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Dispelling an Internet Myth

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This item was first posted on the web in May of 2003 The story, posted some time back, of how Hayagriva Prabhu painstakingly sat with Srila Prabhupada for two years to fine tune the text of Bhagavad-gita As It Is is only just one more internet myth. Who says? Hayagriva. Criticism and insults I can tolerate. Fictitious history is harder to bear. So let's set things straight, shall we? According to the published story, "While it is not generally known, for two years Srila Prabhupada sat with Hayagriva and patiently transformed His intimate realizations into a level of refined expression … [Read more...] about Dispelling an Internet Myth

What is Adi-vani?

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by Jayadvaita Swami   What does "adi vani" mean? The words adi vani are Sanskrit. According to the Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary, adi means “beginning” or “first,” and vani means “sound,” “voice,” “words,” “literary composition,” and so on. So adi vani can be taken to mean “original words.” Sometime around 2003, a group of “Hare Krishna” people began using the term to promote their editorial views about the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, … [Read more...] about What is Adi-vani?

First Annual BBT Art Seminar

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The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is sponsoring its First Annual BBT Art Seminar, to be held in Vrindavan, India, for three weeks in October. The well-known BBT artists Dhriti Dasi and Ramdasa Abhirama Dasa will be teaching. Only 15 seats available. All seats free to qualified applicants. To learn more, see the announcement page for the BBT Art Seminar on Krishna.com. … [Read more...] about First Annual BBT Art Seminar

Manipur: A Land of Krishna Conscious Culture

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 from Back to Godhead, November-December 1995   Indian Airlines -- from Calcutta via Guwahati -- has brought us to Imphal. We're a delegation of Krishna devotees from America, India, France, Italy, Iran, Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. Hazy grey sky, mountains off in the distance to your left. The air is cool (Calcutta was blazing). We're up on a plateau, at twenty-five hundred feet. On the far side of the barbed wire that marks the parking lot from the airfield, an Army guard, turbaned Sikh, looks on patiently, rifle in hand. A drought is on. This is mid March, … [Read more...] about Manipur: A Land of Krishna Conscious Culture

“The Ways to God Are Numberless”

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  In January and February of 1982, Back to Godhead published this exchange between a reader and Jayadvaita Swami, who was then the magazine's senior editor.     To Back to Godhead You guys are really sad. For millennia religious sects have claimed to have the only way to God, and they have always been wrong. So are you wrong. As Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan says, "The ways to God are numberless as the grains of sand, unceasing as the rains of Dharma." It's too bad that you close your minds to everything except what your Almighty Guru tells you. For example, I read in Back … [Read more...] about “The Ways to God Are Numberless”

From Darkness to Light

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  Remarks at a rite of passage for my nephew, Liam Golightley, on Liam's thirteenth birthday.   I congratulate you,  Liam, on this rite of passage. And I invite you, Liam, just for a moment--I invite all of us, just for a moment--to think about who it is that's passing. We pass into this world at birth, we pass from childhood through school and into adulthood, we marry, we pass further, into old age, and then, as the language has it, we pass on, we pass away. But who is this "we"? Who is this person? Or, in our present ceremony, who is this Liam? Some would tell us, … [Read more...] about From Darkness to Light

“I admit it! I confess!”

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From time to time I see it reported that I have "admitted" to this or that. And that prompts me to write a brief review of a basic item of journalism. To get across that someone has said something, the most highly esteemed neutral verb is the simple word said. It's short, clear, and free from bias. But you can choose from many alternatives. Each word offers its own shade and color, vivid or subtle, and its own implications. "This is my house," he confirmed. (It's definite.) "This is my house," he claimed. (Oh, yeah? Good chance it's not … [Read more...] about “I admit it! I confess!”

Invocation for a Conference on Spiritual Relationships

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  An invocation for a conference on relationships among Hare Krishna devotees      Alachua, Florida, August 14, 1993   An invocation is "a calling for," traditionally a calling for God, or these days more often a summoning forth of desired qualities within ourselves. I wouldn't suppose that you expect me to summon forth something valuable on my own. Rather, since this is a gathering of devotees--devotees of the sankirtana movement--I'd suppose my role should be to help us get started in doing that work of invocation together. To that end, I'd like first to suggest that we … [Read more...] about Invocation for a Conference on Spiritual Relationships

What are your plans for your retirement?

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This evening at Bhaktivedanta Manor near London I led (forgive me if I have a hard time giving in to "facilitated") a discussion among senior Hare Krishna devotees--all over forty, most over fifty--concerning the vanaprastha asrama, the stage of "retired life" in Vedic culture. In the Vedic scheme, this retired stage is a time not for material complacency but for spiritual renewal. We talked about the opportunities this asrama offers, and also the issues it raises and the challenges it presents. More about this in a future posting. … [Read more...] about What are your plans for your retirement?