hinduism | The Hare Krishna Movement

A Short Biography of Srila Prabhupada

01 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Uncategorized Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta, abhay, hinduism, His Divine Grace, India, Krishna, religion, spirituality, Srila Prabhupada, swami

We are leaving for India next week. First stop Kolkota. We want to visit the birthplace of Srila Prabhupada, so I went to the webpage: Birthplace Temple and found this nice Biography which we share today with you.

A Short Biography of Srila Prabhupada

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-Acharya of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) which brought a spiritual dimension to the lives of thousands of his followers. He was a rare personality who appeared on the earth and dedicated his life to spreading God consciousness all over the world.

The scriptures recommend the chanting of the holy name of Lord Krishna (Harinama sankirtan) as the devotional practice best suited for the present age for spiritual perfection. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who appeared over 500 years ago in West Bengal, India was the greatest exponent of this method. He predicted that His message will be carried to every town and village of this world by a powerful spiritual ambassador. The life and activities of Srila Prabhupada prove beyond doubt that he was the empowered personality who appeared to fulfil this prediction.

When His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada entered the port of New York City on September 17, 1965 few Americans took notice — but he was not merely another immigrant. He was on a mission to introduce the ancient teachings of Vedic India into mainstream America. Before Srila Prabhupada passed away on November 14, 1977 at the age of 81, his mission proved successful. He had founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and saw it grow into a worldwide confederation of more than 100 temples, ashrams and cultural centers.

Disappearance Day of Madhvacarya

06 Feb 2025 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Chanchalapati das, Devotee's, Disciplic succession, Guru & Disciple, guru-tattva, Uncategorized Tags: Bhagavad-gita, disciplic succession, evam-parampara, hinduism, India, iskcon-banglore, Krishna, madhvacarya, spirituality

So today we recognize the Disappearance day of Madhvacarya, who is in our line of Disciplic Succession dating back to Krsna. His philosophy and writings have distinguished him as one of India’s greatest spiritual teachers. He is the Acarya of the Madhva Sampradaya. So this following post by Chanchalapathi Prabhu is very timely.

“Srila Prabhupada is the Deliverer of all ISKCON Devotees”

By Chanchalapathi Dasa -ISKCON Bangalore

Recently I had the opportunity of interacting with a few scholars of Madhva sampradaya in Bangalore and Udupi. One of them was an elderly Sanskrit scholar, a seventy year old retired university professor, a respected teacher and follower of Madhva philosophy in Bangalore.

The discussion with him led to the subject of the theological differences between ISKCON Bangalore and ISKCON Mumbai.

Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

01 Feb 2025 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Uncategorized Tags: ac-bhaktivedanta, Caitanya, hinduism, India, Krishna, spirituality, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Krishna Caitanya, Srila Prabhupada, travel

Sometimes I think if only I could take a picture with my mind, and recall it at any time, this would be one of the images I would like to hold on to. And of course one of Srila Prabhupada as well.

We share with you a song by Narottama Das Thakur entitled “Gaurangera Duti Pada”, with a purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.

Gaurangera Duti Pada
by Narottama Dasa Thakura

” Anyone who has accepted the two lotus feet of Lord Caitanya can understand the true essence of devotional service. If one is captivated by the pleasing pastimes of Lord Caitanya, the dirty things in his heart will all become cleansed.“

…Gauranga refers to Lord Caitanya, who has a fair complexion. One who has a fair complexion is called gaura, and since Lord Caitanya was very fair, just like molten gold, He was also named Gaurasundara. Narottama dasa Thakura says, gaurangera duti pada, jar dhana-sampada, se jane bhakati-rasa-sar. Anyone who has accepted the two lotus feet of Lord Caitanya can understand the true essence of devotional service. Devotional service is very difficult. It cannot be understood by any ordinary man. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, out of many thousands of persons who are trying to achieve the perfection of human life, only some actually become perfect and realize the self. And out of many thousands of such self-realized persons, only one can understand Krsna. Without understanding Krsna, how can one engage himself in the service of Krsna? Therefore, the devotional service of Krsna is not an ordinary thing. But fortunately, if one follows in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya (gaurangera duti pada) by following the path shown by Lord Caitanya-the process of simply chanting Hare Krsna-he can very easily understand what devotional service is. (from purport to the song “Gaurangera Duti Pada”)

Full song with Bengali Lyrics, English translation, and purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Month of Kartika

19 Oct 2024 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Damodara, Kartika, Krishna Consciousness, Krsna, Krsna Book Tags: Damodara, hinduism, India, Kartika, Krishna, lord-domodara, Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas, spirituality, Sri Damodarastaka, Sri Satyavrata Muni, travel

A few days ago on the full moon (purnima) we started the month of Kartika, or as I like to say, the month of Damodara. As always during this month, we sing the Damodara prayers (Sri Damodararastaka) daily and light a candle to offer. It is also a good time to read from the KRSNA Book and just delight in the childhood pastimes of Lord Krishna.

Included below are the lyrics and translations from the original “Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas” song book.

A Perfect Guru

26 Sep 2013 1 Comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Guru & Disciple, guru-tattva, Lectures Tags: a perfect guru, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada varnasrama-dharma, audio link, brahmacari, class on the srimad bhagavatam, guru what is guru, hindu dharma, hinduism, human civilization, Indus region, prabhupada vani, Sanatana-kharma, Sanskrit, SB 7.12.2, Srila Prabhupada lecture, Srimad Bhagavatam lecture, Vaisnavas, Vedas

This is a very nice lecture given by Srila Prabhupada in Bombay April, 1976 and is a very good description of what is a guru. We have also included a link to the audio file so that you can listen to the lecture at the same time you are reading it. This is our first audio link that we have posted from this site, as an experiment.

In this lecture Srila Prabhupada begins “So the first training, how to create a brahmacari… This is human civilization…So we must come to the platform of varnasrama-dharma, not “Hindu dharma”. As he’s stated many times, the term “Hindu” is not a name that you find in the Vedas or in Sanskrit. Rather, it was a name given by the Muslims, who were referring to the people of the Indus region. The religion of the Vaisnavas is Sanatana-dharma, not Hinduism.

Also a very nice definition of what it means to be a guru is described; “A perfect guru is one who is speaking on behalf of Krsna – not on his own behalf.” “If you want to have a perfect guru, then you have to see whether he is speaking on behalf of Krsna or on his own behalf. One who speaks on his own behalf, manufactures, he is not guru. He’s a rascal. One who speaks on behalf of Krsna, he is guru.”

Class on the Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.12.02
Bombay, April 13, 1976
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

to Listen to Lecture