Writings

Numerous opinions abound about there being or not being an advent of Kalki-avatara at the end of Kali-yuga. Although Srimad Bhagavatam has mentioned the appearance of Kalki-avatara at the end of this Kali-yuga, some preachers are of the opinion that due to ‘the dawn of the age of love’ there will be no appearance of Kalki-avatara at the end of this Kali-yuga.

The Star of David [in Hebrew, the Magen David or Shield of David] is renowned as the sacred symbol of the Jewish faith. Indeed, the Star of David is the distinguishing feature on the Israeli flag and as an ornament of jewelry the Star of David is proudly worn by millions of devout Jews worldwide. Yes, the Star of David is purely Jewish. Or is it?

Devotees throng by the tens and hundreds of thousands every year, and especially during the month of Karttika, to have darsana of Sri Sri Radha-Damodara and to circumambulate the temple. The Deity of Damodara with Sri Radha to His left and Sri Lalita to His right is the eternal blackish form of Sri Krsna appearing in Vraja to satisfy the desires of His pure devotees. But much to the amazement of the observant devotee, Sri Damodara has changed His blackish colour to that of an effulgent brown! Not only has Damodara changed His colour, but all the original Deities of Sri Krsna in Vraja, and those that have gone elsewhere such as Govindadeva and Gopinatha in Jaipur, are changing their colour to brown as well! This is indeed a mystery.

There is a great misunderstanding in the secular and religious world and especially within the Abrahamic traditions, (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) on the question of Deity worship. The English word 'idol' is usually used when describing any worship that concentrates on likenesses of demons, gods, goddesses, Visnu or Krsna. The term 'idol' has a very bad connotation in the west and conjures up images of pagans, heathens and other wild uncultured persons ...

After wandering in this material world for many lifetimes, by the mercy of guru and Krsna, the seed of devotion is awakened within our heart. The process starts with a little faith (adau sraddha) and this faith leads us to seek answers (pariprasna) and the association of devotees (sadhu-sanga), those who are practitioners of the devotional process. The cultivation of this seed of the creeper of devotion is the substance of our devotional life.

"Don’t feel discouraged, Krsna and His devotees are reaching out to you. They are reaching to embrace you. Their causeless mercy is our greatest fortune. For some reason unbeknownst to us, we have this opportunity. We are being canvased into that sankirtana , as He has appeared as Mahaprabhu."

In popular western thinking, no two symbols could possibly be more at odds with each other than the swastika and the cross. The swastika is the symbol of Nazi war crimes against humanity and the cross is the symbol of goodness, mercy and divine grace.But what if this isn’t true?

I received hari-nama from Srila B.P. Puri Maharaja, gayatri from Srila B.R. Sridhara Maharaja and sannyasa from Srila Prabhupada

The Gaudiya conception of the maha-mantra is exclusive and stands distinct from all other sampradayas. The Gaudiya conception is exclusive in that it surpasses even the greatest expectations of the Vedas (liberation) and affords one the highest fulfillment of the ultimate goal of life. This is not simply party spirit propaganda or sampradaya jingoism, but an ontological fact.

Some scholars of Gaudiya Vaisnavism claim that the associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Prabodhananda Sarasvati and the Mayavadi sannyasi Prakasananda Sarasvati are one and the same person. From the historical and sastrika perspective it is clear that Prabodhananda was never a Mayavadi sannyasi.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura composed the verse, matala hari-jana visaya range pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange, in 1930 on the occasion of moving the Deities of Sri Gaurasundara and Sri Sri Vinoda-Anandajiu from the old house at Ultadanga Junction Road to the new temple in Bagh Bazaar, Kolkata.

Real renunciation means to engage everything in the service of the Lord and to fix one's aspiration to serve Him with great determination -- not just simply renouncing for the sake of renouncing. If one does so, he is not actually a sannyasi.