1. Going way too far

    (From Mukunda Goswami's Vyasa-puja offering, 2000) "We cannot make this institution or this center as a brothel!" That's how you ended your lecture at the Manor one Sunday morning in August, 1973. I'd been sitting erect on the temple floor, eyes closed, brows knit, affecting my best pseudo-yogi listening posture. But I was sound asleep. How I managed to stay upright remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of my life.
  2. The fate of an old man

    Not only in the present age but from time immemorial, no one has liked an old man who is unable to earn in the family. Even in the modern age, in some communities or states, the old men are given poison so that they will die as soon as possible. In some cannibalistic communities, the old grandfather is sportingly killed, and a feast is held in which his body is eaten.
  3. A first-class treasurer!

    H.H. Tamal Krsna Dasa Goswami related that in the early days of ISKCON Los Angeles he was the temple commander and Madhudvisa Prabhu was the treasurer. On weekdays Madhudvisa Prabhu would collect from the devotees the income from sankirtan, but at the weekend, when money was needed for the Sunday festival, he was not to be found.
  4. Women addressed as mothers

    Hansaduta Dasa recalls: Early on when we were still debating how to address the female devotees, Prabhupada cleared the way by saying that we are to address all women, regardless of how young or old as "mother," either they are actually mothers or they are potential mothers.
  5. Fundamental Principles for Initiated Devotees

    Based on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.17.38, 11.5.11), Śrīla Prabhupāda instituted as an initiation vow that all disciples follow four regulative principles: The beginning of religious life is to abandon the four principles of prohibited activities—namely illicit sex life, meat-eating, gambling, and intoxication. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the requirement is that one must be prepared to give up the four pillars of sinful life—illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication, and gambling.