India’s Holy Cow Becoming Extinct — Video

Gaurapada: You are in the middle of the universe. [Laughs] Hare Krsna, welcome to Radha-kund. [Laughs] Radha-kund is a small village, maybe 3000 people only. But at certain times you will see, big-time is like one day 4 million people coming through this small town. The beauty of a small town is that still you can see more about Vedic culture, Vedic way of living and the main basis of Vedic lifestyle was that the cow was in the centre. ...Read More

NASA Images Discover Ancient Bridge between India and Sri Lanka

Space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. The recently discovered bridge currently named as Adam’s Bridge is made of chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long. The bridge’s unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the a primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ...Read More

The Krishna Consciousness Movement is the Genuine Vedic Way

After reading an article on the Krishna consciousness movement in the Los Angeles Times, Srila Prabhupada begins an unusual correspondence with Dr. J.F. Stall, Professor of Philosophy and of South Asian Languages at the University of California, Berkeley… Excerpt from the Los Angeles Times Article “Dr. J. F. Staal, Professor of Philosophy and Near Eastern Languages at UC Berkeley and an instructor in Indian philosophy, believes that the Krsna sect is an authentic Indian religion and that its adherents ...Read More

Instruments of Kirtan: Harmonium, Mridanga, & Kartals — and Where to Learn

Enhance your Kirtan Experience Along with being one of the main forms of Hare Krishna worship, Kirtan can be great fun — dancing and singing with friends and others. Playing an instrument in kirtan can enhance the experience for you, and everyone present. The traditional instruments for kirtan in India are the harmonium (like a pump organ), the mridanga (2-headed clay drum), and the kartals (small hand-cymbals). Harmonium The Harmonium is a pump-powered reed organ. In India and other parts of South Asia, ...Read More

Vegetarian Cooking – The Art of Indian Sweets

Delicious Treats of Indian Cuisine Have you ever tasted some well-cooked Halava? A Laddhu, or Sandesh? Have you ever popped a whole Gulab-jamun into your mouth and had the sweet syrup burst out of the cake-ball into your mouth in a delightful explosion of sugary goodness? If so, then you probably know how wonderful Indian sweets can be. If not, then it may be time to experience. Preparing Indian Sweets Preparing Indian Sweets can be a challenge. Getting them just right requires the ...Read More

Vegetarian Cooking – How to Cook Delicious Vegetarian Meals

Making Vegetarianism Work for You If one is new to the vegetarian way, and they are used to cooking with a lot of meat, it may be a little bit challenging to make nice, satisfying, wholesome meals, suitable for a vegetarian diet. One way to make it work is to understand how to make wholesome meals which can meet all of your nutritional needs. There are many delicious varieties of combinations of foods to do this. Some of my personal favorites are Rice ...Read More

Indian Sari’s – Traditional Ladies’ Attire for Temple, Party, or Street

What is a Sari? Saris, or Sarees, are traditional women’s clothing in India. They have been such for thousands of years. Saris are very beautiful, elegant and fashionable. In modern times, they have become used by people internationally, not just Indians. They have become a very recognized part of Indian culture, and even celebrities in the Western world have made appearances wearing Saris. A sari is pretty much a strip of cloth, wrapped around the waist, and donned in a particular way ...Read More

MaMathura: A District Memoir — A very rare Vrindavan Guide Book from 1874!

We have been able to acquire the last copies of “Mathura: A District Memoir”, a truly amazing book first published in 1874 which could be called an encyclopedia and dictionary on Mathura and Vrindavan in 1874. It is written by F.S. Growse who was a British District Officer in the East India Company days. He lived for many years in Mathura and produced this fabulous book documenting all aspects of Vrindavan and Mathura at the time. The book includes many ...Read More

The Horrible Indian Caste System

Most of us have heard about the horrible caste system which is now current in India. The current Indian caste system is a perversion of the teachings of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita: “According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.” (Bhagavad Gita 4.13) So ...Read More

Why we criticize Mayavadis?

Many people write to us asking why Srila Prabhupada criticizes Mayavadis and impersonalists. Often they appear to accept the Mayavadi ideas that currently flood the world. Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to Caitanya-caritamrta Adi. 10.84: “Obeisances are therefore offered to the spiritual master as s?rasvata-deva, or a member of the S?rasvata family (namas te s?rasvate deve), whose mission is to broadcast the cult of ?r? Caitanya Mah?prabhu (gaura-v???-prac?ri?e) and to fight with impersonalists and voidists (nirvi?e?a-??nyav?di-p??c?tya-de?a-t?ri?e). This was also the ...Read More

India–From Punya-Bhumi to the Land of Sinners

Over the last thirty years I have spent a lot of time in India and I am very, very dismayed to see the incredibly rapid degradation of the Indian people. Srila Prabhupada wrote: “Indeed, the chief executives of the present day introduce all kinds of sinful activity, especially illicit sex, intoxication, animal killing and gambling. These sinful activities are now very prominently manifested in India. Although a hundred years ago these four principles of sinful life were strictly prohibited in the ...Read More

It Once Happened…

The British were in India and held great sway through the East India Company. One of their rewarding financial `arrangements’ was to arrange for monies being paid to temples for their maintenance to instead be paid as a tax to them. The Indian system is that endowments are often left by rich devotee patrons so that the Deity of the temple can be worshipped in perpetuity. And often the endowment was the entire village wherein the temple stood, along with ...Read More

Prabhupada Speaks to the Birlas, India’s Richest Family (MP3 Audio)

DOWNLOAD To become very big businessman is not ordinary thing; it requires very great labour, brain. But the result, Krishna says, Give it to Me. So there is no harm to become very big businessman, earning money. That is all right–but you give it to Krishna. Then in any position you can remain Krishna consciousness. sri prahlada uvaca kaumaram acaret prajno dharman bhagavatan iha (aside:) You can give some stand. How long he will stand? durlabham manusam janma tad apy adhruvam ...Read More

Prabhupada And Nehru’s Incarnation

The incident that we are going to recount took place in mid-sixties. It took place soon after Nehru’s death when Prabhupada was still alive. I was then working in an office in downtown Broadway in New York City, not too far from Brooklyn. There at Brooklyn, in Henry Street, Prabhupada used to preach in a small house, which served, at the time, as some kind of a head-quarters of the Hare Krishna people. I used to go and attend their services, ...Read More

City Under the Sea

B.K. Parthasarathy writes about a spectacular underwater archaeological find by a joint British-Indian diving team that could rewrite history. Who would have thought a city that could be older than the Harappan civilization could be lying beneath water right off the coast of Mahabalipuram? Sometimes, it pays to listen to the stories of humble fishermen. Local fishermen in the ...Read More

Krishna Consciousness–Hindu Cult or Divine Culture?

Sometimes Indians both inside and outside of India think that we are preaching the Hindu religion, but actually we are not. People should not think that we are preaching a sectarian religion. No. We are simply preaching how to love God. We are giving a spiritual culture that can solve all the problems of life, and therefore it is being accepted all over the world. There is a misconception that the Krishna consciousness movement represents the Hindu religion. In fact, however, ...Read More

Sankara, India’s Greatest Impersonalist Meditated on Lord Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita

Srila Prabhupada chastises impersonalist yogis and swamis, the nominal followers of the ninth-century teacher Sankara, in this commentary on Sankara’s Meditation on the Bhagavad Gita: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Whereas Sankara, the greatest of the impersonalists, offers his due respects to Krishna and His book Bhagavad Gita, the foolish say that we need not surrender to the personal Krishna. –1– O Bhagavad-gita, Through Thy eighteen chapters Thou showerest upon man The immortal nectar ...Read More

The Indian Caste System

Although many Hindus subscribe to the belief that one is born into a certain caste this belief is not supported by their scriptures. The caste system in India has degenerated into a system falsely recognizing men born in Brahmin families as Brahmins, even though they don’t exhibit the qualities of Brahmins. This has caused so many problems. “Brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras are distinguished by the qualities born of their own natures in accordance with the material modes, O chastiser of ...Read More

History of the Fibreglass [Balaram / Tilak] Mridanga

My name is Ishan das. I created the Balaram mridanga in L.A. It is really quite a story. But I’ll give you the brief version. Some time in 1972-73 Srila Prabhupada saw that the East Indians were not carrying on the tradition of making the original mridangas and kartals. The younger generation who would normally take over the arts from their fathers were becoming more and more interested in going to school and going to the cities. ...Read More

My new film: Giri Govardhana Bathes in the River Yamuna

Hare Krishna! As some of you know I have been living in Vrindavan for the last few months. Vrindavan is a holy city in India not far from New Delhi and quite close to the Taj Mahal in Agra. Vrindavan is the place where Lord Krishna spent His childhood when He appeared on this planet 5,000 years ago. It is not an ordinary place. Here the only activity is really worshipping Krishna. That is why people come to Vrindavan, either to live ...Read More

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