Philosophical Articles

(A lecture delivered by Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja on Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭami 18th August 1995 in Bhubaneswar, India.) The Bhāgavata says, to hear this transcendental līlā-kāhāṇī of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa...

In ISKCON, while women are generally recognized informally as spiritual teachers, no woman has so far been formally allowed to serve as an initiating spiritual master, dīkṣā-guru. Now there is a proposal to allow a woman to take up this role, and this has created some controversy.

by Swami B.V. Tripurari Gopastami occurs on the eighth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Kartika. On this day, as Krishna entered...

We should approach Sri Guru bearing our heart in hand, offering it in divine service. Sri Guru will then take our heart and offer it to Sri Krsna, who has lost his own heart to his unalloyed devotees.

On October 20, 1956, Srila Prabhupada described the qualities that he wished to invoke in the members of his new society, The League of...

If a person engages in the process of bhakti yoga and yet continues to engage in activities that are detrimental to spiritual progress, his spiritual progress will be very slow. This does not mean that a person must be completely free of all bad habits before he can even begin the process of bhakti yoga. For example, in the Philippines, one teacher saved many young people who were addicted to heroin and other drugs by teaching them the process of bhakti yoga. It took some time before they could completely give up all drugs; but eventually they did.

Sometimes a person is still addicted to cigarette smoking or meat-eating. If he follows the process of bhakti yoga, then gradually he will be able to give up such habits. It is a question of tasting a higher taste. If a person engages in the process of bhakti yoga, he will gradually begin to taste the higher spiritual happiness, and he will be able to give up all vices naturally. After he gives up such bad habits, then his progress will be very rapid.

Why express concern only for (hope) "that the dead and injured are not related to the more than 200 devotees of his Catonsville-based Iskcon Hare Krishna congregation?" Why not be concerned for all who are...

The following is adapted from Reform in Tradition: Bhaktivinoda’s apologetic for the Bhagavat Purana, originally published in Iskcon Communications Journal. By Krsna Ksetra dasa As a...

Hari-bhakti-vilasa Sixteenth Vilasa, Volume One by Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami Text 99 atha tatra dipa-dana-mahatmyam- skande tatraiva kalpa-koti-sahasrani patakani bahuny api nimeshardhena dipasya vilayam yanti karttike In the Skanda Purana it is said: "When...

Q&A with Swami B.V. Tripurari Q. Is the visistadvaita (qualified oneness) philosophy of Ramanujacharya the same as the acintya-bhedabheda (inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference) philosophy...