Sannyasa means renunciation to material life. This can be done with or without the formal acceptance of tridanda sannyasa order. Anyone can just take the blessings of his Guru and leave home to go live “in the vana”, as Srimad-Bhagavatam says, meaning Vrindavana, as Srila Prabhupada explained. Therefore both men and … Read More
How do we maintain self-confidence, yet feel ourselves a fool before our spiritual master? How can we be confident and simultaneously feel unqualified to serve Krishna? Aren’t self-confident people somewhat proud or arrogant? We are ordinary people engaged in an extraordinary process, a process that will make us extraordinary. Thus, our confidence … Read More
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 14 July 2012, Modra, Slovakia, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.1) All throughout history, people have tried to impress other people. Some men have been wearing high hats. Some ladies have been wearing high heels. In so many ways, people have tried to impress each other, generation after generation. Are we any … Read More
Dear Kirti Prabhu, Accept my respectuful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. There is a rather heated debate on this subject on various social networks of which you are certainly aware. I follow it a bit distractedly. Without this wanting to give the impression that I think to be smarter than … Read More
Caitanya Mahaprabhu after taking His lunch would rest for a while and Govinda was daily massaging His feet. So one day Caitanya Mahaprabhu fell asleep very soon and keeping His head on the threshold. While He was sleeping, Govinda came crossing the body of Caitanya and massaged His Feet. But he was … Read More
I actually had a blast in the ‘blast’. Yes, indeed, the wind picked up today and tossed twenty-plus centimetres of snow into the air. I see it as a dance–a romance perhaps–snow and wind in a waltz. I felt pity for motorists in either ‘stand-still’ traffic, or a ‘crowd’ of cars. “Suckers,” I could … Read More
All of us will encounter tests on our way. Once Indradyumna Maharaja told me a pertinent story: many years ago Maharaja was on sankirtana with a group of brahmacaris. They were planning to sing in the streets of Paris. It was a particularly difficult day: first the petrol in the car ran … Read More
By Prof. Keith Ward Can a scholar be a true believer? Can a believer be a good scholar? Two parts of a problem that has exercised many in the West since at least the Enlightenment. Prof. Keith Ward, Regius Professor Emeritus of Divinity at the University of Oxford, takes a fresh look … Read More
From Back to Godhead By Karandhara Dasa Krsna consciousness means God consciousness. We all have consciousness or awareness, but of what are we aware? For example, if you are pinched you will feel it that is consciousness. In our normal everyday activities we are conscious of so many things like our stomach, … Read More
By Purushottam Nitai Das Arjuna had never been defeated in any battle. But today standing between the armies of Kaurava and Pandavas he was not even able to hold his famous Gandiva bow with which he had conquered the mightiest of the warriors. He was in total panic, his body was quivering … Read More