ISKCON NewsThe News Agency of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

The world is full of temptations, allurements and a variety of attractive enticements. A cool-headed analysis of them confirms their ultimate uselessness and striking inability to bring us what we really desire. Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, such temptations are practically irresistable.

Whenever we think of Krishna during difficult times, we often justify the deterioration of our spiritual practices: “Krishna, you understand how big this problem is. I need to deal with this first before I can resume proper chanting.”

“God is so great that we tiny creatures can never know him.” So claim some people. At first sight, this position seems reasonable and even humble. However, it neglects the reality that God is so great that he transcends not only affirmation, but also negation.

There are many who, at one time or another, were involved in ISKCON in some way, and now they are not. That is not to say their relationship with Krishna has been interrupted – no power on earth can do that – but their contributions to, support for, and social involvement with other members of ISKCON has lapsed.

Since the novelty has worn off, ISKCON has dropped off screens. It was contrary to Srila Prabhupada’s principles to be below the radar. It’s also anti-preaching to be so invisible.

Many mass killers and criminals have become heroes and they have their fans. How many times have we heard the excuse, “The devil made me do it” as a way of absolving oneself from guilt, when actually the attempted fulfilment of perverse desires is the ugly truth?

In the late 1960s, when the acclaimed Vedic scholar/teacher A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada brought the timeless tradition of bhakti-yoga to the Western world, his vision of spiritual renewal for a society caught up in the throes of tremendous upheaval included a bold yet elementary cure.

Gold is good. We all want it, or at least a facsimile thereof. A golden age refers to an era of goodness and plenty, acknowledged in Greek, Roman, and Indian cultures. If you have everything, you were born with "a golden spoon in your mouth."

When our sincerity drives our moral and spiritual compass, then we will able to understand how to strike the proper balance between need and sacrifice in our devotional lives, and we will also be receptive to others' guidance to help us to do so.

“The god particle has zero charge, zero spin and a near-zero lifespan; it exists for less than a trillionth of a second. Does that sound like God to you?” I counter-questioned when asked after a recent talk whether the discovery of the god particle disproved the existence of God.

The ISKCON movement is comprised of anything up to one million individuals, only a fraction of them initiated. Are the others then not members? Should another organization be created for them?

Recently I was in Trafalgar Square. There were crowds of tourists taking holiday snaps by the Olympic Countdown Clock. As I saw the digits slowly decreasing, it made me think that maybe up there in the heavens is a similar clock which is counting down my life span.

It seems that a humble disposition is the key to opening up the treasure house of spiritual experience. It brings freedom and joy, and helps us to live life the way it should be lived. Being humble is actually incredibly liberating.

We have to learn to give ourselves the time of day. If we are just jumping all over the place, trying to be selfless, we may become resentful, because we have deprived ourselves of our needs. If we don't fulfill our real needs, then we set up ourselves to fall back into these patterns of indulgence again and again.

Many of us have experienced, especially in the last five to ten years, a palpable shift in the way people of faith now view interfaith dialogue. Increasingly, the institutional, formal and doctrine-driven approach that dominated the field in previous decades seems to be giving way to the personal, informal, and relational model.

There is something in our post-modern character which makes the guru-disciple dynamic very, very difficult. We are drawn very deeply to strains within our being which encourage our individuality, but the structure of our society tends to harp upon those strains in ways which cultivate pride, greed, envy, and all the classic elements which are anathema to our spirit.

You’re basically a member of ISKCON if you want to be one. While that’s true, it might also be an over simplification. In real life, you often have to meet certain expectations before you’re accepted by a group.

The main idea being that its the individual who chooses to identify himself or herself as being a member. This self-identification comes about when one’s current interests and needs are met by ISKCON, and tends to disappear when one’s needs are not met.

Do we feel comfortable offering foods that have been genetically modified on the altar to our respective Deities? Do we feel comfortable eating these foods ourselves? If these foodstuffs have animal genes in them, would we consider these foods fit for offering or for consumption?

The course of any organization never runs perfectly smoothly, and in the case of spiritual movements you can double or triple the lack of smoothness. Why?