Govinda dāsī raised her hand. “Prabhupāda,” she asked, “what does it mean exactly to surrender?” “Surrender,” Prabhupāda replied, “is to know that ‘I am nothing…’ ” As Prabhupāda spoke, Govinda dāsī, accustomed to taking dictation, wrote down the answer, while other devotees – some seated on the floor around Prabhupāda’sContinue Reading
A man or woman who indulges in sexual intercourse with an unworthy member of the opposite sex is punished after death by the assistants of Yamarāja in the hell known as Taptasūrmi. There such men and women are beaten with whips. The man is forced to embrace a red-hot ironContinue Reading
By the arrangement of the Supreme Lord, low-grade living beings like bugs and mosquitoes suck the blood of human beings and other animals. Such insignificant creatures are unaware that their bites are painful to the human being. However, first-class human beings — brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas — are developed inContinue Reading
There is actually only one religious principle: dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam. The only religious principle is to follow the orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unfortunately, especially in this Age of Kali, everyone is an atheist. People do not even believe in God, what to speak of following His words. TheContinue Reading
One day, while Prabhupāda was sitting in his room receiving his massage, he began talking and laughing. As he sat on the floor with one leg tucked under his body and one leg outstretched before him, he told the two or three devotees present how Kṛṣṇa, carrying the lunch HisContinue Reading
There are two kinds of opulence. One, which results from one’s karma, is material, whereas the other is spiritual. A surrendered soul who fully depends upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not want material opulence for sense gratification. Therefore when a pure devotee is seen to possess exalted material opulence, itContinue Reading
One who becomes a devotee, free from material desires and motives, regards all opportunities, both material and spiritual, as benedictions from the Lord, and in this way his service to the Lord is never hampered. Bhukti, material enjoyment, and mukti, liberation, are only by-products of devotional service. A devotee need not work separately toContinue Reading
In 1970 Srila Prabhupada appointed the first GBC to manage the daily affairs of ISKCON so Srila Prabhupada could simply write books as this was His main aspiration and inspiration for His students. But this didn’t happen as you read below His thoughts. Srila Prabhupada was constantly dragged back intoContinue Reading
Hindu means the culture of the Indians. India happens to be situated on the other side of the Indus River which is now in Pakistan which is spelled Indus — in Sanskrit it is called Sindhu. The sindhu was misspelled by the Europeans as Indus, and from Indus the wordContinue Reading
yasya rāṣṭre prajāḥ sarvās trasyante sādhvy asādhubhiḥ tasya mattasya naśyanti kīrtir āyur bhago gatiḥ eṣa rājñāṁ paro dharmo hy ārtānām ārti-nigrahaḥ ata enaṁ vadhiṣyāmi bhūta-druham asattamam Translation O chaste one, the king’s good name, duration of life and good rebirth vanish when all kinds of living beings are terrified byContinue Reading