caraṇa du'khāni
nitāiyer caraṇa satya, tāṅhāra sevaka nitya,
nitāi-pada sadā koro āśā
narottama boro dukhī, nitāi more koro sukhī,
rākho rāṅgā-caraṇera pāśa
Nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭi-candra-suśītala, je chāyāy jagata jurāy. This is a song by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, a great ācārya of the Gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-sampradāya. He has written many songs about the Vaiṣṇava philosophy, and they are approved as completely corresponding with Vedic instructions. So here Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is singing