ISKCON NewsThe News Agency of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

We, like the frog in the popular story, can easily detect sweeping cultural changes but often not small, incremental cultural shifts. And as a consequence we are in danger of being boiled to death by our own society. We are not realising that, in our bid for personal freedom and social liberality, we are reaching a boiling point.

Without the grace and knowledge I have received in my practice and life as a Hindu minister, I would not be able to approach my heritage as a Christian in such a meaningful way. This reality leaves me with a grateful heart, and a desire to go deeper into this harmony, to honor where I have come from, where I am now, and where I am meant to go.

The Life article points out that man has always been fascinated by disasters. Why? I’d say it’s because we know that a disaster may strike any of us at any moment. Although in recent years a whole field of risk management has developed to counteract risks and dangers, still the only shelter is the Lord’s lotus feet.

What`s the happiest place in the world? According to a research led by the London School of Economics, the happiest place in the world is, would you believe?, Bangladesh.

Someone could propose that the true path to inner peace is to walk into your closest multi-storey car park and smash the windscreen of every blue Vauxhall Astra while simultaneously screaming at the top of your voice! Well... it’s something you could conceivably do, but something I doubt anyone would seriously consider.

Over the last couple of decades devotees in East Africa have faced many adverse situations during preaching, which resulted them in building a “fence” around themselves, limiting them in their endevours to spread Krishna-consciousness. A survey has been conducted to find the probable causes and the solutions.

As I looked over the class-schedule for February, I read the title “Modern Hindu Trends” and thought to myself: “Well, I really hope this course won’t be something too vague, but rather help me connect the history of India and Hinduism with what I practice in devotional life…”

Communal living with thirty monks isn’t easy. We may dress in a uniform way and don the same haircut, but you probably couldn’t find a more diverse group of people living in such close quarters.

For Krishna devotees, finding the right mate may be a little tricky. On the one hand, a devotee wants someone who will walk the path of devotional service with him or her. On the other hand, they are sentient beings with individual likes and dislikes, preferences, karma etc, and so they have desires that sometimes conflict with our best spiritual interests.

The Bhagavad-gita explains how the various traditions all stem from a divine source, and all offer the potential of spiritual elevation. How can we overlook striking contradictions in the various historical and cultural accounts? Could this be a naive ‘new age’ attempt to avoid confrontation and create ‘peace, love and unity’?

Vikram is an American of Indian parentage who knew a little about religion, Hinduism and yoga. He wanted to see how readily he would be accepted by spiritual seekers if he adopted the appearance, speech and mannerisms of a ‘guru.’

“It is by the goodness of God that we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practise either of them,” wrote Mark Twain. Wise words from the esteemed author, although it seems that some of us may well doubt their wisdom.

Civilizations endure because, from time to time, they are able to repair the deterioration that age and complacency bring to them. In a religious context such repair is often called a revival; in a cultural context it is called a renaissance.

Noisy, loud and boisterous environments; opulence and excessively luxurious habits; stressful, demanding and taxing lifestyles – these can all clutter our consciousness, and block one from accessing higher wisdom and spiritual ideals.

No less an authority than the Encyclopedia Britannica states that "in monotheistic religions, evil does not originate within the divinity nor in general within a divine world." Thus, God is barred from hell, an eternal realm of misery.

Forget about trying to be a great advanced devotee. Forget about trying to be a saint. Sri Caitanya did not like this idea. He simply wanted us to become the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord and to chant the name in that spirit. That should be only our aspiration.

True leaders function as servant leaders, uninterested in personal fame and selfish gain, but instead completely focused on bringing out the best in others. As Abraham Lincoln said “it’s amazing what you can achieve when you don’t care who gets the credit.”

Perhaps you may be thinking it a bit extreme or unreasonable for me to compare a cow with a domesticated animal. If so, I would humbly request you to spend thirty minutes in close proximity with a cow. Give her a good brushing under the neck and see how she lovingly reciprocates.

Thirty-eight years ago I became a vegetarian. In all this time I have not eaten any dead animals, and I’ve avoided any food ingredients derived from animal body parts. No cows, sheep, pigs; no fish, no chicken – and, specially here in London, no jellied eels. Are you impressed?

Srila Prabhupada sometimes told us that one definition of a brahmana is liberal, broadminded, generous, as opposed to the narrow-minded kripana, who is miserly and grudging—at best—in appreciating others with whom he does not closely identify.