Jayadvaita Swami

Here's a neat word for you: kakistocracy. It means "government by the worst persons." The word, which dates back to the 1820s, derives from the Greek word kakistos (worst). The Oxford English Dictionary offers a quotation from James Russell Lowell: "Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people, or a Kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?" Good question. Long ago, Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.1.40) told of the rogues who would take hold of the governments of the world in Kali-yuga, the present Age of Quarrel: asamskrtah kriya-hina rajasa … [Read more...] about Getting Free from Being Governed by Knaves

This past week in Vrindaban, one of my godbrothers reminded me of this verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.5.42): sva-pada-mulam bhajatah priyasya tyaktanya-bhavasya harih paresah vikarma yac cotpatitam kathancid dhunoti sarvam hrdi sannivistah "One who has given up everything and taken full shelter at the lotus feet of Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is very dear to the Lord. Therefore, if such a surrendered soul accidentally commits some sinful acts, the Lord, who is seated within everyone's heart, at once takes away the reaction to such sins." The leaders of any Vaishnava … [Read more...] about More about Saints and Sinners

Now that "our scientist," Sripada Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Maharaja, has departed from our worldly vision, we have lost a unique and beloved member of the spiritual world in which we grew up and lived, the world of Srila Prabhupada's pastimes on earth, and the world in which the disciples he personally instructed have carried on the special missions he gave them. From the very beginning of Maharaja's spiritual life in ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada chose to show him special attention and favor. Seeing Maharaja's dual qualifications as a Vaishnava scientist and a Manipuri Vaishnava, Srila … [Read more...] about In Memoriam: His Holiness Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami

According to an August 15 news item (news reaches me slow), a spokesman for NASA says the U.S. government has misplaced the original recordings of the first moon landing--and the other five landings as well. "We've been looking for over a year and they haven't turned up," the spokesman said. In all, some 700 boxes of transmissions from the Apollo lunar missions are missing, he said. (You can see the report from the Reuters news agency at washingtonpost.com.) The only recordings NASA still has are copies of the television broadcasts. But those are of lower quality than the … [Read more...] about NASA spaces out

September 1 marks the day of Radhastami, celebrating the advent of Srimati Radharani, Lord Krishna's eternal consort. You might be interested in reading an article I wrote for the occasion back in 1974: "Who Is that Girl with Krishna?" Here's a story that goes with it. That article was among several I wrote that year for Back to Godhead magazine. Some time after the article came out, my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, came to New York City. A greeting party--perhaps sixty or a hundred of us or more--set off to welcome him at the Trans World Airlines terminal at Kennedy … [Read more...] about An article about Srimati Radharani

Thank you for your kind words of respect for ISKCON. And I'm glad to know that you have chosen Krishna as the deity you most prefer. Sanatana-dharma is indeed all-encompassing, for it offers every human being an opportunity to make further progress and at last attain perfection. Yet among the followers of Sanatana-dharma there are two schools, with contrasting views. The contrast is not between the inflexibly rigid and the universally tolerant, but rather between the impersonalists and the personalists. Both schools accept that the Supreme has both a personal and an impersonal aspect. … [Read more...] about Reply to Cambridge

This letter is in response to your article "Is Back to Godhead an Offender?" [That's the title we gave the exchange between the Federation of Hindu Associations and BTG.] As a young Hindu living in Britain, where the media consistently portrays the religion as fanatical, it is upsetting when it seems that Hindu sects, such as ISKCON [the International Society for Krishna Consciousness], for whom I have great regard and respect, do propound such rigid views which are in direct opposition to the universal tolerance of Sanatana-dharma. When these intolerant views are propagated within the body of … [Read more...] about From the Cambridge University Hindu Society

Dear Mr. Singh, Thank you for sending us a copy of your resolution. I am grateful to you for expressing to us your concern. You have appealed to us to continue the good work initiated by Srila Prabhupada. Thank you for that request. We consider it your blessing. You have also appealed to us to make a clear statement, and so we shall. Here it is: We reaffirm that Krishna alone is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. He appears in unlimited Vishnu forms such as Narayana and Rama. All other gods and living beings are His servants. Now, let me respond in some detail to the … [Read more...] about Reply to the Federation