As sacred tour guide Dina Bandhu Dasa approached Varsana, the legendary home of Lord Krishna’s consort Radharani, dusk was falling; but the festivities were only beginning.

Dina Bandhu is one of the privileged few westerners who know about the annual Phul Bangalas – flower palaces – and Kavi Sanmelans – poetry recitals – demonstrated at Varsana and Nandagram, the village of Krishna’s adoptive father Nanda Maharaja.

MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. -- Sujoy Bhowmik lives in two worlds.

On most days, he is a pharmacist at a CVS in Columbus. Other days, he is Narottama Das, a devotee of Hare Krishna, who finds peace in West Virginia at the Palace of Gold.

Once a religion whose members gave their life to the movement, the Hare Krishnas today welcome the most devoted people and the casual follower. In the 1970s, many of the members lived in communes. Now many, like Bhowmik, have careers and live outside the movement but are still devoted to their religion.

Andhra Pradesh [India] Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said today that, with the oil crisis deepening, the time had come to explore alternative energy sources.

Mr. Reddy released a book entitled "Oil: Final Countdown to a Global Crisis and its Solutions" by ISKCON member Sahadeva Dasa at an impressive function. He said the problem was of even more concern for oil importing countries such as India.

Here's a fabulous recipe if you ever have a lot of cucumbers and don't know what to do with them.

It is interesting that the US and UK style themselves as “liberators” of Iraq. Subtly implied in this euphemistic term is the assumption that we are ourselves already liberated, in a position to bestow our happy state on others. And that is surely a commonly held assumption in the West. We view ourselves as having the most progressive and free societies. But how true is this?

Rick and Julie Vreeland opened Freedom Hill Farm last year as a place for kids, but quickly found themselves fielding an unexpected request: The people who came wanted to buy raw milk.

In August 2007 the Vreelands began selling raw milk. In that first month they sold 13 gallons of it; last month, they sold more than a thousand.

Wouldn’t it be grand if married couples everywhere could have enduring, satisfying relationships, based on spiritual principles? Wouldn’t it be marvelous if all children could grow up in a healthy two-parent home? Such was the goal of most of the attendees of the 12th Annual SmartMarriages conference from July 2-6, 2008 in San Francisco, California.

Californians, long known for their propensity to buck convention, have apparently done it again: A national survey released Monday revealed that they are less religious and less certain about the existence of God than the nation as a whole.

Residents of the Golden State do not pray as much as people in other parts of the country. They are less inclined to take scripture literally. And they are likelier to embrace "more than one true way" of interpreting their religious teachings.

More than one million people in Taiwan have pledged to help cut carbon emissions by being a vegetarian. Taiwan's population is about 23 million, and the one million vegetarians would reduce at least 1.5 million tons of carbon emissions in Taiwan in one year.

On June 20th 2008 Gokulananda, a second generation ISKCON member—or gurukuli—died by suicide in Marina Del Rey, California. His death was reported to his family and Gurukuli peers by his girlfriend of five years, Michelle Lemay.

On June 29th, about ten of Gokulananda’s gurukuli peers gathered with other friends to honor his bright spirit and to pray for peace and happiness on his journey.

The part of the brain responsible for memory shrinks twice as much in elderly people who have had a limited education, stunted social life or have not kept mentally active since they were teens, a Sydney study has found.

University of NSW researchers followed a group of 60-year-olds over three years and found that those who had been mentally and physically active continually since the age of 13 had a larger hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls short-term memory and navigation skills.

If you ever watch TV, read a newspaper, or listen to the radio, chances are you'll have heard of the term 'carbon footprint' by now. In our increasingly green conscious society, it's the buzzword of the minute, and refers to the impact human activities have on the environment.

For Americans, the fourth of July is the day they gained independence, a day for celebration, a day for reveling in their patriotism. Spirituality is rarely part of the proceedings.

But this year, the fourth of July seems blessed.

In Washington D.C., ISKCON devotees joined the Independence Day parade, singing the Hare Krishna mantra and pulling Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra—deity forms of God—on their classic Ratha Yatra cart.

The Tirumala temple, in the south Indian city of Tirupathi, is one of Hinduism's holiest shrines. Over 5,000 pilgrims a day visit this city of seven hills, filling Tirumala's coffers with donations and making it India's richest temple. But since 2002, Tirumala has also been generating revenue from a less likely source: carbon credits. For decades, the temple's community kitchen has fed nearly 15,000 people, cooking 30,000 meals a day.

If you caught your son burning ants with a magnifying glass, would it bother you less than if you found him torturing a mouse with a soldering iron? How about a snake? How about his sister?

Does Khalid Shaikh Mohammed — the Guantánamo detainee who claims he personally beheaded the reporter Daniel Pearl — deserve the rights he denied Mr. Pearl? Which ones? A painless execution? Exemption from capital punishment? Decent prison conditions? Habeas corpus?

The demons cannot understand that the God can be a person. That is demoniac. They cannot... Because they cannot understand, the difficulty is a demon tries to understand God, comparing with himself.

Dr. Frog, that the story of Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is trying to understand Atlantic Ocean comparing with his three-feet well, that's all. When he is informed that there is Atlantic Ocean, he's simply comparing with his limited space. It may be four feet, or it may be five feet, it may be ten feet, because he is within the three feet. His friend informed, "Oh, I have seen a reservoir of water, vast water." So that vastness, he is just conjecturing, "How much the vastness may be? My well is three feet, it may be four feet, five feet," now he is going on. But he may go on millions of millions of feet it is still it is greater. That is another thing. Therefore, atheistic persons, demons, they think in their own way that God, Krishna may be like this, Krishna may be like this, Krishna may be like this. Generally they think that Krishna are I. How they say? Krishna is not great. They do not believe that God is great. He thinks that God is as good as I am, I am also God. This is demonic.

The Indian government has unveiled a national action plan to confront the threat posed by climate change.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the plan envisaged a gradual shift to greater reliance on sustainable sources of energy.

The Krishna Culture Festival Tour, a bus tour for ISKCON youth, travels around the US every summer, helping to set up Festival of India shows and putting on their own shows in theatres and college auditoriums.

This year they were in for a special treat, as they stopped in at ISCOWP (The International Society for Cow Protection) in New Vrindaban, West Virginia on June 30th.

Homemade hummus is much, much better than any shop-bought version, unless you are purchasing the freshly made product from a traditional middle-eastern suppler. Truly authentic hummus is made from freshly soaked, boiled and peeled chickpeas - not as daunting as it sounds! If that's all too hard, buy canned chickpeas, and proceed from there; but the result will definitely be inferior.

Here in Australia, I use the Ord River chickpeas from Western Australia. When cooked they produce big, soft creamy-textured chickpeas, ideal for hummus. Overseas readers should locate the largest chickpeas you can find. Big is beautiful in the chickpea world, I have discovered. This recipe makes 1½ cups.

As of late, in the year 2007, the idea of whether Lord Rama exists or not has been called into question, by no less than some of the politicians in India. So it is a wonder how such persons can be accepted as leaders of the people of India who should be concerned with preserving and protecting the culture of the country.